In a double-blind multiclinic trial, a new nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent (ibuprofen) was compared with an established therapeutic agent (phenylbutazone-alka) for the treatment of ...osteoarthritis. Of the 159 patients from the 17 contributing clinics, 144 completed the four weeks of therapy. More than 60 per cent of them reported improvement in exercise-related pain by week 4, and there was no significant difference between treatment groups. The patients' and the physicians' evaluations of the total state of disease, as well as range-of-motion and functional tests, demonstrated similar degrees of improvement in both treatment groups. The incidence of side effects was within acceptable limits, and the frequency distribution was similar in both groups. Of the 70 reported side effects, 29 were considered by the investigator (blind trial) to be drug-related-11 in association with ibuprofen and 18 with phenylbutazone-alka. Hematologic and blood chemical studies, as well as urine and stool examinations, yielded normal results with the exception of a reduced mean value for serum uric acid and a slightly elevated mean value for SGPT in the phenylbutazone-alka group.
From November 1970 to August 1974 small intestinal bypass was performed in 475 patients for morbid obesity with an operative mortality of 1.6%. Immediate postoperative complications were superficial ...wound infection (17 patients), pulmonary complications (seven patients), cardiac complications (five patients), wound dehiscence (nine patients), intestinal tract fistula (four patients), and miscellaneous complications (14 patients). Delayed complications included hypokalemia (28%), hypocalcemia (9%), anemia (11%), calcium oxalate urinary calculi (6%), gout (2%), and hepatic failure (1.4%). Fourteen patients died of late complications. Ventral incisional hernia occurred in 3% of the patients; failure to lose sufficient weight in 21%, all but one occurring in patients with end-to-side shunts. Thirteen end-to-side shunts have been converted to end-to-end shunts because of insufficient weight loss. A team concept is important in the handling of the morbidly obese. Small bowel bypass is effective in producing sustained weight reduction in these patients. Careful and continued study of these patients for the rest of their lives is of paramount importance.
We use Canadian Auroral Network for the OPEN Program Unified Study All-Sky Imager (ASI) and Meridional Scanning Photometer (MSP) data as the basis for a study of the dynamics of large-scale (hundreds ...of kilometers) auroral vortices. We consider 28 events corresponding to a range of auroral activity levels. Three of these are presented in detail, one corresponding to growth phase, one to pseudo-breakup, and one to expansive phase onset. We show that vortex formation starts from a discrete arc with half thickness delta of the order of 20 km. This arc intensifies near the poleward boundary of enhanced proton aurora, as seen in the H-beta MSP data, and becomes azimuthally structured. This structuring is in the form of vortices with wavelength of the order of about 2pi-delta. The vortices intensify and extend radially, leading to broadening of the initial arc. While the sizes and growth rates of the vortices vary, the overall scenario of vortex evolution is similar for all of the events. Structures that develop during the growth phase saturate at latitudes matching the poleward boundary of H-beta emissions and pseudo-breakup structures saturate further poleward. Expansive phase onset vortices expand poleward in a similar fashion, but we do not observe any saturation stage, presumably due to limitations imposed by the ASI FOV. We present results of shear flow ballooning vortex modeling in which we used initial conditions and parameters consistent with our observations. On the basis of our model results, we speculate that all of these experimentally observed vortices are the result of shear flow ballooning instability in the hot proton region in the near-Earth plasma sheet. (Author)
Thesis (M.S.) in Human Development--University of Maine, 2001.
Includes vita. Advisory Committee: Marc D. Baranowski, Assoc. Prof. of Human Development, Advisor; Gary L. Schilmoeller, Assoc. Prof. of ...Child Development & Family Relations; Elizabeth H. Bicknell, Assoc. Prof. of Nursing. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-50).
Computationally efficient modeling of the thermal conductivity of materials is crucial to thorough experimental planning and theoretical understanding of thermal properties. We present a modeling ...approach in this work that utilizes frequency-dependent effective medium to calculate lattice thermal conductivity of nanostructured solids. The method accurately predicts a significant reduction in the thermal conductivity of nanostructured Si80Ge20 systems, along with previous reported thermal conductivities in nanowires and nanoparticles-in-matrix materials. We use our model to gain insight into the role of long wavelength phonons on the thermal conductivity of nanograined silicon-germanium alloys. Through thermal conductivity accumulation calculations with our modified effective medium model, we show that phonons with wavelengths much greater than the average grain size will not be impacted by grain boundary scattering, counter to the traditionally assumed notion that grain boundaries in solids will act as diffusive interfaces that will limit long wavelength phonon transport. This is further supported through a modulation frequency dependent thermal conductivity as measured with time-domain thermoreflectance.
Research undertaken to investigate the characteristics of typical catheter-transducer systems to determine how frequency-dependent resistance and damping values can affect the reproductive fidelity ...of direct arterial pressure recordings is discussed. While the data presented will not cause methods and techniques used in invasive pressure monitoring to be altered appreciably, they will explain some of the anomalies reported in predicting system damping from measurable system parameters, and may aid in the selection of optimal components for accurate recording of blood pressure.< >
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