The current study examined whether awareness of ego depletion had an effect on subsequent tasks requiring self-control. It is possible, that with awareness of depletion, one may be able to make ...corrections in their behavior to counteract the effects of reduced self-control. The primary question this research set out to answer was whether awareness of depletion would significantly increase or decrease self-control performance. Participants underwent a depletion manipulation to diminish their self-control strength. Next the participants completed a false feedback assessment of self-control, ostensibly designed to measure their level of self-control strength. Participants then received feedback as to whether they were in a depleted or enhanced state. A series of manipulation checks were administered to ensure that the participants believed the feedback and the deception was effective. As a final measure of self-control, participants’ time on task was recorded for completion of a word search puzzle. In Study 1, time to completion and word count were calculated as a measure of persistence and choice of task difficulty (e.g., intermediate, advanced) was evaluated to determine participants’ level of depletion. In Study 2 self-control was measured by recording choice of task difficulty and time to completion. It was posited that awareness of depletion would have a positive effect on self-control performance by acting as motivation for improvement. There were no significant effects revealed in either Study 1 or Study 2. Although results appear to be in the direction predicted, the present hypothesis was not supported by statistical significance.
Zebrafish have become a popular organism for the study of vertebrate gene function. The virtually transparent embryos of this species, and the ability to accelerate genetic studies by gene knockdown ...or overexpression, have led to the widespread use of zebrafish in the detailed investigation of vertebrate gene function and increasingly, the study of human genetic disease. However, for effective modelling of human genetic disease it is important to understand the extent to which zebrafish genes and gene structures are related to orthologous human genes. To examine this, we generated a high-quality sequence assembly of the zebrafish genome, made up of an overlapping set of completely sequenced large-insert clones that were ordered and oriented using a high-resolution high-density meiotic map. Detailed automatic and manual annotation provides evidence of more than 26,000 protein-coding genes, the largest gene set of any vertebrate so far sequenced. Comparison to the human reference genome shows that approximately 70% of human genes have at least one obvious zebrafish orthologue. In addition, the high quality of this genome assembly provides a clearer understanding of key genomic features such as a unique repeat content, a scarcity of pseudogenes, an enrichment of zebrafish-specific genes on chromosome 4 and chromosomal regions that influence sex determination.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the long-term outcome of infrainguinal bypass grafting in patients with congenital or acquired hypercoagulability is inferior to ...the results in patients without documented clotting disorders.
Methods: The study was a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients from January 1994 to January 2001.
Results: Five hundred eighty-two infrainguinal bypass grafts were created in 456 patients. Indication for surgery was limb-threatening ischemia in 84%; prosthetic conduits were implanted in 38%. Seventy-four grafts were created in 57 patients with one or more serologically proven hypercoagulable states, including heparin-induced platelet aggregation (n = 37), anticardiolipin antibodies (n = 11), lupus anticoagulant (n = 8), protein C or S deficiency (n = 7), antithrombin III deficiency (n = 3), and factor V Leiden mutation (n = 1). Patients with hypercoagulability were younger (63 ± 2 years versus 69 ± 1 years;
P = .007), more likely to have undergone prior revascularization attempts (38% versus 21%;
P = .003), and more likely to have chronic anticoagulation therapy after surgery (46% versus 25%;
P = .001). After 5 years (median follow-up, 19 months), patients with hypercoagulability had poorer primary patency (28% ± 7% versus 35% ± 5%;
P = .004), primary assisted patency (37% ± 7% versus 45% ± 6%;
P = .0001), secondary patency (41% ± 7% versus 53% ± 6%;
P = .0001), limb salvage (55% ± 8% versus 67% ± 6%;
P = .009), and survival (61% ± 8% versus 74% ± 4%;
P = .02) rates. Multivariate analysis identified only prosthetic conduit choice (
P = .0001), hypercoagulability (
P = .0003), and limb salvage indication (
P = .01) as independent predictors of graft failure.
Conclusion: Patients with serologically proven hypercoagulability have inferior long-term patency, limb salvage, and survival rates after infrainguinal bypass. The high prevalence rate (13%) of diverse hypercoagulable states in this patient population supports serologic screening, especially in referral practices. (J Vasc Surg 2003;37:301-6.)
Purpose. To gather data on how accreditors manage surveyors, to compare these data and to offer them to the accreditors for improvement and to the scientific community for knowledge of the ...accreditation process and reinforcement of the credibility of these processes. Data source. The data were gathered with the aid of a questionnaire sent to all accreditors participating in the study. Results. An important finding in this comparative study is the different contractual relationships that exist between the accreditors and their surveyors. Conclusion. Surveyors around the world share many common features in terms of careers, training, work history and expectations. These similarities probably arise from the objectives of the accreditors who try to provide a developmental process to their clients rather than an ‘inspection’.