Search

Abstract

A lot has changed in my life since Watercolor Artist featured my artwork in the April 2010 issue. By the end of that year, my husband and I had taken [...]

•Pathogens E. coliand Salmonella entericawere isolated from produce items eaten raw.•Antibiotic resistance was highest in E. coliisolates from greens and fruits.•Antibiotic resistance was uncommon among Salmonellaisolates obtained from produce (1/7).

Many patients with long-term disabilities have inactive lifestyles that put them at risk for chronic diseases and secondary disabilities. The purpose of this case report is to illustrate the process of aerobic exercise prescription for a patient with chronic multisystem impairments. The patient was a 43-year-old man who incurred a traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures in a motorcycle accident 15 years previously. He subsequently developed heterotopic ossification around the right hip. In addition, the patient had a history of smoking. We chose a "nontraditional" mode of exercise for the patient that we believed would be safe and effective and would accommodate his neurologic and orthopedic impairments. The mode of exercise used was an apparatus in which the upper and lower extremities alternately flexed and extended in a nonreciprocal fashion. The patient attended 12 exercise sessions over a 1-month period, during which he demonstrated acute and chronic physiological responses appropriate for the exercise stimulus. [Kinney LaPier TL, Sirotnak N, Alexander K. Aerobic exercise for a patient with chronic multisystem impairments. Phys Ther. 1998;78:417-424.], Key Words: Exercise, Heterotopic ossification, Traumatic brain injury. In many patients with chronic disorders, deconditioning in addition to an already increased energy cost of mobility further contributes to a decline [...]

•When inoculated on fresh kale, C. jejuniand E. colidecreased over time.•Pathogens were detected until day 19 on kale stored at 4°C through enrichment.•PCR and enrichment were done for confirmation when colonies were not observed on plates.•Aerobic plate counts increased on fresh kale over 23 d when stored at 4°C.

Managers need to develop their employees' commitment to providing quality customer service. This entails careful selection of staff and providing them with training which explores various business aspects and instills in them the company's service policies. Managers also need to take time in building their relationships with their employees so that the latter's confidence, trust, loyalty and dedication are developed and nurtured. A company's manpower resources will produce desired results only if management understands and addresses the employees' needs., It's easy to blame time pressure, budget cuts and the 'labor pool' for inadequate customer service. But this author contends that a true service orientation is more feeling than function--and [...]

'Nothing is more irritating than those earnest folks who elevate the newest management buzzword to the status of a state religion. Thank goodness Shapiro introduces informed common sense into discussions [...]

A new single-tilt technique for performing TEM stereomicroscopy of strain fields in crystalline materials has been developed. The technique is a weak beam technique that involves changing the value of g and/or sg while tilting across a set of Kikuchi bands. The primary benefit of the technique is it can be used with single-tilt TEM specimen holders including many specialty holders such as in situ straining, heating, and cooling holders. Standard stereo-TEM techniques are almost always limited to holders allowing two degrees of rotational freedom (i.e., double-tilt or tilt/rotation holders). An additional benefit of the new technique is that it eliminates the need to focus with the specimen height control. These advantages make it useful for stereo viewing or for quantitative stereomicroscopy provided necessary consideration is given to errors that may result from the technique.

Many patients with long-term disabilities have inactive lifestyles that put them at risk for chronic diseases and secondary disabilities. The purpose of this case report is to illustrate the process of aerobic exercise prescription for a patient with chronic multisystem impairments. The patient was a 43-year-old man who incurred a traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures in a motorcycle accident 15 years previously. He subsequently developed heterotopic ossification around the right hip. In addition, the patient had a history of smoking. We chose a “nontraditional” mode of exercise for the patient that we believed would be safe and effective and would accommodate his neurologic and orthopedic impairments. The mode of exercise used was an apparatus in which the upper and lower extremities alternately flexed and extended in a nonreciprocal fashion. The patient attended 12 exercise sessions over a 1-month period, during which he demonstrated acute and chronic physiological responses appropriate for the exercise stimulus.

Significant improvements in the fracture resistance of self-reinforced silicon nitride ceramics have been obtained by tailoring the chemistry of the intergranular amorphous phase. First, the overall microstructure of the material was controlled by incorporation of a fixed amount of elongated ß-Si3N4seeds into the starting powder to regulate the size and fraction of the large reinforcing grains. With controlled microstructures, the interfacial debond strength between the reinforcement and the intergranular glass was optimized by varying the yttria-to-alumina ratio in the sintering additives. It was found that the steady-state fracture toughness value of these silicon nitrides increased with the Y:Al ratio of the oxide additives. The increased toughness was accompanied by a steeply rising R-curve and extensive interfacial debonding between the elongated ß-Si3N4grains and the intergranular glassy phase. Microstructural analyses indicate that the different fracture behavior is related to the Al (and O) content in the ß´-SiAlON growth layer formed on the elongated ß-Si3N4grains during densification. The results imply that the interfacial bond strength is a function of the extent of Al and Si bonding with N and O in the adjoining phases with an abrupt structuralchemical interface achieved by reducing the Al concentration in both the intergranular phase and the ß´-SiAlON growth layer. Analytical modeling revealed that the residual thermal expansion mismatch stress is not a dominant influence on the interfacial fracture behavior when a distinct ß´-SiAlON growth layer forms. It is concluded that the fracture resistance of self-reinforced silicon nitrides can be improved by optimizing the sintering additives employed.

