Étude exploratoire du recours à des interventions médicales de type "lourd' pour soulager la souffrance existentielle en fin de vie

Au cours du siècle dernier, des améliorations au niveau des conditions de vie ainsi que des avancées importantes dans les sciences biomédicales ont permis de repousser les frontières de la vie. Jusqu’au début du XXe Siècle, la mort était un processus relativement bref, survenant à la suite de maladies infectieuses et avait lieu à la maison. À présent, elle survient plutôt après une longue bataille contre des maladies incurables et des afflictions diverses liées à la vieillesse et a le plus souvent lieu à l’hôpital. Pour comprendre la souffrance du malade d’aujourd’hui et l’aborder, il faut comprendre ce qu’engendre comme ressenti ce nouveau contexte de fin de vie autant pour le patient que pour le clinicien qui en prend soin. Cette thèse se veut ainsi une étude exploratoire et critique des enjeux psychologiques relatifs à cette mort contemporaine avec un intérêt premier pour l’optimisation du soulagement de la souffrance existentielle du patient dans ce contexte. D’abord, je m’intéresserai à la souffrance du patient. À travers un examen critique des écrits, une définition précise et opérationnelle, comportant des critères distinctifs, de ce qu’est la souffrance existentielle en fin de vie sera proposée. Je poserai ainsi l’hypothèse que la souffrance peut être définie comme une forme de construction de l’esprit s’articulant autour de trois concepts : intégrité, altérité et temporalité. D’abord, intégrité au sens où initialement l’individu malade se sent menacé dans sa personne (relation à soi). Ensuite, altérité au sens où la perception de ses conditions extérieures a un impact sur la détresse ressentie (relation à l’Autre). Et finalement, temporalité au sens où l’individu souffrant de façon existentielle semble bien souvent piégé dans un espace-temps particulier (relation au temps). Ensuite, je m’intéresserai à la souffrance du soignant. Dans le contexte d’une condition terminale, il arrive que des interventions lourdes (p. ex. : sédation palliative profonde, interventions invasives) soient discutées et même proposées par un soignant. Je ferai ressortir diverses sources de souffrance propres au soignant et générées par son contact avec le patient (exemples de sources de souffrance : idéal malmené, valeurs personnelles, sentiment d’impuissance, réactions de transfert et de contre-transfert, identification au patient, angoisse de mort). Ensuite, je mettrai en lumière comment ces dites sources de souffrance peuvent constituer des barrières à l’approche de la souffrance du patient, notamment par l’influence possible sur l’approche thérapeutique choisie. On constatera ainsi que la souffrance d’un soignant contribue par moment à mettre en place des mesures visant davantage à l’apaiser lui-même au détriment de son patient. En dernier lieu, j'élaborerai sur la façon dont la rencontre entre un soignant et un patient peut devenir un espace privilégié afin d'aborder la souffrance. J'émettrai certaines suggestions afin d'améliorer les soins de fin de vie par un accompagnement parvenant à mettre la technologie médicale au service de la compassion tout en maintenant la singularité de l'expérience du patient. Pour le soignant, ceci nécessitera une amélioration de sa formation, une prise de conscience de ses propres souffrances et une compréhension de ses limites à soulager l'Autre.

Trabalho e riscos de adoecimento : um estudo entre policiais civis

Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a percepção que os policiais civis do DF têm sobre o seu contexto de trabalho, suas exigências, assim como as vivências e os problemas físicos, psicológicos e sociais causados pelo trabalho, procurando fazer inferências sobre as estratégias de mediação utilizadas para evitar o sofrimento e os riscos de adoecimento. Foi aplicado o Inventário do Trabalho e Riscos de Adoecimento (ITRA) em 160 policiais civis, homens e mulheres, recém empossados na Instituição (tempo médio de oito meses de ingresso na Instituição). Os resultados indicaram que, apesar de não ficarem evidentes danos graves à saúde do policial novato, há riscos de acontecerem falhas nas estratégias de mediação em relação a fatores que levam ao adoecimento. _________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT

The scientific rationale, design and implementation plan for a Biogeochemical-Argo float array

