4,804 research outputs found
Comparing methods to facilitate sit to stand post-stroke
Introduction: Sit-to-stand (STS) is a prerequisite to walking and independent living.
Following stroke, patients often perform STS asymmetrically. Physiotherapists use
different techniques to help patients relearn symmetry in STS. The effects of two
techniques, verbal and manual cueing on STS symmetry post-stroke were compared.
Methods: A randomized outcome-blinded intervention trial was conducted in a stroke
rehabilitation unit. 10 participants were randomly assigned to a manual or verbal cue
group. Participants completed 40 repetitions of STS daily for ten days. Sitting and
standing symmetry, measures of lower limb mobility, balance and gait were assessed.
Results: Standing symmetry, balance and lower limb mobility significantly improved in
both groups with no significant differences between groups. STS symmetry did not
change following training.
Conclusion: Both verbal and manual cueing led to improved standing symmetry,
however STS remained asymmetrical. The improvements observed in both manual and
verbal cueing techniques suggest that effective cueing combined with massed-practice of
STS result in improved overall functional mobility
The 1991-2012 Light Curve of the Old Nova HR LYRAE
The 22 yr light curve of HR Lyr, acquired with a typical cadence of 2-6 days, is examined for periodic and quasi-periodic variations. No persistent periodicities are revealed. Rather, the light curve variations often take the form of nearly linear rises and falls having typical e-folding times of about 100 days. Occasional ~0.6 mag outbursts are also seen, with properties similar to those of small outbursts found in some nova-like cataclysmic variables. When the photometry is formed into yearly averages, a decline of 0.012 ± 0.005 mag yr–1 is apparent, consistent with the fading of irradiation-induced following the nova. The equivalent width of Hα is tabulated at three epochs over the interval 1986-2008 in order to compare with a recent result for DK Lac in which Hα was found to be fading 50 yr after the nova. However, our results for such a fading in HR Lyr are inconclusive. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved
Ca2+ transport and Ca2+-dependent ATP hydrolysis by Golgi vesicles from lactating rat mammary glands
The Algorithm Steering and Trigger Decision mechanism of the ATLAS High Level Trigger
Given the extremely high output rate foreseen at LHC and the general-purpose
nature of ATLAS experiment, an efficient and flexible way to select events in
the High Level Trigger is needed. An extremely flexible solution is proposed
that allows for early rejection of unwanted events and an easily configurable
way to choose algorithms and to specify the criteria for trigger decisions. It
is implemented in the standard ATLAS object-oriented software framework,
Athena. The early rejection is achieved by breaking the decision process down
into sequential steps. The configuration of each step defines sequences of
algorithms which should be used to process the data, and 'trigger menus' that
define which physics signatures must be satisfied to continue on to the next
step, and ultimately to accept the event. A navigation system has been built on
top of the standard Athena transient store (StoreGate) to link the event data
together in a tree-like structure. This is fundamental to the seeding
mechanism, by which data from one step is presented to the next. The design
makes it straightforward to utilize existing off-line reconstruction data
classes and algorithms when they are suitableComment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics
(CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 8 pages, PDF, PSN TUGT00
Exposure to diesel exhaust particles increases susceptibility to invasive pneumococcal disease.
BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution is responsible for 7 million deaths per annum, with 7% of these attributable to pneumonia. Many of these fatalities have been linked to exposure to high levels of airborne particulates, such as diesel exhaust particles (DEPs). OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether exposure to DEPs could promote the progression of asymptomatic nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae to invasive pneumococcal disease. METHODS: We used mouse models and in vitro assays to provide a mechanistic understanding of the link between DEP exposure and pneumococcal disease risk, and we confirmed our findings by using induced sputum macrophages isolated from healthy human volunteers. RESULTS: We demonstrate that inhaled exposure to DEPs disrupts asymptomatic nasopharyngeal carriage of S pneumoniae in mice, leading to dissemination to lungs and blood. Pneumococci are transported from the nasopharynx to the lungs following exposure to DEPs, leading to increased proinflammatory cytokine production, reduced phagocytic function of alveolar macrophages, and consequently, increased pneumococcal loads within the lungs and translocation into blood. These findings were confirmed by using DEP-exposed induced sputum macrophages isolated from healthy volunteers, demonstrating that impaired innate immune mechanisms following DEP exposure are also at play in humans. CONCLUSION: Lung inhaled DEPs increase susceptibility to pneumococcal disease by leading to loss of immunological control of pneumococcal colonisation, increased inflammation, tissue damage, and systemic bacterial dissemination
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