Results of reconstructive surgery in renal hypertension]

A traumatic macular hole has never been seen immediately after the causal accident. We examined a case of macular hole within half an hour of the injury and photographed it within three hours. We comment on the genesis of traumatic macular edema.     

Experimental studies of the force to extrude a rate sensitive material

Distinctions are drawn between three mean strain rates in extrusion: those averaged over the accumulated strain, the distance travelled through the die, and the elapsed time. It is shown that when the strain rate varies, the mean strain rate based on strain is always the greatest, and the mean strain rate based on time the smallest. Three further mean strain rates are introduced, which are root mean power (RMP) values of the above strain rates. Conventional estimates of the extrusion pressure for frictionless, homogeneous flow are based on rate insensitive analyses and lead to pressures proportional to the mean strain rate based on time. When the rate sensitivity during flow is taken into account, the calculated pressure is shown to be a function of the RMP strain rate based on accumulated strain, which is considerably greater than the mean strain rate based on time. Experiments are described in which ice was extruded by the indirect process, leading to nearly frictionless, homogeneous flow. Extrusion ratios of 4, 9, 25, 81, and 144 were used. In the first series of experiments, the ram velocity was adjusted to give the samerate insensitive (i.e. time-based) mean strain rate for all the dies. In the second series of experiments, the ram velocity was adjusted to give the samerate sensitive (i.e. RMP) mean strain rate for all the dies. In all cases the extrusion pressure was proportional to the RMP strain rate and not to the time-based strain rate. The rate sensitivity correction factor is also described.     

Voiding pressure as it relates to outlet and/or sphincteric resistance

Electrically quantitated and controlled detrusor contraction can produce either minimal or excessive rise in intravesical pressure depending upon openness or occlusion of the bladder outlet. Higher rise in intravesical pressure thus does not imply stronger detrusor contraction but should be viewed as a reflection of the outflow resistance mechanism. Possible damaging hydrodynamic effect of sudden partial or complete functional occlusion of the bladder outlet by intermittent or sustained voluntary sphincter activity is illustrated.     

Space psychology and the inner sanctums.

Comments that a report by Rohles in the "American Psychologist" (1960, 15, 668-669) describes a facility for training animals in order to obtain behavioral data in space flight. The present authors feel that such a facility is indeed potentially an important part of psychology's effort in manned space flight programs. However, Rohles's report is said to contain factual errors which create the impression that, up until now, psychology has been asleep on the launching pad. The authors refer primarily to the first two paragraphs of the report, and will comment on three points. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variations in lipid composition and sound velocity in melon from the North Atlantic pilot whale,Globicephala melaena melaena

Nonpolar lipids and sound velocity at different distances from the skin surface within a sample of pilot whale melon were studied. Thin layer chromatography, sensitive radioisotopic methods, and an ultrasonic echo scanner were used. Wax esters had a maximum concentration at 11–12 cm from the skin surface. Non- and monoisovalero triglycerides both exhibited a minimum at 8–10 cm, whereas the diisovalero species increased steadily from the skin surface towards the center of the pilot whale head. A minimum of sound velocity, ca. 1340 m/s, was found at 9–11 cm, thus coinciding with a region rich in isovaleric acid esterified in wax and diisovalero triglycerides. These findings are compatible with predictions based on the known correlations between lipid structure and sound velocity. Consequently, additional evidence for refraction of sound in pilot whale melon is presented. This is important in understanding the system of echolocation of toothed whales.     

Prototype Fabrication and Preliminary In Vitro Testing of a Shape Memory Endovascular Thrombectomy Device

An electromechanical microactuator comprised of shape memory polymer (SMP) and shape memory nickel-titanium alloy (nitinol) was developed and used in an endovascular thrombectomy device prototype. The microactuator maintains a straight rod shape until an applied current induces electro-resistive (Joule) heating, causing the microactuator to transform into a corkscrew shape. The straight-to-corkscrew transformation geometry was chosen to permit endovascular delivery through (straight form) and retrieval of (corkscrew form) a stroke-causing thrombus (blood clot) in the brain. Thermal imaging of the microactuator during actuation in air indicated that the steady-state temperature rise caused by Joule heating varied quadratically with applied current and that actuation occurred near the glass transition temperature of the SMP (86degC). To demonstrate clinical application, the device was used to retrieve a blood clot in a water-filled silicone neurovascular model. Numerical modeling of the heat transfer to the surrounding blood and associated thermal effects on the adjacent artery potentially encountered during clinical use suggested that any thermal damage would likely be confined to localized areas where the microactuator was touching the artery wall. This shape memory mechanical thrombectomy device is a promising tool for treating ischemic stroke without the need for infusion of clot-dissolving drugs.     

Efficient and scalable continuous skyline monitoring in two-tier streaming settings

Two-tier streaming settings are a typical dynamic environment where continuous skylines represent an important semantic indicator for multiple attributes. To monitor skylines over the dynamic data in such settings, one needs to continuously update the skyline query results in order to reflect the new data values. This paper tackles the problem of continuous skyline monitoring on a central query server over dynamic data from multiple data sites. Simply sending the updates of tuple values to the server is cost-prohibitive. Therefore, we propose an approach that allows the central server to collaborate with the data sites to monitor the possible skyline changes. By doing so, the processing load is distributed over all the data sites instead of only on the central server. Furthermore, this collaborative approach minimizes the bandwidth consumption between the server and the data sites, which is often critical in a widely distributed environment such as a wide-area sensor network. We give theoretical upper bounds for the computation costs and communication costs of the proposed collaborative approach. We also conduct extensive experiments on both synthetic and real data sets. The experimental results demonstrate that our collaborative approach is efficient, scalable and well-balanced in terms of communication costs and computation costs.