Intracerebral hemorrhage in blacks. Risk factors, subtypes, and outcome

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Blacks are at a higher risk for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) than whites; however, few data are available regarding the demographic and clinical characteristics of ICH among blacks. METHODS: We determined the frequency of risk factors, etiologic subtypes, and outcome among consecutive black patients admitted with nontraumatic ICH to a university-affiliated public hospital. RESULTS: The most common risk factors in the 403 black patients with ICH were preexisting hypertension (77%), alcohol use (40%), and smoking (30%). Among the 91 nonhypertensive patients, 21 (23%) were diagnosed with hypertension after onset. Compared with women, men had a younger age of onset (54 versus 60 years; P < .001) and higher frequency of alcohol use (54% versus 22%; P < .001) and smoking (39% versus 17%; P < .001). ICH secondary to hypertension (n = 311) and of undetermined etiology (n = 73) were the most common subtypes in blacks. Patients aged 65 years and older (compared with those aged 15 to 44 years; P = .001) and women (compared with men; P = .02) were more likely to be dependent at discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Primary preventive strategies are required to reduce the high frequency of modifiable risk factors predisposing to ICH in blacks.     

Tight-binding inhibitory sequences against pp60(c-src) identified using a random 15-amino-acid peptide library

A method is presented for matching wedge field dose distributions on different treatment units, simplifying the transfer of patients between machines during machine failure or scheduled downtime and avoiding the need for a full re-plan in most cases. Differences in wedge field characteristics between machines are accounted for and differences in energy are easily accommodated.     

Improved power-saving medium-access protocol for IEEE 802.11e QoS-enabled wireless networks

The performance of a new pointer-based medium-access control protocol that was designed to significantly improve the energy efficiency of user terminals in quality-of-service-enabled wireless local area networks was analysed. The new protocol, pointer- controlled slot allocation and resynchronisation protocol (PCSARe), is based on the hybrid coordination function-controlled channel access mode of the IEEE 802.11e standard. PCSARe reduces energy consumption by removing the need for power-saving stations to remain awake for channel listening. Discrete event network simulations were performed to compare the performance of PCSARe with the non-automatic power save delivery (APSD) and scheduled-APSD power- saving modes of IEEE 802.11e. The simulation results show a demonstrable improvement in energy efficiency without significant reduction in performance when using PCSARe. For a wireless network consisting of an access point and eight stations in power-saving mode, the energy saving was up to 39% when using PCSARe instead of IEEE 802.11e non-APSD. The results also show that PCSARe offers significantly reduced uplink access delay over IEEE 802.11e non-APSD, while modestly improving the uplink throughput. Furthermore, although both had the same energy consumption, PCSARe gave a 25% reduction in downlink access delay compared with IEEE 802.11e S-APSD.     

Variations of emotional display rules within and across cultures: A comparison between Canada, USA, and Japan.

This study investigates emotional display rules for seven basic emotions. The main goal was to compare emotional display rules of Canadians, US Americans, and Japanese across as well as within cultures regarding the specific emotion, the type of interaction partner, and gender. A total of 835 university students participated in the study. The results indicate that Japanese display rules permit the expression of powerful (anger, contempt, and disgust) significantly less than those of the two North American samples. Japanese also think that they should express positive emotions (happiness, surprise) significantly less than the Canadian sample. Furthermore, Japanese varied the display rules for different interaction partners more than the two North American samples did only for powerful emotions. Gender differences were similar across all three cultural groups. Men expressed powerful emotions more than women and women expressed powerless emotions (sadness, fear) and happiness more than men. Depending on the type of emotion and interaction partner some shared display rules occurred across culture and gender. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to cultural dimensions and other cultural characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Salt stress induces physiochemical alterations in rice grain composition and quality

Salinity has drastic effects on plant growth and productivity and is one of the major factors responsible for crop yield losses throughout the agricultural soils of the world. The mechanisms of salinity tolerance in plants are regulated by a set of inherent multigenes and prevalent environmental factors, which bring about a myriad of metabolic changes in each plant part. The stress-induced metabolic changes in the rice plant have been intensively studied, but extensively in plant parts such as stem, leaf, and root. However, little information exists in the literature about such stress-induced architectural and physiological changes in rice grain, a premier staple food of a large proportion of human population. Thus, the current review comprehensively describes the effects of salinity stress on rice grain composition including changes in carbohydrate, protein, fat, and mineral contents. Elucidation of salinity induced changes in rice grain composition would help to understand whether or not a nutritious and healthy staple food is available to human population from rice grown under saline environments.     

Performance Analysis of Improved IEEE 802.11 Infrastructure Power Saving Under Time-Correlated Channel Errors

Wireless enabled portable devices must operate with the highest possible energy efficiency while still maintaining a minimum level and quality of service to meet the user’s expectations. In this paper we analyse the performance of a new pointer-based medium access control protocol that was designed to significantly improve the energy efficiency of user terminals in wireless local area networks. The new protocol, pointer controlled slot allocation and resynchronisation (PCSAR) protocol is based on the existing IEEE 802.11 point coordination function (PCF) standard. PCSAR reduces energy consumption by removing the need for power saving stations to remain awake and listen to the channel. Using OPNET, simulations were performed to compare the performance of PCSAR with the infrastructure power saving mode of IEEE 802.11, PCF-PS. The simulation results demonstrate a significant improvement in energy efficiency without significant reduction in performance when using PCSAR. For a wireless network consisting of an access point and eight stations in power saving mode, the energy saving was up to 28% while using PCSAR instead of PCF-PS, depending upon frame error rate and channel loading. The results also show that PCSAR offers significantly reduced uplink (UL) access delay over PCF-PS while modestly improving UL throughput.

Optimization of high performance m‐aramid fiber with disperse dye containing high color strength

This study focuses on the optimization of parameters involved in the process of dyeing such as temperature, concentration of dye, and swelling agent for m‐aramid fibers with disperse dyes and these parameters were used to investigate the shade depth and fastness properties of m‐aramid fibers. Experiments were carried out in batch system to study the effect of factors and their levels mainly on shade depth of the fibers. The shade depth, that is, K/S value of m‐aramid fibers was improved proportionally with the increasing concentration of swelling agent and dye concentration.     

Tobacco and cigarette butt consumption in humans and animals

Discarded cigarette butts may present health risks to human infants and animals because of indiscriminate eating behaviours. Nicotine found in cigarette butts may cause vomiting and neurological toxicity; leachates of cigarette butts in aquatic environments may cause exposure to additional toxic chemicals including heavy metals, ethyl phenol and pesticide residues. This report reviews published and grey literature regarding cigarette butt waste consumption by children, pets and wildlife. Although reports of human and animal exposures number in the tens of thousands, severe toxic outcomes due to butt consumption are rare. Nonetheless, the ubiquity of cigarette butt waste and its potential for adverse effects on human and animal health warrants additional research and policy interventions to reduce the stream of these pollutants in the environment.