Patient-controlled intravenous morphine analgesia combined with transcranial direct current stimulation for post-thoracotomy pain: A cost-effectiveness study and a feasibility for its future implementation

This prospective randomized study aims to evaluate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of combining transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with patient controlled intravenous morphine analgesia (PCA-IV) as part of multimodal analgesia after thoracotomy. Patients assigned to the active treatment group (a-tDCS

Exploring barriers to 'Respondent driven sampling' in sex worker and drug-injecting sex worker populations in Eastern Europe

Respondent driven sampling (RDS) has been used in several counties to sample injecting drug users, sex workers (SWs) and men who have sex with men and as a means of collecting behavioural and biological health data. We report on the use of RDS in three separate studies conducted among SWs between 2004 and 2005 in the Russian Federation, Serbia, and Montenegro. Findings suggest that there are limitations associated with the use of RDS in SW populations in these regions. Findings highlight three main factors that merit further investigation as a means of assessing the feasibility and appropriateness of RDS in this high risk population: the network characteristics of SWs; the appropriate level of participant incentives; and lack of service contact. The highly controlled and hidden nature of SW organizations and weak SW social networks in the region can combine to undermine assumptions underpinning the feasibility of RDS approaches and potentially severely limit recruitment. We discuss the implications of these findings for recruitment and the use of monetary and non-monetary incentives in future RDS studies of SW populations in Eastern Europe

Comparative Studies on the Reproductive and Productive Traits of New Hampshire and Sombor Crested Chicken Breeds Reared in Semi-Extensive Production System

Research was conducted on New Hampshire (in further text NH) and Sombor Crested (in further text SC) breeds which were kept in semi extensive system. 56 birds of each breed were used (50 females and 6 males) in the experiment. 100 eggs from every chicken breed were used for natural hatching, and remained eggs were sold. From the total number of the naturally incubated eggs, 83 (NH) and 85 (SC) chickens were hatched, and they were used for the study of performance and related parameters. Eggs and chickens originating from NH breed were statistically significantly heavier (P<0.001; P<0.01) compared with SC breed. Egg shape index and chicken percentage in egg weight were significantly higher at SC (P<0.001; P<0.05) compared to NH breed. Very strong positive correlation was determined between egg weight and chicken weight in both breeds. Very weak negative correlation was determined between egg weight and relative chicken intake in the egg weight. Similarly, between egg shape index and chicken weight, negative correlation coefficient was determined in both breeds. However, between egg shape index and chicken percentage, statistically significant (P<0.001) negative correlation coefficient was determined in NH breed. Significant (P<0.05) positive correlation for the same performances was determined in SC breed

Investigation of top mass measurements with the ATLAS detector at LHC

Several methods for the determination of the mass of the top quark with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are presented. All dominant decay channels of the top quark can be explored. The measurements are in most cases dominated by systematic uncertainties. New methods have been developed to control those related to the detector. The results indicate that a total error on the top mass at the level of 1 GeV should be achievable.Comment: 47 pages, 40 figure

Dimensional structural constants from chiral and conformal bosonization of QCD

We derive the dimensional non-perturbative part of the QCD effective action for scalar and pseudoscalar meson fields by means of chiral and conformal bosonization. The related structural coupling constants L_5 and L_8 of the chiral lagrangian are estimated using general relations which are valid in a variety of chiral bosonization models without explicit reference to model parameters. The asymptotics for large scalar fields in QCD is elaborated, and model-independent constraints on dimensional coupling constants of the effective meson lagrangian are evaluated. We determine also the interaction between scalar quarkonium and the gluon density and obtain the scalar glueball-quarkonium potential.Comment: 21 pages, LaTe

The influence of Fusarium infection on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) proteins distribution and baking quality

Under artificial Fusarium infection the total glutenin content determined by chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method was significantly reduced in comparison to gliadins which were increased. Among protein types, α-GLI and HMW-GS were the highest affected. Artificial Fusarium infection significantly increased GLI/GLU ratio when compared with the natural infected samples. Artificial Fusarium infection dramatically decreased the dough mixing tolerance and had a considerable negative effect on dough energy, maximum resistance, and resistance/extensibility ratio. Disturbed GLI/GLU ratio and an increased amount of mycotoxin DON under artificial Fusarium infection showed a strong negative impact on affected functional properties of dough and bread. Total and γ-GLI as well as GLI/GLU ratio were significantly positively affected by mycotoxin DON in contrast to total GLU, HMW-GS and LMW-GS which were negatively affected. Results indicated that the stability of baking quality parameters of cultivars more tolerance to the Fusarium infection can be well define by lower accumulation of mycotoxin DON

3D-4D Interlinkage Of qqq Wave Functions Under 3D Support For Pairwise Bethe-Salpeter Kernels

Using the method of Green's functions within a Bethe-Salpeter framework characterized by a pairwise qq interaction with a Lorentz-covariant 3D support to its kernel, the 4D BS wave function for a system of 3 identical relativistic spinless quarks is reconstructed from the corresponding 3D form which satisfies a fully connected 3D BSE. This result is a 3-body generalization of a similar 2-body result found earlier under identical conditions of a 3D support to the corresponding qq-bar BS kernel under Covariant Instaneity (CIA for short). (The generalization from spinless to fermion quarks is straightforward). To set the CIA with 3D BS kernel support ansatz in the context of contemporary approaches to the qqq baryon problem, a model scalar 4D qqq BSE with pairwise contact interactions to simulate the NJL-Faddeev equations is worked out fully, and a comparison of both vertex functions shows that the CIA vertex reduces exactly to the NJL form in the limit of zero spatial range. This consistency check on the CIA vertex function is part of a fuller accounting for its mathematical structure whose physical motivation is traceable to the role of `spectroscopy' as an integral part of the dynamics.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, submitted via the account of K.-C. Yan