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4,509,200 | Immunohistochemical features associated with sensitivity to lapatinib-plus-capecitabine and resistance to trastuzumab in HER2-positive breast cancer. AIM To identify immunohistochemical (IHC) features associated with sensitivity to lapatinib-plus-capecitabine (LX) and resistance to trastuzumab in human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)-2-positive metastatic breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Expression levels of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, epidermal growth factor receptor, HER2, HER3/phosphorylated HER3 (pHER3), phosphatase and tensin homolog, thymidylate synthase (TYMS), and thymidine phosphorylase by IHC were compared between patients treated with LX following trastuzumab failure. RESULTS In 35 patients, HER2 was the only biomarker associated with LX treatment outcomes. A high HER2 level was associated with significantly longer survival and a tendency towards longer time-to-progression and higher response rates. Acquisition of trastuzumab resistance was associated with higher pHER3 and TYMS expression. Elevated pHER3 was predictive of superior treatment outcomes. CONCLUSION Up-regulation of pHER3 and TYMS was associated with trastuzumab resistance. High HER2 and increased pHER3 IHC levels correlated with favourable LX treatment outcomes in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. | 42366651 |
4,509,201 | Single camera multi-person tracking based on crowd simulation Tracking individuals in video sequences, especially in crowded scenes, is still a challenging research topic in the area of pattern recognition and computer vision. However, current single camera tracking approaches are mostly based on visual features only. The novelty of the approach proposed in this paper is the integration of evidences from a crowd simulation algorithm into a pure vision based method. Based on a state-of-the-art tracking-by-detection method, the integration is achieved by evaluating particle weights with additional prediction of individual positions, which is obtained from the crowd simulation algorithm. Our experimental results indicate that, by integrating simulation, the multi-person tracking performance such as MOTP and MOTA can be increased by an average about 2% and 5%, which provides significant evidence for the effectiveness of our approach. | 6376651 |
4,509,202 | Strain variation in the infectivity of Schistosoma mansoni for Biomphalaria glabrata. Five strains of Schistosoma mansoni resistant and susceptible to schistosomicides were studied for infectivity of 2 strains of Biomphalaria glabrata one of Puerto Rican origin and the other of Brazilian origin. Puerto Rican strains of S. Mansoni developed more slowly and had a lower infectivity in Brazilian B. glabrata than did the Brazilian S. mansoni. However, Brazilian S. Mansoni developed as well in Puerto Rican snails as in Brazilian snails, indicating that drug resistant strains could easily be moved by travel of infected persons from one area to another. | 680851 |
4,509,203 | Consonant Recognition with two Levels of Decision Complexity The perceptual tuning hypothesis can be expressed as a prediction that discrimination of a particular stimulus dimension will be enhanced if it is the only dimension requiring discrimination and not one of a set of dimensions in a multidimensional discrimination task. In previous tests of the tuning hypothesis, using speech material, the size of a message set has been manipulated as an indirect means of controlling the number of dimensions an observer is required to discriminate. In the present experiments the particular items appearing in a message set have been selected in order to control precisely the number of dimensions relevant to the discrimination task, and performance is estimated in terms of the discrimination of each relevant dimension. No evidence is found for a perceptual tuning effect even though it is argued that the conditions of the present experiment represent those most favourable for its elicitation. | 27838051 |
4,509,204 | Stabilizing the Convergence of Online-Learning in Neuro-Fuzzy Systems by an Immune System-inspired Approach Adaptive learning systems are needed in many control applications. Neuro-fuzzy systems are very useful here because they are universal function approximators and do not require a formal process model. Furthermore, they allow incorporating a priori knowledge to speed up convergence or to treat safety-critical situations. But learning in a closed loop setup may nevertheless lead to a truly chaotic systems behaviour because what is learned has in impact on what is learned next, and so forth. Hence an arbitrary control behaviour may emerge dynamically, thus leading to an allowed, but suboptimal control behaviour or learning result, respectively. The dynamic learning process thus has to be guided, in order to avoid such unwanted system characteristics. This is the aim of the SILKE-approach (System to Immunize Learning Knowledge-based Elements). This paper describes its basic concept and presents some first results. | 19371501 |
4,509,205 | Regulation of cathepsin D dependent on the phenotype of colon carcinoma cells We have studied the intracellular trafficking of cathepsin D in different colon carcinoma cell populations: the HT‐29 cell line, composed of >95% undifferentiated cells; 2 subpopulations derived from this cell line, containing cells committed to differentiation into mucin‐secreting cells (HT‐29 MTX) or enterocyte‐like cells (HT‐29 G−) after confluence; and the Caco‐2 cell line, which spontaneously differentiates into enterocyte‐like cells after confluence. Post‐confluent undifferentiated HT‐29 cells and differentiated enterocyte‐like HT‐29 G− and Caco‐2 cells secrete significant levels of cathepsin D in culture medium, in contrast to post‐confluent differentiated mucin‐secreting HT‐29 MTX cells, which secrete this enzyme at a very low level. The intracellular content and the mRNA level of cathepsin D increase after confluence in the different cell types, particularly in Caco‐2 cells, which intensify the secretion of cathepsin D along with the differentiation process post‐confluence. Membrane‐associated mature cathepsin D was detected in HT‐29 cells but not in Caco‐2 cells. In the different types of cell, pro‐cathepsin D associates with the membrane concomitantly to its binding to an M, 72,000 protein. Membrane association persists after dissociation of the complex in HT‐29 cells but not in Caco‐2 cells. In the mucin‐secreting HT‐29 MTX cells, cathepsin D was immunolocalised to the membrane of mucin vacuoles localised under the brush border. Our results show that cathepsin D can be regulated differently in colon carcinoma cells, and this finding might have specific functional implications for each cell type. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. | 24475451 |
4,509,206 | Some Perspectives on the Eigenvalue Problem This expository paper explores the relationships among a number of algorithms for solving eigenvalue problems, including the power method, subspace iteration, the $QR$ algorithm, and the Arnoldi and symmetric Lanczos algorithms. The symmetric Lanczos algorithm is shown to be identical to the three-term recursion (Stieltjes procedure) for computing orthogonal polynomials with respect to a measure on the real line. The connection between measures on the line and symmetric tridiagonal (Jacobi) matrices is investigated. If such a matrix is transformed by a step of the $QR$ algorithm, there is a corresponding transformation in the measure. The tridiagonal matrices are also exploited for the construction of Gaussian quadrature formulas for measures on the line. The developments on the real line are replicated with suitable modifications on the unit circle via Lanczos-like procedures for unitary operators. The best-known procedure of this type is the recursion of Szego for computing orthogonal polynomials on the... | 44352551 |
4,509,207 | Is It Time to Banish Composite Measures for Remission in Rheumatoid Arthritis? In this issue of Arthritis Care & Research, Ferreira et al have studied how the patient's global assessment (PGA) impacts remission in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (1). This study calls into question the use of certain components within the ACR/EULAR Boolean definition for RA remission. They analyzed RA patients in the large METEOR database with more than 27,000 patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. | 73500901 |
4,509,208 | The effects of methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid on suppressing the production of reactive oxygen species and increasing chilling tolerance in ‘Eureka’ lemon [Citrus limon (L.) Burm. F.] Summary Certain markets have phytosanitary requirements which stipulate exposing lemons to temperatures below 0°C during export. Such exposure can result in the development of chilling injury (CI), caused primarily by the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The potential of methyl jasmonate (MJ) and/or salicylic acid (SA) to reduce the accumulation of ROS and, hence, the incidence of oxidative damage resulting in CI during cold storage, were investigated. Lemon fruit were dipped in various concentrations of MJ and/or SA, waxed with Citrashine® and stored at –0.5ºC for 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, or 42 d before being transferred to room temperature for a simulated 7 d shelf-life period.Treatment with MJ and/or SA significantly (P ≤ 0.05) lowered CI and membrane lipid peroxidation, suppressed ROS production, and enhanced anti-oxidant activity in the lemon flavedo. However, the effects of MJ and/or SA were concentration-dependent. Treatment with 10 µM MJ plus 2 mM SA was most effective at enhancing the stability of cell membranes and protected cells from possible damage by ROS. Application(s) of MJ and/or SA should be investigated further as a tool to reduce CI in lemon. | 87964551 |
4,509,209 | Analysis and design of wide-band matched waveguide bends including discontinuities Waveguide bends with small radii of curvature are realized by using properly selected discontinuities which, placed inside the curve, allow low return losses to be achieved over large band-widths. The component is designed by using an efficient computer code which employs the focal modes approach to analyze curved sections, while discontinuities are rigorously accounted for by considering their accessible modes. Theoretical simulations are compared with experimental results showing very good accuracy.<<ETX>> | 10996301 |
4,509,210 | Evaluation of Anti-Tyrosinase and Antioxidant Properties of Four Fern Species for Potential Cosmetic Applications Ferns are poorly explored species from a pharmaceutical perspective compared to other terrestrial plants. In this work, the antioxidant and tyrosinase inhibitory activities of hydrophilic and lipophilic extracts, together with total polyphenol content, were evaluated in order to explore the potential cosmetic applications of four Spanish ferns collected in the Prades Mountains (Polypodium vulgare L., Asplenium adiantum-nigrum L., Asplenium trichomanes L., and Ceterach officinarum Willd). The antioxidant activity was evaluated using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and xanthine/xanthine oxidase (X/XO) assays. The potential to avoid skin hyperpigmentation was tested by inhibiting the tyrosinase enzyme, as this causes melanin synthesis in the epidermis. All ferns were confirmed as antioxidant and anti-tyrosinase agents, but interestingly hydrophilic extracts (obtained with methanol) were more potent and effective compared to lipophilic extracts (obtained with hexane). Polypodium vulgare, Asplenium adiantum-nigrum, and Ceterach officinarum methanolic extracts performed the best as antioxidants. Polypodium vulgare methanolic extract also showed the highest activity as a tyrosinase inhibitor. | 91200751 |
4,509,211 | SAT0314 Effects of Physical Activity on Inflammation, Skeletal Muscle Strength/Function (Sarcopenia) and Fat Infiltration (Sarcopenic Obesity) in Older Adults With Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of mobility limitations in older adults. Ageing is accompanied by changes in body composition characterized by a decline of muscle mass (sarcopenia) and an increase in fat mass. These changes can be extreme to produce “sarcopenic obesity” which is associated with a persistent, sub-clinical proinflammatory state as adipocytes actively secrete proinflammatory cytokines, leading to aggravation of knee OA and mobility impairment. Objectives This study sought to determine whether modest increases in physical activity through structured exercise would improve muscle strength and decrease muscle fat infiltration and inflammation in older adults with functional limitations due to knee OA. Methods 198 older patients (131 women and 67 men) with primary knee OA completed a randomized trial consisting of either a physical activity group(PA, n = 99) which included three 40 to 60-min supervised centre-based aerobic, strength, flexibility, and balance training sessions per week or successful ageing health educational control group(SA, n = 99) which consisted of weekly sessions of basic educational information and health topics relevant to older adults with knee OA. Patients were included in the trial if they had clinically symptomatic primary knee OA diagnosed according to the clinical and radiological criteria of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) with a disease severity graded on the Kellgren-Lawrence (K/L) radiographic system between grade I and III. Study exclusions included severe heart, pulmonary, hepatic and | 75929351 |
