Endolithic photosynthetic communities within ancient and recent travertine deposits in Yellowstone National Park.

Molecular and culture based methods were used to survey endolithic, photosynthetic communities from hot spring-formed travertine rocks of various ages, ranging from<10 to greater than 300,000 years. Much of this travertine contained a 1-3-mm-thick greenish band composed mainly of cyanobacteria 1-5 mm below the rock surface. The travertine rocks experienced desiccation in summer and freezing in winter.

Incoherent self-similarities of the coupled amplified nonlinear Schrödinger equations.

Self-similar propagation in a system of coupled amplified nonlinear Schrödinger equations is studied. We find that each individual amplified nonlinear Schrödinger equation can sustain a component similariton with a quadratic phase, which is the asymptotic self-similar solution of the corresponding equation. Under a width-matching condition, the incoherent summation of all the component similaritons leads to another similariton with parabolic profile.

The Acute Care Nurse Practitioner: challenging existing boundaries of emergency nurses in the United Kingdom.

Aim: This study explored the opinions of nurses and doctors working in emergency departments towards the development of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner service in the United Kingdom.

Background: Studies carried out in the United States and Canada suggest that the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner can have a positive impact on the critically ill or injured patients' experiences in the emergency department. This role is well developed in the United States and Canada, but is still in its infancy in the United Kingdom.

Personal access to health care: a concept analysis.

The objective of this concept analysis was to formulate an operational definition, so that those seeking, providing, and legislating health care policy would share a common interpretation of the concept. A concept analysis following the strategy suggested by Walker and Avant was used to identify antecedents, attributes, and empirical referents of access to health care. Furthermore, model, borderline, contrary, and invented cases were described.

Acute stroke care at rural hospitals in Idaho: challenges in expediting stroke care.

Context: Thrombolytics are currently the most effective treatment for stroke. However, the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke criteria for initiation of thrombolytic therapy, most notably the 3-hour time limit from symptom onset, have proven challenging for many rural hospitals to achieve.

Purpose: To provide a snapshot of stroke care at rural hospitals in Idaho and to investigate the experiences of these hospitals in expediting stroke care.

Acoustic detection of controlled laser-induced microbubble creation in gelatin.

A high-frequency (85 MHz) acoustic technique is used to identify system parameters for controlled laser-induced microbubble creation inside tissue-mimicking, gelatin phantoms. Microbubbles are generated at the focus of an ultrafast 793-nm laser source and simultaneously monitored through ultrasonic pulse-echo recordings. Displayed in wavefield form, these recordings illustrate microbubble creation, and integrated backscatter plots provide specifics about microbubble characteristics and dissolution behavior.

Treatment of glenoid loosening and bone loss due to osteolysis with glenoid bone grafting.

Twenty-four patients underwent conversion of a total shoulder replacement to a humeral head replacement with glenoid bone grafting for glenoid loosening due to osteolysis. Of the 24 patients, 18 (75%) had satisfactory pain relief at a mean follow-up of 33.4 months (range, 24-63 months).

From specialty-based to practice-based: a new blueprint for the American Board of Family Medicine cognitive examination.

The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) is committed to offering cognitive examinations that are both pertinent to the specialty of family medicine and psychometrically sound. This article reviews the history of the development of the blueprint of the ABFM certification and recertification cognitive examinations and describes the creation of a new one. The design of the new blueprint represents a significant change.

Effects of comorbidity and clustering upon referrals in primary care.

Objective: To examine the effect of patient characteristics and comorbidity on referrals in primary care.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of patient encounters and referrals during a 1-year period for a primary care network of 9 clinics. The analysis adjusted for the clustering effect of physicians and clinics on the data.

A randomized, controlled trial of an automated wireless messaging system for diabetes.

Background: Aggressive management of blood glucose reduces future diabetes-related complications, but this is difficult to achieve.

Methods: This randomized, controlled study tested the effect of using a wireless two-way pager-based automated messaging system to improve diabetes control through facilitated self-management. The system sent health-related messages to patients, with automatic forwarding of urgent patient responses to the health care team.

Self-similar parabolic beam generation and propagation.

The (1+1) -dimensional and (2+1) -dimensional amplified nonlinear Schrödinger equations incorporating diffraction, Kerr nonlinearity, and gain are solved analytically and numerically. An asymptotic solution is found corresponding to self-similar propagation of a beam with parabolic amplitude and phase profiles. While the (1+1) -dimensional solution is directly analogous to parabolic pulse propagation in nonlinear dispersive media, the existence of self-similar propagation in (2+1) dimensions is a nontrivial question, given that spatial solitons are unstable in bulk media with nonsaturating nonlinearities.

