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A 6-month outpatient domestic abuse treatment program for male abusers and their female partners resulted neither in increasing the male abusers' tolerance for being controlled nor in reducing their sense of powerlessness. While men often turn abusive when they find themselves powerless and are intolerant toward being controlled by a woman, women tolerate control to a great extent.

Equation (11) in the published version of this article was missing a couple of terms. The corrected equation can be found in the pdf file. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, the world community has responded with ever-evolving measures to reduce the spread of SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019)1. One particular area of interest is understanding the risk of the in-person classroom setting and if any mitigation efforts are effective in preventing the spread of disease in that setting. In this paper, we present a case study of a US Army Advanced Individual Training (AIT) course/classroom wherein a student was diagnosed with COVID-19, and there was no apparent spread to others in his classroom. We discuss the mitigation efforts put in place that appear to be, in this case, effective in preventive onward spread of the virus. These are social distancing, face coverings/masks, and hygiene practices including hand washing and sanitation of surfaces.

Introduction: Despite the optimal use of combined endoscopic haemostasis and pharmacologic control of acid secretion in the stomach, mortality in patients with peptic ulcer bleeding (PUB) has remained constant. Recent data has shown that the majority of patients with PUB die of non-bleeding-related causes., Aim: To provide an overview of our experience of PUB management, with emphasis on the effect of age, gender, comorbidities, and drug use on the characteristics and outcomes of gastroduodenal ulcer bleeding., Material and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients admitted with the primary diagnosis of acute, chronic or unspecified gastric and/or duodenal ulcer with haemorrhage during 2008-2012., Results: Two hundred and nineteen patients were identified. 46.6% of patients were ≥ 65 years old (elderly) and 53.4% were < 65 years old (young). The young patients were more likely to have duodenal ulcers and liver failure at admission. Previous use of medications was more regularly observed in gastric ulcer patients than in duodenal ulcer patients. Rebleeding occurred in 43 (19.6%) patients and death in 5 (2.3%) patients. Increased risk of mortality in our patients was associated with age ≥ 65 years (RR = 2.21; 95% CI: 1.90-2.56; p = 0.021)., Conclusions: Management of peptic ulcer bleeding should aim at reducing the risk of multiorgan failure and cardiopulmonary death instead of focusing merely on successful haemostasis.

Introduction: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Although the therapy targeted at inhibiting tyrosine kinases has shown dramatic results in metastatic and inoperable GISTs, the mainstay of treatment in primary localized forms remains surgical resection., Aim: To provide an overview of our experience of GIST diagnosis and management, with emphasis on comparison of minimally invasive and open surgical resection for primary GISTs., Material and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients who underwent surgical removal of GISTs from 2008 to 2012. Patient demographics, clinical data, surgery, complications, histopathological data and clinical course were analyzed., Results: Forty-four patients were identified. Average age at diagnosis was 63 years. Minimally invasive (MIS) and open surgery (OS) were each attempted in 22 (50.0%) patients. Laparoscopic removal was performed in 20, laparoendoscopic in 1, and laparoscopy-assisted endoscopic removal in 1. Conversion to an open procedure was performed in 4 (18.2%). We found significant differences in postoperative length of stay (8.5 days vs. 10.1 days, p < 0.001) and tumor size (2.93 cm vs. 5.78 cm, p = 0.018) between MIS and OS groups, respectively., Conclusions: Laparoscopic removal is safe and effective for GISTs not exceeding 6 cm. Gastroesophageal junction and cardia GISTs require careful preoperative evaluation and planning to remove safely. We recommend avoiding laparoscopic removal of these tumors due to the high rate of conversion (100.0%) to an open procedure. Laparoendoscopic surgical approach is an appropriate technique for removal of small-sized intraluminal benign GISTs not involving the muscularis propria layer.

Cryogenically cooled buffer gas beam sources of the molecule thorium monoxide (ThO) are optimized and characterized. Both helium and neon buffer gas sources are shown to produce ThO beams with high flux, low divergence, low forward velocity, and cold internal temperature for a variety of stagnation densities and nozzle diameters. The beam operates with a buffer gas stagnation density of ∼10(15)-10(16) cm(-3) (Reynolds number ∼1-100), resulting in expansion cooling of the internal temperature of the ThO to as low as 2 K. For the neon (helium) based source, this represents cooling by a factor of about 10 (2) from the initial nozzle temperature of about 20 K (4 K). These sources deliver ∼10(11) ThO molecules in a single quantum state within a 1-3 ms long pulse at 10 Hz repetition rate. Under conditions optimized for a future precision spectroscopy application [A. C. Vutha et al., J. Phys. B: At., Mol. Opt. Phys., 2010, 43, 074007], the neon-based beam has the following characteristics: forward velocity of 170 m s(-1), internal temperature of 3.4 K, and brightness of 3 × 10(11) ground state molecules per steradian per pulse. Compared to typical supersonic sources, the relatively low stagnation density of this source and the fact that the cooling mechanism relies only on collisions with an inert buffer gas make it widely applicable to many atomic and molecular species, including those which are chemically reactive, such as ThO.