4,509,212 | renal disease, cancer, cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disease. Isometric knee strength and computed tomography(CT)-derived midthigh skeletal muscle and adipose tissue cross-sectional areas (CSA) as well as inflammatory markers (IL-6, IL-18, IL-I, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) were measured in duplicate by high-sensitivity enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and assessed at baseline and at 12 months following randomization. Physical functioning was assessed using the Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) Scale. All assessors were blinded to the intervention group. Results Total body weight decreased in both groups. Strength adjusted for muscle mass increased significantly (+11.6±8.5%) in the PA compared to the SA group (-20.7 ± 9.9%), p <0.05. Furthermore, there was a significant increase (18.4 ± 6.0%) in muscle fat infiltration in SA, but this gain was nearly completely prevented in the PA (1.2 ± 4.5%) group, p <0.05. A statistically significant decrease in the levels of inflammatory markers was observed in the PA group compared to the SA group. At the end of the study there was a significant improvement in physical function (ADLs scores) in the PA group compared to the SA group. Conclusions The findings of this study indicate that regular physical activity prevents age-associated loss of muscle strength and increase in muscle fat infiltration in older adults with knee OA. Furthermore, physical activity reduces inflammation and improves physical function. Taken together, these results indicate that physical activity may prevent sarcopenia in older adults with knee OA who are at a high risk for disability. Disclosure of | 75929351 |
4,509,213 | Interest None Declared | 75929351 |
4,509,214 | Texturing Hierarchical Tissues by Gradient Assembling of Microengineered Platelet‐Lysates Activated Fibers The heterogeneity of hierarchical tissues requires designing multipart engineered constructs as suitable tissue replacements. Herein, the incorporation of platelet lysate (PL) within an electrospun fiber core is proposed aiming for the fabrication of functionally graded 3D scaffolds for heterotypic tissues regeneration, such as tendon‐to‐bone interfaces. First, anisotropic yarns (A‐Yarns) and isotropic threads with nanohydroxyapatite (I‐Threads/PL@nHAp) are fabricated to recreate the tendon‐ and bone‐microstructures and both incorporated with PL using emulsion electrospinning for a sustained and local delivery of growth factors, cytokines, and chemokines. Biological performance using human adipose‐derived stem cells demonstrates that A‐Yarns/PL induce a higher expression of scleraxis, a tenogenic‐marker, while in I‐Threads/PL@nHAp, higher alkaline phosphatase activity and matrix mineralization suggest an osteogenic commitment without the need for biochemical supplementation compared to controls. As a proof‐of‐concept, functional 3D gradient scaffolds are fabricated using a weaving technique, resulting in 3D textured hierarchical constructs with gradients in composition and topography. Additionally, the precise delivery of bioactive cues together with in situ biophysical features guide the commitment into a phenotypic gradient exhibiting chondrogenic and osteochondrogenic profiles in the interface of scaffolds. Overall, a promising patch solution for the regeneration of tendon‐to‐bone tissue interface through the fabrication of PL‐functional 3D gradient constructs is demonstrated. | 248244201 |
4,509,215 | Pulsed eddy-current response to a conducting half-space Eddy-current nondestructive evaluation commonly carried out using single frequency time harmonic excitations, but a pulsed excitation offers a simple and effective alternative. The pulse signals have been calculated for a probe coil whose current rises and falls exponentially, approximating a square wave when the exponential time constant is small. Predictions of the induced electromotive force (EMF) across a coil above a half-space conductor and of the magnetic field on the coil axis have been compared with experiments. The comparison shows excellent agreement between theory and experiment. | 17663701 |
4,509,216 | Mouse Norovirus 1 Utilizes the Cytoskeleton Network To Establish Localization of the Replication Complex Proximal to the Microtubule Organizing Center ABSTRACT Human noroviruses (family Caliciviridae) are the leading cause of nonbacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Although Human noroviruses are significant enteric pathogens, there exists no reliable vaccine or therapy to treat infected individuals. To date, attempts to cultivate Human noroviruses within the laboratory have met with little success; however, the related murine norovirus mouse norovirus 1 (MNV-1) has provided an ideal model system to study norovirus replication due to the ease with which the virus is cultivated and the ability to infect a small animal model with this virus. Previously we have identified the association between MNV-1 and components of the host secretory pathway and proposed a role for the viral open reading frame 1 proteins in the replication cycle. Here we describe for the first time a role for cytoskeletal components in early MNV-1 replication events. We show that the MNV-1 utilizes microtubules to position the replication complex adjacent to the microtubule organizing center. Chemical disruption of the microtubule network disperses the sites of MNV-1 replication throughout the cell and impairs production of viral protein and infectious virus. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability of MNV-1 to redistribute acetylated tubulin to the replication complex and that this association is potentially mediated via the MNV-1 major structural protein, VP1. Transient expression of MNV-1 VP1 exhibited extensive colocalization with both α-tubulin and acetylated tubulin and was observed to alter the distribution of acetylated tubulin in transfected cells. This study highlights | 30019401 |
4,509,217 | the role of the cytoskeleton in early virus replication events and demonstrates the importance of this interaction in establishing the intracellular location of MNV-1 replication complexes. | 30019401 |
4,509,218 | Genetic analysis of the hybrid male rescue locus of Drosophila. Several hybrid rescue mutations-alleles that restore the viability of normally lethal hybrids-have been discovered in Drosophila melanogaster and its relatives. Here we analyze one of these genes, Hybrid male rescue (Hmr), asking two questions about its role in hybrid inviability. (1) Does the wild-type allele from D. melanogaster (Hmr(mel)) cause hybrid embryonic inviability? (2) Does Hmr(mel) cause hybrid larval inviability? Our results show that the wild-type product of Hmr is neither necessary nor sufficient for hybrid embryonic inviability. Hmr(mel) does, however, appear to lower the viability of hybrid larvae. The data further suggest (though do not prove) that Hmr(mel) acts as a gain-of-function poison in hybrids. These findings support previous claims that hybrid embryonic and larval lethalities are genetically distinct and suggest that Hmr(mel) is at least one of the proximate causes of hybrid larval inviability. | 1267701 |
4,509,219 | Comparative repeatability of guide-pin axis positioning in computer-assisted and manual femoral head resurfacing arthroplasty Abstract The orientation of the femoral component in hip resurfacing arthroplasty affects the likelihood of loosening and fracture. Computer-assisted surgery has been shown to improve significantly the surgeon's ability to achieve a desired position and orientation; nevertheless, both bias and variability in positioning remain and can potentially be improved. The authors recently developed a computer-assisted surgical (CAS) technique to guide the placement of the pin used in femoral head resurfacing arthroplasty and showed that it produced significantly less variation than a typical manual technique in varus/valgus placement relative to a pre-operatively determined surgical plan while taking a comparable amount of time. In the present study, the repeatability of both the CAS and manual techniques is evaluated in order to estimate the relative contributions to overall variability of surgical technique (CAS versus manual), surgeon experience (novice versus experienced), and other sources of variability (e.g. across specimens and across surgeons). This will enable further improvements in the accuracy of CAS techniques. Three residents/fellows new to femoral head resurfacing and three experienced hip arthroplasty surgeons performed 20-30 repetitions of each of the CAS and manual techniques on at least one of four cadaveric femur specimens. The CAS system had markedly better repeatability (1.2°) in varus/valgus placement relative to the manual technique (2.8°), slightly worse repeatability in version (4.4° versus 3.2°), markedly better repeatability in mid-neck placement (0.7 mm versus 2.5 mm), no significant dependence on surgeon skill level (in contrast to the manual technique), and | 39337751 |
4,509,220 | took significantly less time (50 s versus 123 s). Proposed improvements to the version measurement process showed potential for reducing the standard deviation by almost two thirds. This study supports the use of CAS for femoral head resurfacing as it is quicker than the manual technique, independent of surgeon experience, and demonstrates improved repeatability. | 39337751 |
4,509,221 | Pioglitazone attenuates the severity of sodium taurocholate-induced severe acute pancreatitis. AIM To determine the effect of pioglitazone, a specific peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARgamma) ligand, on development of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) and expression of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in the pancreas. METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (160-200 g) were randomly allocated into three groups (n = 18 in each group): severe acute pancreatitis group, pioglitazone group, sham group. SAP was induced by retrograde infusion of 1 mL/kg body weight 5% sodium taurocholate (STC) into the biliopancreatic duct of male SD rats. Pioglitazone was injected intraperitoneally two hours piror to STC infusion. Blood and ascites were obtained for detecting amylase and ascitic capacity. Pancreatic wet/dry weight ratio, expression of NF-kappaB and ICAM-1 in pancreatic tissues were detected by immunohistochemical staining. Pancreatic tissue samples were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) for routine optic microscopy. RESULTS Sham group displayed normal pancreatic structure. SAP group showed diffuse hemorrhage, necrosis and severe edema in focal areas of pancreas. There was obvious adipo-saponification in abdominal cavity. Characteristics such as pancreatic hemorrhage, necrosis, severe edema and adipo-saponification were found in pioglitazone group, but the levels of those injuries were lower in pioglitazone group than those in SAP group. The wet/dry pancreatic weight ratio, ascetic capacity, serum and ascitic activities of anylase in the SAP group were significantly higher than those in the sham group and pioglitazone group respectively (6969.50 +/- 1368.99 vs 2104.67 +/- 377.16, 3.99 +/- 1.22 vs 2.48 +/- 0.74, P < 0.01 or P | 24930651 |
4,509,222 | < 0.05). According to Kusske criteria, the pancreatic histologic score showed that interstitial edema, inflammatory infiltration, parenchyma necrosis and parenchyma hommorrhage in SAP group significantly differed from those in the sham group and pioglitazone group (7.17 +/- 1.83 vs 0.50 +/- 0.55, 7.67 +/- 0.82 vs 6.83 +/- 0.75, P < 0.01, P < 0.05. The expression of NF-kappaB and ICAM-1 in sham group was lower than that in SAP group and pioglitazone group (0.50 +/- 0.55 vs 33 +/- 1.21, P < 0.01). There was a significant difference in the expression of NF-kappaB and ICAM-1 between SAP group and pioglitazone group (7.50 +/- 1.05 vs 11.33 +/- 1.75, 0.80 +/- 0.53 vs 1.36 +/- 0.54, P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) at 12 h after the induction of pancreatitis. CONCLUSION Pioglitazone attenuates the severity of SAP. The beneficial effect of pioglitazone is multifactorial due to its anti-inflammatory activities, most likely through the inhibition of ICAM-1 expression and NF-kappaB activation. Specific ligands of PPARgamma may represent the novel and effective means of clinical therapy for SAP. | 24930651 |
4,509,223 | [Advances in immunology and rheumatoid arthritis pathogenesis]. The pathogenesis of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is still largely unknown. From the seminal experimental studies, suggesting a multifactorial mechanism leaded by an antigen specific activation, the direct role of innate immunity in the disease progression has been recently emphasized. In the natural history of RA, characterized by the three phases of the induction, maintenance and tissue destruction, innate immunity seems to be the central player. On the other hands the recent advances about the molecules involved in the T lymphocyte activation, the T cell role in the mechanism of erosion, and the studies about chemokines in the homing and angiogenesis processes support the theory of an antigen specific activation of the adaptive immune system. Therefore, during RA, the pathogenesis of sinovitis and erosions comes from independent pathways involving either innate and adaptive immunity resulting in the final induction of the articular damage. | 34343851 |