The use of self-reinforcement by larger elongated grains in silicon nitride ceramics requires judicious control of the microstructure to achieve high steady-state toughness and high fracture strength. With a distinct bimodal distribution of grain diameters, such as that achieved by the addition of 2 rodlike seeds, the fracture resistance rapidly rises with crack extension to steady-state values of up to 10 MPam12and is accompanied by fracture strengths in excess of 1 GPa. When the generation of elongated reinforcing grains is not regulated, a broad grain diameter distribution is typically generated. While some toughening is achieved, both the plateau (steady-state) toughness and the R-curve response suffer, and the fracture strength undergoes a substantial reduction. Unreinforced equiaxed silicon nitride exhibits the least R-curve response with a steady-state toughness of only 3.5 MPam12coupled with a reduced fracture strength.

The elastic anisotropy of ß-silicon nitride was examined using nanoindentation techniques. A coarse-grained polycrystalline sample composed of whiskers up to 15 µm in diameter and 100 µm in length allowed for the positioning of small indentations near the centers of grains, where neighboring grains minimally affect the property measurements. The crystallographic directions along which measurements were made were determined from the grain geometries in polished sections. The primary directions of interest were parallel to the c-axis (indenter penetration parallel to the whisker axis) and in the basal plane (indenter penetration perpendicular to the whisker axis), for which the indentation moduli were found to be 450 and 310 GPa, respectively. An indentation mechanics model used to estimate the single-crystal elastic constants from the nano-indentation results shows that Young's moduli for ß-silicon nitride, which are similar to but not exactly the same as the moduli measured by nanoindentation techniques, vary from 540 GPa parallel to the c-axis to 280 GPa perpendicular to it. Hardness data, which also exhibit a strong anisotropy, are also presented.

ABSTRACTAn emerging Mycobacterium tuberculosiscomplex (MTC) pathogen, M. mungi, infects wild banded mongooses (Mungos mungo) in Northern Botswana, causing significant mortality. This MTC pathogen did not appear to be transmitted through a primary aerosol or oral route. We utilized histopathology, spoligotyping, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR), quantitative PCR (qPCR), and molecular markers (regions of difference [RDs] from various MTC members, including region of difference 1 [RD1] from M. bovisBCG [RD1BCG], M. microti[RD1mic], and M. pinnipedii[RD1seal], genes Rv1510 [RD4], Rv1970 [RD7], Rv3877/8 [RD1], and Rv3120 [RD12], insertion element IS1561, the 16S RNA gene, and gene Rv0577 [cfp32]), including the newly characterized mongoose-specific deletion in RD1 (RD1mon), in order to demonstrate the presence of M. mungiDNA in infected mongooses and investigate pathogen invasion and exposure mechanisms. M. mungiDNA was identified in 29% of nasal planum samples (n= 52), 56% of nasal rinses and swabs (n= 9), 53% of oral swabs (n= 19), 22% of urine samples (n= 23), 33% of anal gland tissue (n= 18), and 39% of anal gland secretions (n= 44). The occurrence of extremely low cycle threshold values obtained with qPCR in anal gland and nasal planum samples indicates that high levels of M. mungican be found in these tissue types. Histological data were consistent with these results, suggesting that pathogen invasion occurs through breaks in the nasal planum and/or skin of the mongoose host, which are in frequent contact with anal gland secretions and urine during olfactory communication behavior. Lesions in the lung, when present, occurred only with disseminated disease. No environmental sources of M. mungiDNA could be found. We report primary environmental transmission of an MTC pathogen that occurs in association with social communication behavior.IMPORTANCEOrganisms causing infectious disease evolve modes of transmission that exploit environmental and host conditions favoring pathogen spread and persistence. We report a novel mode of environmental infectious disease transmission that occurs in association with olfactory secretions (e.g., urine and anal gland secretions), allowing pathogen exposure to occur within and between social groups through intricate social communication behaviors of the banded mongoose host. The presence of M. mungiin these environmentally deposited secretions would effectively circumvent natural social barriers (e.g., territoriality), facilitating between-group pathogen transmission in the absence of direct physical contact, a rare occurrence in this highly territorial species. This work identifies an important potential mechanism of pathogen transmission of epidemiological significance in social species. We also provide evidence of a novel mechanism of pathogen transmission for the MTC complex, where pathogen movement in the environment and host exposure dynamics are driven by social behavior.

Balance reactions are not routinely evaluated in patients with low back pain. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in static balance and weight distribution between subjects with unilateral low back pain (N = 15) and pain-free controls (N = 15). Measurements included limits of stability (%LOS), target sway, weight distribution on each lower extremity in quiet standing, and center of gravity with measurements of maximal excursion in anterior/posterior and medial/lateral directions. Independent t tests were used to compare data between groups. Compared with control subjects, subjects with low back pain demonstrated greater anterior-posterior center of gravity excursion and total center of gravity excursion with eyes open and greater anterior-posterior, medial-lateral, and total center of gravity excursion, target sway, and %LOS with eyes closed. There was no difference in the weight-bearing distribution between groups. This study suggests that static balance in patients with chronic low back pain may be impaired and should be thoroughly evaluated and integrated into physical therapy treatment programs. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 1998;28(6):378-383.