Comparison of the Ambu AuraFlex with the laryngeal mask airway Flexible: a manikin study.

PubMed

Sanuki, Takuro; Nakatani, Gosuke; Sugioka, Shingo; Daigo, Erina; Kotani, Junichiro

2011-07-01

The present study compared the Ambu AuraFlex and the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) Flexible with regard to time required for and success rates of insertion on a manikin by dental students who had never used an LMA. In addition, participants' views on ease of insertion of each device were surveyed. Subjects consisted of 30 dental students who inserted each airway device in a manikin. The time required for and success rates of insertion were measured. Subjects were then asked to rate the ease of insertion of each device using the 100-mm visual analog scale (from 0 mm = extremely easy to 100 mm = extremely difficult). Insertion time was shorter with the Ambu AuraFlex (26.6 ± 7.1 seconds) than with the LMA Flexible (30.3 ± 6.8 seconds; P = .045). The rate of successful insertion using the Ambu AuraFlex (28 of 30 attempts, 93.3%) was greater than that with the LMA Flexible (23 of 30 attempts, 76.7%), although the difference was not statistically significant (P = .145). Ambu AuraFlex insertion was considered less difficult (median, 41 mm; 10th to 90th percentiles, 18 to 78 mm) than LMA Flexible insertion (60 mm; 42 to 82 mm; P = .004), as rated using the 100-mm visual analog scale. The Ambu AuraFlex appears to be useful for inexperienced users because it enables quicker and easier insertion than the LMA Flexible. Copyright © 2011 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Magnetic resonance imaging in children presenting migraine with aura: Association of hypoperfusion detected by arterial spin labelling and vasospasm on MR angiography findings.

PubMed

Cadiot, Domitille; Longuet, Romain; Bruneau, Bertrand; Treguier, Catherine; Carsin-Vu, Aline; Corouge, Isabelle; Gomes, Constantin; Proisy, Maïa

2018-04-01

Objective A child presenting with a first attack of migraine with aura usually undergoes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to rule out stroke. The purpose of this study was to report vascular and brain perfusion findings in children suffering from migraine with aura on time-of-flight MR angiography (TOF-MRA) and MR perfusion imaging using arterial spin labelling (ASL). Methods We retrospectively included all children who had undergone an emergency MRI examination with ASL and TOF-MRA sequences for acute neurological deficit and were given a final diagnosis of migraine with aura. The ASL perfusion maps and TOF-MRA images were independently assessed by reviewers blinded to clinical data. A mean cerebral blood flow (CBF) value was obtained for each cerebral lobe after automatic data post-processing. Results Seventeen children were finally included. Hypoperfusion was identified in one or more cerebral lobes on ASL perfusion maps by visual assessment in 16/17 (94%) children. Vasospasm was noted within the intracranial vasculature on the TOF-MRA images in 12/17 (71%) children. All (100%) of the abnormal TOF-MRA images were associated with homolateral hypoperfusion. Mean CBF values were significantly lower ( P < 0.05) in visually hypoperfused lobes than in normally perfused lobes. Conclusion ASL and TOF-MRA are two totally non-invasive, easy-to-use MRI sequences for children in emergency settings. Hypoperfusion associated with homolateral vasospasm may suggest a diagnosis of migraine with aura.

An aura of confusion: 'seeing auras-vital energy or human physiology?' Part 1 of a three part series.

PubMed

Duerden, Tim

2004-02-01

The first of three papers that considers claims made for the perception or detection of vital energy. Many systems of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) assume the existence of a vital force that mediates therapeutic efficacy, for example chi or qi in Traditional Chinese medicine. Vital energy directly perceived or imaged that surrounds living organisms is frequently termed the aura. This paper aims to show how phenomena that arise as a consequence of the normal functioning of the human visual system can be inappropriately offered as support of claims for the direct perception of vital energy or the aura. Specifically, contrast and complementary colour phenomena, entoptic phenomena and the deformation phosphene, the 'flying corpuscle effect', the blind spot and the 'reverse telescope effect' are explained and discussed.

Aura Atmospheric Data Products and Their Availability from NASA Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahmad, S.; Johnson, J.; Gopalan, A.; Smith, P.; Leptoukh, G.; Kempler, S.

2004-01-01

NASA's EOS-Aura spacecraft was launched successfully on July 15, 2004. The four instruments onboard the spacecraft are the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), and the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HBDLS). The Aura instruments are designed to gather earth sciences measurements across the ultraviolet, visible, infra-red, thermal and microwave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Aura will provide over 70 distinct standard atmospheric data products for use in ozone layer and surface UV-B monitoring, air quality forecast, and atmospheric chemistry and climate change studies (http://eosaura.gsfc.nasa.gov/). These products include earth-atmosphere radiances and solar spectral irradiances; total column, tropospheric, and profiles of ozone and other trace gases, surface W-B flux; clouds and aerosol characteristics; and temperature, geopotential height, and water vapor profiles. The MLS, OMI, and HIRDLS data products will be archived at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), while data from TES will be archived at NASA Langley Research Center DAAC. Some of the standard products which have gone through quick preliminary checks are already archived at the GES DAAC (http://daac.nsfc.nasa.gov/) and are available to the Aura science team and data validation team members for data validation; and to the application and visualization software developers, for testing their application modules. Once data are corrected for obvious calibration problems and partially validated using in-situ observations, they would be made available to the broader user community. This presentation will provide details of the whole suite of Aura atmospheric data products, and the time line of the availability of the rest of the preliminary products and of the partially validated provisional products. Software and took available for data access, visualization, and data mining will also be discussed.

Differences in short-term primary motor cortex synaptic potentiation as assessed by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in migraine patients with and without aura.

PubMed

Conte, Antonella; Barbanti, Piero; Frasca, Vittorio; Iacovelli, Elisa; Gabriele, Maria; Giacomelli, Elena; Aurilia, Cinzia; Pichiorri, Floriana; Gilio, Francesca; Inghilleri, Maurizio

2010-01-01

To find out more about glutamatergic and gabaergic transmission in migraine, in this study we investigated glutamate-dependent short-term synaptic potentiation and GABA-dependent inhibitory cortical interneuron excitability as assessed by 5Hz-rTMS delivered over primary motor cortex (M1) (motor evoked potential, MEP, amplitude facilitation and cortical silent period, CSP, duration lengthening) in migraine patients with (MA) and without aura (MwoA) and healthy controls. We studied 37 patients with migraine (19 MA and 18 MwoA) and 19 healthy control subjects. 5Hz-rTMS was delivered at 120% resting motor threshold to the hand motor area of the left hemisphere with the target muscle at rest and during contraction. Three of the MA patients were also tested at the end of visual aura during a spontaneous migraine attack. ANOVA showed that the MEP significantly increased in size and CSP significantly lengthened during 5Hz-rTMS in the three groups tested. The 5Hz-rTMS-induced MEP facilitation differed significantly being highest in MA patients. In the three patients tested both ictally and interictally the MEP increased during the interictal session but remained unchanged when the visual aura ended. Our study shows that the neurophysiological feature that differentiates MA patients from MwoA patients and healthy controls is an abnormal M1 susceptibility to 5Hz-rTMS both outside and during the attack suggesting that glutamate-dependent short-term M1 cortical potentiation patterns differ in migraine with and without aura. Copyright 2009 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Reaction-diffusion waves in neuronal tissue and the window of cortical excitability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahlem, M. A.; Müller, S. C.

2004-07-01

Spreading depression (SD) is a dynamic wave phenomenon occurring in all gray matter regions of the central nervous systems (CNS). It is characterized by a sudden breakdown of neuronal activity and accompanied by a massive influx and efflux of ions across the membrane of neurons. The retina is a constituent of the CNS in which one can easily observe the dynamic behavior of the SD wave fronts, because SD changes the optical properties of the tissue. There is ample evidence that SD belongs to the self-organization processes due to the coupling of reaction with diffusion in excitable medium. It is assumed that the occurrence of SD is associated with some neurological symptoms of migraine with aura. A frequently reported aura symptom is a traveling visual blind region (scotoma) with a preceding figure of scintillating line segments. The characteristic form and development of the scotoma suggests that the underlying phenomenon is a wave propagating through the primary visual cortex, most likely the cortical spreading depression. In this article we discuss similarities between SD waves and the migraine aura on the basis of properties of reaction-diffusion waves known from other excitable media. In particular, the propagation velocities, the shape and the dynamics of the waves are compared with each other. We find that the assumption of the neuronal tissue to be in a state of only weak excitability explains some properties of the migraine aura, such as the confined appearance and its propagation with a stable velocity.

First seizure while driving (FSWD)--an underestimated phenomenon?

PubMed

Pohlmann-Eden, Bernd; Hynick, Nina; Legg, Karen

2013-07-01

Seizures while driving are a well known occurrence in established epilepsy and have significant impact on driving privileges. There is no data available on patients who experience their first (diagnosed) seizure while driving (FSWD). Out of 311 patients presenting to the Halifax First Seizure Clinic between 2008 and 2011, 158 patients met the criteria of a first seizure (FS) or drug-naïve, newly diagnosed epilepsy (NDE). A retrospective chart review was conducted. FSWD was evaluated for 1) prevalence, 2) clinical presentation, 3) coping strategies, and 4) length of time driving before seizure occurrence. The prevalence of FSWD was 8.2%. All 13 patients experienced impaired consciousness. Eleven patients had generalized tonic-clonic seizures, one starting with a déjà-vu evolving to visual aura and a complex partial seizure; three directly from visual auras. Two patients had complex partial seizures, one starting with an autonomic seizure. In response to their seizure, patients reported they were i) able to actively stop the car (n=4, three had visual auras), ii) not able to stop the car resulting in accident (n=7), or iii) passenger was able to pull the car over (n=2). One accident was fatal to the other party. Twelve out of 13 patients had been driving for less than one hour. FSWD is frequent and possibly underrecognized. FSWD often lead to accidents, which occur less if preceded by simple partial seizures. Pathophysiological mechanisms remain uncertain; it is still speculative if complex visuo-motor tasks required while driving play a role in this scenario.

Tools and Data Services from the GSFC Earth Sciences DAAC for Aura Science Data Users

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kempler, S.; Johnson, J.; Leptoukh, G.; Ahmad, S.; Pham, L.; Eng, E.; Berrick, S.; Teng, W.; Vollmer, B.

2004-01-01

In these times of rapidly increasing amounts of archived data, tools and data services that manipulate data and uncover nuggets of information that potentially lead to scientific discovery are becoming more and more essential. The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Earth Sciences (GES) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) has made great strides in facilitating science and applications research by, in consultation with its users, developing innovative tools and data services. That is, as data users become more sophisticated in their research and more savvy with information extraction methodologies, the GES DAAC has been responsive to this evolution. This presentation addresses the tools and data services available and under study at the GES DAAC, applied to the Earth sciences atmospheric data. Now, with the data from NASA's latest Atmospheric Chemistry mission, Aura, being readied for public release, GES DAAC tools, proven successful for past atmospheric science missions such as MODIS, AIRS, TRMM, TOMS, and UARS, provide an excellent basis for similar tools updated for the data from the Aura instruments. GES DAAC resident Aura data sets are from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), and High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS). Data obtained by these instruments afford researchers the opportunity to acquire accurate and continuous visualization and analysis, customized for Aura data, will facilitate the use and increase the usefulness of the new data. The Aura data, together with other heritage data at the GES DAAC, can potentially provide a long time series of data. GES DAAC tools will be discussed, as well as the GES DAAC Near Archive Data Mining (NADM) environment, the GIOVANNI on-line analysis tool, and rich data search and order services. Information can be found at: http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/upperatm/aura/. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Goddard Atmospheric Composition Data Center: Aura Data and Services in One Place

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leptoukh, G.; Kempler, S.; Gerasimov, I.; Ahmad, S.; Johnson, J.

2005-01-01

The Goddard Atmospheric Composition Data and Information Services Center (AC-DISC) is a portal to the Atmospheric Composition specific, user driven, multi-sensor, on-line, easy access archive and distribution system employing data analysis and visualization, data mining, and other user requested techniques for the better science data usage. It provides convenient access to Atmospheric Composition data and information from various remote-sensing missions, from TOMS, UARS, MODIS, and AIRS, to the most recent data from Aura OMI, MLS, HIRDLS (once these datasets are released to the public), as well as Atmospheric Composition datasets residing at other remote archive site.

Key drivers of visual acuity gains in neovascular age-related macular degeneration in real life: findings from the AURA study.

PubMed

Holz, Frank G; Tadayoni, Ramin; Beatty, Stephen; Berger, Alan; Cereda, Matteo Giuseppe; Hykin, Philip; Staurenghi, Giovanni; Wittrup-Jensen, Kim; Altemark, Andreas; Nilsson, Jonas; Kim, Kun; Sivaprasad, Sobha

2016-12-01

To identify predictive markers for the outcomes of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). AURA was a retrospective, observational, multicentre study that monitored the 2-year outcomes following intravitreal ranibizumab treatment in patients with nAMD. Using stepwise regression analysis, we evaluated the association between visual acuity outcomes, baseline characteristics and resource utilisation in order to determine which variables are significantly linked to outcomes in AURA. We also examined the relationship between visual acuity outcomes and number of injections received. Analyses were performed using data from year 1 (n=1695) and year 2 completers (n=1184). Logistic analysis showed that baseline visual acuity score, age at start of therapy, number of ophthalmoscopies and optical coherence tomography (OCT) (combined) and number of injections (ranibizumab) were significant (p<0.05) prognostic factors for vision maintenance (loss <15 letters) or vision gain (≥15 letters). Patients who received >7 injections (in 1 year) or >14 injections (over 2 years) gained more letters and demonstrated greater vision maintenance (loss of <15 letters) than patients who received fewer injections. There was a significant (p<0.05) association between number of injections and national reimbursement schemes and OCT. A number of factors that are predictive of treatment outcomes in a real-life setting were identified. Notably, the decline of treatment benefits may be linked to number of injections and a failure to visit clinicians and receive OCT as required. These findings may be helpful in guiding ophthalmologist treatment decisions under limited time and financial constraints. NCT01447043. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Potential source of cerebral embolism in migraine with aura: a transcranial Doppler study.

PubMed

Anzola, G P; Magoni, M; Guindani, M; Rozzini, L; Dalla Volta, G

1999-05-12

The recently found association between patent foramen ovale (PFO) and transient global amnesia (TGA) has suggested that paradoxical microembolization in the terminal vertebrobasilar territory might underlie at least some TGA cases. Migraine with visual aura is another paroxysmal disturbance in which a sudden dysfunction of cortical areas fed by the terminal branches of the basilar artery is believed to trigger the attack. Therefore we investigated the prevalence of PFO in a consecutive unselected cohort of migraine patients. To investigate the prevalence of PFO in a consecutive unselected cohort of migraine patients to search for a possible mechanism for the reported association of migraine with stroke. A total of 113 patients, consecutively referred by the Headache Outpatient Clinic for migraine with aura (MA+, mean age 34+/-12 years) were compared with 53 patients with migraine without aura (MA-, mean age 36+/-13 years) and with 25 age-matched nonmigraine subjects (mean age 31+/-10 years) selected from the hospital staff. PFO was assessed with transcranial Doppler sonography with IV injection of agitated saline, a technique that is 90% sensitive and 100% specific. The prevalence of PFO was 48% (54/113) in MA+ patients, 23% (12/53) in MA- patients, and 20% (5/25) in control subjects. The difference between MA+ and MA- patients was significant (odds ratio [OR] = 3.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.41 to 7.04, chi2 = 9.52,p = 0.002) as was the difference between MA+ patients and controls (OR = 3.66, 95% CI = 1.21 to 13.25, chi2 = 6.46, p = 0.01), whereas MA- patients did not differ from controls (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 0.32 to 4.45, chi2 = 0.07). MRI was negative in 22 MA+ and 8 MA- patients. Patency of the foramen ovale is associated with migraine with aura but not with migraine without aura. The increased risk of stroke found in epidemiologic studies in patients with migraine with aura may be explained by an increased propensity to paradoxical cerebral embolism.

Migraine with aura and risk of silent brain infarcts and white matter hyperintensities: an MRI study

PubMed Central

Garde, Ellen; Blaabjerg, Morten; Nielsen, Helle H.; Krøigård, Thomas; Østergaard, Kamilla; Møller, Harald S.; Hjelmborg, Jacob; Madsen, Camilla G.; Iversen, Pernille; Kyvik, Kirsten O.; Siebner, Hartwig R.; Ashina, Messoud

2016-01-01

Abstract A small number of population-based studies reported an association between migraine with aura and risk of silent brain infarcts and white matter hyperintensities in females. We investigated these relations in a population-based sample of female twins. We contacted female twins ages 30–60 years identified through the population-based Danish Twin Registry. Based on questionnaire responses, twins were invited to participate in a telephone-based interview conducted by physicians. Headache diagnoses were established according to the International Headache Society criteria. Cases with migraine with aura, their co-twins, and unrelated migraine-free twins (controls) were invited to a brain magnetic resonance imaging scan performed at a single centre. Brain scans were assessed for the presence of infarcts, and white matter hyperintensities (visual rating scales and volumetric analyses) blinded to headache diagnoses. Comparisons were based on 172 cases, 34 co-twins, and 139 control subjects. Compared with control subjects, cases did not differ with regard to frequency of silent brain infarcts (four cases versus one control), periventricular white matter hyperintensity scores [adjusted mean difference (95% confidence interval): −0.1 (−0.5 to 0.2)] or deep white matter hyperintensity scores [adjusted mean difference (95% confidence interval): 0.1 (−0.8 to 1.1)] assessed by Scheltens’ scale. Cases had a slightly higher total white matter hyperintensity volume compared with controls [adjusted mean difference (95% confidence interval): 0.17 (−0.08 to 0.41) cm 3 ] and a similar difference was present in analyses restricted to twin pairs discordant for migraine with aura [adjusted mean difference 0.21 (−0.20 to 0.63)], but these differences did not reach statistical significance. We found no evidence of an association between silent brain infarcts, white matter hyperintensities, and migraine with aura. PMID:27190013

[Migraine with aura and patent foramen ovale. A different clinical entity].

PubMed

Ramírez-Moreno, J M; Casado-Naranjo, I; Gómez, M; Portilla, Jc; Caballero, M; Serrano, A; Ojalvo, M J; Falcón, A; Tena-Mora, D; Calle, M

2008-10-01

This work has aimed to evaluate the prevalence of patent foramen ovale in subjects with migraine with aura by transcranial contrast doppler and to describe the clinical and risk profile of these patients. We performed a transcranial contrast doppler in 94 consecutive out-patients with migraine with aura (MWA) in a neurology outpatient clinic. They were divided into two groups according to the presence of patent foramen ovale: MWA_RLsh (with right-to-left shunt) and MWA_RLNsh (without right-to-left shunt). Differences between the groups were analyzed according to endpoints of age, gender, clinical severity, aura type and attacks frequency, comorbility, cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs), neuroimaging findings, severity of shunt and treatment. n=94; MWA_RLsh: 47 (54%). MWA_RLNsh: 40 (46%). Age: 33.13; standard desviation (SD): 10.8 vs 33.496; SD: 11.2; p=0.728. Female: 66 vs 72.5%; p=0.511. Visual aura: 73.9% vs 78.9%; p=0.921. There were no significant differences in regards to the risk factors studied or to the comorbid diseases that are associated to migraine. The patients with patent foramen ovale have an odds ratio (OR) of ischemic stroke: 1.189 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.226 to 6.248; p=0.840), OR for subclinical brain lesions in cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): 0.589 (95% CI: 0.193 to 1.799; p=0.35) and OR for combined previous ischemic stroke and subclinical brain lesions: 0.745 (95% CI: 0.261 to 2.129; p=0.58). Migraine attack frequency >1 per month: 27.9 vs 36.4; p=0.464. Need for prophylaxis therapy: 44.7 vs 57.7%; p=0.284. Both groups are similar regarding their clinical profile. We did not find a greater prevalence of stroke or silent brain lesions in the group with positive shunt..

Effects of tonabersat on migraine with aura: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study.

PubMed

Hauge, Anne W; Asghar, Mohammed S; Schytz, Henrik W; Christensen, Karl; Olesen, Jes

2009-08-01

Migraine with aura is thought likely to be caused by cortical spreading depression (CSD). Tonabersat inhibits CSD, and we therefore investigated whether tonabersat has a preventive effect in migraine with aura. In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial, 40 mg tonabersat once daily was compared with matched placebo in patients who had at least one aura attack per month during the past 3 months. Randomisation was by computer-generated list. Patients kept a detailed diary to enable objective diagnosis of each attack as migraine with aura, migraine without aura, or other type of headache. Primary endpoints were a reduction in aura attacks with or without headache and a reduction in migraine headache days with or without an aura. Analysis was per protocol. This trial is registered, number NCT00332007. 39 patients were included in the study, of whom 31 were included in the statistical analysis of efficacy. Median (IQR) attacks of aura were reduced from 3.2 (1.0-5.0) per 12 weeks on placebo to 1.0 (0-3.0) on tonabersat (p=0.01), whereas the other primary outcome measure, median migraine headache days with or without aura, was not significantly different between placebo and tonabersat groups (3.0 days in each group; p=0.09). Tonabersat was well tolerated but overall had more side-effects than placebo. Tonabersat showed a preventive effect on attacks of migraine aura but no efficacy on non-aura attacks, in keeping with its known inhibitory effect on CSD. The results support the theory that auras are caused by CSD and that this phenomenon is not involved in attacks without aura. Minster Pharmaceuticals; Lundbeck Foundation.

A non-mitotic role for Aurora kinase A as a direct activator of cell migration upon interaction with PLD, FAK and Src

PubMed Central

Mahankali, Madhu; Henkels, Karen M.; Speranza, Francis; Gomez-Cambronero, Julian

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Timely activation of Aurora kinase A (AURA, also known as AURKA) is vital for centrosome formation and the progression of mitosis. Nonetheless, it is still unclear if and when other cellular functions are activated by AURA. We report here that Src phosphorylates and activates AURA at T288, and AURA also activates focal adhesion kinase (FAK, also known as PTK2), leading to initiation of cell movement. An additional and new way by which AURA is regulated, is by phospholipase D2 (PLD2), which causes AURA activation. In addition, AURA phosphorylates PLD, so both proteins engage in a positive reinforcement loop. AURA and PLD2 form a protein–protein complex and colocalize to cytoplasmic regions in cells. The reason why PLD activates AURA is because of the production of phosphatidic acid by the lipase, which binds directly to AURA, with the region E171–E211 projected to be a phosphatidic-acid-binding pocket. Furthermore, this direct interaction with phosphatidic acid enhances tubulin polymerization and cooperates synergistically with AURA, FAK and Src in yielding a fully effectual cellular migration. Thus, Src and FAK, and PLD and phosphatidic acid are new upstream regulators of AURA that mediate its role in the non-mitotic cellular function of cell migration. PMID:25501815

More Than Meets the Eye: The Eye and Migraine-What You Need to Know.

PubMed

Digre, Kathleen B

2018-05-02

Migraine has long been associated with disturbances of vision, especially migraine with aura. However, the eye plays an important role in sensory processing as well. We have found that the visual quality of life is reduced in migraine. In this review, we discuss how the migraine and eye pain pathways are similar and affect many of the common complaints which are seen in ophthalmology and neuro-ophthalmology offices, such as dry eye and postoperative eye pain. We also review other related phenomena, including visual snow and photophobia, which also are related to altered sensory processing in migraine.

Migraine headache is present in the aura phase

PubMed Central

Hansen, Jakob M.; Lipton, Richard B.; Dodick, David W.; Silberstein, Stephen D.; Saper, Joel R.; Aurora, Sheena K.; Goadsby, Peter J.

2012-01-01

ABSTRACT Objectives: Migraine aura is commonly considered to be a distinct phase of a migraine attack that precedes headache. The objective of the study was to examine a large number of prospectively recorded attacks of migraine with aura and determine the timing of headache and other migraine symptoms relative to aura. Methods: As part of a clinical trial we collected prospective data on the time course of headache and other symptoms relative to the aura. Patients (n = 267) were enrolled from 16 centers, and asked to keep a headache diary for 1 month (phase I). They were asked to record headache symptoms as soon as possible after aura began and always within 1 hour of aura onset. A total of 456 attacks were reported during phase I by 201 patients. These patients were then randomized and included in phase II, during which a total of 405 attacks were reported in 164 patients. In total, we present data from 861 attacks of migraine with aura from 201 patients. Results: During the aura phase, the majority of attacks (73%) were associated with headache. Other migraine symptoms were also frequently reported during the aura: nausea (51%), photophobia (88%), and photophobia (73%). During the first 15 minutes within the onset of aura, 54% of patients reported headache fulfilling the criteria for migraine. Conclusion: Our results indicate that headaches as well as associated migraine symptoms are present early, during the aura phase of the migraine attack in the majority of patients. PMID:23115208

[Migraine without aura treated with balance acupuncture therapy:a randomized controlled trial].

PubMed

Wang, Jinzhong; Qin, Xiaolan; Xie, Wenyuan; Wang, Wenyuan

2017-08-12

To assess the effect of balance acupuncture for migraine without aura. Blind evaluation was conducted. Forty patients with migraine without aura were randomized into an observation group and a control group, 19 cases in each one with 1 patient dropped out respectively. In the observation group, Toutongxue , the middle point was used in the hollow before the 1, 2 metatarsal combination, and in the control group, a sham point was applied in the hollow before the 3, 4 metatarsal combination. The manipulation in the two groups was the same. The treatment was given for 4 weeks, once a day, 5 times a week. The comprehensive score and visual analogue scale (VAS) were used before and after treatment, as well as 4 weeks after treatment. The comprehensive score and VAS score after treatment in the observation group decreased after treatment (both P <0.05), of which the total headache time and attack number for one month were lower than those before treatment (both P <0.05), but at follow-up the VAS score was higher than that after treatment ( P <0.05). The above indices in the control group were not significantly different from those before treatment (all P >0.05). All the indices in the observation group after treatment and at follow-up were lower than those in the control group (all P <0.05). The different values for the comprehensive score and VAS score before and after treatment, before treatment and at follow-up in the observation group were better than those in the control group (all P <0.05). The different values after treatment and at follow-up had no significant difference between the two groups (both P >0.05). Balance acupuncture at Toutongxue achieves obvious effect for migraine without aura, which can relieve pain.

Temporal lobe epilepsy: origin and significance of simple and complex auras.

PubMed Central

Taylor, D C; Lochery, M

1987-01-01

The aura experience of 88 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy was recorded, classified and analysed. Despite the great richness of the 215 experiences described, correlations with left or right brain, nature of lesion, age of onset, etc. were only apparent when a classification into three aura groups was used. "Simple primitive" auras as sole auras were more likely with early onset epilepsy, in lower IQ patients, in males, from the right temporal lobe, and with mesial temporal sclerosis. Exclusively "intellectual" auras were confined to a group of high IQ males. The number of aura experiences described per person correlated with Verbal IQ for males but not females, but also varied with side, sex, and nature of lesion. The results are discussed in terms of the necessary conditions for aura and their relevance and in relationship to the results of brain stimulation studies by Penfield and others. PMID:3612148

Validation of Aura Data: Needs and Implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Froidevaux, L.; Douglass, A. R.; Schoeberl, M. R.; Hilsenrath, E.; Kinnison, D. E.; Kroon, M.; Sander, S. P.

2003-12-01

Validation of Aura data: needs and implementation L. Froidevaux, A. R. Douglass, M. R. Schoeberl, E. Hilsenrath, D. Kinnison, M. Kroon, and S. P. Sander We describe the needs for validation of the Aura scientific data products expected in 2004 and for several years thereafter, as well as the implementation plan to fullfill these needs. Many profiles of stratospheric and tropospheric composition are expected from the combination of four instruments aboard Aura, along with column abundances, aerosol and cloud information. The Aura validation working group and the Aura Project have been developing programs and collaborations that are expected to lead to a significant number of validation activities after the Aura launch (in early 2004). Spatial and temporal variability in the lower stratosphere and troposphere present challenges to validation of Aura measurements even where cloud contamination effects can be minimized. Data from ground-based networks, balloons, and other satellites will contribute in a major way to Aura data validation. In addition, plans are in place to obtain correlative data for special conditions, such as profiles of O3 and NO2 in polluted areas. Several aircraft campaigns planned for the 2004-2007 time period will provide additional tropospheric and lower stratospheric validation opportunities for Aura; some atmospheric science goals will be addressed by the eventual combination of these data sets. A team of "Aura liaisons" will assist in the dissemination of information about various correlative measurements to be expected in the above timeframe, along with any needed protocols and agreements on data exchange and file formats. A data center is being established at the Goddard Space Flight Center to collect and distribute the various data files to be used in the validation of the Aura data.

A randomized controlled trial of intranasal ketamine in migraine with prolonged aura.

PubMed

Afridi, Shazia K; Giffin, Nicola J; Kaube, Holger; Goadsby, Peter J

2013-02-12

The aim of our study was to test the hypothesis that ketamine would affect aura in a randomized controlled double-blind trial, and thus to provide direct evidence for the role of glutamatergic transmission in human aura. We performed a double-blinded, randomized parallel-group controlled study investigating the effect of 25 mg intranasal ketamine on migraine with prolonged aura in 30 migraineurs using 2 mg intranasal midazolam as an active control. Each subject recorded data from 3 episodes of migraine. Eighteen subjects completed the study. Ketamine reduced the severity (p = 0.032) but not duration of aura in this group, whereas midazolam had no effect. These data provide translational evidence for the potential importance of glutamatergic mechanisms in migraine aura and offer a pharmacologic parallel between animal experimental work on cortical spreading depression and the clinical problem. This study provides class III evidence that intranasal ketamine is effective in reducing aura severity in patients with migraine with prolonged aura.

Migraine with prolonged aura: phenotype and treatment.

PubMed

Viana, Michele; Afridi, Shazia

2018-01-01

We review the published literature on migraine with prolonged aura (PA), specifically with regards to the phenotype and treatment options. PA is not uncommon. A recent study found that about 17% of migraine auras are prolonged and that 26% of patients with migraine with aura have experienced at least one PA. The characteristics of PA are similar to most typical auras with the exception of a higher number of aura symptoms (in particular sensory and/or dysphasic). There are no well-established treatments at present which target the aura component of migraine. Other than case reports, there have been open-label studies of lamotrigine and greater occipital nerve blocks. The only randomised, blinded, controlled trial to date has been of nasal ketamine showing some reduction in aura severity but not duration. A small open-labelled pilot study of amiloride was also promising. Larger randomised, controlled trials are needed to establish whether any of the existing or novel compounds mentioned are significantly effective and safe.

The Aura Mission and Its Application to Climate and Air Quality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hilsenrath, Ernest; Schoeberl, Mark; Douglass, Anne

2003-01-01

NASA's Aura satellite is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2004 into a polar orbit. The Aura mission is designed to collect data to address three high priority environmental science questions: (1) Is the ozone layer recovering as expected? (2) What are the sources and processes that control tropospheric pollutants? And (3) what is the quantitative impact of constituents on climate change? Aura will answer these questions by globally measuring a comprehensive set of trace gases and aerosols in the troposphere and stratosphere. Aura data will also have applications for monitoring and predicting climate and air quality parameters. Aura s observations will continue the TOMS ozone trend record and provide an assessment as to whether the Montreal Protocol is achieving its objective. Aura will measure gases and aerosols in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere that contribute to climate forcing. These data will be of sufficient coverage, vertical resolution, and accuracy to help constrain climate models. In addition, Aura observations of tropospheric ozone and its precursors will have regional as well as intercontinental coverage, which could improve emission inventories. Near real time data will tested for local air quality forecasts in collaboration with the US's Environmental Protection UV-B forecasts from Aura ozone and cloud cover data. An overview of Aura s instruments, data products, validation, and examples of data applications will be presented.

Patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures report more severe migraine than patients with epilepsy.

PubMed

Shepard, Morgan A; Silva, Annelise; Starling, Amaal J; Hoerth, Matthew T; Locke, Dona E C; Ziemba, Kristine; Chong, Catherine D; Schwedt, Todd J

2016-01-01

Clinical observations suggest that psychogenic non-epileptic seizure (PNES) patients often have severe migraine, more severe than epilepsy patients. Investigations into migraine characteristics in patients with PNES are lacking. In this study we tested the hypothesis that, compared to epilepsy patients, PNES patients have more severe migraine, with more frequent and longer duration attacks that cause greater disability. In this observational study, 633 patients with video-EEG proven epilepsy or PNES were identified from the Mayo Clinic Epilepsy Monitoring Unit database. Contacted patients were screened for migraine via a validated questionnaire, and when present, data regarding migraine characteristics were collected. Two-sample t-tests, chi square analyses, and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare migraine characteristics in PNES patients to those of epilepsy patients. Data from 43 PNES patients with migraine and 29 epilepsy patients with migraine were available. Compared to epilepsy patients, PNES patients reported having more frequent headaches (mean 15.1 ± 9.8 vs. 8.1 ± 6.6 headache days/month, p<.001), more frequent migraine attacks (mean 6.5 ± 6.3 vs. 3.8. ± 4.1 migraines/month, p=.028), longer duration migraines (mean 39.5 ± 28.3 vs. 27.3 ± 20.1h, p=.035), and more frequently had non-visual migraine auras (78.6% vs. 46.7% of patients with migraine auras, p=.033). Migraine-related disability scores were not different between PNES and epilepsy patients (median 39, interquartile range 89 vs. 25, interquartile range 60.6, p=.15). Compared to epilepsy patients with migraine, PNES patients with migraine report having a more severe form of migraine with more frequent and longer duration attacks that are more commonly associated with non-visual migraine auras. Copyright © 2015 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Welcome to AURA

Science.gov Websites

Astronomy in FY2019 May 24, 2018 AURA Welcomes New Mexico Tech as New Member Institution May 24, 2018 Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium Approved as New Member of AURA May 15, 2018 Jeremy Weirich joins AURA as VP Telescope National Optical Astronomy Observatory National Solar Observatory Space Telescope Science

The EOS Aura Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoebert, Mark R.; Douglass, A. R.; Hilsenrath, E.; Bhartia, P. K.; Barnett, J.; Gille, J.; Beer, R.; Gunson, M.; Waters, J.; Levelt, P. F.

2004-01-01

The Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura satellite is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2004. The Aura mission is designed to attack three science questions: (1) Is the ozone layer recovering as expected? (2) What are the sources and processes that control tropospheric pollutants? (3) What is the quantitative impact of constituents on climate change? Aura will answer these questions by globally measuring a comprehensive set of trace gases and aerosols at high vertical and horizontal resolution. Fig. 1 shows the Aura spacecraft and its four instruments.

Aura CO and Ozone profiles retrieved from combined TES and MLS measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, M.; Read, W. G.; Wagner, P. A.; Schwartz, M.; Kulawik, S. S.; Herman, R. L.

2017-12-01

The NASA Aura Carbon Monoxide (CO) profile jointly retrieved from the co-located TES nadir and MLS limb satellite measurements has been released to the public and applied in studies of the complex chemical-transport processes related to pollutants emitted from the fires in the tropical region. Recently, the joint Aura Ozone profile retrievals are also being produced. Compared to the two standalone retrievals by the instrument teams, these Aura joint retrievals improve the profile resolution and sensitive ranges in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. The new version Aura CO data (mainly using the recent TES and MLS algorithm updates) is being generated and validated. We will present the comparisons of the Aura CO and the preliminary Ozone data to the in-situ measurements, e.g., data collected from the HIPPO and the MOZAIC campaigns, and the Ozone sonde observations. The characteristics of the Aura CO and O3 retrievals will also be described.

EOS Aura and Future Satellite Studies of the Ozone Layer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoeberl, Mark R.

2007-01-01

The EOS Aura mission, launched in 2004, provides a comprehensive assessment of the stratospheric dynamics and chemistry. This talk will focus on results from Aura including the chemistry of polar ozone depletion. The data from Aura can be directly linked to UARS data to produce long term trends in stratospheric trace gases.

Commitment to Broadening Participation at NOAO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garmany, Catharine D.; Norman, D.

2011-01-01

AURA and NOAO take seriously the importance of Broadening Participation in Astronomy. At the request of the AURA President, each of the AURA centers (NOAO, NSO, STSCI, Gemini) appointed a Diversity Advocates (DA). At NOAO this job is shared by Dara Norman and Katy Garmany, who were appointed by Dave Silva in Jan 2009. The DA's are members of the AURA Committee on Workforce and Diversity (WDC), a designated subcommittee of the AURA Board of Directors. The role of this committee includes reviewing activities and plans on an AURA wide basis aimed at broadening the participation within AURA, and reviewing AURA wide policies on the workforce. At NOAO, the role of the DAs spans a number of departments and activities. They serve on observatory search committees, and offer suggestions on how NOAO job searches can reach the most diverse audience. The DA's job is to insure that NOAO actively pursues every opportunity to increase diversity: to this end they are involved in outreach and educational activities that focus on workplace development and encourage inclusion of woman, minorities and persons with disabilities.

Aura in some patients with familial hemiplegic migraine can be stopped by intranasal ketamine.

PubMed

Kaube, H; Herzog, J; Käufer, T; Dichgans, M; Diener, H C

2000-07-12

Migraine aura is probably caused by cortical-spreading depression. No treatment for acute and severe migraine aura has been described previously. The effect of ketamine (25 mg intranasally) was studied in 11 patients with severe, disabling auras resulting from familial hemiplegic migraine. In five patients ketamine reproducibly reduced the severity and duration of the neurologic deficits, whereas in the remaining six patients no beneficial effect was seen. Ketamine offers, for the first time, a possible treatment option for severe and prolonged aura.

Temporal lobe neoplasm and seizures: how deep does the story go?

PubMed

Jehi, Lara E; Lüders, Hans O; Naugle, Richard; Ruggieri, Paul; Morris, Harold; Foldvary, Nancy; Wyllie, Elaine; Kotagal, Prakash; Bingaman, Bill; Dinner, Dudley; Prayson, Richard; Diehl, Beate; Alexopoulos, Andreas; Bautista, Jocelyn; Busch, Robyn

2008-03-01

[March 2008-Cleveland Case Report]. There is a well-described association between the occurrence of developmental tumors and the presence of cortical dysplasia in the neighboring brain tissue. The main surgical approaches in the treatment of medically refractory epilepsy related to such developmental tumors include a lesionectomy versus a tailored cortical resection, often guided by an invasive evaluation. This case report describes the surgical management of a 26-year-old female with olfactory auras evolving into automotor seizures and convulsions, occurring in the context of a right temporo-parietal developmental lesion. It illustrates the pros and cons of various surgical approaches, and discusses some pathophysiological aspects of developmental tumors, dysplasia and epilepsy. [Published with video sequences].

3D Online Visualization and Synergy of NASA A-Train Data Using Google Earth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, Aijun; Kempler, Steven; Leptoukh, Gregory; Smith, Peter

2010-01-01

This poster presentation reviews the use of Google Earth to assist in three dimensional online visualization of NASA Earth science and geospatial data. The NASA A-Train satellite constellation is a succession of seven sun-synchronous orbit satellites: (1) OCO-2 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory) (will launch in Feb. 2013), (2) GCOM-W1 (Global Change Observation Mission), (3) Aqua, (4) CloudSat, (5) CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar & Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations), (6) Glory, (7) Aura. The A-Train makes possible synergy of information from multiple resources, so more information about earth condition is obtained from the combined observations than would be possible from the sum of the observations taken independently

Reconsideration of the diagnosis and treatment of childhood migraine: A practical review of clinical experiences.

PubMed

Saito, Yoshiaki; Yamanaka, Gaku; Shimomura, Hideki; Shiraishi, Kazuhiro; Nakazawa, Tomoyuki; Kato, Fumihide; Shimizu-Motohashi, Yuko; Sasaki, Masayuki; Maegaki, Yoshihiro

2017-05-01

To provide insight into the wide spectrum of migraine during childhood to establish practical and comprehensive treatment strategies. Although recent studies have confirmed the effect of anti-migraine agents in childhood headaches fulfilling the criteria of migraine without aura, there have been no studies regarding the efficacy of these drugs in childhood migraine without aura not filling the diagnostic criteria. In total, 154 patients with a clinical diagnosis of migraine, with onset of repetitive headaches at the age of ⩽15years, were retrospectively included from clinics in seven tertiary medical centers. Patients' diagnoses included migraine with aura (n=49), migraine without aura (n=65), clinical migraine without aura not fulfilling International Classification of Headache Disorders-3 beta criteria (suspected migraine without aura; n=38), and hemiplegic migraine (n=2). Abortive medicine was effective in 74 of 97 patients, and preventive medicine was effective in 61 of 84 patients. Drugs with high efficacy were acetaminophen and ibuprofen for abortive therapy and cyproheptadine, amitriptyline, and propranolol for preventive therapy. Psychosocial problems were less common, and abnormalities on electroencephalography were more common in the suspected migraine without aura group. Otherwise, clinical features and drug responsibility were comparable among the migraine with aura, migraine without aura, and suspected migraine without aura groups. Retrospectively, experts clinically diagnosed childhood migraine without aura when the headache met at least one of the three criteria B, C, and D in International Classification of Headache Disorders-3 beta in addition to A and E. Abortive and preventive medication including paroxetine (n=2) benefited 10 and 15 of the 33 patients with daily headache, respectively. Psychotherapy/counseling (n=4), treatment for orthostatic dysregulation (n=4), and elimination of stressors (n=3) markedly alleviated headache in this group. Our results indicated that those with suspected migraine without aura not filling International Classification of Headache Disorders diagnostic criteria should be included in the treatment for migraine. Treatment should also be targeted to comorbid developmental disorders, orthostatic dysregulation, and psychosocial problems in patients with refractory daily headaches. Copyright © 2016 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ictal mnemestic aura and verbal memory function.

PubMed

Vederman, Aaron C; Holtzer, Roee; Zimmerman, Molly E; Devinsky, Orrin; Barr, William B

2010-04-01

Déjà vu aura is a well-known phenomenon experienced by some patients with epilepsy. This study sought to explore the relationship between verbal memory and the experience of déjà vu or other types of mnemestic auras in 42 individuals with intractable seizures and 42 age- and education-matched patient controls. Verbal memory was assessed with indices of learning, long delay recall, and recognition from the California Verbal Learning Test. Results indicated that auras of any type were not associated with memory performance on the California Verbal Learning Test. As expected, age and education were related to verbal memory performance. Mnemestic auras were associated with clinical indices of illness, suggesting that the presence of these auras may be regarded as a risk factor for greater chronicity and severity in epilepsy. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Epileptic auras and their role in driving safety in people with epilepsy

PubMed Central

Punia, Vineet; Farooque, Pue; Chen, William; Hirsch, Lawrence J.; Berg, Anne T.; Blumenfeld, Hal

2015-01-01

Summary The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of auras in preventing motor vehicle accidents (MVA) among medically-refractory epilepsy patients. The Multicenter Study of Epilepsy Surgery database was used to perform a case-control study by identifying patients who had seizures while driving that led to MVAs (Cases) and those who had seizures while driving without MVAs (Controls). We compared presence of reliable auras and other aura-related features between the two groups. 215 out of 553 patients reported having seizure(s) while driving; 74 were identified as ‘Controls’ and 141 as ‘Cases’. The two groups had similar demographic and clinical features. The presence of reliable auras was not different between the two groups (67% in Cases vs 65% in Controls; OR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.49 – 1.61, p = 0.76). In addition, the groups did not differ in the proportion of patients who reported longer (>1 minute) auras (OR 0.7; 95% CI 0.28 – 1.76; p = 0.47), or who thought that their auras were sufficiently long to protect themselves (OR 1.19; 95% CI 0.62 – 2.00; p = 0.77). Our study questions the long-held belief of a protective role of reliable auras against MVAs in people with epilepsy. PMID:26391317

Migraine with aura: a predictor of patent foramen ovale in children and adolescents.

PubMed

Choi, Deok Young; Shin, Dong Hoon; Cho, Kang Ho; Lee, Sang Pyo; Park, Sanghui

2013-05-01

The prevalence of patent foramen ovale (PFO) is higher among adult migraine patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of PFO in children and adolescent migraine patients. A total of 32 patients with migraine (divided into two subgroups, the migraine with aura subgroup and the migraine without aura subgroup) and 31 normal control subjects were enrolled in this study. All of the participants underwent transthoracic echocardiography with an agitated saline test. We compared the prevalence of PFO and the severity of right-to-left shunt (RLS) in each group. No statistical difference in age and sex ratio was observed in either group. The prevalence of PFO was higher in the migraine group than in the control group, but without statistical significance (46.9% vs. 25.8%, P = 0.084). The prevalence of PFO was significantly higher in the migraine with aura subgroup than in the migraine without aura subgroup ( P = 0.031) and the normal control group ( P = 0.0074). Migraine with aura was the only significant factor showing an association with PFO (<0.01). RLS size did not have an influence on migraine. Considering the significantly high prevalence of PFO in pediatric migraine with aura patients, migraine with aura is a clear predictor of PFO among children and adolescents.

Exploiting Aura OMI Level 2 Data with High Resolution Visualization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, J. C.; Yang, W.; Johnson, J. E.; Zhao, P.; Gerasimov, I. V.; Pham, L.; Vicente, G. A.; Shen, S.

2014-12-01

Satellite data products are important for a wide variety of applications that can bring far-reaching benefits to the science community and the broader society. These benefits can best be achieved if the satellite data are well utilized and interpreted, such as model inputs from satellite, or extreme event (such as volcano eruption, dust storm, …etc) interpretation from satellite. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, despite the abundance and relative maturity of numerous satellite data products provided by NASA and other organizations. One way to help users better understand the satellite data is to provide data along with 'Images', including accurate pixel-level (Level 2) information, pixel coverage area delineation, and science team recommended quality screening for individual geophysical parameters. Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) always strives to best support (i.e., Software-as-a-service, SaaS) the user-community for NASA Earth Science Data. In this case, we will present a new visualization tool that helps users exploiting Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Level 2 data. This new visualization service utilizes Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standard-compliant Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS) calls in the backend infrastructure. The functionality of the service allows users to select data sources (e.g., multiple parameters under the same measurement, like NO2 and SO2 from OMI Level 2 or same parameter with different methods of aggregation, like NO2 in OMNO2G and OMNO2D products), defining area-of-interest and temporal extents, zooming, panning, overlaying, sliding, and data subsetting and reformatting. The interface will also be able to connect to other OGC WMS and WCS servers, which will greatly enhance its expandability to integrate additional outside data/map sources (such as Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS)).

New Collections of Aura Atmospheric data Products at the GES DISC

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, James; Ahmad, Suraiya; Gerasimov, Irina; Lepthoukh, Gregory

2008-01-01

The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) is the primary archive of atmospheric composition data from the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), Microwave Limb sounder (MLS), and High-Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) instruments. The most recent versions of Aura OMI, MLS and HIRDLS data are available free to the public (http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Aura). TES data are at ASDC (http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov).

Exploding head syndrome followed by sleep paralysis: a rare migraine aura.

PubMed

Evans, Randolph W

2006-04-01

A 26-year-old patient is described with a unique migraine aura. She described an 8-year history of episodes occurring 1 to 2 times yearly of exploding head syndrome followed by sleep paralysis followed by a migraine headache. She also had identical headaches without aura about once per week. Both aura symptoms, which may occur in the brainstem, resulted in activation of the trigeminovascular system through an unknown mechanism.

Activation of Aurora A kinase through the FGF1/FGFR signaling axis sustains the stem cell characteristics of glioblastoma cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hsu, Yi-Chao; Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan; Kao, Chien-Yu

Fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) binds and activates FGF receptors, thereby regulating cell proliferation and neurogenesis. Human FGF1 gene 1B promoter (−540 to +31)-driven SV40 T antigen has been shown to result in tumorigenesis in the brains of transgenic mice. FGF1B promoter (−540 to +31)-driven green fluorescent protein (F1BGFP) has also been used in isolating neural stem cells (NSCs) with self-renewal and multipotency from developing and adult mouse brains. In this study, we provide six lines of evidence to demonstrate that FGF1/FGFR signaling is implicated in the expression of Aurora A (AurA) and the activation of its kinase domain (Thr288more » phosphorylation) in the maintenance of glioblastoma (GBM) cells and NSCs. First, treatment of FGF1 increases AurA expression in human GBM cell lines. Second, using fluorescence-activated cell sorting, we observed that F1BGFP reporter facilitates the isolation of F1BGFP(+) GBM cells with higher expression levels of FGFR and AurA. Third, both FGFR inhibitor (SU5402) and AurA inhibitor (VX680) could down-regulate F1BGFP-dependent AurA activity. Fourth, inhibition of AurA activity by two different AurA inhibitors (VX680 and valproic acid) not only reduced neurosphere formation but also induced neuronal differentiation of F1BGFP(+) GBM cells. Fifth, flow cytometric analyses demonstrated that F1BGFP(+) GBM cells possessed different NSC cell surface markers. Finally, inhibition of AurA by VX680 reduced the neurosphere formation of different types of NSCs. Our results show that activation of AurA kinase through FGF1/FGFR signaling axis sustains the stem cell characteristics of GBM cells. Implications: This study identified a novel mechanism for the malignancy of GBM, which could be a potential therapeutic target for GBM. - Highlights: • We report that FGF1 treatment can stimulate AurA kinase expression in human GBM cells. • FGF1/FGFR signaling is involved in the activation of AurA kinase. • FGF1 sustains the self-renewal of human GBM cells and embryonic stem cells via AurA activation.« less

Epileptic auras and their role in driving safety in people with epilepsy.

PubMed

Punia, Vineet; Farooque, Pue; Chen, William; Hirsch, Lawrence J; Berg, Anne T; Blumenfeld, Hal

2015-11-01

The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of auras in preventing motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) among patients with medically refractory epilepsy. The Multicenter Study of Epilepsy Surgery database was used to perform a case-control study by identifying patients who had seizures while driving that led to MVAs (cases) and those who had seizures while driving without MVAs (controls). We compared presence of reliable auras and other aura-related features between the two groups. Two hundred fifteen of 553 patients reported having seizure(s) while driving; 74 were identified as "controls" and 141 as "cases." The two groups had similar demographic and clinical features. The presence of reliable auras was not different between the two groups (67% in cases vs. 65% in controls; odds ratio [OR] 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.49-1.61, p = 0.76). In addition, the groups did not differ in the proportion of patients who reported longer (>1 min) auras (OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.28-1.76, p = 0.47), or who thought that their auras were of sufficient duration to be protective (OR 1.19, 95% CI 0.62-2.00, p = 0.77). Our study questions the long-held belief of a protective role of reliable auras against MVAs in people with epilepsy. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 International League Against Epilepsy.

The effect of dietary supplementation with Aurantiochytrium limacinum on lactating dairy cows in terms of animal health, productivity and milk composition.

PubMed

Moran, C A; Morlacchini, M; Keegan, J D; Fusconi, G

2018-04-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich microalgae, Aurantiochytrium limacinum (AURA), on a variety of health and productivity parameters in lactating cows. Twenty-four cows were blocked by parity and number of days in milk and then randomly assigned to a control (CON; n = 12) group with no algal supplementation, or a treatment group (AURA; n = 12) provided with 100 g AURA cow -1  day -1 or 16 g DHA cow -1  day -1 . A variety of health and productivity measurements were taken, and results indicated that supplementation had no negative effects on animal health in terms of somatic cell count, haematological and biochemical blood parameters, while body condition was marginally improved by algal supplementation. No differences were found for the various production parameters measured; however, a tendency towards increased milk production was observed for the AURA group during the final stage of the study (+4.5 kg cow -1  day -1 , day 78-84). The fatty acid profile of milk was improved by supplementation, with significantly lower saturated fatty acids, significantly higher omega-3 fatty acids and an improved omega-3/omega-6 ratio observed when compared to the control group. The amount of DHA in the milk of cows provided 105 g AURA head -1  day -1 was 4.7 mg/100 g milk with a peak transfer efficiency from feed to milk at day 49 of 8.3%. These results indicate that supplementation with 105 g AURA head -1  day -1 resulted in the successful enrichment of milk with DHA without negatively impacting the health or productivity of the animals. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition Published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Is it too early to recommend patent foramen ovale closure for all patients who suffer from migraine? A single-centre study.

PubMed

Chessa, Massimo; Colombo, Chiara; Butera, Gianfranco; Negura, Diana; Piazza, Luciane; Varotto, Leonardo; Bussadori, Claudio; Fesslova, Vlasta; Meola, Giovanni; Carminati, Mario

2009-05-01

To evaluate the course of migraine in migraine headache patients undergoing patent foramen ovale (PFO) transcatheter closure. Migraine has an important impact on the quality of life, and it seems to be one of the most disabling medical illnesses. In several studies, a high prevalence of right-to-left shunt has been described in patients with migraine, especially migraine with aura. The presence of right-to-left shunt, whatever the mechanism, may be the most potent trigger of migraine attacks in both migraine with aura and migraine without aura and the main determinant of aura in migraine with aura. A cohort of 42 patients (nine men/33 women; mean age 39 +/- 11.2 years), current migraineurs, underwent PFO percutaneous closure in our centre between January 2004 and December 2007. All patients rated the severity of their migraine preoperatively and 6 months postoperatively, indicating the frequency, duration, and intensity of the attacks and the occurrence of the aura in the prodromal phase, during the past 6 months, according to the migraine severity score. Baseline severity of migraine was higher in migraine with aura patients than in migraine without aura ones (8.8 vs. 7.5; P = 0.037). The resolution of migraine was verified in 11 patients (26%) after the closure of the PFO. A reduction in the frequency of the attacks (>=50%) was observed in 22 patients (52%). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the improvement in migraine with aura and migraine without aura was independent of migraine type, sex, age, cerebrovascular risk factors and cerebrovascular events, type of cardiac defect, and thrombophilic conditions. The consistent observations of this and other studies are provocative and worthy of evaluation with a prospective randomized trial using objective measures of migraine frequency and severity. However, it seems too early to recommend PFO closure for all patients who suffer from migraine until the results of ongoing large randomized trials are available.

KSC-04pd1237

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-05-27

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- EOS Aura: The Aura mission will study air quality, climate and stratospheric ozone depletion. Aura is the third of NASA’s major Earth Observing System (EOS) orbital platforms and has four instruments. The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) will make complementary measurements of stratospheric ozone and the chemicals that destroy it. HIRDELS and MLS will also measure upper tropospheric water vapor and ozone - key gases that regulate climate. The Aura payload also includes the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), which will make the first global measurements of lower atmospheric ozone, and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), which will measure the total amount of atmospheric ozone as well as lower atmospheric dust, smoke and other aerosols. Aura is scheduled to launch in 2004. The flags on the decals represent the countries participating in the mission: United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Finland. The EOS Aura mission is being managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

KSC-04pd1474

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-07-15

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - With rockets and main engine firing, the Boeing Delta II launch vehicle leaps off the pad at NASA’s Space Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., carrying the Aura spacecraft. Aura, a mission dedicated to the health of Earth's atmosphere, successfully launched today at 3:01:59 a.m. Pacific Time. Spacecraft separation occurred at 4:06 a.m. Pacific Time, inserting Aura into a 438-mile orbit. NASA’s latest Earth-observing satellite, Aura will help us understand and protect the air we breathe. Aura will also help scientists understand how the composition of the atmosphere affects and responds to Earth's changing climate. The results from this mission will help scientists better understand the processes that connect local and global air quality. With the launch of Aura, the first series of NASA’s Earth Observing System satellites is complete. The other satellites are Terra, which monitors land, and Aqua, which observes Earth’s water cycle. [Photo: Boeing/Thom Baur

KSC-04pd1475

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-07-15

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - - With rockets and main engine firing, the Boeing Delta II launch vehicle leaps off the pad at NASA’s Space Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., carrying the Aura spacecraft. Aura, a mission dedicated to the health of Earth's atmosphere, successfully launched today at 3:01:59 a.m. Pacific Time. Spacecraft separation occurred at 4:06 a.m. Pacific Time, inserting Aura into a 438-mile orbit. NASA’s latest Earth-observing satellite, Aura will help us understand and protect the air we breathe. Aura will also help scientists understand how the composition of the atmosphere affects and responds to Earth's changing climate. The results from this mission will help scientists better understand the processes that connect local and global air quality. With the launch of Aura, the first series of NASA’s Earth Observing System satellites is complete. The other satellites are Terra, which monitors land, and Aqua, which observes Earth’s water cycle. [Photo: Boeing/Thom Baur

Nosographic analysis of osmophobia and field testing of diagnostic criteria including osmophobia.

PubMed

Chalmer, Mona Ameri; Hansen, Thomas Folkmann; Olesen, Jes

2018-01-01

Introduction Osmophobia has been suggested as an additional symptom of migraine without aura, and a high prevalence of osmophobia of up to 50% has been reported in the literature. We conducted a nosographic study of osmophobia in all migraineurs and tension-type headache patients and a field testing of suggested diagnostic criteria of osmophobia, presented in the appendix of the second edition of The International Classification of Headache Disorders and suggested by Silva-Néto et al. and Wang et al ., in migraine without aura and tension-type headache patients (n = 1934). Materials and methods Each patient received a validated semi-structured interview. All subjects fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of the second edition of The International Classification of Headache Disorders for migraine or tension-type headache. Statistical analyses were performed using statistical software R. The statistical R package "Caret" was used to construct a confusion matrix and retrieve sensitivity, which is defined as the suggested criteria's ability to correctly diagnose migraine without aura patients, and specificity, defined as the suggested criteria's ability to not wrongly diagnose tension-type headache patients. Results Osmophobia was present in 33.5% of patients with migraine with aura, in 36.0% of patients with migraine without aura, and in 1.2% of patients with tension-type headache. All migraineurs with osmophobia also fulfilled the current criteria for migraine by having nausea or photophobia and phonophobia. The appendix criteria had a sensitivity of 0.96 and a specificity of 0.99 for migraine without aura, and a sensitivity of 0.65 and a specificity of 0.99 for probable migraine without aura. Both the criteria by Silva-Néto et al. and Wang et al. had a sensitivity of 0.98 and a specificity of 0.99 for migraine without aura, and a sensitivity of 0.66 and a specificity of 0.99 for probable migraine without aura. Discussion This study demonstrates the remarkable specificity of osmophobia. The criteria by Silva-Néto et al. and Wang et al. both had a higher sensitivity than the appendix criteria for migraine without aura; all three criteria had a low sensitivity for probable migraine without aura. However, neither the appendix criteria nor the criteria by Silva-Néto et al. or Wang et al. added any extra patients that would not have been diagnosed by the current diagnostic criteria for migraine. Osmophobia is a valuable symptom that may be useful to differentiate between migraine without aura and tension-type headache in difficult clinical cases. Conclusion Our results do not suggest that alterations of the current diagnostic criteria for migraine without aura are needed.

TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Nadir V6 (TL2ATMTN)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-01-18

TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Nadir (TL2ATMTN) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km nadir ... Contact User Services Parameters:  Atmospheric Temperature Temperature Precision Vertical Resolution ...

TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Limb V6 (TL2TLS)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-03-01

TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Limb (TL2TLS) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Spatial Coverage:  27 x 23 km Limb ... OPeNDAP Access: OPeNDAP Parameters:  Atmospheric Temperature Temperature Precision Vertical Resolution ...

TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Limb V6 (TL2ATMTL)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-03-01

TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Limb (TL2ATMTL) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Spatial Coverage:  27 x 23 km Limb ... OPeNDAP Access: OPeNDAP Parameters:  Atmospheric Temperature Temperature Precision Vertical Resolution ...

Five blind men and an elephant: can NASA Aura measurements quantify the stratosphere-troposphere exchange of ozone flux?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Q.; Prather, M. J.

2011-09-01

We examine whether the instantaneous ozone (O3) measurements from the four Aura instruments can quantify the stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) flux of O3, an important term of the tropospheric O3 budget. Comparing the level 2 (L2) Aura swaths and ozone sondes with the coincident, high-resolution (1°×1°×40-layer×0.5 h) simulations using the University of California, Irvine chemistry transport model (CTM) for years 2005-2006, it is revealed in many cases that all four Aura datasets have some skill in catching the STE process, while missing many of them. Despite a few cases, the individual retrievals in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere contain too much noise preventing the quantification and integration of STE flux with Aura L2 data. The CTM is applied as a transfer standard to compare with different Aura observations. The statistics of exact matching CTM-Aura comparisons identify the model's high biases in the lower stratosphere and the inconsistency amongst different instruments, such as from tropics to Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes in July 2005 at 215 hPa and over tropics at 147 hPa for July 2005 and January 2006.

Optic neuropathy in thyroid eye disease: results of the balanced decompression technique.

PubMed

Baril, Catherine; Pouliot, Denis; Molgat, Yvonne

2014-04-01

To determine the efficacy of combined endoscopic medial and external lateral orbital decompression for the treatment of compressive optic neuropathy (CON) in thyroid eye disease (TED). A retrospective review of all patients undergoing combined surgical orbital decompression for CON between 2000 and 2010 was conducted. Fifty-nine eyes of 34 patients undergoing combined surgical orbital decompression for CON. Clinical outcome measures included visual acuity, Hardy-Rand-Rittler (HRR) colour plate testing, relative afferent pupillary defect, intraocular pressure measurement, and Hertel exophthalmometry. A CON score was calculated preoperatively and postoperatively based on the visual acuity and the missed HRR plates. A higher CON score correlates with more severe visual dysfunction. All patients had improvement of their optic neuropathy after surgical decompression. CON score was calculated for 54 eyes and decreased significantly from a mean of 13.2 ± 10.35 preoperatively to a mean of 8.51 ± 10.24 postoperatively (p < 0.0001). Optic neuropathy was completely resolved in 93.22% (55/59 eyes). Eighteen of 34 patients (52.94%) experienced development of new-onset postoperative strabismus that required subsequent surgical intervention. Endoscopic medial combined with external lateral orbital decompression is an effective technique for the treatment of TED-associated CON. © 2013 Canadian Ophthalmological Society Published by Canadian Ophthalmological Society All rights reserved.

75 FR 13806 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “Loan From the Aura...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-23

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 6926] Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: ``Loan From the Aura Collection of a Winged Figure Pendant'' SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of... included in the exhibition ``Loan from the Aura Collection of a Winged Figure Pendant,'' imported from...

TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Nadir V6 (TL2TNS)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-01-22

TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Nadir (TL2TNS) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Atmospheric Temperatures Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km nadir ... Contact ASDC User Services Parameters:  Atmospheric Temperature Temperature Precision Vertical Resolution ...

NASA Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer TES Instrument Onboard Aura

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-04-01

Technicians install NASA's Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on NASA's Aura spacecraft prior to launch. Launched in July 2004 and designed to fly for two years, the TES mission is currently in an extended operations phase. Mission managers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, are evaluating an alternate way to collect and process science data from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument on NASA's Aura spacecraft following the age-related failure of a critical instrument component. TES is an infrared sensor designed to study Earth's troposphere, the lowermost layer of Earth's atmosphere, which is where we live. The remainder of the TES instrument, and the Aura spacecraft itself, are operating as expected, and TES continues to collect science data. TES is one of four instruments on Aura, three of which are still operating. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15608

Aura Science and Validation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hilsenrath, E.; Schoeberl, M.; Douglass, A.; Anderson, J.; Bhartia, P. K. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The EOS-Aura Mission is designed to answer three basic questions concerning the Earth's atmosphere: 1) Is ozone recovering as predicted, 2) is air quality getting worse, and 3) how is climate changing? Aura's four instruments work synergistically and are dedicated to answering these questions. These questions relate to NASA Earth Science Enterprise's overall strategic questions, which seek to understand the consequences of climate change for human civilization and determine if these changes can be predicted. NASA supports an ongoing research and analysis program, which is conducted independently and in support of satellite missions. The research program conducts several on-going field campaigns employing aircraft, balloons, and ground based systems. These campaigns have focused on exploring processes in the tropics, high latitudes, and continental outflow to explain the chemistry and transport in the troposphere and stratosphere and how these regions interact. NASA is now studying how the Aura mission and requirements of the research and analysis program might be merged to achieve its strategic goals related to global atmospheric chemistry changes. In addition, NASA field campaign resources will be folded into Aura's validation requirements. Aura validation requires correlative measurements throughout the troposphere and stratosphere under a range of observing and geophysical conditions. Because of the recent launches of Envisat and other smaller international chemistry satellites, the NASA program plans to collaborate with European space agencies in developing a series of campaigns that will provide continuity between those satellites missions and Aura.

A Decade of Volcanic Observations from Aura and the A-Train

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carn, Simon A.; Krotkov, Nickolay Anatoly; Yang, Kai; Krueger, Arlin J.; Hughes, Eric J.; Wang, Jun; Flower, Verity; Telling, Jennifer

2014-01-01

Aura observations have made many seminal contributions to volcanology. Prior to the Aura launch, satellite observations of volcanic degassing (e.g., from TOMS) were mostly restricted to large eruptions. However, the vast majority of volcanic gases are released during quiescent 'passive' degassing between eruptions. The improved sensitivity of Aura OMI permitted the first daily, space-borne measurements of passive volcanic SO2 degassing, providing improved constraints on the source locations and magnitude of global SO2 emissions for input to atmospheric chemistry and climate models. As a result of this unique sensitivity to volcanic activity, OMI data were also the first satellite SO2 measurements to be routinely used for volcano monitoring at several volcano observatories worldwide. Furthermore, the Aura OMI SO2 data also offer unprecedented sensitivity to volcanic clouds in the UTLS, elucidating the transport, fate and lifetime of volcanic SO2 and providing critical input to aviation hazard mitigation efforts. Another major advance has been the improved vertical resolution of volcanic clouds made possible by synergy between Aura and other A-Train instruments (e.g., AIRS, CALIPSO, CloudSat), advanced UV SO2 altitude retrievals, and inverse trajectory modeling of detailed SO2 cloud maps. This altitude information is crucial for climate models and aviation hazards. We will review some of the highlights of a decade of Aura observations of volcanic activity and look ahead to the future of volcanic observations from space.

Migraine and subclinical atherosclerosis in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).