4,509,224 | Burden of arrhythmias and associated in-hospital mortality in acute decompensated diabetes mellitus Abstract To gain understanding of the burden of cardiac arrhythmias in patients with acutely decompensated diabetes mellitus (ADDM) on a large scale, we reviewed data on ADDM patients and subtypes of arrhythmias from the National Inpatient Sample from 2010 to 2014. The frequency and prevalence of cardiac arrhythmias were measured, as well as outcomes. Among 874,107 hospitalized ADDM patients identified, 87,970 (10.1%) developed arrhythmias. The ADDM-arrhythmia cohort showed higher all-cause mortality (1.4% vs 0.3%; adjusted odds ratio 2.58, 95% confidence interval 2.39–2.79, P < 0.001), prolonged hospital stays (4.2 ± 4.8 vs 3.3 ± 3.4 days), and higher hospital charges ($32,609 vs $23,741) compared to those without arrhythmias (P < 0.001). The prevalence of supraventricular arrhythmia (atrial fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, and atrial flutter) and ventricular arrhythmia (ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation) was 2965 and 446 per 100,000 ADDM-related hospitalizations, respectively. The prevalence of any arrhythmias and atrial fibrillation in ADDM patients increased by 20.4% and 38.1%, respectively. The highest increase in the prevalence of arrhythmia among ADDM patients was observed in adults aged 18 to 44 years (22.5%). | 236365751 |
4,509,225 | Mechanism and duration of banding in Mississippi Valley‐type sphalerite We present a new quantitative model of mm‐scale Fe‐Zn banding in sphalerite Mississippi‐Valley type ore deposits. The banded sphalerite is typically intergrown with dendritic galena in cm‐scale clusters. We show that this pattern may arise due to a combined effect of geochemical reactions, crystal growth, dissolution, and ripening in far‐from‐equilibrium conditions. The simulated patterns are due to a self‐propagating sequence of growth and dissolution events (so called coarsening wave). One of the surprising results is the geologically short time scale of the pattern formation. | 128875051 |
4,509,226 | Case 1: An 11-year-old Girl Presenting with Fine Motor Difficulties 1. Ramit Singla, MD*,† 2. Rajkumar Agarwal, MD*,† 1. *Division of Neurology, Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI 2. †Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI On “Match Day” this month, senior medical students in the United States will find out where they are going for residency training; they will prepare to move on. Meanwhile, as demonstrated by this month’s Index of Suspicion case reports, several different conditions can alter the muscles of our patients. Learning together, we can help our patients move forward successfully. Philip R. Fischer, MD Associate Editor, Index of Suspicion An 11-year-old girl presents to our clinic with main concerns for abnormalities in fine motor skills. She reports difficulty buttoning and unbuttoning her shirt, using door knobs, and operating the numeric combination lock. In addition, her mother reports that she is always clumsy and unable to maintain balance. The symptoms are present for a few years and seem to be slowly progressive. She also reports occasional early morning headaches for the past 2 months described as throbbing bifrontal pain, with photophobia and phonophobia, lasting less than 1 minute. Headaches occur once every 1 to 2 weeks and do not limit her daily activities. Findings from her family history, birth history, and medical history are normal. On physical examination her … | 211835151 |
4,509,227 | Devolution and the Politics of Business Representation in Britain: A Strategic — Relational Approach In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic - relational approach in examining the response of business interests to the newly devolved and regionalised governance context in Britain. In the analysis, the focus is directed particularly at the changing context within which business politics operates in the British regions and, importantly, on the perceptions of business actors and interests of their position in these changing contexts. In this way, we seek to move beyond established structuralist and agency-oriented approaches to business interest representation, which have tended to underplay the influence and complexity of business perceptions in exploring the changing form of business representation. Subsequently, we present some further brief comments on the respective capacities of groups and organisations representing business, and the strategic processes that underlie business responses to the new governance arrangements, which will be important to the further development of analysis founded in the strategic - relational approach. In broad terms, we argue that business perceptions of the devolutionary context have underscored a limited restructuring of business interest representation in Britain, as business groups register the ongoing centralism that characterises the British polity. In addition, the organisation of business interest representation displays a strong path dependency, reflecting a degree of institutional stasis and the strength of perceived structures in this sphere. However, a series of relatively modest changes are underway as a variety of business interests adopt particular kinds of strategies given their specific | 17341701 |
4,509,228 | aims and capacities. | 17341701 |
4,509,229 | Acyclic Colorings of Products of Cycles An acyclic coloring of a graph G is a proper coloring of the vertex set of G such that G contains no bichromatic cycles. The acyclic chromatic number of a graph G is the minimum number k such that G has an acyclic coloring with k colors. In this paper, acyclic colorings of products of paths and cycles are considered. We determine the acyclic chromatic numbers of three such products: grid graphs, cylinders, and toroids. | 17040801 |
4,509,230 | Capacity-Approaching Variable-Length Pearson Codes Sequences encoded with Pearson codes are immune to channel gain and offset mismatch that cause performance loss in communication systems. In this letter, we introduce an efficient method of constructing capacity-approaching variable-length Pearson codes. We introduce a finite state machine (FSM) description of Pearson codes and present a variable-length code construction process based on this FSM. We then analyze the code rate, redundancy, and the convergence property of our codes. We show that our proposed codes have less redundancy than codes recently described in the literature and that they can be implemented in a straightforward fashion. | 49721751 |
4,509,231 | Improving sediment removal in standard stormwater sumps. Standard sumps are an important component of our stormwater drainage system. Recently they have received significant attention as a stormwater pre-treatment device to remove sediment from stormwater runoff. The objective of this research is to explore some simple structures to be installed inside standard sumps to improve sediment removal efficiency. A number of structures were tested and two structures were found to be most effective in sediment removal. Both structures can increase the sediment removal rate by around 20-25% for sediment sizes of 80-140 μm and 110-170 μm under all tested flowrates, and 10-20% for sediment of 160-240 μm. The flow patterns in these structures were simulated using a numerical model, and the energy loss was also examined. The results of this study offer a new direction for the development of stormwater treatment devices. | 30406351 |
4,509,232 | A large-scale trust-region approach to the regularization of discrete ill-posed problems We consider the problem of computing the solution of large-scale discrete ill-posed problems when there is noise in the data. These problems arise in important areas such as seismic inversion, medical imaging and signal processing. We pose the problem as a quadratically constrained least squares problem and develop a method for the solution of such problem. Our method does not require factorization of the coefficient matrix, it has very low storage requirements and handles the high degree of singularities arising in discrete ill-posed problems. We present numerical results on test problems and an application of the method to a practical problem with real data. | 117442101 |
4,509,233 | 1218 Obstructive Sleep Apnea Due To Oromandibular Dystonia And Treated With Botulinum Toxin Abnormalities of the upper airway are an underrecognized cause of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Oromandibular dystonia (OMD) is characterized by involuntary contractions of the masticatory, facial, pharyngeal or laryngeal muscles usually resulting in pain, dysarthria, dysphagia, or impaired mastication. We present a patient with OMD manifest as episodic OSA and sleep maintenance insomnia treated effectively with botulinum toxin injections of the temporalis and masseter muscles. A 51-year-old man was referred for fatigue and insomnia. History was notable for prior facial trauma requiring jaw surgeries with titanium prostheses and chronic OMD requiring periodic botulinum toxin injections of the temporalis and masseter muscles. An initial home sleep test (HST) 43 days after the last botulinum toxin injection showed a respiratory event index of 6.5 events/hour. Given severity of symptoms, positive airway pressure (PAP) was initiated; however, due to poor tolerance and persistent symptoms, he was referred for attended polysomnography (PSG). The PSG was done 13 days after an injection and showed apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of 0 events/hour. Because the patient continued to endorse episodically severe symptoms that he felt paralleled the severity of OMD and waning of botulinum toxin effect, a repeat PSG was performed at a subjective botulinum toxin effect nadir. This PSG done at 83 days post-injection demonstrated AHI of 84 events/hour. PAP therapy was thus resumed, and the patient’s symptoms improved with increased frequency of botulinum toxin treatments. To our knowledge, this is the first report of OSA due to chronic dystonia | 219743801 |
4,509,234 | of the facial muscles. Botulinum toxin has demonstrated benefit in the treatment of OMD with efficacy generally lasting three to six months. While PAP remains the first-line treatment for OSA, in patients with structural or functional abnormalities of the upper airway, it is important to also consider treatment of the underlying anatomical defect. | 219743801 |
4,509,235 | Detection of human metapneumovirus in respiratory secretions by reverse‐transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, indirect immunofluorescence, and virus isolation in human bronchial epithelial cells Over two winters in Newcastle upon Tyne, respiratory secretions, negative by immunofluorescence staining for other respiratory viruses, were tested for the presence of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) by RT‐PCR. In the second winter, specimens were also tested by immunofluorescence staining with an anti‐HMPV polyclonal rabbit antiserum and immunofluorescence positive specimens were inoculated into a line of human bronchiolar cells, 16HBE140. Overall, 55 of 549 (10%) specimens tested were positive for HMPV by RT‐PCR. Of 162 specimens tested by both RT/PCR and immunofluorescence staining, 23 were positive by both techniques. Of five specimens positive by RT‐PCR alone, only one was confirmed with a second set of primers. Of three specimens positive by immunofluorescence alone, only one was confirmed by virus culture. All four previously recognized sub‐genotypes of the virus were identified by both RT‐PCR and immunofluorescence staining. Sub‐genotype A1 was prevalent in the first winter and B1 prevalent in the second. HMPV replication and virus isolation rates were higher in 16HBE140 cells than in monkey kidney cells and did not require exogenous trypsin. Low passage isolates of both sub‐genotypes A2 and B1 replicated slowly reaching peak titers only 12 days after inoculation. In summary, single round RT/PCR and immunofluorescence staining with a polyclonal rabbit antiserum proved of equal sensitivity in the diagnosis of HMPV infection in respiratory secretions both detecting 96% of confirmed positive specimens. 16HBE40 cells provided a significant improvement on monkey kidney cells for | 13303901 |
4,509,236 | the isolation and propagation of the virus. J. Med. Virol. 78:1223–1231, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. | 13303901 |
4,509,237 | Where the streets have no name D D Where the streets have no name, where the streets have no name, G We're still building then burning down love, burning down love. Bm A D And when I go there, I go there with you. It's all I can do. D Our love turns to rust. G We're beaten and blown by the wind, blown by the wind. D Oh and I see love, see our love turn to rust. G And we're beaten and blown by the wind, blown by the wind Bm A D Oh when I go there, I go there with you, it's all I can do. | 185616451 |
4,509,238 | [The post-treatment cognitive impairment ("chemobrain") in breast cancer patients. Short review.] With the continually growing number of cancer survivors in the past decades there is an increased interest in understanding and treating the adverse events of cancer therapy, which damage the survivor's quality of life. Post-treatment cognitive impairment (chemobrain) is well known in women with breast cancer and other patients with malignancy. The goal of the current short review is to arouse the caregivers' attention to the not severe, but real problem. | 19734851 |
