Magnetic reconnection is an energy conversion process important in many astrophysical contexts including the Earth's magnetosphere, where the process can be investigated in-situ. Here we present the ...first encounter of a reconnection site by NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft in the magnetotail, where reconnection involves symmetric inflow conditions. The unprecedented electron-scale plasma measurements revealed (1) super-Alfvenic electron jets reaching 20,000 km/s, (2) electron meandering motion and acceleration by the electric field, producing multiple crescent-shaped structures, (3) spatial dimensions of the electron diffusion region implying a reconnection rate of 0.1-0.2. The well-structured multiple layers of electron populations indicate that, despite the presence of turbulence near the reconnection site, the key electron dynamics appears to be largely laminar.
Cancer in families with systemic sclerosis Sakkas, L I; Moore, D F; Akritidis, N C
The American journal of the medical sciences,
12/1995, Letnik:
310, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In recent reports, researchers described an increased incidence of cancer in patients with systemic sclerosis (SScl). For this article, the authors investigated the frequencies of cancer in ...first-degree relatives of patients with SScl in a case-control family study. Information was obtained by personal interview of the probands. Fifty-three subjects with cancer were reported among 814 relatives of patients, compared with 17 subjects among 860 relatives of age- and sex-matched control subjects (age and sex adjusted odds ratio = 3.79, 95% confidence interval = 2.16-6.66, P < 0.001). Forty-six patients (27.7%) had one or more relatives with cancer, compared with 15 control subjects (9%). Within the limitations of the methods used, the researchers found an increased risk for cancer in first-degree relatives of patients with SScl. This suggests that a common genetic or environmental factor may be involved in the development of both cancer and SScl.
Hearing loss and automobile airbag deployments Huelke, Donald F; Moore, Jamie L; Compton, Timothy W ...
Accident analysis and prevention,
11/1999, Letnik:
31, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In an on-going research program, on the causation of injuries in motor vehicle accidents, at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, crashes with airbags have been, and are ...continuing to be, investigated. In order to determine the occurrence, if any, of ‘hearing problems’ associated with airbag deployments, drivers and passengers who had been involved in ‘airbag’ automobile crashes were interviewed by telephone. From the crashes investigated, 225 attempts were made to contact drivers who were exposed to airbag deployments. From these telephone interviews, contacts were made with 177 car occupants. Only three reported that they had experienced any type of hearing-related problems subsequent to their crash. One other case is reported of a driver who had pre-crash hearing loss. It appears that permanent hearing deficit due to airbag deployment, both in cars with the steering wheel airbag alone, and in those with a passenger side airbag, is an infrequent event (1.7%) from the data of this study.
Electron donor−π−acceptor chromophores 5, 9, 11, 18−20, 21, 22, 27, 28a, 28c, 31, 32, 34−36, 38a−c, 41a, 41c, and 42 have been synthesised. The donor units are 1,3‐dithiole and ferrocene; conjugated ...ethylenic, phenyl, phenylenevinylene, thienyl, bithienyl, terthienyl, or thienylenevinylene linkers act as a central π‐electron relay unit, and dicyanomethylene and polynitrofluorene groups as the acceptor unit. The electronic absorption spectra display a broad low‐energy intramolecular charge transfer band in the visible region (500−700 nm) the energy (hνICT ≈︁ 1.7−2.5 eV) and intensity (ϵ ≈︁ 5000−50000 M−1cm−1) of which depend substantially on the nature of both D and A moieties and on the structure of the linker unit. Nonlinear optical properties have been evaluated using the EFISH technique: the highest μβ(0) values are observed for 38b (900±300)×10−48 esu and 42 (1800±300)×10−48 esu establishing that polynitrofluorene is a promising acceptor terminal moiety in this context. The molecular and electronic structures of 49 and 50 have been calculated by the RHF/6‐31G(d)//RHF/6‐31G(d) ab initio method. The HOMO is located mostly in the 1,3‐dithiolium ring, and the LUMO mostly at the dicyanomethylene fragment (and the phenyl ring of 50) although the electronic population at C2 of the 1,3‐dithiolium rings is also considerable. The X‐ray crystal structures of 9, 18 and 27 are reported. In all three structures the conjugated π‐systems are effectively planar with extensive π‐electron delocalisation between the donor and acceptor moieties. The planar conformation of 18 gives rise to a close intramolecular S···S contact of 3.095(3) Å between the dithiole and thiophene units.
Twenty carefully selected snake phobics were exposed to a caged snake for eight trials via a conveyor apparatus. During the first and eighth trials the subjects brought the snake toward themselves as ...closely as tolerable; records were kept of the end-of-trial distances remaining between the subject and the snake. For the six intervening trials the experimenter placed the snake a standard distance away; records were kept of the subjects’ heart rates and skin-conductance levels before and during the exposures, and of their self-reported fear intensities after the exposures. Half of the subjects had received six sessions of progressive relaxation training before the exposures occurred. The results for subjects who had received relaxation training versus subjects who had not received relaxation training showed clearly that the training served to attenuate arousal and fear in the context of in vivo exposure. The results showed also that relaxation worked by lowering arousal throughout the course of exposure, not by hastening or facilitating arousal decrement during exposure. Some implications of the results are discussed.
