Self perceptions as predictors for return to work 2 years after rehabilitation in orthopedic trauma inpatients.

Purpose This study aimed to identify self-perception variables which may predict return to work (RTW) in orthopedic trauma patients 2 years after rehabilitation. Methods A prospective cohort investigated 1,207 orthopedic trauma inpatients, hospitalised in rehabilitation, clinics at admission, discharge, and 2 years after discharge. Information on potential predictors was obtained from self administered questionnaires. Multiple logistic regression models were applied. Results In the final model, a higher likelihood of RTW was predicted by: better general health and lower pain at admission; health and pain improvements during hospitalisation; lower impact of event (IES-R) avoidance behaviour score; higher IES-R hyperarousal score, higher SF-36 mental score and low perceived severity of the injury. Conclusion RTW is not only predicted by perceived health, pain and severity of the accident at the beginning of a rehabilitation program, but also by the changes in pain and health perceptions observed during hospitalisation.

Rarity types among plant species with high conservation priority in Switzerland

We investigated the ecogeographic characteristics of 118 Swiss plant species listed as those deserving highest conservation priority in a national conservation guide and classified them into the seven Rabinowitz' rarity types, taking geographic distribution, habitat rarity and local population size into account. Our analysis revealed that species with high conservation priority in Switzerland mostly have a very restricted geographic distribution in Switzerland and generally occur in rare habitats, but do not necessarily constitute small populations and are generally not endemics on a global scale. Moreover, species that are geographically very restricted on a regional scale are not generally restricted on a global scale. By analysing relationships between rarity and IUCN extinction risks for Switzerland, we demonstrated that species with the highest risk of extinction are those with the most restricted geographic distribution; whereas species with lower risk of extinction (but still high conservation priority) include many regional endemics. Habitat rarity and local population size appeared to be of minor importance for the assessment of extinction risk in Switzerland, but the total number of fulfilled rarity criteria still correlated positively with the severity of extinction risk. Our classification is the first preliminary assessment of the relative importance of each rarity type among endangered plant species of the Swiss flora and our results underline the need to distinguish between a regional and a global responsibility for the conservation of rare and endangered species.

Self-sustained spatiotemporal oscillations induced by membrane-bulk coupling

We propose a novel mechanism leading to spatiotemporal oscillations in extended systems that does not rely on local bulk instabilities. Instead, oscillations arise from the interaction of two subsystems of different spatial dimensionality. Specifically, we show that coupling a passive diffusive bulk of dimension d with an excitable membrane of dimension d-1 produces a self-sustained oscillatory behavior. An analytical explanation of the phenomenon is provided for d=1. Moreover, in-phase and antiphase synchronization of oscillations are found numerically in one and two dimensions. This novel dynamic instability could be used by biological systems such as cells, where the dynamics on the cellular membrane is necessarily different from that of the cytoplasmic bulk.

CDL Self-Certification and Medical Examiner’s Certificate Reporting, December 9, 2011

Starting Jan. 30, 2012, the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) will implement new federal regulations that require all CDL holders and applicants to certify the type of driving they do, and require interstate CDL holders that carry a Medical Examiner’s Certificate to give the Iowa DOT a copy of their certificate, produced by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Family Development and Self-Sufficiency 2011 Annual Report, 2011

Iowa’s Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS) Grant Program was created by the 1988 Iowa General Assembly to assist Family Investment Program (FIP) families with significant or multiple barriers reach self-sufficiency. FaDSS provides services that promote, empower, and nurture families toward economic and emotional self-sufficiency.