4,509,239 | A flexible hybrid simulation platform targeting multiple configurable processors SoC Multiple Configurable Processors System-on-Chip (MCPSoC) platforms have both performance and power advantages for embedded applications. Unfortunately, at early design stages, because of the processor configuration, I/O device changes and MCPSoC architecture modifications, designers waste much time on the Operating System (OS) porting work with general Instruction Set Simulator (ISS) based SoC simulation platforms. In this paper, we propose a hybrid simulation platform which uses general ISS and implements the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and I/O device driver APIs with the SystemC modules on host machines directly. This hybrid simulation platform can shorten the application validation process by avoiding assembly code and hard-coded address modifications of traditional OS porting work. We show the advantages of our new hybrid simulation platform with a video decoding case study in the end. | 16221601 |
4,509,240 | Trans-retinal electrical stimulation using a neuroprosthesis: the effects of damage to the R-Membrane Using an implantable neuroprosthesis of our design, the effect of various trans-retinal electrode configurations was investigated. A differential response pattern was also obtained between photic and electrical stimulation on the same retina, by way of pharmacological manipulation. It is thought that this is likely to have occurred by way of varying the passive electrical properties of the retina. Based on the results, we propose that a trans-retinal stimulation strategy warrants further investigation. | 62204851 |
4,509,241 | Barium Sulphate Scaling and Control during Polymer, Surfactant and Surfactant-Polymer Flooding Barium Sulphate (BaSO4) scale is a serious problem that is encountered during oilfield production and has been studied mainly for fields undergoing water flooding. Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (cEOR) processes involve interactions between the injected brine and the formation brine, rock and oil. Very little work has appeared in the literature on how cEOR processes can influence the severity of the mineral scaling problem that occurs in the field and how this can be managed. This study investigates barium and sulphate co-production behaviour, the deposition of BaSO4 in the formation and in the producer wellbore, and its inhibition during polymer (P), surfactant (S) and surfactant-polymer (SP) flooding cEOR processes. Reservoir simulation has been used in this study, employing homogenous and heterogeneous 2D areal and vertical models. Data from the literature are used to define the parameters controlling the physical and chemical functionality of surfactant and polymer (e.g. oil-water interfacial tension, IFT, polymer viscosity and surfactant and polymer adsorption). Assessment is made of the minimum inhibitor concentration (MIC) required to control scale that is predicted to occur due to changes in brine composition induced by the water and chemical flooding processes. The expected retention and release of a phosphonate scale inhibitor during squeeze treatments in the production wells is modelled. The high viscosity and more stable polymer slug reduces the mixing between the injected and the formation brines, reducing BaSO4 scale precipitation in the formation and delaying the potential scale risk in the producer wellbore compared | 140379451 |
4,509,242 | to normal water flooding. Polymer adsorption causes retardation of the polymer front compared to the sulphate front, accelerating the scale risk in the wellbore. Polymer with low salinity make-up brine and low sulphate concentration not only improves polymer viscosity and enhances recovery, it also delays and reduces the scale risk in the formation and the producer. During surfactant flooding, from an oil recovery perspective, the optimal phase type and salinity can be any of the three microemulsion phase types, depending on the system multiphase parameters. However, the scaling risk can be different to that in the water flooding case, depending on the IFT, ME phase type, the injected salinity and sulphate concentration. In SP flooding, low salinity make-up brine is preferred to enhance oil recovery, and it also delays and reduces scale risk. The impact of the changing brine composition due to ion reactions affected the required MIC values over time. The impact of the MIC and salinity changes on inhibitor retention and release then influences the treatment volumes required to control scale over field life. The study shows that barium and sulphate co-production and the evolving scale risk depend on the mobility ratio (which is determined by the injected brine and oil viscosities), on the oil-water IFT and on the level of chemical adsorption. The severity of the scale risk is also impacted by the flood techniques utilised, with the extent of reservoir reactions have an effect on the MIC required to control scale and the squeeze treatment volumes required to maintain production after breakthrough. | 140379451 |
4,509,243 | Analysis of Valence for Chromium in Soil and Plastic Samples Using Laboratory XAFS Spectrometer Hexavalent {Cr(VI)} and trivalent chromium {Cr(III)} in environmental materials such as soil and plastics were investigated using a laboratory X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectrometer equipped a W anode X-ray tube. The Cr-K X-ray absorption edges were observed on the XANES spectra of soil (total chromium 606 ppm) and plastic (213 ppm) samples with a fluorescence mode, while the signal-to-noise (SN) ratios of these spectra were too low to determine the height of pre-edge peak of Cr(VI) and the value of the energy on the Cr-K X-ray absorption edge. The XANES spectra of reference samples prepared by Cr2O3 {Cr(III)} and CrO3 {Cr(VI)} particle reagents were also recorded with the transmission mode. In order to improve the SN ratios of XANES spectra, a smoothing treatment by Savitzky-Golay method was applied to the XANES spectra of the soil and plastic samples. By the smoothing treatment, SN ratios of these spectra were improved, though the height of pre-edge peak on the XANES spectra of Cr(VI) reference sample had decreased less than 5%. The height of pre-edge peak and the value of the energy on the Cr-K X-ray absorption edge of soil and plastic samples were given by smoothed XANES spectra. Using the height of pre-edge peak and the value of the energy on the Cr-K X-ray absorption edge of reference samples, the ratios of Cr(VI)/Cr(III) on the soil and plastic samples were calculated. | 96073101 |
4,509,244 | Composition, quality control, and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of long-time stored dill (Anethum graveolens L.) seeds from Bulgaria. The essential oil of long-time stored seeds of dill (Anethum graveolens L.) from Bulgaria was analyzed by physicochemical methods, gas chromatography (GC), GC-mass spectrometry (MS) (achiral and chiral phases), and olfactometry, and its antimicrobial activity was tested by using different strains of microorganisms. More than 40 constituents of the essential dill oil, obtained from seeds stored for more than 35 years, could be identified as essential volatiles, responsible for the pleasant fresh (D-limonene) and spicy (D-carvone) odor of a high quality. As aroma impact compounds, D-carvone (50.1%) and D-limonene (44.1%) were found. Antimicrobial testings showed high activity of the essential A. graveolens oil against the mold Aspergillus niger and the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans. | 3174501 |
4,509,245 | [Re-study on characteristic fingerprint of volatile oil from Herba Pogostemonis by GC]. OBJECTIVE To establish the characteristic fingerprint and parameter of volatile oil from Herba Pogostemonis. METHODS The dffferent collecting time and county samples of Herba Pogostemonis were determined by GC. RESULTS Accuracy, stability and repeatability of the method were good. The same region samples had good stability and main constituents were same in different collection time, but content were different. The samples collected from different region were more different in constituents and content. CONCLUSION The 11 components in common buildup the characterisitic fingerprint of volatile oil from Herba Pogostemonis. The ratiio of pogostone to patchoulic alcohol were used index parameter for quality evaluation and characteristics of producing region. | 33494701 |
4,509,246 | Mixed quantum-classical study of nonadiabatic dynamics in the O(3P(2,1,0),1D2) + H2 reaction. An investigation of the nonadiabatic dynamics for the O(3P(2,1,0),1D2) + H2(v = 0,j = 0) reaction is reported using the quantum-classical trajectory method, namely, the coherent switching with decay of mixing (CSDM) theory. The spin-orbit-induced intersystem crossing effects are included by using multiple electronic potential energy surfaces and spin-orbit couplings. The cross sections calculated by the CSDM method are compared with those of a previous exact quantum study, which uses the same potential matrix. The product rotational polarization in nonadiabatic dynamics, including the joint distributions of the angles between the reactant velocity, product velocity, and rotational angular momentum vectors, is presented and compared with the adiabatic results, as well as the vibrational distributions of the products. The influence of spin-orbit coupling is discussed. | 25692251 |
4,509,247 | Limiter for the early operation phase of W7-X Wendelstein 7-X [1] is an optimized modular stellarator to come into operation in 2015. In the first operational phase of W7-X a dedicated limiter configuration will be exploited to study ECRH heating scenarios, confinement properties and edge physics [2]. In this contribution the dedicated magnetic configuration is presented and the limiter design for this early phase is explained. The position of the main stellarator islands in this configuration is shifted radially outwards in order to have closed flux surfaces in front and in the shadow of the limiter for at least several centimeters. In such a way the first wall behind the limiter, mainly copper, can be expected to receive a negligible power fraction. Five inboard limiters in the symmetry planes of the machine are planned. The limiter shape is chosen in such a way as to distribute the heat flux as evenly as possible. Field line tracing with field line diffusion and construction of magnetic coordinates are used [3]. Field line diffusion simulates energy convection parallel to the field lines and the perpendicular diffusion and is determined by the choice of the field line diffusion coefficient D f l = D⊥/υ‖. Magnetic coordinates, e.g. Boozer coordinates, describe a flux surface as a double Fourier series, where the coefficients are found numerically from field line tracing. Given such a Fourier representation of the last closed flux surface and an assumed radial heat decay length, as follows from diffusion coefficient and magnetic configuration, the limiter shape can be formed | 108919001 |
4,509,248 | to have a desired heat flux distribution. The 3D shape of the limiter chosen for the W7-X early operation phase is presented here. Further, a tolerance study of the main parameters defining the limiter performance is presented. This includes a variation of the diffusion coefficient, limiter positioning tolerances and field errors. Preliminary result of the limiter simulation with EMC3-EIRENE will be given in [4]. From the experimental point of view, the limiter operation is an opportunity to measure perpendicular diffusion, especially because the limiter combines distinct zones with significantly different connection lengths. | 108919001 |
4,509,249 | Real-time detection of gene expression in cancer cells using molecular beacon imaging: new strategies for cancer research. Development of novel approaches for quantitative analysis of gene expression in intact tumor cells should provide new means for cancer detection and for studying the response of cancer cells to biological and therapeutic reagents. We developed procedures for detecting the levels of expression of multiple genes in fixed as well as viable cells using molecular beacon imaging technology. We found that simultaneous delivery of molecular beacons targeting survivin and cyclin D1 mRNAs produced strong fluorescence in breast cancer but not in normal breast cells. Importantly, fluorescence intensity correlated well with the level of gene expression in the cells detected by real-time reverse transcription-PCR or Western blot analysis. We further show that molecular beacons can detect changes of survivin gene expression in viable cancer cells following epidermal growth factor stimulation, docetaxel treatment, and overexpression of p53 gene. Thus, molecular beacon imaging is a simple and specific method for detecting gene expression in cancer cells. It has great potential for cancer detection and drug development. | 12161651 |
