1,521 research outputs found
The Putdown: Intergenerational Communicative Dynamics of Male Characteristics in the Plays of August Wilson
Statistical Computations with AstroGrid and the Grid
We outline our first steps towards marrying two new and emerging
technologies; the Virtual Observatory (e.g, AstroGrid) and the computational
grid. We discuss the construction of VOTechBroker, which is a modular software
tool designed to abstract the tasks of submission and management of a large
number of computational jobs to a distributed computer system. The broker will
also interact with the AstroGrid workflow and MySpace environments. We present
our planned usage of the VOTechBroker in computing a huge number of n-point
correlation functions from the SDSS, as well as fitting over a million CMBfast
models to the WMAP data.Comment: Invited talk to appear in "Proceedings of PHYSTAT05: Statistical
Problems in Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Interaction of replacing corn silage with soyhulls as a roughage source with or without 3% added wheat straw in the diet: impacts on intake, digestibility, and ruminal fermentation in steers fed high-concentrate diets
Six ruminally cannulated steers [475.0 ± 49.6 kg initial body weight (BW)] were used in a 6 × 3 incomplete Latin square design (six treatments and three periods), to evaluate the impacts replacing of corn silage with pelleted soyhulls as roughage in high-concentrate finishing diets containing 30% modified distillers grains with solubles. Treatments were based on increasing dietary inclusion of soyhulls and consisted of: (1) Control (0), roughage supplied by dietary inclusion of 20% corn silage [dry matter (DM) basis]; (2) 50% replacement of corn silage with soyhulls (50); (3) 100% replacement of corn silage with soyhulls (100), and the same three treatments repeated with 3% added wheat straw (DM basis) replacing corn in the diet (0S, 50S, and 100S, respectively). Absolute dry matter intake (DMI; kg/d basis) tended to decrease both linearly and quadratically (P ≤ 0.09) and proportional DMI (% of BW) decreased linearly (P = 0.04) with increasing soyhull inclusion but was not affected by the addition of straw in the diet (P = 0.68). Total tract digestibility of organic matter and crude protein were not affected by soyhull inclusion or added straw (P ≥ 0.32). Ruminal pH did not differ (P = 0.65) with increasing soyhull inclusion but increased with the addition of straw (P \u3c 0.01; 5.9 vs. 6.1 for no straw and straw, respectively). Molar proportions of acetate and butyrate decreased while propionate increased with increased soyhull inclusion (P ≤ 0.03; linearly and quadratically, respectively). Ruminal fluid kinetics were unaffected by either rate of replacement of corn silage with soyhulls or wheat straw inclusion (P ≥ 0.13). Decreases in DMI observed in this study would likely decrease finishing cattle performance and underscores the need for additional research before recommending this practice to cattle feeders
Effects of Growth Hormone Treatment in Adults with Prader-Willi Syndrome
OBJECTIVE: Since limited data exist on adults with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and growth hormone (GH) treatment, we report our experience on the effects of treatment for one year on body composition, physical activity, strength and energy expenditure, diet, general chemistry and endocrine data with quality of life measures. DESIGN: We studied 11 adults with PWS (6F:5M; average age = 32 yrs) over a 2 year period with GH treatment during the first year only. Electrolytes, IGF-I, glucose, thyroid, insulin, lipids, body composition, physical activity and strength, diet, energy expenditure and quality of life data were collected and analyzed statistically using linear modeling at baseline, at 12 months following GH therapy and at 24 months after treatment cessation for 12 months. RESULTS: Total lean muscle mass was significantly increased (p < 0.05) during GH treatment along with moderate-vigorous physical activity and plasma IGF-I and HDL levels, but returned to near baseline after treatment. Percent body fat decreased during the 12 months of GH treatment but increased after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Previously reported beneficial effects of GH treatment in children with PWS were found in our adults regarding body composition, physical activity and plasma HDL and IGF-I levels. Several beneficial effects diminished to near baseline after cessation of GH treatment for 12 months supporting the continuation of treatment in PWS into adulthood and possibly adults not previously treated during childhood
Determination of Optimal Deployment Strategy For Reboa in Patients With Non-Compressible Hemorrhage Below the Diaphragm
BACKGROUND: Non-compressible truncal hemorrhage (NCTH) is the leading cause of preventable death after trauma. Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) achieves temporary hemorrhage control, supporting cardiac and cerebral perfusion prior to definitive hemostasis. Aortic zone selection algorithms vary among institutions. We evaluated the efficacy of an algorithm for REBOA use.
METHODS: A multicenter prospective, observational study conducted at six level 1 trauma centers over 12 months. Inclusion criteria were age \u3e15 years with evidence of infradiaphragmatic NCTH needing emergent hemorrhage control within 60 min of ED arrival. An algorithm characterized by the results of focused assessment with sonography in trauma and pelvic X-ray was assessed post hoc for efficacy in a cohort of patients receiving REBOA.
