1,924 research outputs found
Monitoring Blood Glucose with Microdialysis of Interstitial Fluid in Critically Ill Children
Loss of Productivity Due to Neck/Shoulder Symptoms and Hand/Arm Symptoms: Results from the PROMO-Study
Introduction: The objective of the present study is to describe the extent of productivity loss among computer workers with neck/shoulder symptoms and hand/arm symptoms, and to examine associations between pain intensity, various physical and psychosocial factors and productivity loss in computer workers with neck/shoulder and hand/arm symptoms. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. The study population consisted of 654 computer workers with neck/shoulder or hand/arm symptoms from five different companies. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the occurrence of self-reported productivity loss. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the associations. Results: In 26% of all the cases reporting symptoms, productivity loss was involved, the most often in cases reporting both symptoms (36%). Productivity loss involved sickness absence in 11% of the arm/hand cases, 32% of the neck/shoulder cases and 43% of the cases reporting both symptoms. The multivariate analyses showed statistically significant odds ratios for pain intensity (OR: 1.26; CI: 1.12-1.41), for high effort/no low reward (OR: 2.26; CI: 1.24-4.12), for high effort/low reward (OR: 1.95; CI: 1.09-3.50), and for low job satisfaction (OR: 3.10; CI: 1.44-6.67). Physical activity in leisure time, full-time work and overcommitment were not associated with productivity loss. Conclusion: In most computer workers with neck/shoulder symptoms or hand/arm symptoms productivity loss derives from a decreased performance at work and not from sickness absence. Favorable psychosocial work characteristics might prevent productivity loss in symptomatic workers. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
The role of menaquinones (vitamin K2) in human health
Recent reports have attributed the potential health benefits of vitamin K beyond its function to activate hepatic coagulation factors. Moreover, several studies have suggested that menaquinones, also known as vitamin K2, may be more effective in activating extra-hepatic vitamin K-dependent proteins than phylloquinone, also known as vitamin K1. Nevertheless, present dietary reference values (DRV) for vitamin K are exclusively based on phylloquinone, and its function in coagulation. The present review describes the current knowledge on menaquinones based on the following criteria for setting DRV: optimal dietary intake; nutrient amount required to prevent deficiency, maintain optimal body stores and/or prevent chronic disease; factors influencing requirements such as absorption, metabolism, age and sex. Dietary intake of menaquinones accounts for up to 25% of total vitamin K intake and contributes to the biological functions of vitamin K. However, menaquinones are different from phylloquinone with respect to their chemical structure and pharmacokinetics, which affects bioavailability, metabolism and perhaps impact on health outcomes. There are significant gaps in the current knowledge on menaquinones based on the criteria for setting DRV. Therefore, we conclude that further investigations are needed to establish how differences among the vitamin K forms may influence tissue specificities and their role in human health. However, there is merit for considering both menaquinones and phylloquinone when developing future recommendations for vitamin K intak
Structural subnetwork evolution across the life-span: rich-club, feeder, seeder
The impact of developmental and aging processes on brain connectivity and the
connectome has been widely studied. Network theoretical measures and certain
topological principles are computed from the entire brain, however there is a
need to separate and understand the underlying subnetworks which contribute
towards these observed holistic connectomic alterations. One organizational
principle is the rich-club - a core subnetwork of brain regions that are
strongly connected, forming a high-cost, high-capacity backbone that is
critical for effective communication in the network. Investigations primarily
focus on its alterations with disease and age. Here, we present a systematic
analysis of not only the rich-club, but also other subnetworks derived from
this backbone - namely feeder and seeder subnetworks. Our analysis is applied
to structural connectomes in a normal cohort from a large, publicly available
lifespan study. We demonstrate changes in rich-club membership with age
alongside a shift in importance from 'peripheral' seeder to feeder subnetworks.
Our results show a refinement within the rich-club structure (increase in
transitivity and betweenness centrality), as well as increased efficiency in
the feeder subnetwork and decreased measures of network integration and
segregation in the seeder subnetwork. These results demonstrate the different
developmental patterns when analyzing the connectome stratified according to
its rich-club and the potential of utilizing this subnetwork analysis to reveal
the evolution of brain architectural alterations across the life-span
Recycled Pulsars Discovered at High Radio Frequency
We present the timing parameters of nine pulsars discovered in a survey of
intermediate Galactic latitudes at 1400 MHz with the Parkes radio telescope.
Eight of these pulsars possess small pulse periods and period derivatives
thought to be indicative of ``recycling''. Six of the pulsars are in circular
binary systems, including two with relatively massive white dwarf companions.