PubMed

Goulart, Alessandra C; Santos, Itamar S; Bittencourt, Márcio S; Lotufo, Paulo A; Benseñor, Isabela M

2016-08-01

The relationship between migraine and coronary heart disease (CHD) remains controversial. We aimed to investigate the association of subclinical atherosclerosis and migraine with or without aura compared to a non-migraine subgroup (reference) in a large Brazilian multicentric cohort study, the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil). Migraine diagnostic was based on International Headache Society criteria, and aura symptoms were validated by a medical doctor in a sub-sample of the ELSA-Brasil, who also underwent coronary artery calcium score (CAC) and carotid intima-media thickness (C-IMT) evaluations. Subclinical atherosclerosis indexes (CAC and C-IMT) were analyzed as dependent variables and migraine (all, with aura, without aura) as an independent variable in the linear and multinomial logistic regression models adjusted for possible confounders. Of 3217 ELSA participants free from CVD at baseline, we found a migraine frequency of 11.9% (5.1% with aura and 6.8% without aura). Overall, migraineurs were mostly women, younger and had lower frequency of CV risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes and low HDL-cholesterol, compared to non-migraineurs. The strongest inverse correlation between migraine and subclinical atherosclerosis was verified with CAC score. However, all associations lost their significance after multivariate adjustment. In this cross-sectional evaluation of the ELSA study, migraine was not associated with subclinical atherosclerosis, regardless of aura symptoms. © International Headache Society 2015.

TES/Aura L2 Ammonia (NH3) Nadir V6 (TL2NH3N)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-01-18

TES/Aura L2 Ammonia (NH3) Nadir (TL2NH3N) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Instrument:  TES/Aura L2 Ammonia Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km nadir ... Contact User Services Parameters:  Ammonia Legacy:  Retired data product , click here for ...

TES/Aura L2 Ozone (O3) Limb V6 (TL2O3LS)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-03-01

TES/Aura L2 Ozone (O3) Limb (TL2O3LS) News:  TES News Join ... Project Title:  TES Discipline:  Tropospheric Composition Version:  V6 Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Ozone Spatial Coverage:  27 x 23 km Limb Spatial ...

TES/Aura L2 Ozone (O3) Limb V6 (TL2O3L)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-03-01

TES/Aura L2 Ozone (O3) Limb (TL2O3L) News:  TES News Join TES ... Project Title:  TES Discipline:  Tropospheric Composition Version:  V6 Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Ozone Spatial Coverage:  27 x 23 km Limb Spatial ...

TES/Aura L2 Ozone (O3) Nadir V6 (TL2O3NS)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-01-22

TES/Aura L2 Ozone (O3) Nadir (TL2O3NS) News:  TES News Join ... Project Title:  TES Discipline:  Tropospheric Composition Version:  V6 Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Ozone Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km nadir ...

TES/Aura L2 Ozone (O3) Nadir V6 (TL2O3N)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-01-18

TES/Aura L2 Ozone (O3) Nadir (TL2O3N) News:  TES News Join ... Project Title:  TES Discipline:  Tropospheric Composition Version:  V6 Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Ozone Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km nadir ...

TES/Aura L2 Ammonia (NH3) Lite Nadir V6 (TL2NH3LN)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2017-07-20

TES/Aura L2 Ammonia (NH3) Lite Nadir (TL2NH3LN) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Instrument:  TES/Aura L2 Ammonia Spatial Coverage:  5.3 km nadir Spatial ... OPeNDAP Access:  OPeNDAP Parameters:  Ammonia Order Data:  Earthdata Search:   Order Data ...

TES/Aura L2 Ammonia (NH3) Nadir V6 (TL2NH3NS)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-01-22

TES/Aura L2 Ammonia (NH3) Nadir (TL2NH3NS) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Ammonia Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km nadir ... Contact ASDC User Services Parameters:  Ammonia Legacy:  Retired data product , click here for ...

The EOS Aura Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoeberl, Mark R.; Douglass, A. R.; Hilsenrath, E.; Luce, M.; Barnett, J.; Beer, R.; Waters, J.; Gille, J.; Levelt, P. F.; DeCola, P.;

TES/Aura L2 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Nadir V6 (TL2CO2N)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-01-18

TES/Aura L2 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Nadir (TL2CO2N) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Carbon Dioxide Spatial Coverage:  5.2 x 8.5 km nadir ... Contact User Services Parameters:  Carbon Dioxide Legacy:  Retired data product , click here ...

TES/Aura L2 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Nadir V6 (TL2CO2NS)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-01-22

TES/Aura L2 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Nadir (TL2CO2NS) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Carbon Dioxide Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km nadir ... Contact ASDC User Services Parameters:  Carbon Dioxide Legacy:  Retired data product , click here ...

Mission Status at Aura Science Team MOWG Meeting: EOS Aura

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fisher, Dominic

2016-01-01

Presentation at the 24797-16 Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura Science Team Meeting (Mission Operations Work Group (MOWG)) at Rotterdam, Netherlands August 29, 2016. Presentation topics include mission summary, spacecraft subsystems summary, recent and planned activities, spacecraft anomalies, data capture, propellant usage and lifetime estimates, spacecraft maneuvers and ground track history, mission highlights and past spacecraft anomalies and reliability estimates.

Maintaining Aura's Orbit Requirements While Performing Orbit Maintenance Maneuvers Containing an Orbit Normal Delta-V Component

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Megan R.; Petersen, Jeremy D.

2014-01-01

The Earth Observing System (EOS) Afternoon Constellation consists of five member missions (GCOM-W1, Aqua, CALIPSO, CloudSat, and Aura), each of which maintain a frozen, sun-synchronous orbit with a 16-day repeating ground track that follows the Worldwide Reference System-2 (WRS-2). Under nominal science operations for Aura, the propulsion system is oriented such that the resultant thrust vector is aligned 13.493 degrees away from the velocity vector along the yaw axis. When performing orbit maintenance maneuvers, the spacecraft performs a yaw slew to align the thrust vector in the appropriate direction. A new Drag Make Up (DMU) maneuver operations scheme has been implemented for Aura alleviating the need for the 13.493 degree yaw slew. The focus of this investigation is to assess the impact that no-slew DMU maneuver operations will have on Aura's Mean Local Time (MLT) which drives the required along track separation between Aura and the constellation members, as well as Aura's frozen orbit properties, eccentricity and argument of perigee. Seven maneuver strategies were analyzed to determine the best operational approach. A mirror pole strategy, with maneuvers alternating at the North and South poles, was implemented operationally to minimize impact to the MLT. Additional analysis determined that the mirror pole strategy could be further modified to include frozen orbit maneuvers and thus maintain both MLT and the frozen orbit properties under noslew operations.

TES/Aura L2 Water Vapor (H2O) Limb V6 (TL2H2OLS)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-03-01

TES/Aura L2 Water Vapor (H2O) Limb (TL2H2OLS) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Water Vapor Spatial Coverage:  27 x 23 km Limb ... Access:  OPeNDAP Parameters:  H2O Water Volume Mixing Radio Precision Vertical Resolution Order ...

TES/Aura L2 Water Vapor (H2O) Limb V6 (TL2H2OL)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-03-01

TES/Aura L2 Water Vapor (H2O) Limb (TL2H2OL) News:  TES News ... Level:  L2 Platform:  TES/Aura L2 Water Vapor Spatial Coverage:  27 x 23 km Limb ... Access: OPeNDAP Parameters:  H2O Water Volume Mixing Radio Precision Vertical Resolution Order ...

Prevalence of patent foramen ovale in patients with migraine.

PubMed

Tatlidede, Asli Demirtaş; Oflazoğlu, Buket; Celik, Seden Erten; Anadol, Ulker; Forta, Hulki

2007-10-01

Recent evidence supports that the prevalence of patent foramen ovale is higher in patients with migraine with aura. We conducted a case-control study and searched for intra-atrial right to left shunt in 53 patients with migraine. PFO was detected by means of transthoracic echocardiography with administration of contrast medium during valsalva maneuver and the results were compared with age and sex matched 27 healthy controls. Patent foramen ovale was more frequent in the migraine group (p<.01). The percentages of PFO in migraine patients with aura, without aura and the control group were 66.7%, 47.4% and 22.2%, respectively. Our results are supportive of an association between PFO and migraine, especially with aura.

[An encounter between medicine and astronomy: migraine visions].

PubMed

Lardreau, Esther

2011-06-01

Until the second half of the eighteenth century, the very definition of migraine as hemicrania (pain felt in one side of the head) eclipsed symptoms that were then considered as "marginal", although tingling sensations, speech impairment and visual impairment had already been described by Piso and Wepfer. The possibility of a migraine without a headache nevertheless started to be envisaged, inviting one to re-evaluate the status of these phenomena. But, as paradoxical as it may seem, it is in the field of astronomy that some of these phenomena such as visual aberrations were analyzed systematically and acknowledged to be migrainous. Scintillating scotoma is no exception: it was indeed mentioned as early as in the Hippocratic corpus, but until the end of the nineteenth century it was addressed as a separate condition to migraine. We limit our study to the visual aura. Our purpose is to show that the ophthalmic symptoms affecting migraine sufferers were not, by themselves, a medical object--which somehow calls into question the very functioning of science.

Isolated amygdala neurocysticercosis in a patient presenting with déjà vu and olfactory auras. Case report.

PubMed

Lee, Darrin J; Owen, Christopher M; Khanifar, Elham; Kim, Ronald C; Binder, Devin K

2009-06-01

Neurocysticercosis is the most common parasitic infection in the CNS and a leading cause of epilepsy. Since it is a circumscribed lesional cause of epilepsy, specific locations of neurocysticercal lesions may lead to specific clinical presentations. The authors describe a 17-year-old Hispanic boy who had a single enhancing bilobar mass in the right amygdala. Initially, the patient presented with secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures, which resolved with antiepilepsy drug therapy. On further investigation, he was found to have persistent olfactory and déjà vu auras. A right amygdalectomy without hippocampectomy was performed, and both the seizures and auras immediately resolved. Pathological analysis revealed neurocysticercosis. To the authors' knowledge, this case is the first reported instance of 2 distinct mesial temporal aura semiologies associated with localized neurocysticercosis in the amygdala and successfully treated with resection. Uniquely, the case demonstrates that both olfactory and déjà vu auras can emanate from the amygdala.

Relationship between clinical variables and cognitive performances in migraineurs with and without aura.

PubMed

Le Pira, Francesco; Lanaia, Filippo; Zappalà, Giuseppe; Morana, Rosanna; Panetta, Maria Rosa; Reggio, Ester; Reggio, Arturo

2004-01-01

Conflicting data on cognitive defects in migraine could be explained by differences in the clinical variables of the populations studied. We investigated 21 patients with migraine with aura and 24 with migraine without aura, diagnosed according to the International Headache Society criteria. The patients were submitted to a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests and grouped according to attack frequency and side of pain. Attack frequency was not associated with significant differences in any of the tasks, while location of pain was found to be significantly related to poorer performance on both the immediate and delayed recall of Rey Complex Figure in migraineurs both with and without aura, and a significant relationship between side of pain and number of clusters in the second trial of California Verbal Learning Test was found only in migraine with aura patients. The finding of worse performances in patients with right-sided pain seems to support a right hemisphere dysfunction hypothesis.

Science Requirements Document for OMI-EOS. 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhartia, P. K.; Chance, K.; Isaksen, I.; Levelt, P. F.; Boersma, F.; Brinksma, E.; Carpay, J.; vanderA, R.; deHaan, J.; Hilsenrath, E.

2000-01-01

A Dutch-Finnish scientific and industrial consortium is supplying the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) for Earth Observing System-Aura (EOS-Aura). EOS-Aura is the next NASA mission to study the Earth's atmosphere extensively, and successor to the highly successful UARS (Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite) mission. The 'Science Requirements Document for OMI-EOS' presents an overview of the Aura and OMI mission objectives. It describes how OMI fits into the Aura mission and it reviews the synergy with the other instruments onboard Aura to fulfill the mission. This evolves in the Scientific Requirements for OMI (Chapter 3), stating which trace gases have to be measured with what necessary accuracy, in order for OMI to meet Aura's objectives. The most important data product of OMI, the ozone vertical column, densities shall have a better accuracy and an improved global coverage than the predecessor instruments TOMS (Total Ozone Monitoring Spectrometer) and GOME (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment), which is a.o. achieved by a better signal to noise ratio, improved calibration and a wide field-of-view. Moreover, in order to meet its role on Aura, OMI shall measure trace gases, such as NO2, OClO, BrO, HCHO and SO2, aerosols, cloud top height and cloud coverage. Improved accuracy, better coverage, and finer ground grid than has been done in the past are goals for OMI. After the scientific requirements are defined, three sets of subordinate requirements are derived. These are: the algorithm requirements, i.e. what do the algorithms need in order to meet the scientific requirements; the instrument and calibration requirements, i.e. what has to be measured and how accurately in order to provide the quality of data necessary for deriving the data products; and the validation requirements, i.e. a strategy of how the OMI program will assure that its data products are valid in the atmosphere, at least to the required accuracy.

Grey zones in the diagnosis of adult migraine without aura based on the International Classification of Headache Disorders-III beta: exploring the covariates of possible migraine without aura.

PubMed

Ozge, Aynur; Aydinlar, Elif; Tasdelen, Bahar

2015-01-01

Exploring clinical characteristics and migraine covariates may be useful in the diagnosis of migraine without aura. To evaluate the diagnostic value of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD)-III beta-based diagnosis of migraine without aura; to explore the covariates of possible migraine without aura using an analysis of grey zones in this area; and, finally, to make suggestions for the final version of the ICHD-III. A total of 1365 patients (mean [± SD] age 38.5±10.4 years, 82.8% female) diagnosed with migraine without aura according to the criteria of the ICHD-III beta were included in the present tertiary care-based retrospective study. Patients meeting all of the criteria of the ICHD-III beta were classified as having full migraine without aura, while those who did not meet one, two or ≥3 of the diagnostic criteria were classified as zones I, II and III, respectively. The diagnostic value of the clinical characteristics and covariates of migraine were determined. Full migraine without aura was evident in 25.7% of the migraineurs. A higher likelihood of zone I classification was shown for an attack lasting 4 h to 72 h (OR 1.560; P=0.002), with pulsating quality (OR 4.096; P<0.001), concomitant nausea⁄vomiting (OR 2.300; P<0.001) and photophobia⁄phonophobia (OR 4.865; P<0.001). The first-rank determinants for full migraine without aura were sleep irregularities (OR 1.596; P=0.005) and periodic vomiting (OR 1.464; P=0.026). However, even if not mentioned in ICHD-III beta, the authors determined that motion sickness, abdominal pain or infantile colic attacks in childhood, associated dizziness and osmophobia have important diagnostic value. In cases that do not fulfill all of the diagnostic criteria although they are largely consistent with the characteristics of migraine in clinical terms, the authors believe that a history of infantile colic; periodic vomiting (but not periodic vomiting syndrome); recurrent abdominal pain; the presence of motion sickness or vertigo, dizziness or osmophobia accompanying the pain; and comorbid atopic disorder are characteristics that should to be discussed and considered as additional diagnostic criteria (covariates) in the preparation of the final version of ICHD-III.

Migraine and cognitive function: Baseline findings from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health: ELSA-Brasil.

PubMed

Pellegrino Baena, Cristina; Goulart, Alessandra Carvalho; Santos, Itamar de Souza; Suemoto, Claudia Kimie; Lotufo, Paulo Andrade; Bensenor, Isabela Judith

2017-01-01

Background The association between migraine and cognitive performance is unclear. We analyzed whether migraine is associated with cognitive performance among participants of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health, ELSA-Brasil. Methods Cross-sectional analysis, including participants with complete information about migraine and aura at baseline. Headache status (no headaches, non-migraine headaches, migraine without aura and migraine with aura), based on the International Headache Society classification, was used as the dependent variable in the multilinear regression models, using the category "no headache" as reference. Cognitive performance was measured with the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease word list memory test (CERAD-WLMT), the semantic fluency test (SFT), and the Trail Making Test version B (TMTB). Z-scores for each cognitive test and a composite global score were created and analyzed as dependent variables. Multivariate models were adjusted for age, gender, education, race, coronary heart disease, heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, body mass index, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, depression, and anxiety. In women, the models were further adjusted for hormone replacement therapy. Results We analyzed 4208 participants. Of these, 19% presented migraine without aura and 10.3% presented migraine with aura. All migraine headaches were associated with poor cognitive performance (linear coefficient β; 95% CI) at TMTB -0.083 (-0.160; -0.008) and poorer global z-score -0.077 (-0.152; -0.002). Also, migraine without aura was associated with poor cognitive performance at TMTB -0.084 (-0.160, -0.008 and global z-score -0.077 (-0.152; -0.002). Conclusion In participants of the ELSA-study, all migraine headaches and migraine without aura were significantly and independently associated with poorer cognitive performance.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and its influence on analgesics effectiveness in patients suffering from migraine headache.

PubMed

Przeklasa-Muszyńska, Anna; Kocot-Kępska, Magdalena; Dobrogowski, Jan; Wiatr, Maciej; Mika, Joanna

2017-08-01

Headache is one of the most common conditions troubling nearly 45% of the world's population. Migraine headache itself, being more common among women, affects 7-18% of people. As much as 20-30% of the population report accompanying aura and neurological symptoms. In many cases, migraine headache can be effectively treated with suitably selected pharmacotherapies which include drugs used in symptomatic treatment. Frequent occurrence of the condition is treated with prophylaxis, which often fails. Neuromodulating methods are part of the multidirectional treatment and they may be valuable complement to pharmacotherapy. Our study evaluates the impact of the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the consumption of drugs and on pain conditions (frequency, duration, intensity). We recruited 50 patients with migraine headache (30 with aura, 20 without aura) refractory to pharmacological therapy. In 30 patients (18 with aura, 12 without aura) previous unsatisfactory treatment was supplemented with tDCS performed tenfold. 20 patients (12 with aura, 8 without aura) from a control group were treated with pharmacological methods The observation continued for 30 days after the stimulation. After tDCS, a reduction in the consumption of analgesics and triptans was reported. Additionally, we monitored pain intensity decrease during pain episodes, duration of episodes and the number of pain days. The subjective assessment of pain reduction in migraine patients encompassed 36-40% after tDCS much more effective in comparison to group with only pharmacotherapy (10-12.5%). The study suggests that tDCS may be safe and useful clinical tool in migraine prophylaxis and treatment. Copyright © 2017 Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved.

Impact of Aura and Status Migrainosus on Readmissions for Vascular Events After Migraine Admission.

PubMed

Velickovic Ostojic, Lili; Liang, John W; Sheikh, Huma U; Dhamoon, Mandip S

2018-06-22

-To estimate readmission rates for acute ischemic stroke (AIS), transient ischemic attack (TIA), subarachnoid hemorrhage, and intracerebral hemorrhage after an index admission for migraine, using nationally representative data. -The Nationwide Readmissions Database was designed to analyze readmissions for all payers and uninsured, with data on >14 million US admissions in 2013. We used International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes to identify index migraine admissions with and without aura or status migrainosus, and readmissions for cerebrovascular events. Cox proportional hazards regression was performed for each outcome with aura and status migrainosus as main predictors, adjusting for age and vascular risk factors. -Out of 12,448 index admissions for migraine, 9972 (80.1%) were women, mean age was 45.5 ± 14.8 years, aura was present in 3038 (24.41%), and status migrainosus in 1798 (14.44%). The 30-day readmission rate (per 100,000 index admissions) was 154 for ischemic stroke, 86 for TIA, 42 for subarachnoid hemorrhage, and 17 for intracranial hemorrhage. In unadjusted models, aura was significantly associated with TIA (hazard ratio 2.43, 95% CI 1.39-4.24), but not AIS (1.26, 0.73-2.18), intracranial hemorrhage (1.86, 0.45-7.79) or subarachnoid hemorrhage (1.85, 0.44-7.75). When adjusting for age and vascular risk factors, aura remained significantly associated with TIA (2.13, 1.22-3.74). Status, in adjusted models, was significantly associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage readmission (4.83, 1.09-21.42). -In this large, nationally representative retrospective cohort study, migraine admission with aura was independently associated with TIA readmission, and status migrainosus was independently associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage. Further research would clarify the role of misdiagnosis and causal relationships underlying these strong associations. © 2018 American Headache Society.

Programmer/Analyst Guide for the Army Unit Resiliency Analysis (AURA) computer Simulation Model. Volume 1. AURA Methodology

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-10-01

involving a heavy artillery barrage, the impact point output alone could consume upwards of 10,000 pages of computer paper. For this reason, AURA provides...but pervasive factor: the asset allocation model must be compatible with the mathematical behavior of the input data. Thus, for example, if assets are...described as expendable during repair or decontamination activities, it must have HOMELINKS which appear in the consuming repair SUBCHAINs

Central auditory processing and migraine: a controlled study.

PubMed

Agessi, Larissa Mendonça; Villa, Thaís Rodrigues; Dias, Karin Ziliotto; Carvalho, Deusvenir de Souza; Pereira, Liliane Desgualdo

2014-11-08

This study aimed to verify and compare central auditory processing (CAP) performance in migraine with and without aura patients and healthy controls. Forty-one volunteers of both genders, aged between 18 and 40 years, diagnosed with migraine with and without aura by the criteria of "The International Classification of Headache Disorders" (ICDH-3 beta) and a control group of the same age range and with no headache history, were included. Gaps-in-noise (GIN), Duration Pattern test (DPT) and Dichotic Digits Test (DDT) tests were used to assess central auditory processing performance. The volunteers were divided into 3 groups: Migraine with aura (11), migraine without aura (15), and control group (15), matched by age and schooling. Subjects with aura and without aura performed significantly worse in GIN test for right ear (p = .006), for left ear (p = .005) and for DPT test (p < .001) when compared with controls without headache, however no significant differences were found in the DDT test for the right ear (p = .362) and for the left ear (p = .190). Subjects with migraine performed worsened in auditory gap detection, in the discrimination of short and long duration. They also presented impairment in the physiological mechanism of temporal processing, especially in temporal resolution and temporal ordering when compared with controls. Migraine could be related to an impaired central auditory processing. Research Ethics Committee (CEP 0480.10) - UNIFESP.

An aureobasidin A resistance gene isolated from Aspergillus is a homolog of yeast AUR1, a gene responsible for inositol phosphorylceramide (IPC) synthase activity.

PubMed

Kuroda, M; Hashida-Okado, T; Yasumoto, R; Gomi, K; Kato, I; Takesako, K

1999-03-01

The AUR1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, mutations in which confer resistance to the antibiotic aureobasidin A, is necessary for inositol phosphorylceramide (IPC) synthase activity. We report the molecular cloning and characterization of the Aspergillus nidulans aurA gene, which is homologous to AUR1. A single point mutation in the aurA gene of A. nidulans confers a high level of resistance to aureobasidin A. The A. nidulans aurA gene was used to identify its homologs in other Aspergillus species, including A. fumigatus, A. niger, and A. oryzae. The deduced amino acid sequence of an aurA homolog from the pathogenic fungus A. fumigatus showed 87% identity to that of A. nidulans. The AurA proteins of A. nidulans and A. fumigatus shared common characteristics in primary structure, including sequence, hydropathy profile, and N-glycosylation sites, with their S. cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and Candida albicans counterparts. These results suggest that the aureobasidin resistance gene is conserved evolutionarily in various fungi.

Migraine and risk of stroke: a national population-based twin study.

PubMed

Lantz, Maria; Sieurin, Johanna; Sjölander, Arvid; Waldenlind, Elisabet; Sjöstrand, Christina; Wirdefeldt, Karin

2017-10-01

Numerous studies have indicated an increased risk for stroke in patients with migraine, especially migraine with aura; however, many studies used self-reported migraine and only a few controlled for familial factors. We aimed to investigate migraine as a risk factor for stroke in a Swedish population-based twin cohort, and whether familial factors contribute to an increased risk. The study population included twins without prior cerebrovascular disease who answered a headache questionnaire during 1998 and 2002 for twins born 1935-58 and during 2005-06 for twins born between 1959 and 1985. Migraine with and without aura and probable migraine was defined by an algorithm mapping on to clinical diagnostic criteria according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders. Stroke diagnoses were obtained from the national patient and cause of death registers. Twins were followed longitudinally, by linkage of national registers, from date of interview until date of first stroke, death, or end of study on 31 Dec 2014. In total, 8635 twins had any migraineous headache, whereof 3553 had migraine with aura and 5082 had non-aura migraineous headache (including migraine without aura and probable migraine), and 44 769 twins had no migraine. During a mean follow-up time of 11.9 years we observed 1297 incident cases of stroke. The Cox proportional hazards model with attained age as underlying time scale was used to estimate hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals for stroke including ischaemic and haemorrhagic subtypes related to migraine with aura, non-aura migraineous headache, and any migraineous headache. Analyses were adjusted for gender and cardiovascular risk factors. Where appropriate; within-pair analyses were performed to control for confounding by familial factors. The age- and gender-adjusted hazard ratio for stroke related to migraine with aura was 1.27 (95% confidence interval 1.00-1.62), P = 0.05, and 1.07 (95% confidence interval 0.91-1.26), P = 0.39 related to any migraineous headache. Multivariable adjusted analyses showed similar results. When stratified by gender and attained age of ≤50 or >50 years, the estimated hazard ratio for stroke was higher in twins younger than 50 years and in females; however, non-significant. In the within-pair analysis, the hazard ratio for stroke related to migraine with aura was attenuated [hazard ratio 1.09 (95% confidence interval 0.81-1.46), P = 0.59]. In conclusion, we observed no increased stroke risk related to migraine overall but there was a modestly increased risk for stroke related to migraine with aura, and within-pair analyses suggested that familial factors might contribute to this association. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Modelo de accesibilidad de conceptos matematicos aplicados en el curso de Astronomia Descriptiva para estudiantes con impedimentos visuales en la UPR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isidro Villamizar, Gloria Maria

Este estudio utiliza metodologia de investigacion cualitativa, con el proposito de describir, analizar y evaluar los procesos de diseno y desarrollo de un modelo de accesibilidad que consiste en estrategias de ensenanza de las matematicas para estudiantes con impedimentos visuales matriculados en el curso de Astronomia Descriptiva en la UPR. Se utilizaron las siguientes estrategias para recopilar la informacion, 1) reflexiones de la investigadora en el proceso de diseno y desarrollo de las lecciones adaptadas, que se registraron en un diario reflexivo. 2) entrevista semiestructurada luego de haber trabajado las lecciones de aprendizaje adaptadas con los participantes. 3) observaciones y notas de la investigadora del trabajo de los participantes. Para obtener la informacion de los participantes se obtuvo los permisos institucionales necesarios; se seleccionaron los participantes y se validaron los instrumentos; se realizo el desarrollo de las lecciones adaptadas con los participantes; y finalmente, se analizo la informacion obtenida. El diseno de las lecciones de aprendizaje adaptadas se hizo siguiendo las recomendaciones curriculares de los temas de matematicas aplicados en el curso de Astronomia Descriptiva realizado por la investigadora durante su semestre de internado. El testimonio de las voces de los participantes se obtuvo del proceso de desarrollo de las lecciones de aprendizaje adaptadas de temas seleccionados de conceptos matematicos requeridos en el curso de Astronomia Descriptiva y de la entrevista semiestructurada con los participantes, luego de haber trabajado las lecciones de aprendizaje. Para el desarrollo de las lecciones de aprendizaje, se utilizaron materiales tactiles adaptados, materiales tactiles disenados y materiales disponibles comercialmente. Los textos de las lecciones se imprimieron en tinta y en Braille. Se exhorta a disenar y desarrollar estrategias de ensenanza accesibles, considerando como recursos para evaluar su efectividad a personas con impedimentos visuales. El utilizar estrategias de aprendizaje accesibles de acuerdo a las necesidades individuales de los estudiantes, contribuye para que los estudiantes con impedimentos visuales descubran, exploren, investiguen y formulen sus propias conclusiones durante su proceso de aprendizaje.

Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua and Aura Space Weather Effects on Operational Collision Avoidance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guit, Bill

2017-01-01

This presentation will describe recent EOS Aqua and Aura operational collision avoidance experience during periods of solar and geomagnetic storm activity. It will highlight challenges faced by the operations team during short-notice, high-risk predicted close approaches. The presentation will highlight the evolution of the operational collision avoidance process for the EOS Aqua and Aura missions. The presentation will highlight operational challenges that have occurred, process improvements that have been implemented and identify potential future challenges.

Sunlight irradiance and habituation of visual evoked potentials in migraine: The environment makes its mark.

PubMed

Lisicki, Marco; D'Ostilio, Kevin; Erpicum, Michel; Schoenen, Jean; Magis, Delphine

2017-01-01

Background Migraine is a complex multifactorial disease that arises from the interaction between a genetic predisposition and an enabling environment. Habituation is considered as a fundamental adaptive behaviour of the nervous system that is often impaired in migraine populations. Given that migraineurs are hypersensitive to light, and that light deprivation is able to induce functional changes in the visual cortex recognizable through visual evoked potentials habituation testing, we hypothesized that regional sunlight irradiance levels could influence the results of visual evoked potentials habituation studies performed in different locations worldwide. Methods We searched the literature for visual evoked potentials habituation studies comparing healthy volunteers and episodic migraine patients and correlated their results with levels of local solar radiation. Results After reviewing the literature, 26 studies involving 1291 participants matched our inclusion criteria. Deficient visual evoked potentials habituation in episodic migraine patients was reported in 19 studies. Mean yearly sunlight irradiance was significantly higher in locations of studies reporting deficient habituation. Correlation analyses suggested that visual evoked potentials habituation decreases with increasing sunlight irradiance in migraine without aura patients. Conclusion Results from this hypothesis generating analysis suggest that variations in sunlight irradiance may induce adaptive modifications in visual processing systems that could be reflected in visual evoked potentials habituation, and thus partially account for the difference in results between studies performed in geographically distant centers. Other causal factors such as genetic differences could also play a role, and therefore well-designed prospective trials are warranted.

Headache classification and the Bible: Was St Paul's thorn in the flesh migraine?

PubMed

Göbel, H; Isler, H; Hasenfratz, H P

1995-06-01

The conversion of Saul to Paul was a major event in the history of Western culture. Compared with its impact, any medical comments may seem redundant, but they have kept their place in the literature for many centuries. The flashing light that caused Saul to fall is often explained as solar retinopathy or keratitis, a seizure, or even a hysterical fit. These interpretations propose either a trivial injury or disease that would interfere with mental health. Neither version is quite compatible with the dramatic dimension of the event and with Paul's later achievements and sufferings. In later years, Paul became a great manager, preacher and writer who was able to carry on under any kind of duress, though not without very painful reactions. He was suffering from bouts of unilateral headache, and also from a chronic eye condition which gave great trouble to his followers but did not cause lasting damage; the descriptions fulfil the criteria for migraine without aura of the 1988 Headache Classification. If the flashing light that caused Paul to fall down is interpreted as a visual migraine aura, with the additional symptoms of "not seeing" or photophobia and anorexia, it falls into place with his later history of migraine.

A transcranial doppler study in interictal migraine and tension-type headache.

PubMed

Arjona, Antonio; de Torres, Luis A Perula; Serrano-Castro, Pedro J; Guardado-Santervas, Pedro L; Olivares, Jesus; Rubí-Callejon, Jose

2007-09-01

To use transcranial Doppler (TCD) sonography to determine if patients with migraine without aura have interictal hemodynamic abnormalities compared with patients who have episodic tension-type headache (TH). Thirty-six migraine patients without aura and 51 TH patients (age range, 16-50 years) who were diagnosed according to the criteria of the International Headache Society 1988 participated in the study. Forty-four healthy volunteers, matched for age and sex, formed the control group. Time-averaged mean velocity (TAMV), pulsatility index (PI), and breath-holding index (BHI) were measured via TCD sonography in the middle cerebral artery. TAMV was higher in migraine without aura than in episodic TH (p = 0.034). There were no differences between groups regarding PI or BHI. Our findings support the arteriolar vasodilatation theory in migraine without aura. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Central auditory processing and migraine: a controlled study

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background This study aimed to verify and compare central auditory processing (CAP) performance in migraine with and without aura patients and healthy controls. Methods Forty-one volunteers of both genders, aged between 18 and 40 years, diagnosed with migraine with and without aura by the criteria of “The International Classification of Headache Disorders” (ICDH-3 beta) and a control group of the same age range and with no headache history, were included. Gaps-in-noise (GIN), Duration Pattern test (DPT) and Dichotic Digits Test (DDT) tests were used to assess central auditory processing performance. Results The volunteers were divided into 3 groups: Migraine with aura (11), migraine without aura (15), and control group (15), matched by age and schooling. Subjects with aura and without aura performed significantly worse in GIN test for right ear (p = .006), for left ear (p = .005) and for DPT test (p < .001) when compared with controls without headache, however no significant differences were found in the DDT test for the right ear (p = .362) and for the left ear (p = .190). Conclusions Subjects with migraine performed worsened in auditory gap detection, in the discrimination of short and long duration. They also presented impairment in the physiological mechanism of temporal processing, especially in temporal resolution and temporal ordering when compared with controls. Migraine could be related to an impaired central auditory processing. Clinical trial registration Research Ethics Committee (CEP 0480.10) – UNIFESP PMID:25380661

Improving Air Quality Forecasts with AURA Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newchurch, M. J.; Biazer, A.; Khan, M.; Koshak, W. J.; Nair, U.; Fuller, K.; Wang, L.; Parker, Y.; Williams, R.; Liu, X.

2008-01-01

Past studies have identified model initial and boundary conditions as sources of reducible errors in air-quality simulations. In particular, improving the initial condition improves the accuracy of short-term forecasts as it allows for the impact of local emissions to be realized by the model and improving boundary conditions improves long range transport through the model domain, especially in recirculating anticyclones. During the August 2006 period, we use AURA/OMI ozone measurements along with MODIS and CALIPSO aerosol observations to improve the initial and boundary conditions of ozone and Particulate Matter. Assessment of the model by comparison of the control run and satellite assimilation run to the IONS06 network of ozonesonde observations, which comprise the densest ozone sounding campaign ever conducted in North America, to AURA/TES ozone profile measurements, and to the EPA ground network of ozone and PM measurements will show significant improvement in the CMAQ calculations that use AURA initial and boundary conditions. Further analyses of lightning occurrences from ground and satellite observations and AURA/OMI NO2 column abundances will identify the lightning NOx signal evident in OMI measurements and suggest pathways for incorporating the lightning and NO2 data into the CMAQ simulations.

Executive dysfunctions in migraine with and without aura: what is the role of white matter lesions?

PubMed

Le Pira, Francesco; Reggio, Ester; Quattrocchi, Graziella; Sanfilippo, Cristina; Maci, Tiziana; Cavallaro, Tiziana; Zappia, Mario

2014-01-01

Executive dysfunctions and white matter lesions on magnetic resonance imaging have been reported in migraine. The aim of this study was to determine whether any correlation between these 2 variables exists. Forty-four subjects affected by migraine with or without aura were compared with 16 healthy subjects. A battery of neuropsychological tests assessing executive functions was administered to all subjects. Number and total volume of white matter lesions were assessed in the whole brain and in the frontal lobe. The performances of both groups of migraineurs, with and without aura, were significantly worse when compared with controls on Boston Scanning Test. Moreover, we found lower performances compared with controls respectively on Frontal Assessment Battery in patients with migraine with aura and on Controlled Oral Word Association Test in patients with migraine without aura. Nineteen patients (43.2%) and one control subject (6.2%) had white matter lesions. We did not find any significant correlation between white matter lesions load and neuropsychological performances. On the basis of our results, white matter lesions load on magnetic resonance imaging do not seem to contribute to neuropsychological performances deficit in migraineurs. © 2013 American Headache Society.

Infratentorial Microbleeds: Another Sign of Microangiopathy in Migraine.

PubMed

Arkink, Enrico B; Terwindt, Gisela M; de Craen, Anton J M; Konishi, Junya; van der Grond, Jeroen; van Buchem, Mark A; Ferrari, Michel D; Kruit, Mark C

2015-07-01

Migraine is a risk factor for clinical stroke and for subclinical white matter hyperintensities and infratentorial infarcts. These subclinical lesions are linked to small-vessel pathology. Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are another biomarker of small-vessel disease but have not yet been studied in migraine. Identification of CMBs in 63 migraineurs (25 with aura/35 without aura/3 unknown aura status) and 359 controls (aged, 73-85 years) from the Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER) magnetic resonance imaging study. We assessed the modifying role of migraine in the co-occurrence of CMBs, infarcts, and white matter hyperintensity-load. Infratentorial microbleeds were more prevalent in migraine without aura patients than controls (14% versus 4%). Prevalence of other CMBs, infarcts, and white matter hyperintensities did not differ between groups. Migraineurs with CMBs had more often infarcts than controls with CMBs (65% versus 43%). In comparison with controls with infarcts, migraineurs with infarcts had more commonly CMBs (55% versus 30%). Migraine, notably without aura, is associated with infratentorial CMBs at older age. CMBs and infarcts co-occur more often in migraine than in controls. This supports the hypothesis of small-vessel involvement in migraine pathophysiology. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

Aspetti deontologici e giuridici della Responsabilità professionale del chirurgo in Italia. Evoluzione storica a partire dal '900.

PubMed

Picardi, Nicola

2018-01-01

È pleonastico ricordare che ogni individuo raziocinante delle essere responsabile delle sue azioni: deve agire con la coscienza degli scopi che si propone evitando possibili conseguenze negative dei suoi atti. In ambito medico questo tipo di responsabilità è codificata con le norme della "deontologia". Per secoli l'arte terapeutica è stata praticata da individui dotati di una particolare vocazione ed una particolare cultura acquisita da Maestri dell'arte ancor prima che dalla propria esperienza, con nozioni di erboristeria e di elementari conoscenze anatomiche e di fisiologia, circondati da un'aura sacerdotale e da un rispetto derivante dal timore e dall'ammirazione per il coraggio e auspicabilmente dai successi, e facendo riferimento nell'occidente mediterraneo alle regole operative fissate nel Giuramento di Ippocrate, di significato tra il sacro ed il deontologico. Lo sviluppo delle tecniche anestesiologiche a partire dalla seconda metà dell'800 ha determinato l'ampliamento delle iniziative chirurgiche di tipo elettivo, a fianco con gli storici interventi in emergenza per la cura di lesioni traumatiche, ancor prima delle acquisizioni riguardanti le infezioni. Con l'espansione del campo di azione della chirurgia, le possibili complicanze ed i possibili insuccessi hanno fatto da contrappeso ai sentimenti di rispetto e di fiducia nei confronti dei chirurghi, giungendo a far assimilare in tali casi la loro opera quale causa all'origine di danni, provocati rientrando quindi nella categoria dei reati sottoposti alla Legge penale. Così, al termine deontologico di "responsabilità" valido per ogni iniziativa ed ogni professione, per i medici è venuto ad associarsi la qualifica di "professionale", con un significato di presunta colpevolezza. Da una parte le regole deontologiche si sono ampliate, ed hanno coinvolto direttamente il paziente nella fase decisionale delle terapie chirurgiche, formalizzate programmaticamente in moderni codici deontologici ed operativamente nel documento del "consenso informato". Per altro verso le leggi innovative del Codice Civile definito nel 1942, che al posto delle pene del codice penale introduceva il criterio della risarcibilità economica del danno in caso di riconosciuta "responsabilità professionale", ha determinato il coinvolgimento di altre figura professionali, e cioè di avvocati e di medici legali, oltre che delle organizzazioni assicurative, con detrimento alla serenità nell'espletamento delle professioni sanitarie e con l'insorgenza per reazione della cosidetta "medicina difensiva". La concretezza di queste problematiche hanno richiesto l'interessamento attivo della Giurisprudenza con una serie di sentenze, ed una formulazione di decreti e nuove leggi parlamentari, ancora in pieno assestamento nel corso del 2017, lasciano in qualche modo ancora irrisolti alcuni nodi.

Patients with migraine correctly estimate the visual verticality.

PubMed

Crevits, Luc; Vanacker, Leen; Verraes, Anouk

2012-05-01

We wanted to study otolith function by measuring the static subjective visual vertical (SVV) in migraine patients and in controls with and without kinetosis (motion sickness). Forty-seven patients with moderately severe migraine and 96 healthy controls were enrolled. Using a questionnaire, persons with kinetosis were identified. The SVV test was performed in a totally dark room. Subjects wore a stiffneck to stabilize the head in an erect position. They were required to adjust an infrared line to the gravitational vertical with a hand-held infrared remote controlled potentiometer. The deviation of SVV in the group of migraine patients was not significantly different from that of controls, regardless of whether an aura was associated. SVV was not significantly influenced by the presence of dizziness/non specific vertigo or kinetosis. Patients with moderately severe migraine under prophylactic medication correctly estimate the visual verticality in the headache-free period. It is suggested that a deviation of SVV in a headache-free migraine patient may not be attributed to his migraine disorder as such regardless whether kinetosis is associated. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[A comparison of various supraglottic airway devices for fiberoptical guided tracheal intubation].

PubMed

Metterlein, Thomas; Dintenfelder, Anna; Plank, Christoph; Graf, Bernhard; Roth, Gabriel

Fiberoptical assisted intubation via placed supraglottic airway devices has been described as safe and easy procedure to manage difficult airways. However visualization of the glottis aperture is essential for fiberoptical assisted intubation. Various different supraglottic airway devices are commercially available and might offer different conditions for fiberoptical assisted intubation. The aim of this study was to compare the best obtainable view of the glottic aperture using different supraglottic airway devices. With approval of the local ethics committee 52 adult patients undergoing elective anesthesia were randomly assigned to a supraglottic airway device (Laryngeal Tube, Laryngeal Mask Airway I-Gel, Laryngeal Mask Airway Unique, Laryngeal Mask Airway Supreme, Laryngeal Mask Airway Aura-once). After standardized induction of anaesthesia the supraglottic airway device was placed according to the manufacturers recommendations. After successful ventilation the position of the supraglottic airway device in regard to the glottic opening was examined with a flexible fiberscope. A fully or partially visible glottic aperture was considered as suitable for fiberoptical assisted intubation. Suitability for fiberoptical assisted intubation was compared between the groups (H-test, U-test; p<0.05). Demographic data was not different between the groups. Placement of the supraglottic airway device and adequate ventilation was successful in all attempts. Glottic view suitable for fiberoptical assisted intubation differed between the devices ranging from 40% for the laringeal tube (LT), 66% for the laryngeal mask airway Supreme, 70% for the Laryngeal Mask Airway I-Gel and 90% for both the Laryngeal Mask Airway Unique and the Laryngeal Mask Airway Aura-once. None of the used supraglottic airway devices offered a full or partial glottic view in all cases. However the Laryngeal Mask Airway Unique and the Laryngeal Mask Airway Aura-once seem to be more suitable for fiberoptical assisted intubation compared to other devices. Copyright © 2016 Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia. Publicado por Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

A comparison of various supraglottic airway devices for fiberoptical guided tracheal intubation.

PubMed

Metterlein, Thomas; Dintenfelder, Anna; Plank, Christoph; Graf, Bernhard; Roth, Gabriel

Fiberoptical assisted intubation via placed supraglottic airway devices has been described as safe and easy procedure to manage difficult airways. However visualization of the glottis aperture is essential for fiberoptical assisted intubation. Various different supraglottic airway devices are commercially available and might offer different conditions for fiberoptical assisted intubation. The aim of this study was to compare the best obtainable view of the glottic aperture using different supraglottic airway devices. With approval of the local ethics committee 52 adult patients undergoing elective anesthesia were randomly assigned to a supraglottic airway device (Laryngeal Tube, Laryngeal Mask Airway I-Gel, Laryngeal Mask Airway Unique, Laryngeal Mask Airway Supreme, Laryngeal Mask Airway Aura-once). After standardized induction of anesthesia the supraglottic airway device was placed according to the manufacturers recommendations. After successful ventilation the position of the supraglottic airway device in regard to the glottic opening was examined with a flexible fiberscope. A fully or partially visible glottic aperture was considered as suitable for fiberoptical assisted intubation. Suitability for fiberoptical assisted intubation was compared between the groups (H-test, U-test; p<0.05). Demographic data was not different between the groups. Placement of the supraglottic airway device and adequate ventilation was successful in all attempts. Glottic view suitable for fiberoptical assisted intubation differed between the devices ranging from 40% for the laringeal tube (LT), 66% for the laryngeal mask airway Supreme, 70% for the Laryngeal Mask Airway I-Gel and 90% for both the Laryngeal Mask Airway Unique and the Laryngeal Mask Airway Aura-once. None of the used supraglottic airway devices offered a full or partial glottic view in all cases. However the Laryngeal Mask Airway Unique and the Laryngeal Mask Airway Aura-once seem to be more suitable for fiberoptical assisted intubation compared to other devices. Copyright © 2016 Sociedade Brasileira de Anestesiologia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

EOS Aura Mission Status at Earth Science Constellation MOWG Meeting @ LASP (Boulder, CO) April 13, 2016

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guit, William J.; Fisher, Dominic

2016-01-01

Presentation reflects EOS Aura mission status, spacecraft subsystems summary, recent and planned activities, inclination adjust maneuvers, propellant usage, orbit maintenance maneuvers, conjunction assessment events, orbital parameters trends and predictions.

Estudio polarimétrico de NGC 104 (47 Tucanae)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forte, J. C.; Bassino, L. P.; Vega, E. I.; Cellone, S.; Pellizza, L.; Méndez, M.

Se presentan observaciones polarimétricas en el Visual y sin filtro para 72 estrellas, 14 zonas de referencia y el núcleo del cúmulo globular NGC 104. Las medidas, hechas en el CASLEO con el nuevo polarimétro CASPROF, muestran un comportamiento complejo que incluye: a) dos componentes de polarización a lo largo de la visual; b) signos de envolturas polvorientas en 8 de 10 estrellas variables de largo período pertenecientes al cúmulo c) media docena de estrellas con alta polarización residual (P> 0.20 %) originada probablemente en scattering. Estas estrellas se encuentran próximas a una estructura extendida, coincidente con la región central del cúmulo, detectada en observaciones IRAS. Las observaciones son consistentes con la presencia de pequeñas cantidades de polvo originada en procesos de pérdida de masa.

Tropospheric and stratospheric ozone from assimilation of Aura data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stajner, I.; Wargan, K.; Chang, L.-P.; Hayashi, H.; Pawwson, S.; Froidevaux, L.; Livesey, N.; Bhartia, P. K.

2006-01-01

Ozone is an atmospheric trace gas with multiple impacts on the environment. Global ozone fields are needed for air quality predictions, estimation of the ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface, climate-radiation studies, and may also have an impact on longer-term weather predictions. We estimate global ozone fields in the stratosphere and troposphere by combining the data from EOS Aura satellite with an ozone model using data assimilation. Ozone exhibits a large temporal variability in the lower stratosphere. Our previous work showed that assimilation of satellite data from limb-sounding geometry helps constrain ozone profiles in that region. We assimilated ozone data from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) into the ozone system at NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO). Ozone is transported within a general circulation model (GCM) which includes parameterizations for stratospheric photochemistry, tropospheric chemistry, and a simple scheme for heterogeneous ozone loss. The focus of this study is on the representation of ozone in the lower stratosphere and tropospheric ozone columns. We plan to extend studies of tropospheric ozone distribution through assimilation of ozone data from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES). Comparisons with ozone sondes and occultation data show that assimilation of Aura data reproduces ozone gradients and variability in the lower stratosphere well. We proceed by separating the contributions to temporal changes in the ozone field into those that are due to the model and those that are due to the assimilation of Aura data. The impacts of Aura data are illustrated and their role in the representation of ozone variability in the lower stratosphere and troposphere is shown.

Evaluation of chest compression effect on airway management with air-Q, aura-i, i-gel, and Fastrack intubating supraglottic devices by novice physicians: a randomized crossover simulation study.

PubMed

Komasawa, Nobuyasu; Ueki, Ryusuke; Kaminoh, Yoshiroh; Nishi, Shin-Ichi

2014-10-01

In the 2010 American Heart Association guidelines, supraglottic devices (SGDs) such as the laryngeal mask are proposed as alternatives to tracheal intubation for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Some SGDs can also serve as a means for tracheal intubation after successful ventilation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of chest compression on airway management with four intubating SGDs, aura-i (aura-i), air-Q (air-Q), i-gel (i-gel), and Fastrack (Fastrack), during cardiopulmonary resuscitation using a manikin. Twenty novice physicians inserted the four intubating SGDs into a manikin with or without chest compression. Insertion time and successful ventilation rate were measured. For cases of successful ventilation, blind tracheal intubation via the intubating SGD was performed with chest compression and success or failure within 30 s was recorded. Chest compression did not decrease the ventilation success rate of the four intubating SGDs (without chest compression (success/total): air-Q, 19/20; aura-i, 19/20; i-gel, 18/20; Fastrack, 19/20; with chest compression: air-Q, 19/20; aura-i, 19/20; i-gel, 16/20; Fastrack, 18/20). Insertion time was significantly lengthened by chest compression in the i-gel trial (P < 0.05), but not with the other three devices. The blind intubation success rate with chest compression was the highest in the air-Q trial (air-Q, 15/19; aura-i, 14/19; i-gel, 12/16; Fastrack, 10/18). This simulation study revealed the utility of intubating SGDs for airway management during chest compression.

Multifocal visual evoked potential in optic neuritis, ischemic optic neuropathy and compressive optic neuropathy

PubMed Central

Jayaraman, Manju; Gandhi, Rashmin Anilkumar; Ravi, Priya; Sen, Parveen

2014-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the effect of optic neuritis (ON), ischemic optic neuropathy (ION) and compressive optic neuropathy (CON) on multifocal visual evoked potential (mfVEP) amplitudes and latencies, and to compare the parameters among three optic nerve disorders. Materials and Methods: mfVEP was recorded for 71 eyes of controls and 48 eyes of optic nerve disorders with subgroups of optic neuritis (ON, n = 21 eyes), ischemic optic neuropathy (ION, n = 14 eyes), and compressive optic neuropathy (CON, n = 13 eyes). The size of defect in mfVEP amplitude probability plots and relative latency plots were analyzed. The pattern of the defect in amplitude probability plot was classified according to the visual field profile of optic neuritis treatment trail (ONTT). Results: Median of mfVEP amplitude (log SNR) averaged across 60 sectors were reduced in ON (0.17 (0.13-0.33)), ION (0.14 (0.12-0.21)) and CON (0.21 (0.14-0.30)) when compared to controls. The median mfVEP relative latencies compared to controls were significantly prolonged in ON and CON group of 10.53 (2.62-15.50) ms and 5.73 (2.67-14.14) ms respectively compared to ION group (2.06 (-4.09-13.02)). The common mfVEP amplitude defects observed in probability plots were diffuse pattern in ON, inferior altitudinal defect in ION and temporal hemianopia in CON eyes. Conclusions: Optic nerve disorders cause reduction in mfVEP amplitudes. The extent of delayed latency noted in ischemic optic neuropathy was significantly lesser compared to subjects with optic neuritis and compressive optic neuropathy. mfVEP amplitudes can be used to objectively assess the topography of the visual field defect. PMID:24088641

TES/Aura L3 Carbon Monoxide (CO) Monthly (TL3COM)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-02-28

... TES Aura L1B Nadir Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km Spatial Resolution:  0.5 x 5 km ... Guide Documents:  Data User's Guide (PDF):  Level 3 Level 3 Algorithms, Requirements, & Products (PDF) ...

Left atrial dysfunction in patients with patent foramen ovale and atrial septal aneurysm scheduled for transcatheter closure may play a role in aura genesis.

PubMed

Rigatelli, Gianluca; Dell'avvocata, Fabio; Cardaioli, Paolo; Ronco, Federico; Giordan, Massimo; Braggion, Gabriele; Aggio, Silvio; Chinaglia, Mauro; Cheng, Jack P; Nanjundappa, Aravinda

2010-08-01

It has been suggested that a left atrial (LA) dysfunction induced by large shunt and large atrial septal aneurysm (ASA) may act as a concurrent mechanism of arterial embolism in patients with patent foramen ovale (PFO) and prior stroke. We aimed to evaluate the potential contribution of this mechanism as trigger of migraine in patients with PFO. From January 2007 to September 2009, we prospectively enrolled subjects with migraine who underwent percutaneous PFO closure. Echocardiographic parameter of LA dysfunction was evaluated: pre- and postoperative values were compared to values of different sex and heart rate matched populations: 30 healthy patients, 21 migraine patients without PFO (MwoPFO), and a group of 25 PFO patients without migraine (PFOwoM). The Migraine Disability Assessment Score (MIDAS) was used to assess the incidence and severity of migraine. Forty-five patients (38 females, mean age 38 +/- 6.7 years, mean MIDAS 35.8 +/- 4.7, and 28 patients with migraine with aura) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. After successful percutaneous closure (mean follow-up of 18.2 +/- 4.8 months), PFO closure remained complete in 95%; 35 of 45 patients reported resolution or amelioration of migraine (mean MIDAS score 12.3 +/- 8.8, P < 0.03). All patients with aura reported aura resolution. Preclosure values demonstrated significantly greater LA dysfunction, when compared with healthy and MwoPFO groups. Among patients in the study group, only patients with migraine with aura showed LA dysfunction comparable to PFOwoM patients. This study suggests that LA dysfunction probably does not contribute to migraine itself but may play a role in the genesis of aura symptoms.

Aura-biomes are present in the water layer above coral reef benthic macro-organisms.

PubMed

Walsh, Kevin; Haggerty, J Matthew; Doane, Michael P; Hansen, John J; Morris, Megan M; Moreira, Ana Paula B; de Oliveira, Louisi; Leomil, Luciana; Garcia, Gizele D; Thompson, Fabiano; Dinsdale, Elizabeth A

2017-01-01

As coral reef habitats decline worldwide, some reefs are transitioning from coral- to algal-dominated benthos with the exact cause for this shift remaining elusive. Increases in the abundance of microbes in the water column has been correlated with an increase in coral disease and reduction in coral cover. Here we investigated how multiple reef organisms influence microbial communities in the surrounding water column. Our study consisted of a field assessment of microbial communities above replicate patches dominated by a single macro-organism. Metagenomes were constructed from 20 L of water above distinct macro-organisms, including (1) the coral Mussismilia braziliensis , (2) fleshy macroalgae ( Stypopodium , Dictota and Canistrocarpus ), (3) turf algae, and (4) the zoanthid Palythoa caribaeorum and were compared to the water microbes collected 3 m above the reef. Microbial genera and functional potential were annotated using MG-RAST and showed that the dominant benthic macro-organisms influence the taxa and functions of microbes in the water column surrounding them, developing a specific "aura-biome". The coral aura-biome reflected the open water column, and was associated with Synechococcus and functions suggesting oligotrophic growth, while the fleshy macroalgae aura-biome was associated with Ruegeria , Pseudomonas, and microbial functions suggesting low oxygen conditions. The turf algae aura-biome was associated with Vibrio, Flavobacterium, and functions suggesting pathogenic activity, while zoanthids were associated with Alteromonas and functions suggesting a stressful environment. Because each benthic organism has a distinct aura-biome, a change in benthic cover will change the microbial community of the water, which may lead to either the stimulation or suppression of the recruitment of benthic organisms.

Aura-biomes are present in the water layer above coral reef benthic macro-organisms

PubMed Central

Haggerty, J. Matthew; Doane, Michael P.; Hansen, John J.; Morris, Megan M.; Moreira, Ana Paula B.; de Oliveira, Louisi; Leomil, Luciana; Garcia, Gizele D.; Thompson, Fabiano; Dinsdale, Elizabeth A.

2017-01-01

As coral reef habitats decline worldwide, some reefs are transitioning from coral- to algal-dominated benthos with the exact cause for this shift remaining elusive. Increases in the abundance of microbes in the water column has been correlated with an increase in coral disease and reduction in coral cover. Here we investigated how multiple reef organisms influence microbial communities in the surrounding water column. Our study consisted of a field assessment of microbial communities above replicate patches dominated by a single macro-organism. Metagenomes were constructed from 20 L of water above distinct macro-organisms, including (1) the coral Mussismilia braziliensis, (2) fleshy macroalgae (Stypopodium, Dictota and Canistrocarpus), (3) turf algae, and (4) the zoanthid Palythoa caribaeorum and were compared to the water microbes collected 3 m above the reef. Microbial genera and functional potential were annotated using MG-RAST and showed that the dominant benthic macro-organisms influence the taxa and functions of microbes in the water column surrounding them, developing a specific “aura-biome”. The coral aura-biome reflected the open water column, and was associated with Synechococcus and functions suggesting oligotrophic growth, while the fleshy macroalgae aura-biome was associated with Ruegeria, Pseudomonas, and microbial functions suggesting low oxygen conditions. The turf algae aura-biome was associated with Vibrio, Flavobacterium, and functions suggesting pathogenic activity, while zoanthids were associated with Alteromonas and functions suggesting a stressful environment. Because each benthic organism has a distinct aura-biome, a change in benthic cover will change the microbial community of the water, which may lead to either the stimulation or suppression of the recruitment of benthic organisms. PMID:28828261

Selected Measurements of Total Arctic Column Ozone Amounts from Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument, 2004-2005 Arctic Winter

NASA Image and Video Library

2005-06-02

Images from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument onboard NASA Aura spacecraft shows the average total column ozone during the months of January and March, and the total column ozone on the single day of 11 March, 2005.

Aura Microwave Limb Sounder Estimates of Ozone Loss, 2004/2005 Arctic Winter

NASA Image and Video Library

2005-06-02

These data maps from the Microwave Limb Sounder on NASA Aura spacecraft depict levels of hydrogen chloride, chlorine monoxide, and ozone at an altitude of approximately 19 km 490,000 ft on selected days during the 2004-05 Arctic winter.

TES/Aura L3 Methane (CH4) Monthly (TL3CH4M)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-02-28

... TES Aura L1B Nadir Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km Spatial Resolution:  0.5 x 5 km ... Guide Documents:  Data User's Guide (PDF):  Level 3 Level 3 Algorithms, Requirements, & Products (PDF) ...

TES/Aura L2 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Nadir V7 (TL2CO2N)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-01-18

... TES/Aura L2 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Nadir (TL2CO2N) News:  TES News Join TES News List Project ... TES Order Tool Parameters:  Earth Science Atmosphere Atmospheric Chemistry/Carbon and Hydrocarbon Compounds ...

TES/Aura L3 Atmospheric Temperatures Daily V5 (TL3ATD)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-05-08

... Platform:  TES Aura L1B Nadir/Limb Spatial Coverage:  (-180, 180)(-90, 90) Spatial Resolution:  0.5 x 5 km nadir 2.3 x 23 km limb Temporal Coverage:  07/15/2004 - Present Temporal Resolution:  ...

Time-Frequency Characterization of Cerebral Hemodynamics of Migraine Sufferers as Assessed by NIRS Signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molinari, Filippo; Rosati, Samanta; Liboni, William; Negri, Emanuela; Mana, Ornella; Allais, Gianni; Benedetto, Chiara

2010-12-01

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a noninvasive system for the real-time monitoring of the concentration of oxygenated ([InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.]) and reduced (HHb) hemoglobin in the brain cortex. [InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.] and HHb concentrations vary in response to cerebral autoregulation. Sixty-eight women (14 migraineurs without aura, 49 migraineurs with aura, and 5 controls) performed breath-holding and hyperventilation during NIRS recordings. Signals were processed using the Choi-Williams time-frequency transform in order to measure the power variation of the very-low frequencies (VLF: 20-40 mHz) and of the low frequencies (LF: 40-140 mHz). Results showed that migraineurs without aura present different LF and VLF power levels than controls and migraineurs with aura. The accurate power measurement of the time-frequency analysis allowed for the discrimination of the subjects' hemodynamic patterns. The time-frequency analysis of NIRS signals can be used in clinical practice to assess cerebral hemodynamics.

Is the brain of migraineurs "different" even in dreams?

PubMed

Lovati, C; DeAngeli, F; D'Amico, D; Giani, L; D'Alessandro, C M; Zardoni, M; Scaglione, V; Castoldi, D; Capiluppi, E; Curone, M; Bussone, G; Mariani, C

2014-05-01

Migraineurs brain is hyper-excitable and hypo-metabolic. Dreaming is a mental state characterized by hallucinatory features in which imagery, emotion, motor skills and memory are created de novo. To evaluate dreams in different kinds of headache. We included 219 controls; 148 migraineurs (66 with aura-MA, 82 without aura-MO); 45 tension type headache (TTH) patients. ICHD-II diagnostic criteria were used. Ad hoc questionnaire was used to evaluate oneiric activity. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire, and the Patient Health Questionnaire were administered to evaluate anxiety and mood. The prevalence of dreamers was similar in different groups. Frequency of visual and auditory dreams was not different between groups. Migraineurs, particularly MA, had an increased frequency of taste dreams (present in 19.6 % of controls, 40.9 % of MA, 23.2 % of MO, 11.1 % of TTH, p < 0.01), and of olfactory dreams (present in 20 % of controls, 36 % of MA, 35 % of MO and 20 % of TTH, p < 0.01). Anxiety and mood did not influence these results. The increased frequency of taste and olfactory dreams among migraineurs seems to be specific, possibly reflecting a particular sensitivity of gustative and olfactory brain structures, as suggested by osmofobia and nausea, typical of migraine. This may suggest the role of some cerebral structures, such as amygdala and hypothalamus, which are known to be involved in migraine mechanisms as well in the biology of sleep and dreaming.

Ictal affective symptoms in temporal lobe epilepsy are related to gender and age.

PubMed

Toth, Vanda; Fogarasi, Andras; Karadi, Kazmer; Kovacs, Norbert; Ebner, Alois; Janszky, Jozsef

2010-07-01

We systematically analyzed the video-recorded and patient-reported, as well as positive and negative ictal affective symptoms (IAS) in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Our aim was to assess (1) frequency, (2) gender effect, (3) lateralizing significance, (4) localizing value, and (5) prognostic significance in epilepsy surgery of IAS in patients with video-registered seizures. We reviewed ictal video recordings of 184 patients (99 women, aged 16-63). All patients had surgery for intractable TLE with video-recorded complex partial seizures (CPS) due to temporal lobe lesions visualized by high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Affective auras (AAs) were categorized into two groups: positive or negative. We registered AAs in 18% of patients: positive in 3%, negative in 15%. We saw ictal affective behavior (IAB) in 22% of patients; 10% had positive, whereas 14% had negative IAB. Two patients had both positive and negative IAB. AAs showed an association with IAB in case of fear expression versus fear auras (p = 0.018). IAB, especially negative IAB, occurred more often in women than in men. Patients with negative IAB were younger than others. We could not demonstrate an association between IAS and the localization, lateralization, or hemispheric dominance. Surgical outcome did not associate with IAS. Patient-reported and video-recorded negative-but not positive-affective signs are related to each other. Video-recorded negative AAs occur more often in women and young patients.

Aura Satellite Mission: Oxford/RAL Spring School in Quantitative Earth Observation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Douglass, Anne

2005-01-01

The four instruments on Aura are providing new and exciting measurements of stratospheric and tropospheric ozone, species that contribute to ozone production and loss, and long-lived gases such as nitrous oxide and methane that provide information about atmospheric transport. These discussions of atmospheric chemistry will start with the basic principles of ozone production and loss. Aura data will be used where possible to illustrate the pertinent atmospheric processes. Three-dimensional model simulations will be used both to illustrate present capabilities in constituent modeling and to demonstrate how observations are used to evaluate and improve models and our ability to predict future ozone evolution.

KSC-04pd1359

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Workers on the mobile service tower, or gantry, at Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., check connections as the protective cover is lifted off the Aura spacecraft. Aura will be mated to the second stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket before the fairing is installed. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

Aura Microwave Limb Sounder Animation Illustrating the Interaction Between Temperatures and Chemicals Involved in Ozone Destruction, 2004-2005 Arctic Winter

NASA Image and Video Library

2005-06-02

This still from an animation created from data from the Microwave Limb Sounder instrument on NASA Aura spacecraft depicts the complex interaction of chemicals involved in the destruction of ozone during the 2005 Arctic winter.

TES/Aura L3 Ammonia (NH3) Daily V3 (TL3NH3D)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-03-14

... TES Aura L1B Nadir Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km Spatial Resolution:  0.5 x 5 km ... Guide Documents:  Data User's Guide (PDF):  Level 3 Level 3 Algorithms, Requirements, & Products (PDF) ...

Dietary patterns according to headache and migraine status: A cross-sectional study

PubMed Central

Rist, Pamela M.; Buring, Julie E.; Kurth, Tobias

2014-01-01

Background Several potential dietary trigger factors for migraine have been proposed. However, few studies have examined the intake pattern of these dietary items compared to adequate control populations and if intake levels may vary by migraine aura status or attack frequency. Methods Cross-sectional study among participants in the Women's Health Study. We used logistic regression to evaluate the association between migraine and headache status and low intake for foods commonly reported to affect migraine. Results 25,755 women reported no history of migraine or headache; 5573 reported non-migraine headache and 7042 reported any migraine of which 2972 reported migraine without aura and 1974 reported migraine with aura within the past year. Those with non-migraine headache or any migraine were more likely to have low intake of total alcohol (OR=1.22, 95% CI:1.14–1.29 and OR=1.17, 95% CI:1.11–1.24, respectively). Migraineurs with aura were more likely to have low intake of chocolate, ice cream, hot dogs, and processed meats. Those who experience migraine at least once per week were more likely to have low intake of skim/low-fat milk and white and red wine. Conclusion Intake of most suggested migraine dietary triggers differs by migraine aura status and attack frequency, a pattern not found for non-migraine headache. PMID:25424709

TES/MLS Aura L2 Carbon Monoxide (CO) Nadir (TML2CO)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-05-06

TES/MLS Aura L2 Carbon Monoxide (CO) Nadir (TML2CO) Atmospheric ... profile estimates and associated errors derived using TES & MLS spectral radiance measurements taken at nearest time and locations. ... a priori constraint vectors. News:  TES News Join TES News List Project Title:  TES ...

TES/MLS Aura L2 Carbon Monoxide (CO) Nadir (TML2CO)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-05-07

TES/MLS Aura L2 Carbon Monoxide (CO) Nadir (TML2CO) ... profile estimates and associated errors derived using TES & MLS spectral radiance measurements taken at nearest time and locations. ... a priori constraint vectors. News:  TES News Join TES News List Project Title:  TES ...

Aqua/Aura Inclination Adjust Maneuver Series Spring 2018 Planning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trenholme, Elena; Boone, Spencer

2017-01-01

This will be presented at the International Earth Science Constellation Mission Operations Working Group meeting on December 6-8, 2017 to discuss the Aqua/Aura Spring 2018 Inclination Adjust Maneuver series planning. Presentation has been reviewed and approved by Eric Moyer, ESMO (Earth Science Mission Operations) Deputy Project Manager.

TES/Aura L3 Atmospheric Temperatures Daily V4 (TL3ATD)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-05-09

... Platform:  TES Aura L1B Nadir/Limb Spatial Coverage:  5.3 x 8.5 km nadir 37 x 23 km limb Spatial ... 0.5 x 5 km nadir 2.3 x 23 km limb Temporal Coverage:  08/22/2004 - present Temporal Resolution:  ...