Projecting the self to past and future in mental time

Introduction: Human experience takes place in the line of mental-time (MT) created through imagination of oneself in different time-points in past or future (self-projection in time). Here we manipulated self-projection in MT not only with respect to one's life-events but also with respect to one's faces from different past and future time-points. Methods: We here compared MTT with respect to one's facial images from different time points in past and future (study 1: MT-faces) as well as with respect to different past and future life events (study 2: MT-events). Participants were asked to make judgments about past and future face images and past and future events from three different time-points: the present (Now), eight years earlier (Past) or eight years later (Future). In addition, as a control task participants were asked to make recognition judgments with respect to faces and memory-related judgments with respect to events without changing their habitual self-location in time. Behavioral measures and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity after subtraction of recognition and memory related activities show both absolute MT and relative MT effects for faces and events, signifying a fundamental brain mechanism of MT, disentangled from episodic memory functions. Results: Behavioural and event-related fMRI activity showed three independent effects characterized by (1) similarity between past recollection and future imagination, (2) facilitation of judgments related to the future as compared to the past, and (3) facilitation of judgments related to time-points distant from the present. These effects were found with respect to faces and events suggesting that the brain mechanisms of MT are independent of whether actual life episodes have to be re-/pre-experienced and recruited a common cerebral network including the medial-temporal, precuneus, inferior-frontal, temporo-parietal, and insular cortices. Conclusions: These behavioural and neural data suggest that self-projection in time is a crucial aspect of MT, relying on neural structures encoding memory, mental imagery, and self. Furthermore our results emphasize the idea that mental temporal processing is more strongly directed to future prediction than to past recollection.

One billion years of bZIP transcription factor evolution: conservation and change in dimerization and DNA-binding site specificity.

The genomic era has revealed that the large repertoire of observed animal phenotypes is dependent on changes in the expression patterns of a finite number of genes, which are mediated by a plethora of transcription factors (TFs) with distinct specificities. The dimerization of TFs can also increase the complexity of a genetic regulatory network manifold, by combining a small number of monomers into dimers with distinct functions. Therefore, studying the evolution of these dimerizing TFs is vital for understanding how complexity increased during animal evolution. We focus on the second largest family of dimerizing TFs, the basic-region leucine zipper (bZIP), and infer when it expanded and how bZIP DNA-binding and dimerization functions evolved during the major phases of animal evolution. Specifically, we classify the metazoan bZIPs into 19 families and confirm the ancient nature of at least 13 of these families, predating the split of the cnidaria. We observe fixation of a core dimerization network in the last common ancestor of protostomes-deuterostomes. This was followed by an expansion of the number of proteins in the network, but no major dimerization changes in interaction partners, during the emergence of vertebrates. In conclusion, the bZIPs are an excellent model with which to understand how DNA binding and protein interactions of TFs evolved during animal evolution.

Self-consistent medium polarization in spin-polarized 3He

A microscopic calculation of the residual particle-hole (p-h) interaction in spin-polarized 3He is performed. As a starting point the Brueckner G matrix is used which is supplemented by including the phonon exchange terms self-consistently. An important ingredient in this microscopic version of the induced interaction is the treatment of the full momentum dependence of the interaction. This allows a consistent description of the Landau limit (Pauli-principle sum rule for the Landau parameters is fulfilled) but also enables a detailed study of the p-h interaction at finite momentum transfers. A comparison with correlated basis functions results shows good agreement for momentum transfers larger than the Fermi momentum.

Giant step bunching from self-organized coalescence of SrRuO3 islands

Step bunching develops in the epitaxy of SrRuO3 on vicinal SrTiO3(001) substrates. We have investigated the formation mechanisms and we show here that step bunching forms by lateral coalescence of wedgelike three-dimensional islands that are nucleated at substrate steps. After coalescence, wedgelike islands become wider and straighter with growth, forming a self-organized network of parallel step bunches with altitudes exceeding 30 unit cells, separated by atomically flat terraces. The formation mechanism of step bunching in SrRuO3, from nucleated islands, radically differs from one-dimensional models used to describe bunching in semiconducting materials. These results illustrate that growth phenomena of complex oxides can be dramatically different to those in semiconducting or metallic systems.

Self-interference of charge carriers in ferromagnetic SrRuO3

We report a systematic study of the low-temperature electrical conductivity in a series of SrRuO3 epitaxial thin films. At relatively high temperature the films display the conventional metallic behavior. However, a well-defined resistivity minimum appears at low temperature. This temperature dependence can be well described in a weak localization scenario: the resistivity minimum arising from the competition of electronic self-interference effects and the normal metallic character. By appropriate selection of the film growth conditions, we have been able to modify the mean-free path of itinerant carriers and thus to tune the relative strength of the quantum effects. We show that data can be quantitatively described by available theoretical models.