Biogeochemical-Argo is the extension of the Argo array of profiling floats to include floats that are equipped with biogeochemical sensors for pH, oxygen, nitrate, chlorophyll, suspended particles, and downwelling irradiance. Argo is a highly regarded, international program that measures the changing ocean temperature (heat content) and salinity with profiling floats distributed throughout the ocean. Newly developed sensors now allow profiling floats to also observe biogeochemical properties with sufficient accuracy for climate studies. This extension of Argo will enable an observing system that can determine the seasonal to decadal-scale variability in biological productivity, the supply of essential plant nutrients from deep-waters to the sunlit surface layer, ocean acidification, hypoxia, and ocean uptake of CO2. Biogeochemical-Argo will drive a transformative shift in our ability to observe and predict the effects of climate change on ocean metabolism, carbon uptake, and living marine resource management. Presently, vast areas of the open ocean are sampled only once per decade or less, with sampling occurring mainly in summer. Our ability to detect changes in biogeochemical processes that may occur due to the warming and acidification driven by increasing atmospheric CO2, as well as by natural climate variability, is greatly hindered by this undersampling. In close synergy with satellite systems (which are effective at detecting global patterns for a few biogeochemical parameters, but only very close to the sea surface and in the absence of clouds), a global array of biogeochemical sensors would revolutionize our understanding of ocean carbon uptake, productivity, and deoxygenation. The array would reveal the biological, chemical, and physical events that control these processes. Such a system would enable a new generation of global ocean prediction systems in support of carbon cycling, acidification, hypoxia and harmful algal blooms studies, as well as the management of living marine resources. In order to prepare for a global Biogeochemical-Argo array, several prototype profiling float arrays have been developed at the regional scale by various countries and are now operating. Examples include regional arrays in the Southern Ocean (SOCCOM ), the North Atlantic Sub-polar Gyre (remOcean ), the Mediterranean Sea (NAOS ), the Kuroshio region of the North Pacific (INBOX ), and the Indian Ocean (IOBioArgo ). For example, the SOCCOM program is deploying 200 profiling floats with biogeochemical sensors throughout the Southern Ocean, including areas covered seasonally with ice. The resulting data, which are publically available in real time, are being linked with computer models to better understand the role of the Southern Ocean in influencing CO2 uptake, biological productivity, and nutrient supply to distant regions of the world ocean. The success of these regional projects has motivated a planning meeting to discuss the requirements for and applications of a global-scale Biogeochemical-Argo program. The meeting was held 11-13 January 2016 in Villefranche-sur-Mer, France with attendees from eight nations now deploying Argo floats with biogeochemical sensors present to discuss this topic. In preparation, computer simulations and a variety of analyses were conducted to assess the resources required for the transition to a global-scale array. Based on these analyses and simulations, it was concluded that an array of about 1000 biogeochemical profiling floats would provide the needed resolution to greatly improve our understanding of biogeochemical processes and to enable significant improvement in ecosystem models. With an endurance of four years for a Biogeochemical-Argo float, this system would require the procurement and deployment of 250 new floats per year to maintain a 1000 float array. The lifetime cost for a Biogeochemical-Argo float, including capital expense, calibration, data management, and data transmission, is about $100,000. A global Biogeochemical-Argo system would thus cost about $25,000,000 annually. In the present Argo paradigm, the US provides half of the profiling floats in the array, while the EU, Austral/Asia, and Canada share most the remaining half. If this approach is adopted, the US cost for the Biogeochemical-Argo system would be ~$12,500,000 annually and ~$6,250,000 each for the EU, and Austral/Asia and Canada. This includes no direct costs for ship time and presumes that float deployments can be carried out from future research cruises of opportunity, including, for example, the international GO-SHIP program (http://www.go-ship.org). The full-scale implementation of a global Biogeochemical-Argo system with 1000 floats is feasible within a decade. The successful, ongoing pilot projects have provided the foundation and start for such a system.

Estudo do papel desempenhado pelo heterotetrâmero de anexina A2 em células de cancro da mama hipóxicas

Dissertação de Mestrado, Biologia Molecular e Microbiana, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2014