Mission Status for Earth Science Constellation MOWG Meeting at KSC: EOS Aura

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fisher, Dominic

2017-01-01

This will be presented at the Earth Science Constellation Mission Operations Working Group (MOWG) meeting at KSC (Kennedy Space Center) in December 2017 to discus EOS (Earth Observing System) Aura status. Reviewed and approved by Eric Moyer, ESMO (Earth Sciences Mission Operations) Deputy Project Manager.

Effectiveness and safety of Nintendo Wii Fit Plus™ training in children with migraine without aura: a preliminary study

PubMed Central

Esposito, Maria; Ruberto, Maria; Gimigliano, Francesca; Marotta, Rosa; Gallai, Beatrice; Parisi, Lucia; Lavano, Serena Marianna; Roccella, Michele; Carotenuto, Marco

2013-01-01

Background Migraine without aura (MoA) is a painful syndrome, particularly in childhood; it is often accompanied by severe impairments, including emotional dysfunction, absenteeism from school, and poor academic performance, as well as issues relating to poor cognitive function, sleep habits, and motor coordination. Materials and methods The study population consisted of 71 patients affected by MoA (32 females, 39 males) (mean age: 9.13±1.94 years); the control group consisted of 93 normally developing children (44 females, 49 males) (mean age: 8.97±2.03 years) recruited in the Campania school region. The entire population underwent a clinical evaluation to assess total intelligence quotient level, visual-motor integration (VMI) skills, and motor coordination performance, the later using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC). Children underwent training using the Wii-balance board and Nintendo Wii Fit Plus™ software (Nintendo Co, Ltd, Kyoto, Japan); training lasted for 12 weeks and consisted of three 30-minute sessions per week at their home. Results The two starting populations (MoA and controls) were not significantly different for age (P=0.899) and sex (P=0.611). M-ABC and VMI performances at baseline (T0) were significantly different in dexterity, balance, and total score for M-ABC (P<0.001) and visual (P=0.003) and motor (P<0.001) tasks for VMI. After 3 months of Wii training (T1), MoA children showed a significant improvement in M-ABC global performance (P<0.001), M-ABC dexterity (P<0.001), M-ABC balance (P<0.001), and VMI motor task (P<0.001). Conclusion Our study reported the positive effects of the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus™ system as a rehabilitative device for the visuomotor and balance skills impairments among children affected by MoA, even if further research and longer follow-up are needed. PMID:24453490

Effectiveness and safety of Nintendo Wii Fit Plus™ training in children with migraine without aura: a preliminary study.

PubMed

Esposito, Maria; Ruberto, Maria; Gimigliano, Francesca; Marotta, Rosa; Gallai, Beatrice; Parisi, Lucia; Lavano, Serena Marianna; Roccella, Michele; Carotenuto, Marco

2013-01-01

Migraine without aura (MoA) is a painful syndrome, particularly in childhood; it is often accompanied by severe impairments, including emotional dysfunction, absenteeism from school, and poor academic performance, as well as issues relating to poor cognitive function, sleep habits, and motor coordination. The study population consisted of 71 patients affected by MoA (32 females, 39 males) (mean age: 9.13±1.94 years); the control group consisted of 93 normally developing children (44 females, 49 males) (mean age: 8.97±2.03 years) recruited in the Campania school region. The entire population underwent a clinical evaluation to assess total intelligence quotient level, visual-motor integration (VMI) skills, and motor coordination performance, the later using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC). Children underwent training using the Wii-balance board and Nintendo Wii Fit Plus™ software (Nintendo Co, Ltd, Kyoto, Japan); training lasted for 12 weeks and consisted of three 30-minute sessions per week at their home. The two starting populations (MoA and controls) were not significantly different for age (P=0.899) and sex (P=0.611). M-ABC and VMI performances at baseline (T0) were significantly different in dexterity, balance, and total score for M-ABC (P<0.001) and visual (P=0.003) and motor (P<0.001) tasks for VMI. After 3 months of Wii training (T1), MoA children showed a significant improvement in M-ABC global performance (P<0.001), M-ABC dexterity (P<0.001), M-ABC balance (P<0.001), and VMI motor task (P<0.001). Our study reported the positive effects of the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus™ system as a rehabilitative device for the visuomotor and balance skills impairments among children affected by MoA, even if further research and longer follow-up are needed.

SHADOZ in the Aura Era

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Witte, J. C.; Thompson, A. M.; Oltmans, S. J.; Schoeberl, M. R.; Bhartia, P. K.; Froidevaux, L.; Schmidlin, F.; Calpini, B.; Shiotani, M.; Fujiwara, M.;

Biological effects of aqueous extract from Turkey vulture Cathartes aura (Cathartidae) meat.

PubMed

Jacobo-Salcedo, Maria del Rosario; Juárez-Vázquez, Maria del Carmen; González-Espíndola, Luis Ángel; Maciel-Torres, Sandra Patricia; García-Carrancá, Alejandro; Alonso-Castro, Angel Josabad

2013-01-30

Cathartes aura is a bird used in the Mexican traditional medicine for the empirical treatment of cancer, injuries, infections and burns. The in vitro immunomodulatory effects of Cathartes aura extract (CAE) were evaluated estimating its effects on proliferation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and murine splenocytes. The effects of CAE (1-200 μg/ml) on NO production, pinocytosis and lysosomal enzyme activity were assayed in murine macrophages RAW 264.7. The cytotoxic effects of CAE (1-500 μg/ml) on tumorigenic and non tumorigenic cells were evaluated using the MTT assay. In the absence of LPS, CAE induced the proliferation of murine splenocytes (119%), enhanced the pinocytosis (113%) and lysosomal enzyme activity (141%) in murine macrophages with a similar potency than lypopolisaccharides 1 μg/ml. In addition, CAE exerted cytotoxic effects mainly on human cervical cancer cells (IC(50)=117 μg/ml) but lacked toxic effects on non tumorigenic cells (IC(50)>500 μg/ml). Cathartes aura exerts immunostimulatory and cytotoxic activities. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of neurofeedback on a brain wave and visual perception in stroke: a randomized control trial.

PubMed

Cho, Hwi-Young; Kim, Kitae; Lee, Byounghee; Jung, Jinhwa

2015-03-01

[Purpose] This study investigated a brain wave and visual perception changes in stroke subjects using neurofeedback (NFB) training. [Subjects] Twenty-seven stroke subjects were randomly allocated to the NFB (n = 13) group and the control group (n=14). [Methods] Two expert therapists provided the NFB and CON groups with traditional rehabilitation therapy in 30 thirst-minute sessions over the course of 6 weeks. NFB training was provided only to the NFB group. The CON group received traditional rehabilitation therapy only. Before and after the 6-week intervention, a brain wave test and motor free visual perception test (MVPT) were performed. [Results] Both groups showed significant differences in their relative beta wave values and attention concentration quotients. Moreover, the NFB group showed a significant difference in MVPT visual discrimination, form constancy, visual memory, visual closure, spatial relation, raw score, and processing time. [Conclusion] This study demonstrated that NFB training is more effective for increasing concentration and visual perception changes than traditional rehabilitation. In further studies, detailed and diverse investigations should be performed considering the number and characteristics of subjects, and the NFB training period.

Highlights from a Decade of OMI-TOMS Total Ozone Observations on EOS Aura

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haffner, David P.; Bhartia, Pawan K.; McPeters, Richard D.; Joiner, Joanna; Ziemke, Jerald R.; Vassilkov, Alexander; Labow, Gordon J.; Chiou, Er-Woon

2014-01-01

Total ozone measurements from OMI have been instrumental in meeting Aura science objectives. In the last decade, OMI has extended the length of the TOMS total ozone record to over 35 years to monitor stratospheric ozone recovery. OMI-TOMS total ozone measurements have also been combined synergistically with measurements from other Aura instruments and MLS in particular, which provides vertically resolved information that complements the total O3 mapping capability of OMI. With this combined approach, the EOS Aura platform has produced more accurate and detailed measurements of tropospheric ozone. This has led in turn to greater understanding of the sources and transport of tropospheric ozone as well as its radiative forcing effect. The combined use of OMI and MLS data was also vital to the analysis of the severe Arctic ozone depletion event of 2011. The quality of OMI-TOMS total O3 data used in these studies is the result of several factors: a mature and well-validated algorithm, the striking stability of the OMI instrument, and OMI's hyperspectral capabilities used to derive cloud pressures. The latter has changed how we think about the effects of clouds on total ozone retrievals. We will discuss the evolution of the operational V8.5 algorithm and provide an overview and motivation for V9. After reviewing results and developments of the past decade, we finally highlight how ozone observations from EOS Aura are playing an important role in new ozone mapping missions.

A new Aura virus isolate in Brazil shows segment duplication in the variable region of the nsP3 gene.

PubMed

Mosimann, Ana Luiza Pamplona; de Siqueira, Mirian Krystel; Ceole, Ligia Fernanda; Nunes Duarte Dos Santos, Claudia

2018-05-29

A new isolate of Aura virus serendipitously discovered as a cell culture contaminant is reported in this manuscript. Aura virus belongs to the family Togaviridae and is classified in the genus Alphavirus. There are only two reports of Aura virus isolation from mosquitoes in the scientific literature, and the existence of a vertebrate host is still unknown. The discovery of this new isolate was based on transmission electron microscopy and nucleic acid amplification through a non-specific RT-PCR amplification protocol followed by sequencing. Genetic analysis has shown that the new virus shares a high degree of identity with the previously described isolate (GenBank: AF126284.1). A major difference was observed in the nsP3 gene in which a 234-nucleotide duplication has been identified. Furthermore, a pronounced difference was observed in cell cultures compared to the data available for the previously described isolate. Cell permissiveness and phenotypic characteristics in C6/36, Vero and BHK-21 cells were found to differ from previous reports. This may be due to the genetic differences that have been observed. The genetic and biological characteristics of the new Aura virus isolate are suggestive of viral adaptation to the cell substrate. The development of a cDNA clone will lend a perspective and better understanding of these results as well as open avenues for its use as a biotechnological tool, as seen for other alphaviruses.

Is SOD2 Ala16Val Polymorphism Associated with Migraine with Aura Phenotype?

PubMed Central

Barbanti, Piero; De Marchis, Maria Laura; Egeo, Gabriella; Aurilia, Cinzia; Fofi, Luisa; Ialongo, Cristiano; Valente, Maria Giovanna; Ferroni, Patrizia; Della-Morte, David; Guadagni, Fiorella

2015-01-01

Abstract Several studies suggest a role of oxidative stress in the physiopathology of migraine, particularly in the form with aura. In a case-control study, we investigated the association between migraine and superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) genes in a cohort of 490 consecutive unrelated Caucasian migraineurs (migraine with aura [MwA], n=107; migraine without aura [MwoA], n=246; chronic migraine [CM], n=137) and 246 healthy controls recruited at our Headache and Pain Unit and stored in the Interinstitutional Multidisciplinary BioBank (BioBIM). Migraine phenotype was carefully detailed using face-to-face interviews. We examined polymorphisms of SOD1 gene (A/C substitution—rs2234694) and SOD2 gene (C/T transition—rs4880—Ala16Val). The rs4880 TT (Val/Val) genotype was associated (p=0.042) with the presence of unilateral cranial autonomic symptoms (UAs) in MwA patients. We also found a mild correlation between SOD2 rs4880 genotype and the type of acute migraine treatment (p=0.048) in MwA patients. Our findings suggest that SOD2 is a disease-modifier gene influencing oxidative mechanisms in MwA. These observations lead to the hypothesis that SOD2 polymorphism may cause a defective control of the oxidative phenomena linked to cortical spreading depression, the neurophysiological hallmark of migraine aura, causing an overstimulation of trigeminal neurons and UAs triggering. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 22, 275–279. PMID:25295643

Systemic right-to-left shunts, ischemic brain lesions, and persistent migraine activity

PubMed Central

Palm-Meinders, Inge H.; Mess, Werner H.; Keunen, Ruud W.; Terwindt, Gisela M.; Launer, Lenore J.; van Buchem, Mark A.; Kruit, Mark C.; Ferrari, Michel D.

2016-01-01

Objective: To assess whether migraine in the general population is associated with increased risk of systemic right-to-left shunts (RLS) and whether RLS are associated with increased prevalence of brain infarcts and persistent recurrence of migraine attacks at older age. Methods: Brain MRI and transcranial Doppler with air contrast in 166 unselected migraineurs (mean age ± SD 56 ± 7.7 years; 70% women; n = 96 migraine with aura) and 69 controls (mean age ± SD 55 ± 7.6 years; 65% women) from the general population. Results: Participants with migraine with aura more frequently had Valsalva-induced RLS (60%), in particular large-sized, compared to controls (42%; odds ratio [OR] 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1–3.9; p = 0.02) and participants with migraine without aura (40%; OR 2.3; 95% CI 1.2–4.3; p = 0.01). They also more frequently had spontaneous RLS (35%) than participants with migraine without aura (17%; OR 2.6; 95% CI 1.3–5.6; p = 0.01) but not compared to controls (26%; OR 1.6; 95% CI 0.8–3.1; p = 0.2). Participants with migraine with aura and spontaneous RLS more frequently had persistent migraine activity (85%) than participants with migraine without spontaneous RLS (63%; OR 3.4; 95% CI 1.2–10.1; p = 0.03). Nine percent of participants with RLS had silent posterior circulation infarcts compared to 3% of participants without RLS (OR 2.8; 95% CI 0.9–9.3; p = 0.08), independent of migraine status. RLS were not associated with white matter lesions. Conclusions: RLS are more prevalent in migraineurs with aura but do not explain the increased prevalence of silent posterior circulation infarcts or white matter lesions in migraineurs. Spontaneous RLS are associated with persistent migraine. PMID:26968513

Systemic right-to-left shunts, ischemic brain lesions, and persistent migraine activity.

PubMed

Koppen, Hille; Palm-Meinders, Inge H; Mess, Werner H; Keunen, Ruud W; Terwindt, Gisela M; Launer, Lenore J; van Buchem, Mark A; Kruit, Mark C; Ferrari, Michel D

2016-05-03

To assess whether migraine in the general population is associated with increased risk of systemic right-to-left shunts (RLS) and whether RLS are associated with increased prevalence of brain infarcts and persistent recurrence of migraine attacks at older age. Brain MRI and transcranial Doppler with air contrast in 166 unselected migraineurs (mean age ± SD 56 ± 7.7 years; 70% women; n = 96 migraine with aura) and 69 controls (mean age ± SD 55 ± 7.6 years; 65% women) from the general population. Participants with migraine with aura more frequently had Valsalva-induced RLS (60%), in particular large-sized, compared to controls (42%; odds ratio [OR] 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-3.9; p = 0.02) and participants with migraine without aura (40%; OR 2.3; 95% CI 1.2-4.3; p = 0.01). They also more frequently had spontaneous RLS (35%) than participants with migraine without aura (17%; OR 2.6; 95% CI 1.3-5.6; p = 0.01) but not compared to controls (26%; OR 1.6; 95% CI 0.8-3.1; p = 0.2). Participants with migraine with aura and spontaneous RLS more frequently had persistent migraine activity (85%) than participants with migraine without spontaneous RLS (63%; OR 3.4; 95% CI 1.2-10.1; p = 0.03). Nine percent of participants with RLS had silent posterior circulation infarcts compared to 3% of participants without RLS (OR 2.8; 95% CI 0.9-9.3; p = 0.08), independent of migraine status. RLS were not associated with white matter lesions. RLS are more prevalent in migraineurs with aura but do not explain the increased prevalence of silent posterior circulation infarcts or white matter lesions in migraineurs. Spontaneous RLS are associated with persistent migraine. © 2016 American Academy of Neurology.

Five Blind Men and an Elephant: Comparing Aura Ozone Datasets and Sonde with Model Simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Q.; Prather, M. J.

2011-12-01

The four Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura satellite ozone measurements (HIRDLS, MLS, OMI, and TES) as well as the coincident WOUDC sonde are the five ``blind men'' touching the ``elephant'' (ozone). They all measure ozone (O3) in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) region, providing the great opportunity to study how the tropospheric ozone is influenced by the stratospheric source, an important tropospheric ozone budget term with large uncertainties and discrepancies across different models and methods. Based upon the 2-D autocorrelation for the tropospheric column ozone anomalies of the OMI swaths, we show that the stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) processes occur on the scale of a few hundred kilometers. Applying the high resolution (1o±1o±40-layer±0.5 hr) atmospheric chemistry transport model (CTM) as a transfer standard, we compare the noncoincident Aura level 2 swath datasets with the exact matching simulations of each measurement to investigate the consistency of different instruments as well as evaluate the accuracy of modeled ozone. Different signs of the CTM biases against HIRDLS, MLS, and TES are found from tropics to northern hemisphere (NH) mid-latitudes in July 2005 at 215 hPa and over tropics at 147 hPa for July 2005 and January 2006, suggesting inconsistency across these Aura datasets. On the other hand, the CTM has great positive biases against satellite observations in the lower stratosphere of winter time southern hemisphere (SH) mid-latitudes, which is probably attributed to the problems in the stratospheric circulation of the driving met-fields. The model's ability of reproducing STE-related processes, such as tropospheric folds (TFs), is confirmed by the comparisons with WOUDC sonde. We found eight cases in year 2005 with all the four Aura measurements available and folding structures in the coincident sonde profile. The case studies indicate that all the four Aura instruments demonstrate some skills in catching the STE structures, either from the high tropospheric column anomalies (for OMI) or from the O3 vertical profiles (for HIRDLS, MLS, and TES), while miss many of such events. Therefore, Aura datasets can only apply for the STE case studies. Improvements in the data quality and sensing techniques are suggested by this result to provide better satellite data for constraining the STE modeling.

Spectrum of migraine variants and beyond: The individual syndromes in children.

PubMed

Gupta, Surya N; Gupta, Vikash S; Borad, Nirali

2016-01-01

"Migraine-related conditions" are probably the second most common condition after seizure encountered in pediatric neurology requiring frequent Emergency Department visits. Among migraines, migraine-related condition presents with an acute onset sign or symptom other than headache or visual aura of unknown etiology. A delay in diagnosis is a common occurrence. Previously, the authors proposed a common clinical profile and suggested that the future review should seek the applicability of the common profile in aid to clinical diagnosis of migraine-related individual syndromes. Authors describe the clinical characteristics and differential diagnosis of the spectrum of migraine variants and beyond in children. Copyright © 2015 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

NASA Explores the Carina Nebula by Touch

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

Release Date March 30, 2010 The raised arcs, lines, dots, and other markings in this 17-by-11-inch Hubble Space Telescope image of the Carina Nebula highlight important features in the giant gas cloud, allowing visually impaired people to feel what they cannot see and form a picture of the nebula in their minds. To read more abou this image go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/carina-touch.html Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Mutchler (STScI/AURA) and N. Grice (You Can Do Astronomy LLC) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.

Radio tuning effects on visual and driving performance measures : simulator and test track studies.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-05-01

Existing driver distraction guidelines for visual-manual device interface operation specify traditional : manual radio tuning as a reference task. This project evaluated the radio tuning reference task through two activities. : The first activity con...

The probability of laser caused ocular injury to the aircrew of undetected aircraft violating the exclusion zone about the airborne aura LIDAR.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Augustoni, Arnold L.

2006-12-01

The probability of a laser caused ocular injury, to the aircrew of an undetected aircraft entering the exclusion zone about the AURA LIDAR airborne platform with the possible violation of the Laser Hazard Zone boundary, was investigated and quantified for risk analysis and management.

Oak tree selection by nesting turkey vultures (Cathartes aura)

Treesearch

Gregory A. Giusti; R.J. Keiffer; Shane Feirer; R.F. Keiffer

2015-01-01

Turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) are a ubiquitous component of California’s oak woodland faunal assemblage. Though obvious, they are one of the least studied vertebrates found in our hardwood forests. This study attempts to define the role of oak trees as nesting sites for this large avian species. Verified nest trees are evaluated to determine...

The prevalence of fibromyalgia and its relation with headache characteristics in episodic migraine.

PubMed

Küçükşen, Sami; Genç, Emine; Yılmaz, Halim; Sallı, Ali; Gezer, İlknur Albayrak; Karahan, Ali Yavuz; Salbaş, Ender; Cingöz, Havva Turaç; Nas, Ömer; Uğurlu, Hatice

2013-07-01

The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of fibromyalgia (FM) in patients with episodic migraine and to evaluate the relationship between migraine characteristics and FM. One hundred and eighteen consecutive patients (mean age = 38 years, 75% women) fulfilling the International Classification of Headache Disorders-II criteria for migraine with (n = 22) and without (n = 96) aura from an outpatient headache clinic of a university hospital were evaluated. The diagnosis of FM was made based on the 1990 American College of Rheumatology classification criteria. Participants completed some self-administered questionnaires ascertaining sociodemographics, headache severity, frequency and duration, headache-related disability (Headache Impact Test [HIT-6]) and Migraine Disability Assessment Scale, widespread musculoskeletal pain (visual analog scale), depression (Beck depression inventory), anxiety (Beck anxiety inventory), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), fatigue (Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue), and quality of life (Short Form-36 Health Survey [SF-36]). In patients with FM, the tender point count and the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire were employed. FM was diagnosed in 37 (31.4%) of the patients. FM comorbidity was equally distributed across patients with and without aura. Severity of migraine headache, HIT-6, and anxiety were especially associated with FM comorbidity. Patients suffering from migraine plus FM reported lower scores on all items of the SF-36. This study indicates that the assessment and management of coexisting FM should be taken into account in the assessment and management of migraine, particularly when headache is severe or patients suffer from widespread musculoskeletal pain.

Ictal fear: Associations with age, gender, and other experiential phenomena.

PubMed

Chong, Derek J; Dugan, Patricia

2016-09-01

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of fear to other auras and to gender and age using a large database. The Epilepsy Phenome/Genome Project (EPGP) is a multicenter, multicontinental cross-sectional study in which ictal symptomatology and other data were ascertained in a standardized series of questionnaires then corroborated by epilepsy specialists. Auras were classified into subgroups of symptoms, with ictal fear, panic, or anxiety as a single category. Of 536 participants with focal epilepsy, 72 were coded as having ictal fear/panic/anxiety. Reviewing raw patient responses, 12 participants were deemed not to have fear, and 24 had inadequate data, leaving 36 (7%) of 512 with definite ictal fear. In univariate analyses, fear was significantly associated with auras historically considered temporal lobe in origin, including cephalic, olfactory, and visceral complaints; déjà vu; and derealization. On both univariate and multivariate stepwise analyses, fear was associated with jamais vu and auras with cardiac symptoms, dyspnea, and chest tightening. Expressive aphasia was associated with fear on univariate analysis only, but the general category of aphasias was associated with fear only in the multivariate model. There was no age or gender relationship with fear when compared to the overall population with focal epilepsy that was studied under the EPGP. Patients with ictal fear were more likely to have a right hemisphere seizure focus. Ictal fear was strongly associated with other auras considered to originate from the limbic system. No relationship of fear with age or gender was observed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Five blind men and the elephant: what can the NASA Aura ozone measurements tell us about stratosphere-troposphere exchange?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Q.; Prather, M. J.

2012-03-01

We examine whether the individual ozone (O3) measurements from the four Aura instruments can quantify the stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) flux of O3, an important term of the tropospheric O3 budget. The level 2 (L2) Aura swath data and the nearly coincident ozone sondes for the years 2005-2006 are compared with the 4-D, high-resolution (1° × 1° × 40-layer × 0.5 h) model simulation of atmospheric ozone for the same period from the University of California, Irvine chemistry transport model (CTM). The CTM becomes a transfer standard for comparing individual profiles from these five, not-quite-coincident measurements of atmospheric ozone. Even with obvious model discrepancies identified here, the CTM can readily quantify instrument-instrument biases in the tropical upper troposphere and mid-latitude lower stratosphere. In terms of STE processes, all four Aura datasets have some skill in identifying stratosphere-troposphere folds, and we find several cases where both model and measurements see evidence of high-O3 stratospheric air entering the troposphere. In many cases identified in the model, however, the individual Aura profile retrievals in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere show too much noise, as expected from their low sensitivity and coarse vertical resolution at and below the tropopause. These model-measurement comparisons of individual profiles do provide some level of confidence in the model-derived STE O3 flux, but it will be difficult to integrate this flux from the satellite data alone.

Visits to Tololo | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

limited to two groups of 40 people. One group meets at the gatehouse at 9 AM and the other at 1PM. Because Reports SOAR End-of-night Reports Gemini South LSST Optical Engineering AURA Sites Group MASS-DIMM New Projects NOAO Future Instrumentation DECam SAM LSST MONSOON What is MONSOON AURA Sites Group Talks and

Aqua-Aura QuickDAM (QDAM) 2.0 Ops Concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nidhiry, John

2015-01-01

The presentation describes the Quick Debris Avoidance Maneuver (QDAM) 2.0 process used the Aqua and Aura flight teams to (a) reduce the work load and dependency on staff and systems; (b) reduce turn-around time and provide emergency last minute capabilities; and (c) increase burn parameter flexibility. The presentation also compares the QDAM 2.0 process to previous approaches.

Modulation of kinase-inhibitor interactions by auxiliary protein binding: Crystallography studies on Aurora A interactions with VX-680 and with TPX2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, Baoguang; Smallwood, Angela; Yang, Jingsong

2008-10-24

VX-680, also known as MK-0457, is an ATP-competitive small molecule inhibitor of the Aurora kinases that has entered phase II clinical trials for the treatment of cancer. We have solved the cocrystal structure of AurA/TPX2/VX-680 at 2.3 {angstrom} resolution. In the crystal structure, VX-680 binds to the active conformation of AurA. The glycine-rich loop in AurA adopts a unique bent conformation, forming a {pi}-{pi} interaction with the phenyl group of VX-680. In contrast, in the published AurA/VX-680 structure, VX-680 binds to AurA in the inactive conformation, interacting with a hydrophobic pocket only present in the inactive conformation. These data suggestmore » that TPX2, a protein cofactor, can alter the binding mode of VX-680 with AurA. More generally, the presence of physiologically relevant cofactor proteins can alter the kinetics, binding interactions, and inhibition of enzymes, and studies with these multiprotein complexes may be beneficial to the discovery and optimization of enzyme inhibitors as therapeutic agents.« less

Introducing and Validating the New Aura CO Product Derived from Joined TES and MLS Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, M.; Schwartz, M. J.; Read, W. G.; Herman, R. L.; Kulawik, S. S.; Worden, J.; Livesey, N. J.; Bowman, K. W.; Sweeney, C.

2014-12-01

The new Aura CO product consists of CO vertical profiles derived from TES and MLS measurements. This product has been released to the public. We describe the algorithms for generating the product and the evaluations of it using in-situ measurements. TES and MLS standalone CO profile retrievals are sensitive respectively to lower-mid troposphere and upper troposphere and above. We pair TES nadir and MLS limb tangent locations within 6-8 min and less than 220 km. The paired radiance measurements of the two instruments per location are optimally combined to retrieve a single CO profile along with other interfering species. This combined CO profile has improved vertical resolution and vertical range over the two standalone products, especially in the upper-troposphere/lower-stratosphere. For example, the degree of freedom for signal (DOFS) between surface and 50hPa for TES alone is < 2, and for the combined CO profiles is 2-4. We will present the comparison results between the Aura CO and AirCore, HIPPO, and MOZAIC observations. The new Aura CO product provides a unique data set to studies on tropospheric transport of air pollutants and troposphere-stratospheric exchange processes.

THE RHODOPSIN-TRANSDUCIN COMPLEX HOUSES TWO DISTINCT RHODOPSIN MOLECULES

PubMed Central

Jastrzebska, Beata; Ringler, Philipe; Palczewski, Krzysztof; Engel, Andreas

2013-01-01

Upon illumination the visual receptor rhodopsin (Rho) transitions to the activated form Rho*, which binds the heterotrimeric G protein, transducin (Gt) causing GDP to GTP exchange and Gt dissociation. Using succinylated concanavalin A (sConA) as a probe, we visualized native Rho dimers solubilized in 1 mM n-dodecyl-β-D-maltoside (DDM) and Rho monomers 5 mM in DDM. By nucleotide depletion and affinity chromatography together with crosslinking and size exclusion chromatography, we trapped and purified nucleotide-free Rho*•Gt and sConA-Rho*•Gt complexes kept in solution by either DDM or lauryl-maltose-neopentyl-glycol (LMNG). The 3-D envelope calculated from projections of negatively stained Rho*•Gt-LMNG complexes accommodated two Rho molecules, one Gt heterotrimer and a detergent belt. Visualization of triple sConA-Rho*•Gt complexes unequivocally demonstrated a pentameric assembly of the Rho*•Gt complex in which the photoactivated Rho* dimer serves as a platform for binding the Gt heterotrimer. Importantly, individual monomers of the Rho* dimer in the heteropentameric complex exhibited different capabilities to be regenerated with either 11-cis or 9-cis-retinal. PMID:23458690

The Spatial and the Visual in Mental Spatial Reasoning: An Ill-Posed Distinction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schultheis, Holger; Bertel, Sven; Barkowsky, Thomas; Seifert, Inessa

It is an ongoing and controversial debate in cognitive science which aspects of knowledge humans process visually and which ones they process spatially. Similarly, artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive science research, in building computational cognitive systems, tended to use strictly spatial or strictly visual representations. The resulting systems, however, were suboptimal both with respect to computational efficiency and cognitive plau sibility. In this paper, we propose that the problems in both research strands stem from a mis conception of the visual and the spatial in mental spatial knowl edge pro cessing. Instead of viewing the visual and the spatial as two clearly separable categories, they should be conceptualized as the extremes of a con tinuous dimension of representation. Regarding psychology, a continuous di mension avoids the need to exclusively assign processes and representations to either one of the cate gories and, thus, facilitates a more unambiguous rating of processes and rep resentations. Regarding AI and cognitive science, the con cept of a continuous spatial / visual dimension provides the possibility of rep re sentation structures which can vary continuously along the spatial / visual di mension. As a first step in exploiting these potential advantages of the pro posed conception we (a) introduce criteria allowing for a non-dichotomic judgment of processes and representations and (b) present an approach towards rep re sentation structures that can flexibly vary along the spatial / visual dimension.

Aqua/Aura Updated Inclination Adjust Maneuver Performance Prediction Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boone, Spencer

2017-01-01

This presentation will discuss the updated Inclination Adjust Maneuver (IAM) performance prediction model that was developed for Aqua and Aura following the 2017 IAM series. This updated model uses statistical regression methods to identify potential long-term trends in maneuver parameters, yielding improved predictions when re-planning past maneuvers. The presentation has been reviewed and approved by Eric Moyer, ESMO Deputy Project Manager.

CADASIL: Migraine, Encephalopathy, Stroke and Their Inter-Relationships.

PubMed

Tan, Rhea Yan Ying; Markus, Hugh Stephen

2016-01-01

Migraine is common in Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) but its treatment responses are not well described, and its relationship to stroke risk unknown. Encephalopathy is a less common presentation; it has been suggested it is related to migraine. We characterised migraine patterns and treatment responses in CADASIL, and examined associations between migraine and both stroke risk and encephalopathy. 300 symptomatic CADASIL patients were prospectively recruited from a national referral clinic over a nineteen year period, from 1996 to 2015. Data was collected using a standardised questionnaire. Migraine was classified according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition (beta version). A cross-sectional analysis was carried out on the data collected. Migraine was present in 226 (75.3%), and the presenting feature in 203 (67.7%). It was usually accompanied by aura (89.8%). Patients showed variable responses to a variety of drugs for migraine. Of 24 given triptans, 45.5% had consistent or partial responses. None had complications following triptans. Thirty-three (11.0%) patients experienced encephalopathy lasting on average 8.1 ± 3.4 days. Patients with migraine with aura had higher odds of encephalopathy (OR = 5.4; 95%CI 1.6-28.4; p = 0.002). Patients with confusional aura had higher odds of encephalopathy than those with other aura types (OR = 2.5, 95%CI = 1.0-5.8, p = 0.04). There was also no increase in risk of encephalopathy with sex or age at onset of migraine. Migraineurs had a lower stroke risk than non-migraineurs (HR = 0.46, 95%CI 0.3-0.6, p = 2.1x10-6). Migraine with aura is a prominent feature of CADASIL. Treatment responses are similar to those seen in the general migraine population and no complications were observed with triptans. Migraine with aura was associated with increased risk of encephalopathy suggesting they may share pathophysiological mechanisms. There was no increased stroke risk associated with migraine, but risk appeared to be reduced although this finding needs confirming.

EGFR Mutation Analysis for Prospective Patient Selection in Two Phase II Registration Studies of Osimertinib.

PubMed

Jenkins, Suzanne; Chih-Hsin Yang, James; Jänne, Pasi A; Thress, Kenneth S; Yu, Karen; Hodge, Rachel; Weston, Susie; Dearden, Simon; Patel, Sabina; Cantarini, Mireille; Shepherd, Frances A

2017-08-01

Osimertinib is an oral, central nervous system-active, EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) for the treatment of EGFR T790M-positive advanced NSCLC. Here we have evaluated EGFR mutation frequencies in two phase II studies of osimertinib (AURA extension and AURA2). After progression while receiving their latest line of therapy, patients with EGFR mutation-positive advanced NSCLC provided tumor samples for mandatory central T790M testing for the study selection criteria. Tumor tissue mutation analysis for patient selection was performed with the Roche cobas EGFR Mutation Test (European Conformity-in vitro diagnostic, labeled investigational use only) (Roche Molecular Systems, Pleasanton, CA). Patients should not have been prescreened for T790M mutation status. The cobas test results were compared with those of the MiSeq next-generation sequencing system (Illumina, San Diego, CA), which was used as a reference method. Samples from 324 and 373 patients screened for AURA extension and AURA2, respectively, produced valid cobas test results. The T790M detection rates were similar between AURA extension and AURA2 (64% and 63%, respectively). The pooled T790M rate was 63%, with no difference by ethnicity (63% for Asian and non-Asian patients alike) or immediately prior treatment with an EGFR TKI (afatinib, 69%; erlotinib, 69%; and gefitinib, 63%). A higher proportion of patients had T790M detected against a background of exon 19 deletions versus L858R mutation (73% versus 58% [p = 0.0002]). In both trials the cobas test demonstrated high sensitivity (positive percent agreement) and specificity (negative percent agreement) for T790M detection when compared with the next-generation sequencing reference method: positive percent agreement of 91% versus 89% and negative percent agreement of 97% versus 98%. In both trials, the rate of detection of T790M mutation in patients with advanced NSCLC was approximately 63% and was unaffected by immediately prior treatment with an EGFR TKI or ethnicity. Copyright © 2017 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Coincidental Impact of Transcatheter Patent Foramen Ovale Closure on Migraine with and without Aura - A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis.

PubMed

Kanwar, Siddak M; Noheria, Amit; DeSimone, Christopher V; Rabinstein, Alejandro A; Asirvatham, Samuel J

2016-03-01

We analyzed the literature to assess the coincidental impact on migraines of transcatheter patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure performed for secondary stroke prevention. We searched Medline, EMBASE, and the Cochrane database for studies published up until August 2013. We included English-language studies that provided information on complete resolution or improvement in migraine headaches following PFO closure. Two study authors identified 375 original articles and both independently reviewed 32 relevant manuscripts. Data including study methodology, inclusion criteria, PFO closure and migraine outcomes were extracted manually from all eligible studies. Pooled odds (and probability) of resolution or improvement of migraine headaches were calculated using random-effects models. Twenty studies were analyzed. Most were uncontrolled studies that included a small number of patients with cryptogenic stroke who had undergone PFO closure and had variable time of followup. The probability of complete resolution of migraine with PFO closure (18 studies, 917 patients) was 0.46 (95% confidence interval 0.39, 0.53) and of any improvement in migraine (17 studies, 881 patients) was 0.78 (0.74, 0.82). There was evidence for publication bias in studies reporting on improvement in migraines (Begg's p=0.002), but not for studies on complete resolution of migraine (p=0.3). In patients with aura, the probability of complete resolution of migraine post-PFO closure was 0.54 (0.43, 0.65), and in those without aura, complete resolution occurred in 0.39 (0.29, 0.51). Among patients with unexplained stroke and migraine undergoing transcatheter PFO closure, resolution of headaches occurred in a majority of patients with aura and for a smaller proportion of patients without aura.

NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS): Observing the Atmosphere, Land, Oceans, and Ice from Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, Michael D.

2004-01-01

The Earth Observing System (EOS) is a space-based observing system comprised of a series of satellite sensors by which scientists can monitor the Earth, a Data and Information System (EOSDIS) enabling researchers worldwide to access the satellite data, and an interdisciplinary science research program to interpret the satellite data. During this year, the last of the first series of EOS missions, Aura, was launched. Aura is designed exclusively to conduct research on the composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the Earth's upper and lower atmosphere, employing multiple instruments on a single spacecraft. Aura is the third in a series of major Earth observing satellites to study the environment and climate change and is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. The first and second missions, Terra and Aqua, are designed to study the land, oceans, atmospheric constituents (aerosols, clouds, temperature, and water vapor), and the Earth's radiation budget. The other seven EOS spacecraft include satellites to study (i) land cover & land use change, (ii) solar irradiance and solar spectral variation, (iii) ice volume, (iv) ocean processes (vector wind and sea surface topography), and (v) vertical variations of clouds, water vapor, and aerosols up to and including the stratosphere. Aura's chemistry measurements will also follow up on measurements that began with NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite and continue the record of satellite ozone data collected from the TOMS missions. In this presentation I will describe how scientists are using EOS data to examine the health of the earth's atmosphere, including atmospheric chemistry, aerosol properties, and cloud properties, with a special but not exclusive look at the latest earth observing mission, Aura.

NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS): Observing the Atmosphere, Land, Oceans, and Ice from Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, Michael D.

2005-01-01

The Earth Observing System (EOS) is a space-based observing system comprised of a series of satellite sensors by whch scientists can monitor the Earth, a Data and Information System (EOSDIS) enabling researchers worldwide to access the satellite data, and an interdisciplinary science research program to interpret the satellite data. During this year, the last of the first series of EOS missions, Aura, was launched. Aura is designed exclusively to conduct research on the composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the Earth's upper and lower atmosphere, employing multiple instruments on a single spacecraft. Aura is the third in a series of major Earth observing satellites to study the environment and climate change and is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. The first and second missions, Terra and Aqua, are designed to study the land, oceans, atmospheric constituents (aerosols, clouds, temperature, and water vapor), and the Earth's radiation budget. The other seven EOS spacecraft include satellites to study (i) land cover & land use change, (ii) solar irradiance and solar spectral variation, (iii) ice volume, (iv) ocean processes (vector wind and sea surface topography), and (v) vertical variations of clouds, water vapor, and aerosols up to and including the stratosphere. Aura's chemistry measurements will also follow up on measurements that began with NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite and continue the record of satellite ozone data collected from the TOMS missions. In this presentation I will describe how scientists are using EOS data to examine the health of the earth's atmosphere, including atmospheric chemistry, aerosol properties, and cloud properties, with a special look at the latest earth observing mission, Aura.

Migrainous aura as stroke-mimic: The role of perfusion-computed tomography.

PubMed

Ridolfi, Mariana; Granato, Antonio; Polverino, Paola; Furlanis, Giovanni; Ukmar, Maja; Zorzenon, Irene; Manganotti, Paolo

2018-03-01

The acute-onset of migrainuos aura (MA) can be erroneously diagnosed in Emergency Department (ED) as acute stroke (AS) and it can be classified as "stroke mimic" (SM). Perfusion computer tomography (PCT) may be useful to improve detection of infarcts. The aim of the study was to investigate the role in ED of PCT in improving diagnosis of migrainous aura. Data were compared with the well-defined perfusion patterns in patients with acute ischemic stroke. A standardized Stroke Protocol was planned. The protocol consisted in centralizing in ED all the patients with acute-onset of neurological symptoms compatible with cerebrovascular disease and in performing a general and neurological examination, hematological tests, brain non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT), CT angiography (CTA) of the supra-aortic and intracranial arteries and cerebral PCT. Patients with diagnosis of definite or probable acute stroke were hospitalized in Stroke Unit (SU). A six-months retrospective analysis of all the patients included in the Stroke Protocol and discharged from ED or from SU with a diagnosis of migraine with aura was performed. 172 patients were included in the Stroke Protocol and 6 patients were enrolled. NCCT, CTA and PCT were performed after 60-90 min from symptoms onset and revealed normal perfusion. Intravenous thrombolysis was performed only in one patient. Patients with acute-onset of neurological symptoms, who have rapid progressive improvement of symptoms, normal neuroimaging, in particular PCT, and preceding episodes of migraine with aura, may be considered as suffering from MA. In these cases, even if thrombolysis is safe, clinicians may defer a prompt aggressive treatment. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Visual Enhancements: Improving Deaf Students' Transition Skills Using Multimedia Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Cheryl D.

1999-01-01

Discusses developments in technology that provide high-quality visual access to transition information and multimedia instruction for learners with deafness. Identifies a variety of considerations in using multimedia products and describes the pros and cons of different media in the context of several multimedia projects. (Author/CR)

Honey From Maggots: Aura, Sacrifice, and the Human Universe in Charles Olson's "The Kingfishers"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roethle, Christopher James

In this thesis, I contend that some form of aura can be recovered from the ravages of technological reproduction described in Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility (Third Version)." Recovering this aura, however, may require adopting an aesthetic of immediacy through destruction and even wanton disposability (what Georges Bataille in his general economic theory calls "nonproductive expenditure") to ensure that, though routinely diluted and discarded, the split-second authenticity of a work remains, its radical ephemerality and formal irreproducibility opposing the enslaving, commodifying powers of the copy. The poetry and poetic theory of American poet Charles Olson, especially in his long poem "The Kingfishers" and his essays "Projective Verse" and "Human Universe," serves as an example of how an author might inscribe auratic energy along nonproductive, general economic lines.

AfterMath: the work of proof in the age of human-machine collaboration.

PubMed

Dick, Stephanie

2011-09-01

During the 1970s and 1980s, a team of Automated Theorem Proving researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago developed the Automated Reasoning Assistant, or AURA, to assist human users in the search for mathematical proofs. The resulting hybrid humans+AURA system developed the capacity to make novel contributions to pure mathematics by very untraditional means. This essay traces how these unconventional contributions were made and made possible through negotiations between the humans and the AURA at Argonne and the transformation in mathematical intuition they produced. At play in these negotiations were experimental practices, nonhumans, and nonmathematical modes of knowing. This story invites an earnest engagement between historians of mathematics and scholars in the history of science and science studies interested in experimental practice, material culture, and the roles of nonhumans in knowledge making.

Psychiatric comorbidity of chronic daily headache: focus on traumatic experiences in childhood, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidality.

PubMed

Juang, Kai Dih; Yang, Chin-Yi

2014-04-01

The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual (DSM-5) reclassified some mental disorders recently. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is in a new section termed "trauma- and stressor-related disorder". Community-based studies have shown that PTSD is associated with a notably high suicidal risk. In addition to previous findings of comorbidity between chronic daily headache (CDH) and both depressive disorders and anxiety disorders, recent data suggest that frequency of childhood maltreatment, PTSD, and suicidality are also increased in CDH. CDH patients with migraine aura are especially at risk of suicidal ideation. Research suggests that migraine attack, aura, frequency, and chronicity may all be related to serotonergic dysfunction. Vulnerability to PTSD and suicidality are also linked to brain serotonin function, including polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR). In the present review, we focus on recent advances in knowledge of traumatic experiences in childhood, PTSD, and suicidality in relation to migraine and CDH. We hypothesize that vulnerability to PTSD is associated with migraine attack, migraine aura, and CDH. We further postulate that these associations may explain some of the elevated suicidal risks among patients with migraine, migraine aura, and/or CDH. Field studies are required to support these hypotheses.

Prescience as an aura of temporal lobe epilepsy.

PubMed

Sadler, R Mark; Rahey, Susan

2004-08-01

A patient with a distinct aura of prescience as a manifestation of temporal lobe epilepsy was encountered. The experience prompted a review of this ictal phenomenon among patients attending a tertiary care epilepsy outpatient clinic. A computer epilepsy database was searched for patients with simple partial sensory seizures and complex partial seizures with auras. Identified patients had charts reviewed for details of the auras; patients were contacted and asked to provide written descriptions of their experiences. Literature searches (PubMed) were done by using the terms "precognition" or "prescience" and "seizures" or "epilepsy." Standard comprehensive epilepsy textbooks were reviewed. The charts of 218 patients were reviewed from 927 in the database; three had prescience as an ictal feature. The patients' descriptions were very similar in all cases (a profound sense of "knowing" what was going to happen in their environment in the immediate future). The experience was distinct from déjà vu and other psychic experiences. All patients probably have temporal lobe epilepsy. Only one other description of prescience as an ictal feature was found in the literature. Prescience can occur as an ictal feature of temporal lobe epilepsy and represents a previously underreported psychic phenomenon. The potential lateralizing value of this symptom is yet to be determined.

The rhodopsin-transducin complex houses two distinct rhodopsin molecules.

PubMed

Jastrzebska, Beata; Ringler, Philippe; Palczewski, Krzysztof; Engel, Andreas

2013-05-01

Upon illumination the visual receptor rhodopsin (Rho) transitions to the activated form Rho(∗), which binds the heterotrimeric G protein, transducin (Gt) causing GDP to GTP exchange and Gt dissociation. Using succinylated concanavalin A (sConA) as a probe, we visualized native Rho dimers solubilized in 1mM n-dodecyl-β-d-maltoside (DDM) and Rho monomers in 5mM DDM. By nucleotide depletion and affinity chromatography together with crosslinking and size exclusion chromatography, we trapped and purified nucleotide-free Rho(∗)·Gt and sConA-Rho(∗)·Gt complexes kept in solution by either DDM or lauryl-maltose-neopentyl-glycol (LMNG). The 3 D envelope calculated from projections of negatively stained Rho(∗)·Gt-LMNG complexes accommodated two Rho molecules, one Gt heterotrimer and a detergent belt. Visualization of triple sConA-Rho(∗)·Gt complexes unequivocally demonstrated a pentameric assembly of the Rho(∗)·Gt complex in which the photoactivated Rho(∗) dimer serves as a platform for binding the Gt heterotrimer. Importantly, individual monomers of the Rho(∗) dimer in the heteropentameric complex exhibited different capabilities for regeneration with either 11-cis or 9-cis-retinal. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the effect of topical chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) oleogel as pain relief in migraine without aura: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

PubMed

Zargaran, Arman; Borhani-Haghighi, Afshin; Salehi-Marzijarani, Mohammad; Faridi, Pouya; Daneshamouz, Saeid; Azadi, Amir; Sadeghpour, Hossein; Sakhteman, Amirhossein; Mohagheghzadeh, Abdolali

2018-05-28

Phytotherapy is a source of finding new remedies for migraine. Traditional chamomile oil (chamomile extraction in sesame oil) is a formulation in Persian medicine (PM) for pain relief in migraine. An oleogel preparation of reformulated traditional chamomile oil was prepared and then standardized based on chamazulene (as a marker in essential oil) and apigenin via gas chromatography (GC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods, respectively. A crossover double-blind clinical trial was performed with 100 patients. Each patient took two tubes of drug and two tubes of placebo during the study. Visual analog scale (VAS) questionnaires were filled in by the patients and scores were given, ranging from 0 to 10 (based on the severity of pain) during 24 h. Other complications like nausea, vomiting, photophobia, and phonophobia were also monitored. There was 4.48 ± 0.01 μl/ml of chamazulene and 0.233 mg/g of apigenin in the preparation (by correcting the amount with extraction ratio). Thirty-eight patients in the drug-placebo and 34 patients in the placebo-drug groups (a total number of 72 patients as per protocol) completed the process in the randomized controlled trial (RCT). Adapted results from the questionnaires showed that pain, nausea, vomiting, photophobia, and phonophobia significantly (p < 0.001) decreased by using chamomile oleogel on the patients after 30 min. Results supported the efficacy of chamomile oleogel as a pain relief in migraine without aura.

Dissecting the Roles of Brain Injury and Combat-Related Stress in Post-Traumatic Headache

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-10-01

were the major goals of the project? Post-traumatic headache (PTH) is an epidemic in our military personnel. It is a chronic, migraine -like...and affective processing that lead to PTH. Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is the physiological correlate of the migraine aura, but it also...paradigm. NTG infusion triggers migraine without aura in human migraineurs and reduced mechanical allodynia threshold in rodents. This enables 11

Promoting Dark Sky Protection in Chile: the Gabriel Mistral IDA Dark Sky Sanctuary and Other AURA Initiatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, R. Chris; Smith, Malcolm; Pompea, Stephen; Sanhueza, Pedro; AURA-Chile EPO Team

2018-01-01

For over 20 years, AURA has been leading efforts promoting the protection of dark skies in northern Chile. Efforts began in the early 1990s at AURA's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), working in collaboration with other international observatories in Chile including Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). CTIO also partnered with local communities, for example supporting Vicuña's effort to establish the first municipal observatory in Chile. Today we have developed a multifaceted effort of dark sky protection, including proactive government relations at national and local levels, a strong educational and public outreach program, and a program of highlighting international recognition of the dark skies through the IDA Dark Sky Places program. Work on international recognition has included the declaration of the Gabriel Mistral IDA Dark Sky Sanctuary, the first such IDA sanctuary in the world.

A rare case of autoimmune limbic encephalitis: an uncharted territory!

PubMed Central

Ibrahim, Hatim; Al Jasser, Abdulelah N.; Khan, Sonia A.; Tlili, Kalthoum G.

2017-01-01

Autoimmune encephalitis is rare. Several auto- antibodies are described in autoimmune encephalitis. We describe a case of autoimmune limbic encephalitis associated with positive voltage gated potassium channel (VGKC) antibodies and positive leucine-rich glioma inactivated protein 1 antibodies (LGI1). A 33-year-old Saudi housewife, she presented with 2 months history of cognitive deterioration and recurrent left facio-brachial dystonic seizures followed by generalized tonic clonic seizures. At times the seizures are preceded by rising epigastric aura and shortness of breath. The neurological examination was normal apart from upgoing left plantar reflex. She had borderline IQ of 76 with impaired verbal fluency and impaired visual and verbal memory. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed right mesial temporal non-enhancing lesion. Cerebrospinal fluid examination was positive for LGI1 and VGKC. Optimal seizure control was achieved with immunotherapy. PMID:29057855

A rare case of autoimmune limbic encephalitis: an uncharted territory!

PubMed

Ibrahim, Hatim; Al Jasser, Abdulelah N; Khan, Sonia A; Tlili, Kalthoum G

2017-10-01

Autoimmune encephalitis is rare. Several auto- antibodies are described in autoimmune encephalitis. We describe a case of autoimmune limbic encephalitis associated with positive voltage gated potassium channel (VGKC) antibodies and positive leucine-rich glioma inactivated protein 1 antibodies (LGI1). A 33-year-old Saudi housewife, she presented with 2 months history of cognitive deterioration and recurrent left facio-brachial dystonic seizures followed by generalized tonic clonic seizures. At times the seizures are preceded by rising epigastric aura and shortness of breath. The neurological examination was normal apart from upgoing left plantar reflex. She had borderline IQ of 76 with impaired verbal fluency and impaired visual and verbal memory. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed right mesial temporal non-enhancing lesion. Cerebrospinal fluid examination was positive for LGI1 and VGKC. Optimal seizure control was achieved with immunotherapy.

Study Pollution Impacts on Upper-Tropospheric Clouds with Aura, CloudSat, and CALIPSO Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, Dong

2007-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the impact of pollution on clouds in the Upper Troposphere. Using the data from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), CloudSat, CALIPSO the presentation shows signatures of pollution impacts on clouds in the upper troposphere. The presentation demonstrates the complementary sensitivities of MLS , CloudSat and CALIPSO to upper tropospheric clouds. It also calls for careful analysis required to sort out microphysical changes from dynamical changes.

Walter Benjamin in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Aura in Education--A Rereading of "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peim, Nick

2007-01-01

This paper considers a key text in the field of Cultural Studies for its relevance to questions about the identity of knowledge in education. The concept of "aura" arises as being of special significance in "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" as a way of understanding the change that occurs to art when mass reproduction becomes…

Air-To-Air Visual Target Acquisition Pilot Interview Survey.

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-01-01

8217top’ 5 p~lots in air-tu-air visual target acqui- sition in your squadron," would/could you do it? yes no Comment : 2. Is the term "acquisition" as...meaningful as "spotting" and "seeing" in 1he con- text of visually detecting a "bogey" or another aircraft? yes no Comment : 3. Would/could you rank all...squadron pilots on the basis of their visual target acquisition capability? yes no Comment : 4. Is there a minimum number of observations requi.red for

Important Concerns in the Education of Visually Impaired Children. MAVIS Sourcebook 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hatlen, Philip H.

The importance of providing adequate support systems in educating the visually impaired (VI) child is explored in this sourcebook. It is presented as a guide for the regular classroom teacher. It explains the evolution of various contemporary support systems, pros and cons of various placement systems, and problems of ineffective support systems…

Aging and Visual Function of Military Pilots: A Review

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-08-01

of the Soc. for Inf. Disp. 21:219- 227. 24. Ginsburg. A. P .. M. W. Cannon, R. Sekuler, D . Evans, C . Owsley, and P ... the Institute of Medicine. This work relates to Department of Navy Contract N0OOI48O- C - 0159 issued by the Office of Naval Research under Contract...loss with age in the temporal resolving power of the visual system. Temporally con- tiguous visual events that would be seen as separate

Selectivity in Genetic Association with Sub-classified Migraine in Women

PubMed Central

Chasman, Daniel I.; Anttila, Verneri; Buring, Julie E.; Ridker, Paul M.; Schürks, Markus; Kurth, Tobias

2014-01-01

Migraine can be sub-classified not only according to presence of migraine aura (MA) or absence of migraine aura (MO), but also by additional features accompanying migraine attacks, e.g. photophobia, phonophobia, nausea, etc. all of which are formally recognized by the International Classification of Headache Disorders. It remains unclear how aura status and the other migraine features may be related to underlying migraine pathophysiology. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 12 independent loci at which single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with migraine. Using a likelihood framework, we explored the selective association of these SNPs with migraine, sub-classified according to aura status and the other features in a large population-based cohort of women including 3,003 active migraineurs and 18,108 free of migraine. Five loci met stringent significance for association with migraine, among which four were selective for sub-classified migraine, including rs11172113 (LRP1) for MO. The number of loci associated with migraine increased to 11 at suggestive significance thresholds, including five additional selective associations for MO but none for MA. No two SNPs showed similar patterns of selective association with migraine characteristics. At one extreme, SNPs rs6790925 (near TGFBR2) and rs2274316 (MEF2D) were not associated with migraine overall, MA, or MO but were selective for migraine sub-classified by the presence of one or more of the additional migraine features. In contrast, SNP rs7577262 (TRPM8) was associated with migraine overall and showed little or no selectivity for any of the migraine characteristics. The results emphasize the multivalent nature of migraine pathophysiology and suggest that a complete understanding of the genetic influence on migraine may benefit from analyses that stratify migraine according to both aura status and the additional diagnostic features used for clinical characterization of migraine. PMID:24852292

Associations Between Sleep Quality and Migraine Frequency

PubMed Central

Lin, Yu-Kai; Lin, Guan-Yu; Lee, Jiunn-Tay; Lee, Meei-Shyuan; Tsai, Chia-Kuang; Hsu, Yu-Wei; Lin, Yu-Zhen; Tsai, Yi-Chien; Yang, Fu-Chi

2016-01-01

Abstract Migraine has been associated with sleep disturbances. Relationship between sleep quality and migraine frequency is yet to be determined. The present study aimed to investigate sleep disturbances among low-frequency, moderate-frequency, high-frequency, and chronic migraineurs, with and without auras, with well-controlled confounding variables. This cross-sectional controlled study included 357 subjects from an outpatient headache clinic in Taiwan. Standardized questionnaires were utilized to collect demographic, migraine, sleep, depression, anxiety, and restless leg syndrome characteristics in all participants. According to frequency of migraine attacks, patients were divided into 4 groups: with 1 to 4 migraine days per month, 5 to 8 migraine days in a month, 9 to 14 migraine days in a month, and >14 migraine days per month. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and subgroup items were used to evaluate sleep quality. The association between migraine frequency and sleep quality was investigated using multivariable linear regression and logistic regression. The PSQI total score was highest in patients with high frequent migraine (10.0 ± 3.4) and lowest in controls (7.0 ± 3.4) with a significant trend analysis (P for trend = 0.006). Migraine frequency had an independent effect on the items “Cannot get to sleep within 30 minutes” (P < 0.001), “Wake up in the middle of the night or early morning” (P < 0.001), “Bad dreams” (P = 0.001), “Pain” (P = 0.004), and “Quality of sleep” (P < 0.001). The result showed the effect of migraine frequency in both the aura-present (P for trend = 0.008) and the aura-absent subgroups (P for trend = 0.011). High migraine frequency correlates with poor sleep quality and a higher prevalence of poor sleepers. These associations occur in migraine with aura and without aura. PMID:27124064

Foveal and Peripapillary Vascular Decrement in Migraine With Aura Demonstrated by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

PubMed Central

Chang, Melinda Y.; Phasukkijwatana, Nopasak; Garrity, Sean; Pineles, Stacy L.; Rahimi, Mansour; Sarraf, David; Johnston, Mollie; Charles, Andrew; Arnold, Anthony C.

2017-01-01

Purpose Migraine, particularly with aura, has been associated with ocular and systemic ischemic complications, but there are limited data on the ocular vasculature in migraine. We used optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) to assess perfusion of the macula and optic nerve in migraine patients, with (MA) and without (MO) aura, compared to healthy controls (HC). Methods We recruited 15 MA (mean age 42 years), 12 MO (mean age 46 years), and 22 HC (mean age 39 years) participants from neurology and neuro-ophthalmology clinics. Participants underwent optical coherence tomography and 3 × 3 mm OCTA of the macula and optic nerve. Foveal avascular zone area was automatically measured using AngioVue software, and vessel density was calculated as blood vessel length divided by scan area (mm−1) after skeletonization of OCTA images. Results On macular OCTA, MA participants had an enlarged foveal avascular zone area when compared with HC (0.300 ± 0.019 vs. 0.220 ± 0.066 mm2, P = 0.006). In addition, superficial foveal vessel density was decreased in MA participants when compared with MO participants (7.8 ± 0.31 vs. 9.3 ± 0.44, P = 0.04) and HC (7.8 ± 0.31 vs. 9.4 ± 0.21 mm−1, P = 0.002). On optic nerve OCTA, the MA participants had reduced superior peripapillary vessel density when compared with the MO participants (12.0 ± 0.45 vs. 14.0 ± 0.38 mm−1, P = 0.031) and HC (12.0 ± 0.45 vs. 14.1 ± 0.53 mm−1, P = 0.035). There were no significant differences between the MO and HC groups. Conclusions Migraine with, but not without, aura was associated with foveal and peripapillary vascular decrements, which may possibly mediate increased risk of ocular and systemic vascular complications in these patients. OCTA could potentially be useful as a biomarker for migraine with aura. PMID:29059314

Normal-tension glaucoma (Low-tension glaucoma)

PubMed Central

Anderson, Douglas R

2011-01-01

Glaucoma is now considered an abnormal physiology in the optic nerve head that interacts with the level of intraocular pressure (IOP), with the degree and rate of damage depending on the IOP and presumably the degree of abnormal physiology. Diagnosis of normal-tension glaucoma (NTG), defined as glaucoma without a clearly abnormal IOP, depends on recognizing symptoms and signs associated with optic nerve vulnerability, in addition to absence of other explanations for disc abnormality and visual field loss. Among the findings are a halo or crescent of absence of retinal pigment epithelium around the disc, bilateral pre-chiasmal visual field defects, splinter hemorrhages at the disc margin, vascular dysregulation (low blood pressure, cold hands and feet, migraine headache with aura, and the like), or a family history of glaucoma. Possibly relevant, is a history of hemodynamic crisis, arterial obstructive disease, or sleep apnea. Neurological evaluation with imaging is needed only for atypical cases or ones that progress unexpectedly. Management follows the same principle of other chronic glaucomas, to lower the IOP by a substantial amount, enough to prevent disabling visual loss. However, many NTG cases are non-progressive. Therefore, it may often be wisein mild cases to determine whether the case is progressive and the rate of progression before deciding on how aggressivene to be with therapy. Efforts at neuroprotection and improvement in blood flow have not yet been shown effective. PMID:21150042

SVD analysis of Aura TES spectral residuals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beer, Reinhard; Kulawik, Susan S.; Rodgers, Clive D.; Bowman, Kevin W.

2005-01-01

Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) analysis is both a powerful diagnostic tool and an effective method of noise filtering. We present the results of an SVD analysis of an ensemble of spectral residuals acquired in September 2004 from a 16-orbit Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) Global Survey and compare them to alternative methods such as zonal averages. In particular, the technique highlights issues such as the orbital variation of instrument response and incompletely modeled effects of surface emissivity and atmospheric composition.

KSC-04pd1354

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the Aura spacecraft is lifted up the mobile service tower, or gantry. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10 aboard the Boeing Delta II rocket. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

KSC-04pd1353

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the Aura spacecraft is prepared for its lift up the mobile service tower, or gantry. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10 aboard the Boeing Delta II rocket. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

KSC-04pd1352

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the Aura spacecraft arrives at the base of the mobile service tower, or gantry. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10 aboard the Boeing Delta II rocket. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome: A Clinical and Pathophysiological Review

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) is a perceptual disorder, principally involving visual and somesthetic integration, firstly reported by Todd, on the literary suggestion of the strange experiences described by Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland books. Symptoms may comprise among others aschematia and dysmetropsia. This syndrome has many different etiologies; however EBV infection is the most common cause in children, while migraine affects more commonly adults. Many data support a strict relationship between migraine and AIWS, which could be considered in many patients as an aura or a migraine equivalent, particularly in children. Nevertheless, AIWS seems to have anatomical correlates. According to neuroimaging, temporoparietal-occipital carrefour (TPO-C) is a key region for developing many of AIWS symptoms. The final part of this review aims to find the relationship between AIWS symptoms, presenting a pathophysiological model. In brief, AIWS symptoms depend on an alteration of TPO-C where visual-spatial and somatosensory information are integrated. Alterations in these brain regions may cause the cooccurrence of dysmetropsia and disorders of body schema. In our opinion, the association of other symptoms reported in literature could vary depending on different etiologies and the lack of clear diagnostic criteria. PMID:28116304

Testing of Environmental Satellite Bus-Instrument Interfaces Using Engineering Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gagnier, Don; Hayner, Rick; Roza, Michael; Nosek, Thomas; Razzaghi, Andrea

2004-01-01

This paper discusses the formulation and execution of a laboratory test of the electrical interfaces between multiple atmospheric science instruments and the spacecraft bus that carries them. The testing, performed in 2002, used engineering models of the instruments that will be flown on the Aura s p a c m and of the Aura spacecraft bus electronics. Aura is one of NASA's Earth Observing System @OS) Program missions managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center. The test was designed to evaluate the complex interfaces in the spacecraft and instrument command and data handling (C&DH) subsystems prior to integration of the complete flight instruments on the spacecraft. A problem discovered during (and not before) the flight hardware integration phase can cause significant cost and schedule impacts. The testing successfully surfaced problems and led to their resolution before the full-up integration phase, saving significant cost and schedule time. This approach could be used on future environmental satellite programs involving multiple, complex scientific instruments being integrated onto a bus.

Acupuncture therapy in treating migraine: results of a magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging study.

PubMed

Gu, Tao; Lin, Lei; Jiang, Yun; Chen, Juan; D'Arcy, Ryan Cn; Chen, Min; Song, Xiaowei

2018-01-01

Acupuncture has been proven to be effective as an alternative therapy in treating migraine, but the pathophysiological mechanisms of the treatment remain unclear. This study investigated possible neurochemical responses to acupuncture treatment. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging was used to investigate biochemical levels pre- and post-acupuncture treatment. Participants (N=45) included subjects diagnosed with: 1) migraine without aura; 2) cervicogenic headache; and 3) healthy controls. Participants in the two patient groups received verum acupuncture using acupoints that target migraine without aura but not cervicogenic headache, while the healthy controls received a sham treatment. All participants had magnetic resonance spectroscopy scans before and after the acupuncture therapy. Levels of brain metabolites were examined in relation to clinical headache assessment scores. A significant increase in N -acetylaspartate/creatine was observed in bilateral thalamus in migraine without aura after the acupuncture treatment, which was significantly correlated with the headache intensity score. The data demonstrate brain biochemical changes underlying the effect of acupuncture treatment of migraine.

"This Performance Art Is for the Birds:" "Jackass," "Extreme" Sports, and the De(con)struction of Gender

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sweeny, Robert W.

2008-01-01

Many challenges currently face art educators who aim to address aspects of popular visual culture in the art classroom. This article analyzes the relationship between performance art and the MTV program "Jackass," one example of problematic popular visual culture. Issues of gender representation and violence within the context of Reality TV and…

Interpreting SBUV Smoothing Errors: an Example Using the Quasi-biennial Oscillation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kramarova, N. A.; Bhartia, Pawan K.; Frith, S. M.; McPeters, R. D.; Stolarski, R. S.

2013-01-01

The Solar Backscattered Ultraviolet (SBUV) observing system consists of a series of instruments that have been measuring both total ozone and the ozone profile since 1970. SBUV measures the profile in the upper stratosphere with a resolution that is adequate to resolve most of the important features of that region. In the lower stratosphere the limited vertical resolution of the SBUV system means that there are components of the profile variability that SBUV cannot measure. The smoothing error, as defined in the optimal estimation retrieval method, describes the components of the profile variability that the SBUV observing system cannot measure. In this paper we provide a simple visual interpretation of the SBUV smoothing error by comparing SBUV ozone anomalies in the lower tropical stratosphere associated with the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) to anomalies obtained from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). We describe a methodology for estimating the SBUV smoothing error for monthly zonal mean (mzm) profiles. We construct covariance matrices that describe the statistics of the inter-annual ozone variability using a 6 yr record of Aura MLS and ozonesonde data. We find that the smoothing error is of the order of 1percent between 10 and 1 hPa, increasing up to 15-20 percent in the troposphere and up to 5 percent in the mesosphere. The smoothing error for total ozone columns is small, mostly less than 0.5 percent. We demonstrate that by merging the partial ozone columns from several layers in the lower stratosphere/troposphere into one thick layer, we can minimize the smoothing error. We recommend using the following layer combinations to reduce the smoothing error to about 1 percent: surface to 25 hPa (16 hPa) outside (inside) of the narrow equatorial zone 20 S-20 N.

EOS-Aura's Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI): Validation Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brinksma, E. J.; McPeters, R.; deHaan, J. F.; Levelt, P. F.; Hilsenrath, E.; Bhartia, P. K.

