Effects of Propanidid and Thiopentone on the Acid-Base Status of Babies Delivered by Elective Caesarean Section

The effects of propanidid and thiopentone on the acidbase status of babies delivered by elective Caesarean section have been compared. The only significant difference between the 2 groups was the lower umbilical cord venous blood pCO) levels in the propanidid group. The acid-base status in both these groups of babies was not as good as in those delivered after induction delivery times of less than 6 minutes when thiopentone had been used as the induction agent. The clinical state of the babies in the propanidid group was superior to that in the thiopentone group, and at least equal to that of the group with the short induction-delivery interval.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 1019 (1974

Geochronological challenges posed by continuously developing tectonometamorphic systems: insights from Rb–Sr mica ages from the Cycladic Blueschist Belt, Syros (Greece).

Is metamorphism and its causative tectonics best viewed as a series of punctuated events or as a continuum? This question is addressed through examination of the timing of exhumation of the Cycladic Blueschist Belt (CBB). The cause of scatter beyond analytical error in Rb–Sr geochronology was investigated using a suite of 39 phengite samples. Rb–Sr ages have been measured on phengite microsamples drilled from specific microstructures in thin sections of calcschists and metabasites from the CBB on Syros. The majority are from samples that have well-preserved blueschist facies mineral assemblages with limited greenschist facies overprint. The peak metamorphic temperatures involved are below the closure temperature for white mica so that crystallization ages are expected to be preserved. This is supported by the coexistence of different ages in microstructures of different relative age; in one sample phengite from the dominant extensional blueschist facies fabric preserves an age of 35 Ma while post-tectonic mica, millimetres away, has an age of 26 Ma. The results suggest that micro-sampling techniques linked to detailed microstructural analysis are critical to understanding the timing and duration of deformation in tectonometamorphic systems. North of the Serpentinite Belt in northern Syros, phengite Rb–Sr ages are generally between 53 and 46 Ma, comparable to previous dates from this area. South of the Serpentinite Belt phengite in blueschist facies assemblages associated with extensional fabrics linked to exhumation have ages that range from 42 Ma down to c. 30 Ma indicating that extensional deformation while still under blueschist facies conditions continued until 30 Ma. No age measurements on samples with unambiguous evidence of deformation under greenschist facies conditions were made; two rocks with greenschist facies assemblages gave phengite ages that overlap with the younger blueschist samples, suggesting blueschist facies phengite is preserved in these rocks. Two samples yielded ages below 27 Ma; one is from a post-tectonic microstructure, the other from a greenschist in which the fabric developed during earlier blueschist facies conditions. These ages are consistent with previous evidence of greenschist facies conditions from c. 25 Ma onwards. The data are consistent with a model of deformation that is continuous on a regional scale

An Early Cambrian Rift to Post-Rift Transition in the Cordillera of Western North America

The upper Proterozoic and lower Palaeozoic wedge of miogeoclinal strata in the North American Cordillera is widely regarded as evidence for a proto-Pacific passive margin. The rifting history of this margin appears to have been protracted, possibly spanning more than 200 Myr in a tectonic setting that is not well understood. Quantitative subsidence analyses of lower Palaeozoic strata between British Columbia and Utah, however, provide indirect evidence that the transition from rifting to post-rift cooling occurred within a relatively short interval of time, although probably not synchronously, between 600 and 555 Myr. This age is significantly younger than that implied in previous studies. We describe here new field data, which, together with published geological data, provide direct evidence of a latest Proterozoic or early Cambrian age for the rift to post-rift transition. The data support recent arguments for widespread initiation of passive margins around the edge of the North American craton close to the Cambrian-Precambrian boundary

Myocardial expression of a constitutively active alpha 1B-adrenergic receptor in transgenic mice induces cardiac hypertrophy.

Transgenic mice were generated by using the alpha-myosin heavy chain promoter coupled to the coding sequence of a constitutively active mutant alpha 1B-adrenergic receptor (AR). These transgenic animals demonstrated cardiac-specific expression of this alpha 1-AR with resultant activation of phospholipase C as shown by increased myocardial diacylglycerol content. A phenotype consistent with cardiac hypertrophy developed in adult transgenic mice with increased heart/body weight ratios, myocyte cross-sectional areas, and ventricular atrial natriuretic factor mRNA levels relative to nontransgenic controls. These transgenic animals may provide insight into the biochemical triggers that induce hypertrophy in cardiac disease and serve as a convenient experimental model for studies of this condition

Essential role of beta-adrenergic receptor kinase 1 in cardiac development and function.