The ability of proteins and their complexes to withstand or respond to mechanical stimuli is vital for cells to maintain their structural organisation, to relay external signals and to facilitate unfolding and remodelling. Force spectroscopy using the atomic force microscope allows the behaviour of single protein molecules under an applied extension to be investigated and their mechanical strength to be quantified. protein L, a simple model protein, displays moderate mechanical strength and is thought to unfold by the shearing of two mechanical sub-domains. Here, we investigate the importance of side-chain packing for the mechanical strength of protein L by measuring the mechanical strength of a series of protein L variants containing single conservative hydrophobic volume deletion mutants. Of the five thermodynamically destabilized variants characterised, only one residue (I60 V) close to the interface between two mechanical sub-domains was found to differ in mechanical properties to wild type (Delta F(I60 V-WT)=-36 pN at 447 nm s(-1), Delta x(uI60V-WT)=0.2 nm). Phi-value analysis of the unfolding data revealed a highly native transition state. To test whether the number of hydrophobic contacts across the mechanical interface does affect the mechanical strength of protein L, we measured the mechanical properties of two further variants. protein L L10F, which increases core packing but does not enhance interfacial contacts, increased mechanical strength by 13+/-11 pN at 447 nm s(-1). By contrast, protein L I60F, which increases both core and cross-interface contacts, increased mechanical strength by 72+/-13 pN at 447 nm s(-1). These data suggest a method by which nature can evolve a varied mechanical response from a limited number of topologies and demonstrate a generic but facile method by which the mechanical strength of proteins can be rationally modified.

Beta(2)-microglobulin- (beta2m-) based fibril deposition is the key symptom in dialysis-related amyloidosis. beta2m readily forms amyloid fibrils in vitro at pH 2.5. However, it is not well understood which factors promote this process in vivo, because beta2m cannot polymerize at neutral pH without additives even at elevated concentration. Here we show that lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), an in vivo occurring lysophospholipid mediator, promotes amyloid formation under physiological conditions through a complex mechanism. In the presence of LPA, at and above its critical micelle concentration, native beta2m became sensitive to limited proteolytic digestion, indicating increased conformational flexibility. Isothermal titration calorimetry indicates that beta2m exhibits high affinity for LPA. Fluorescence and CD spectroscopy, as well as calorimetry, showed that LPA destabilizes the structure of monomeric beta2m inducing a partially unfolded form. This intermediate is capable of fibril extension in a nucleation-dependent manner. Our findings also indicate that the molecular organization of fibrils formed under physiological conditions differs from that of fibrils formed at pH 2.5. Fibrils grown in the presence of LPA depolymerize very slowly in the absence of LPA; moreover, LPA stabilizes the fibrils even below its critical micelle concentration. Neither the amyloidogenic nor the fibril-stabilizing effects of LPA were mimicked by its structural and functional lysophospholipid analogues, showing its selectivity. On the basis of our findings and the observed increase in blood LPA levels in dialysis patients, we suggest that the interaction of LPA with beta2m might contribute to the pathomechanism of dialysis-related amyloidosis.

Background: The aims of our study were to investigate postoperative atelectasis complicating pulmonary lobectomy, identify risk factors and evaluate its relationship to other postoperative complications., Material and Methods: From January 2004 to April 2007, 412 patients underwent pulmonary lobectomy. We performed a retrospective analysis of our prospective database. Post-lobectomy atelectasis (PLA) was defined as an ipsilateral opacification of the remaining lobe with an ipsilateral shift of the mediastinum on the chest radiography, requiring bronchoscopy., Results: The incidence of PLA was 6.6%, comprising 29% of all postoperative pulmonary complications seen. There was no statistically significant difference in patient age, gender, ASA score, cardiovascular co-morbidity or operation time for the PLA group versus the group without this complication. Current smokers were at a higher risk for PLA, but this incidence did not reach statistical significance. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the only preoperative variable increasing the risk of PLA (p < 0.05). Patients undergoing a right upper lobectomy, either on its own or in combination with a right middle lobe resection, had a significantly higher incidence of PLA when compared with all other types of resection (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: Patients with COPD and those undergoing right upper lobe resection have an increased risk of PLA. In this group of patients we should use pre-operative (cessation of cigarette smoking, treatment of airflow obstruction in patients with COPD), intra-operative (duration of operation) and postoperative (intensive physiotherapy and effective postoperative pain control) measures to decrease the risk of PLA. Although often solitary, PLA is associated with a longer hospital stay.