BACKGROUND. Changes in the sympathetic nervous system may be a cause of postoperative cardiovascular complications. The authors hypothesized that changes in both beta-adrenergic receptor (betaAR) function (as assessed in lymphocytes) and in sympathetic activity (assessed by plasma catecholamines and by heart rate variability [HRV] measurements obtained from Holter recordings) occur after operation.
METHODS:
The HRV parameters were measured in 28 patients having thoracotomy (n = 14) or laparotomy (n = 14) before and for as long as 6 days after operation. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed before and on postoperative day 2. Lymphocytes were also isolated from blood obtained before anesthesia and again on postoperative days 1, 2, 3, and 5 (or 6). They were used to examine betaAR number (Bmax) and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) production after stimulation with isoproterenol and prostaglandin E1. In addition, plasma epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol concentrations were determined at similar intervals.
RESULTS:
After abdominal and thoracic surgery, most time and all frequency indices of HRV decreased significantly, as did Bmax and basal and isoproterenol-stimulated cAMP production. The decrements in HRV correlated with those of Bmax and isoproterenol-stimulated cAMP throughout the first postoperative week and inversely correlated with the increase in heart rate. Plasma catecholamine concentrations did not change significantly from baseline values, but plasma cortisol levels did increase after operation in both groups. Left ventricular ejection fraction was normal in both groups and unaffected by surgery.
CONCLUSIONS:
Persistent downregulation and desensitization of the lymphocyte betaAR/adenylyl cyclase system correlated with decrements in time and frequency domain indices of HRV throughout the first week after major abdominal or thoracic surgery. These physiologic alterations suggest the continued presence of adaptive autonomic regulatory mechanisms and may explain why the at-risk period after major surgery appears to be about 1 week or more.
Coexistence of prompt and delayed decay modes of energized polyatomic molecules is discussed with reference to the special features of larger molecules which makes it amenable to experimental observation by a suitable choice of initial conditions. The molecular parameters identified by the RRKM theory of unimolecular (delayed) decay suffice to characterize the prompt process as well. The expected ``kinetic stability'' of large molecules is thus not necessarily the rule, and fast processes are possible, suggesting the possibility of experimental control.
The properties of sol. gelatin-ionic surfactant complexes and insol. particles were evaluated. Colloidal particles of gelatin A-cationic surfactant (dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide, DTAB, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAB) were formed. Binding isotherms showed that these particles are obtained above the CMC of each surfactant, while cooperative binding takes place. Surface tension measurements conducted for both gelatin/DTAB and gelatin/anionic surfactant, SDS, a break in the curve describing surface tension vs. no. of bound surfactant mols., (ν) at concns. below the CMC of each surfactant alone. This break, which is attributed to CMC 1, is obsd. at the same no. of bound surfactant mols. (ν = ≈2) for both gelatin/surfactant couples. Contact angle measurements showed that the max. hydrophobicity of the gelatin-surfactant particles is obtained at the same concn. range in which the pptn. occurs. Also the hydrophobicity of gelatin-SDS particles is higher than that of the gelatin-cationic surfactants, due to a different compn. of the resulting particles. The zeta potential of the particles indicated charge neutralization and even charge reversal for gelatin-CTAB at high surfactant concn. [on SciFinder(R)]
Compns. are provided for the in vivo delivery of substantially water-insol. pharmacol. active agents (such as the anticancer drug paclitaxel) in which the pharmacol. active agent is delivered in the form of suspended particles coated with protein (which acts as a stabilizing agent). In particular, protein and pharmacol. active agent in a biocompatible dispersing medium are subjected to high shear, in the absence of any conventional surfactants, and also in the absence of any polymeric core material for the particles. The procedure yields particles with a diam. of less than about 1 μ. The use of specific compn. and prepn. conditions (e.g., addn. of a polar solvent to the org. phase), and careful selection of the proper org. phase and phase fraction, enables the reproducible prodn. of unusually small nanoparticles of less than 200 nm diam., which can be sterile-filtered. The particulate system produced according to the invention can be converted into a redispersible dry power comprising nanoparticles of water-insol. drug coated with a protein, and free protein to which mols. of the pharmacol. agent are bound. This results in a unique delivery system, in which part of the pharmacol. active agent is readily bioavailable (in the form of mols. bound to the protein), and part of the agent is present within particles without any polymeric matrix therein. Albumin nanoparticles contg. paclitaxel were prepd. by high pressure homogenization. [on SciFinder(R)]
Every two person repeated game of symmetric incomplete information, in which the signals sent at each stage to both players are identical and generated by a state and moves dependent probability distribution on a given finite alphabet, has an equilibrium payoff.