4,509,250 | Effects of the S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase inhibitor, 5'-([(Z)-4-amino-2-butenyl]methylamino)-5'-deoxyadenosine, on cell growth and polyamine metabolism and transport in Chinese hamster ovary cell cultures. The regulation of polyamine transport and the roles of polyamine transport and synthesis in cell growth were investigated using cultured Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and CHOMG cells which are mutants lacking polyamine-transport activity. Metabolically stable methylated polyamine analogues were used to measure polyamine accumulation, and the irreversible S-adenosyl-L-methionine decarboxylase inhibitor, 5'-([(Z)-4-amino-2-butenyl]methylamino)-5'-deoxyadenosine (AbeAdo), was used to inhibit synthesis. Exposure to AbeAdo lead to a dose-dependent decrease in growth for both cell lines, although CHOMG cells were more sensitive. Intracellular putrescine levels were greatly increased in AbeAdo-treated CHO cells and to a lesser extent in CHOMG cells, whereas intracellular spermidine and spermine levels were substantially reduced in both. Treatment with AbeAdo increased putrescine content in the culture medium to a much greater extent in CHOMG cultures indicating that a portion of the excess putrescine synthesized in response to AbeAdo treatment is excreted, but that CHO cells salvage this putrescine whereas it is lost to CHOMG cells which cannot take up polyamines. AbeAdo treatment increased polyamine transport into CHO cells despite high intracellular putrescine, suggesting that spermidine and/or spermine, and not putrescine, are the major factors regulating transport activity. The accumulation of either 1-methylspermidine or 1,12-dimethylspermine was significantly increased by AbeAdo treatment. Accumulation was increased even further when protein synthesis was blocked by cycloheximide, indicating that a short-lived protein is involved in the regulation of polyamine uptake. In the presence of cycloheximide and AbeAdo or alpha-difluoromethylornithine, methylated | 33222501 |
4,509,251 | polyamine derivatives accumulated to very high levels leading to cell death. These results show that the polyamine-transport system plays an important role in retaining intracellular polyamines and that down-regulation of the transport system in response to increased intracellular polyamine content is necessary to prevent accumulation of toxic levels of polyamines. | 33222501 |
4,509,252 | Increased Sense of Identity in Delusional Disorders Language, which is unique in each subject, can reflect how a patient copes with disease. The method ALCESTE used here made it possible at the same time to analyse the subject's verbal behavior and speech patterns at several levels. The present study was designed to analyse during a 3-mo. period the language production of subjects with paranoia exhibiting delusional disorder (nonbizarre delusions without any hallucination) of imaginative subtype. The subjects produced very specific speech without any semantic or syntactic impairment and disruption in language or thinking processes, but with a poverty of speech content. The main feature of the study was the analysis of the underlying syntactic processes showing that the tested patients presented a “hard” sense of identity: the patient found always a strong place for himself among the various types of discourse whatever their topics. | 36991751 |
4,509,253 | BILATERAL PIGMENTED BOWEN'S DISEASE OE THE LOWER LIP A 68-year-old white man presented to the dermatology clinic with a 2-year history of a recurrent wart on the right oral commissure and two brown lesions on each corner of his lower lip. The patient had previously been treated for warts of the right oral commissure and for bilateral angular cheilitis. His past medical history was significant for excision of erythroplasia of Queyrat on the penis in 1977 that had been present for 20 years. The patient had worked on the family farm as a teenager and had daily exposure to arsenical insecticides. Physical examination revealed a 5-mm flesh-colored verrucous papule of the right oral commissure. In addition, there were bilateral symmetrical irregular, brown, minimally elevated plaques on the lower lip (Fig. 1). There was no accentuation of the pigmentation on examination with Wood's light. Palpation ofthe lower lip area revealed no induration or nodularity and there was no involvement ofthe oral cavity. The patient lacked arsenical keratoses or pigmentary changes suggestive of arsenic exposure. Histologic examination of the pigmented plaques revealed an acanthotic epidermis with a full-thickness epithelial disorder that also involved the infundibulum of hair follicles. Numerous multinucleated epithelial cells, dyskeratotic keratinocytes, atypical mitotic figures, and dermal melanophages were present as well as hyperpigmentation of basilar keratinocytes. These features were consistent with pigmented Bowen's disease (Fig. 2). Enzyme immunocytochemistry for human papillomavirus antibodies performed on paraffin-embedded tissue was negative. Systemic workup was within normal limits. The entire lower lip and oral commissures were treated with 5% | 43627951 |
4,509,254 | 5-fluorouracil cream twice daily for 8 weeks with clinical resolution of both pigmented plaques. Repeat biopsy 6 months later revealed residual Bowen's disease despite the absence of clinical recurrence. The patient elected to be followed closely rather than proceed with extensive, potentially disfiguring, surgical excision or radiation therapy of his lower lip. To date, approximately 18 months after completing therapy with topical 5-fluorouracil, there has been no clinical recurrence. | 43627951 |
4,509,255 | Experimental embryology in Japan, 1930-1960. A historical background of developmental biology in Japan. Japan opened its doors to internationalization in the middle of the 19th century, with the Meiji Restoration in 1868 being the turning point in the country's history. Studies of natural history had existed, though in primitive form, before this period in Japan. They were mostly done under the influence of western science from Holland, the only western country that had diplomatic contact with Japan, Although recently renewed attention is being paid to them, the attention is generally from the standpoint of either historical curiosity or artistic appreciation. The opening of the first Japanese university, the Tokyo Imperial University (T.I.U., to be called Tokyo University after 1946), in 1877 marked the start of in-depth academic activities on biology. Studies in embryology started in the late 19th century at the T.I.U. This is largely credited to American professors who took up teaching posts in the University,includingsuchnames as Edward Sylvester Morse, Bashford Dean and others. Particularly, Dr. Charles Otis Whitman (1842-1910, Fig. 1) should be remembered among them as the grandfather of embryology research in Japan (cf. Vo K, Okada, 1954), Embryology seems to have quickly risen in rank in terms of education and research in both biology and medicine. It is worth noting that the first textbook pUblished in Japanese appeared as early as 1906. The book consisted of 300 printed pages (Fig. 2), and its author was Kei lizuka (Professor at the Gakushuuin High School). Here, the development of trogs and chickens was described | 12756101 |
4,509,256 | with a number of figures. From my point of view, however, research in embryologywas subsidiary and could not be considered as a major field in biology, like taxonomy, systematic biology and physiology, in Japan at least TOKINDO S. OKADA Biohistory Research Hall, Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan | 12756101 |
4,509,257 | Prediction of Gas Holdup in an Aerated Coaxial Mixer Containing Yield Stress Fluids for Mixing Process System Development : The development of effective gas-liquid mixing systems in mechanically agitated vessels is typically evaluated in terms of the degree of bubbles dispersion. For instance, adequate gas distribution reduces the formation of oxygen-deficient regions and ensures suitable metabolic pathways in bioreactors. In this regard, the gas holdup is a direct measurement of the process performance because the bubbles’ characteristics determines the gas volume fraction inside the vessel. The accu-rate estimation of this parameter using empirical correlations provides a better insight and a rapid prediction of the mixing process characteristics, which is crucial for designing stirred tanks. However, a challenge in obtaining empirical correlations is related to the experimental ranges of geometrical and process system conditions. In fact, the existing gas holdup correlations have not considered gas dispersion in yield pseudoplastic fluids using a coaxial mixer that comprises concentric shafts rotating independently. As an opportunity in mixing process system design, this study aims to develop empirical gas holdup correlations for an aerated anchor-PBT coaxial mixing system containing a xanthan gum solution, which behaves as a yield stress fluid. The electrical resistance tomography technique was employed to measure the gas holdup based on the conductivity variation throughout the vessel. A central composite design of experiments was conducted to account for the effect of central impeller speed, anchor speed, and gas flow rate on the mixing performance. The results demonstrated a non-monotonic effect of the central impeller speed on the gas | 250381051 |
4,509,258 | holdup, which indicates a variation in the flow regime. Furthermore, the results showed that the gas holdup was increased by decreasing the anchor speed or increasing the aeration rate applied to the system. The developed correlations were statistically assessed and a good agreement with the experimental data was verified, which enabled us to accurately estimate the gas holdup within the range of operating variables investigated. | 250381051 |
4,509,259 | Induction thermography: principle, applications and first steps towards standardisation Abstract A survey on theory, characteristic quantities and the experimental technique of induction thermography is given. Induction thermography is used for surface defect detection in forged parts of ferromagnetic steel at typical frequencies of 100–300 kHz. The sensitivity for crack detection is comparable to magnetic particle inspection. A hidden defect in ferritic steel with a coverage of 140 μm was detected by lowering the induction frequency down to 1500 Hz. Defects of fibres were detected in carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP). Inductive excitation is complementary to flash excitation. By increasing the induction frequency up to 52 MHz, surface heating of CFRP can be realised. Cracks in silicon solar cells were detected. The crack tip is revealed with very high contrast. A new field is crack detection in railway components like rails and wheels. In rails, a larger defect could be detected from a test car moving at a speed of up to 15 km/h. A fully automated wheel testing system was built up as a demonstrator, that can detect defects with comparable sensitivity to magnetic particle testing. Standardisation of thermography has gained progress in the last years and will lead to standards on active thermography, flash excited and induction thermography in the next future. | 67774051 |
4,509,260 | Using process mining in software development process management: A case study In this paper we describe the application of process mining techniques to analyze a software development process. Software engineering practitioners often conduct quality auditing of the development process to assure conformance with organizational standards. Despite some works have explored process mining techniques for the conformance analysis of general business processes, it is not of our knowledge any study that applies process mining to conformance checking of software development processes. Under a practical perspective, this paper explores a real database with event logs generated in the past five years of execution of a software development process. The database was gently provided by a Brazilian software house with annual revenue of more than US$ 500 million and includes more than 2,000 cases (process instances). The results show that process mining can be effectively employed as a supporting tool for the management of software development processes and for the improvement of the maturity level of software engineering organizations. | 12297101 |
4,509,261 | SIGCSE 2022 board election ACM's Policy and Procedures on SIG Elections require that those SIGs holding elections notify their membership of candidates for elected offices. Additional candidates may be placed on the ballot by petition. All candidates must be ACM Professional Members, as well as members of the SIG. Anyone interested in petitioning must inform ACM Headquarters, Pat Ryan ([email protected]), and the Secretary of SIGCSE of their intent to petition by 15 March 2022. Petitions must be submitted to ACM Headquarters for verification by 1 April 2022. | 246432001 |
4,509,262 | Supernumerary fronto-orbital arteries arising from contralateral anterior cerebral artery associated with partially duplicated anterior communicating artery - case study and literature review. The anatomical variations of the fronto-orbital artery are uncommon and rarely described in literature. During the dissection of a 64-year-old female formalized brain, we discovered a particular congenital abnormality regarding the arterial supply of the right fronto-orbital gyrus. We identified three arterial sources: a low caliber ipsilateral fronto-orbital artery that arises from the A2 segment of the right anterior cerebral artery and ends in the posterior part of the fronto-orbital gyrus, a large aberrant contralateral fronto-orbital artery that arises from the A2 segment of the left anterior cerebral artery, supplying most of the right fronto-orbital gyrus and a small accessory branch of the left anterior cerebral artery passing towards the contralateral fronto-orbital gyrus. These abnormalities are associated with a partially duplicated anterior communicating artery. This case shows a unique pattern of congenital brain vascular abnormalities that may have clinical and surgical implications. | 25581251 |
