1,301 research outputs found
Deceiving Two Masters: The Effects of Financial Incentives and Reputational Concerns on Reporting Bias
We study managersâ decisions to bias financial reports if these reports are used by capital and labor markets to learn about firm value and managerial talent. If managers have private information on their financial and reputational incentives, we identify interactions in the capital and labor marketsâ use of reports: The reception of reports in one market motivates reporting bias, which reduces value relevance and price efficiency in the other market. This interaction changes established results and has implications for financial reporting standard setters: We characterize environments where capital market efficiency can be improved by eliminating information on managerial talent from financial reports â even if this information is relevant for investors. This is particularly the case if there is high uncertainty about managersâ reputational concerns and if talent uncertainty represents a small part of the overall fundamental uncertainty
Far-off-equilibrium expansion trajectories in the QCD phase diagram
We consider the hydrodynamic evolution of a quark-gluon gas with non-zero
quark masses and net baryon number in its phase diagram. For
far-off-equilibrium initial conditions the expansion trajectories appear to
violate simple rules based on the second law of thermodynamics that were
previously established for ideal or weakly dissipative fluids. For Bjorken flow
we present a detailed analysis within kinetic theory that provides a full
microscopic understanding of these macroscopic phenomena and establishes their
thermodynamic consistency. We point out that, for certain far-off-equilibrium
initial conditions, the well-known phenomenon of "viscous heating" turns into
"viscous cooling" where, driven by dissipative effects, the temperature
decreases faster than in adiabatic expansion.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures (manuscript now in PRC format, added references
Fluid dynamics from the Boltzmann equation using a maximum entropy distribution
Using the recently developed ``Maximum Entropy'' (or ``least biased'')
distribution function to truncate the moment hierarchy arising from kinetic
theory, we formulate a far-from-equilibrium macroscopic theory that provides
the possibility of describing both free-streaming and hydrodynamic regimes of
heavy-ion collisions within a single framework. Unlike traditional hydrodynamic
theories that include viscous corrections to finite order, the present
formulation incorporates contributions to all orders in shear and bulk inverse
Reynolds numbers, allowing it to handle large dissipative fluxes. By
considering flow profiles relevant for heavy-ion collisions (Bjorken and Gubser
flows), we demonstrate that the present approach provides excellent agreement
with underlying kinetic theory throughout the fluid's evolution and,
especially, in far-off-equilibrium regimes where traditional hydrodynamics
breaks down.Comment: 29 pages, 19 figure
Quality of Postoperative Pain Management after Midfacial Fracture RepairâAn Outcome-oriented Study
Objectives
There is a lack of literature regarding the procedure-specific quality of acute postoperative pain management after midfacial fracture repair. The purpose of the presented prospective clinical study was to evaluate postoperative pain management after surgical repair of midfacial fractures. Materials and methods
Eighty-five adults were evaluated on the first postoperative day following midfacial repair using the questionnaire of the Quality Improvement in Postoperative Pain Management (QUIPS) project. The main outcome measures were patientsâ characteristics and clinical- and patient-reported outcome parameters. Results
Overall, pain on the first postoperative day was moderate. A significant correlation between process and outcome parameters could be shown. Duration of surgery above the calculated median was significantly associated with higher maximum pain intensity (pâ=â0.017). Patients requiring opioids in the recovery room presented significantly higher pain on activity (pâ=â0.029) and maximum pain (pâ=â0.035). Sleeping impairment (pâ=â0.001) and mood disturbance (pâ=â0.008) were significantly more prevalent in patients undergoing repair of a centrolateral midfacial fracture. Conclusions
QUIPS is a simple and qualified tool to evaluate the procedure specific quality of acute postoperative pain management. Pain on the first postoperative day following midfacial fracture repair seems overall to be moderate. Nearly a third of the patients showed inadequate postoperative pain management. To prevent inadequate postoperative pain management, it is necessary to establish a continued procedure-specific outcome measurement
The nature of linguistic short-term memory and children's comprehension of spoken and written language
Comprehension of natural language suffers at input rates
above the normal speech range. If the same were true for
very slow input, this would have important implications
for certain types of readers. Slow reading rates exceeding
the temporal capacity of a hypothesized short-term
memory (STM) store, believed to play a central role in
the processing of sentences, has been blamed for observed
comprehension deficits in slow readers. A study involving
several groups of slow-reading children showed that good
comprehension can be achieved even if the hypothesized
limits of the STM store are exceeded. The results of the
study can be explained in terms of alternate models of
sentence processing which (a) redefine the conventional
view of a largely passive STM, strictly limited in capacity
and function, into STM as a working space with
considerable flexibility and semantic processing capability,
or (b) models which are based on a more unitary view
of memory and information processing with no need for a
separate STM, or where something like a STM is retained
but with a less crucial importance for language processing.