RESULTS: Of the 8166 patients screened, 78 patients had a REBOA placed. 21 patients were excluded, leaving 57 patients for analysis. The algorithm ensures REBOA deployment proximal to hemorrhage source to control bleeding in 98.2% of cases and accurately predicts the optimal REBOA zone in 78.9% of cases. If the algorithm was violated, bleeding was optimally controlled in only 43.8% (p=0.01). Three (75.0%) of the patients that received an inappropriate zone 1 REBOA died, two from multiple organ failure (MOF). All three patients that died with an inappropriate zone 3 REBOA died from exsanguination.
DISCUSSION: This algorithm ensures proximal hemorrhage control and accurately predicts the primary source of hemorrhage. We propose a new algorithm that will be more inclusive. A zone 3 REBOA should not be performed when a zone 1 is indicated by the algorithm as 100% of these patients exsanguinated. MOF, perhaps from visceral ischemia in patients with an inappropriate zone 1 REBOA, may have been prevented with zone 3 placement or limited zone 1 occlusion time.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III
A model for the postcollapse equilibrium of cosmological structure: truncated isothermal spheres from top-hat density perturbations
The postcollapse structure of objects which form by gravitational
condensation out of the expanding cosmological background universe is a key
element in the theory of galaxy formation. Towards this end, we have
reconsidered the outcome of the nonlinear growth of a uniform, spherical
density perturbation in an unperturbed background universe - the cosmological
``top-hat'' problem. We adopt the usual assumption that the collapse to
infinite density at a finite time predicted by the top-hat solution is
interrupted by a rapid virialization caused by the growth of small-scale
inhomogeneities in the initial perturbation. We replace the standard
description of the postcollapse object as a uniform sphere in virial
equilibrium by a more self-consistent one as a truncated, nonsingular,
isothermal sphere in virial and hydrostatic equilibrium, including for the
first time a proper treatment of the finite-pressure boundary condition on the
sphere. The results differ significantly from both the uniform sphere and the
singular isothermal sphere approximations for the postcollapse objects. These
results will have a significant effect on a wide range of applications of the
Press-Schechter and other semi-analytical models to cosmology. The truncated
isothermal sphere solution presented here predicts the virial temperature and
integrated mass distribution of the X-ray clusters formed in the CDM model as
found by detailed, 3D, numerical gas and N-body dynamical simulations
remarkably well. This solution allows us to derive analytically the
numerically-calibrated mass-temperature and radius-temperature scaling laws for
X-ray clusters which were derived empirically by Evrard, Metzler and Navarro
from simulation results for the CDM model. (Shortened)Comment: 29 pages, 7 ps figures, MNRAS-style, LaTeX. Accepted for publication
in MNRAS. Minor revisions only (including additional panel in Fig.3 and
additional comparison with X-ray cluster simulations
False-negative SARS-CoV-2 Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) is an Important Consideration for Patient Management and Infection Prevention: A Case Report from The Louisville COVID-19 Epidemiology Study
We report a case of false negative SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR on nasopharyngeal swab. Treating clinicians and infection preventionists should maintain a high suspicion for COVID-19 in the appropriate clinical setting despite negative test results. Utilization of chest CT should be strongly considered in the diagnostic work-up for suspected COVID-19, particularly in areas with limited RT-PCR availability
Why Every Hospital Needs a COVID-19 Clinical Case Review Team
A hospital’s response to a global pandemic requires a coordinated effort to provide consistent guidance as information rapidly changes. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, diagnosis and subsequent containment was challenging due to unfamiliarity with disease presentation, unknown reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction sensitivity and inconsistent access to testing supplies. A centralized COVID-19 clinical case review team can provide guidance on test interpretation, isolation, resource coordination and more
Effects of the halo concentration distribution on strong-lensing optical depth and X-ray emission
We use simulated merger trees of galaxy-cluster halos to study the effect of
the halo concentration distribution on strong lensing and X-ray emission. Its
log-normal shape typically found in simulations favors outliers with high
concentration. Since, at fixed mass, more concentrated halos tend to be more
efficient lenses, the scatter in the concentration increases the strong-lensing
optical depth by . Within cluster samples, mass and concentration
have counteracting effects on strong lensing and X-ray emission because the
concentration decreases for increasing mass. Selecting clusters by
concentration thus has no effect on the lensing cross section. The most
efficiently lensing and hottest clusters are typically the \textit{least}
concentrated in samples with a broad mass range. Among cluster samples with a
narrow mass range, however, the most strongly lensing and X-ray brightest
clusters are typically 10% to 25% more concentrated.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures. Version accepted by A&
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