Assaying Mitochondrial Respiration as an Indicator of Cellular Metabolism and Fitness.

PubMed

Smolina, Natalia; Bruton, Joseph; Kostareva, Anna; Sejersen, Thomas

2017-01-01

Mitochondrial respiration is the most important generator of cellular energy under most circumstances. It is a process of energy conversion of substrates into ATP. The Seahorse equipment allows measuring oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in living cells and estimates key parameters of mitochondrial respiration in real-time mode. Through use of mitochondrial inhibitors, four key mitochondrial respiration parameters can be measured: basal, ATP production-linked, maximal, and proton leak-linked OCR. This approach requires application of mitochondrial inhibitors-oligomycin to block ATP synthase, FCCP-to make the inner mitochondrial membrane permeable for protons and allow maximum electron flux through the electron transport chain, and rotenone and antimycin A-to inhibit complexes I and III, respectively. This chapter describes the protocol of OCR assessment in the culture of primary myotubes obtained upon satellite cell fusion.

In vitro measurements of oxygen consumption rates in hTERT-RPE cells exposed to low levels of red light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wigle, Jeffrey C.; Castellanos, Cherry C.

2016-03-01

Exposure to 2.88 J/cm2 of red light induces an adaptive response against a lethal pulse of 2.0 μm laser radiation in hTERT-RPE cells in vitro, but not in a knockdown mutant for vascular endothelial growth factor c (VEGF-C). The generally accepted initiation sequence for photobiomodulation is that absorption of red light by cytochome c oxidase (CCOX) of the electron transport chain increases the binding affinity of CCOX for O2 vs. nitric oxide (NO). This results in displacement of NO by O2 in the active site of CCOX, thereby increasing cellular respiration and intracellular ATP. We've previously reported that red-light exposure induces a small, but consistently reproducible, increase in NO levels in these cells. But the relative importance of NO and oxidative phosphorylation is unclear because little is known about the relative contributions of NO and ATP to the response. However, if NO dissociation from CCOX actually increases oxidative phosphorylation, one should see a corresponding increase in oxygen consumption. A Seahorse Extracellular Flux Analyzer was used to measure oxygen consumption rates (OCR) in normal and mutant cells as a proxy for oxidative phosphorylation. Both basal respiration and maximum respiration rates in normal cells are significantly higher than in the mutant. The normal cells have a significant amount of "excess capacity," whereas the VEGF-C(KD) have little or none. The OCR in exposed normal cells is lower than in unexposed cells when measured immediately after exposure. The exposures used for these experiments had no effect on the OCR in mutant cells.

Effect of temperature on the standard metabolic rates of juvenile and adult Exopalaemon carinicauda

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chengsong; Li, Fuhua; Xiang, Jianhai

2015-03-01

Ridgetail white prawn ( Exopalaemon carinicauda) are of significant economic importance in China where they are widely cultured. However, there is little information on the basic biology of this species. We evaluated the effect of temperature (16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, and 34°C) on the standard metabolic rates (SMRs) of juvenile and adult E. carinicauda in the laboratory under static conditions. The oxygen consumption rate (OCR), ammonia-N excretion rate (AER), and atomic ratio of oxygen consumed to nitrogen consumed (O:N ratio) of juvenile and adult E. carinicauda were significantly influenced by temperature ( P < 0.05). Both the OCR and AER of juveniles increased significantly with increasing temperature from 16 to 34°C, but the maximum OCR for adults was at 31°C. Juvenile shrimp exhibited a higher OCR than the adults from 19 to 34°C. There was no significant difference between the AERs of the two life-stages from 16 to 31°C ( P >0.05). The O:N ratio in juveniles was significantly higher than that in the adults over the entire temperature range ( P <0.05). The temperature coefficient ( Q 10) of OCR and AER ranged from 5.03 to 0.86 and 6.30 to 0.85 for the adults, respectively, and from 6.09-1.03 and 3.66-1.80 for the juveniles, respectively. The optimal temperature range for growth of the juvenile and adult shrimp was from 28 to 31°C, based on Q 10 and SMR values. Results from the present study may be used to guide pond culture production of E. carinicauda.

Altered Glycolysis and Mitochondrial Respiration in a Zebrafish Model of Dravet Syndrome.

PubMed

Kumar, Maneesh G; Rowley, Shane; Fulton, Ruth; Dinday, Matthew T; Baraban, Scott C; Patel, Manisha

2016-01-01

Altered metabolism is an important feature of many epileptic syndromes but has not been reported in Dravet syndrome (DS), a catastrophic childhood epilepsy associated with mutations in a voltage-activated sodium channel, Nav1.1 (SCN1A). To address this, we developed novel methodology to assess real-time changes in bioenergetics in zebrafish larvae between 4 and 6 d postfertilization (dpf). Baseline and 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) stimulated glycolytic flux and mitochondrial respiration were simultaneously assessed using a Seahorse Biosciences extracellular flux analyzer. Scn1Lab mutant zebrafish showed a decrease in baseline glycolytic rate and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) compared to controls. A ketogenic diet formulation rescued mutant zebrafish metabolism to control levels. Increasing neuronal excitability with 4-AP resulted in an immediate increase in glycolytic rates in wild-type zebrafish, whereas mitochondrial OCR increased slightly and quickly recovered to baseline values. In contrast, scn1Lab mutant zebrafish showed a significantly slower and exaggerated increase of both glycolytic rates and OCR after 4-AP. The underlying mechanism of decreased baseline OCR in scn1Lab mutants was not because of altered mitochondrial DNA content or dysfunction of enzymes in the electron transport chain or tricarboxylic acid cycle. Examination of glucose metabolism using a PCR array identified five glycolytic genes that were downregulated in scn1Lab mutant zebrafish. Our findings in scn1Lab mutant zebrafish suggest that glucose and mitochondrial hypometabolism contribute to the pathophysiology of DS.

The kinetics of oxygen and SO2 consumption by red wines. What do they tell about oxidation mechanisms and about changes in wine composition?

PubMed

Carrascón, Vanesa; Vallverdú-Queralt, Anna; Meudec, Emmanuelle; Sommerer, Nicolas; Fernandez-Zurbano, Purificación; Ferreira, Vicente

2018-02-15

This work seeks to understand the kinetics of O 2 and SO 2 consumption of air-saturated red wine as a function of its chemical composition, and to describe the chemical changes suffered during the process in relation to the kinetics. Oxygen Consumption Rates (OCRs) are faster with higher copper and epigallocatechin contents and with higher absorbance at 620nm and slower with higher levels of gallic acid and catechin terminal units in tannins. Acetaldehyde Reactive Polyphenols (ARPs) may be key elements determining OCRs. It is confirmed that SO 2 is poorly consumed in the first saturation. Phenylalanine, methionine and maybe, cysteine, seem to be consumed instead. A low SO 2 consumption is favoured by low levels of SO 2 , by a low availability of free SO 2 caused by a high anthocyanin/tannin ratio, and by a polyphenolic profile poor in epigallocatechin and rich in catechin-rich tannins. Wines consuming SO 2 efficiently consume more epigallocatechin, prodelphinidins and procyanidins. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Galactose enhances oxidative metabolism and reveals mitochondrial dysfunction in human primary muscle cells.

PubMed

Aguer, Céline; Gambarotta, Daniela; Mailloux, Ryan J; Moffat, Cynthia; Dent, Robert; McPherson, Ruth; Harper, Mary-Ellen

2011-01-01

Human primary myotubes are highly glycolytic when cultured in high glucose medium rendering it difficult to study mitochondrial dysfunction. Galactose is known to enhance mitochondrial metabolism and could be an excellent model to study mitochondrial dysfunction in human primary myotubes. The aim of the present study was to 1) characterize the effect of differentiating healthy human myoblasts in galactose on oxidative metabolism and 2) determine whether galactose can pinpoint a mitochondrial malfunction in post-diabetic myotubes. Oxygen consumption rate (OCR), lactate levels, mitochondrial content, citrate synthase and cytochrome C oxidase activities, and AMPK phosphorylation were determined in healthy myotubes differentiated in different sources/concentrations of carbohydrates: 25 mM glucose (high glucose (HG)), 5 mM glucose (low glucose (LG)) or 10 mM galactose (GAL). Effect of carbohydrates on OCR was also determined in myotubes derived from post-diabetic patients and matched obese non-diabetic subjects. OCR was significantly increased whereas anaerobic glycolysis was significantly decreased in GAL myotubes compared to LG or HG myotubes. This increased OCR in GAL myotubes occurred in conjunction with increased cytochrome C oxidase activity and expression, as well as increased AMPK phosphorylation. OCR of post-diabetic myotubes was not different than that of obese non-diabetic myotubes when differentiated in LG or HG. However, whereas GAL increased OCR in obese non-diabetic myotubes, it did not affect OCR in post-diabetic myotubes, leading to a significant difference in OCR between groups. The lack of an increase in OCR in post-diabetic myotubes differentiated in GAL was in relation with unaltered cytochrome C oxidase activity levels or AMPK phosphorylation. Our results indicate that differentiating human primary myoblasts in GAL enhances aerobic metabolism. Because this cell culture model elicited an abnormal response in cells from post-diabetic patients, it may be useful in further studies of the molecular mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction.

Quantification of Oxygen Consumption in Retina Ex Vivo Demonstrates Limited Reserve Capacity of Photoreceptor Mitochondria

PubMed Central

Kooragayala, Keshav; Gotoh, Norimoto; Cogliati, Tiziana; Nellissery, Jacob; Kaden, Talia R.; French, Stephanie; Balaban, Robert; Li, Wei; Covian, Raul; Swaroop, Anand

2015-01-01

Purpose Cell death in neurodegeneration occurs at the convergence of diverse metabolic pathways. In the retina, a common underlying mechanism involves mitochondrial dysfunction since photoreceptor homeostasis and survival are highly susceptible to altered aerobic energy metabolism. We sought to develop an assay to directly measure oxygen consumption in intact retina with the goal of identifying alterations in respiration during photoreceptor dysfunction and degeneration. Methods Circular punches of freshly isolated mouse retina, adjacent to the optic nerve head, were used in the microplate-based Seahorse Extracellular Flux Analyzer to measure oxygen consumption. Tissue integrity was evaluated by propidium iodide staining and live imaging. Different substrates were tested for mitochondrial respiration. Basal and maximal respiration were expressed as oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and respectively measured in Ames' medium before and after the addition of mitochondrial uncoupler, BAM15. Results We show that glucose is an essential substrate for retinal mitochondria. At baseline, mitochondria respiration in the intact wild-type retina was close to maximal, with limited reserve capacity. Similar OCR and limited mitochondrial reserve capacity was also observed in cone-only Nrl−/− retina. However, the retina of Pde6brd1/rd1, Cep290rd16/rd16 and Rpgrip1−/− mice, all with dysfunctional or no photoreceptors, had reduced OCR and higher mitochondrial reserve capacity. Conclusions We have optimized a method to directly measure oxygen consumption in acutely isolated, ex vivo mouse retina and demonstrate that photoreceptors have low mitochondrial reserve capacity. Our data provide a plausible explanation for the high vulnerability of photoreceptors to altered energy homeostasis caused by mutations or metabolic challenges. PMID:26747773

Real-time assessment of encapsulated neonatal porcine islets prior to clinical xenotransplantation.

PubMed

Kitzmann, Jennifer P; Law, Lee; Shome, Avik; Muzina, Marija; Elliott, Robert B; Mueller, Kate R; Schuurman, Henk-Jan; Papas, Klearchos K

2012-01-01

Porcine islet transplantation is emerging as an attractive option for the treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes, with the possibility of providing islets of higher and more consistent quality and in larger volumes than available from human pancreata. The use of encapsulated neonatal porcine islets (ENPI) is appealing because it can address islet supply limitations while reducing the need for anti-rejection therapy. Pre-transplant characterization of ENPI viability and potency is an essential component of the production process. We applied the validated assay for oxygen consumption rate normalized for DNA content (OCR/DNA) to characterize ENPI viability. ENPI of low viscosity and high m alginate were prepared according to standard methods and characterized at various culture time points up to 5 weeks. The OCR/DNA (nmol/min·mgDNA ± SEM) of ENPI (235 ± 10, n = 9) was comparable to that of free NPI (255 ± 14, n = 13). After encapsulation, NPI OCR/DNA was sustained over a culture period of up to 5 weeks. The average OCR/DNA of ENPI cultured longer than 9 days was higher than that of freshly encapsulated NPI. This is the first characterization of ENPI by a validated and more sensitive method for product viability. The NPI encapsulation process does not compromise viability as measured by OCR/DNA, and ENPI can be cultured for up to 5 weeks with maintenance of viability. ENPI meet or exceed current adult porcine islet product release criteria (established at the University of Minnesota) for preclinical xenotransplantation in terms of OCR/DNA. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

The Role of Oxygen in Avascular Tumor Growth

PubMed Central

Grimes, David Robert; Kannan, Pavitra; McIntyre, Alan; Kavanagh, Anthony; Siddiky, Abul; Wigfield, Simon; Harris, Adrian; Partridge, Mike

2016-01-01

The oxygen status of a tumor has significant clinical implications for treatment prognosis, with well-oxygenated subvolumes responding markedly better to radiotherapy than poorly supplied regions. Oxygen is essential for tumor growth, yet estimation of local oxygen distribution can be difficult to ascertain in situ, due to chaotic patterns of vasculature. It is possible to avoid this confounding influence by using avascular tumor models, such as tumor spheroids, a much better approximation of realistic tumor dynamics than monolayers, where oxygen supply can be described by diffusion alone. Similar to in situ tumours, spheroids exhibit an approximately sigmoidal growth curve, often approximated and fitted by logistic and Gompertzian sigmoid functions. These describe the basic rate of growth well, but do not offer an explicitly mechanistic explanation. This work examines the oxygen dynamics of spheroids and demonstrates that this growth can be derived mechanistically with cellular doubling time and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) being key parameters. The model is fitted to growth curves for a range of cell lines and derived values of OCR are validated using clinical measurement. Finally, we illustrate how changes in OCR due to gemcitabine treatment can be directly inferred using this model. PMID:27088720

Noninvasive assessment of tissue-engineered graft viability by oxygen-17 magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

PubMed

Einstein, Samuel A; Weegman, Bradley P; Kitzmann, Jennifer P; Papas, Klearchos K; Garwood, Michael

2017-05-01

Transplantation of macroencapsulated tissue-engineered grafts (TEGs) is being investigated as a treatment for type 1 diabetes, but there is a critical need to measure TEG viability both in vitro and in vivo. Oxygen deficiency is the most critical issue preventing widespread implementation of TEG transplantation and delivery of supplemental oxygen (DSO) has been shown to enhance TEG survival and function in vivo. In this study, we demonstrate the first use of oxygen-17 magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 17 O-MRS) to measure the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) of TEGs and show that in addition to providing therapeutic benefits to TEGs, DSO with 17 O 2 can also enable measurements of TEG viability. Macroencapsulated TEGs containing βTC3 murine insulinoma cells were prepared with three fractional viabilities and provided with 17 O 2 . Cellular metabolism of 17 O 2 into nascent mitochondrial water (H 2 17 O) was monitored by 17 O-MRS and, from the measured data, OCR was calculated. For comparison, OCR was simultaneously measured on a separate, but equivalent sample of cells with a well-established stirred microchamber technique. OCR measured by 17 O-MRS agreed well with measurements made in the stirred microchamber device. These studies confirm that 17 O-MRS can quantify TEG viability noninvasively. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 1118-1121. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Light respiration by subtropical seaweeds.

PubMed

Carvalho, Matheus C; Eyre, Bradley D

2017-06-01

Here, we report the first-ever measurements of light CO 2 respiration rate (CRR) by seaweeds. We measured the influence of temperature (15-25°C) and light (irradiance from 60 to 670 μmol · m -2  · s -1 ) on the light CCR of two subtropical seaweed species, and measured the CRR of seven different seaweed species under the same light (150 μmol · m -2  · s -1 ) and temperature (25°C). There was little effect of irradiance on light CRR, but there was an effect of temperature. Across the seven species light CRR was similar to OCR (oxygen consumption rate in the dark), with the exception of a single species. The outlier species was a coralline alga, and the higher light CRR was probably driven by calcification. CRR could be estimated from OCR, as well as carbon photosynthetic rates from oxygen photosynthetic rates, which suggests that previous studies have probably provided good estimations of gross photosynthesis for seaweeds. © 2017 Phycological Society of America.

Drp1 loss-of-function reduces cardiomyocyte oxygen dependence protecting the heart from ischemia-reperfusion injury.

PubMed

Zepeda, Ramiro; Kuzmicic, Jovan; Parra, Valentina; Troncoso, Rodrigo; Pennanen, Christian; Riquelme, Jaime A; Pedrozo, Zully; Chiong, Mario; Sánchez, Gina; Lavandero, Sergio

2014-06-01

Mitochondria are key organelles for ATP production in cardiomyocytes, which is regulated by processes of fission and fusion. We hypothesized that the mitochondria fusion protein dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) inhibition, attenuates ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury through modifications in mitochondrial metabolism. Rats were subjected to I/R through coronary artery ligation, and isolated cardiomyocytes were treated with an ischemia-mimicking solution. In vivo, cardiac function, myocardial infarction area, and mitochondrial morphology were determined, whereas in vitro, viability, mitochondrial membrane potential, intracellular ATP levels, and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) were assessed. In both models, an adenovirus expressing Drp1 dominant-negative K38A (Drp1K38A) was used to induce Drp1 loss-of-function. Our results showed that I/R stimulated mitochondrial fission. Myocardial infarction size and cell death induced by I/R were significantly reduced, whereas cardiac function after I/R was improved in Drp1K38A-treated rats compared with controls. Drp1K38A-transduced cardiomyocytes showed lower OCR with no decrease in intracellular ATP levels, and on I/R, a larger decrease in OCR with a smaller reduction in intracellular ATP level was observed. However, proton leak-associated oxygen consumption was comparatively higher in Drp1K38A-treated cardiomyocytes, suggesting a protective mitochondrial uncoupling effect against I/R. Collectively, our results show that Drp1 inhibition triggers cardioprotection by reducing mitochondrial metabolism during I/R.

Beta Testing a Novel Smartphone Application to Improve Medication Adherence.

PubMed

Sarzynski, Erin; Decker, Brian; Thul, Aaron; Weismantel, David; Melaragni, Ronald; Cholakis, Elizabeth; Tewari, Megha; Beckholt, Kristy; Zaroukian, Michael; Kennedy, Angie C; Given, Charles

2017-04-01

We developed and beta-tested a patient-centered medication management application, PresRx optical character recognition (OCR), a mobile health (m-health) tool that auto-populates drug name and dosing instructions directly from patients' medication labels by OCR. We employed a single-subject design study to evaluate PresRx OCR for three outcomes: (1) accuracy of auto-populated medication dosing instructions, (2) acceptability of the user interface, and (3) patients' adherence to chronic medications. Eight patients beta-tested PresRx OCR. Five patients used the software for ≥6 months, and four completed exit interviews (n = 4 completers). At baseline, patients used 3.4 chronic prescription medications and exhibited moderate-to-high adherence rates. Accuracy of auto-populated information by OCR was 95% for drug name, 98% for dose, and 96% for frequency. Study completers rated PresRx OCR 74 on the System Usability Scale, where scores ≥70 indicate an acceptable user interface (scale 0-100). Adherence rates measured by PresRx OCR were high during the first month of app use (93%), but waned midway through the 6-month testing period (78%). Compared with pharmacy fill rates, PresRx OCR underestimated adherence among completers by 3%, while it overestimated adherence among noncompleters by 8%. Results suggest smartphone applications supporting medication management are feasible and accurately assess adherence compared with objective measures. Future efforts to improve medication-taking behavior using m-health tools should target specific patient populations and leverage common application programming interfaces to promote generalizability. Our medication management application PresRx OCR is innovative, acceptable for patient use, and accurately tracks medication adherence.

Seahorse Xfe24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer-based analysis of cellular respiration in Caenorhabditis elegans

PubMed Central

Luz, Anthony L.; Smith, Latasha L.; Rooney, John P.

2015-01-01

Mitochondria are critical for their role in ATP production as well as multiple nonenergetic functions, and mitochondrial dysfunction is causal in myriad human diseases. Less well appreciated is the fact that mitochondria integrate environmental and inter- as well as intracellular signals to modulate function. Because mitochondria function in an organismal milieu, there is need for assays capable of rapidly assessing mitochondrial health in vivo. Here, using the Seahorse XFe24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer and the pharmacological inhibitors dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD, ATP synthase inhibitor), carbonyl cyanide-p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone (FCCP, mitochondrial uncoupler) and sodium azide (cytochrome c oxidase inhibitor), we describe how to obtain in vivo measurements of the fundamental parameters (basal oxygen consumption rate (OCR), ATP-linked respiration, maximal OCR, spare respiratory capacity and proton leak) of the mitochondrial respiratory chain in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. PMID:26523474

In vitro evaluation of mitochondrial dysfunction and treatment with adeno-associated virus vector in fibroblasts from Doberman Pinschers with dilated cardiomyopathy and a pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 mutation.

PubMed

Sosa, Ivan; Estrada, Amara H; Winter, Brandy D; Erger, Kirsten E; Conlon, Thomas J

2016-02-01

To compare mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate (OCR) of fibroblasts from Doberman Pinschers with and without dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and mutation of the gene for pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase isozyme 4 (PDK4) and to evaluate in vitro whether treatment with adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector (i.e., gene therapy) would alter metabolic efficiency. 10 Doberman Pinschers screened for DCM and PDK4 mutation. PROCEDURES Fibroblasts were harvested from skin biopsy specimens obtained from Doberman Pinschers, and dogs were classified as without DCM or PDK4 mutation (n = 3) or with occult DCM and heterozygous (4) or homozygous (3) for PDK4 mutation. Fibroblasts were or were not treated with tyrosine mutant AAV type 2 vector containing PDK4 at multiplicities of infection of 1,000. Mitochondrial OCR was measured to evaluate mitochondrial metabolism. The OCR was compared among dog groups and between untreated and treated fibroblasts within groups. Mean ± SD basal OCR of fibroblasts from heterozygous (74 ± 8 pmol of O2/min) and homozygous (58 ± 12 pmol of O2/min) dogs was significantly lower than that for dogs without PDK4 mutation (115 ± 9 pmol of O2/min). After AAV transduction, OCR did not increase significantly in any group (mutation-free group, 121 ± 26 pmol of O2/min; heterozygous group, 88 ± 6 pmol of O2/min; homozygous group, 59 ± 3 pmol of O2/min). Mitochondrial function was altered in skin fibroblasts of Doberman Pinschers with DCM and PDK4 mutation. Change in mitochondrial function after in vitro gene therapy at the multiplicities of infection used in this study was not significant.

Supplements in human islet culture: human serum albumin is inferior to fetal bovine serum.

PubMed

Avgoustiniatos, Efstathios S; Scott, William E; Suszynski, Thomas M; Schuurman, Henk-Jan; Nelson, Rebecca A; Rozak, Phillip R; Mueller, Kate R; Balamurugan, A N; Ansite, Jeffrey D; Fraga, Daniel W; Friberg, Andrew S; Wildey, Gina M; Tanaka, Tomohiro; Lyons, Connor A; Sutherland, David E R; Hering, Bernhard J; Papas, Klearchos K

2012-01-01

Culture of human islets before clinical transplantation or distribution for research purposes is standard practice. At the time the Edmonton protocol was introduced, clinical islet manufacturing did not include culture, and human serum albumin (HSA), instead of fetal bovine serum (FBS), was used during other steps of the process to avoid the introduction of xenogeneic material. When culture was subsequently introduced, HSA was also used for medium supplementation instead of FBS, which was typically used for research islet culture. The use of HSA as culture supplement was not evaluated before this implementation. We performed a retrospective analysis of 103 high-purity islet preparations (76 research preparations, all with FBS culture supplementation, and 27 clinical preparations, all with HSA supplementation) for oxygen consumption rate per DNA content (OCR/DNA; a measure of viability) and diabetes reversal rate in diabetic nude mice (a measure of potency). After 2-day culture, research preparations exhibited an average OCR/DNA 51% higher (p < 0.001) and an average diabetes reversal rate 54% higher (p < 0.05) than clinical preparations, despite 87% of the research islet preparations having been derived from research-grade pancreata that are considered of lower quality. In a prospective paired study on islets from eight research preparations, OCR/DNA was, on average, 27% higher with FBS supplementation than that with HSA supplementation (p < 0.05). We conclude that the quality of clinical islet preparations can be improved when culture is performed in media supplemented with serum instead of albumin.

Secreted Human Adipose Leptin Decreases Mitochondrial Respiration in HCT116 Colon Cancer Cells

PubMed Central

Yehuda-Shnaidman, Einav; Nimri, Lili; Tarnovscki, Tanya; Kirshtein, Boris; Rudich, Assaf; Schwartz, Betty

2013-01-01

Obesity is a key risk factor for the development of colon cancer; however, the endocrine/paracrine/metabolic networks mediating this connection are poorly understood. Here we hypothesize that obesity results in secreted products from adipose tissue that induce malignancy-related metabolic alterations in colon cancer cells. Human HCT116 colon cancer cells, were exposed to conditioned media from cultured human adipose tissue fragments of obese vs. non-obese subjects. Oxygen consumption rate (OCR, mostly mitochondrial respiration) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR, mostly lactate production via glycolysis) were examined vis-à-vis cell viability and expression of related genes and proteins. Our results show that conditioned media from obese (vs. non-obese) subjects decreased basal (40%, p<0.05) and maximal (50%, p<0.05) OCR and gene expression of mitochondrial proteins and Bax without affecting cell viability or expression of glycolytic enzymes. Similar changes could be recapitulated by incubating cells with leptin, whereas, leptin-receptor specific antagonist inhibited the reduced OCR induced by conditioned media from obese subjects. We conclude that secreted products from the adipose tissue of obese subjects inhibit mitochondrial respiration and function in HCT116 colon cancer cells, an effect that is at least partly mediated by leptin. These results highlight a putative novel mechanism for obesity-associated risk of gastrointestinal malignancies, and suggest potential new therapeutic avenues. PMID:24073224

Biochemical and physical factors affecting discoloration characteristics of 19 bovine muscles.

PubMed

McKenna, D R; Mies, P D; Baird, B E; Pfeiffer, K D; Ellebracht, J W; Savell, J W

2005-08-01

Steaks from muscles (n=19 from nine beef carcasses) were evaluated over the course of retail display (0-, 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- or 5-d) for objective measures of discoloration (metmyoglobin, oxymyoglobin, L*-, a*-, and b*-values), reducing ability (metmyoglobin reductase activity (MRA), resistance to induced metmyoglobin formation (RIMF), and nitric oxide metmyoglobin reducing ability (NORA)), oxygen consumption rate (OCR), oxygen penetration depth, myoglobin content, oxidative rancidity, and pH. Muscles were grouped according to objective color measures of discoloration. M. longissimus lumborum, M. longissimus thoracis, M. semitendinosus, and M. tensor fasciae latae were grouped as "high" color stability muscles, M. semimembranosus, M. rectus femoris, and M. vastus lateralis were grouped as "moderate" color stability muscles, M. trapezius, M. gluteus medius, and M. latissimus dorsi were grouped as "intermediate" color stability muscles, M. triceps brachi - long head, M. biceps femoris, M. pectoralis profundus, M. adductor, M. triceps brachi - lateral head, and M. serratus ventralis were grouped as "low" color stability muscles, and M. supraspinatus, M. infraspinatus, and M. psoas major were grouped as "very low" color stability muscles. Generally, muscles of high color stability had high RIMF, nitric oxide reducing ability, and oxygen penetration depth and possessed low OCRs, myoglobin content, and oxidative rancidity. In contrast, muscles of low color stability had high MRA, OCRs, myoglobin content, and oxidative rancidity and low RIMF, NORA, and oxygen penetration depth. Data indicate that discoloration differences between muscles are related to the amount of reducing activity relative to the OCR.

Evaluating the Efficacy of GLUT Inhibitors Using a Seahorse Extracellular Flux Analyzer.

PubMed

Wei, Changyong; Heitmeier, Monique; Hruz, Paul W; Shanmugam, Mala

2018-01-01

Glucose is metabolized through anaerobic glycolysis and aerobic oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Perturbing glucose uptake and its subsequent metabolism can alter both glycolytic and OXPHOS pathways and consequently lactate and/or oxygen consumption. Production and secretion of lactate, as a consequence of glycolysis, leads to acidification of the extracellular medium. Molecular oxygen is the final electron acceptor in the electron transport chain, facilitating oxidative phosphorylation of ADP to ATP. The alterations in extracellular acidification and/or oxygen consumption can thus be used as indirect readouts of glucose metabolism and assessing the impact of inhibiting glucose transport through specific glucose transporters (GLUTs). The Seahorse bioenergetics analyzer can measure both the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR). The proposed methodology affords a robust, high-throughput method to screen for GLUT inhibition in cells engineered to express specific GLUTs, providing live cell read-outs upon GLUT inhibition.

Bioenergetic effects of mitochondrial-targeted coenzyme Q analogs in endothelial cells.

PubMed

Fink, Brian D; Herlein, Judith A; Yorek, Mark A; Fenner, Amanda M; Kerns, Robert J; Sivitz, William I

2012-09-01

Mitochondrial-targeted analogs of coenzyme Q (CoQ) are under development to reduce oxidative damage induced by a variety of disease states. However, there is a need to understand the bioenergetic effects of these agents and whether or not these effects are related to redox properties, including their known pro-oxidant effects. We examined the bioenergetic effects of two mitochondrial-targeted CoQ analogs in their quinol forms, mitoquinol (MitoQ) and plastoquinonyl-decyl-triphenylphosphonium (SkQ1), in bovine aortic endothelial cells. We used an extracellular oxygen and proton flux analyzer to assess mitochondrial action at the intact-cell level. Both agents, in dose-dependent fashion, reduced the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) directed at ATP turnover (OCR(ATP)) (IC₅₀ values of 189 ± 13 nM for MitoQ and 181 ± 7 for SKQ1; difference not significant) while not affecting or mildly increasing basal oxygen consumption. Both compounds increased extracellular acidification in the basal state consistent with enhanced glycolysis. Both compounds enhanced mitochondrial superoxide production assessed by using mitochondrial-targeted dihydroethidium, and both increased H₂O₂ production from mitochondria of cells treated before isolation of the organelles. The manganese superoxide dismutase mimetic manganese(III) tetrakis(1-methyl-4-pyridyl)porphyrin did not alter or actually enhanced the actions of the targeted CoQ analogs to reduce OCR(ATP). In contrast, N-acetylcysteine mitigated this effect of MitoQ and SkQ1. In summary, our data demonstrate the important bioenergetic effects of targeted CoQ analogs. Moreover, these effects are mediated, at least in part, through superoxide production but depend on conversion to H₂O₂. These bioenergetic and redox actions need to be considered as these compounds are developed for therapeutic purposes.

Bioenergetic Profile Experiment using C2C12 Myoblast Cells

PubMed Central

Nicholls, David G.; Darley-Usmar, Victor M.; Wu, Min; Jensen, Per Bo; Rogers, George W.; Ferrick, David A.

2010-01-01

The ability to measure cellular metabolism and understand mitochondrial dysfunction, has enabled scientists worldwide to advance their research in understanding the role of mitochondrial function in obesity, diabetes, aging, cancer, cardiovascular function and safety toxicity. Cellular metabolism is the process of substrate uptake, such as oxygen, glucose, fatty acids, and glutamine, and subsequent energy conversion through a series of enzymatically controlled oxidation and reduction reactions. These intracellular biochemical reactions result in the production of ATP, the release of heat and chemical byproducts, such as lactate and CO2 into the extracellular environment. Valuable insight into the physiological state of cells, and the alteration of the state of those cells, can be gained through measuring the rate of oxygen consumed by the cells, an indicator of mitochondrial respiration - the Oxygen Consumption Rate - or OCR. Cells also generate ATP through glycolysis, i.e.: the conversion of glucose to lactate, independent of oxygen. In cultured wells, lactate is the primary source of protons. Measuring the lactic acid produced indirectly via protons released into the extracellular medium surrounding the cells, which causes acidification of the medium provides the Extra-Cellular Acidification Rate - or ECAR. In this experiment, C2C12 myoblast cells are seeded at a given density in Seahorse cell culture plates. The basal oxygen consumption (OCR) and extracellular acidification (ECAR) rates are measured to establish baseline rates. The cells are then metabolically perturbed by three additions of different compounds (in succession) that shift the bioenergetic profile of the cell. This assay is derived from a classic experiment to assess mitochondria and serves as a framework with which to build more complex experiments aimed at understanding both physiologic and pathophysiologic function of mitochondria and to predict the ability of cells to respond to stress and/or insults. PMID:21189469

Impact of starvation on survival, meat condition and metabolism of Chlamys farreri

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Hong-Sheng; Wang, Jian; Zhou, Yi; Wang, Ping; He, Yi-Chao; Zhang, Fu-Sui

2001-03-01

The effects of 60-day starvation on survival rate, condition index (CI), changes of nutrient composition of different tissues, respiration and excretion of scallop Chlamys farreri were studied in laboratory from Oct. 17 to Dec. 15, 1997. Two groups (control and starvation with 200 individuals each) were cultured in two 2 m3 tanks, with 31 to 32 salinity water at 17°C. Starvation effects were measured after 10, 20, 40 and 60 days. There was no mass mortality of scallops of the two tanks and survival rates of the control and starvation groups were 93.5% and 92.0%, respectively. Starvation had strong effect on the meat condition of the scallops, especially after 10 days; when relative lipid percentage dropped sharply while relative protein percentage increased. The impact of starvation on the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and the ammonia-N excretion rate (AER) was obvious. The OCR increased rapidly after 10 days but decreased after 20 days. The AER increased after 10 days and 20 days, but decreased obviously from 20 to 40 days. The O∶N ratios varied to different degrees, and minimized after 20 days. The low O∶N ratios implied that the protein was the main material for the metabolism of C. farreri.

Combining multiple thresholding binarization values to improve OCR output

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lund, William B.; Kennard, Douglas J.; Ringger, Eric K.

2013-01-01

For noisy, historical documents, a high optical character recognition (OCR) word error rate (WER) can render the OCR text unusable. Since image binarization is often the method used to identify foreground pixels, a body of research seeks to improve image-wide binarization directly. Instead of relying on any one imperfect binarization technique, our method incorporates information from multiple simple thresholding binarizations of the same image to improve text output. Using a new corpus of 19th century newspaper grayscale images for which the text transcription is known, we observe WERs of 13.8% and higher using current binarization techniques and a state-of-the-art OCR engine. Our novel approach combines the OCR outputs from multiple thresholded images by aligning the text output and producing a lattice of word alternatives from which a lattice word error rate (LWER) is calculated. Our results show a LWER of 7.6% when aligning two threshold images and a LWER of 6.8% when aligning five. From the word lattice we commit to one hypothesis by applying the methods of Lund et al. (2011) achieving an improvement over the original OCR output and a 8.41% WER result on this data set.

Inhibition of MCU forces extramitochondrial adaptations governing physiological and pathological stress responses in heart

PubMed Central

Rasmussen, Tyler P.; Wu, Yuejin; Joiner, Mei-ling A.; Koval, Olha M.; Wilson, Nicholas R.; Luczak, Elizabeth D.; Wang, Qinchuan; Chen, Biyi; Gao, Zhan; Zhu, Zhiyong; Wagner, Brett A.; Soto, Jamie; McCormick, Michael L.; Kutschke, William; Weiss, Robert M.; Yu, Liping; Boudreau, Ryan L.; Abel, E. Dale; Zhan, Fenghuang; Spitz, Douglas R.; Buettner, Garry R.; Song, Long-Sheng; Zingman, Leonid V.; Anderson, Mark E.

2015-01-01

Myocardial mitochondrial Ca2+ entry enables physiological stress responses but in excess promotes injury and death. However, tissue-specific in vivo systems for testing the role of mitochondrial Ca2+ are lacking. We developed a mouse model with myocardial delimited transgenic expression of a dominant negative (DN) form of the mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter (MCU). DN-MCU mice lack MCU-mediated mitochondrial Ca2+ entry in myocardium, but, surprisingly, isolated perfused hearts exhibited higher O2 consumption rates (OCR) and impaired pacing induced mechanical performance compared with wild-type (WT) littermate controls. In contrast, OCR in DN-MCU–permeabilized myocardial fibers or isolated mitochondria in low Ca2+ were not increased compared with WT, suggesting that DN-MCU expression increased OCR by enhanced energetic demands related to extramitochondrial Ca2+ homeostasis. Consistent with this, we found that DN-MCU ventricular cardiomyocytes exhibited elevated cytoplasmic [Ca2+] that was partially reversed by ATP dialysis, suggesting that metabolic defects arising from loss of MCU function impaired physiological intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis. Mitochondrial Ca2+ overload is thought to dissipate the inner mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) and enhance formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as a consequence of ischemia-reperfusion injury. Our data show that DN-MCU hearts had preserved ΔΨm and reduced ROS during ischemia reperfusion but were not protected from myocardial death compared with WT. Taken together, our findings show that chronic myocardial MCU inhibition leads to previously unanticipated compensatory changes that affect cytoplasmic Ca2+ homeostasis, reprogram transcription, increase OCR, reduce performance, and prevent anticipated therapeutic responses to ischemia-reperfusion injury. PMID:26153425

Endothelial Cell and Platelet Bioenergetics: Effect of Glucose and Nutrient Composition

PubMed Central

Fink, Brian D.; Herlein, Judy A.; O’Malley, Yunxia; Sivitz, William I.

2012-01-01

It has been suggested that cells that are independent of insulin for glucose uptake, when exposed to high glucose or other nutrient concentrations, manifest enhanced mitochondrial substrate oxidation with consequent enhanced potential and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS); a paradigm that could predispose to vascular complications of diabetes. Here we exposed bovine aortic endothelial (BAE) cells and human platelets to variable glucose and fatty acid concentrations. We then examined oxygen consumption and acidification rates using recently available technology in the form of an extracellular oxygen and proton flux analyzer. Acute or overnight exposure of confluent BAE cells to glucose concentrations from 5.5 to 25 mM did not enhance or change the rate of oxygen consumption (OCR) under basal conditions, during ATP synthesis, or under uncoupled conditions. Glucose also did not alter OCR in sub-confluent cells, in cells exposed to low serum, or in cells treated with added pyruvate. Likewise, overnight exposure to fatty acids of varying saturation had no such effects. Overnight exposure of BAE cells to low glucose concentration decreased maximal uncoupled respiration, but not basal or ATP related oxygen consumption. Labeled glucose oxidation to CO2 increased, but only marginally after high glucose exposure while oleate oxidation to CO2 decreased. Overnight exposure to linolenic acid, but not oleic or linoleic acid increased extracellular acidification consistent with enhanced glycolytic metabolism. We were unable to detect an increase in production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) from BAE cells exposed to high medium glucose. Like BAE cells, exposure of human platelets to glucose did not increase oxygen consumption. As opposed to BAE cells, platelet mitochondria demonstrate less respiratory reserve capacity (beyond that needed for basal metabolism). Our data do not support the concept that exposure to high glucose or fatty acids accelerates mitochondrial oxidative metabolism in endothelial cells or platelets. PMID:22745753

Practical vision based degraded text recognition system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohammad, Khader; Agaian, Sos; Saleh, Hani

2011-02-01

Rapid growth and progress in the medical, industrial, security and technology fields means more and more consideration for the use of camera based optical character recognition (OCR) Applying OCR to scanned documents is quite mature, and there are many commercial and research products available on this topic. These products achieve acceptable recognition accuracy and reasonable processing times especially with trained software, and constrained text characteristics. Even though the application space for OCR is huge, it is quite challenging to design a single system that is capable of performing automatic OCR for text embedded in an image irrespective of the application. Challenges for OCR systems include; images are taken under natural real world conditions, Surface curvature, text orientation, font, size, lighting conditions, and noise. These and many other conditions make it extremely difficult to achieve reasonable character recognition. Performance for conventional OCR systems drops dramatically as the degradation level of the text image quality increases. In this paper, a new recognition method is proposed to recognize solid or dotted line degraded characters. The degraded text string is localized and segmented using a new algorithm. The new method was implemented and tested using a development framework system that is capable of performing OCR on camera captured images. The framework allows parameter tuning of the image-processing algorithm based on a training set of camera-captured text images. Novel methods were used for enhancement, text localization and the segmentation algorithm which enables building a custom system that is capable of performing automatic OCR which can be used for different applications. The developed framework system includes: new image enhancement, filtering, and segmentation techniques which enabled higher recognition accuracies, faster processing time, and lower energy consumption, compared with the best state of the art published techniques. The system successfully produced impressive OCR accuracies (90% -to- 93%) using customized systems generated by our development framework in two industrial OCR applications: water bottle label text recognition and concrete slab plate text recognition. The system was also trained for the Arabic language alphabet, and demonstrated extremely high recognition accuracy (99%) for Arabic license name plate text recognition with processing times of 10 seconds. The accuracy and run times of the system were compared to conventional and many states of art methods, the proposed system shows excellent results.

Alterations in bioenergetic function induced by Parkinson's disease mimetic compounds: Lack of correlation with superoxide generation

PubMed Central

Dranka, Brian P.; Zielonka, Jacek; Kanthasamy, Anumantha G.; Kalyanaraman, Balaraman

2012-01-01

In vitro and in vivo models of Parkinson's disease (PD) suggest that increased oxidant production leads to mitochondrial dysfunction in dopaminergic neurons and subsequent cell death. However, it remains unclear if cell death in these models is caused by inhibition of mitochondrial function or oxidant production. The objective of the present study was to determine the relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidant production in response to multiple PD neurotoxicant mimetics. MPP+ caused a dose-dependent decrease in the basal oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in dopaminergic N27 cells, indicating a loss of mitochondrial function. In parallel, we found that MPP+ only modestly increased oxidation of hydroethidine as a diagnostic marker of superoxide production in these cells. Similar results were found using rotenone as a mitochondrial inhibitor, or 6-hydroxydopamine as a mechanistically distinct PD neurotoxicant, but not with exposure to paraquat. Additionally, the Extracellular Acidification Rate, used as a marker of glycolysis, was stimulated to compensate for OCR inhibition after exposure to MPP+, rotenone, or 6-hydroxydopamine, but not paraquat. Together these data indicate that MPP+, rotenone and 6-hydroxydopamine dramatically shift bioenergetic function away from the mitochondria and towards glycolysis in N27 cells. PMID:22708893

Multi-frame knowledge based text enhancement for mobile phone captured videos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozarslan, Suleyman; Eren, P. Erhan

2014-02-01

In this study, we explore automated text recognition and enhancement using mobile phone captured videos of store receipts. We propose a method which includes Optical Character Resolution (OCR) enhanced by our proposed Row Based Multiple Frame Integration (RB-MFI), and Knowledge Based Correction (KBC) algorithms. In this method, first, the trained OCR engine is used for recognition; then, the RB-MFI algorithm is applied to the output of the OCR. The RB-MFI algorithm determines and combines the most accurate rows of the text outputs extracted by using OCR from multiple frames of the video. After RB-MFI, KBC algorithm is applied to these rows to correct erroneous characters. Results of the experiments show that the proposed video-based approach which includes the RB-MFI and the KBC algorithm increases the word character recognition rate to 95%, and the character recognition rate to 98%.

A novel method for multiparameter physiological phenotype characterization at the single-cell level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelbauskas, Laimonas; Ashili, Shashanka; Houkal, Jeff; Smith, Dean; Mohammadreza, Aida; Lee, Kristen; Kumar, Ashok; Anis, Yasser; Paulson, Tom; Youngbull, Cody; Tian, Yanqing; Johnson, Roger; Holl, Mark; Meldrum, Deirdre

2011-02-01

Non-genetic intercellular heterogeneity has been increasingly recognized as one of the key factors in a variety of core cellular processes including proliferation, stimulus response, carcinogenesis and drug resistance. Many diseases, including cancer, originate in a single or a few cells. Early detection and characterization of these abnormal cells can provide new insights into the pathogenesis and serve as a tool for better disease diagnosis and treatment. We report on a novel technology for multiparameter physiological phenotype characterization at the single-cell level. It is based on real-time measurements of concentrations of several metabolites by means of extracellular optical sensors in microchambers of sub-nL volume containing single cells. In its current configuration, the measurement platform features the capability to detect oxygen consumption rate and pH changes under normoxic and hypoxic conditions at the single-cell level. We have conceived, designed and developed a semi-automated method for single-cell manipulation and loading into microwells utilizing custom, high-precision fluid handling at the nanoliter scale. We present the results of a series of measurements of oxygen consumption rates (OCRs) of single human metaplastic esophageal epithelial cells. In addition, to assess the effects of cell-to-cell interactions, we have measured OCRs of two and three cells placed in a single well. The major advantages of the approach are a) multiplexed characterization of cell phenotype at the single-cell level, b) minimal invasiveness due to the distant positioning of sensors, and c) flexibility in terms of accommodating measurements of other metabolites or biomolecules of interest.

Investigation of a direct effect of nanosecond pulse electric fields on mitochondria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Estlack, Larry E.; Roth, Caleb C.; Cerna, Cesario Z.; Wilmink, Gerald J.; Ibey, Bennett L.

2014-03-01

The unique cellular response to nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) exposure, as compared to longer pulse exposure, has been theorized to be due to permeabilization of intracellular organelles including the mitochondria. In this investigation, we utilized a high-throughput oxygen and pH sensing system (Seahorse® XF24 extracellular flux analyzer) to assess the mitochondrial activity of Jurkat and U937 cells after nsPEF. The XF Analyzer uses a transient micro-chamber of only a few μL in specialized cell culture micro-plates to enable oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) to be monitored in real-time. We found that for nsPEF exposures of 10 pulses at 10-ns pulse width and at 50 kV/cm e-field, we were able to cause an increase in OCR in both U937 and Jurkat cells. We also found that high pulse numbers (>100) caused a significant decrease in OCR. Higher amplitude 150 kV/cm exposures had no effect on U937 cells and yet they had a deleterious effect on Jurkat cells, matching previously published 24 hour survival data. These results suggest that the exposures were modulating metabolic activity in cells possibly due to direct effects on the mitochondria themselves. To validate this hypothesis, we isolated mitochondria from U937 cells and exposed them similarly and found no significant change in metabolic activity for any pulse number. In a final experiment, we removed calcium from the buffer solution that the cells were exposed in and found that no significant enhancement in metabolic activity was observed. These results suggest that direct permeabilization of the mitochondria is unlikely a primary effect of nsPEF exposure and calcium-mediated intracellular pathway activation is likely responsible for observed pulse-induced mitochondrial effects.

The importance of physiological oxygen concentrations in the sandwich cultures of rat hepatocytes on gas-permeable membranes.

PubMed

Xiao, Wenjin; Shinohara, Marie; Komori, Kikuo; Sakai, Yasuyuki; Matsui, Hitoshi; Osada, Tomoharu

2014-01-01

Oxygen supply is a critical issue in the optimization of in vitro hepatocyte microenvironments. Although several strategies have been developed to balance complex oxygen requirements, these techniques are not able to accurately meet the cellular oxygen demand. Indeed, neither the actual oxygen concentration encountered by cells nor the cellular oxygen consumption rates (OCR) was assessed. The aim of this study is to define appropriate oxygen conditions at the cell level that could accurately match the OCR and allow hepatocytes to maintain liver specific functions in a normoxic environment. Matrigel overlaid rat hepatocytes were cultured on the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes under either atmospheric oxygen concentration [20%-O2 (+)] or physiological oxygen concentrations [10%-O2 (+), 5%-O2 (+)], respectively, to investigate the effects of various oxygen concentrations on the efficient functioning of hepatocytes. In parallel, the gas-impermeable cultures (polystyrene) with PDMS membrane inserts were used as the control groups [PS-O2 (-)]. The results indicated that the hepatocytes under 10%-O2 (+) exhibited improved survival and maintenance of metabolic activities and functional polarization. The dramatic elevation of cellular OCR up to the in vivo liver rate proposed a normoxic environment for hepatocytes, especially when comparing with PS-O2 (-) cultures, in which the cells generally tolerated hypoxia. Additionally, the expression levels of 84 drug-metabolism genes were the closest to physiological levels. In conclusion, this study clearly shows the benefit of long-term culture of hepatocytes at physiological oxygen concentration, and indicates on an oxygen-permeable membrane system to provide a simple method for in vitro studies. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Loss of mitochondrial exo/endonuclease EXOG affects mitochondrial respiration and induces ROS-mediated cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.

PubMed

Tigchelaar, Wardit; Yu, Hongjuan; de Jong, Anne Margreet; van Gilst, Wiek H; van der Harst, Pim; Westenbrink, B Daan; de Boer, Rudolf A; Silljé, Herman H W

2015-01-15

Recently, a locus at the mitochondrial exo/endonuclease EXOG gene, which has been implicated in mitochondrial DNA repair, was associated with cardiac function. The function of EXOG in cardiomyocytes is still elusive. Here we investigated the role of EXOG in mitochondrial function and hypertrophy in cardiomyocytes. Depletion of EXOG in primary neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes (NRVCs) induced a marked increase in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Depletion of EXOG, however, did not result in loss of mitochondrial DNA integrity. Although EXOG depletion did not induce fetal gene expression and common hypertrophy pathways were not activated, a clear increase in ribosomal S6 phosphorylation was observed, which readily explains increased protein synthesis. With the use of a Seahorse flux analyzer, it was shown that the mitochondrial oxidative consumption rate (OCR) was increased 2.4-fold in EXOG-depleted NRVCs. Moreover, ATP-linked OCR was 5.2-fold higher. This increase was not explained by mitochondrial biogenesis or alterations in mitochondrial membrane potential. Western blotting confirmed normal levels of the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complexes. The increased OCR was accompanied by a 5.4-fold increase in mitochondrial ROS levels. These increased ROS levels could be normalized with specific mitochondrial ROS scavengers (MitoTEMPO, mnSOD). Remarkably, scavenging of excess ROS strongly attenuated the hypertrophic response. In conclusion, loss of EXOG affects normal mitochondrial function resulting in increased mitochondrial respiration, excess ROS production, and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Metabolic Impact of Rapamycin (Sirolimus) and B-Estradiol Using Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts as a Model for Lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

PubMed

Marsh, Katherine M; Schipper, David; Ferng, Alice S; Johnson, Kitsie; Fisher, Julia; Knapp, Shannon; Dicken, Destiny; Khalpey, Zain

2017-08-01

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare, progressive cystic lung disease that predominantly affects women of childbearing age. Exogenous rapamycin (sirolimus) has been shown to improve clinical outcomes and was recently approved to treat LAM, whereas estrogen (E 2 ) is implicated in disease progression. No consistent metabolic model currently exists for LAM, therefore wild-type mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF +/+) and TSC2 knockout cells (MEF -/-) were used in this study as a model for LAM. Oxygen consumption rates (OCR) and redox potential were measured to determine metabolic state across control cells, MEF +/+ and -/- cells treated with rapamycin (Rapa), and MEF +/+ and -/- cells treated with E 2 . An XF96 extracellular flux analyzer from Seahorse Bioscience ® was used to measure OCR, and a RedoxSYS™ ORP was used to measure redox potential. OCR of MEF -/- cells treated with rapamycin (MEF -/- Rapa) versus MEF -/- control were significantly lower across all conditions. The static oxidation reduction potential of the MEF -/- Rapa group was also lower, approaching significance. The coupling efficiency and ratio of ATP-linked respiration to maximum respiration were statistically lower in MEF -/- Rapa compared to MEF +/+ Rapa. There were no significant metabolic findings across any of the MEF cells treated with E 2 . MEF -/- control cells versus MEF +/+ control cells were not found to significantly differ. MEF cells are thought to be a feasible metabolic model for LAM, which has implications for future pharmacologic and biologic testing.

An anthocyanin rich strawberry extract induces apoptosis and ROS while decreases glycolysis and fibrosis in human uterine leiomyoma cells

PubMed Central

Janjusevic, Milijana; Gasparrini, Massimiliano; Forbes-Hernandez, Tamara Y.; Mazzoni, Luca; Greco, Stefania; Giannubilo, Stefano Raffaele; Ciavattini, Andrea; Mezzetti, Bruno; Capocasa, Franco; Castellucci, Mario; Battino, Maurizio; Ciarmela, Pasquapina

2017-01-01

Uterine leiomyomas are highly prevalent benign tumors in reproductive aged women. Unfortunately, medical treatments are still limited and no preventive therapies have been developed. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic effects of strawberry extract on uterine leiomyoma cells. Leiomyoma and myometrial cells were treated with strawberry (cultivar Alba) extract (250 μg/ml) for 48 h to measure apoptosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS), oxidative phosphorylation (OCR, oxygen consumption rate) and glycolysis (ECAR, extracellular acidification rate) as well as fibrosis associated gene and/or protein expression. In leiomyoma cells, strawberry increased the percentage of apoptotic and dead cells. Strawberry significantly increased ROS concentration in leiomyoma cells, while decreased it in myometrial cells. After strawberry treatment, leiomyoma cells showed a significant decreased rate of ECAR, while OCR was unchanged in both myometrial and leiomyoma cells. Strawberry significantly decreased collagen1A1, fibronectin and versican mRNA expression in leiomyoma cells. The reduced protein expression of fibronectin was observed by strawberry extract in leiomyoma cells as well. Furthermore, strawberry was able to reduce activin A induced fibronectin, collagen1A1, and versican as well as activin A and PAI-1 mRNA expression in leiomyoma cells. This study suggests that strawberry can be developed as therapeutic and/or preventive agent for uterine leiomyomas. PMID:28212568

An anthocyanin rich strawberry extract induces apoptosis and ROS while decreases glycolysis and fibrosis in human uterine leiomyoma cells.

PubMed

Islam, Md Soriful; Giampieri, Francesca; Janjusevic, Milijana; Gasparrini, Massimiliano; Forbes-Hernandez, Tamara Y; Mazzoni, Luca; Greco, Stefania; Giannubilo, Stefano Raffaele; Ciavattini, Andrea; Mezzetti, Bruno; Capocasa, Franco; Castellucci, Mario; Battino, Maurizio; Ciarmela, Pasquapina

2017-04-04

Uterine leiomyomas are highly prevalent benign tumors in reproductive aged women. Unfortunately, medical treatments are still limited and no preventive therapies have been developed. In the present study, we investigated the therapeutic effects of strawberry extract on uterine leiomyoma cells. Leiomyoma and myometrial cells were treated with strawberry (cultivar Alba) extract (250 μg/ml) for 48 h to measure apoptosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS), oxidative phosphorylation (OCR, oxygen consumption rate) and glycolysis (ECAR, extracellular acidification rate) as well as fibrosis associated gene and/or protein expression. In leiomyoma cells, strawberry increased the percentage of apoptotic and dead cells. Strawberry significantly increased ROS concentration in leiomyoma cells, while decreased it in myometrial cells. After strawberry treatment, leiomyoma cells showed a significant decreased rate of ECAR, while OCR was unchanged in both myometrial and leiomyoma cells. Strawberry significantly decreased collagen1A1, fibronectin and versican mRNA expression in leiomyoma cells. The reduced protein expression of fibronectin was observed by strawberry extract in leiomyoma cells as well. Furthermore, strawberry was able to reduce activin A induced fibronectin, collagen1A1, and versican as well as activin A and PAI-1 mRNA expression in leiomyoma cells. This study suggests that strawberry can be developed as therapeutic and/or preventive agent for uterine leiomyomas.

Traleika Glacier X-Stack Extension Final Report

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

Fryman, Joshua

The XStack Extension Project continued along the direction of the XStack program in exploring the software tools and frameworks to support a task-based community runtime towards the goal of Exascale programming. The momentum built as part of the XStack project, with the development of the task-based Open Community Runtime (OCR) and related tools, was carried through during the XStack Extension with the focus areas of easing application development, improving performance and supporting more features. The infrastructure set up for a community-driven open-source development continued to be used towards these areas, with continued co-development of runtime and applications. A variety ofmore » OCR programming environments were studied, as described in Sections Revolutionary Programming Environments & Applications – to assist with application development on OCR, and we develop OCR Translator, a ROSE-based source-to-source compiler that parses high-level annotations in an MPI program to generate equivalent OCR code. Figure 2 compares the number of OCR objects needed to generate the 2D stencil workload using the translator, against manual approaches based on SPMD library or native coding. The rate of increase with the translator, with an increase in number of ranks, is consistent with other approaches. This is explored further in Section OCR Translator.« less

Robust keyword retrieval method for OCRed text

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujii, Yusaku; Takebe, Hiroaki; Tanaka, Hiroshi; Hotta, Yoshinobu

2011-01-01

Document management systems have become important because of the growing popularity of electronic filing of documents and scanning of books, magazines, manuals, etc., through a scanner or a digital camera, for storage or reading on a PC or an electronic book. Text information acquired by optical character recognition (OCR) is usually added to the electronic documents for document retrieval. Since texts generated by OCR generally include character recognition errors, robust retrieval methods have been introduced to overcome this problem. In this paper, we propose a retrieval method that is robust against both character segmentation and recognition errors. In the proposed method, the insertion of noise characters and dropping of characters in the keyword retrieval enables robustness against character segmentation errors, and character substitution in the keyword of the recognition candidate for each character in OCR or any other character enables robustness against character recognition errors. The recall rate of the proposed method was 15% higher than that of the conventional method. However, the precision rate was 64% lower.