Synthesis, structure, and magnetic studies on self-assembled BiFeO3-CoFe2O4 nanocomposite thin films

Self-assembled (0.65)BiFeO3-(0.35)CoFe2O4 (BFO-CFO) nanostructures were deposited on SrTiO3 (001) and (111) substrates by pulsed laser deposition at various temperatures from 500 to 800°C. The crystal phases and the lattice strain for the two different substrate orientations have been determined and compared. The films grow epitaxial on both substrates but separation of the spinel and perovskite crystallites, without parasitic phases, is only obtained for growth temperatures of around 600-650°C. The BFO crystallites are out-of-plane expanded on STO(001), whereas they are almost relaxed on (111). In contrast, CFO crystallites grow out-of-plane compressed on both substrates. The asymmetric behavior of the cell parameters of CFO and BFO is discussed on the basis of the role of the epitaxial stress caused by the substrate and the spinel-perovskite interfacial stress. It is concluded that interfacial stress dominates the elastic properties of CFO crystallites and thus it may play a fundamental on the interface magnetoelectric coupling in these nanocomposites.

Self-reported non-adherence to antiretroviral therapy repeatedly assessed by two questions predicts treatment failure in virologically suppressed patients.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to explore the predictive value of longitudinal self-reported adherence data on viral rebound. METHODS: Individuals in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study on combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) with RNA <50 copies/ml over the previous 3 months and who were interviewed about adherence at least once prior to 1 March 2007 were eligible. Adherence was defined in terms of missed doses of cART (0, 1, 2 or >2) in the previous 28 days. Viral rebound was defined as RNA >500 copies/ml. Cox regression models with time-independent and -dependent covariates were used to evaluate time to viral rebound. RESULTS: A total of 2,664 individuals and 15,530 visits were included. Across all visits, missing doses were reported as follows: 1 dose 14.7%, 2 doses 5.1%, >2 doses 3.8% taking <95% of doses 4.5% and missing > or =2 consecutive doses 3.2%. In total, 308 (11.6%) patients experienced viral rebound. After controlling for confounding variables, self-reported non-adherence remained significantly associated with the rate of occurrence of viral rebound (compared with zero missed doses: 1 dose, hazard ratio [HR] 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.72-1.48; 2 doses, HR 2.17, 95% CI 1.46-3.25; >2 doses, HR 3.66, 95% CI 2.50-5.34). Several variables significantly associated with an increased risk of viral rebound irrespective of adherence were identified: being on a protease inhibitor or triple nucleoside regimen (compared with a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor), >5 previous cART regimens, seeing a less-experienced physician, taking co-medication, and a shorter time virally suppressed. CONCLUSIONS: A simple self-report adherence questionnaire repeatedly administered provides a sensitive measure of non-adherence that predicts viral rebound.

Synthesis, structural order and magnetic behavior of self-assembled epsilon-Co nanocrystal arrays

The synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles with monodispere size distributions, their self assembly into ordered arrays and their magnetic behavior as a function of structural order (ferrofluids and 2D assemblies) are presented. Magnetic colloids of monodispersed, passivated, cobalt nanocrystals were produced by the rapid pyrolysis of cobalt carbonyl in solution. The size, size distribution (std. dev.< 5%) and the shape of the nanocrystals were controlled by varying the surfactant, its concentration, the reaction rate and the reaction temperature. The Co particles are defect-free single crystals with a complex cubic structure related to the beta phase of manganese (epsilon-Co). In the 2D assembly, a collective behavior was observed in the low-field susceptibility measurements where the magnetization of the zero field cooled process increases steadily and the magnetization of the field cooling process is independent the temperature. This was different from the observed behavior in a sample comprised of disordered interacting particles. A strong paramagnetic contribution appears at very low temperatures where the magnetization increases drastically after field cooling the sample. This has been attributed to the Co surfactant-particle interface since no magnetic atomic impurities are present in these samples.