Comparative assessment of efficacy of lignocaine (1.5 mg/kg), esmolol (300 µg/kg), and dexmedetomidine (0.5 µg/kg) in minimizing the pressor response to laryngoscopy and intubation

Background: The objectives of the present study were to compare the effect of lignocaine (1.5 mg/kg IV given 3 mins before laryngoscopy and intubation), esmolol (300 µg/kg as a bolus 2 mins before intubation), and dexmedetomidine (0.5 µg/kg IV over 10 mins) on the pressor response in non-hypertensive American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Grade I and II patients posted for elective surgery and the pharmacoeconomic and pharmacoepidemiological inferences drawn on comparison of these drugs.Methods: After approval by the Institutional Ethics Committee, 90 consenting adult patients aged 18-65 years of age of either sex of non-hypertensive ASA Grade I or II undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation were included in this randomized, prospective study protocol. (1) Group L: Patients were given IV lignocaine 1.5 mg/kg. (2) Group E: Patients were given IV esmolol 300 µg/kg. (3) Group D: Patients were given IV dexmedetomidine 0.5 μg/kg. Adequate monitoring, oxygenation, and hydration were established on the entry in the operating room (OR). All hemodynamic data were measured on arrival in OR, before induction, before intubation, and at 1, 3, 5 mins after intubation by an independent observer. Anesthesia was induced with thiopental sodium and fentanyl 2 μg/kg; intubation was performed with cuffed oral endotracheal tube of appropriate size for airway management. Surgery was allowed to start only after 5 mins of intubation.Results: Esmolol effectively blunted the blood pressure response to intubation, but incompletely attenuated the increase in heart rate (HR). Dexmedetomidine was more effective than lignocaine in minimizing the increase in HR, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) subsequent to endotracheal intubation.Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine 0.5 µg/kg has manifested to maintain hemodynamic stability associated with intubation and hence may prove beneficial for cardiac patients where the stress response to laryngoscopy and intubation is highly undesirable

Differentially Private Exponential Random Graphs

We propose methods to release and analyze synthetic graphs in order to protect privacy of individual relationships captured by the social network. Proposed techniques aim at fitting and estimating a wide class of exponential random graph models (ERGMs) in a differentially private manner, and thus offer rigorous privacy guarantees. More specifically, we use the randomized response mechanism to release networks under $\epsilon$-edge differential privacy. To maintain utility for statistical inference, treating the original graph as missing, we propose a way to use likelihood based inference and Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques to fit ERGMs to the produced synthetic networks. We demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed techniques on a real data example.Comment: minor edit

How Black Holes Form in High Energy Collisions

We elucidate how black holes form in trans-Planckian collisions. In the rest frame of one of the incident particles, the gravitational field of the other, which is rapidly moving, looks like a gravitational shock wave. The shock wave focuses the target particle down to a much smaller impact parameter. In turn, the gravitational field of the target particle captures the projectile when the resultant impact parameter is smaller than its own Schwarzschild radius, forming a black hole. One can deduce this by referring to the original argument of escape velocities exceeding the speed of light, which Michell and Laplace used to discover the existence of black holes.Comment: 8 pages, 3 .eps figures, essa

Exogenous WNT5A and WNT11 proteins rescue CITED2 dysfunction in mouse embryonic stem cells and zebrafish morphants

Mutations and inadequate methylation profiles of CITED2 are associated with human congenital heart disease (CHD). In mouse, Cited2 is necessary for embryogenesis, particularly for heart development, and its depletion in embryonic stem cells (ESC) impairs cardiac differentiation. We have now determined that Cited2 depletion in ESC affects the expression of transcription factors and cardiopoietic genes involved in early mesoderm and cardiac specification. Interestingly, the supplementation of the secretome prepared from ESC overexpressing CITED2, during the onset of differentiation, rescued the cardiogenic defects of Cited2-depleted ESC. In addition, we demonstrate that the proteins WNT5A and WNT11 held the potential for rescue. We also validated the zebrafish as a model to investigate cited2 function during development. Indeed, the microinjection of morpholinos targeting cited2 transcripts caused developmental defects recapitulating those of mice knockout models, including the increased propensity for cardiac defects and severe death rate. Importantly, the co-injection of anti-cited2 morpholinos with either CITED2 or WNT5A and WNT11 recombinant proteins corrected the developmental defects of Cited2-morphants. This study argues that defects caused by the dysfunction of Cited2 at early stages of development, including heart anomalies, may be remediable by supplementation of exogenous molecules, offering the opportunity to develop novel therapeutic strategies aiming to prevent CHD.Agência financiadora: Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Algarve (CCDR Algarve) ALG-01-0145-FEDER-28044; DFG 568/17-2 Algarve Biomedical Center (ABC) Municipio de Louléinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evidence of dispersion and refraction of a spectrally broad gravity wave packet in the mesopause region observed by the Na lidar and Mesospheric Temperature Mapper above Logan, Utah

Gravity wave packets excited by a source of finite duration and size possess a broad frequency and wave number spectrum and thus span a range of temporal and spatial scales. Observing at a single location relatively close to the source, the wave components with higher frequency and larger vertical wavelength dominate at earlier times and at higher altitudes, while the lower frequency components, with shorter vertical wavelength, dominate during the latter part of the propagation. Utilizing observations from the Na lidar at Utah State University and the nearby Mesospheric Temperature Mapper at Bear Lake Observatory (41.9ÁN, 111.4ÁW), we investigate a unique case of vertical dispersion for a spectrally broad gravity wave packet in the mesopause region over Logan, Utah (41.7ÁN, 111.8ÁW), that occurred on 2 September 2011, to study the waves\u27 evolution as it propagates upward. The lidar-observed temperature perturbation was dominated by close to a 1 h modulation at 100 km during the early hours but gradually evolved into a 1.5 h modulation during the second half of the night. The vertical wavelength also decreased simultaneously, while the vertical group and phase velocities of the packet apparently slowed, as it was approaching a critical level during the second half of the night. A two-dimensional numerical model is used to simulate the observed gravity wave processes, finding that the location of the lidar relative to the source can strongly influence which portion of the spectrum can be observed at a particular location relative to a source. © 2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved

Coefficient of restitution for elastic disks

We calculate the coefficient of restitution, $\epsilon$, starting from a microscopic model of elastic disks. The theory is shown to agree with the approach of Hertz in the quasistatic limit, but predicts inelastic collisions for finite relative velocities of two approaching disks. The velocity dependence of $\epsilon$ is calculated numerically for a wide range of velocities. The coefficient of restitution furthermore depends on the elastic constants of the material via Poisson's number. The elastic vibrations absorb kinetic energy more effectively for materials with low values of the shear modulus.Comment: 25 pages, 12 Postscript figures, LaTex2