Boost OCR accuracy using iVector based system combination approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Xujun; Cao, Huaigu; Natarajan, Prem

2015-01-01

Optical character recognition (OCR) is a challenging task because most existing preprocessing approaches are sensitive to writing style, writing material, noises and image resolution. Thus, a single recognition system cannot address all factors of real document images. In this paper, we describe an approach to combine diverse recognition systems by using iVector based features, which is a newly developed method in the field of speaker verification. Prior to system combination, document images are preprocessed and text line images are extracted with different approaches for each system, where iVector is transformed from a high-dimensional supervector of each text line and is used to predict the accuracy of OCR. We merge hypotheses from multiple recognition systems according to the overlap ratio and the predicted OCR score of text line images. We present evaluation results on an Arabic document database where the proposed method is compared against the single best OCR system using word error rate (WER) metric.

Distinct Effects of Rotenone, 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium and 6-hydroxydopamine on Cellular Bioenergetics and Cell Death

PubMed Central

Giordano, Samantha; Lee, Jisun; Darley-Usmar, Victor M.; Zhang, Jianhua

2012-01-01

Parkinson’s disease is characterized by dopaminergic neurodegeneration and is associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. The bioenergetic susceptibility of dopaminergic neurons to toxins which induce Parkinson’s like syndromes in animal models is then of particular interest. For example, rotenone, 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) and its active metabolite 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+), and 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), have been shown to induce dopaminergic cell death in vivo and in vitro. Exposure of animals to these compounds induce a range of responses characteristics of Parkinson’s disease, including dopaminergic cell death, and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production. Here we test the hypothesis that cellular bioenergetic dysfunction caused by these compounds correlates with induction of cell death in differentiated dopaminergic neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. At increasing doses, rotenone induced significant cell death accompanied with caspase 3 activation. At these concentrations, rotenone had an immediate inhibition of mitochondrial basal oxygen consumption rate (OCR) concomitant with a decrease of ATP-linked OCR and reserve capacity, as well as a stimulation of glycolysis. MPP+ exhibited a different behavior with less pronounced cell death at doses that nearly eliminated basal and ATP-linked OCR. Interestingly, MPP+, unlike rotenone, stimulated bioenergetic reserve capacity. The effects of 6-OHDA on bioenergetic function was markedly less than the effects of rotenone or MPP+ at cytotoxic doses, suggesting a mechanism largely independent of bioenergetic dysfunction. These studies suggest that these dopaminergic neurotoxins induce cell death through distinct mechanisms and differential effects on cellular bioenergetics. PMID:22970265

Islet Assessment for Transplantation

PubMed Central

Papas, Klearchos K.; Suszynski, Thomas M.; Colton, Clark. K.

2010-01-01

Purpose of review There is a critical need for meaningful viability and potency assays that characterize islet preparations for release prior to clinical islet cell transplantation (ICT). Development, testing, and validation of such assays have been the subject of intense investigation for the past decade. These efforts are reviewed, highlighting the most recent results while focusing on the most promising assays. Recent Findings Assays based on membrane integrity do not reflect true viability when applied to either intact islets or dispersed islet cells. Assays requiring disaggregation of intact islets into individual cells for assessment introduce additional problems of cell damage and loss. Assays evaluating mitochondrial function, specifically mitochondrial membrane potential, bioenergetic status, and cellular oxygen consumption rate (OCR), especially when conducted with intact islets, appear most promising in evaluating their quality prior to ICT. Prospective, quantitative assays based on measurements of OCR with intact islets have been developed, validated and their results correlated with transplant outcomes in the diabetic nude mouse bioassay. Conclusion More sensitive and reliable islet viability and potency tests have been recently developed and tested. Those evaluating mitochondrial function are most promising, correlate with transplant outcomes in mice, and are currently being evaluated in the clinical setting. PMID:19812494

A robust omnifont open-vocabulary Arabic OCR system using pseudo-2D-HMM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rashwan, Abdullah M.; Rashwan, Mohsen A.; Abdel-Hameed, Ahmed; Abdou, Sherif; Khalil, A. H.

2012-01-01

Recognizing old documents is highly desirable since the demand for quickly searching millions of archived documents has recently increased. Using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) has been proven to be a good solution to tackle the main problems of recognizing typewritten Arabic characters. These attempts however achieved a remarkable success for omnifont OCR under very favorable conditions, they didn't achieve the same performance in practical conditions, i.e. noisy documents. In this paper we present an omnifont, large-vocabulary Arabic OCR system using Pseudo Two Dimensional Hidden Markov Model (P2DHMM), which is a generalization of the HMM. P2DHMM offers a more efficient way to model the Arabic characters, such model offer both minimal dependency on the font size/style (omnifont), and high level of robustness against noise. The evaluation results of this system are very promising compared to a baseline HMM system and best OCRs available in the market (Sakhr and NovoDynamics). The recognition accuracy of the P2DHMM classifier is measured against the classic HMM classifier, the average word accuracy rates for P2DHMM and HMM classifiers are 79% and 66% respectively. The overall system accuracy is measured against Sakhr and NovoDynamics OCR systems, the average word accuracy rates for P2DHMM, NovoDynamics, and Sakhr are 74%, 71%, and 61% respectively.

Metabolic Profile of Pancreatic Acinar and Islet Tissue in Culture

PubMed Central

Suszynski, Thomas M.; Mueller, Kathryn; Gruessner, Angelika C.; Papas, Klearchos K.

2016-01-01

The amount and condition of exocrine impurities may affect the quality of islet preparations especially during culture. In this study, the objective was to determine the oxygen demandand viability of islet and acinar tissue post-isolation and whether they change disproportionately while in culture. We compare the OCR normalized to DNA (OCR/DNA, a measure of fractional viability in units nmol/min/mg DNA), and percent change in OCR and DNA recoveries between adult porcine islet and acinar tissue from the same preparation (paired) over a 6-9 days of standard culture. Paired comparisons were done to quantify differences in OCR/DNA between islet and acinar tissue from the same preparation, at specified time points during culture; the mean (± standard error) OCR/DNA was 74.0 (±11.7) units higher for acinar (vs. islet) tissue on the day of isolation (n=16, p<0.0001), but 25.7 (±9.4) units lower after 1 day (n=8, p=0.03), 56.6 (±11.5) units lower after 2 days (n=12, p=0.0004), and 65.9 (±28.7) units lower after 8 days (n=4, p=0.2) in culture. DNA and OCR recoveries decreased at different rates for acinar versus islet tissue over 6-9 days in culture (n=6). DNA recovery decreased to 24±7% for acinar and 75±8% for islets (p=0.002). Similarly, OCR recovery decreased to 16±3% for acinar and remained virtually constant for islets (p=0.005). Differences in the metabolic profile of acinarand islet tissue should be considered when culturing impure islet preparations. OCR-based measurements may help optimize pre-IT culture protocols. PMID:25131082

Investigating mitochondrial dysfunction in human lung cells exposed to redox-active PM components.

PubMed

Lavrich, Katelyn S; Corteselli, Elizabeth M; Wages, Phillip A; Bromberg, Philip A; Simmons, Steven O; Gibbs-Flournoy, Eugene A; Samet, James M

2018-03-01

Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) causes cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality through mechanisms that involve oxidative stress. 1,2-naphthoquinone (1,2-NQ) is a ubiquitous component of PM and a potent redox-active electrophile. We previously reported that 1,2-NQ increases mitochondrial H 2 O 2 production through an unidentified mechanism. We sought to characterize the effects of 1,2-NQ exposure on mitochondrial respiration as a source of H 2 O 2 in human airway epithelial cells. We measured the effects of acute exposure to 1,2-NQ on oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in the human bronchial epithelial cell line BEAS-2B and mitochondrial preparations using extracellular flux analysis. Complex-specific assays and NADPH depletion by glucose deprivation distinguished between mitochondrial and non-mitochondrial oxygen utilization. 1,2-NQ exposure of BEAS cells caused a rapid, marked dose-dependent increase in OCR that was independent of mitochondrial respiration, exceeded the OCR observed after mitochondrial uncoupling, and remained sensitive to NADPH depletion, implicating extra-mitochondrial redox cycling processes. Similar effects were observed with the environmentally relevant redox-cycling quinones 1,4-naphthoquinone and 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, but not with quinones that do not redox cycle, such as 1,4-benzoquinone. In mitochondrial preparations, 1,2-NQ caused a decrease in Complex I-linked substrate oxidation, suggesting impairment of pyruvate utilization or transport, a novel mechanism of mitochondrial inhibition by an environmental exposure. This study also highlights the methodological utility and challenges in the use of extracellular flux analysis to elucidate the mechanisms of action of redox-active electrophiles present in ambient air. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Loss of otolith function with age is associated with increased postural sway measures.

PubMed

Serrador, Jorge M; Lipsitz, Lewis A; Gopalakrishnan, Gosala S; Black, F Owen; Wood, Scott J

2009-11-06

Loss of balance and increased fall risk is a common problem associated with aging. Changes in vestibular function occur with aging but the contribution of reduced vestibular otolith function to fall risk remains unknown. We examined a population of 151 healthy individuals (aged 21-93) for both balance (sway measures) and ocular counter-rolling (OCR) function. We assessed balance function with eyes open and closed on a firm surface, eyes open and closed on a foam surface and OCR during +/-20 degree roll tilt at 0.005 Hz. Subjects demonstrated a significant age-related reduction in OCR and increase in postural sway. The effect of age on OCR was greater in females than males. The reduction in OCR was strongly correlated with the mediolateral measures of sway with eyes closed. This correlation was also present in the elderly group alone, suggesting that aging alone does not account for this effect. OCR decreased linearly with age and at a greater rate in females than males. This loss of vestibular otolith-ocular function is associated with increased mediolateral measures of sway which have been shown to be related to increased risk of falls. These data suggest a role for loss of otolith function in contributing to fall risk in the elderly. Further prospective, longitudinal studies are necessary to confirm these findings.

Identification of Matra Region and Overlapping Characters for OCR of Printed Bengali Scripts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goswami, Subhra Sundar

One of the important reasons for poor recognition rate in optical character recognition (OCR) system is the error in character segmentation. In case of Bangla scripts, the errors occur due to several reasons, which include incorrect detection of matra (headline), over-segmentation and under-segmentation. We have proposed a robust method for detecting the headline region. Existence of overlapping characters (in under-segmented parts) in scanned printed documents is a major problem in designing an effective character segmentation procedure for OCR systems. In this paper, a predictive algorithm is developed for effectively identifying overlapping characters and then selecting the cut-borders for segmentation. Our method can be successfully used in achieving high recognition result.

Counting OCR errors in typeset text

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandberg, Jonathan S.

1995-03-01

Frequently object recognition accuracy is a key component in the performance analysis of pattern matching systems. In the past three years, the results of numerous excellent and rigorous studies of OCR system typeset-character accuracy (henceforth OCR accuracy) have been published, encouraging performance comparisons between a variety of OCR products and technologies. These published figures are important; OCR vendor advertisements in the popular trade magazines lead readers to believe that published OCR accuracy figures effect market share in the lucrative OCR market. Curiously, a detailed review of many of these OCR error occurrence counting results reveals that they are not reproducible as published and they are not strictly comparable due to larger variances in the counts than would be expected by the sampling variance. Naturally, since OCR accuracy is based on a ratio of the number of OCR errors over the size of the text searched for errors, imprecise OCR error accounting leads to similar imprecision in OCR accuracy. Some published papers use informal, non-automatic, or intuitively correct OCR error accounting. Still other published results present OCR error accounting methods based on string matching algorithms such as dynamic programming using Levenshtein (edit) distance but omit critical implementation details (such as the existence of suspect markers in the OCR generated output or the weights used in the dynamic programming minimization procedure). The problem with not specifically revealing the accounting method is that the number of errors found by different methods are significantly different. This paper identifies the basic accounting methods used to measure OCR errors in typeset text and offers an evaluation and comparison of the various accounting methods.

Growth, metabolism and physiological response of the sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus Selenka during periods of inactivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Rongbin; Zang, Yuanqi; Tian, Xiangli; Dong, Shuanglin

2013-03-01

The growth, metabolism and physiological response of the sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus, were investigated during periods of inactivity. The body weight, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), activities of acidic phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (AKP), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), and content of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) in the body wall and coelomic fluid of A. japonicus were measured during starvation, experimental aestivation and aestivation. The results showed that the body weight of sea cucumber in the three treatments decreased significantly during the experimental period ( P < 0.05). The OCR of sea cucumber reduced in starvation and experimental aestivation treatments, but increased gradually in natural aestivation treatment. The activities of ACP and AKP of sea cucumber decreased gradually in all treatments, whereas those of SOD and CAT as well as Hsp70 content decreased in the starvation and experimental aestivation treatments and increased in natural aestivation treatment. The sea cucumber entered a state of aestivation at 24°C. To some extent, the animals in experimental aestivation were different from those in natural aestivation in metabolism and physiological response. These findings suggested that the aestivation mechanism of A. japonicus is complex and may not be attributed to the elevated temperature only.

Redox Signaling and Bioenergetics Influence Lung Cancer Cell Line Sensitivity to the Isoflavone ME-344

PubMed Central

Manevich, Yefim; Reyes, Leticia; Britten, Carolyn D.; Townsend, Danyelle M.

2016-01-01

ME-344 [(3R,4S)-3,4-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-8-methyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-chromen-7-ol] is a second-generation derivative natural product isoflavone presently under clinical development. ME-344 effects were compared in lung cancer cell lines that are either intrinsically sensitive or resistant to the drug and in primary immortalized human lung embryonic fibroblasts (IHLEF). Cytotoxicity at low micromolar concentrations occurred only in sensitive cell lines, causing redox stress, decreased mitochondrial ATP production, and subsequent disruption of mitochondrial function. In a dose-dependent manner the drug caused instantaneous and pronounced inhibition of oxygen consumption rates (OCR) in drug-sensitive cells (quantitatively significantly less in drug-resistant cells). This was consistent with targeting of mitochondria by ME-344, with specific effects on the respiratory chain (resistance correlated with higher glycolytic indexes). OCR inhibition did not occur in primary IHLEF. ME-344 increased extracellular acidification rates in drug-resistant cells (significantly less in drug-sensitive cells), implying that ME-344 targets mitochondrial proton pumps. Only in drug-sensitive cells did ME-344 dose-dependently increase the intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species and cause oxidation of total (mainly glutathione) and protein thiols and the concomitant immediate increases in NADPH levels. We conclude that ME-344 causes complex, redox-specific, and mitochondria-targeted effects in lung cancer cells, which differ in extent from normal cells, correlate with drug sensitivity, and provide indications of a beneficial in vitro therapeutic index. PMID:27255112

Rates of insulin secretion in INS-1 cells are enhanced by coupling to anaplerosis and Kreb's cycle flux independent of ATP synthesis.

PubMed

Cline, Gary W; Pongratz, Rebecca L; Zhao, Xiaojian; Papas, Klearchos K

2011-11-11

Mechanistic models of glucose stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) established in minimal media in vitro, may not accurately describe the complexity of coupling metabolism with insulin secretion that occurs in vivo. As a first approximation, we have evaluated metabolic pathways in a typical growth media, DMEM as a surrogate in vivo medium, for comparison to metabolic fluxes observed under the typical experimental conditions using the simple salt-buffer of KRB. Changes in metabolism in response to glucose and amino acids and coupling to insulin secretion were measured in INS-1 832/13 cells. Media effects on mitochondrial function and the coupling efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation were determined by fluorometrically measured oxygen consumption rates (OCRs) combined with (31)P NMR measured rates of ATP synthesis. Substrate preferences and pathways into the TCA cycle, and the synthesis of mitochondrial 2nd messengers by anaplerosis were determined by (13)C NMR isotopomer analysis of the fate of [U-(13)C] glucose metabolism. Despite similar incremental increases in insulin secretion, the changes of OCR in response to increasing glucose from 2.5 to 15mM were blunted in DMEM relative to KRB. Basal and stimulated rates of insulin secretion rates were consistently higher in DMEM, while ATP synthesis rates were identical in both DMEM and KRB, suggesting greater mitochondrial uncoupling in DMEM. The relative rates of anaplerosis, and hence synthesis and export of 2nd messengers from the mitochondria were found to be similar in DMEM to those in KRB. And, the correlation of total PC flux with insulin secretion rates in DMEM was found to be congruous with the correlation in KRB. Together, these results suggest that signaling mechanisms associated with both TCA cycle flux and with anaplerotic flux, but not ATP production, may be responsible for the enhanced rates of insulin secretion in more complex, and physiologically-relevant media. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Warped document image correction method based on heterogeneous registration strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tong, Lijing; Zhan, Guoliang; Peng, Quanyao; Li, Yang; Li, Yifan

2013-03-01

With the popularity of digital camera and the application requirement of digitalized document images, using digital cameras to digitalize document images has become an irresistible trend. However, the warping of the document surface impacts on the quality of the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system seriously. To improve the warped document image's vision quality and the OCR rate, this paper proposed a warped document image correction method based on heterogeneous registration strategies. This method mosaics two warped images of the same document from different viewpoints. Firstly, two feature points are selected from one image. Then the two feature points are registered in the other image base on heterogeneous registration strategies. At last, image mosaics are done for the two images, and the best mosaiced image is selected by OCR recognition results. As a result, for the best mosaiced image, the distortions are mostly removed and the OCR results are improved markedly. Experimental results show that the proposed method can resolve the issue of warped document image correction more effectively.

Method for physiologic phenotype characterization at the single-cell level in non-interacting and interacting cells

PubMed Central

Ashili, Shashanka P.; Houkal, Jeff; Smith, Dean; Mohammadreza, Aida; Lee, Kristen B.; Forrester, Jessica; Kumar, Ashok; Anis, Yasser H.; Paulson, Thomas G.; Youngbull, Cody A.; Tian, Yanqing; Holl, Mark R.; Johnson, Roger H.; Meldrum, Deirdre R.

2012-01-01

Abstract. Intercellular heterogeneity is a key factor in a variety of core cellular processes including proliferation, stimulus response, carcinogenesis, and drug resistance. However, cell-to-cell variability studies at the single-cell level have been hampered by the lack of enabling experimental techniques. We present a measurement platform that features the capability to quantify oxygen consumption rates of individual, non-interacting and interacting cells under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. It is based on real-time concentration measurements of metabolites of interest by means of extracellular optical sensors in cell-isolating microwells of subnanoliter volume. We present the results of a series of measurements of oxygen consumption rates (OCRs) of individual non-interacting and interacting human epithelial cells. We measured the effects of cell-to-cell interactions by using the system’s capability to isolate two and three cells in a single well. The major advantages of the approach are: 1. ratiometric, intensity-based characterization of the metabolic phenotype at the single-cell level, 2. minimal invasiveness due to the distant positioning of sensors, and 3. ability to study the effects of cell-cell interactions on cellular respiration rates. PMID:22502580

Method for physiologic phenotype characterization at the single-cell level in non-interacting and interacting cells.

PubMed

Kelbauskas, Laimonas; Ashili, Shashanka P; Houkal, Jeff; Smith, Dean; Mohammadreza, Aida; Lee, Kristen B; Forrester, Jessica; Kumar, Ashok; Anis, Yasser H; Paulson, Thomas G; Youngbull, Cody A; Tian, Yanqing; Holl, Mark R; Johnson, Roger H; Meldrum, Deirdre R

2012-03-01

Intercellular heterogeneity is a key factor in a variety of core cellular processes including proliferation, stimulus response, carcinogenesis, and drug resistance. However, cell-to-cell variability studies at the single-cell level have been hampered by the lack of enabling experimental techniques. We present a measurement platform that features the capability to quantify oxygen consumption rates of individual, non-interacting and interacting cells under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. It is based on real-time concentration measurements of metabolites of interest by means of extracellular optical sensors in cell-isolating microwells of subnanoliter volume. We present the results of a series of measurements of oxygen consumption rates (OCRs) of individual non-interacting and interacting human epithelial cells. We measured the effects of cell-to-cell interactions by using the system's capability to isolate two and three cells in a single well. The major advantages of the approach are: 1. ratiometric, intensity-based characterization of the metabolic phenotype at the single-cell level, 2. minimal invasiveness due to the distant positioning of sensors, and 3. ability to study the effects of cell-cell interactions on cellular respiration rates. © 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

Occupational cognitive requirements and late-life cognitive aging.

PubMed

Pool, Lindsay R; Weuve, Jennifer; Wilson, Robert S; Bültmann, Ute; Evans, Denis A; Mendes de Leon, Carlos F

2016-04-12

To examine whether occupational cognitive requirements, as a marker of adulthood cognitive activity, are associated with late-life cognition and cognitive decline. Main lifetime occupation information for 7,637 participants aged >65 years of the Chicago Health and Aging Project (CHAP) was linked with standardized data on worker attributes and job characteristics from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). Ratings of cognitive processes required in 10 work-related tasks were used to create a summary measure of occupational cognitive requirements (possible range 0-7). Multivariable-adjusted linear mixed models were used to estimate the association of occupational cognitive requirements score (OCRS) with cognitive function and rate of cognitive decline. Higher OCRS corresponded to significantly better late-life cognitive performance at baseline in 1993 (p < 0.001) and to slower decline in global cognitive function over time (p = 0.004). Within a genotyped subsample (n = 4,104), the associations of OCRS with rate of cognitive decline did not differ significantly by APOE ε4 carriership (p = 0.11). Findings suggest that occupational cognitive requirements are associated with better cognition and a slower rate of cognitive decline in older age. Adulthood cognitive activity may contribute to cognitive reserve in late life. © 2016 American Academy of Neurology.

Adjunctive Local Application of Lidocaine during Scleral Buckling under General Anesthesia.

PubMed

Dehghani, Alireza; Montazeri, Kamran; Masjedi, Amin; Karbasi, Najmeh; Ashrafi, Leila; Saeedian, Behrooz

2011-07-01

To evaluate the effect of local lidocaine application on the incidence of the oculocardiac reflex (OCR) during scleral buckling (SB) for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) under general anesthesia. In a randomized clinical trial, eyes with RRD scheduled for SB under general anesthesia were randomized to adjunctive local application of 1 ml lidocaine 2% versus normal saline to the muscles after conjunctival opening. Surgical stimulation was initiated 5 minutes afterwards. Additionally, 100 mg of lidocaine 2% was added to 50 ml of normal saline in the treatment group which was used for irrigation during surgery; control eyes were irrigated with normal saline. The incidence of the OCR, rate of postoperative nausea/vomiting (PONV), total intravenous (IV) analgesic dose, duration of surgery, and period of hospitalization were compared between the study groups. Thirty eyes of 30 patients including 22 (73.3%) male and 8 (26.7%) subjects with mean age of 49.4±16.3 years were operated. OCR and PONV occurred less frequently, and total intravenous analgesic dose was significantly lower in the lidocaine group (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). However, no significant difference was noted between the study groups in terms of duration of surgery and period of hospitalization. Adjunctive local application of lidocaine during SB under GA for RRD decreases the rate of OCR and PONV, reduces the intravenous analgesic dose, but does not affect the duration of surgery or hospitalization.

Genetic modification of human mesenchymal stem cells helps to reduce adiposity and improve glucose tolerance in an obese diabetic mouse model.

PubMed

Sen, Sabyasachi; Domingues, Cleyton C; Rouphael, Carol; Chou, Cyril; Kim, Chul; Yadava, Nagendra

2015-12-09

Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent cells that can differentiate into fat, muscle, bone and cartilage cells. Exposure of subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue derived AD-MSCs to high glucose (HG) leads to superoxide accumulation and up-regulation of inflammatory molecules. Our aim was to inquire how HG exposure affects MSCs differentiation and whether the mechanism is reversible. We exposed human adipose tissue derived MSCs to HG (25 mM) and compared it to normal glucose (NG, 5.5 mM) exposed cells at 7, 10 and 14 days. We examined mitochondrial superoxide accumulation (Mitosox-Red), cellular oxygen consumption rate (OCR, Seahorse) and gene expression. HG increased reactive superoxide (ROS) accumulation noted by day 7 both in cytosol and mitochondria. The OCR between the NG and HG exposed groups however did not change until 10 days at which point OCR of HG exposed cells were reduced significantly. We noted that HG exposure upregulated mRNA expression of adipogenic (PPARG, FABP-4, CREBP alpha and beta), inflammatory (IL-6 and TNF alpha) and antioxidant (SOD2 and Catalase) genes. Next, we used AdSOD2 to upregulate SOD2 prior to HG exposure and thereby noted reduction in superoxide generation. SOD2 upregulation helped reduce mRNA over-expression of PPARG, FABP-4, IL-6 and TNFα. In a series of separate experiments, we delivered the eGFP and SOD2 upregulated MSCs (5 days post ex-vivo transduction) and saline intra-peritoneally (IP) to obese diabetic (db/db) mice. We confirmed homing-in of eGFP labeled MSCs, delivered IP, to different inflamed fat pockets, particularly omental fat. Mice receiving SOD2-MSCs showed progressive reduction in body weight and improved glucose tolerance (GTT) at 4 weeks, post MSCs transplantation compared to the GFP-MSC group (control). High glucose evokes superoxide generation, OCR reduction and adipogenic differentiation. Mitochondrial superoxide dismutase upregulation quenches excess superoxide and reduces adipocyte inflammation. Delivery of superoxide dismutase (SOD2) using MSCs as a gene delivery vehicle reduces inflammation and improves glucose tolerance in vivo. Suppression of superoxide production and adipocyte inflammation using mitochondrial superoxide dismutase may be a novel and safe therapeutic tool to combat hyperglycemia mediated effects.

The impact of OCR accuracy on automated cancer classification of pathology reports.

PubMed

Zuccon, Guido; Nguyen, Anthony N; Bergheim, Anton; Wickman, Sandra; Grayson, Narelle

2012-01-01

To evaluate the effects of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on the automatic cancer classification of pathology reports. Scanned images of pathology reports were converted to electronic free-text using a commercial OCR system. A state-of-the-art cancer classification system, the Medical Text Extraction (MEDTEX) system, was used to automatically classify the OCR reports. Classifications produced by MEDTEX on the OCR versions of the reports were compared with the classification from a human amended version of the OCR reports. The employed OCR system was found to recognise scanned pathology reports with up to 99.12% character accuracy and up to 98.95% word accuracy. Errors in the OCR processing were found to minimally impact on the automatic classification of scanned pathology reports into notifiable groups. However, the impact of OCR errors is not negligible when considering the extraction of cancer notification items, such as primary site, histological type, etc. The automatic cancer classification system used in this work, MEDTEX, has proven to be robust to errors produced by the acquisition of freetext pathology reports from scanned images through OCR software. However, issues emerge when considering the extraction of cancer notification items.

Redox Signaling and Bioenergetics Influence Lung Cancer Cell Line Sensitivity to the Isoflavone ME-344.

PubMed

Manevich, Yefim; Reyes, Leticia; Britten, Carolyn D; Townsend, Danyelle M; Tew, Kenneth D

2016-08-01

ME-344 [(3R,4S)-3,4-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-8-methyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-chromen-7-ol] is a second-generation derivative natural product isoflavone presently under clinical development. ME-344 effects were compared in lung cancer cell lines that are either intrinsically sensitive or resistant to the drug and in primary immortalized human lung embryonic fibroblasts (IHLEF). Cytotoxicity at low micromolar concentrations occurred only in sensitive cell lines, causing redox stress, decreased mitochondrial ATP production, and subsequent disruption of mitochondrial function. In a dose-dependent manner the drug caused instantaneous and pronounced inhibition of oxygen consumption rates (OCR) in drug-sensitive cells (quantitatively significantly less in drug-resistant cells). This was consistent with targeting of mitochondria by ME-344, with specific effects on the respiratory chain (resistance correlated with higher glycolytic indexes). OCR inhibition did not occur in primary IHLEF. ME-344 increased extracellular acidification rates in drug-resistant cells (significantly less in drug-sensitive cells), implying that ME-344 targets mitochondrial proton pumps. Only in drug-sensitive cells did ME-344 dose-dependently increase the intracellular generation of reactive oxygen species and cause oxidation of total (mainly glutathione) and protein thiols and the concomitant immediate increases in NADPH levels. We conclude that ME-344 causes complex, redox-specific, and mitochondria-targeted effects in lung cancer cells, which differ in extent from normal cells, correlate with drug sensitivity, and provide indications of a beneficial in vitro therapeutic index. Copyright © 2016 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Clinical validity of biochemical and molecular analysis in diagnosing Leigh syndrome: a study of 106 Japanese patients.

PubMed

Ogawa, Erika; Shimura, Masaru; Fushimi, Takuya; Tajika, Makiko; Ichimoto, Keiko; Matsunaga, Ayako; Tsuruoka, Tomoko; Ishige, Mika; Fuchigami, Tatsuo; Yamazaki, Taro; Mori, Masato; Kohda, Masakazu; Kishita, Yoshihito; Okazaki, Yasushi; Takahashi, Shori; Ohtake, Akira; Murayama, Kei

2017-09-01

Leigh syndrome (LS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder of infancy and early childhood. It is clinically diagnosed by typical manifestations and characteristic computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies. Unravelling mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) dysfunction behind LS is essential for deeper understanding of the disease, which may lead to the development of new therapies and cure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical validity of various diagnostic tools in confirming MRC disorder in LS and Leigh-like syndrome (LL). The results of enzyme assays, molecular analysis, and cellular oxygen consumption rate (OCR) measurements were examined. Of 106 patients, 41 were biochemically and genetically verified, and 34 had reduced MRC activity but no causative mutations. Seven patients with normal MRC complex activities had mutations in the MT-ATP6 gene. Five further patients with normal activity in MRC were identified with causative mutations. Conversely, 12 out of 60 enzyme assays performed for genetically verified patients returned normal results. No biochemical or genetic background was confirmed for 19 patients. OCR was reduced in ten out of 19 patients with negative enzyme assay results. Inconsistent enzyme assay results between fibroblast and skeletal muscle biopsy samples were observed in 33% of 37 simultaneously analyzed cases. These data suggest that highest diagnostic rate is reached using a combined enzymatic and genetic approach, analyzing more than one type of biological materials where suitable. Microscale oxygraphy detected MRC impairment in 50% cases with no defect in MRC complex activities.

Novel Blood Biomarkers Are Associated with White Matter Lesions in Fragile X- Associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome.

PubMed

Loesch, Danuta Z; Annesley, Sarah J; Trost, Nicholas; Bui, Minh Q; Lay, Sui T; Storey, Elsdon; De Piazza, Shawn W; Sanislav, Oana; Francione, Lisa M; Hammersley, Eleanor M; Tassone, Flora; Francis, David; Fisher, Paul R

2017-01-01

The need for accessible cellular biomarkers of neurodegeneration in carriers of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) premutation (PM) alleles. To assess the mitochondrial status and respiration in blood lymphoblasts from PM carriers manifesting the fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) and non-FXTAS carriers, and their relationship with the brain white matter lesions. Oxygen consumption rates (OCR) and ATP synthesis using a Seahorse XFe24 Extracellular Flux Analyser, and steady-state parameters of mitochondrial function were assessed in cultured lymphoblasts from 16 PM males (including 11 FXTAS patients) and 9 matched controls. The regional white matter hyperintensity (WMH) scores were obtained from MRI. Mitochondrial respiratory activity was significantly elevated in lymphoblasts from PM carriers compared with controls, with a 2- to 3-fold increase in basal and maximum OCR attributable to complex I activity, and ATP synthesis, accompanied by unaltered mitochondrial mass and membrane potential. The changes, which were more advanced in FXTAS patients, were significantly associated with the WMH scores in the supratentorial regions. The dramatic increase in mitochondrial activity in lymphoblasts from PM carriers may represent either the early stages of disease (specific alterations in short-lived blood cells) or an activation of the lymphocytes under pathological situations. These changes may provide early, convenient blood biomarkers of clinical involvements. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Phenformin enhances the efficacy of ERK inhibition in NF1-mutant melanoma

PubMed Central

Shaw, Fiona M.; Yao, Zhan; Ran, Yuping; Shakuntala, Tiwari; Merghoub, Taha; Manstein, Dieter; Rosen, Neal; Cantley, Lewis C.; Zippin, Jonathan H.; Zheng, Bin

2017-01-01

Inactivation of the tumor suppressor neurofibromin 1 (NF1) presents a newly characterized melanoma subtype, for which currently no targeted therapies are clinically available. Pre-clinical studies suggest that ERK inhibitors are likely to provide benefit, albeit with limited efficacy as single agent; therefore, there is a need for rationally designed combination therapies. Here, we evaluate the combination of the ERK inhibitor SCH772984 and the biguanide phenformin. Combination of both compounds showed potent synergy in cell viability assays and cooperatively induced apoptosis. Treatment with both drugs was required to fully suppress mTOR signaling, a known effector of NF1 loss. Mechanistically, SCH772984 increased the oxygen consumption rate (OCR), indicating that these cells relied more on oxidative phosphorylation upon treatment. Consistently, SCH772984 increased expression of the mitochondrial transcriptional co-activator PGC1α. In contrast, co-treatment with phenformin, an inhibitor of complex I of the respiratory chain, decreased the OCR. SCH772984 also promoted the expansion of the H3K4 demethylase KDM5B (also known as JARID1B)-positive subpopulation of melanoma cells, which are slow-cycling and treatment-resistant. Importantly, phenformin suppressed this KDM5B-positive population, which reduced the emergence of SCH772984-resistant clones in long-term cultures. Our results warrant the clinical investigation of this combination therapy in patients with NF1 mutant melanoma. PMID:28143781

Ocular Counter Rolling in Astronauts After Short- and Long-Duration Spaceflight.

PubMed

Reschke, Millard F; Wood, Scott J; Clément, Gilles

2018-05-17

Ocular counter-rolling (OCR) is a reflex generated by the activation of the gravity sensors in the inner ear that stabilizes gaze and posture during head tilt. We compared the OCR measures that were obtained in 6 astronauts before, during, and after a spaceflight lasting 4-6 days with the OCR measures obtained from 6 astronauts before and after a spaceflight lasting 4-9 months. OCR in the short-duration fliers was measured using the afterimage method during head tilt at 15°, 30°, and 45°. OCR in the long-duration fliers was measured using video-oculography during whole body tilt at 25°. A control group of 7 subjects was used to compare OCR measures during head tilt and whole body tilt. No OCR occurred during head tilt in microgravity, and the response returned to normal within 2 hours of return from short-duration spaceflight. However, the amplitude of OCR was reduced for several days after return from long-duration spaceflight. This decrease in amplitude was not accompanied by changes in the asymmetry of OCR between right and left head tilt. These results indicate that the adaptation  of otolith-driven reflexes to microgravity is a long-duration process.

Adjunctive Local Application of Lidocaine during Scleral Buckling under General Anesthesia

PubMed Central

Dehghani, Alireza; Montazeri, Kamran; Masjedi, Amin; Karbasi, Najmeh; Ashrafi, Leila; Saeedian, Behrooz

2011-01-01

Purpose To evaluate the effect of local lidocaine application on the incidence of the oculocardiac reflex (OCR) during scleral buckling (SB) for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) under general anesthesia. Methods In a randomized clinical trial, eyes with RRD scheduled for SB under general anesthesia were randomized to adjunctive local application of 1 ml lidocaine 2% versus normal saline to the muscles after conjunctival opening. Surgical stimulation was initiated 5 minutes afterwards. Additionally, 100 mg of lidocaine 2% was added to 50 ml of normal saline in the treatment group which was used for irrigation during surgery; control eyes were irrigated with normal saline. The incidence of the OCR, rate of postoperative nausea/vomiting (PONV), total intravenous (IV) analgesic dose, duration of surgery, and period of hospitalization were compared between the study groups. Results Thirty eyes of 30 patients including 22 (73.3%) male and 8 (26.7%) subjects with mean age of 49.4±16.3 years were operated. OCR and PONV occurred less frequently, and total intravenous analgesic dose was significantly lower in the lidocaine group (P < 0.05 for all comparisons). However, no significant difference was noted between the study groups in terms of duration of surgery and period of hospitalization. Conclusion Adjunctive local application of lidocaine during SB under GA for RRD decreases the rate of OCR and PONV, reduces the intravenous analgesic dose, but does not affect the duration of surgery or hospitalization. PMID:22454732

Adaptive detection of missed text areas in OCR outputs: application to the automatic assessment of OCR quality in mass digitization projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ben Salah, Ahmed; Ragot, Nicolas; Paquet, Thierry

2013-01-01

The French National Library (BnF*) has launched many mass digitization projects in order to give access to its collection. The indexation of digital documents on Gallica (digital library of the BnF) is done through their textual content obtained thanks to service providers that use Optical Character Recognition softwares (OCR). OCR softwares have become increasingly complex systems composed of several subsystems dedicated to the analysis and the recognition of the elements in a page. However, the reliability of these systems is always an issue at stake. Indeed, in some cases, we can find errors in OCR outputs that occur because of an accumulation of several errors at different levels in the OCR process. One of the frequent errors in OCR outputs is the missed text components. The presence of such errors may lead to severe defects in digital libraries. In this paper, we investigate the detection of missed text components to control the OCR results from the collections of the French National Library. Our verification approach uses local information inside the pages based on Radon transform descriptors and Local Binary Patterns descriptors (LBP) coupled with OCR results to control their consistency. The experimental results show that our method detects 84.15% of the missed textual components, by comparing the OCR ALTO files outputs (produced by the service providers) to the images of the document.

Efficient automatic OCR word validation using word partial format derivation and language model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Siyuan; Misra, Dharitri; Thoma, George R.

2010-01-01

In this paper we present an OCR validation module, implemented for the System for Preservation of Electronic Resources (SPER) developed at the U.S. National Library of Medicine.1 The module detects and corrects suspicious words in the OCR output of scanned textual documents through a procedure of deriving partial formats for each suspicious word, retrieving candidate words by partial-match search from lexicons, and comparing the joint probabilities of N-gram and OCR edit transformation corresponding to the candidates. The partial format derivation, based on OCR error analysis, efficiently and accurately generates candidate words from lexicons represented by ternary search trees. In our test case comprising a historic medico-legal document collection, this OCR validation module yielded the correct words with 87% accuracy and reduced the overall OCR word errors by around 60%.

Invention and validation of an automated camera system that uses optical character recognition to identify patient name mislabeled samples.

PubMed

Hawker, Charles D; McCarthy, William; Cleveland, David; Messinger, Bonnie L

2014-03-01

Mislabeled samples are a serious problem in most clinical laboratories. Published error rates range from 0.39/1000 to as high as 1.12%. Standardization of bar codes and label formats has not yet achieved the needed improvement. The mislabel rate in our laboratory, although low compared with published rates, prompted us to seek a solution to achieve zero errors. To reduce or eliminate our mislabeled samples, we invented an automated device using 4 cameras to photograph the outside of a sample tube. The system uses optical character recognition (OCR) to look for discrepancies between the patient name in our laboratory information system (LIS) vs the patient name on the customer label. All discrepancies detected by the system's software then require human inspection. The system was installed on our automated track and validated with production samples. We obtained 1 009 830 images during the validation period, and every image was reviewed. OCR passed approximately 75% of the samples, and no mislabeled samples were passed. The 25% failed by the system included 121 samples actually mislabeled by patient name and 148 samples with spelling discrepancies between the patient name on the customer label and the patient name in our LIS. Only 71 of the 121 mislabeled samples detected by OCR were found through our normal quality assurance process. We have invented an automated camera system that uses OCR technology to identify potential mislabeled samples. We have validated this system using samples transported on our automated track. Full implementation of this technology offers the possibility of zero mislabeled samples in the preanalytic stage.

An evaluation of information retrieval accuracy with simulated OCR output

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

Croft, W.B.; Harding, S.M.; Taghva, K.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a critical part of many text-based applications. Although some commercial systems use the output from OCR devices to index documents without editing, there is very little quantitative data on the impact of OCR errors on the accuracy of a text retrieval system. Because of the difficulty of constructing test collections to obtain this data, we have carried out evaluation using simulated OCR output on a variety of databases. The results show that high quality OCR devices have little effect on the accuracy of retrieval, but low quality devices used with databases of short documents canmore » result in significant degradation.« less

High-throughput assessment of oxidative respiration in fish embryos: Advancing adverse outcome pathways for mitochondrial dysfunction.

PubMed

Souders, Christopher L; Liang, Xuefang; Wang, Xiaohong; Ector, Naomi; Zhao, Yuan H; Martyniuk, Christopher J

2018-06-01

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a prevalent molecular event that can result in multiple adverse outcomes. Recently, a novel high throughput method to assess metabolic capacity in fish embryos following exposure to chemicals has been adapted for environmental toxicology. Assessments of oxygen consumption rates using the Seahorse XF(e) 24/96 Extracellular Flux Analyzer (Agilent Technologies) can be used to garner insight into toxicant effects at early stages of development. Here we synthesize the current state of the science using high throughput metabolic profiling in zebrafish embryos, and present considerations for those wishing to adopt high throughput methods for mitochondrial bioenergetics into their research. Chemicals that have been investigated in zebrafish using this metabolic platform include herbicides (e.g. paraquat, diquat), industrial compounds (e.g. benzo-[a]-pyrene, tributyltin), natural products (e.g. quercetin), and anti-bacterial chemicals (i.e. triclosan). Some of these chemicals inhibit mitochondrial endpoints in the μM-mM range, and reduce basal respiration, maximum respiration, and spare capacity. We present a theoretical framework for how one can use mitochondrial performance data in zebrafish to categorize chemicals of concern and prioritize mitochondrial toxicants. Noteworthy is that our studies demonstrate that there can be considerable variation in basal respiration of untreated zebrafish embryos due to clutch-specific effects as well as individual variability, and basal oxygen consumption rates (OCR) can vary on average between 100 and 300 pmol/min/embryo. We also compare OCR between chorionated and dechorionated embryos, as both models are employed to test chemicals. After 24 h, dechorionated embryos remain responsive to mitochondrial toxicants, although they show a blunted response to the uncoupling agent carbonylcyanide-4-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone (FCCP); dechorionated embryos are therefore a viable option for investigations into mitochondrial bioenergetics. We present an adverse outcome pathway framework that incorporates endpoints related to mitochondrial bioenergetics. High throughput bioenergetics assays conducted using whole embryos are expected to support adverse outcome pathways for mitochondrial dysfunction. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Older Persons' Evaluations of Health Care: The Effects of Medical Skepticism and Worry about Health

PubMed Central

Borders, Tyrone F; Rohrer, James E; Xu, K Tom; Smith, David R

2004-01-01

Objective To describe how skepticism about medical care and other individual differences, including worry about health status, are associated with evaluations of health care among the noninstitutionalized elderly. Data Sources/Study Setting Data were collected through a survey of approximately 5,000 community-dwelling elders (aged 65 and older) in a southwestern region of the United States. Study Design Global evaluations of health care were measured with two items from the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study (CAHPS) instrument, an overall care rating (OCR) and a personal doctor rating (PDR). Multivariate ordered logit regression models were tested to examine how medical skepticism and other factors were associated with ratings of 0–7, 8–9, and 10. Principal Findings Consumers who were skeptical of prescription drugs relative to home remedies, who held attitudes that they understand their health better than most doctors, and who worried about their health had worse OCR and PDR. Those who held attitudes that individual behavior determines how soon one gets better when sick had better PDR and OCR. Conclusions Health policymakers, managers, and providers may need to consider the degree to which they should attempt to satisfy skeptical consumers, many of whom may never rate their care highly. Alternatively, they may need to target skeptical consumers with educational efforts explaining the benefits of medical care. PMID:14965076

PDE 5 inhibitor improves insulin sensitivity by enhancing mitochondrial function in adipocytes.

PubMed

Yu, Hea Min; Chung, Hyo Kyun; Kim, Koon Soon; Lee, Jae Min; Hong, Jun Hwa; Park, Kang Seo

2017-11-04

Adipocytes are involved in many metabolic disorders. It was recently reported that phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) is expressed in human adipose tissue. In addition, PDE5 inhibitors have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity in humans. However, the mechanism underlying the role of PDE5 inhibitors as an insulin sensitizer remains largely unknown. The present study was undertaken to investigate the role of the PDE5 inhibitor udenafil in insulin signaling in adipocytes and whether this is mediated through the regulation of mitochondrial function. To study the mechanism underlying the insulin sensitizing action of PDE5 inhibitors, we evaluated quantitative changes in protein or mRNA levels of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) complex, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), and fatty acid oxidation with varying udenafil concentrations in 3T3-L1 cells. Our cell study suggested that udenafil enhanced the insulin signaling pathway in 3T3-L1 cells. Following udenafil treatment, basal mitochondrial OCR, maximal OxPhos capacity, and OxPhos gene expression significantly increased. Finally, we examined whether udenafil can affect the fatty acid oxidation process. Treatment of 3T3-L1 cells with udenafil (10 and 20 μM) significantly increased fatty acid oxidation rate in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α) significantly increased. We demonstrated that the PDE5 inhibitor udenafil enhances insulin sensitivity by improving mitochondrial function in 3T3-L1 cells. This might be the mechanism underlying the PDE5 inhibitor-enhanced insulin signaling in adipocytes. This also suggests that udenafil may provide benefit in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and other related cardiovascular diseases. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ginsenoside Rg3 attenuates sepsis-induced injury and mitochondrial dysfunction in liver via AMPK-mediated autophagy flux.

PubMed

Xing, Wei; Yang, Lei; Peng, Yue; Wang, Qianlu; Gao, Min; Yang, Mingshi; Xiao, Xianzhong

2017-08-31

Sepsis-led mitochondrial dysfunction has become a critical pathophysiological procedure in sepsis. Since ginsenosides have been applied in the treatment of mitochondrial dysfunction, ginsenoside Rg3 was employed to study its effects on the mitochondrial dysfunction induced by sepsis. The apoptosis rate, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), reactive oxygen species (ROS), antioxidant glutathione (GSH) pools, and mitochondrial transmembrane potential (MTP) were determined in LPS-induced sepsis hepatocytes treated with different concentrations of Rg3. Then, the protein expression levels of mitochondrial biogenesis related transcription factors, autophagy-related proteins, and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signal pathway related proteins were determined by Western blotting in both in vitro and in vivo sepsis models. Rg3 shows functions of promotion of OCR, attenuation of ROS, and maintenance of GSH pools, and its conjugating activity in the in vitro sepsis models. Rg3-treated cells were observed to have a higher MTP value compared with the LPS only induced cells. Moreover, Rg3 treatment can inhibit mitochondrial dysfunction via increasing the protein expression levels of mitochondrial biogenesis related transcription factors. Rg3 treatment has the function of inhibitor of apoptosis of human primary hepatocytes, and Rg3 can up-regulate the autophagy-related proteins and activate AMPK signal pathway in sepsis models. Meanwhile, the mitochondrial protective function exerted by Rg3 decreased after the autophagy inhibitors or AMPK inhibitor treatment in LPS-induced human primary hepatocytes. Rg3 can improve mitochondrial dysfunction by regulating autophagy in mitochondria via activating the AMPK signal pathway, thus protecting cell and organ injuries caused by sepsis. © 2017 The Author(s).

Loose, Falling Characters and Sentences: The Persistence of the OCR Problem in Digital Repository E-Books

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kichuk, Diana

2015-01-01

The electronic conversion of scanned image files to readable text using optical character recognition (OCR) software and the subsequent migration of raw OCR text to e-book text file formats are key remediation or media conversion technologies used in digital repository e-book production. Despite real progress, the OCR problem of reliability and…

10 CFR 9.35 - Duplication fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

...) copying of ADAMS documents to paper (applies to images, OCR TIFF, and PDF text) is $0.30 per page. (B) EFT... is $0.30 per page. (vi) Priority rates (rush processing) are as follows: (A) The priority rate...

10 CFR 9.35 - Duplication fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

...) copying of ADAMS documents to paper (applies to images, OCR TIFF, and PDF text) is $0.30 per page. (B) EFT... is $0.30 per page. (vi) Priority rates (rush processing) are as follows: (A) The priority rate...

10 CFR 9.35 - Duplication fees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

...) copying of ADAMS documents to paper (applies to images, OCR TIFF, and PDF text) is $0.30 per page. (B) EFT... is $0.30 per page. (vi) Priority rates (rush processing) are as follows: (A) The priority rate...

Evolution of Sangiovese Wines With Varied Tannin and Anthocyanin Ratios During Oxidative Aging

PubMed Central

Gambuti, Angelita; Picariello, Luigi; Rinaldi, Alessandra; Moio, Luigi

2018-01-01

Changes in phenolic compounds, chromatic characteristics, acetaldehyde, and protein-reactive tannins associated with oxidative aging were studied in Sangiovese wines with varied tannin T/anthocyanin A ratios. For this purpose, three Sangiovese vineyards located in Tuscany were considered in the 2016 vintage. To obtain wines with different T/A ratios, two red wines were produced from each vinification batch: a free run juice with a lower T/A ratio and a marc pressed wine with a higher T/A ratio. An overall of six wines with T/A ratios ranging between 5 and 23 were produced. An oxidation treatment (four saturation cycles) was applied to each wine. Average and initial oxygen consumption rates (OCR) were positively correlated to VRF/mA (vanilline reactive flavans/monomeric anthocyanins) and T/A ratios while OCRs were negatively related to the wine content in monomeric and total anthocyanins. The higher the A content was, the greater the loss of total and free anthocyanins. A significant lower production of polymeric pigments was detected in all pressed wines with respect to the correspondant free run one. A gradual decrease of tannin reactivity toward saliva proteins after the application of oxygen saturation cycles was detected. The results obtained in this experiment indicate that VRF/mA and T/A ratios are among the fundamental parameters to evaluate before choosing the antioxidant protection to be used and the right oxidation level to apply for a longer shelf-life of red wine. PMID:29600246

Evolution of Sangiovese Wines with Varied Tannin and Anthocyanin Ratios during Oxidative Aging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gambuti, Angelita; Picariello, Luigi; Rinaldi, Alessandra; Moio, Luigi

2018-03-01

Changes in phenolic compounds, chromatic characteristics, acetaldehyde, and protein-reactive tannins associated with oxidative aging were studied in Sangiovese wines with varied tannin T/anthocyanin A ratios. For this purpose, three Sangiovese vineyards located in Tuscany were considered in the 2016 vintage. To obtain wines with different T/A ratios, two red wines were produced from each vinification batch: a free run juice with a lower T/A ratio and a marc pressed wine with a higher T/A ratio. An overall of 6 wines with T/A ratios ranging between 5 and 23 were produced. An oxidation treatment (four saturation cycles) was applied to each wine. Average and initial oxygen consumption rates (OCR) were positively correlated to VRF/mA (vanilline reactive flavans/monomeric anthocyanins) and T/A ratios while OCRs were negatively related to the wine content in monomeric and total anthocyanins. The higher the A content was, the greater the loss of total and free anthocyanins. A significant lower production of polymeric pigments was detected in all pressed wines with respect to the correspondant free run one. A gradual decrease of tannin reactivity towards saliva proteins after the application of oxygen saturation cycles was detected. The results obtained in this experiment indicate that VRF/mA and T/A ratios are among the fundamental parameters to evaluate before choosing the antioxidant protection to be used and the right oxidation level to apply for a longer shelf-life of red wine.

Evolution of Sangiovese Wines With Varied Tannin and Anthocyanin Ratios During Oxidative Aging.

PubMed

Gambuti, Angelita; Picariello, Luigi; Rinaldi, Alessandra; Moio, Luigi

2018-01-01

Changes in phenolic compounds, chromatic characteristics, acetaldehyde, and protein-reactive tannins associated with oxidative aging were studied in Sangiovese wines with varied tannin T/anthocyanin A ratios. For this purpose, three Sangiovese vineyards located in Tuscany were considered in the 2016 vintage. To obtain wines with different T/A ratios, two red wines were produced from each vinification batch: a free run juice with a lower T/A ratio and a marc pressed wine with a higher T/A ratio. An overall of six wines with T/A ratios ranging between 5 and 23 were produced. An oxidation treatment (four saturation cycles) was applied to each wine. Average and initial oxygen consumption rates (OCR) were positively correlated to VRF/mA (vanilline reactive flavans/monomeric anthocyanins) and T/A ratios while OCRs were negatively related to the wine content in monomeric and total anthocyanins. The higher the A content was, the greater the loss of total and free anthocyanins. A significant lower production of polymeric pigments was detected in all pressed wines with respect to the correspondant free run one. A gradual decrease of tannin reactivity toward saliva proteins after the application of oxygen saturation cycles was detected. The results obtained in this experiment indicate that VRF/mA and T/A ratios are among the fundamental parameters to evaluate before choosing the antioxidant protection to be used and the right oxidation level to apply for a longer shelf-life of red wine.

Naringin Protects Against High Glucose-Induced Human Endothelial Cell Injury Via Antioxidation and CX3CL1 Downregulation.

PubMed

Li, Guilin; Xu, Yurong; Sheng, Xuan; Liu, Hua; Guo, Jingjing; Wang, Jiayue; Zhong, Qi; Jiang, Huaide; Zheng, Chaoran; Tan, Mengxia; Rao, Shenqiang; Yu, Yanling; Gao, Yun; Li, Guodong; Liang, Shangdong; Zhu, Gaochun

2017-01-01

The induction of endothelial injury by hyperglycemia in diabetes has been widely accepted. Naringin is a bio-flavonoid. Some studies showed that naringin alleviates diabetic complications, but the exact mechanisms by which naringin improves diabetic anomalies are not yet fully understood. The aim of this research was to study the protective effect of naringin on high glucose-induced injury of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). HUVECs were cultured with or without high glucose in the absence or presence of naringin for 5 days. The expression of CX3CL1 was determined by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qPCR) and western blot. The cellular bioenergetic analysis oxygen consumption rate (OCR) was measured with a Seahorse Bioscience XF analyzer. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the expression of CX3CL1 and the level of AKT phosphorylation were increased in HUVECs cultured with high glucose compared with controls. However, naringin rescued these increases in ROS production, CX3CL1 expression and AKT phosphorylation. Nitric oxide (NO) production and OCR were lower in the high glucose group, and naringin restored the changes induced by high glucose. Molecular docking results suggested that Naringin might interact with the CX3CL1 protein. Naringin protects HUVECs from high-glucose-induced damage through its antioxidant properties by downregulating CX3CL1 and by improving mitochondrial function. © 2017 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.

Bioenergetics during calvarial osteoblast differentiation reflect strain differences in bone mass.

PubMed

Guntur, Anyonya R; Le, Phuong T; Farber, Charles R; Rosen, Clifford J

2014-05-01

Osteoblastogenesis is the process by which mesenchymal stem cells differentiate into osteoblasts that synthesize collagen and mineralize matrix. The pace and magnitude of this process are determined by multiple genetic and environmental factors. Two inbred strains of mice, C3H/HeJ and C57BL/6J, exhibit differences in peak bone mass and bone formation. Although all the heritable factors that differ between these strains have not been elucidated, a recent F1 hybrid expression panel (C3H × B6) revealed major genotypic differences in osteoblastic genes related to cellular respiration and oxidative phosphorylation. Thus, we hypothesized that the metabolic rate of energy utilization by osteoblasts differed by strain and would ultimately contribute to differences in bone formation. In order to study the bioenergetic profile of osteoblasts, we measured oxygen consumption rates (OCR) and extracellular acidification rates (ECAR) first in a preosteoblastic cell line MC3T3-E1C4 and subsequently in primary calvarial osteoblasts from C3H and B6 mice at days 7, 14, and 21 of differentiation. During osteoblast differentiation in media containing ascorbic acid and β-glycerophosphate, all 3 cell types increased their oxygen consumption and extracellular acidification rates compared with the same cells grown in regular media. These increases are sustained throughout differentiation. Importantly, C3H calvarial osteoblasts had greater oxygen consumption rates than B6 consistent with their in vivo phenotype of higher bone formation. Interestingly, osteoblasts utilized both oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis during the differentiation process although mature osteoblasts were more dependent on glycolysis at the 21-day time point than oxidative phosphorylation. Thus, determinants of oxygen consumption reflect strain differences in bone mass and provide the first evidence that during collagen synthesis osteoblasts use both glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation to synthesize and mineralize matrix.

Bioenergetics During Calvarial Osteoblast Differentiation Reflect Strain Differences in Bone Mass

PubMed Central

Le, Phuong T.; Farber, Charles R.; Rosen, Clifford J.