Every two person repeated game of symmetric incomplete information, in which the signals sent at each stage to both players are identical and generated by a state and moves dependent probability distribution on a given finite alphabet, has an equilibrium payoff.
The diffusion constants of hydrogen and deuterium at low temperature were calculated using the surrogate Hamiltonian method and an embedded atom potential. A comparison with previous experimental and theoretical results is made. A crossover to temperature-independent tunneling occurs at 69 K for hydrogen and at 46 K for deuterium. An inverse isotope effect at intermediate temperatures is found, consistent with experiment. Deviations are found at low temperature where a large isotope effect is calculated.
An approximate quantum mechanical method is proposed for the calculation of inelastic scattering of an atom from a large anharmonic cluster or molecule. The method is based on: (a) computing the vibrational states of the cluster (or molecule) in the vibrational self-consistent field approximation; (b) treating the scattering of the atom to a first approximation as taking place from a vibrationally frozen cluster; (c) obtaining inelastic transitions by a distorted wave approximation, where the coupling is the vibrationally dependent part of the atom/cluster potential. Computationally convenient expressions are worked out. The method is applied to He scattering from Ar-13 and the results are compared to experimental data for size-dispersed clusters. Good qualitative agreement is found. The merits of the proposed method compared with alternative approaches are discussed. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(98)00215-3].
An approach based on the Time-Dependent Self-Consistent Field (TDSCF) is used to carry out quantum calculations of inelastic atom scattering from large, highly anharmonic clusters. The computation is carried out for low-energy collisions of Ar with (H2O)(11), and all the vibrational modes of the cluster are included. The method treats the collider atom classically, but the dynamics of the interacting anharmonic modes of (H2O)(11) is handled quantum mechanically. The results provide insight into the collision physics of large systems having soft anharmonic modes, and into the role of quantum effects in such cases. The main findings are the following: (a) Large differences are found between quantum and classical results with regard to energy transfer into specific cluster modes. (b) Classical calculations wrongly predict efficient excitation of many stiff modes, including processes that are quantum-mechanically forbidden. (c) Single quantum excitations are the most important transitions at the collision energy used. (d) Atom-atom pair distribution functions of (H2O)(11) after the collision show insignificant differences from the corresponding precollision distribution functions. The results show that quantum calculations of collision dynamics of low-temperature anharmonic clusters are feasible, and also necessary in view of the prediction of significant quantum effects. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.
A method is presented for reliable use of pooled chicken blood samples for estimation of microsatellite frequencies by direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of DNA. This method overcomes the variability of hematocrit values in individual chickens and eliminates the step of DNA preparation. The estimated frequencies of polymorphic alleles in fresh and frozen pooled blood samples were similar to those obtained by calculating these frequencies from the individual genotyping. When frozen pooled blood samples are used, pools should be prepared prior to their freezing.
0.1 The book under review is structured as follows: Presentation of the texts, previous work on them, features of the corpus; the structure of nominal phrases (bases, determiners and quantifiers, their lexical expansions; clausal expansions, the augens, number and gender, adjectives; partitive, genitival and appositive constructions). Special types of noun (PNs, numbers, verbal nouns). Verb phrases and verb clauses (bases and their expansions; the tenses; auxiliaries); the durative system (with discussion of subjects and predicates, negation, conversion, aspect and existential patterns). Predication and emphasis (esp. Nominal Predications and the Second Tenses). Appendices include Tables (demonstrative, determinators, quantifiers, pronominals, converters); the texts and their translation. Bibliographical references and Indexes (passages discussed, words discussed, other texts quoted). Individual section are structured as follows: Form (morphology, orthography, palaeography); “Function” (grammatical status and role, patterning and construction); “Content” (semantics).
0.2 This work is wondrously attractive in presentation, to a linguist, especially a ‘linguist of later Egyptian’. I must say, at the onset, that I find the book a splendid achievement. I must also personally and subjectively confess to an especially festive feeling, under the enticing sensation of Demotic as ‘Egyptian-encoded Coptic’, a sensation intensified and enhanced by carefully perusing the present work. Demotic, and especially early Demotic, is still the least familiar of all phases of Egyptian; and that not least due to this very same enigmatic balance between the Coptic-type and ‘pre-Coptic Egyptian’-type phenomena. In fact, Demotic has a special value for the typological diachrony of Egyptian: its conception as an in-between phase between the (analyzing) LE to the (agglutinating in resynthesizing) Coptic must stand or fall by precise structural information, such as is offered by this painstaking work. For instance, the Second Tenses and focalization; the perfect vs. preterite opposition; the Nominal Sentence; the aorist (atemporal) tense category; the future, the causative form-constructions — these are all features that pattern and inform the unbroken history of Egyptian, the longest unbroken evolution of any language in our experience.
