The STAR Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is used to record the collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The TPC is the central element in a suite of detectors that surrounds the interaction ...vertex. The TPC provides complete coverage around the beam-line, and provides complete tracking for charged particles within ±1.8 units of pseudo-rapidity of the center-of-mass frame. Charged particles with momenta greater than
100
MeV/c
are recorded. Multiplicities in excess of 3000 tracks per event are routinely reconstructed in the software. The TPC measures
4
m
in diameter by
4.2
m
long, making it the largest TPC in the world.
Toxic chemicals, such as chrome, are commonly used in the application of conversion coatings to various metal surfaces. In situ phosphatizing coatings (ISPCs) are an innovative approach for ...eliminating the requirement of a conversion coating which ends the need of toxic materials used in a multi-step coating practice. An ISPC is formulated by predispersing an in situ phosphatizing reagent (ISPR) into a paint system. In this study, an ISPR, an arylphosphonic acid, is used in a polyester–melamine paint to react in situ with the metal surface and to provide the acidic catalyst needed, while thermally curing the paint. A second polyester–melamine paint system is used as the control that uses the standard catalyst
para-toluenesulfonic acid (
p-TSA) to catalyze the cross-linking reaction in the paint. These two paint systems are applied to bare 2024 T3 Al panels and to chromated 2024 T3 Al panels. The coated panels are treated in a corroding media for 2,400
h and monitored periodically using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Results of EIS data and the corresponding electrical equivalent circuit (EEC) show that the ISPC applied to both the chromated and untreated Al panels provide superior corrosion protection. At low frequency (0.01
Hz), the panels coated with the ISPC show 10
000 times more resistance than both the chromated and bare Al panels coated with the control polyester–melamine paint. The corresponding EEC shows that the panels with the control paint applied have double the amount of electrical components (resistors and constant phase elements). A physical interpretation is suggested for the EEC. The paint adhesion to the Al surface and the corrosion behavior are tested by salt-water immersion and salt fog. After the panels are exposed to the salt solution, a pressure tape is applied to test the adhesion. The results show that the ISPC applied on the chromated Al adheres the best. The simultaneous reaction of the ISPR catalyzing the curing of the paint and forming the metal–phosphate layer is the reason for the superior paint performance.
Prompt access to cardiac defibrillation and reperfusion therapy improves outcomes in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The study aim was to describe the 'patient' and ...'system' delay in patients who receive acute reperfusion therapy for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in New Zealand.
In 2015-17, 3,857 patients who received acute reperfusion therapy were captured in the All New Zealand Acute Coronary Syndrome Quality Improvement (ANZACS-QI) registry. 'Patient delay' is the time from symptom onset to first medical contact (FMC), and 'system delay' the time from FMC until reperfusion therapy (primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or fibrinolysis).
Seventy percent of patients received primary PCI and 30% fibrinolysis. Of those receiving fibrinolysis, 122 (10.5%) received pre-hospital fibrinolysis. Seventy-seven percent were transported to hospital by ambulance. After adjustment, people who were older, male and presented to a hospital without a routine primary PCI service were less likely to travel by ambulance. Patient delay: The median delay was 45 minutes for ambulance-transported patients and 97 minutes for those self-transported to hospital, with a quarter delayed by >2 hours and >3 hours, respectively. Delay >1 hour was more common in older patients, Māori and Indian patients and those self-transported to hospital. System delay: For ambulance-transported patients who received primary PCI, the median time was 119 minutes. For ambulance-transported patients who received fibrinolysis, the median system delay was 86 minutes, with Māori patients more often delayed than European/Other patients. For patients who received pre-hospital fibrinolysis the median delay was 46 minutes shorter. For the quarter of patients treated with rescue PCI after fibrinolysis, the median needle-to-rescue time was prolonged-four hours.
Nationwide implementation of the NZ STEMI pathway is needed to reduce system delays in delivery of primary PCI, fibrinolysis and rescue PCI. Ongoing initiatives are required to reduce barriers to calling the ambulance early after symptom onset.