2014-01-01

Osteoblastogenesis is the process by which mesenchymal stem cells differentiate into osteoblasts that synthesize collagen and mineralize matrix. The pace and magnitude of this process are determined by multiple genetic and environmental factors. Two inbred strains of mice, C3H/HeJ and C57BL/6J, exhibit differences in peak bone mass and bone formation. Although all the heritable factors that differ between these strains have not been elucidated, a recent F1 hybrid expression panel (C3H × B6) revealed major genotypic differences in osteoblastic genes related to cellular respiration and oxidative phosphorylation. Thus, we hypothesized that the metabolic rate of energy utilization by osteoblasts differed by strain and would ultimately contribute to differences in bone formation. In order to study the bioenergetic profile of osteoblasts, we measured oxygen consumption rates (OCR) and extracellular acidification rates (ECAR) first in a preosteoblastic cell line MC3T3-E1C4 and subsequently in primary calvarial osteoblasts from C3H and B6 mice at days 7, 14, and 21 of differentiation. During osteoblast differentiation in media containing ascorbic acid and β-glycerophosphate, all 3 cell types increased their oxygen consumption and extracellular acidification rates compared with the same cells grown in regular media. These increases are sustained throughout differentiation. Importantly, C3H calvarial osteoblasts had greater oxygen consumption rates than B6 consistent with their in vivo phenotype of higher bone formation. Interestingly, osteoblasts utilized both oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis during the differentiation process although mature osteoblasts were more dependent on glycolysis at the 21-day time point than oxidative phosphorylation. Thus, determinants of oxygen consumption reflect strain differences in bone mass and provide the first evidence that during collagen synthesis osteoblasts use both glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation to synthesize and mineralize matrix. PMID:24437492

OCR enhancement through neighbor embedding and fast approximate nearest neighbors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, D. C.

2012-10-01

Generic optical character recognition (OCR) engines often perform very poorly in transcribing scanned low resolution (LR) text documents. To improve OCR performance, we apply the Neighbor Embedding (NE) single-image super-resolution (SISR) technique to LR scanned text documents to obtain high resolution (HR) versions, which we subsequently process with OCR. For comparison, we repeat this procedure using bicubic interpolation (BI). We demonstrate that mean-square errors (MSE) in NE HR estimates do not increase substantially when NE is trained in one Latin font style and tested in another, provided both styles belong to the same font category (serif or sans serif). This is very important in practice, since for each font size, the number of training sets required for each category may be reduced from dozens to just one. We also incorporate randomized k-d trees into our NE implementation to perform approximate nearest neighbor search, and obtain a 1000x speed up of our original NE implementation, with negligible MSE degradation. This acceleration also made it practical to combine all of our size-specific NE Latin models into a single Universal Latin Model (ULM). The ULM eliminates the need to determine the unknown font category and size of an input LR text document and match it to an appropriate model, a very challenging task, since the dpi (pixels per inch) of the input LR image is generally unknown. Our experiments show that OCR character error rates (CER) were over 90% when we applied the Tesseract OCR engine to LR text documents (scanned at 75 dpi and 100 dpi) in the 6-10 pt range. By contrast, using k-d trees and the ULM, CER after NE preprocessing averaged less than 7% at 3x (100 dpi LR scanning) and 4x (75 dpi LR scanning) magnification, over an order of magnitude improvement. Moreover, CER after NE preprocessing was more that 6 times lower on average than after BI preprocessing.

New horizons for multiple sclerosis therapeutics: milestones in the development of ocrelizumab.

PubMed

Frau, Jessica; Coghe, Giancarlo; Lorefice, Lorena; Fenu, Giuseppe; Cocco, Eleonora

2018-01-01

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system, and both T and B cells are involved in its pathogenesis. The vast majority of disease-modifying drugs used for MS act on the inflammatory component of the disease and are approved for use in relapsing-remitting (RR) patients. Ocrelizumab (OCR) is the only MS drug that has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not only for patients with RRMS but also for patients with primary progressive (PP) MS. OCR is a humanized anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody that can deplete the targeted B cells through antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. Treatment involves administration by intravenous infusion every 6 months. OCR can cause long-lasting B-cell depletion and change the pool of reconstituted B cells. Phase III clinical trials have confirmed the results of previous Phase II studies. In particular, OPERA I and II trials, which were performed in patients with RRMS, showed a reduction in the annualized relapse rate, the risk of disability progression, and the number of new/enlarging T2 lesions and enhancing lesions measured using brain magnetic resonance. The ORATORIO trial, performed in PP subjects, showed that OCR can reduce disability progression, improve performance on the timed 25-foot walk, and decrease the total volume of T2 lesions and the mean number of new or enlarging T2 lesions. The most frequent adverse events were the infusion-related reactions and infections. Infections were mostly nasopharyngitis, as well as upper respiratory and urinary tract infections. OCR gives no indication for severe or opportunistic infections. There is not a clear increased risk of malignancies. Nevertheless, it could not be excluded. Real-life registries will provide more information about the long-term safety, the risk of exposure during pregnancy, and the risk of rare adverse events. In this review, we analyze the evidence regarding the efficacy and the safety of OCR.

Microscale oxygraphy reveals OXPHOS impairment in MRC mutant cells

PubMed Central

Invernizzi, F.; D'Amato, I.; Jensen, P.B.; Ravaglia, S.; Zeviani, M.; Tiranti, V.

2012-01-01

Given the complexity of the respiratory chain structure, assembly and regulation, the diagnostic workout for the identification of defects of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is a major challenge. Spectrophotometric assays, that measure the activity of individual respiratory complexes in tissue and cell homogenates or isolated mitochondria, are highly specific, but their utilization is limited by the availability of sufficient biological material and intrinsic sensitivity. A further limitation is tissue specificity, which usually determines attenuation, or disappearance, in cultured fibroblasts, of defects detected in muscle or liver. We used numerous fibroblast cell lines derived from patients with OXPHOS deficiencies to set up experimental protocols required for the direct readout of cellular respiration using the Seahorse XF96 apparatus, which measures oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and extra-cellular acidification rate (ECAR) in 96 well plates. Results demonstrate that first level screening based on microscale oxygraphy is more sensitive, cheaper and rapid than spectrophotometry for the biochemical evaluation of cells from patients with suspected mitochondrial disorders. PMID:22310368

Hyperglycaemia does not affect antigen-specific activation and cytolytic killing by CD8+ T cells in vivo.

PubMed

Recino, Asha; Barkan, Kerry; Wong, F Susan; Ladds, Graham; Cooke, Anne; Wallberg, Maja

2017-08-31

Metabolism is of central importance for T cell survival and differentiation. It is well known that T cells cannot function in the absence of glucose, but it is less clear how they respond to excessive levels of glucose. In the present study, we investigated how increasing levels of glucose affect T-cell-mediated immune responses. We examined the effects of increased levels of glucose on CD8 + T-cell behaviour in vitro by assessing activation and cytokine production, as well as oxygen consumption rate (OCR), extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) and intracellular signalling. In addition, we assessed in vivo proliferation, cytokine production and cytolytic activity of cells in chemically induced diabetic C57BL/6 mice. Elevated levels of glucose in in vitro cultures had modest effects on proliferation and cytokine production, while in vivo hyperglycaemia had no effect on CD8 + T-cell proliferation, interferon γ (IFNγ) production or cytolytic killing. © 2017 The Author(s).

Iterative cross section sequence graph for handwritten character segmentation.

PubMed

Dawoud, Amer

2007-08-01

The iterative cross section sequence graph (ICSSG) is an algorithm for handwritten character segmentation. It expands the cross section sequence graph concept by applying it iteratively at equally spaced thresholds. The iterative thresholding reduces the effect of information loss associated with image binarization. ICSSG preserves the characters' skeletal structure by preventing the interference of pixels that causes flooding of adjacent characters' segments. Improving the structural quality of the characters' skeleton facilitates better feature extraction and classification, which improves the overall performance of optical character recognition (OCR). Experimental results showed significant improvements in OCR recognition rates compared to other well-established segmentation algorithms.

Targeted mitochondrial therapy using MitoQ shows equivalent renoprotection to angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition but no combined synergy in diabetes.

PubMed

Ward, Micheal S; Flemming, Nicole B; Gallo, Linda A; Fotheringham, Amelia K; McCarthy, Domenica A; Zhuang, Aowen; Tang, Peter H; Borg, Danielle J; Shaw, Hannah; Harvie, Benjamin; Briskey, David R; Roberts, Llion A; Plan, Manuel R; Murphy, Michael P; Hodson, Mark P; Forbes, Josephine M

2017-11-09

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a pathological mediator of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Our objective was to test the mitochondrially targeted agent, MitoQ, alone and in combination with first line therapy for DKD. Intervention therapies (i) vehicle (D); (ii) MitoQ (DMitoQ;0.6 mg/kg/day); (iii) Ramipril (DRam;3 mg/kg/day) or (iv) combination (DCoAd) were administered to male diabetic db/db mice for 12 weeks (n = 11-13/group). Non-diabetic (C) db/m mice were followed concurrently. No therapy altered glycaemic control or body weight. By the study end, both monotherapies improved renal function, decreasing glomerular hyperfiltration and albuminuria. All therapies prevented tubulointerstitial collagen deposition, but glomerular mesangial expansion was unaffected. Renal cortical concentrations of ATP, ADP, AMP, cAMP, creatinine phosphate and ATP:AMP ratio were increased by diabetes and mostly decreased with therapy. A higher creatine phosphate:ATP ratio in diabetic kidney cortices, suggested a decrease in ATP consumption. Diabetes elevated glucose 6-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate and oxidised (NAD+ and NADP+) and reduced (NADH) nicotinamide dinucleotides, which therapy decreased generally. Diabetes increased mitochondrial oxygen consumption (OCR) at complex II-IV. MitoQ further increased OCR but decreased ATP, suggesting mitochondrial uncoupling as its mechanism of action. MitoQ showed renoprotection equivalent to ramipril but no synergistic benefits of combining these agents were shown.

Optical character recognition of handwritten Arabic using hidden Markov models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aulama, Mohannad M.; Natsheh, Asem M.; Abandah, Gheith A.; Olama, Mohammed M.

2011-04-01

The problem of optical character recognition (OCR) of handwritten Arabic has not received a satisfactory solution yet. In this paper, an Arabic OCR algorithm is developed based on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) combined with the Viterbi algorithm, which results in an improved and more robust recognition of characters at the sub-word level. Integrating the HMMs represents another step of the overall OCR trends being currently researched in the literature. The proposed approach exploits the structure of characters in the Arabic language in addition to their extracted features to achieve improved recognition rates. Useful statistical information of the Arabic language is initially extracted and then used to estimate the probabilistic parameters of the mathematical HMM. A new custom implementation of the HMM is developed in this study, where the transition matrix is built based on the collected large corpus, and the emission matrix is built based on the results obtained via the extracted character features. The recognition process is triggered using the Viterbi algorithm which employs the most probable sequence of sub-words. The model was implemented to recognize the sub-word unit of Arabic text raising the recognition rate from being linked to the worst recognition rate for any character to the overall structure of the Arabic language. Numerical results show that there is a potentially large recognition improvement by using the proposed algorithms.

Optical character recognition of handwritten Arabic using hidden Markov models

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

Aulama, Mohannad M.; Natsheh, Asem M.; Abandah, Gheith A.

2011-01-01

The problem of optical character recognition (OCR) of handwritten Arabic has not received a satisfactory solution yet. In this paper, an Arabic OCR algorithm is developed based on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) combined with the Viterbi algorithm, which results in an improved and more robust recognition of characters at the sub-word level. Integrating the HMMs represents another step of the overall OCR trends being currently researched in the literature. The proposed approach exploits the structure of characters in the Arabic language in addition to their extracted features to achieve improved recognition rates. Useful statistical information of the Arabic language ismore » initially extracted and then used to estimate the probabilistic parameters of the mathematical HMM. A new custom implementation of the HMM is developed in this study, where the transition matrix is built based on the collected large corpus, and the emission matrix is built based on the results obtained via the extracted character features. The recognition process is triggered using the Viterbi algorithm which employs the most probable sequence of sub-words. The model was implemented to recognize the sub-word unit of Arabic text raising the recognition rate from being linked to the worst recognition rate for any character to the overall structure of the Arabic language. Numerical results show that there is a potentially large recognition improvement by using the proposed algorithms.« less

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

Cline, Gary W., E-mail: gary.cline@yale.edu; Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55455; Pongratz, Rebecca L.

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We studied media effects on mechanisms of insulin secretion of INS-1 cells. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Insulin secretion was higher in DMEM than KRB despite identical ATP synthesis rates. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Insulin secretion rates correlated with rates of anaplerosis and TCA cycle. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Mitochondria metabolism and substrate cycles augment secretion signal of ATP. -- Abstract: Mechanistic models of glucose stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) established in minimal media in vitro, may not accurately describe the complexity of coupling metabolism with insulin secretion that occurs in vivo. As a first approximation, we have evaluated metabolic pathways in a typical growth media, DMEM as amore » surrogate in vivo medium, for comparison to metabolic fluxes observed under the typical experimental conditions using the simple salt-buffer of KRB. Changes in metabolism in response to glucose and amino acids and coupling to insulin secretion were measured in INS-1 832/13 cells. Media effects on mitochondrial function and the coupling efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation were determined by fluorometrically measured oxygen consumption rates (OCRs) combined with {sup 31}P NMR measured rates of ATP synthesis. Substrate preferences and pathways into the TCA cycle, and the synthesis of mitochondrial 2nd messengers by anaplerosis were determined by {sup 13}C NMR isotopomer analysis of the fate of [U-{sup 13}C] glucose metabolism. Despite similar incremental increases in insulin secretion, the changes of OCR in response to increasing glucose from 2.5 to 15 mM were blunted in DMEM relative to KRB. Basal and stimulated rates of insulin secretion rates were consistently higher in DMEM, while ATP synthesis rates were identical in both DMEM and KRB, suggesting greater mitochondrial uncoupling in DMEM. The relative rates of anaplerosis, and hence synthesis and export of 2nd messengers from the mitochondria were found to be similar in DMEM to those in KRB. And, the correlation of total PC flux with insulin secretion rates in DMEM was found to be congruous with the correlation in KRB. Together, these results suggest that signaling mechanisms associated with both TCA cycle flux and with anaplerotic flux, but not ATP production, may be responsible for the enhanced rates of insulin secretion in more complex, and physiologically-relevant media.« less

Expert system for automatically correcting OCR output

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taghva, Kazem; Borsack, Julie; Condit, Allen

1994-03-01

This paper describes a new expert system for automatically correcting errors made by optical character recognition (OCR) devices. The system, which we call the post-processing system, is designed to improve the quality of text produced by an OCR device in preparation for subsequent retrieval from an information system. The system is composed of numerous parts: an information retrieval system, an English dictionary, a domain-specific dictionary, and a collection of algorithms and heuristics designed to correct as many OCR errors as possible. For the remaining errors that cannot be corrected, the system passes them on to a user-level editing program. This post-processing system can be viewed as part of a larger system that would streamline the steps of taking a document from its hard copy form to its usable electronic form, or it can be considered a stand alone system for OCR error correction. An earlier version of this system has been used to process approximately 10,000 pages of OCR generated text. Among the OCR errors discovered by this version, about 87% were corrected. We implement numerous new parts of the system, test this new version, and present the results.

The video ocular counter-roll (vOCR): a clinical test to detect loss of otolith-ocular function

PubMed Central

Otero-Millan, Jorge; Treviño, Carolina; Winnick, Ariel; Zee, David S.; Carey, John P.; Kheradmand, Amir

2017-01-01

Conclusion vOCR can detect loss of otolith-ocular function without specifying the side of vestibular loss. Since vOCR is measured with a simple head tilt maneuver, it can be potentially used as a bedside clinical test in combination with video head impulse test. Objective Video-oculography (VOG) goggles are being integrated into the bedside assessment of patients with vestibular disorders. Lacking, however, is a method to evaluate otolith function. This study validated a VOG test for loss of otolith function. Methods VOG was used to measure ocular counter-roll (vOCR) in 12 healthy controls, 14 patients with unilateral vestibular loss (UVL), and six patients with bilateral vestibular loss (BVL) with a static lateral head tilt of 30°. The results were compared with vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP), a widely-used laboratory test of otolith function. Results The average vOCR for healthy controls (4.6°) was significantly different from UVL (2.7°) and BVL (1.6°) patients (p < 0.0001). The vOCR and VEMP measurements were correlated across subjects, especially the click and tap oVEMPs (click oVEMP R = 0.45, tap oVEMP R = 0.51; p < 0.0003). The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that vOCR and VEMPs detected loss of otolith function equally well. The best threshold for vOCR to detect vestibular loss was at 3°. The vOCR values from the side of vestibular loss and the healthy side were not different in UVL patients (2.53° vs 2.8°; p = 0.59). PMID:28084887

Ocular Counter-Rolling During Centrifugation and Static Tilt

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cohen, Bernard; Clement, Gilles; Moore, Steven; Curthoys, Ian; Dai, Mingjia; Koizuka, Izumi; Kubo, Takeshi; Raphan, Theodore

2003-01-01

Activation of the gravity sensors in the inner ear-the otoliths-generates reflexes that act to maintain posture and gaze. Ocular counter-rolling (OCR) is an example of such a reflex. When the head is tilted to the side, the eyes rotate around the line of sight in the opposite direction (i.e., counter-rolling). While turning comers, undergoing centrifugation, or making side-to-side tilting head movements, the OCR reflex orients the eyes towards the sum of the accelerations from body movements and gravity. Deconditioning of otolith-mediated reflexes following adaptation to microgravity has been proposed as the basis of many of the postural, locomotor, and gaze control problems experienced by returning astronauts. Evidence suggests that OCR is reduced postflight in about 75% of astronauts tested; but the data are sparse, primarily due to difficulties in recording rotational eye movements. During the Neurolab mission, a short-arm human centrifuge was flown that generated sustained sideways accelerations of 0.5-G and one-G to the head and upper body. This produces OCR; and so for the first time, the responses to sustained centrifugation could be studied without the influence of Earth's gravity on the results. This allowed us to determine the relative importance of sideways and vertical acceleration in the generation of OCR. This also provided the first test of the effects of exposure to artificial gravity in space on postflight otolith-ocular reflexes. There was little difference between the responses to centrifugation in microgravity and on Earth. In both conditions, the induced OCR was roughly proportional to the applied acceleration, with the OCR magnitude during 0.5-G centrifugation approximately 60% of that generated during one-G centrifugation. The overall mean OCR from the four payload crewmembers in response to one-G of sideways acceleration was 5.7 plus or minus 1.1 degree (mean and SD) on Earth. Inflight one-G centrifugation generated 5.7 plus or minus 1.1 degree of OCR, which was a small but significant decrease in OCR magnitude. The postflight OCR was 5.9 plus or minus 1.4 degree, which was not significantly different from preflight values. During both 0.5-G and one-G centrifugation in microgravity, where the head vertical gravitational component was absent, the OCR magnitude was not significantly different from that produced by an equivalent acceleration during static tilt on Earth. This suggests that the larger OCR magnitude observed during centrifugation on Earth was due to the larger body vertical linear acceleration component, which may have activated either the otoliths or the body tilt receptors. In contrast to previous studies, there was no decrease in OCR gain postflight. Our findings raise the possibility that inflight exposure to artificial gravity, in the form of intermittent one-G and 0.5-G centripetal acceleration, may have been a countermeasure to deconditioning of otolith-based orientation reflexes.

OCR Scanners Facilitate WP Training in Business Schools and Colleges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

School Business Affairs, 1983

1983-01-01

Optical Character Recognition Scanners (OCR) scan typed text and feed it directly into word processing systems, saving input time. OCRs are valuable in word processing training programs because they allow more students access to classes and more time for skill training. (MD)

Intelligent OCR Processing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Wei; And Others

1992-01-01

Identifies types and distributions of errors in text produced by optical character recognition (OCR) and proposes a process using machine learning techniques to recognize and correct errors in OCR texts. Results of experiments indicating that this strategy can reduce human interaction required for error correction are reported. (25 references)…

Availability of the key metabolic substrates dictates the respiratory response of cancer cells to the mitochondrial uncoupling.

PubMed

Zhdanov, Alexander V; Waters, Alicia H C; Golubeva, Anna V; Dmitriev, Ruslan I; Papkovsky, Dmitri B

2014-01-01

Active glycolysis and glutaminolysis provide bioenergetic stability of cancer cells in physiological conditions. Under hypoxia, metabolic and mitochondrial disorders, or pharmacological treatment, a deficit of key metabolic substrates may become life-threatening to cancer cells. We analysed the effects of mitochondrial uncoupling by FCCP on the respiration of cells fed by different combinations of Glc, Gal, Gln and Pyr. In cancer PC12 and HCT116 cells, a large increase in O2 consumption rate (OCR) upon uncoupling was only seen when Gln was combined with either Glc or Pyr. Inhibition of glutaminolysis with BPTES abolished this effect. Despite the key role of Gln, addition of FCCP inhibited respiration and induced apoptosis in cells supplied with Gln alone or Gal/Gln. For all substrate combinations, amplitude of respiratory responses to FCCP did not correlate with Akt, Erk and AMPK phosphorylation, cellular ATP, and resting OCR, mitochondrial Ca(2+) or membrane potential. However, we propose that proton motive force could modulate respiratory response to FCCP by regulating mitochondrial transport of Gln and Pyr, which decreases upon mitochondrial depolarisation. As a result, an increase in respiration upon uncoupling is abolished in cells, deprived of Gln or Pyr (Glc). Unlike PC12 or HCT116 cells, mouse embryonic fibroblasts were capable of generating pronounced response to FCCP when deprived of Gln, thus exhibiting lower dependence on glutaminolysis. Overall, the differential regulation of the respiratory response to FCCP by metabolic environment suggests that mitochondrial uncoupling has a potential for substrate-specific inhibition of cell function, and can be explored for selective cancer treatment. © 2013.

Increased androgen levels in rats impair glucose-stimulated insulin secretion through disruption of pancreatic beta cell mitochondrial function.

PubMed

Wang, Hongdong; Wang, Xiaping; Zhu, Yunxia; Chen, Fang; Sun, Yujie; Han, Xiao

2015-11-01

Although insulin resistance is recognized to contribute to the reproductive and metabolic phenotypes of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), pancreatic beta cell dysfunction plays an essential role in the progression from PCOS to the development of type 2 diabetes. However, the role of insulin secretory abnormalities in PCOS has received little attention. In addition, the precise changes in beta cells and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we therefore attempted to elucidate potential mechanisms involved in beta cell alterations in a rat model of PCOS. Glucose-induced insulin secretion was measured in islets isolated from DHT-treated and control rats. Oxygen consumption rate (OCR), ATP production, and mitochondrial copy number were assayed to evaluate mitochondrial function. Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion is significantly decreased in islets from DHT-treated rats. On the other hand, significant reductions are observed in the expression levels of several key genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and in mitochondrial OCR and ATP production in DHT-treated rat islets. Meanwhile, we found that androgens can directly impair beta cell function by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction in vitro in an androgen receptor dependent manner. For the first time, our study demonstrates that increased androgens in female rats can impair glucose-stimulated insulin secretion partly through disruption of pancreatic beta cell mitochondrial function. This work has significance for hyperandrogenic women with PCOS: excess activation of the androgen receptor by androgens may provoke beta cell dysfunction via mitochondrial dysfunction. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into highly functional classical brown adipocytes.

PubMed

Nishio, Miwako; Saeki, Kumiko

2014-01-01

We describe a detailed method for directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells, including human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), into functional classical brown adipocytes (BAs) under serum-free and feeder-free conditions. It is a two-tiered culture system, based on very simple techniques, a floating culture and a subsequent adherent culture. It does not require gene transfer. The entire process can be carried out in about 10 days. The key point is the usage of our special hematopoietic cytokine cocktail. Almost all the differentiated cells express uncoupling protein 1, a BA-selective marker, as determined by immunostaining. The differentiated cells show characteristics of classical BA as assessed by morphology and gene/protein expression. Moreover, the expression of myoblast marker genes is transiently induced during the floating culture step. hESC/hiPSC-derived BAs show significantly higher oxygen consumption rates (OCRs) than white adipocytes generated from human mesenchymal stem cell. They also show responsiveness to adrenergic stimuli, with about twofold upregulation in OCR by β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) agonist treatments. hESC/hiPSC-derived BAs exert in vivo calorigenic activities in response to β-AR agonist treatments as assessed by thermography. Finally, lipid and glucose metabolisms are significantly improved in hESC/hiPSC-derived BA-transplanted mice. Our system provides a highly feasible way to produce functional classical BA bearing metabolism-improving capacities from hESC/hiPSC under a feeder-free and serum-free condition without gene transfer. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trimetazidine prevents palmitate-induced mitochondrial fission and dysfunction in cultured cardiomyocytes.

PubMed

Kuzmicic, Jovan; Parra, Valentina; Verdejo, Hugo E; López-Crisosto, Camila; Chiong, Mario; García, Lorena; Jensen, Michael D; Bernlohr, David A; Castro, Pablo F; Lavandero, Sergio

2014-10-01

Metabolic and cardiovascular disease patients have increased plasma levels of lipids and, specifically, of palmitate, which can be toxic for several tissues. Trimetazidine (TMZ), a partial inhibitor of lipid oxidation, has been proposed as a metabolic modulator for several cardiovascular pathologies. However, its mechanism of action is controversial. Given the fact that TMZ is able to alter mitochondrial metabolism, we evaluated the protective role of TMZ on mitochondrial morphology and function in an in vitro model of lipotoxicity induced by palmitate. We treated cultured rat cardiomyocytes with BSA-conjugated palmitate (25 nM free), TMZ (0.1-100 μM), or a combination of both. We evaluated mitochondrial morphology and lipid accumulation by confocal fluorescence microscopy, parameters of mitochondrial metabolism (mitochondrial membrane potential, oxygen consumption rate [OCR], and ATP levels), and ceramide production by mass spectrometry and indirect immunofluorescence. Palmitate promoted mitochondrial fission evidenced by a decrease in mitochondrial volume (50%) and an increase in the number of mitochondria per cell (80%), whereas TMZ increased mitochondrial volume (39%), and decreased mitochondrial number (56%), suggesting mitochondrial fusion. Palmitate also decreased mitochondrial metabolism (ATP levels and OCR), while TMZ potentiated all the metabolic parameters assessed. Moreover, pretreatment with TMZ protected the cardiomyocytes from palmitate-induced mitochondrial fission and dysfunction. TMZ also increased lipid accumulation in cardiomyocytes, and prevented palmitate-induced ceramide production. Our data show that TMZ protects cardiomyocytes by changing intracellular lipid management. Thus, the beneficial effects of TMZ on patients with different cardiovascular pathologies can be related to modulation of the mitochondrial morphology and function. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mutations of human NARS2, encoding the mitochondrial asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase, cause nonsyndromic deafness and Leigh syndrome.

PubMed

Simon, Mariella; Richard, Elodie M; Wang, Xinjian; Shahzad, Mohsin; Huang, Vincent H; Qaiser, Tanveer A; Potluri, Prasanth; Mahl, Sarah E; Davila, Antonio; Nazli, Sabiha; Hancock, Saege; Yu, Margret; Gargus, Jay; Chang, Richard; Al-Sheqaih, Nada; Newman, William G; Abdenur, Jose; Starr, Arnold; Hegde, Rashmi; Dorn, Thomas; Busch, Anke; Park, Eddie; Wu, Jie; Schwenzer, Hagen; Flierl, Adrian; Florentz, Catherine; Sissler, Marie; Khan, Shaheen N; Li, Ronghua; Guan, Min-Xin; Friedman, Thomas B; Wu, Doris K; Procaccio, Vincent; Riazuddin, Sheikh; Wallace, Douglas C; Ahmed, Zubair M; Huang, Taosheng; Riazuddin, Saima

2015-03-01

Here we demonstrate association of variants in the mitochondrial asparaginyl-tRNA synthetase NARS2 with human hearing loss and Leigh syndrome. A homozygous missense mutation ([c.637G>T; p.Val213Phe]) is the underlying cause of nonsyndromic hearing loss (DFNB94) and compound heterozygous mutations ([c.969T>A; p.Tyr323*] + [c.1142A>G; p.Asn381Ser]) result in mitochondrial respiratory chain deficiency and Leigh syndrome, which is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by symmetric, bilateral lesions in the basal ganglia, thalamus, and brain stem. The severity of the genetic lesions and their effects on NARS2 protein structure cosegregate with the phenotype. A hypothetical truncated NARS2 protein, secondary to the Leigh syndrome mutation p.Tyr323* is not detectable and p.Asn381Ser further decreases NARS2 protein levels in patient fibroblasts. p.Asn381Ser also disrupts dimerization of NARS2, while the hearing loss p.Val213Phe variant has no effect on NARS2 oligomerization. Additionally we demonstrate decreased steady-state levels of mt-tRNAAsn in fibroblasts from the Leigh syndrome patients. In these cells we show that a decrease in oxygen consumption rates (OCR) and electron transport chain (ETC) activity can be rescued by overexpression of wild type NARS2. However, overexpression of the hearing loss associated p.Val213Phe mutant protein in these fibroblasts cannot complement the OCR and ETC defects. Our findings establish lesions in NARS2 as a new cause for nonsyndromic hearing loss and Leigh syndrome.

Low-Budget, Cost-Effective OCR: Optical Character Recognition for MS-DOS Micros.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perez, Ernest

1990-01-01

Discusses optical character recognition (OCR) for use with MS-DOS microcomputers. Cost effectiveness is considered, three types of software approaches to character recognition are explained, hardware and operation requirements are described, possible library applications are discussed, future OCR developments are suggested, and a list of OCR…

Triplet-triplet energy transfer from a UV-A absorber butylmethoxydibenzoylmethane to UV-B absorbers.

PubMed

Kikuchi, Azusa; Oguchi-Fujiyama, Nozomi; Miyazawa, Kazuyuki; Yagi, Mikio

2014-01-01

The phosphorescence decay of a UV-A absorber, 4-tert-butyl-4'-methoxydibenzolymethane (BMDBM) has been observed following a 355 nm laser excitation in the absence and presence of UV-B absorbers, 2-ethylhexyl 4-methoxycinnamate (octyl methoxycinnamate, OMC) and octocrylene (OCR) in ethanol at 77 K. The lifetime of the lowest excited triplet (T1) state of BMDBM is significantly reduced in the presence of OMC and OCR. The observed quenching of BMDBM triplet by OMC and OCR suggests that the intermolecular triplet-triplet energy transfer occurs from BMDBM to OMC and OCR. The T1 state of OCR is nonphosphorescent or very weakly phosphorescent. However, we have shown that the energy level of the T1 state of OCR is lower than that of the enol form of BMDBM. Our methodology of energy-donor phosphorescence decay measurements can be applied to the study of the triplet-triplet energy transfer between UV absorbers even if the energy acceptor is nonphosphorescent. In addition, the delayed fluorescence of BMDBM due to triplet-triplet annihilation was observed in the BMDBM-OMC and BMDBM-OCR mixtures in ethanol at 77 K. Delayed fluorescence is one of the deactivation processes of the excited states of BMDBM under our experimental conditions. © 2013 The American Society of Photobiology.

Effects of head tilt on visual field testing with a head-mounted perimeter imo

PubMed Central

Matsumoto, Chota; Nomoto, Hiroki; Numata, Takuya; Eura, Mariko; Yamashita, Marika; Hashimoto, Shigeki; Okuyama, Sachiko; Kimura, Shinji; Yamanaka, Kenzo; Chiba, Yasutaka; Aihara, Makoto; Shimomura, Yoshikazu

2017-01-01

Purpose A newly developed head-mounted perimeter termed “imo” enables visual field (VF) testing without a fixed head position. Because the positional relationship between the subject’s head and the imo is fixed, the effects of head position changes on the test results are small compared with those obtained using a stationary perimeter. However, only ocular counter-roll (OCR) induced by head tilt might affect VF testing. To quantitatively reveal the effects of head tilt and OCR on the VF test results, we investigated the associations among the head-tilt angle, OCR amplitude and VF testing results. Subjects and methods For 20 healthy subjects, we binocularly recorded static OCR (s-OCR) while tilting the subject’s head at an arbitrary angle ranging from 0° to 60° rightward or leftward in 10° increments. By monitoring iris patterns, we evaluated the s-OCR amplitude. We also performed blind spot detection while tilting the subject’s head by an arbitrary angle ranging from 0° to 50° rightward or leftward in 10° increments to calculate the angle by which the blind spot rotates because of head tilt. Results The association between s-OCR amplitude and head-tilt angle showed a sinusoidal relationship. In blind spot detection, the blind spot rotated to the opposite direction of the head tilt, and the association between the rotation angle of the blind spot and the head-tilt angle also showed a sinusoidal relationship. The rotation angle of the blind spot was strongly correlated with the s-OCR amplitude (R2≥0.94, p<0.0001). A head tilt greater than 20° with imo causes interference between adjacent test areas. Conclusions Both the s-OCR amplitude and the rotation angle of the blind spot were correlated with the head-tilt angle by sinusoidal regression. The rotated VF was correlated with the s-OCR amplitude. During perimetry using imo, the change in the subject’s head tilt should be limited to 20°. PMID:28945777

Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) as a radiology reporting tool by using optical character recognition (OCR) and macro program.

PubMed

Lee, Young Han; Song, Ho-Taek; Suh, Jin-Suck

2012-12-01

The objectives are (1) to introduce a new concept of making a quantitative computed tomography (QCT) reporting system by using optical character recognition (OCR) and macro program and (2) to illustrate the practical usages of the QCT reporting system in radiology reading environment. This reporting system was created as a development tool by using an open-source OCR software and an open-source macro program. The main module was designed for OCR to report QCT images in radiology reading process. The principal processes are as follows: (1) to save a QCT report as a graphic file, (2) to recognize the characters from an image as a text, (3) to extract the T scores from the text, (4) to perform error correction, (5) to reformat the values into QCT radiology reporting template, and (6) to paste the reports into the electronic medical record (EMR) or picture archiving and communicating system (PACS). The accuracy test of OCR was performed on randomly selected QCTs. QCT as a radiology reporting tool successfully acted as OCR of QCT. The diagnosis of normal, osteopenia, or osteoporosis is also determined. Error correction of OCR is done with AutoHotkey-coded module. The results of T scores of femoral neck and lumbar vertebrae had an accuracy of 100 and 95.4 %, respectively. A convenient QCT reporting system could be established by utilizing open-source OCR software and open-source macro program. This method can be easily adapted for other QCT applications and PACS/EMR.

Human Ocular Counter-Rolling and Roll Tilt Perception during Off-Vertical Axis Rotation after Spaceflight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clement, Gilles; Denise, Pierre; Reschke, Millard; Wood, Scott J.

2007-01-01

Ocular counter-rolling (OCR) induced by whole body tilt in roll has been explored after spaceflight as an indicator of the adaptation of the otolith function to microgravity. It has been claimed that the overall pattern of OCR responses during static body tilt after spaceflight is indicative of a decreased role of the otolith function, but the results of these studies have not been consistent, mostly due to large variations in the OCR within and across individuals. By contrast with static head tilt, off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR) presents the advantage of generating a sinusoidal modulation of OCR, allowing averaged measurements over several cycles, thus improving measurement accuracy. Accordingly, OCR and the sense of roll tilt were evaluated in seven astronauts before and after spaceflight during OVAR at 45 /s in darkness at two angles of tilt (10 and 20 ). There was no significant difference in OCR during OVAR immediately after landing compared to preflight. However, the amplitude of the perceived roll tilt during OVAR was significantly larger immediately postflight, and then returned to control values in the following days. Since the OCR response is predominantly attributed to the shearing force exerted on the utricular macula, the absence of change in OCR postflight suggests that the peripheral otolith organs function normally after short-term spaceflight. However, the increased sense of roll tilt indicates an adaptation in the central processing of gravitational input, presumably related to a re-weigthing of the internal representation of gravitational vertical as a result of adaptation to microgravity.

Keyless Entry: Building a Text Database Using OCR Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grotophorst, Clyde W.

1989-01-01

Discusses the use of optical character recognition (OCR) technology to produce an ASCII text database. A tutorial on digital scanning and OCR is provided, and a systems integration project which used the Calera CDP-3000XF scanner and text retrieval software to construct a database of dissertations at George Mason University is described. (four…

Study of the Effectiveness of OCR for Decentralized Data Capture and Conversion. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liston, David M.; And Others

The ERIC network conversion to an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) mode of data entry was studied to analyze the potential effectiveness of OCR data entry for future EPC/s (Editorial Processing Centers). Study results are also applicable to any other system involving decentralized bibliographic data capture and conversion functions. The report…

Office for Civil Rights Annual Report to Congress, Fiscal Year 2006

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2007

2007-01-01

In this report, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) provides a summary of its substantive achievements in FY 2006. OCR's mission is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation through vigorous enforcement of civil rights. This report details OCR's accomplishments in enforcing the civil rights laws…

Annual Report to Congress of the Office for Civil Rights. Fiscal Years 2007-08

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education, 2009

2009-01-01

This paper is the Office for Civil Rights's (OCR's) "Annual Report to Congress" for fiscal years 2007 and 2008. This report details OCR's accomplishments in enforcing the civil rights laws under which OCR has been granted jurisdiction to address and remedy discrimination. These enforcement efforts include complaint investigation and resolution,…

Annual Report to Congress of the Office for Civil Rights. Fiscal Year 2006

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education, 2007

2007-01-01

This paper is the Office for Civil Rights' (OCR's) "Annual Report to Congress" for fiscal year 2006. In this report, OCR provides a summary of its substantive achievements in FY 2006. OCR's mission is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation through vigorous enforcement of civil…

Enforcing Title IX. A Report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, DC.

This report reassesses for the Department of Education (ED) the enforcement effort of Title IX by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and offers recommendations. OCR is criticized for being very slow to issue important guidelines, process complaints, conduct compliance reviews, and enforce the law. Also OCR is charged with showing little commitment…

The Belousov-Zhabotinskii Reaction: Improving the Oregonator Model with the Arrhenius Equation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pellitero, Miguel Aller; Lamsfus, Carlos Alvarez; Borge, Javier

2013-01-01

Oscillating chemical reactions (OCRs) have been known since 1828, with the Belousov-Zhabotinskii (BZ) reaction the most studied example. Initially, OCRs were considered to be special cases due to the small number detected and because the oscillatory behavior did not seem to agree with the second law of thermodynamics. However, OCRs have become…

A Complete OCR System for Tamil Magazine Documents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kokku, Aparna; Chakravarthy, Srinivasa

We present a complete optical character recognition (OCR) system for Tamil magazines/documents. All the standard elements of OCR process like de-skewing, preprocessing, segmentation, character recognition, and reconstruction are implemented. Experience with OCR problems teaches that for most subtasks of OCR, there is no single technique that gives perfect results for every type of document image. We exploit the ability of neural networks to learn from experience in solving the problems of segmentation and character recognition. Text segmentation of Tamil newsprint poses a new challenge owing to its italic-like font type; problems that arise in recognition of touching and close characters are discussed. Character recognition efficiency varied from 94 to 97% for this type of font. The grouping of blocks into logical units and the determination of reading order within each logical unit helped us in reconstructing automatically the document image in an editable format.

Energy Metabolism in Human Pluripotent Stem Cells and Their Differentiated Counterparts

PubMed Central

Moura, Michelle B.; Momcilovic, Olga; Easley, Charles A.; Ramalho-Santos, João; Van Houten, Bennett; Schatten, Gerald

2011-01-01

Background Human pluripotent stem cells have the ability to generate all cell types present in the adult organism, therefore harboring great potential for the in vitro study of differentiation and for the development of cell-based therapies. Nonetheless their use may prove challenging as incomplete differentiation of these cells might lead to tumoregenicity. Interestingly, many cancer types have been reported to display metabolic modifications with features that might be similar to stem cells. Understanding the metabolic properties of human pluripotent stem cells when compared to their differentiated counterparts can thus be of crucial importance. Furthermore recent data has stressed distinct features of different human pluripotent cells lines, namely when comparing embryo-derived human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSCs) reprogrammed from somatic cells. Methodology/Principal Findings We compared the energy metabolism of hESCs, IPSCs, and their somatic counterparts. Focusing on mitochondria, we tracked organelle localization and morphology. Furthermore we performed gene expression analysis of several pathways related to the glucose metabolism, including glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. In addition we determined oxygen consumption rates (OCR) using a metabolic extracellular flux analyzer, as well as total intracellular ATP levels by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Finally we explored the expression of key proteins involved in the regulation of glucose metabolism. Conclusions/Findings Our results demonstrate that, although the metabolic signature of IPSCs is not identical to that of hESCs, nonetheless they cluster with hESCs rather than with their somatic counterparts. ATP levels, lactate production and OCR revealed that human pluripotent cells rely mostly on glycolysis to meet their energy demands. Furthermore, our work points to some of the strategies which human pluripotent stem cells may use to maintain high glycolytic rates, such as high levels of hexokinase II and inactive pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH). PMID:21698063

Keeping on Keeping on: OCR and Complaints of Racial Discrimination 50 Years after "Brown"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pollock, Mica

2005-01-01

This article, written by a former civil rights investigator in the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), contends that ordinary Americans advocating for equal educational opportunity for students of color might enlist OCR more actively and knowingly to help secure racial equality of opportunity 50 years after "Brown." Now a…

Office for Civil Rights Annual Report to Congress, Fiscal Year 2005

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2006

2006-01-01

In this report, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) provides a summary of its FY 2005 accomplishments. Also, in recognition of the 25th anniversary, some of the significant cases that OCR has resolved over the years are highlighted. The last quarter century was eventful and challenging for OCR. Major U.S. Supreme Court decisions, such as "Grove…

A super resolution framework for low resolution document image OCR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Di; Agam, Gady

2013-01-01

Optical character recognition is widely used for converting document images into digital media. Existing OCR algorithms and tools produce good results from high resolution, good quality, document images. In this paper, we propose a machine learning based super resolution framework for low resolution document image OCR. Two main techniques are used in our proposed approach: a document page segmentation algorithm and a modified K-means clustering algorithm. Using this approach, by exploiting coherence in the document, we reconstruct from a low resolution document image a better resolution image and improve OCR results. Experimental results show substantial gain in low resolution documents such as the ones captured from video.

Trigram-based algorithms for OCR result correction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bulatov, Konstantin; Manzhikov, Temudzhin; Slavin, Oleg; Faradjev, Igor; Janiszewski, Igor

2017-03-01

In this paper we consider a task of improving optical character recognition (OCR) results of document fields on low-quality and average-quality images using N-gram models. Cyrillic fields of Russian Federation internal passport are analyzed as an example. Two approaches are presented: the first one is based on hypothesis of dependence of a symbol from two adjacent symbols and the second is based on calculation of marginal distributions and Bayesian networks computation. A comparison of the algorithms and experimental results within a real document OCR system are presented, it's showed that the document field OCR accuracy can be improved by more than 6% for low-quality images.

Image based automatic water meter reader

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jawas, N.; Indrianto

2018-01-01

Water meter is used as a tool to calculate water consumption. This tool works by utilizing water flow and shows the calculation result with mechanical digit counter. Practically, in everyday use, an operator will manually check the digit counter periodically. The Operator makes logs of the number shows by water meter to know the water consumption. This manual operation is time consuming and prone to human error. Therefore, in this paper we propose an automatic water meter digit reader from digital image. The digits sequence is detected by utilizing contour information of the water meter front panel.. Then an OCR method is used to get the each digit character. The digit sequence detection is an important part of overall process. It determines the success of overall system. The result shows promising results especially in sequence detection.

Human islet viability and function is maintained during high density shipment in silicone rubber membrane vessels

PubMed Central

Kitzmann, Jennifer P; Pepper, Andrew R; Lopez, Boris G; Pawlick, Rena; Kin, Tatsuya; O’Gorman, Doug; Mueller, Kathryn R; Gruessner, Angelika C; Avgoustiniatos, Efstathios S; Karatzas, Theodore; Szot, Greg L; Posselt, Andrew M; Stock, Peter G; Wilson, John R; Shapiro, AM; Papas, Klearchos K

2014-01-01

The shipment of human islets from processing centers to distant laboratories is beneficial for both research and clinical applications. The maintenance of islet viability and function in transit is critically important. Gas-permeable silicone rubber membrane (SRM) vessels reduce the risk of hypoxia-induced death or dysfunction during high-density islet culture or shipment. SRM vessels may offer additional advantages: they are cost-effective (fewer flasks, less labor needed), safer (lower contamination risk), and simpler (culture vessel can also be used for shipment). Human islets(IE) were isolated from two manufacturing centers and shipped in 10cm2 surface area SRM vessels in temperature and pressure controlled containers to a distant center following at least two days of culture (n = 6). Three conditions were examined: low density (LD), high density (HD), and a micro centrifuge tube negative control (NC). LD was designed to mimic the standard culture density for human islet preparations (200 IE/cm2), while HD was designed to have a 20-fold higher tissue density, which would enable the culture of an entire human isolation in 1–3 vessels. Upon receipt, islets were assessed for viability, measured by oxygen consumption rate normalized to DNA content (OCR/DNA), and quantity, measured by DNA, and, when possible, potency and function with dynamic glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) measurements and transplants in immunodeficient B6 rag mice. Post-shipment OCR/DNA was not reduced in HD versus LD, and was substantially reduced in the NC condition. HD islets exhibited normal function post-shipment. Based on the data we conclude that entire islet isolations (up to 400,000 IE) may be shipped using a single, larger SRM vessel with no negative effect on viability and ex vivo and in vivo function. PMID:25131090

CNTF-ACM promotes mitochondrial respiration and oxidative stress in cortical neurons through upregulating L-type calcium channel activity.

PubMed

Sun, Meiqun; Liu, Hongli; Xu, Huanbai; Wang, Hongtao; Wang, Xiaojing

2016-09-01

A specialized culture medium termed ciliary neurotrophic factor-treated astrocyte-conditioned medium (CNTF-ACM) allows investigators to assess the peripheral effects of CNTF-induced activated astrocytes upon cultured neurons. CNTF-ACM has been shown to upregulate neuronal L-type calcium channel current activity, which has been previously linked to changes in mitochondrial respiration and oxidative stress. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate CNTF-ACM's effects upon mitochondrial respiration and oxidative stress in rat cortical neurons. Cortical neurons, CNTF-ACM, and untreated control astrocyte-conditioned medium (UC-ACM) were prepared from neonatal Sprague-Dawley rat cortical tissue. Neurons were cultured in either CNTF-ACM or UC-ACM for a 48-h period. Changes in the following parameters before and after treatment with the L-type calcium channel blocker isradipine were assessed: (i) intracellular calcium levels, (ii) mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), (iii) oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) formation, (iv) intracellular nitric oxide (NO) levels, (v) mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and (vi) susceptibility to the mitochondrial complex I toxin rotenone. CNTF-ACM neurons displayed the following significant changes relative to UC-ACM neurons: (i) increased intracellular calcium levels (p < 0.05), (ii) elevation in ΔΨm (p < 0.05), (iii) increased OCR and ATP formation (p < 0.05), (iv) increased intracellular NO levels (p < 0.05), (v) increased mitochondrial ROS production (p < 0.05), and (vi) increased susceptibility to rotenone (p < 0.05). Treatment with isradipine was able to partially rescue these negative effects of CNTF-ACM (p < 0.05). CNTF-ACM promotes mitochondrial respiration and oxidative stress in cortical neurons through elevating L-type calcium channel activity.

Human islet viability and function is maintained during high-density shipment in silicone rubber membrane vessels.

PubMed

Kitzmann, J P; Pepper, A R; Gala-Lopez, B; Pawlick, R; Kin, T; O'Gorman, D; Mueller, K R; Gruessner, A C; Avgoustiniatos, E S; Karatzas, T; Szot, G L; Posselt, A M; Stock, P G; Wilson, J R; Shapiro, A M; Papas, K K

2014-01-01

The shipment of human islets (IE) from processing centers to distant laboratories is beneficial for both research and clinical applications. The maintenance of islet viability and function in transit is critically important. Gas-permeable silicone rubber membrane (SRM) vessels reduce the risk of hypoxia-induced death or dysfunction during high-density islet culture or shipment. SRM vessels may offer additional advantages: they are cost-effective (fewer flasks, less labor needed), safer (lower contamination risk), and simpler (culture vessel can also be used for shipment). IE were isolated from two manufacturing centers and shipped in 10-cm(2) surface area SRM vessels in temperature- and pressure-controlled containers to a distant center after at least 2 days of culture (n = 6). Three conditions were examined: low density (LD), high density (HD), and a microcentrifuge tube negative control (NC). LD was designed to mimic the standard culture density for IE preparations (200 IE/cm(2)), while HD was designed to have a 20-fold higher tissue density, which would enable the culture of an entire human isolation in 1-3 vessels. Upon receipt, islets were assessed for viability (measured by oxygen consumption rate normalized to DNA content [OCR/DNA)]), quantity (measured by DNA), and, when possible, potency and function (measured by dynamic glucose-stimulated insulin secretion measurements and transplants in immunodeficient B6 Rag(+/-) mice). Postshipment OCR/DNA was not reduced in HD vs LD and was substantially reduced in the NC condition. HD islets exhibited normal function postshipment. Based on the data, we conclude that entire islet isolations (up to 400,000 IE) may be shipped using a single, larger SRM vessel with no negative effect on viability and ex vivo and in vivo function. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automatic feature design for optical character recognition using an evolutionary search procedure.

PubMed

Stentiford, F W

1985-03-01

An automatic evolutionary search is applied to the problem of feature extraction in an OCR application. A performance measure based on feature independence is used to generate features which do not appear to suffer from peaking effects [17]. Features are extracted from a training set of 30 600 machine printed 34 class alphanumeric characters derived from British mail. Classification results on the training set and a test set of 10 200 characters are reported for an increasing number of features. A 1.01 percent forced decision error rate is obtained on the test data using 316 features. The hardware implementation should be cheap and fast to operate. The performance compares favorably with current low cost OCR page readers.

Towards Mobile OCR: How To Take a Good Picture of a Document Without Sight.

PubMed

Cutter, Michael; Manduchi, Roberto

The advent of mobile OCR (optical character recognition) applications on regular smartphones holds great promise for enabling blind people to access printed information. Unfortunately, these systems suffer from a problem: in order for OCR output to be meaningful, a well-framed image of the document needs to be taken, something that is difficult to do without sight. This contribution presents an experimental investigation of how blind people position and orient a camera phone while acquiring document images. We developed experimental software to investigate if verbal guidance aids in the acquisition of OCR-readable images without sight. We report on our participant's feedback and performance before and after assistance from our software.

Towards Mobile OCR: How To Take a Good Picture of a Document Without Sight

PubMed Central

Cutter, Michael; Manduchi, Roberto

2015-01-01

The advent of mobile OCR (optical character recognition) applications on regular smartphones holds great promise for enabling blind people to access printed information. Unfortunately, these systems suffer from a problem: in order for OCR output to be meaningful, a well-framed image of the document needs to be taken, something that is difficult to do without sight. This contribution presents an experimental investigation of how blind people position and orient a camera phone while acquiring document images. We developed experimental software to investigate if verbal guidance aids in the acquisition of OCR-readable images without sight. We report on our participant's feedback and performance before and after assistance from our software. PMID:26677461

A pilot study of the feasibility of an Internet-based electronic Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation (eOCR) program in rural primary care.

PubMed

Clark, Robyn A; Tideman, Phillip; Tirimacco, Rosy; Wanguhu, Ken; Poulsen, Vanessa; Simpson, Paul; Duncan, Mitch J; Van Itallie, Anetta; Corry, Kelly; Vandelanotte, Corneel; Mummery, W Kerry

2013-05-01

Interventions that facilitate access to cardiac rehabilitation and secondary prevention programs are in demand. This pilot study used a mixed methods design to evaluate the feasibility of an Internet-based, electronic Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation (eOCR). Patients who had suffered a cardiac event and their case managers were recruited from rural primary practices. Feasibility was evaluated in terms of the number of patients enrolled and patient and case manager engagement with the eOCR website. Four rural general practices, 16 health professionals (cardiologists, general practitioners, nurses and allied health) and 24 patients participated in the project and 11 (46%) completed the program. Utilisation of the website during the 105 day evaluation period by participating health professionals was moderate to low (mean of 8.25 logins, range 0-28 logins). The mean login rate for patients was 16 (range 1-77 logins), mean time from first login to last (days using the website) was 51 (range 1-105 days). Each patient monitored at least five risk factors and read at least one of the secondary prevention articles. There was low utilisation of other tools such as weekly workbooks and discussion boards. It was important to evaluate how an eOCR website would be used within an existing healthcare setting. These results will help to guide the implementation of future internet based cardiac rehabilitation programs considering barriers such as access and appropriate target groups of participants. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Deriving an Abstraction Network to Support Quality Assurance in OCRe

PubMed Central

Ochs, Christopher; Agrawal, Ankur; Perl, Yehoshua; Halper, Michael; Tu, Samson W.; Carini, Simona; Sim, Ida; Noy, Natasha; Musen, Mark; Geller, James

2012-01-01

An abstraction network is an auxiliary network of nodes and links that provides a compact, high-level view of an ontology. Such a view lends support to ontology orientation, comprehension, and quality-assurance efforts. A methodology is presented for deriving a kind of abstraction network, called a partial-area taxonomy, for the Ontology of Clinical Research (OCRe). OCRe was selected as a representative of ontologies implemented using the Web Ontology Language (OWL) based on shared domains. The derivation of the partial-area taxonomy for the Entity hierarchy of OCRe is described. Utilizing the visualization of the content and structure of the hierarchy provided by the taxonomy, the Entity hierarchy is audited, and several errors and inconsistencies in OCRe’s modeling of its domain are exposed. After appropriate corrections are made to OCRe, a new partial-area taxonomy is derived. The generalizability of the paradigm of the derivation methodology to various families of biomedical ontologies is discussed. PMID:23304341

Effects of Low Salinity on Adult Behavior and Larval Performance in the Intertidal Gastropod Crepipatella peruviana (Calyptraeidae)

PubMed Central

Montory, Jaime A.; Pechenik, Jan A.; Diederich, Casey M.; Chaparro, Oscar R.

2014-01-01

Shallow-water coastal areas suffer frequent reductions in salinity due to heavy rains, potentially stressing the organisms found there, particularly the early stages of development (including pelagic larvae). Individual adults and newly hatched larvae of the gastropod Crepipatella peruviana were exposed to different levels of salinity stress (32(control), 25, 20 or 15), to quantify the immediate effects of exposure to low salinities on adult and larval behavior and on the physiological performance of the larvae. For adults we recorded the threshold salinity that initiates brood chamber isolation. For larvae, we measured the impact of reduced salinity on velar surface area, velum activity, swimming velocity, clearance rate (CR), oxygen consumption (OCR), and mortality (LC50); we also documented the impact of salinity discontinuities on the vertical distribution of veliger larvae in the water column. The results indicate that adults will completely isolate themselves from the external environment by clamping firmly against the substrate at salinities ≤24. Moreover, the newly hatched larvae showed increased mortality at lower salinities, while survivors showed decreased velum activity, decreased exposed velum surface area, and decreased mean swimming velocity. The clearance rates and oxygen consumption rates of stressed larvae were significantly lower than those of control individuals. Finally, salinity discontinuities affected the vertical distribution of larvae in the water column. Although adults can protect their embryos from low salinity stress until hatching, salinities <24 clearly affect survival, physiology and behavior in early larval life, which will substantially affect the fitness of the species under declining ambient salinities. PMID:25077484

Assessing Mitochondrial Bioenergetics in Isolated Mitochondria from Various Mouse Tissues Using Seahorse XF96 Analyzer.

PubMed

Iuso, Arcangela; Repp, Birgit; Biagosch, Caroline; Terrile, Caterina; Prokisch, Holger

2017-01-01

Working with isolated mitochondria is the gold standard approach to investigate the function of the electron transport chain in tissues, free from the influence of other cellular factors. In this chapter, we outline a detailed protocol to measure the rate of oxygen consumption (OCR) with the high-throughput analyzer Seahorse XF96. More importantly, this protocol wants to provide practical tips for handling many different samples at once, and take a real advantage of using a high-throughput system. As a proof of concept, we have isolated mitochondria from brain, heart, liver, muscle, kidney, and lung of a wild-type mouse, and measured basal respiration (State II), ADP-stimulated respiration (State III), non-ADP-stimulated respiration (State IV o ), and FCCP-stimulated respiration (State III u ) using respiratory substrates specific to the respiratory chain complex I (RCCI) and complex II (RCCII). Mitochondrial purification and Seahorse runs were performed in less than eight working hours.

Metabolic analysis of radioresistant medulloblastoma stem-like clones and potential therapeutic targets.

