Thirty consecutive patients had laboratory assessment of anorectal function after rectal excision and stapled coloanal anastomosis for rectal carcinoma. Eleven patients experienced perfect continence ...but 19 had faecal leakage with or without urgency of defaecation. Median (interquartile range) function was related to the pressures generated in the anal sphincter at rest (good versus poor function: 80 (63-91) versus 51 (23-60) cmH2O, P < 0.01), during maximum squeeze (160 (126-203) versus 102 (58-112) cmH2O, P < 0.01) and during reflex inhibition (58 (23-63) versus 36 (18-54) cmH2O, P < 0.05). Poor function was significantly commoner in women than in men (P < 0.01). These findings suggest that occult damage may have occurred to the anal sphincter before low anterior resection. Careful preoperative evaluation with manometry and endoanal ultrasonography may detect such damage and allow selection of patients for colopouch reconstruction.
Stand dynamics and tree growth in even-aged hardwood stands can be influenced by manipulating relative stand density, species composition, and stand structure. Land managers need quantitative ...information on the effect of vegetation manipulation to prescribe stand treatments that are appropriate for specific management objectives. Sixty-year-old stands composed of black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.), red maple (Acer rubrum L.), sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.), and American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) were thinned to 45, 60, and 75% relative density as measured by the stocking guide for Allegheny hardwoods. Stand age, aspect, elevation, and soil-site conditions were uniform among the study plots, while relative density and to a lesser degree stand structure were altered by the thinning treatments. Regression analyses were used to relate stand dynamics and tree diameter growth over a 10-year period to changes in relative density, stand structure, and species composition. Stand growth is reported in basal area, cubic volume, sawtimber volume, and relative density growth, and individual tree response is reported in terms of diameter growth by species group. Study results generally support current recommendations for thinning Allegheny hardwoods for wood volume production, though stands with relatively high proportions of black cherry may respond better to densities greater than recommended levels for optimal sawtimber volume production. These results also may be useful for interpreting overall stand dynamics and developing prescriptions to enhance production of other woodland benefits.
Creare has developed a turbo-Brayton cryocooler for the Air Force that is designed to produce approximately 1 kW of refrigeration at 95 K. The cryocooler is intended to provide cryogenic cooling for ...an air separation system being developed to produce and store liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen onboard large aircraft. The oxygen will be used for high-altitude breathing and medical evacuation operations, while the nitrogen will be used to inert the ullage space inside the fuel tanks. The cryocooler utilizes gas bearings in the turbomachines for long life without maintenance, which is a critical requirement for this application. The mass of a flight version of this cryocooler is expected to be around 270 kg, while the input power is expected to be 21 to 25 kW. This paper describes the design and testing of the technology demonstration cryocooler that was constructed to establish the feasibility of the approach. In the future, the cryocooler will be integrated and tested with a distillation column subsystem. Subsequent testing may also be performed in-flight on an Air Force transport aircraft.
Intraocular neovascularization leads to visual loss in many eye diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and neovascular glaucoma. Current treatment relies on laser ...photocoagulation, involving the destruction of functional retinal tissue. A pharmacologic treatment directed at the newly growing vessels would represent a major advance.
The authors investigated the effect of systemic alpha-interferon in an experimental model of iris neovascularization in cynomolgus monkeys. Alpha-interferon was administered systemically to animals with angiographically documented iris neovascularization.
Animals in the treatment group showed regression of neovascularization angiographically and histologically in eight of eight eyes. Control animals with documented iris neovascularization, followed without drug treatment, showed progression of the neovascularization in three of three eyes.
Systemic alpha-interferon led to inhibition of neovascularization and regression of new vessels in an experimental model of iris neovascularization. This represents the first successful, controlled treatment of experimental neovascularization in the eye using a systemic drug directed specifically at the neovascular tissue.
We perform a joint analysis of intrinsic alignments and cosmology using tomographic weak lensing, galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements from Year 1 (Y1) of the Dark Energy Survey. ...We determine early- and late-type subsamples, which are found to pass a series of systematics tests, including for spurious photometric redshift error and point spread function correlations. We assess these split data alongside the fiducial mixed Y1 sample using a range of intrinsic alignment models. In a fiducial Nonlinear Alignment Model (NLA) analysis, assuming a flat ΛCDM cosmology, we find a significant difference in intrinsic alignment amplitude, with early-type galaxies favouring $A_\mathrm{IA} = 2.38^{+0.32}_{-0.31}$ and late-type galaxies consistent with no intrinsic alignments at $0.05^{+0.10}_{-0.09}$. The analysis is repeated using a number of extended model spaces, including a physically motivated model that includes both tidal torquing and tidal alignment mechanisms. In multiprobe likelihood chains in which cosmology, intrinsic alignments in both galaxy samples and all other relevant systematics are varied simultaneously, we find the tidal alignment and tidal torquing parts of the intrinsic alignment signal have amplitudes $A_1 = 2.66 ^{+0.67}_{-0.66}$, $A_2=-2.94^{+1.94}_{-1.83}$, respectively, for early-type galaxies and $A_1 = 0.62 ^{+0.41}_{-0.41}$, $A_2 = -2.26^{+1.30}_{-1.16}$ for late-type galaxies. In the full (mixed) Y1 sample the best constraints are $A_1 = 0.70 ^{+0.41}_{-0.38}$, $A_2 = -1.36 ^{+1.08}_{-1.41}$. For all galaxy splits and IA models considered, we observe cosmological parameter constraints consistent with the results of the main DES Y1 cosmic shear and multiprobe cosmology papers
There are quantitative deficiencies in the coagulation system for at least the first 6 mo of life. Clinical experience, however, does not indicate an increased risk of excessive bleeding during ...surgical procedures. Thrombelastography, a test providing a functional evaluation of coagulation, was used to assess the hemostatic system of pediatric patients under 2 yr of age. Thrombelastographic data were obtained from 237 healthy pediatric patients less than 2 yr of age undergoing elective noncardiac surgery. Five groups were distinguished: under 30 days, 1-3 mo, 3-6 mo, 6-12 mo, and 12-24 mo. Thrombelastography revealed no defects in coagulation when these groups were compared to each other or to adults, indicating a functionally intact hemostatic process even in neonates. Indeed, children less than 12 mo of age were found to initiate and develop clot faster than adults, with the coagulation process slowing to adult rates after 1 yr of age. In addition to defining functional integrity, our data represents a set of pediatric control thrombelastographic values that have not been previously reported and that may become important in understanding coagulation changes that accompany disease states and surgery in pediatric patients.