Blunt trauma to the thyroid : A case report WEEKS, Christine; MOORE, Francis D; FERZOCO, Stephen J ...
The American surgeon,
06/2005, Letnik:
71, Številka:
6
Conference Proceeding, Journal Article
Recenzirano
Thyroid injury is a rare phenomenon in cases of blunt neck trauma. Symptoms are often subtle or not present on initial exam and can be rapidly life-threatening when airway compromise ensues. We ...describe the case of a 50-year-old woman who developed neck pain and swelling, dysphagia, and hoarseness after a rear-end collision in which she was the restrained driver, hitting her anterior neck against the steering wheel. Neck CT revealed fragmentation and hematoma within the right thyroid lobe. Arteriogram showed no vascular injury to the neck. The patient was observed in the ICU and was discharged home 3 days later without operative intervention. We believe that in the acute setting, a stable traumatic thyroid hematoma without airway encroachment may be safely observed. Increasing size or compromise of airway integrity should be indications for early intubation and neck exploration.
•Chronic pain can persist even after complete spinal cord injury.•Persistence of pain in the brain was highly associated with chronic opioid use.•This study may explain ineffective treatments that ...eliminate peripheral sources of pain.•Model may be useful for research on intractable pain combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging.
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To determine whether chronic pain persists after complete spinal cord injury (SCI).
Prospective observational study regarding the outcome of pre-existent chronic pain of inpatients admitted with new clinically diagnosed complete cervical SCI. For patients who acknowledged chronic pain of ≥3 years duration before the SCI, further questions explored whether they still experienced that pain, whether they were experiencing current posttraumatic pain, and whether they had any past exposure to opioids. The included patients were identified during the initial consultation in the trauma center for treatment of the SCI.
Level I trauma center.
From a total of 49 participants with acute cervical SCI with clinically diagnosed complete motor and sensory tetraplegia admitted between 2018 and 2020, 7 were selected on the basis of a history of chronic pain.
Collected complete history and performed physical examination with serial follow-ups during the acute hospital stay until death or discharge.
The primary outcome was a finding of chronic pain experienced before new clinical diagnosis of complete SCI, compared with whether or not that pain continued after the SCI injury. The secondary outcome was the relation of persistent pain with opioid use; it was formulated after data collection.
Among 49 patients with clinically diagnosed complete cervical SCIs, 7 had experienced prior chronic pain. Four participants experienced a continuation of the prior pain after their complete tetraplegia (4/7), whereas 3 participants did not (3/7). All the participants with continued pain had been previously treated with opioids, whereas those whose pain ceased had not received chronic opioid therapy.
There may be a unique form of chronic pain that is based in the brain, irrespective of peripheral pain or spinal mechanisms. Otherwise healthy people with longstanding antecedent chronic pain whose pain persists after acute clinically complete SCI with tetraplegia may provide a new model for evaluation of brain-based pain. Opioids may be requisite for this type of pain.
We present an evaluation of aircraft observations of the carbon and greenhouse gases CO.sub.2, CH.sub.4, N.sub.2 O, and CO using a direct-absorption pulsed quantum cascade laser spectrometer (QCLS) ...operated during the HIPPO and CalNex airborne experiments. The QCLS made continuous 1 Hz measurements with 1Ï Allan precisions of 20, 0.5, 0.09, and 0.15 ppb for CO.sub.2, CH.sub.4, N.sub.2 O, and CO, respectively, over > 500 flight hours on 79 research flights. The QCLS measurements are compared to two vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) CO instruments (CalNex and HIPPO), a cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS) measuring CO.sub.2 and CH.sub.4 (CalNex), two broadband non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) spectrometers measuring CO.sub.2 (HIPPO), two onboard gas chromatographs measuring a variety of chemical species including CH.sub.4, N.sub.2 O, and CO (HIPPO), and various flask-based measurements of all four species. QCLS measurements are tied to NOAA and WMO standards using an in-flight calibration system, and mean differences when compared to NOAA CCG flask data over the 59 HIPPO research flights were 100, 1, 1, and 2 ppb for CO.sub.2, CH.sub.4, N.sub.2 O, and CO, respectively. The details of the end-to-end calibration procedures and the data quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) are presented. Specifically, we discuss our practices for the traceability of standards given uncertainties in calibration cylinders, isotopic and surface effects for the long-lived greenhouse gas tracers, interpolation techniques for in-flight calibrations, and the effects of instrument linearity on retrieved mole fractions.
