Knowing the Patient: Understanding Readmission Reasons in Complex Heart Failure.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a complex problem characterized by frequent hospitalizations and high 30-day readmission rates. Researchers studying HF readmission report that patients and clinicians have different perspectives on readmission and preventability when unadjusted for disease severity.

Objective: The aim of this study was to gather patient, caregiver, nurse, and physician subjective reason(s) for 30-day HF readmission and perceptions of preventability with contextual factors to evaluate differences.

Response tensor for a spin-dependent electron gas: Dependence on the choice of spin operator.

It is shown that the choice of spin operator affects the form of the response tensor describing a spin-dependent electron gas. The covariant, spin-dependent response tensor for a magnetic dipole moment-polarized electron gas (statistical distribution of electrons and positrons) is evaluated. A simultaneous eigenfunction of both the magnetic-moment spin operator and the Dirac Hamiltonian is constructed, from which explicit expressions for the magnetic-moment states and the corresponding vertex functions are derived.

Low Altitude Solar Magnetic Reconnection, Type III Solar Radio Bursts, and X-ray Emissions.

Type III solar radio bursts are the Sun's most intense and frequent nonthermal radio emissions. They involve two critical problems in astrophysics, plasma physics, and space physics: how collective processes produce nonthermal radiation and how magnetic reconnection occurs and changes magnetic energy into kinetic energy. Here magnetic reconnection events are identified definitively in Solar Dynamics Observatory UV-EUV data, with strong upward and downward pairs of jets, current sheets, and cusp-like geometries on top of time-varying magnetic loops, and strong outflows along pairs of open magnetic field lines.

Psychosocial distress in women diagnosed with gynecological cancer.

Many women with gynecological cancer report psychosocial distress, and clarification of the risks, vulnerabilities, and protective factors is required. The aim of this study was to investigate the lived experience of gynecological cancer patients and to understand the factors that underlie psychosocial distress. Semi-structured interviews with seven women diagnosed with gynecological cancer revealed the role of social support, or its absence, selective withholding of information, and existential loneliness in women's experience of distress.

Wave dispersion in a counterstreaming, relativistic thermal, magnetized, electron-positron plasma.

The dispersion equation is analyzed for waves in a strongly magnetized, electron-positron plasma in which counterstreaming electrons and positrons have a relativistic thermal distribution in their respective rest frames, for propagation parallel to the magnetic field. We derive the response tensor for the medium, demonstrate the dispersion curves for different temperatures, and discuss the differences from the cold-plasma case. Application to the case of pulsar magnetospheres is discussed.

Classical relativistic model for spin dependence in a magnetized electron gas.

The response of a cold electron gas is generalized to include the spin of the electron described by the relativistically correct quasiclassical Bargmann-Michel-Telegdi (BMT) equation. The magnetization of the electron gas is assumed to be along the background magnetic field B and the spin-dependent contribution to the response tensor is proportional to the magnitude of the magnetization. The dispersion equation is shown to be quadratic in the refractive index squared, and dispersion curves for the two wave modes are plotted for cases where the magnetic field associated with magnetization is comparable with B.

Dispersion in a thermal plasma including arbitrary degeneracy and quantum recoil.

The longitudinal response function for a thermal electron gas is calculated including two quantum effects exactly, degeneracy, and the quantum recoil. The Fermi-Dirac distribution is expanded in powers of a parameter that is small in the nondegenerate limit and the response function is evaluated in terms of the conventional plasma dispersion function to arbitrary order in this parameter. The infinite sum is performed in terms of polylogarithms in the long-wavelength and quasistatic limits, giving results that apply for arbitrary degeneracy.

Wave dispersion in a counterstreaming, cold, magnetized, electron-positron plasma.

The dispersion equation is analyzed for waves in a strongly magnetized, electron-positron plasma in which counterstreaming electrons are cold in their respective rest frames. For propagation parallel to the magnetic field the dispersion equation factorizes into equations for two longitudinal modes and four transverse modes. Instabilities occur in both longitudinal and transverse modes, with the most notable being at low wave numbers where a longitudinal branch has purely imaginary frequency.

Physiological and performance characteristics of adolescent club volleyball players.

The objective of this investigation was to examine the physical and performance characteristics of adolescent club volleyball players. Twenty-nine adolescent girls, aged 12 to 17 years (14.31 +/- 1.

Polarized maser growth.

A polarized maser is assumed to operate in an anisotropic medium with natural modes polarized differently to the maser. It is shown that when the spatial growth rate and the generalized Faraday rotation rate are comparable, the polarization of the growing radiation is different from those of the maser and medium. In particular, for a lineary polarized maser operating in a medium with linearly polarized natural modes, the growing radiation is partially circularly polarized.