2003-01-01

OMI is an advanced hyperspectral instrument that measures backscattered radiation in the UV and visible. It will be flown as part of the EOS Aura mission and provide data on atmospheric chemistry that is highly synergistic with other Aura instruments HIRDLS, MLS, and TES. OMI is designed to measure total ozone, aerosols, cloud information, and UV irradiances, continuing the TOMS series of global mapped products but with higher spatial resolution. In addition its hyperspectral capability enables measurements of trace gases such as SO2, NO2, HCHO, BrO, and OClO. A plan for validation of the various OM1 products is now being formulated. Validation of the total column and UVB products will rely heavily on existing networks of instruments, like NDSC. NASA and its European partners are planning aircraft missions for the validation of Aura instruments. New instruments and techniques (DOAS systems for example) will need to be developed, both ground and aircraft based. Lidar systems are needed for validation of the vertical distributions of ozone, aerosols, NO2 and possibly SO2. The validation emphasis will be on the retrieval of these products under polluted conditions. This is challenging because they often depend on the tropospheric profiles of the product in question, and because of large spatial variations in the troposphere. Most existing ground stations are located in, and equipped for, pristine environments. This is also true for almost all NDSC stations. OMI validation will need ground based sites in polluted environments and specially developed instruments, complementing the existing instrumentation.

An association between migraines and heart anomalies-true or false? A heart ultrasound study using cTTE in migraine patients and control participants.

PubMed

Domitrz, Izabela; Styczynski, Grzegorz; Wilczko, Justyna; Marczewska, Malgorzata M; Domitrz, Wojciech; Kaminska, Anna

2014-12-01

A migraine is a common neurological disorder that often coexists with other illnesses including heart abnormalities, such as patent foramen ovale (PFO), atrial septal aneurysm (ASA), and mitral valve prolapse (MVP). The aim of our study was to evaluate the occurrence of some heart abnormalities in migraine patients by routine and contrast transthoracic echocardiography. We assessed the occurrence of PFO, ASA, and MVP in 96 patients with migraine without aura (87 females), in 62 patients with migraine with aura (41 females) and in 53 healthy persons (40 females). In comparison with our control group, only the prevalence of PFO was statistically higher in patients with migraine (P = 0.03) and especially with aura (P = 0.01). We did not find any statistically significant differences between the occurrence of ASA or MVP in migraine and control groups. The results of our study raise the question of the heart's role in the mechanism of migraine attacks. If the occurrence of migraine with aura had been related to some heart abnormalities, the pathophysiology of migraine attacks may have some connection to some heart dysfunction. Resolving the association between migraine and comorbid cardiac conditions might shed light on the underlying mechanisms of migraines and even result in a different treatment strategy. However, we do not find any clear connection between PFP, ASA, and MVP, and migraine occurrence. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Auditory aura in nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy: a red flag to suspect an extra-frontal epileptogenic zone.

PubMed

Ferri, Lorenzo; Bisulli, Francesca; Nobili, Lino; Tassi, Laura; Licchetta, Laura; Mostacci, Barbara; Stipa, Carlotta; Mainieri, Greta; Bernabè, Giorgia; Provini, Federica; Tinuper, Paolo

2014-11-01

To describe the anatomo-electro-clinical findings of patients with nocturnal hypermotor seizures (NHS) preceded by auditory symptoms, to evaluate the localizing value of auditory aura. Our database of 165 patients with nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (NFLE) diagnosis confirmed by videopolysomnography (VPSG) was reviewed, selecting those who reported an auditory aura as the initial ictal symptom in at least two NHS during their lifetime. Eleven patients were selected (seven males, four females). According to the anatomo-electro-clinical data, three groups were identified. Group 1 [defined epileptogenic zone (EZ)]: three subjects were studied with stereo-EEG. The EZ lay in the left superior temporal gyrus in two cases, whereas in the third case seizures arose from a dysplastic lesion located in the left temporal lobe. One of these three patients underwent left Heschl's gyrus resection, and is currently seizure-free. Group 2 (presumed EZ): three cases in which a presumed EZ was identified; in the left temporal lobe in two cases and in the left temporal lobe extending to the insula in one subject. Group 3 (uncertain EZ): five cases had anatomo-electro-clinical correlations discordant. This work suggests that auditory aura may be a helpful anamnestic feature suggesting an extra-frontal seizure origin. This finding could guide secondary investigations to improve diagnostic definition and selection of candidates for surgical treatment. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

SOFIA Science Imagery

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-09-14

SCI2012_0003: SOFIA mid-infrared image of the planetary nebula Minkowski 2-9 (M2-9), also known as the Butterfly Nebula, compared with a visual-wavelength Hubble Space Telescope image at the same scale and orientation. The nebula is composed of two lobes of gas & dust expelled from a dying star with about the mass of our Sun that is seen at the center of the lobes. The HST image shows mostly ionized gas in the lobes whereas the SOFIA image shows mostly solid grains condensing in the gas. The SOFIA data were obtained during SOFIA's Early Science program in 2011 by a Guest Investigator team led by Michael Werner of Caltech/JPL using the FORCAST camera (P.I.Terry Herter, Cornell University). Credit: SOFIA image, RGB = 37, 24, 20 microns; NASA/DLR/USRA/DSI/FORCAST team/M. Werner et al./A. Helton, J. Rho; HST image: NASA/ESA/NSF/AURA/Hubble Heritage Team/STScI/B. Balick, V. Icke, G. Mellema

Anthropogenic and Volcanic Contributions to the Tropospheric and Stratospheric Sulfate Aerosols

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, Mian

2011-01-01

We investigate anthropogenic and volcanic contributions to sulfate aerosol in the atmosphere through modeling and analysis of Aura data. We use a global model GOCART to simualte 502 and sulfate aerosol from 2000 to 2010 with the new anthropogenic and volcanic emission estimates to assess the origin of sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere. We will compare the model results with 502 data from OMI and MLS instrument on Aura, and aerosol vertical profiles from CALIPSO. Our goal is to understand the dec ada 1 trends of observed tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols.

KSC-04pd1360

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The Aura spacecraft on a transporter heads a convoy of vehicles in the predawn hours as it moves to Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

KSC-04pd1351

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the predawn hours, the Aura spacecraft is transported the short distance from the Astrotech payload processing facility to Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

KSC-04pd1350

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - In the predawn hours, the Aura spacecraft is being transported from the Astrotech payload processing facility located a few miles south of Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

The Efficacy of Air Pollution Control Efforts: Evidence from AURA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dickerson, Russell R.; Canty, Tim; Duncan, Bryan N.; Hao, He; Krotkov, Nickolay A.; Salawitch, Ross J.; Stehr, Jeffrey W.; Vinnikov, Konstatin

2014-01-01

Observations of NO2, SO2, and H2CO from OMI on AURA provide an excellent record of pollutant concentrations for the past decade. Abatement strategies to control criteria pollutants including ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) have met with varying degrees of success. Sulfur controls had a profound impact on local SO2 concentrations and a measurable impact on PM2.5. Although substantial effort has gone into VOC control, ozone in the eastern US has responded dramatically to NOx emissions controls.

Intercomparisons of Aura MLS, ACE, and HALOE Observations of Long-Lived Trace Species Using the Langley Lagrangian Chemistry and Transport Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Considine, David B.; Natarajan, Murali; Fairlie, T. D.; Lingenfelser, Gretchen S.; Bernath, Peter

2007-01-01

We use the LaRC Lagrangian Chemistry and Transport Model (LCTM) [Considine et al., 2007; Pierce et al., 2003] to intercompare ACE, Aura, and HALOE observations of long-lived trace species. The LCTM calculates the transport, mixing, and photochemical evolution of an ensemble of parcels that have been initialized from ACE-FTS measurements. Here we focus on late November, 2004 comparisons, due to the previous 3-week period of continuous HALOE observations and MLS v2.2 data on November 29, 2004.

Con-Text: Text Detection for Fine-grained Object Classification.

PubMed

Karaoglu, Sezer; Tao, Ran; van Gemert, Jan C; Gevers, Theo

2017-05-24

This work focuses on fine-grained object classification using recognized scene text in natural images. While the state-of-the-art relies on visual cues only, this paper is the first work which proposes to combine textual and visual cues. Another novelty is the textual cue extraction. Unlike the state-of-the-art text detection methods, we focus more on the background instead of text regions. Once text regions are detected, they are further processed by two methods to perform text recognition i.e. ABBYY commercial OCR engine and a state-of-the-art character recognition algorithm. Then, to perform textual cue encoding, bi- and trigrams are formed between the recognized characters by considering the proposed spatial pairwise constraints. Finally, extracted visual and textual cues are combined for fine-grained classification. The proposed method is validated on four publicly available datasets: ICDAR03, ICDAR13, Con-Text and Flickr-logo. We improve the state-of-the-art end-to-end character recognition by a large margin of 15% on ICDAR03. We show that textual cues are useful in addition to visual cues for fine-grained classification. We show that textual cues are also useful for logo retrieval. Adding textual cues outperforms visual- and textual-only in fine-grained classification (70.7% to 60.3%) and logo retrieval (57.4% to 54.8%).

Experience in managing a large-scale rescreening of Papanicolaou smears and the pros and cons of measuring proficiency with visual and written examinations.

PubMed

Rube, I F

1989-01-01

Experiences in a large-scale interlaboratory rescreening of Papanicolaou smears are detailed, and the pros and cons of measuring proficiency in cytology are discussed. Despite the additional work of the rescreening project and some psychological and technical problems, it proved to be a useful measure of the laboratory's performance as a whole. One problem to be avoided in future similar studies is the creation of too many diagnostic categories. Individual testing and certification have been shown to be accurate predictors of proficiency. For cytology, such tests require a strong visual component to test interpretation and judgment skills, such as by the use of glass slides or photomicrographs. The potential of interactive videodisc technology for facilitating cytopathologic teaching and assessment is discussed.

Prospective testing of ICHD-3 beta diagnostic criteria for migraine with aura and migraine with typical aura in patients with transient ischemic attacks.

PubMed

Lebedeva, Elena R; Gurary, Natalia M; Gilev, Denis V; Olesen, Jes

2018-03-01

Introduction The International Classification of Headache Disorders 3rd edition beta (ICHD-3 beta) gave alternative diagnostic criteria for 1.2 migraine with aura (MA) and 1.2.1 migraine with typical aura (MTA) in the appendix. The latter were presumed to better differentiate transient ischemic attacks (TIA) from MA. The aim of the present study was to field test that. Methods Soon after admission, a neurologist interviewed 120 consecutive patients diagnosed with TIA after MRI or CT. Semi-structured interview forms addressed all details of the TIA episode and all information necessary to apply the ICHD-3beta diagnostic criteria for 1.2, 1.2.1, A1.2 and A1.2.1. Results Requiring at least one identical previous attack, the main body and the appendix criteria performed almost equally well. But requiring only one attack, more than a quarter of TIA patients also fulfilled the main body criteria for 1.2. Specificity was as follows for one attack: 1.2: 0.73, A1.2: 0.91, 1.2.1: 0.88 and A1.2.1: 1.0. Sensitivity when tested against ICHD-2 criteria were 100% for the main body criteria (because they were unchanged), 96% for A1.2 and 94% for A1.2.1. Conclusion The appendix criteria performed much better than the main body criteria for 1.2 MA and 1.2.1 MTA when diagnosing one attack (probable MA). We recommend that the appendix criteria should replace the main body criteria in the ICHD-3.

Evaluation of the Ozone Fields in NASA's MERRA-2 Reanalysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wargan, Krzysztof; Labow, Gordon; Frith, Stacey; Pawson, Steven; Livesey, Nathaniel; Partyka, Gary

2017-01-01

We describe and assess the quality of the assimilated ozone product from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) produced at NASAs Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) spanning the time period from 1980 to present. MERRA-2 assimilates partial column ozone retrievals from a series of Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV) radiometers on NASA and NOAA spacecraft between January 1980 and September 2004; starting in October 2004 retrieved ozone profiles from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and total column ozone from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASAs EOS Aura satellite are assimilated. We compare the MERRA-2 ozone with independent satellite and ozonesonde data focusing on the representation of the spatial and temporal variability of stratospheric and upper tropospheric ozone and on implications of the change in the observing system from SBUV to EOS Aura. The comparisons show agreement within 10 (standard deviation of the difference) between MERRA-2 profiles and independent satellite data in most of the stratosphere. The agreement improves after 2004 when EOS Aura data are assimilated. The standard deviation of the differences between the lower stratospheric and upper tropospheric MERRA-2 ozone and ozonesondes is 11.2 and 24.5, respectively, with correlations of 0.8 and above, indicative of a realistic representation of the near-tropopause ozone variability in MERRA-2. The agreement improves significantly in the EOS Aura period, however MERRA-2 is biased low in the upper troposphere with respect to the ozonesondes. Caution is recommended when using MERRA-2 ozone for decadal changes and trend studies.

Right-to-left shunt may be prone to affect the white matter integrity of posterior circulation in migraine without aura.

PubMed

Xie, Hui; Bian, Yitong; Jian, Zhijie; Huo, Kang; Liu, Rui; Zhu, Dan; Zhang, Lihui; Wu, Jun; Yang, Jian; Liu, Jixin; Luo, Guogang

2018-01-01

Numerous studies have indicated an association between migraine and right-to-left shunt. However, little is known about whether right-to-left shunt has an effect on the migraine brain. This observational study aims to explore the impact of right-to-left shunt on the brain of migraine without aura on microstructural level. Thirty-five patients with migraine without aura were enrolled in this study. Contrast-enhanced Transcranial Doppler was performed to evaluate the status of right-to-left shunt. Three-dimensional T1-weighted and diffusion tensor images were acquired for data analysis. We employed voxel-based morphometry and tract-based spatial statistical analyses to assess the differences of gray and white matter between migraineurs with and without right-to-left shunt, respectively. Among the 35 patients, 19 (54.3%) patients had right-to-left shunt. There were no significant differences in headache features between migraineurs with and without right-to-left shunt. There were significant increases of mean and radial diffusivity in migraineurs with right-to-left shunt compared with migraineurs without right-to-left shunt. The alterations were primarily located in the right posterior thalamic radiation, secondly in the body of corpus callosum and the right superior corona radiata. No significant differences were observed in values of fractional anisotropy and axial diffusivity. No significant between-group differences were found in gray matter volume. Right-to-left shunt may cause alterations of white matter integrity in migraine without aura, and the alterations are more likely to be located at the posterior circulation.

Assessment and Applications of NASA Ozone Data Products Derived from Aura OMI-MLS Satellite Measurements in Context of the GMI Chemical Transport Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ziemke, J. R.; Olsen, M. A.; Witte, J. C.; Douglass, A. R.; Strahan, S. E.; Wargan, K.; Liu, X.; Schoeberl, M. R.; Yang, K.; Kaplan, T. B.;

Site Protection Efforts at the AURA Observatory in Chile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, R. Chris; Smith, Malcolm G.; Sanhueza, Pedro

2015-08-01

The AURA Observatory (AURA-O) was the first of the major international observatories to be established in northern Chile to exploit the optimal astronomical conditions available there. The site was originally established in 1962 to host the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO). It now hosts more than 20 operational telescopes, including some of the leading U.S. and international astronomical facilities in the southern hemisphere, such as the Blanco 4m telescope on Cerro Tololo and the Gemini-South and SOAR telescopes on Cerro Pachón. Construction of the next generation facility, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), has recently begun on Cerro Pachón, while additional smaller telescopes continue to be added to the complement on Cerro Tololo.While the site has become a major platform for international astronomical facilities over the last 50 years, development in the region has led to an ever-increasing threat of light pollution around the site. AURA-O has worked closely with local, regional, and national authorities and institutions (in particular with the Chilean Ministries of Environment and Foreign Relations) in an effort to protect the site so that future generations of telescopes, as well as future generations of Chileans, can benefit from the dark skies in the region. We will summarize our efforts over the past 15 years to highlight the importance of dark sky protection through education and public outreach as well as through more recent promotion of IDA certifications in the region and support for the World Heritage initiatives described by others in this conference.

Evaluation of the Ozone Fields in NASA’s MERRA-2 Reanalysis

PubMed Central

Wargan, Krzysztof; Labow, Gordon; Frith, Stacey; Pawson, Steven; Livesey, Nathaniel; Partyka, Gary

2018-01-01

We describe and assess the quality of the assimilated ozone product from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) produced at NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) spanning the time period from 1980 to present. MERRA-2 assimilates partial column ozone retrievals from a series of Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV) radiometers on NASA and NOAA spacecraft between January 1980 and September 2004; starting in October 2004 retrieved ozone profiles from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and total column ozone from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA’s EOS Aura satellite are assimilated. We compare the MERRA-2 ozone with independent satellite and ozonesonde data focusing on the representation of the spatial and temporal variability of stratospheric and upper tropospheric ozone and on implications of the change in the observing system from SBUV to EOS Aura. The comparisons show agreement within 10 % (standard deviation of the difference) between MERRA-2 profiles and independent satellite data in most of the stratosphere. The agreement improves after 2004 when EOS Aura data are assimilated. The standard deviation of the differences between the lower stratospheric and upper tropospheric MERRA-2 ozone and ozonesondes is 11.2 % and 24.5 %, respectively, with correlations of 0.8 and above, indicative of a realistic representation of the near-tropopause ozone variability in MERRA-2. The agreement improves significantly in the EOS Aura period, however MERRA-2 is biased low in the upper troposphere with respect to the ozonesondes. Caution is recommended when using MERRA-2 ozone for decadal changes and trend studies. PMID:29527096

Evaluation of the Ozone Fields in NASA's MERRA-2 Reanalysis.

PubMed

Wargan, Krzysztof; Labow, Gordon; Frith, Stacey; Pawson, Steven; Livesey, Nathaniel; Partyka, Gary

2017-04-01

We describe and assess the quality of the assimilated ozone product from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) produced at NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) spanning the time period from 1980 to present. MERRA-2 assimilates partial column ozone retrievals from a series of Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV) radiometers on NASA and NOAA spacecraft between January 1980 and September 2004; starting in October 2004 retrieved ozone profiles from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and total column ozone from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA's EOS Aura satellite are assimilated. We compare the MERRA-2 ozone with independent satellite and ozonesonde data focusing on the representation of the spatial and temporal variability of stratospheric and upper tropospheric ozone and on implications of the change in the observing system from SBUV to EOS Aura. The comparisons show agreement within 10 % (standard deviation of the difference) between MERRA-2 profiles and independent satellite data in most of the stratosphere. The agreement improves after 2004 when EOS Aura data are assimilated. The standard deviation of the differences between the lower stratospheric and upper tropospheric MERRA-2 ozone and ozonesondes is 11.2 % and 24.5 %, respectively, with correlations of 0.8 and above, indicative of a realistic representation of the near-tropopause ozone variability in MERRA-2. The agreement improves significantly in the EOS Aura period, however MERRA-2 is biased low in the upper troposphere with respect to the ozonesondes. Caution is recommended when using MERRA-2 ozone for decadal changes and trend studies.

Tropospheric Ozone from Assimilation of Aura Data using Different Definitions of the Tropopause

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stajner, Ivanka; Wargan, K.; Chang, L.-P.; Hayashi, H.; Pawson, S.; Pawson, Steven; Livesey, N.; Bhartia, P. K.

2006-01-01

Ozone data from Aura OMI and MLS instruments were assimilated into the general circulation model (GCM) constrained by assimilated meteorological fields from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA Goddard. Properties of tropospheric ozone and their sensitivity to the definition of the tropopause are investigated. Three definitions of the tropopause are considered: (1) dynamical (using potential vorticity and potential temperature), (2) using temperature lapse rate, and (3) using a fixed ozone value. Comparisons of the tropospheric ozone columns using these tropopause definitions will be presented and evaluated against coincident profiles from ozone sondes. Assimilated ozone profiles are used to identify possible tropopause folding events, which are important for stratosphere-troposphere exchange. Each profile is searched for multiple levels at which ozone attains the value typical of the troposphere-stratosphere transition in order to identify possible tropopause folds. Constrained by the dynamics from a global model and by assimilation of Aura ozone data every 3-hours, this data set provides an opportunity to study ozone evolution in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere with high temporal resolution.

Identification of the Cause of the Stem Neck Fracture in the Hip Joint Endoprosthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryniewicz, A. M.; Bojko, Ł.; Ryniewicz, A.; Pałka, P.; Ryniewicz, W.

2018-02-01

Endoprosthesis stem fractures are among the rarest complications that occur after hip joint arthroplasty. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the causes of the fractures of the Aura II stem neck, which is an element of an endoprosthesis implanted in a patient. In order to achieve it, a radiogram was evaluated, the FEM analysis was carried out for the hip joint replaced using the Aura II prosthesis and scanning tests as well as a chemical analysis were performed for the focus of fatigue. The tests performed indicate that the most probable causes leading to the fatigue fracture of the Aura II stem under examination were material defects in the process of casting and forging (forging the material with delamination and the presence of brittle oxides and carbides) that resulted in a significant reduction of strength and resistance to corrosion. In the light of an unprecedented stem neck fracture, this information should be an indication for non-destructive tests of ready-made stems aiming to discover the material and technological defects that may arise in the process of casting and drop forging.

Acupuncture therapy in treating migraine: results of a magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging study

PubMed Central

Gu, Tao; Lin, Lei; Jiang, Yun; Chen, Juan; D’Arcy, Ryan CN; Chen, Min; Song, Xiaowei

2018-01-01

Background Acupuncture has been proven to be effective as an alternative therapy in treating migraine, but the pathophysiological mechanisms of the treatment remain unclear. This study investigated possible neurochemical responses to acupuncture treatment. Patients and methods Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging was used to investigate biochemical levels pre- and post-acupuncture treatment. Participants (N=45) included subjects diagnosed with: 1) migraine without aura; 2) cervicogenic headache; and 3) healthy controls. Participants in the two patient groups received verum acupuncture using acupoints that target migraine without aura but not cervicogenic headache, while the healthy controls received a sham treatment. All participants had magnetic resonance spectroscopy scans before and after the acupuncture therapy. Levels of brain metabolites were examined in relation to clinical headache assessment scores. Results A significant increase in N-acetylaspartate/creatine was observed in bilateral thalamus in migraine without aura after the acupuncture treatment, which was significantly correlated with the headache intensity score. Conclusion The data demonstrate brain biochemical changes underlying the effect of acupuncture treatment of migraine. PMID:29740217

Ecstatic Epileptic Seizures: A Glimpse into the Multiple Roles of the Insula.

PubMed

Gschwind, Markus; Picard, Fabienne

2016-01-01

Ecstatic epileptic seizures are a rare but compelling epileptic entity. During the first seconds of these seizures, ecstatic auras provoke feelings of well-being, intense serenity, bliss, and "enhanced self-awareness." They are associated with the impression of time dilation, and can be described as a mystic experience by some patients. The functional neuroanatomy of ecstatic seizures is still debated. During recent years several patients presenting with ecstatic auras have been reported by others and us (in total n = 52); a few of them in the setting of presurgical evaluation including electrical brain stimulation. According to the recently recognized functions of the insula, and the results of nuclear brain imaging and electrical stimulation, the ecstatic symptoms in these patients seem to localize to a functional network centered around the anterior insular cortex, where we thus propose to locate this rare ictal phenomenon. Here we summarize the role of the multiple sensory, autonomic, affective, and cognitive functions of the insular cortex, which are integrated into the creation of self-awareness, and we suggest how this system may become dysfunctional on several levels during ecstatic aura.

The EOS Aqua/Aura Experience: Lessons Learned on Design, Integration, and Test of Earth-Observing Satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nosek, Thomas P.

2004-01-01

NASA and NOAA earth observing satellite programs are flying a number of sophisticated scientific instruments which collect data on many phenomena and parameters of the earth's environment. The NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Program originated the EOS Common Bus approach, which featured two spacecraft (Aqua and Aura) of virtually identical design but with completely different instruments. Significant savings were obtained by the Common Bus approach and these lessons learned are presented as information for future program requiring multiple busses for new diversified instruments with increased capabilities for acquiring earth environmental data volume, accuracy, and type.

KSC-04pd1355

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the Aura spacecraft arrives at the top of the mobile service tower, or gantry. It will be moved and then mated with the second stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

KSC-04pd1358

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside the mobile service tower, or gantry, at Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the Aura spacecraft is lowered toward the second stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket. After it is mated with the second stage, the fairing will be installed. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

KSC-04pd1356

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside the mobile service tower, or gantry, at Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., workers help guide the Aura spacecraft toward the second stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket. After mating with the second stage, the fairing will be installed. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

KSC-04pd1357

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-06-22

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - Inside the mobile service tower, or gantry, at Space Launch Complex 2 on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the Aura spacecraft is maneuvered into position over the second stage of the Boeing Delta II rocket. After it is mated with the second stage, the fairing will be installed. The latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, Aura is scheduled to launch July 10. Aura’s four state-of-the-art instruments will study the dynamics of chemistry occurring in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will provide data to help scientists better understand the Earth’s ozone, air quality and climate change.

Headache Attributed to Fibrous Dysplasia of the Ethmoid Bone Mimicking Menstrual Migraine Without Aura.

PubMed

Kim, Kyung Soo

2016-06-01

The authors experienced a patient of fibrous dysplasia originating from the ethmoid bone which presented with severe headache with some features suggestive of menstrual migraine without aura. Fibrous dysplasia originating from the ethmoid bone is a rare disease entity, but may cause severe headache that can be misdiagnosed as "menstrual migraine" because of similar symptoms in female patients. Because the primary objective of surgery is symptomatic relief, conservative transnasal endoscopic approach may be considered an alternative to more invasive external surgical techniques in carefully selected patients, especially originating from the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses.

Psychiatric comorbidity and suicide risk in adolescents with chronic daily headache.

PubMed

Wang, Shuu-Jiun; Juang, Kai-Dih; Fuh, Jong-Ling; Lu, Shiang-Ru

2007-05-01

To investigate the prevalence and correlates of comorbid psychiatric disorders and suicidal risk in community-based adolescents with chronic daily headache (CDH). We identified and recruited 122 adolescents with CDH from a non-referral student sample (n = 7,900). CDH subtypes were classified according to the most updated criteria of the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd edition (ICHD-2). An in-person psychiatric interview was performed with each subject with CDH to assess depressive and anxiety disorders and suicidal risk based on the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview-Kid (MINI-Kid). Clinical correlates and impacts were investigated. A total of 121 subjects (31 male/90 female, mean age 13.8 years) finished the psychiatric interview. Fifty-seven subjects (47%) had > or =1 assessed psychiatric comorbidity with major depression (21%) and panic disorder (19%) as the two most common diagnoses. Current suicidal risk was assessed as high (score > or = 10) in 20% of subjects. Female gender and older age were associated with depressive disorders. Presence of migraine was associated with psychiatric comorbidities (OR = 3.5, p = 0.002). The associations with psychiatric disorders were stronger for migraine with aura than for migraine without aura. Migraine with aura also independently predicted a high suicidal risk (score > or = 10) (adjusted OR = 6.0, p = 0.028). In contrast, CDH subtypes, headache frequencies, or medication overuse were not correlated. Comorbid psychiatric disorders were not related to physician consultations or more days of sick leave. This community-based study showed high comorbidity of psychiatric disorders and suicidal risk in adolescents with chronic daily headache. The presence of migraine attacks, especially migraine with aura, was the major predictor for these associations.

Atopic disorders are more common in childhood migraine and correlated headache phenotype.

PubMed

Özge, Aynur; Öksüz, Nevra; Ayta, Semih; Uluduz, Derya; Yıldırım, Veli; Toros, Fevziye; Taşdelen, Bahar

2014-12-01

The supportive clinical and pathophysiological data about the correlation between migraine and atopic disorders are far from a coincidence. In order to determine and investigate the correlates of atopic disorders in a specific dataset, we performed this retrospective cross-sectional clinical-based study. The dataset was composed from three tertiary center web-based databases (http://www.childhoodheadache.org). Headache diagnosis and differential diagnosis were made according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd version and the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition. Migraine with aura, migraine without aura, chronic migraine and episodic and chronic tension type headache (TTH) patients were included. All other causes of headache disorders, including comorbid headache disorders like migraine plus TTH or "possible" causes of headache, were excluded. The study included 438 patients with migraine and 357 patients with TTH, whose age and sex distribution were identical. After descriptive statistics accordingly, 80 migraine (18.2%) and 23 TTH (6.4%) patients were found to have specific atopic disorders (P < 0.001). Atopic disorders are more commonly reported in patients with migraine with aura (21.6%) than those with migraine without aura and TTH (P < 0.001). The most common atopic disorders were seasonal rhinitis, conjunctivitis and asthma. There was also a close correlation between TTH with atopic disorders and psychiatric comorbid disorders of the patients. Although the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd version, does not specify, atopic disorders should be suspected in all migraine patients and their relatives, not only for accurate diagnosis but also for planning prophylactic medications, such as β-blockers. © 2014 Japan Pediatric Society.

The Columbia Thyroid Eye Disease-Compressive Optic Neuropathy Formula.

PubMed

Callahan, Alison B; Campbell, Ashley A; Oropesa, Susel; Baraban, Aryeh; Kazim, Michael

2018-06-13

Diagnosing thyroid eye disease-compressive optic neuropathy (TED-CON) is challenging, particularly in cases lacking a relative afferent pupillary defect. Large case series of TED-CON patients and accessible diagnostic tools are lacking in the current literature. This study aims to create a mathematical formula that accurately predicts the presence or absence of CON based on the most salient clinical measures of optic neuropathy. A retrospective case series compares 108 patients (216 orbits) with either unilateral or bilateral TED-CON and 41 age-matched patients (82 orbits) with noncompressive TED. Utilizing clinical variables assessing optic nerve function and/or risk of compressive disease, and with the aid of generalized linear regression modeling, the authors create a mathematical formula that weighs the relative contribution of each clinical variable in the overall prediction of CON. Data from 213 orbits in 110 patients derived the formula: y = -0.69 + 2.58 × (afferent pupillary defect) - 0.31 × (summed limitation of ductions) - 0.2 × (mean deviation on Humphrey visual field testing) - 0.02 × (% color plates). This accurately predicted the presence of CON (y > 0) versus non-CON (y < 0) in 82% of cases with 83% sensitivity and 81% specificity. When there was no relative afferent pupillary defect, which was the case in 63% of CON orbits, the formula correctly predicted CON in 78% of orbits with 73% sensitivity and 83% specificity. The authors developed a mathematical formula, the Columbia TED-CON Formula (CTD Formula), that can help guide clinicians in accurately diagnosing TED-CON, particularly in the presence of bilateral disease and when no relative afferent pupillary defect is present.

hs-2007-16-e-full_jpg

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-03-01

Carina Nebula Details: The Caterpillar Credit for Hubble Image: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Credit for CTIO Image: N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley) and NOAO/AURA/NSF The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations. Goddard is responsible for HST project management, including mission and science operations, servicing missions, and all associated development activities. To learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope go here: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html

High asymmetric dimethylarginine, symmetric dimethylarginine and L-arginine levels in migraine patients.

PubMed

Reyhani, Aylin; Celik, Yahya; Karadag, Hakan; Gunduz, Ozgur; Asil, Talip; Sut, Necdet

2017-07-01

Experimental and clinical data strongly suggests that nitric oxide (NO) plays a pivotal role in migraine. This is also supported by studies of migraine induced by substances that release NO. NO is synthesized from L-arginine by endothelial NO synthase (NOS). Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is the major endogenous competitive inhibitor of NOS. Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is an inactive stereoisomer of ADMA. It may reduce NO production by competing with arginine for cellular uptake. The aim of this study was to measure the levels of ADMA, SDMA and L-arginine in migraine patients during the interictal period. One hundred migraine patients and 100 healthy volunteers were recruited. The patients were in the interictal period and classified into two groups as having migraine with aura and migraine without aura. Their serum ADMA, SDMA and L-arginine levels were measured by high-performance liquid chromotography (HPLC) method. ADMA, SDMA and L-arginine levels were significantly higher in migraine patients compared to the control group. But there was no difference between the patients with and without aura. These results suggest that NOS inhibitors and L-arginine/NO pathway plays an important role in migraine pathopysiology.

Ecstatic Epileptic Seizures: A Glimpse into the Multiple Roles of the Insula

PubMed Central

Gschwind, Markus; Picard, Fabienne

2016-01-01

Ecstatic epileptic seizures are a rare but compelling epileptic entity. During the first seconds of these seizures, ecstatic auras provoke feelings of well-being, intense serenity, bliss, and “enhanced self-awareness.” They are associated with the impression of time dilation, and can be described as a mystic experience by some patients. The functional neuroanatomy of ecstatic seizures is still debated. During recent years several patients presenting with ecstatic auras have been reported by others and us (in total n = 52); a few of them in the setting of presurgical evaluation including electrical brain stimulation. According to the recently recognized functions of the insula, and the results of nuclear brain imaging and electrical stimulation, the ecstatic symptoms in these patients seem to localize to a functional network centered around the anterior insular cortex, where we thus propose to locate this rare ictal phenomenon. Here we summarize the role of the multiple sensory, autonomic, affective, and cognitive functions of the insular cortex, which are integrated into the creation of self-awareness, and we suggest how this system may become dysfunctional on several levels during ecstatic aura. PMID:26924970

An Investigation of Laser Lighting Systems to Assist Aircraft

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1979-01-01

A model for the visual detectability of narrow light beams was developed and used to evaluate the system performance of two laser lighting system configurations: (1) a laser VASI and (2) a crossed beam glide path indicator. Laboratory experiments con...

El efecto de la panfotocoagulación con láser en edema macular diabético con el fotocoagulador Pascal® versus el láser de argón convencional.

PubMed

Mahgoub, Mohamed M; Macky, Tamer A

2017-07-11

Objetivo: El objetivo de este estudio fue comparar el efecto de la panfotocoagulación (PFC) en el edema macular diabético (EMD) en pacientes con retinopatía diabética proliferativa (RDP) con el fotocoagulador Pascal® (FP) vs. un fotocoagulador con láser de argón convencional (FLAC). Métodos: Se aleatorizó el uso de FP o FLAC en ochenta ojos con RDP y EMD con afectación central de la mácula. Ambos grupos tuvieron una evaluación de base de mejor agudeza visual corregida y fueron examinados con tomografía de coherencia óptica y angiografía con fluoresceína. Resultados: El número medio de disparos de láser en los grupos de FP y FLAC fue 1.726,10 y 752,00 en la sesión 1 y 1.589,00 y 830,00 (p < 0,001) en la sesión 2, respectivamente. El grosor foveal central (GFC) medio antes de comenzar el estudio fue 306 ± 100 y 314 ± 98 en los grupos de FP y FLAC, respectivamente. A las 8 semanas, el GFC medio fue 332 ± 116 y 347 ± 111 en los grupos de FP y FLAC, respectivamente (p > 0,05). La MAVC media fue similar durante el periodo de estudio y no hubo ninguna diferencia significativa entre los grupos (p > 0,05). Conclusiones: El FP y el FLAC mostraron efectos similares en el EMD en ojos con RDP y fueron igualmente seguros sin un aumento significativo del GFC. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The ConSurf-DB: pre-calculated evolutionary conservation profiles of protein structures.

PubMed

Goldenberg, Ofir; Erez, Elana; Nimrod, Guy; Ben-Tal, Nir

2009-01-01

ConSurf-DB is a repository for evolutionary conservation analysis of the proteins of known structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Sequence homologues of each of the PDB entries were collected and aligned using standard methods. The evolutionary conservation of each amino acid position in the alignment was calculated using the Rate4Site algorithm, implemented in the ConSurf web server. The algorithm takes into account the phylogenetic relations between the aligned proteins and the stochastic nature of the evolutionary process explicitly. Rate4Site assigns a conservation level for each position in the multiple sequence alignment using an empirical Bayesian inference. Visual inspection of the conservation patterns on the 3D structure often enables the identification of key residues that comprise the functionally important regions of the protein. The repository is updated with the latest PDB entries on a monthly basis and will be rebuilt annually. ConSurf-DB is available online at http://consurfdb.tau.ac.il/

The ConSurf-DB: pre-calculated evolutionary conservation profiles of protein structures

PubMed Central

Goldenberg, Ofir; Erez, Elana; Nimrod, Guy; Ben-Tal, Nir

2009-01-01

ConSurf-DB is a repository for evolutionary conservation analysis of the proteins of known structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Sequence homologues of each of the PDB entries were collected and aligned using standard methods. The evolutionary conservation of each amino acid position in the alignment was calculated using the Rate4Site algorithm, implemented in the ConSurf web server. The algorithm takes into account the phylogenetic relations between the aligned proteins and the stochastic nature of the evolutionary process explicitly. Rate4Site assigns a conservation level for each position in the multiple sequence alignment using an empirical Bayesian inference. Visual inspection of the conservation patterns on the 3D structure often enables the identification of key residues that comprise the functionally important regions of the protein. The repository is updated with the latest PDB entries on a monthly basis and will be rebuilt annually. ConSurf-DB is available online at http://consurfdb.tau.ac.il/ PMID:18971256

The clinical phenotype of autosomal dominant lateral temporal lobe epilepsy related to reelin mutations.

PubMed

Michelucci, Roberto; Pulitano, Patrizia; Di Bonaventura, Carlo; Binelli, Simona; Luisi, Concetta; Pasini, Elena; Striano, Salvatore; Striano, Pasquale; Coppola, Giangennaro; La Neve, Angela; Giallonardo, Anna Teresa; Mecarelli, Oriano; Serioli, Elena; Dazzo, Emanuela; Fanciulli, Manuela; Nobile, Carlo

2017-03-01

To describe the clinical phenotype of 7 families with Autosomal Dominant Lateral Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (ADLTE) related to Reelin (RELN) mutations comparing the data with those observed in 12 LGI1-mutated pedigrees belonging to our series. Out of 40 Italian families with ADLTE, collected by epileptologists participating in a collaborative study of the Commission for Genetics of the Italian League against Epilepsy encompassing a 14-year period (2000-2014), 7 (17.5%) were found to harbor heterozygous RELN mutations. The whole series also included 12 (30%) LGI1 mutated families and 21 (52.5%) non-mutated pedigrees. The clinical, neurophysiological, and neuroradiological findings of RELN and LGI1 mutated families were analyzed. Out of 28 affected individuals belonging to 7 RELN mutated families, 24 had sufficient clinical data available for the study. In these patients, the epilepsy onset occurred at a mean age of 20years, with focal seizures characterized by auditory auras in about 71% of the cases, associated in one-third of patients with aphasia, visual disturbances or other less common symptoms (vertigo or déjà-vu). Tonic-clonic seizures were reported by almost all patients (88%), preceded by typical aura in 67% of cases. Seizures were precipitated by environmental noises in 8% of patients and were completely or almost completely controlled by antiepileptic treatment in the vast majority of cases (96%). The interictal EEG recordings showed epileptiform abnormalities or focal slow waves in 80% of patients, localized over the temporal regions, with marked left predominance and conventional 1,5T MRI scans were not contributory. By comparing these findings with those observed in families with LGI1 mutations, we did not observe significant differences except for a higher rate of left-sided EEG abnormalities in the RELN group. Heterozygous RELN mutations cause a typical ADLTE syndrome, indistinguishable from that associated with LGI1 mutations. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cortical Spreading Depression Closes Paravascular Space and Impairs Glymphatic Flow: Implications for Migraine Headache

PubMed Central

Melo-Carrillo, Agustin; Strassman, Andrew M.

2017-01-01

Functioning of the glymphatic system, a network of paravascular tunnels through which cortical interstitial solutes are cleared from the brain, has recently been linked to sleep and traumatic brain injury, both of which can affect the progression of migraine. This led us to investigate the connection between migraine and the glymphatic system. Taking advantage of a novel in vivo method we developed using two-photon microscopy to visualize the paravascular space (PVS) in naive uninjected mice, we show that a single wave of cortical spreading depression (CSD), an animal model of migraine aura, induces a rapid and nearly complete closure of the PVS around surface as well as penetrating cortical arteries and veins lasting several minutes, and gradually recovering over 30 min. A temporal mismatch between the constriction or dilation of the blood vessel lumen and the closure of the PVS suggests that this closure is not likely to result from changes in vessel diameter. We also show that CSD impairs glymphatic flow, as indicated by the reduced rate at which intraparenchymally injected dye was cleared from the cortex to the PVS. This is the first observation of a PVS closure in connection with an abnormal cortical event that underlies a neurological disorder. More specifically, the findings demonstrate a link between the glymphatic system and migraine, and suggest a novel mechanism for regulation of glymphatic flow. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Impairment of brain solute clearance through the recently described glymphatic system has been linked with traumatic brain injury, prolonged wakefulness, and aging. This paper shows that cortical spreading depression, the neural correlate of migraine aura, closes the paravascular space and impairs glymphatic flow. This closure holds the potential to define a novel mechanism for regulation of glymphatic flow. It also implicates the glymphatic system in the altered cortical and endothelial functioning of the migraine brain. PMID:28193695

Cortical Spreading Depression Closes Paravascular Space and Impairs Glymphatic Flow: Implications for Migraine Headache.

PubMed

Schain, Aaron J; Melo-Carrillo, Agustin; Strassman, Andrew M; Burstein, Rami

2017-03-15

Functioning of the glymphatic system, a network of paravascular tunnels through which cortical interstitial solutes are cleared from the brain, has recently been linked to sleep and traumatic brain injury, both of which can affect the progression of migraine. This led us to investigate the connection between migraine and the glymphatic system. Taking advantage of a novel in vivo method we developed using two-photon microscopy to visualize the paravascular space (PVS) in naive uninjected mice, we show that a single wave of cortical spreading depression (CSD), an animal model of migraine aura, induces a rapid and nearly complete closure of the PVS around surface as well as penetrating cortical arteries and veins lasting several minutes, and gradually recovering over 30 min. A temporal mismatch between the constriction or dilation of the blood vessel lumen and the closure of the PVS suggests that this closure is not likely to result from changes in vessel diameter. We also show that CSD impairs glymphatic flow, as indicated by the reduced rate at which intraparenchymally injected dye was cleared from the cortex to the PVS. This is the first observation of a PVS closure in connection with an abnormal cortical event that underlies a neurological disorder. More specifically, the findings demonstrate a link between the glymphatic system and migraine, and suggest a novel mechanism for regulation of glymphatic flow. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Impairment of brain solute clearance through the recently described glymphatic system has been linked with traumatic brain injury, prolonged wakefulness, and aging. This paper shows that cortical spreading depression, the neural correlate of migraine aura, closes the paravascular space and impairs glymphatic flow. This closure holds the potential to define a novel mechanism for regulation of glymphatic flow. It also implicates the glymphatic system in the altered cortical and endothelial functioning of the migraine brain. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/372904-12$15.00/0.

Remote sensing of tropospheric constituents by OMI on the EOS Aura satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bhartia, Pawan K.

2006-01-01

The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) was launched on NASA's EOS Aura satellite in July 2004. This instrument was built in the Netherlands with collaboration with Finland. The science data products are being developed jointly by scientists from the three countries. OMI is the first instrument to combine the high spatial resolution daily global mapping capability of TOMS with high spectral resolution measurements necessary for retrieving a number of trace gases of relevance to atmospheric chemistry, using techniques pioneered by GOME. In this talk I will show what our planet looks like at UV wavelengths and what these data can tell us about the effects of human activities on global air quality and climate.

[Migraine and cadiac shunts - is there a link?].

PubMed

Riederer, Franz

2012-10-17

Recently an association between migraine and cardiac shunts (e.g. through a patent foramen ovale, PFO) has been described. There is evidence from mostly retrospective case series that PFO closure can significantly improve migraine. On the other hand an increase in attack frequency or de novo migraine after percutaneous closure of an atrial septal defect has been described. Animal experiments showed that microemboli in the cerebral circulation can trigger a cortical spreading depression, which is believed the pathophysiological substrate of migraine aura. A randomized controlled trial that investigated PFO closure for treatment resistant migraine with aura was negative. It is currently discussed whether certain subgroups, who have a high risk for paradoxical embolism, might improve after PFO closer.

Water intake reverses dehydration associated impaired executive function in healthy young women.

PubMed

Stachenfeld, Nina S; Leone, Cheryl A; Mitchell, Ellen S; Freese, Eric; Harkness, Laura

2018-03-01

Healthy women do not always consume Recommended Daily Levels of fluid intake ad libitum. We hypothesized that 1) women lose≥1.0% BW during daily activities, 2) that mild body water loss impairs memory and executive function, 3) water intake to recommended daily levels will improve cognitive function. We tested 12 women (26±5yr, 22.5±2.6kg/m 2 BMI). Session 1 was a control (CON) session, during which subjects monitored their food and fluid intake (diary) and activity (Fitbit®). The next two sessions were applied in balanced order: dehydration (DEH) session, where subjects minimized drinking, and a euhydration (EUH) session, where subjects drank Recommended Daily Levels of fluid for their age and sex, or 2500ml/24h. We compared emotion, sensory perception and cognition with computer based visual analog tests and computer based cognitive tasks (Cogstate) at 5PM, i.e. baseline (BL) on the evening prior to the session, and at 7AM, 12PM, and 5PM during the session. Urine specific gravity (USG) was similar at BL across conditions (CON 1.013±0.002, DEH 1.015±0.002, EUH 1.014±0.002) and increased with dehydration (CON 1.011±0.003, DEH 1.021±0.002, EUH 1.010±0.002, P<0.05) by 5PM of the session. Uncontrolled fluid intake and physical activity were similar across sessions. The water challenges did not impact Detection, Identification, One-Card Learning, but EUH improved visual and working memory (Groton Maze Learning Test) errors: CON 40.1±11.1, DEH 40.5±10.1, EUH 33.9±10.9, P<0.05. Executive function [Set Shifting (SETS)] also improved under EUH, errors: BL 22.5±12.7 vs. 5PM 17.8±6.2, P<0.05. Mild dehydration caused deficits in visual and working memory and executive function in healthy young women. These deficits were reversed by drinking water to the European Food Safety Authority and Institute of Medicine requirements of 2.5l/day for adult women. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploring and Visualizing A-Train Instrument Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kempler, S.; Leptoukh, G.; Berrick, S.; Stephens, G.; Winker, D.; Reinke, D.

2007-01-01

The succession of US and international satellites that follow each other in close succession, known as the A-Train, affords an opportunity to atmospheric researchers that no single platform could provide: Increasing the number of observations at any given geographic location.. . a more complete "virtual science platform". However, vertically and horizontally, co-registering and regridding datasets from independently developed missions, Aqua, Calipso, Cloudsat, Parasol, and Aura, so that they can be inter-compared can be daunting to some, and may be repeated by many. Scientists will individually spend much of their time and resources acquiring A-Train datasets of interest residing at various locations, developing algorithms to match up and graph datasets along the A-Train track, and search through large amounts of data for areas and/or phenomena of interest. The aggregate amount of effort that can be expended on repeating pre-science tasks could climb into the tens of millions of dollars. The goal of the A-Train Data Depot (ATDD) is to enable free movement of remotely located A-Train data so that they are combined to create a consolidated vertical view of the Earth's Atmosphere along the A-Train tracks. The innovative approach of analyzing and visualizing atmospheric profiles along the platforms track (i.e., time) is accomplished by through the ATDDs Giovanni data analysis and visualization tool. Giovanni brings together data from Aqua (MODIS, AIRS, AMSR-E), Cloudsat (cloud profiling radar) and Calipso (CALIOP, IIR), as well as the Aura (OMI, MLS, HIRDLS, TES) to create a consolidated vertical view of the Earth's Atmosphere along the A-Train tracks. This easy to learn and use exploration tool will allow users to create vertical profiles of any desired A-Train dataset, for any given time of choice. This presentation shows the power of Giovanni by describing and illustrating how this tool facilitates and aids A-Train science and research. A web based display system Giovanni provides users with the capability of creating co-located profile images of temperature and humidity data from the MODIS, MLS and AIRS instruments for a user specified time and spatial area. In addition, Cloud and Aerosol profiles may also be displayed for the Cloudsat and Caliop instruments. The ability to modify horizontal and vertical axis range, data range and dynamic color range is also provided. Two dimensional strip plots of MODIS, AIRS, OM1 and POLDER parameters, co-located along the Cloudsat reference track, can also be plotted along with the Cloudsat cloud profiling data. Center swath pixels for the same parameters can also be shown as line plots overlaying the Cloudsat or Calipso profile images. Images and subsetted data produced in each analysis run may be downloaded. Users truly can explore and discover data specific to their needs prior to ever transferring data to their analysis tools.

Photoreactivity of the occipital cortex measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging-blood oxygenation level dependent in migraine patients and healthy volunteers: pathophysiological implications.

PubMed

Martín, Helena; Sánchez del Río, Margarita; de Silanes, Carlos López; Álvarez-Linera, Juan; Hernández, Juan Antonio; Pareja, Juan A

2011-01-01

The brain of migraineurs is hyperexcitable, particularly the occipital cortex, which is probably hypersensitive to light. Photophobia or hypersensitivity to light may be accounted for by an increased excitability of trigeminal, the visual pathways, and the occipital cortex. To study light sensitivity and photophobia by assessing the response to light stimuli with functional magnetic resonance imaging-blood oxygenation level dependent (fMRI-BOLD) of the occipital cortex in migraineurs and in controls. Also, to try to decipher the contribution of the occipital cortex to photophobia and whether the cortical reactivity of migraineurs may be part of a constitutional (defensive) mechanism or represents an acquired (sensitization) phenomenon. Nineteen patients with migraine (7 with aura and 12 without aura) and 19 controls were studied with fMRI-BOLD during 4 increasing light intensities. Eight axial image sections of 0.5 cm that covered the occipital cortex were acquired for each intensity. We measured the extension and the intensity of activation for every light stimuli. Photophobia was estimated according to a 0 to 3 semiquantitative scale of light discomfort. Migraineurs had a significantly higher number of fMRI-activated voxels at low (320.4 for migraineurs [SD = 253.9] and 164.3 for controls [SD = 102.7], P = .027) and medium-low luminance levels (501.2 for migraineurs [SD = 279.5] and 331.1 for controls [SD = 194.3], P = .034) but not at medium-high (579.5 for migraineurs [SD = 201.4] and 510.2 for controls [SD = 239.5], P = .410) and high light stimuli (496.2 for migraineurs [SD = 216.2] and 394.7 for controls [SD = 240], P = .210). No differences were found with respect to the voxel activation intensity (amplitude of the BOLD wave) between migraineurs and controls (8.98 [SD = 2.58] vs 7.99 [SD = 2.57], P = .25; 10.82 [SD = 3.27] vs 9.81 [SD = 3.19], P = .31; 11.90 [SD = 3.18] vs 11.06 [SD = 2.56], P = .62; 11.45 [SD = 2.65] vs 10.25 [SD = 2.22], P = .16). Light discomfort was higher in the group of migraineurs at all the intensities tested, but there was no correlation with the number of activated voxels in the occipital cortex and photophobia. Repetitive light stimuli failed to demonstrate a lack of habituation in migraineurs. Migraineurs during interictal periods showed hyperxcitability of the visual cortex with a wider photoresponsive area, the underlying mechanism probably being dual: constitutional-defensive and acquired-sensitizating. © 2011 American Headache Society.

Climatology 2011: An MLS and Sonde Derived Ozone Climatology for Satellite Retrieval Algorithms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McPeters, Richard D.; Labow, Gordon J.

2012-01-01

The ozone climatology used as the a priori for the version 8 Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV) retrieval algorithms has been updated. The Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instrument on Aura has excellent latitude coverage and measures ozone daily from the upper troposphere to the lower mesosphere. The new climatology consists of monthly average ozone profiles for ten degree latitude zones covering pressure altitudes from 0 to 65 km. The climatology was formed by combining data from Aura MLS (2004-2010) with data from balloon sondes (1988-2010). Ozone below 8 km (below 12 km at high latitudes) is based on balloons sondes, while ozone above 16 km (21 km at high latitudes) is based on MLS measurements. Sonde and MLS data are blended in the transition region. Ozone accuracy in the upper troposphere is greatly improved because of the near uniform coverage by Aura MLS, while the addition of a large number of balloon sonde measurements improves the accuracy in the lower troposphere, in the tropics and southern hemisphere in particular. The addition of MLS data also improves the accuracy of climatology in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere. The revised climatology has been used for the latest reprocessing of SBUV and TOMS satellite ozone data.

31P-MRS demonstrates a reduction in high-energy phosphates in the occipital lobe of migraine without aura patients.

PubMed

Reyngoudt, Harmen; Paemeleire, Koen; Descamps, Benedicte; De Deene, Yves; Achten, Eric

2011-09-01

Differences in brain energy metabolism have been found between migraine patients and controls in previous phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((31)P-MRS) studies, most of them emphasizing migraine with aura (MwA). The aim of this study was to verify potential changes in resting-state brain energy metabolism in patients with migraine without aura (MwoA) compared to control subjects by (31)P-MRS at 3 tesla. Quantification was performed using the phantom replacement technique. MRS measurements were performed interictally and in the medial occipital lobe of 19 MwoA patients and 26 age-matched controls. A significantly decreased phosphocreatine concentration ([PCr]) was found as in previous studies. While adenosine triphosphate concentration ([ATP]) was considered to be constant in previously published work, this study found a significant decrease in the measured [ATP] in MwoA patients. The inorganic phosphate ([P(i)]) and magnesium ([Mg(2+)]) concentrations were not significantly different between MwoA patients and controls. The altered metabolic concentrations indicate that the energy metabolism in MwoA patients is impaired, certainly in a subgroup of patients. The actual decrease in [ATP] adds further strength to the theory of the presence of a mitochondrial component in the pathophysiology of migraine.

Dietary patterns according to headache and migraine status: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Rist, Pamela M; Buring, Julie E; Kurth, Tobias

2015-08-01

Several potential dietary trigger factors for migraine have been proposed. However, few studies have examined the intake pattern of these dietary items compared to adequate control populations and whether intake levels may vary by migraine aura status or attack frequency. We conducted a cross-sectional study among participants in the Women's Health Study. We used logistic regression to evaluate the association between migraine and headache status and low intake of foods commonly reported to affect migraine. A total of 25,755 women reported no history of migraine or headache, 5573 reported non-migraine headache and 7042 reported any migraine. Those with non-migraine headache or any migraine were more likely to have low intake of total alcohol (OR = 1.22, 95% CI:1.14-1.29 and OR = 1.17, 95% CI:1.11-1.24, respectively). Migraineurs with aura were more likely to have low intake of chocolate, ice cream, hot dogs, and processed meats. Those who experience migraine at least once per week were more likely to have low intake of skim/low-fat milk and white and red wine. Intake of most suggested migraine dietary triggers differs by migraine aura status and attack frequency, a pattern not found for non-migraine headache. © International Headache Society 2014.

The Antarctic Ozone Hole: Initial Results from Aura / OMI Compared with TOMS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McPeters, R.; Bhartia, P. K.; Newman, P.

2004-01-01

A series of TOMS instruments (on November 7 , Meteor 3, and Earth Probe) has been monitoring the annual development of the Antarctic ozone hole since the 1980s. The ozone mapping instrument on Aura, OMI, is expected to take over this record of observation from the aging Earth Probe TOMS instrument. The area of the ozone hole can be taken as a sensitive indicator of the magnitude of ozone destruction each year. The timing of initial formation of the ozone hole and its duration are sensitive to the atmospheric dynamics of the southern polar regions. The entire TOMS data record (1978 - 2004) has recently been reprocessed with the new version 8 algorithm, which includes a revised calibration. The effect has been to slightly increase ozone hole area over earlier estimates, but only by 23%. OMI (ozone monitoring instrument) on Aura is a hyperspectral imaging instrument that operates in a pushbroom mode to measure solar backscattered radiation in the ultraviolet and visible. OMI has higher spatial resolution than TOMS - 14 x 24 km versus 38 km x 38 km from TOMS. OMI has now begin mapping total column ozone on a global basis in a measurement similar to TOMS. The ozone hole measurements for 2003 are compared with those from Earth Probe TOMS.

Hubble Space Telescope Celebrates 25 Years of Unveiling the Universe

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-04-23

This visualization provides a three-dimensional perspective on Hubble's 25th anniversary image of the nebula Gum 29 with the star cluster Westerlund 2 at its core. The flight traverses the foreground stars and approaches the lower left rim of the nebula Gum 29. Passing through the wispy darker clouds on the near side, the journey reveals bright gas illuminated by the intense radiation of the newly formed stars of cluster Westerlund 2. Within the nebula, several pillars of dark, dense gas are being shaped by the energetic light and strong stellar winds from the brilliant cluster of thousands of stars. Note that the visualization is intended to be a scientifically reasonable interpretation and that distances within the model are significantly compressed. Download here: hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2015/12/video/ Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Bacon, L. Frattare, Z. Levay, and F. Summers (Viz3D Team, STScI), and J. Anderson (STScI) Acknowledgment: The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/STScI), the Westerlund 2 Science Team, and ESO NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Osimertinib in Japanese patients with EGFR T790M mutation-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer: AURA3 trial.

PubMed

Akamatsu, Hiroaki; Katakami, Nobuyuki; Okamoto, Isamu; Kato, Terufumi; Kim, Young Hak; Imamura, Fumio; Shinkai, Masaharu; Hodge, Rachel A; Uchida, Hirohiko; Hida, Toyoaki

2018-04-26

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are the first-line treatment for patients with EGFR mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, most patients become resistant to these drugs, so their disease progresses. Osimertinib, a third-generation EGFR-TKI that can inhibit the kinase even when the common resistance-conferring Thr790Met (T790M) mutation is present, is a promising therapeutic option for patients whose disease has progressed after first-line EGFR-TKI treatment. AURA3 was a randomized (2:1), open-label, phase 3 study comparing the efficacy of osimertinib (80 mg/day) with platinum-based therapy plus pemetrexed (500 mg/m 2 ) in 419 patients with advanced NSCLC with the EGFR T790M mutation in whom disease had progressed after first-line EGFR-TKI treatment. This subanalysis evaluated the safety and efficacy of osimertinib specifically in 63 Japanese patients enrolled in AURA3. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS) based on investigator assessment. PFS improvement was clinically meaningful in the osimertinib group (n=41) versus the platinum-pemetrexed group (n=22; hazard ratio 0.27, 95% confidence interval 0.13-0.56). The median PFS was 12.5 and 4.3 months in the osimertinib and platinum-pemetrexed groups, respectively. Grade ≥3 adverse events determined to be related to treatment occurred in five patients (12.2%) treated with osimertinib and 12 patients (54.5%) treated with platinum-pemetrexed. The safety and efficacy results in this subanalysis are consistent with the results of the overall AURA3 study, and support the use of osimertinib in Japanese patients with EGFR mutant and T790M NSCLC whose disease has progressed following first-line EGFR-TKI treatment. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Dietary supplementation of finishing pigs with the docosahexaenoic acid-rich microalgae, Aurantiochytrium limacinum: effects on performance, carcass characteristics and tissue fatty acid profile

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Objective The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation with the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich microalgae, Aurantiochytrium limacinum (AURA) on pig performance, carcass traits, and the fatty acid composition of pork Longissimus lumborum (LL) and backfat. Methods A total of 144 Pig Improvement Company (PIC)×Goland finishing pigs (72 females and 72 castrated males) of mean weight 117.1 (±13.1) kg were blocked by sex and body weight and provided with 0% or 1% AURA in isonutritive and isocaloric diets. A total of 24 pens provided 12 replicates per treatment. Animals were weighed on day 0 and 28 with feed and water intake recorded per pen. After 31 days supplementation (28 days of study and 3 days until the slaughtering date) three animals per pen (n = 72) were slaughtered and the LL and backfat thickness, lean meat content and dressing percentage were recorded for the carcasses. The fatty acid (FA) profile of the LL and backfat was established by direct FA methyl ester synthesis. Results No differences were observed for any performance parameters or carcass traits. Supplementation with AURA resulted in significant changes to the FA profiles of both the LL and backfat with male and female pigs responding differently to supplementation in terms of particular FAs. Overall, pork LL samples had significantly higher eicosapentaenoic acid (p<0.001) and DHA concentrations (p<0.001), and higher omega-3 (n-3) FAs (p<0.001), as well as an increased omega3:omega6 (n-3:n-6) ratio (p = 0.001). For backfat, supplementation resulted in significantly higher amounts of DHA (p<0.001) and n-3 FAs (p<0.001). Conclusion These results indicate that dietary supplementation with 1% AURA over a 31 day period can increase the FA composition of pork LL and backfat, specifically the DHA, with no major impact on growth performance and carcass traits. PMID:29381901

Dietary supplementation of finishing pigs with the docosahexaenoic acid-rich microalgae, Aurantiochytrium limacinum: effects on performance, carcass characteristics and tissue fatty acid profile.

PubMed

Moran, Colm A; Morlacchini, Mauro; Keegan, Jason D; Fusconi, Giorgio

2018-05-01

The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation with the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich microalgae, Aurantiochytrium limacinum (AURA) on pig performance, carcass traits, and the fatty acid composition of pork Longissimus lumborum (LL) and backfat. A total of 144 Pig Improvement Company (PIC)×Goland finishing pigs (72 females and 72 castrated males) of mean weight 117.1 (±13.1) kg were blocked by sex and body weight and provided with 0% or 1% AURA in isonutritive and isocaloric diets. A total of 24 pens provided 12 replicates per treatment. Animals were weighed on day 0 and 28 with feed and water intake recorded per pen. After 31 days supplementation (28 days of study and 3 days until the slaughtering date) three animals per pen (n = 72) were slaughtered and the LL and backfat thickness, lean meat content and dressing percentage were recorded for the carcasses. The fatty acid (FA) profile of the LL and backfat was established by direct FA methyl ester synthesis. No differences were observed for any performance parameters or carcass traits. Supplementation with AURA resulted in significant changes to the FA profiles of both the LL and backfat with male and female pigs responding differently to supplementation in terms of particular FAs. Overall, pork LL samples had significantly higher eicosapentaenoic acid (p<0.001) and DHA concentrations (p<0.001), and higher omega-3 (n-3) FAs (p<0.001), as well as an increased omega3:omega6 (n-3:n-6) ratio (p = 0.001). For backfat, supplementation resulted in significantly higher amounts of DHA (p<0.001) and n-3 FAs (p<0.001). These results indicate that dietary supplementation with 1% AURA over a 31 day period can increase the FA composition of pork LL and backfat, specifically the DHA, with no major impact on growth performance and carcass traits.

Susceptibility of Primary Sensory Cortex to Spreading Depolarizations.

PubMed

Bogdanov, Volodymyr B; Middleton, Natalie A; Theriot, Jeremy J; Parker, Patrick D; Abdullah, Osama M; Ju, Y Sungtaek; Hartings, Jed A; Brennan, K C

2016-04-27

Spreading depolarizations (SDs) are recognized as actors in neurological disorders as diverse as migraine and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Migraine aura involves sensory percepts, suggesting that sensory cortices might be intrinsically susceptible to SDs. We used optical imaging, MRI, and field potential and potassium electrode recordings in mice and electrocorticographic recordings in humans to determine the susceptibility of different brain regions to SDs. Optical imaging experiments in mice under isoflurane anesthesia showed that both cortical spreading depression and terminal anoxic depolarization arose preferentially in the whisker barrel region of parietal sensory cortex. MRI recordings under isoflurane, ketamine/xylazine, ketamine/isoflurane, and urethane anesthesia demonstrated that the depolarizations did not propagate from a subcortical source. Potassium concentrations showed larger increases in sensory cortex, suggesting a mechanism of susceptibility. Sensory stimulation biased the timing but not the location of depolarization onset. In humans with TBI, there was a trend toward increased incidence of SDs in parietal/temporal sensory cortex compared with other regions. In conclusion, SDs are inducible preferentially in primary sensory cortex in mice and most likely in humans. This tropism can explain the predominant sensory phenomenology of migraine aura. It also demonstrates that sensory cortices are vulnerable in brain injury. Spreading depolarizations (SDs) are involved in neurologic disorders as diverse as migraine and traumatic brain injury. In migraine, the nature of aura symptoms suggests that sensory cortex may be preferentially susceptible. In brain injury, SDs occur at a vulnerable time, during which the issue of sensory stimulation is much debated. We show, in mouse and human, that sensory cortex is more susceptible to SDs. We find that sensory stimulation biases the timing but not the location of the depolarizations. Finally, we show a relative impairment of potassium clearance in sensory cortex, providing a potential mechanism for the susceptibility. Our data help to explain the sensory nature of the migraine aura and reveal that sensory cortices are vulnerable in brain injury. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/364733-11$15.00/0.

The relationship between levels of plasma-soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) and presence of migraine attack and aura.

PubMed

Yılmaz, Nigar; Yılmaz, Mustafa; Sirin, Burcu; Yılmaztekin, Sureyya; Kutlu, Gülnihal

2017-10-01

Migraine is one of the most common types of pain associated with sterile inflammatory conditions. Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a potential novel inflammatory marker. We aim to determine the association between serum values of suPAR, procalcitonin, fibrinogen, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and migraine disease characteristics. The study involved a total of 60 migraine patients (33 patients in the interictal period, 27 patients in the attack period) and 30 healthy individuals. The serum values of suPAR were found to be significantly higher in migraine patients in the attack period than in migraine patients in the interictal period, and in healthy individuals (p < .01 for both). In addition, levels of suPAR were determined to be higher in migraine with aura patients than in migraine without aura patients. When we subdivided migraine patients according to frequency of attack (attacks/month), significant differences were found between the suPAR and procalcitonin levels (measured during the attack period) of those in the frequent-attack group (4-5 or more) versus those in the less frequent attack group (less than 4). Serum levels of procalcitonin were shown to be significantly higher in migraine patients during the attack period compared with migraine patients in the interictal period and in control subjects (p = .001 for both). Significant differences were found between plasma levels of fibrinogen in migraine patients versus control subjects (p < .01). No statistically significant difference was found between levels of hs-CRP in migraine patients versus the control group. These findings may show that presenting a high level of suPAR in migraine patients with attack and aura results to predisposition to occurring on the symptoms and that high levels of suPAR, procalcitonin and fibrinogen in patients with migraine result in neurogenic inflammation during migraine headaches.

