Resting metabolic rate in subjects with paraplegia: the effect of pressure sores

OBJECTIVE: To determine the overall effect of paraplegia and pressure sores on resting metabolic rate. DESIGN: Unblinded, case-control study using a convenience sample. SETTING: Hospital primary care setting. PATIENTS: Fourteen individuals with paraplegia and pressure sores (PS-Para), 24 with paraplegia in good health (NPS-Para), and 23 non-spinal cord injury (SCI) controls. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The planned outcome measures consisted of resting metabolic rate, percent of predicted resting metabolic rate, resting metabolic rate per kilogram body weight, and resting metabolic rate per meter squared body surface area. Post hoc analyses were used to identify the effect of completeness of lesion, smoking, and pressure sores on percent of predicted resting metabolic rate and resting metabolic rate per kilogram body weight. RESULTS: Percent of predicted resting metabolic rate and resting metabolic rate per kilogram body weight were significantly higher in the PS-Para group than in the NPS-Para or control groups (115% +/- 4% vs 100% +/- 2% or 107% +/- 2%, p < .05) and (25.9 +/- 1.2 vs 21.4 +/- 0.6 or 22.5 +/- 0.4 kcal/kg, p < .05, respectively). The resting metabolic rate per meter squared body surface area was significantly higher in the PS-Para group than in NPS-Para group (973 +/- 39 vs 874 +/- 20kcal/m2, p < .05). In the PS-Para group, current smokers had significantly higher resting metabolic rate per kilogram body weight than nonsmokers (27.3 +/- 1.7 vs 24.0 +/- 1.4kcal/kg, p < .01). Controlling for the effects of smoking in a multiple regression model, those in the PS-Para group had significantly (p < .001) greater percent of predicted resting metabolic rate and resting metabolic rate per kilogram body weight than those in the NPS-Para group. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that individuals with SCI may have a decreased percent of predicted resting metabolic rate and those with pressure sores may have a hypermetabolic state. This hypermetabolic state is significantly higher than that resulting from smoking. Because ordinary prediction equations for energy expenditure may not be accurate when applied to subjects with paraplegia and pressure sores, quantification of energy needs by indirect calorimetry is recommended.     

On the windowed Cholesky factorization of the time-varyingasynchronous CDMA channel

In this letter we present a simplified proof for the convergence of the windowed Cholesky factorization of the time-varying asynchronous code-division multiple-access (CDMA) channel     

Separation of cholesterol,and fatty acylglycerols,acids and amides by thin-layer chromatography

A rapid unidimensional thin-layer chromatographic (TLC) method for the separation of neutral lipids is described, using two sequential solvent systems of different polarity. Excellent separations of mono-, di- and triglycerides, fatty acids, fatty amides, and cholesterol are thereby achieved. Separation is accomplished at room temperature and requires 25 min. Reference to brand of firm name does not constitute endorsement by the United States Department of Agriculture over others of a similar nature not mentioned.     

Effect of a Third Invariant on the Effective Reaction of Ductile Porous Bodies. Part 2. Loading Surface of Porous Bodies Whose Properties Are Sensitive to a Triaxial Stressed State

The lower and upper boundary approximation for describing the yield condition of porous bodies whose behavior is sensitive to a third strain rate invariant is obtained. Together with porosity the constitutive equations contain a material parameter that is responsible for the change in pore shape. This approach makes it possible to present the macroscopic yield condition in a compact form convenient for analysis and various applications. In particular, generalization of well-known plasticity conditions of Gurson and Green-Shima is presented. The lower estimate generalizes the Gurson model and the upper estimate corresponds to the Green-Shima model. Octahedral contours of the loading surface are constructed that agree with experimental data for loose materials and porous powder bodies.     

Defect production considerations for gamma ray irradiation of reactor pressure vessel steels

Motivated by the recent interest in gamma ray embrittlement of nuclear reactor pressure vessels (RPVs), calculations were performed to evaluate aspects of defect production by gammas in iron and steel. In addition to determining displacement damage cross-sections, the atomic recoil energy dependence of gamma-induced defect production was described by integral recoil damage spectra, W(T), and their associated median recoil damage energies, T_1/2. These latter characterizations, should be particularly useful in evaluating the contribution of gamma ray generated defects to microstructural changes causing radiation embrittlement. The results for monoenergetic gammas, as well as for gamma rays with a spectrum of energies characteristic of a RPV, reveal T_1/2 values of <100 eV, about three orders of magnitude smaller than for fast-neutrons, the radiation of primary concern in previous embrittlement studies. The relative contributions of various gamma interactions to defect production, as well as the role of light alloy element-induced secondary displacement mechanisms, are also considered.     

The Matroid of Supports of A Linear Code

 A relation between the Hamming weight enumerator of a linear code and the Tutte polynomial of the corresponding matroid has been known since long ago. It provides a simple proof of the MacWilliams equation (see D. Welsh, Matroid Theory (1976)). In this paper we prove analogous results for the support weight distributions of a code. Received March 5, 1996; revised version October 28, 1996