Cyclic 3',5' adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is a second messenger of the beta adrenergic receptor (betaAR). Ketamine causes an increase in the intracellular accumulation of cAMP in several non-human ...tissue preparations. A "species effect" may explain the differing results of ketamine on betaAR mediated responses, thus reports of a ketamine-induced increase in cAMP in other species may not be applicable to humans.
The effect of ketamine (10(-3), 10(-4), or 10(-5) M) pretreatment (60 and 120 min) on isoproterenol ISO, a beta adrenergic receptor (AR) agonist or forskolin FSK, an activator of adenylylcyclase (AC)-induced intracellular accumulation of cAMP in a human airway smooth muscle (tracheal) cell line (HASM) was evaluated. In an in vitro HASM culture, cells with or without pretreatment were labeled with 3Hadenine to produce 3HATP, and following stimulation with ISO or FSK to convert the 3HATP to 3HcAMP, the intracellular accumulation of 3HcAMP was measured by sequential chromatography over Dowex and alumina columns.
Pretreatment of the HASM cells with ketamine (10(-3) and 10(-4) M) caused a reduction (P < 0.05, when compared to untreated cells) in ISO-induced cAMP accumulation, but did not effect cAMP accumulation following FSK stimulation. This effect of ketamine was greater at 120 min of pretreatment than at 60 min (10(-3) M ketamine only)(P < 0.05). No effect was found at either time period following pretreatment of the HASM cells with ketamine 10(-5) M.
These results demonstrate that pretreatment of the HASM cells with ketamine reduces ISO-induced cAMP accumulation. Since only ISO-induced cAMP was effected by ketamine, these data suggest that ketamine inhibits production of cAMP proximal to AC in the cAMP production pathway. These results also demonstrate that a mechanism other than that involving the betaAR and intracellular cAMP accumulation is responsible for the ketamine induced bronchodilation in humans.
Parity-odd domains, corresponding to nontrivial topological solutions of the QCD vacuum, might be created during relativistic heavy-ion collisions. These domains are predicted to lead to charge ...separation of quarks along the system's orbital momentum axis. We investigate a three-particle azimuthal correlator which is a P even observable, but directly sensitive to the charge separation effect. We report measurements of charged hadrons near center-of-mass rapidity with this observable in Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at square root of s(NN) = 200 GeV using the STAR detector. A signal consistent with several expectations from the theory is detected. We discuss possible contributions from other effects that are not related to parity violation.
The ability to make therapeutic decisions regarding excessive fibrinolysis in the perioperative period is limited by the lack of availability of a near site monitor of fibrinolysis. We investigated ...the use of a latex agglutination D-dimer assay to detect perioperative fibrinolysis in patients undergoing thoracic surgery with and without extracorporeal circulation. We studied 27 patients who underwent thoracic surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB; coronary artery bypass grafting, n = 12; valvular surgery, n = 15) and a cohort of 20 patients who underwent noncardiac thoracic surgical procedures not requiring CPB. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relationship among alterations in the latex agglutination D-dimer assay, use of extracorporeal circulation, type of cardiac surgical procedure, and mediastinal and/or chest tube drainage (cardiac surgery only) in patients undergoing thoracic surgery. Perioperative D-dimer levels, measured by latex agglutination, had significant (P < or = 0.05) intragroup changes among patients undergoing cardiac surgery (requiring CPB) and the cohort of patients who underwent noncardiac thoracic surgery without CPB. Although intraoperative D-dimer levels were not increased in patients undergoing noncardiac thoracic surgery, postoperative levels were significantly (P < 0.05) increased (compared with preinduction). In cardiac surgery patients requiring CPB, intraoperative D-dimer formation was significantly (P < or = 0.05) increased but did not demonstrate any intragroup (coronary artery bypass grafting versus valvular surgery) differences. Finally, D-dimer levels were not associated with postoperative mediastinal and/or chest tube accumulative drainage measured at intervals up to 48 h postoperatively in patients undergoing cardiac surgery requiring CPB. Our study indicates that the latex agglutination D-dimer assay can detect excessive fibrinolysis perioperatively, and that extracorporeal circulation can significantly influence the pattern of D-dimer formation in patients undergoing thoracic surgery.
