The effect of portacaval transposition on carbohydrate metabolism: Experimental and clinical observations

An investigation was conducted of the influence of portacaval transposition upon carbohydrate metabolism in 45 dogs. In 17 dogs, hepatic glycogen content was measured before and from 45 to 75 days after transposition. A reduction in glycogen content, principally in the TCA soluble fraction, was noted in 14 animals. The mean loss of total glycogen was 51 percent, and the mean loss of TCA soluble glycogen was 70 percent. In control animals hepatic deglycogenation did not occur. Despite the reduction in hepatic glycogen content, the animals were capable of glucagon-induced glycogenolysis using very small test doses. After transposition, a greater response to intraportal injection was noted as compared to that obtained with systemic venous infusions. Other alterations in carbohydrate metabolism were also measured. These included a reduction in the duration and magnitude of the hyperglycemic response to oral glucose loads. The profile of glycemic response under these conditions was studied, and demonstrated to be greatest in the portal vein, least in the peripheral venous blood, and of intermediate magnitude in the peripheral arteries. Based upon the hepatic deglycogenating effect of portacaval transposition in dogs, this operation was used for the treatment of an 8 1 2-year-old child with glycogen storage disease and concomitant portal cirrhosis. The portacaval transposition was performed in preference to a standard portacaval shunt. The enzyme defect in the patient was extensively studied before and after transposition. Prior to surgery, she was demonstrated to have Type IIIB glycogenosis (amylo-1,6-glucosidase deficiency confined to the liver). Eight and one half months after operation, the quantities of glycogen in liver and muscle and the enzyme activities showed no significant alteration. The clinical response to portacaval transposition was gratifying. There has been a decrease in the hepatosplenomegaly, rapid growth, a diminution in the pre-existing hypersplenism, and a considerable increase in the child's physical activity. Most of these benefits are ascribable to the effective portal decompressive procedure. Whether any metabolic benefit derived from the portacaval transposition is problematical. © 1965

Nighttime air quality under desert conditions

Nighttime concentrations of the gas phase nitrate radical (NO3) were successfully measured during a four week field campaign in an arid urban location, Reno Nevada, using long-path Differential Optical Absorbance Spectrometry (DOAS). While typical concentrations of NO3 ranged from 5 to 20ppt, elevated concentrations were observed during a wildfire event. Horizontal mixing in the free troposphere was considerable because the sampling site was above the stable nocturnal boundary layer every night and this justified a box modeling approach. Process analysis of box model simulations showed NO3 accounted for approximately half of the loss of internal olefins, 60% of the isoprene loss, and 85% of the α-pinene loss during the nighttime hours during a typical night of the field study. The NO3+aldehyde reactions were not as important as anticipated. On a polluted night impacted by wildfires upwind of the sampling location, NO3 reactions were more important. Model simulations overpredicted NO2 concentrations for both case studies and inorganic chemistry was the biggest influence on NO3 concentrations and on nitric acid formation. The overprediction may be due to additional NO2 loss processes that were not included in the box model, as deposition and N2O5 uptake had no significant effect on NO2 levels

Species richness and abundance of clinid fish (Teleostei; Clinidae) in intertidal rock pools

Factors affecting species richness and abundance of clinid fish(Fam. Clinidae)in 19 intertidal rock pools near Muizenberg, South Africa, were investigated. Some measure of cover is the most important predictor of clinid species richness, abundance and biomass. Intraspecific partitioning of habitat by Clinus superciliosus was observed, and apparently occurs in C. cottoides as well. Fish were observed to move between pools during high tides, and some individuals showed fidelity to particular pools. There is some evidence for suggesting that C. superciliosus might be a colonizing species

Weekend hospitalization and additional risk of death: An analysis of inpatient data

Objective To assess whether weekend admissions to hospital and/or already being an inpatient on weekend days were associated with any additional mortality risk.Design Retrospective observational survivorship study. We analysed all admissions to the English National Health Service (NHS) during the financial year 2009/10, following up all patients for 30 days after admission and accounting for risk of death associated with diagnosis, co-morbidities, admission history, age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation, seasonality, day of admission and hospital trust, including day of death as a time dependent covariate. The principal analysis was based on time to in-hospital death.Participants National Health Service Hospitals in England.Main Outcome Measures 30 day mortality (in or out of hospital).Results There were 14,217,640 admissions included in the principal analysis, with 187,337 in-hospital deaths reported within 30 days of admission. Admission on weekend days was associated with a considerable increase in risk of subsequent death compared with admission on weekdays, hazard ratio for Sunday versus Wednesday 1.16 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.18; P < .0001), and for Saturday versus Wednesday 1.11 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.13; P < .0001). Hospital stays on weekend days were associated with a lower risk of death than midweek days, hazard ratio for being in hospital on Sunday versus Wednesday 0.92 (95% CI 0.91 to 0.94; P < .0001), and for Saturday versus Wednesday 0.95 (95% CI 0.93 to 0.96; P < .0001). Similar findings were observed on a smaller US data set.Conclusions Admission at the weekend is associated with increased risk of subsequent death within 30 days of admission. The likelihood of death actually occurring is less on a weekend day than on a mid-week day

Peningkatan Kemampuan Menulis Artikel Ilmiah Populer Siswa Kelas IX SMP Negeri I Bringin Dengan Pembelajaran Saintifik Berbasis Media Massa