We discuss the implications of these new systems for theories of binary
formation and evolution. One long-period pulsar (J1410-7404) has a moderately
weak magnetic field and an exceedingly narrow average pulse profile, similar to
other recycled pulsars.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Formation of Silica-Lysozyme Composites Through Co-Precipitation and Adsorption
Interactions between silica and proteins are crucial for the formation of biosilica and the production of novel functional hybrid materials for a range of industrial applications. The proteins control both precipitation pathway and the properties of the resulting silica-organic composites. Here we present data on the formation of silica-lysozyme composites through two different synthesis approaches (co-precipitation vs. adsorption) and show that the chemical and structural properties of these composites, when analyzed using a combination of synchrotron-based scattering (total scattering and SAXS), spectroscopic, electron microscopy and potentiometric methods vary dramatically. We document that while lysozyme was not incorporated into nor did its presence alter the molecular structure of silica, it strongly enhanced the aggregation of silica particles due to electrostatic and potentially hydrophobic interactions, leading to the formation of composites with characteristics differing from pure silica. The differences increased with increasing lysozyme content for both synthesis approaches. Yet, the absolute changes differ substantially between the two sets of composites, as lysozyme did not just affect aggregation during co-precipitation but also particle growth and likely polymerization during co-precipitation. Our results improve the fundamental understanding of how organic macromolecules interact with dissolved and nanoparticulate silica and how these interactions control the formation pathway of silica-organic composites from sodium silicate solutions, a widely available and cheap starting material
Strong Spherical Asymptotics for Rotor-Router Aggregation and the Divisible Sandpile
The rotor-router model is a deterministic analogue of random walk. It can be
used to define a deterministic growth model analogous to internal DLA. We prove
that the asymptotic shape of this model is a Euclidean ball, in a sense which
is stronger than our earlier work. For the shape consisting of
sites, where is the volume of the unit ball in , we show that
the inradius of the set of occupied sites is at least , while the
outradius is at most for any . For a related
model, the divisible sandpile, we show that the domain of occupied sites is a
Euclidean ball with error in the radius a constant independent of the total
mass. For the classical abelian sandpile model in two dimensions, with particles, we show that the inradius is at least , and the
outradius is at most . This improves on bounds of Le Borgne
and Rossin. Similar bounds apply in higher dimensions.Comment: [v3] Added Theorem 4.1, which generalizes Theorem 1.4 for the abelian
sandpile. [v4] Added references and improved exposition in sections 2 and 4.
[v5] Final version, to appear in Potential Analysi
GRB990712: First Indication of Polarization Variability in a Gamma-ray Burst Afterglow
We report the detection of significant polarization in the optical afterglow
of GRB990712 on three instances 0.44, 0.70 and 1.45 days after the gamma-ray
burst, with (P, theta) being (2.9% +- 0.4%, 121.1 degr +- 3.5 degr), (1.2% +-
0.4%, 116.2 degr +- 10.1 degr) and (2.2% +- 0.7%, 139.2 degr +- 10.4 degr)
respectively. The polarization is intrinsic to the afterglow. The degree of
polarization is not constant, and smallest at the second measurement. The
polarization angle does not vary significantly during these observations. We
find that none of the existing models predict such polarization variations at
constant polarization angle, and suggest ways in which these models might be
modified to accommodate the observed behavior of this afterglow.Comment: 10 pages including 6 figures, accepted by ApJ. Uses aastex 5.
Reconfiguration on sparse graphs
A vertex-subset graph problem Q defines which subsets of the vertices of an
input graph are feasible solutions. A reconfiguration variant of a
vertex-subset problem asks, given two feasible solutions S and T of size k,
whether it is possible to transform S into T by a sequence of vertex additions
and deletions such that each intermediate set is also a feasible solution of
size bounded by k. We study reconfiguration variants of two classical
vertex-subset problems, namely Independent Set and Dominating Set. We denote
the former by ISR and the latter by DSR. Both ISR and DSR are PSPACE-complete
on graphs of bounded bandwidth and W[1]-hard parameterized by k on general
graphs. We show that ISR is fixed-parameter tractable parameterized by k when
the input graph is of bounded degeneracy or nowhere-dense. As a corollary, we
answer positively an open question concerning the parameterized complexity of
the problem on graphs of bounded treewidth. Moreover, our techniques generalize
recent results showing that ISR is fixed-parameter tractable on planar graphs
and graphs of bounded degree. For DSR, we show the problem fixed-parameter
tractable parameterized by k when the input graph does not contain large
bicliques, a class of graphs which includes graphs of bounded degeneracy and
nowhere-dense graphs
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