Brown recluse spider envenomation: dermatologic application of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Envenomation from the brown recluse (Loxosceles recluse) spider commonly proceed on one of three clinical pathways. The majority of bites (90%) result in nothing more than a local reaction. They are essentially self-limiting, require little if any attention, and resolve spontaneously.

Indications for prosthetic replacement in proximal humeral fractures.

Prosthetic replacement is a good treatment option in osteoporotic patients with four-part fractures, fracture-dislocations, head-split fractures with more than 40% articular surface involvement, anatomic neck fractures, dislocations present for longer than 6 months, and selected three-part fractures. Early prosthetic replacement of proximal humeral fractures has a better outcome than late reconstructive prosthetic management. Prosthetic design features specific forfracture care have led to a reduction in complications.

New hydroxy-pyrazoline intermediates, subtle regio-selectivity and relative reaction rate variations observed during acid catalyzed and neutral pyrazole cyclization.

Arylhydrazines 4 and 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds 5 react to form pyrazoles by loss of water via hydrazone isomer pairs 6 and 7 which give rise to two possible regio-isomers. Occasionally, 3-hydroxy-3,4-dihydropyrazoles or hydroxy-pyrazolines 9 and 9 are observed as stable isolatable intermediates that can be fully characterized prior to loss of the second molecule of water that gives rise to pyrazoles 10 and 11. Fully characterized examples of intermediates of type 8 and 9 are relatively rare.

Telehealth in New Zealand: current practice and future prospects.

We have surveyed the current state of telehealth in New Zealand. The survey found 22 telehealth projects active in 2003, compared with 12 identified in a previous survey in 2000. Many projects were small, localized and led by enthusiasts.

Dependence of parabolic pulse amplification on stimulated Raman scattering and gain bandwidth.

An analytical model has been developed and verified by numerical simulations to determine limits induced by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) on parabolic pulse evolution in high-power, high-energy Yb-fiber amplifiers. Our results show that the maximum achievable parabolic pulse energies are limited by SRS at low amplifier gains and by the finite gain bandwidth at high gains. Therefore, an optimum gain value exists that maximizes the achievable output pulse energy.

In vitro targeting of synthesized antibody-conjugated dendrimer nanoparticles.

This study reports the synthesis and in vitro biological properties of dendrimer-antibody conjugates. The polyamidoamine dendrimer platform was conjugated to fluorescein isothiocyanate as a means to analyze cell binding and internalization. Two different antibodies, 60bca and J591, which bind to CD14 and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), respectively, were used as model targeting molecules.

Trapping cavitation bubbles with a self-focused laser beam.

We observed that laser-induced cavitation bubbles in water can be trapped in a self-focused laser beam. Both optical imaging and acoustic detection have been utilized to confirm bubble trapping. Transverse and longitudinal trapping forces were measured to be as large as 87 and 11 pN, respectively.

Colonoscopy in rural communities: can family physicians perform the procedure with safe and efficacious results?

Background: Colonoscopy is becoming increasingly necessary for many patients in screening, diagnosing, and treating colorectal problems. Because the majority of rural doctors are family physicians, providing colonoscopy for the enlarging group of patients with valid indications in rural areas is difficult, unless rural family physicians perform the procedure. Subspecialists in academic settings have been responsible for most of the previously reported studies regarding colonoscopy.

Chromosomes of tuatara, Sphenodon, a chromosome heteromorphism and an archaic reptilian karyotype.

We examined karyotypes of the endemic New Zealand reptile genus Sphenodon (tuatara) from five populations, finding a karyotype unchanged for at least one million years. Animals karyotyped were from five geographically distinct populations, representing three groups, namely S. guntheri, S.

Thromboprophylaxis in medical patients: the role of low-molecular-weight heparin.

Many hospitalised medical patients are at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Consensus statements recommend that such patients be assessed for risk of VTE on admission to hospital and receive thromboprophylaxis where appropriate. However, VTE prophylaxis is not widely used in medical patients.

Detection and analysis of tumor fluorescence using a two-photon optical fiber probe.

The utility of a two-photon optical fiber fluorescence probe (TPOFF) for sensing and quantifying tumor fluorescent signals was tested in vivo. Xenograft tumors were developed in athymic mice using MCA207 cells expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP). The TPOFF probe was able to detect ex vivo fluorescence from excised tumors containing as little as 0.