4,509,263 | Adaptive path tracking control design for a wheeled mobile robot A predefined path tracking with the help of Wheeled mobile robots (WMR) is very popular in various modern applications including agriculture, medicine and many more. The application of tracking a certain path can be achieved by using either Trajectory Tracking or Path following method. This paper makes an attempt to design a novel control law which combines the two techniques together in order to maximize the benefits provided by the two methods individually. However, the successful implementation of this task is vulnerable because of parametric uncertainties in the robot model. The solution to this problem is presented with the design of an adaptive control scheme called direct model reference adaptive control (DMRAC) which makes use of an adaptive law and continuously updates its control parameters | 21902351 |
4,509,264 | Evaluating sol-gel ceramic thin films for metal implant applications. I. Processing and structure of zirconia films on Ti-6AI-4V. Thin ceramic films or coatings over metallic bone-interfacing implant surfaces have the potential to improve implant performance with respect to implant fixation, wear, or corrosion. In this study, zirconia (ZrO2) thin films formed on Ti-6AI-4V using a polymeric alkoxide-based solgel process were investigated. ZrO2 films of uniform thickness on the order of 100 nm were obtained by dip coating Ti-6AI-4V samples into a zirconium propoxide containing solution using a substrate withdrawal speed ranging from 2 to 8 cm/min and a sol of nominal viscosity approximately 6 cps. These films were essentially free of surface macrodefects but had random submicron "pinholes." X-ray diffraction studies suggested that the films were at least partially crystalline, with some "metastable" cubic and/or tetragonal phases after annealing for 1 h at 500 degrees C. The demonstrated reproducibility of this approach for producing good quality ZrO2 films on Ti-6AI-4V warrants further studies to optimize processing conditions for implant applications. | 1202051 |
4,509,265 | Functional brain injury rehabilitation: Survivor experiences reported by families and professionals Primary objective: The researchers investigated rehabilitation experiences of brain injury (BI) survivors participating in a functional programme. Research design: The researchers used a phenomenological approach involving the collection of artifacts and the analysis of focus group discussions through horizontalizing statements, creating meaning units and clustering codes. Methods and procedures: Focus groups including staff members and survivors’ relatives reported perceptions about the programme and survivors’ experiences; programme artifacts (e.g. survivors’ schedules, website information) provided additional information. Survivors verified focus group responses and an analysis using five assessment measures served to validate positive functional changes among programme participants. Main outcomes: Three general categories of themes emerged: components of functional therapy, programme/culture features supporting functional therapy and family members’ and survivors’ reactions to a functional programme. Sub-categories and themes provided details about issues central to functional BI treatment. Conclusions: The findings suggest that functional therapy programmes: (a) address family and survivors’ goals, (b) occur in the community or real world, (c) are implemented by people in survivors’ environments, (d) are collaborative, (e) focus on a positive culture, (f) build on basic skills, (g) allow exploration of discharge options, (h) preserve survivors’ privacy and dignity and (i) recognize difficulties associated with transitioning from acute to post-acute rehabilitation. | 26806551 |
4,509,266 | Multi-plane Visual Odometry for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Using a Thermal Camera In this paper, a multi-plane infrared visual odometry (VO) algorithm is proposed for the navigation system of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) flying at a medium height for both day and night. It uses a monocular downward-looking and stabilized thermal camera, aided by a single laser beam to restore scale factor. The scale recovery is further improved by a series of comprehensive logics of taking different measurements into a multi-plane homography decomposition process, which makes the algorithm practicable and robust for the platform flying over various complex terrains with multiple planar surfaces. With the help of some sophisticated techniques, like keyframe replacement and subregion adaptive KLT tracker, the performance of motion estimation is further improved. This visual odometry algorithm allows UAV platforms to take various missions from a medium altitude when GPS is not available and illumination condition is poor. | 52128601 |
4,509,267 | Placental restriction reduces insulin sensitivity and expression of insulin signaling and glucose transporter genes in skeletal muscle, but not liver, in young sheep. Poor growth before birth is associated with impaired insulin sensitivity later in life, increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes. The tissue sites at which insulin resistance first develops after intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), and its molecular basis, are unclear. We have therefore characterized the effects of placental restriction (PR), a major cause of IUGR, on whole-body insulin sensitivity and expression of molecular determinants of insulin signaling and glucose uptake in skeletal muscle and liver of young lambs. Whole-body insulin sensitivity was measured at 30 d by hyperinsulinaemic euglycaemic clamp and expression of insulin signaling genes (receptors, pathways, and targets) at 43 d in muscle and liver of control (n = 15) and PR (n = 13) lambs. PR reduced size at birth and increased postnatal growth, fasting plasma glucose (+15%, P = 0.004), and insulin (+115%, P = 0.009). PR reduced whole-body insulin sensitivity (-43%, P < 0.001) and skeletal muscle expression of INSR (-36%), IRS1 (-28%), AKT2 (-44%), GLUT4 (-88%), GSK3α (-35%), and GYS1 (-31%) overall (each P < 0.05) and decreased AMPKγ3 expression in females (P = 0.030). PR did not alter hepatic expression of insulin signaling and related genes but increased GLUT2 expression (P = 0.047) in males. Whole-body insulin sensitivity correlated positively with skeletal muscle expression of IRS1, AKT2, HK, AMPKγ2, and AMPKγ3 in PR lambs only (each P < 0.05) but not with hepatic gene expression in | 22988051 |
4,509,268 | control or PR lambs. Onset of insulin resistance after PR and IUGR is accompanied by, and can be accounted for by, reduced expression of insulin signaling and metabolic genes in skeletal muscle but not liver. | 22988051 |
4,509,269 | Teaching in a cold and windy place: change in an Inuit school. Joanne Tompkins. 1998. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 153 p; soft cover. ISBN 0-8020-4168-X. £11.95. ness to the rest of the English-speaking world. A difficult task for the editors of all such manuals is to decide on the target audience and hence the level of detail that needs to be provided. The book's introduction states that it provides information for doctors, nurses, and paramedics, as well as for people who are not medically qualified. However, most sections are far too superficially covered to be of sufficient practical value to an expedition doctor or medic. Such health-care providers would do far better to consult something like Paul Auerbach's hefty but comprehensive tome Wilderness medicine, or to carry a very practical recipe book such as James Wilkerson's Medicine for mountaineering and other wilderness activities. Some sections are particularly well covered. The section on base-camp hygiene and health is very well written, with a great deal of sensible, practical advice — rather than the self-evident platitudes that are all too commonly found in similar chapters in other texts. Similarly, the chapter on canoe, kayak, and raft expeditions strongly indicates that the author has had plenty of handson experience in this field. Indeed, each chapter is very competently written, with very few errors of fact. The main regret is that most are considerably too brief to provide all the information that an expedition doctor would like to have on hand. In addition, there are a few quibbles. The | 129017551 |
4,509,270 | chapter on polar expeditions starts with an excellent photo of dog-sledding near Finse, Norway, and concludes with an equally fine shot of a plane on the Tasman Glacier, New Zealand, but both sites are really quite a long way from what could be called the polar regions. A more serious error occurs on page 15, where the rabies-distribution map indicates Australia to have endemic rabies. This is clearly incorrect (although it must be admitted that in just the last couple of years rabies prophylaxis has been recommended for those few people exposed to lyssavirus in Australian bats). Indeed, in view of the rapidly changing information about many tropical diseases, one could question the need for a number of the maps showing disease distribution, especially those with older data, such as the one for Japanese encephalitis 1986-90. This is especially so in view of the various up-to-the-minute sources readily available through the Internet — details of such sources being provided in the 'Further information' section at the end of the chapter. There is a section on taking blood pressure (page 86)— but doctors, nurses, and medics will already be quite familiar with this skill. But for non-medical people there are a few relevant questions — can they really learn how to obtain a reliable blood pressure from such a short written instruction? Can non-medics reasonably be expected to carry a sphygmomanometer? How are they to interpret their findings? Similarly, on pages 107-108 non-medical people are warned about the problems of suturing in the field and quite correctly | 129017551 |
4,509,271 | advised to favour Steristrips. However, even though no instructions are provided on suturing technique, a couple of diagrams are rather strangely included. There appears to have been some glitch in compiling Appendix 3, 'References and further reading.' In general this is a well-selected choice of papers and books, but the section for Chapter 9, 'Water purification,' has been left out, and that title mis-appropriated to Chapter 10. In summary, this volume is a useful aide-memoire for medical needs for those contemplating an expedition. The RGS and the editors are to be congratulated on taking this from seminar notes to textbook and it is hoped that future editions will overcome the difficulty of providing a book to cover the needs of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and lay persons, in this age of super specialization. (D. J. Lugg and P. Sullivan, Polar Medicine, Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania 7050, Australia.) | 129017551 |
4,509,272 | Research of the Distance Calculation Algorithm Based on RSSI In this paper, we present an algorithm about distance calculation based on RSSI of RF. To calculate value of RSSI according to the classic model of signal attenuation, Radio propagation path loss model and formula of received signal strength, establish the relationship chart between the distance and RSSI value. And through the wireless module CC2430 of ETC system for real-time data collection. Compared with the theoretical data and the measured data. Do the correction through calibration model. Resulting more perfect algorithm about distance calculation. | 62726351 |
4,509,273 | Observation of ( h 11/2 ) 2 neutron alignments in 100 Mo, 104 Ru, and 108 Pd using deep inelastic reactions The transitional nuclei42 Mo, 44 Ru, and 46 Pd have been studied as products of binary reactions formed by a 36 Kr beam impinging on a46 Pd target. The yrast states are observed above the region of the first backbend. In each case this backbend is associated with the breaking of the first neutron ( h11/2) 2 pair. The results are consistent with the predictions of cranked shell model calculations and the systematics of neighboring nuclei. @S0556-2813 ~97!01904-3# | 9753951 |
4,509,274 | [Interventional pain therapy]. Treatment of intractable chronic pain employs, nerve block, peripheral nerve stimulation, phototherapy, and drug therapy such as opioid and analgesia adjuvant. We also employ multi disciplinary approach with internal medicine, psychiatry and other related fields. In addition, in a portion of intractable chronic back pain, the pain relief is obtained by interventional approaches such as adhesionlysis and the neuroplasty with epiduroscopy as well as spinal cord stimulation therapy. | 38305001 |
4,509,275 | Effect of organic modifier concentrations on electrokinetic migrations in micellar electrokinetic chromatography The effect of low concentrations of organic modifiers on the electroosmotic mobility, μeo, and electrophoretic mobility of the micelle, μep, mc, in micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) solutions was investigated. The results showed that μeo was mainly influenced by the viscosity of the running solution. A linear relationship between μeo and the concentration of the organic modifier was found in MEKC. A newly defined parameter, the mobility ratio, Rm, mc, which is the ratio of the electro‐phoretic mobility of the micelle to the electroosmotic mobility, and which characterizes the surface charge density of the micelle in MEKC system with organic modifiers, was introduced. A linear relationship between Rm, mc and the organic modifier concentration was observed. The parameter Rm, mc was found to be useful to investigate the changes in the micellar phase with the addition of organic modifier. The measured μep, mc values showed different and interesting characteristics among different organic modifiers. | 38118601 |