PubMed

Sun, Lue; Moritake, Takashi; Ito, Kazuya; Matsumoto, Yoshitaka; Yasui, Hironobu; Nakagawa, Hidehiko; Hirayama, Aki; Inanami, Osamu; Tsuboi, Koji

2017-01-01

Medulloblastoma is a fatal brain tumor in children, primarily due to the presence of treatment-resistant medulloblastoma stem cells. The energy metabolic pathway is a potential target of cancer therapy because it is often different between cancer cells and normal cells. However, the metabolic properties of medulloblastoma stem cells, and whether specific metabolic pathways are essential for sustaining their stem cell-like phenotype and radioresistance, remain unclear. We have established radioresistant medulloblastoma stem-like clones (rMSLCs) by irradiation of the human medulloblastoma cell line ONS-76. Here, we assessed reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, mitochondria function, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), energy state, and metabolites of glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle in rMSLCs and parental cells. rMSLCs showed higher lactate production and lower oxygen consumption rate than parental cells. Additionally, rMSLCs had low mitochondria mass, low endogenous ROS production, and existed in a low-energy state. Treatment with the metabolic modifier dichloroacetate (DCA) resulted in mitochondria dysfunction, glycolysis inhibition, elongated mitochondria morphology, and increased ROS production. DCA also increased radiosensitivity by suppression of the DNA repair capacity through nuclear oxidization and accelerated the generation of acetyl CoA to compensate for the lack of ATP. Moreover, treatment with DCA decreased cancer stem cell-like characters (e.g., CD133 positivity and sphere-forming ability) in rMSLCs. Together, our findings provide insights into the specific metabolism of rMSLCs and illuminate potential metabolic targets that might be exploited for therapeutic benefit in medulloblastoma.

Metabolic analysis of radioresistant medulloblastoma stem-like clones and potential therapeutic targets

PubMed Central

Sun, Lue; Moritake, Takashi; Ito, Kazuya; Matsumoto, Yoshitaka; Yasui, Hironobu; Nakagawa, Hidehiko; Hirayama, Aki; Inanami, Osamu; Tsuboi, Koji

2017-01-01

Medulloblastoma is a fatal brain tumor in children, primarily due to the presence of treatment-resistant medulloblastoma stem cells. The energy metabolic pathway is a potential target of cancer therapy because it is often different between cancer cells and normal cells. However, the metabolic properties of medulloblastoma stem cells, and whether specific metabolic pathways are essential for sustaining their stem cell-like phenotype and radioresistance, remain unclear. We have established radioresistant medulloblastoma stem-like clones (rMSLCs) by irradiation of the human medulloblastoma cell line ONS-76. Here, we assessed reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, mitochondria function, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), energy state, and metabolites of glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle in rMSLCs and parental cells. rMSLCs showed higher lactate production and lower oxygen consumption rate than parental cells. Additionally, rMSLCs had low mitochondria mass, low endogenous ROS production, and existed in a low-energy state. Treatment with the metabolic modifier dichloroacetate (DCA) resulted in mitochondria dysfunction, glycolysis inhibition, elongated mitochondria morphology, and increased ROS production. DCA also increased radiosensitivity by suppression of the DNA repair capacity through nuclear oxidization and accelerated the generation of acetyl CoA to compensate for the lack of ATP. Moreover, treatment with DCA decreased cancer stem cell-like characters (e.g., CD133 positivity and sphere-forming ability) in rMSLCs. Together, our findings provide insights into the specific metabolism of rMSLCs and illuminate potential metabolic targets that might be exploited for therapeutic benefit in medulloblastoma. PMID:28426747

Aging per se Increases the Susceptibility to Free Fatty Acid–Induced Insulin Resistance

PubMed Central

Huffman, Derek M.; Fishman, Sigal; Jerschow, Elina; Heo, Hye J.; Atzmon, Gil; Schechter, Clyde; Muzumdar, Radhika H.

2010-01-01

Elevations in systemic free fatty acids (FFA) contribute to insulin resistance. To determine the effects of an acute elevation in FFA on insulin action with aging, we infused saline or intralipid (IL) during a hyperinsulinemic–euglycemic clamp in three groups of rats: young ad libitum–fed (YAL), old ad libitum–fed (OAL), and old on lifelong calorie restriction (OCR). The OCR group was included to distinguish between aging per se and age-related changes in body fat distribution. IL induced marked insulin resistance in both YAL and OCR, but the onset of insulin resistance was approximately two to three times more rapid in OCR as compared with YAL. In response to IL infusion, plasminogen-activating inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) expression was increased in subcutaneous fat from OAL animals. In visceral fat, a marked increase in PAI-1 and interleukin-6 expression was observed in OAL and OCR rats, but not YAL, in response to IL treatment. Thus, aging per se increases the inflammatory response to excess nutrients and vulnerability to FFA-induced insulin resistance with aging. PMID:20504893

A modern optical character recognition system in a real world clinical setting: some accuracy and feasibility observations.

PubMed

Biondich, Paul G; Overhage, J Marc; Dexter, Paul R; Downs, Stephen M; Lemmon, Larry; McDonald, Clement J

2002-01-01

Advances in optical character recognition (OCR) software and computer hardware have stimulated a reevaluation of the technology and its ability to capture structured clinical data from preexisting paper forms. In our pilot evaluation, we measured the accuracy and feasibility of capturing vitals data from a pediatric encounter form that has been in use for over twenty years. We found that the software had a digit recognition rate of 92.4% (95% confidence interval: 91.6 to 93.2) overall. More importantly, this system was approximately three times as fast as our existing method of data entry. These preliminary results suggest that with further refinements in the approach and additional development, we may be able to incorporate OCR as another method for capturing structured clinical data.

Simultaneous Multiparameter Cellular Energy Metabolism Profiling of Small Populations of Cells.

PubMed

Kelbauskas, Laimonas; Ashili, Shashaanka P; Lee, Kristen B; Zhu, Haixin; Tian, Yanqing; Meldrum, Deirdre R

2018-03-12

Functional and genomic heterogeneity of individual cells are central players in a broad spectrum of normal and disease states. Our knowledge about the role of cellular heterogeneity in tissue and organism function remains limited due to analytical challenges one encounters when performing single cell studies in the context of cell-cell interactions. Information based on bulk samples represents ensemble averages over populations of cells, while data generated from isolated single cells do not account for intercellular interactions. We describe a new technology and demonstrate two important advantages over existing technologies: first, it enables multiparameter energy metabolism profiling of small cell populations (<100 cells)-a sample size that is at least an order of magnitude smaller than other, commercially available technologies; second, it can perform simultaneous real-time measurements of oxygen consumption rate (OCR), extracellular acidification rate (ECAR), and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP)-a capability not offered by any other commercially available technology. Our results revealed substantial diversity in response kinetics of the three analytes in dysplastic human epithelial esophageal cells and suggest the existence of varying cellular energy metabolism profiles and their kinetics among small populations of cells. The technology represents a powerful analytical tool for multiparameter studies of cellular function.

Glutamate Impairs Mitochondria Aerobic Respiration Capacity and Enhances Glycolysis in Cultured Rat Astrocytes.

PubMed

Yan, Xu; Shi, Zhong Fang; Xu, Li Xin; Li, Jia Xin; Wu, Min; Wang, Xiao Xuan; Jia, Mei; Dong, Li Ping; Yang, Shao Hua; Yuan, Fang

2017-01-01

To study the effect of glutamate on metabolism, shifts in glycolysis and lactate release in rat astrocytes. After 10 days, secondary cultured astrocytes were treated with 1 mmol/L glutamate for 1 h, and the oxygen consumption rates (OCR) and extra cellular acidification rate (ECAR) was analyzed using a Seahorse XF 24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer. Cell viability was then evaluated by MTT assay. Moreover, changes in extracellular lactate concentration induced by glutamate were tested with a lactate detection kit. Compared with the control group, treatment with 1 mmol/L glutamate decreased the astrocytes' maximal respiration and spare respiratory capacity but increased their glycolytic capacity and glycolytic reserve. Further analysis found that 1-h treatment with different concentrations of glutamate (0.1-1 mmol/L) increased lactate release from astrocytes, however the cell viability was not affected by the glutamate treatment. The current study provided direct evidence that exogenous glutamate treatment impaired the mitochondrial respiration capacity of astrocytes and enhanced aerobic glycolysis, which could be involved in glutamate injury or protection mechanisms in response to neurological disorders. Copyright © 2017 The Editorial Board of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences. Published by China CDC. All rights reserved.

Neural network-based systems for handprint OCR applications.

PubMed

Ganis, M D; Wilson, C L; Blue, J L

1998-01-01

Over the last five years or so, neural network (NN)-based approaches have been steadily gaining performance and popularity for a wide range of optical character recognition (OCR) problems, from isolated digit recognition to handprint recognition. We present an NN classification scheme based on an enhanced multilayer perceptron (MLP) and describe an end-to-end system for form-based handprint OCR applications designed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Visual Image Processing Group. The enhancements to the MLP are based on (i) neuron activations functions that reduce the occurrences of singular Jacobians; (ii) successive regularization to constrain the volume of the weight space; and (iii) Boltzmann pruning to constrain the dimension of the weight space. Performance characterization studies of NN systems evaluated at the first OCR systems conference and the NIST form-based handprint recognition system are also summarized.

A modern optical character recognition system in a real world clinical setting: some accuracy and feasibility observations.

PubMed Central

Biondich, Paul G.; Overhage, J. Marc; Dexter, Paul R.; Downs, Stephen M.; Lemmon, Larry; McDonald, Clement J.

2002-01-01

Advances in optical character recognition (OCR) software and computer hardware have stimulated a reevaluation of the technology and its ability to capture structured clinical data from preexisting paper forms. In our pilot evaluation, we measured the accuracy and feasibility of capturing vitals data from a pediatric encounter form that has been in use for over twenty years. We found that the software had a digit recognition rate of 92.4% (95% confidence interval: 91.6 to 93.2) overall. More importantly, this system was approximately three times as fast as our existing method of data entry. These preliminary results suggest that with further refinements in the approach and additional development, we may be able to incorporate OCR as another method for capturing structured clinical data. PMID:12463786

Low-Frequency Otolith Function in Microgravity: A Re-Evaluation of the Otolith Tilt-Translation Reinterpretation (OTTR) Hypothesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Steven T.; Cohen, Bernard; Clement, Gilles; Raphan, Theodore

1999-01-01

On Earth, the low-frequency afferent signal from the otoliths encodes head tilt with respect to the gravitational vertical, and the higher frequency components reflect both tilt and linear acceleration of the head. In microgravity, static tilt of the head does not influence otolith output, and the relationship between sensory input from the vestibular organs, and the visual, proprioceptive and somatosensory systems, would be disrupted. Several researchers have proposed that in 0-g this conflict may induce a reinterpretation of all otolith signals by the brain to encode only linear translation (otolith tilt-translation reinterpretation or OTTR). Ocular counter-rolling (OCR) is a low-frequency otolith-mediated reflex, which generates compensatory torsional eye movements (rotation about the visual axis) towards the spatial vertical during static roll tilt with a gain of approximately 10%. Transient linear acceleration and off-axis centrifugation at a constant angular velocity can also generate OCR. According to the OTTR hypothesis, OCR should be reduced in microgravity, and immediately upon return from a 0-g environment. Results to date have been inconclusive. OCR was reduced following the 10 day Spacelab-1 mission in response to leftward roll tilts (28-56% in 3 subjects and unchanged in one subject), and sinusoidal linear oscillations at 0.4 and 0.8 Hz. OCR gain declined 70% in four monkeys following a 14 day COSMOS mission. Following a 30 day MIR mission OCR gain decreased in one astronaut, but increased in two others following a 180 day mission. We have studied the affect of microgravity on low-frequency otolith function as part of a larger study of the interaction of vision and the vestibular system. This experiment (E-047) involved off-axis centrifugation of payload crewmembers and flew aboard the recent Neurolab mission (STS 90). Presented below are preliminary results focusing on perception and the OCR response during both centrifugation and static tilt.

Pattern matching techniques for correcting low-confidence OCR words in a known context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ford, Glenn; Hauser, Susan E.; Le, Daniel X.; Thoma, George R.

2000-12-01

A commercial OCR system is a key component of a system developed at the National Library of Medicine for the automated extraction of bibliographic fields from biomedical journals. This 5-engine OCR system, while exhibiting high performance overall, does not reliably convert very small characters, especially those that are in italics. As a result, the 'affiliations' field that typically contains such characters in most journals, is not captured accurately, and requires a disproportionately high manual input. To correct this problem, dictionaries have been created from words occurring in this field (e.g., university, department, street addresses, names of cities, etc.) from 230,000 articles already processed. The OCR output corresponding to the affiliation field is then matched against these dictionary entries by approximate string-matching techniques, and the ranked matches are presented to operators for verification. This paper outlines the techniques employed and the results of a comparative evaluation.

The Rate of Oxygen Utilization by Cells

PubMed Central

Wagner, Brett A.; Venkataraman, Sujatha; Buettner, Garry R.

2011-01-01

The discovery of oxygen is considered by some to be the most important scientific discovery of all time – from both physical-chemical/astrophysics and biology/evolution viewpoints. One of the major developments during evolution is the ability to capture dioxygen in the environment and deliver it to each cell in the multicellular, complex mammalian body -- on demand, i.e. just-in-time. Humans use oxygen to extract approximately 2550 Calories (10.4 MJ) from food to meet daily energy requirements. This combustion requires about 22 moles of dioxygen per day, or 2.5 × 10-4 mol s-1. This is an average rate of oxygen utilization of 2.5 × 10-18 mol cell-1 s-1, i.e. 2.5 amol cell-1 s-1. Cells have a wide range of oxygen utilization, depending on cell type, function, and biological status. Measured rates of oxygen utilization by mammalian cells in culture range from <1 to >350 amol cell-1 s-1. There is a loose positive linear correlation of the rate of oxygen consumption (OCR) by mammalian cells in culture with cell volume and cell protein. The use of oxygen by cells and tissues is an essential aspect of the basic redox biology of cells and tissues. This type of quantitative information is fundamental to investigations in quantitative redox biology, especially redox systems biology. PMID:21664270

Mitochondrial thiol modification by a targeted electrophile inhibits metabolism in breast adenocarcinoma cells by inhibiting enzyme activity and protein levels.

PubMed

Smith, M Ryan; Vayalil, Praveen K; Zhou, Fen; Benavides, Gloria A; Beggs, Reena R; Golzarian, Hafez; Nijampatnam, Bhavitavya; Oliver, Patsy G; Smith, Robin A J; Murphy, Michael P; Velu, Sadanandan E; Landar, Aimee

2016-08-01

Many cancer cells follow an aberrant metabolic program to maintain energy for rapid cell proliferation. Metabolic reprogramming often involves the upregulation of glutaminolysis to generate reducing equivalents for the electron transport chain and amino acids for protein synthesis. Critical enzymes involved in metabolism possess a reactive thiolate group, which can be modified by certain oxidants. In the current study, we show that modification of mitochondrial protein thiols by a model compound, iodobutyl triphenylphosphonium (IBTP), decreased mitochondrial metabolism and ATP in MDA-MB 231 (MB231) breast adenocarcinoma cells up to 6 days after an initial 24h treatment. Mitochondrial thiol modification also depressed oxygen consumption rates (OCR) in a dose-dependent manner to a greater extent than a non-thiol modifying analog, suggesting that thiol reactivity is an important factor in the inhibition of cancer cell metabolism. In non-tumorigenic MCF-10A cells, IBTP also decreased OCR; however the extracellular acidification rate was significantly increased at all but the highest concentration (10µM) of IBTP indicating that thiol modification can have significantly different effects on bioenergetics in tumorigenic versus non-tumorigenic cells. ATP and other adenonucleotide levels were also decreased by thiol modification up to 6 days post-treatment, indicating a decreased overall energetic state in MB231 cells. Cellular proliferation of MB231 cells was also inhibited up to 6 days post-treatment with little change to cell viability. Targeted metabolomic analyses revealed that thiol modification caused depletion of both Krebs cycle and glutaminolysis intermediates. Further experiments revealed that the activity of the Krebs cycle enzyme, aconitase, was attenuated in response to thiol modification. Additionally, the inhibition of glutaminolysis corresponded to decreased glutaminase C (GAC) protein levels, although other protein levels were unaffected. This study demonstrates for the first time that mitochondrial thiol modification inhibits metabolism via inhibition of both aconitase and GAC in a breast cancer cell model. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Manufacturing porcine islets: culture at 22°C has no advantage above culture at 37°C

PubMed Central

Mueller, Kate R; Martins, Kyra V; Murtaugh, Michael P; Schuurman, Henk-Jan; Papas, Klearchos K

2013-01-01

Background The manufacturing process of islets includes a culture step which was originally introduced to ease the logistics of procedures in preparing the graft and transplant recipient. It has been suggested that culture at room temperature has an advantage over culture at 37°C, in part by reducing immunogenicity via preferential elimination of contaminating cells (such as passenger leukocytes) within islets. We investigated this using islets isolated from pancreata of adult pigs. Methods Porcine islets were isolated from three donors and cultured at 37°C for 1 day, and then under three different conditions: 37°C for 6 days (condition A); 22°C for 6 days (condition B); or 22°C for 5 days followed by 37°C for 1 day (condition C). Recovery was assessed by DNA measurement, viability by oxygen consumption rate normalized for DNA (OCR/DNA), and gene expression by RT-PCR for a series of 9 lymphocyte markers, 11 lymphokines and chemokines, and 14 apoptotic and stress markers. Results Post-culture islet recoveries were similar for the three culture conditions. Average OCR/DNA values were 129–159 nmol/min.mgDNA before culture, and 259–291, 204–212, and 207–228 nmol/min•mgDNA, respectively, for culture under conditions A, B, and C, respectively. Irrespective of culture condition, examined gene expression in all three series of lymphocyte markers, lymphokines and chemokines, and apoptotic and stress markers manifested a statistically significant decrease upon culture for 7 days. This decrease was most dramatic for condition A: in particular most of lymphocyte markers showed a >10-fold reduction and also 6 markers in the lymphokine and chemokine series: these reductions are consistent with the elimination of immune cells present within islets during culture. The reduction was less for apoptotic and stress markers. For culture under condition B the reduction in gene expression was less, and culture under condition C resulted in gene expression levels similar to those under condition A: this indicates that 24 hours at 37°C is sufficient to re-equilibrate gene expression levels from those in islets cultured at 22°C to those in islets cultured at 37°C. Results were consistent among the preparations from the three donors. Conclusions Culture of porcine islets at 37°C provides benefits over culture at 22°C with respect to OCR/DNA outcomes and reduced expression of genes encoding lymphocyte markers, lymphokines and chemokines, and markers for apoptosis and stress. PMID:23941232

Effect of a mitochondrial-targeted coenzyme Q analog on pancreatic β-cell function and energetics in high fat fed obese mice.

PubMed

Imai, Yumi; Fink, Brian D; Promes, Joseph A; Kulkarni, Chaitanya A; Kerns, Robert J; Sivitz, William I

2018-06-01

We recently reported that mitoquinone (mitoQ, 500 μmol/L) added to drinking water of C57BL/6J mice attenuated weight gain and reduced oxidative stress when administered to high-fat (HF) fed mice. Here, we examined the effects of mitoQ administered to HF fed mice on pancreatic islet morphology, dynamics of insulin secretion, and islet mitochondrial metabolism. C57BL/6J mice were fed HF for 130 days while we administered vehicle (cyclodextrin [CD]) or mitoQ added to the drinking water at up to 500 μmol/L. MitoQ-treated mice vs vehicle gained significantly less weight, expended significantly more energy as determined by indirect calorimetry, and trended to consume less (nonsignificant) food. As we and others reported before, mitoQ-treated mice drank less water but showed no difference in percent body fluid by nuclear magnetic resonance. Circulating insulin and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion by isolated islets were decreased in mitoQ-treated mice while insulin sensitivity (plasma insulin x glucose) was greater. Islet respiration as basal oxygen consumption (OCR), OCR directed at ATP synthesis, and maximal uncoupled OCR were also reduced in mitoQ-treated mice. Quantitative morphologic studies revealed that islet size was reduced in the mitoQ-treated mice while visual inspection of histochemically stained sections suggested that mitoQ reduced islet lipid peroxides. MitoQ markedly improved liver function as determined by plasma alanine aminotransferase. In summary, mitoQ treatment reduced the demand for insulin and reduced islet size, likely consequent to the action of mitoQ to mitigate weight gain and improve liver function. This article has been contributed to by US Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.

Targeting MUC1-Mediated Tumor-Stromal Metabolic Interaction in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

to MUC1 interaction with hypoxia-inducible factor alpha (HIF1α), a key regulator of glycolysis . We previously observed that ectopic overexpression of...nuclear localization and transcriptional activation of the cytoplasmic tail of MUC1. Additionally, MUC1 enhanced glutamine uptake that was increased...rate (OCR) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR), indicative of cells utilizing glycolysis and/or oxidative phosphorylation to meet energy

Classification of remotely sensed data using OCR-inspired neural network techniques. [Optical Character Recognition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiang, Richard K.

1992-01-01

Neural networks have been applied to classifications of remotely sensed data with some success. To improve the performance of this approach, an examination was made of how neural networks are applied to the optical character recognition (OCR) of handwritten digits and letters. A three-layer, feedforward network, along with techniques adopted from OCR, was used to classify Landsat-4 Thematic Mapper data. Good results were obtained. To overcome the difficulties that are characteristic of remote sensing applications and to attain significant improvements in classification accuracy, a special network architecture may be required.

A Large Scale Code Resolution Service Network in the Internet of Things

PubMed Central

Yu, Haining; Zhang, Hongli; Fang, Binxing; Yu, Xiangzhan

2012-01-01

In the Internet of Things a code resolution service provides a discovery mechanism for a requester to obtain the information resources associated with a particular product code immediately. In large scale application scenarios a code resolution service faces some serious issues involving heterogeneity, big data and data ownership. A code resolution service network is required to address these issues. Firstly, a list of requirements for the network architecture and code resolution services is proposed. Secondly, in order to eliminate code resolution conflicts and code resolution overloads, a code structure is presented to create a uniform namespace for code resolution records. Thirdly, we propose a loosely coupled distributed network consisting of heterogeneous, independent; collaborating code resolution services and a SkipNet based code resolution service named SkipNet-OCRS, which not only inherits DHT's advantages, but also supports administrative control and autonomy. For the external behaviors of SkipNet-OCRS, a novel external behavior mode named QRRA mode is proposed to enhance security and reduce requester complexity. For the internal behaviors of SkipNet-OCRS, an improved query algorithm is proposed to increase query efficiency. It is analyzed that integrating SkipNet-OCRS into our resolution service network can meet our proposed requirements. Finally, simulation experiments verify the excellent performance of SkipNet-OCRS. PMID:23202207

The Ontology of Clinical Research (OCRe): An Informatics Foundation for the Science of Clinical Research

PubMed Central

Sim, Ida; Tu, Samson W.; Carini, Simona; Lehmann, Harold P.; Pollock, Brad H.; Peleg, Mor; Wittkowski, Knut M.

2013-01-01

To date, the scientific process for generating, interpreting, and applying knowledge has received less informatics attention than operational processes for conducting clinical studies. The activities of these scientific processes — the science of clinical research — are centered on the study protocol, which is the abstract representation of the scientific design of a clinical study. The Ontology of Clinical Research (OCRe) is an OWL 2 model of the entities and relationships of study design protocols for the purpose of computationally supporting the design and analysis of human studies. OCRe’s modeling is independent of any specific study design or clinical domain. It includes a study design typology and a specialized module called ERGO Annotation for capturing the meaning of eligibility criteria. In this paper, we describe the key informatics use cases of each phase of a study’s scientific lifecycle, present OCRe and the principles behind its modeling, and describe applications of OCRe and associated technologies to a range of clinical research use cases. OCRe captures the central semantics that underlies the scientific processes of clinical research and can serve as an informatics foundation for supporting the entire range of knowledge activities that constitute the science of clinical research. PMID:24239612

Study of style effects on OCR errors in the MEDLINE database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garrison, Penny; Davis, Diane L.; Andersen, Tim L.; Barney Smith, Elisa H.

2005-01-01

The National Library of Medicine has developed a system for the automatic extraction of data from scanned journal articles to populate the MEDLINE database. Although the 5-engine OCR system used in this process exhibits good performance overall, it does make errors in character recognition that must be corrected in order for the process to achieve the requisite accuracy. The correction process works by feeding words that have characters with less than 100% confidence (as determined automatically by the OCR engine) to a human operator who then must manually verify the word or correct the error. The majority of these errors are contained in the affiliation information zone where the characters are in italics or small fonts. Therefore only affiliation information data is used in this research. This paper examines the correlation between OCR errors and various character attributes in the MEDLINE database, such as font size, italics, bold, etc. and OCR confidence levels. The motivation for this research is that if a correlation between the character style and types of errors exists it should be possible to use this information to improve operator productivity by increasing the probability that the correct word option is presented to the human editor. We have determined that this correlation exists, in particular for the case of characters with diacritics.

A large scale code resolution service network in the Internet of Things.

PubMed

Yu, Haining; Zhang, Hongli; Fang, Binxing; Yu, Xiangzhan

2012-11-07

In the Internet of Things a code resolution service provides a discovery mechanism for a requester to obtain the information resources associated with a particular product code immediately. In large scale application scenarios a code resolution service faces some serious issues involving heterogeneity, big data and data ownership. A code resolution service network is required to address these issues. Firstly, a list of requirements for the network architecture and code resolution services is proposed. Secondly, in order to eliminate code resolution conflicts and code resolution overloads, a code structure is presented to create a uniform namespace for code resolution records. Thirdly, we propose a loosely coupled distributed network consisting of heterogeneous, independent; collaborating code resolution services and a SkipNet based code resolution service named SkipNet-OCRS, which not only inherits DHT’s advantages, but also supports administrative control and autonomy. For the external behaviors of SkipNet-OCRS, a novel external behavior mode named QRRA mode is proposed to enhance security and reduce requester complexity. For the internal behaviors of SkipNet-OCRS, an improved query algorithm is proposed to increase query efficiency. It is analyzed that integrating SkipNet-OCRS into our resolution service network can meet our proposed requirements. Finally, simulation experiments verify the excellent performance of SkipNet-OCRS.

The chicken or the egg: mitochondrial dysfunction as a cause or consequence of toxicity in Huntington’s disease

DOE PAGES

Polyzos, Aris A.; McMurray, Cynthia T.

2016-09-12

Mitochondrial dysfunction and ensuing oxidative damage is typically thought to be a primary cause of Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson disease. There is little doubt that mitochondria (MT) become defective as neurons die, yet whether MT defects are the primary cause or a detrimental consequence of toxicity remains unanswered. Oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and glycolysis provide sensitive and informative measures of the functional status MT and the cells metabolic regulation, yet these measures differ depending on the sample source; species, tissue type, age at measurement, and whether MT are measured in purified form or in a cell. The effectsmore » of these various parameters are difficult to quantify and not fully understood, but clearly have an impact on interpreting the bioenergetics of MT or their failure in disease states. A major goal of the review is to discuss issues and coalesce detailed information into a reference table to help in assessing mitochondrial dysfunction as a cause or consequence of Huntington's disease.« less

The chicken or the egg: mitochondrial dysfunction as a cause or consequence of toxicity in Huntington’s disease

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

Polyzos, Aris A.; McMurray, Cynthia T.

Mitochondrial dysfunction and ensuing oxidative damage is typically thought to be a primary cause of Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson disease. There is little doubt that mitochondria (MT) become defective as neurons die, yet whether MT defects are the primary cause or a detrimental consequence of toxicity remains unanswered. Oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and glycolysis provide sensitive and informative measures of the functional status MT and the cells metabolic regulation, yet these measures differ depending on the sample source; species, tissue type, age at measurement, and whether MT are measured in purified form or in a cell. The effectsmore » of these various parameters are difficult to quantify and not fully understood, but clearly have an impact on interpreting the bioenergetics of MT or their failure in disease states. A major goal of the review is to discuss issues and coalesce detailed information into a reference table to help in assessing mitochondrial dysfunction as a cause or consequence of Huntington's disease.« less

Fast approach for toner saving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Safonov, Ilia V.; Kurilin, Ilya V.; Rychagov, Michael N.; Lee, Hokeun; Kim, Sangho; Choi, Donchul

2011-01-01

Reducing toner consumption is an important task in modern printing devices and has a significant positive ecological impact. Existing toner saving approaches have two main drawbacks: appearance of hardcopy in toner saving mode is worse in comparison with normal mode; processing of whole rendered page bitmap requires significant computational costs. We propose to add small holes of various shapes and sizes to random places inside a character bitmap stored in font cache. Such random perforation scheme is based on processing pipeline in RIP of standard printer languages Postscript and PCL. Processing of text characters only, and moreover, processing of each character for given font and size alone, is an extremely fast procedure. The approach does not deteriorate halftoned bitmap and business graphics and provide toner saving for typical office documents up to 15-20%. Rate of toner saving is adjustable. Alteration of resulted characters' appearance is almost indistinguishable in comparison with solid black text due to random placement of small holes inside the character regions. The suggested method automatically skips small fonts to preserve its quality. Readability of text processed by proposed method is fine. OCR programs process that scanned hardcopy successfully too.

Imaging Prostate Cancer (Pca) Phenotype and Evolution

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

Extracellular flux analysis experiments with the Seahorse system showed a marked decrease in OCR after inhibition of ATP synthase by oligomycin...measured in each well 34 h after seeding the cells, using the Seahorse extracellular flux analyzer, as also described in Methods section. OCR

Islet preparation purity is overestimated, and less pure fractions have lower post-culture viability before clinical allotransplantation.

PubMed

Kitzmann, J P; Karatzas, T; Mueller, K R; Avgoustiniatos, E S; Gruessner, A C; Balamurugan, A N; Bellin, M D; Hering, B J; Papas, K K

2014-01-01

Replacement of β-cells with the use of isolated islet allotransplantation (IT) is an emerging therapy for type 1 diabetics with hypoglycemia unawareness. The current standard protocol calls for a 36-72-hour culture period before IT. We examined 13 clinical islet preparations with ≥2 purity fractions to determine the effect of culture on viability. After standard islet isolation and purification, pure islet fractions were placed at 37°C with 5% CO2 for 12-24 hours and subsequently moved to 22°C, whereas less pure fractions were cultured at 22°C for the entire duration. Culture density was targeted at a range of 100-200 islet equivalents (IEQ)/cm(2) adjusted for purity. Islets were assessed for purity (dithizone staining), quantity (pellet volume and DNA), and viability (oxygen consumption rate normalized to DNA content [OCR/DNA] and membrane integrity). Results indicated that purity was overestimated, especially in less pure fractions. This was evidenced by significantly larger observed pellet sizes than expected and tissue amount as quantified with the use of a dsDNA assay when available. Less pure fractions showed significantly lower OCR/DNA and membrane integrity compared with pure. The difference in viability between the 2 purity fractions may be due to a variety of reasons, including hypoxia, nutrient deficiency, toxic metabolite accumulation, and/or proteolytic enzymes released by acinar tissue impurities that are not neutralized by human serum albumin in the culture media. Current clinical islet culture protocols should be examined further, especially for less pure fractions, to ensure the maintenance of viability before transplantation. Even though relatively small, the difference in viability is important because the amount of dead or dying tissue introduced into recipients may be dramatically increased, especially with less pure preparations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Moderate intensity exercise prevents diabetic cardiomyopathy associated contractile dysfunction through restoration of mitochondrial function and connexin 43 levels in db/db mice.

PubMed

Veeranki, Sudhakar; Givvimani, Srikanth; Kundu, Sourav; Metreveli, Naira; Pushpakumar, Sathnur; Tyagi, Suresh C

2016-03-01

Although the cardiovascular benefits of exercise are well known, exercise induced effects and mechanisms in prevention of cardiomyopathy are less clear during obesity associated type-2 diabetes. The current study assessed the impact of moderate intensity exercise on diabetic cardiomyopathy by examining cardiac function and structure and mitochondrial function. Obese-diabetic (db/db), and lean control (db/+) mice, were subjected to a 5 week, 300 m run on a tread-mill for 5 days/week at the speeds of 10-11 m/min. Various physiological parameters were recorded and the heart function was evaluated with M-mode echocardiography. Contraction parameters and calcium transits were examined on isolated cardiomyocytes. At the molecular level: connexin 43 and 37 (Cx43 and 37) levels, mitochondrial biogenesis regulators: Mfn2 and Drp-1 levels, mitochondrial trans-membrane potential and cytochrome c leakage were assessed through western blotting immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. Ability of exercise to reverse oxygen consumption rate (OCR), tissue ATP levels, and cardiac fibrosis were also determined. The exercise regimen was able to prevent diabetic cardiac functional deficiencies: ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS). Improvements in contraction velocity and contraction maximum were noted with the isolated cardiomyocytes. Restoration of interstitial and micro-vessels associated Cx43 levels and improved gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) were observed. The decline in the Mfn2/Drp-1 ratio in the db/db mice hearts was prevented after exercise. The exercise regimen further attenuated transmembrane potential decline and cytochrome c leakage. These corrections further led to improvements in OCR and tissue ATP levels and reduction in cardiac fibrosis. Moderate intensity exercise produced significant cardiovascular benefits by improving mitochondrial function through restoration of Cx43 networks and mitochondrial trans-membrane potential and prevention of excessive mitochondrial fission. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teach Your Computer to Read: Scanners and Optical Character Recognition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marsden, Jim

1993-01-01

Desktop scanners can be used with a software technology called optical character recognition (OCR) to convert the text on virtually any paper document into an electronic form. OCR offers educators new flexibility in incorporating text into tests, lesson plans, and other materials. (MLF)

Optical character recognition reading aid for the visually impaired.

PubMed

Grandin, Juan Carlos; Cremaschi, Fabian; Lombardo, Elva; Vitu, Ed; Dujovny, Manuel

2008-06-01

An optical character recognition (OCR) reading machine is a significant help for visually impaired patients. An OCR reading machine is used. This instrument can provide a significant help in order to improve the quality of life of patients with low vision or blindness.

Gremlin 1 Identifies a Skeletal Stem Cell with Bone, Cartilage, and Reticular Stromal Potential

PubMed Central

Worthley, Daniel L.; Churchill, Michael; Compton, Jocelyn T.; Tailor, Yagnesh; Rao, Meenakshi; Si, Yiling; Levin, Daniel; Schwartz, Matthew G.; Uygur, Aysu; Hayakawa, Yoku; Gross, Stefanie; Renz, Bernhard W.; Setlik, Wanda; Martinez, Ashley N.; Chen, Xiaowei; Nizami, Saqib; Lee, Heon Goo; Kang, H. Paco; Caldwell, Jon-Michael; Asfaha, Samuel; Westphalen, C. Benedikt; Graham, Trevor; Jin, Guangchun; Nagar, Karan; Wang, Hongshan; Kheirbek, Mazen A.; Kolhe, Alka; Carpenter, Jared; Glaire, Mark; Nair, Abhinav; Renders, Simon; Manieri, Nicholas; Muthupalani, Sureshkumar; Fox, James G.; Reichert, Maximilian; Giraud, Andrew S.; Schwabe, Robert F.; Pradere, Jean-Phillipe; Walton, Katherine; Prakash, Ajay; Gumucio, Deborah; Rustgi, Anil K.; Stappenbeck, Thaddeus S.; Friedman, Richard A.; Gershon, Michael D.; Sims, Peter; Grikscheit, Tracy; Lee, Francis Y.; Karsenty, Gerard; Mukherjee, Siddhartha; Wang, Timothy C.

2014-01-01

The stem cells that maintain and repair the postnatal skeleton remain undefined. One model suggests that perisinusoidal mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) give rise to osteoblasts, chondrocytes, marrow stromal cells, and adipocytes, although the existence of these cells has not been proven through fate-mapping experiments. We demonstrate here that expression of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) antagonist gremlin 1 defines a population of osteochondroreticular (OCR) stem cells in the bone marrow. OCR stem cells self-renew and generate osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and reticular marrow stromal cells, but not adipocytes. OCR stem cells are concentrated within the metaphysis of long bones not in the perisinusoidal space and are needed for bone development, bone remodeling, and fracture repair. Grem1 expression also identifies intestinal reticular stem cells (iRSCs) that are cells of origin for the periepithelial intestinal mesenchymal sheath. Grem1 expression identifies distinct connective tissue stem cells in both the bone (OCR stem cells) and the intestine (iRSCs). PMID:25594183

Open source OCR framework using mobile devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Steven Zhiying; Gilani, Syed Omer; Winkler, Stefan

2008-02-01

Mobile phones have evolved from passive one-to-one communication device to powerful handheld computing device. Today most new mobile phones are capable of capturing images, recording video, and browsing internet and do much more. Exciting new social applications are emerging on mobile landscape, like, business card readers, sing detectors and translators. These applications help people quickly gather the information in digital format and interpret them without the need of carrying laptops or tablet PCs. However with all these advancements we find very few open source software available for mobile phones. For instance currently there are many open source OCR engines for desktop platform but, to our knowledge, none are available on mobile platform. Keeping this in perspective we propose a complete text detection and recognition system with speech synthesis ability, using existing desktop technology. In this work we developed a complete OCR framework with subsystems from open source desktop community. This includes a popular open source OCR engine named Tesseract for text detection & recognition and Flite speech synthesis module, for adding text-to-speech ability.

Enhancing vestibular function in the elderly with imperceptible electrical stimulation.

PubMed

Serrador, Jorge M; Deegan, Brian M; Geraghty, Maria C; Wood, Scott J

2018-01-10

Age-related loss of vestibular function can result in decrements in gaze stabilization and increased fall risk in the elderly. This study was designed to see if low levels of electrical stochastic noise applied transcutaneously to the vestibular system can improve a gaze stabilization reflex in young and elderly subject groups. Ocular counter-rolling (OCR) using a video-based technique was obtained in 16 subjects during low frequency passive roll tilts. Consistent with previous studies, there was a significant reduction in OCR gains in the elderly compared to the young group. Imperceptible stochastic noise significantly increased OCR in the elderly (Mean 23%, CI: 17-35%). Increases in OCR gain were greatest for those with lowest baseline gain and were negligible in those with normal gain. Since stimulation was effective at low levels undetectable to subjects, stochastic noise may provide a new treatment alternative to enhance vestibular function, specifically otolith-ocular reflexes, in the elderly or patient populations with reduced otolith-ocular function.

Interpretation of In situ Testing of Cohesive Soils Using Rational Methods

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-11-01

a circular steel diaphragm located on the flat face of the device. Section 5 describes a comprehensive analysis of the contact pressure for...9o II Z * 0~ 00 0 o- V 0 - V ( Cl c~0 114 U+ e 0 00 0 cn 0 - t 00 r- UI en tn m i > 0 3 115 WATER SEAL- SOIL SEAL UFRICTION SLEEVE BEARING LOAD CELL...difference with OCR (Sully et al., 1987) 127 5 0 1.0/F IV / r 4 Intact M50 0.4 0j 1 0 1 05 0 OCR * Figure 4.1 a Correlation of pore pressure ratio with OCR

An Evaluation of PC-Based Optical Character Recognition Systems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schreier, E. M.; Uslan, M. M.

1991-01-01

The review examines six personal computer-based optical character recognition (OCR) systems designed for use by blind and visually impaired people. Considered are OCR components and terms, documentation, scanning and reading, command structure, conversion, unique features, accuracy of recognition, scanning time, speed, and cost. (DB)

Optical Character Recognition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Converso, L.; Hocek, S.

1990-01-01

This paper describes computer-based optical character recognition (OCR) systems, focusing on their components (the computer, the scanner, the OCR, and the output device); how the systems work; and features to consider in selecting a system. A list of 26 questions to ask to evaluate systems for potential purchase is included. (JDD)

The use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in the digitisation of herbarium specimen labels.

PubMed

Drinkwater, Robyn E; Cubey, Robert W N; Haston, Elspeth M

2014-01-01

At the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to aid the digitisation process has been investigated. This was tested using a herbarium specimen digitisation process with two stages of data entry. Records were initially batch-processed to add data extracted from the OCR text prior to being sorted based on Collector and/or Country. Using images of the specimens, a team of six digitisers then added data to the specimen records. To investigate whether the data from OCR aid the digitisation process, they completed a series of trials which compared the efficiency of data entry between sorted and unsorted batches of specimens. A survey was carried out to explore the opinion of the digitisation staff to the different sorting options. In total 7,200 specimens were processed. When compared to an unsorted, random set of specimens, those which were sorted based on data added from the OCR were quicker to digitise. Of the methods tested here, the most successful in terms of efficiency used a protocol which required entering data into a limited set of fields and where the records were filtered by Collector and Country. The survey and subsequent discussions with the digitisation staff highlighted their preference for working with sorted specimens, in which label layout, locations and handwriting are likely to be similar, and so a familiarity with the Collector or Country is rapidly established.

Hypercorticism blunts circadian variations of osteocalcin regardless of nutritional status.

PubMed

Vergély, N; Lafage-Proust, M-H; Caillot-Augusseau, A; Millot, L; Lang, F; Estour, B

2002-02-01

Anorexia nervosa (AN) and Cushing's syndrome (CS) are both responsible for osteoporosis. The mechanisms leading to osteoporosis in AN include hypogonadism, nutritional depletion, and in some cases hypercorticism. Osteocalcin circulating level is a serum marker of osteoblastic activity that follows a circadian rhythm (OCR). Serum osteocalcin is decreased in both CS and AN and can be increased with treatment. In this study we analyzed the influence of combined cortisol and nutritional status on osteocalcin levels and its circadian rhythm in these two different models of hypercorticism, one nutritionally replete (CS) and one nutritionally deplete (AN), and we evaluated the effects of their treatment (surgical cure and weight gain, respectively). Before treatment, osteocalcin levels were lower in CS (n = 16) and AN (n = 42) than in controls and in the AN patient subgroup with hypercorticism (n = 13) compared to those without (n = 29). OCR was absent in CS and in AN patients with hypercorticism, whereas their circadian cortisol cycle was maintained. In CS, successful surgical treatment increased osteocalcin levels (n = 5) and restored OCR. In AN, weight gain (n = 13) induced a significant decrease in cortisol levels in hypercortisolic AN patients, and restored normal osteocalcin levels and OCR. In conclusion, we found that hypercorticism was associated with a decrease in osteocalcin levels in nutritionally replete or deplete patients and that OCR was more affected by cortisol levels than by cortisol cycle.

A Functional Nuclear Localization Sequence in the C. elegans TRPV Channel OCR-2

PubMed Central

Ezak, Meredith J.; Ferkey, Denise M.

2011-01-01

The ability to modulate gene expression in response to sensory experience is critical to the normal development and function of the nervous system. Calcium is a key activator of the signal transduction cascades that mediate the process of translating a cellular stimulus into transcriptional changes. With the recent discovery that the mammalian Cav1.2 calcium channel can be cleaved, enter the nucleus and act as a transcription factor to control neuronal gene expression, a more direct role for the calcium channels themselves in regulating transcription has begun to be appreciated. Here we report the identification of a nuclear localization sequence (NLS) in the C. elegans transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) cation channel OCR-2. TRPV channels have previously been implicated in transcriptional regulation of neuronal genes in the nematode, although the precise mechanism remains unclear. We show that the NLS in OCR-2 is functional, being able to direct nuclear accumulation of a synthetic cargo protein as well as the carboxy-terminal cytosolic tail of OCR-2 where it is endogenously found. Furthermore, we discovered that a carboxy-terminal portion of the full-length channel can localize to the nucleus of neuronal cells. These results suggest that the OCR-2 TRPV cation channel may have a direct nuclear function in neuronal cells that was not previously appreciated. PMID:21957475

Triclosan is a Mitochondrial Uncoupler in Live Zebrafish

PubMed Central

Shim, Juyoung; Weatherly, Lisa M.; Luc, Richard H.; Dorman, Maxwell T.; Neilson, Andy; Ng, Ryan; Kim, Carol H.; Millard, Paul J.; Gosse, Julie A.

2016-01-01

Triclosan (TCS) is a synthetic antimicrobial agent used in many consumer goods at millimolar concentrations. As a result of exposure, TCS has been detected widely in humans. We have recently discovered that TCS is a proton ionophore mitochondrial uncoupler in multiple types of living cells. Here we present novel data indicating that TCS is also a mitochondrial uncoupler in a living organism: 24 hour post fertilization zebrafish embryos. These experiments were conducted using a Seahorse Bioscience XFe 96 Extracellular Flux Analyzer modified for bidirectional temperature control, using the XF96 spheroid plate to position and measure one zebrafish embryo per well. Using this method, following acute exposure to TCS, basal oxygen consumption rate (OCR) increases, without a decrease in survival or heartbeat rate. TCS also decreases ATP-linked respiration and spare respiratory capacity and increases proton leak: all indicators of mitochondrial uncoupling. Our data indicate, that TCS is a mitochondrial uncoupler in vivo, which should be taken into consideration when assessing the toxicity and/or pharmaceutical uses of TCS. This is the first example of usage of a Seahorse Extracellular Flux Analyzer to measure bioenergetic flux of a single zebrafish embryo per well in a 96 well assay format. The method developed in this study provides a high-throughput tool to identify previously-unknown mitochondrial uncouplers in a living organism. PMID:27111768

Assessment of energy balance of Indian farm women in relation to their nutritional profile in lean and peak agricultural seasons.

PubMed

Singh, Suman; Sinwal, Sushma; Rathore, Hemu

2012-01-01

In India, the farm women are not only involved in household activities but also contribute in various farm operations, animal husbandry. The objective was to assess nutritional profile of the farmwomen and their occupational health problems, to compare the physiological workload in lean and peak seasons and to find out relationship between physiological workload and nutritional intake. The study was conducted on a sample of 90 farmwomen. Energy Intake was calculated using physiological fuel values of carbohydrate, fat and protein. Energy Expenditure Rate (EER), Total Energy Expenditure (TEE) and Energy Balance were calculated. The physiological workload was assessed using sub-maximal workload technique. The results revealed that all the respondents of all categories were, more or less, performing all the agriculture, allied and household activities. In all the agriculture activities physiological hazards such as body pain and fatigue were dominant. Dietary, nutritional and energy intake was lower for heavy workers, from all landholding and BMI categories. HR and OCR were in linear relationship in all BMI categories. Physical work capacity increased with good nutritional status and decreased with age. Regression equations were suggested for calculating oxygen consumption (y) at their known heart rate (x) during various agriculture operations.

Cellular metabolic rate is influenced by life-history traits in tropical and temperate birds.

PubMed

Jimenez, Ana Gabriela; Van Brocklyn, James; Wortman, Matthew; Williams, Joseph B

2014-01-01

In general, tropical birds have a "slow pace of life," lower rates of whole-animal metabolism and higher survival rates, than temperate species. A fundamental challenge facing physiological ecologists is the understanding of how variation in life-history at the whole-organism level might be linked to cellular function. Because tropical birds have lower rates of whole-animal metabolism, we hypothesized that cells from tropical species would also have lower rates of cellular metabolism than cells from temperate species of similar body size and common phylogenetic history. We cultured primary dermal fibroblasts from 17 tropical and 17 temperate phylogenetically-paired species of birds in a common nutritive and thermal environment and then examined basal, uncoupled, and non-mitochondrial cellular O2 consumption (OCR), proton leak, and anaerobic glycolysis (extracellular acidification rates [ECAR]), using an XF24 Seahorse Analyzer. We found that multiple measures of metabolism in cells from tropical birds were significantly lower than their temperate counterparts. Basal and uncoupled cellular metabolism were 29% and 35% lower in cells from tropical birds, respectively, a decrease closely aligned with differences in whole-animal metabolism between tropical and temperate birds. Proton leak was significantly lower in cells from tropical birds compared with cells from temperate birds. Our results offer compelling evidence that whole-animal metabolism is linked to cellular respiration as a function of an animal's life-history evolution. These findings are consistent with the idea that natural selection has uniquely fashioned cells of long-lived tropical bird species to have lower rates of metabolism than cells from shorter-lived temperate species.

Cellular Metabolic Rate Is Influenced by Life-History Traits in Tropical and Temperate Birds

PubMed Central

Jimenez, Ana Gabriela; Van Brocklyn, James; Wortman, Matthew; Williams, Joseph B.

2014-01-01

In general, tropical birds have a “slow pace of life,” lower rates of whole-animal metabolism and higher survival rates, than temperate species. A fundamental challenge facing physiological ecologists is the understanding of how variation in life-history at the whole-organism level might be linked to cellular function. Because tropical birds have lower rates of whole-animal metabolism, we hypothesized that cells from tropical species would also have lower rates of cellular metabolism than cells from temperate species of similar body size and common phylogenetic history. We cultured primary dermal fibroblasts from 17 tropical and 17 temperate phylogenetically-paired species of birds in a common nutritive and thermal environment and then examined basal, uncoupled, and non-mitochondrial cellular O2 consumption (OCR), proton leak, and anaerobic glycolysis (extracellular acidification rates [ECAR]), using an XF24 Seahorse Analyzer. We found that multiple measures of metabolism in cells from tropical birds were significantly lower than their temperate counterparts. Basal and uncoupled cellular metabolism were 29% and 35% lower in cells from tropical birds, respectively, a decrease closely aligned with differences in whole-animal metabolism between tropical and temperate birds. Proton leak was significantly lower in cells from tropical birds compared with cells from temperate birds. Our results offer compelling evidence that whole-animal metabolism is linked to cellular respiration as a function of an animal’s life-history evolution. These findings are consistent with the idea that natural selection has uniquely fashioned cells of long-lived tropical bird species to have lower rates of metabolism than cells from shorter-lived temperate species. PMID:24498080

The Effects of Noisy Data on Text Retrieval.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taghva, Kazem; And Others

1994-01-01

Discusses the use of optical character recognition (OCR) for inputting documents in an information retrieval system and describes a study that used an OCR-generated database and its corresponding corrected version to examine query evaluation in the presence of noisy data. Scanning technology, recognition technology, and retrieval technology are…

Kansas State University Libraries' OCR Labeling Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thierer, Joyce; Bower, Merry

This publication describes the planning and implementation of an optical character recognition (OCR) labeling project, the first stage of Kansas State University (KSU) Libraries' program of conversion from a manual to an automated circulation system. It is noted that a telephone survey of libraries with automated circulation systems and…

Ensuring Equal Access to High-Quality Education. Revised

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education, 2011

2011-01-01

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education (Department) is a law enforcement agency charged with enforcing federal civil rights laws to ensure that educational institutions receiving federal financial assistance do not engage in discriminatory conduct. OCR enforces the federal civil rights laws that prohibit…

miR-342-3p suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma proliferation through inhibition of IGF-1R-mediated Warburg effect.

PubMed

Liu, Wenpeng; Kang, Lei; Han, Juqiang; Wang, Yadong; Shen, Chuan; Yan, Zhifeng; Tai, Yanhong; Zhao, Caiyan

2018-01-01

Insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) is a well-studied oncogenic factor that promotes cell proliferation and energy metabolism and is overexpressed in numerous cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Aerobic glycolysis is a hallmark of cancer, and drugs targeting its regulators, including IGF-1R, are being developed. However, the mechanisms of IGF-1R inhibition and the physiological significance of the IGF-1R inhibitors in cancer cells are unclear. Cell proliferation was evaluated by cell counting Kit-8 and colony formation assay. Western blot and real-time PCR were accordingly used to detect the relevant proteins, miRNA and gene expression. Luciferase reporter assays were used to illustrate the interaction between miR-342-3p and IGF-1R. The effect of miR-342-3p on glycolysis was determined by glucose uptake, ATP concentration, lactate generation, extracellular acidification rate and oxygen consumption rate assays. In vivo, subcutaneous tumor formation assay and PET were performed in nude mice. In this study, we demonstrate that by directly targeting the 3'-UTR (3'-untranslated regions) of IGF-1R, microRNA-342-3p (miR-342-3p) suppresses IGF-1R-mediated PI3K/AKT/GLUT1 signaling pathway both in vitro and in vivo. Through suppression of IGF-1R, miR-342-3p dampens glycolysis by decreasing glucose uptake, lactate generation, ATP production, and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR), and increasing oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in hepatoma cells. Importantly, glycolysis regulated by miR-342-3p is critical for its regulating HCC growth both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings provide clues regarding the role of miR-342-3p as a tumor suppressor in liver cancer mainly through the inhibition of IGF-1R. Targeting IGF-1R by miR-342-3p could be a potential therapeutic strategy in liver cancer.

Improving the Accessibility of Mobile OCR Apps Via Interactive Modalities.

PubMed

Cutter, Michael; Manduchi, Roberto

2017-10-01

Mobile optical character recognition (OCR) apps have come of age. Many blind individuals use them on a daily basis. The usability of such tools, however, is limited by the requirement that a good picture of the text to be read must be taken, something that is difficult to do without sight. Some mobile OCR apps already implement auto-shot and guidance mechanisms to facilitate this task. In this paper, we describe two experiments with blind participants, who tested these two interactive mechanisms on a customized iPhone implementation. These experiments bring to light a number of interesting aspects of accessing a printed document without sight, and enable a comparative analysis of the available interaction modalities.

Improving the Accessibility of Mobile OCR Apps Via Interactive Modalities

PubMed Central

Cutter, Michael; Manduchi, Roberto

2017-01-01

Mobile optical character recognition (OCR) apps have come of age. Many blind individuals use them on a daily basis. The usability of such tools, however, is limited by the requirement that a good picture of the text to be read must be taken, something that is difficult to do without sight. Some mobile OCR apps already implement auto-shot and guidance mechanisms to facilitate this task. In this paper, we describe two experiments with blind participants, who tested these two interactive mechanisms on a customized iPhone implementation. These experiments bring to light a number of interesting aspects of accessing a printed document without sight, and enable a comparative analysis of the available interaction modalities. PMID:29270243

Securing Equal Educational Opportunity: Report to the President and Secretary of Education, Fiscal Year 2016

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education, 2016

2016-01-01

In FY 2016, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) promoted equity and excellence in education through conducting investigations and monitoring schools under resolution agreements, promoting greater understanding of how OCR interprets and enforces civil rights laws through the release of policy guidance, providing technical assistance and outreach to…

Automatic Cataloguing and Searching for Retrospective Data by Use of OCR Text.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tseng, Yuen-Hsien

2001-01-01

Describes efforts in supporting information retrieval from OCR (optical character recognition) degraded text. Reports on approaches used in an automatic cataloging and searching contest for books in multiple languages, including a vector space retrieval model, an n-gram indexing method, and a weighting scheme; and discusses problems of Asian…

Office for Civil Rights. Annual Report to Congress, Fiscal Year 1994.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights (ED), Washington, DC.

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enforces the laws that prevent discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, sex, disability, and age in America's schools, colleges, and universities. To gauge how the department is fulfilling that mission, a description of the OCR's policy-guidance efforts, complaint investigations, and enforcement…

Office for Civil Rights Annual Report to Congress, Fiscal Years 2007-08

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2009

2009-01-01

This report details the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights' (OCRs') accomplishments in enforcing the civil rights laws under which OCR has been granted jurisdiction to address and remedy discrimination. These enforcement efforts include complaint investigation and resolution, compliance reviews and technical assistance, as well…

Effects of OCR Errors on Ranking and Feedback Using the Vector Space Model.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taghva, Kazem; And Others

1996-01-01

Reports on the performance of the vector space model in the presence of OCR (optical character recognition) errors in information retrieval. Highlights include precision and recall, a full-text test collection, smart vector representation, impact of weighting parameters, ranking variability, and the effect of relevance feedback. (Author/LRW)

Benchmark for license plate character segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonçalves, Gabriel Resende; da Silva, Sirlene Pio Gomes; Menotti, David; Shwartz, William Robson

2016-09-01

Automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) has been the focus of many researches in the past years. In general, ALPR is divided into the following problems: detection of on-track vehicles, license plate detection, segmentation of license plate characters, and optical character recognition (OCR). Even though commercial solutions are available for controlled acquisition conditions, e.g., the entrance of a parking lot, ALPR is still an open problem when dealing with data acquired from uncontrolled environments, such as roads and highways when relying only on imaging sensors. Due to the multiple orientations and scales of the license plates captured by the camera, a very challenging task of the ALPR is the license plate character segmentation (LPCS) step, because its effectiveness is required to be (near) optimal to achieve a high recognition rate by the OCR. To tackle the LPCS problem, this work proposes a benchmark composed of a dataset designed to focus specifically on the character segmentation step of the ALPR within an evaluation protocol. Furthermore, we propose the Jaccard-centroid coefficient, an evaluation measure more suitable than the Jaccard coefficient regarding the location of the bounding box within the ground-truth annotation. The dataset is composed of 2000 Brazilian license plates consisting of 14000 alphanumeric symbols and their corresponding bounding box annotations. We also present a straightforward approach to perform LPCS efficiently. Finally, we provide an experimental evaluation for the dataset based on five LPCS approaches and demonstrate the importance of character segmentation for achieving an accurate OCR.

