10,528 research outputs found
Angiotensin II blockade and aortic-root dilation in Marfan's syndrome
Background: Progressive enlargement of the aortic root, leading to dissection, is the main cause of premature death in patients with Marfan's syndrome. Recent data from mouse models of Marfan's syndrome suggest that aortic-root enlargement is caused by excessive signaling by transforming growth factor (beta) (TGF-(beta)) that can be mitigated by treatment with TGF-(beta) antagonists, including angiotensin II-receptor blockers (ARBs). We evaluated the clinical response to ARBs in pediatric patients with Marfan's syndrome who had severe aortic-root enlargement.
Methods: We identified 18 pediatric patients with Marfan's syndrome who had been followed during 12 to 47 months of therapy with ARBs after other medical therapy had failed to prevent progressive aortic-root enlargement. The ARB was losartan in 17 patients and irbesartan in 1 patient. We evaluated the efficacy of ARB therapy by comparing the rates of change in aortic-root diameter before and after the initiation of treatment with ARBs.
Results: The mean (+/-SD) rate of change in aortic-root diameter decreased significantly from 3.54+/-2.87 mm per year during previous medical therapy to 0.46+/-0.62 mm per year during ARB therapy (P<0.001). The deviation of aortic-root enlargement from normal, as expressed by the rate of change in z scores, was reduced by a mean difference of 1.47 z scores per year (95% confidence interval, 0.70 to 2.24; P<0.001) after the initiation of ARB therapy. The sinotubular junction, which is prone to dilation in Marfan's syndrome as well, also showed a reduced rate of change in diameter during ARB therapy (P<0.05), whereas the distal ascending aorta, which does not normally become dilated in Marfan's syndrome, was not affected by ARB therapy.
Conclusions: In a small cohort study, the use of ARB therapy in patients with Marfan's syndrome significantly slowed the rate of progressive aortic-root dilation. These findings require confirmation in a randomized trial
Wage cuts and managers' empathy: How a positive emotion can contribute to positive organizational ethics in difficult times
Using the lens of positive organizational ethics, we theorized that empathy affects decisions in ethical dilemmas that concern the well-being of not only the organization but also other stakeholders. We hypothesized and found that empathetic managers were less likely to comply with requests by an authority figure to cut the wages of their employees than were non-empathetic managers. However, when an authority figure requested to hold wages constant, empathy did not affect wage cut decisions. These findings imply that empathy can serve as a safeguard for ethical decision making in organizations during trying times without generally undermining organizational effectiveness. We conclude by discussing the implications of our research
The effect of personality on collaborative task performance and interaction
Collocated, multi-user technologies, which support group-work are becoming increasingly popular. Examples include MERL's Diamondtouch and Microsoft's Surface, both of which have evolved from research prototypes to commercial products. Many applications have been developed for such technologies which support the work and entertainment needs of small groups of people. None of these applications however, have been studied in terms of the interactions and performances of their users with regards to their personality. In this paper, we address this research gap by conducting a series of user studies involving dyads working on a number of multi-user applications on the DiamondTouch tabletop device
A model of gender prejudice, power, and discrimination: How hierarchy-enhancing factors predominate over hierarchy-attenuating factors
Gender inequalities remain an issue in our society and particularly in the workplace. Several factors can explain this gender difference in top-level managerial positions such as career ambitions but also biases against women. In our chapter, we propose a model explaining why gender inequalities and particularly discrimination against women is still present in our societies despite social norms and existing legislation on gender equality. To this purpose, we review research on discrimination through two different approaches, (a) a prejudice approach through the justification-suppression model developed by Crandall and Eshleman (2003) and (b) a power approach through the social dominance theory (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). In our work, we integrate these two approaches and propose a model of gender prejudice, power and discrimination. The integration of these two approaches contributes to a better understanding of how discrimination against women is formed and maintained over time
Classical gravitational spin-spin interaction
I obtain an exact, axially symmetric, stationary solution of Einstein's
equations for two massless spinning particles. The term representing the
spin-spin interaction agrees with recently published approximate work. The
spin-spin force appears to be proportional to the inverse fourth power of the
coordinate distance between the particles.Comment: six pages, no figures, journal ref:accepted for Classical and Quantum
Gravit
Bound States in Sharply Bent Waveguides: Analytical and Experimental Approach
Quantum wires and electromagnetic waveguides possess common features since
their physics is described by the same wave equation. We exploit this analogy
to investigate experimentally with microwave waveguides and theoretically with
the help of an effective potential approach the occurrence of bound states in
sharply bent quantum wires. In particular, we compute the bound states, study
the features of the transition from a bound to an unbound state caused by the
variation of the bending angle and determine the critical bending angles at
which such a transition takes place. The predictions are confirmed by
calculations based on a conventional numerical method as well as experimental
measurements of the spectra and electric field intensity distributions of
electromagnetic waveguides
Experimental test of a trace formula for two-dimensional dielectric resonators
Resonance spectra of two-dimensional dielectric microwave resonators of
circular and square shapes have been measured. The deduced length spectra of
periodic orbits were analyzed and a trace formula for dielectric resonators
recently proposed by Bogomolny et al. [Phys. Rev. E 78, 056202 (2008)] was
tested. The observed deviations between the experimental length spectra and the
predictions of the trace formula are attributed to a large number of missing
resonances in the measured spectra. We show that by taking into account the
systematics of observed and missing resonances the experimental length spectra
are fully understood. In particular, a connection between the most long-lived
resonances and certain periodic orbits is established experimentally.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, 1 tabl
Spectral theorem for the Lindblad equation for quadratic open fermionic systems
The spectral theorem is proven for the quantum dynamics of quadratic open
systems of n fermions described by the Lindblad equation. Invariant eigenspaces
of the many-body Liouvillean dynamics and their largest Jordan blocks are
explicitly constructed for all eigenvalues. For eigenvalue zero we describe an
algebraic procedure for constructing (possibly higher dimensional) spaces of
(degenerate) non-equilibrium steady states.Comment: 19 pages, no figure
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