4,509,276 | Cancer mortality of Swiss men by occupation, 1979-1982. Results of a study of male cancer mortality are presented by occupation. The data base consisted of the 1979-1982 mortality register and 1980 census data from Switzerland. In a novel approach, a linked subset of death certificates and census records was used to correct the numerator-denominator bias of standardized mortality ratios and their confidence intervals. Agricultural occupations exhibited low cancer mortality (exception: stomach cancer). Electricians suffered excess mortality from cancer of several sites. Foundry and chemical workers had elevated mortality risks for digestive tract cancers. Other metal workers suffered from high mortality from cancers of the respiratory organs. Construction workers were subject to high mortality from cancers of the upper digestive tract and lungs. Innkeepers, cooks, and owners or managers of guest houses had high rates of cancers of the digestive system. Occupations using combustion-powered equipment suffered from excess lung cancer mortality. In general the results of the study agree with those of several other studies. | 23997451 |
4,509,277 | Suppression of template switching in postreplication gaps via Uup and RadD proteins We are investigating the role of two bacterial proteins, RadD and Uup, in suppressing genomic stability. Uup is a UvrA‐like ABC family ATPase and RadD is a RecQ‐like SF2 family ATPase. Both of these proteins bind to branched DNAs. More specifically, RadD suppresses crossover events in the cell. The proteins resolve branched DNA intermediates that have arisen from template switching in post replication gaps. When a replication fork comes upon a lesion in the DNA, and a gap forms, the cell attempts to fill this gap and repair the DNA. One way of doing this is through template switching, a RecA‐independent process that creates recombination‐like branched DNA intermediates. These are the DNA intermediates at which RadD and Uup function. When genomic repeats exist in the chromosome, template switching sometimes results in mispairing that produces genomic deletions. Under normal growth conditions, with repeats in the chromosome, the deletion of Uup and RadD leads to the generation of chromosomal dimers that are not readily resolved. This experiment brings light to the functions of both proteins and recognizes the importance of genomic stability for cell viability. The results indicate that template switching happens often and that Uup and RadD play important roles in suppressing genomic stability. | 242427251 |
4,509,278 | Differences in trauma-informed care implementation by clinic-level factors across Ryan White HIV clinics in the Southeastern United States. Trauma is common among people with HIV (PWH) and associated with low HIV care engagement, thus trauma-informed care (TIC) integration within HIV services is critical. From December 2019 to April 2020, we conducted surveys with 321 administrators, providers, and staff of 46 Ryan White HIV clinics (RWCs) in 8 Southeastern U.S. states to assess level of TIC implementation and clinic-level factors associated with TIC adoption. The mean score for TIC implementation was highest for the Physical Environment domain (μ = 4.08, SE = 0.07), followed by Screening, Assessment, and Treatment Services (μ = 3.96, SE = 0.07), Cross-sector Collaboration (μ = 3.75, SE = 0.08), Engagement and Involvement (μ = 3.92, SE = 0.09); and Training and Workforce Development (μ = 3.54, SE = 0.12). Greatest gaps were in staff TIC training, staff support, presence of onsite legal, spiritual, and housing services, and seeking patients' definitions of safety and developing their individualized crisis/safety plans. Across most TIC implementation domains, clinic type, urbanicity, academic affiliation, and presence of onsite psychosocial support services were associated with level of TIC adoption. Thus, RWCs have the necessary foundation to integrate TIC practices, but further progress will require addressing identified gaps. The overall lack of significant difference in TIC implementation across domains by clinic-level factors suggests that a RW network-wide approach to enhancing TIC integration is feasible. | 252405951 |
4,509,279 | Multilayer dichroic mirrors for the 1 6-microm spectral region: their design and fabrication. The design and fabrication of multilayer mirrors for the 16-mum spectral region present special problems in materials selection and stress compensation. Details are given of the solution of these problems for two types of dichroic mirrors. Equivalent layers with nonquarterwave thicknesses were found to yield stresscompensated coatings having the desired transmittance and reflectance. Auger analyses indicate that the absorption in these coatings is probably due to deviation from stoichiometry in one of the materials rather than from an impurity. | 12225651 |
4,509,280 | Study on optimization potential influencing factors in simulation studies focused on parallel batch machine scheduling using Variable Neighbourhood Search Studies on operational lot scheduling in semiconductor manufacturing show significantly varying optimization potentials, depending on a multitude of factors relating to methods and models in simulation. We present experiments examining Variable Neighbourhood Search (VNS) used to improve the objectives queuing time and tardiness for the parallel batch machine scheduling problem. The discussed results incorporate the effects of specific model characteristics and constraints, namely incompatible job families, process dedication schemes, critical time bounds, and minimal batch size constraints among others. With regard to methodical factors, we examine the effect of time window decomposition on simulation results, and we discuss fundamental VNS settings, respectively their influence on improvements measured for problem instances of size relevant for industrial applications. This study intends to identify important factors in scheduling studies and evaluates their influence on optimization potentials based on extensive experiments. | 10330651 |
4,509,281 | Is acoustic shadowing at intracoronary ultrasound always the marker of intramural calcium accumulation? Intracoronary ultrasound (ICUS) is increasingly used at catheterization to assess more precisely the severity of luminal narrowing, to delineate the composition of the atherosclerotic plaque, and to select the optimal therapeutic strategy. With this technique, a drop in signal intensity, known as acoustic shadowing, is usually equated with the presence of calcium in the plaque. We report the study of an atherosclerotic coronary artery showing intense acoustic shadowing at ICUS, but in which no calcium deposition could be evidenced at postmortem pathological analysis. This observation suggests a word of caution with regard to considering acoustic shadowing at ICUS as the reflection of superficial calcium deposition within a vessel wall. | 31678451 |
4,509,282 | Sex, drugs and blood pressure control: the impact of age and gender on sympathetic regulation of arterial pressure Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries. Numerous studies confirm that increases in blood pressure occur with ageing, and are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. The effects of ageing on the cardiovascular system and blood pressure control differ between males and females, but the mechanisms underlying this remain unclear (Hart et al. 2009a). Starting in puberty, men tend to have higher blood pressures compared with women; this difference continues until women reach menopause, at which point the incidence of hypertension begins to increase rapidly, often exceeding that of men (Hart et al. 2009a). This has led to the suggestion that female sex hormones exhibit a cardio-protective effect in younger women, although this has not been proven. This article focuses on a recent paper published in The Journal of Physiology by Hart et al. (2011) that illustrates the specific cardiovascular parameters that underlie sex- and age-related differences in sympathetic activity and resting blood pressure. The paper also provides novel mechanistic insight into the role of the sympathetic nervous system in the development of hypertension with age, with a particular emphasis on the effect of menopause on the risk of hypertension in women. We will first examine the findings of this article in context with previous studies in this field, and then provide a thoughtful discussion on the complexity of this article's findings. | 40751201 |
4,509,283 | New Error Concealment Method in JPEG 2000 Images JPEG2000 image compression standard provides good compression efficiency in image coding. But the resulted JPEG2000 bit stream is very sensitive to noise error and packet loss. Both of the error sources result in loss of some least significant bits in the decoded coefficients of compressed image. The current practice is filling the lost bits with zero [1]. This Zero Filling (ZF) Error Concealment (EC) method does not have good performance in the low bit rate (i.e. large quantization parameters) image transfer over noisy and prone to error channels. In this paper, we introduce a novel EC method based on replacing the lost values by expected values. The proposed method outperforms the current EC method with more than 2 dB in average PSNR of the reconstructed images. We divide the damaged coefficients into two groups. The first group includes the coefficients with larger number of bits such that their most significant bits are available and are not among the lost bits. The second group includes those coefficients that have become zero due to loss of least significant bits. The coefficients in group one that have lost N least significant bits will be concatenated with the sequence “0111...” with length N. This value is the expected value for the lost bits and provides a better approximation compared to zero for the lost bits. To get the expected value for the coefficients in group two, we propose to use the average of the nearest correctly received coefficients in the similar subband, | 17966351 |
4,509,284 | around the damaged macro-block. We note that those coefficients should be in the same or smaller order of the lost least significant bits. | 17966351 |
4,509,285 | Speech Technology and its Potential for Special Education Speech technology typically refers to technology that enables machines to receive and accept human oral language as input and respond with human or human-like oral language as output. Speech technology has recently become increasingly mature and available to the general public. At the same time, there has been an increase in the interest in using speech technology to support learning for students with disabilities. This article surveys the current capacities of speech technology, reviews its existing and potential uses in education in general and special education in particular, and recommends research and development actions and strategies for realizing the potential of speech technology for learners with disabilities. | 64006201 |
4,509,286 | Making the Web Accessible to the Visually Impaired Accessibility is the possibility of any person to make use of all the benefits of society, including the Internet. As the interfaces are typically graphic, sites can be an obstacle for visually impaired persons to access. For a site to be accessible to blind persons it’s necessary the information contained in the visual resources be reproduced by means of an “equivalent” textual description, capable of transmitting the same information as the visual resources. This study is aimed at identifying and defining usability guidance compliant with accessibility W3C directives that can facilitate the interaction between visually impaired and Internet and still guarantee sites with understandable navigation content. Towards this end an exploratory study was conducted, comprised of a field study and interviews with visually disabled people from Instituto Benjamin Constant, reference center in Brazil for the education of visually impaired persons, in order to get to know these users better. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-386-9.ch014 | 63922451 |
4,509,287 | Impact of Legal Incentives on “Credit Fraud” Criminal Offence Currently, the number of financial institutions has been increased in Albania, which provides Albanian citizens with access to various financial services, mainly to obtain financing services in the form of microcredit. Given the history of our people, not all the Albanian citizens have had opportunity to have access and to benefit from various financial services. Denial of financial services is an issue that has affected not only Albania, but also other small Balkan countries. The reasons for this denial are numerous, but among them, we can distinguish the lack of lending experience, as one of the common reasons for being excluded in these countries from the development of the financial sector. Taking into consideration that, the growth of financial institutions led to the growth of financial services by raising awareness and financial education of citizens. Finally, the Bank of Albania , as the supervisor of financial activities, intends to set a ceiling on the interest of consumer loans provided by non-bank financial institutions and commercial banks in Albania. This paper aims to present through a professional legal treatment all the challenges of the legal and institutional framework of the Bank of Albania, itself in undertaking this initiative. The questions we intend to answer through this paper are: Is the Bank of Albania legitimized to set a ceiling interest rate for consumer credit? What are the benefits or challenges that this initiative will bring to the financial sector? How will this regulation affect the criminal offense of "Credit | 245666151 |