Overt behavioral symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) do not occur until over 80% of the striatal dopamine content has been lost. Diagnosis of the disorder relies on identifying clinical symptoms ...including akinesia, resting tremor, and rigidity. In retrospect, behavioral deficits are observed several years prior to diagnosis. Behavioral manifestations in the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) mouse model of PD, such as changes in general locomotor activity and rotorod performance, require large doses of MPTP and are often transient. We hypothesized that, as in PD, subtle behavioral changes also occur in the MPTP model. In this paper, we demonstrate that mice treated with moderate doses of the dopaminergic toxin MPTP display deficits in behavioral parameters that are significantly correlated with the loss of striatal dopamine. In addition, these behavioral measures are correlated to dopamine transporter, vesicular monoamine transporter, and tyrosine hydroxylase expression and are improved following
l-DOPA administration. Detection of dopamine-modulated behavioral changes in moderately depleted MPTP mice will allow for more efficacious use of this model in PD research.
The worldwide increase in the prevalence of multi-antibiotic-resistant bacteria has threatened the physician's ability to provide appropriate therapy for infections. The relationship between ...antimicrobial drug concentration and infecting pathogen population reduction is of primary interest. Using data derived from mice infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa and treated with a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, a mathematical model was developed that described relationships between antimicrobial drug exposures and changes in drug-susceptible and -resistant bacterial subpopulations at an infection site. Dosing regimens and consequent drug exposures that amplify or suppress the emergence of resistant bacterial subpopulations were identified and prospectively validated. Resistant clones selected in vivo by suboptimal regimens were characterized. No mutations were identified in the quinolone resistance-determining regions of gyrA/B or parC/E. However, all resistant clones demonstrated efflux pump overexpression. At base line, MexAB-OprM, MexCD-OprJ, and MexEF-OprN were represented in the drug-resistant population. After 28 hours of therapy, MexCD-OprJ became the predominant pump expressed in the resistant clones. The likelihood of achieving resistance-suppression exposure in humans with a clinically prescribed antibiotic dose was determined. The methods developed in this study provide insight regarding how mathematical models can be used to identify rational dosing regimens that suppress the amplification of the resistant mutant population.
A study involving nine research stations from the NCR-42 Swine Nutrition Committee used a total of 1,978 crossbred pigs to evaluate the effects of dietary ZnO concentrations with or without an ...antibacterial agent on postweaning pig performance. In Exp. 1, seven stations (IA, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, and OH) evaluated the efficacy of ZnO when fed to nursery pigs at 0, 500, 1,000, 2,000, or 3,000 mg Zn/kg for a 28-d postweaning period. A randomized complete block experiment was conducted in 24 replicates using a total of 1,060 pigs. Pigs were bled at the 28-d period and plasma was analyzed for Zn and Cu. Because two stations weaned pigs at < 15 d (six replicates) and five stations at > 20 d (18 replicates) of age, the two sets of data were analyzed separately. The early-weaned pig group had greater (P < 0.05) gains, feed intakes, and gain:feed ratios for the 28-d postweaning period as dietary ZnO concentration increased. Later-weaned pigs also had increased (P < 0.01) gains and feed intakes as the dietary ZnO concentration increased. Responses for both weanling pig groups seemed to reach a plateau at 2,000 mg Zn/kg. Plasma Zn concentrations quadratically increased (P < 0.01) and plasma Cu concentrations quadratically decreased (P < 0.01) when ZnO concentrations were > 1,000 mg Zn/kg. Experiment 2 was conducted at seven stations (KY, MI, MO, NE, ND, OH, and OK) and evaluated the efficacy of an antibacterial agent (carbadox) in combination with added ZnO. The experiment was a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement in a randomized complete block design conducted in a total of 20 replicates. Carbadox was added at 0 or 55 mg/kg diet, and ZnO was added at 0, 1,500, or 3,000 mg Zn/ kg. A total of 918 pigs were weaned at an average 19.7 d of age. For the 28-d postweaning period, gains (P < 0.01), feed intakes (P < 0.05), and gain:feed ratios (P < 0.05) increased when dietary ZnO concentrations increased and when carbadox was added. These responses occurred in an additive manner. The results of these studies suggest that supplemental ZnO at 1,500 to 2,000 mg Zn/kg Zn improved postweaning pig performance, and its combination with an antibacterial agent resulted in additional performance improvements.
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