Migraine in young females with irritable bowel syndrome: still a challenge

PubMed Central

Georgescu, Doina; Reisz, Daniela; Gurban, Camelia Vidita; Georgescu, Liviu Andrei; Ionita, Ioana; Ancusa, Oana Elena; Lighezan, Daniel

2018-01-01

Migraine without aura is frequently reported in female patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but knowledge about the relationship between these two conditions is still lacking. This study was aimed to explore the particularities of migraine without aura in young female patients with IBS in order to establish a possible link between them. From a cohort of young female patients hospitalized with IBS in the Internal Medicine Department, 30 joined this pilot study, and they were assigned into two groups on the basis of presence or absence of migraine. In this sample, 15 patients have mild to moderate migraine without aura, with a recently taken normal brain scan, and 15 were without migraine. Diseases and conditions not related to migraine and other possible specific female comorbidities were ruled out. Patients undertook a thorough clinical examination in order to assess fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic pelvic pain (CPP), Questionnaires for migraine disability assessment (MIDAS) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) were performed. Laboratory testing of blood, urine, and stool were also performed. Optimized lymphocyte proliferation test for food allergy (FA) and a fecal microbiota (microbiological semiquantitative method) for dysbiosis (DB) assessment were performed. Based on the results, migraine-positive group displayed more severe comorbidities: FM (p=0.0002), FA (p=0.0006), CPP (p=0.026), higher scores of anxiety (GAD, p=0.0008), and more severe DB (p=0.0009). We noticed a strong positive correlation between MIDAS and GAD (r=0.83), a good positive correlation between MIDAS and DB (r=0.56), and a moderate positive correlation between MIDAS, FM, and FA (r=0.46 and 0.41). In conclusion, young female patients with IBS and migraine without aura displayed more severe associated issues – anxiety, intestinal DB, FM, FA, and CPP. The severity of migraine correlated well with anxiety range and DB magnitude and moderately with FM and FA. PMID:29302188

Susceptibility of Primary Sensory Cortex to Spreading Depolarizations

PubMed Central

Bogdanov, Volodymyr B.; Middleton, Natalie A.; Theriot, Jeremy J.; Parker, Patrick D.; Abdullah, Osama M.; Ju, Y. Sungtaek; Hartings, Jed A.

2016-01-01

Spreading depolarizations (SDs) are recognized as actors in neurological disorders as diverse as migraine and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Migraine aura involves sensory percepts, suggesting that sensory cortices might be intrinsically susceptible to SDs. We used optical imaging, MRI, and field potential and potassium electrode recordings in mice and electrocorticographic recordings in humans to determine the susceptibility of different brain regions to SDs. Optical imaging experiments in mice under isoflurane anesthesia showed that both cortical spreading depression and terminal anoxic depolarization arose preferentially in the whisker barrel region of parietal sensory cortex. MRI recordings under isoflurane, ketamine/xylazine, ketamine/isoflurane, and urethane anesthesia demonstrated that the depolarizations did not propagate from a subcortical source. Potassium concentrations showed larger increases in sensory cortex, suggesting a mechanism of susceptibility. Sensory stimulation biased the timing but not the location of depolarization onset. In humans with TBI, there was a trend toward increased incidence of SDs in parietal/temporal sensory cortex compared with other regions. In conclusion, SDs are inducible preferentially in primary sensory cortex in mice and most likely in humans. This tropism can explain the predominant sensory phenomenology of migraine aura. It also demonstrates that sensory cortices are vulnerable in brain injury. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Spreading depolarizations (SDs) are involved in neurologic disorders as diverse as migraine and traumatic brain injury. In migraine, the nature of aura symptoms suggests that sensory cortex may be preferentially susceptible. In brain injury, SDs occur at a vulnerable time, during which the issue of sensory stimulation is much debated. We show, in mouse and human, that sensory cortex is more susceptible to SDs. We find that sensory stimulation biases the timing but not the location of the depolarizations. Finally, we show a relative impairment of potassium clearance in sensory cortex, providing a potential mechanism for the susceptibility. Our data help to explain the sensory nature of the migraine aura and reveal that sensory cortices are vulnerable in brain injury. PMID:27122032

Visual search and coordination changes in response to video and point-light demonstrations without KR.

PubMed

Horn, R R; Williams, A M; Scott, M A; Hodges, N J

2005-07-01

The authors examined the observational learning of 24 participants whom they constrained to use the model by removing intrinsic visual knowledge of results (KR). Matched participants assigned to video (VID), point-light (PL), and no-model (CON) groups performed a soccer-chipping task in which vision was occluded at ball contact. Pre- and posttests were interspersed with alternating periods of demonstration and acquisition. The authors assessed delayed retention 2-3 days later. In support of the visual perception perspective, the participants who observed the models showed immediate and enduring changes to more closely imitate the model's relative motion. While observing the demonstration, the PL group participants were more selective in their visual search than were the VID group participants but did not perform more accurately or learn more.

Tratamiento Quirúrgico de los Meningiomas del Foramen Óptico, Técnicay Resultados de una Serie de 18 Pacientes

PubMed Central

Goldschmidt, Ezequiel; Ajler, Pablo; Campero, Álvaro; Landriel, Federico; Sposito, Maximiliano; Carrizo, Antonio

2014-01-01

Introducción: los meningiomas del foramen óptico producen un rápido deterioro de la función visual aún cuando su tamaño es pequeño, por eso su diagnóstico y manejo difiere del resto de los meningiomas clinoideos. El propósito de este estudio es presentar la técnica y los resultados de nuestro manejo quirúrgico de meningiomas foraminales (MF). Pacientes y Métodos: se llevó a cabo una revisión de las historias clínicas de 47 pacientes con meningiomas primarios intraorbitarios. Se realizaron 52 cirugías en los pacientes con MF. Se empleó una craneotomía fronto-orbitaria, seguida de una descompresión extradural del canal óptico, resección del componente intraorbitario y exploración intradural del nervio óptico. Resultados: de los 12 pacientes con MF que presentaban la visión conservada, la agudeza visual fue preservada en 7 casos, mejoró en 2, y empeoró en 3. En 18 pacientes, el principal síntoma fue exoftalmos y en 35 pacientes ceguera unilateral. Ocurrieron 6 recurrencias, 2 a 10 años después de la resección quirúrgica. Cinco de ellos fueron reoperados. Se indicó radioterapia después de la recurrencia en 3 pacientes. Conclusión: el manejo de los MF continúa siendo controvertido y frecuentemente se propone un tratamiento conservador. Basados en nuestros hallazgos de frecuente extensión intracraneal, proponemos realizar una resección total o subtotal del tumor, preservando el nervio óptico en pacientes con visión prequirúrgica conservada. PMID:25165616

Symptoms and clinical parameters of pediatric and adolescent migraine, by gender - a retrospective cohort study.

PubMed

Eidlitz-Markus, Tal; Zeharia, Avraham

2017-08-08

The available data on gender differences in clinical migraine parameters among pediatric patients are based on relatively few studies, which did not use the current version of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD) of the International Headache Society. The aim of the present study was to compare between males and females, demographic and clinical characteristics of children and adolescents with migraines diagnosed according to the ICDIII-beta version. The electronic database of a tertiary pediatric headache clinic was searched for all children and adolescents diagnosed with migraine headaches in 2010-2016. Data on demographics, symptoms, and headache-related parameters were collected from the medical files. Findings were compared by gender. The cohort included 468 children and adolescents of mean age 11.3 ± 3.6 years; 215 males (45.9%) and 253 females (54.1%). Migraine without aura was documented in 313 patients (66.9%), and migraine with aura in 127 (27.1%); 28 patients (6.0%) had probable migraines. The female patients had significantly higher values than the male patients for the following parameters: age at admission (p = 0.042, Cohen's d 0.8303, 95% CI 0.614-0.992); age at migraine onset (p = 0.021, Cohen's d 0.211, 95% CI 0.029-0.394); rate of migraine with aura (OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.29-3.16, p = 0.0056); headache frequency (p = 0.0149, Cohen's d 0.211, 95% CI 0.029-0.3940); rate of chronic migraine (p = 0.036, OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.02-2.34); and puberty (OR 3.51, 95% CI 2.01-6.35, p = <0.001). Males had a higher rate of vomiting (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.41-0.93, p = 0.018). Further analysis by pubertal stage revealed that pubertal females, but not prepubertal females, had a significantly higher rate of migraine with aura than did males (41.1% versus 28.9%; OR 1.42, 95% CI 0.85-2.37, p = 0.039). Female children and adolescents with migraine treated in a tertiary pediatric headache clinic were characterized by a higher rate of chronic migraine and migraine with aura, a lower rate of vomiting, and older age at onset relative to males. These findings might be influenced by the better description of migraine symptoms by females owing to their better verbal ability.

On Orbit Commissioning of the Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder (EOS MLS) On the Aura Spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lay, Richard R.; Lee, Karen A.; Holden, James R.; Oswald, John E.; Jarnot, Robert F.; Pickett, Herbert M.; Stek, Paul C.; Cofield, Richard E., III; Flower, Dennis A.; Schwartz, Michael J.;

Statistical Analysis of Deflation in Covariance and Resultant Pc Values for AQUA, AURA and TERRA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hasan, Syed O.

2016-01-01

This presentation will display statistical analysis performed for raw conjunction CDMs received for the EOS Aqua, Aura and Terra satellites within the period of February 2015 through July 2016. The analysis performed indicates a discernable deflation in covariance calculated at the JSpOC after the utilization of the dynamic drag consider parameter was implemented operationally in May 2015. As a result, the overall diminution in the conjunction plane intersection of the primary and secondary objects appears to be leading to reduced probability of collision (Pc) values for these conjunction events. This presentation also displays evidence for this theory with analysis of Pc trending plots using data calculated by the SpaceNav CRMS system.

The Satellite View of Extra-Tropical Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange and the UT/LS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoeberl, Mark R.

2004-01-01

This talk will review satellite studies which have helped define the UT/LS and stratosphere-troposphere exchange. Satellites have provided a global perspective but have had limited temporal and spatial measurements for stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) studies. Nonetheless, long lived tracer measurements from satellites can be used as proxies for age-of-air can thus provide estimates of mixing and transport processes in the UT/LS. These measurements can be compared to model estimates of the mean age-of-air and trace gas fluxes providing an important model diagnostic. With the launch of EOS Aura, the potential for satellite trace gas measurements of the lower-most stratosphere and STE is significantly improved, and Aura s mission will be briefly described.

The Afternoon Constellation: A Formation of Earth Observing Systems for the Atmosphere and Hydrosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoeberl, Mark R.

2002-01-01

Two of the large EOS observatories, Aqua (formerly EOS-PM) and Aura (formerly EOS-CHEM) will fly is nearly the same inclination with 1:30 PM -15 min ascending node equatorial crossing times. Between Aura and Aqua a series of smaller satellites will be stationed: Cloudsat, CALYPSO (formerly PICASSO-CENA), and PARASOL. This constellation of low earth orbit satellites will provide an unprecedented opportunity to make near simultaneous atmospheric cloud and aerosol observations. This paper will provide details of the science opportunity and describe the sensor types for the afternoon constellation. This constellation by accretion provides a prototype for the Earth Science Vision sensor web and represent the building books for a future web structure.

Science Accomplishments from a Decade of Aura OMI/MLS Tropospheric Ozone Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ziemke, Jerald R.; Douglass, Anne R.; Joiner, Joanna; Duncan, Bryan N.; Olsen, Mark A.; Oman, Luke D.; Witte, Jacquelyn C.; Liu, X.; Wargan, K.; Schoeberl, Mark R.;

Lesbian (in)visibility in Italian Renaissance culture: Diana and other cases of donna con donna.

PubMed

Simons, P

1994-01-01

Current conceptualizations of sexual identity in the West are not necessarily useful to an historian investigating "lesbianism" in the social history and visual representations of different periods. After an overview of Renaissance documents treating donna con donna relations which examines the potentially positive effects of condemnation and silence, the paper focuses on Diana, the goddess of chastity, who bathed with her nymphs as an exemplar of female bodies preserved for heterosexual, reproductive pleasures. Yet the self-sufficiency and bodily contact sometimes represented in images of this secluded all-female gathering might suggest "deviant" responses from their viewers.

Local corticosteroid injection in iliotibial band friction syndrome in runners: a randomised controlled trial

PubMed Central

Gunter, P; Schwellnus, M; Fuller, P

2004-01-01

Objective: To establish whether a local injection of methylprednisolone acetate (40 mg) is effective in decreasing pain during running in runners with recent onset (less than two weeks) iliotibial band friction syndrome (ITBFS). Methods: Eighteen runners with at least grade 2 ITBFS underwent baseline investigations including a treadmill running test during which pain was recorded on a visual analogue scale every minute. The runners were then randomly assigned to either the experimental (EXP; nine) or a placebo control (CON; nine) group. The EXP group was infiltrated in the area where the iliotibial band crosses the lateral femoral condyle with 40 mg methylprednisolone acetate mixed with a short acting local anaesthetic, and the CON group with short acting local anaesthetic only. The same laboratory based running test was repeated after seven and 14 days. The main measure of outcome was total pain during running (calculated as the area under the pain versus time graph for each running test). Results: There was a tendency (p = 0.07) for a greater decrease in total pain (mean (SEM)) during the treadmill running in the EXP group than the CON group tests from day 0 (EXP = 222 (71), CON = 197 (31)) to day 7 (EXP = 140 (87), CON = 178 (76)), but there was a significant decrease in total pain during running (p = 0.01) from day 7 (EXP = 140 (87), CON = 178 (76)) to day 14 (EXP = 103 (89), CON = 157 (109)) in the EXP group compared with the CON group. Conclusion: Local corticosteroid infiltration effectively decreases pain during running in the first two weeks of treatment in patients with recent onset ITBFS. PMID:15155424

ConTour: Data-Driven Exploration of Multi-Relational Datasets for Drug Discovery.

PubMed

Partl, Christian; Lex, Alexander; Streit, Marc; Strobelt, Hendrik; Wassermann, Anne-Mai; Pfister, Hanspeter; Schmalstieg, Dieter

2014-12-01

Large scale data analysis is nowadays a crucial part of drug discovery. Biologists and chemists need to quickly explore and evaluate potentially effective yet safe compounds based on many datasets that are in relationship with each other. However, there is a lack of tools that support them in these processes. To remedy this, we developed ConTour, an interactive visual analytics technique that enables the exploration of these complex, multi-relational datasets. At its core ConTour lists all items of each dataset in a column. Relationships between the columns are revealed through interaction: selecting one or multiple items in one column highlights and re-sorts the items in other columns. Filters based on relationships enable drilling down into the large data space. To identify interesting items in the first place, ConTour employs advanced sorting strategies, including strategies based on connectivity strength and uniqueness, as well as sorting based on item attributes. ConTour also introduces interactive nesting of columns, a powerful method to show the related items of a child column for each item in the parent column. Within the columns, ConTour shows rich attribute data about the items as well as information about the connection strengths to other datasets. Finally, ConTour provides a number of detail views, which can show items from multiple datasets and their associated data at the same time. We demonstrate the utility of our system in case studies conducted with a team of chemical biologists, who investigate the effects of chemical compounds on cells and need to understand the underlying mechanisms.

Molecular factors in migraine

PubMed Central

Kowalska, Marta; Prendecki, Michał; Kozubski, Wojciech; Lianeri, Margarita; Dorszewska, Jolanta

2016-01-01

Migraine is a common neurological disorder that affects 11% of adults worldwide. This disease most likely has a neurovascular origin. Migraine with aura (MA) and more common form - migraine without aura (MO) – are the two main clinical subtypes of disease. The exact pathomechanism of migraine is still unknown, but it is thought that both genetic and environmental factors are involved in this pathological process. The first genetic studies of migraine were focused on the rare subtype of MA: familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM). The genes analysed in familial and sporadic migraine are: MTHFR, KCNK18, HCRTR1, SLC6A4, STX1A, GRIA1 and GRIA3. It is possible that migraine is a multifactorial disease with polygenic influence. Recent studies have shown that the pathomechanisms of migraine involves both factors responsible for immune response and oxidative stress such as: cytokines, tyrosine metabolism, homocysteine; and factors associated with pain transmission and emotions e.g.: serotonin, hypocretin-1, calcitonin gene-related peptide, glutamate. The correlations between genetic variants of the HCRTR1 gene, the polymorphism 5-HTTLPR and hypocretin-1, and serotonin were observed. It is known that serotonin inhibits the activity of hypocretin neurons and may affect the appearance of the aura during migraine attack. The understanding of the molecular mechanisms of migraine, including genotype-phenotype correlations, may contribute to finding markers important for the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. PMID:27191890

Transcranial magnetic stimulation and potential cortical and trigeminothalamic mechanisms in migraine

PubMed Central

Andreou, Anna P.; Holland, Philip R.; Akerman, Simon; Summ, Oliver; Fredrick, Joe

2016-01-01

Abstract A single pulse of transcranial magnetic stimulation has been shown to be effective for the acute treatment of migraine with and without aura. Here we aimed to investigate the potential mechanisms of action of transcranial magnetic stimulation, using a transcortical approach, in preclinical migraine models. We tested the susceptibility of cortical spreading depression, the experimental correlate of migraine aura, and further evaluated the response of spontaneous and evoked trigeminovascular activity of second order trigemontothalamic and third order thalamocortical neurons in rats. Single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation significantly inhibited both mechanical and chemically-induced cortical spreading depression when administered immediately post-induction in rats, but not when administered preinduction, and when controlled by a sham stimulation. Additionally transcranial magnetic stimulation significantly inhibited the spontaneous and evoked firing rate of third order thalamocortical projection neurons, but not second order neurons in the trigeminocervical complex, suggesting a potential modulatory effect that may underlie its utility in migraine. In gyrencephalic cat cortices, when administered post-cortical spreading depression, transcranial magnetic stimulation blocked the propagation of cortical spreading depression in two of eight animals. These results are the first to demonstrate that cortical spreading depression can be blocked in vivo using single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation and further highlight a novel thalamocortical modulatory capacity that may explain the efficacy of magnetic stimulation in the treatment of migraine with and without aura. PMID:27246325

Migraine generator network and spreading depression dynamics as neuromodulation targets in episodic migraine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahlem, Markus A.

2013-12-01

Migraine is a common disabling headache disorder characterized by recurrent episodes sometimes preceded or accompanied by focal neurological symptoms called aura. The relation between two subtypes, migraine without aura (MWoA) and migraine with aura (MWA), is explored with the aim to identify targets for neuromodulation techniques. To this end, a dynamically regulated control system is schematically reduced to a network of the trigeminal nerve, which innervates the cranial circulation, an associated descending modulatory network of brainstem nuclei, and parasympathetic vasomotor efferents. This extends the idea of a migraine generator region in the brainstem to a larger network and is still simple and explicit enough to open up possibilities for mathematical modeling in the future. In this study, it is suggested that the migraine generator network (MGN) is driven and may therefore respond differently to different spatio-temporal noxious input in the migraine subtypes MWA and MWoA. The noxious input is caused by a cortical perturbation of homeostasis, known as spreading depression (SD). The MGN might even trigger SD in the first place by a failure in vasomotor control. As a consequence, migraine is considered as an inherently dynamical disease to which a linear course from upstream to downstream events would not do justice. Minimally invasive and noninvasive neuromodulation techniques are briefly reviewed and their rational is discussed in the context of the proposed mechanism.

The prevalence of bad headaches including migraine in a multiethnic community.

PubMed

Thomson, A N; White, G E; West, R

1993-11-10

Overall and ethnic specific prevalences of bad headache including migraine, for the New Zealand population, are unknown. A study was carried out in South Auckland to estimate prevalence and to explore ethnic differences in doctor attendance for the diagnosis and management of bad headaches. Telephone interviews were administered to respondents selected by random digit dialing of households. 40.6% of the respondents suffered from bad headaches. 54.5% of these had the characteristics of bad headache with features symptomatic of migraine. Trends in the prevalence of bad headache with features symptomatic of common migraine, peaked between the ages of 30-49 years in both men and women. A difference was seen in the prevalence of bad headache with aura, with or without common migraine features, when ethnic groups and gender were examined. The difference in prevalence of aura was particularly noticeable between Pacific Island men and women. Although there was no difference between ethnic groups in doctor attendance, headaches were more likely to be labelled as migraine in Europeans than in the Polynesian groups. Ways in which people perceive and report their bad headaches have a bearing on management by general practitioners. Although no overall ethnic predominance was seen, there was a gender difference amongst Pacific Island people in reporting bad headaches with aura. The labelling process, and thus the management by general practitioners does demonstrate likely ethnic differences.

Incidence and localizing value of vertigo and dizziness in patients with epilepsy: Video-EEG monitoring study.

PubMed

Kim, Dong Wook; Sunwoo, Jun-Sang; Lee, Sang Kun

2016-10-01

Vertigo and dizziness are common neurological complaints that have long been associated with epilepsy. However, studies of patients with epileptic vertigo or dizziness with concurrent EEG monitoring are scarce. We performed the present study to investigate the incidence and localizing value of vertigo and dizziness in patients with epilepsy who had confirmation of EEG changes via video-EEG monitoring. Data of aura and clinical seizure episodes of 831 consecutive patients who underwent video-EEG monitoring were analyzed retrospectively. Out of 831 patients, 40 patients (4.8%) experienced vertigo or dizziness as aura (mean age, 32.8±11.8years), all of whom had partial seizures. Eight had mesial temporal, 20 had lateral temporal, four had frontal, one had parietal, and seven had occipital lobe onset seizures. An intracranial EEG with cortical stimulation study was performed in seven patients, and the area of stimulation-induced vertigo or dizziness coincided with the ictal onset area in only one patient. Our study showed that vertigo or dizziness is a common aura in patients with epilepsy, and that the temporal lobe is the most frequent ictal onset area in these patients. However, it can be suggested that the symptomatogenic area in patients with epileptic vertigo and dizziness may not coincide with the ictal onset area. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Home | CTIO

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. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), along with the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Tucson, Arizona. NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA

About CTIO | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) along with Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Tucson Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), which also operates the Space Telescope Science Institute and

Pharmacological targeting of spreading depression in migraine

PubMed Central

Eikermann-Haerter, Katharina; Can, Anil; Ayata, Cenk

2012-01-01

Migraine, particularly with aura, is a genetically heterogeneous disorder of ion channels, pumps or transporters associated with increased cortical excitability. Spreading depression, as one reflection of hyperexcitability, is the electrophysiological event underlying aura symptoms and a trigger for headache. Endogenous (e.g., genes and hormones) and exogenous factors (e.g., drugs) modulating migraine susceptibility have also been shown to modulate spreading depression susceptibility concordantly, suggesting that spreading depression can be a relevant therapeutic target in migraine. In support of this, several migraine prophylactic drugs used in clinical practice have been shown to suppress spreading depression susceptibility as a probable mechanism of action, despite belonging to widely different pharmacological classes. Hence, susceptibility to spreading depression can be a useful preclinical model with good positive and negative predictive value for drug screening. PMID:22364328

Satellite Monitoring Over the Canadian Oil Sands: Highlights from Aura OMI and TES

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shephard, Mark W.; McLinden, Chris; Fioletov, Vitali; Cady-Pereira, Karen E.; Krotkov, Nick A.; Boersma, Folkert; Li, Can; Luo, Ming; Bhartia, P. K.; Joiner, Joanna

2014-01-01

Satellite remote sensing provides a unique perspective for air quality monitoring in and around the Canadian Oil Sands as a result of its spatial and temporal coverage. Presented are Aura satellite observations of key pollutants including nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ammonia (NH3), methanol (CH3OH), and formic acid (HCOOH) over the Canadian Oil Sands. Some of the highlights include: (i) the evolution of NO2 and SO2 from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), including comparisons with other nearby sources, (ii) two years of ammonia, carbon monoxide, methanol, and formic acid observations from 240 km North-South Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) transects through the oils sands, and (iii) preliminary insights into emissions derived from these observations.

Maintenance of syntenic groups between Cathartidae and Gallus gallus indicates symplesiomorphic karyotypes in new world vultures

PubMed Central

Tagliarini, Marcella M.; O'Brien, Patricia C.M.; Ferguson-Smith, Malcolm A.; de Oliveira, Edivaldo H.C.

2011-01-01

Similarities between New World and Old World vultures have been interpreted to reflect a close relationship and to suggest the inclusion of both in Accipitridae (Falconiformes). However, deeper analyses indicated that the placement of the New World vultures (cathartids) in this Order is uncertain. Chromosome analysis has shown that cathartids retained a karyotype similar to the putative avian ancestor. In order to verify the occurrence of intrachromosomal rearrangements in cathartids, we hybridized whole chromosome probes of two species (Gallus gallus and Leucopternis albicollis) onto metaphases of Cathartes aura. The results showed that not only were the syntenic groups conserved between Gallus and C. aura, but probably also the general gene order, suggesting that New World vultures share chromosomal symplesiomorphies with most bird lineages. PMID:21637548

TES radiometric assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Worden, H.; Sarkissian, E.; Bowman, K.; Fisher, B.; Rider, D.; Aumann, H. H.; Apolinski, M.; Debaca, R. C.; Gluck, S.; Madatyan, M.;

A National Solar Digital Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hill, F.

2000-05-01

The continuing development of the Internet as a research tool, combined with an improving funding climate, has sparked new interest in the development of Internet-linked astronomical data bases and analysis tools. Here I outline a concept for a National Solar Digital Observatory (NSDO), a set of data archives and analysis tools distributed in physical location at sites which already host such systems. A central web site would be implemented from which a user could search all of the component archives, select and download data, and perform analyses. Example components include NSO's Digital Library containing its synoptic and GONG data, and the forthcoming SOLIS archive. Several other archives, in various stages of development, also exist. Potential analysis tools include content-based searches, visualized programming tools, and graphics routines. The existence of an NSDO would greatly facilitate solar physics research, as a user would no longer need to have detailed knowledge of all solar archive sites. It would also improve public outreach efforts. The National Solar Observatory is operated by AURA, Inc. under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

Comparison of eye morphology and retinal topography in two species of New World vultures (Aves: Cathartidae).

PubMed

Lisney, Thomas J; Stecyk, Karyn; Kolominsky, Jeffrey; Graves, Gary R; Wylie, Douglas R; Iwaniuk, Andrew N

2013-12-01

Vultures are highly reliant on their sensory systems for the rapid detection and localization of carrion before other scavengers can exploit the resource. In this study, we compared eye morphology and retinal topography in two species of New World vultures (Cathartidae), turkey vultures (Cathartes aura), with a highly developed olfactory sense, and black vultures (Coragyps atratus), with a less developed sense of olfaction. We found that eye size relative to body mass was the same in both species, but that black vultures have larger corneas relative to eye size than turkey vultures. However, the overall retinal topography, the total number of cells in the retinal ganglion cell layer, peak and average cell densities, cell soma area frequency distributions, and the theoretical peak anatomical spatial resolving power were the same in both species. This suggests that the visual systems of these two species are similar and that vision plays an equally important role in the biology of both species, despite the apparently greater reliance on olfaction for finding carrion in turkey vultures. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Exploring NASA OMI Level 2 Data With Visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wei, Jennifer; Yang, Wenli; Johnson, James; Zhao, Peisheng; Gerasimov, Irina; Pham, Long; Vicente, Gilberto

2014-01-01

Satellite data products are important for a wide variety of applications that can bring far-reaching benefits to the science community and the broader society. These benefits can best be achieved if the satellite data are well utilized and interpreted, such as model inputs from satellite, or extreme events (such as volcano eruptions, dust storms,... etc.). Unfortunately, this is not always the case, despite the abundance and relative maturity of numerous satellite data products provided by NASA and other organizations. Such obstacles may be avoided by allowing users to visualize satellite data as "images", with accurate pixel-level (Level-2) information, including pixel coverage area delineation and science team recommended quality screening for individual geophysical parameters. We present a prototype service from the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) supporting Aura OMI Level-2 Data with GIS-like capabilities. Functionality includes selecting data sources (e.g., multiple parameters under the same scene, like NO2 and SO2, or the same parameter with different aggregation methods, like NO2 in OMNO2G and OMNO2D products), user-defined area-of-interest and temporal extents, zooming, panning, overlaying, sliding, and data subsetting, reformatting, and reprojection. The system will allow any user-defined portal interface (front-end) to connect to our backend server with OGC standard-compliant Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS) calls. This back-end service should greatly enhance its expandability to integrate additional outside data/map sources.

Exploring NASA OMI Level 2 Data With Visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wei, Jennifer C.; Yang, Wenli; Johnson, James; Zhao, Peisheng; Gerasimov, Irina; Pham, Long; Vincente, Gilbert

2014-01-01

Satellite data products are important for a wide variety of applications that can bring far-reaching benefits to the science community and the broader society. These benefits can best be achieved if the satellite data are well utilized and interpreted, such as model inputs from satellite, or extreme events (such as volcano eruptions, dust storms, etc.).Unfortunately, this is not always the case, despite the abundance and relative maturity of numerous satellite data products provided by NASA and other organizations. Such obstacles may be avoided by allowing users to visualize satellite data as images, with accurate pixel-level (Level-2) information, including pixel coverage area delineation and science team recommended quality screening for individual geophysical parameters. We present a prototype service from the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) supporting Aura OMI Level-2 Data with GIS-like capabilities. Functionality includes selecting data sources (e.g., multiple parameters under the same scene, like NO2 and SO2, or the same parameter with different aggregation methods, like NO2 in OMNO2G and OMNO2D products), user-defined area-of-interest and temporal extents, zooming, panning, overlaying, sliding, and data subsetting, reformatting, and reprojection. The system will allow any user-defined portal interface (front-end) to connect to our backend server with OGC standard-compliant Web Mapping Service (WMS) and Web Coverage Service (WCS) calls. This back-end service should greatly enhance its expandability to integrate additional outside data-map sources.

Unprecedented Arctic Ozone Loss in 2011

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-10-02

In mid-March 2011, NASA Aura spacecraft observed ozone in Earth stratosphere -- low ozone amounts are shown in purple and grey colors, large amounts of chlorine monoxide are shown in dark blue colors.

What Is an Ocular Migraine?

MedlinePlus

... When to seek help What is an ocular migraine? Is it a sign of something serious? Answers ... and retinal migraine, which could signal something serious. Migraine aura affecting your vision Ocular migraine sometimes describes ...

Alcohol and Migraine

MedlinePlus

... of cardiovascular disease. Migraine, specifically with aura or high frequency, increases the risk of some cardiovascular diseases. The ... patients is not correct. In fact, patients with high migraine frequency with increased risk of ischemic stroke may benefit ...

Black Holes to Blackboards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lockwood, Jeffrey F.

1996-03-01

Falling stars have always had a magical aura, whether people think of them as omens or simply as natural fireworks. So why squash that natural fascination by making students memorize the difference between -ites and -oids?

HR Mission | AURA Human Resources

Science.gov Websites

Home Search form Search Search Home Benefits 2018 Open Enrollment 2018 Open Enrollment: Arizona /California/Colorado/New Mexico 2018 Open Enrollment: Chile 2018 Open Enrollment: Hawaii Employee Benefits

NO2 Total and Tropospheric Vertical Column Densities from OMI on EOS Aura: Update

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gleason, J.F.; Bucsela, E.J.; Celarier, E.A.; Veefkind, J.P.; Kim, S.W.; Frost, G.F.

2009-01-01

The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), which is on the EOS AURA satellite, retrieves vertical column densities (VCDs) of NO2, along with those of several other trace gases. The relatively high spatial resolution and daily global coverage of the instrument make it particularly well-suited to monitoring tropospheric pollution at scales on the order of 20 km. The OMI NO2 algorithm distinguishes polluted regions from background stratospheric NO2 using a separation algorithm that relies on the smoothly varying stratospheric NO2 and estimations of both stratospheric and tropospheric air mass factors (AMFs). Version 1 of OMI NO2 data has been released for public use. An overview of OMI NO2 data, some recent results and a description of the improvements for version 2 of the algorithm will be presented.

Osmophobia in juvenile primary headaches.

PubMed

Corletto, E; Dal Zotto, L; Resos, A; Tripoli, E; Zanchin, G; Bulfoni, C; Battistella, P A

2008-08-01

This study was planned to investigate the prevalence of osmophobia in juvenile headache sufferers and to analyse the diagnostic utility of osmophobia in order to distinguish migraine without aura from episodic tension-type headache. We examined 305 consecutive patients presenting at our Paediatric Headache Centre. A semistructured questionnaire was given to 275 selected patients affected by migraine or tension-type headache. The prevalence of osmophobia during attacks was 18.5%, mainly in migraine patients (25.1%) vs. those with tension-type headache (8.3%). Osmophobia showed more specificity than phonophobia or photophobia in the differential diagnosis between migraine and tension-type headache. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that osmophobia resulted in a symptom with poor sensitivity (27.1%) but high specificity (92%) that could become a supportive diagnostic criterion even in children for the differential diagnosis between migraine without aura and tension-type headache.

[School-Based UV-B Monitoring Project in Support of EOS-CHEM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooks, David R.

2005-01-01

This grant is an extension of Grant NAG5-8929 (Drexel Project Number 230026), resulting from extensions necessary to meet changing science objectives as described in the final report for NAG5-8929, a copy of which is attached. The instrument configuration resulting from NAG54929 has remained basically intact. Cosine response measurements conducted by James Slusser s group at Fort Collins, Colorado, in support of the proposal for Aura ground validation mentioned in the final report for NAG5-8929, indicated that there was significant light leakage to the detector through the sides of the nylon housing. This was easily remedied by machining a removable opaque collar (made from the dark same grey rigid plastic plumbing tubing as the collimating tube) that fits around the detector collar. Also during this grant period, data logging procedures were established for the UV-A instrument, to record irradiance before, during, and after an Aura overflight. This is required in order to compare spatial and temporal variability as required for ground validation of data products derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). Standalone 12-bit loggers from Onset Computer Corporation (the U12 series), which were not available at the start of these projects, makes possible relatively inexpensive logging for these instruments at a usable resolution. configuration and disposition of these instruments, including the final version of a GLOBE protocol for using the instruments, currently depend on action taken on the Aura ground validation proposal submitted in 2004. A copy of that proposal is attached.

Patent foramen ovale detected by near-infrared spectroscopy in patients suffering from migraine with aura.

PubMed

Liboni, William; Molinari, Filippo; Allais, Giovanni Battista; Mana, Ornella; Negri, Emanuela; D'Andrea, Giovanni; Bussone, Gennaro; Benedetto, Chiara

2008-05-01

There is an increased prevalence of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in women with migraine with aura (MwA) compared to controls, but the role of PFO in triggering aura is still debated. The aim of this study was to test a group of women suffering from MwA with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), to assess the NIRS capability of discriminating between subjects with and without PFO. Eighty-eight MwA patients (mean age 37.4+/-10.7 years, range 16-62 years) underwent NIRS measurement of the cerebral variations of the oxygenated (O2Hb) and reduced haemoglobin (HHb) during breath-holding. The prevalence of O2Hb vs. HHb was used to assess the presence of PFO. As a gold standard, the presence of PFO was assessed by transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD). At the TCD analysis 48 patients (55%) showed PFOs, 32 of which were permanent. NIRS correctly detected 36 subjects out of 40 without PFO, and 38 subjects out of 48 having PFO: sensitivity was 79%; specificity was 90%. All the false negatives were permanent shunts. MwA patients with PFO showed a delayed increase in the O2Hb concentration and a reduced oxygenation with respect to subjects without PFO. NIRS is effective in identifying the presence of PFO in a MwA population, but TCD achieves better diagnostic performances. The NIRS provides additional information about the cerebral vasoreactivity and highlights substantial differences between patients with latent and permanent shunts that warrant further studies.

Contribution of EEG in transient neurological deficits.

PubMed

Lozeron, Pierre; Tcheumeni, Nadine Carole; Turki, Sahar; Amiel, Hélène; Meppiel, Elodie; Masmoudi, Sana; Roos, Caroline; Crassard, Isabelle; Plaisance, Patrick; Benbetka, Houria; Guichard, Jean-Pierre; Houdart, Emmanuel; Baudoin, Hélène; Kubis, Nathalie

2018-01-01

Identification of stroke mimics and 'chameleons' among transient neurological deficits (TND) is critical. Diagnostic workup consists of a brain imaging study, for a vascular disease or a brain tumour and EEG, for epileptiform discharges. The precise role of EEG in this diagnostic workup has, however, never been clearly delineated. However, this could be crucial in cases of atypical or incomplete presentation with consequences on disease management and treatment. We analysed the EEG patterns on 95 consecutive patients referred for an EEG within 7 days of a TND with diagnostic uncertainty. Patients were classified at the discharge or the 3-month follow-up visit as: 'ischemic origin', 'migraine aura', 'focal seizure', and 'other'. All patients had a brain imaging study. EEG characteristics were correlated to the TND symptoms, imaging study, and final diagnosis. Sixty four (67%) were of acute onset. Median symptom duration was 45 min. Thirty two % were 'ischemic', 14% 'migraine aura', 19% 'focal seizure', and 36% 'other' cause. EEGs were recorded with a median delay of 1.6 day after symptoms onset. Forty EEGs (42%) were abnormal. Focal slow waves were the most common finding (43%), also in the ischemic group (43%), whether patients had a typical presentation or not. Epileptiform discharges were found in three patients, one with focal seizure and two with migraine aura. Non-specific EEG focal slowing is commonly found in TND, and may last several days. We found no difference in EEG presentation between stroke mimics and stroke chameleons, and between other diagnoses.

Familial temporal lobe epilepsy with psychic auras associated with a novel LGI1 mutation.

PubMed

Striano, P; Busolin, G; Santulli, L; Leonardi, E; Coppola, A; Vitiello, L; Rigon, L; Michelucci, R; Tosatto, S C E; Striano, S; Nobile, C

2011-03-29

Autosomal dominant lateral temporal epilepsy (ADLTE) is characterized by focal seizures with auditory features or aphasia. Mutations in the LGI1 gene have been reported in up to 50% of ADLTE pedigrees. We report a family with temporal lobe epilepsy characterized by psychic symptoms associated with a novel LGI1 mutation. All participants were personally interviewed and underwent neurologic examination and video-EEG recordings. LGI1 exons were sequenced by standard methods. Mutant cDNA was transfected into human embryonic kidney 293 cells; both cell lysates and media were analyzed by Western blot. In silico modeling of the Lgi1 protein EPTP domain was carried out using the structure of WD repeat protein and manually refined. Three affected family members were ascertained, 2 of whom had temporal epilepsy with psychic symptoms (déjà vu, fear) but no auditory or aphasic phenomena, while the third had complex partial seizures without any aura. In all patients, we found a novel LGI1 mutation, Arg407Cys, which did not hamper protein secretion in vitro. Mapping of the mutation on a 3-dimensional protein model showed that this mutation does not induce large structural rearrangements but could destabilize interactions of Lgi1 with target proteins. The Arg407Cys is the first mutation with no effect on Lgi1 protein secretion. The uncommon, isolated psychic symptoms associated with it suggests that ADLTE encompasses a wider range of auras of temporal origin than hitherto reported.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Basic Principles and Clinical Applications in Migraine.

PubMed

Barker, Anthony T; Shields, Kevin

2017-03-01

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a neurophysiological technique with a long established pedigree of safety, tolerability, and efficacy. Initially TMS was used to study the function of the cerebral cortex, but it has now become a treatment for migraine, one of the most common and debilitating neurological conditions. In this review we discuss the scientific background and development of the technique. We explore its application for the treatment of migraine and ponder the possible mechanisms of action in this most common neurological condition. The generation of brief magnetic pulses by a suitable coil can induce electrical fields in the body. When applied to the cerebral cortex, currents are painlessly induced in cortical neurons. These currents can lead to neuronal depolarization and may influence cortical excitability by means that are as yet not fully understood. This ability to modulate cortical excitability has been exploited as a treatment for migraine with aura. Aura is implicated in the pathophysiology of migraine. Experimental studies have shown that transcranial magnetic pulses can block waves of cortical spreading depression - the experimental equivalent of migrainous aura. Migraine is a debilitating condition characterized by headache, nausea, and sensory hypersensitivity. It may affect up to 15% of the population, yet current drug treatments are often poorly tolerated. Clinical studies have shown that TMS is an effective treatment for migraine. In addition, it has the added advantages of being safe and well tolerated by patients. © 2016 American Headache Society.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation and potential cortical and trigeminothalamic mechanisms in migraine.

PubMed

Andreou, Anna P; Holland, Philip R; Akerman, Simon; Summ, Oliver; Fredrick, Joe; Goadsby, Peter J

2016-07-01

A single pulse of transcranial magnetic stimulation has been shown to be effective for the acute treatment of migraine with and without aura. Here we aimed to investigate the potential mechanisms of action of transcranial magnetic stimulation, using a transcortical approach, in preclinical migraine models. We tested the susceptibility of cortical spreading depression, the experimental correlate of migraine aura, and further evaluated the response of spontaneous and evoked trigeminovascular activity of second order trigemontothalamic and third order thalamocortical neurons in rats. Single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation significantly inhibited both mechanical and chemically-induced cortical spreading depression when administered immediately post-induction in rats, but not when administered preinduction, and when controlled by a sham stimulation. Additionally transcranial magnetic stimulation significantly inhibited the spontaneous and evoked firing rate of third order thalamocortical projection neurons, but not second order neurons in the trigeminocervical complex, suggesting a potential modulatory effect that may underlie its utility in migraine. In gyrencephalic cat cortices, when administered post-cortical spreading depression, transcranial magnetic stimulation blocked the propagation of cortical spreading depression in two of eight animals. These results are the first to demonstrate that cortical spreading depression can be blocked in vivo using single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation and further highlight a novel thalamocortical modulatory capacity that may explain the efficacy of magnetic stimulation in the treatment of migraine with and without aura. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain.

Neurocognitive responses to a single session of static squats with whole body vibration.

PubMed

Amonette, William E; Boyle, Mandy; Psarakis, Maria B; Barker, Jennifer; Dupler, Terry L; Ott, Summer D

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if the head accelerations using a common whole body vibration (WBV) exercise protocol acutely reduced neurocognition in healthy subjects. Second, we investigated differential responses to WBV plates with 2 different delivery mechanisms: vertical and rotational vibrations. Twelve healthy subjects (N = 12) volunteered and completed a baseline (BASE) neurocognitive assessment: the Immediate Postconcussion Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT). Subjects then participated in 3 randomized exercise sessions separated by no more than 2 weeks. The exercise sessions consisted of five 2-minute sets of static hip-width stance squats, with the knees positioned at a 45° angle of flexion. The squats were performed with no vibration (control [CON]), with a vertically vibrating plate (vertical vibration [VV]), and with a rotational vibrating plate (rotational vibration [RV]) set to 30 Hz with 4 mm of peak-to-peak displacement. The ImPACT assessments were completed immediately after each exercise session and the composite score for 5 cognitive domains was analyzed: verbal memory, visual memory, visual motor speed, reaction time, and impulse control. Verbal memory scores were unaffected by exercise with or without vibration (p = 0.40). Likewise, visual memory was not different (p = 0.14) after CON, VV, or RV. Significant differences were detected for visual motor speed (p = 0.006); VV was elevated compared with BASE (p = 0.01). There were no significant differences (p = 0.26) in reaction time or impulse control (p = 0.16) after exercise with or without vibration. In healthy individuals, 10 minutes of 30 Hz, 4-mm peak-to-peak displacement vibration exposure with a 45° angle of knee flexion did not negatively affect neurocognition.

(Con)text-specific effects of visual dysfunction on reading in posterior cortical atrophy.

PubMed

Yong, Keir X X; Shakespeare, Timothy J; Cash, Dave; Henley, Susie M D; Warren, Jason D; Crutch, Sebastian J

2014-08-01

Reading deficits are a common early feature of the degenerative syndrome posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) but are poorly understood even at the single word level. The current study evaluated the reading accuracy and speed of 26 PCA patients, 17 typical Alzheimer's disease (tAD) patients and 14 healthy controls on a corpus of 192 single words in which the following perceptual properties were manipulated systematically: inter-letter spacing, font size, length, font type, case and confusability. PCA reading was significantly less accurate and slower than tAD patients and controls, with performance significantly adversely affected by increased letter spacing, size, length and font (cursive < non-cursive), and characterised by visual errors (69% of all error responses). By contrast, tAD and control accuracy rates were at or near ceiling, letter spacing was the only perceptual factor to influence reading speed in the same direction as controls, and, in contrast to PCA patients, control reading was faster for larger font sizes. The inverse size effect in PCA (less accurate reading of large than small font size print) was associated with lower grey matter volume in the right superior parietal lobule. Reading accuracy was associated with impairments of early visual (especially crowding), visuoperceptual and visuospatial processes. However, these deficits were not causally related to a universal impairment of reading as some patients showed preserved reading for small, unspaced words despite grave visual deficits. Rather, the impact of specific types of visual dysfunction on reading was found to be (con)text specific, being particularly evident for large, spaced, lengthy words. These findings improve the characterisation of dyslexia in PCA, shed light on the causative and associative factors, and provide clear direction for the development of reading aids and strategies to maximise and sustain reading ability in the early stages of disease. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

(Con)text-specific effects of visual dysfunction on reading in posterior cortical atrophy

PubMed Central

Yong, Keir X.X.; Shakespeare, Timothy J.; Cash, Dave; Henley, Susie M.D.; Warren, Jason D.; Crutch, Sebastian J.

2014-01-01

Reading deficits are a common early feature of the degenerative syndrome posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) but are poorly understood even at the single word level. The current study evaluated the reading accuracy and speed of 26 PCA patients, 17 typical Alzheimer's disease (tAD) patients and 14 healthy controls on a corpus of 192 single words in which the following perceptual properties were manipulated systematically: inter-letter spacing, font size, length, font type, case and confusability. PCA reading was significantly less accurate and slower than tAD patients and controls, with performance significantly adversely affected by increased letter spacing, size, length and font (cursive < non-cursive), and characterised by visual errors (69% of all error responses). By contrast, tAD and control accuracy rates were at or near ceiling, letter spacing was the only perceptual factor to influence reading speed in the same direction as controls, and, in contrast to PCA patients, control reading was faster for larger font sizes. The inverse size effect in PCA (less accurate reading of large than small font size print) was associated with lower grey matter volume in the right superior parietal lobule. Reading accuracy was associated with impairments of early visual (especially crowding), visuoperceptual and visuospatial processes. However, these deficits were not causally related to a universal impairment of reading as some patients showed preserved reading for small, unspaced words despite grave visual deficits. Rather, the impact of specific types of visual dysfunction on reading was found to be (con)text specific, being particularly evident for large, spaced, lengthy words. These findings improve the characterisation of dyslexia in PCA, shed light on the causative and associative factors, and provide clear direction for the development of reading aids and strategies to maximise and sustain reading ability in the early stages of disease. PMID:24841985

Head sway response to optic flow: effect of age is more important than the presence of unilateral vestibular hypofunction

PubMed Central

Sparto, Patrick J.; Furman, Joseph M.; Redfern, Mark S.

2014-01-01

Background The purpose of this study was to examine how older adults with vestibular impairment use sensory feedback for postural control. Methods Nine older adult subjects with unilateral vestibular hypofunction (UVH, mean age 69 y) and 14 older (mean age 70 y) and 8 young adult controls (CON, mean age 28 y) viewed full-field optic flow scenes while standing on a fixed or sway-referenced support surface. The subjects with UVH had 100% caloric asymmetry. Optic flow consisted of sinusoidal anterior-posterior movement of the visual surround at three frequencies and three amplitudes of stimulation. The anterior-posterior head sway was measured. The number of head sway responses that were coupled to the optic flow and magnitude of head sway during optic flow relative to during quiet stance on fixed floor was quantified. Results The number of trials in which the head sway response was significantly coupled to the optic flow was significantly greater in the Older UVH and Older CON subjects compared with the Young CON subjects. Furthermore, the magnitude of head sway was two to three times greater in Older UVH and CON compared with Young CON subjects. There was no difference in coupling or magnitude of head sway between Older UVH and Older CON subjects. The amplitude of sway was also dependent on the amount of surface support, stimulus frequency, and stimulus amplitude. Conclusions Older adults with unilateral vestibular hypofunction who are able to effectively compensate show no difference in postural responses elicited by optic flow compared with age-matched controls. PMID:17312341

Spinal Cord Injury Disrupts Resting-State Networks in the Human Brain.

PubMed

Hawasli, Ammar H; Rutlin, Jerrel; Roland, Jarod L; Murphy, Rory K J; Song, Sheng-Kwei; Leuthardt, Eric C; Shimony, Joshua S; Ray, Wilson Z

2018-03-15

Despite 253,000 spinal cord injury (SCI) patients in the United States, little is known about how SCI affects brain networks. Spinal MRI provides only structural information with no insight into functional connectivity. Resting-state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) quantifies network connectivity through the identification of resting-state networks (RSNs) and allows detection of functionally relevant changes during disease. Given the robust network of spinal cord afferents to the brain, we hypothesized that SCI produces meaningful changes in brain RSNs. RS-fMRIs and functional assessments were performed on 10 SCI subjects. Blood oxygen-dependent RS-fMRI sequences were acquired. Seed-based correlation mapping was performed using five RSNs: default-mode (DMN), dorsal-attention (DAN), salience (SAL), control (CON), and somatomotor (SMN). RSNs were compared with normal control subjects using false-discovery rate-corrected two way t tests. SCI reduced brain network connectivity within the SAL, SMN, and DMN and disrupted anti-correlated connectivity between CON and SMN. When divided into separate cohorts, complete but not incomplete SCI disrupted connectivity within SAL, DAN, SMN and DMN and between CON and SMN. Finally, connectivity changed over time after SCI: the primary motor cortex decreased connectivity with the primary somatosensory cortex, the visual cortex decreased connectivity with the primary motor cortex, and the visual cortex decreased connectivity with the sensory parietal cortex. These unique findings demonstrate the functional network plasticity that occurs in the brain as a result of injury to the spinal cord. Connectivity changes after SCI may serve as biomarkers to predict functional recovery following an SCI and guide future therapy.

Atmospheric retrievals with the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowman, K. W.

2003-01-01

The Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) on the EOS-Aura spacecraft will measure the global 3-dimensional distribution of ozone in the troposphere and many of the chemical species that are part of its formation and destruction.

Mission Operations Working Group (MOWG) Report to the OMI Science Team

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fisher, Dominic M.

2017-01-01

This PowerPoint presentation will discuss Aura's current spacecraft and OMI insturment status, highlight any performance trends and impacts to OMI operations, identify any operational changes and express concerns or potential process improvements.

Connecting Surface Emissions, Convective Uplifting, and Long-Range Transport of Carbon Monoxide in the Upper Troposphere: New Observations from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jiang, Jonathan H.; Livesey, Nathaniel J.; Su, Hui; Neary, Lori; McConnell, John C.; Richards, Nigel A. D.

2007-01-01

Two years of observations of upper tropospheric (UT) carbon monoxide (CO) from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder are analyzed; in combination with the CO surface emission climatology and data from the NCEP analyses. It is shown that spatial distribution, temporal variation and long-range transport of UT CO are closely related to the surface emissions, deep-convection and horizontal winds. Over the Asian monsoon region, surface emission of CO peaks in boreal spring due to high biomass burning in addition to anthropogenic emission. However, the UT CO peaks in summer when convection is strongest and surface emission of CO is dominated by anthropogenic source. The long-range transport of CO from Southeast Asia across the Pacific to North America, which occurs most frequently during boreal summer, is thus a clear imprint of Asian anthropogenic pollution influencing global air quality.

Testing of Environmental Satellite Bus-Instrument Interfaces Using Engineering Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gagnier, Donald; Hayner, Rick; Nosek, Thomas; Roza, Michael; Hendershot, James E.; Razzaghi, Andrea I.

2004-01-01

This paper discusses the formulation and execution of a laboratory test of the electrical interfaces between multiple atmospheric scientific instruments and the spacecraft bus that carries them. The testing, performed in 2002, used engineering models of the instruments and the Aura spacecraft bus electronics. Aura is one of NASA s Earth Observatory System missions. The test was designed to evaluate the complex interfaces in the command and data handling subsystems prior to integration of the complete flight instruments on the spacecraft. A problem discovered during the flight integration phase of the observatory can cause significant cost and schedule impacts. The tests successfully revealed problems and led to their resolution before the full-up integration phase, saving significant cost and schedule. This approach could be beneficial for future environmental satellite programs involving the integration of multiple, complex scientific instruments onto a spacecraft bus.

Personality traits in childhood and adolescent headache.

PubMed

Lanzi, G; Zambrino, C A; Ferrari-Ginevra, O; Termine, C; D'Arrigo, S; Vercelli, P; De Silvestri, A; Guglielmino, C R

2001-02-01

We evaluate personality traits, anxiety and depression in a population of paediatric and adolescent patients, correlating personality characteristics with headache and sociodemographic variables. The clinical features of headache include specific personality traits. We report a clinical study of 57 patients (age 8-18 years), divided up as follows: 12 migraine with aura, 29 migraine without aura and 16 tension-type headache. One of Cattel's tests was administered to every patient; the Children's Depression Inventory test was administered to 53 patients and the Test Anxiety Inventory test to 43 subjects. The scores obtained by every patient in each test were correlated with the characteristics of headache and with sociodemographic data. We found that patients affected by idiopathic headache share some personality traits, mainly emotional rigidity and tendency to repress anger and aggression. These traits do not seem to be correlated with sociodemographic data and the duration of headache: we considered these as characteristic of migrainous patients.

Experimental lead poisoning in Turkey Vultures, Cathartes aura

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carpenter, J.W.; Pattee, O.H.; Fritts, S.H.; Rattner, B.A.; Wiemeyer, Stanley N.; Royle, J. Andrew; Smith, M.R.

2003-01-01

Lead-induced mortality appears to have been a major factor in the decline of the California condor, Gymnogyps californianus. We orally dosed turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) with BB-sized lead shot from January 1988 through July 1988 to determine physiological response (delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase inhibition, erythrocyte protoporphyrin levels, anemia), diagnostic tissue lead concentrations (blood, liver, and kidney), and comparative sensitivity of this species. Two turkey vultures died and two became so intoxicated they were euthanized. Overall, responses of measured parameters were comparable to other species exposed to lead although there was considerable individual variation. Survival time (143-211 days), even with the large number of shot and constant redosing, was much longer than reported for other species of birds, suggesting considerable tolerance by turkey vultures to the deleterious effects of lead ingestion. Based on these observations, turkey vultures appear to be poor models for assessing the risk of lead poisoning to California condors or predicting their physiological response.

Carina Nebula Detail

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

Carina Nebula Details: Great Clouds Credit for Hubble Image: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Credit for CTIO Image: N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley) and NOAO/AURA/NSF The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations. Goddard is responsible for HST project management, including mission and science operations, servicing missions, and all associated development activities. To learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope go here: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe. Follow us on Twitter Join us on Facebook

Repeated use of an abandoned vehicle by nesting Turkey vultures (Cathartes aura)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Igl, L.D.; Peterson, S.L.

2010-01-01

Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) lay their eggs on an existing substrate in the dark recesses of a variety of natural sites (Kirk and Mossman 1998). Although an important requirement of Turkey Vulture nest-site selection is isolation from human disturbances (Kirk and Mossman 1998), their nests have been reported in abandoned buildings since at least the early 1800s (Nuttall 1832). Depopulation of rural areas in North America in recent decades has resulted in many abandoned buildings within the Turkey Vulture's breeding range (Peck 2003). Increased use of abandoned buildings by nesting Turkey Vultures has been implicated in the species' recent northward range expansion (Peck 2003, Nelson et al. 2005, Houston et al. 2007). Although abandoned or inoperative vehicles also are widespread in rural areas, we found no published literature documenting Turkey Vultures' use of these potential nest sites. Herein, we summarize the first documented incidence of a Turkey Vulture nesting in an abandoned vehicle.

Summary of Aqua, Aura, and Terra High Interest Events

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newman, Lauri

2015-01-01

Single-obs tracking Sparsely tracked objects are an unfortunate reality of CARA operations Terra vs. 32081: new track with bad data was included in OD solution for secondary object and risk became high CARA and JSpOC discussed tracking and OSAs threw out the bad data. Event no longer presented high risk based on new OD Improvement: CARA now sends JSpOC a flag indicating when a single obs is included, so OSAs can evaluate if manual update to OD is required. Missing ASW OCMsAura vs. 87178, TCA: 317 at 08:04 UTC. Post-maneuver risk (conjunction was identified in OO results)CARA confirmed with JSpOC that ASW OCMs should have been received in addition to OO OCMsJSpOC corrected the manual error in their script that prevented the data from being delivered to CARAJSpOC QAd their other scripts to ensure this error did not exist in other places.

ConSurf 2016: an improved methodology to estimate and visualize evolutionary conservation in macromolecules

PubMed Central

Ashkenazy, Haim; Abadi, Shiran; Martz, Eric; Chay, Ofer; Mayrose, Itay; Pupko, Tal; Ben-Tal, Nir

2016-01-01

The degree of evolutionary conservation of an amino acid in a protein or a nucleic acid in DNA/RNA reflects a balance between its natural tendency to mutate and the overall need to retain the structural integrity and function of the macromolecule. The ConSurf web server (http://consurf.tau.ac.il), established over 15 years ago, analyses the evolutionary pattern of the amino/nucleic acids of the macromolecule to reveal regions that are important for structure and/or function. Starting from a query sequence or structure, the server automatically collects homologues, infers their multiple sequence alignment and reconstructs a phylogenetic tree that reflects their evolutionary relations. These data are then used, within a probabilistic framework, to estimate the evolutionary rates of each sequence position. Here we introduce several new features into ConSurf, including automatic selection of the best evolutionary model used to infer the rates, the ability to homology-model query proteins, prediction of the secondary structure of query RNA molecules from sequence, the ability to view the biological assembly of a query (in addition to the single chain), mapping of the conservation grades onto 2D RNA models and an advanced view of the phylogenetic tree that enables interactively rerunning ConSurf with the taxa of a sub-tree. PMID:27166375

Assimilation of MLS and OMI Ozone Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stajner, I.; Wargan, K.; Chang, L.-P.; Hayashi, H.; Pawson, S.; Froidevaux, L.; Livesey, N.

2005-01-01

Ozone data from Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) were assimilated into the ozone model at NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO). This assimilation produces ozone fields that are superior to those from the operational GMAO assimilation of Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SBUV/2) instrument data. Assimilation of Aura data improves the representation of the "ozone hole" and the agreement with independent Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III and ozone sonde data. Ozone in the lower stratosphere is captured better: mean state, vertical gradients, spatial and temporal variability are all improved. Inclusion of OMI and MLS data together, or separately, in the assimilation system provides a way of checking how consistent OMI and MLS data are with each other, and with the ozone model. We found that differences between OMI total ozone column data and model forecasts decrease after MLS data are assimilated. This indicates that MLS stratospheric ozone profiles are consistent with OMI total ozone columns. The evaluation of error characteristics of OMI and MLS ozone will continue as data from newer versions of retrievals becomes available. We report on the initial step in obtaining global assimilated ozone fields that combine measurements from different Aura instruments, the ozone model at the GMAO, and their respective error characteristics. We plan to use assimilated ozone fields in estimation of tropospheric ozone. We also plan to investigate impacts of assimilated ozone fields on numerical weather prediction through their use in radiative models and in the assimilation of infrared nadir radiance data from NASA's Advanced Infrared Sounder (AIRS).

Development of a Climate Record of Tropospheric and Stratospheric Column Ozone from Satellite Remote Sensing: Evidence of an Early Recovery of Global Stratospheric Ozone

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ziemke, Jerald R.; Chandra, Sushil

2012-01-01

Ozone data beginning October 2004 from the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) are used to evaluate the accuracy of the Cloud Slicing technique in effort to develop long data records of tropospheric and stratospheric ozone and for studying their long-term changes. Using this technique, we have produced a 32-yr (1979-2010) long record of tropospheric and stratospheric column ozone from the combined Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and OMI. Analyses of these time series suggest that the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is the dominant source of inter-annual variability of stratospheric ozone and is clearest in the Southern Hemisphere during the Aura time record with related inter-annual changes of 30- 40 Dobson Units. Tropospheric ozone for the long record also indicates a QBO signal in the tropics with peak-to-peak changes varying from 2 to 7 DU. The most important result from our study is that global stratospheric ozone indicates signature of a recovery occurring with ozone abundance now approaching the levels of year 1980 and earlier. The negative trends in stratospheric ozone in both hemispheres during the first 15 yr of the record are now positive over the last 15 yr and with nearly equal magnitudes. This turnaround in stratospheric ozone loss is occurring about 20 yr earlier than predicted by many chemistry climate models. This suggests that the Montreal Protocol which was first signed in 1987 as an international agreement to reduce ozone destroying substances is working well and perhaps better than anticipated.

Stereotyped topography of different elevated contingent negative variation components in children with migraine without aura points towards a subcortical dysfunction.

PubMed

Bender, Stephan; Weisbrod, Matthias; Resch, Franz; Oelkers-Ax, Rieke

2007-02-01

Increased negativity during contingent negative variation (CNV) is thought to reflect abnormal neural activation in adult migraineurs' attention related processing. Findings in childhood and adolescence have yielded less clear results. This study characterizes the age-dependent development of CNV topography in migraine during childhood in order to elucidate the origin and cerebral generators of described CNV elevations. A large sample of children with primary headache (migraine with/without aura, tension type headache) and healthy controls aged 6-18 years was examined in a CNV paradigm using 64-channel high resolution DC-EEG. Patients were tested for diagnose-related topographic group differences of initial CNV (iCNV), late CNV (lCNV) and postimperative negative variation (PINV). All three CNV components of 6-11-year-old migraineurs without aura showed elevated negativity over the supplementary motor area (SMA) and around the vertex. Migraine children lacked age-dependent development of late CNV around Cz as previously reported. However, they showed a normal development of late CNV over pre-/primary motor cortex (MI). There was no marked elevation of iCNV amplitude over frontal areas (orienting reaction) nor specific amplitude elevations over "motor" or "sensory" areas during sustained attention (late CNV). Additional "pre-mature" activation e.g., in the locus coeruleus (leading to diffuse cortical activation summing up to a maximum over the vertex) or the basal ganglia (interacting with SMA) explained the rather stereotyped CNV elevation around the vertex better than a specific implication of the cortical systems responsible for orienting, motor preparation or sensory attention.

Familial mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (FMTLE) : a clinical and genetic study of 15 Italian families.

PubMed

Striano, Pasquale; Gambardella, Antonio; Coppola, Antonietta; Di Bonaventura, Carlo; Bovo, Giorgia; Diani, Erica; Boaretto, Francesca; Egeo, Gabriella; Ciampa, Clotilde; Labate, Angelo; Testoni, Stefania; Passarelli, Daniela; Manna, Ida; Sferro, Caterina; Aguglia, Umberto; Caranci, Ferdinando; Giallonardo, Anna Teresa; Striano, Salvatore; Nobile, Carlo; Michelucci, Roberto

2008-01-01

Familial mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (FMTLE) is characterized by prominent psychic and autonomic seizures, often without hippocampal sclerosis (HS) or a previous history of febrile seizures (FS), and good prognosis. The genetics of this condition is largely unknown.We present the electroclinical and genetic findings of 15 MTLE Italian families. FMTLE was defined when two or more first-degree relatives had epilepsy suggesting a mesial temporal lobe origin. The occurrence of seizures with auditory auras was considered an exclusion criterion. Patients underwent video-EEG recordings, 1.5-Tesla MRI particularly focused on hippocampal analysis, and neuropsychological evaluation. Genetic study included genotyping and linkage analysis of candidate loci at 4q, 18q, 1q, and 12q as well as screening for LGI1/Epitempin mutations. Most of the families showed an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern with incomplete penetrance. Fifty-four (32 F) affected individuals were investigated. Twenty-one (38.8 %) individuals experienced early FS. Forty-eight individuals fulfilled the criteria for MTLE. Epigastric/visceral sensation (72.9 %) was the most common type of aura, followed by psychic symptoms (35.4 %), and déjà vu (31.2 %). HS occurred in 13.8% of individuals, three of whom belonged to the same family. Prognosis of epilepsy was generally good. Genetic study failed to show LGI1/Epitempin mutations or significative linkage to the investigated loci. FMTLE may be a more common than expected condition, clinically and genetically heterogeneous. Some of the reported families, grouped on the basis of a specific aura, may represent an interesting subgroup on whom to focus future linkage studies.

Nonlesional atypical mesial temporal epilepsy

PubMed Central

Alexopoulos, Andreas V.; Busch, Robyn M.; Wehner, Tim; Nair, Dileep; Bingaman, William E.; Najm, Imad M.

2013-01-01

Objective: Misleading manifestations of common epilepsy syndromes might account for some epilepsy surgery failures, thus we sought to characterize patients with difficult to diagnose (atypical) mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed our surgical database over 12 years to identify patients who underwent a standard anterior temporal lobectomy after undergoing intracranial EEG (ICEEG) evaluation with a combination of depth and subdural electrodes. We carefully studied electroclinical manifestations, neuroimaging data, neuropsychological findings, and indications for ICEEG. Results: Of 835 patients who underwent anterior temporal lobectomy, 55 were investigated with ICEEG. Ten of these had atypical mTLE features and were not considered to have mTLE preoperatively. All of them had Engel class I outcome for 3 to 7 years (median 3.85). Five reported uncommon auras, and 3 had no auras. Scalp-EEG and nuclear imaging studies failed to provide adequate localization. None had MRI evidence of hippocampal sclerosis. However, ICEEG demonstrated exclusive mesial temporal seizure onset in all patients. Clues suggesting the possibility of mTLE were typical auras when present, anterior temporal epileptiform discharges or ictal patterns, small hippocampi, asymmetrical or ipsilateral temporal hypometabolism on PET, anterior temporal hyperperfusion on ictal SPECT, and asymmetry of memory scores. Histopathology revealed hippocampal sclerosis in 6 patients and gliosis in 2. Conclusions: Atypical electroclinical presentation may be deceptive in some patients with mTLE. We emphasize the importance of searching for typical mTLE features to guide ICEEG study of mesial temporal structures in such patients, who may otherwise mistakenly undergo extramesial temporal resections or be denied surgery. PMID:24174582

C-reactive protein and migraine. Facts or speculations?

PubMed

Lippi, Giuseppe; Mattiuzzi, Camilla; Cervellin, Gianfranco

2014-09-01

Abstract Migraine is a highly prevalent and frequently disabling disorder. Since the pathogenesis of this condition has a strong inflammatory component and migraine is significantly associated with cardiovascular disease, we assess whether C-reactive protein (CRP) may be epidemiologically or casually linked with migraine. An electronic search on Medline, Scopus and Web of Science produced 17 studies reporting original data about the epidemiological association between CRP and migraine (1 retrospective, 1 interventional, 14 cross-sectional and 1 both interventional and cross-sectional). When all studies reporting sufficient data about CRP values were pooled (n=12; 6980 cases and 38,975 controls), the concentration of CRP was found to be significantly higher in patients with migraine than in controls (weighted mean difference 1.12 mg/L; 95% CI 1.01-1.25 mg/L; p<0.001). In further analysis of studies containing separate data for migraine with and without aura (n=7), CRP values remained significantly higher in both migraineur patients with aura (n=1939; weighted mean difference 0.88 mg/L; 95% CI 0.63-1.14 mg/L; p<0.001) or without aura (n=2483; weighted mean difference 1.04 mg/L; 95% CI 0.78-1.30 mg/L; p<0.001) when compared with controls (n=29,354). Despite a large inter-study heterogeneity (99.3%), our analysis provides evidence of a potential epidemiological association between increased concentration of CRP and migraine, thus paving the way for further clinical investigations about therapeutic agents that may contextually decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and reduce the burden of migraine.