Document image improvement for OCR as a classification problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Summers, Kristen M.

2003-01-01

In support of the goal of automatically selecting methods of enhancing an image to improve the accuracy of OCR on that image, we consider the problem of determining whether to apply each of a set of methods as a supervised classification problem for machine learning. We characterize each image according to a combination of two sets of measures: a set that are intended to reflect the degree of particular types of noise present in documents in a single font of Roman or similar script and a more general set based on connected component statistics. We consider several potential methods of image improvement, each of which constitutes its own 2-class classification problem, according to whether transforming the image with this method improves the accuracy of OCR. In our experiments, the results varied for the different image transformation methods, but the system made the correct choice in 77% of the cases in which the decision affected the OCR score (in the range [0,1]) by at least .01, and it made the correct choice 64% of the time overall.

Nuclear respiratory factor-1 and bioenergetics in tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer cells

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

Radde, Brandie N.; Ivanova, Margarita M.; Mai, Huy Xuan

Acquired tamoxifen (TAM) resistance is a significant clinical problem in treating patients with estrogen receptor α (ERα)+ breast cancer. We reported that ERα increases nuclear respiratory factor-1 (NRF-1), which regulates nuclear-encoded mitochondrial gene transcription, in MCF-7 breast cancer cells and NRF-1 knockdown stimulates apoptosis. Whether NRF-1 and target gene expression is altered in endocrine resistant breast cancer cells is unknown. We measured NRF-1and metabolic features in a cell model of progressive TAM-resistance. NRF-1 and its target mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) were higher in TAM-resistant LCC2 and LCC9 cells than TAM-sensitive MCF-7 cells. Using extracellular flux assays we observed thatmore » LCC1, LCC2, and LCC9 cells showed similar oxygen consumption rate (OCR), but lower mitochondrial reserve capacity which was correlated with lower Succinate Dehydrogenase Complex, Subunit B in LCC1 and LCC2 cells. Complex III activity was lower in LCC9 than MCF-7 cells. LCC1, LCC2, and LCC9 cells had higher basal extracellular acidification (ECAR), indicating higher aerobic glycolysis, relative to MCF-7 cells. Mitochondrial bioenergetic responses to estradiol and 4-hydroxytamoxifen were reduced in the endocrine-resistant cells compared to MCF-7 cells. These results suggest the acquisition of altered metabolic phenotypes in response to long term antiestrogen treatment may increase vulnerability to metabolic stress. - Highlights: • NRF-1 and TFAM expression are higher in endocrine-resistant breast cancer cells. • Oxygen consumption rate is similar in endocrine-sensitive and resistant cells. • Mitochondrial reserve capacity is lower in endocrine-resistant cells. • Endocrine-resistant breast cancer cells have increased glycolysis. • Bioenergetic responses to E2 and tamoxifen are lower in endocrine-resistant cells.« less

Simultaneous evaluation of substrate-dependent oxygen consumption rates and mitochondrial membrane potential by TMRM and safranin in cortical mitochondria.

PubMed

Chowdhury, Subir Roy; Djordjevic, Jelena; Albensi, Benedict C; Fernyhough, Paul

2015-12-08

Mitochondrial membrane potential (mtMP) is critical for maintaining the physiological function of the respiratory chain to generate ATP. The present study characterized the inter-relationship between mtMP, using safranin and tetramethyl rhodamine methyl ester (TMRM), and mitochondrial respiratory activity and established a protocol for functional analysis of mitochondrial bioenergetics in a multi-sensor system. Coupled respiration was decreased by 27 and 30-35% in the presence of TMRM and safranin respectively. Maximal respiration was higher than coupled with Complex I- and II-linked substrates in the presence of both dyes. Safranin showed decreased maximal respiration at a higher concentration of carbonyl cyanide-4-(trifluoromethoxy)phenylhydrazone (FCCP) compared with TMRM. FCCP titration revealed that maximal respiration in the presence of glutamate and malate was not sustainable at higher FCCP concentrations as compared with pyruvate and malate. Oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and mtMP in response to mitochondrial substrates were higher in isolated mitochondria compared with tissue homogenates. Safranin exhibited higher sensitivity to changes in mtMP than TMRM. This multi-sensor system measured mitochondrial parameters in the brain of transgenic mice that model Alzheimer's disease (AD), because mitochondrial dysfunction is believed to be a primary event in the pathogenesis of AD. The coupled and maximal respiration of electron transport chain were decreased in the cortex of AD mice along with the mtMP compared with age-matched controls. Overall, these data demonstrate that safranin and TMRM are suitable for the simultaneous evaluation of mtMP and respiratory chain activity using isolated mitochondria and tissue homogenate. However, certain care should be taken concerning the selection of appropriate substrates and dyes for specific experimental circumstances. © 2016 Authors.

Text recognition and correction for automated data collection by mobile devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozarslan, Suleyman; Eren, P. Erhan

2014-03-01

Participatory sensing is an approach which allows mobile devices such as mobile phones to be used for data collection, analysis and sharing processes by individuals. Data collection is the first and most important part of a participatory sensing system, but it is time consuming for the participants. In this paper, we discuss automatic data collection approaches for reducing the time required for collection, and increasing the amount of collected data. In this context, we explore automated text recognition on images of store receipts which are captured by mobile phone cameras, and the correction of the recognized text. Accordingly, our first goal is to evaluate the performance of the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) method with respect to data collection from store receipt images. Images captured by mobile phones exhibit some typical problems, and common image processing methods cannot handle some of them. Consequently, the second goal is to address these types of problems through our proposed Knowledge Based Correction (KBC) method used in support of the OCR, and also to evaluate the KBC method with respect to the improvement on the accurate recognition rate. Results of the experiments show that the KBC method improves the accurate data recognition rate noticeably.

The use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in the digitisation of herbarium specimen labels

PubMed Central

Drinkwater, Robyn E.; Cubey, Robert W. N.; Haston, Elspeth M.

2014-01-01

Abstract At the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to aid the digitisation process has been investigated. This was tested using a herbarium specimen digitisation process with two stages of data entry. Records were initially batch-processed to add data extracted from the OCR text prior to being sorted based on Collector and/or Country. Using images of the specimens, a team of six digitisers then added data to the specimen records. To investigate whether the data from OCR aid the digitisation process, they completed a series of trials which compared the efficiency of data entry between sorted and unsorted batches of specimens. A survey was carried out to explore the opinion of the digitisation staff to the different sorting options. In total 7,200 specimens were processed. When compared to an unsorted, random set of specimens, those which were sorted based on data added from the OCR were quicker to digitise. Of the methods tested here, the most successful in terms of efficiency used a protocol which required entering data into a limited set of fields and where the records were filtered by Collector and Country. The survey and subsequent discussions with the digitisation staff highlighted their preference for working with sorted specimens, in which label layout, locations and handwriting are likely to be similar, and so a familiarity with the Collector or Country is rapidly established. PMID:25009435

Reduction of ocular counter-rolling by adaptation to space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dai, Mingjia; Mcgarvie, Leigh; Kozlovskaya, Inessa; Sirota, Mischa; Raphan, Theodore; Cohen, Bernard

1993-01-01

We studied the three-dimensional vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) of rhesus monkeys before and after the COSMOS Biosatellite 2229 Mission of 1992-1993. This included tests of ocular counter-rolling (OCR), the gain of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), and spatial orientation of velocity storage. A four-axis vestibular and oculomotor stimulator was transported to the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow for the pre- and postflight ground-based testing. Twelve normal juvenile male rhesus monkey were implanted surgically with eye coils and tested 60-90 days before spaceflight. Two monkey (7906 and 6151), selected from the twelve as flight animals, flew from 12/29/92 to 1/10/93. Upon recovery, they were tested for 11 days postflight along with three control animals. Compensatory ocular torsion was produced in two ways: (1) Lateral head tilts evoked OCR through otolith-ocular reflexes. OCR was also measured dynamically during off-vertical axis rotation (OVAR). (2) Rotation about a naso-occipital axis that was either vertical of horizontal elicited torsional nystagmus through semicircular canal-ocular reflexes (roll VOR). OCR from the otoliths was substantially reduced (70 percent) for 11 days after reentry on both modes of testing. The gain of the roll VOR was also decreased, but less than OCR. These data demonstrate that there was a long-lasting depression of torsional or roll eye movements after adaptation to microgravity in these monkeys, especially those movements produced by the otolith organs.

Manufacturing porcine islets: culture at 22 °C has no advantage above culture at 37 °C: a gene expression evaluation.

PubMed

Mueller, Kate R; Martins, Kyra V; Murtaugh, Michael P; Schuurman, Henk-Jan; Papas, Klearchos K

2013-01-01

The manufacturing process of islets includes a culture step which was originally introduced to ease the logistics of procedures in preparing the graft and transplant recipient. It has been suggested that culture at room temperature has an advantage over culture at 37 °C, in part by reducing immunogenicity via preferential elimination of contaminating cells (such as passenger leukocytes) within islets. We investigated this using islets isolated from pancreata of adult pigs. Porcine islets were isolated from three donors and cultured at 37 °C for 1 day, and then under three different conditions: 37 °C for 6 days (condition A); 22 °C for 6 days (condition B); or 22 °C for 5 days followed by 37 °C for 1 day (condition C). Recovery was assessed by DNA measurement, viability by oxygen consumption rate normalized for DNA (OCR/DNA), and gene expression by RT-PCR for a series of 9 lymphocyte markers, 11 lymphokines and chemokines, and 14 apoptotic and stress markers. Post-culture islet recoveries were similar for the three culture conditions. Average OCR/DNA values were 129-159 nmol/min·mgDNA before culture, and 259-291, 204-212, and 207-228 nmol/min·mgDNA, respectively, for culture under conditions A, B, and C, respectively. Irrespective of culture condition, examined gene expression in all three series of lymphocyte markers, lymphokines and chemokines, and apoptotic and stress markers manifested a statistically significant decrease upon culture for 7 days. This decrease was most dramatic for condition A: in particular, most of lymphocyte markers showed a >10-fold reduction and also six markers in the lymphokine and chemokine series; these reductions are consistent with the elimination of immune cells present within islets during culture. The reduction was less for apoptotic and stress markers. For culture under condition B, the reduction in gene expression was less, and culture under condition C resulted in gene expression levels similar to those under condition A: this indicates that 24 h at 37 °C is sufficient to re-equilibrate gene expression levels from those in islets cultured at 22 °C to those in islets cultured at 37 °C. Results were consistent among the preparations from the three donors. Culture of porcine islets at 37 °C provides benefits over culture at 22 °C with respect to OCR/DNA outcomes and reduced expression of genes encoding lymphocyte markers, lymphokines and chemokines, and markers for apoptosis and stress. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Endorsing the Practical Endorsement? OCR's Approach to Practical Assessment in Science A-Levels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Steve; Wade, Neil

2015-01-01

This article summarises the practical requirements for new science A-levels in biology, chemistry and physics for first teaching from September 2015. It discusses the background to how the new approach was reached and how OCR has seen this taking shape in our assessment models. The opportunities presented by this new approach to practical…

Office for Civil Rights. Annual Report to Congress, Fiscal Year 1991.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights (ED), Washington, DC.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a law enforcement agency primarily responsible for ensuring that recipients of federal assistance do not discriminate against students, faculty, or other individuals on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, handicap, or age. OCR is responsible for enforcing the following Federal civil rights laws: the…

Arabic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Evaluation in Order to Develop a Post-OCR Module

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

handwritten, and many more have some handwriting in the margins. Some images are blurred or faded to the point of illegibility. Others are mostly or...it is to English, because Arabic has more features such as agreement. We say that Arabic is more “morphologically rich” than English. We intend to

Delivering Justice: Report to the President and Secretary of Education, Fiscal Year 2015

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education, 2015

2015-01-01

For decades, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has enforced civil rights in our nation's preschool through 12th grade (P-12) and post-secondary schools, which now serve almost 80 million students annually. In Fiscal Year 2015, the OCR promoted excellence in education through conducting investigations and monitoring schools under resolution…

Ensuring Equal Access to High-Quality Education. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights (ED), Washington, DC.

This brochure describes the activities of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education. The OCR is a law-enforcement agency charged with upholding the federal civil-rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, and age in programs and activities that receive federal…

Degraded character recognition based on gradient pattern

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babu, D. R. Ramesh; Ravishankar, M.; Kumar, Manish; Wadera, Kevin; Raj, Aakash

2010-02-01

Degraded character recognition is a challenging problem in the field of Optical Character Recognition (OCR). The performance of an optical character recognition depends upon printed quality of the input documents. Many OCRs have been designed which correctly identifies the fine printed documents. But, very few reported work has been found on the recognition of the degraded documents. The efficiency of the OCRs system decreases if the input image is degraded. In this paper, a novel approach based on gradient pattern for recognizing degraded printed character is proposed. The approach makes use of gradient pattern of an individual character for recognition. Experiments were conducted on character image that is either digitally written or a degraded character extracted from historical documents and the results are found to be satisfactory.

Prevalence and predictors of depressive symptoms and wellbeing during and up to nine years after outpatient cardiac rehabilitation.

PubMed

Koçer, O; Wachter, M; Zellweger, M; Piazzalonga, S; Hoffmann, A

2011-07-30

Depression is an important independent prognostic variable in cardiac patients. The prevalence and predictors of depressive symptoms up to nine years after cardiac rehabilitation were studied. Follow-up questionnaires were sent to 2199 patients who had completed a 12-week exercise-based outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (OCR) programme between June 1999 and March 2006. Medical outcome, general wellbeing, and depressive symptoms were assessed, the latter by using two screening questions according to Arrol. Patients with incomplete data due to language problems, lack of compliance and non-response were excluded. Complete data for analysis was available for 710 patients. The median follow up period was 46 months (Interquartile range (IQR) 22-71, min. 6 months). At follow-up, 132 patients (19%) indicated low wellbeing, whereas 81 (11%) were having depressive symptoms. Multivariate analyses revealed impaired quality of life (p <0.001), diabetes (p = 0.013) and low exercise capacity after OCR (p = 0.003) to be independent predictors of low wellbeing at follow-up. Persistent smoking (p = 0.045) as well as negative mood (p = 0.022) at the end of OCR were independent predictors of depressive symptoms at follow-up. In a selected patient population a mean of four years after OCR, persistent smoking, diabetes, low exercise capacity and impaired quality of life at the end of OCR were independent long term predictors of low wellbeing and depressive symptoms, rather than specific cardiac variables. This highlights the need for close cooperation between cardiovascular and psychological specialists in cardiac rehabilitation.

The Impact of the Native American Languages Act on Public School Curriculum: A Different View.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Littlejohn, Jim

2000-01-01

Responds to Scott Ferrin's argument (EJ 583 598) and, as the former policy director for the U.S. Office for Civil Rights (OCR), decries both Ferrin and OCR for their relentless and, in his view, unwarranted promotion of bilingual education. Contends that no civil-rights laws, including the Native American Languages Act (NALA), support or allow…

Office for Civil Rights Survey Redesign: A Feasibility Survey. Contractor Report. Statistical Analysis Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mansfield, Wendy; Farris, Elizabeth

This report provides results of a Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The OCR wanted input for their decision-making process on possible modifications to their biennial survey of a national sample of public school districts (PSDs). The survey, the…

Office for Civil Rights. Annual Report to Congress, Fiscal Year 1998. Guaranteeing Equal Access to High-Standards Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights (ED), Washington, DC.

This annual report details the responsibilities of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR). It outlines the main purpose of the OCR--the agency within the United States Department of Education that regulates and enforces civil-rights laws against discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. The focus of the…

Finding the Common Denominator: The Capacity of State Agencies to Assist the HEW Office for Civil Rights.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larson, Meredith A.; And Others

This two part study was designed to determine whether working relationships can be expanded between the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and various State agencies with similar missions. First, a survey of State laws and enforcement mechanisms identifies those States with current laws or policies similar to those that OCR administers. Results…

Decreased otolith-mediated vestibular response in 25 astronauts induced by long-duration spaceflight

PubMed Central

Hallgren, Emma; Kornilova, Ludmila; Fransen, Erik; Glukhikh, Dmitrii; Moore, Steven T.; Clément, Gilles; Van Ombergen, Angelique; MacDougall, Hamish; Naumov, Ivan

2016-01-01

The information coming from the vestibular otolith organs is important for the brain when reflexively making appropriate visual and spinal corrections to maintain balance. Symptoms related to failed balance control and navigation are commonly observed in astronauts returning from space. To investigate the effect of microgravity exposure on the otoliths, we studied the otolith-mediated responses elicited by centrifugation in a group of 25 astronauts before and after 6 mo of spaceflight. Ocular counterrolling (OCR) is an otolith-driven reflex that is sensitive to head tilt with regard to gravity and tilts of the gravito-inertial acceleration vector during centrifugation. When comparing pre- and postflight OCR, we found a statistically significant decrease of the OCR response upon return. Nine days after return, the OCR was back at preflight level, indicating a full recovery. Our large study sample allows for more general physiological conclusions about the effect of prolonged microgravity on the otolith system. A deconditioned otolith system is thought to be the cause of several of the negative effects seen in returning astronauts, such as spatial disorientation and orthostatic intolerance. This knowledge should be taken into account for future long-term space missions. PMID:27009158

Biallelic mutations in the ferredoxin reductase gene cause novel mitochondriopathy with optic atrophy

PubMed Central

Peng, Yanyan; Shinde, Deepali N; Valencia, C Alexander; Mo, Jun-Song; Rosenfeld, Jill; Truitt Cho, Megan; Chamberlin, Adam; Li, Zhuo; Liu, Jie; Gui, Baoheng; Brockhage, Rachel; Basinger, Alice; Alvarez-Leon, Brenda; Heydemann, Peter; Magoulas, Pilar L; Lewis, Andrea M; Scaglia, Fernando; Gril, Solange; Chong, Shuk Ching; Bower, Matthew; Monaghan, Kristin G; Willaert, Rebecca; Plona, Maria-Renee; Dineen, Rich; Milan, Francisca; Hoganson, George; Helbig, Katherine L; Keller-Ramey, Jennifer; Harris, Belinda; Anderson, Laura C; Green, Torrian; Sukoff Rizzo, Stacey J; Kaylor, Julie; Chen, Jiani; Guan, Min-Xin; Sellars, Elizabeth; Sparagana, Steven P; Gibson, James B; Reinholdt, Laura G; Tang, Sha; Huang, Taosheng

2017-01-01

Abstract Iron–sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are ubiquitous cofactors essential to various cellular processes, including mitochondrial respiration, DNA repair, and iron homeostasis. A steadily increasing number of disorders are being associated with disrupted biogenesis of Fe–S clusters. Here, we conducted whole-exome sequencing of patients with optic atrophy and other neurological signs of mitochondriopathy and identified 17 individuals from 13 unrelated families with recessive mutations in FDXR, encoding the mitochondrial membrane-associated flavoprotein ferrodoxin reductase required for electron transport from NADPH to cytochrome P450. In vitro enzymatic assays in patient fibroblast cells showed deficient ferredoxin NADP reductase activity and mitochondrial dysfunction evidenced by low oxygen consumption rates (OCRs), complex activities, ATP production and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS). Such defects were rescued by overexpression of wild-type FDXR. Moreover, we found that mice carrying a spontaneous mutation allelic to the most common mutation found in patients displayed progressive gait abnormalities and vision loss, in addition to biochemical defects consistent with the major clinical features of the disease. Taken together, these data provide the first demonstration that germline, hypomorphic mutations in FDXR cause a novel mitochondriopathy and optic atrophy in humans. PMID:29040572

Biallelic mutations in the ferredoxin reductase gene cause novel mitochondriopathy with optic atrophy.

PubMed

Peng, Yanyan; Shinde, Deepali N; Valencia, C Alexander; Mo, Jun-Song; Rosenfeld, Jill; Truitt Cho, Megan; Chamberlin, Adam; Li, Zhuo; Liu, Jie; Gui, Baoheng; Brockhage, Rachel; Basinger, Alice; Alvarez-Leon, Brenda; Heydemann, Peter; Magoulas, Pilar L; Lewis, Andrea M; Scaglia, Fernando; Gril, Solange; Chong, Shuk Ching; Bower, Matthew; Monaghan, Kristin G; Willaert, Rebecca; Plona, Maria-Renee; Dineen, Rich; Milan, Francisca; Hoganson, George; Powis, Zoe; Helbig, Katherine L; Keller-Ramey, Jennifer; Harris, Belinda; Anderson, Laura C; Green, Torrian; Sukoff Rizzo, Stacey J; Kaylor, Julie; Chen, Jiani; Guan, Min-Xin; Sellars, Elizabeth; Sparagana, Steven P; Gibson, James B; Reinholdt, Laura G; Tang, Sha; Huang, Taosheng

2017-12-15

Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are ubiquitous cofactors essential to various cellular processes, including mitochondrial respiration, DNA repair, and iron homeostasis. A steadily increasing number of disorders are being associated with disrupted biogenesis of Fe-S clusters. Here, we conducted whole-exome sequencing of patients with optic atrophy and other neurological signs of mitochondriopathy and identified 17 individuals from 13 unrelated families with recessive mutations in FDXR, encoding the mitochondrial membrane-associated flavoprotein ferrodoxin reductase required for electron transport from NADPH to cytochrome P450. In vitro enzymatic assays in patient fibroblast cells showed deficient ferredoxin NADP reductase activity and mitochondrial dysfunction evidenced by low oxygen consumption rates (OCRs), complex activities, ATP production and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS). Such defects were rescued by overexpression of wild-type FDXR. Moreover, we found that mice carrying a spontaneous mutation allelic to the most common mutation found in patients displayed progressive gait abnormalities and vision loss, in addition to biochemical defects consistent with the major clinical features of the disease. Taken together, these data provide the first demonstration that germline, hypomorphic mutations in FDXR cause a novel mitochondriopathy and optic atrophy in humans. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Development of OCR system for portable passport and visa reader

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Visilter, Yury V.; Zheltov, Sergey Y.; Lukin, Anton A.

1999-01-01

The modern passport and visa documents include special machine-readable zones satisfied the ICAO standards. This allows to develop the special passport and visa automatic readers. However, there are some special problems in such OCR systems: low resolution of character images captured by CCD-camera (down to 150 dpi), essential shifts and slopes (up to 10 degrees), rich paper texture under the character symbols, non-homogeneous illumination. This paper presents the structure and some special aspects of OCR system for portable passport and visa reader. In our approach the binarization procedure is performed after the segmentation step, and it is applied to the each character site separately. Character recognition procedure uses the structural information of machine-readable zone. Special algorithms are developed for machine-readable zone extraction and character segmentation.

Document image cleanup and binarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Victor; Manmatha, Raghaven

1998-04-01

Image binarization is a difficult task for documents with text over textured or shaded backgrounds, poor contrast, and/or considerable noise. Current optical character recognition (OCR) and document analysis technology do not handle such documents well. We have developed a simple yet effective algorithm for document image clean-up and binarization. The algorithm consists of two basic steps. In the first step, the input image is smoothed using a low-pass filter. The smoothing operation enhances the text relative to any background texture. This is because background texture normally has higher frequency than text does. The smoothing operation also removes speckle noise. In the second step, the intensity histogram of the smoothed image is computed and a threshold automatically selected as follows. For black text, the first peak of the histogram corresponds to text. Thresholding the image at the value of the valley between the first and second peaks of the histogram binarizes the image well. In order to reliably identify the valley, the histogram is smoothed by a low-pass filter before the threshold is computed. The algorithm has been applied to some 50 images from a wide variety of source: digitized video frames, photos, newspapers, advertisements in magazines or sales flyers, personal checks, etc. There are 21820 characters and 4406 words in these images. 91 percent of the characters and 86 percent of the words are successfully cleaned up and binarized. A commercial OCR was applied to the binarized text when it consisted of fonts which were OCR recognizable. The recognition rate was 84 percent for the characters and 77 percent for the words.

Does Temperature (Rather than Precipitation) Dictate the Geomorphic Legacy of Glacial Intervals in Unglaciated Mid-Latitude Terrains?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, J. A.; Roering, J. J.; Bartlein, P. J.; Praskievicz, S. J.; Gavin, D. G.; Hales, T. C.; Granger, D. E.

2014-12-01

Whereas glaciated landscapes record increased erosional efficiency through moraines and U-shaped valleys, unglaciated hillslopes and rivers lack a mechanistic theory for climate controls on their dynamics and form. Changes in precipitation and associated aggradation due to vegetation loss or incision due to increased river discharge are commonly invoked when considering the effect of glacial intervals on unglaciated terrains, but there is scant evidence supporting or discounting these hypotheses. Surprisingly, there is little consideration that temperature, rather than precipitation, may dictate the frequency, magnitude, or style of erosion in unglaciated landscapes during glacial intervals. Here, we present results combining a mechanistic frost-cracking model with downscaled general circulation model output to predict the extent and intensity of sediment production via frost processes across the unglaciated Oregon Coast Range (OCR) during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Our results show that in this mid-latitude region, well south of the Cordilleran ice sheet, frost-driven processes likely shaped 90% of the present-day landmass during the LGM. A suite of geomorphic and vegetation data from a 50-ky sediment core from a paleo landslide-dammed lake in the OCR support our model results. Our study site, Little Lake, is located in the central portion of the OCR, over 400 m south of the maximum extent of the Cordilleran ice sheet. Based on 10Be-derived erosion rates, present-day catchment erosion rates average 0.07 ± 0.03 mm/yr (mean ± sd), while LGM erosion rates remained constant around 0.19 ± 0.01 mm/yr. These LGM values are nearly 3X greater than present-day erosion rates and coincide with high frost cracking intensity predicted by our model. We also observe a transition from finely laminated lacustrine clays and sands to coarse lacustrine blue-grey sands at ~ 28 ka, during the transition to the LGM. The presence of Picea sitchensis (Sitka spruce) and Abies lasiocarpa (subalpine fir) in the core during the LGM imply mean annual temperatures of ~ 1 °C and January mean temperatures of ~ -7 °C. Our results suggest that broad swaths of continental landscapes likely experienced accelerated sediment production via frost processes rather than via changes in precipitation during glacial intervals.

Cellular metabolism and oxidative stress as a possible determinant for longevity in small breed and large breed dogs

PubMed Central

Winward, Josh; Beattie, Ursula; Cipolli, William

2018-01-01

Among species, larger animals tend to live longer than smaller ones, however, the opposite seems to be true for dogs—smaller dogs tend to live significantly longer than larger dogs across all breeds. We were interested in the mechanism that may allow for small breeds to age more slowly compared with large breeds in the context of cellular metabolism and oxidative stress. Primary dermal fibroblasts from small and large breed dogs were grown in culture. We measured basal oxygen consumption (OCR), proton leak, and glycolysis using a Seahorse XF96 oxygen flux analyzer. Additionally, we measured rates of reactive species (RS) production, reduced glutathione (GSH) content, mitochondrial content, lipid peroxidation (LPO) damage and DNA (8-OHdg) damage. Our data suggests that as dogs of both size classes age, proton leak is significantly higher in older dogs, regardless of size class. We found that all aspects of glycolysis were significantly higher in larger breeds compared with smaller breeds. We found significant differences between age classes in GSH concentration, and a negative correlation between DNA damage in puppies and mean breed lifespan. Interestingly, RS production showed no differences across size and age class. Thus, large breed dogs may have higher glycolytic rates, and DNA damage, suggesting a potential mechanism for their decreased lifespan compared with small breed dogs. PMID:29694441

Triclosan is a mitochondrial uncoupler in live zebrafish.

PubMed

Shim, Juyoung; Weatherly, Lisa M; Luc, Richard H; Dorman, Maxwell T; Neilson, Andy; Ng, Ryan; Kim, Carol H; Millard, Paul J; Gosse, Julie A

2016-12-01

Triclosan (TCS) is a synthetic antimicrobial agent used in many consumer goods at millimolar concentrations. As a result of exposure, TCS has been detected widely in humans. We have recently discovered that TCS is a proton ionophore mitochondrial uncoupler in multiple types of living cells. Here, we present novel data indicating that TCS is also a mitochondrial uncoupler in a living organism: 24-hour post-fertilization (hpf) zebrafish embryos. These experiments were conducted using a Seahorse Bioscience XF e 96 Extracellular Flux Analyzer modified for bidirectional temperature control, using the XF96 spheroid plate to position and measure one zebrafish embryo per well. Using this method, after acute exposure to TCS, the basal oxygen consumption rate (OCR) increases, without a decrease in survival or heartbeat rate. TCS also decreases ATP-linked respiration and spare respiratory capacity and increases proton leak: all indicators of mitochondrial uncoupling. Our data indicate, that TCS is a mitochondrial uncoupler in vivo, which should be taken into consideration when assessing the toxicity and/or pharmaceutical uses of TCS. This is the first example of usage of a Seahorse Extracellular Flux Analyzer to measure bioenergetic flux of a single zebrafish embryo per well in a 96-well assay format. The method developed in this study provides a high-throughput tool to identify previously unknown mitochondrial uncouplers in a living organism. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

EPA eXcats

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The EPA eXcats is an enterprise-level data tracking application that provides management complaint tracking information for the EPA's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) External Compliance Program. EPA's OCR is responsible for enforcing several federal civil rights laws that together prohibit discrimination on the bases of race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency), disability, sex and age in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance from the EPA.

Impact of Changes to Practical Assessment at GCSE and A-Level: The Start of a Longitudinal Study by OCR

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Frances; Wade, Neil; Evans, Steve

2016-01-01

As part of a wider qualification reform at upper secondary level in England, the assessment of practical work is changing, following concerns that the legacy model of assessment was having a negative impact on teaching and learning. The OCR examination board is running a longitudinal survey of teachers' views on practical work, focusing on the…

Simple and efficient method for region of interest value extraction from picture archiving and communication system viewer with optical character recognition software and macro program.

PubMed

Lee, Young Han; Park, Eun Hae; Suh, Jin-Suck

2015-01-01

The objectives are: 1) to introduce a simple and efficient method for extracting region of interest (ROI) values from a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) viewer using optical character recognition (OCR) software and a macro program, and 2) to evaluate the accuracy of this method with a PACS workstation. This module was designed to extract the ROI values on the images of the PACS, and created as a development tool by using open-source OCR software and an open-source macro program. The principal processes are as follows: (1) capture a region of the ROI values as a graphic file for OCR, (2) recognize the text from the captured image by OCR software, (3) perform error-correction, (4) extract the values including area, average, standard deviation, max, and min values from the text, (5) reformat the values into temporary strings with tabs, and (6) paste the temporary strings into the spreadsheet. This principal process was repeated for the number of ROIs. The accuracy of this module was evaluated on 1040 recognitions from 280 randomly selected ROIs of the magnetic resonance images. The input times of ROIs were compared between conventional manual method and this extraction module-assisted input method. The module for extracting ROI values operated successfully using the OCR and macro programs. The values of the area, average, standard deviation, maximum, and minimum could be recognized and error-corrected with AutoHotkey-coded module. The average input times using the conventional method and the proposed module-assisted method were 34.97 seconds and 7.87 seconds, respectively. A simple and efficient method for ROI value extraction was developed with open-source OCR and a macro program. Accurate inputs of various numbers from ROIs can be extracted with this module. The proposed module could be applied to the next generation of PACS or existing PACS that have not yet been upgraded. Copyright © 2015 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Obstacle course runs: review of acquired injuries and illnesses at a series of Canadian events (RACE).

PubMed

Hawley, Alana; Mercuri, Mathew; Hogg, Kerstin; Hanel, Erich

2017-03-01

The growing popularity of obstacle course runs (OCRs) has led to significant concerns regarding their safety. The influx of injuries and illnesses in rural areas where OCRs are often held can impose a large burden on emergency medical services (EMS) and local EDs. Literature concerning the safety of these events is minimal and mostly consists of media reports. We sought to characterise the injury and illness profile of OCRs and the level of medical care required. This study analysed OCR events occurring in eight locations across Canada from May to August 2015 (total 45 285 participants). Data were extracted from event medical charts of patients presenting to the onsite medical team, including injury or illness type, onsite treatment and disposition. There were 557 race participants treated at eight OCR events (1.2% of all participants). There were 609 medical complaints in total. Three quarters of injuries were musculoskeletal in nature. Eighty-nine per cent returned to the event with no need for further medical care. The majority of treatments were completed with first aid and basic medical equipment. Eleven patients (2% of patients) required transfer to hospital by EMS for presentations including fracture, dislocation, head injury, chest pain, fall from height, and abdominal pain. We found that 1.2% of race participants presented to onsite medical services. The majority of complaints were minor and musculoskeletal in nature. Only 2% of those treated were transferred to hospital through EMS. This is consistent with other types of mass gathering events. 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/.

Impact insertion of osteochondral grafts: Interference fit and central graft reduction affect biomechanics and cartilage damage.

PubMed

Su, Alvin W; Chen, Yunchan; Wailes, Dustin H; Wong, Van W; Cai, Shengqiang; Chen, Albert C; Bugbee, William D; Sah, Robert L

2018-01-01

An osteochondral graft (OCG) is an effective treatment for articular cartilage and osteochondral defects. Impact of an OCG during insertion into the osteochondral recipient site (OCR) can cause chondrocyte death and matrix damage. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effects of graft-host interference fit and a modified OCG geometry on OCG insertion biomechanics and cartilage damage. The effects of interference fit (radius of OCG - radius of OCR), loose (0.00 mm), moderate (0.05 mm), tight (0.10 mm), and of a tight fit with OCG geometry modification (central region of decreased radius), were analyzed for OCG cylinders and OCR blocks from adult bovine knee joints with an instrumented drop tower apparatus. An increasingly tight (OCG - OCR) interference fit led to increased taps for insertion, peak axial force, graft cartilage axial compression, cumulative and total energy delivery to cartilage, lower time of peak axial force, lesser graft advancement during each tap, higher total crack length in the cartilage surface, and lower chondrocyte viability. The modified OCG, with reduction of diameter in the central area, altered the biomechanical insertion variables and biological consequences to be similar to those of the moderate interference fit scenario. Micro-computed tomography confirmed structural interference between the OCR bone and both the proximal and distal bone segments of the OCGs, with the central regions being slightly separated for the modified OCGs. These results clarify OCG insertion biomechanics and mechanobiology, and introduce a simple modification of OCGs that facilitates insertion with reduced energy while maintaining a structural interference fit. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 36:377-386, 2018. © 2017 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Producing good font attribute determination using error-prone information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooperman, Robert

1997-04-01

A method to provide estimates of font attributes in an OCR system, using detectors of individual attributes that are error-prone. For an OCR system to preserve the appearance of a scanned document, it needs accurate detection of font attributes. However, OCR environments have noise and other sources of errors, tending to make font attribute detection unreliable. Certain assumptions about font use can greatly enhance accuracy. Attributes such as boldness and italics are more likely to change between neighboring words, while attributes such as serifness are less likely to change within the same paragraph. Furthermore, the document as a whole, tends to have a limited number of sets of font attributes. These assumptions allow a better use of context than the raw data, or what would be achieved by simpler methods that would oversmooth the data.

U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Corporate Dari Document Transcription and Translation Guidelines

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

text file format. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Transcription, Translation, guidelines, ground truth, Optical character recognition , OCR, Machine Translation, MT...foreign language into a target language in order to train, test, and evaluate optical character recognition (OCR) and machine translation (MT) embedded...graphic element and should not be transcribed. Elements that are not part of the primary text such as handwritten annotations or stamps should not be

Basic test framework for the evaluation of text line segmentation and text parameter extraction.

PubMed

Brodić, Darko; Milivojević, Dragan R; Milivojević, Zoran

2010-01-01

Text line segmentation is an essential stage in off-line optical character recognition (OCR) systems. It is a key because inaccurately segmented text lines will lead to OCR failure. Text line segmentation of handwritten documents is a complex and diverse problem, complicated by the nature of handwriting. Hence, text line segmentation is a leading challenge in handwritten document image processing. Due to inconsistencies in measurement and evaluation of text segmentation algorithm quality, some basic set of measurement methods is required. Currently, there is no commonly accepted one and all algorithm evaluation is custom oriented. In this paper, a basic test framework for the evaluation of text feature extraction algorithms is proposed. This test framework consists of a few experiments primarily linked to text line segmentation, skew rate and reference text line evaluation. Although they are mutually independent, the results obtained are strongly cross linked. In the end, its suitability for different types of letters and languages as well as its adaptability are its main advantages. Thus, the paper presents an efficient evaluation method for text analysis algorithms.

Automatic detection and recognition of signs from natural scenes.

PubMed

Chen, Xilin; Yang, Jie; Zhang, Jing; Waibel, Alex

2004-01-01

In this paper, we present an approach to automatic detection and recognition of signs from natural scenes, and its application to a sign translation task. The proposed approach embeds multiresolution and multiscale edge detection, adaptive searching, color analysis, and affine rectification in a hierarchical framework for sign detection, with different emphases at each phase to handle the text in different sizes, orientations, color distributions and backgrounds. We use affine rectification to recover deformation of the text regions caused by an inappropriate camera view angle. The procedure can significantly improve text detection rate and optical character recognition (OCR) accuracy. Instead of using binary information for OCR, we extract features from an intensity image directly. We propose a local intensity normalization method to effectively handle lighting variations, followed by a Gabor transform to obtain local features, and finally a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) method for feature selection. We have applied the approach in developing a Chinese sign translation system, which can automatically detect and recognize Chinese signs as input from a camera, and translate the recognized text into English.

Basic Test Framework for the Evaluation of Text Line Segmentation and Text Parameter Extraction

PubMed Central

Brodić, Darko; Milivojević, Dragan R.; Milivojević, Zoran

2010-01-01

Text line segmentation is an essential stage in off-line optical character recognition (OCR) systems. It is a key because inaccurately segmented text lines will lead to OCR failure. Text line segmentation of handwritten documents is a complex and diverse problem, complicated by the nature of handwriting. Hence, text line segmentation is a leading challenge in handwritten document image processing. Due to inconsistencies in measurement and evaluation of text segmentation algorithm quality, some basic set of measurement methods is required. Currently, there is no commonly accepted one and all algorithm evaluation is custom oriented. In this paper, a basic test framework for the evaluation of text feature extraction algorithms is proposed. This test framework consists of a few experiments primarily linked to text line segmentation, skew rate and reference text line evaluation. Although they are mutually independent, the results obtained are strongly cross linked. In the end, its suitability for different types of letters and languages as well as its adaptability are its main advantages. Thus, the paper presents an efficient evaluation method for text analysis algorithms. PMID:22399932

A System for Mailpiece ZIP Code Assignment through Contextual Analysis. Phase 2

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-03-01

Segmentation Address Block Interpretation Automatic Feature Generation Word Recognition Feature Detection Word Verification Optical Character Recognition Directory...in the Phase III effort. 1.1 Motivation The United States Postal Service (USPS) deploys large numbers of optical character recognition (OCR) machines...4):208-218, November 1986. [2] Gronmeyer, L. K., Ruffin, B. W., Lybanon, M. A., Neely, P. L., and Pierce, S. E. An Overview of Optical Character Recognition (OCR

Protecting the Civil Rights of English Language Learners Today: A Study of the Recent DOJ and OCR Investigations of Selected School Districts in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oyeleye, Omobola Awosika

2013-01-01

The purpose of the study was to examine the circumstances and practices that led to OCR and DOJ investigations in seven selected school districts, and to determine the emerging themes from the details of the settlement agreements between the school districts and the United States. The themes developed through this study were aimed at providing a…

Real-Time Measurement of Host Bioenergetics During Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Infection

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-01

antimycobacterial drugs on Mtb bioenergetics. We focused on Clofazimine (CFZ, targets Complex I), Bedaquiline (BDQ/TMC207, targets Complex V) and Q203 (targets... Complex III). Firstly we investigated the effect of CFZ and BDQ on the OCR profiles of Mtb mc2 6230 (Figure 3). These experiments were done in...addition with of CFZ. The decrease in OCR is consistent with ETC complex inhibition. BDQ caused a very surprising concentration-depended increase

Design and development of an ancient Chinese document recognition system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Liangrui; Xiu, Pingping; Ding, Xiaoqing

2003-12-01

The digitization of ancient Chinese documents presents new challenges to OCR (Optical Character Recognition) research field due to the large character set of ancient Chinese characters, variant font types, and versatile document layout styles, as these documents are historical reflections to the thousands of years of Chinese civilization. After analyzing the general characteristics of ancient Chinese documents, we present a solution for recognition of ancient Chinese documents with regular font-types and layout-styles. Based on the previous work on multilingual OCR in TH-OCR system, we focus on the design and development of two key technologies which include character recognition and page segmentation. Experimental results show that the developed character recognition kernel of 19,635 Chinese characters outperforms our original traditional Chinese recognition kernel; Benchmarked test on printed ancient Chinese books proves that the proposed system is effective for regular ancient Chinese documents.

miR-342-3p suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma proliferation through inhibition of IGF-1R-mediated Warburg effect

PubMed Central

Han, Juqiang; Wang, Yadong; Shen, Chuan; Yan, Zhifeng; Tai, Yanhong; Zhao, Caiyan

2018-01-01

Background Insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) is a well-studied oncogenic factor that promotes cell proliferation and energy metabolism and is overexpressed in numerous cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Aerobic glycolysis is a hallmark of cancer, and drugs targeting its regulators, including IGF-1R, are being developed. However, the mechanisms of IGF-1R inhibition and the physiological significance of the IGF-1R inhibitors in cancer cells are unclear. Materials and methods Cell proliferation was evaluated by cell counting Kit-8 and colony formation assay. Western blot and real-time PCR were accordingly used to detect the relevant proteins, miRNA and gene expression. Luciferase reporter assays were used to illustrate the interaction between miR-342-3p and IGF-1R. The effect of miR-342-3p on glycolysis was determined by glucose uptake, ATP concentration, lactate generation, extracellular acidification rate and oxygen consumption rate assays. In vivo, subcutaneous tumor formation assay and PET were performed in nude mice. Results In this study, we demonstrate that by directly targeting the 3′-UTR (3′-untranslated regions) of IGF-1R, microRNA-342-3p (miR-342-3p) suppresses IGF-1R-mediated PI3K/AKT/GLUT1 signaling pathway both in vitro and in vivo. Through suppression of IGF-1R, miR-342-3p dampens glycolysis by decreasing glucose uptake, lactate generation, ATP production, and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR), and increasing oxygen consumption rate (OCR) in hepatoma cells. Importantly, glycolysis regulated by miR-342-3p is critical for its regulating HCC growth both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion Our findings provide clues regarding the role of miR-342-3p as a tumor suppressor in liver cancer mainly through the inhibition of IGF-1R. Targeting IGF-1R by miR-342-3p could be a potential therapeutic strategy in liver cancer. PMID:29615839

Developmentally regulated GTP-binding protein 2 depletion leads to mitochondrial dysfunction through downregulation of dynamin-related protein 1

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

Vo, Mai-Tram; Ko, Myoung Seok; Lee, Unn Hwa

Mitochondrial dynamics, including constant fusion and fission, play critical roles in maintaining mitochondrial morphology and function. Here, we report that developmentally regulated GTP-binding protein 2 (DRG2) regulates mitochondrial morphology by modulating the expression of the mitochondrial fission gene dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1). shRNA-mediated silencing of DRG2 induced mitochondrial swelling, whereas expression of an shRNA-resistant version of DRG2 decreased mitochondrial swelling in DRG2-depleted cells. Analysis of the expression levels of genes involved in mitochondrial fusion and fission revealed that DRG2 depletion significantly decreased the level of Drp1. Overexpression of Drp1 rescued the defect in mitochondrial morphology induced by DRG2 depletion. DRG2more » depletion reduced the mitochondrial membrane potential, oxygen consumption rate (OCR), and amount of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), whereas it increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and apoptosis. Taken together, our data demonstrate that DRG2 acts as a regulator of mitochondrial fission by controlling the expression of Drp1. - Highlights: • DRG2 depletion increased mitochondrial swelling. • DRG2 depletion inhibited the expression of Drp1. • Overexpression of DRG2 or Drp1 rescued mitochondrial shape in DRG2 depleted cells. • DRG2 depletion induced mitochondrial dysfunction.« less

Energy dispersive CdTe and CdZnTe detectors for spectral clinical CT and NDT applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barber, W. C.; Wessel, J. C.; Nygard, E.; Iwanczyk, J. S.

2015-06-01

We are developing room temperature compound semiconductor detectors for applications in energy-resolved high-flux single x-ray photon-counting spectral computed tomography (CT), including functional imaging with nanoparticle contrast agents for medical applications and non-destructive testing (NDT) for security applications. Energy-resolved photon-counting can provide reduced patient dose through optimal energy weighting for a particular imaging task in CT, functional contrast enhancement through spectroscopic imaging of metal nanoparticles in CT, and compositional analysis through multiple basis function material decomposition in CT and NDT. These applications produce high input count rates from an x-ray generator delivered to the detector. Therefore, in order to achieve energy-resolved single photon counting in these applications, a high output count rate (OCR) for an energy-dispersive detector must be achieved at the required spatial resolution and across the required dynamic range for the application. The required performance in terms of the OCR, spatial resolution, and dynamic range must be obtained with sufficient field of view (FOV) for the application thus requiring the tiling of pixel arrays and scanning techniques. Room temperature cadmium telluride (CdTe) and cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) compound semiconductors, operating as direct conversion x-ray sensors, can provide the required speed when connected to application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) operating at fast peaking times with multiple fixed thresholds per pixel provided the sensors are designed for rapid signal formation across the x-ray energy ranges of the application at the required energy and spatial resolutions, and at a sufficiently high detective quantum efficiency (DQE). We have developed high-flux energy-resolved photon-counting x-ray imaging array sensors using pixellated CdTe and CdZnTe semiconductors optimized for clinical CT and security NDT. We have also fabricated high-flux ASICs with a two dimensional (2D) array of inputs for readout from the sensors. The sensors are guard ring free and have a 2D array of pixels and can be tiled in 2D while preserving pixel pitch. The 2D ASICs have four energy bins with a linear energy response across sufficient dynamic range for clinical CT and some NDT applications. The ASICs can also be tiled in 2D and are designed to fit within the active area of the sensors. We have measured several important performance parameters including: the output count rate (OCR) in excess of 20 million counts per second per square mm with a minimum loss of counts due to pulse pile-up, an energy resolution of 7 keV full width at half-maximum (FWHM) across the entire dynamic range, and a noise floor about 20 keV. This is achieved by directly interconnecting the ASIC inputs to the pixels of the CdZnTe sensors incurring very little input capacitance to the ASICs. We present measurements of the performance of the CdTe and CdZnTe sensors including the OCR, FWHM energy resolution, noise floor, as well as the temporal stability and uniformity under the rapidly varying high flux expected in CT and NDT applications.

Energy dispersive CdTe and CdZnTe detectors for spectral clinical CT and NDT applications

PubMed Central

Barber, W. C.; Wessel, J. C.; Nygard, E.; Iwanczyk, J. S.

2014-01-01

We are developing room temperature compound semiconductor detectors for applications in energy-resolved high-flux single x-ray photon-counting spectral computed tomography (CT), including functional imaging with nanoparticle contrast agents for medical applications and non destructive testing (NDT) for security applications. Energy-resolved photon-counting can provide reduced patient dose through optimal energy weighting for a particular imaging task in CT, functional contrast enhancement through spectroscopic imaging of metal nanoparticles in CT, and compositional analysis through multiple basis function material decomposition in CT and NDT. These applications produce high input count rates from an x-ray generator delivered to the detector. Therefore, in order to achieve energy-resolved single photon counting in these applications, a high output count rate (OCR) for an energy-dispersive detector must be achieved at the required spatial resolution and across the required dynamic range for the application. The required performance in terms of the OCR, spatial resolution, and dynamic range must be obtained with sufficient field of view (FOV) for the application thus requiring the tiling of pixel arrays and scanning techniques. Room temperature cadmium telluride (CdTe) and cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) compound semiconductors, operating as direct conversion x-ray sensors, can provide the required speed when connected to application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) operating at fast peaking times with multiple fixed thresholds per pixel provided the sensors are designed for rapid signal formation across the x-ray energy ranges of the application at the required energy and spatial resolutions, and at a sufficiently high detective quantum efficiency (DQE). We have developed high-flux energy-resolved photon-counting x-ray imaging array sensors using pixellated CdTe and CdZnTe semiconductors optimized for clinical CT and security NDT. We have also fabricated high-flux ASICs with a two dimensional (2D) array of inputs for readout from the sensors. The sensors are guard ring free and have a 2D array of pixels and can be tiled in 2D while preserving pixel pitch. The 2D ASICs have four energy bins with a linear energy response across sufficient dynamic range for clinical CT and some NDT applications. The ASICs can also be tiled in 2D and are designed to fit within the active area of the sensors. We have measured several important performance parameters including; the output count rate (OCR) in excess of 20 million counts per second per square mm with a minimum loss of counts due to pulse pile-up, an energy resolution of 7 keV full width at half maximum (FWHM) across the entire dynamic range, and a noise floor about 20keV. This is achieved by directly interconnecting the ASIC inputs to the pixels of the CdZnTe sensors incurring very little input capacitance to the ASICs. We present measurements of the performance of the CdTe and CdZnTe sensors including the OCR, FWHM energy resolution, noise floor, as well as the temporal stability and uniformity under the rapidly varying high flux expected in CT and NDT applications. PMID:25937684

Energy dispersive CdTe and CdZnTe detectors for spectral clinical CT and NDT applications.

PubMed

Barber, W C; Wessel, J C; Nygard, E; Iwanczyk, J S

2015-06-01

We are developing room temperature compound semiconductor detectors for applications in energy-resolved high-flux single x-ray photon-counting spectral computed tomography (CT), including functional imaging with nanoparticle contrast agents for medical applications and non destructive testing (NDT) for security applications. Energy-resolved photon-counting can provide reduced patient dose through optimal energy weighting for a particular imaging task in CT, functional contrast enhancement through spectroscopic imaging of metal nanoparticles in CT, and compositional analysis through multiple basis function material decomposition in CT and NDT. These applications produce high input count rates from an x-ray generator delivered to the detector. Therefore, in order to achieve energy-resolved single photon counting in these applications, a high output count rate (OCR) for an energy-dispersive detector must be achieved at the required spatial resolution and across the required dynamic range for the application. The required performance in terms of the OCR, spatial resolution, and dynamic range must be obtained with sufficient field of view (FOV) for the application thus requiring the tiling of pixel arrays and scanning techniques. Room temperature cadmium telluride (CdTe) and cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) compound semiconductors, operating as direct conversion x-ray sensors, can provide the required speed when connected to application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) operating at fast peaking times with multiple fixed thresholds per pixel provided the sensors are designed for rapid signal formation across the x-ray energy ranges of the application at the required energy and spatial resolutions, and at a sufficiently high detective quantum efficiency (DQE). We have developed high-flux energy-resolved photon-counting x-ray imaging array sensors using pixellated CdTe and CdZnTe semiconductors optimized for clinical CT and security NDT. We have also fabricated high-flux ASICs with a two dimensional (2D) array of inputs for readout from the sensors. The sensors are guard ring free and have a 2D array of pixels and can be tiled in 2D while preserving pixel pitch. The 2D ASICs have four energy bins with a linear energy response across sufficient dynamic range for clinical CT and some NDT applications. The ASICs can also be tiled in 2D and are designed to fit within the active area of the sensors. We have measured several important performance parameters including; the output count rate (OCR) in excess of 20 million counts per second per square mm with a minimum loss of counts due to pulse pile-up, an energy resolution of 7 keV full width at half maximum (FWHM) across the entire dynamic range, and a noise floor about 20keV. This is achieved by directly interconnecting the ASIC inputs to the pixels of the CdZnTe sensors incurring very little input capacitance to the ASICs. We present measurements of the performance of the CdTe and CdZnTe sensors including the OCR, FWHM energy resolution, noise floor, as well as the temporal stability and uniformity under the rapidly varying high flux expected in CT and NDT applications.

Goal-oriented evaluation of binarization algorithms for historical document images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obafemi-Ajayi, Tayo; Agam, Gady

2013-01-01

Binarization is of significant importance in document analysis systems. It is an essential first step, prior to further stages such as Optical Character Recognition (OCR), document segmentation, or enhancement of readability of the document after some restoration stages. Hence, proper evaluation of binarization methods to verify their effectiveness is of great value to the document analysis community. In this work, we perform a detailed goal-oriented evaluation of image quality assessment of the 18 binarization methods that participated in the DIBCO 2011 competition using the 16 historical document test images used in the contest. We are interested in the image quality assessment of the outputs generated by the different binarization algorithms as well as the OCR performance, where possible. We compare our evaluation of the algorithms based on human perception of quality to the DIBCO evaluation metrics. The results obtained provide an insight into the effectiveness of these methods with respect to human perception of image quality as well as OCR performance.

A neural network based artificial vision system for licence plate recognition.

PubMed

Draghici, S

1997-02-01

This paper presents a neural network based artificial vision system able to analyze the image of a car given by a camera, locate the registration plate and recognize the registration number of the car. The paper describes in detail various practical problems encountered in implementing this particular application and the solutions used to solve them. The main features of the system presented are: controlled stability-plasticity behavior, controlled reliability threshold, both off-line and on-line learning, self assessment of the output reliability and high reliability based on high level multiple feedback. The system has been designed using a modular approach. Sub-modules can be upgraded and/or substituted independently, thus making the system potentially suitable in a large variety of vision applications. The OCR engine was designed as an interchangeable plug-in module. This allows the user to choose an OCR engine which is suited to the particular application and to upgrade it easily in the future. At present, there are several versions of this OCR engine. One of them is based on a fully connected feedforward artificial neural network with sigmoidal activation functions. This network can be trained with various training algorithms such as error backpropagation. An alternative OCR engine is based on the constraint based decomposition (CBD) training architecture. The system has showed the following performances (on average) on real-world data: successful plate location and segmentation about 99%, successful character recognition about 98% and successful recognition of complete registration plates about 80%.

Bioenergetic Effects of Mitochondrial-Targeted Coenzyme Q Analogs in Endothelial Cells

PubMed Central

Fink, Brian D.; Herlein, Judith A.; Yorek, Mark A.; Fenner, Amanda M.; Kerns, Robert J.

2012-01-01

Mitochondrial-targeted analogs of coenzyme Q (CoQ) are under development to reduce oxidative damage induced by a variety of disease states. However, there is a need to understand the bioenergetic effects of these agents and whether or not these effects are related to redox properties, including their known pro-oxidant effects. We examined the bioenergetic effects of two mitochondrial-targeted CoQ analogs in their quinol forms, mitoquinol (MitoQ) and plastoquinonyl-decyl-triphenylphosphonium (SkQ1), in bovine aortic endothelial cells. We used an extracellular oxygen and proton flux analyzer to assess mitochondrial action at the intact-cell level. Both agents, in dose-dependent fashion, reduced the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) directed at ATP turnover (OCRATP) (IC50 values of 189 ± 13 nM for MitoQ and 181 ± 7 for SKQ1; difference not significant) while not affecting or mildly increasing basal oxygen consumption. Both compounds increased extracellular acidification in the basal state consistent with enhanced glycolysis. Both compounds enhanced mitochondrial superoxide production assessed by using mitochondrial-targeted dihydroethidium, and both increased H2O2 production from mitochondria of cells treated before isolation of the organelles. The manganese superoxide dismutase mimetic manganese(III) tetrakis(1-methyl-4-pyridyl)porphyrin did not alter or actually enhanced the actions of the targeted CoQ analogs to reduce OCRATP. In contrast, N-acetylcysteine mitigated this effect of MitoQ and SkQ1. In summary, our data demonstrate the important bioenergetic effects of targeted CoQ analogs. Moreover, these effects are mediated, at least in part, through superoxide production but depend on conversion to H2O2. These bioenergetic and redox actions need to be considered as these compounds are developed for therapeutic purposes. PMID:22661629

Faxed document image restoration method based on local pixel patterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akiyama, Teruo; Miyamoto, Nobuo; Oguro, Masami; Ogura, Kenji

1998-04-01

A method for restoring degraded faxed document images using the patterns of pixels that construct small areas in a document is proposed. The method effectively restores faxed images that contain the halftone textures and/or density salt-and-pepper noise that degrade OCR system performance. The halftone image restoration process, white-centered 3 X 3 pixels, in which black-and-white pixels alternate, are identified first using the distribution of the pixel values as halftone textures, and then the white center pixels are inverted to black. To remove high-density salt- and-pepper noise, it is assumed that the degradation is caused by ill-balanced bias and inappropriate thresholding of the sensor output which results in the addition of random noise. Restored image can be estimated using an approximation that uses the inverse operation of the assumed original process. In order to process degraded faxed images, the algorithms mentioned above are combined. An experiment is conducted using 24 especially poor quality examples selected from data sets that exemplify what practical fax- based OCR systems cannot handle. The maximum recovery rate in terms of mean square error was 98.8 percent.