Rostros y rastros del Nobel: Gabriel García Márquez veinticinco años después

Gabriel García Márquez asume la oralidad del homo caribbeans como síntoma de diversidad , por oposición a la universalizante estandarización trascendental de la escritura, en palabras del antillano Edouard Glissant, y representa una reacción a la cultura letrada establecida por el sistema imperial occidental, custodiada por los organismos reguladores del orden establecido en el centro. De este modo, la literatura oficia como archivo cultural. A la luz de la concepción de literatura como escritura, es preferible hablar de diseminación, de intertextualidad, de palimpsesto, en vez de recurrir al trajinado concepto de influencias literarias. En tal sentido, Cien años de Soledad se constituye en un canon emergente, un código maestro, un nuevo mapa cultural que permite múltiples lecturas y re-escrituras. El realismo mágico pone en crisis el concepto aristotélico de mimesis del arte verbal y exige una nueva perspectiva de analisis.Según un importante sector de la critica, la obra garciamarquiana en sus diferentes rostros, desde las tempranas producciones del ciclo Macondiano hasta la Summa Amorosa que concluye con Del amor y otros demonios, señala el tránsito de la narrativa colombiana de la modernidad a la posmodernidad . Por cierto, veinte años después del Nobel, su rastro se puede seguir desde el campo novelístico nacional contemporáneo hasta recónditas geografias literarias del globo. El realismo mágico, así como en general la literatura del boom, constituye desde la década del setenta una nueva fórmula de respuesta a la situación posmoderna, dado que reemplaza el antiguo canon colonial hegemónico y sus ecos esencialistas, realistas y nacionalistas posteriores a la independencia, y proporciona una ficción de autorrepresentación de la realidad híbrida del discurso otro latinoamericano, en la que la categoría de lo maravilloso reemplazará a la de lo sublime. Sin duda, Macondo existe, es una región de la memoria. Pero sus límites no son occidentales. Dentro del mapa literario mundial, es vecino de remotos espacios geolingüísticos y geoculturales.AbstractGabriel García Márquez assumes the oral tradition of the homo caribbeans as a symptom of diversity, by an opposition to the universalizing standardization of writing, to use the words of Antillean writer Edouard Glissant, and represents a reaction against the educated culture established by the Western imperial system and kept by the regulating organisms of the established order in the center. Thus, literature represents a cultural file.Following the notion of literature as writing, it is preferable to talk about dissemination, intertextuality, or palimpsest instead of resorting to the overused concept of literary influences. In this sense, One Hundred Years of Solitude becomes an emerging cannon, a master code, a new cultural map that allows multiple readings and re-writings. Magic realism puts into crisis the Aristotelian concept of mimicry of the verbal art and demands a new perspective of analysis. According to an important sector of critique, the Garciamarquian work– in its different phases, from the early productions of the Macondian cycle to the Summa Amorosa that finishes with Love and Other Demons, represents the path of the colombian narrative from the modernism to postmodernism. By the way, twenty years after the Nobel, its path can be followed from the novel national contemporary field to distant literary geographies of the world. Magic realism, as well as in general terms the literature of the boom, makes from the sixties decade a new form of answering to the postmodern situation, because it substitutes the old colonial hegemonic cannon and its essential , realistic and national voices after the independence. It gives a fiction of sel-frepresentation of the hybrid reality of the other Latin American discourse, in which the marvelous category will replaced that of the sublime. With no doubt, Macondo exists, it is a region of the memory. But its borders are not Western, inside the literary world map, it is a neighbor of remote geolinguistics and geocultural spaces.

Preferência do local de cuidados dos doentes em fim de vida: revisão sistemática da literatura

PROBLEMÁTICA: Com o aumento da população e comummente com o aumento de doenças crónicas, leva a um crescimento de doentes que necessitam de cuidados paliativos. A intervenção em cuidados paliativos visa o alívio do sofrimento e melhorar a qualidade de vida do doente e sua família, respeitando as suas preferências e desejos. Os profissionais de saúde necessitam de formação em Cuidados Paliativos, respeitando as expetativas dos doentes e permitir que a pessoa seja cuidada no seu local preferido de cuidados e não recorrer consecutivamente a urgências e internamentos de agudos. OBJETIVOS: Demonstrar a importância da identificação da preferência do local de cuidados dos doentes em fim-de-vida, compreender a importância do planeamento de cuidados e Diretivas antecipadas de vontade (DAV), relacionar a escolha do local de cuidados com o local de morte, identificar os fatores que influenciam e condicionam a escolha do local de cuidados dos doentes em fim-de-vida e por fim, perceber a organização e qualidade dos serviços. DESENHO: Revisão sistemática da literatura que inclui estudos de natureza qualitativa. METODOLOGIA: Foram incluídos oito estudos, publicados entre 1 de Janeiro de 2016 e 31 de Agosto 2016, pesquisados em bases de dados de referência e com acesso ao texto integral. RESULTADOS: Este estudo demonstra a importância das preferências dos doentes e serem registadas, a importância das Diretivas Antecipadas de Vontade, bem como o planeamento do cuidado de forma antecipada. É fundamental ter em conta os fatores que influenciam e condicionam a escolha do local de cuidados. CONCLUSÃO: Deve dar-se importância às preferências do local de cuidado dos doentes em fim-de-vida. Os doentes em fim-de-vida na sua globalidade preferem ser cuidados e morrerem em casa. As equipas multidisciplinares desenvolvem um papel preponderante no cuidado aos doentes em fim-de-vida. Quando os cuidados prestados são de alta qualidade, permite ao doente ser cuidado e morrer no seu local preferido.

