On affine designs and Hadamard designs with line spreads

Rahilly [10] described a construction that relates any Hadamard design H on 4 m −1 points with a line spread to an affine design having the same parameters as the classical design of points and hyperplanes in AG(m, 4). Here it is proved that the affine design is the classical design of points and hyperplanes in AG(m, 4) if, and only if, H is the classical design of points and hyperplanes in P G(2m−1, 2) and the line spread is of a special type. Computational results about line spreads in P G(5, 2) are given. One of the affine designs obtained has the same 2-rank as the design of points and planes in AG(3, 4), and provides a counter-example to a conjecture o

The myogymnastics complex as an element of rehabilitation in the process of adaptation to orthopedic appliances in patients after stroke

Introduction. Stroke has become the second leading cause of long-term disability and cognitive impairment. The disease can cause debilitating neurological disorders that lead to motor, sensory and cognitive deficits and impaired psychosocial functioning. Many researchers have established an association between dental status, infections, and systemic diseases such as acute cerebrovascular disorder.The aim of the research was to determine the impact of dental health on the quality of life in patients with cerebral circulatory disorders complicated with neurological deficits by hemitype before and 30 days after orthopedic treatment by questionnaire survey.Materials and methods. The study involved 25 people with the course of ACVD complicated with neurological deficiency by hemitype, aged from 40 to 65 years, who underwent prosthetics with partial removable laminar dentures with acrylic base and retaining bent, metal clasps according to clinical indications. The first group, where the process of adaptation to the orthopedic appliance was normal, consisted of 13 people, including 7 women and 6 men. In the second group, the adaptation process took place using the proposed rehabilitation complex, and it comprised 12 patients, including 7 women and 5 men.The changes that occurred 30 days after applying a partial removable laminar denture were as follows:The value of the indicator of restricted masticatory function in subjects of the first study group was worse by 1.375 points as compared to the second group. The value of the indicator of physical pain in the process of adaptation to the orthopedic appliance was noteworthy, since it decreased significantly in the second group and amounted to 14.404 points, which was by 1.335 points higher than in patients of the first group.The level of psychological discomfort in patients of the first group was 32.412 points, which was 1.183 points different from that of patients in the second group, in favor of the latter. At the same time, a comparison of the level of psychological inferiority showed that this indicator was higher in the first group than in the second study group by 0.988 points, i.e., the dynamics of changes in this indicator was better in the second one.Comparison of the level of social inferiority showed that in the first study group it was higher by 2.106 points than in the third group. Comparison of the level of disability showed a difference of this indicator by 1.226 points in favor of patients of the second groupThe above data suggest a general trend of improving the basic health indicators of patients in the process of orthopedic rehabilitation. At the same time, there was a clear difference between the results of the questionnaire survey between patients of the first and second groups, and these indicators were better in the latter.Conclusions. The effectiveness of the proposed rehabilitation complex for patients with cerebral circulatory disorders complicated with neurological deficiency by hemitype after prosthetics with partial removable laminar appliances was confirmed by a decrease in numerical data from the questionnaire survey by 15%, indicating an improvement in quality of life in this category of patients

Changes in the function of the anal sphincter complex and generated anal pressure at different anatomical levels after elastic ligature application in patients with anal fistula

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to measure by means of especially developed apparatus the anal and intrarectal pressure before and after different operations for perianal fistulas as well as to correlate the degree of incontinence evaluated by Fecal Incontinence Severity Index (FISI) with changes in the measured pressures and type of operation used.Material and methods: The study covered 311 patients with perianal fistulas who were operated with several methods. Anal canal pressures at 5 different levels were measured by the especially developed apparatus at rest, squeezing and cough, before and after 6 months of operation. FISI form was used for incontinence detection.Results: Resting, squeezing and cough pressures were higher in men before and after operations. Average reduction of anal rest pressure by 10-15%, at contraction by 20-25% and at cough by 5-10% resulted in mild incontinence according to FISI score. Average reduction of anal rest pressure by 20-25%, at contraction by 30-40% and at cough by 20-25% correlated with postoperative moderate degree of incontinence according to FISI score. No severe incontinence was registered by FISI examination. Usage of the method of elastic ligation of perianal fistulas, i.e. the method of Hippocrates-Thoma Junescu caused the highest percentage of postoperative mild degree incontinence (15,9%) and moderate one (4,3%) by FISI. No patients presented with severe degree of incontinence.Conclusion: The method of anal sphincter tonometry demonstrated a significant reduction of anal pressure after surgery for anal fistulas. This objective decrease of anal sphincter tone correlated with the higher FISI score arguing of postoperative incontinence. The method of Hippocrates-Thoma-Junescu resulted in the highest rate of incontinence (around 20%) and anal pressure reduction

