Leg Sympathetic Response to Noxious Skin Stimuli is Similar in High and Low Level Human Spinal Cord Injury

Objective To determine if sympathetically mediated vasoconstriction in the lower extremities is injury level dependent. Although sympathetic responses have been measured in the limbs of people with high and low level SCI using blood flow measurements, including Doppler ultrasound and venous plethysmography, a direct comparison between injury levels has not been made. Methods Volunteers with chronic SCI were grouped according to injury level. Above T6: high level (HL, n = 7), and T6 and below: low level (LL, n = 6). All subjects had complete motor and sensory loss. Leg arterial flows were recorded by venous occlusion plethysmography, and continuous heart rate and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were measured. The conditioning stimulus consisted of transcutaneous stimulation to the arch of the contralateral foot. Results HL and LL subjects demonstrated a significant decrease in arterial conductance during stimulation with no significant difference found between groups. As expected, only group HL demonstrated a significant increase in MAP. Conclusions These results support our hypothesis that local (leg) sympathetic responses are similar for both high and low level SCI. Significance While low level SCI does not typically present with autonomic dysreflexia, bouts of increased reflex sympathetic activity could have ramifications for metabolism as well as renal and motor system functio

Leg Sympathetic Response to Noxious Skin Stimuli is Similar in High and Low Level Human Spinal Cord Injury

Objective To determine if sympathetically mediated vasoconstriction in the lower extremities is injury level dependent. Although sympathetic responses have been measured in the limbs of people with high and low level SCI using blood flow measurements, including Doppler ultrasound and venous plethysmography, a direct comparison between injury levels has not been made. Methods Volunteers with chronic SCI were grouped according to injury level. Above T6: high level (HL, n = 7), and T6 and below: low level (LL, n = 6). All subjects had complete motor and sensory loss. Leg arterial flows were recorded by venous occlusion plethysmography, and continuous heart rate and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were measured. The conditioning stimulus consisted of transcutaneous stimulation to the arch of the contralateral foot. Results HL and LL subjects demonstrated a significant decrease in arterial conductance during stimulation with no significant difference found between groups. As expected, only group HL demonstrated a significant increase in MAP. Conclusions These results support our hypothesis that local (leg) sympathetic responses are similar for both high and low level SCI. Significance While low level SCI does not typically present with autonomic dysreflexia, bouts of increased reflex sympathetic activity could have ramifications for metabolism as well as renal and motor system functio

Partial breakdown of quantum thermalization in a Hubbard-like model

We study the possible breakdown of quantum thermalization in a model of itinerant electrons on a one-dimensional chain without disorder, with both spin and charge degrees of freedom. The eigenstates of this model exhibit peculiar properties in the entanglement entropy, the apparent scaling of which is modified from a "volume law" to an "area law" after performing a partial, site-wise measurement on the system. These properties and others suggest that this model realizes a new, non-thermal phase of matter, known as a quantum disentangled liquid (QDL). The putative existence of this phase has striking implications for the foundations of quantum statistical mechanics.Comment: As accepted to PR

Controlling Great-Tailed Grackle Damage to Citrus in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Great-tailed grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) damage to citrus is a serious concern to producers in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Damage caused by grackles pecking fruit is initiated by breeding colonies in the spring on immature fruit and extends through the fall and winter on ripening fruit. The most significant damage occurs during the post-breeding period of July through September when neither the currently registered DRC-1339-treated dog food bait nor frightening strategies are effective. Observations by Texas Wildlife Services personnel suggested that watermelon was highly attractive to grackles during the period when dog food baits are poorly accepted. Two control strategies using watermelon to bait large cage traps and to formulate DRC-1339 baits were evaluated in cage and field trials during a 2-year research project. This paper reports on the development and preliminary evaluations of a unique trap design and the 0.1% DRC-1339-treated watermelon bait. Summer field trials in citrus groves were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of trapping and DRC-1339 baiting. Results of preliminary evaluations clearly demonstrated the utility of these methods for controlling grackles. Although the effectiveness of these methods for controlling grackle damage in citrus groves was less conclusive, no measurable hazards to non-target wildlife were documented. With suggested modifications, both methods may provide a viable means to reduce grackle damage to citrus during a period when other alternative methods are ineffective

Developing Health Information Literacy: A Needs Analysis from the Perspective of Preprofessional Health Students

Objective: The research identified the skills, if any, that health preprofessional students wished to develop after receiving feedback on skill gaps as well as any strategies they intended to use to address these gaps. Methods: A qualitative approach was used to elicit students’ reflections on building health information literacy skills. First, the students took the Research Readiness Self-Assessment instrument, which measured their health information literacy, and then they received individually tailored feedback about their scores and skill gaps. Second, students completed a post-assessment survey asking how they intended to close identified gaps in their skills on these. Three trained coders analyzed qualitative comments by 181 students and grouped them into themes relating to ‘‘what skills to improve’’ and ‘‘how to improve them.’’ Results: Students intended to develop library skills (64% of respondents), Internet skills (63%), and information evaluation skills (63%). Most students reported that they would use library staff members’ assistance (55%), but even more respondents (82%) planned to learn the skills by practicing on their own. Getting help from librarians was a much more popular learning strategy than getting assistance from peers (20%) or professors (17%). Conclusions: The study highlighted the importance of providing health preprofessional students with resources to improve skills on their own, remote access to library staff members, and instruction on the complexity of building health literacy skills, while also building relationships among students, librarians, and faculty