Migraineurs without aura show microstructural abnormalities in the cerebellum and frontal lobe.

PubMed

Granziera, C; Romascano, D; Daducci, A; Roche, A; Vincent, M; Krueger, G; Hadjikhani, N

2013-12-01

The involvement of the cerebellum in migraine pathophysiology is not well understood. We used a biparametric approach at high-field MRI (3 T) to assess the structural integrity of the cerebellum in 15 migraineurs with aura (MWA), 23 migraineurs without aura (MWoA), and 20 healthy controls (HC). High-resolution T1 relaxation maps were acquired together with magnetization transfer images in order to probe microstructural and myelin integrity. Clusterwise analysis was performed on T1 and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) maps of the cerebellum of MWA, MWoA, and HC using an ANOVA and a non-parametric clusterwise permutation F test, with age and gender as covariates and correction for familywise error rate. In addition, mean MTR and T1 in frontal regions known to be highly connected to the cerebellum were computed. Clusterwise comparison among groups showed a cluster of lower MTR in the right Crus I of MWoA patients vs. HC and MWA subjects (p = 0.04). Univariate and bivariate analysis on T1 and MTR contrasts showed that MWoA patients had longer T1 and lower MTR in the right and left pars orbitalis compared to MWA (p < 0.01 and 0.05, respectively), but no differences were found with HC. Lower MTR and longer T1 point at a loss of macromolecules and/or micro-edema in Crus I and pars orbitalis in MWoA patients vs. HC and vs. MWA. The pathophysiological implications of these findings are discussed in light of recent literature.

Validation of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder Temperature and Geopotential Height Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schwartz, M. J.; Lambert, A.; Manney, G. L.; Read, W. G.; Livesey, N. J.; Froidevaux, L.; Ao, C. O.; Bernath, P. F.; Boone, C. D.; Cofield, R. E.;

An Intercomparison of Tropospheric Ozone Retrievals Derived from Two Aura Instruments and Measurements in Western North America in 2006

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doughty, D. C.; Thompson, A. M.; Schoeberl, M. R.; Stajner, I.; Wargan, K.; Hui, W. C. J.

2011-01-01

Two recently developed methods for quantifying tropospheric ozone abundances based on Aura data, the Trajectory-enhanced Tropospheric Ozone Residual (TTOR) and an assimilation of Aura data into Goddard Earth Observing System Version 4 (ASM), are compared to ozone measurements from ozonesonde data collected in April-May 2006 during the INTEX Ozonesonde Network Study 2006 (IONS-06) campaign. Both techniques use Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) observations. Statistics on column ozone amounts for both products are presented. In general, the assimilation compares better to sonde integrated ozone to 200 hPa (28.6% difference for TTOR versus 2.7% difference for ASM), and both products are biased low. To better characterize the performance of ASM, ozone profiles based on the assimilation are compared to those from ozonesondes. We noted slight negative biases in the lower troposphere, and slight positive biases in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UT/ LS), where we observed the greatest variability. Case studies were used to further understand ASM performance. We examine one case from 17 April 2006 at Bratt's Lake, Saskatchewan, where geopotential height gradients appear to be related to an underestimation in the ASM in the UT/LS region. A second case, from 21 April 2006 at Trinidad Head, California, is a situation where the overprediction of ozone in the UT/LS region does not appear to be due to current dynamic conditions but seems to be related to uncertainty in the flow pattern and large differences in MLS observations upstream.

Communal visual histories to detect environmental change in northern areas: Examples of emerging North American and Eurasian practices.

PubMed

Mustonen, Tero

2015-12-01

This article explores the pioneering potential of communal visual-optic histories which are recorded, painted, documented, or otherwise expressed. These materials provide collective meanings of an image or visual material within a specific cultural group. They potentially provide a new method for monitoring and documenting changes to ecosystem health and species distribution, which can effectively inform society and decision makers of Arctic change. These visual histories can be positioned in a continuum that extends from rock art to digital photography. They find their expressions in forms ranging from images to the oral recording of knowledge and operate on a given cultural context. For monitoring efforts in the changing boreal zone and Arctic, a respectful engagement with visual histories can reveal emerging aspects of change. The examples from North America and case studies from Eurasia in this article include Inuit sea ice observations, Yu'pik visual traditions of masks, fish die-offs in a sub-boreal catchment area, permafrost melt in the Siberian tundra and early, first detection of a scarabaeid beetle outbreak, a Southern species in the Skolt Sámi area. The pros and cons of using these histories and their reliability are reviewed.

A NASA Space Sleuth Hunts the Trail of Earth Water

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-08-13

This vertical profile view from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer TES instrument on NASA Aura satellite depicts the distribution of water vapor molecules over Earth tropics across one transect of the satellite orbit on January 6, 2006.

Assessment of the changes in arch perimeter and irregularity in the mandibular arch during initial alignment with the AcceleDent Aura appliance vs no appliance in adolescents: A single-blind randomized clinical trial.

PubMed

Miles, Peter; Fisher, Elizabeth

2016-12-01

The purpose of this 2-arm parallel trial was to assess the effects of the AcceleDent Aura (OrthoAccel Technologies, Houston, Tex) appliance on the increase in mandibular anterior arch perimeter, the reduction in mandibular arch irregularity, and the amount of discomfort during initial alignment of the mandibular arch with fixed appliances. Forty Class II adolescent patients with full fixed appliances and treated with maxillary premolar extractions and no extractions in the mandibular arch participated in this randomized clinical trial. They were recruited in a private practice and treated by 1 clinician. Randomization to either a no-appliance group or the AcceleDent Aura appliance group was accomplished with permuted blocks of 10 patients with the allocations concealed in opaque, sealed envelopes. Both the operator and the outcome assessor were blinded, but it was not feasible to blind the patients. Discomfort was recorded during the first week of treatment. Mandibular anterior arch perimeter and anterior irregularity were measured from plaster models taken at the start of treatment and after 5, 8, and 10 weeks. No patients were lost to follow-up, and no data were missing. There was no difference in anterior arch perimeter at the start of treatment (P = 0.85; median, 0.6 mm; 95% confidence interval [CI], -1.6, +1.8 mm) or at any other time point (5 weeks: P = 0.84; median, -0.2 mm; 95% CI, -1.6, +1.2 mm; 8 weeks: P = 0.56; median, -0.3 mm; 95% CI, -1.6, +0.7 mm; 10 weeks: P = 0.67; median, -0.1 mm; 95% CI, -1.5, +1.1 mm). There was also no difference between groups for incisor irregularity (P = 0.46; median, -0.5 mm; 95% CI, -2.2, +2.8 mm; P = 0.80; median, 0.0 mm; 95% CI, -1.0, +1.1 mm; P = 0.70; median, 0.1 mm; 95% CI, -0.7, +0.8 mm; P = 0.65; median, 0.2 mm; 95% CI, -0.6, +0.6 mm). No difference was detected at any time during the first week for discomfort (baseline: P = 0.84; median, -1.5 mm; 95% CI, -15.9, +9.8 mm; 6 hours: P = 0.96; median, 0.3 mm; 95% CI, -23.5, +21.8 mm; 1 day: P, 0.75; median, -3.5 mm; 95% CI, -27.1, +26.9 mm; 3 days: P = 0.98; median, -0.6 mm; 95% CI, -20.6, +20.0; 7 days: P = 0.57; median, 0.5 mm; 95% CI, -5.0, +5.3 mm). However, significantly fewer participants in the AcceleDent Aura group used analgesics at day 1 (P = <0.01). The AcceleDent Aura appliance had no effect compared with no appliance on increasing anterior arch perimeter, or reducing irregularity or perceived discomfort during initial alignment with fixed appliances, although more subjects used painkillers at 24 hours in the no-appliance group. This trial was not registered. The protocol was not published before trial commencement. A special research grant was obtained from the Australian Society of Orthodontists Foundation for Research and Education to purchase the AcceleDent Aura appliances and fund the statistical analysis. Copyright © 2016 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"I heard voices...": from semiology, a historical review, and a new hypothesis on the presumed epilepsy of Joan of Arc.

PubMed

d'Orsi, Giuseppe; Tinuper, Paolo

2006-08-01

Some consider the "voices" of Joan of Arc to have been ecstatic epileptic auras, such as Dostoevsky's epilepsy. We performed a critical analysis of this hypothesis and suggest that the "voices" may be the expression of an epileptic syndrome recently described: idiopathic partial epilepsy with auditory features (IPEAF). Joan's symptoms were obtained from the documentation of her Trial of Condemnation. We investigated Joan of Arc from a strictly semiologic point of view, focusing on symptoms and possible trigger factors. From ages 13 to 19, the episodes were characterized by a prevalent auditory component, followed by "a great light" or images that Joan identified as saints. Sometimes, the visual component was missing and replaced by comprehension verbal disturbance. The spells were sudden, brief in duration, and frequent, and also occurred during sleep. In some cases, the sound of bells could trigger the "voices." Joan's spells were characterized by a constant auditory component, complex, spontaneous, or evoked by sudden auditory stimuli, that could be associated with an inconstant visual component, sometimes simple and, more often, complex, and comprehension verbal disturbance. These spells differ from ecstatic epilepsy with respect to clinical features and involvement of cerebral regions. The negative family history, the ictal semiology, and the possibility that the spells were triggered by acoustic stimuli suggest IPEAF, and the search for the epitempin/LGI1 gene or other new gene mutations on a hair of the Maid of Orléans may enhance our knowledge about her presumed epilepsy.

Visual Motion Perception

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-08-15

Conversely, displays Atr con- past experience to the experimental stimuli. structed %xith normal density- controlled KDE cues but %ith 5. Excluding...frame. This 3Ndisplays, gray background is displayed’ on ail introduces 50% -scintillation (density control lion even frames (labelled 1:0). Other non ...video tapes were prepared, each of whsich contained all the experimental ASL signs but distributed 1 2 3 4 into dliffereint. filter groups . Eight

Relating the "mirrorness" of mirror neurons to their origins.

PubMed

Kilner, James M; Friston, Karl J

2014-04-01

Ever since their discovery, mirror neurons have generated much interest and debate. A commonly held view of mirror neuron function is that they transform "visual information into knowledge," thus enabling action understanding and non-verbal social communication between con-specifics (Rizzolatti & Craighero 2004). This functionality is thought to be so important that it has been argued that mirror neurons must be a result of selective pressure.

Search a way out of fluid-magmatic activity on the periphery of the thermal structure Siberian magnetic anomaly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Litvinova, Tamara; Petrova, Alevtina

2017-04-01

The work have for an object to study of a deep structure of the region of Eastern Siberia, allocation of zones of the most ancient magnetoactive horizons and search of exits of fluid and magmatic aktivization, on the periphery of thermal structures within which the most part of ore gold deposits, copper and other polymetals concentrates. Researches of not uniformity of the base in the field of the Siberian magnetic anomaly are executed on the basis of interpretation of anomalies of the module of vertical and horizontal components of the magnetic field of Earth, and also anomalies of gravity. The zone of all-round permafrost settles down from the Arctic coast of Siberia to 60 - 62N. World anomaly of a magnetic field of Earth of Eastern Siberia gets on a permafrost zone. It extends from North Siberian Lowland on Taimyr to Lake Baikal. On the isoline of 60 000 nT it occupies the space from 75N to 50N and from 80 to 130 E. For the purpose of studying of a deep structure and clarification of the nature of magnetization of anomalies of the base cards of anomalies vertical and horizontal the magnetic field of Earth component were used. Density cuts are received on anomalies of gravity. On deep sections the dense and magnetic horizon located in the range of depths the 10-15th is visible. Detection of anomalies vertical components means that the specific magnetoactive layer possesses thermoresidual magnetization which direction doesn't coincide with the modern direction and testifies to early time of its education. The most brightly thermoresidual anomalies are expressed on Plateau of Putoran and the Anabar shield. In the territory of Eastern Siberia near Lake Baikal sources of thermal waters are known. The great interest represents search of thermal auras - talik - to the north of Lake Baikal in a zone of universal permafrost. One of the most important factors of formation of thermal auras is carrying out of the fluid streams delivered from deep-focal fluid systems. Visualization of deep cuts allowed to reveal location in crust of fluid systems and to estimate depth of their bedding. In magnetic and density cuts of a way of migration of streams from fluid system are reflected in a view of the low-magnetic bringing canals of the lowered density. As a result, of research such auras are allocated within a permafrost zone in area of World magnetic anomaly in Eastern Siberia and on the Taimyr Peninsula. The analysis low-frequency components of an anomalous magnetic field within the Taimyr peninsula allows to localize family the of geological sources which form anomalies in the depth interval of 9 500-14 500 m in an interval of depths of 9 500-14 500 m that answers the level close to a roof of a granitometamorfic layer. The geoblocks limiting structure of the Yenisei-Hatanga deflection from northern and southern flanks answer areas of uplift of the Archaean and Proterozoic basis.

Eye contricks

PubMed Central

Wade, Nicholas J

2011-01-01

Pictorial images are icons as well as eye-cons: they provide distillations of objects or ideas into simpler shapes. They create the impression of representing that which cannot be presented. Even at the level of the photograph, the links between icon and object are tenuous. The dimensions of depth and motion are missing from icons, and these alone introduce all manner of potential ambiguities. The history of art can be considered as exploring the missing link between icon and object. Eye-cons can also be illusions—tricks of vision so that what is seen does not necessarily correspond to what is physically presented. Pictorial images can be spatialised or stylised; spatialised images generally share some of the projective characteristics of the object represented. Written words are also icons, but they do not resemble the objects they represent—they are stylised or conventional. Icons as stylised words and spatialised images were set in delightful opposition by René Magritte in a series of pipe paintings, and this theme is here alluded to. Most of visual science is now concerned with icons—two-dimensional displays on computer monitors. Is vision now the science of eye-cons? PMID:23145240

Integrated Analysis Techniques for Command, Control, and Communications Systems. Volume 2. Applications

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-11-01

video , blinking, or other visual cont rasts to high1- light events under cons’deration, and thereby reduce effective search tie). *By "bottleneck," we...CONFIDENCE [4.0] P EDIT/SEND I- PEDo 0.5]4I -P F O ( . 5 ) p _.LDIT SLNO :. R2402 "i Figure A-I. ADS-2 Report Sequence , p 119 -- NI%-.%., V’’- 4

The relationship between migraine and lipid sub-fractions among individuals without cardiovascular disease: A cross-sectional evaluation in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil).

PubMed

Goulart, Alessandra C; Lotufo, Paulo A; Santos, Itamar S; Bittencourt, Márcio S; Santos, Raul D; Blaha, Michael J; Jones, Steven; Toth, Peter P; Kulkarni, Krishnaji; Benseñor, Isabela M

2018-03-01

Introduction Recent studies have explored the relationship between dyslipidemia and migraine in a cardiovascular context. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the possible association between lipids, lipoprotein subfractions and migraine according to aura symptoms in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil). Methods 1,560 women and 1,595 men, without CVD or lipid disorders requiring medication, underwent a baseline clinical assessment. Total-cholesterol and its sub-fractions (LDL, VLDL and HDL subclass cholesterol); triglycerides and triglyceride-rich lipoprotein cholesterol [TRL-C (VLDL 1+2 -C VLDL 3 -C + IDL-C)] were determined by vertical auto profile (VAP). We also calculated logarithmic LDL density ratio [LLDR = ln ((LDL 3 -C + LDL 4 -C)/(LDL 1 -C + LDL 2 -C))], T-Chol/HDL-C and triglycerides/HDL-C ratios. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were obtained to evaluate the relationship between lipids tertiles and migraine for both sexes. Results Main findings revealed positive associations between migraine without aura (MO) and the highest tertiles of VLDL-C (OR, 1.61; 95%CI, 1.07-2.40) and TRL-C (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.03-2.34) in women. In men, the highest tertile of VLDL 3 -C (OR, 3.87; 95%CI, 1.23-12.19) was positively associated with MO, as well. Conclusions In middle-aged participants without CVD or lipid disorders requiring medication, the worst lipid profile was determined by the highest levels of TRL-C and their cholesterol-rich remnants in migraineurs without aura for both sexes.

A comprehensive overview of the climatological composition of the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone based on 10 years of Aura Microwave Limb Sounder measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santee, M. L.; Manney, G. L.; Livesey, N. J.; Schwartz, M. J.; Neu, J. L.; Read, W. G.

2017-05-01

Intense deep convection associated with the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) lofts surface pollutants to the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UTLS), where strong winds and long chemical lifetimes allow intercontinental transport, affecting atmospheric composition around the globe. The Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), launched in 2004, makes simultaneous colocated measurements of trace gases and cloud ice water content (a proxy for deep convection) in the UTLS on a daily basis. Here we exploit the dense spatial and temporal coverage, long-term data record, extensive measurement suite, and insensitivity to aerosol and most clouds of Aura MLS to characterize the climatological (2005-2014) composition of the ASM anticyclone throughout its annual life cycle. We use version 4 MLS data to quantify spatial and temporal variations in both tropospheric (H2O, CO, CH3Cl, CH3CN, CH3OH) and stratospheric (O3, HNO3, HCl) tracers on four potential temperature surfaces (350-410 K). Inside the mature anticyclone, all species exhibit substantial changes, not only from their premonsoon distributions in the ASM region but also from their summertime distributions in the rest of the hemisphere. Different tracers exhibit dissimilar seasonal evolution, and the exact location and timing of their extreme values vary. Although individual aspects of the anticyclone have been described previously, we present a uniquely comprehensive overview of the climatological seasonal evolution of the ASM and its impact on UTLS composition. This work provides valuable context for planned in situ measurements as well as a benchmark for model evaluation and future investigations of interannual variability and long-term changes in monsoon processes.

The Contributions of Chemistry and Transport to Low Arctic Ozone in March 2011 Derived from Aura MLS Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strahan, S. E.; Douglass, A. R.; Newman, P. A.

2012-01-01

Stratospheric and total columns of Arctic O3 (63-90 N) in late March 2011 averaged 320 and 349 DU, respectively. These values are 74 DU lower than averages for the previous 6 years. We use Aura MLS O3 observations to quantify the roles of chemistry and transport and find there are two major reasons for low O3 in March 2011: heterogeneous chemical loss and a late final warming that delayed the resupply of O3 until April. Daily vortex-averaged partial columns in the lowermost stratosphere (p greater than 133 hPa) and middle stratosphere (p less than 29 hPa) are unaffected by local heterogeneous chemistry and show a near total lack of transport into the vortex between late January and late March, contributing to the observed low column. The lower stratospheric (LS) column (133-29 hPa) is affected by both heterogeneous chemistry and transport. Low interannual variability of Aura MLS 0 3 columns and temperature inside the Arctic vortex (2004-2011) shows that the transport contribution to vortex O3 in fall and early winter is nearly the same each year. The descent of MLS N2O vortex profiles in 2011 provides an estimate of O3 transported into the LS column during late winter. By quantifying the role of transport we determine that PSC-driven chemical loss causes 80 (plus or minus 10) DU of vortex-averaged O3 loss by late March 2011. Without heterogeneous chemical loss, March 2011 vortex O3 would have been 40 DU lower than normal due to the late final warming and resupply of O3 which did not occur until April.

Validation of Aura Microwave Limb Sounder HCl Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Froidevaux, L.; Jiang, Y. B.; Lambert, A.; Livesey, N. J.; Read, W. G.; Waters, J. W.; Fuller, R. A.; Marcy, T. P.; Popp, P. J.; Gao, R. S.;

The risk of breast cancer associated with specific patterns of migraine history

PubMed Central

Lowry, Sarah J.; Malone, Kathleen E.; Cushing-Haugen, Kara L.; Li, Christopher I.

2014-01-01

Purpose Studies have suggested that a history of migraines may be associated with a lower risk of some types of breast cancer, though biological mechanisms are unclear. Identifying specific characteristics of migraines which are most strongly associated with breast cancer risk could improve our understanding of this relationship. Methods We ascertained specific characteristics of women's migraine histories (severity, timing features, presence of migraine aura). We used polytomous logistic regression to estimate the risk of ER+ ductal, ER- ductal, ER+ lobular, and ER+ ductal-lobular breast cancer associated with self-reported characteristics of migraine history. 715 breast cancer cases (276 ER+ ductal, 46 ER- ductal, 191 ER+ lobular, 202 ER+ ductal-lobular) and 376 controls ages 55-74 years were included in this population-based case-control study. Results Compared to women without a migraine history, women with a >30-year history of migraines had a 60% (95% CI: 0.2-0.6) lower risk of ER+ ductal breast cancer; those who had their first migraine before age 20 had 50% lower risks of ER+ ductal and ER+ lobular breast cancer (both 95%CIs: 0.3-0.9), and women who experienced migraine with aura had 30% (95%CI 0.5-0.98) and 40% (95%CI: 0.4-0.9) lower risks of ER+ ductal and ER+ lobular breast cancer, respectively. Conclusion The lower risk of ER+ breast cancer associated with migraine appears to be limited to those women with early onset or long duration of migraine history, or those who experienced migraine with aura. This expands our understanding of the relationship between migraine and breast cancer and provides additional insight into potential underlying biological mechanisms. PMID:25359301

Ictal autoscopic phenomena and near death experiences: a study of five patients with ictal autoscopies.

PubMed

Hoepner, Robert; Labudda, Kirsten; May, Theodor W; Schoendienst, Martin; Woermann, Friedrich G; Bien, Christian G; Brandt, Christian

2013-03-01

Autoscopic phenomena in general may-among other conditions-occur during epileptic seizures and near death experiences. We set the hypothesis that ictal autoscopic phenomena and near death experiences have a similar semiology as measured by the Near Death Experience Questionnaire. We also investigated whether patients with aura before temporal lobe seizures with or without autoscopic phenomena could be distinguished by this questionnaire. For these purposes, we examined five patients with ictal autoscopy and 12 patients with aura before temporal lobe seizures without ictal autoscopy as controls. We used a cut-off of 7 points or higher on the Near Death Experience Questionnaire for indicating the semiology of a near death experience and for distinguishing patients with ictal autoscopy from controls. This cut-off separated patients with ictal autoscopic phenomena from aura before temporal lobe seizures without autoscopy (p = 0.0002, two-sided, exact Fisher's Test; specificity: 100 % [CI95 % 77.9 and 100 %], sensitivity: 100 % [CI95 % 54.9 and 100 %]). Furthermore, all autoscopic patients (range 7-10) and none of the controls (range 0-5) had scores of 7 points or higher. Thus, the individual experiences during simple partial autoscopic seizures and near death experiences are similar, at least in some prominent aspects. These findings might be of particular interest for the pathophysiology of near death experiences, as all patients with ictal autoscopic phenomena had an epileptic dysfunction at the temporo-parietal junction or its neighboring regions. Therefore, a malfunction of this brain region might also be involved in near death experiences of other origins especially during states which could cause a near death experience and a cerebral excitability.

Assessment of Responsiveness to Everyday Non-Noxious Stimuli in Pain-Free Migraineurs With Versus Without Aura.

PubMed

Granovsky, Yelena; Shor, Merav; Shifrin, Alla; Sprecher, Elliot; Yarnitsky, David; Bar-Shalita, Tami

2018-03-27

Migraineurs with aura (MWA) express higher interictal response to non-noxious and noxious experimental sensory stimuli compared with migraineurs without aura (MWoA), but whether these differences also prevail in response to everyday non-noxious stimuli is not yet explored. This is a cross-sectional study testing 53 female migraineurs (30 MWA; 23 MWoA) who underwent a wide battery of noxious psychophysical testing at a pain-free phase, and completed a Sensory Responsiveness Questionnaire and pain-related psychological questionnaires. The MWA group showed higher questionnaire-based sensory over-responsiveness (P = .030), higher magnitude of pain temporal summation (P = .031) as well as higher monthly attack frequency (P = .027) compared with the MWoA group. Overall, 45% of migraineurs described abnormal sensory (hyper- or hypo-) responsiveness; its incidence was higher among MWA (19 of 30, 63%) versus MWoA (6 of 23, 27%, P = .012), with an odds ratio of 3.58 for MWA. Sensory responsiveness scores were positively correlated with attack frequency (r = .361, P = .008) and temporal summation magnitude (r = .390, P = .004), both regardless of migraine type. MWA express higher everyday sensory responsiveness than MWoA, in line with higher response to experimental noxious stimuli. Abnormal scores of sensory responsiveness characterize people with sensory modulation dysfunction, suggesting possible underlying mechanisms overlap, and possibly high incidence of both clinical entities. This article presents findings distinguishing MWA, showing enhanced pain amplification, monthly attack frequency, and over-responsiveness to everyday sensations, compared with MWoA. Further, migraine is characterized by a high incidence of abnormal responsiveness to everyday sensation, specifically sensory over-responsiveness, that was also found related to pain. Copyright © 2018 The American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Climatology of the quasi-2-day waves observed in the MLS/Aura measurements (2005-2014)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pancheva, Dora; Mukhtarov, Plamen; Siskind, David E.

2018-06-01

The paper presents the climatology and interannual variability of both eastward- and westward-propagating ∼2-day waves (QTDW) observed in the MLS/Aura geopotential height data for a period of 10 full years (2005-2014). The climatology of the QTDWs has been studied in two steps: (i) by using average 2D-wavelet spectra both the dominant modes of variability and how these modes vary in time and space have been determined, and (ii) by applying a 2D decomposition procedure, where all planetary waves are simultaneously extracted from the data, the average global spatio-temporal distributions of all defined by the 2D-wavelet analysis modes have been obtained. It is found that the westward-propagating waves at mid-high latitudes have zonal wave numbers 2, 3 and 4 and are observed mainly in summer hemisphere. Two different types of eastward-propagating waves have been identified: (i) waves at mid-high latitudes with zonal wave numbers 2 and 3 observed in the winter hemisphere, and (ii) waves observed predominantly over the equator with zonal wave number 2, which do not have a well-defined seasonal variability but show some enhancement in both solstices. While the climatological features of the MLS/Aura QTDWs for the considered period are robust the interannual variations have to be adopted cautiously. The primary reason is that the length of the considered period of 10 years is not enough for finding clear variability pattern. The only long-term variability which appears to have some robustness is that of the W3 wave in the Southern Hemisphere where the influence of the solar cycle has been distinguished.

Nutritional compensation to exercise- vs. diet-induced acute energy deficit in adolescents with obesity.

PubMed

Thivel, David; Doucet, Eric; Julian, Valérie; Cardenoux, Charlotte; Boirie, Yves; Duclos, Martine

2017-07-01

To compare the energy and macronutrient intake responses to equivalent energy deficits induced by diet (food restriction) and exercise in adolescents with obesity. Fourteen 12-15years old obese adolescents completed three experimental conditions (08:00am to 07:30pm) in a randomized crossover design: i) control session (CON); ii) diet-induced 25% energy depletion (Def-EI), iii) and an exercise-induced 25% energy depletion (Def-EX). The sessions order was either CON/Def-EI/Def-EX or CON/Def-EX/Def-EI as the deficit corresponded to 25% of the energy ingested at lunch on the control day (CON) and was imposed either by exercise (Def-EX) or diet (Def-EI). Ad libitum EI and macronutrients preferences were assessed at dinner and appetite sensations assessed using visual analogue scales. Mean BMI was 36.6±5.0kg/m 2 (z-BMI: 2.40±0.29). The individually calibrated 25% energy deficit represented 254±92kcal. Ad libitum EI was significantly higher during both Def-EX (971±225kcal) and Def-EI (949±246kcal) compared with CON (742±297) (p<0.05). The relative energy ingested derived from fat was significantly higher on both Def-EX (36.6±10.9%) and Def-EI (36.9±13.1%) compared with CON (21.6±7.8%) (p<0.05). The energy derived from carbohydrates was significantly lower on both Def-EX (48.3±9.0%) and Def-EI (44.4±17.3%) compare with CON (61.1±10.1%) (p<0.05). Appetite sensations were not different between conditions. The induced energy deficit was negatively correlated with the ad libitum EI difference between the exercise and the control session (EI Def-EX - EI CON) (r=-0,643 p<0.05) and positively correlated with the EI difference between the dietary restriction and the control session (EI Def-EI - EI CON) (r=0,569 p<0.05). Equicaloric exercise- or diet-induced energy deficits could lead to similar EI compensation in obese adolescents but this EI compensation might be influenced by the magnitude of the deficit. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparación de la efectividad de ranibizumab intravítreo para el tratamiento del edema macular diabético en ojos vitrectomizados y no vitrectomizados.

PubMed

Koyanagi, Yoshito; Yoshida, Shigeo; Kobayashi, Yoshiyuki; Kubo, Yuki; Yamaguchi, Muneo; Nakama, Takahito; Nakao, Shintaro; Ikeda, Yasuhiro; Ohshima, Yuji; Ishibashi, Tatsuro; Sonoda, Kohhei

2017-07-11

Objetivo: Comparar la efectividad de ranibizumab intravítreo (RIV) para el tratamiento del edema macular diabético (EMD) en ojos con y sin vitrectomía previa. Procedimientos: Evaluamos de manera prospectiva la mejor agudeza visual corregida (MAVC) y el grosor macular central (GMC) tras el tratamiento con RIV durante 6 meses. Resultados: No se observaron diferencias significativas en la MAVC o GMC inicial en ninguno de los dos grupos. En el grupo no vitrectomizado (n = 15), los cambios medios en la MAVC y GMC hasta el sexto mes de tratamiento con respecto al valor inicial resultaron significativos (p < 0,01). En el grupo vitrectomizado (n = 10), se observó una mejora más lenta, y la mejora media en la MAVC no resultó significativa (p = 0,5), aunque la media en la disminución del GMC sí que lo fue (p < 0,05). No se observaron diferencias significativas en los cambios medios en la MAVC y el GMC entre ambos grupos a los 6 meses del tratamiento. Conclusiones: La diferencia en la efectividad de RIV entre ambos grupos no resultó significativa. Ranibizumab intravítreo puede ser una opción de tratamiento incluso en pacientes vitrectomizados con EMD. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

TES/Aura L3 Nitric Acid (HNO3) Daily V4 (TL3HNOD)

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-02-28

... 37 x 23 km Spatial Resolution:  2.3 x 23 km Temporal Coverage:  08/22/2004 - 04/10/2005 ... Guide Documents:  Data User's Guide (PDF):  Level 3 Level 3 Algorithms, Requirements, & Products (PDF) ...

Divergent Collaboration (service mark)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-12-01

a person resilient and support them in continuing that behavior • Explore Forensics • Morale assessment • Educate people on how to move in and...acupressure • Measure electromagnetic Aura • Use hypnosis • Measure Non-traditional Human Energies • New paradigm for conops • Train to induce vivid

Atmospheric Chemistry from Space: Present Status and Future Plans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schoeberl, Mark R.; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

One of the unqualified successes of the earth observation program is NASA's continuing monitoring of the ozone layer from space. This activity began in the early 70's with research instruments and continues to this day with the TOMS instrument series and the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. In the near future, NASA will be launching the EOS Aura spacecraft (launch mid-2003) which will continue our study of the chemical processes that produce stratospheric ozone depletion. In addition, Aura will begin the first global study of lower atmospheric air pollution including urban ozone, aerosols, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. Atmospheric air pollution measurements from earth orbit involve the development of very high precision spectrometer technologies that have never been flown in space. Farther into the future, lower atmospheric ozone and aerosols may be monitored by space based lidars in low earth orbit, by sensors in geostationary orbit and by continuous limb observations instrument from the Lagrange point L2.

[A case of focal epilepsy manifesting multiple psychiatric auras].

PubMed

Ezura, Michinori; Kakisaka, Yosuke; Jin, Kazutaka; Kato, Kazuhiro; Iwasaki, Masaki; Fujikawa, Mayu; Aoki, Masashi; Nakasato, Nobukazu

2015-01-01

We present a case of epilepsy with multiple types of focal seizures that were misdiagnosed as psychiatric disorders. A 20-year-old female patient presented with a variety of episodes, including loss of consciousness, deja vu, fear, delusion of possession, violent movements, and generalized convulsions. Each of these symptoms appeared in a stereotypic manner. She was initially diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and treated with psychoactive medications, which had no effect. Long-term video electroencephalography revealed that her episodes of violent movement with impaired consciousness and secondarily generalized seizure were epileptic events originating in the right hemisphere. High-field brain magnetic resonance imaging for detecting subtle lesions revealed bilateral lesions from periventricular nodular heterotopia. Her final diagnosis was right hemispheric focal epilepsy. Carbamazepine administration was started, which successfully controlled all seizures. The present case demonstrates the pitfall of diagnosing focal epilepsy when it presents with multiple types of psychiatric aura. Epilepsy should thus be included in differential diagnoses, considering the stereotypic nature of symptoms, to avoid misdiagnosis.

Tropospheric Ozone Determined from Aura OMI and MLS: Evaluation of Measurements and Comparison with the Global Modeling Initiative's Chemical Transport Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ziemke, J. R.; Chandra, S.; Duncan, B. N.; Froidevaux, L.; Bhartia, P. K.; Levelt, P. F.; Waters, J. W.

2006-01-01

Ozone measurements from the OMI and MLS instruments on board the Aura satellite are used for deriving global distributions of tropospheric column ozone (TCO). TCO is determined using the tropospheric ozone residual method which involves subtracting measurements of MLS stratospheric column ozone (SCO) from OMI total column ozone after adjusting for intercalibration differences of the two instruments using the convective-cloud differential method. The derived TCO field, which covers one complete year of mostly continuous daily measurements from late August 2004 through August 2005, is used for studying the regional and global pollution on a timescale of a few days to months. The seasonal and zonal characteristics of the observed TCO fields are also compared with TCO fields derived from the Global Modeling Initiative's Chemical Transport Model. The model and observations show interesting similarities with respect to zonal and seasonal variations. However, there are notable differences, particularly over the vast region of the Saharan desert.

Polar Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs) Observed by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on Aura

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeLand, Matthew T.; Shettle, Eric P.; Levelt, Pieternel F.; Kowalewski, Matthew G.

2010-01-01

Backscattered ultraviolet (BUV) instruments designed for measuring stratospheric ozone profiles have proven to be robust tools for observing polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs). These measurements are available for more than 30 years, and have been used to demonstrate the existence of long-term variations in PMC occurrence frequency and brightness. The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the EOS Aura satellite provides new and improved capabilities for PMC characterization. OMI uses smaller pixels than previous BUV instruments, which increases its ability to identify PMCs and discern more spatial structure, and its wide cross-track viewing swath provides full polar coverage up to 90 latitude every day in both hemispheres. This cross-track coverage allows the evolution of PMC regions to be followed over several consecutive orbits. Localized PMC variations determined from OMI measurements are consistent with coincident SBUV/2 measurements. Nine seasons of PMC observations from OMI are now available, and clearly demonstrate the advantages of these measurements for PMC analysis.

Carbachol induces headache, but not migraine-like attacks, in patients with migraine without aura.

PubMed

Schytz, H W; Wienecke, T; Olesen, J; Ashina, M

2010-03-01

Carbachol induces headache in healthy subjects, but the migraine eliciting effect of carbachol has not previously been studied. We hypothesized that the cholinomimetic agonist carbachol would induce headache and migraine-like attacks in migraineurs. Carbachol (3 µg/kg) or placebo was randomly infused into 18 patients with migraine without aura in a double-blind crossover study. Headache was scored on a verbal rating scale from 0 to 10. Velocity in the middle cerebral artery (V(MCA)) and diameter of the superficial temporal artery (STA) were recorded. Fifteen patients experienced headache after carbachol compared with eight after placebo (P = 0.039). There was no difference in incidence of migraine-like attacks after carbachol (n = 8) compared with placebo (n = 6) (P = 0.687). Carbachol caused a decrease in V(MCA) (P = 0.044), but no change in STA (P = 0.089) compared with placebo. The study demonstrated that carbachol provocation is not a good model for experimental migraine.

Study of the use of analgesics by patients with headache at a specialized outpatient clinic (ACEF).

PubMed

Chagas, Olga Francis Pita; Éckeli, Fabiola Dach; Bigal, Marcelo E; Silva, Mayko Olinto Amaral da; Speciali, Jose Geraldo

2015-07-01

To evaluate the use of analgesics in headache diagnosed in Outpatients Headache Clinic (ACEF), as well as his involvement in the activities of the patients. 145 patients with headache seen at ACEF during the period August/July 2009/2010 underwent a questionnaire and interview with neurologist responsible for the final diagnosis according to ICHD-II. Relationship Women:Men 7:1. 1) Prevalence: Migraine without aura (52.4%), migraine with aura (12.4%), chronic migraine (15.2%) and medication overuse headache (MOH) (20%). 2) Analgesic drugs used: Compounds with Dipyrone (37%), Dipyrone (23%), Paracetamol (16%) compound with Paracetamol (6%), triptans (6%) and non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (12%). There was a significant decrease in the duration of pain and less interference in the activities of the headache patients after the use of analgesics. Prevalence of MOH has been increasing in population level and specialized services. New studies emphasizing the MOH are needed to assist in the improvement of their diagnostic and therapeutic approach.

Atmospheric Observations from Unmanned Aircraft Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newman, Paul A.

2008-01-01

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) provide a new and exciting avenue for atmospheric observations. NASA has a number of UASs. Amongst these are the Ikhana (24 hrs., 7000 km), the Altair (120 hrs., 6500 km), the Aerosonde (30 hrs., 3000 km), and the Global Hawk (30 hrs., 22,000 km). This presentation provides a brief history of UASs which is followed by a description of their capabilities. The presentation concludes by describing an example mission - the UAS Aura Validation Experiment (UAS-AVE). This mission will be flown on the NASA Global Hawk in the Spring/Summer of 2009. The goals fo the mission are to: 1) provide Aura validation observations, 2) sample the break up of the Arctic polar vortex, 3) observed cross-Pacific transport of aerosols and pollutants such as ozone, and 4) sample intense water advective events that impact the U.S. west coast (atmospheric rivers). Because of their range and duration, UASs provide new and exciting opportunities for atmospheric science.

Effects of habitat and time of day on flock size of Turkey Vultures in Cuba (Cathartes aura).

PubMed

Tryjanowski, Piotr; Morelli, Federico

2018-01-01

In agricultural landscapes, the Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura feeds mainly on carcases of domestic animals. In spring 2017, data on 214 flocks of Turkey vultures were collected in a road survey in Cuba (in total 2384 km). Turkey Vultures were found to be common accross Cuba, but flock size varied between habitats, reaching a maximum of 43 in valleys and 31 in agricultural landscapes with domestic animal farms. Vultures were active throughout the day, but the time of day did not significantly affect flock size. This study corroborates previous studies which suggested that carrion resources located in agricultural habitats and river valleys is crucial for the continued survival of this still abundant species. Changes in Cuba's socio-political system in the near future will likely impact agricultural practices, and this in turn will likely affect Turkey Vultures. Our study may serve as a baseline against which future population changes and flocking behaviour of Turkey Vultures can be compared.

Bronchial hyper-reactivity in migraine without aura: is it a new clue for inflammation?

PubMed

Kaleagasi, Hakan; Özgür, Eylem; Özge, Cengiz; Özge, Aynur

2011-03-01

We attempted to investigate the relationship between migraine without aura (MwoA) and bronchial hyper-reactivity to postulate inflammation as an underlying mechanism in migraine. Comorbidity of migraine and atopic diseases such as asthma has been an argument for suspected immune system dysfunction in migraineurs. Twenty patients with MwoA and 5 control subjects without history of atophy and asthma were included in study. Subjects with abnormal physical examination and chest radiographs were excluded. After a normal spirometry, methacholine bronchoprovocation test was performed in all subjects and controls according to 5 breath dosimeter methods. Sixteen of 20 patients and 2 of 5 control subjects were women. Mean ages were 37.5 (19-56) and 33.8 (26-43) years, respectively. Methacholine bronchoprovocation test was positive in 3 patients (15%) but was normal in all controls (0%). The relationship between MwoA and bronchial hyper-reactivity may help to postulate the inflammation in migraine as an underlying mechanism. © 2010 American Headache Society.

Assessment of risk of falls in elderly living at home.

PubMed

Smith, Adriana de Azevedo; Silva, Antonia Oliveira; Rodrigues, Rosalina Aparecida Partezani; Moreira, Maria Adelaide Silva Paredes; Nogueira, Jordana de Almeida; Tura, Luiz Fernando Rangel

2017-04-06

to assess the risk of falls in elderly, by comparing the sociodemographic and cognitive factors, history of falls and self-reported comorbidities. cross-sectional and quantitative study with 240 elderly. Data were collected based on the social profile, through the instrument of risk of falls and assessment of falls, by univariate analysis, bivariate and multiple logistic regression. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19 was used for statistical analysis. there was a significant association of the risk of falls, as measured by the Fall Risk Score, with sex (<0.001), age (0.054), cognitive status (<0.001) and history of falls (<0.001). All variables were statistically significant and contributed to the occurrence of falls. In logistic regression, the variables that showed association with risk of falls were: fall, with whom they live, hypertension and visual impairment. female gender, older elderly (over 80 years old), with low cognitive status and occurrence of previous falls in the last six months are factors that increase the prevalence of falls. In logistic regression, the variables that were associated with risk of falls were: fall, with whom they live, visual impairment and rheumatologic diseases. avaliar o risco de quedas em idosos, comparando com os fatores sóciodemográficos, cognitivos, presença de quedas e co-morbidades autorreferidas. Estudo transversal e quantitativo com 240 idosos. Os dados foram coletados a partir do perfil social, instrumento do risco de quedas e avaliação de quedas, utilizando análise univariada, bivariada e regressão logística múltipla. Para a análise estatística, utilizou-se o Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) versão 19. há associação entre o risco de quedas, mensurado pelo Fall Risk Score, com o sexo (<0,001), a faixa etária (0,054), o desempenho cognitivo (<0,001) e a presença de quedas (<0,001). Todas as variáveis apresentaram significância estatística e contribuíram para a ocorrência das quedas. Na regressão logística, as variáveis que apresentaram associação com o risco de quedas foram: queda, com quem mora, hipertensão arterial e déficit visual. sexo feminino, idoso mais velho (acima de 80 anos), com baixo desempenho cognitivo e apresentar quedas anteriores nos últimos seis meses, aumentam a prevalência de quedas. Na regressão logística, as variáveis que apresentaram associação com o risco de quedas foram: queda, com quem mora, visão prejudicada e doenças reumatológicas. evaluar el riesgo de caídas del adulto mayor, mediante la comparación de los factores cognitivos y sociodemográficos, antecedentes de caídas y comorbilidades auto-reportadas. estudio transversal y cuantitativo con 240 adultos mayores. Los datos fueron recolectados utilizando instrumento del riesgo de caídas y evaluación de caídas, mediante el análisis univariado, bivariado y regresión logística múltiple. Para el anpalisis estadístico, fue utilizado software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) versión 19, se utilizó en el análisis estadístico. hay una asociación significativa del riesgo de caídas, medido por el Fall Risk Score, con el sexo (<0.001), la edad (0.054), el desempeño cognitivo (<0.001) y los antecedentes de caídas (<0.001). Todas las variables fueron estadísticamente significativas y contribuyeron a la ocurrencia de caídas. En la regresión logística, las variables que mostraron asociación con el riesgo de caídas fueron: caída, con quien viven, hipertensión y discapacidad visual. sexo femenino, adulto mayor de edad más avanzada (más de 80 años de edad), bajo desempeño cognitivo, y antecedentes de caídas en los últimos seis meses son factores que aumentan la prevalencia de caídas. En la regresión logística, las variables que mostraron asociación con el riesgo de caídas fueron: caída, con quien vive, discapacidad visual y enfermedades reumáticas.

Virtual Observatories for Space Physics Observations and Simulations: New Routes to Efficient Access and Visualization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roberts, Aaron

2005-01-01

New tools for data access and visualization promise to make the analysis of space plasma data both more efficient and more powerful, especially for answering questions about the global structure and dynamics of the Sun-Earth system. We will show how new existing tools (particularly the Virtual Space Physics Observatory-VSPO-and the Visual System for Browsing, Analysis and Retrieval of Data-ViSBARD; look for the acronyms in Google) already provide rapid access to such information as spacecraft orbits, browse plots, and detailed data, as well as visualizations that can quickly unite our view of multispacecraft observations. We will show movies illustrating multispacecraft observations of the solar wind and magnetosphere during a magnetic storm, and of simulations of 3 0-spacecraft observations derived from MHD simulations of the magnetosphere sampled along likely trajectories of the spacecraft for the MagCon mission. An important issue remaining to be solved is how best to integrate simulation data and services into the Virtual Observatory environment, and this talk will hopefully stimulate further discussion along these lines.

Variety in Play: Exploring Photographs by Helen Levitt

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruich, Lawrence J.

2012-01-01

Children and burgeoning adolescents' creativity blossom in play-based environments. Likewise, students as active social agents have the opportunity to examine the structures and processes that shape them. The photographic image intimates an aura of credibility, providing the students pause to reflect upon their socialized interactions. These…

TES Instrument Decommissioning

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-03-20

TES Instrument Decommissioning Tuesday, March 20, 2018 ... PST during a scheduled real time satellite contact the TES IOT along with the Aura FOT commanded the TES instrument to its ... generated from an algorithm update to the base Ground Data System software and will be made available to the scientific community in the ...

Rapid increases in tropospheric ozone production and export from China: A view from AURA and TM5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verstraeten, W. W.; Neu, J. L.; Williams, J. E.; Bowman, K. W.; Worden, J. R.; Boersma, K. F.

2015-12-01

Eastern Asia has the fastest growing anthropogenic emissions in the world, possibly affecting both the pollution in the local troposphere as well as in the trans-Pacific region. Local measurements over Asia show that tropospheric ozone (O3) has increased by 1 to 3% per year since the start of the millennium. This increase is often invoked to explain positive tropospheric O3 trends observed in western US, but to date there is no unambiguous evidence showing that enhanced Asian pollution is responsible for these trends. In this research we use observations of tropospheric O3 from TES (Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer, onboard AURA), tropospheric NO2 measurements from OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument, onboard AURA) and lower stratospheric observations of O3 from MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder, onboard AURA) in combination with the TM5 CTM. Satellite-based studies focusing on tropospheric O3 and NO2 have the potential to close the gap left by previous studies on air quality since spaceborne data provide large-scale observational evidence that both O3 precursor concentrations and tropospheric O3 levels are rapidly changing over source receptor areas. We show the increased ability of TM5 to reproduce the 2005-2010 observed rapid rise in free tropospheric O3 of 7% over China from TES, once OMI NO2 measurements were implemented in TM5 to update NOX emissions. MLS observations on lower stratospheric O3 have the potential to improve the stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) estimate in TM5 which is mainly driven by ECMWF meteorological fields. Constraining the TM5 modelled trend of the STE contribution to the 3-9 km partial O3 column using MLS observations of stratospheric O3 lead to a better explanation of the sources of the free tropospheric O3 trends over China. Based on the OMI inferred TM5 updates in NOX emissions, the impact of Asian O3 and its precursors on the free troposphere (3-9 km) over the western US could be quantified. Large import from China offsets the local efforts to improve air quality in the 3-9 km partial column over the western US with more than 40%. The issue of export and long-range transport of pollution from other countries indicates that global efforts may be required to address both the global as well as the regional air quality and climate change.

Survey of CIG Data Base Generation from Imagery.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-09-01

world as measured by training transfer. There is no conclusive research as to therequired degree of realism or fidelity necessary to train. In order to...driving force behind emphasizing perceptual fidelity as opposed to realisn is the high cost of realism . Replication of all sensible attri- butes of the...and specification of visual simulation systems will con- tinue to je based on physical fidelity to the real world until those trade-offs on realism

Mathematical approaches to modeling of cortical spreading depression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miura, Robert M.; Huang, Huaxiong; Wylie, Jonathan J.

2013-12-01

Migraine with aura (MwA) is a debilitating disease that afflicts about 25%-30% of migraine sufferers. During MwA, a visual illusion propagates in the visual field, then disappears, and is followed by a sustained headache. MwA was conjectured by Lashley to be related to some neurological phenomenon. A few years later, Leão observed electrophysiological waves in the brain that are now known as cortical spreading depression (CSD). CSD waves were soon conjectured to be the neurological phenomenon underlying MwA that had been suggested by Lashley. However, the confirmation of the link between MwA and CSD was not made until 2001 by Hadjikhani et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98, 4687-4692 (2001)] using functional MRI techniques. Despite the fact that CSD has been studied continuously since its discovery in 1944, our detailed understandings of the interactions between the mechanisms underlying CSD waves have remained elusive. The connection between MwA and CSD makes the understanding of CSD even more compelling and urgent. In addition to all of the information gleaned from the many experimental studies on CSD since its discovery, mathematical modeling studies provide a general and in some sense more precise alternative method for exploring a variety of mechanisms, which may be important to develop a comprehensive picture of the diverse mechanisms leading to CSD wave instigation and propagation. Some of the mechanisms that are believed to be important include ion diffusion, membrane ionic currents, osmotic effects, spatial buffering, neurotransmitter substances, gap junctions, metabolic pumps, and synaptic connections. Discrete and continuum models of CSD consist of coupled nonlinear differential equations for the ion concentrations. In this review of the current quantitative understanding of CSD, we focus on these modeling paradigms and various mechanisms that are felt to be important for CSD.

Quality characteristics of chunked and formed hams from pale, average and dark muscles were improved using an ammonium hydroxide curing solution.

PubMed

Everts, A J; Wulf, D M; Everts, A K R; Nath, T M; Jennings, T D; Weaver, A D

2010-10-01

Cooking yield, cooked pH, purge loss, moisture, lipid oxidation, external and internal color, break strength and elongation distance were assessed for pale (PALE), average (AVG) and dark (DARK) inside hams injected with either a control cure solution (CON) or BPI-processing technology cure solution (BPT). Following enhancement, muscles were chunked, vacuum tumbled, smoked and cooked to 66 degrees C. Cooked ham pH was 6.49 for DARK, 6.40 for AVG, and 6.30 for PALE, respectively (P<0.0001). Cooked pH was higher (P<.0001) for BPT than CON. Cooked ham moisture content was higher (P<0.0001) for BPT hams than CON hams (74.83 vs. 74.11%) but BPT did not significantly influence cooking yield or lipid oxidation. Consumers (n=150) of diverse demographics rated hams for appearance and taste. Results indicated that BPI-processing technology improved visual appearance of hams made from pale, average, and dark muscles and improved the eating quality of hams made from pale muscles. Copyright (c) 2010 The American Meat Science Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Proposal Information | ast.noao.edu

Science.gov Websites

Logo NOAO is the national center for ground-based nighttime astronomy in the United States and is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. If you would like information about solar astronomy, visit the

MX Siting Investigation. Geotechnical Evaluation. Aggregate Resources Report, Utah-Nevada Study Area.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-03-03

The material is gradually transported downslope under the influence of gravity and water and is deposited in characteristically fan-shaped geomorphic...as D1 iconsidered to be generally adequate for concrete auraWate meterial Is considered to be probably suitable but has .eal chaglactelf~tics which

Behavior of pesticides in plants.

Treesearch

Logan A. Norris

1974-01-01

A number of chemicals of diverse characteristics have arbitrarily been classed together on the basis of their use and given the descriptive name "pesticides." An unfortunate aura of mystery has developed about these chemicals. However, there is nothing unique or mysterious about the chemicals we refer to as "pesticides." Like other chemicals, they...

Stimulating Cultural Appetites: An Experiential Gourmet Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Carolyn I.; Hu Poirier, Vickie

2007-01-01

This article is an extension of a presentation that won "Best Exercise" at the Eastern Academy of Management, 1998. The authors introduce an experiential gourmet approach using "food stories" to stimulate an aura of acceptance and appreciation for human commonalities before delving into human differences. The authors use a semester long…

The Relevance Aura of Bibliographic Records.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brooks, Terrence A.

1997-01-01

Analyzes relevance assessments of topical descriptors for bibliographic records for two dimensions: (1) a vertical conceptual hierarchy of broad to narrow descriptors, and (2) a horizontal linkage of related terms. The data were analyzed for a semantic distance and semantic direction effect as postulated by the Semantic Distance Model. (Author/LRW)

Habituation of the cold shock response is inhibited by repeated anxiety: Implications for safety behaviour on accidental cold water immersions.

PubMed

Barwood, Martin J; Corbett, Jo; Tipton, Mike; Wagstaff, Christopher; Massey, Heather

2017-05-15

Accidental cold-water immersion (CWI) triggers the life-threatening cold shock response (CSR) which is a precursor to sudden death on immersion. One practical means of reducing the CSR is to induce an habituation by undergoing repeated short CWIs. Habituation of the CSR is known to be partially reversed by the concomitant experience of acute anxiety, raising the possibility that repeated anxiety could prevent CSR habituation; we tested this hypothesis. Sixteen participants (12 male, 4 female) completed seven, seven-minute immersions in to cold water (15°C). Immersion one acted as a control (CON1). During immersions two to five, which would ordinarily induce an habituation, anxiety levels were repeatedly increased (CWI-ANX rep ) by deception and a demanding mathematical task. Immersions six and seven were counter-balanced with another high anxiety condition (CWI-ANX rep ) or a further control (CON2). Anxiety (20cm visual analogue scale) and cardiorespiratory responses (cardiac frequency [f c ], respiratory frequency [f R ], tidal volume [V T ], minute ventilation [V̇ E ]) were measured. Comparisons were made between experimental immersions (CON1, final CWI-ANX rep , CON2), across habituation immersions and with data from a previous study. Anxiety levels were sustained at a similar level throughout the experimental and habituation immersions (mean [SD] CON1: 7.0 [4.0] cm; CON2: 5.8 [5.2] cm cf CWI-ANX rep : 7.3 [5.5] cm; p>0.05). This culminated in failure of the CSR to habituate even when anxiety levels were not manipulated (i.e. CON2). These data were different (p<0.05) to previous studies where anxiety levels were allowed to fall across habituation immersions and the CSR consequently habituated. Repeated anxiety prevented CSR habituation. A protective strategy that includes inducing habituation for those at risk should include techniques to lower anxiety associated with the immersion event or habituation may not be beneficial in the emergency scenario. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mannobiose Binding Induces Changes in Hydrogen Bonding and Protonation States of Acidic Residues in Concanavalin A As Revealed by Neutron Crystallography

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gerlits, Oksana O.; Coates, Leighton; Woods, Robert J.

Plant lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins with various biomedical applications. Concanavalin A (Con A) holds promise in treating cancerous tumors. To better understand the Con A carbohydrate binding specificity, we obtained a room-temperature neutron structure of this legume lectin in complex with a disaccharide Manα1–2Man, mannobiose. The neutron structure afforded direct visualization of the hydrogen bonding between the protein and ligand, showing that the ligand is able to alter both protonation states and interactions for residues located close to and distant from the binding site. An unprecedented low-barrier hydrogen bond was observed forming between the carboxylic side chains of Asp28 andmore » Glu8, with the D atom positioned equidistant from the oxygen atoms having an O···D···O angle of 101.5°.« less

What are the pros and cons of electronically monitoring inhaler use in asthma? A multistakeholder perspective.

PubMed

Howard, Sam; Lang, Alexandra; Sharples, Sarah; Shaw, Dominick

2016-01-01

Electronic monitoring devices (EMDs) are the optimal method for collecting objective data on inhaler use in asthma. Recent research has investigated the attitudes of patients with asthma towards these devices. However, no research to date has formally considered the opinions of stakeholders and decision-makers in asthma care. These individuals have important clinical requirements that need to be taken into account if EMDs are to be successfully provisioned, making collecting their opinions on the key barriers facing these devices a valuable process. Three rounds of surveys in a Delphi format were used to assess the most important pros and cons of EMDs for asthma care in a sample of 31 stakeholders which included healthcare professionals and members of clinical commissioning groups. The respondents identified 29 pros and 32 cons. Pros that were rated as most important included new visual evidence to aid clinical discussions with a patient and an increase in patient involvement and motivation. The cons that were rated as most important included a need for more clinical evidence of the effectiveness of EMDs, as well as better clarity over who has responsibilities in managing, interpreting and discussing data with a patient. The research provides a guide for EMD developers by highlighting where these devices may provide the most benefit as well as prioritising the key issues that need addressing if they are to be used effectively in everyday asthma care.

What are the pros and cons of electronically monitoring inhaler use in asthma? A multistakeholder perspective

PubMed Central

Howard, Sam; Lang, Alexandra; Sharples, Sarah; Shaw, Dominick

2016-01-01

Introduction Electronic monitoring devices (EMDs) are the optimal method for collecting objective data on inhaler use in asthma. Recent research has investigated the attitudes of patients with asthma towards these devices. However, no research to date has formally considered the opinions of stakeholders and decision-makers in asthma care. These individuals have important clinical requirements that need to be taken into account if EMDs are to be successfully provisioned, making collecting their opinions on the key barriers facing these devices a valuable process. Methods Three rounds of surveys in a Delphi format were used to assess the most important pros and cons of EMDs for asthma care in a sample of 31 stakeholders which included healthcare professionals and members of clinical commissioning groups. Results The respondents identified 29 pros and 32 cons. Pros that were rated as most important included new visual evidence to aid clinical discussions with a patient and an increase in patient involvement and motivation. The cons that were rated as most important included a need for more clinical evidence of the effectiveness of EMDs, as well as better clarity over who has responsibilities in managing, interpreting and discussing data with a patient. Conclusions The research provides a guide for EMD developers by highlighting where these devices may provide the most benefit as well as prioritising the key issues that need addressing if they are to be used effectively in everyday asthma care. PMID:27933181

A State-of-the-Art Assessment of Automatic Name Placement.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-08-01

develop an automatic name placement system. 11 Balodis, M., "Positioning of typography on maps," Proc. ACSM Pall Con- vention, Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept...1983, pp. 28-44. This article deals with the selection of typography for maps. It describes psycho-visual experiments with groups of individuals to...Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12181, May 1984. (Also available as Tech. Rept. IPL-TR-063.) SBalodis, M., "Positioning of typography on maps," Proc

How Deep Neural Networks Can Improve Emotion Recognition on Video Data

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-25

HOW DEEP NEURAL NETWORKS CAN IMPROVE EMOTION RECOGNITION ON VIDEO DATA Pooya Khorrami1 , Tom Le Paine1, Kevin Brady2, Charlie Dagli2, Thomas S...this work, we present a system that per- forms emotion recognition on video data using both con- volutional neural networks (CNNs) and recurrent...neural net- works (RNNs). We present our findings on videos from the Audio/Visual+Emotion Challenge (AV+EC2015). In our experiments, we analyze the effects

An overview of turbulence compensation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schutte, Klamer; van Eekeren, Adam W. M.; Dijk, Judith; Schwering, Piet B. W.; van Iersel, Miranda; Doelman, Niek J.

2012-09-01

In general, long range visual detection, recognition and identification are hampered by turbulence caused by atmospheric conditions. Much research has been devoted to the field of turbulence compensation. One of the main advantages of turbulence compensation is that it enables visual identification over larger distances. In many (military) scenarios this is of crucial importance. In this paper we give an overview of several software and hardware approaches to compensate for the visual artifacts caused by turbulence. These approaches are very diverse and range from the use of dedicated hardware, such as adaptive optics, to the use of software methods, such as deconvolution and lucky imaging. For each approach the pros and cons are given and it is indicated for which type of scenario this approach is useful. In more detail we describe the turbulence compensation methods TNO has developed in the last years and place them in the context of the different turbulence compensation approaches and TNO's turbulence compensation roadmap. Furthermore we look forward and indicate the upcoming challenges in the field of turbulence compensation.

Turbulence compensation: an overview

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Eekeren, Adam W. M.; Schutte, Klamer; Dijk, Judith; Schwering, Piet B. W.; van Iersel, Miranda; Doelman, Niek J.

2012-06-01

In general, long range visual detection, recognition and identification are hampered by turbulence caused by atmospheric conditions. Much research has been devoted to the field of turbulence compensation. One of the main advantages of turbulence compensation is that it enables visual identification over larger distances. In many (military) scenarios this is of crucial importance. In this paper we give an overview of several software and hardware approaches to compensate for the visual artifacts caused by turbulence. These approaches are very diverse and range from the use of dedicated hardware, such as adaptive optics, to the use of software methods, such as deconvolution and lucky imaging. For each approach the pros and cons are given and it is indicated for which scenario this approach is useful. In more detail we describe the turbulence compensation methods TNO has developed in the last years and place them in the context of the different turbulence compensation approaches and TNO's turbulence compensation roadmap. Furthermore we look forward and indicate the upcoming challenges in the field of turbulence compensation.

A-Train Data Depot: Integrating, Visualizing, and Extracting Cloudsat, CALIPSO, MODIS, and AIRS Atmospheric Measurements Along the A-Train Tracks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kempler, Steven; Stephens, Graeme; Winkler, Dave; Leptoukh, Greg; Reinke, Don; Smith, Peter

2006-01-01

The succession of US and international Earth observing satellites that follow each other, seconds to minutes apart, across the local afternoon equator crossing is called the ATrain. The A-Train consists of the following satellites, in order of equator crossing: OCO, EOS Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, PARASOL, and EOS Aura. Flying in such formation increases the number of observations, validates observations, and enables coordination between science observations, resulting in a more complete virtual science platform (Kelly, 2000). The goal of this project is to create the first ever A-Train virtual data portal/center, the A-Train Data Depot (ATDD), to process, archive, access, visualize, analyze and correlate distributed atmosphere measurements from various A-Train instruments along A-Train tracks. The ATDD will enable the free movement of remotely located A-Train data so that they are combined to create a consolidated vertical view of the Earth's Atmosphere along the A-Train tracks. Once the infrastructure of the ATDD is in place, it will be easily evolved to serve data from all A-Train data measurements: one stop shopping. The innovative approach of analyzing and visualizing atmospheric profiles along the platforms track (i.e., time) will be accommodated by reusing the GSFC Atmospheric Composition Data and Information Services Center (ACDISC) visualization and analysis tool, GIOVANNI, existing data reduction tools, on-line archiving for fast data access, access to remote data without unnecessary data transfers, and data retrieval by users finding data desirable for further study. Initial measurements utilized include CALIPSO lidar backscatter, CloudSat radar reflectivity, clear air relative humidity, water vapor and temperature from AIRS, and cloud properties and aerosols from both MODIS. This will be foilowed by associated measurements from TVILS, =MI, HIRDLS, sad TES. Given the independent nature of instrumentlplatform development, the ATDD project has been met with many interesting challenges that, once resolved, will provide a much greater understanding of the relative flight dynamics and data co-registration of the suite of A-Train instruments, thus greatly increasing the accuracy of A-Train data analysis. Some of these challenges will be illustrated and discussed. The project's early visualizations and analysis efforts illustrate the importance of managing data so that measurements from various missions can be combined to enhance the understanding of the atmosphere. A-Train data management coordination, as performed here, is extremely significant in facilitating the A-Train science of clouds, precipitation, aerosol and chemistry.

A-Train Data Depot: Integrating and Visualizing Atmospheric Measurements Along the A-Train Tracks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kempler, Steven; Stephens, Graeme; Winker, Dave; Leptoukh, Greg; Reinke, Don; Smith, Peter

2006-01-01

The succession of US and international satellites that follow each other, seconds to minutes apart, across the local afternoon equator crossing is called the ATrain. The A-Train consists of the following satellites, in order of equator crossing: OCO, EOS Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, PARASOL, and EOS Aura. Flying in such formation increases the number of observations, validates observations, and enables coordination between science observations, resulting in a more complete virtual science platform (Kelly, 2000) The goal of this project is to create the first ever A-Train virtual data portal/center, the A-Train Data Depot, to process, archive, access, visualize, analyze and correlate distributed atmosphere measurements from various A-Train instruments along A-Train tracks. The A-Train Data Depot (ATDD) will enable the free movement of remotely located A-Train data so that they are combined to create a consolidated vertical view of the Earth s Atmosphere along the A-Train tracks. Once the infrastructure of the ATDD is in place, it will be easily evolved to serve data from all A-Train data measurements: one stop shopping. The innovative approach of analyzing and visualizing atmospheric profiles along the platforms track (i.e., time) will be accommodated by reusing the GSFC Atmospheric Composition Data and Information Services Center (ACDISC) visualization and analysis tool, GIOVANNI, existing data reduction tools, on-line archwing for fast data access, and Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CRA) data co-registration tools. Initial measurements utilized include CALIPSO lidar backscatter, CloudSat radar reflectivity, clear air relative humidity, water vapor and temperature from AIRS, and cloud properties and aerosols from both MODIS. This will be followed by associated measurements from MLS, OMI, HIRDLS, and TES. Given the independent nature of instrument/platform development, the ATDD project has been met with many interesting challenges that, once resolved, will provide a much greater understanding of the relative flight dynamics and data co-registration of the suite of A-Train instruments, thus greatly increasing the accuracy of A-Train data analysis. Some of these challenges will be discussed. The project s resulting visualizations and analysis illustrate the importance of managing data so that measurements from various missions can be combined to enhance the understanding of the atmosphere. A-Train data management coordination, as performed here, is extremely significant in facilitating the A-Train science of clouds, precipitation, aerosol and chemistry.

A-Train Data Depot: Integrating, Visualizing, and Extracting Cloudsat, CALIPSO, MODIS, and AIRS Atmospheric Measurements Along the A-Train Tracks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kempler, S.; Stephens, G.; Winker, D.; Leptoukh, G.; Reinke, D.; Smith, P.; Savtchenko, A.; Kummerer, R.; Mao, J.