Determination of subclinical metabolic disorders in transition dairy cows

Das Gesundheitsmanagement von Milchkühen hat in den vergangenen Jahren auf den landwirtschaftlichen Betrieben an Bedeutung gewonnen. Neben Präventionsmaßnahmen zur Gesunderhaltung der Tiere ist die frühzeitige und systematische Erkennung von Erkrankungen hierbei der Hauptbestandteil. Es zeigt sich vermehrt, dass vor allem Transitkühe verstärkt an Stoffwechselerkrankungen in sowohl klinischer als auch subklinischer Form erkranken. Letztere stellen ein hohes Risiko dar, zum einen weil subklinische Erkrankungen oftmals nur schwer oder gar nicht erkannt werden und zum anderen, weil sie in vielen Fällen die Grundlage für meist schwerwiegendere Folgeerkrankungen sind. In der vorliegenden Studie wird das Thema der Früherkennung von subklinischen Ketosen und der subakuten Pansenazidose behandelt. Verschiedene Methoden wurden unter praktischen Versuchsbedingungen auf ihre Tauglichkeit zur Krankheitserkennung hin geprüft. In einer ersten Studie wurde auf einem konventionellen Milchviehbetrieb ein Ketose-Monitoring bei frischlaktierenden Kühen ab Tag 3 postpartum durchgeführt. Insgesamt 15 Tiere waren an einer subklinischen Ketose erkrankt, was eine Aufkommensrate von 26% in den untersuchten Tieren bedeutete. Die Blutproben von insgesamt 24 Tieren wurden auf ihren IL-6-Gehalt untersucht. Von den untersuchten Tieren waren 14 Tiere erkrankt, 10 Tiere bildeten die gesunde Kontrollgruppe. Interleukin-6 wurde bestimmt, da dem Zytokin IL-6 in anderen Studien in Bezug auf Ketosen eine Rolle zugesprochen wurde. Die erwartete Erhöhung von IL-6 bei erkrankten Tieren konnte nicht festgestellt werden; die erkrankten Kühe zeigten vielmehr die niedrigsten IL-6 Werte der Studiengruppe. Insgesamt waren die IL-6 Konzentrationen auf einem niedrigen Niveau mit 27.2 pg/m l± 10.2. Es zeigte sich, dass die IL-6 Bestimmung im Blut hinsichtlich der Erkennung von subklinischen Ketosen nur eingeschränkt nutzbar ist. Es konnte ausschließlich eine schwache negative Korrelation zwischen Beta- Hydroxybutyrat (BHBA, Goldstandard für den Nachweis einer Ketose) und IL-6 detektiert werden. Zusätzlich zu den Blutanalysen wurde ebenfalls die tägliche Wiederkauaktivität mit dem „DairyCheck“ System bestimmt, welches kontinuierlich die charakteristischen Kaumuskelkontraktionen aufzeichnet und somit die Dauer des Wiederkäuens bestimmt werden kann. Es wurde geprüft, ob sich ketotische Tiere von nicht ketotischen Tieren hinsichtlich der täglichen Wiederkäuzeit unterscheiden. Milchkühe mit einer Ketose kauten im Schnitt 475 min/d ± 56 wieder, nach Genesung 497 min/d ± 48. Sie befanden sich somit im Durchschnitt immer unterhalb der gesunden Kontrollgruppe, welche 521 min/d ± 76 wiederkaute. Eine Korrelation zwischen der Wiederkauzeit und dem BHBA- Gehalt im Blut war nur sehr schwach ausgeprägt, nicht zuletzt da die Tiere generell eine hohe Variabilität in der Wiederkauaktivität zeigten. Bei einer weiteren Studie, ebenfalls auf einem Praxisbetrieb durchgeführt, wurde auf die Erkennung