Adipocyte endothelin B receptor activation inhibits adiponectin production and causes insulin resistance in obese mice.

Aims: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is elevated in patients with obesity and adipose tissue of obese mice fed high-fat diet (HFD); however, its contribution to the pathophysiology of obesity is not fully understood. Genetic loss of endothelin type B receptors (ET) improves insulin sensitivity in rats and leads to increased circulating adiponectin, suggesting that ET activation on adipocytes may contribute to obesity pathophysiology. We hypothesized that elevated ET-1 in obesity promotes insulin resistance by reducing the secretion of insulin sensitizing adipokines, via ET receptor.

Implementation of an Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia Program in the Emergency Department of a Community Teaching Hospital.

Study Objective: We sought to initiate an emergency department (ED)-based ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia (UGRA) program in our community teaching hospital system. Here, we present our development process and protocol. We also sought to assess the types, indications, and associated adverse event rates for the UGRA procedures in this study.

Rapid evolution of phenotypic plasticity in patchy habitats.

Phenotypic plasticity may evolve rapidly, enabling a population's persistence in the face of sudden environmental change. Rapid evolution can occur when there is considerable genetic polymorphism at selected loci. We propose that balancing selection could be one of the mechanisms that sustain such polymorphism for plasticity.

Seeing through noise in power laws.

Despite widespread claims of power laws across the natural and social sciences, evidence in data is often equivocal. Modern data and statistical methods reject even classic power laws such as Pareto's law of wealth and the Gutenberg-Richter law for earthquake magnitudes. We show that the maximum-likelihood estimators and Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) statistics in widespread use are unexpectedly sensitive to ubiquitous errors in data such as measurement noise, quantization noise, heaping and censorship of small values.

Polymeric Interlayer Strengthening with Boron Neutron Capture Radiation Treatment for Laminated Glass.

Polymer interlayer materials are utilized in laminated glass systems to provide increased resilience from blast incidents. The polymer chains within the interlayer material can benefit from material modifications that increase the crosslinking between adjacent chains. One theorized method of targeted crosslinking is made possible through a boron neutron capture process.