How well does multiple OCR error correction generalize?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lund, William B.; Ringger, Eric K.; Walker, Daniel D.

2013-12-01

As the digitization of historical documents, such as newspapers, becomes more common, the need of the archive patron for accurate digital text from those documents increases. Building on our earlier work, the contributions of this paper are: 1. in demonstrating the applicability of novel methods for correcting optical character recognition (OCR) on disparate data sets, including a new synthetic training set, 2. enhancing the correction algorithm with novel features, and 3. assessing the data requirements of the correction learning method. First, we correct errors using conditional random fields (CRF) trained on synthetic training data sets in order to demonstrate the applicability of the methodology to unrelated test sets. Second, we show the strength of lexical features from the training sets on two unrelated test sets, yielding a relative reduction in word error rate on the test sets of 6.52%. New features capture the recurrence of hypothesis tokens and yield an additional relative reduction in WER of 2.30%. Further, we show that only 2.0% of the full training corpus of over 500,000 feature cases is needed to achieve correction results comparable to those using the entire training corpus, effectively reducing both the complexity of the training process and the learned correction model.

Improved document image segmentation algorithm using multiresolution morphology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bukhari, Syed Saqib; Shafait, Faisal; Breuel, Thomas M.

2011-01-01

Page segmentation into text and non-text elements is an essential preprocessing step before optical character recognition (OCR) operation. In case of poor segmentation, an OCR classification engine produces garbage characters due to the presence of non-text elements. This paper describes modifications to the text/non-text segmentation algorithm presented by Bloomberg,1 which is also available in his open-source Leptonica library.2The modifications result in significant improvements and achieved better segmentation accuracy than the original algorithm for UW-III, UNLV, ICDAR 2009 page segmentation competition test images and circuit diagram datasets.

A Report on the Investigation of the Civil Rights Enforcement Activities of the Office for Civil Rights. U.S. Department of Education. By the Majority Staff of the Committee on Education and Labor. U.S. House of Representatives, 100th Congress, Second Session.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Committee on Education and Labor.

Since 1981, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the United States Department of Education has been accused of failing to enforce the civil rights laws according to its mandate. OCR is responsible for enforcing Federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, handicap, or age in educational programs or activities…

Recognizable or Not: Towards Image Semantic Quality Assessment for Compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Dong; Wang, Dandan; Li, Houqiang

2017-12-01

Traditionally, image compression was optimized for the pixel-wise fidelity or the perceptual quality of the compressed images given a bit-rate budget. But recently, compressed images are more and more utilized for automatic semantic analysis tasks such as recognition and retrieval. For these tasks, we argue that the optimization target of compression is no longer perceptual quality, but the utility of the compressed images in the given automatic semantic analysis task. Accordingly, we propose to evaluate the quality of the compressed images neither at pixel level nor at perceptual level, but at semantic level. In this paper, we make preliminary efforts towards image semantic quality assessment (ISQA), focusing on the task of optical character recognition (OCR) from compressed images. We propose a full-reference ISQA measure by comparing the features extracted from text regions of original and compressed images. We then propose to integrate the ISQA measure into an image compression scheme. Experimental results show that our proposed ISQA measure is much better than PSNR and SSIM in evaluating the semantic quality of compressed images; accordingly, adopting our ISQA measure to optimize compression for OCR leads to significant bit-rate saving compared to using PSNR or SSIM. Moreover, we perform subjective test about text recognition from compressed images, and observe that our ISQA measure has high consistency with subjective recognizability. Our work explores new dimensions in image quality assessment, and demonstrates promising direction to achieve higher compression ratio for specific semantic analysis tasks.

PIMS-Universal Payload Information Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elmore, Ralph; McNair, Ann R. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

As the overall manager and integrator of International Space Station (ISS) science payloads and experiments, the Payload Operations Integration Center (POIC) at Marshall Space Flight Center had a critical need to provide an information management system for exchange and management of ISS payload files as well as to coordinate ISS payload related operational changes. The POIC's information management system has a fundamental requirement to provide secure operational access not only to users physically located at the POIC, but also to provide collaborative access to remote experimenters and International Partners. The Payload Information Management System (PIMS) is a ground based electronic document configuration management and workflow system that was built to service that need. Functionally, PIMS provides the following document management related capabilities: 1. File access control, storage and retrieval from a central repository vault. 2. Collect supplemental data about files in the vault. 3. File exchange with a PMS GUI client, or any FTP connection. 4. Files placement into an FTP accessible dropbox for pickup by interfacing facilities, included files transmitted for spacecraft uplink. 5. Transmission of email messages to users notifying them of new version availability. 6. Polling of intermediate facility dropboxes for files that will automatically be processed by PIMS. 7. Provide an API that allows other POIC applications to access PIMS information. Functionally, PIMS provides the following Change Request processing capabilities: 1. Ability to create, view, manipulate, and query information about Operations Change Requests (OCRs). 2. Provides an adaptable workflow approval of OCRs with routing through developers, facility leads, POIC leads, reviewers, and implementers. Email messages can be sent to users either involving them in the workflow process or simply notifying them of OCR approval progress. All PIMS document management and OCR workflow controls are coordinated through and routed to individual user's "to do" list tasks. A user is given a task when it is their turn to perform some action relating to the approval of the Document or OCR. The user's available actions are restricted to only functions available for the assigned task. Certain actions, such as review or action implementation by non-PIMS users, can also be coordinated through automated emails.

Evidence for a retinal velocity memory underlying the direction of anticipatory smooth pursuit eye movements.

PubMed

Murdison, T Scott; Paré-Bingley, Chanel A; Blohm, Gunnar

2013-08-01

To compute spatially correct smooth pursuit eye movements, the brain uses both retinal motion and extraretinal signals about the eyes and head in space (Blohm and Lefèvre 2010). However, when smooth eye movements rely solely on memorized target velocity, such as during anticipatory pursuit, it is unknown if this velocity memory also accounts for extraretinal information, such as head roll and ocular torsion. To answer this question, we used a novel behavioral updating paradigm in which participants pursued a repetitive, spatially constant fixation-gap-ramp stimulus in series of five trials. During the first four trials, participants' heads were rolled toward one shoulder, inducing ocular counterroll (OCR). With each repetition, participants increased their anticipatory pursuit gain, indicating a robust encoding of velocity memory. On the fifth trial, they rolled their heads to the opposite shoulder before pursuit, also inducing changes in ocular torsion. Consequently, for spatially accurate anticipatory pursuit, the velocity memory had to be updated across changes in head roll and ocular torsion. We tested how the velocity memory accounted for head roll and OCR by observing the effects of changes to these signals on anticipatory trajectories of the memory decoding (fifth) trials. We found that anticipatory pursuit was updated for changes in head roll; however, we observed no evidence of compensation for OCR, representing the absence of ocular torsion signals within the velocity memory. This indicated that the directional component of the memory must be coded retinally and updated to account for changes in head roll, but not OCR.

Comparison of approaches for mobile document image analysis using server supported smartphones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozarslan, Suleyman; Eren, P. Erhan

2014-03-01

With the recent advances in mobile technologies, new capabilities are emerging, such as mobile document image analysis. However, mobile phones are still less powerful than servers, and they have some resource limitations. One approach to overcome these limitations is performing resource-intensive processes of the application on remote servers. In mobile document image analysis, the most resource consuming process is the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) process, which is used to extract text in mobile phone captured images. In this study, our goal is to compare the in-phone and the remote server processing approaches for mobile document image analysis in order to explore their trade-offs. For the inphone approach, all processes required for mobile document image analysis run on the mobile phone. On the other hand, in the remote-server approach, core OCR process runs on the remote server and other processes run on the mobile phone. Results of the experiments show that the remote server approach is considerably faster than the in-phone approach in terms of OCR time, but adds extra delays such as network delay. Since compression and downscaling of images significantly reduce file sizes and extra delays, the remote server approach overall outperforms the in-phone approach in terms of selected speed and correct recognition metrics, if the gain in OCR time compensates for the extra delays. According to the results of the experiments, using the most preferable settings, the remote server approach performs better than the in-phone approach in terms of speed and acceptable correct recognition metrics.

Bitter melon juice targets molecular mechanisms underlying gemcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer cells.

PubMed

Somasagara, Ranganatha R; Deep, Gagan; Shrotriya, Sangeeta; Patel, Manisha; Agarwal, Chapla; Agarwal, Rajesh

2015-04-01

Pancreatic cancer (PanC) is one of the most lethal malignancies, and resistance towards gemcitabine, the front-line chemotherapy, is the main cause for dismal rate of survival in PanC patients; overcoming this resistance remains a major challenge to treat this deadly malignancy. Whereas several molecular mechanisms are known for gemcitabine resistance in PanC cells, altered metabolism and bioenergetics are not yet studied. Here, we compared metabolic and bioenergetic functions between gemcitabine-resistant (GR) and gemcitabine-sensitive (GS) PanC cells and underlying molecular mechanisms, together with efficacy of a natural agent bitter melon juice (BMJ). GR PanC cells showed distinct morphological features including spindle-shaped morphology and a decrease in E-cadherin expression. GR cells also showed higher ATP production with an increase in oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR). Molecular studies showed higher expression of glucose transporters (GLUT1 and 4) suggesting an increase in glucose uptake by GR cells. Importantly, GR cells showed a significant increase in Akt and ERK1/2 phosphorylation and their inhibition decreased cell viability, suggesting their role in survival and drug resistance of these cells. Recently, we reported strong efficacy of BMJ against a panel of GS cells in culture and nude mice, which we expanded here and found that BMJ was also effective in decreasing both Akt and ERK1/2 phosphorylation and viability of GR PanC cells. Overall, we have identified novel mechanisms of gemcitabine resistance in PanC cells which are targeted by BMJ. Considering the short survival in PanC patients, our findings could have high translational potential in controlling this deadly malignancy.

A New Experiment on Bengali Character Recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barman, Sumana; Bhattacharyya, Debnath; Jeon, Seung-Whan; Kim, Tai-Hoon; Kim, Haeng-Kon

This paper presents a method to use View based approach in Bangla Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system providing reduced data set to the ANN classification engine rather than the traditional OCR methods. It describes how Bangla characters are processed, trained and then recognized with the use of a Backpropagation Artificial neural network. This is the first published account of using a segmentation-free optical character recognition system for Bangla using a view based approach. The methodology presented here assumes that the OCR pre-processor has presented the input images to the classification engine described here. The size and the font face used to render the characters are also significant in both training and classification. The images are first converted into greyscale and then to binary images; these images are then scaled to a fit a pre-determined area with a fixed but significant number of pixels. The feature vectors are then formed extracting the characteristics points, which in this case is simply a series of 0s and 1s of fixed length. Finally, an artificial neural network is chosen for the training and classification process.

A usability evaluation of an interactive application for halal products using optical character recognition and augmented reality technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lam, Meng Chun; Nizam, Siti Soleha Muhammad; Arshad, Haslina; A'isyah Ahmad Shukri, Saidatul; Hashim, Nurhazarifah Che; Putra, Haekal Mozzia; Abidin, Rimaniza Zainal

2017-10-01

This article discusses the usability of an interactive application for halal products using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies. Among the problems that have been identified in this study is that consumers have little knowledge about the E-Code. Therefore, users often have doubts about the halal status of the product. Nowadays, the integrity of halal status can be doubtful due to the actions of some irresponsible people spreading false information about a product. Therefore, an application that uses OCR and AR technology developed in this study will help the users to identify the information content of a product by scanning the E-Code label and by scanning the product's brand to know the halal status of the product. In this application, E-Code on the label of a product is scanned using OCR technology to display information about the E-Code. The product's brand is scan using augmented reality technology to display halal status of the product. The findings reveal that users are satisfied with this application and it is useful and easy to use.

A unified approach for development of Urdu Corpus for OCR and demographic purpose

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choudhary, Prakash; Nain, Neeta; Ahmed, Mushtaq

2015-02-01

This paper presents a methodology for the development of an Urdu handwritten text image Corpus and application of Corpus linguistics in the field of OCR and information retrieval from handwritten document. Compared to other language scripts, Urdu script is little bit complicated for data entry. To enter a single character it requires a combination of multiple keys entry. Here, a mixed approach is proposed and demonstrated for building Urdu Corpus for OCR and Demographic data collection. Demographic part of database could be used to train a system to fetch the data automatically, which will be helpful to simplify existing manual data-processing task involved in the field of data collection such as input forms like Passport, Ration Card, Voting Card, AADHAR, Driving licence, Indian Railway Reservation, Census data etc. This would increase the participation of Urdu language community in understanding and taking benefit of the Government schemes. To make availability and applicability of database in a vast area of corpus linguistics, we propose a methodology for data collection, mark-up, digital transcription, and XML metadata information for benchmarking.

De Novo Design of Protein Mimics of B-DNA

PubMed Central

Yüksel, Deniz; Bianco, Piero R.; Kumar, Krishna

2015-01-01

Structural mimicry of DNA is utilized in nature as a strategy to evade molecular defences mounted by host organisms. One such example is the protein Ocr – the first translation product to be expressed as the bacteriophage T7 infects E. coli. The structure of Ocr reveals an intricate and deliberate arrangement of negative charges that endows it with the ability to mimic ∼24 base pair stretches of B–DNA. This uncanny resemblance to DNA enables Ocr to compete in binding the type I restriction modification (R/M) system, and neutralizes the threat of hydrolytic cleavage of viral genomic material. Here, we report the de novo design and biophysical characterization of DNA mimicking peptides, and describe the inhibitory action of the designed helical bundles on a type I R/M enzyme, EcoR124I. This work validates the use of charge patterning as a design principle for creation of protein mimics of DNA, and serves as a starting point for development of therapeutic peptide inhibitors against human pathogens that employ molecular camouflage as part of their invasion stratagem. PMID:26568416

Goal-oriented rectification of camera-based document images.

PubMed

Stamatopoulos, Nikolaos; Gatos, Basilis; Pratikakis, Ioannis; Perantonis, Stavros J

2011-04-01

Document digitization with either flatbed scanners or camera-based systems results in document images which often suffer from warping and perspective distortions that deteriorate the performance of current OCR approaches. In this paper, we present a goal-oriented rectification methodology to compensate for undesirable document image distortions aiming to improve the OCR result. Our approach relies upon a coarse-to-fine strategy. First, a coarse rectification is accomplished with the aid of a computationally low cost transformation which addresses the projection of a curved surface to a 2-D rectangular area. The projection of the curved surface on the plane is guided only by the textual content's appearance in the document image while incorporating a transformation which does not depend on specific model primitives or camera setup parameters. Second, pose normalization is applied on the word level aiming to restore all the local distortions of the document image. Experimental results on various document images with a variety of distortions demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed rectification methodology using a consistent evaluation methodology that encounters OCR accuracy and a newly introduced measure using a semi-automatic procedure.

Identification and survival outcomes of a cohort of patients with cancer of unknown primary in Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Kim, Chong S; Hannouf, Malek B; Sarma, Sisira; Rodrigues, George B; Rogan, Peter K; Mahmud, Salaheddin M; Winquist, Eric; Brackstone, Muriel; Zaric, Gregory S

2015-11-01

Cancer of unknown primary origin (CUP) is defined by the presence of pathologically identified metastatic disease without clinical or radiological evidence of a primary tumour. Our objective was to identify incident cases of CUP in Ontario, Canada, and determine the influence of histology and sites of metastases on overall survival (OS). We used the Ontario Cancer Registry (OCR) and the Same-Day Surgery and Discharge Abstract Database (SDS/DAD) to identify patients diagnosed with CUP in Ontario between 1 January 2000, and 31 December 2005. Patient diagnostic information, including histology and survival data, was obtained from the OCR. We cross-validated CUP diagnosis and obtained additional information about metastasis through data linkage with the SDS/DAD database. OS was assessed using Cox regression models adjusting for histology and sites of metastases. We identified 3564 patients diagnosed with CUP. Patients without histologically confirmed disease (n = 1821) had a one-year OS of 10.9%, whereas patients with confirmed histology (n = 1743) had a one-year OS of 15.6%. The most common metastatic sites were in the respiratory or digestive systems (n = 1603), and the most common histology was adenocarcinoma (n = 939). Three-year survival rates were 3.5%, 5.3%, 41.6% and 3.6% among adenocarcinoma, unspecified carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and undifferentiated histology, respectively. Three-year survival rates were 40%, 2.4%, 8.0% and 4.6% among patients with metastases localised to lymph nodes, the respiratory or digestive systems, other specified sites, and unspecified sites, respectively. CUP patients in Ontario have a poor prognosis. Some subgroups may have better survival rates, such as patients with metastases localised to lymph nodes and patients with squamous cell histology.

Document Form and Character Recognition using SVM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Sang-Sung; Shin, Young-Geun; Jung, Won-Kyo; Ahn, Dong-Kyu; Jang, Dong-Sik

2009-08-01

Because of development of computer and information communication, EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) has been developing. There is OCR (Optical Character Recognition) of Pattern recognition technology for EDI. OCR contributed to changing many manual in the past into automation. But for the more perfect database of document, much manual is needed for excluding unnecessary recognition. To resolve this problem, we propose document form based character recognition method in this study. Proposed method is divided into document form recognition part and character recognition part. Especially, in character recognition, change character into binarization by using SVM algorithm and extract more correct feature value.

An Analysis of the Republic of Korea Army Officer Performance Evaluation System.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-06-01

Figure 3. 3 Army Form 1-1-28. 5. 43 * 4. .2 ~ 4.4 Leadership Senior P I a nq Senor! Rater Rater Rater Rater Possesese leadership sk ls Loqical and...Act As a basis not to provide the information requested in Part IV, the Support Form will contain the rated officer s statement to that efect and be...ability to anticipate and react correctly to dynazic tactical environment. A NOTEWORTHY MMATU 42. LEADERSHIP /NO ST RENGTH AN kSSETT VT.%AST OCR LT A

Launch Control System Software Development System Automation Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hwang, Andrew

2017-01-01

The Spaceport Command and Control System (SCCS) is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) launch control system for the Orion capsule and Space Launch System, the next generation manned rocket currently in development. This system requires high quality testing that will measure and test the capabilities of the system. For the past two years, the Exploration and Operations Division at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has assigned a group including interns and full-time engineers to develop automated tests to save the project time and money. The team worked on automating the testing process for the SCCS GUI that would use streamed simulated data from the testing servers to produce data, plots, statuses, etc. to the GUI. The software used to develop automated tests included an automated testing framework and an automation library. The automated testing framework has a tabular-style syntax, which means the functionality of a line of code must have the appropriate number of tabs for the line to function as intended. The header section contains either paths to custom resources or the names of libraries being used. The automation library contains functionality to automate anything that appears on a desired screen with the use of image recognition software to detect and control GUI components. The data section contains any data values strictly created for the current testing file. The body section holds the tests that are being run. The function section can include any number of functions that may be used by the current testing file or any other file that resources it. The resources and body section are required for all test files; the data and function sections can be left empty if the data values and functions being used are from a resourced library or another file. To help equip the automation team with better tools, the Project Lead of the Automated Testing Team, Jason Kapusta, assigned the task to install and train an optical character recognition (OCR) tool to Brandon Echols, a fellow intern, and I. The purpose of the OCR tool is to analyze an image and find the coordinates of any group of text. Some issues that arose while installing the OCR tool included the absence of certain libraries needed to train the tool and an outdated software version. We eventually resolved the issues and successfully installed the OCR tool. Training the tool required many images and different fonts and sizes, but in the end the tool learned to accurately decipher the text in the images and their coordinates. The OCR tool produced a file that contained significant metadata for each section of text, but only the text and coordinates of the text was required for our purpose. The team made a script to parse the information we wanted from the OCR file to a different file that would be used by automation functions within the automated framework. Since a majority of development and testing for the automated test cases for the GUI in question has been done using live simulated data on the workstations at the Launch Control Center (LCC), a large amount of progress has been made. As of this writing, about 60% of all of automated testing has been implemented. Additionally, the OCR tool will help make our automated tests more robust due to the tool's text recognition being highly scalable to different text fonts and text sizes. Soon we will have the whole test system automated, allowing for more full-time engineers working on development projects.

Segmenting texts from outdoor images taken by mobile phones using color features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Zongyi; Zhou, Hanning

2011-01-01

Recognizing texts from images taken by mobile phones with low resolution has wide applications. It has been shown that a good image binarization can substantially improve the performances of OCR engines. In this paper, we present a framework to segment texts from outdoor images taken by mobile phones using color features. The framework consists of three steps: (i) the initial process including image enhancement, binarization and noise filtering, where we binarize the input images in each RGB channel, and apply component level noise filtering; (ii) grouping components into blocks using color features, where we compute the component similarities by dynamically adjusting the weights of RGB channels, and merge groups hierachically, and (iii) blocks selection, where we use the run-length features and choose the Support Vector Machine (SVM) as the classifier. We tested the algorithm using 13 outdoor images taken by an old-style LG-64693 mobile phone with 640x480 resolution. We compared the segmentation results with Tsar's algorithm, a state-of-the-art camera text detection algorithm, and show that our algorithm is more robust, particularly in terms of the false alarm rates. In addition, we also evaluated the impacts of our algorithm on the Abbyy's FineReader, one of the most popular commercial OCR engines in the market.

Thickness and marking quality of different occlusal contact registration strips

PubMed Central

TOLEDO, Maria Fernanda de Souza Mauá Serapião; JÓIAS, Renata Pilli; MARQUES-IASI, Yves Santini; NEVES, Ana Christina Claro; RODE, Sigmar de Mello

2014-01-01

Objectives Evaluate the thickness and the marking quality of different occlusal contact registration strips (OCRS) and a possible correlation between them. Material and Methods The following OCRS were selected: Accufilm II, BK20, BK21, BK22, BK23, BK28, and BK31. The thickness was measured in three points of the OCRS with an electronic measuring device (TESA), and the mean was calculated. To produce the marks on the strips, composite resin specimens were adapted to a universal testing machine (Versat 2000) with 40 kgf load cell at a speed of 1.0 mm/min. The mark images were photographed with a stereoscopic microscope (Stemi SV11) and processed and analyzed by the 550-Leica Qwin® analyzer. Results Values (μm) found in the 1st and 2nd thickness measurements were: Accufilm II - 16.4 and 14.2; BK20 - 10.0 and 8.1; BK21 - 9.5 and 8.0; BK22 - 9.7 and 8.7; BK23 - 9.8 and 7.9; BK28 - 12.8 and 10.0; and BK31 - 8.4 and 8.0, respectively. The mean (mm2) values found in the mark areas were: Accufilm II - 0.078; BK20 - 0.035; BK21 - 0.045; BK22 - 0.012; BK23 - 0.022; BK28 - 0.024; and BK31 - 0.024. The results were submitted to the Kruskal-Wallis (p<0.05) and Pearson’s correlation tests. Conclusions Only in the 2nd measurement, the OCRS thickness observed was similar to the value indicated by the manufacturers; the Accufilm II and the BK28 strips showed the better marks; and no correlation was found between the thickness and the marking area. PMID:25591020

Ocean surface partitioning strategies using ocean colour remote Sensing: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krug, Lilian Anne; Platt, Trevor; Sathyendranath, Shubha; Barbosa, Ana B.

2017-06-01

The ocean surface is organized into regions with distinct properties reflecting the complexity of interactions between environmental forcing and biological responses. The delineation of these functional units, each with unique, homogeneous properties and underlying ecosystem structure and dynamics, can be defined as ocean surface partitioning. The main purposes and applications of ocean partitioning include the evaluation of particular marine environments; generation of more accurate satellite ocean colour products; assimilation of data into biogeochemical and climate models; and establishment of ecosystem-based management practices. This paper reviews the diverse approaches implemented for ocean surface partition into functional units, using ocean colour remote sensing (OCRS) data, including their purposes, criteria, methods and scales. OCRS offers a synoptic, high spatial-temporal resolution, multi-decadal coverage of bio-optical properties, relevant to the applications and value of ocean surface partitioning. In combination with other biotic and/or abiotic data, OCRS-derived data (e.g., chlorophyll-a, optical properties) provide a broad and varied source of information that can be analysed using different delineation methods derived from subjective, expert-based to unsupervised learning approaches (e.g., cluster, fuzzy and empirical orthogonal function analyses). Partition schemes are applied at global to mesoscale spatial coverage, with static (time-invariant) or dynamic (time-varying) representations. A case study, the highly heterogeneous area off SW Iberian Peninsula (NE Atlantic), illustrates how the selection of spatial coverage and temporal representation affects the discrimination of distinct environmental drivers of phytoplankton variability. Advances in operational oceanography and in the subject area of satellite ocean colour, including development of new sensors, algorithms and products, are among the potential benefits from extended use, scope and applications of ocean surface partitioning using OCRS.

Generation method of synthetic training data for mobile OCR system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chernyshova, Yulia S.; Gayer, Alexander V.; Sheshkus, Alexander V.

2018-04-01

This paper addresses one of the fundamental problems of machine learning - training data acquiring. Obtaining enough natural training data is rather difficult and expensive. In last years usage of synthetic images has become more beneficial as it allows to save human time and also to provide a huge number of images which otherwise would be difficult to obtain. However, for successful learning on artificial dataset one should try to reduce the gap between natural and synthetic data distributions. In this paper we describe an algorithm which allows to create artificial training datasets for OCR systems using russian passport as a case study.

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

Kimura, Rino; Takahashi, Nobuyuki, E-mail: nobu@kais.kyoto-u.ac.jp; Murota, Kaeko

Highlights: {yields} PPAR{alpha} activation increased mRNA expression levels of fatty acid oxidation-related genes in human intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells. {yields} PPAR{alpha} activation also increased oxygen consumption rate and CO{sub 2} production and decreased secretion of triglyceride and ApoB from Caco-2 cells. {yields} Orally administration of bezafibrate increased mRNA expression levels of fatty acid oxidation-related genes and CO{sub 2} production in small intestinal epithelial cells. {yields} Treatment with bezafibrate decreased postprandial serum concentration of triglyceride after oral injection of olive oil in mice. {yields} It suggested that intestinal lipid metabolism regulated by PPAR{alpha} activation suppresses postprandial lipidemia. -- Abstract: Activation ofmore » peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-{alpha} which regulates lipid metabolism in peripheral tissues such as the liver and skeletal muscle, decreases circulating lipid levels, thus improving hyperlipidemia under fasting conditions. Recently, postprandial serum lipid levels have been found to correlate more closely to cardiovascular diseases than fasting levels, although fasting hyperlipidemia is considered an important risk of cardiovascular diseases. However, the effect of PPAR{alpha} activation on postprandial lipidemia has not been clarified. In this study, we examined the effects of PPAR{alpha} activation in enterocytes on lipid secretion and postprandial lipidemia. In Caco-2 enterocytes, bezafibrate, a potent PPAR{alpha} agonist, increased mRNA expression levels of fatty acid oxidation-related genes, such as acyl-CoA oxidase, carnitine palmitoyl transferase, and acyl-CoA synthase, and oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and suppressed secretion levels of both triglycerides and apolipoprotein B into the basolateral side. In vivo experiments revealed that feeding high-fat-diet containing bezafibrate increased mRNA expression levels of fatty acid oxidation-related genes and production of CO{sub 2} and acid soluble metabolites in enterocytes. Moreover, bezafibrate treatment suppressed postprandial lipidemia after oral administration of olive oil to the mice. These findings indicate that PPAR{alpha} activation suppresses postprandial lipidemia through enhancement of fatty acid oxidation in enterocytes, suggesting that intestinal lipid metabolism regulated by PPAR{alpha} activity is a novel target of PPAR{alpha} agonist for decreasing circulating levels of lipids under postprandial conditions.« less

Approximate string matching algorithms for limited-vocabulary OCR output correction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lasko, Thomas A.; Hauser, Susan E.

2000-12-01

Five methods for matching words mistranslated by optical character recognition to their most likely match in a reference dictionary were tested on data from the archives of the National Library of Medicine. The methods, including an adaptation of the cross correlation algorithm, the generic edit distance algorithm, the edit distance algorithm with a probabilistic substitution matrix, Bayesian analysis, and Bayesian analysis on an actively thinned reference dictionary were implemented and their accuracy rates compared. Of the five, the Bayesian algorithm produced the most correct matches (87%), and had the advantage of producing scores that have a useful and practical interpretation.

Post processing of optically recognized text via second order hidden Markov model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poudel, Srijana

In this thesis, we describe a postprocessing system on Optical Character Recognition(OCR) generated text. Second Order Hidden Markov Model (HMM) approach is used to detect and correct the OCR related errors. The reason for choosing the 2nd order HMM is to keep track of the bigrams so that the model can represent the system more accurately. Based on experiments with training data of 159,733 characters and testing of 5,688 characters, the model was able to correct 43.38 % of the errors with a precision of 75.34 %. However, the precision value indicates that the model introduced some new errors, decreasing the correction percentage to 26.4%.

Immunometabolic profiling of T cells from patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis reveals an impairment in glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration.

PubMed

La Rocca, Claudia; Carbone, Fortunata; De Rosa, Veronica; Colamatteo, Alessandra; Galgani, Mario; Perna, Francesco; Lanzillo, Roberta; Brescia Morra, Vincenzo; Orefice, Giuseppe; Cerillo, Ilaria; Florio, Ciro; Maniscalco, Giorgia Teresa; Salvetti, Marco; Centonze, Diego; Uccelli, Antonio; Longobardi, Salvatore; Visconti, Andrea; Matarese, Giuseppe

2017-12-01

Metabolic reprogramming is shaped to support specific cell functions since cellular metabolism controls the final outcome of immune response. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting from loss of immune tolerance against central nervous system (CNS) myelin. Metabolic alterations of T cells occurring during MS are not yet well understood and their studies could have relevance in the comprehension of the pathogenetic events leading to loss of immune tolerance to self and to develop novel therapeutic strategies aimed at limiting MS progression. In this report, we observed that extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) and oxygen consumption rate (OCR), indicators of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, respectively, were impaired during T cell activation in naïve-to-treatment relapsing remitting (RR)MS patients when compared with healthy controls. These results were also corroborated at biochemical level by a reduced expression of the glycolitic enzymes aldolase, enolase 1, hexokinase I, and by reduction of Krebs cycle enzymes dihydrolipoamide-S-acetyl transferase (DLAT) and dihydrolipoamide-S-succinyl transferase (DLST). Treatment of RRMS patients with interferon beta-1a (IFN beta-1a) was able to restore T cell glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration as well as the amount of the metabolic enzymes to a level comparable to that of healthy controls. These changes associated with an up-regulation of the glucose transporter-1 (GLUT-1), a key element in intracellular transport of glucose. Our data suggest that T cells from RRMS patients display a reduced engagement of glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration, reversible upon IFN beta-1a treatment, thus suggesting an involvement of an altered metabolism in the pathogenesis of MS. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Photophysical properties of hexyl diethylaminohydroxybenzoylbenzoate (Uvinul A Plus), a UV-A absorber.

PubMed

Shamoto, Yuta; Yagi, Mikio; Oguchi-Fujiyama, Nozomi; Miyazawa, Kazuyuki; Kikuchi, Azusa

2017-09-13

Hexyl diethylaminohydroxybenzoylbenzoate (DHHB, Uvinul A Plus) is a photostable UV-A absorber. The photophysical properties of DHHB have been studied by obtaining the transient absorption, total emission, phosphorescence and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra. DHHB exhibits an intense phosphorescence in a hydrogen-bonding solvent (e.g., ethanol) at 77 K, whereas it is weakly phosphorescent in a non-hydrogen-bonding solvent (e.g., 3-methylpentane). The triplet-triplet absorption and EPR spectra for the lowest excited triplet state of DHHB were observed in ethanol, while they were not observed in 3-methylpentane. These results are explained by the proposal that in the benzophenone derivatives possessing an intramolecular hydrogen bond, intramolecular proton transfer is an efficient mechanism of the very fast radiationless decay from the excited singlet state. The energy level of the lowest excited triplet state of DHHB is higher than those of the most widely used UV-B absorbers, octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC) and octocrylene (OCR). DHHB may act as a triplet energy donor for OMC and OCR in the mixtures of UV-A and UV-B absorbers. The bimolecular rate constant for the quenching of singlet oxygen by DHHB was determined by measuring the near-IR phosphorescence of singlet oxygen. The photophysical properties of diethylaminohydroxybenzoylbenzoic acid (DHBA) have been studied for comparison. It is a closely related building block to assist in interpreting the observed data.

A paper form processing system with an error correcting function for reading handwritten Kanji strings

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

Katsumi Marukawa; Kazuki Nakashima; Masashi Koga

1994-12-31

This paper presents a paper form processing system with an error correcting function for reading handwritten kanji strings. In the paper form processing system, names and addresses are important key data, and especially this paper takes up an error correcting method for name and address recognition. The method automatically corrects errors of the kanji OCR (Optical Character Reader) with the help of word dictionaries and other knowledge. Moreover, it allows names and addresses to be written in any style. The method consists of word matching {open_quotes}furigana{close_quotes} verification for name strings, and address approval for address strings. For word matching, kanjimore » name candidates are extracted by automaton-type word matching. In {open_quotes}furigana{close_quotes} verification, kana candidate characters recognized by the kana OCR are compared with kana`s searched from the name dictionary based on kanji name candidates, given by the word matching. The correct name is selected from the results of word matching and furigana verification. Also, the address approval efficiently searches for the right address based on a bottom-up procedure which follows hierarchical relations from a lower placename to a upper one by using the positional condition among the placenames. We ascertained that the error correcting method substantially improves the recognition rate and processing speed in experiments on 5,032 forms.« less

Clustering of Farsi sub-word images for whole-book recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soheili, Mohammad Reza; Kabir, Ehsanollah; Stricker, Didier

2015-01-01

Redundancy of word and sub-word occurrences in large documents can be effectively utilized in an OCR system to improve recognition results. Most OCR systems employ language modeling techniques as a post-processing step; however these techniques do not use important pictorial information that exist in the text image. In case of large-scale recognition of degraded documents, this information is even more valuable. In our previous work, we proposed a subword image clustering method for the applications dealing with large printed documents. In our clustering method, the ideal case is when all equivalent sub-word images lie in one cluster. To overcome the issues of low print quality, the clustering method uses an image matching algorithm for measuring the distance between two sub-word images. The measured distance with a set of simple shape features were used to cluster all sub-word images. In this paper, we analyze the effects of adding more shape features on processing time, purity of clustering, and the final recognition rate. Previously published experiments have shown the efficiency of our method on a book. Here we present extended experimental results and evaluate our method on another book with totally different font face. Also we show that the number of the new created clusters in a page can be used as a criteria for assessing the quality of print and evaluating preprocessing phases.

The DNA-mimic antirestriction proteins ArdA ColIB-P9, Arn T4, and Ocr T7 as activators of H-NS-dependent gene transcription.

PubMed

Melkina, Olga E; Goryanin, Ignatiy I; Zavilgelsky, Gennadii B

2016-11-01

The antirestriction proteins ArdA ColIb-P9, Arn T4 and Ocr T7 specifically inhibit type I and type IV restriction enzymes and belong to the family of DNA-mimic proteins because their three-dimensional structure is similar to the double-helical B-form DNA. It is proposed that the DNA-mimic proteins are able to bind nucleoid protein H-NS and alleviate H-NS-silencing of the transcription of bacterial genes. Escherichia coli lux biosensors were constructed by inserting H-NS-dependent promoters into a vector, thereby placing each fragment upstream of the promoterless Photorhabdus luminescens luxCDABE operon. It was demonstrated that the DNA-mimic proteins ArdA, Arn and Ocr activate the transcription of H-NS-dependent promoters of the lux operon of marine luminescent bacteria (mesophilic Aliivibrio fischeri and psychrophilic Aliivibrio logei), and the dps gene from E. coli. It was also demonstrated that the ArdA antirestriction protein, the genes of which are located on transmissive plasmids ColIb-P9, R64, PK101, decreases levels of H-NS silencing of the PluxC promoter during conjugation in the recipient bacteria. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Gravity-driven postseismic deformation following the Mw 6.3 2009 L’Aquila (Italy) earthquake

PubMed Central

Albano, Matteo; Barba, Salvatore; Saroli, Michele; Moro, Marco; Malvarosa, Fabio; Costantini, Mario; Bignami, Christian; Stramondo, Salvatore

2015-01-01

The present work focuses on the postseismic deformation observed in the region of L’Aquila (central Italy) following the Mw 6.3 earthquake that occurred on April 6, 2009. A new, 16-month-long dataset of COSMO-SkyMed SAR images was analysed using the Persistent Scatterer Pairs interferometric technique. The analysis revealed the existence of postseismic ground subsidence in the mountainous rocky area of Mt Ocre ridge, contiguous to the sedimentary plain that experienced coseismic subsidence. The postseismic subsidence was characterized by displacements of 10 to 35 mm along the SAR line of sight. In the Mt Ocre ridge, widespread morphological elements associated with gravitational spreading have been previously mapped. We tested the hypothesis that the postseismic subsidence of the Mt Ocre ridge compensates the loss of equilibrium induced by the nearby coseismic subsidence. Therefore, we simulated the coseismic and postseismic displacement fields via the finite element method. We included the gravitational load and fault slip and accounted for the geometrical and rheological characteristics of the area. We found that the elastoplastic behaviour of the material under gravitational loading best explains the observed postseismic displacement. These findings emphasize the role of gravity in the postseismic processes at the fault scale. PMID:26553120

Investigation of Galactic open cluster remnants: the case of NGC 7193

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Souza Angelo, Mateus; Francisco Coelho dos Santos, João, Jr.; Barbosa Corradi, Wagner José; Ferreira de Souza Maia, Francisco; Piatti, Andrés Eduardo

2017-01-01

Galactic open clusters (OCs) that survive the early gas-expulsion phase are gradually destroyed over time by the action of disruptive dynamical processes. Their final evolutionary stages are characterized by a poorly populated concentration of stars called an open cluster remnant (OCR). This study is devoted to assessing the real physical nature of the OCR candidate NGC 7193. GMOS/Gemini spectroscopy of 53 stars in the inner target region were obtained to derive radial velocities and atmospheric parameters. We also employed photometric and proper motion data. The analysis method consists of the following steps: (i) analysis of the statistical resemblance between the cluster and a set of field samples with respect to the sequences defined in color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs); (ii) a 5-dimensional iterative exclusion routine was employed to identify outliers from kinematical and positional data; (iii) isochrone fitting to the Ks×(J-Ks) CMD of the remaining stars and the dispersion of spectral types along empirical sequences in the (J-H)×(H-Ks) diagram were checked. A group of stars was identified for which the mean heliocentric distance is compatible with that obtained via isochrone fitting and whose metallicities are compatible with each other. Fifteen of the member stars observed spectroscopically were identified together with another 19 probable members. Our results indicate that NGC 7193 is a genuine OCR, of a once very populous OC, for which the following parameters were derived: d = 501±46 pc, t=2.5+/-1.2 Gyr, < [Fe/H] >=-0.17+/-0.23 and E(B-V)=0.05+/-0.05. Its luminosity and mass functions show depletion of low mass stars, confirming the OCR is in a dynamically evolved state. Based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the AURA under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: NSF (United States), STFC (United Kingdom), NRC (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), ARC (Australia), CNPq (Brazil) and CONICET (Argentina).

Human mesenchymal stem cell-replicative senescence and oxidative stress are closely linked to aneuploidy.

PubMed

Estrada, J C; Torres, Y; Benguría, A; Dopazo, A; Roche, E; Carrera-Quintanar, L; Pérez, R A; Enríquez, J A; Torres, R; Ramírez, J C; Samper, E; Bernad, A

2013-06-27

In most clinical trials, human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are expanded in vitro before implantation. The genetic stability of human stem cells is critical for their clinical use. However, the relationship between stem-cell expansion and genetic stability is poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that within the normal expansion period, hMSC cultures show a high percentage of aneuploid cells that progressively increases until senescence. Despite this accumulation, we show that in a heterogeneous culture the senescence-prone hMSC subpopulation has a lower proliferation potential and a higher incidence of aneuploidy than the non-senescent subpopulation. We further show that senescence is linked to a novel transcriptional signature that includes a set of genes implicated in ploidy control. Overexpression of the telomerase catalytic subunit (human telomerase reverse transcriptase, hTERT) inhibited senescence, markedly reducing the levels of aneuploidy and preventing the dysregulation of ploidy-controlling genes. hMSC-replicative senescence was accompanied by an increase in oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and oxidative stress, but in long-term cultures that overexpress hTERT, these parameters were maintained at basal levels, comparable to unmodified hMSCs at initial passages. We therefore propose that hTERT contributes to genetic stability through its classical telomere maintenance function and also by reducing the levels of oxidative stress, possibly, by controlling mitochondrial physiology. Finally, we propose that aneuploidy is a relevant factor in the induction of senescence and should be assessed in hMSCs before their clinical use.

Development of a Digitalized Child's Checkups Information System.

PubMed

Ito, Yoshiya; Takimoto, Hidemi

2017-01-01

In Japan, health checkups for children take place from infancy through high school and play an important role in the maintenance and control of childhood/adolescent health. The anthropometric data obtained during these checkups are kept in health centers and schools and are also recorded in a mother's maternal and child health handbook, as well as on school health cards. These data are meaningful if they are utilized well and in an appropriate manner. They are particularly useful for the prevention of obesity-related conditions in adulthood, such as metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus. For this purpose, we have tried to establish a scanning system with an optical character recognition (OCR) function, which links data obtained during health checkups in infancy with that obtained in schools. In this system, handwritten characters on the records are scanned and processed using OCR. However, because many of the scanned characters are not read properly, we must wait for the improvement in the performance of the OCR function. In addition, we have developed Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, on which obesity-related indices, such as body mass index and relative body weight, are calculated. These sheets also provide functions that tabulate the frequencies of obesity in specific groups. Actively using these data and digitalized systems will not only contribute towards resolving physical health problems in children, but also decrease the risk of developing lifestyle-related diseases in adulthood.

[Ehler-Danlos syndrome type VIII].

PubMed

Ciarloni, L; Perrigouard, C; Lipsker, D; Cribier, B

2010-03-01

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) comprises a heterogeneous group of diseases involving genetic collagen fibre impairment. We describe a case of a patient presenting the rare type VIII, in which dermatitis ocre was associated with parodontal disease, and which was diagnosed late. A 29-year-old man consulted for a pretibial ulcer present for seven years, resulting from a post-traumatic haematoma that had failed to heal. In view of the longiliner morphology, it had previously been diagnosed as Marfan syndrome. Subsequently, edentation was observed as well as "alveolar bone fragility". Examination revealed a marfanoid morphotype, a pretibial ulcer set within long-standing bilateral dermatitis ocre and papyraceous scars, but no joint hyperlaxity or cutaneous hyperelasticity. The diagnosis was consequently corrected to EDS type VIII. Type VIII is a rare form of EDS, and the molecular mechanism is poorly understood. The involvement of parodontal connective tissue suggests impairment of collagen I and III proteins. It is important to identify this type of the disease since it involves parodontal disease for which early treatment is required in order to try to prevent edentation. The present case demonstrates the importance of diagnosis, which may be based upon appearance of bilateral dermatitis ocre from the age of 15 years associated with skin fragility. This sign is not part of the classical picture of Marfan syndrome, with which EDS type VIII is often confounded. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Arabic OCR: toward a complete system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Bialy, Ahmed M.; Kandil, Ahmed H.; Hashish, Mohamed; Yamany, Sameh M.

1999-12-01

Latin and Chinese OCR systems have been studied extensively in the literature. Yet little work was performed for Arabic character recognition. This is due to the technical challenges found in the Arabic text. Due to its cursive nature, a powerful and stable text segmentation is needed. Also; features capturing the characteristics of the rich Arabic character representation are needed to build the Arabic OCR. In this paper a novel segmentation technique which is font and size independent is introduced. This technique can segment the cursive written text line even if the line suffers from small skewness. The technique is not sensitive to the location of the centerline of the text line and can segment different font sizes and type (for different character sets) occurring on the same line. Features extraction is considered one of the most important phases of the text reading system. Ideally, the features extracted from a character image should capture the essential characteristics of this character that are independent of the font type and size. In such ideal case, the classifier stores a single prototype per character. However, it is practically challenging to find such ideal set of features. In this paper, a set of features that reflect the topological aspects of Arabia characters is proposed. These proposed features integrated with a topological matching technique introduce an Arabic text reading system that is semi Omni.

Font adaptive word indexing of modern printed documents.

PubMed

Marinai, Simone; Marino, Emanuele; Soda, Giovanni

2006-08-01

We propose an approach for the word-level indexing of modern printed documents which are difficult to recognize using current OCR engines. By means of word-level indexing, it is possible to retrieve the position of words in a document, enabling queries involving proximity of terms. Web search engines implement this kind of indexing, allowing users to retrieve Web pages on the basis of their textual content. Nowadays, digital libraries hold collections of digitized documents that can be retrieved either by browsing the document images or relying on appropriate metadata assembled by domain experts. Word indexing tools would therefore increase the access to these collections. The proposed system is designed to index homogeneous document collections by automatically adapting to different languages and font styles without relying on OCR engines for character recognition. The approach is based on three main ideas: the use of Self Organizing Maps (SOM) to perform unsupervised character clustering, the definition of one suitable vector-based word representation whose size depends on the word aspect-ratio, and the run-time alignment of the query word with indexed words to deal with broken and touching characters. The most appropriate applications are for processing modern printed documents (17th to 19th centuries) where current OCR engines are less accurate. Our experimental analysis addresses six data sets containing documents ranging from books of the 17th century to contemporary journals.

Estrus induction and fertility rates in response to exogenous hormonal administration in postpartum anestrous and subestrus bovines and buffaloes.

PubMed

Honparkhe, M; Singh, Jagir; Dadarwal, D; Dhaliwal, G S; Kumar, Ajeet

2008-12-01

A total of 130 animals (82 cattle, 48 buffaloes) with histories of anestrous 60-90 days post-partum and belonging to different agroclimatic zones of Punjab were subjected to rectal palpation and blood samplings at least three times at weekly intervals. The body condition score (BCS) of each animal was also recorded. The animals were divided into two groups; viz., true anestrous (Gp-I) and subestrus (Gp-II) through rectal palpation of ovaries and plasma progesterone (P4) concentrations. Furthermore, the Gp I and II animals were divided into treatment (Gp Ia, 40 cattle and 16 buffaloes; Gp IIa, 12 cattle and 14 buffaloes) and control groups (Gp Ib, 20 cattle and 8 buffaloes; Gp IIb, 10 cattle and 10 buffaloes). True anestrous animals (Gp Ia) were treated with 3 injections of hydroxyprogesterone caproate (750 mg, i.m.) at 72-hr intervals followed by injection of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG; 750 I.U., i.m.) 72 hr after the last progesterone injection. The animals were bred at the first estrus after the induced one. The first service conception rate (FSCR), overall conception rate (OCR), services per conception and pregnancy rate of the true anestrous treated cattle (Gp Ia) were 44.4%, 48.0%, 2.08 and 60.0%, respectively. In the true anestrous control cattle (Gp Ib), only five that were observed to be in estrus failed to conceive. In the anestrous treated buffaloes (Gp Ia), the FSCR, OCR, services per conception and pregnancy rate were 50.0%, 62.5%, 1.6 and 62.5%, respectively. No buffalo amongst true anestrous control (Gp Ib) showed estrus. The subestrus animals (Gp IIa) were administered Prostaglandin F(2alpha) (PGF(2alpha); 25 mg Dinoprost, i.m.) and bred at induced estrus. Amongst the Gp IIa animals, all cattle (100%) and twelve buffaloes (85.7%) responded to treatment. Of these animals, the FSCR and pregnancy rate at induced estrus in the cattle were 50.0% each, whereas they were 66.6% and 57.1%, respectively, in the buffaloes. The subestrus control animals (Gp IIb) remained infertile. In summary, the plasma P(4) profile can be used to differentiate true anestrous and subestrus animals and thus to determine a hormonal therapy. Furthermore, fertile estrus can be induced with hormonal therapy in anestrous and subestrus bovines.

Composition of a dewarped and enhanced document image from two view images.

PubMed

Koo, Hyung Il; Kim, Jinho; Cho, Nam Ik

2009-07-01

In this paper, we propose an algorithm to compose a geometrically dewarped and visually enhanced image from two document images taken by a digital camera at different angles. Unlike the conventional works that require special equipment or assumptions on the contents of books or complicated image acquisition steps, we estimate the unfolded book or document surface from the corresponding points between two images. For this purpose, the surface and camera matrices are estimated using structure reconstruction, 3-D projection analysis, and random sample consensus-based curve fitting with the cylindrical surface model. Because we do not need any assumption on the contents of books, the proposed method can be applied not only to optical character recognition (OCR), but also to the high-quality digitization of pictures in documents. In addition to the dewarping for a structurally better image, image mosaic is also performed for further improving the visual quality. By finding better parts of images (with less out of focus blur and/or without specular reflections) from either of views, we compose a better image by stitching and blending them. These processes are formulated as energy minimization problems that can be solved using a graph cut method. Experiments on many kinds of book or document images show that the proposed algorithm robustly works and yields visually pleasing results. Also, the OCR rate of the resulting image is comparable to that of document images from a flatbed scanner.

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

Liang, Bin; Li, Yongbao; Liu, Bo

Purpose: CyberKnife system is initially equipped with fixed circular cones for stereotactic radiosurgery. Two dose calculation algorithms, Ray-Tracing and Monte Carlo, are available in the supplied treatment planning system. A multileaf collimator system was recently introduced in the latest generation of system, capable of arbitrarily shaped treatment field. The purpose of this study is to develop a model based dose calculation algorithm to better handle the lateral scatter in an irregularly shaped small field for the CyberKnife system. Methods: A pencil beam dose calculation algorithm widely used in linac based treatment planning system was modified. The kernel parameters and intensitymore » profile were systematically determined by fitting to the commissioning data. The model was tuned using only a subset of measured data (4 out of 12 cones) and applied to all fixed circular cones for evaluation. The root mean square (RMS) of the difference between the measured and calculated tissue-phantom-ratios (TPRs) and off-center-ratio (OCR) was compared. Three cone size correction techniques were developed to better fit the OCRs at the penumbra region, which are further evaluated by the output factors (OFs). The pencil beam model was further validated against measurement data on the variable dodecagon-shaped Iris collimators and a half-beam blocked field. Comparison with Ray-Tracing and Monte Carlo methods was also performed on a lung SBRT case. Results: The RMS between the measured and calculated TPRs is 0.7% averaged for all cones, with the descending region at 0.5%. The RMSs of OCR at infield and outfield regions are both at 0.5%. The distance to agreement (DTA) at the OCR penumbra region is 0.2 mm. All three cone size correction models achieve the same improvement in OCR agreement, with the effective source shift model (SSM) preferred, due to their ability to predict more accurately the OF variations with the source to axis distance (SAD). In noncircular field validation, the pencil beam calculated results agreed well with the film measurement of both Iris collimators and the half-beam blocked field, fared much better than the Ray-Tracing calculation. Conclusions: The authors have developed a pencil beam dose calculation model for the CyberKnife system. The dose calculation accuracy is better than the standard linac based system because the model parameters were specifically tuned to the CyberKnife system and geometry correction factors. The model handles better the lateral scatter and has the potential to be used for the irregularly shaped fields. Comprehensive validations on MLC equipped system are necessary for its clinical implementation. It is reasonably fast enough to be used during plan optimization.« less

How to File a Complaint of Discrimination brochure

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) External Compliance and Complaints (ECC) Program is responsible for enforcing several civil rights laws which, together, prohibit discrimination.

Figure Text Extraction in Biomedical Literature

PubMed Central

Kim, Daehyun; Yu, Hong

2011-01-01

Background Figures are ubiquitous in biomedical full-text articles, and they represent important biomedical knowledge. However, the sheer volume of biomedical publications has made it necessary to develop computational approaches for accessing figures. Therefore, we are developing the Biomedical Figure Search engine (http://figuresearch.askHERMES.org) to allow bioscientists to access figures efficiently. Since text frequently appears in figures, automatically extracting such text may assist the task of mining information from figures. Little research, however, has been conducted exploring text extraction from biomedical figures. Methodology We first evaluated an off-the-shelf Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tool on its ability to extract text from figures appearing in biomedical full-text articles. We then developed a Figure Text Extraction Tool (FigTExT) to improve the performance of the OCR tool for figure text extraction through the use of three innovative components: image preprocessing, character recognition, and text correction. We first developed image preprocessing to enhance image quality and to improve text localization. Then we adapted the off-the-shelf OCR tool on the improved text localization for character recognition. Finally, we developed and evaluated a novel text correction framework by taking advantage of figure-specific lexicons. Results/Conclusions The evaluation on 382 figures (9,643 figure texts in total) randomly selected from PubMed Central full-text articles shows that FigTExT performed with 84% precision, 98% recall, and 90% F1-score for text localization and with 62.5% precision, 51.0% recall and 56.2% F1-score for figure text extraction. When limiting figure texts to those judged by domain experts to be important content, FigTExT performed with 87.3% precision, 68.8% recall, and 77% F1-score. FigTExT significantly improved the performance of the off-the-shelf OCR tool we used, which on its own performed with 36.6% precision, 19.3% recall, and 25.3% F1-score for text extraction. In addition, our results show that FigTExT can extract texts that do not appear in figure captions or other associated text, further suggesting the potential utility of FigTExT for improving figure search. PMID:21249186

Page Recognition: Quantum Leap In Recognition Technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Larry

1989-07-01

No milestone has proven as elusive as the always-approaching "year of the LAN," but the "year of the scanner" might claim the silver medal. Desktop scanners have been around almost as long as personal computers. And everyone thinks they are used for obvious desktop-publishing and business tasks like scanning business documents, magazine articles and other pages, and translating those words into files your computer understands. But, until now, the reality fell far short of the promise. Because it's true that scanners deliver an accurate image of the page to your computer, but the software to recognize this text has been woefully disappointing. Old optical-character recognition (OCR) software recognized such a limited range of pages as to be virtually useless to real users. (For example, one OCR vendor specified 12-point Courier font from an IBM Selectric typewriter: the same font in 10-point, or from a Diablo printer, was unrecognizable!) Computer dealers have told me the chasm between OCR expectations and reality is so broad and deep that nine out of ten prospects leave their stores in disgust when they learn the limitations. And this is a very important, very unfortunate gap. Because the promise of recognition -- what people want it to do -- carries with it tremendous improvements in our productivity and ability to get tons of written documents into our computers where we can do real work with it. The good news is that a revolutionary new development effort has led to the new technology of "page recognition," which actually does deliver the promise we've always wanted from OCR. I'm sure every reader appreciates the breakthrough represented by the laser printer and page-makeup software, a combination so powerful it created new reasons for buying a computer. A similar breakthrough is happening right now in page recognition: the Macintosh (and, I must admit, other personal computers) equipped with a moderately priced scanner and OmniPage software (from Caere Corporation) can recognize not only different fonts (omnifont recogniton) but different page (omnipage) formats, as well.

Figure text extraction in biomedical literature.

PubMed

Kim, Daehyun; Yu, Hong

2011-01-13

Figures are ubiquitous in biomedical full-text articles, and they represent important biomedical knowledge. However, the sheer volume of biomedical publications has made it necessary to develop computational approaches for accessing figures. Therefore, we are developing the Biomedical Figure Search engine (http://figuresearch.askHERMES.org) to allow bioscientists to access figures efficiently. Since text frequently appears in figures, automatically extracting such text may assist the task of mining information from figures. Little research, however, has been conducted exploring text extraction from biomedical figures. We first evaluated an off-the-shelf Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tool on its ability to extract text from figures appearing in biomedical full-text articles. We then developed a Figure Text Extraction Tool (FigTExT) to improve the performance of the OCR tool for figure text extraction through the use of three innovative components: image preprocessing, character recognition, and text correction. We first developed image preprocessing to enhance image quality and to improve text localization. Then we adapted the off-the-shelf OCR tool on the improved text localization for character recognition. Finally, we developed and evaluated a novel text correction framework by taking advantage of figure-specific lexicons. The evaluation on 382 figures (9,643 figure texts in total) randomly selected from PubMed Central full-text articles shows that FigTExT performed with 84% precision, 98% recall, and 90% F1-score for text localization and with 62.5% precision, 51.0% recall and 56.2% F1-score for figure text extraction. When limiting figure texts to those judged by domain experts to be important content, FigTExT performed with 87.3% precision, 68.8% recall, and 77% F1-score. FigTExT significantly improved the performance of the off-the-shelf OCR tool we used, which on its own performed with 36.6% precision, 19.3% recall, and 25.3% F1-score for text extraction. In addition, our results show that FigTExT can extract texts that do not appear in figure captions or other associated text, further suggesting the potential utility of FigTExT for improving figure search.