der subakuten Pansensazidose (SARA) fokussiert. Hierbei kam ein drahtloses, kommerziell verfügbares Bolussystem zum Einsatz, welches den pH Wert kontinuierlich im Retikulorumen misst. Es macht die Erkennung einer SARA auch unter Praxisbedingungen ohne invasive Methoden wie der Punktion möglich. Das Bolussystem wurde 24 Milchkühen kurz vor der Abkalbung oral eingegeben, um den pH-Wert während der gesamten Transitphase messen und überwachen zu können. Während in der Trockenstehphase nur vereinzelte SARA Fälle auftraten, erlitt ein Großteil der untersuchten Tiere in der Frühlaktation eine SARA. Auf Grundlage von pH-Werten von laktierenden Milchkühen, wurde zusätzlich eine Sensitivitätsanalyse von verschieden, bereits eingesetzten Nachweismethoden durchgeführt, um die Tauglichkeit für die SARA-Diagnostik zu untersuchen. Es handelte sich hierbei zum einen um einen SARA-Nachweis unter Heranziehung von Einzelwerten, Fress- und Wiederkäuzeiten, sowie ausgewählten Milchinhaltsstoffen und der Milchmenge. Die Analyse ergab, dass nahezu alle Nachweismethoden im Vergleich zur Langzeitmessung nur eingeschränkt zur SARA-Diagnostik nutzbar sind. In einem weiteren Teil der Studie wurde eine Kotfraktionierung bei den gleichen Tieren durchgeführt, um damit SARA-Tiere auch mittels der Kotanalyse erkennen kann. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass zum einen die Ration einen Einfluss auf die Kotzusammensetzung hat (Trockensteherration versus Ration für Laktierende) zum anderen aber auch, dass eine SARA die Zusammensetzung des Kotes verändert. Hierfür wurden Kotproben ausschließlich von laktierenden Kühen untersucht, sodass der Einfluss der Ration ausgeschlossen werden konnte. Erhöhte Faseranteile im Kot von SARA - Kühen gaben Hinweis auf eine verminderte Verdaulichkeit. Dabei erwies sich vor allem die Hemizellulose als guter Parameter, um auf eine SARA schließen zu können. Die Versuchsbedingungen ließen es ebenfalls zu, die pH-Verläufe der Tiere in der Frühlaktation zu untersuchen. Eine Clusteranalyse von pH-Werten der ersten 12 Tage postpartum zeigte, dass die untersuchten Tiere trotz gleicher Haltungs- und Fütterungsbedingungen unterschiedliche pH-Wert Verläufe entwickelten. So gab es eine Gruppe von Milchkühen, die den pH-Wert stabil halten konnte, während die restlichen pH-Abfälle in verschiedenen Verläufen und Intensitäten aufzeigten. Es konnte ebenfalls aufgezeigt werden, dass Tiere innerhalb der Testherde unterschiedliche Schweregrade der SARA entwickelten. Auch in dieser Studie wurde deutlich, dass Tiere scheinbar unterschiedliche Möglichkeiten haben, auf ihre Umwelt zu reagieren, bzw. suboptimalen Bedingungen entgegenwirken zu können. Zusammengefasst wurden verschiedene Methoden zur Ketose- und SARA- Erkennung geprüft, von denen nur einzelne für die Praxis zu empfehlen sind. Die Variabilität der Tiere, sowohl bei der Ausprägung der Erkrankungen als auch bei den gemessenen Parametern verdeutlicht die Notwendigkeit, diese im Herden- und Gesundheitsmanagement in Zukunft stärker zu berücksichtigen.

