International Geosynthetics Society (United States)

Background: Patients with hip fractures frequently present with malnutrition, and proper nutritional management is recognized as an important factor in their clinical care.Objective: We aimed to clarify whether the preoperative phase angle could predict postoperative functional recovery and to identify the impact of undernutrition on clinical outcomes in patients with hip fractures.Methods: For 100 hip fracture patients, serum albumin level and muscle mass on the admission day were recorded. Muscle mass was estimated using plain computed tomography (CT) images with the skeletal muscle index (SMI). All participants were subjected to bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), and the phase angle was calculated at admission. Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scores on admission and at two weeks postoperatively and ΔFIM (the difference between the FIM score on admission and the score at two weeks postoperatively) were determined. Correlations among the phase angle, serum albumin level, SMI, and FIM scores were assessed.Result: Positive correlations were observed between the phase angle with both serum albumin level at admission (R=0.53, p<0.001) and SMI (R=0.43, p<0.001). Serum albumin level at admission and the phase angle were positively correlated with both the FIM score at two weeks postoperatively and ΔFIM. From multiple regression analysis with the FIM score at two weeks postoperatively or ΔFIM as the dependent variable, and the phase angle, serum albumin level at admission, and SMI as three independent variables, only the phase angle showed significant correlations with the FIM score at two weeks postoperatively (p<0.001) and ΔFIM (p<0.05).Conclusions: The preoperative phase angle could predict postoperative functional recovery and identify the impact of undernutrition and sarcopenia on clinical outcomes in patients with hip fractures.

Рассмотрена технология бурения скважин большого диаметра двойного назначения для выполнения спасательных, строительных работ, вентиляционных и технологических скважин. Предложены комбинированные способы очистки забоя с разрушением керна, представляющие собой одновременное использование сжатого воздуха и промывочной жидкости

The research community has neglected both the role of layoff agents and the impact of religiosity on stress at work. This study aims to fill these gaps by examining how Catholic managers cope with laying off workers as their companies downsize. We drew on the theoretical framework of necessary evils and interviewed 32 Catholic layoff agents. Our findings reveal that religiosity has a complex effect on the stress involved in laying workers off. It serves as a resource for Catholic layoff agents—for instance, by offering frameworks enabling them to make sense of it, such as social support or helpful practices. However, we venture beyond a one-dimensional analysis to reveal that psychological engagement can also lead them to act against the interests of the downsizing company and the laid-off workers’ future employers.

Searching the 3D structural fragments of organic molecules is challenging because of structural differences between X-ray and theoretically calculated geometries and the conformational flexibility of substituents. The codification program called Conformational Code for Organic Molecules (CCOM) can be used to unambiguously convert 3D conformational data for various molecules to 1D data. Two deviations from Rule E-5.6 of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Rules for Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry were introduced to the CCOM program for 3D fragment searching. First, the search for the highest priority atom was limited to a distance of two bonds from the center bond for dihedral angle determination. Second, for indistinguishable atoms in experimentally observed solution structures, the smallest number of atom index in the molecular model was chosen as the priority atom for dihedral angle determination. A search of the 3D conformational fragmentmb_3a6c4c of mevastatin () in combination with the SMiles ARbitrary Target Specification (SMARTS) description suggested that a change in the conformation of this fragment may be the driving force for dissociation of mevastatin from its target protein. Chirality 28:370-375, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

As I noted that the presence of priests in industrial relations is limited to the study of chaplains, the purpose of this article is to make a study from another standpoint, that of worker-priests. We seek to understand how these actors, committed as they are to wage-earners’ unions, affect labor relations. This research shows that their activism is synonymous with a specific investment, placing human involvement and dialogue at the heart of industrial relations. This activism is valued by both employers and unions, even if they do not fully control it. In proving the existence of internal, partisan third parties taking part in industrial relations, this research calls for a revival of interest in non-traditional actors in the social dialogue.

Determination of the absolute handedness, known as absolute configuration (AC), of chiral molecules is an important step in any field related to chirality, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. Vibrational optical activity (VOA) has become a powerful tool for the determination of the AC of chiral molecules in the solution state after nearly forty years of evolution. VOA offers a novel alternative, or supplement, to X-ray crystallography, permitting AC determinations on neat liquid, oil, and solution samples without the need to grow single crystals of the pure chiral sample molecules as required for X-ray analysis. By comparing the sign and intensity of the measured VOA spectrum with the corresponding ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculated VOA spectrum of a chosen configuration, one can unambiguously assign the AC of a chiral molecule. Comparing measured VOA spectra with calculated VOA spectra of all the conformers can also provide solution-state conformational populations. VOA consists of infrared vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and vibrational Raman optical activity (ROA). Currently, VCD is used routinely by researchers in a variety of backgrounds, including molecular chirality, asymmetric synthesis, chiral catalysis, drug screening, pharmacology, and natural products. Although the application of ROA in AC determination lags behind that of VCD, with the recent implementation of ROA subroutines in commercial quantum chemistry software, ROA will in the future complement VCD for AC determination. In this review, the basic principles of the application of VCD to the determination of absolute configuration in chiral molecules are described. The steps required for VCD spectral measurement and calculation are outlined, followed by brief descriptions of recently published papers reporting the determination of AC in small organic, pharmaceutical, and natural product molecules.

The effects on the nature of bentonite, natural sodium, and calcium activated, and of the cation exchange on the diffusive properties of two geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) were examined. Diffusion laboratory tests were conducted to estimate the diffusion coefficients of 1, 2-dichloroethane (DCA), dichloromethane (DCM), thrichloroethylene (TCE), toluene, and benzene. Both GCLs were needle-punched and came from the same manufacturer. The nature of the bentonite contained in both GCLs was different because a natural sodium bentonite and a calcium activated sodium bentonite were tested. Furthermore, one of the GCLs experienced cation exchange from contact with a synthetic leachate used to generate an increase in its hydraulic conductivity by a factor of 8.5. The objective of this process was to evaluate if an increase in the hydraulic conductivity by cation exchange in a GCL would result in a significant increase in the diffusion coefficients of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The results obtained for both virgin GCLs were very close to one another. No effect on the nature of the bentonite was observed. An increase in the diffusion coefficient was noticed for the case in which the GCL experienced cation exchange while in contact with a synthetic leachate for DCM, DCA, and TCE at a given bulk GCL void ratio. The largest increase, a factor of 2.6, was observed for TCE. However, this increase in the diffusion coefficient could have been balanced by the decrease in the bulk GCL void ratio from 3.9 to 3. The increase in the diffusion coefficient of VOCs, thus, does not seem to be of concern for the range of GCL hydraulic conductivities generated by cation exchange in this study.

Landfill covers that will permanently contain the residuals of chemical warfare agents and pesticides at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Superfund site, in Colorado, were designed to perform many functions, including providing a barrier to water infiltration, soil and wind erosion, and intrusion by wildlife. Designed as alternatives to the types of covers normally used at hazardous waste sites, the covers had to be validated beyond a shadow of a doubt before full-scale construction could begin.