2006-12-01

The succession of US and international Earth observing satellites that follow each other, seconds to minutes apart, across the local afternoon equator crossing is called the A-Train. The A-Train consists of the following satellites, in order of equator crossing: OCO, EOS Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, PARASOL, and EOS Aura. Flying in such formation increases the number of observations, validates observations, and enables coordination between science observations, resulting in a more complete virtual science platform (Kelly, 2000) The goal of this project is to create the first ever A-Train virtual data portal/center, the A-Train Data Depot (ATDD), to process, archive, access, visualize, analyze and correlate distributed atmosphere measurements from various A-Train instruments along A-Train tracks. The ATDD will enable the free movement of remotely located A-Train data so that they are combined to create a consolidated vertical view of the Earth's Atmosphere along the A-Train tracks. Once the infrastructure of the ATDD is in place, it will be easily evolved to serve data from all A-Train data measurements: one stop shopping. The innovative approach of analyzing and visualizing atmospheric profiles along the platforms track (i.e., time) will be accommodated by reusing the GSFC Atmospheric Composition Data and Information Services Center (ACDISC) visualization and analysis tool, GIOVANNI, existing data reduction tools, on-line archiving for fast data access, access to remote data without unnecessary data transfers, and data retrieval by users finding data desirable for further study. Initial measurements utilized include CALIPSO lidar backscatter, CloudSat radar reflectivity, clear air relative humidity, water vapor and temperature from AIRS, and cloud properties and aerosols from both MODIS. This will be followed by associated measurements from MLS, OMI, HIRDLS, and TES. Given the independent nature of instrument/platform development, the ATDD project has been met with many interesting challenges that, once resolved, will provide a much greater understanding of the relative flight dynamics and data co-registration of the suite of A-Train instruments, thus greatly increasing the accuracy of A-Train data analysis. Some of these challenges will be illustrated and discussed. The project's early visualizations and analysis efforts illustrate the importance of managing data so that measurements from various missions can be combined to enhance the understanding of the atmosphere. A-Train data management coordination, as performed here, is extremely significant in facilitating the A-Train science of clouds, precipitation, aerosol and chemistry.

Concordant Occipital and Supraorbital Neurostimulation Therapy for Hemiplegic Migraine; Initial Experience; A Case Series

PubMed Central

Will, Kelly R.; Conidi, Frank; Bulger, Robert

2015-01-01

Introduction Hemiplegic migraine is a particularly severe form of the disease that often evolves to a debilitating chronic illness that is resistant to commonly available therapies. Peripheral neurostimulation has been found to be a beneficial therapy for some patients among several diagnostic classes of migraine, but its potential has not been specifically evaluated for hemiplegic migraine. Materials and Methods Four patients with hemiplegic migraine were treated with concordant, combined occipital and supraorbital neurostimulation over periods ranging 6–92 months. The clinical indicators followed included assessments of headache frequency and severity, frequency of hemiplegic episodes, functional impairment, medication usage, and patient satisfaction. Results All reported a positive therapeutic response, as their average headache frequency decreased by 92% (30 to 2.5 headache days/month); Visual Analog Score by 44% (9.5 to 5.3); frequency of hemiplegic episodes by 96% (7.5 to 0.25 hemiplegic episodes/month); headache medication usage by 96% (6 to 0.25 daily medications); and Migraine Disability Assessment score by 98% (249 to 6). All were satisfied and would recommend the therapy, and all preferred combined occipital–supraorbital neurostimulation to occipital neurostimulation alone. Conclusions Concordant combined occipital and supraorbital neurostimulation may provide effective therapy for both the pain and motor aura in some patients with hemiplegic migraine. PMID:25688595

Featured Image: Identifying Weird Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-08-01

Hoags Object, an example of a ring galaxy. [NASA/Hubble Heritage Team/Ray A. Lucas (STScI/AURA)]The above image (click for the full view) shows PanSTARRSobservationsof some of the 185 galaxies identified in a recent study as ring galaxies bizarre and rare irregular galaxies that exhibit stars and gas in a ring around a central nucleus. Ring galaxies could be formed in a number of ways; one theory is that some might form in a galaxy collision when a smaller galaxy punches through the center of a larger one, triggering star formation around the center. In a recent study, Ian Timmis and Lior Shamir of Lawrence Technological University in Michigan explore ways that we may be able to identify ring galaxies in the overwhelming number of images expected from large upcoming surveys. They develop a computer analysis method that automatically finds ring galaxy candidates based on their visual appearance, and they test their approach on the 3 million galaxy images from the first PanSTARRS data release. To see more of the remarkable galaxies the authors found and to learn more about their identification method, check out the paper below.CitationIan Timmis and Lior Shamir 2017 ApJS 231 2. doi:10.3847/1538-4365/aa78a3

[Creativity and psychiatric disorders: exploring a marginal area].

PubMed

Thys, E; Sabbe, B; De Hert, M

2012-01-01

Creativity is an important human quality on which many of man’s achievements are based. To give a historical and cultural context, to facilitate meaningful scientific research into the link between creativity and psychiatric disorders. Review of relevant literature. The possibility of a link between creativity and psychiatric vulnerability was first discussed in antiquity. Modern interest in the subject stems from the romantic era and acquired a scientific aura in the 19th century. In the 20th century creativity and psychopathology became still further entangled as a result of the influence that mentally disturbed artists exerted on art. The history of the Prinzhorn collection illustrates many aspects of this interaction. Psychometric, psychodiagnostic and genetic research supports a link between creativity and psychiatric illness within the bipolar-psychotic continuum, with schizotypy/thymotypy as prototypes of creativity-related disorders. Evolutionary hypotheses connect the schizophrenia paradox to a survival advantage obtained as a result of enhanced creative ability. Neuro-aesthetics explains the neurologic correlates of the aesthetic experience on the basis of the features of the visual system. A specific challenge for scientific research in this complex and heterogeneous area is appropriate operationalisation of creativity and psychiatric illness within an truly artistic context. There is a continuing need for meaningful definitions and measurement instruments and for a multidisciplinary collaboration.

Rochester scientist discovers new comet with Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at

Science.gov Websites

Sites Group MASS-DIMM New Projects NOAO Future Instrumentation DECam SAM LSST MONSOON What is MONSOON AURA Sites Group Talks and Meetings Upcoming Colloquia Sky Conditions CTIO Site Conditions TASCA colleagues believe. David Cameron, a visiting scientist in Eric Mamajek's research group in the Department of

Community Science and Data Center (CSDC) | ast.noao.edu

Science.gov Websites

ground-based nighttime astronomy in the United States and is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. If you would like information about solar astronomy, visit the National Solar Observatory. If you would

Speaking of Tongues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fussner, Hannah

2004-01-01

In this paper I reflect on claims that artifacts, as alternatives to texts, can provide an effective means of access to learning. With reference to the work of Walter Benjamin, I analyse the role the aura of a ritual object played in engaging a group of Year 6 students, all of whom experienced various degrees of delayed literacy. Drawing on…

A Gnome of Your Own

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holt, Chris

2010-01-01

The author's second-grade students were completing a unit in their classroom on fairy tales. The author was asked to come up with a coinciding project to emphasize the imaginative and magical aura of fairy tales. A few years ago, the author attended the Philadelphia Flower Show where the theme was Ireland. Among the outstanding landscape exhibits…

Lagrangian Aerosol and Ozone Precursor Forecasts Utilizing NASA Aura OMI NO2 and NOAA GOES-GASP AOD Observations

EPA Science Inventory

Over the past decade, the remote sensing of trace gases and aerosols from space has dramatically improved. The emergence and application of these measurements adds a new dimension to air quality Management and forecasting by enabling consistent observations of pollutants over l...

MAST

Science.gov Websites

Guide Related Sites submenu NASA Datacenters ADS HEASARC IRSA LAMBDA NED NSSDC MAST Services submenu Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) is a NASA funded project to support and provide to the astronomical : STScI may provide links to Web pages that are not part of the STScI, AURA, NASA, or ESA domain. These

Expansion and improvement of the FORMA system for response and load analysis. Volume 2A: Listings, dense FORMA subroutines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wohlen, R. L.

1976-01-01

A listing of the source deck of each dense FORMA subroutine is given to remove the 'black-box' aura of the subroutines so that the analyst may better understand the detail operations of each subroutine. The FORTRAN 4 programming language is used throughout.

International Earth Science Constellation (ESC) Introduction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guit, William J.; Machado, Michael J.

2016-01-01

This is the Welcome and Introduction presentation for the International Earth Science Constellation (ESC) Mission Operations Working Group (MOWG) meeting held in Albuquerque NM from September 27-29. It contains an org chart, charter, history, significant topics to be discussed, AquaAura 2017 inclination adjust maneuver calendar, a-train long range plans, upcoming events, and action items.

Exhumation of food by turkey vulture

Treesearch

Harvey R. Smith; Richard M. DeGraaf; Richard S. Miller

2002-01-01

The success of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) as forest scavengers is largely due to their highly developed sense of smell (Owre and Nothington 1961). Stager (1964) conducted a set of experiments with ethyl mercaptan which confirmed the ability of Turkey Vultures to locate odors when no visible object was associated with them. Turkey Vultures fly...

INTERCOMPARISON OF SCIAMACHY AND OMI TROPOSPHERIC NO2 COLUMNS: OBSERVING THE DIURNAL EVOLUTION OF CHEMISTRY AND EMISSIONS FROM SPACE

EPA Science Inventory

Concurrent (August 2006) satellite measurements of tropospheric NO₂ columns from OMI aboard Aura (13:30 local overpass time) and SCIAMACHY aboard Envisat (10:00 overpass) offer an opportunity to examine the consistency between the two instruments under tropospheric ba...

The New WWW: Whatever, Whenever, Wherever

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

March, Tom

2006-01-01

We are entering an age of instant media gratification, in which a "multimedia aura" will "accompany us wherever we go," writes Tom March. The New WWW, says March, offers us whatever we want, whenever and wherever we want it. The effect on our children may be unrealistic expectations, premature disillusionment, and unhappiness. To counterbalance…

Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus)

Treesearch

Scott H. Stoleson; Giancarlo Sadoti

2010-01-01

The Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus) might well be dubbed "the Great Pretender" because it so closely resembles the ubiquitous Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) in appearance and behavior as to be frequently mistaken for it. In the border regions where it lives, it may be confused as well with another "Mexican" raptor, the Common Black-Hawk (...

EOS MLS Level 1B Data Processing, Version 2.2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perun, Vincent; Jarnot, Robert; Pickett, Herbert; Cofield, Richard; Schwartz, Michael; Wagner, Paul

2009-01-01

A computer program performs level- 1B processing (the term 1B is explained below) of data from observations of the limb of the Earth by the Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), which is an instrument aboard the Aura spacecraft. This software accepts, as input, the raw EOS MLS scientific and engineering data and the Aura spacecraft ephemeris and attitude data. Its output consists of calibrated instrument radiances and associated engineering and diagnostic data. [This software is one of several computer programs, denoted product generation executives (PGEs), for processing EOS MLS data. Starting from level 0 (representing the aforementioned raw data, the PGEs and their data products are denoted by alphanumeric labels (e.g., 1B and 2) that signify the successive stages of processing.] At the time of this reporting, this software is at version 2.2 and incorporates improvements over a prior version that make the code more robust, improve calibration, provide more diagnostic outputs, improve the interface with the Level 2 PGE, and effect a 15-percent reduction in file sizes by use of data compression.

Long-Term Comparisons of OMI Surface UV Irradiances to a NILU_UV Multi-Filter Radiometer in Thessaloniki, Greece

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zempila, Melina Maria; Koukouli, Maria Elissavet; Bais, Alkiviadis; Arola, Antii; Fountoulakis, Ilias; Kouremeti, Natalia; Kazadzis, Stelios; Balis, Dimitrios

2016-08-01

The evaluation of the surface UV irradiances, derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard the AURA satellite, with those extracted from a Norwegian Institute for Air Research UV multi-filter actinometer (NILU-UV) situated in the Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics (LAP) in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (40.69°N, 22.96°E) is presented in this study.The NILU-UV data have been compared with the OMI/Aura overpass and local noon irradiances at 305, 310, 324 and 380 nm for a 10 year period over Thessaloniki between 2005 and 2014.The OMI irradiances were found to overestimate the NILU-UV observations in Thessaloniki between 4.5% and 13.5% for the 305nm wavelength and between 1.5% and 10.0% for the 310nm case. For the 324nm and 380nm, the satellite-deduced local-noon time comparisons showed a satellite under-estimation of 3.75% and 4.15% respectively whereas the overpass-time comparisons range between -1.55% and -1.90% for the same wavelengths.

Effects of a DHA-rich unextracted microalgae as a dietary supplement on performance, carcass traits and meat fatty acid profile in growing-finishing pigs.

PubMed

Moran, C A; Morlacchini, M; Keegan, J D; Delles, R; Fusconi, G

2018-04-19

Two 125-day experiments of the same design were conducted to evaluate the effects of a heterotrophically grown microalgae (AURA) containing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on pig performance, carcass traits and the fatty acid composition of lean and adipose tissue. In each experiment, 144 Hypor pigs were blocked by sex, allocated to three treatment groups, and fed 0, 0.25% or 0.50% AURA in isonutritive, isocaloric diets. Pigs were weighed on days 0, 28, 56, 84 and 112. Feed and water intakes were measured every 28 days. Pigs were slaughtered on day 125. Data from the two studies were analysed as a single data set. Performance and carcass traits did not differ between treatments. Both microalgae treatment levels enriched (p < .05) Longissimus lumborum (LL) and backfat in DHA and improved (p < .05) their ratios of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids. © 2018 The Authors. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition Published by Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

PFO and Migraine: Is There a Role for Closure?

PubMed

Rayhill, Melissa; Burch, Rebecca

2017-03-01

Observational studies suggest that closure of a patent foramen ovale for other indications may reduce or even eliminate migraine attacks, particularly migraine with aura. The first randomized clinical trial of patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure for prevention of migraine, the MIST trial, showed negative results. The results of the other two completed studies in this area have recently been published in the last year. PRIMA and PREMIUM were also both negative for their primary endpoints. The PREMIUM trial did show a reduction in headache days in the migraine with aura subgroup but the final results of this subset analysis have not been published. There may be an as yet undetermined subgroup of patients with migraine who would benefit from closure, but slow recruitment has been a barrier to further study. Several potentially life-threatening procedure-related adverse events occurred in the clinical trials. At this time, we recommend against offering PFO closure as a preventive treatment for migraine. Based on available observational data, patients for whom PFO closure is indicated for other reasons may see some improvement in their migraines.

Development of an Aura Chemical Reanalysis in support Air Quality Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pierce, R. B.; Lenzen, A.; Schaack, T.

2015-12-01

We present results of chemical data assimilation experiments utilizing the NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), University of Wisconsin Space Science and Engineering (SSEC) Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS) in conjunction with the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Operational Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) 3-dimensional variational data assimilation system. The impact of assimilating NASA Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) total column ozone, OMI tropospheric nitrogen dioxide columns, and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) stratospheric ozone profiles on background ozone is assessed using measurements from the 2010 NSF High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER) Pole-to-Pole Observation (HIPPO) and NOAA California Nexus (CalNex) campaigns. Results show that the RAQMS/GSI Chemical Reanalysis is able to provide very good estimates of background ozone and large-scale ozone variability and is suitable for use in constraining regional air quality modeling activities. These experiments are being used to guide the development of a multi-year global chemical and aerosol reanalysis using NASA Aura and A-Train measurements to support air quality applications.

Inter-Annual and Decadal Changes in Tropospheric and Stratospheric Ozone

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ziemke, Jr. R.; Chandra, S.

2011-01-01

Ozone data beginning October 2004 from the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) are used to evaluate the accuracy of the Cloud slicing technique in effort to develop long data records of tropospheric and stratospheric ozone and studying their long-term changes. Using this technique, we have produced a 32-year (1979-2010) long record of tropospheric and stratospheric ozone from the combined Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (Toms) and OMI. The analyses of these time series suggest that the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is the dominant source of inter-annual changes of 30-40 Dobson Units (DU). Tropospheric ozone also indicates a QBO signal in the peak to peak changes varying from 2 to 7 DU. Decadal changes in global stratospheric ozone indicate a turnaround in ozone loss around mid 1990's with most of these changes occurring in the Northern Hemisphere from the subtropics to high latitudes. The trend results are generally consistent with the prediction of chemistry climate models which include the reduction of ozone destroying substances beginning in the late 1980's mandated by the Montreal Protocol.

Orbitofrontal disinhibition of pain in migraine with aura: an interictal EEG-mapping study.

PubMed

Lev, Rina; Granovsky, Yelena; Yarnitsky, David

2010-08-01

This study aimed to identify the cortical mechanisms underlying the processes of interictal dishabituation to experimental pain in subjects suffering from migraine with aura (MWA). In 21 subjects with MWA and 22 healthy controls, cortical responses to two successive trials of noxious contact-heat stimuli were analyzed using EEG-tomography software. When compared with controls, MWA patients showed significantly increased pain-evoked potential amplitudes accompanied by reduced activity in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and increased activity in the pain matrix regions, including the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) (p < .05). Similarly to controls, MWA subjects displayed an inverse correlation between the OFC and SI activities, and positive interrelations between other pain-specific regions. The activity changes in the OFC negatively correlated with lifetime headache duration and longevity (p < .05). Reduced inhibitory functioning of the prefrontal cortex is a possible cause for disinhibition of the pain-related sensory cortices in migraine. The finding of OFC hypofunction over the disease course is in keeping with current concepts of migraine as a progressive brain disorder.

Decline in Antarctic Ozone Depletion and Lower Stratospheric Chlorine Determined From Aura Microwave Limb Sounder Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strahan, Susan E.; Douglass, Anne R.

2018-01-01

Attribution of Antarctic ozone recovery to the Montreal protocol requires evidence that (1) Antarctic chlorine levels are declining and (2) there is a reduction in ozone depletion in response to a chlorine decline. We use Aura Microwave Limb Sounder measurements of O3, HCl, and N2O to demonstrate that inorganic chlorine (Cly) from 2013 to 2016 was 223 ± 93 parts per trillion lower in the Antarctic lower stratosphere than from 2004 to 2007 and that column ozone depletion declined in response. The mean Cly decline rate, 0.8%/yr, agrees with the expected rate based on chlorofluorocarbon lifetimes. N2O measurements are crucial for identifying changes in stratospheric Cly loading independent of dynamical variability. From 2005 to 2016, the ozone depletion and Cly time series show matching periods of decline, stability, and increase. The observed sensitivity of O3 depletion to changing Cly agrees with the sensitivity simulated by the Global Modeling Initiative chemistry transport model integrated with Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications 2 meteorology.

Interannual Variations of MLS Carbon Monoxide Induced by Solar Cycle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Jae N.; Wu, Dong L.; Ruzmaikin, Alexander

2013-01-01

More than eight years (2004-2012) of carbon monoxide (CO) measurements from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) are analyzed. The mesospheric CO, largely produced by the carbon dioxide (CO2) photolysis in the lower thermosphere, is sensitive to the solar irradiance variability. The long-term variation of observed mesospheric MLS CO concentrations at high latitudes is likely driven by the solar-cycle modulated UV forcing. Despite of different CO abundances in the southern and northern hemispheric winter, the solar-cycle dependence appears to be similar. This solar signal is further carried down to the lower altitudes by the dynamical descent in the winter polar vortex. Aura MLS CO is compared with the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) total solar irradiance (TSI) and also with the spectral irradiance in the far ultraviolet (FUV) region from the SORCE Solar-Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE). Significant positive correlation (up to 0.6) is found between CO and FUVTSI in a large part of the upper atmosphere. The distribution of this positive correlation in the mesosphere is consistent with the expectation of CO changes induced by the solar irradiance variations.

Angio-OCT de la zona avascular foveal en ojos con oclusión venosa de la retina.

PubMed

Wons, Juliana; Pfau, Maximilian; Wirth, Magdalena A; Freiberg, Florentina J; Becker, Matthias D; Michels, Stephan

2017-07-11

Objetivo: El objetivo del estudio comprendía visualizar y cuantificar las alteraciones patológicas de la zona avascular foveal (ZAF) mediante angio-OCT en ojos con oclusión venosa de la retina (OVR) en comparación con el ojo contralateral sano. Procedimientos: La angio-OCT se llevó a cabo mediante el sistema Avanti® RTVue 100 XR (Optovue Inc., Fremont, Calif., EE. UU.). Los bordes de la capa vascular superficial (CVS) se definieron como 3 μm por debajo de la membrana limitante interna y 15 μm por debajo de la capa plexiforme interna y, para la capa vascular profunda (CVP), como 15 y 70 μm por debajo de la membrana limitante interna y de la capa plexiforme interna, respectivamente. La longitud de la ZAF horizontal, vertical y máxima de la CVS y la CVP en cada ojo se midió de forma manual. Además, se midió el ángulo entre el diámetro máximo de la ZAF y el plano papilomacular. Resultados: La angio-OCT representó los defectos dentro de la vasculatura en el área perifoveal en ojos con oclusión de rama venosa de la retina (ORVR; n = 11) y con oclusión de la vena central de la retina (OVCR; n = 8). Esto resultó en un crecimiento del diámetro máximo de la ZAF en ojos con OVR (n = 19) en comparación con el ojo contralateral (n = 19; 921 ± 213 frente a 724 ± 145 µm; p = 0,008). Además, se observó una correlación significativa entre la mejor agudeza visual corregida (MAVC) y el diámetro máximo de la ZAF en la CVP (ρ de Spearman = -0,423, p < 0,01). Por último, en los ojos con OVR, el ángulo entre el plano papilomacular y el diámetro máximo de la ZAF se dio tan solo en el 21,05% (CVS) y en el 15,79% (CVP) de los casos a 0 ± 15 ó 90 ± 15°, respectivamente. En ojos sanos, estos ángulos (que supuestamente representan una configuración de la ZAF regular) fueron más prevalentes (CVS 68,42 frente a 21,05%, p = 0,003; CVP 73,68 frente a 15,79%, p < 0,001). Conclusiones: La angio-OCT muestra alteraciones morfológicas de la ZAF en ojos con OVCR y ORVR. La correlación del diámetro máximo de la ZAF con la MAVC indica que estas alteraciones resultan funcionalmente relevantes. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

On the occurrence, the characterization and the dynamical processes associated with FrIAC's (Frozen In Anticyclones) events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thiéblemont, R.; Huret, N.; Orsolini, Y.; Hauchecorne, A.; Drouin, M.

2010-12-01

During winter, the polar vortex forms in arctic stratosphere a dynamical barrier which prevents large scale exchanges between high latitude and tropical regions. However, thin tropical air mass intrusions at the edge of the polar vortex have already been detected and modelled. These structures could play an important role for the knowledge of the balance between chemistry and dynamical processes associated with ozone budget. During springtime, after the final stratospheric warming, the breakdown of the polar vortex occurs and the summer circulation starts to develop. Air mass intrusions from the tropics can be trapped into the polar latitudes in an anticyclone which can persist until August, advected by summer easterlies. These structures, named “Frozen In Anticyclones” (FrIAC’s), have already been observed in 2003 and 2005 by MIPAS-ENVISAT and MLS-AURA instruments. We present here a new case of FrIAC in 2007 highlighted using MLS-AURA measurements. Time evolution of N2O and H2O mixing ratios in the core of this FRIAC are compared with the 2005 similar event. In addition, we perform a climatology of tropical air mass intrusions during the last decade based on the results of the potential vorticity contour advection model MIMOSA (Hauchecorne et al., 2002) and MLS-AURA measurements. This climatology reveals a favourite path for exchanges between polar and tropical stratosphere allowing us to establish closed links between FrIAC’s occurrence and Rossby wave activity. Using wind and temperature fields from ECMWF, we performed a study to understand dynamical processes responsible of such dynamical structures. Discussion on the link between them and Sudden Stratospheric Warming, Final Stratsopheric Warming and Quasi Biennal Oscillation will be presented. This study is made in the framework the STRAPOLETE project which has started on January 2009 to study the Arctic stratosphere in the summertime.

Patent Foramen Ovale With Atrial Septal Aneurysm Is Strongly Associated With Migraine With Aura: A Large Observational Study.

PubMed

Snijder, Roel J R; Luermans, Justin G L M; de Heij, Albert H; Thijs, Vincent; Schonewille, Wouter J; Van De Bruaene, Alexander; Swaans, Martin J; Budts, Werner I H L; Post, Martijn C

2016-12-01

A patent foramen ovale (PFO) with atrial septal aneurysm (ASA) has been identified as a risk factor for cryptogenic stroke. Patients with migraine with aura (MA) appear to be at risk for silent brain infarction, which might be related to the presence of a PFO. However, the association between MA and PFO with ASA has never been reported. We examined this association in a large observational study. Patients (>18 years) who underwent an agitated saline transesophageal echocardiography (cTEE) at our outpatient clinics within a timeframe of 4 years were eligible to be included. Before cTEE they received a validated headache questionnaire. Two neurologists diagnosed migraine with or without aura according to the International Headache Criteria. A total of 889 patients (mean age 56.4±14.3 years, 41.7% women) were included. A PFO was present in 23.2%, an isolated ASA in 2.7%, and a PFO with ASA in 6.9%. The occurrence of migraine was 18.9%; the occurrence of MA was 8.1%. The prevalence of PFO with ASA was significantly higher in patients with MA compared to patients without migraine (18.1% vs 6.1%; OR 3.72, 95% CI 1.86-7.44, P<0.001). However, a PFO without ASA was not significantly associated with MA (OR 1.50, 95% CI 0.79-2.82, P=0.21). Interestingly, a PFO with ASA was strongly associated with MA (OR 2.71, 95% CI 1.23-5.95, P=0.01). In this large observational study, PFO with ASA was significantly associated with MA only. PFO closure studies should focus on this specific intra-atrial anomaly. © 2016 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley Blackwell.

Heart Rate Variability in Sleep-Related Migraine without Aura

PubMed Central

Vollono, Catello; Gnoni, Valentina; Testani, Elisa; Dittoni, Serena; Losurdo, Anna; Colicchio, Salvatore; Di Blasi, Chiara; Mazza, Salvatore; Farina, Benedetto; Della Marca, Giacomo

2013-01-01

Objectives: This is an observational study aimed to investigate the activity of autonomic nervous system during sleep in patients with sleep-related migraine. Methods: Eight consecutive migraineurs without aura were enrolled (6 women and 2 men), aged 30 to 62 years (mean 48.1 ± 9.3 years). Inclusion criteria were: high frequency of attacks (> 5 per month) and occurrence of more than 75% of the attacks during sleep causing an awakening. Patients were compared with a control group of 55 healthy subjects (23 men and 32 women, mean age 54.2 ± 13.0 years), and with a further control group of 8 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Patient and controls underwent polysomnography and heart rate variability analysis. Results: A significant reduction of the LF/HF ratio during N2 and N3 sleep stages was observed in migraineurs compared with controls. No differences in sleep macrostructure were observed; cyclic alternating pattern (CAP) time and CAP rate were lower in migraineurs than in controls. Conclusions: These findings indicate a peculiar modification of the autonomic balance during sleep in sleep-related migraine. The reduction of LF/HF ratio in NREM sleep was observed in controls, but it was quantitatively much more evident in migraineurs. Changes in LF/HF could be consequent to an autonomic unbalance which could manifest selectively (or alternatively become more evident) during sleep. These findings, together with the reduction in CAP rate, could be an expression of reduced arousability during sleep in patients with sleep-related migraine. The simultaneous involvement of the autonomic, arousal, and pain systems might suggest involvement of the hypothalamic pathways. Citation: Vollono C; Gnoni V; Testani E; Dittoni S; Losurdo A; Colicchio S; Di Blasi C; Mazza S; Farina B; Della Marca G. Heart rate variability in sleep-related migraine without aura. J Clin Sleep Med 2013;9(7):707-714. PMID:23853566

Aura OMI observations of changes in SO2 and NO2 emissions at local, regional and global scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krotkov, N. A.; McLinden, C. A.; Li, C.; Lamsal, L. N.; Celarier, E. A.; Marchenko, S. V.; Swartz, W.; Bucsela, E. J.; Joiner, J.; Duncan, B. N.; Boersma, K. F.; Veefkind, P.; Levelt, P.; Fioletov, V.; Dickerson, R. R.; He, H.; Lu, Z.; Streets, D. G.

2015-12-01

Space-based pollution monitoring from current and planned satellite UV-Vis spectrometers play an increasingly important role in studies of tropospheric chemistry and also air quality applications to help mitigate anthropogenic and natural impacts on sensitive ecosystems, and human health. We present long-term changes in tropospheric SO2 and NO2 over some of the most polluted industrialized regions of the world observed by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard NASA's Aura satellite. Using OMI data, we identified about 400 SO2 "hot spots" and estimated emissions from them. In many regions emissions and their ambient pollution levels have decreased significantly, such as over eastern US, Europe and China. OMI observed about 50% reduction in SO2 and NO2 pollution over the North China plain in 2012-2014 that can be attributed to both government efforts to restrain emissions from the power and industrial sectors and the economic slowdown. While much smaller, India's SO2 and NO2 emissions from coal power plants and smelters are growing at a fast pace, increasing by about 200% and 50% from 2005 to 2014. Over Europe and the US OMI-observed trends agree well with those from available in situ measurements of surface concentrations, deposition and emissions data. However, for some regions (e.g., Mexico, Middle East) the emission inventories may be incomplete and OMI can provide emission estimates for missing sources, such as SO2 sources observed over the Persian Gulf. It is essential to continue long-term overlapping satellite data records of air quality with increased spatial and temporal resolution to resolve point pollution sources using oversampling technique. We discuss how Aura OMI pollution measurements and emission estimates will be continued with the US JPSS and European Sentinel series for the next 20 years and further enhanced by the addition of three geostationary UV-VIS instruments.

EGFR T790M mutation testing within the osimertinib AURA Phase I study.

PubMed

Dearden, Simon; Brown, Helen; Jenkins, Suzanne; Thress, Kenneth S; Cantarini, Mireille; Cole, Rebecca; Ranson, Malcolm; Jänne, Pasi A

2017-07-01

Reliable epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation testing techniques are required to identify eligible patients with EGFR mutation/T790M positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), for treatment with osimertinib (AZD9291), an oral, potent, irreversible EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) selective for EGFR-TKI-sensitizing and T790M resistance mutations over wild-type EGFR. There is no current consensus regarding the best method to detect EGFR T790M mutations. The aim of this study was to describe the concordance between local testing, which used a variety of methods, and central testing, using the cobas ® EGFR Mutation Test, for EGFR-sensitizing mutations and the T790M resistance mutation. Tumor samples were obtained from all patients screened for inclusion onto the osimertinib Phase I expansion component of the AURA Phase I/II study (NCT01802632). Samples underwent central laboratory testing for EGFR-sensitizing mutations and T790M resistance mutation using the cobas ® EGFR Mutation Test. Results were compared with local laboratory test results, based on other testing methodologies including Sanger sequencing, therascreen ® , PNAClamp™, and Sequenom MassARRAY ® . Central laboratory testing was successful in 99% of samples passing histopathology review and testing success rates were comparable across the three central laboratories. Concordance between central and local testing for common sensitizing mutations was high (>98%) and concordance for the T790M mutation was also high (>90%). Tumor heterogeneity, along with other technical factors may have influenced this result. Within the osimertinib AURA Phase I study, EGFR mutation testing across three centralized laboratories using the cobas ® EGFR Mutation Test was feasible and successful, with strong concordance between local and central laboratory results, including for T790M. The cobas ® EGFR Mutation Test has subsequently been approved as the companion diagnostic test for osimertinib in the USA and Japan. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Lekking behavior of Anastrepha Fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Segura, D.; Petit-Marty, N.; Cladera, J.

Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) displays a lek mating system. Males form groups in which they simultaneously display signals (acoustical, visual, or chemical) to attract females with the purpose of mating. Females visit the lek and choose among signaling and courting males to mate. Scarce information is available in A. fraterculus about the main factors involved in female choice and the behavior of displaying males. This information could be important within the context of pest control programs with a sterile insect technique (SIT) component, because departures from normal sexual behavior caused by artificial rearing could affect males' performance in themore » field. In this study we assessed A. fraterculus male behavior within the leks and analyzed the importance of behavioral and morphological traits on their copulatory success. The existence of preferred places for lek formation was evaluated in field cages with trees inside and analyzed by dividing the trees in sectors according to a 3-dimensional system. Males were individually weighed, marked, and observed every 15 min. Morphometric and behavioral characteristics of successful and unsuccessful males were compared. Most successful males grouped in a region of the tree characterized by the highest light intensity in the first 2 h of the morning. Results showed that pheromone calling activity is positively associated with copulatory success. Copulations were more frequent for males calling inside the lek, indicating that pheromone calling activity and presence in the lek are key factors for copulatory success. A positive association between copulatory success and eye length was found; some characteristics of the face were also associated with copula duration and latency. (author) [Spanish] Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tephritidae) presenta un sistema de apareamiento tipo lek. Los machos forman grupos y, en forma conjunta, emiten senales (acusticas, visuales, o quimicas) para atraer a las hembras con el proposito de aparearse. Las hembras visitan el lek y eligen entre los machos para copular. La informacion acerca de los principales factores involucrados en la eleccion de la hembra y de la influencia del comportamiento de los machos en los leks en esta eleccion es escasa para A. fraterculus . Esta informacion es importante en el contexto de programas de control que incluyen la Tecnica del Insecto Esteril. En el presente estudio se evaluo el comportamiento sexual de machos de A. fraterculus dentro de los leks, y la asociacion de su comportamiento y de rasgos morfometricos con el exito copulatorio. El lugar preferido de agrupamiento de los machos fue evaluado en jaulas de campo con arboles en su interior y dividiendo el arbol en sectores de acuerdo a un sistema de tres dimensiones. Los machos fueron individualmente pesados, marcados y observados cada quince minutos. Luego de finalizado el ensayo se midieron los rasgos morfometricos. El mayor exito correspondio a machos agrupados en una region del arbol caracterizada por tener la mayor intensidad de luz en las dos primeras horas de la manana. Los resultados mostraron que la actividad de llamado con feromonas esta asociada con el exito copulatorio. Las copulas fueron mas frecuentes para machos que llamaron dentro del lek, indicando que la actividad de llamado con feromonas y la presencia dentro del lek son factores importantes en la obtencion de la copula. Los analisis morfometricos revelaron una asociacion positiva entre el exito copulatorio y el largo del ojo, y que algunas caracteristicas de la cara estan asociadas ademas con la duracion de la copula y la latencia. (author)« less

Model Evaluation of Continuous Data Pharmacometric Models: Metrics and Graphics

PubMed Central

Nguyen, THT; Mouksassi, M‐S; Holford, N; Al‐Huniti, N; Freedman, I; Hooker, AC; John, J; Karlsson, MO; Mould, DR; Pérez Ruixo, JJ; Plan, EL; Savic, R; van Hasselt, JGC; Weber, B; Zhou, C; Comets, E

2017-01-01

This article represents the first in a series of tutorials on model evaluation in nonlinear mixed effect models (NLMEMs), from the International Society of Pharmacometrics (ISoP) Model Evaluation Group. Numerous tools are available for evaluation of NLMEM, with a particular emphasis on visual assessment. This first basic tutorial focuses on presenting graphical evaluation tools of NLMEM for continuous data. It illustrates graphs for correct or misspecified models, discusses their pros and cons, and recalls the definition of metrics used. PMID:27884052

Visual Navigation Constructing and Utilizing Simple Maps of an Indoor Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-03-01

places are con- nected to eachother , so that the robot may plan routes. On a more advanced level. navigation nmay require an understanding of the meaning...two vertical lines, suitably separated from eachother . through which it tries to lead the robot. CHAPTER 1. L’TRODUCTION 14 1.4 Context of the Project...the observer will have no trouble in determining where the wall is. A robot, with far less processing power than humans have. might be able determine

Analysis of a rapid increase of stratospheric ozone during late austral summer 2008 over Kerguelen (49.4° S, 70.3° E)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bencherif, H.; El Amraoui, L.; Kirgis, G.; Leclair de Bellevue, J.; Hauchecorne, A.; Mzé, N.; Portafaix, T.; Pazmino, A.; Goutail, F.

2011-01-01

This paper reports on an increase of ozone event observed over Kerguelen (49.4° S, 70.3° E) in relationship with large-scale isentropic transport. This is evidenced by ground-based observations (co-localised radiosonde and SAOZ experiments) together with satellite global observations (Aura/MLS) assimilated into MOCAGE, a Méteo-France model. The study is based on the analyses of the first ozonesonde experiment never recorded at the Kerguelen site within the framework of a French campaign called ROCK that took place from April to August 2008. Comparisons and interpretations of the observed event are supported by co-localised SAOZ observations, by global mapping of tracers (O3, N2O and columns of O3) from Aura/MLS and Aura/OMI experiments, and by model simulations of Ertel Potential Vorticity initialised by the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) data reanalyses. Satellite and ground-based observational data revealed a consistent increase of ozone in the local stratosphere by mid-April 2008. Additionally, Ozone (O3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) profiles obtained during January-May 2008 using the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) aboard the Aura satellite are assimilated into MOCAGE (MOdèle de Chimie Atmosphérique à Grande Echelle), a global three-dimensional chemistry transport model of Météo-France. The assimilated total O3 values are consistent with SAOZ ground observations (within ±5%), and isentropic distributions of O3 match well with maps of advected potential vorticity (APV) derived from the MIMOSA model, a high-resolution advection transport model, and from the ECMWF reanalysis. The event studied seems to be related to the isentropic transport of air masses that took place simultaneously in the lower- and middle-stratosphere, respectively from the polar region and from the tropics to the mid-latitudes. In fact, the ozone increase observed by mid April 2008 resulted simultaneously: (1) from an equator-ward departure of polar air masses characterised with a high-ozone layer in the lower stratosphere (near the 475 K isentropic level), and (2) from a reverse isentropic transport from the tropics to mid- and high-latitudes in the upper stratosphere (nearby the 700 K level). The increase of ozone observed over Kerguelen from the 16-April ozonesonde profile is thus attributed to a concomitant isentropic transport of ozone in two stratospheric layers: the tropical air moving southward and reaching over Kerguelen in the upper stratosphere, and the polar air passing over the same area but in the lower stratosphere.

Cognitive Performance and Locomotor Adaptation in Persons With Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

PubMed

Stone, Amanda E; Roper, Jaimie A; Herman, Daniel C; Hass, Chris J

2018-05-01

Persons with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) show deficits in gait and neuromuscular control following rehabilitation. This altered behavior extends to locomotor adaptation and learning, however the contributing factors to this observed behavior have yet to be investigated. The purpose of this study was to assess differences in locomotor adaptation and learning between ACLR and controls, and identify underlying contributors to motor adaptation in these individuals. Twenty ACLR individuals and 20 healthy controls (CON) agreed to participate in this study. Participants performed four cognitive and dexterity tasks (local version of Trail Making Test, reaction time test, electronic pursuit rotor test, and the Purdue pegboard). Three-dimensional kinematics were also collected while participants walked on a split-belt treadmill. ACLR individuals completed the local versions of Trails A and Trails B significantly faster than CON. During split-belt walking, ACLR individuals demonstrated smaller step length asymmetry during EARLY and LATE adaptation, smaller double support asymmetry during MID adaptation, and larger stance time asymmetry during DE-ADAPT compared with CON. ACLR individuals performed better during tasks that required visual attention and task switching and were less perturbed during split-belt walking compared to controls. Persons with ACLR may use different strategies than controls, cognitive or otherwise, to adapt locomotor patterns.

Nutritional Adaptations in Elite Soccer Referees: First Evidence and Perspectives.

PubMed

Metz, Lore; Deleuze, Thomas; Pereira, Bruno; Thivel, David

2015-06-27

Although the physiological cost of refereeing has been already studied in the literature, especially in soccer umpires, it remains unknown whether referees spontaneously adapt their energy intake during game days. Six national soccer referees completed 24-hour dietary recalls (assisted by the SU.VI.MAX copybook) during a control day (CON) and a day with a game (GAME). The stress level and hunger feelings were assessed using visual analogue scales. Total energy intake, energy derived from macronutrients and energy intake at each meal were analyzed using the Bilnuts nutrition software. Total daily energy intake was not significantly different between conditions (CON: 2270 ± 535 vs. GAME: 2782 ± 293). Energy derived from fat and protein was not different between conditions but the participants ingested more calories derived from carbohydrates during the GAME day (45.5 ± 5.9% vs. 54.9 ± 5.5%, respectively, p<0.05). The calories ingested during snacking were significantly increased during GAME compared with CON (p<0.05). The stress level was significantly higher during GAME and especially before the breakfast, lunch and snack (p<0.05). Hunger feeling was not different between conditions. Referring leads to nutritional adaptations in elite soccer umpires, who tend to increase their energy intake mainly during snacking, by increasing their carbohydrate consumption.

Nutritional Adaptations in Elite Soccer Referees: First Evidence and Perspectives

PubMed Central

Metz, Lore; Deleuze, Thomas; Pereira, Bruno; Thivel, David

2015-01-01

Although the physiological cost of refereeing has been already studied in the literature, especially in soccer umpires, it remains unknown whether referees spontaneously adapt their energy intake during game days. Six national soccer referees completed 24-hour dietary recalls (assisted by the SU.VI.MAX copybook) during a control day (CON) and a day with a game (GAME). The stress level and hunger feelings were assessed using visual analogue scales. Total energy intake, energy derived from macronutrients and energy intake at each meal were analyzed using the Bilnuts nutrition software. Total daily energy intake was not significantly different between conditions (CON: 2270 ± 535 vs. GAME: 2782 ± 293). Energy derived from fat and protein was not different between conditions but the participants ingested more calories derived from carbohydrates during the GAME day (45.5 ± 5.9% vs. 54.9 ± 5.5%, respectively, p<0.05). The calories ingested during snacking were significantly increased during GAME compared with CON (p<0.05). The stress level was significantly higher during GAME and especially before the breakfast, lunch and snack (p<0.05). Hunger feeling was not different between conditions. Referring leads to nutritional adaptations in elite soccer umpires, who tend to increase their energy intake mainly during snacking, by increasing their carbohydrate consumption. PMID:26240651

Scientists repurpose HPV vaccine technology to fight eye cancer | Center for Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

Uveal melanoma is a rare eye cancer that affects about 1,600 people in the United States. A study by scientists in the Center for Cancer Research and Aura Biosciences, Cambridge, Mass., published December 14, 2017, in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, provides new hope for the early treatment of uveal melanoma. Read more…

The Virtual Aura--Is There Space for Enchantment in a Technological World?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hazan, Susan

As Walter Benjamin described in his famous essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", the role of art in society and the notion that art has become modified through mechanical reproduction has engaged not only artists, but also curators and the museum public. Benjamin embraced the severing of the quasi-mystical…

DNA Structure and Supercoiling: Ribbons and a Yo-Yo Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Horn, J. David

2011-01-01

The double-helical structure of DNA is a pop cultural icon. Images of the DNA molecule appear in newspapers, popular journals, and advertisements. In addition to scientific instrument sales, the aura surrounding the central molecule of life has been used to sell everything from perfume to beverages and is the inspiration of items ranging from…

Implementations of Sensor Webs Utilizing Uninhabited Aerial Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sullivan, Donald V.

2009-01-01

In this paper we describe the web services, processes, communication protocols and ad-hoc service chains utilized in the late summer and early fall 2007 Ikhana UAS response to the wildfires burning in southern California. Additionally, we describe the lessons learned that will be applied to the upcoming Global Hawk UAS Aura Satellite Validation Experiment planned for early 2009.

Queerying the Affective Politics of Doctoral Education: Toward Complex Visions of Agency and Affect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burford, James

2015-01-01

Higher education (HE) researchers, like their colleagues across the humanities and social sciences, are increasingly tuning in to the political possibilities offered by working with emotion and affect. Reading across this work, it would seem that certain practices, and their associated affects, have achieved an aura of legitimacy, and political…

The Alchemy of "Costing Out" an Adequate Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hanushek, Eric A.

2006-01-01

In response to the rapid rise in court cases related to the adequacy of school funding, a variety of alternative methods have been developed to provide an analytical base about the necessary expenditure on schools. These approaches have been titled to give an aura of a thoughtful and solid scientific basis: the professional judgment model, the…

Case Studies of the Mesospheric Response to Recent Minor, Major, and Extended Stratospheric Warmings

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-06

Pawson, J. N. Lee , W. H. Daffer, R. A. Fuller, and N. J. Livesey (2009b), Aura Micro- wave Limb Sounder observations of dynamics and transport during...Schoeberl, M., D. Strobel , and J. Apruzese (1983), A numerical model of gravity wave breaking and stress in the mesosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 88(C9

Fronto-parietal and cingulo-opercular network integrity and cognition in health and schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Sheffield, Julia M; Repovs, Grega; Harms, Michael P.; Carter, Cameron S.; Gold, James M.; MacDonald, Angus W.; Ragland, J. Daniel; Silverstein, Steven M.; Godwin, Douglass; Barch, Deanna M

2015-01-01

Growing evidence suggests that coordinated activity within specific functional brain networks supports cognitive ability, and that abnormalities in brain connectivity may underlie cognitive deficits observed in neuropsychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia. Two functional networks, the fronto-parietal network (FPN) and cingulo-opercular network (CON), are hypothesized to support top-down control of executive functioning, and have therefore emerged as potential drivers of cognitive impairment in disease-states. Graph theoretic analyses of functional connectivity data can characterize network topology, allowing the relationships between cognitive ability and network integrity to be examined. In the current study we applied graph analysis to pseudo-resting state data in 54 healthy subjects and 46 schizophrenia patients, and measured overall cognitive ability as the shared variance in performance from tasks of episodic memory, verbal memory, processing speed, goal maintenance, and visual integration. We found that, across all participants, cognitive ability was significantly positively associated with the local and global efficiency of the whole brain, FPN, and CON, but not with the efficiency of a comparison network, the auditory network. Additionally, the participation coefficient of the right anterior insula, a major hub within the CON, significantly predicted cognition, and this relationship was independent of CON global efficiency. Surprisingly, we did not observe strong evidence for group differences in any of our network metrics. These data suggest that functionally efficient task control networks support better cognitive ability in both health and schizophrenia, and that the right anterior insula may be a particularly important hub for successful cognitive performance across both health and disease. PMID:25979608

Comparative Evaluation of Pain, Stress, Neuropeptide Y, ACTH, and Cortisol Levels Between a Conventional Postoperative Care Protocol and a Fast-Track Recovery Program in Patients Undergoing Major Abdominal Surgery.

PubMed

Kapritsou, Maria; Papathanassoglou, Elizabeth D; Bozas, Evangelos; Korkolis, Dimitrios P; Konstantinou, Evangelos A; Kaklamanos, Ioannis; Giannakopoulou, Margarita

2017-03-01

Fast-track (FT) postoperative protocol in oncological patients after major abdominal surgery reduces complications and length of postoperative stay compared to the conventional (CON) protocol. However, stress and pain responses have not been compared between the two protocols. To compare stress, pain, and related neuropeptidic responses (adrenocorticotropic hormone [ACTH], cortisol, and neuropeptide Y [NPY]) between FT and CON protocols. A clinical trial with repeated measurements was conducted (May 2012 to May 2014) with a sample of 63 hepatectomized or pancreatectomized patients randomized into two groups: FT ( n = 29) or CON ( n = 34). Demographic and clinical data were collected, and pain (Visual Analog Scale [VAS] and Behavioral Pain Scale [BPS]) and stress responses (3 self-report questions) assessed. NPY, ACTH, and cortisol plasma levels were measured at T1 = day of admission, T2 = day of surgery, and T3 = prior to discharge. ACTH T1 and ACTH T2 levels were positively correlated with self-reported stress levels (ρ = .43 and ρ = .45, respectively, p < .05) in the FT group. NPY levels in the FT group were higher than those in the CON group at all time points ( p ≤ .004); this difference remained significant after adjusting for T1 levels through analysis of covariance for age, gender, and body mass index ( F = .003, F = .149, F = .015, respectively, p > .05). Neuropeptidic levels were higher in the FT group. Future research should evaluate this association further, as these biomarkers might serve as objective indicators of postoperative pain and stress.

Cannabis-related episodic memory deficits and hippocampal morphological differences in healthy individuals and schizophrenia subjects

PubMed Central

Smith, Matthew J.; Cobia, Derin J.; Reilly, James L.; Gilman, Jodi; Roberts, Andrea G.; Alpert, Kathryn I.; Wang, Lei; Breiter, Hans C.; Csernansky, John G.

2015-01-01

Cannabis use has been associated with episodic memory (EM) impairments and abnormal hippocampus morphology among both healthy individuals and schizophrenia subjects. Considering the hippocampus' role in EM, research is needed to evaluate the relationship between cannabis-related hippocampal morphology and EM among healthy and clinical groups. We examined differences in hippocampus morphology between control and schizophrenia subjects with and without a past (not current) cannabis use disorder (CUD). Subjects group-matched on demographics included 44 healthy controls (CON), 10 subjects with a CUD history (CON-CUD), 28 schizophrenia subjects with no history of substance use disorders (SCZ), and 15 schizophrenia subjects with a CUD history (SCZ-CUD). Large- deformation, high-dimensional brain mapping with MRI produced surface-based representations of the hippocampus that were compared across all four groups and correlated with EM and CUD history. Surface maps of the hippocampus were generated to visualize morphological differences. CON-CUD and SCZ- CUD were characterized by distinct cannabis-related hippocampal shape differences and parametric deficits in EM. Shape differences observed in CON-CUD were associated with poorer EM, while shape differences observed in SCZ-CUD were associated with a longer duration of CUD and shorter duration of CUD abstinence. A past history of CUD may be associated with notable differences in hippocampal morphology and EM impairments among adults with and without schizophrenia. Although the results may be compatible with a causal hypothesis, we must consider that the observed cannabis-related shape differences in the hippocampus could also be explained as biomarkers of a neurobiological susceptibility to poor memory or the effects of cannabis. PMID:25760303

Differences in interregional brain connectivity in children with unilateral hearing loss.

PubMed

Jung, Matthew E; Colletta, Miranda; Coalson, Rebecca; Schlaggar, Bradley L; Lieu, Judith E C

2017-11-01

To identify functional network architecture differences in the brains of children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) using resting-state functional-connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fcMRI). Prospective observational study. Children (7 to 17 years of age) with severe to profound hearing loss in one ear, along with their normal hearing (NH) siblings, were recruited and imaged using rs-fcMRI. Eleven children had right UHL; nine had left UHL; and 13 had normal hearing. Forty-one brain regions of interest culled from established brain networks such as the default mode (DMN); cingulo-opercular (CON); and frontoparietal networks (FPN); as well as regions for language, phonological, and visual processing, were analyzed using regionwise correlations and conjunction analysis to determine differences in functional connectivity between the UHL and normal hearing children. When compared to the NH group, children with UHL showed increased connectivity patterns between multiple networks, such as between the CON and visual processing centers. However, there were decreased, as well as aberrant connectivity patterns with the coactivation of the DMN and FPN, a relationship that usually is negatively correlated. Children with UHL demonstrate multiple functional connectivity differences between brain networks involved with executive function, cognition, and language comprehension that may represent adaptive as well as maladaptive changes. These findings suggest that possible interventions or habilitation, beyond amplification, might be able to affect some children's requirement for additional help at school. 3b. Laryngoscope, 127:2636-2645, 2017. © 2017 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

What does the brain of children with developmental dyslexia tell us about reading improvement? ERP evidence from an intervention study

PubMed Central

Hasko, Sandra; Groth, Katarina; Bruder, Jennifer; Bartling, Jürgen; Schulte-Körne, Gerd

2014-01-01

Intervention is key to managing developmental dyslexia (DD), but not all children with DD benefit from treatment. Some children improve (improvers, IMP), whereas others do not improve (non-improvers, NIMP). Neurobiological differences between IMP and NIMP have been suggested, but studies comparing IMP and NIMP in childhood are missing. The present study examined whether ERP patterns change with treatment and differ between IMP and NIMP. We investigated the ERPs of 28 children with DD and 25 control children (CON) while performing a phonological lexical decision (PLD) task before and after a 6-month intervention. After intervention children with DD were divided into IMP (n = 11) and NIMP (n = 17). In the PLD–task children were visually presented with words, pseudohomophones, pseudowords, and false fonts and had to decide whether the presented stimulus sounded like an existing German word or not. Prior to intervention IMP showed higher N300 amplitudes over fronto-temporal electrodes compared to NIMP and CON and N400 amplitudes were attenuated in both IMP and NIMP compared to CON. After intervention N300 amplitudes of IMP were comparable to those of CON and NIMP. This suggests that the N300, which has been related to phonological access of orthographic stimuli and integration of orthographic and phonological representations, might index a compensatory mechanism or precursor that facilitates reading improvement. The N400, which is thought to reflect grapheme-phoneme conversion or the access to the orthographic lexicon increased in IMP from pre to post and was comparable to CON after intervention. Correlations between N300 amplitudes pre, growth in reading ability and N400 amplitudes post indicated that higher N300 amplitudes might be important for reading improvement and increase in N400 amplitudes. The results suggest that children with DD, showing the same cognitive profile might differ regarding their neuronal profile which could further influence reading improvement. PMID:25018723

Earth Observation System Flight Dynamics System Covariance Realism

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zaidi, Waqar H.; Tracewell, David

2016-01-01

This presentation applies a covariance realism technique to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observation System (EOS) Aqua and Aura spacecraft based on inferential statistics. The technique consists of three parts: collection calculation of definitive state estimates through orbit determination, calculation of covariance realism test statistics at each covariance propagation point, and proper assessment of those test statistics.

Comparison of GPS/SAC-C and MIPAS/ENVISAT temperature profiles and its implementation for EOS AURA-MLS observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jiang, Jonathan H.; Wang, Ding-Yi; Romans, Larry J.; Ao, Chi O.; Schwartz, Michael J.; Stiller, Gabriele P.; von Clarmann, Thomas; Lopez-Puertas, Manuel; Funke, Bernd; Gil-Lopez, Sergio;

Expansion and improvement of the FORMA system for response and load analysis. Volume 2C: Listings, finite element FORMA subroutines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wohlen, R. L.

1976-01-01

A listing of the source deck of each finite element FORMA subroutine is given to remove the 'black-box' aura of the subroutines so that the analyst may better understand the detailed operations of each subroutine. The FORTRAN 4 programming language is used in all finite element FORMA subroutines.

EOS Aura MLS, first year post-launch engineering assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Karen A.; Lay, Richard R.; Jarnot, Robert F.; Cofield, Richard E.; Flower, Dennis A.; Pickett, Herbert M.

2005-01-01

This paper discusses the current status of the MLS instrument which now continuously provides data to produce global maps of targeted chemical species as well as temperature, cloud ice, and gravity wave activity. Performance trends are assessed with respect to characterization during initial on-orbit activiation of the instrument, and with data from ground test verification prior to launch.

The Loss of Aura in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mamlok, Dan

2015-01-01

The allegory of the cave illustrates one of the central problems in philosophy: the gap between reality as it appears to be and the reality in itself. The allegory of prisoners in the cave, as opposed to being free out of the cave, symbolizes the gap between illusion and truth--between the thing and the thing in itself. The moment of getting out…

Common Variant Burden Contributes to the Familial Aggregation of Migraine in 1,589 Families.

PubMed

Gormley, Padhraig; Kurki, Mitja I; Hiekkala, Marjo Eveliina; Veerapen, Kumar; Häppölä, Paavo; Mitchell, Adele A; Lal, Dennis; Palta, Priit; Surakka, Ida; Kaunisto, Mari Anneli; Hämäläinen, Eija; Vepsäläinen, Salli; Havanka, Hannele; Harno, Hanna; Ilmavirta, Matti; Nissilä, Markku; Säkö, Erkki; Sumelahti, Marja-Liisa; Liukkonen, Jarmo; Sillanpää, Matti; Metsähonkala, Liisa; Koskinen, Seppo; Lehtimäki, Terho; Raitakari, Olli; Männikkö, Minna; Ran, Caroline; Belin, Andrea Carmine; Jousilahti, Pekka; Anttila, Verneri; Salomaa, Veikko; Artto, Ville; Färkkilä, Markus; Runz, Heiko; Daly, Mark J; Neale, Benjamin M; Ripatti, Samuli; Kallela, Mikko; Wessman, Maija; Palotie, Aarno

2018-05-16

Complex traits, including migraine, often aggregate in families, but the underlying genetic architecture behind this is not well understood. The aggregation could be explained by rare, penetrant variants that segregate according to Mendelian inheritance or by the sufficient polygenic accumulation of common variants, each with an individually small effect, or a combination of the two hypotheses. In 8,319 individuals across 1,589 migraine families, we calculated migraine polygenic risk scores (PRS) and found a significantly higher common variant burden in familial cases (n = 5,317, OR = 1.76, 95% CI = 1.71-1.81, p = 1.7 × 10 -109 ) compared to population cases from the FINRISK cohort (n = 1,101, OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.25-1.38, p = 7.2 × 10 -17 ). The PRS explained 1.6% of the phenotypic variance in the population cases and 3.5% in the familial cases (including 2.9% for migraine without aura, 5.5% for migraine with typical aura, and 8.2% for hemiplegic migraine). The results demonstrate a significant contribution of common polygenic variation to the familial aggregation of migraine. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ozone Temperature Correlations in the Upper Stratosphere as a Measure of Chlorine Content

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stolarski, Richard S.; Douglass, Ann R.; Remsberg, Ellis E.; Livesey, Nathaniel J.; Gille, John C.

2012-01-01

We use data from the Nimbus-7 Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) for the 1978-1979 period together with data from the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite Microwave Limb Sounder (UARS MLS) for the years 1993 to 1999, the Aura MLS for the years 2004 to 2011, and the Aura High Resolution Infrared Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) for the years 2005 to 2007 to examine ozone-temperature correlations in the upper stratosphere. Our model simulations indicate that the sensitivity coefficient of the ozone response to temperature (Delta ln(O3)/Delta.(l/T)) decreases as chlorine has increased in the stratosphere and should increase in the future as chlorine decreases. The data are in agreement with our simulation of the past. We also find that the sensitivity coefficient does not change in a constant-chlorine simulation. Thus the change in the sensitivity coefficient depends on the change in chlorine, but not on the change in greenhouse gases. We suggest that these and future data can be used to track the impact of chlorine added to the stratosphere and also to track the recovery of the stratosphere as chlorine is removed under the provisions of the Montreal Protocol.

High prevalence of patent foramen ovale in migraine with aura.

PubMed

Ferrarini, Giovanni; Malferrari, Giovanni; Zucco, Riccardo; Gaddi, Oscar; Norina, Marcello; Pini, Luigi Alberto

2005-04-01

In this study we evaluated the presence of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in a cohort of 25 consecutive patients suffering from migraine with aura (MA) during an attack presenting to the emergency ward of an Italian hospital. Patients underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with contrast medium, routine coagulation tests, contrast transcranial echocolour-coded sonography (c-TCCS) and transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Of the enrolled patients, 88.7% showed a PFO according to the c-TCCS test, whereas only in 72% TEE confirmed the presence of PFO. This discordance could be due to the fact that c-TCCS is more sensitive even with shunts with minimal capacity also located in the pulmonary vasculature. After surgical treatment of the PFO, MA disappeared within two months. Also, the treatment with warfarin as well as with acetylsalicylic acid and flunarizine was able to dramatically reduce the frequency of migraine attacks. These data indicate a higher prevalence of PFO in MA vs. normal population (OR=2.92) and could suggest that the presence of arteriovenous (AV) shunts could represent a trigger for MA attacks as well as for stroke, but more studies are needed to confirm this preliminary hypothesis.

Nadir Measurements of Carbon Monoxide Distributions by the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer Instrument Onboard the Aura Spacecraft: Overview of Analysis Approach and Examples of Initial Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rinsland, Curtis P.; Luo, Ming; Logan, Jennifer A.; Beer, Reinhard; Worden, Helen; Kulawik, Susan S.; Rider, David; Osterman, Greg; Gunson, Michael; Eldering, Annmarie;

The Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder (EOS MLS) on the Aura Satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waters, Joe W.; Froidevaux, Lucien; Harwood, Robert S.; Jarnot, Robert F.; Pickett, Herbert M.; Read, William G.; Siegel, Peter H.; Cofield, Richard E.; Filipiak, Mark J.; Flower, Dennis A.;

What is missing between model and Aura MLS observations in mesospheric OH?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, S.; Li, K. F.; Zeng, Z.; Sander, S. P.; Shia, R. L.; Yung, Y. L.

2017-12-01

Recent Aura Microwave Limb Souder observations show higher mesospheric OH levels than earlier versions and previous satellite observations. The current photochemical model with standard chemistry is not able to accurately simulate MLS OH in the mesosphere. In particular, the model significantly underestimates OH over the altitude range of 60-80km. In the standard middle atmospheric chemistry, HOx over this altitude range is controled mainly through the reactions of H2O + hv (< 205 nm) → H + OH; H + O2 + M → HO2 + M; and OH + HO2 → H2O + O2. In an attempt to resolve the model-observation discrepancy, we adjust the rate coefficients of these reactions within recommended uncertainty ranges using an objective Bayesian approach. However, reasonable perturbations to these reactions are not capable of resolving the mesospheric discrepancy without introducing disagreements in other regions of the atmosphere. We explore possible new reactions in the Earth's atmosphere that are not included in current standard models. Some candidate reactions and their potential impacts on mesospheric HOx chemistry will be discussed. Our results urge new laboratory studies of these candidate reactions, whose rate coefficients have never been measured for the atmospheric conditions.

Nadir measurements of carbon monoxide distributions by the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer instrument onboard the Aura Spacecraft: Overview of analysis approach and examples of initial results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rinsland, Curtis P.; Luo, Ming; Logan, Jennifer A.; Beer, Reinhard; Worden, Helen; Kulawik, Susan S.; Rider, David; Osterman, Greg; Gunson, Michael; Eldering, Annmarie; Goldman, Aaron; Shephard, Mark; Clough, Shepard A.; Rodgers, Clive; Lampel, Michael; Chiou, Linda

2006-11-01

We provide an overview of the nadir measurements of carbon monoxide (CO) obtained thus far by the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES). The instrument is a high resolution array Fourier transform spectrometer designed to measure infrared spectral radiances from low Earth orbit. It is one of four instruments successfully launched onboard the Aura platform into a sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of 705 km on July 15, 2004 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Nadir spectra are recorded at 0.06-cm-1 spectral resolution with a nadir footprint of 5 × 8 km. We describe the TES retrieval approach for the analysis of the nadir measurements, report averaging kernels for typical tropical and polar ocean locations, characterize random and systematic errors for those locations, and describe instrument performance changes in the CO spectral region as a function of time. Sample maps of retrieved CO for the middle and upper troposphere from global surveys during December 2005 and April 2006 highlight the potential of the results for measurement and tracking of global pollution and determining air quality from space.

Association of ACE Gene I/D polymorphism with migraine in Kashmiri population.

PubMed

Wani, Irfan Yousuf; Sheikh, Saleem; Shah, Zafar Amin; Pandith, Arshid A; Wani, Mushtaq; Asimi, Ravouf; Wani, Maqbool; Sheikh, Shahnawaz; Mehraj, Iqra

2016-01-01

Migraine is a complex, recurrent headache disorder that is one of the most common complaints in neurology practice. The role of various genes in its pathogenesis is being studied. We did this study to see whether an association exists between ACE gene I/D polymorphism and migraine in our region. The study included 100 patients diagnosed with migraine and 121 healthy controls. The study subject were age and gender matched. The analysis was based on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and included following steps: DNA extraction from blood, PCR and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). Out of 100 cases, 69 were females and 31 were males. Fifty-seven were having migraine without aura and 43 had migraine with aura. 45 of the cases had II polymorphism, 40 had ID polymorphism and 15 had DD polymorphism in ACE gene. We were not able to find a statistically significant association between ACE gene I/D polymorphism with migraine. The reason for difference in results between our study and other studies could be because of different ethnicity in study populations. So a continuous research is needed in this regard in order to find the genes and different polymorphism that increase the susceptibility of Kashmiri population to migraine.

Bilateral sensory disturbance after cortical spreading depression revealed by fluorescence imaging of voltage-sensitive dye.

PubMed

Huang, Qin; Liu, Rui; Gui, Shen; Lu, Jinling; Li, Pengcheng

2018-03-07

Cortical spreading depression (CSD), a propagation wave of transient neuronal and glial depolarization followed by suppression of spontaneous brain activity, has been hypothesized to be the underlying mechanism of migraine aura and triggers the headache attack. Evidence from various animal models accumulates since its first discovery in 1944 and provides support for this hypothesis. In this paper, alterations of bilateral cortical responses are investigated in a mice migrainous model of CSD using voltage-sensitive dye imaging under hindlimb and cortical stimulation. After CSD induction in the right hemisphere, bilateral sensory responses evoked by left hindlimb stimulation dramatically decreases, whereas right hindlimb stimulation can still activate bilateral responses with an increased response of the left hemisphere and a well-preserved response of the right hemisphere. In addition, cortical neural excitability remains after CSD assessed by direct activation of the right hemisphere in spite of the sensory deficit under contralateral hindlimb stimulation. These results depict the sensory disturbance of bilateral hemispheres after CSD, which may be helpful in understanding how sensory disturbance occur during migraine aura. © 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Enhancement of yield, nutritional and nutraceutical properties of two common bean cultivars following the application of seaweed extract (Ecklonia maxima).

PubMed

Kocira, Anna; Świeca, Michał; Kocira, Sławomir; Złotek, Urszula; Jakubczyk, Anna

2018-03-01

In the present study, application of Ecklonia maxima extract (Kelpak SL - a water soluble concentrate) was optimized and its impact on yield, nutraceutical and nutritional potential of Phaseolus vulgaris L. (var. Aura and Toska) was measured. The study was carried out in 2012 and 2013 in Poland. During the growing season, 0.2% and 0.4% solution of Kelpak SL was applied by single and double spraying of plants. These four treatments with Kelpak SL were compared with the control, where no biostimulator was applied. Kelpak SL treatments stimulated the yield of both cultivars studied. The application of E. maxima extract had no effect on the content of starch, free sugars or proteins in seeds of either of the tested cultivars. The highest level of phenolics was found for double sprayed Toska plants. All the tested variants of Kelpak SL application significantly increased the content of anthocyanins in the seeds. Also, both the reducing power and antiradical ability of Aura seeds were elevated in all the studied treatments. E. maxima extract is a natural, environmentally friendly and safe preparation increasing the yield and nutraceutical quality of beans without any negative effect on their nutritional quality.

Headache classification: criticism and suggestions.

PubMed

Manzoni, G C; Torelli, P

2004-10-01

The International Classification of Headache Disorders 2nd Edition (ICHD-II), published in 2004, marks an unquestionable progress from the preceding 1988 edition, but the in-depth analysis it offers is not immune from drawbacks and shortcomings. First of all, it is still basically a classification of attacks and not of syndromes. For the migraine group, while the revised classification more accurately characterises migraine with aura, it fails to provide a sufficiently structured description of those forms of migraine without aura that over the years evolve to so-called daily chronic forms. These forms are not adequately recognised as chronic migraine, which ICHD-II includes among the complications of migraine. The inclusion of short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing (SUNCT) in the cluster headache group is bound to generate some perplexity, while the recognition of new daily persistent headache (NDPH) included in the group of other primary headaches as a separate clinical entity appears somewhat premature. Doubts are also raised by the actual existence of triptan-overuse headache, which ICHD-II includes in Group 8 among medication-overuse headaches. Finally, the addition of headache attributed to psychiatric disorder, which is certainly a good option in perspective, is not yet supported by an adequate systematisation.