The research aimed at knowing to what extent (1) the effectiveness of Mass Media Based Scientific Approachas to improve the ability to write popular scientific articles, (2) the improvement ofNinth Junior High students? activity, enthusiasm, concentration and creativityin the learning process, and (3) the improvement of Ninth Junior High students? achievement in writing popular scientific article at Negeri 1 Bringin Semarang District after the implementation of mass media based scientific approach. It was a classroom action research (PTK), consisting of components of planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. It included two cycles. The first cycle was implenting scientific approach by utilizing the video "Fighting Student" printed media based. The second cycle was by utilizing the video song entitled "Mirassantika" internet-media based. The subjects of the research were ninth-grade students of SMPN 1 Beringin Semarang in the academic year of 2015/2016. The data of the study consisted of primary data, which were the ninth-grade students, and the secondary data, consisting of the teachers in the classroom, the researcher, fellow teacher of Indonesian, and staf members of UPBJJ-UT Semarang. The results showed that (1) learning to write a scientific article by implenting mass media-based scientific approach could enhance the activity, vigor, enthusiasm, and creativity into learning, (2) enabling to create a condusive atmosphere of effective, interesting, and fun learning, in which up to the end of second cycle 43.75% of students were having happy expression when they were learning and 56.25% of students stated enjoying to follow the lesson: Bahasa Indonesia. Then, 9.38% of the students expressed their creativity greatly increased, 87.56,% of students stated their creativity increased as well. Moreover, 37.5% of students stated that their creativity were improved, also 62.5% of students stated the same idea. Additionally, 46.88% of students stated that they were very attracted to learn bahasa Indonesia and 17.53% of students gained high interest of learning bahasa Indonesia, and (3) improve the number of students who were able to write popular scientific articles with minimal score 78. By the end of second cycle of the number of students who gained score 78 or more were 31 students or if it was calculated in percentage was 96.87%. Thus, it is concluded that the indicators of research have been reached. K ey w ords : Mass Media, Scientific Approach, Writing Ability of Popular Scientific Article

STEM materials: a new frontier for an intelligent sustainable world

Materials are addressed as possible enablers for solutions to many global societal challenges. A foresight exercise has been conducted to identify research paths to design, with a new approach, a generation of materials which can provide multi-functionalities. These material systems have been named ???stem???, in analogy to living cells where a base of primitive units can be designed and assembled for self-reacting to external inputs. These materials will embed a concept of ???internet in things???, where their processing capacity will enable the systems to interact with the environment and express diverse functionalities. Stem materials do not exist yet, but many clues from diferent theoretical and experimental results suggest they can be developed, and because living organisms exist. This article aims at launching this new approach and promoting the structuring of a multi-disciplinary community to fll the research gaps

Preferred Basis in a Measurement Process

The effect of decoherence is analysed for a free particle, interacting with an environment via a dissipative coupling. The interaction between the particle and the environment occurs by a coupling of the position operator of the particle with the environmental degrees of freedom. By examining the exact solution of the density matrix equation one finds that the density matrix becomes completely diagonal in momentum with time while the position space density matrix remains nonlocal. This establishes the momentum basis as the emergent 'preferred basis' selected by the environment which is contrary to the general expectation that position should emerge as the preferred basis since the coupling with the environment is via the position coordinate.Comment: Standard REVTeX format, 10 pages of output. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev

Explicit solution for vibrating bar with viscous boundaries and internal damper

We investigate longitudinal vibrations of a bar subjected to viscous boundary conditions at each end, and an internal damper at an arbitrary point along the bar's length. The system is described by four independent parameters and exhibits a variety of behaviors including rigid motion, super stability/instability and zero damping. The solution is obtained by applying the Laplace transform to the equation of motion and computing the Green's function of the transformed problem. This leads to an unconventional eigenvalue-like problem with the spectral variable in the boundary conditions. The eigenmodes of the problem are necessarily complex-valued and are not orthogonal in the usual inner product. Nonetheless, in generic cases we obtain an explicit eigenmode expansion for the response of the bar to initial conditions and external force. For some special values of parameters the system of eigenmodes may become incomplete, or no non-trivial eigenmodes may exist at all. We thoroughly analyze physical and mathematical reasons for this behavior and explicitly identify the corresponding parameter values. In particular, when no eigenmodes exist, we obtain closed form solutions. Theoretical analysis is complemented by numerical simulations, and analytic solutions are compared to computations using finite elements.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figure

The Nest Architecture of Three Species of North Florida Aphaenogaster Ants

The architecture of the subterranean nests of Aphaenogaster floridana Smith (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), A. treatae Forel and A. ashmeadi (Emery), was studied from plaster, wax, or metal casts. After structural features were quantified from digital images, the entombed ants were retrieved from the plaster by dissolution or wax casts by melting and counted. Nests of all three species were rather simple, small and vertical, with horizontal chambers connected by vertical shafts. Shafts descending to lower chambers tended to arise from chamber edges, whereas those connecting to a chamber above tended to arise from chamber centers. A. floridana had the largest nests and colonies, and multiple shafts commonly connected upper chambers, a feature lacking in the other two species. In A. floridana nests a higher proportion of chamber area and greater spacing between chambers occurred in the deeper parts of the nest, regardless of nest size. The other two species showed no vertical differentiation of any size-free measure at any nest size. In all three species, nest size increased more slowly than the worker population, so crowding was greater in large colonies than in small, in contrast to the situation in three other ant species for which data were available. An appendix with stereo images of all casts is provided