We assessed the ability of a readily available D-dimer assay to detect excessive fibrinolysis in patients undergoing thoracic surgery with and without extracorporeal circulation. The findings demonstrate that the assay used in this investigation reflected variable amounts of fibrinolysis in patients undergoing both types of thoracic surgery.
Sickle cell Whitten, C F; Whitten-Shurney, W
Clinics in perinatology,
06/2001, Letnik:
28, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The initiation of newborn screening and its virtually universal implementation will eventually yield a population in which sickle cell disease has been identified and comprehensive care is provided ...for children. The situation with SCT is different; there will continue to be the identification of parents who have the potential for having a child with a sickle cell disease but because they will not be tested or counseled, there will continue to be a population of children with a sickle cell disease whose parents have not been enabled to make informed decisions that they believe are in their best interest relative to family planning. Also, we will continue to have a population of pregnant women with a fetus with sickle cell disease who will not be given an opportunity to decide whether they wish to continue or terminate the pregnancy. They all will give birth to a child with a lifetime of chronic illness with its associated psychological, social, and financial burdens for the individual and his or her parents. The failure to implement prenatal diagnosis is an abridgment of two fundamental rights: the right to know and the right to decide. In this case it is the right to know about the potential health status of their children if that is possible, and the right to decide about the actual health care status of their children if options are available.
Academic anesthesiology departments provide clinical services for surgical procedures that have longer-than-average surgical times and correspondingly increased anesthesia times. We examined the ...financial impact of these longer times in three ways: 1) the estimated loss in revenue if billing were done on a flat-fee system by using industry-averaged anesthesia times; 2) the estimation of incremental operating room (OR) sites necessitated by longer anesthesia times; and 3) the estimated potential gain in billed units if the hours of productivity of current anesthesia time were applied to surgical cases of average duration. Health Care Financing Administration average times per anesthesia procedure code were used as industry averages. Billing data were collected from four academic anesthesiology departments for 1 yr. Each claim billed with ASA units was included except for obstetric anesthesia care. All clinical sites that do not bill with ASA units were excluded. Base units were determined for each anesthesia procedure code. The mean commercial conversion factor (US$45 per ASA unit) for reimbursement was used to estimate the impact in dollar amounts. In all four groups, anesthesia times exceeded the Health Care Financing Administration average. The loss per group in billed ASA units if a flat-fee billing system were used ranged from 18,194 to 31,079 units per group, representing a 5% to 15% decrease (estimated billing decrease of US$818,719 to US$1,398,536 per group). The number of excess OR sites necessitated by longer surgical and anesthesia times ranged from 1.95 to 4.57 OR sites per group. The potential gain in billed units if the hours of productivity of current anesthesia time were applied to surgical cases of average duration was estimated to be from 13,273 to 21,368 ASA units. Longer-than-average anesthesia and surgical times result in extra hours or additional OR sites to be staffed and loss of potential reimbursement for the four academic anesthesiology departments. A flat-fee system would adversely affect academic anesthesiology departments.
We examined the economic impact of longer-than-average anesthesia times on four academic anesthesiology departments in three ways: the estimated loss in revenue under a flat-fee system, the excess operating room sites staffed, and the potential gain in revenue if the surgeries were of average length. These results should be considered both in productivity measurements and strategies for operating room management.
We report the first measurements of the kurtosis (κ), skewness (S), and variance (σ2) of net-proton multiplicity (Np-Np) distributions at midrapidity for Au+Au collisions at square root of ...s(NN)=19.6, 62.4, and 200 GeV corresponding to baryon chemical potentials (μB) between 200 and 20 MeV. Our measurements of the products κσ2 and Sσ, which can be related to theoretical calculations sensitive to baryon number susceptibilities and long-range correlations, are constant as functions of collision centrality. We compare these products with results from lattice QCD and various models without a critical point and study the square root of s(NN) dependence of κσ2. From the measurements at the three beam energies, we find no evidence for a critical point in the QCD phase diagram for μB below 200 MeV.
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