The prevalence of vestibular symptoms in migraine or tension-type headache.

PubMed

Akdal, Gülden; Ozge, Aynur; Ergör, Gül

2013-01-01

We assessed frequency of vestibular symptoms in Headache Clinic patients over 10 years. A descriptive study of 5111 consecutive patients with tension-type headache or migraine, analyzed for dizziness/ vertigo accompanying headache and for a lifetime history of motion-sickness, cyclic vomiting, recurrent abdominal pain or atopy. Migraine patients were re-grouped as those with vestibular symptoms (dizziness/vertigo or motion sickness) and those without and their data then re-analyzed. There were 1880 migraine patients and 3231 tension-type headache patients. Significantly more migraine patients than tension-type headache patients experienced vestibular symptoms (p< 0.0001). The migraine with vestibular symptoms group was significantly younger (p< 0.05) had more aura, more phonophobia with migraine attacks (p< 0.0001). Menstruation and reported sleep problems impacted on headaches. While past history of cyclical vomiting, recurrent abdominal pain or atopy was about twice as common in migraine with aura and it was also more common in migraine with vestibular symptoms than migraine without vestibular symptoms. Vestibular symptoms are common in migraine patients. Migraine with vestibular symptoms might constitute a special group, one more likely to have had cyclic vomiting, recurrent abdominal pain or atopy.

Visualizing Uncertainty of Point Phenomena by Redesigned Error Ellipses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, Christian E.

2018-05-01

Visualizing uncertainty remains one of the great challenges in modern cartography. There is no overarching strategy to display the nature of uncertainty, as an effective and efficient visualization depends, besides on the spatial data feature type, heavily on the type of uncertainty. This work presents a design strategy to visualize uncertainty con-nected to point features. The error ellipse, well-known from mathematical statistics, is adapted to display the uncer-tainty of point information originating from spatial generalization. Modified designs of the error ellipse show the po-tential of quantitative and qualitative symbolization and simultaneous point based uncertainty symbolization. The user can intuitively depict the centers of gravity, the major orientation of the point arrays as well as estimate the ex-tents and possible spatial distributions of multiple point phenomena. The error ellipse represents uncertainty in an intuitive way, particularly suitable for laymen. Furthermore it is shown how applicable an adapted design of the er-ror ellipse is to display the uncertainty of point features originating from incomplete data. The suitability of the error ellipse to display the uncertainty of point information is demonstrated within two showcases: (1) the analysis of formations of association football players, and (2) uncertain positioning of events on maps for the media.

Visual-spatial abilities relate to mathematics achievement in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure

PubMed Central

Crocker, N.; Riley, E.P.; Mattson, S.N.

2014-01-01

Objective The current study examined the relationship between mathematics and attention, working memory, and visual memory in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure and controls. Method Fifty-six children (29 AE, 27 CON) were administered measures of global mathematics achievement (WRAT-3 Arithmetic & WISC-III Written Arithmetic), attention, (WISC-III Digit Span forward and Spatial Span forward), working memory (WISC-III Digit Span backward and Spatial Span backward), and visual memory (CANTAB Spatial Recognition Memory and Pattern Recognition Memory). The contribution of cognitive domains to mathematics achievement was analyzed using linear regression techniques. Attention, working memory and visual memory data were entered together on step 1 followed by group on step 2, and the interaction terms on step 3. Results Model 1 accounted for a significant amount of variance in both mathematics achievement measures, however, model fit improved with the addition of group on step 2. Significant predictors of mathematics achievement were Spatial Span forward and backward and Spatial Recognition Memory. Conclusions These findings suggest that deficits in spatial processing may be related to math impairments seen in FASD. In addition, prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with deficits in mathematics achievement, above and beyond the contribution of general cognitive abilities. PMID:25000323

Visual-spatial abilities relate to mathematics achievement in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure.

PubMed

Crocker, Nicole; Riley, Edward P; Mattson, Sarah N

2015-01-01

The current study examined the relationship between mathematics and attention, working memory, and visual memory in children with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure and controls. Subjects were 56 children (29 AE, 27 CON) who were administered measures of global mathematics achievement (WRAT-3 Arithmetic & WISC-III Written Arithmetic), attention, (WISC-III Digit Span forward and Spatial Span forward), working memory (WISC-III Digit Span backward and Spatial Span backward), and visual memory (CANTAB Spatial Recognition Memory and Pattern Recognition Memory). The contribution of cognitive domains to mathematics achievement was analyzed using linear regression techniques. Attention, working memory, and visual memory data were entered together on Step 1 followed by group on Step 2, and the interaction terms on Step 3. Model 1 accounted for a significant amount of variance in both mathematics achievement measures; however, model fit improved with the addition of group on Step 2. Significant predictors of mathematics achievement were Spatial Span forward and backward and Spatial Recognition Memory. These findings suggest that deficits in spatial processing may be related to math impairments seen in FASD. In addition, prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with deficits in mathematics achievement, above and beyond the contribution of general cognitive abilities. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Photorealistic 3D omni-directional stereo simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reiners, Dirk; Cruz-Neira, Carolina; Neumann, Carsten

2015-03-01

While a lot of areas in VR have made significant advances, visual rendering in VR is often not quite keeping up with the state of the art. There are many reasons for this, but one way to alleviate some of the issues is by using ray tracing instead of rasterization for image generation. Contrary to popular belief, ray tracing is a realistic, competitive technology nowadays. This paper looks at the pros and cons of using ray tracing and demonstrates the feasibility of employing it using the example of a helicopter flight simulator image generator.

Movement ecology of migration in turkey vultures

PubMed Central

Mandel, J. T.; Bildstein, K. L.; Bohrer, G.; Winkler, D. W.

2008-01-01

We develop individual-based movement ecology models (MEM) to explore turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) migration decisions at both hourly and daily scales. Vulture movements in 10 migration events were recorded with satellite-reporting GPS sensors, and flight behavior was observed visually, aided by on-the-ground VHF radio-tracking. We used the North American Regional Reanalysis dataset to obtain values for wind speed, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), and cloud height and used a digital elevation model for a measure of terrain ruggedness. A turkey vulture fitted with a heart-rate logger during 124 h of flight during 38 contiguous days showed only a small increase in mean heart rate as distance traveled per day increased, which suggests that, unlike flapping, soaring flight does not lead to greatly increased metabolic costs. Data from 10 migrations for 724 hourly segments and 152 daily segments showed that vultures depended heavily upon high levels of TKE in the atmospheric boundary layer to increase flight distances and maintain preferred bearings at both hourly and daily scales. We suggest how the MEM can be extended to other spatial and temporal scales of avian migration. Our success in relating model-derived atmospheric variables to migration indicates the potential of using regional reanalysis data, as here, and potentially other regional, higher-resolution, atmospheric models in predicting changing movement patterns of soaring birds under various scenarios of climate and land use change. PMID:19060195

Clinical impact of patent foramen ovale diagnosis with transcranial Doppler.

PubMed

Anzola, Gian Paolo

2002-11-01

The role of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in cryptogenic stroke is still debated, but from recent follow-up studies it seems that the amount of right-to-left shunt (RLS) and the association with atrial septal aneurysm (ASA) are major determinants of stroke recurrence. PFO and RLS through the atrial chambers have been recently studied in a number of conditions not or marginally related to cerebrovascular disease. Historically the first studies addressed the presence of RLS in scuba divers as a possible abnormality related to decompression sickness (DS) of unknown aetiology. Despite initial debate there is now robust evidence to claim that patency of foramen ovale increases the risk of developing DS by two and half to four times. Patients with PFO-related DS tend to have early occurrence of symptoms after surfacing and a clinical presentation that indicates brain or upper cervical spinal cord involvement. Recent reports suggest that divers with hemodynamically significant RLS may have an increased risk of developing clinically asymptomatic multiple brain lesions. PFO has been found in patients suffering from migraine with aura with approximately the same frequency as that encountered in cryptogenic stroke patients. This finding has prompted speculations on the possible role of RLS in increasing the stroke risk in migraineurs and in the pathophysiology of the aura. Recent reports showing that migraine with aura is dramatically improved after transcatheter closure of PFO suggest that migraine with aura may indeed be triggered by humoral factors that reach the brain by escaping the pulmonary filter. A RLS is involved in a rare condition known as platypnea-orthodeoxia and perhaps underlies an increased risk of cerebral complications after major orthopedic surgery. Valsalva-like activities often precede the occurrence of attacks of transient global amnesia (TGA) and abnormalities consistent with hypoperfusion of deep limbic structures have been reported during a typical TGA episode. This had raised the hypothesis that TGA may be triggered by paradoxical embolism of platelets aggregates in the posterior circulation, but the search for an increased frequency of PFO in TGA patients has yielded conflicting results. Conditions that determine an increase in pulmonary pressure may facilitate the opening of the virtual interatrial valve and thus promoting shunting of blood to the left heart chambers which in turn might contribute to further desaturation of arterial blood. It is therefore not surprising that RLS has been found in 70% of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and increased pulmonary pressure and in the same proportion of patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, a condition that ultimately may result in pulmonary hypertension. In conclusion, from the evidence gathered so far the picture is emerging of an important role of PFO in a number of non-stroke conditions, either as causative factor or as associated condition predisposing to complications. The availability of simple diagnostic techniques such as transcranial Doppler (TCD) to assess RLS will undoubtedly contribute a great deal of knowledge on the relevance in medicine of this hitherto neglected condition.

Cannabis-related episodic memory deficits and hippocampal morphological differences in healthy individuals and schizophrenia subjects.

PubMed

Smith, Matthew J; Cobia, Derin J; Reilly, James L; Gilman, Jodi M; Roberts, Andrea G; Alpert, Kathryn I; Wang, Lei; Breiter, Hans C; Csernansky, John G

2015-09-01

Cannabis use has been associated with episodic memory (EM) impairments and abnormal hippocampus morphology among both healthy individuals and schizophrenia subjects. Considering the hippocampus' role in EM, research is needed to evaluate the relationship between cannabis-related hippocampal morphology and EM among healthy and clinical groups. We examined differences in hippocampus morphology between control and schizophrenia subjects with and without a past (not current) cannabis use disorder (CUD). Subjects group-matched on demographics included 44 healthy controls (CON), 10 subjects with a CUD history (CON-CUD), 28 schizophrenia subjects with no history of substance use disorders (SCZ), and 15 schizophrenia subjects with a CUD history (SCZ-CUD). Large-deformation, high-dimensional brain mapping with MRI produced surface-based representations of the hippocampus that were compared across all four groups and correlated with EM and CUD history. Surface maps of the hippocampus were generated to visualize morphological differences. CON-CUD and SCZ-CUD were characterized by distinct cannabis-related hippocampal shape differences and parametric deficits in EM performance. Shape differences observed in CON-CUD were associated with poorer EM performance, while shape differences observed in SCZ-CUD were associated with a longer duration of CUD and shorter duration of CUD remission. A past history of CUD may be associated with notable differences in hippocampal morphology and EM impairments among adults with and without schizophrenia. Although the results may be compatible with a causal hypothesis, we must consider that the observed cannabis-related shape differences in the hippocampus could also be explained as biomarkers of a neurobiological susceptibility to poor memory or the effects of cannabis. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evaluating System Parameters on a Dragonfly using Simulation and Visualization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhatele, Abhinav; Jain, Nikhil; Livnat, Yarden

The dragon y topology is becoming a popular choice for build- ing high-radix, low-diameter networks with high-bandwidth links. Even with a powerful network, preliminary experi- ments on Edison at NERSC have shown that for communica- tion heavy applications, job interference and thus presumably job placement remains an important factor. In this paper, we explore the e ects of job placement, job sizes, parallel workloads and network con gurations on network through- put to better understand inter-job interference. We use a simulation tool called Damsel y to model the network be- havior of Edison and study the impact of various systemmore » parameters on network throughput. Parallel workloads based on ve representative communication patters are used and the simulation studies on up to 131,072 cores are aided by a new visualization of the dragon y network.« less

Role of concanavalin A lectin in recognition of pterygium remnant after surgical excision: Preliminary results of a prospective study

PubMed Central

Díaz-González, Juan A; Mayoral-Chávez, Miguel A; Bohórquez, Paulina Leyva; de la Torre, Ma. del Pilar Gabriel; Hernández-Cruz, Pedro; Martínez-Cruz, Ruth

2007-01-01

Background: Pterygium is one of the most common conjunctival diseases among ophthalmic pathologies. The frequency of recurrences is high, either after surgical treatment or after treatment combined with mitomycin C or beta-radiation therapy. Aims: The purpose of this study was to determine whether concanavalin A (ConA) lectin bound to the pterygial surface can be used to detect recurrence or remnants of pterygium after surgical excision. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study on 20 patients with pterygium, divided in five stages, pre-surgery, early post-surgery (24h), late post-surgery (seven days), very late post-surgery (four weeks) and two months after the procedure. A drop of fluorescein-marked Con A (35 µg/mL) was instilled in the lower conjunctival eyelid sac and the eye was exposed to the light of a Wood′s lamp for an average of five seconds. Results: Out of the 20 patients, eight patients were found to have fluorescent stretch marks over the scar corresponding to residual pterygial tissue at four weeks; two months after the procedure of re-surgery we observed no fluorescent remnants. All residual pterygia were confirmed through histochemistry studies. Conclusion: It was possible to detect remnants of pterygium in postoperative patients and recurrences in early pre-clinical stages through the visualization of fluorescent ConA bound to the pterygial surface. PMID:17699943

Effects of postexsanguination vascular infusion of cattle with a solution of saccharides, sodium chloride, phosphates, and vitamins C, E, or C+E on meat display-color stability.

PubMed

Yancey, E J; Hunt, M C; Dikeman, M E; Addis, P B; Katsanidis, E

2001-10-01

Grain-finished, high-percentage Charolais steers (n = 36) were selected for uniformity. Immediately after jugular vein exsanguination, 27 steers were infused at 10% of live weight via the carotid artery with a solution developed by MPSC, Inc. (St. Paul, MN) consisting of 98.52% water, 0.97% saccharides, 0.23% sodium chloride, and 0.28% phosphate blend plus either 500 ppm vitamin C (MPSC+C; n = 9), 500 ppm vitamin E (MPSC+E; n = 9), or 500 ppm vitamin C + 500 ppm vitamin E (MPSC+C+E; n = 9). Uninfused controls (CON) were exsanguinated conventionally. Carcasses were fabricated at 48 h postmortem. Longissimus thoracis (LT), psoas major (PM), and semimembranosus (SM) muscles were removed, vacuum-packaged, and stored at 2 degrees C until 14 d postmortem. Then, steaks 2.54 cm thick were sliced from the three muscles, placed on foam trays, and overwrapped with polyvinyl chloride film. Ground beef (GB) was formulated from the quadriceps femoris to contain 20% fat, mounded into 0.45-kg portions, placed on styrofoam trays, and wrapped with polyvinyl chloride film. Steaks were visually evaluated for uniformity and initial color on display d 0. Instrumental color measurements of L*, a*, b* and trained sensory panel color evaluations were obtained daily for 4 d (PM and GB) or 5 d (LT and SM) of display. No display time x treatment interaction existed for L*, a*, or b* values. The LT from CON cattle had more uniform color (P < 0.05) and was more cherry red than that from all infused cattle on d 0. Visual scores indicated that GB from MPSC+E cattle was more red (P < 0.05) than that from MPSC+C infused cattle throughout display, and GB from MPSC+E cattle was more red (P < 0.05) than that from CON cattle for the last 3 d of display. The vascular infusion solutions generally did not improve color or display-color stability of steaks, but the infusion solution with vitamin E did improve display-color stability of GB.

Looking and Seeing: The Play of Image and Word--The Wager of Art in the Technological Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lovekin, David

2012-01-01

This study began with a fascination for the enigma of American artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987). I began to collect his words. I had been intrigued by German philosopher, literary critic, and essayist Walter Benjamin's (1892-1940) philosophical snapshots and with the notion of an aura that could be pealed from objects by photography. And I was taken…

Atmospheric Chemistry Data Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

This presentation poster covers data products from the Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) of the Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data and Information Services Center (DISC). Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer products (TOMS) introduced in the presentation include TOMS Version 8 as well as Aura, which provides 25 years of TOMS and Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) data. The presentation lists a number of atmospheric chemistry and dynamics data sets at DAAC.

Global Gravity Wave Variances from Aura MLS: Characteristics and Interpretation

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

slight longitudinal variations, with secondary high- latitude peaks occurring over Greenland and Europe . As the QBO changes to the westerly phase, the...equatorial GW temperature variances from suborbital data (e.g., Eck- ermann et al. 1995). The extratropical wave variances are generally larger in the...emanating from tropopause altitudes, presumably radiated from tropospheric jet stream in- stabilities associated with baroclinic storm systems that

The Persistence of Erroneous Familiarity in an Epileptic Male: Challenging Perceptual Theories of Deja Vu Activation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Connor, Akira R.; Moulin, Christopher J. A.

2008-01-01

We report the case of a 39-year-old, temporal lobe epileptic male, MH. Prior to complex partial seizure, experienced up to three times a day, MH often experiences an aura experienced as a persistent sensation of deja vu. Data-driven theories of deja vu formation suggest that partial familiarity for the perceived stimulus is responsible for the…

Accessing Suomi NPP OMPS Products through the GES DISC Online Data Services

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, J.; Wei, J.; Gerasimov, I.; Vollmer, Bruce E.

2017-01-01

This presentation will provide an overview of the OMPS products available at the GES DISC archive, as well as demonstrate the various data services provided by the GES DISC. Since the TOMS, SBUV, and EOS Aura (OMI, MLS, HIRDLS) data products are also available from the GES DISC archive, these can be easily accessed and compared with the OMPS data.

Cost-effectiveness of osimertinib in the UK for advanced EGFR-T790M non-small cell lung cancer.

PubMed

Bertranou, Evelina; Bodnar, Carolyn; Dansk, Viktor; Greystoke, Alastair; Large, Samuel; Dyer, Matthew

2018-02-01

This study presents the cost-utility analysis that was developed to inform the NICE health technology assessment of osimertinib vs platinum-based doublet chemotherapy (PDC) in patients with EGFR-T790M mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have progressed on epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) therapy. A partitioned survival model with three health states (progression-free, progressed disease, and death) from a UK payer perspective and over lifetime (15 years) was developed. Direct costs included disease management, treatment-related (acquisition, administration, monitoring, adverse events), and T790M testing costs. Efficacy and safety data were taken from clinical trials AURA extension and AURA2 for osimertinib and IMPRESS for PDC. An adjusted indirect treatment comparison was applied to reduce the potential bias in the non-randomized comparison. Parametric functions were utilized to extrapolate survival beyond the observed period. Health state utility values were calculated from EQ-5D data collected in the trials and valued using UK tariffs. Resource use and costs were based on published sources. Osimertinib was associated with a gain of 1.541 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) at an incremental cost of £64,283 vs PDC (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio [ICER]: £41,705/QALY gained). Scenario analyses showed that none of the plausible scenarios produced an ICER above £44,000 per QALY gained, and probabilistic sensitivity analyses demonstrated a 63.4% probability that osimertinib will be cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of £50,000. The analysis is subject to some level of uncertainty inherent to phase 2 single-arm data and the immaturity of the currently available survival data for osimertinib. Osimertinib may be considered a cost-effective treatment option compared with PDC in the second-line setting in patients with EGFR-T790M mutation-positive NSCLC from a UK payer perspective. Further data from the ongoing AURA clinical trial program will reduce the inherent uncertainty in the analysis.

Dehydration, denitrification and ozone loss during the Arctic winter 2015/2016: Simulations with the Chemistry-Climate Model EMAC and comparison to Aura/MLS and GLORIA observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khosrawi, Farahnaz; Kirner, Oliver; Sinnhuber, Bjoern-Martin; Johansson, Sören; Höpfner, Michael; Santee, Michelle L.; Manney, Gloria; Froidevaux, Lucien; Ungermann, Jörn; Preusse, Peter; Friedl-Vallon, Felix; Ruhnke, Roland; Woiwode, Wolfgang; Oelhaf, Hermann; Braesicke, Peter

2017-04-01

The Arctic winter 2015/2016 has been one of the coldest stratospheric winters in recent years. A stable vortex formed already in early December and the early winter has been exceptionally cold. Cold pool temperatures dropped below the Nitric Acid Trihydrate (NAT) existence temperature, thus allowing Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs) to form. The low temperatures in the polar stratosphere persisted until early March allowing chlorine activation and catalytic ozone destruction. Satellite observations indicate that sedimentation of PSC particles have led to denitrification as well as dehydration of stratospheric layers. Nudged model simulations of the Arctic winter 2015/2016 were performed with the atmospheric chemistry-climate model ECHAM5/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) for the POLSTRACC (Polar Stratosphere in a Changing Climate) campaign. POLSTRACC was a HALO mission (High Altitude and LOng Range Research Aircraft) aiming on the investigation of the structure, composition and evolution of the Arctic Upper Troposphere Lower Stratosphere (UTLS). The chemical and physical processes involved in Arctic stratospheric ozone depletion, transport and mixing processes in the UTLS at high latitudes, polar stratospheric clouds as well as cirrus clouds were investigated. In this presentation, an overview of the chemistry and dynamics of the Arctic winter 2015/2016 as simulated with EMAC will be given. Chemical-dynamical processes such as denitrification, dehydration and ozone loss will be investigated. Comparisons to satellite observations by the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (Aura/MLS) as well as to airborne measurements with the Gimballed Limb Observer for Radiance Imaging of the Atmosphere (GLORIA) performed onboard of HALO during the POLSTRACC campaign show that the EMAC simulations are in good agreement with observations (differences generally within ±20%). However, larger differences between model and simulations are found e.g. in the areas of denitrification. Both, model simulations and observation show that in 2015/2016 ozone loss was quite strong, but not as strong as in 2010/2011 while denitrification and dehydration were so far the strongest in the Arctic stratosphere.

TES Carbon Monoxide Validation during the Two AVE Campaigns using the Argus and ALIAS Instruments on NASA's WB-57F

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lopez, Jinena P.; Luo, Ming; Christensen, Lance E.; Loewenstein, Max; Jost, Hansjurg; Webster, Christopher R.; Osterman, Greg

2008-01-01

The Aura Validation Experiment (AVE) focuses on validating Aura satellite measurements of important atmospheric trace gases using ground-based, aircraft, and balloon-borne instruments. Global satellite observations of CO from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) on the EOS Aura satellite have been ongoing since September 2004. This paper discusses CO validation experiments during the Oct-AVE (2004 Houston, Texas) and CR-AVE (2006 San Jose, Costa Rica) campaigns. The coincidences in location and time between the satellite observations and the available in situ profiles for some cases are not ideal. However, the CO distribution patterns in the two validation flight areas are shown to have very little variability in the aircraft and satellite . observations, thereby making them suitable for validation comparisons. TES CO profiles, which typically have a retrieval uncertainty of 10-20%, are compared with in situ CO measurements from NASA Ames Research Center's Argus instrument taken on board the WB-57F aircraft during Oct-AVE. TES CO retrievals during CR-AVE are compared with in situ measurements from Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Aircraft Laser Infrared Absorption Spectrometer (ALIAS) instrument as well as with the Argus instrument, both taken on board the WB-57F aircraft. During CR-AVE, the average overall difference between ALIAS and Argus CO was 4%, with the ALIAS measurement higher. During individual flights, 2-min time-averaged differences between the two in situ instruments had standard deviation of 14%. The TES averaging kernels and a priori constraint profiles for CO are applied to the in situ data for proper comparisons to account for the reduced vertical resolution and the influence of the a priori in the satellite-derived profile. In the TES sensitive pressure range, approx.700-200 hPa, the in situ profiles and TES profiles agree within 5-10%, less than the variability in CO distributions obtained by both TES and the aircraft instruments in the two regions. TES CO is slightly lower than in situ measurements in the Houston area (midlatitudes) and slightly higher than in situ CO measurements in the Costa Rica region (tropical).

A-Train Observations of Young Volcanic Eruption Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carn, S. A.; Prata, F.; Yang, K.; Rose, W. I.

2011-12-01

NASA's A-Train satellite constellation (including Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, and Aura) has been flying in formation since 2006, providing unprecedented synergistic observations of numerous volcanic eruption clouds in various stages of development. Measurements made by A-Train sensors include total column SO2 by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on Aura, upper tropospheric and stratospheric (UTLS) SO2 column by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on Aqua and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on Aura, ash mass loading from AIRS and the Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Aqua, UTLS HCl columns and ice water content (IWC) from MLS, aerosol vertical profiles from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument aboard CALIPSO, and hydrometeor profiles from the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) on CloudSat. The active vertical profiling capability of CALIPSO, CloudSat and MLS sychronized with synoptic passive sensing of trace gases and aerosols by OMI, AIRS and MODIS provides a unique perspective on the structure and composition of volcanic clouds. A-Train observations during the first hours of atmospheric residence are particularly valuable, as the fallout, segregation and stratification of material in this period determines the concentration and altitude of constituents that remain to be advected downwind. This represents the eruption 'source term' essential for dispersion modeling, and hence for aviation hazard mitigation. In this presentation we show examples of A-Train data collected during recent eruptions including Chaitén (May 2008), Kasatochi (August 2008), Redoubt (March 2009), Eyjafjallajökull (April 2010) and Cordón Caulle (June 2011). We interpret the observations using the canonical three-stage view of volcanic cloud development [e.g., Rose et al., 2000] from initial rapid ash fallout to far-field dispersion of fine ash, gas and aerosol, and results from numerical modeling of volcanic plumes [e.g., Textor et al., 2003] and discuss the degree to which the observations validate existing theory and models. We also describe plans for advanced SO2 and ash retrieval algorithms that will exploit the synergy between UV and IR sensors in the A-Train for improved quantification of ash and SO2 loading by volcanic eruptions.

The effects of folic acid and pyridoxine supplementation on characteristics of migraine attacks in migraine patients with aura: A double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled, clinical trial.

PubMed

Askari, Gholamreza; Nasiri, Morteza; Mozaffari-Khosravi, Hassan; Rezaie, Masod; Bagheri-Bidakhavidi, Mahdieh; Sadeghi, Omid

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of folic acid alone and in combination with pyridoxine on characteristics of migraine attacks in adult migraine patients with aura. This double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled, clinical trial was conducted on 95 migraine patients with aura (age range 18-65 y) in Isfahan, Islamic Republic of Iran, in 2014. Patients were randomly allocated to receive folic acid (5 mg/d) plus pyridoxine (80 mg/d) or folic acid alone (5 mg/d) or placebo (lactose) for 3 mo. Characteristics of migraine attacks including headache severity, attacks frequency, duration, and headache diary results (HDRs) were obtained for each patient at baseline and at the end of the study. Folic acid plus pyridoxine intake resulted in a significant decrease compared with placebo in headache severity (-2.71 ± 0.08 versus -2.19 ± 0.05; P < 0.001), attack frequency (-3.35 ± 0.09 versus -2.73 ± 0.05; P < 0.001), duration (-7.25 ± 0.17 versus -6.5 ± 0.07; P < 0.001), and HDR (-74.15 ± 0.2 versus -72.73 ± 0.1; P < 0.001). Additionally, the reduction in these characteristics of migraine attacks in the folic acid plus pyridoxine group was significant compared with the group given folic acid alone (P < 0.001). However, these beneficial effects of the combined supplement became nonsignificant for attack duration compared with the folic acid-only and placebo groups after controlling for confounders. Folic acid intake without pyridoxine did not lead to a significant decrease in characteristics of migraine attacks compared with placebo group. Supplementation of folic acid with pyridoxine could decrease the characteristics of migraine attacks including headache severity, attack frequency, and HDR; however, further studies are needed to shed light on the findings of the present study. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in an Italian cohort of pediatric headache patients: the tip of the iceberg.

PubMed

Dalla Libera, D; Colombo, B; Pavan, G; Comi, G

2014-05-01

The use of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) in paediatric populations is considerably increased, especially for pain and chronic conditions, as demonstrated by epidemiological surveys both in Europe and in the USA. In our study, CAM was used in 76 % patients of a cohort of 124 children affected by headache (age 4-16 years; 67 % female; 70 % migraine without aura, 12 % migraine with aura, 18 % tensive headache according to IHS criteria) consecutively recruited at a Pediatric Headache University Center. CAM was used as preventive treatment in 80 % cases. The main reasons for seeking CAM were: the wish of avoiding chronic use of drugs with their related side effects, the desire of an integrated approach, the reported inefficacy of conventional medicine, and a more suitable children disposition to CAM than to pharmacological compound. Female gender, younger age, migraine without aura, parents' higher educational status, maternal use of CAM and other associated chronic conditions, correlated with CAM use (p < 0.05). 73 % patients chose CAM also to treat other diseases (i.e. allergies, colitis, asthma, insomnia, muscle-scheletric disorders and dysmenorrhoea). The most assumed CAM were: herbal remedies (64 %) such as Valeriana, Ginkgo biloba, Boswellia serrata, Vitex agnus-castus, passion flower, Linden tree; vitamins/minerals supplements (40 %) with magnesium, 5-Hydroxytryptophan, vitamin B6 or B12, Multivitamin compounds; Homeopathy (47 %) with Silicea, Ignatia Amara, Pulsatilla, Aconitum, Nux Vomica, Calcarea phosphorica; physical treatment (45 %) such as Ayurvedic massage, shiatsu, osteopathy; yoga (33 %); acupuncture (11 %). CAM-often integrated with conventional care-was auto-prescribed in 30 % of the cases, suggested by non-physician in 22 %, by the General Practitioner in 24 % and by paediatrician in 24 %. Both general practitioners and neurologists were mostly unaware of their patients' CAM use. In conclusion, neurologists should inquire for CAM use and be prepared to learn about CAM therapies or to directly interact with CAM trained experts, in order to coordinate an integrative approach to health, as especially required in paediatric headache patients and their parents. Further studies are required to investigate safety and efficacy of CAM in pediatric headache, as a possible side-medicine to conventional pharmacological approach.

Phenomenology of hallucinations, illusions, and delusions as part of seizure semiology.

PubMed

Kasper, B S; Kasper, E M; Pauli, E; Stefan, H

2010-05-01

In partial epilepsy, a localized hypersynchronous neuronal discharge evolving into a partial seizure affecting a particular cortical region or cerebral subsystem can give rise to subjective symptoms, which are perceived by the affected person only, that is, ictal hallucinations, illusions, or delusions. When forming the beginning of a symptom sequence leading to impairment of consciousness and/or a classic generalized seizure, these phenomena are referred to as an epileptic aura, but they also occur in isolation. They often manifest in the fully awake state, as part of simple partial seizures, but they also can be associated to different degrees of disturbed consciousness. Initial ictal symptoms often are closely related to the physiological functions of the cortical circuit involved and, therefore, can provide localizing information. When brain regions related to sensory integration are involved, the seizure discharge can cause specific kinds of hallucinations, for example, visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, and cutaneous sensory sensations. In addition to these elementary sensory perceptions, quite complex hallucinations related to a partial seizure can arise, for example, perception of visual scenes or hearing music. By involving psychic and emotional spheres of human perception, many seizures also give rise to hallucinatory emotional states (e.g., fear or happiness) or even more complex hallucinations (e.g., visuospatial phenomena), illusions (e.g., déjà vu, out-of-body experience), or delusional beliefs (e.g., identity change) that often are not easily recognized as epileptic. Here we suggest a classification into elementary sensory, complex sensory, and complex integratory seizure symptoms. Epileptic hallucinations, illusions, and delusions shine interesting light on the physiology and functional anatomy of brain regions involved and their functions in the human being. This article, in which 10 cases are described, introduces the fascinating phenomenology of subjective seizure symptoms. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Performance, Agility and Cost of Cloud Computing Services for NASA GES DISC Giovanni Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pham, L.; Chen, A.; Wharton, S.; Winter, E. L.; Lynnes, C.

2013-12-01

The NASA Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) is investigating the performance, agility and cost of Cloud computing for GES DISC applications. Giovanni (Geospatial Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure), one of the core applications at the GES DISC for online climate-related Earth science data access, subsetting, analysis, visualization, and downloading, was used to evaluate the feasibility and effort of porting an application to the Amazon Cloud Services platform. The performance and the cost of running Giovanni on the Amazon Cloud were compared to similar parameters for the GES DISC local operational system. A Giovanni Time-Series analysis of aerosol absorption optical depth (388nm) from OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument)/Aura was selected for these comparisons. All required data were pre-cached in both the Cloud and local system to avoid data transfer delays. The 3-, 6-, 12-, and 24-month data were used for analysis on the Cloud and local system respectively, and the processing times for the analysis were used to evaluate system performance. To investigate application agility, Giovanni was installed and tested on multiple Cloud platforms. The cost of using a Cloud computing platform mainly consists of: computing, storage, data requests, and data transfer in/out. The Cloud computing cost is calculated based on the hourly rate, and the storage cost is calculated based on the rate of Gigabytes per month. Cost for incoming data transfer is free, and for data transfer out, the cost is based on the rate in Gigabytes. The costs for a local server system consist of buying hardware/software, system maintenance/updating, and operating cost. The results showed that the Cloud platform had a 38% better performance and cost 36% less than the local system. This investigation shows the potential of cloud computing to increase system performance and lower the overall cost of system management.

[Not Available].

PubMed

De Abajo Larriba, Ana Beatriz; Díaz Rodríguez, Ángel; González-Gallego, Javier; Méndez Rodríguez, Enrique; Álvarez Álvarez, María Jesús; Capón Álvarez, Jessica; Peleteiro Cobo, Beatriz; Mahmoud Atoui, Omar; De Abajo Olea, Serafín; Martínez de Mandojana Hernández, Juan

2016-07-19

Introducción: estimar la prevalencia del tabaquismo y analizar cómo se diagnostican y se trata a los fumadores diagnosticados de EPOC.Métodos: estudio epidemiológico, transversal, multicéntrico (30 centros salud de la provincia de León). Incluyó pacientes mayores de 35 años diagnosticados y tratados de EPOC. Variables analizadas: edad, sexo, hábitat, datos antropométricos, tabaquismo, número de paquetes/año, cooximetría, dependencia (escala analógico-visual), motivación (test de Fagerström), autoeficacia, estado anímico, intentos previos, terapia cognitivo-conductual, tratamiento farmacológico (TSN, bupropión, vareniclina) y recaídas. Los resultados se expresan con sus IC al 95,5%.Resultados: se incluyó a 833 pacientes, el 85,8% varones, edad media: 64,69 (53,66-75,61) años y 20,65 (4,47-36,8) años de evolución de la EPOC. El 86,67% (80,30-93,30) tenían antecedentes de tabaquismo (n = 722), de 35,26 (17,87-52,64) años de evolución, con consumo medio 28,36 (9,60-46,86) paquetes año, p < 0,001, siendo el 58% fumadores severos. El 57,4% (53,90-60,60) son exfumadores. El 29,3% (26,40-32,70) fumadores activos declarados vs. 35,11% (33,90-37,12) fumadores diagnosticados por cooximetría p < 0,05. Los 288 fumadores activos, presentaban baja motivación (49,80%), alta dependencia (49,5%), actitud negativa (52,60%), bajo estado de ánimo (32,05%), con 2,72 (1,74-3,67) intentos para dejar de fumar, p < 0,0001. La terapia conductivo-conductual (TCC) combinado con tratamiento farmacológico se realizó en el 55,8% (52,2-54,9), p < 0,05; La intervención más efectiva fue TCC combinada con vareniclina logrando una abstinencia del 29,86%. En total dejaron de fumar un 51,05% (49,49-52,70) de los pacientes con EPOC, p < 0,001.Conclusiones: la prevalencia de tabaquismo en la EPOC en nuestro medio continúa siendo inadmisiblemente elevada. Es necesaria una mayor implicación para disminuir su impacto en la salud de estos pacientes.

Operational Collision Avoidance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guit, Bill

2015-01-01

This presentation will describe the early days of the EOS Aqua and Aura operational collision avoidance process. It will highlight EOS debris avoidance maneuvers, EOS high interest event statistic and A-Train systematic conjunctions and conclude with future challenges. This is related to earlier e-DAA (tracking number 21692) that an abstract was submitted to a different conference. Eric Moyer, ESMO Deputy Project Manager has reviewed and approved this presentation on May 6, 2015

Correction to: Malachite Green and Crystal Violet Decolorization by Ganoderma lucidum and Pleurotus ostreatus Supernatant and by rGlLCC1 and rPOXA 1B Concentrates: Molecular Docking Analysis.

PubMed

Morales-Álvarez, Edwin D; Rivera-Hoyos, Claudia M; Poveda-Cuevas, Sergio A; Reyes-Guzmán, Edwin A; Pedroza-Rodríguez, Aura M; Reyes-Montaño, Edgar A; Poutou-Piñales, Raúl A

2017-12-01

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The replacement image of Fig. 4 provided by the first corresponding author, Aura M. Pedroza-Rodríguez, is incorrect and that the originally submitted Fig. 4 should have been retained. The original article has been corrected.

NASA Global Hawk Project Update and Future Plans: A New Tool for Earth Science Research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Naftel, Chris

2009-01-01

Science objectives include: First demonstration of the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for NASA and NOAA Earth science research and applications; Validation of instruments on-board the Aura satellite; Exploration of trace gases, aerosols, and dynamics of remote upper Troposphere/lower Stratosphere regions; Sample polar vortex fragments and atmospheric rivers; Risk reduction for future missions that will study hurricanes and atmospheric rivers.

Correlation among Cirrus Ice Content, Water Vapor and Temperature in the TTL as Observed by CALIPSO and Aura-MLS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Flury, T.; Wu, D. L.; Read, W. G.

2012-01-01

Water vapor in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) has a local radiative cooling effect. As a source for ice in cirrus clouds, however, it can also indirectly produce infrared heating. Using NASA A-Train satellite measurements of CALIPSO and Aura/MLS we calculated the correlation of water vapor, ice water content and temperature in the TTL. We find that temperature strongly controls water vapor (correlation r =0.94) and cirrus clouds at 100 hPa (r = -0.91). Moreover we observe that the cirrus seasonal cycle is highly (r =-0.9) anticorrelated with the water vapor variation in the TTL, showing higher cloud occurrence during December-January-February. We further investigate the anticorrelation on a regional scale and find that the strong anticorrelation occurs generally in the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone). The seasonal cycle of the cirrus ice water content is also highly anticorrelated to water vapor (r = -0.91) and our results support the hypothesis that the total water at 100 hPa is roughly constant. Temperature acts as a main regulator for balancing the partition between water vapor and cirrus clouds. Thus, to a large extent, the depleting water vapor in the TTL during DJF is a manifestation of cirrus formation.

Cortical Spreading Depression Causes Unique Dysregulation of Inflammatory Pathways in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Migraine.

PubMed

Eising, Else; Shyti, Reinald; 't Hoen, Peter A C; Vijfhuizen, Lisanne S; Huisman, Sjoerd M H; Broos, Ludo A M; Mahfouz, Ahmed; Reinders, Marcel J T; Ferrari, Michel D; Tolner, Else A; de Vries, Boukje; van den Maagdenberg, Arn M J M

2017-05-01

Familial hemiplegic migraine type 1 (FHM1) is a rare monogenic subtype of migraine with aura caused by mutations in CACNA1A that encodes the α 1A subunit of voltage-gated Ca V 2.1 calcium channels. Transgenic knock-in mice that carry the human FHM1 R192Q missense mutation ('FHM1 R192Q mice') exhibit an increased susceptibility to cortical spreading depression (CSD), the mechanism underlying migraine aura. Here, we analysed gene expression profiles from isolated cortical tissue of FHM1 R192Q mice 24 h after experimentally induced CSD in order to identify molecular pathways affected by CSD. Gene expression profiles were generated using deep serial analysis of gene expression sequencing. Our data reveal a signature of inflammatory signalling upon CSD in the cortex of both mutant and wild-type mice. However, only in the brains of FHM1 R192Q mice specific genes are up-regulated in response to CSD that are implicated in interferon-related inflammatory signalling. Our findings show that CSD modulates inflammatory processes in both wild-type and mutant brains, but that an additional unique inflammatory signature becomes expressed after CSD in a relevant mouse model of migraine.

Earth's UV Reflectivity Data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on EOS-Aura

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larko, D. E.; Mao, J.; Herman, J. R.; Huang, L.; Qin, W.; Labow, G. J.; Lloyd, S. A.; DeLand, M. T.

2011-12-01

The Lambert Equivalent Reflectivity (LER), derived from satellite ultraviolet (UV) radiance measurements, represents the equivalent scene reflectivity of the Earth's surface and atmosphere without Rayleigh scattering. It provides a better opportunity to quantify variations of the planetary reflectance and albedo associated with snow/ice, atmospheric aerosols and clouds, since UV reflectance is very low over most land surfaces and water. LER values at 340 nm from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on EOS-Aura have been generated as a new product from the OMI TO3 ozone retrieval algorithm and provided to users in HDF format. The wide field of view of OMI (~2200 km) provides complete global coverage every day with 13 km x 24 km resolution at nadir. These data are then mapped to 1 degree x 1 degree latitude-longitude grid as daily and monthly means for weather and climate studies. The OMI LER data set has been used to validate other UV LER data sets from NOAA and NASA polar orbiting satellites, and has been combined with these data sets to construct a continuous long-term data record of terrestrial UV reflectivity. This paper will present details about the data processing and format of the OMI LER product. Applications of this data set in global climate studies will be demonstrated and discussed in this presentation.

The Response of Lower Atmospheric Ozone to ENSO in Aura Measurements and a Chemistry-Climate Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oman, L. D.; Douglass, A. R.; Ziemke, J. R.; Rodriquez, J. M.; Waugh, D. W.; Nielsen, J. E.

2012-01-01

The El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the dominant mode of tropical variability on interannual time scales. ENSO appears to extend its influence into the chemical composition of the tropical troposphere. Recent work has revealed an ENSO-induced wave-1 anomaly in observed tropical tropospheric column ozone. This results in a dipole over the western and eastern tropical Pacific, whereby differencing the two regions produces an ozone anomaly with an extremely high correlation to the Nino 3.4 Index. We have successfully reproduced this feature using the Goddard Earth Observing System Version 5 (GEOS-5) general circulation model coupled to a comprehensive stratospheric and tropospheric chemical mechanism forced with observed sea surface temperatures over the past 25 years. An examination of the modeled ozone field reveals the vertical contributions of tropospheric ozone to the column over the western and eastern Pacific region. We will show composition sensitivity in observations from NASA s Aura satellite Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) and the Tropospheric Emissions Spectrometer (TES) and a simulation to provide insight into the vertical structure of these ENSO-induced ozone changes. The ozone changes due to the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) in the extra-polar upper troposphere and lower stratosphere in MLS measurements will also be discussed.

Next Generation Aura-OMI SO2 Retrieval Algorithm: Introduction and Implementation Status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Li, Can; Joiner, Joanna; Krotkov, Nickolay A.; Bhartia, Pawan K.

2014-01-01

We introduce our next generation algorithm to retrieve SO2 using radiance measurements from the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). We employ a principal component analysis technique to analyze OMI radiance spectral in 310.5-340 nm acquired over regions with no significant SO2. The resulting principal components (PCs) capture radiance variability caused by both physical processes (e.g., Rayleigh and Raman scattering, and ozone absorption) and measurement artifacts, enabling us to account for these various interferences in SO2 retrievals. By fitting these PCs along with SO2 Jacobians calculated with a radiative transfer model to OMI-measured radiance spectra, we directly estimate SO2 vertical column density in one step. As compared with the previous generation operational OMSO2 PBL (Planetary Boundary Layer) SO2 product, our new algorithm greatly reduces unphysical biases and decreases the noise by a factor of two, providing greater sensitivity to anthropogenic emissions. The new algorithm is fast, eliminates the need for instrument-specific radiance correction schemes, and can be easily adapted to other sensors. These attributes make it a promising technique for producing long-term, consistent SO2 records for air quality and climate research. We have operationally implemented this new algorithm on OMI SIPS for producing the new generation standard OMI SO2 products.

To close or not to close: contemporary indications for patent foramen ovale closure.

PubMed

Zier, Lucas S; Sievert, Horst; Mahadevan, Vaikom S

2016-11-01

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a common congenital cardiac abnormality and that has been associated with several disease processes including transient ischemic attacks (TIA), stroke, migraine headaches with aura, decompression sickness, platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome, and shunt induced cyanosis. Controversy exists regarding closure of PFO as a therapeutic treatment modality for these disease processes. This review addresses the contemporary clinical indications for PFO closure. Areas covered: We conducted a comprehensive literature search of contemporary research studies focusing on randomized trials and meta-analyses comparing medical therapy and device closure of PFOs for the treatment of PFO associated clinical syndromes. We synthesized this literature into a review addressing indications for PFO closure in stroke, TIA, migraine headaches with aura, decompression sickness, platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome, and shunt induced cyanosis. Expert commentary: Because in many PFO associated conditions it can be difficult to determine the degree to which the PFO is a causative factor in the disease process, we recommend a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation to exclude other obvious etiologies of PFO associated conditions before implicating the PFO and proceeding with closure. However in the properly selected patient population there is growing clinical experience and experimental evidence suggesting that closure of PFO is a safe and effective treatment modality.

Negative Emotions in Migraineurs Dreams: The Increased Prevalence of Oneiric Fear and Anguish, Unrelated to Mood Disorders

PubMed Central

De Angeli, F.; Lovati, C.; Giani, L.; Mariotti D'Alessandro, C.; Raimondi, E.; Scaglione, V.; Castoldi, D.; Capiluppi, E.; Mariani, C.

2014-01-01

Background. Migraineurs brain has shown some functional peculiarities that reflect not only in phonophobia, and photophobia, but also in mood and sleep. Dreaming is a universal mental state characterized by hallucinatory features in which imagery, emotion, motor skills, and memory are created de novo. We evaluated dream contents and associated emotions in migraineurs. Materials and Methods. 412 subjects: 219 controls; and 148 migraineurs (66 with aura, MA; 82 without aura, MO), and 45 tension type headache patients (TTH). A semistructured retrospective self-reported questionnaire was used to evaluate dreams. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (GAD-7), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were administered to evaluate anxiety and depression. Results. Migraineurs showed increased levels of anxiety (P = 0.0002 for MA versus controls, P = 0.004 for MO versus controls). Fear and anguish during dreaming were more frequently reported by migraine patients compared to controls, independently by anxiety and depression scores. Discussion. The brain of migraineurs seems to dream with some peculiar features, all with a negative connotation, as fear and anguish. It may be due to the recorded negative sensations induced by recurrent migraine pain, but it may just reflect a peculiar attitude of the mesolimbic structures of migraineurs brain, activated in both dreaming and migraine attacks. PMID:25049452

Aura Microwave Limb Sounder Observations of Dynamics and Transport During the Record-Breaking 2009 Arctic Stratospheric Major Warming

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Manney, Gloria L.; Schwartz, Michael J.; Krueger, Kirstin; Santee, Michelle L.; Pawson, Steven; Lee, Jae N.; Daffer, William H.; Fuller, Ryan A.; Livesey, Nathaniel J.

2009-01-01

A major stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) in January 2009 was the strongest and most prolonged on record. Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) observations are used to provide an overview of dynamics and transport during the 2009 SSW, and to compare with the intense, long-lasting SSW in January 2006. The Arctic polar vortex split during the 2009 SSW, whereas the 2006 SSW was a vortex displacement event. Winds reversed to easterly more rapidly and reverted to westerly more slowly in 2009 than in 2006. More mixing of trace gases out of the vortex during the decay of the vortex fragments, and less before the fulfillment of major SSW criteria, was seen in 2009 than in 2006; persistent well-defined fragments of vortex and anticyclone air were more prevalent in 2009. The 2009 SSW had a more profound impact on the lower stratosphere than any previously observed SSW, with no significant recovery of the vortex in that region. The stratopause breakdown and subsequent reformation at very high altitude, accompanied by enhanced descent into a rapidly strengthening upper stratospheric vortex, were similar in 2009 and 2006. Many differences between 2006 and 2009 appear to be related to the different character of the SSWs in the two years.

Observational Diagnoses of Extratropical Ozone STE During the Aura Era

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olsen, Mark A.; Douglass, Anne R.; Witte, Jacquie C.; Kaplan, Trevor B.

2011-01-01

The transport of ozone from the stratosphere to the extratropical troposphere is an important boundary condition to tropospheric chemistry. However, previous direct estimates from models and indirect estimates from observations have poorly constrained the magnitude of ozone stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE). In this study we provide a direct diagnosis of the extratropical ozone STE using data from the Microwave Limb Sounder on Aura and output of the MERRA reanalysis over the time period from 2005 to the present. We find that the mean annual STE is about 275 Tg/yr and 205 Tg/yr in the NH and SH, respectively. The interannual variability of the magnitude is about twice as great in the NH than the SH. We find that this variability is dominated by the seasonal variability during the late winter and spring. A comparison of the ozone flux to the mass flux reveals that there is not a simple relationship between the two quantities. This presentation will also examine the magnitude and distribution of ozone in the lower stratosphere relative to the years of maximum and minimum ozone STE. Finally, we will examine any possible signature of increased ozone STE in the troposphere using sonde and tropospheric ozone residual (TOR) data, and output from the Global Modeling Initiative Chemistry Transport Model (GMI CTM).

Environmental drivers of variability in the movement ecology of turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) in North and South America.

PubMed

Dodge, Somayeh; Bohrer, Gil; Bildstein, Keith; Davidson, Sarah C; Weinzierl, Rolf; Bechard, Marc J; Barber, David; Kays, Roland; Brandes, David; Han, Jiawei; Wikelski, Martin

2014-01-01

Variation is key to the adaptability of species and their ability to survive changes to the Earth's climate and habitats. Plasticity in movement strategies allows a species to better track spatial dynamics of habitat quality. We describe the mechanisms that shape the movement of a long-distance migrant bird (turkey vulture, Cathartes aura) across two continents using satellite tracking coupled with remote-sensing science. Using nearly 10 years of data from 24 satellite-tracked vultures in four distinct populations, we describe an enormous amount of variation in their movement patterns. We related vulture movement to environmental conditions and found important correlations explaining how far they need to move to find food (indexed by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and how fast they can move based on the prevalence of thermals and temperature. We conclude that the extensive variability in the movement ecology of turkey vultures, facilitated by their energetically efficient thermal soaring, suggests that this species is likely to do well across periods of modest climate change. The large scale and sample sizes needed for such analysis in a widespread migrant emphasizes the need for integrated and collaborative efforts to obtain tracking data and for policies, tools and open datasets to encourage such collaborations and data sharing.

Recent Advances in Ozone Data Assimilation at the GMAO - Towards a New Reanalysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krzysztof, Wargan; Pawson, S.; Nielsen, J. E.; Witte, J.; Douglass, A.; Strahan, S.; Joiner, J.; Bhartia, P. K.; Livesey, N.; Read, W.;

Visualizing Simulated Electrical Fields from Electroencephalography and Transcranial Electric Brain Stimulation: A Comparative Evaluation

PubMed Central

Eichelbaum, Sebastian; Dannhauer, Moritz; Hlawitschka, Mario; Brooks, Dana; Knösche, Thomas R.; Scheuermann, Gerik

2014-01-01

Electrical activity of neuronal populations is a crucial aspect of brain activity. This activity is not measured directly but recorded as electrical potential changes using head surface electrodes (electroencephalogram - EEG). Head surface electrodes can also be deployed to inject electrical currents in order to modulate brain activity (transcranial electric stimulation techniques) for therapeutic and neuroscientific purposes. In electroencephalography and noninvasive electric brain stimulation, electrical fields mediate between electrical signal sources and regions of interest (ROI). These fields can be very complicated in structure, and are influenced in a complex way by the conductivity profile of the human head. Visualization techniques play a central role to grasp the nature of those fields because such techniques allow for an effective conveyance of complex data and enable quick qualitative and quantitative assessments. The examination of volume conduction effects of particular head model parameterizations (e.g., skull thickness and layering), of brain anomalies (e.g., holes in the skull, tumors), location and extent of active brain areas (e.g., high concentrations of current densities) and around current injecting electrodes can be investigated using visualization. Here, we evaluate a number of widely used visualization techniques, based on either the potential distribution or on the current-flow. In particular, we focus on the extractability of quantitative and qualitative information from the obtained images, their effective integration of anatomical context information, and their interaction. We present illustrative examples from clinically and neuroscientifically relevant cases and discuss the pros and cons of the various visualization techniques. PMID:24821532

BY POPULAR DEMAND: HUBBLE OBSERVES THE HORSEHEAD NEBULA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Rising from a sea of dust and gas like a giant seahorse, the Horsehead nebula is one of the most photographed objects in the sky. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took a close-up look at this heavenly icon, revealing the cloud's intricate structure. This detailed view of the horse's head is being released to celebrate the orbiting observatory's eleventh anniversary. Produced by the Hubble Heritage Project, this picture is a testament to the Horsehead's popularity. Internet voters selected this object for the orbiting telescope to view. The Horsehead, also known as Barnard 33, is a cold, dark cloud of gas and dust, silhouetted against the bright nebula, IC 434. The bright area at the top left edge is a young star still embedded in its nursery of gas and dust. But radiation from this hot star is eroding the stellar nursery. The top of the nebula also is being sculpted by radiation from a massive star located out of Hubble's field of view. Only by chance does the nebula roughly resemble the head of a horse. Its unusual shape was first discovered on a photographic plate in the late 1800s. Located in the constellation Orion, the Horsehead is a cousin of the famous pillars of dust and gas known as the Eagle nebula. Both tower-like nebulas are cocoons of young stars. The Horsehead nebula lies just south of the bright star Zeta Orionis, which is easily visible to the unaided eye as the left-hand star in the line of three that form Orion's Belt. Amateur astronomers often use the Horsehead as a test of their observing skills; it is known as one of the more difficult objects to see visually in an amateur-sized telescope. The magnificent extent of the Horsehead is best appreciated in a new wide-field image of the nebula being released today by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, taken by Travis Rector with the National Science Foundation's 0.9 meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, AZ. This popular celestial target was the clear winner among more than 5,000 Internet voters, who were asked last year to select an astronomical target for the Hubble telescope to observe. The voters included students, teachers, and professional and amateur astronomers. This 11th anniversary release image was composed by the Hubble Heritage Team, which superimposed Hubble data onto ground-based data (limited to small triangular regions around the outer edge of the image). Ground-based image courtesy of Nigel A. Sharp (NOAO/AURA/NSF) taken at the 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. Image Credit: NASA, NOAO, ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: K. Noll (Hubble Heritage PI/STScI), C. Luginbuhl (USNO), F. Hamilton (Hubble Heritage/STScI)

The analysis of a complex fire event using multispaceborne observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrei, Simona; Carstea, Emil; Marmureanu, Luminita; Ene, Dragos; Binietoglou, Ioannis; Nicolae, Doina; Konsta, Dimitra; Amiridis, Vassilis; Proestakis, Emmanouil

2018-04-01

This study documents a complex fire event that occurred on October 2016, in Middle East belligerent area. Two fire outbreaks were detected by different spacecraft monitoring instruments on board of TERRA, CALIPSO and AURA Earth Observation missions. Link with local weather conditions was examined using ERA Interim Reanalysis and CAMS datasets. The detection of the event by multiple sensors enabled a detailed characterization of fires and the comparison with different observational data.

What If You Ran Your Bookstore Like a Library? The Troubled Book Business Can Learn from Libraries' Willingness to Share

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fister, Barbara

2008-01-01

Ten years ago, stories like "B&N: The New College Library" (LJ 2/1/98) and "What If You Ran Your Library Like a Bookstore?" (American Libraries, 3/98) kicked up a controversy about the viability of libraries. Ironically, these days it's the book business that has an aura of crisis and gloom, while visits to libraries are surging. Over two billion…

The Experience of Soviet Medicine in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945,

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-02-06

mainly during shock/counterblow of brain against the contradictory/opposite walls of skull. Subliminal stimulations cause system resFonse of IX-X nerve...the same effect was cbtained during the stimulation of external auditory passage and muccsa of ncse. Vith sharp pressure to the region of the inguinal...zone of stimulation are invclved the centers cf tespcral region in combination with vestibular, auditory or gustatory aura. At the same time the

The MAGTF’s Reliance on the Global Positioning System: A Critical Vulnerability

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-05-02

Reference&ItemId=+++1 499015&Pubabbrev=JC4IJ 45 “AURA Mobile Communications GPS/ WiFi Jammer”, Jane’s Police and Homeland Security Equipment, last...securityaffairs.co/wordpress/2845/ hacking /gps-spoofing- old-threat-and-new-problems.html 52“GPS Spoofing, Old Threat and New Problems”, Pierluigi...Paganini, Security Affairs, last modified February 23, 2012, http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/2845/ hacking /gps-spoofing- old-threat-and-new

Visiting Astronomer's Guide | SOAR

Science.gov Websites

Water Drinking water is safe at all the AURA-O facilities (La Serena, Tololo and Pachón). Elsewhere in VPN in order to access the Night Reports. Transportation from La Serena to Pachón and back SOAR trip from the La Serena offices to Cerro Pachón is about 1h45m. Please note that the carryall passes

Site Description | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Preserving the Dark Skies La Oficina de Protección de la Calidad del Cielo del Norte de Chile - OPCC Light view Cerro Pachón CTIO/AURA La Serena Facilities The "El Totoral" Reserve, Cerro Tololo and . back to top Sky Brightness over Cerro Pachón and Cerro Tololo Light pollution from nearby cities (La

Three-dimensional motor schema based navigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arkin, Ronald C.

1989-01-01

Reactive schema-based navigation is possible in space domains by extending the methods developed for ground-based navigation found within the Autonomous Robot Architecture (AuRA). Reformulation of two dimensional motor schemas for three dimensional applications is a straightforward process. The manifold advantages of schema-based control persist, including modular development, amenability to distributed processing, and responsiveness to environmental sensing. Simulation results show the feasibility of this methodology for space docking operations in a cluttered work area.

EOS MLS Lessons Learned: Design Ideas for Safer and Lower Cost Operations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Dominick

2012-01-01

The Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) is a complex instrument with a front end computer and 32 subsystem computers. MLS is one of four instruments on NASA's EOS Aura spacecraft With almost 8 years in orbit, MLS has a few lessons learned which can be applied during the design phase of future instruments to effect better longevity, more robust operations and a significant cost benefit during operations phase.

Effect of dietary carotenoids on vitamin A status and skin pigmentation in false tomato frogs (Dyscophus guineti).

PubMed

Brenes-Soto, Andrea; Dierenfeld, Ellen S

2014-01-01

Several species in captivity develop nutritional diseases including vitamin A deficiency; cases of this disease have been documented in amphibians, which may be linked to an insectivorous diet lacking in vitamin A or carotenoids. Adults and young of Dyscophus guineti were fed three diets over 9 weeks to evaluate effects on carotenoids and vitamin A status and skin pigmentation. Feeder crickets were either supplemented with soy oil (control, CON), soy oil enriched with β-carotene (BC) or mixed carotenoids (MIX) by direct injection of known dosages. Vitamin A from feeder crickets (measured as retinol) was higher in insects supplemented with both BC and MIX; (P=0.0001) and plasma retinol concentrations were significantly higher in frogs fed MIX (P<0.02). Results suggest that both false tomato frogs and feeder crickets could receive some provitamin A activity through consumption of diets supplemented with β-carotene, and xanthophylls like lutein and zeaxanthin. Pigmentation was evaluated weekly through the use of visual color charts, as well as quantitatively using a hand-held spectrophotometer. MIX diets had a significant effect on skin color values (P<0.0001), as well as on lightness (P=0.0005) and hue (P=0.0022). Results indicated that frogs fed with BC changed to yellower colors, and frogs fed with MIX changed to oranger colors. Visual color chart observations also scored significantly different between CON and MIX diets (P<0.05); the animals fed MIX also appeared oranger according to the qualitative observations. Dietary supplements with carotenoids resulted in color changes and higher circulating retinol concentrations in false tomato frogs. These pigments may provide provitamin A activity in diets, thus may support improved nutrition and health of captive-fed insectivorous amphibians. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals Inc.

Adjusted Indirect Comparison Using Propensity Score Matching of Osimertinib to Platinum-Based Doublet Chemotherapy in Patients with EGFRm T790M NSCLC Who Have Progressed after EGFR-TKI.

PubMed

Mann, Helen; Andersohn, Frank; Bodnar, Carolyn; Mitsudomi, Tetsuya; Mok, Tony S K; Yang, James Chih-Hsin; Hoyle, Christopher

2018-04-01

An adjusted indirect comparison was conducted to assess efficacy outcomes, particularly overall survival (OS), of osimertinib versus platinum-based doublet chemotherapy in patients with epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated (EGFRm) T790M mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had progressed following an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). Analysis of treatment effect from two separate trials had the potential to more accurately estimate the magnitude of OS benefit due to absence of confounding due to treatment switching from the control arm to the osimertinib arm of the ongoing randomized control trial, AURA3. Two non-randomized individual datasets were compared: pooled patients from the AURA extension and AURA2 trials (osimertinib 80 mg, n = 405, with a confirmed T790M mutation using tissue samples), and patients from the control arm of the IMPRESS study (platinum-based doublet chemotherapy, n = 61, with a confirmed T790M mutation using plasma circulating tumour DNA [ctDNA]). A propensity score-based approach was used to account for differences in baseline demographics and disease characteristics. After adjustment for baseline differences between the two groups, osimertinib demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival (PFS) versus platinum-based doublet chemotherapy (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.278, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.188-0.409, p < 0.0001; median PFS 10.9 vs. 5.3 months). Improvements were also observed for objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) (ORR: 64.3 vs. 33.3%; odds ratio [OR] = 5.31, 95% CI 2.47-11.40, p < 0.001; DCR: 92.1 vs. 75.0%; OR = 4.72, 95% CI 1.92-11.58, p < 0.001). Similar results were obtained for patients who received osimertinib as second-line treatment only. A statistically significant improvement in OS was observed for the osimertinib group (HR = 0.412, 95% CI 0.273-0.622, p < 0.0001). Median OS for osimertinib was not reached. In this indirect comparison, osimertinib showed a statistically significant improvement in efficacy outcomes versus platinum-based doublet chemotherapy in patients with EGFRm T790M NSCLC who had progressed after EGFR-TKI therapy.

Updated SO2 emission estimates over China using OMI/Aura observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elissavet Koukouli, Maria; Theys, Nicolas; Ding, Jieying; Zyrichidou, Irene; Mijling, Bas; Balis, Dimitrios; van der A, Ronald Johannes

2018-03-01

The main aim of this paper is to update existing sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission inventories over China using modern inversion techniques, state-of-the-art chemistry transport modelling (CTM) and satellite observations of SO2. Within the framework of the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) MarcoPolo (Monitoring and Assessment of Regional air quality in China using space Observations) project, a new SO2 emission inventory over China was calculated using the CHIMERE v2013b CTM simulations, 10 years of Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI)/Aura total SO2 columns and the pre-existing Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC v1.2). It is shown that including satellite observations in the calculations increases the current bottom-up MEIC inventory emissions for the entire domain studied (15-55° N, 102-132° E) from 26.30 to 32.60 Tg annum-1, with positive updates which are stronger in winter ( ˜ 36 % increase). New source areas were identified in the southwest (25-35° N, 100-110° E) as well as in the northeast (40-50° N, 120-130° E) of the domain studied as high SO2 levels were observed by OMI, resulting in increased emissions in the a posteriori inventory that do not appear in the original MEIC v1.2 dataset. Comparisons with the independent Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research, EDGAR v4.3.1, show a satisfying agreement since the EDGAR 2010 bottom-up database provides 33.30 Tg annum-1 of SO2 emissions. When studying the entire OMI/Aura time period (2005 to 2015), it was shown that the SO2 emissions remain nearly constant before the year 2010, with a drift of -0.51 ± 0.38 Tg annum-1, and show a statistically significant decline after the year 2010 of -1.64 ± 0.37 Tg annum-1 for the entire domain. Similar findings were obtained when focusing on the greater Beijing area (30-40° N, 110-120° E) with pre-2010 drifts of -0.17 ± 0.14 and post-2010 drifts of -0.47 ± 0.12 Tg annum-1. The new SO2 emission inventory is publicly available and forms part of the official EU MarcoPolo emission inventory over China, which also includes updated NOx, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter emissions.

Airborne Observations and Satellite Validation: INTEX-A Experience and INTEX-B Plans

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crawford, James H.; Singh, Hanwant B.; Brune, William H.; Jacob, Daniel J.

2005-01-01

Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment (INTEX; http://cloudl.arc.nasa.gov) is an ongoing two-phase integrated atmospheric field experiment being performed over North America (NA). Its first phase (INTEX-A) was performed in the summer of 2004 and the second phase (INTEX-B) is planned for the early spring of 2006. The main goal of INTEX-NA is to understand the transport and transformation of gases and aerosols on transcontinental/intercontinental scales and to assess their impact on air quality and climate. Central to achieving this goal is the need to relate space-based observations with those from airborne and surface platforms. During INTEX-A, NASA s DC-8 was joined by some dozen other aircraft from a large number of European and North American partners to focus on the outflow of pollution from NA to the Atlantic. Several instances of Asian pollution over NA were also encountered. INTEX-A flight planning extensively relied on satellite observations and in turn Satellite validation (Terra, Aqua, and Envisat) was given high priority. Over 20 validation profiles were successfully carried out. DC-8 sampling of smoke from Alaskan fires and formaldehyde over forested regions, and simultaneous satellite observations of these provided excellent opportunities for the interplay of these platforms. The planning for INTEX-5 is currently underway, and a vast majority of "standard" and "research" products to be retrieved from Aura instruments will be measured during INTEX-B throughout the troposphere. INTEX-B will focus on the inflow of pollution from Asia to North America and validation of satellite observations with emphasis on Aura. Several national and international partners are expected to coordinate activities with INTEX-B, and we expect its scope to expand in the coming months. An important new development involves partnership with an NSF-sponsored campaign called MIRAGE (Megacity Impacts on Regional and Global Environments- Mexico City Pollution Outflow Field Campaign; http://mirage- mex.acd.ucar.edu/index.html). This partnership will utilize both the NASA-DC-8 mad NCAR C-130 aircrafts and greatly expand the temporal and spatial coverage of these experiments. We will briefly describe our INTEX-A experience and discuss plans for INTEX-B activities especially as they relate to validation and interpretation of Aura observations.