Geometric rectification of camera-captured document images.

PubMed

Liang, Jian; DeMenthon, Daniel; Doermann, David

2008-04-01

Compared to typical scanners, handheld cameras offer convenient, flexible, portable, and non-contact image capture, which enables many new applications and breathes new life into existing ones. However, camera-captured documents may suffer from distortions caused by non-planar document shape and perspective projection, which lead to failure of current OCR technologies. We present a geometric rectification framework for restoring the frontal-flat view of a document from a single camera-captured image. Our approach estimates 3D document shape from texture flow information obtained directly from the image without requiring additional 3D/metric data or prior camera calibration. Our framework provides a unified solution for both planar and curved documents and can be applied in many, especially mobile, camera-based document analysis applications. Experiments show that our method produces results that are significantly more OCR compatible than the original images.

Comparison of the scanned pages of the contractual documents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andreeva, Elena; Arlazarov, Vladimir V.; Manzhikov, Temudzhin; Slavin, Oleg

2018-04-01

In this paper the problem statement is given to compare the digitized pages of the official papers. Such problem appears during the comparison of two customer copies signed at different times between two parties with a view to find the possible modifications introduced on the one hand. This problem is a practically significant in the banking sector during the conclusion of contracts in a paper format. The method of comparison based on the recognition, which consists in the comparison of two bag-of-words, which are the recognition result of the master and test pages, is suggested. The described experiments were conducted using the OCR Tesseract and the siamese neural network. The advantages of the suggested method are the steady operation of the comparison algorithm and the high exacting precision, and one of the disadvantages is the dependence on the chosen OCR.

Caenorhabditis elegans TRPV Channels Function in a Modality-Specific Pathway to Regulate Response to Aberrant Sensory Signaling

PubMed Central

Ezak , Meredith J.; Hong , Elizabeth; Chaparro-Garcia , Angela; Ferkey , Denise M.

2010-01-01

Olfaction and some forms of taste (including bitter) are mediated by G protein-coupled signal transduction pathways. Olfactory and gustatory ligands bind to chemosensory G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in specialized sensory cells to activate intracellular signal transduction cascades. G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) are negative regulators of signaling that specifically phosphorylate activated GPCRs to terminate signaling. Although loss of GRK function usually results in enhanced cellular signaling, Caenorhabditis elegans lacking GRK-2 function are not hypersensitive to chemosensory stimuli. Instead, grk-2 mutant animals do not chemotax toward attractive olfactory stimuli or avoid aversive tastes and smells. We show here that loss-of-function mutations in the transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) channels OSM-9 and OCR-2 selectively restore grk-2 behavioral avoidance of bitter tastants, revealing modality-specific mechanisms for TRPV channel function in the regulation of C. elegans chemosensation. Additionally, a single amino acid point mutation in OCR-2 that disrupts TRPV channel-mediated gene expression, but does not decrease channel function in chemosensory primary signal transduction, also restores grk-2 bitter taste avoidance. Thus, loss of GRK-2 function may lead to changes in gene expression, via OSM-9/OCR-2, to selectively alter the levels of signaling components that transduce or regulate bitter taste responses. Our results suggest a novel mechanism and multiple modality-specific pathways that sensory cells employ in response to aberrant signal transduction. PMID:20176974

77 FR 23229 - Submission for OMB Review; Assurance of Compliance-Civil Rights Certificate

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-18

... rights laws, including Title VI, Title IX, Section 504, the Age Discrimination Act, and the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act. To meet these responsibilities, OCR collects assurances of compliance from...

Computers for the Disabled.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazzaro, Joseph J.

1993-01-01

Describes adaptive technology for personal computers that accommodate disabled users and may require special equipment including hardware, memory, expansion slots, and ports. Highlights include vision aids, including speech synthesizers, magnification, braille, and optical character recognition (OCR); hearing adaptations; motor-impaired…

Building Structured Personal Health Records from Photographs of Printed Medical Records.

PubMed

Li, Xiang; Hu, Gang; Teng, Xiaofei; Xie, Guotong

2015-01-01

Personal health records (PHRs) provide patient-centric healthcare by making health records accessible to patients. In China, it is very difficult for individuals to access electronic health records. Instead, individuals can easily obtain the printed copies of their own medical records, such as prescriptions and lab test reports, from hospitals. In this paper, we propose a practical approach to extract structured data from printed medical records photographed by mobile phones. An optical character recognition (OCR) pipeline is performed to recognize text in a document photo, which addresses the problems of low image quality and content complexity by image pre-processing and multiple OCR engine synthesis. A series of annotation algorithms that support flexible layouts are then used to identify the document type, entities of interest, and entity correlations, from which a structured PHR document is built. The proposed approach was applied to real world medical records to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability.

Review of chart recognition in document images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yan; Lu, Xiaoqing; Qin, Yeyang; Tang, Zhi; Xu, Jianbo

2013-01-01

As an effective information transmitting way, chart is widely used to represent scientific statistics datum in books, research papers, newspapers etc. Though textual information is still the major source of data, there has been an increasing trend of introducing graphs, pictures, and figures into the information pool. Text recognition techniques for documents have been accomplished using optical character recognition (OCR) software. Chart recognition techniques as a necessary supplement of OCR for document images are still an unsolved problem due to the great subjectiveness and variety of charts styles. This paper reviews the development process of chart recognition techniques in the past decades and presents the focuses of current researches. The whole process of chart recognition is presented systematically, which mainly includes three parts: chart segmentation, chart classification, and chart Interpretation. In each part, the latest research work is introduced. In the last, the paper concludes with a summary and promising future research direction.

Building Structured Personal Health Records from Photographs of Printed Medical Records

PubMed Central

Li, Xiang; Hu, Gang; Teng, Xiaofei; Xie, Guotong

2015-01-01

Personal health records (PHRs) provide patient-centric healthcare by making health records accessible to patients. In China, it is very difficult for individuals to access electronic health records. Instead, individuals can easily obtain the printed copies of their own medical records, such as prescriptions and lab test reports, from hospitals. In this paper, we propose a practical approach to extract structured data from printed medical records photographed by mobile phones. An optical character recognition (OCR) pipeline is performed to recognize text in a document photo, which addresses the problems of low image quality and content complexity by image pre-processing and multiple OCR engine synthesis. A series of annotation algorithms that support flexible layouts are then used to identify the document type, entities of interest, and entity correlations, from which a structured PHR document is built. The proposed approach was applied to real world medical records to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability. PMID:26958219

Image based book cover recognition and retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sukhadan, Kalyani; Vijayarajan, V.; Krishnamoorthi, A.; Bessie Amali, D. Geraldine

2017-11-01

In this we are developing a graphical user interface using MATLAB for the users to check the information related to books in real time. We are taking the photos of the book cover using GUI, then by using MSER algorithm it will automatically detect all the features from the input image, after this it will filter bifurcate non-text features which will be based on morphological difference between text and non-text regions. We implemented a text character alignment algorithm which will improve the accuracy of the original text detection. We will also have a look upon the built in MATLAB OCR recognition algorithm and an open source OCR which is commonly used to perform better detection results, post detection algorithm is implemented and natural language processing to perform word correction and false detection inhibition. Finally, the detection result will be linked to internet to perform online matching. More than 86% accuracy can be obtained by this algorithm.

Update on HIPAA privacy: are you ready?

PubMed

Cole, Laura J; Fleisher, Lynn D

2003-01-01

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) created new requirements for health care providers to protect the privacy and security of individually identifiable health information. Regulations to implement HIPAA's privacy provisions were published by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in "final" form in December 2000 (the Privacy Rules). In March, 2002, HHS proposed modifications to the Privacy Rules, which were published on August 14, 2002. The modified final regulations differed from the 2000 regulations in a number of important respects. Most recently, on December 4, 2002, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which is charged with enforcement of HIPAA, published "Guidance Explaining Significant Aspects of the Privacy Rule." The Privacy Rules went into effect on April 14, 2003. This article provides a summary of the modified Privacy Rules, discusses some interesting aspects of OCR's "guidance," and highlights the requirements that are most likely to impact the practice of medical genetics.

Optical character recognition: an illustrated guide to the frontier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagy, George; Nartker, Thomas A.; Rice, Stephen V.

1999-12-01

We offer a perspective on the performance of current OCR systems by illustrating and explaining actual OCR errors made by three commercial devices. After discussing briefly the character recognition abilities of humans and computers, we present illustrated examples of recognition errors. The top level of our taxonomy of the causes of errors consists of Imaging Defects, Similar Symbols, Punctuation, and Typography. The analysis of a series of 'snippets' from this perspective provides insight into the strengths and weaknesses of current systems, and perhaps a road map to future progress. The examples were drawn from the large-scale tests conducted by the authors at the Information Science Research Institute of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. By way of conclusion, we point to possible approaches for improving the accuracy of today's systems. The talk is based on our eponymous monograph, recently published in The Kluwer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999.

Rapid changes in cell physiology as a result of acute thermal stress house sparrows, Passer domesticus.

PubMed

Jimenez, Ana G; Williams, Joseph B

2014-12-01

Given that our climate is rapidly changing, Physiological Ecologists have the critical task of identifying characteristics of species that make them either resilient or susceptible to changes in their natural air temperature regime. Because climate change models suggest that heat events will become more common, and in some places more extreme, it is important to consider how extreme heat events might affect the physiology of a species. The implications of more frequent heat wave events for birds have only recently begun to be addressed, however, the impact of these events on the cellular physiology of a species is difficult to assess. We have developed a novel approach using dermal fibroblasts to explore how short-term thermal stress at the whole animal level might affect cellular rates of metabolism. House sparrows, Passer domesticus were separated into a "control group" and a "heat shocked" group, the latter acclimated to 43°C for 24h. We determined the plasticity of cellular thermal responses by assigning a "recovery group" that was heat shocked as above, but then returned to room temperature for 24h. Primary dermal fibroblasts were grown from skin of all treatment groups and the pectoralis muscle was collected. We found that glycolysis (ECAR) and oxygen consumption rates (OCR), measured using a Seahorse XF 96 analyzer, were significantly higher in the fibroblasts from the heat shocked group of House sparrows compared with their control counterparts. Additionally, muscle fiber diameters decreased and, in turn, Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase maximal activity in the muscle significantly increased in heat shocked sparrows compared with birds in the control group. All of these physiological alterations due to short-term heat exposure were reversible within 24h of recovery at room temperature. These results show that acute exposure to heat stress significantly alters the cellular physiology of sparrows, but that this species is plastic enough to recover from such a thermal insult within 24h. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

A Review of Heavy-Fueled Rotary Engine Combustion Technologies

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-01

and Flame Quenching ...................................................................................56  4.6  Turbocharging and Supercharging... turbocharged engine). ...........................................................51  Figure 60. ISFC, exhaust temperature, power, and volumetric efficiency...OCR, CCR, and LCCR. ..............................................................61  Figure 70. Theoretical turbocharging effects on BSFC

23 CFR 230.411 - Guidance for conducting reviews.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Highways FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CIVIL RIGHTS EXTERNAL PROGRAMS... forwarded through appropriate channels to the Washington Headquarters, Office of Civil Rights. After approval, the Washington Headquarters, Office of Civil Rights, (OCR) shall request the appropriate region...

Reactivity of cosmetic UV filters towards skin proteins: model studies with Boc-lysine, Boc-Gly-Phe-Gly-Lys-OH, BSA and gelatin.

PubMed

Stiefel, C; Schwack, W

2014-12-01

Organic UV filters are used as active ingredients in most sunscreens and also in a variety of daily care products. Their good (photo) stability is of special interest to guarantee protective function and to prevent interactions with the human skin. Due to the mostly electrophilic character of the UV filters, reactions with nucleophilic protein moieties like lysine side chains are conceivable. Prior studies showed that the UV filters octocrylene (OCR), butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (BM-DBM), ethylhexyl salicylate (EHS), ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC), benzophenone-3 (BP-3), ethylhexyl triazone (EHT) and dibenzoylmethane (DBM) were able to covalently bind to an HPTLC amino phase and the amino acid models ethanolamine and butylamine after slightly heating and/or radiation. Boc-protected lysine, the tetrapeptide Boc-Gly-Phe-Gly-Lys-OH, bovine serum albumin (BSA) and porcine gelatin were used as more complex models to determine the reactivity of the mentioned UV filters towards skin proteins under thermal or UV irradiation conditions. After gentle heating at 37°C, benzophenone imines were identified as reaction products of BP-3 and OCR with Boc-lysine and the tetrapeptide, whereas DBM and BM-DBM yielded enamines. For EHMC, a Michael-type reaction occurred, which resulted in addition of Boc-lysine or the tetrapeptide to the conjugated double bond. Ester aminolysis of EHS and EHT mainly afforded the corresponding amides. Reactions of the UV filters with BSA changed the UV spectrum of BSA, generally associated with an increase of the absorption strength in the UVA or UVB range. For all protein models, the UV filters showed an increasing reactivity in the order EHT < EHMC < EHS < BP-3 < OCR < DBM < BM-DBM. Especially the UV absorbers BM-DBM, OCR and BP-3, which are seen as common allergens or photoallergens, showed a high reactivity towards the different skin protein models. As the formation of protein adducts is recognized as important key element in the induction of skin sensitization, the results of this study can contribute to a better understanding of the underlying chemical mechanisms of such reactions. © 2014 Society of Cosmetic Scientists and the Société Française de Cosmétologie.

Slant rectification in Russian passport OCR system using fast Hough transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Limonova, Elena; Bezmaternykh, Pavel; Nikolaev, Dmitry; Arlazarov, Vladimir

2017-03-01

In this paper, we introduce slant detection method based on Fast Hough Transform calculation and demonstrate its application in industrial system for Russian passports recognition. About 1.5% of this kind of documents appear to be slant or italic. This fact reduces recognition rate, because Optical Recognition Systems are normally designed to process normal fonts. Our method uses Fast Hough Transform to analyse vertical strokes of characters extracted with the help of x-derivative of a text line image. To improve the quality of detector we also introduce field grouping rules. The resulting algorithm allowed to reach high detection quality. Almost all errors of considered approach happen on passports of nonstandard fonts, while slant detector works in appropriate way.

76 FR 59180 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Request and Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-23

... criteria. Respondents complete Form SSA-1026-REDE under the following circumstances: (1) When individuals...,420 SSA-1026-OCR-SM-REDE 225,000 1 18 67,500 Total 236,400 70,920 II. SSA submitted the information...

Rubella viruses shift cellular bioenergetics to a more oxidative and glycolytic phenotype with a strain-specific requirement for glutamine.

PubMed

Bilz, Nicole C; Jahn, Kristin; Lorenz, Mechthild; Lüdtke, Anja; Hübschen, Judith M; Geyer, Henriette; Mankertz, Annette; Hübner, Denise; Liebert, Uwe G; Claus, Claudia

2018-06-27

The flexible regulation of cellular metabolic pathways enables cellular adaptation to changes in energy demand under conditions of stress such as posed by a virus infection. To analyze such an impact on cellular metabolism, rubella virus (RV) was used in this study. RV replication under selected substrate supplementation with glucose, pyruvate, and glutamine as essential nutrients for mammalian cells revealed its requirement for glutamine. The assessment of the mitochondrial respiratory (based on oxygen consumption rate, OCR) and glycolytic (based on extracellular acidification rate, ECAR) rate and capacity by respective stress tests through Seahorse technology enabled determination of the bioenergetic phenotype of RV-infected cells. Irrespective of the cellular metabolic background, RV infection induced a shift of the bioenergetic state of epithelial (Vero and A549) and endothelial (HUVEC) cells to a higher oxidative and glycolytic level. Interestingly there was a RV strain-specific, but genotype-independent demand for glutamine to induce a significant increase in metabolic activity. While glutaminolysis appeared to be rather negligible for RV replication, glutamine could serve as donor of its amide nitrogen in biosynthesis pathways for important metabolites. This study suggests that the capacity of rubella viruses to induce metabolic alterations could evolve differently during natural infection. Thus, changes in cellular bioenergetics represent an important component of virus-host interactions and could complement our understanding of the viral preference for a distinct host cell population. Importance RV pathologies, especially during embryonal development, could be connected with its impact on mitochondrial metabolism. With bioenergetic phenotyping we pursued a rather novel approach in virology. For the first time it was shown that a virus infection could shift the bioenergetics of its infected host cell to a higher energetic state. Notably, the capacity to induce such alterations varied among different RV isolates. Thus, our data adds viral adaptation of cellular metabolic activity to its specific needs as a novel aspect to virus-host evolution. Additionally, this study emphasizes the implementation of different viral strains in the study of virus-host interactions and the use of bioenergetic phenotyping of infected cells as a biomarker for virus-induced pathological alterations. Copyright © 2018 American Society for Microbiology.

The Choice of Enzyme for Human Pancreas Digestion is a Critical Factor for Increasing the Success of Islet Isolation.

PubMed

Qi, Meirigeng; Valiente, Luis; McFadden, Brian; Omori, Keiko; Bilbao, Shiela; Juan, Jemily; Rawson, Jeffrey; Scott, Stephen; Ferreri, Kevin; Mullen, Yoko; El-Shahawy, Mohamed; Dafoe, Donald; Kandeel, Fouad; Al-Abdullah, Ismail H

2015-05-01

We evaluated three commercially available enzymes for pancreatic digestion by comparing key parameters during the islet isolation process, as well as islet quality post-isolation. Retrospectively compared and analyzed islet isolations from pancreata using three different enzyme groups: Liberase HI (n=63), Collagenase NB1/Neutral Protease (NP) (n=43), and Liberase Mammalian Tissue Free Collagenase/Thermolysin (MTF C/T) (n=115). A standardized islet isolation and purification method was used. Islet quality assessment was carried out using islet count, viability, in vitro glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), glucose-stimulated oxygen consumption rate (ΔOCR), and in vivo transplantation model in mice. Donor characteristics were not significantly different among the three enzyme groups used in terms of age, sex, hospital stay duration, cause of death, body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), cold ischemia time (CIT), and pancreas weight. Digestion efficacy (percentage of digested tissue by weight) was significantly higher in the Liberase MTF C/T group (73.5 ± 1.5 %) when compared to the Liberase HI group (63.6 ± 2.3 %) (p<0.001) and the Collagenase NB1/NP group (61.7 ± 2.9%) (p<0.001). The stimulation index for GSIS was significantly higher in the Liberase MTF C/T group (5.3 ± 0.5) as compared to the Liberase HI (2.9 ± 0.2) (p<0.0001) and the Collagenase NB1/NP (3.6 ± 2.9) (p=0.012) groups. Furthermore, the Liberase MTF C/T enzymes showed the highest success rate of transplantation in diabetic NOD Scid mice (65%), which was significantly higher than the Liberase HI (42%, p=0.001) and the Collagenase NB1/NP enzymes (41%, p<0.001). Liberase MTF C/T is superior to Liberase HI and Collagenase NB1/NP in terms of digestion efficacy and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in vitro . Moreover, Liberase MTF C/T had a significantly higher success rate of transplantation in diabetic NOD Scid mice compared to Liberase HI and Collagenase NB1/NP enzymes.

Calcium-regulation of mitochondrial respiration maintains ATP homeostasis and requires ARALAR/AGC1-malate aspartate shuttle in intact cortical neurons.

PubMed

Llorente-Folch, Irene; Rueda, Carlos B; Amigo, Ignacio; del Arco, Araceli; Saheki, Takeyori; Pardo, Beatriz; Satrústegui, Jorgina

2013-08-28

Neuronal respiration is controlled by ATP demand and Ca2+ but the roles played by each are unknown, as any Ca2+ signal also impacts on ATP demand. Ca2+ can control mitochondrial function through Ca2+-regulated mitochondrial carriers, the aspartate-glutamate and ATP-Mg/Pi carriers, ARALAR/AGC1 and SCaMC-3, respectively, or in the matrix after Ca2+ transport through the Ca2+ uniporter. We have studied the role of Ca2+ signaling in the regulation of mitochondrial respiration in intact mouse cortical neurons in basal conditions and in response to increased workload caused by increases in [Na+]cyt (veratridine, high-K+ depolarization) and/or [Ca2+]cyt (carbachol). Respiration in nonstimulated neurons on 2.5-5 mm glucose depends on ARALAR-malate aspartate shuttle (MAS), with a 46% drop in aralar KO neurons. All stimulation conditions induced increased OCR (oxygen consumption rate) in the presence of Ca2+, which was prevented by BAPTA-AM loading (to preserve the workload), or in Ca2+-free medium (which also lowers cell workload). SCaMC-3 limits respiration only in response to high workloads and robust Ca2+ signals. In every condition tested Ca2+ activation of ARALAR-MAS was required to fully stimulate coupled respiration by promoting pyruvate entry into mitochondria. In aralar KO neurons, respiration was stimulated by veratridine, but not by KCl or carbachol, indicating that the Ca2+ uniporter pathway played a role in the first, but not in the second condition, even though KCl caused an increase in [Ca2+]mit. The results suggest a requirement for ARALAR-MAS in priming pyruvate entry in mitochondria as a step needed to activate respiration by Ca2+ in response to moderate workloads.

An administrative right to be free from sexual violence? Title IX enforcement in historical and institutional perspective.

PubMed

Tani, Karen M

One of the most controversial administrative actions in recent years is the U.S. Department of Education's campaign against sexual assault on college campuses. Using its authority under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (mandating nondiscrimination on the basis of sex in all educational programs and activities receiving federal funds), the Department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has launched an enforcement effort that critics denounce as aggressive, manipulative, and corrosive of individual liberties. Missing from the commentary is a historically informed understanding of why this administrative campaign unfolded as it did. This Article offers crucial context by reminding readers that freedom from sexual violence was once celebrated as a national civil right--upon the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994--but then lost that status in a 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. OCR's recent campaign reflects a legal and political landscape in which at least some potential victims of sexual violence had come to feel rightfully connected to the institutions of the federal government, and then became righteously outraged by the endurance of such violence in their communities. OCR's campaign also reflects the unique role of federal administrative agencies in this landscape. Thanks to the power of the purse and the conditions that Congress has attached to funding streams, agencies enjoy a powerful form of jurisdiction over particular spaces and institutions. Attempts to harness this jurisdiction in service of aspirational rights claims should not surprise us; indeed, we should expect such efforts to continue. Building on this insight, the Article concludes with a research agenda for other scholars seeking to understand and evaluate OCR’s handiwork.

Structural effects of radiation-induced volumetric expansion on unreinforced concrete biological shields

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

Le Pape, Y.

Limited literature (Pomaro et al., 2011, Mirhosseini et al., 2014, Salomoni et al., 2014 and Andreev and Kapliy, 2014) is available on the structural analysis of irradiated concrete biological shield (CBS), although extended operations of nuclear powers plants may lead to critical neutron exposure above 1.0 × 10 +19 n cm ₋2. To the notable exception of Andreev and Kapliy, available structural models do not account for radiation-induced volumetric expansion, although it was found to develop important linear dimensional change of the order of 1%, and, can lead to significant concrete damage (Le Pape et al., 2015). A 1D-cylindrical model of an unreinforced CBS accounting for temperature and irradiation effects is developed. Irradiated concrete properties are characterized probabilistically using the updated database collected by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Field et al., 2015). The overstressed concrete ratio (OCR) of the CBS, i.e., the proportion of the wall thickness being subject to stresses beyond the resistance of concrete, is derived by deterministic and probabilistic analysis assuming that irradiated concrete behaves as an elastic materials. In the bi-axial compressive zone near the reactor cavity, the OCR is limited to 5.7%, i.e., 8.6 cm (3more » $$_2^1$$ in.), whereas, in the tension zone, the OCR extends to 72%, i.e., 1.08 m (42$$_2^1$$ in.). Finally, we find that these results, valid for a maximum neutron fluence on the concrete surface of 3.1 × 10 +19 n cm ₋2 (E > 0.1 MeV) and, obtained after 80 years of operation, give an indication of the potential detrimental effects of prolonged irradiation of concrete in nuclear power plants.« less

Determination of selected UV filters in indoor dust by matrix solid-phase dispersion and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Negreira, N; Rodríguez, I; Rubí, E; Cela, R

2009-07-31

A simple, inexpensive sample preparation procedure, based on the matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) technique, for the determination of six UV filters: 2-ethylhexyl salicylate (EHS), 3,3,5-trimethylcyclohexyl salicylate (Homosalate, HMS), 3-(4-methylbenzylidene) camphor (4-MBC), isoamyl-p-methoxycinnamate (IAMC), 2-ethylhexyl-p-methoxycinnamate (EHMC) and octocrylene (OCR), in dust from indoor environments is presented and the influence of several operational parameters on the extraction performance discussed. Under the final working conditions, sieved samples (0.5 g) were mixed with the same amount of anhydrous sodium sulphate and dispersed with 2 g of octadecyl bonded silica (C18) in a mortar with a pestle. This blend was transferred to a polypropylene solid-phase extraction cartridge containing 2 g of activated silica, as the clean-up co-sorbent. The cartridge was first rinsed with 5 mL of n-hexane and the analytes were then recovered with 4 mL of acetonitrile. This extract was adjusted to 1 mL, filtered and the compounds were determined by gas chromatography combined with tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Recoveries for samples spiked at two different concentrations ranged between 77% and 99%, and the limits of quantification (LOQs) of the method between 10 and 40 ng g(-1). Analysis of settled dust from different indoor areas, including private flats, public buildings and vehicle cabins, showed that EHMC and OCR were ubiquitous in this matrix, with maximum concentrations of 15 and 41 microg g(-1), respectively. Both UV filters were also quantified in dust reference material SRM 2585 for first time. EHS, 4-MBC and IAMC were detected in some of the analyzed samples, although at lower concentrations than EHMC and OCR.

A Case Study of Landholder Attitudes and Behaviour Toward the Conservation of Renosterveld, a Critically Endangered Vegetation Type in Cape Floral Kingdom, South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winter, Susan J.; Prozesky, Heidi; Esler, Karen J.

2007-07-01

The attitudes and behaviours of private landholders toward the conservation of a highly transformed and critically endangered habitat, Overberg Coastal Renosterveld (OCR) (a grassy shrubland of the Cape Floral Region, South Africa) are described. Personal, semistructured interviews were conducted with landholders, representing 40 properties in the Overberg region, on topics such as management and utilisation of OCR, the depth of their knowledge of its conservation importance, what they perceive its value to be, and the extent of their willingness to conserve it. General attitudes toward conservation incentives and provincial conservation authorities were also investigated. Farmers more willing to conserve were younger, did not necessarily have a better education, and owned larger farms (>500 ha) with a greater amount of remnant renosterveld (>300 ha) than those less willing to conserve. Attitudes toward the OCR were largely negative, related to associated problem plants and animals and the fact that it is believed not to be economically advantageous to retain it. However, farmers are of the opinion that provision of incentives and increased extension support will provide practical positive inducements for conservation. Landholder education is paramount to prevent further transformation of critically endangered habitats. The success of private-conservation programs depends on the attitudes of landowners toward (1) the particular habitat or species to be conserved (which can vary depending on the type of land use practised and the associated benefits and disadvantages of that habitat type); (2) the conservation agency or extension officers responsible for that area; and (3) willingness of landowners to participate in a conservation program, which is influenced by landowner age, farm size, and the amount of natural habitat left to conserve.

Feeding State, Insulin and NPR-1 Modulate Chemoreceptor Gene Expression via Integration of Sensory and Circuit Inputs

PubMed Central

Gruner, Matthew; Nelson, Dru; Winbush, Ari; Hintz, Rebecca; Ryu, Leesun; Chung, Samuel H.; Kim, Kyuhyung; Gabel, Chrisopher V.; van der Linden, Alexander M.

2014-01-01

Feeding state and food availability can dramatically alter an animals' sensory response to chemicals in its environment. Dynamic changes in the expression of chemoreceptor genes may underlie some of these food and state-dependent changes in chemosensory behavior, but the mechanisms underlying these expression changes are unknown. Here, we identified a KIN-29 (SIK)-dependent chemoreceptor, srh-234, in C. elegans whose expression in the ADL sensory neuron type is regulated by integration of sensory and internal feeding state signals. We show that in addition to KIN-29, signaling is mediated by the DAF-2 insulin-like receptor, OCR-2 TRPV channel, and NPR-1 neuropeptide receptor. Cell-specific rescue experiments suggest that DAF-2 and OCR-2 act in ADL, while NPR-1 acts in the RMG interneurons. NPR-1-mediated regulation of srh-234 is dependent on gap-junctions, implying that circuit inputs regulate the expression of chemoreceptor genes in sensory neurons. Using physical and genetic manipulation of ADL neurons, we show that sensory inputs from food presence and ADL neural output regulate srh-234 expression. While KIN-29 and DAF-2 act primarily via the MEF-2 (MEF2) and DAF-16 (FOXO) transcription factors to regulate srh-234 expression in ADL neurons, OCR-2 and NPR-1 likely act via a calcium-dependent but MEF-2- and DAF-16-independent pathway. Together, our results suggest that sensory- and circuit-mediated regulation of chemoreceptor genes via multiple pathways may allow animals to precisely regulate and fine-tune their chemosensory responses as a function of internal and external conditions. PMID:25357003

Structural effects of radiation-induced volumetric expansion on unreinforced concrete biological shields

DOE PAGES

Le Pape, Y.

2015-11-22

Limited literature (Pomaro et al., 2011, Mirhosseini et al., 2014, Salomoni et al., 2014 and Andreev and Kapliy, 2014) is available on the structural analysis of irradiated concrete biological shield (CBS), although extended operations of nuclear powers plants may lead to critical neutron exposure above 1.0 × 10 +19 n cm ₋2. To the notable exception of Andreev and Kapliy, available structural models do not account for radiation-induced volumetric expansion, although it was found to develop important linear dimensional change of the order of 1%, and, can lead to significant concrete damage (Le Pape et al., 2015). A 1D-cylindrical model of an unreinforced CBS accounting for temperature and irradiation effects is developed. Irradiated concrete properties are characterized probabilistically using the updated database collected by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Field et al., 2015). The overstressed concrete ratio (OCR) of the CBS, i.e., the proportion of the wall thickness being subject to stresses beyond the resistance of concrete, is derived by deterministic and probabilistic analysis assuming that irradiated concrete behaves as an elastic materials. In the bi-axial compressive zone near the reactor cavity, the OCR is limited to 5.7%, i.e., 8.6 cm (3more » $$_2^1$$ in.), whereas, in the tension zone, the OCR extends to 72%, i.e., 1.08 m (42$$_2^1$$ in.). Finally, we find that these results, valid for a maximum neutron fluence on the concrete surface of 3.1 × 10 +19 n cm ₋2 (E > 0.1 MeV) and, obtained after 80 years of operation, give an indication of the potential detrimental effects of prolonged irradiation of concrete in nuclear power plants.« less

Geotechnical Parameters of Alluvial Soils from in-situ Tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Młynarek, Zbigniew; Stefaniak, Katarzyna; Wierzbicki, Jędrzej

2012-10-01

The article concentrates on the identification of geotechnical parameters of alluvial soil represented by silts found near Poznan and Elblag. Strength and deformation parameters of the subsoil tested were identified by the CPTU (static penetration) and SDMT (dilatometric) methods, as well as by the vane test (VT). Geotechnical parameters of the subsoil were analysed with a view to using the soil as an earth construction material and as a foundation for buildings constructed on the grounds tested. The article includes an analysis of the overconsolidation process of the soil tested and a formula for the identification of the overconsolidation ratio OCR. Equation 9 reflects the relation between the undrained shear strength and plasticity of the silts analyzed and the OCR value. The analysis resulted in the determination of the Nkt coefficient, which might be used to identify the undrained shear strength of both sediments tested. On the basis of a detailed analysis of changes in terms of the constrained oedometric modulus M0, the relations between the said modulus, the liquidity index and the OCR value were identified. Mayne's formula (1995) was used to determine the M0 modulus from the CPTU test. The usefullness of the sediments found near Poznan as an earth construction material was analysed after their structure had been destroyed and compacted with a Proctor apparatus. In cases of samples characterised by different water content and soil particle density, the analysis of changes in terms of cohesion and the internal friction angle proved that these parameters are influenced by the soil phase composition (Fig. 18 and 19). On the basis of the tests, it was concluded that the most desirable shear strength parameters are achieved when the silt is compacted below the optimum water content.

Geotechnical Parameters of Alluvial Soils from in-situ Tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Młynarek, Zbigniew; Stefaniak, Katarzyna; Wierzbicki, Jedrzej

2012-10-01

The article concentrates on the identification of geotechnical parameters of alluvial soil represented by silts found near Poznan and Elblag. Strength and deformation parameters of the subsoil tested were identified by the CPTU (static penetration) and SDMT (dilatometric) methods, as well as by the vane test (VT). Geotechnical parameters of the subsoil were analysed with a view to using the soil as an earth construction material and as a foundation for buildings constructed on the grounds tested. The article includes an analysis of the overconsolidation process of the soil tested and a formula for the identification of the overconsolidation ratio OCR. Equation 9 reflects the relation between the undrained shear strength and plasticity of the silts analyzed and the OCR value. The analysis resulted in the determination of the Nkt coefficient, which might be used to identify the undrained shear strength of both sediments tested. On the basis of a detailed analysis of changes in terms of the constrained oedometric modulus M0, the relations between the said modulus, the liquidity index and the OCR value were identified. Mayne's formula (1995) was used to determine the M0 modulus from the CPTU test. The usefullness of the sediments found near Poznan as an earth construction material was analysed after their structure had been destroyed and compacted with a Proctor apparatus. In cases of samples characterised by different water content and soil particle density, the analysis of changes in terms of cohesion and the internal friction angle proved that these parameters are influenced by the soil phase composition (Fig. 18 and 19). On the basis of the tests, it was concluded that the most desirable shear strength parameters are achieved when the silt is compacted below the optimum water content.

A case study of landholder attitudes and behaviour toward the conservation of renosterveld, a critically endangered vegetation type in Cape Floral Kingdom, South Africa.

PubMed

Winter, Susan J; Prozesky, Heidi; Esler, Karen J

2007-07-01

The attitudes and behaviours of private landholders toward the conservation of a highly transformed and critically endangered habitat, Overberg Coastal Renosterveld (OCR) (a grassy shrubland of the Cape Floral Region, South Africa) are described. Personal, semistructured interviews were conducted with landholders, representing 40 properties in the Overberg region, on topics such as management and utilisation of OCR, the depth of their knowledge of its conservation importance, what they perceive its value to be, and the extent of their willingness to conserve it. General attitudes toward conservation incentives and provincial conservation authorities were also investigated. Farmers more willing to conserve were younger, did not necessarily have a better education, and owned larger farms (>500 ha) with a greater amount of remnant renosterveld (>300 ha) than those less willing to conserve. Attitudes toward the OCR were largely negative, related to associated problem plants and animals and the fact that it is believed not to be economically advantageous to retain it. However, farmers are of the opinion that provision of incentives and increased extension support will provide practical positive inducements for conservation. Landholder education is paramount to prevent further transformation of critically endangered habitats. The success of private-conservation programs depends on the attitudes of landowners toward (1) the particular habitat or species to be conserved (which can vary depending on the type of land use practised and the associated benefits and disadvantages of that habitat type); (2) the conservation agency or extension officers responsible for that area; and (3) willingness of landowners to participate in a conservation program, which is influenced by landowner age, farm size, and the amount of natural habitat left to conserve.

Methylphenidate disintegration from oral formulations for intravenous use by experienced substance users.

PubMed

Bjarnadottir, G D; Johannsson, M; Magnusson, A; Rafnar, B O; Sigurdsson, E; Steingrimsson, S; Asgrimsson, V; Snorradottir, I; Bragadottir, H; Haraldsson, H M

2017-09-01

Methylphenidate (MPH) is a prescription stimulant used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. MPH is currently the preferred substance among most intravenous (i.v.) substance users in Iceland. Four types of MPH preparations were available in Iceland at the time of study: Immediate-release (IR), sustained-release (SR), osmotic controlled-release oral delivery (OROS) tablet and osmotic-controlled release (OCR). MPH OROS has previously been rated the least desirable by i.v. users and we hypothesized that this was associated with difficulty of disintegrating MPH from OROS formulation. The aim of the study was to measure the amount of MPH and the viscosity of the disintegrated solutions that were made from the four MPH formulations by four i.v.-users and non-users. A convenience sample of four i.v. substance users and 12 non-users. Non-users imitated the methods applied by experienced i.v. substance users for disintegrated MPH formulations. Both groups managed to disintegrate over 50% of MPH from IR and SR formulations but only 20% from OROS (p<0.0001). The viscosity of the disintegrated MPH was significantly higher for MPH OROS and MPH OCR and the preparation was significantly more time-consuming than for the other MPH samples. No differences were observed between users and non-users. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of viscosity and the amount of disintegrated MPH from prescription drugs for i.v. use. The results indicate that the ease of disintegration, amount of MPH and viscosity may explain the difference in popularity for i.v. use between different MPH formulations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Vegetation modulated landscape evolution: Effects of vegetation on landscape processes, drainage density and topography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bras, R. L.; Istanbulluoglu, E.

2004-12-01

Topography acts as a template for numerous landscape processes that includes hydrologic, ecologic and biologic phenomena. These processes not only interact with each other but also contribute to shaping the landscape as they influence geomorphic processes. We have investigated the effects of vegetation on known geomorphic relations, thresholds for channel initiation and landform evolution, using both analytical and numerical approaches. Vegetation is assumed to form a uniform ground cover. Runoff erosion is modeled based on power function of excess shear stress, in which shear stress efficiency is inversely proportional to vegetation cover. Plant effect on slope stability is represented by additional cohesion provided by plant roots. Vegetation cover is assumed to reduce sediment transport rates due to physical creep processes (rainsplash, dry ravel, and expansion and contraction of sediments) according to a negative exponential relationship. Vegetation grows as a function of both available cover and unoccupied space by plants, and is killed by geomorphic disturbances (runoff erosion and landsliding), and wildfires. Analytical results suggest that, in an equilibrium basin with a fixed vegetation cover, plants may cause a transition in the dominant erosion process at the channel head. A runoff erosion dominated landscape, under none or loose vegetation cover, may become landslide dominated under a denser vegetation cover. The sign of the predicted relationship between drainage density and vegetation cover depends on the relative influence of vegetation on different erosion phenomena. With model parameter values representative of the Oregon Coast Range (OCR), numerical experiments conducted using the CHILD model. Numerical experiments reveal the importance of vegetation disturbances on the landscape structure. Simulated landscapes resemble real-world catchments in the OCR when vegetation disturbances are considered.

Development of Portable Automatic Number Plate Recognition System on Android Mobile Phone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mutholib, Abdul; Gunawan, Teddy S.; Chebil, Jalel; Kartiwi, Mira

2013-12-01

The Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) System has performed as the main role in various access control and security, such as: tracking of stolen vehicles, traffic violations (speed trap) and parking management system. In this paper, the portable ANPR implemented on android mobile phone is presented. The main challenges in mobile application are including higher coding efficiency, reduced computational complexity, and improved flexibility. Significance efforts are being explored to find suitable and adaptive algorithm for implementation of ANPR on mobile phone. ANPR system for mobile phone need to be optimize due to its limited CPU and memory resources, its ability for geo-tagging image captured using GPS coordinates and its ability to access online database to store the vehicle's information. In this paper, the design of portable ANPR on android mobile phone will be described as follows. First, the graphical user interface (GUI) for capturing image using built-in camera was developed to acquire vehicle plate number in Malaysia. Second, the preprocessing of raw image was done using contrast enhancement. Next, character segmentation using fixed pitch and an optical character recognition (OCR) using neural network were utilized to extract texts and numbers. Both character segmentation and OCR were using Tesseract library from Google Inc. The proposed portable ANPR algorithm was implemented and simulated using Android SDK on a computer. Based on the experimental results, the proposed system can effectively recognize the license plate number at 90.86%. The required processing time to recognize a license plate is only 2 seconds on average. The result is consider good in comparison with the results obtained from previous system that was processed in a desktop PC with the range of result from 91.59% to 98% recognition rate and 0.284 second to 1.5 seconds recognition time.

Applications of Optical Scanners in an Academic Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molinari, Carol; Tannenbaum, Robert S.

1995-01-01

Describes optical scanners, including how the technology works; applications in data management and research; development of instructional materials; and providing community services. Discussion includes the three basic types of optical scanners: optical character recognition (OCR), optical mark readers (OMR), and graphic scanners. A sidebar…

Neural Network--OCR/ICR Recognology: Theory and Applications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schantz, Herbert F.

1993-01-01

Explains the value of neurocomputing as a unique and effective new technological concept for information processing and optical character recognition. Comparisons are made to digital computing and examples of applications such as recognizing handprinted characters are addressed. Products available from various companies are described. (Contains…

40 CFR 7.115 - Postaward compliance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) The nature of and schedule for review, or investigation; and (2) Its opportunity, before the... § 7.115 Postaward compliance. (a) Periodic review. The OCR may periodically conduct compliance reviews... information, and may conduct on-site reviews when it has reason to believe that discrimination may be...

Research on Fault Characteristics and Line Protections Within a Large-scale Photovoltaic Power Plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Chi; Zeng, Jie; Zhao, Wei; Zhong, Guobin; Xu, Qi; Luo, Pandian; Gu, Chenjie; Liu, Bohan

2017-05-01

Centralized photovoltaic (PV) systems have different fault characteristics from distributed PV systems due to the different system structures and controls. This makes the fault analysis and protection methods used in distribution networks with distributed PV not suitable for a centralized PV power plant. Therefore, a consolidated expression for the fault current within a PV power plant under different controls was calculated considering the fault response of the PV array. Then, supported by the fault current analysis and the on-site testing data, the overcurrent relay (OCR) performance was evaluated in the collection system of an 850 MW PV power plant. It reveals that the OCRs at downstream side on overhead lines may malfunction. In this case, a new relay scheme was proposed using directional distance elements. In the PSCAD/EMTDC, a detailed PV system model was built and verified using the on-site testing data. Simulation results indicate that the proposed relay scheme could effectively solve the problems under variant fault scenarios and PV plant output levels.

Ecotoxicological effect characterisation of widely used organic UV filters.

PubMed

Kaiser, D; Sieratowicz, A; Zielke, H; Oetken, M; Hollert, H; Oehlmann, J

2012-04-01

Chemical UV filters are used in sun protection and personal care products in order to protect consumers from skin cancer induced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The present study aims to evaluate the effects of three common UV filters butyl-methoxydibenzoylmethane (B-MDM) ethylhexyl-methoxycinnamate (EHMC) and octocrylene (OCR) on aquatic organism, focussing particularly on infaunal and epibentic invertebrates (Chironomus riparius, Lumbriculus variegatus, Melanoides tuberculata and Potamopyrgus antipodarum). Due to their life habits, these organism are especially affected by lipophilic substances. Additionally, two direct sediment contact assays utilising zebra fish (Danio rerio) embryos and bacteria (Arthrobacter globiformis) were conducted. EHMC caused a toxic effect on reproduction in both snails with lowest observed effect concentrations (LOEC) of 0.4 mg/kg (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) and 10 mg/kg (Melanoides tuberculata). At high concentrations sublethal effects could be observed for D. rerio after exposure to EHMC (NOEC 100 mg/kg). B-MDM and OCR showed no effects on any of the tested organism. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Machine-printed Arabic OCR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassibi, Khosrow M.

1994-02-01

This paper presents a brief overview of our research in the development of an OCR system for recognition of machine-printed texts in languages that use the Arabic alphabet. The cursive nature of machine-printed Arabic makes the segmentation of words into letters a challenging problem. In our approach, through a novel preliminary segmentation technique, a word is broken into pieces where each piece may not represent a valid letter in general. Neural networks trained on a training sample set of about 500 Arabic text images are used for recognition of these pieces. The rules governing the alphabet and character-level contextual information are used for recombining these pieces into valid letters. Higher-level contextual analysis schemes including the use of an Arabic lexicon and n-grams is also under development and are expected to improve the word recognition accuracy. The segmentation, recognition, and contextual analysis processes are closely integrated using a feedback scheme. The details of preparation of the training set and some recent results on training of the networks will be presented.

Semi-automated XML markup of biosystematic legacy literature with the GoldenGATE editor.

PubMed

Sautter, Guido; Böhm, Klemens; Agosti, Donat

2007-01-01

Today, digitization of legacy literature is a big issue. This also applies to the domain of biosystematics, where this process has just started. Digitized biosystematics literature requires a very precise and fine grained markup in order to be useful for detailed search, data linkage and mining. However, manual markup on sentence level and below is cumbersome and time consuming. In this paper, we present and evaluate the GoldenGATE editor, which is designed for the special needs of marking up OCR output with XML. It is built in order to support the user in this process as far as possible: Its functionality ranges from easy, intuitive tagging through markup conversion to dynamic binding of configurable plug-ins provided by third parties. Our evaluation shows that marking up an OCR document using GoldenGATE is three to four times faster than with an off-the-shelf XML editor like XML-Spy. Using domain-specific NLP-based plug-ins, these numbers are even higher.

45 CFR 88.6 - Complaint handling and investigating.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 88.6 Public Welfare DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL ADMINISTRATION ENSURING THAT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES FUNDS DO NOT SUPPORT COERCIVE OR DISCRIMINATORY POLICIES OR PRACTICES § 88.6 Complaint handling and investigating. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of...

7 CFR 2003.6 - Office of the Under Secretary.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... information retrieval. This office also serves as a liaison with Office of Congressional Relations (OCR... Secretary on all matters relating to mission area budget policy. (2) The Research, Analysis and Information Division analyzes information on rural conditions and the strategies and techniques for promoting rural...

7 CFR 2003.6 - Office of the Under Secretary.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... information retrieval. This office also serves as a liaison with Office of Congressional Relations (OCR... Secretary on all matters relating to mission area budget policy. (2) The Research, Analysis and Information Division analyzes information on rural conditions and the strategies and techniques for promoting rural...

7 CFR 2003.6 - Office of the Under Secretary.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... information retrieval. This office also serves as a liaison with Office of Congressional Relations (OCR... Secretary on all matters relating to mission area budget policy. (2) The Research, Analysis and Information Division analyzes information on rural conditions and the strategies and techniques for promoting rural...

Guideline for Optical Character Recognition Forms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Bureau of Standards (DOC), Washington, DC.

This publication provides materials relating to the design, preparation, acquisition, inspection, and application of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) forms in data entry systems. Since the materials are advisory and tutorial in nature, this publication has been issued as a guideline rather than as a standard in the Federal Information…

Data Input for Libraries: State-of-the-Art Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buckland, Lawrence F.

This brief overview of new manuscript preparation methods which allow authors and editors to set their own type discusses the advantages and disadvantages of optical character recognition (OCR), microcomputers and personal computers, minicomputers, and word processors for editing and database entry. Potential library applications are also…

32 CFR 806.4 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

.... Records are classified; originated with a nongovernment source; are part of the Air Force's decision... managers to assist IDAs in making decisions on FOIA requests. (f) OCR. A DoD element with an official... Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE ADMINISTRATION AIR FORCE FREEDOM OF...

Intelligent Classification in Huge Heterogeneous Data Sets

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-01

Competencies DoD Department of Defense GMTI Ground Moving Target Indicator ISR Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance NCD Noncoherent Change...Detection OCR Optical Character Recognition PCA Principal Component Analysis SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar SVD Singular Value Decomponsition USPS United States Postal Service 8 Approved for Public Release; Distribution Unlimited.

45 CFR 85.61 - Compliance procedures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Compliance procedures. 85.61 Section 85.61 Public... SERVICES § 85.61 Compliance procedures. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, this... Federal government entity. (f) OCR shall notify the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance...

40 CFR 7.180 - Mediation of age discrimination complaints.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Mediation of age discrimination... Discrimination Prohibited on the Basis of Age § 7.180 Mediation of age discrimination complaints. (a) The OCR will refer all accepted complaints alleging age discrimination to the Mediation Agency designated by...

40 CFR 7.180 - Mediation of age discrimination complaints.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Mediation of age discrimination... Discrimination Prohibited on the Basis of Age § 7.180 Mediation of age discrimination complaints. (a) The OCR will refer all accepted complaints alleging age discrimination to the Mediation Agency designated by...

40 CFR 7.180 - Mediation of age discrimination complaints.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Mediation of age discrimination... Discrimination Prohibited on the Basis of Age § 7.180 Mediation of age discrimination complaints. (a) The OCR will refer all accepted complaints alleging age discrimination to the Mediation Agency designated by...

40 CFR 7.180 - Mediation of age discrimination complaints.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Mediation of age discrimination... Discrimination Prohibited on the Basis of Age § 7.180 Mediation of age discrimination complaints. (a) The OCR will refer all accepted complaints alleging age discrimination to the Mediation Agency designated by...

40 CFR 7.180 - Mediation of age discrimination complaints.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Mediation of age discrimination... Discrimination Prohibited on the Basis of Age § 7.180 Mediation of age discrimination complaints. (a) The OCR will refer all accepted complaints alleging age discrimination to the Mediation Agency designated by...

77 FR 65190 - National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics: Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-25

... Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The Committee will also discuss its draft report on Data Stewardship in Community Health... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics: Meeting...

76 FR 20711 - Hearings of the Review Panel on Prison Rape

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-13

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Office of Justice Programs [OJP (OCR) Docket No. 1548] Hearings of the Review Panel on Prison Rape AGENCY: Office of Justice Programs, Justice. ACTION: Notice of hearing. SUMMARY: The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) announces that the Review Panel on Prison Rape (Panel) will...

78 FR 77495 - Hearings of the Review Panel on Prison Rape

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-12-23

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Office of Justice Programs [OJP (OCR) Docket No. 1642] Hearings of the Review Panel on Prison Rape AGENCY: Office of Justice Programs, Justice. ACTION: Notice of Hearing. SUMMARY: The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) announces that the Review Panel on Prison Rape (Panel) will...

DOE Research and Development Accomplishments Help

Science.gov Websites

be used to search, locate, access, and electronically download full-text research and development (R Browse Downloading, Viewing, and/or Searching Full-text Documents/Pages Searching the Database Search Features Search allows you to search the OCRed full-text document and bibliographic information, the

TELLTALE: Experiments in a Dynamic Hypertext Environment for Degraded and Multilingual Data.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pearce, Claudia; Nicholas, Charles

1996-01-01

Presents experimentation results for the TELLTALE system, a dynamic hypertext environment that provides full-text search from a hypertext-style user interface for text corpora that may be garbled by OCR (optical character recognition) or transmission errors, and that may contain languages other than English. (Author/LRW)

Nondiscrimination in Employment Practices in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights (ED), Washington, DC.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Department of Education, prepared this brochure for the general public and for education agencies and institutions that have programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance. The brochure summarizes the requirements pertaining to employment practices contained in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act…

Notice of Nondiscrimination.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights (ED), Washington, DC.

The Department of Education's (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces several statutes that protect the rights of beneficiaries in programs or activities that receive financial assistance from ED. These laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), sex (Title IX of the…

76 FR 10476 - Special Conditions: Boeing Model 787-8 Airplane; Overhead Crew-Rest Compartment

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-25

...\\ in interior volume, the design must ensure the ability to contain a fire likely to occur within the... or unusual design features associated with installation of an overhead crew-rest (OCR) compartment... this design feature. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the...

Techniques of Document Management: A Review of Text Retrieval and Related Technologies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veal, D. C.

2001-01-01

Reviews present and possible future developments in the techniques of electronic document management, the major ones being text retrieval and scanning and OCR (optical character recognition). Also addresses document acquisition, indexing and thesauri, publishing and dissemination standards, impact of the Internet, and the document management…

40 CFR 7.75 - Transition plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... of Handicap § 7.75 Transition plan. If structural changes to facilities are necessary to make the...) Requirements. The transition plan must set forth the steps needed to complete the structural changes required... the OCR upon request and to the public for inspection at either the site of the project or at the...

75 FR 60757 - Office for Civil Rights; Statement of Organization, Functions, and Delegations of Authority

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-01

... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Office of the Secretary Office for Civil Rights; Statement of Organization, Functions, and Delegations of Authority The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has... of Authority for the Department of Health and Human Services, Chapter AT, Office for Civil Rights...

intelligentCAPTURE 1.0 Adds Tables of Content to Library Catalogues and Improves Retrieval.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauer, Manfred; Simedy, Walton

2002-01-01

Describes an online library catalog that was developed for an Austrian scientific library that includes table of contents in addition to the standard bibliographic information in order to increase relevance for searchers. Discusses the technology involved, including OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and automatic indexing techniques; weighted…

EDP Applications to Musical Bibliography: Input Considerations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robbins, Donald C.

1972-01-01

The application of Electronic Data Processing (EDP) has been a boon in the analysis and bibliographic control of music. However, an extra step of encoding must be undertaken for input of music. The best hope to facilitate musical input is the development of an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) music-reading machine. (29 references) (Author/NH)

Statistical Techniques for Efficient Indexing and Retrieval of Document Images

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bhardwaj, Anurag

2010-01-01

We have developed statistical techniques to improve the performance of document image search systems where the intermediate step of OCR based transcription is not used. Previous research in this area has largely focused on challenges pertaining to generation of small lexicons for processing handwritten documents and enhancement of poor quality…

OCR Pace on Probes Quickens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maxwell, Lesli A.

2011-01-01

In the 21 months since U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stood on an iconic bridge in Selma, Alabama, and pledged to aggressively combat discrimination in the nation's schools, federal education officials have launched dozens of new probes in school districts and states that reach into civil rights issues that previously received little, if…

And the Survey Says …

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Susan C.

2016-01-01

We are continuing our examination of very different physics availability numbers reported by AIP Statistics and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR). The essential difference appears to be the number of schools included in the denominator. The U.S. Department of Education classifies schools into one of five types based…

Surface Observation Climatic Summaries (SOCS) for Simmons AAF, North Carolina

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-02-01

CHIRF, CLIMATIC APPLICATIONS, OL-A IIRLT~ M 8a. llS SCIRlTIUIC AND TCIICAL INFOlRMATIO 06 OCr ig• III USAFETAC/DS--92/267 - Page 2 REPORT DOCUMENTATION...B-2-1 0MIMLY TOTALS ................................................ B-2-2 DAILY EMM M ... M ........................................................ E-2-1 [INuS........................................................... E-2-2 MEA.N

Office for Civil Rights Annual Report to Congress, Fiscal Year 2004

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2005

2005-01-01

This report covers the activities of the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) from Oct. 1, 2003, to Sept. 30, 2004. From investigating the misidentification of minority students in special education, to ensuring accessibility of college campuses for students with disabilities, to facilitating access of women to equal…

Illegal Procedure? Title IX and Sexual Assault

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, Ariel

2015-01-01

Many higher education institutions are scrutinized by their campus community and the media for the way that they respond, or fail to respond, to allegations of sexual assault. Tack on the fact that nearly 100 colleges and universities are currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for possible…

75 FR 75 - Special Conditions: Boeing Model 787-8 Airplane; Overhead Crew Rest Compartment

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-04

..., explain the reason for any recommended change, and include supporting data. We ask that you send us two...-site operational evaluation. Any changes to the approved OCR compartment configuration that affect crewmember emergency egress or any other procedures affecting safety of the occupying crewmembers or related...

A segmentation-free approach to Arabic and Urdu OCR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabbour, Nazly; Shafait, Faisal

2013-01-01

In this paper, we present a generic Optical Character Recognition system for Arabic script languages called Nabocr. Nabocr uses OCR approaches specific for Arabic script recognition. Performing recognition on Arabic script text is relatively more difficult than Latin text due to the nature of Arabic script, which is cursive and context sensitive. Moreover, Arabic script has different writing styles that vary in complexity. Nabocr is initially trained to recognize both Urdu Nastaleeq and Arabic Naskh fonts. However, it can be trained by users to be used for other Arabic script languages. We have evaluated our system's performance for both Urdu and Arabic. In order to evaluate Urdu recognition, we have generated a dataset of Urdu text called UPTI (Urdu Printed Text Image Database), which measures different aspects of a recognition system. The performance of our system for Urdu clean text is 91%. For Arabic clean text, the performance is 86%. Moreover, we have compared the performance of our system against Tesseract's newly released Arabic recognition, and the performance of both systems on clean images is almost the same.

Analysis of Percent On-Cell Reformation of Methane in SOFC Stacks: Thermal, Electrical and Stress Analysis

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

Recknagle, Kurtis P.; Yokuda, Satoru T.; Jarboe, Daniel T.

2006-04-07

This report summarizes a parametric analysis performed to determine the effect of varying the percent on-cell reformation (OCR) of methane on the thermal and electrical performance for a generic, planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack design. OCR of methane can be beneficial to an SOFC stack because the reaction (steam-methane reformation) is endothermic and can remove excess heat generated by the electrochemical reactions directly from the cell. The heat removed is proportional to the amount of methane reformed on the cell. Methane can be partially pre-reformed externally, then supplied to the stack, where rapid reaction kinetics on the anodemore » ensures complete conversion. Thus, the thermal load varies with methane concentration entering the stack, as does the coupled scalar distributions, including the temperature and electrical current density. The endotherm due to the reformation reaction can cause a temperature depression on the anode near the fuel inlet, resulting in large thermal gradients. This effect depends on factors that include methane concentration, local temperature, and stack geometry.« less

Font group identification using reconstructed fonts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cutter, Michael P.; van Beusekom, Joost; Shafait, Faisal; Breuel, Thomas M.