IdeaWall: Bridging the digital and non-digital worlds to facilitate distant collaboration

Creative and ad-hoc work often involves non-digital artifacts, such as whiteboards and post-it notes. The preferred method of brainstorming and idea development, while facilitating work among collocated participants, makes it particularly tricky to involve remote participants, not even mentioning cases where live social involvement is required and the number and location of remote participants can be vast. Our work has originally focused on large distributed teams in business entities. Vast majority of teams in large organizations are distributed teams. Our team of corporate researchers decided to identify state of the art technologies that could facilitate the scenarios mentioned above. This paper is an account of a research project in the area of enterprise collaboration, with a strong focus on the aspects of human computer interaction in mixed mode environments, especially in areas of collaboration where computers still play a secondary role. It is describing a currently running corporate research project. In this paper we signal the potential use of the technology in situation, where community involvement is either required or desirable. The goal of the paper is to initiate a discussion on the use of technologies, initially designed as supporting enterprise collaboration, in situation requiring community engagement. In other words, it is a contribution of technically focused research exploring the uses of the technology in areas such as social engagement and community involvement. © 2012 IEEE.

Evaluation of regional and distant metastases in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients with special reference to the assessment of regional lymph nodes in oral cancer

For optimal treatment planning, a thorough assessment of the metastatic status of mucosal squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) is required. Current imaging methods do not allow the recognition of all patients with metastatic disease. Therefore, elective treatment of the cervical lymph nodes is usually given to patients in whom the risk of subclinical metastasis is estimated to exceed 15-20%. The objective of this study was to improve the pre-treatment evaluation of patients diagnosed with HNSCC. Particularly, we aimed at improving the identification of patients who will benefit from elective neck treatment. Computed tomography (CT) of the chest and abdomen was performed prospectively for 100 patients diagnosed with HNSCC. The findings were analysed to clarify the indications for this examination in this patient group. CT of the chest influenced the treatment approach in 3% of patients, while CT of the abdomen did not reveal any significant findings. Our results suggest that CT of the chest and abdomen is not indicated routinely for patients with newly diagnosed HNSCC but can be considered in selected cases. Retrospective analysis of 80 patients treated for early stage squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue was performed to investigate the potential benefits of elective neck treatment and to examine whether histopathological features of the primary tumour could be used in the prediction of occult metastases, local recurrence, or/and poor survival. Patients who had received elective neck treatment had significantly fewer cervical recurrences during the follow-up when compared to those who only had close observation of the cervical lymph nodes. Elective neck treatment did not result in survival benefit, however. Of the histopathological parameters examined, depth of infiltration and pT-category (representing tumour diameter) predicted occult cervical metastasis, but only the pT-category predicted local recurrence. Depth of infiltration can be used in the identification of at risk patients but no clear cut-off value separating high-risk and low-risk patients was found. None of the histopathological parameters examined predicted survival. Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy was studied as a means of diagnosing patients with subclinical cervical metastases. SLN biopsy was applied to 46 patients who underwent elective neck dissection for oral squamous cell carcinoma. In addition, SLN biopsy was applied to 13 patients with small oral cavity tumours who were not intended to undergo elective neck dissection because of low risk of occult metastasis. The sensitivity of SLN biopsy for finding subclinical cervical metastases was found to be 67%, when SLN status was compared to the metastatic status of the rest of the neck dissection specimen. Of the patients not planned to have elective neck dissection, SLN biopsy revealed cervical metastasis in 15% of the patients. Our results suggest that SLN biopsy can not yet entirely replace elective neck dissection in the treatment of oral cancer, but it seems beneficial for patients with low risk of metastasis who are not intended for elective neck treatment according to current treatment protocols.

An algorithm to find distant repeats in a pair of protein sequences

Distant repeats between a pair of protein sequences can be exploited to study the various aspects of proteins such as structure-function relationship, disorders due to protein malfunction, evolutionary analysis, etc. An in-depth analysis of the distant repeats would facilitate to establish a stable evolutionary relation of the repeats with respect to their three-dimensional structure. To this effect, an algorithm has been devised to identify the distant repeats in a pair of protein sequences by essentially using the scores of PAM (Percent Accepted Mutation) matrices. The proposed algorithm will be of much use to researchers involved in the comparative study of various organisms based on the amino-acid repeats in protein sequences. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Near and distant connection of atmospheric systems to ocean temperature change in the coastal California Current region

In studying hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere interactions, it is useful to focus on specific subsystem processes and energy exchanges (forcing). Since subsystem scales range over ten orders of magnitude, it may be difficult to focus research on scales that will yield useful results in terms of establishing causal and predictive connections between more easily and less easily observed subsystems. In an effort to find pertinent scales, we have begun empirical investigations into relationships between atmospheric, oceanic, and biological systems having spatial scales exceeding 10^3 kilometers and temporal scales of six months or more.

Long-distant contribution and chi(c1) radiative decays to light vector meson

The discrepancy between the PQCD calculation and the CLEO data for chi (c1)->gamma V (V=rho (0), omega, phi) stimulates our interest in exploring other mechanisms of chi (c1) decay. In this work, we apply an important non-perturbative QCD effect, i.e., the hadronic loop mechanism, to study chi (c1)->gamma V radiative decay. Our numerical result shows that the theoretical results including the hadronic loop contribution and the PQCD calculation of chi (c1)->gamma V are consistent with the corresponding CLEO data of chi (c1)->gamma V. We expect further experimental measurement of chi (c1)->gamma V, which will be helpful to test the hadronic loop effect on chi (c1) decay.