Wave dispersion near cyclotron resonance in pulsar plasmas.

In a standard pulsar model, the radio emission is produced in the relativistic, strongly magnetized electron-positron plasma in the polar-cap region of the magnetosphere. Waves are generated well below the cyclotron frequency and must propagate through the cyclotron resonance region where they are affected by the resonance. Wave dispersion near the cyclotron resonance is discussed in the formalism of the weak anisotropy approximation in which the relevant waves are treated as transverse.

Optical activity in an isotropic gas of electrons with a preferred helicity.

An isotropic gas of electrons with a preferred spin helicity is shown to be optically active. Simultaneous eigenfunctions of the Dirac Hamiltonian and the helicity operator are constructed and used to derive explicit expressions for vertex functions for helicity states. The (covariant) response tensor is calculated for an electron gas described in terms of a spin-dependent occupation number.

Wave dispersion in gyrotropic relativistic pulsar plasmas.

Wave dispersion in a gyrotropic relativistic pulsar plasma is discussed. A pulsar plasma in general contains electrons, positrons, and possibly ions. Although electron-positron pairs are dominant in number density, charge neutrality is generally not satisfied and the gyrotropic terms need to be considered.

New mechanism of pulsar radio emission.

It is shown that pulsar radio emission can be generated effectively through a streaming motion in the polar-cap regions of a pulsar magnetosphere causing non-resonant growth of waves that can escape directly. As in other beam models, a relatively low-energy high-density beam is required. The instability generates quasitransverse waves in a beam mode at frequencies that can be well below the resonant frequency.

Quasilinear diffusion as a result of modulational instability in the pulsar plasma.

Quasilinear diffusion due to modulational instability is considered in this paper. Interaction between the high-frequency, nearly transverse O mode (or the transverse X mode) and the low-frequency, nearly longitudinal L-O mode in a pulsar magnetospheric pair plasma can lead to modulational instability. The low-frequency L-O mode is superluminal, which is not subjected to usual Landau damping, and it is possible that excess wave energy is stored in this superluminal mode.

Waves in strongly magnetized relativistic plasmas: generally covariant approach.

A dispersion relation for long waves in strongly magnetized multifluid plasma in a curved spacetime is derived in a covariant form. A generally covariant form for the ray equations is obtained. The results are applicable to ray propagation in relativistic plasmas in the vicinity of strongly gravitating (black holes) or rapidly rotating (pulsars) systems.

Circular polarization induced by scintillation in a magnetized medium.

A theory is presented for the development of circular polarization as radio waves propagate through the turbulent, birefringent interstellar medium. The fourth order moments of the wave field are calculated, and it is shown that unpolarized incident radiation develops a nonzero variance in circular polarization. A magnetized turbulent medium causes the Stokes parameters to scintillate in a nonidentical manner.

Effects of oral creatine supplementation on muscular strength and body composition.

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effects of 6 wk of oral creatine supplementation during a periodized program of arm flexor strength training on arm flexor IRM, upper arm muscle area, and body composition.

Methods: Twenty-three male volunteers with at least 1 yr of weight training experience were assigned in a double blind fashion to two groups (Cr, N = 10; Placebo, N = 13) with no significant mean pretest one repetition maximum (IRM) differences in arm flexor strength. Cr ingested 5 g of creatine monohydrate in a flavored, sucrose drink four times per day for 5 d.

Stance width and bar load effects on leg muscle activity during the parallel squat.

Purpose: Altering foot stance is often prescribed as a method of isolating muscles during the parallel squat. The purpose of this study was to compare activity in six muscles crossing the hip and/or knee joints when the parallel squat is performed with different stances and bar loads.

Methods: Nine male lifters served as subjects.

Effects of dehydration on isometric muscular strength and endurance.

To examine the effects of rapid dehydration on isometric muscular strength and endurance, seven men were tested at baseline (control) and after a dehydration (dHST) and a euhydration (eHST) heat stress trial. The dHST consisted of intermittent sauna exposure until 4% of body mass was lost, whereas the eHST consisted of intermittent sauna exposure (same duration as dHST) with water replacement. Peak torque was determined for the knee extensors and elbow flexors during three isometric maximal voluntary contractions.

Semen assessment, fertility and the selection of Hereford bulls for use in AI.

Nineteen young Hereford bulls were used to study the relationship between semen characteristics and fertility in artificial insemination following 15 320 inseminations. Seven measures of sperm motility, morphological abnormalities, the release of hyaluronidase, ATP content and sperm head measurements were examined as predictors of fertility (49-day fixed-interval non-return rate). Two assessments of motility, three categories of abnormal spermatozoa, acrosomal changes and the release of hyaluronidase had predictive power.