The results also indicate that theorists and practitioners
in fields outside psychology should exercise caution in
extrapolating findings from experimental psychology involving
atypical material and settings to tasks and situations
requiring natural language processing such as in the
reading and comprehension of meaningful prose in everyday
life
An Individualized Approach to Abdominoplasty in the Presence of Bilateral Subcostal Scars after Open Gastric Bypass
Background: Patients requiring surgical skin excision after massive weight loss are challenging and require an individualized approach. The characteristic abdominal deformity includes a draping apron of panniculus, occasionally associated with previous transverse surgical scars from open gastric bypass surgery in the upper abdomen, which compromise blood supply of the abdominal skin. Methods: We propose four different surgical techniques for safe abdominal body contouring in the presence of such scars: (1) a limited abdominoplasty of the lower abdomen is performed, and then contouring is completed by a reversed abdominoplasty with scar positioning in the submammary folds; (2) a one-stage procedure characterized by skin resection in the upper and lower abdomen, in which blood supply of the skin island between the submammary and suprapubic incisions is ensured by periumbilical perforators; (3) a perforator-sparing abdominoplasty with selective dissection of periumbilical abdominal wall perforators to secure flap blood supply and allow complete flap undermining up to the xyphoid process; (4) for patients with extensive excess skin, a modified Fleur-de-Lys abdominoplasty performed in such a way that the old transverse scar is transformed into a vertical scar. Results: The treatment of four exemplary patients is described. All techniques yielded good esthetic and functional results through preservation of abdominal blood supply. Conclusion: Through an individualized approach, adequate abdominal body contouring can be performed safely, even in the presence of transverse surgical scars in the upper abdome
The plasminogen activator system modulates sympathetic nerve function
Sympathetic neurons synthesize and release tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA). We investigated whether t-PA modulates sympathetic activity. t-PA inhibition markedly reduced contraction of the guinea pig vas deferens to electrical field stimulation (EFS) and norepinephrine (NE) exocytosis from cardiac synaptosomes. Recombinant t-PA (rt-PA) induced exocytotic and carrier-mediated NE release from cardiac synaptosomes and cultured neuroblastoma cells; this was a plasmin-independent effect but was potentiated by a fibrinogen cleavage product. Notably, hearts from t-PAânull mice released much less NE upon EFS than their wild-type (WT) controls (i.e., a 76.5% decrease; P < 0.01), whereas hearts from plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1)ânull mice released much more NE (i.e., a 275% increase; P < 0.05). Furthermore, vasa deferentia from t-PAânull mice were hyporesponsive to EFS (P < 0.0001) but were normalized by the addition of rt-PA. In contrast, vasa from PAI-1ânull mice were much more responsive (P < 0.05). Coronary NE overflow from hearts subjected to ischemia/reperfusion was much smaller in t-PAânull than in WT control mice (P < 0.01). Furthermore, reperfusion arrhythmias were significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in t-PAânull hearts. Thus, t-PA enhances NE release from sympathetic nerves and contributes to cardiac arrhythmias in ischemia/reperfusion. Because the risk of arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death is increased in hyperadrenergic conditions, targeting the NE-releasing effect of t-PA may have valuable therapeutic potential
Human Skin Permeation Enhancement Using PLGA Nanoparticles Is Mediated by Local pH Changes
The steady improvement and optimization of transdermal permeation is a constant and
challenging pharmaceutical task. In this study the influence of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA)
nanoparticles on the dermal permeation of the anti-inflammatory drug flufenamic acid (FFA) was
investigated. For this aim, different vehicles under non-buffered and buffered conditions and different
skin models (human heat separated epidermis and reconstructed human epidermis equivalents)
were tested. Permeation experiments were performed using static Franz diffusion cells under infinite
dosing conditions. Already the presence of drug-free nanoparticles increased drug permeation
across the skin. Drug permeation was even enhanced when applying drug-loaded nanoparticles. In
contrast, buffered vehicles with different pH values (pH 5.4â7.4) revealed the influence of the pH
on the permeation of FFA. The change of the surrounding pH of the biodegradable nanoparticulate
system was demonstrated and visualized using pH-sensitive fluorescent probes. While a potential
contribution of hair follicles could be ruled out, our data suggest that the enhanced permeation of
FFA through human skin in the presence of PLGA nanoparticles is mediated by a locally decreased
pH during hydrolytic degradation of this polymer. This hypothesis is supported by the observation
that skin permeation of the weak base caffeine was not affected
Is Ultracision Knife Safe and Efficient for Breast Capsulectomy? A Preliminary Study
Background: Silicone breast implants are used to a wide extent in the field of plastic surgery. However, capsular contracture remains a considerable concern. This study aimed to analyze the effectiveness and applicability of an ultracision knife for capsulectomy breast surgery. Methods: A prospective, single-center, randomized study was performed in 2009. The inclusion criteria specified female patients 20-80years of age with capsular contracture (Baker 3-4). Ventral capsulectomy was performed using an ultracision knife on one side and the conventional Metzenbaum-type scissors and surgical knife on the collateral side of the breast. Measurements of the resected capsular ventral fragment, operative time, remaining breast tissue, drainage time, seroma and hematoma formation, visual analog scale pain score, and sensory function of the nipple-areola complex were assessed. In addition, histologic analysis of the resected capsule was performed. Results: Five patients (median age, 59.2years) were included in this study with a mean follow-up period of 6months. Three patients had Baker grade 3 capsular contracture, and two patients had Baker grade 4 capsular contracture. The ultracision knife was associated with a significantly lower pain score, shorter operative time, smaller drainage volume, and shorter drainage time and resulted in a larger amount of remaining breast tissue. Histologic analysis of the resected capsule showed no apoptotic cells in the study group or control group. Conclusions: The results suggest that ventral capsulectomy with Baker grade 3 or 4 contracture using the ultracision knife is feasible, safe, and more efficient than blunt dissection and monopolar cutting diathermy and has a short learning curve. Level of Evidence II: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors at www.springer.com/0026
- âŠ