The beta-adrenergic receptor kinase 1 (beta ARK1) is a member of the G protein-coupled receptor kinase (GRK) family that mediates the agonist-dependent phosphorylation and desensitization of G protein-coupled receptors. We have cloned and disrupted the beta ARK1 gene in mice by homologous recombination. No homozygote beta ARK1-/- embryos survive beyond gestational day 15.5. Prior to gestational day 15.5, beta ARK1-/- embryos display pronounced hypoplasia of the ventricular myocardium essentially identical to the "thin myocardium syndrome" observed upon gene inactivation of several transcription factors (RXR alpha, N-myc, TEF-1, WT-1). Lethality in beta ARK1-/- embryos is likely due to heart failure as they exhibit a > 70% decrease in cardiac ejection fraction determined by direct in utero intravital microscopy. These results along with the virtual absence of endogenous GRK activity in beta ARK1-/- embryos demonstrate that beta ARK1 appears to be the predominant GRK in early embryogenesis and that it plays a fundamental role in cardiac development

The Cosmic Microwave Background and Particle Physics

In forthcoming years, connections between cosmology and particle physics will be made increasingly important with the advent of a new generation of cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments. Here, we review a number of these links. Our primary focus is on new CMB tests of inflation. We explain how the inflationary predictions for the geometry of the Universe and primordial density perturbations will be tested by CMB temperature fluctuations, and how the gravitational waves predicted by inflation can be pursued with the CMB polarization. The CMB signatures of topological defects and primordial magnetic fields from cosmological phase transitions are also discussed. Furthermore, we review current and future CMB constraints on various types of dark matter (e.g. massive neutrinos, weakly interacting massive particles, axions, vacuum energy), decaying particles, the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, exotic cosmological topologies, and other new physics.Comment: 43 pages. To appear in Annual Reviews of Nuclear and Particle Scienc

Incidence and drug treatment of emotional distress after cancer diagnosis : a matched primary care case-control study

Notes This work is published under the standard license to publish agreement. After 12 months the work will become freely available and the license terms will switch to a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Breakdown of the adiabatic limit in low dimensional gapless systems

It is generally believed that a generic system can be reversibly transformed from one state into another by sufficiently slow change of parameters. A standard argument favoring this assertion is based on a possibility to expand the energy or the entropy of the system into the Taylor series in the ramp speed. Here we show that this argumentation is only valid in high enough dimensions and can break down in low-dimensional gapless systems. We identify three generic regimes of a system response to a slow ramp: (A) mean-field, (B) non-analytic, and (C) non-adiabatic. In the last regime the limits of the ramp speed going to zero and the system size going to infinity do not commute and the adiabatic process does not exist in the thermodynamic limit. We support our results by numerical simulations. Our findings can be relevant to condensed-matter, atomic physics, quantum computing, quantum optics, cosmology and others.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Nature Physics (originally submitted version

Equilibrium configurations of two charged masses in General Relativity

An asymptotically flat static solution of Einstein-Maxwell equations which describes the field of two non-extreme Reissner - Nordstr\"om sources in equilibrium is presented. It is expressed in terms of physical parameters of the sources (their masses, charges and separating distance). Very simple analytical forms were found for the solution as well as for the equilibrium condition which guarantees the absence of any struts on the symmetry axis. This condition shows that the equilibrium is not possible for two black holes or for two naked singularities. However, in the case when one of the sources is a black hole and another one is a naked singularity, the equilibrium is possible at some distance separating the sources. It is interesting that for appropriately chosen parameters even a Schwarzschild black hole together with a naked singularity can be "suspended" freely in the superposition of their fields.Comment: 4 pages; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

A Cretaceous origin for fire adaptations in the Cape flora

Fire has had a profound effect on the evolution of worldwide biotas. The Cape Floristic Region is one of the world's most species-rich regions, yet it is highly prone to recurrent fires and fire-adapted species contribute strongly to the overall flora. It is hypothesized that the current fire regimes in the Cape could be as old as 6-8 million years (My), while indirect evidence indicates that the onset of fire could have reached 18 million years ago (Ma). Here, we trace the origin of fire-dependent traits in two monocot families that are significant elements in the fire-prone Cape flora. Our analysis shows that fire-stimulated flowering originated in the Cape Haemodoraceae 81 Ma, while fire-stimulated germination arose in the African Restionaceae at least 70 Ma, implying that wildfires have been a significant force in the evolution of the Cape flora at least 60 My earlier than previous estimates. Our results provide strong evidence for the presence of fire adaptations in the Cape from the Cretaceous, leading to the extraordinary persistence of a fire-adapted flora in this biodiversity hotspot, and giving support to the hypothesis that Cretaceous fire was a global phenomenon that shaped the evolution of terrestrial floras