The 4th annual European League Against Rheumatism congress, held in Lisbon, 18-21 June 2003, had a record turnout of more than 8600 delegates and the abstract submissions increased to 2600. A heat wave and a somewhat substandard venue hampered some of the activities, notably the poster sessions. The scientific program was comprehensive and of a high class, and it was organized in 10-12 parallel...

A new acoustical sensing system for the nuclear power industry has been developed at The Pennsylvania State University in collaboration with Idaho National Laboratories. This sensor uses the high temperatures of nuclear fuel to convert a nuclear fuel rod into a standing-wave thermoacoustic engine. When a standing wave is generated, the sound wave within the fuel rod will be propagated, by acous...

Natural selection alters the distribution of a trait in a population and indirectly alters the distribution of genetically correlated traits. Long-standing models of thermal adaptation assume that trade-offs exist between fitness at different temperatures; however, experimental evolution often fails to reveal such trade-offs. Here, we show that adaptation to benign temperatures in experimental ...

Cellular metabolism is regulated by enzyme complexes within the mitochondrion, the function of which are sensitive to the prevailing temperature. Such thermal sensitivity, coupled with the observation that population frequencies of mitochondrial haplotypes tend to associate with latitude, altitude, or climatic regions across species distributions, led to the hypothesis that thermal selection ha...

The flow field and the energy transport near thermoacoustic couples are simulated using a 2D full Navier-Stokes solver. The thermoacoustic couple plate is maintained at a constant temperature; plate lengths, which are "short" and "long" compared with the particle displacement lengths of the acoustic standing waves, are tested. Also investigated are the effects of plate spacing and the amplitude...

The nematode Steinernema carpocapsae infects and kills many pest insects in agro-ecosystems and is commonly used in biocontrol of these pests. Growth of the nematodes prior to distribution for biocontrol commonly results in deterioration of traits that are essential for nematode persistence in field applications. To better understand the mechanisms underlying trait deterioration of the efficacy...

We determined the effect of a GnRH vaccine on reproductive function of sexually mature 5-month female and male domestic swine. The vaccine, GonaCon, developed at NWRC contains a GnRH peptide conjugated to KLH, combined with AdjuVac adjuvant also developed at NWRC. Four groups of ten females were given single IM immunizations either of 800μg GnRH vaccine, 1600μg GnRH vaccine, a prime and boost o...

Volcanic plumes resulting from explosive volcanic eruptions present a variety of hazards depending on their behavior. Buoyant plumes heat and entrain enough of the surrounding air to rise high into the atmosphere, disrupting air traffic and causing regional ash fall. Alternatively, collapsed plumes produce dangerous fast-moving lateral flows of hot ash and gas. The transition between these beha...

introduction: genu varum is considered a risk factor for knee osteoarthritis. being aware of postural swing changes in various standing positions among genu varum patients, provide insight to prevent osteoarthritis in this population. this study is undertaken to compare postural stability in various standing positions between young healthy and genu varum male individuals. materials and methods:...

We highlight primary care innovations gathered from high-functioning primary care practices, innovations we believe can facilitate joy in practice and mitigate physician burnout. To do so, we made site visits to 23 high-performing primary care practices and focused on how these practices distribute functions among the team, use technology to their advantage, improve outcomes with data, and make...