4,509,288 | Fraud"? How will the financial industry be designed after the implementation of the initiative? Will it have any impact on customer beneficial? etc. | 245666151 |
4,509,289 | Control strategy of transformer coupling solid state fault current limiter and its experimental study with capacitance load In this paper, the control strategy of transformer coupling three phase bridge type solid state fault current limiter (TC-SSFCL) is presented. It is validated in an experimental system. It's proved that the control strategy ensures TC-SSFCL has excellent control performance and current-limiting effectiveness in its normal startup, operation and current-limiting conditions. Issues faced by TC-SSFCL in a double-side power system are analyzed and solutions are suggested. The series resonance which appears in the test of TC-SSFCL with capacitance load is analyzed in detail. To suppress the resonance, both methods, pre-triggering the SCR bridge and adding a damping resistance in parallel with the coupling transformer, are discussed. The simulation results verify that the proposed strategies for suppressing the resonance are effective. | 39688201 |
4,509,290 | Maine's urchin diver: a survey of diving experience, medical problems, and diving-related symptoms. A questionnaire was sent to 1,545 licensed, hand-harvesting Maine urchin divers to survey diving experience, habits, environment, medical problems, and symptoms; 323 surveys were returned. Most of the respondents were young males who considered themselves physically fit; however, 17% were over 41 and 4% considered themselves "out of shape." Most had more than one occupation. Only 2% admitted no formal training, and breadth of experience fell into a trimodal distribution. Over half dove 2-5 times daily, most often under 60 ft. "Bounce" diving without decompression stops was usual, and solo diving was frequent. Eighteen percent had chronic medical problems, and 11% chronically used medications. The majority of diving was vigorous work from boats in the cold Maine ocean, not infrequently during poor weather. Seventy-eight percent described diving-related symptoms, and 2% admitted to recompression therapy. Thus, these respondents depict themselves diving within marginal safety boundaries. | 34045501 |
4,509,291 | Emotional Conversation Generation Orientated Syntactically Constrained Bidirectional-Asynchronous Framework The field of open-domain conversation generation using deep neural networks has attracted increasing attention from researchers for several years. However, traditional neural language models tend to generate safe, generic reply with poor logic and no emotion. In this paper, an emotional conversation generation orientated syntactically constrained bidirectional-asynchronous framework called E-SCBA is proposed to generate meaningful (logical and emotional) reply. In E-SCBA, pre-generated emotion keyword and topic keyword are asynchronously introduced into the reply during the generation, and the process of decoding is much different from the most existing methods that generates reply from the first word to the end. A newly designed bidirectional-asynchronous decoder with the multi-stage strategy is proposed to support this idea, which ensures the fluency and grammaticality of reply by making full use of syntactic constraint. Through the experiments, the results show that our framework not only improves the diversity of replies, but gains a boost on both logic and emotion compared with baselines as well. | 49312501 |
4,509,292 | The suitability of a quasi-Newton algorithm for estimating fitness-fatigue models: Sensitivity, troublesome local optima, and implications for future research (An in silico experimental design) Fitting an FFM via NLS in practice assumes that a unique optimal solution exists and can be found by the algorithm applied. However, this idealistic scenario may not hold for two reasons: 1) the absolute minimum may not be unique; and 2) local minima, saddle points, and/or plateau features may exist that cause problems for certain algorithms. If there exist different parameter sets in the domain that share the same global minimum under standard NLS, then there is a situation where parameters aren’t uniquely identified without additional constraints or regularisation terms. However, more likely is that problems with the typical FFM fitting process will stem from the existence of local minima, saddles, or plateau features that cause the algorithm to converge to a solution not equal to the global minimum. Local optima can provoke sensitivities in the fitting process for first and second-order algorithms that are by definition local optimisers. This manifests as sensitivity to initial parameter estimates (i.e., the starting point the algorithm initialises the search from). The extent of starting point sensitivity is largely unknown in the context of FFMs for common algorithms adopted and has not been studied directly. Given this concern, research reporting a single model solution derived from ‘one shot’ minimisation of NLS via typical first and second-order algorithms is fundamentally limited by possible uncertainty as to the suitability of fitted estimates as global minimisers. Therefore, the | 241366151 |
4,509,293 | primary aim of this study was to investigate the sensitivity of a classical first-order search algorithm to selection of initial estimates when fitting a fitness-fatigue model (FFM) via nonlinear least-squares (NLS), and to subsequently assess the existence of local optima. A secondary aim of this study was to examine the implications of any findings in relation to previous research and provide considerations for future experimentation. The aims of the study were addressed through a computer experiment (in silico) approach that adopted a deterministic assumption the FFM completely specified athlete response. Under this assumption, two FFMs (standard, and fitness-delay) were simulated under a set of hypothetical model inputs and manually selected ‘true’ parameter values (for each FFM), generating a set of synthetic performance data. The two FFMs were refitted to the synthetic performance data without noise (and under the same model inputs) by the quasi-Newton L-BFGS-B algorithm in a repetitive fashion initiated from multiple starting points in the parameter space, attempting to at each search recover the true parameter values. Estimates obtained from this process were then further transformed into prediction errors quantifying in-sample model fit across the iterations and non-true solutions. Within the standard model scenarios, 69.1-70.3% of solutions found were the true parameters. In contrast, within the fitness-delay model scenarios, 17.6-17.9% of solutions found were the true parameters. A large number of unique non-true solutions were found for both the standard model (N=275-353) and the fitness-delay model (N=383-550) in this idealistic environment. Many of the non-true extrema found by the algorithm were local minima or | 241366151 |
4,509,294 | saddles. Strong in-sample model fit was also observed across non-true solutions for both models. Collectively, these results indicate the typical NLS approach to fitting FFMs is harder for a hill-climbing algorithm to solve than previously recognised in the literature, particularly for models of higher complexity. The findings of this study add weight to the hypothesis that there exists substantial doubt in reported estimates across prior literature where local optimisers have been used or models more complex than the standard FFM applied, particularly when optimisation procedures reported have lacked the relevant detail to indicate that these issues have been considered. Future research should consider the use of global optimisation algorithms, hybrid approaches, or different perspectives (e.g., Bayesian optimisation). | 241366151 |
4,509,295 | Discussion of ‘‘Functional Modelling’’ There is an obvious trend in the current development of new statistical methodology towards attacking considerably more complex data analytic problems. Sometimes development opens up completely new perspectives, while basic ideas may still have their roots in the established theory. The field of functional data analysis seems to hold great promise of this kind. In his review paper, Muller emphasizes the analogy with the development of multivariate data analysis, as a major step forward in statistical thinking which occurred a relatively long time ago. Such methods nowadays form part of the standard repertoire of statistical procedures used in many areas, although the practical interpretation of results is not always straightforward. Considering Muiller's ideas, similar more serious problems may be encountered in the transition to the infinite dimensional procedures of functional data analysis. It is worth noticing that the old problem of obtaining a meaningful practical interpretation of principal components in applied multivariate analysis reappears in a slightly different form in the functional principal components analysis. It will be of great interest to observe whether the same areas of application that have embraced ordinary multivariate statistics will also take advantage of the new infinite dimensional approach. Development in this area should not be judged solely on the basis of what can be achieved by practitioners with the methods offered initially. Thus it is important to stimulate further work dealing with the necessary theoretical framework. The simple observation that new statistical methods are made available, for example, in the analysis of random trajectories, should | 122663851 |
4,509,296 | testify to the willingness of the statistical profession to take up challenges presented by complex practical problems. At this stage, it is difficult to say which methods will stand the test of time. Fundamental ideas developed may turn out to be more important than particular techniques. | 122663851 |
4,509,297 | Electrochemical Studies of Interactions Between Fe(II)/Fe(III) and Amino Acids Using Ferrocene-Modified Carbon Paste Electrode Abstract The electrochemical behavior of an Fe(II)/Fe(III) redox couple in the presence of various selected amino acids has been studied using ferrocene-modified carbon paste electrode at pH = 7.4. Because of Fe(II)/Fe(III) solubility issues at physiological pH, ferrocene was used as a source of iron. Anodic oxidation of iron (pH = 7.2) occurred at 0.356 V and cathodic oxidation at 0.231 V, both vs Ag|AgCl. Treatment of the voltammetric data showed that it was a purely diffusion-controlled reaction with the involvement of one electron. After addition of amino acids, potential shifts and current changes can be observed on the voltammograms. Cyclic voltammetry experiments revealed the capability of amino acids to change the electrochemical behavior of the Fe(II)/Fe(III) redox couple. | 55195151 |
4,509,298 | Agent and Multi-Entity Systems Modeling C This paper describes a method for studying the functional and temporal performance of systems controlled by distributed autonomous agents through simulation of the agents within larger systems. There are many challenges to developing successful agent systems. Although there are multiple agent architectures or approaches for a given application, it is difficult to predict which is best. The behavior of complex distributed autonomous agent communities is notoriously difficult to predict or certify prior to the final implementation of an approach. Agent architecture development is quickly burdened with implementation details before major questions are answered, such as: stability, convergence, negotiation logic efficiency, robustness, agent architecture speed, resilience, agent class structure New capabilities are needed to predict and analyze agent architectures early, prior-to and throughout detailed development. It will assist in guiding optimization, and simplification of implementations. It can provide quick "what-if" analysis. A comprehensive, flexible agent modeling technique is needed which must model the outer systems that agents operate within, and which must resolve functional, temporal, and spatial aspects. Ideally, there should be an automated flow from modeling and development to fielded systems. Such capability would Support early demonstration, to incorporate feedback from users within time to accept it. A brief survey of previous agent simulation environments is presented, covering such tools as U. New Mexico SWARM, and Brookings Institute/Nutech Ascape, U. Chicago Repast. Finally, an initial experimental model with two scenarios is described to add some concreteness to the discussion by example. A hierarchical agent-based simulation environment called ATLCSIMis introduced. The | 16606301 |
4,509,299 | modeling work done with this tool demonstrates agent operations within larger systems while revealing timing performance/response and assessing functional quality of the collective agent solutions. The preliminary results show emergent multiple-level hierarchical organization. The first scenario involves agent navigation in a two dimensional space with a series of progressive challenges provided by a mixture of agent roles. The second scenario operates in a text-based mathematical equation space for a non-linear dynamic system. The two distinctly differing scenarios were chosen to demonstrate the generality of the approach, and to show that it can be applied to many domains. The work is contrasted with the previous efforts. | 16606301 |
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