This work is a non-generative, truly descriptive, methodologically impeccable grammar. It sets out to evaluate and criticize prior research as well as collect and consolidate new evidence. Its statements are clearly and convincingly expounded, offering coherent interpretations, firmly grounded in source material, and many mises en question, with a wealth of detailed information. Indeed, it is th the first Demotic grammar since Lexa’s work of 1940-1951 (Janet Johnson’s account of the verbal system in Roman Demotic [1976] comes nearest to being a comprehensive grammar, and of course covers much more extensive ground, corpus-wise).
0.3 The corpus at the base of Simpson’s work is of a textemic genre very much sui generis. The author himself is fully aware of the limited corpus and ensuing incomplete picture of grammatical systematization (58). We have here a case of Kanzleistil - archaic, formal, formulary; arguably not a style but a genre, even a texteme. (A blend of Leviticus with a ‘Vita Monachorum’ preceptive genre comes to a Coptologist’s mind). In this corpus, the documentation of the tenses is very partial (note esp. the absence of non-converted forms. The use of the future is restricted; no modal future is attested. The prospective form is almost exclusively grammaticalized as a causative exponent). In this sense, the work is an instance of corpus-based textemic grammar. It is however only fair to observe that Simpson offers as a rule documentation from a broad range of other corpuses (cf. pp. 60, 90, 91, 93, 128, 130f., 153ff. etc.), effectively giving his statements the validity of a comprehensive grammar. When the canvas is as large and varied as in Demotic (the differences between phases are complex and rich, often comparable to those between Old and Middle Egyptian), this has a real advantage.The Index Locorum is thus especially welcome; yet one misses a Subject Index.
The Bibliography (with the discussion of grammatical opinion in the text) constitutes no less than a full resumé of the Demotistic (and to a considerable extent Egyptian and Coptic linguistic) literature of the last century (from Griffith’s Stories of the High Priests [1900] onwards).
0.4 Non-attestation, ever an important problematic issue in dead-language linguistics, to be resolved only structurally, acquires an urgency still more acute in a Spezialgrammatik, and all the more so in a genre so special as the present one. In this context, the dilemma of the authenticity of the Demotic (in the sense of ‘linguistic validity as uninfluenced by a Vorlage text’) acquires a special meaning (22ff. - Relation of demotic and Greek texts’). On this question, I would suggest a parallel composition of the texts, with an ongoing accommodation of the Demotic to the Greek version. The validity of the Demotic as a testo di lingua is in any case beyond doubt.
Gambling and tourism are often perceived as comple mentary activities. This article examines this relationship both conceptually and empirically. While land-based casino gambling is not a legalized activity at present in Israel, the economic impacts of introducing a casino at Israel's premier vacation resort, Eilat, are simulated. This ex ante evaluation shows that much of the output, income, and employment gains generated by a casino are likely to be captured outside the region and that localized impacts are small. The dis placement of existing local economic activity is examined, and the case of increased tourism expenditures generated by the casino is simulated. The public policy implications of these findings point to the necessity of developing activities that complement tourism at the local level, not just at the na tional level. The gambling-tourism relationship simulated for Eilat shows that national and local interests are not al ways synonymous.
The structural and dynamical properties of a saturated chemisorbed hydrogen monolayer on a model bcc(110) metal surface were studied by molecular dynamics simulations over a range of temperatures from 100 to 300 K. The potential function used, including both the hydrogen/metal interaction and the interactions between the hydrogens, was calibrated in part from experimental data. At low temperatures, the monolayer has an ordered, broken symmetry state with regard to the underlying metal surface. As temperature is increased, an order-disorder transition takes place. We report studies of static and dynamical structure factors; of pertinent order parameters and, where applicable, of phonon dispersion in order to gain insight into the phases. The disordered phase exhibits anisotropy with uniaxial short-range order. We comment on the relation of the results to recent experimental studies of H/W(110) and H/Mo(110), and suggest future experiments to explore the high temperature phase. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Correlation Without Mediation: Expanding the Set of Equilibria Outcomes by ‘Cheap’ Pre-Play Procedures
Let P be a correlated equilibrium distribution on the set of outcomes of a game G. Can P be implemented by some "cheap" pre-play procedure that does not involve a mediator? It is shown that if there are two distinct Nash equilibrium payoffs for each player in G and if P is rational (that is, consists of probabilities which are rational numbers) and generates for each player i an expected payoff which is above her worst Nash equilibrium payoff, then P can be virtually implemented in a sequential equilibrium of an extended game which is generated by adding a "cheap" pre-play phase.
