Background The USCI PDA Umbrella is a device to close patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) by a transcatheter technique. Human clinical trials have shown excellent efficacy in reducing or eliminating the PDA shunt, but concerns remain about the risk of infection with this device. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the risk of infection using an animal model. Methods and Results Susceptibility ...

Amyloid fibrils represent a stable form of many misfolded proteins associated with numerous diseases. A well known example is diabetes type II caused by the Islet amyloid polypeptide. The appearance of IAPP fibrils in pancreatic tissue is a hallmark of diabetes type II. To design therapeutic agents to combat the progression of diabetes type II, it is worthwhile to investigate the mechanisms of ...

We report high-resolution photoelectron spectra of the simplest carbanions, CH₃⁻ and CD₃⁻. The vibrationally resolved spectra are dominated by a long progression in the umbrella mode (ν₂) of ˙CH₃ and ˙CD₃, indicating a transition from a pyramidal C(3v) anion to the planar D(3h) methyl radical. Analysis of the spectra provides electron affinities of ˙CH₃ (0.093(3) eV) and ˙CD₃ (0.082(4) eV). The...

We present a theory of adaptive optimization for umbrella sampling. With the analytical bias force constant obtained from the constrained thermodynamic length along the reaction coordinate, the windows are distributed to optimize the overlap between neighbors. Combining with the replica exchange method, we propose a method of adaptive window exchange umbrella sampling. The efficiency gain in sa...

An 18-week-old umbrella cockatoo presented for continuous vocalization and one episode of regurgitation. The bird had been purchased 3 weeks before presentation and was the first large pet bird owned by this family. The cockatoo was fed a commercial baby bird formula that the owners were heating in the microwave before feeding. The owner had been instructed on formula feeding by the pet store p...

Although species with large area requirements are sometimes used as umbrella species, their general utility as conservation tools is uncertain. We surveyed the species diversity of birds, butterflies, carabids, and forest-floor plants in forest sites across an area (1,600 km2) in which we delineated large breeding home ranges of Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis). We tested whether protectio...