Entanglement-assisted quantum low-density parity-check codes

This paper develops a general method for constructing entanglement-assisted quantum low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, which is based on combinatorial design theory. Explicit constructions are given for entanglement-assisted quantum error-correcting codes (EAQECCs) with many desirable properties. These properties include the requirement of only one initial entanglement bit, high error correction performance, high rates, and low decoding complexity. The proposed method produces infinitely many new codes with a wide variety of parameters and entanglement requirements. Our framework encompasses various codes including the previously known entanglement-assisted quantum LDPC codes having the best error correction performance and many new codes with better block error rates in simulations over the depolarizing channel. We also determine important parameters of several well-known classes of quantum and classical LDPC codes for previously unsettled cases.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures. Final version appearing in Physical Review

Isospin properties of electric dipole excitations in 48Ca

Two different experimental approaches were combined to study the electric dipole strength in the doubly-magic nucleus 48Ca below the neutron threshold. Real-photon scattering experiments using bremsstrahlung up to 9.9 MeV and nearly mono-energetic linearly polarized photons with energies between 6.6 and 9.51 MeV provided strength distribution and parities, and an (\alpha,\alpha'\gamma) experiment at E_{\alpha}=136 MeV gave cross sections for an isoscalar probe. The unexpected difference observed in the dipole response is compared to calculations using the first-order random-phase approximation and points to an energy-dependent isospin character. A strong isoscalar state at 7.6 MeV was identified for the first time supporting a recent theoretical prediction.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, as accepted in Phys. Lett.

Deroofing - a method of choice in the treatment of suppurative perineal hidradenitis

Purpose: Suppurative hidradenitis is a chronic relapsing inflammatory disease that affects the apocrine sweat glands. Therefore, it is most often located in the axilla, groin and perianal area. Usually, people of working age affected. Perineal and perianal locations cover about 37% of the total morbidity rate and are more common in males. The objective of this study was to share our experience with the application of deroofing for the treatment of purulent perineal hidradenitis.Material and methods: This prospective interventional study covered 13 patients with suppurative fistulasing hidradenitis of perineum treated in Division of Coloproctology and Septic Surgery, Georgi Stranski University Hospital of Pleven for the period from 2008 till 2013.Results: The interval between the occurrence of disease and its surgical treatment was very long - from two to 36 years (average of 9,2 years). It resulted from the progression of the disease with enlarged soft tissue involvement. Sometimes, the disease was complicated by chroniosepsis. The average hospital stay was 13,5-day long. Operative wounds healed secondarily at an average of about 30 days. The patients were followedup for six months, one year and two years. Two patients with relapses on the sixth postoperative month were hospitalized again. The surgical intervention warranted good results.Conclusion: Treatment of suppurative hidradenitis of the perineum is complex, both in terms of local status and systematic violations resulting in chronic infection. There are numerous surgical techniques for treating this pathology. The advantages of deroofing are the following: minimal trauma to the patient, application by using local anesthesia at the early stage in order to minimize hospital stay, no need of special equipment, a lower recurrence rate than the other methods and formation of aesthetically acceptable scar

Parity assignments in 172,174Yb using polarized photons and the K quantum number in rare earth nuclei

The 100 % polarized photon beam at the High Intensity gamma-ray Source (HIgS) at Duke University has been used to determine the parity of six dipole excitations between 2.9 and 3.6 MeV in the deformed nuclei 172,174 Yb in photon scattering (g,g') experiments. The measured parities are compared with previous assignments based on the K quantum number that had been assigned in Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence (NRF) experiments by using the Alaga rules. A systematic survey of the relation between gamma-decay branching ratios and parity quantum numbers is given for the rare earth nuclei.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

The electric dipole response of 76^{76}Se above 4 MeV

The dipole response of $^{76}_{34}$Se in the energy range 4 to 9 MeV has been analyzed using a $(\vec\gamma,{\gamma}')$ polarized photon scattering technique, performed at the High Intensity $\gamma$-Ray Source facility, to complement previous work performed using unpolarized photons. The results of this work offer both an enhanced sensitivity scan of the dipole response and an unambiguous determination of the parities of the observed J=1 states. The dipole response is found to be dominated by $E1$ excitations, and can reasonably be attributed to a pygmy dipole resonance. Evidence is presented to suggest that a significant amount of directly unobserved excitation strength is present in the region, due to unobserved branching transitions in the decays of resonantly excited states. The dipole response of the region is underestimated when considering only ground state decay branches. We investigate the electric dipole response theoretically, performing calculations in a 3D cartesian-basis time-dependent Skyrme-Hartree-Fock framework.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, to be submitted to PR