2011-01-01

Ideally, digital versions of scanned documents should be represented in a format that is searchable, compressed, highly readable, and faithful to the original. These goals can theoretically be achieved through OCR and font recognition, re-typesetting the document text with original fonts. However, OCR and font recognition remain hard problems, and many historical documents use fonts that are not available in digital forms. It is desirable to be able to reconstruct fonts with vector glyphs that approximate the shapes of the letters that form a font. In this work, we address the grouping of tokens in a token-compressed document into candidate fonts. This permits us to incorporate font information into token-compressed images even when the original fonts are unknown or unavailable in digital format. This paper extends previous work in font reconstruction by proposing and evaluating an algorithm to assign a font to every character within a document. This is a necessary step to represent a scanned document image with a reconstructed font. Through our evaluation method, we have measured a 98.4% accuracy for the assignment of letters to candidate fonts in multi-font documents.

Reviews Book: Sustainable Energy—Without the Hot Air Equipment: Doppler Effect Unit Book: The Physics of Rugby Book: Plastic Fantastic: How the Biggest Fraud in Physics Shook the Scientific World Equipment: Brunel Eyecam Equipment: 200x Digital Microscope Book: The Atom and the Apple: Twelve Tales from Contemporary Physics Book: Physics 2 for OCR Web Watch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2009-09-01

WE RECOMMEND Sustainable Energy—Without the Hot Air This excellent book makes sense of energy facts and figures Doppler Effect Unit Another simple, effective piece of kit from SEP Plastic Fantastic: How the Biggest Fraud in Physics Shook the Scientific World Intriguing and unique write-up of an intellectual fraud case Brunel Eyecam An affordable digital eyepiece for your microscope 200x Digital Microscope An adjustable digital flexcam for classroom use The Atom and the Apple: Twelve Tales from Contemporary Physics A fascinating round-up of the recent history of physics WORTH A LOOK The Physics of Rugby Book uses sport analogy and context to teach physics concepts Physics 2 for OCR Essential textbook for the course but otherwise pointless WEB WATCH Some free teaching materials are better than those you'd pay for

Image simulation for automatic license plate recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bala, Raja; Zhao, Yonghui; Burry, Aaron; Kozitsky, Vladimir; Fillion, Claude; Saunders, Craig; Rodríguez-Serrano, José

2012-01-01

Automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) is an important capability for traffic surveillance applications, including toll monitoring and detection of different types of traffic violations. ALPR is a multi-stage process comprising plate localization, character segmentation, optical character recognition (OCR), and identification of originating jurisdiction (i.e. state or province). Training of an ALPR system for a new jurisdiction typically involves gathering vast amounts of license plate images and associated ground truth data, followed by iterative tuning and optimization of the ALPR algorithms. The substantial time and effort required to train and optimize the ALPR system can result in excessive operational cost and overhead. In this paper we propose a framework to create an artificial set of license plate images for accelerated training and optimization of ALPR algorithms. The framework comprises two steps: the synthesis of license plate images according to the design and layout for a jurisdiction of interest; and the modeling of imaging transformations and distortions typically encountered in the image capture process. Distortion parameters are estimated by measurements of real plate images. The simulation methodology is successfully demonstrated for training of OCR.

Losartan reverses COX-2-dependent vascular dysfunction in offspring of hyperglycaemic rats.

PubMed

de Queiroz, Diego Barbosa; Ramos-Alves, Fernanda Elizabethe; Santos-Rocha, Juliana; Duarte, Gloria Pinto; Xavier, Fabiano Elias

2017-09-01

This study examined whether chronic treatment with losartan, an angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT 1 R) antagonist, might reverse COX-2-mediated vascular dysfunction in mesenteric resistance arteries (MRA) from offspring of hyperglycaemic rats. Male 12-month-old offspring of hyperglycaemic (O-DR) and normoglycaemic (O-CR) rats were treated with losartan (15mg·kg·day -1 ) during 2months. Third order MRA of untreated and losartan-treated O-DR and O-CR were mounted in wire myograph for isometric tension measurements. COX-2 expression was analyzed by Western blot; TxA 2 , PGE 2 and PGF 2α release was measured using commercial kits. O-DR showed increased blood pressure, impaired acetylcholine-induced vasodilation and increased noradrenaline-induced vasoconstriction than O-CR. All these parameters were normalized by losartan in O-DR. Pre-incubation of MRA with indomethacin (COX-1/2 inhibitor), NS-398 (COX-2 inhibitor) or tempol (superoxide dismutase mimetic) increased relaxation to acetylcholine and reduced contraction to noradrenaline only in O-DR. COX-2 expression, TxA 2 , PGE 2 and PGF 2α release were increased in O-DR. In losartan-treated O-DR, NS-398, indomethacin or tempol failed to produce any effect on acetylcholine or noradrenaline responses. Losartan treatment reduced COX-2 expression, TxA 2 , PGE 2 and PGF 2α release in O-DR. The present results reveal that chronic losartan administration in O-DR normalizes endothelial function in MRA by correcting the existing COX-2 overexpression and the imbalance between endothelium-derived relaxing and contracting factors. These findings not only support the beneficial effects of AT 1 receptor antagonist in O-DR, but also suggest the implication of angiotensin II as a putative mediator of hyperglycemia-programmed vascular dysfunction in rats. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Metformin improves cardiac function in mice with heart failure after myocardial infarction by regulating mitochondrial energy metabolism.

PubMed

Sun, Dan; Yang, Fei

2017-04-29

To investigate whether metformin can improve the cardiac function through improving the mitochondrial function in model of heart failure after myocardial infarction. Male C57/BL6 mice aged about 8 weeks were selected and the anterior descending branch was ligatured to establish the heart failure model after myocardial infarction. The cardiac function was evaluated via ultrasound after 3 days to determine the modeling was successful, and the mice were randomly divided into two groups. Saline group (Saline) received the intragastric administration of normal saline for 4 weeks, and metformin group (Met) received the intragastric administration of metformin for 4 weeks. At the same time, Shame group (Sham) was set up. Changes in cardiac function in mice were detected at 4 weeks after operation. Hearts were taken from mice after 4 weeks, and cell apoptosis in myocardial tissue was detected using TUNEL method; fresh mitochondria were taken and changes in oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and respiratory control rate (RCR) of mitochondria in each group were detected using bio-energy metabolism tester, and change in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) of myocardial tissue was detected via JC-1 staining; the expressions and changes in Bcl-2, Bax, Sirt3, PGC-1α and acetylated PGC-1α in myocardial tissue were detected by Western blot. RT-PCR was used to detect mRNA levels in Sirt3 in myocardial tissues. Metformin improved the systolic function of heart failure model rats after myocardial infarction and reduced the apoptosis of myocardial cells after myocardial infarction. Myocardial mitochondrial respiratory function and membrane potential were decreased after myocardial infarction, and metformin treatment significantly improved the mitochondrial respiratory function and mitochondrial membrane potential; Metformin up-regulated the expression of Sirt3 and the activity of PGC-1α in myocardial tissue of heart failure after myocardial infarction. Metformin decreases the acetylation level of PGC-1α through up-regulating Sirt3, mitigates the damage to mitochondrial membrane potential of model of heart failure after myocardial infarction and improves the respiratory function of mitochondria, thus improving the cardiac function of mice. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Effects of Artificial Gravity and Bed Rest on Spatial Orientation and Balance Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paloski, William H.; Moore, S. T.; Feiveson, A. H.; Taylor, L. C.

2007-01-01

While the vestibular system should be well-adapted to bed rest (a condition it experiences approximately 8/24 hrs each day), questions remain regarding the degree to which repeated exposures to the unusual gravito-inertial force environment of a short-radius centrifuge might affect central processing of vestibular information used in spatial orientation and balance control. Should these functions be impaired by intermittent AG, its feasibility as a counter-measure would be diminished. We, therefore, examined the effects of AG on spatial orientation and balance control in 15 male volunteers before and after 21 days of 6 HDT bed rest (BR). Eight of the subjects were treated with daily 1hr AG exposures (2.5g at the feet; 1.0g at the heart) aboard a short radius (3m) centrifuge, while the other seven served as controls (C). Spatial orientation was assessed by measures of ocular counter-rolling (OCR; rotation of the eye about the line of sight, an otolith-mediated reflex) and subjective visual vertical (SVV; perception of the spatial upright). Both OCR and SVV measurements were made with the subject upright, lying on their left sides, and lying on their right sides. OCR was measured from binocular eye orientation recordings made while the subjects fixated for 10s on a point target directly in front of the face at a distance of 1 m. SVV was assessed by asking subjects (in the dark) to adjust to upright (using a handheld controller) the orientation of a luminous bar randomly perturbed (15) to either side of the vertical meridian. Balance control performance was assessed using a computerized dynamic posturography (CDP) protocol similar to that currently required for all returning crew members. During each session, the subjects completed a combination of trials of sensory organization test (SOT) 2 (eyes closed, fixed platform) and SOT 5 (eyes closed, sway-referenced platform) with and without static and dynamic pitch plane head movements (plus or minus 20 deg., dynamic paced by an audible tone at 0.33Hz). OCR and CDP performance were unaffected by BR and BR+AG; post-BR measures were unchanged from baseline for both AG and C groups. Similarly, BR did not affect SVV in the C group. However, BR+AG disrupted one measure of spatial orientation: SVV error was significantly increased on R+0 and R+1 following BR in the AG group. These results suggest a transient untoward effect on central vestibular processing may accompany repeated exposure to intermittent AG, a potential side-effect that should be studied more closely in future studies.

Dear Colleague Letter Harassment and Bullying (October 26, 2010). Background, Summary, and Fast Facts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2010

2010-01-01

The Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) does the following: (1) Clarifies the relationship between bullying and discriminatory harassment under the civil rights laws enforced by the Department of Education's (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR); (2) Explains how student misconduct that falls under an anti-bullying policy also may trigger responsibilities…

The Heinz Electronic Library Interactive Online System (HELIOS): Building a Digital Archive Using Imaging, OCR, and Natural Language Processing Technologies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galloway, Edward A.; Michalek, Gabrielle V.

1995-01-01

Discusses the conversion project of the congressional papers of Senator John Heinz into digital format and the provision of electronic access to these papers by Carnegie Mellon University. Topics include collection background, project team structure, document processing, scanning, use of optical character recognition software, verification…

And the Survey Says …

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Susan C.

2016-01-01

We have been looking at two different numbers that have been used to describe the availability of physics in U.S. high schools: 60% and 95%. Last month we noted that the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) includes over 7,000 more public schools in the denominator than American Institute of Physics (AIP) Statistics does.…

Digitization of Full-Text Documents Before Publishing on the Internet: A Case Study Reviewing the Latest Optical Character Recognition Technologies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClean, Clare M.

1998-01-01

Reviews strengths and weaknesses of five optical character recognition (OCR) software packages used to digitize paper documents before publishing on the Internet. Outlines options available and stages of the conversion process. Describes the learning experience of Eurotext, a United Kingdom-based electronic libraries project (eLib). (PEN)

Dear Colleague Letter: Responding to Bullying of Students with Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lhamon, Catherine E.

2014-01-01

While there is broad consensus that bullying is wrong and cannot be tolerated in schools, the reality is that bullying persists in schools today, and especially for students with disabilities. In recent years, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education (Department) has received an ever-increasing number of complaints…

Guidelines for Producing Instructional and Other Printed Materials in Alternate Media for Persons with Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California Community Colleges, Sacramento. Office of the Chancellor.

Title II, Section 504 of the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) requires community colleges to provide access to print and computer-based information for students with visual impairments. In response, the Chancellor's Office of the California Community College system prepared a budget change proposal (BCP) for the…

Public Education: Meeting the Needs of Students with Limited English Proficiency. Report to Congressional Requesters.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaul, Marnie S.

This report examines: how long children with limited English proficiency need to become proficient, what approaches are used to teach them, and what requirements the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) expects school districts to meet. Researchers reviewed available studies; talked to experts; reviewed Department of Education survey data; contacted 12…

78 FR 21370 - Funding Opportunity Announcement for Family Violence Prevention and Services/Grants for Domestic...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-10

..., psychological trauma, isolation from family and friends, harm to children living with a parent or caretaker who..., these dynamics may be compounded by barriers such as the isolation of vast rural areas, the concern for... these bases. Please see www.hhs.gov/ocr/civilrights/understanding/index.html . HHS also provides...

Desegregation Case Studies. Volume I: Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Susan Higley; And Others

This study focused on the role played in school desegregation by the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA), Title IV of the Civil Rights Act, and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enforcement of Title IV. The study examined the ways in which five urban school districts made use of assistance programs and have been affected by Title IV. School district…

Findings from a Multiyear Scale-Up Effectiveness Trial of Open Court Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vaden-Kiernan, Michael; Borman, Geoffrey; Caverly, Sarah; Bell, Nance; Sullivan, Kate; Ruiz de Castilla, Veronica; Fleming, Grace; Rodriguez, Debra; Henry, Chad; Long, Tracy; Hughes Jones, Debra

2018-01-01

This multiyear scale-up effectiveness study of Open Court Reading (OCR) involved approximately 4,500 students and more than 1,000 teachers per year in Grades K-5 from 49 elementary schools in seven districts across the country. Using a school-level cluster randomized trial design, we assessed the implementation and effectiveness of Open Court…

Students with Disabilities Participation in Extracurricular Athletics: School District Obligations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yell, Mitchell L.; Losinski, Mickey L.; Katsiyannis, Antonis

2014-01-01

On January 25, 2013 the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague letter (DCL) that addressed the obligations of school districts under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act regarding the participation of students with disabilities in extracurricular athletic activities (U.S. Department of Education,…

A License for Bias: Sex Discrimination, Schools, and Title IX.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morse, Susan Ed.

This report discusses non-sports-related Title IX complaints filed with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) from 1993-1997. Its purpose is to dispel the popular belief that Title IX is a sports-equity law and to determine the effectiveness of the legislation. The document examines the kinds of complaints filed, the status…

A Multisite Cluster Randomized Field Trial of Open Court Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borman, Geoffrey D.; Dowling, N. Maritza; Schneck, Carrie

2008-01-01

In this article, the authors report achievement outcomes of a multisite cluster randomized field trial of Open Court Reading 2005 (OCR), a K-6 literacy curriculum published by SRA/McGraw-Hill. The participants are 49 first-grade through fifth-grade classrooms from predominantly minority and poor contexts across the nation. Blocking by grade level…

Vegetation-modulated landscape evolution: Effects of vegetation on landscape processes, drainage density, and topography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Istanbulluoglu, Erkan; Bras, Rafael L.

2005-06-01

Topography acts as a template for numerous landscape processes that include hydrologic, ecologic, and biologic phenomena. These processes not only interact with each other but also contribute to shaping the landscape as they influence geomorphic processes. We have investigated the effects of vegetation on thresholds for channel initiation and landform evolution using both analytical and numerical approaches. Vegetation is assumed to form a uniform ground cover. Runoff erosion is modeled based on a power function of excess shear stress, in which shear stress efficiency is inversely proportional to vegetation cover. This approach is validated using data. Plant effect on slope stability is represented by additional cohesion provided by plant roots. Vegetation cover is assumed to reduce sediment transport rates due to physical creep processes (rainsplash, dry ravel, and expansion and contraction of sediments) according to a negative exponential relationship. Vegetation grows as a function of both available cover and unoccupied space by plants and is killed by geomorphic disturbances (runoff erosion and landsliding) and wildfires. Analytical results suggest that in an equilibrium basin with a fixed vegetation cover, plants may cause a transition in the dominant erosion process at the channel head. A runoff erosion-dominated landscape, under none or poor vegetation cover, may become landslide dominated under a denser vegetation cover. The sign of the predicted relationship between drainage density and vegetation cover depends on the relative influence of vegetation on different erosion phenomena. With model parameter values representative of the Oregon Coast Range (OCR), numerical experiments conducted using the Channel Hillslope Integrated Landscape Development (CHILD) model confirm the findings based on the analytical theory. A highly dissected fluvial landscape emerges when surface is assumed bare. When vegetation cover is modeled, landscape relief increases, resulting in hollow erosion dominated by landsliding. Interestingly, our simulations underscore the importance of vegetation disturbances by geomorphic events and wildfires on the landscape structure. Simulated landscapes resemble real-world catchments in the OCR when such disturbances are considered.

Increasing the efficiency of digitization workflows for herbarium specimens.

PubMed

Tulig, Melissa; Tarnowsky, Nicole; Bevans, Michael; Anthony Kirchgessner; Thiers, Barbara M

2012-01-01

The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium has been databasing and imaging its estimated 7.3 million plant specimens for the past 17 years. Due to the size of the collection, we have been selectively digitizing fundable subsets of specimens, making successive passes through the herbarium with each new grant. With this strategy, the average rate for databasing complete records has been 10 specimens per hour. With 1.3 million specimens databased, this effort has taken about 130,000 hours of staff time. At this rate, to complete the herbarium and digitize the remaining 6 million specimens, another 600,000 hours would be needed. Given the current biodiversity and economic crises, there is neither the time nor money to complete the collection at this rate.Through a combination of grants over the last few years, The New York Botanical Garden has been testing new protocols and tactics for increasing the rate of digitization through combinations of data collaboration, field book digitization, partial data entry and imaging, and optical character recognition (OCR) of specimen images. With the launch of the National Science Foundation's new Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections program, we hope to move forward with larger, more efficient digitization projects, capturing data from larger portions of the herbarium at a fraction of the cost and time.

Increasing the efficiency of digitization workflows for herbarium specimens

PubMed Central

Tulig, Melissa; Tarnowsky, Nicole; Bevans, Michael; Anthony Kirchgessner; Thiers,  Barbara M.

2012-01-01

Abstract The New York Botanical Garden Herbarium has been databasing and imaging its estimated 7.3 million plant specimens for the past 17 years. Due to the size of the collection, we have been selectively digitizing fundable subsets of specimens, making successive passes through the herbarium with each new grant. With this strategy, the average rate for databasing complete records has been 10 specimens per hour. With 1.3 million specimens databased, this effort has taken about 130,000 hours of staff time. At this rate, to complete the herbarium and digitize the remaining 6 million specimens, another 600,000 hours would be needed. Given the current biodiversity and economic crises, there is neither the time nor money to complete the collection at this rate. Through a combination of grants over the last few years, The New York Botanical Garden has been testing new protocols and tactics for increasing the rate of digitization through combinations of data collaboration, field book digitization, partial data entry and imaging, and optical character recognition (OCR) of specimen images. With the launch of the National Science Foundation’s new Advancing Digitization of Biological Collections program, we hope to move forward with larger, more efficient digitization projects, capturing data from larger portions of the herbarium at a fraction of the cost and time. PMID:22859882

ESARR: enhanced situational awareness via road sign recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perlin, V. E.; Johnson, D. B.; Rohde, M. M.; Lupa, R. M.; Fiorani, G.; Mohammad, S.

2010-04-01

The enhanced situational awareness via road sign recognition (ESARR) system provides vehicle position estimates in the absence of GPS signal via automated processing of roadway fiducials (primarily directional road signs). Sign images are detected and extracted from vehicle-mounted camera system, and preprocessed and read via a custom optical character recognition (OCR) system specifically designed to cope with low quality input imagery. Vehicle motion and 3D scene geometry estimation enables efficient and robust sign detection with low false alarm rates. Multi-level text processing coupled with GIS database validation enables effective interpretation even of extremely low resolution low contrast sign images. In this paper, ESARR development progress will be reported on, including the design and architecture, image processing framework, localization methodologies, and results to date. Highlights of the real-time vehicle-based directional road-sign detection and interpretation system will be described along with the challenges and progress in overcoming them.

[Study on Oxygen Consumption, Oxygen Consumption Rate and Asphyxiation Point of Poecilobdella manillensis].

PubMed

Zhou, Wei-guan; Lv, Wei-ping; Qiu, Yi; Zhou, Wei-hai

2014-12-01

To investigate the oxygen consumption, oxygen consumption rate and asphyxiation point of Poecilobdella ma- nillensis. Oxygen consumption, oxygen consumption rate and asphyxiation point on juvenile (the average weight of 0. 29 g) and adult leech (the average weight of 2.89 g) of Poecilobdella manillensis were measured at water temperature conditions of 20. 2 and 30. 4 °C respectively using an airtight container with flowing water. Oxygen consumptions of Poecilobdella manillensis were increased with the increase of temperature and body weight respectively; However, their oxygen consumption rates circadian variation and the aver- age oxygen consumption rate at daytime were higher than those at night. In addition, their asphyxiation point was declined accordingly with the increase of temperature and body weight respectively. Oxygen consumption and oxygen consumption rate of Poeci- lobdella manillensis were closely associated with their activities and influenced by circadian variation, the preferable feeding time were the period of 6:00-10:00 in the morning or 17:00-19:00 in the afternoon; Meanwhile, Poecilobdella manillensis had a higher ability of the hypoxia tolerance for high density or factory farming, the long time living preservation and the long distance transport.

The neuronal nitric oxide synthase inhibitor NANT blocks acetaminophen toxicity and protein nitration in freshly isolated hepatocytes.

PubMed

Banerjee, Sudip; Melnyk, Stepan B; Krager, Kimberly J; Aykin-Burns, Nukhet; Letzig, Lynda G; James, Laura P; Hinson, Jack A

2015-12-01

3-Nitrotyrosine (3NT) in liver proteins of mice treated with hepatotoxic doses of acetaminophen (APAP) has been postulated to be causative in toxicity. Nitration is by a reactive nitrogen species formed from nitric oxide (NO). The source of the NO is unclear. iNOS knockout mice were previously found to be equally susceptible to APAP toxicity as wildtype mice and iNOS inhibitors did not decrease toxicity in mice or in hepatocytes. In this work we examined the potential role of nNOS in APAP toxicity in hepatocytes using the specific nNOS inhibitor NANT (10 µM)(N-[(4S)-4-amino-5-[(2-aminoethyl)amino]pentyl]-N'-nitroguanidinetris (trifluoroacetate)). Primary hepatocytes (1 million/ml) from male B6C3F1 mice were incubated with APAP (1mM). Cells were removed and assayed spectrofluorometrically for reactive nitrogen and oxygen species using diaminofluorescein (DAF) and Mitosox red, respectively. Cytotoxicity was determined by LDH release into media. Glutathione (GSH, GSSG), 3NT, GSNO, acetaminophen-cysteine adducts, NAD, and NADH were measured by HPLC. APAP significantly increased cytotoxicity at 1.5-3.0 h. The increase was blocked by NANT. NANT did not alter APAP mediated GSH depletion or acetaminophen-cysteine adducts in proteins which indicated that NANT did not inhibit metabolism. APAP significantly increased spectroflurometric evidence of reactive nitrogen and oxygen formation at 0.5 and 1.0 h, respectively, and increased 3NT and GSNO at 1.5-3.0 h. These increases were blocked by NANT. APAP dramatically increased NADH from 0.5-3.0 h and this increase was blocked by NANT. Also, APAP decreased the Oxygen Consumption Rate (OCR), decreased ATP production, and caused a loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, which were all blocked by NANT. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

Hwang, Hye Jin

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor within the Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain superfamily. Exposure to the most potent AHR ligand, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), is associated with various pathological effects including metabolic syndrome. While research over the last several years has demonstrated a role for oxidative stress and metabolic dysfunction in AHR-dependent TCDD-induced toxicity, the role of the mitochondria in this process has not been fully explored. Our previous research suggested that a portion of the cellular pool of AHR could be found in the mitochondria (mitoAHR). Using a protease protection assay with digitonin extraction, we have now shownmore » that this mitoAHR is localized to the inter-membrane space (IMS) of the organelle. TCDD exposure induced a degradation of mitoAHR similar to that of cytosolic AHR. Furthermore, siRNA-mediated knockdown revealed that translocase of outer-mitochondrial membrane 20 (TOMM20) was involved in the import of AHR into the mitochondria. In addition, TCDD altered cellular respiration in an AHR-dependent manner to maintain respiratory efficiency as measured by oxygen consumption rate (OCR). Stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) identified a battery of proteins within the mitochondrial proteome influenced by TCDD in an AHR-dependent manner. Among these, 17 proteins with fold changes ≥ 2 are associated with various metabolic pathways, suggesting a role of mitochondrial retrograde signaling in TCDD-mediated pathologies. Collectively, these studies suggest that mitoAHR is localized to the IMS and AHR-dependent TCDD-induced toxicity, including metabolic dysfunction, wasting syndrome, and hepatic steatosis, involves mitochondrial dysfunction. - Highlights: • The mitoAHR is localized in the mitochondrial intermembrane space. • TOMM20 participates in mitoAHR translocation. • AHR contributes to the maintenance of respiratory control ratio following TCDD exposure. • TCDD-induced AHR-dependent changes in the mitochondrial proteome are identified.« less

Variational Iterative Methods for Nonsymmetric Systems of Linear Equations.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-08-01

With a third matrix-vector product, b(i) can be computed as i j ( ATAr i+l’pj)/ApjpApj), and the previous (Apj) need not be saved. Page 8 I OCR I Orthomin... Economics and Mathematical Systems, Volume 134, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1976. [51 Paul Concus, Gene H. Golub, and Dianne P. O’Leary. A generalized

An Evaluation of the Air-to-Air Engagement Models in the Naval Warfare Gaming System.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-03-01

documentaticr 9valuation phase andI ths =acomera-aticns Phasr?. During tzhe descri-ption ph as e, a closs examira-tion and analysi-s of the : cutines and...modelin asoacts ,Of the = cutines . In this appendix, most o f thIe- alimizis rativs- programming isbypassed. In Appendix B, the 23 Mod-? _1ira nIs ocr

School Issues Under [Section] 504 and the ADA: The Latest and Greatest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aleman, Steven R.

This paper highlights recent guidance and rulings from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of interest to administrators, advocates, and attorneys. It is a companion piece to Student Issues on SectionNB504/ADA: The Latest and Greatest. Compliance with SectionNB504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) continues to involve debate and dialog on…

Protecting Civil Rights, Advancing Equity: Report to the President and Secretary of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education, 2015

2015-01-01

For nearly five decades, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has stood as a guardian of civil rights in educational institutions nationwide. This office takes very seriously the charge to remove barriers to students' full participation in every facet of educational life. As the contents of this report illustrate, OCR…

Automatic de-identification of French clinical records: comparison of rule-based and machine-learning approaches.

PubMed

Grouin, Cyril; Zweigenbaum, Pierre

2013-01-01

In this paper, we present a comparison of two approaches to automatically de-identify medical records written in French: a rule-based system and a machine-learning based system using a conditional random fields (CRF) formalism. Both systems have been designed to process nine identifiers in a corpus of medical records in cardiology. We performed two evaluations: first, on 62 documents in cardiology, and on 10 documents in foetopathology - produced by optical character recognition (OCR) - to evaluate the robustness of our systems. We achieved a 0.843 (rule-based) and 0.883 (machine-learning) exact match overall F-measure in cardiology. While the rule-based system allowed us to achieve good results on nominative (first and last names) and numerical data (dates, phone numbers, and zip codes), the machine-learning approach performed best on more complex categories (postal addresses, hospital names, medical devices, and towns). On the foetopathology corpus, although our systems have not been designed for this corpus and despite OCR character recognition errors, we obtained promising results: a 0.681 (rule-based) and 0.638 (machine-learning) exact-match overall F-measure. This demonstrates that existing tools can be applied to process new documents of lower quality.

Mocr: A novel fusion tag for enhancing solubility that is compatible with structural biology applications

PubMed Central

DelProposto, James; Majmudar, Chinmay Y.; Smith, Janet L.; Brown, William Clay

2010-01-01

A persistent problem in heterologous protein production is insolubility of the target protein when expressed to high level in the host cell. A widely employed strategy for overcoming this problem is the use of fusion tags. The best fusion tags promote solubility, may function as purification handles and either do not interfere with downstream applications or may be removed from the passenger protein preparation. A novel fusion tag is identified that meets these criteria. This fusion tag is a monomeric mutant of the Ocr protein (0.3 gene product) of bacteriophage T7. This fusion tag displays solubilizing activity with a variety of different passenger proteins. We show that it may be used as a purification handle similar to other fusion tags. Its small size and compact structure are compatible with its use in downstream applications of the passenger protein or it may be removed and purified away from the passenger protein. The use of monomeric Ocr (Mocr) as a complement to other fusion tags such as maltose-binding protein will provide greater flexibility in protein production and processing for a wide variety of protein applications. PMID:18824232

Cost analysis of a project to digitize classic articles in neurosurgery*

PubMed Central

Bauer, Kathleen

2002-01-01

In summer 2000, the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library at Yale University began a demonstration project to digitize classic articles in neurosurgery from the late 1800s and early 1900s. The objective of the first phase of the project was to measure the time and costs involved in digitization, and those results are reported here. In the second phase, metadata will be added to the digitized articles, and the project will be publicized. Thirteen articles were scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software, and the resulting text files were carefully proofread. Time for photocopying, scanning, and proofreading were recorded. This project achieved an average cost per item (total pages plus images) of $4.12, a figure at the high end of average costs found in other studies. This project experienced high costs for two reasons. First, the articles contained many images, which required extra processing. Second, the older fonts and the poor condition of many of these articles complicated the OCR process. The average article cost $84.46 to digitize. Although costs were high, the selection of historically important articles maximized the benefit gained from the investment in digitization. PMID:11999182

Text vectorization based on character recognition and character stroke modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Zhigang; Zhou, Bingfeng; Tse, Francis; Mu, Yadong; He, Tao

2014-03-01

In this paper, a text vectorization method is proposed using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and character stroke modeling. This is based on the observation that for a particular character, its font glyphs may have different shapes, but often share same stroke structures. Like many other methods, the proposed algorithm contains two procedures, dominant point determination and data fitting. The first one partitions the outlines into segments and second one fits a curve to each segment. In the proposed method, the dominant points are classified as "major" (specifying stroke structures) and "minor" (specifying serif shapes). A set of rules (parameters) are determined offline specifying for each character the number of major and minor dominant points and for each dominant point the detection and fitting parameters (projection directions, boundary conditions and smoothness). For minor points, multiple sets of parameters could be used for different fonts. During operation, OCR is performed and the parameters associated with the recognized character are selected. Both major and minor dominant points are detected as a maximization process as specified by the parameter set. For minor points, an additional step could be performed to test the competing hypothesis and detect degenerated cases.

Cost analysis of a project to digitize classic articles in neurosurgery.

PubMed

Bauer, Kathleen

2002-04-01

In summer 2000, the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library at Yale University began a demonstration project to digitize classic articles in neurosurgery from the late 1800s and early 1900s. The objective of the first phase of the project was to measure the time and costs involved in digitization, and those results are reported here. In the second phase, metadata will be added to the digitized articles, and the project will be publicized. Thirteen articles were scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software, and the resulting text files were carefully proofread. Time for photocopying, scanning, and proofreading were recorded. This project achieved an average cost per item (total pages plus images) of $4.12, a figure at the high end of average costs found in other studies. This project experienced high costs for two reasons. First, the articles contained many images, which required extra processing. Second, the older fonts and the poor condition of many of these articles complicated the OCR process. The average article cost $84.46 to digitize. Although costs were high, the selection of historically important articles maximized the benefit gained from the investment in digitization.

Automated document analysis system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Black, Jeffrey D.; Dietzel, Robert; Hartnett, David

2002-08-01

A software application has been developed to aid law enforcement and government intelligence gathering organizations in the translation and analysis of foreign language documents with potential intelligence content. The Automated Document Analysis System (ADAS) provides the capability to search (data or text mine) documents in English and the most commonly encountered foreign languages, including Arabic. Hardcopy documents are scanned by a high-speed scanner and are optical character recognized (OCR). Documents obtained in an electronic format bypass the OCR and are copied directly to a working directory. For translation and analysis, the script and the language of the documents are first determined. If the document is not in English, the document is machine translated to English. The documents are searched for keywords and key features in either the native language or translated English. The user can quickly review the document to determine if it has any intelligence content and whether detailed, verbatim human translation is required. The documents and document content are cataloged for potential future analysis. The system allows non-linguists to evaluate foreign language documents and allows for the quick analysis of a large quantity of documents. All document processing can be performed manually or automatically on a single document or a batch of documents.

Photostability of cosmetic UV filters on mammalian skin under UV exposure.

PubMed

Stiefel, Constanze; Schwack, Wolfgang; Nguyen, Yen-Thi Hai

2015-01-01

Previous studies showed that the common UV filter substances benzophenone-3 (BP-3), butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (BM-DBM), octocrylene (OCR), ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC), ethylhexyl salicylate (EHS) and ethylhexyl triazone (EHT) were able to react with amino side chains of different proteins in vitro. To transfer the results to mammalian skin conditions, sunscreen products were applied on both prepared fresh porcine skin and glass plates, followed by UV irradiation and the determination of depletion of the respective UV filters. Significantly lower recoveries of the UV filters extracted from skin samples than from glass plates indicated the additional reaction of the UV filters with skin constituents, when proteins will be the most important reactants. Among the products tested, BP-3 showed the greatest differences in recoveries between glass and skin samples of about 13% and 24% after 2 and 4 h of irradiation, respectively, followed by EHS > BM-DBM > OCR > EHMC > EHT. The obtained results raise the question, whether the common in vitro evaluations of sunscreens, using inert substrate materials like roughened quartz or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) plates are really suitable to fully replace in vivo methods, as they cannot include skin-typical reactions. © 2014 The American Society of Photobiology.

Mocr: a novel fusion tag for enhancing solubility that is compatible with structural biology applications.

PubMed

DelProposto, James; Majmudar, Chinmay Y; Smith, Janet L; Brown, William Clay

2009-01-01

A persistent problem in heterologous protein production is insolubility of the target protein when expressed to high level in the host cell. A widely employed strategy for overcoming this problem is the use of fusion tags. The best fusion tags promote solubility, may function as purification handles and either do not interfere with downstream applications or may be removed from the passenger protein preparation. A novel fusion tag is identified that meets these criteria. This fusion tag is a monomeric mutant of the Ocr protein (0.3 gene product) of bacteriophage T7. This fusion tag displays solubilizing activity with a variety of different passenger proteins. We show that it may be used as a purification handle similar to other fusion tags. Its small size and compact structure are compatible with its use in downstream applications of the passenger protein or it may be removed and purified away from the passenger protein. The use of monomeric Ocr (Mocr) as a complement to other fusion tags such as maltose-binding protein will provide greater flexibility in protein production and processing for a wide variety of protein applications.

Restoring warped document images through 3D shape modeling.

PubMed

Tan, Chew Lim; Zhang, Li; Zhang, Zheng; Xia, Tao

2006-02-01

Scanning a document page from a thick bound volume often results in two kinds of distortions in the scanned image, i.e., shade along the "spine" of the book and warping in the shade area. In this paper, we propose an efficient restoration method based on the discovery of the 3D shape of a book surface from the shading information in a scanned document image. From a technical point of view, this shape from shading (SFS) problem in real-world environments is characterized by 1) a proximal and moving light source, 2) Lambertian reflection, 3) nonuniform albedo distribution, and 4) document skew. Taking all these factors into account, we first build practical models (consisting of a 3D geometric model and a 3D optical model) for the practical scanning conditions to reconstruct the 3D shape of the book surface. We next restore the scanned document image using this shape based on deshading and dewarping models. Finally, we evaluate the restoration results by comparing our estimated surface shape with the real shape as well as the OCR performance on original and restored document images. The results show that the geometric and photometric distortions are mostly removed and the OCR results are improved markedly.

Vodka and Violence: Alcohol Consumption and Homicide Rates in Russia

PubMed Central

Pridemore, William Alex

2002-01-01

In Russia, rates of alcohol consumption and homicide are among the highest in the world, and already-high levels increased dramatically after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Rates of both, however, vary greatly among Russia’s 89 regions. We took advantage of newly available vital statistics and socioeconomic data to examine the regional covariation of drinking and lethal violence. Log-log models were employed to estimate the impact of alcohol consumption on regional homicide rates, controlling for structural factors thought to influence the spatial distribution of homicide rates. Results revealed a positive and significant relationship between alcohol consumption and homicide, with a 1% increase in regional consumption of alcohol associated with an approximately 0.25% increase in homicide rates. In Russia, higher regional rates of alcohol consumption are associated with higher rates of homicide. PMID:12453810

Vodka and violence: alcohol consumption and homicide rates in Russia.

PubMed

Pridemore, William Alex

2002-12-01

In Russia, rates of alcohol consumption and homicide are among the highest in the world, and already-high levels increased dramatically after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Rates of both, however, vary greatly among Russia's 89 regions. We took advantage of newly available vital statistics and socioeconomic data to examine the regional covariation of drinking and lethal violence. Log-log models were employed to estimate the impact of alcohol consumption on regional homicide rates, controlling for structural factors thought to influence the spatial distribution of homicide rates. Results revealed a positive and significant relationship between alcohol consumption and homicide, with a 1% increase in regional consumption of alcohol associated with an approximately 0.25% increase in homicide rates. In Russia, higher regional rates of alcohol consumption are associated with higher rates of homicide.

Experimental Determination of Solubilities of Sodium Polyborates In MgCl 2 Solutions: Solubility Constant of Di-Sodium Hexaborate Tetrahydrate, and Implications For the Diagenetic Formation of Ameghinite

DOE PAGES

Xiong, Yongliang; Kirkes, Leslie; KNOX, Jandi; ...

2017-11-01

In this paper, solubility measurements were conducted for sodium polyborates in MgCl 2 solutions at 22.5 ± 0.5 °C. According to solution chemistry and XRD patterns, di-sodium tetraborate decahydrate (borax) dissolves congruently, and is the sole solubility-controlling phase, in a 0.01 mol/kg MgCl 2 solution: Na 2B 4O 7•10H 2O(cr) ⇌ 2Na + + 4B(OH) 4 + 2H + + H 2O(l). However, in a 0.1 mol/kg MgCl 2 solution borax dissolves incongruently and is in equilibrium with di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate: 2Na 2B 6O 10•4H 2O(cr) + 2Na + + 23H 2O(l) ⇌ 3Na 2B 4O 7•10H 2O(cr) + 2Hmore » +. In this study, the equilibrium constant (log K 0) for Reaction 2 at 25 °C and infinite dilution was determined to be –16.44 ± 0.13 (2σ) based on the experimental data and the Pitzer model for calculations of activity coefficients of aqueous species. In accordance with the log K 0 for Reaction 1 from a previous publication from this research group, and log K 0 for Reaction 2 from this study, the equilibrium constant for dissolution of di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate at 25 °C and at infinite dilution, Na 2B 6O 10•4H 2O(cr) + 10H 2O(l) ⇌ 2Na + + 6B(OH) 4 - + 4H + was derived to be –45.42 ± 0.16 (2σ). The equilibrium constants determined in this study can find applications in many fields. For example, in the field of nuclear waste management, the formation of di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate in brines containing magnesium will decrease borate concentrations, making less borate available for interactions with Am(III). In the field of experimental investigations, based on the equilibrium constant for Reaction 2, the experimental systems can be controlled in terms of acidity around neutral pH by using the equilibrium assemblage of borax and di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate at 25 °C. As salt lakes and natural brines contain both borate and magnesium as well as sodium, the formation of sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate may influence the chemical evolution of salt lakes and natural brines. Di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate is a polymorph of the mineral ameghinite [chemical formula Na 2B 6O 10•4H 2O; structural formula NaB 3O 3(OH) 4 or Na 2B 6O 6(OH) 8]. Finally, di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate could be a precursor of ameghinite and could be transformed when borate deposits are subject to diagenesis.« less

Experimental Determination of Solubilities of Sodium Polyborates In MgCl 2 Solutions: Solubility Constant of Di-Sodium Hexaborate Tetrahydrate, and Implications For the Diagenetic Formation of Ameghinite

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

Xiong, Yongliang; Kirkes, Leslie; KNOX, Jandi

In this paper, solubility measurements were conducted for sodium polyborates in MgCl 2 solutions at 22.5 ± 0.5 °C. According to solution chemistry and XRD patterns, di-sodium tetraborate decahydrate (borax) dissolves congruently, and is the sole solubility-controlling phase, in a 0.01 mol/kg MgCl 2 solution: Na 2B 4O 7•10H 2O(cr) ⇌ 2Na + + 4B(OH) 4 + 2H + + H 2O(l). However, in a 0.1 mol/kg MgCl 2 solution borax dissolves incongruently and is in equilibrium with di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate: 2Na 2B 6O 10•4H 2O(cr) + 2Na + + 23H 2O(l) ⇌ 3Na 2B 4O 7•10H 2O(cr) + 2Hmore » +. In this study, the equilibrium constant (log K 0) for Reaction 2 at 25 °C and infinite dilution was determined to be –16.44 ± 0.13 (2σ) based on the experimental data and the Pitzer model for calculations of activity coefficients of aqueous species. In accordance with the log K 0 for Reaction 1 from a previous publication from this research group, and log K 0 for Reaction 2 from this study, the equilibrium constant for dissolution of di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate at 25 °C and at infinite dilution, Na 2B 6O 10•4H 2O(cr) + 10H 2O(l) ⇌ 2Na + + 6B(OH) 4 - + 4H + was derived to be –45.42 ± 0.16 (2σ). The equilibrium constants determined in this study can find applications in many fields. For example, in the field of nuclear waste management, the formation of di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate in brines containing magnesium will decrease borate concentrations, making less borate available for interactions with Am(III). In the field of experimental investigations, based on the equilibrium constant for Reaction 2, the experimental systems can be controlled in terms of acidity around neutral pH by using the equilibrium assemblage of borax and di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate at 25 °C. As salt lakes and natural brines contain both borate and magnesium as well as sodium, the formation of sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate may influence the chemical evolution of salt lakes and natural brines. Di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate is a polymorph of the mineral ameghinite [chemical formula Na 2B 6O 10•4H 2O; structural formula NaB 3O 3(OH) 4 or Na 2B 6O 6(OH) 8]. Finally, di-sodium hexaborate tetrahydrate could be a precursor of ameghinite and could be transformed when borate deposits are subject to diagenesis.« less

Determining oxygen consumption rate and asphyxiation point in Chanodichthys mongolicus using an improved respirometer chamber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geng, Longwu; Jiang, Haifeng; Tong, Guangxiang; Xu, Wei

2017-03-01

Knowledge of oxygen consumption rates and asphyxiation points in fish is important to determine appropriate stocking and water quality management in aquaculture. The oxygen consumption rate and asphyxiation point in Chanodichthys mongolicus were detected under laboratory conditions using an improved respirometer chamber. The results revealed that more accurate estimates can be obtained by adjusting the volume of the respirometer chamber, which may avoid system errors caused by either repeatedly adjusting fish density or selecting different equipment specifications. The oxygen consumption rate and asphyxiation point of C. mongolicus increased with increasing water temperature and decreasing fish size. Changes in the C. mongolicus oxygen consumption rate were divided into three stages at water temperatures of 11-33°C: (1) a low temperature oxygen consumption rate stage when water temperature was 11-19°C, (2) the optimum temperature oxygen consumption rate stage when water temperature was 19-23°C, and (3) a high temperature oxygen consumption rate stage when water temperature was > 27°C. The temperature quotients (Q10) obtained suggested that C. mongolicus preferred a temperature range of 19-23°C. At 19°C, C. mongolicus exhibited higher oxygen consumption rates during the day when the maximum values were observed at 10:00 and 14:00 than at night when the minimum occurred at 02:00.

Intelligent bar chart plagiarism detection in documents.

PubMed

Al-Dabbagh, Mohammed Mumtaz; Salim, Naomie; Rehman, Amjad; Alkawaz, Mohammed Hazim; Saba, Tanzila; Al-Rodhaan, Mznah; Al-Dhelaan, Abdullah

2014-01-01

This paper presents a novel features mining approach from documents that could not be mined via optical character recognition (OCR). By identifying the intimate relationship between the text and graphical components, the proposed technique pulls out the Start, End, and Exact values for each bar. Furthermore, the word 2-gram and Euclidean distance methods are used to accurately detect and determine plagiarism in bar charts.

Intelligent Bar Chart Plagiarism Detection in Documents

PubMed Central

Al-Dabbagh, Mohammed Mumtaz; Salim, Naomie; Alkawaz, Mohammed Hazim; Saba, Tanzila; Al-Rodhaan, Mznah; Al-Dhelaan, Abdullah

2014-01-01

This paper presents a novel features mining approach from documents that could not be mined via optical character recognition (OCR). By identifying the intimate relationship between the text and graphical components, the proposed technique pulls out the Start, End, and Exact values for each bar. Furthermore, the word 2-gram and Euclidean distance methods are used to accurately detect and determine plagiarism in bar charts. PMID:25309952

Perceptions of Title IX Administrators in Arkansas Institutions of Higher Education on Implementing Office for Civil Rights Guidance: A Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Arch

2017-01-01

With the significant pressure placed on higher education administrators, and more specifically Title IX Coordinators, to manage compliance of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) guidance on Title IX, this study has focused on the perceptions of the of individuals tasked with this obligation. To determine from the individuals on the front line of…

Portable Language-Independent Adaptive Translation from OCR. Phase 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-01

including brute-force k-Nearest Neighbors ( kNN ), fast approximate kNN using hashed k-d trees, classification and regression trees, and locality...achieved by refinements in ground-truthing protocols. Recent algorithmic improvements to our approximate kNN classifier using hashed k-D trees allows...recent years discriminative training has been shown to outperform phonetic HMMs estimated using ML for speech recognition. Standard ML estimation

Race, Policy, and Politics: The Kentucky Plan for Equal Opportunity in Postsecondary Education, 1982-2009

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Sandra

2013-01-01

The Commonwealth of Kentucky was identified in the Adams v Richardson case as one of the nineteen states that were cited for providing separate but equal education for black and white students in higher education. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) required the state of Kentucky to develop a voluntary desegregation plan for its state institutions to…

SU-F-T-143: Implementation of a Correction-Based Output Model for a Compact Passively Scattered Proton Therapy System

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

Ferguson, S; Ahmad, S; Chen, Y

2016-06-15

Purpose: To commission and investigate the accuracy of an output (cGy/MU) prediction model for a compact passively scattered proton therapy system. Methods: A previously published output prediction model (Sahoo et al, Med Phys, 35, 5088–5097, 2008) was commissioned for our Mevion S250 proton therapy system. This model is a correction-based model that multiplies correction factors (d/MUwnc=ROFxSOBPF xRSFxSOBPOCFxOCRxFSFxISF). These factors accounted for changes in output due to options (12 large, 5 deep, and 7 small), modulation width M, range R, off-center, off-axis, field-size, and off-isocenter. In this study, the model was modified to ROFxSOBPFxRSFxOCRxFSFxISF-OCFxGACF by merging SOBPOCF and ISF for simplicitymore » and introducing a gantry angle correction factor (GACF). To commission the model, outputs over 1,000 data points were taken at the time of the system commissioning. The output was predicted by interpolation (1D for SOBPF, FSF, and GACF; 2D for RSF and OCR) with inverse-square calculation (ISF-OCR). The outputs of 273 combinations of R and M covering total 24 options were measured to test the model. To minimize fluence perturbation, scattered dose from range compensator and patient was not considered. The percent differences between the predicted (P) and measured (M) outputs were calculated to test the prediction accuracy ([P-M]/Mx100%). Results: GACF was required because of up to 3.5% output variation dependence on the gantry angle. A 2D interpolation was required for OCR because the dose distribution was not radially symmetric especially for the deep options. The average percent differences were −0.03±0.98% (mean±SD) and the differences of all the measurements fell within ±3%. Conclusion: It is concluded that the model can be clinically used for the compact passively scattered proton therapy system. However, great care should be taken when the field-size is less than 5×5 cm{sup 2} where a direct output measurement is required due to substantial output change by irregular block shape.« less

SU-E-T-252: Developing a Pencil Beam Dose Calculation Algorithm for CyberKnife System

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

Liang, B; Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; Liu, B

2015-06-15

Purpose: Currently there are two dose calculation algorithms available in the Cyberknife planning system: ray-tracing and Monte Carlo, which is either not accurate or time-consuming for irregular field shaped by the MLC that was recently introduced. The purpose of this study is to develop a fast and accurate pencil beam dose calculation algorithm which can handle irregular field. Methods: A pencil beam dose calculation algorithm widely used in Linac system is modified. The algorithm models both primary (short range) and scatter (long range) components with a single input parameter: TPR{sub 20}/{sub 10}. The TPR{sub 20}/{sub 20}/{sub 10} value was firstmore » estimated to derive an initial set of pencil beam model parameters (PBMP). The agreement between predicted and measured TPRs for all cones were evaluated using the root mean square of the difference (RMSTPR), which was then minimized by adjusting PBMPs. PBMPs are further tuned to minimize OCR RMS (RMSocr) by focusing at the outfield region. Finally, an arbitrary intensity profile is optimized by minimizing RMSocr difference at infield region. To test model validity, the PBMPs were obtained by fitting to only a subset of cones (4) and applied to all cones (12) for evaluation. Results: With RMS values normalized to the dmax and all cones combined, the average RMSTPR at build-up and descending region is 2.3% and 0.4%, respectively. The RMSocr at infield, penumbra and outfield region is 1.5%, 7.8% and 0.6%, respectively. Average DTA in penumbra region is 0.5mm. There is no trend found in TPR or OCR agreement among cones or depths. Conclusion: We have developed a pencil beam algorithm for Cyberknife system. The prediction agrees well with commissioning data. Only a subset of measurements is needed to derive the model. Further improvements are needed for TPR buildup region and OCR penumbra. Experimental validations on MLC shaped irregular field needs to be performed. This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61171005) and the China Scholarship Council (CSC)« less

A second-order orientation-contrast stimulus for population-receptive-field-based retinotopic mapping.

PubMed

Yildirim, Funda; Carvalho, Joana; Cornelissen, Frans W

2018-01-01

Visual field or retinotopic mapping is one of the most frequently used paradigms in fMRI. It uses activity evoked by position-varying high luminance contrast visual patterns presented throughout the visual field for determining the spatial organization of cortical visual areas. While the advantage of using high luminance contrast is that it tends to drive a wide range of neural populations - thus resulting in high signal-to-noise BOLD responses - this may also be a limitation, especially for approaches that attempt to squeeze more information out of the BOLD response, such as population receptive field (pRF) mapping. In that case, more selective stimulation of a subset of neurons - despite reduced signals - could result in better characterization of pRF properties. Here, we used a second-order stimulus based on local differences in orientation texture - to which we refer as orientation contrast - to perform retinotopic mapping. Participants in our experiment viewed arrays of Gabor patches composed of a foreground (a bar) and a background. These could only be distinguished on the basis of a difference in patch orientation. In our analyses, we compare the pRF properties obtained using this new orientation contrast-based retinotopy (OCR) to those obtained using classic luminance contrast-based retinotopy (LCR). Specifically, in higher order cortical visual areas such as LO, our novel approach resulted in non-trivial reductions in estimated population receptive field size of around 30%. A set of control experiments confirms that the most plausible cause for this reduction is that OCR mainly drives neurons sensitive to orientation contrast. We discuss how OCR - by limiting receptive field scatter and reducing BOLD displacement - may result in more accurate pRF localization as well. Estimation of neuronal properties is crucial for interpreting cortical function. Therefore, we conclude that using our approach, it is possible to selectively target particular neuronal populations, opening the way to use pRF modeling to dissect the response properties of more clearly-defined neuronal populations in different visual areas. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The relationship between oxygen consumption rate and viability of in vivo-derived pig embryos vitrified by the micro volume air cooling method.

PubMed

Sakagami, N; Nishida, K; Misumi, K; Hirayama, Y; Yamashita, S; Hoshi, H; Misawa, H; Akiyama, K; Suzuki, C; Yoshioka, K

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess the viability of vitrified-warmed in vivo-derived pig embryos after measuring the oxygen consumption rate. Six days after artificial insemination, blastocysts were collected from gilts and vitrified by the micro volume air cooling method. The oxygen consumption rate was measured in 60 vitrified-warmed embryos, which were then cultured for 48h to assess the viability. The survival (re-expansion) rate of embryos after warming was 85.0%. The average oxygen consumption rate of embryos immediately after warming was greater in embryos which could re-expand during subsequent culture (F=0.75±0.04) than that in those which failed to re-expand (F=0.33±0.05). Moreover, the oxygen consumption rate of vitrified-warmed embryos was greater in the hatched (F=0.88±0.06) than that in the not-hatched group (F=0.53±0.04). When the oxygen consumption rate of the vitrified-warmed embryos and the numbers of viable and dead cells in embryos were determined, there was a positive correlation between the oxygen consumption rate and the number of live cells (P<0.01, r=0.538). A total of 29 vitrified embryos after warming and measuring the oxygen consumption rate were surgically transferred into uterine horns of two recipients. Both of the recipients become pregnant and farrowed 12 healthy piglets. These results demonstrate that the oxygen consumption rate of vitrified-warmed pig embryos can be related to the number of live cells and that the measurement of oxygen consumption of embryos after cryopreservation may be useful for estimating embryo survivability. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

16 CFR 305.5 - Determinations of estimated annual energy consumption, estimated annual operating cost, and...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... consumption, estimated annual operating cost, and energy efficiency rating, and of water use rate. 305.5... energy efficiency rating, and of water use rate. (a) Procedures for determining the estimated annual energy consumption, the estimated annual operating costs, the energy efficiency ratings, and the efficacy...

[Oxygen consumption rate of Sepia pharaonis embryos.

PubMed

Wang, Peng Shuai; Jiang, Xia Min; Ruan, Peng; Peng, Rui Bing; Jiang, Mao Wang; Han, Qing Xi

2016-07-01

This research was conducted to unravel the variation of oxygen consumption rate during different developmental stages and the effects of different ecological factors on embryonic oxygen consumption rate of Sepia pharaonis. The oxygen consumption rates were measured at twelve deve-lopmental stages by the sealed volumetric flasks, and four embryonic developmental periods (oosperm, gastrula, the formation of organization, endoskeleton) were selected under various ecological conditions, such as salinity (21, 24, 27, 30, 33), water temperature (18, 21, 24, 27, 30 ℃) and pH (7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, 9.0). The results showed that the oxygen consumption rate rose along with the developmental progress, and distinctly differed from each other. The oxygen consumption rate was 0.082 mg·(100 eggs) -1 ·h -1 during oosperm period, and rose to 0.279 mg·(100 eggs) -1 ·h -1 during gastrula period, which was significantly higher than that of blastula period. Finally, the oxygen consumption rate rose to 1.367 mg·(100 eggs) -1 ·h -1 during hatching period. The salinity showed a significant effect on oxygen consumption rate during the formation of organization and endoskeleton formation stage (P<0.05), but no significant effect during oosperm and gastrula periods (P>0.05). The oxygen consumption rates of four studied embryonic stages all rose and then declined along with the increase of salinity, and reached the highest values [0.082, 0.200, 0.768 and 1.301 mg·(100 eggs) -1 ·h -1 , respectively] at salinity 30. The water temperature had a significant effect on the embryo oxygen consumption rates of gastrula, and the formation of organization and endoskeleton formation stage (P<0.05), with the exception of oosperm (P>0.05). The oxygen consumption rates of four studied embryonic stages all rose and then declined along with the increase of temperature, and reached the highest values at 27 ℃ [0.082, 0.286, 0.806 and 1.338 mg·(100 eggs) -1 ·h -1 , respectively]. The pH had no significant effect on the oxygen consumption rates of four embryonic stages (P>0.05). The oxygen consumption rates of four studied embryonic stages all rose and then declined along with the increase of pH. The oxygen consumption rates of gastrula, the formation of organization, endoskeleton reached the according highest values [0.281, 0.799 and 1.130 mg·(100 eggs) -1 ·h -1 ] at pH 8.5, but that during oosperm period occurred at pH 8.0 [0.116 mg·(100 eggs) -1 ·h -1 ].

Trend analysis and modelling of gender-specific age, period and birth cohort effects on alcohol abstention and consumption level for drinkers in Great Britain using the General Lifestyle Survey 1984-2009.

PubMed

Meng, Yang; Holmes, John; Hill-McManus, Daniel; Brennan, Alan; Meier, Petra Sylvia

2014-02-01

British alcohol consumption and abstinence rates have increased substantially in the last 3 decades. This study aims to disentangle age, period and birth cohort effects to improve our understanding of these trends and suggest groups for targeted interventions to reduce resultant harms. Age, period, cohort analysis of repeated cross-sectional surveys using separate logistic and negative binomial models for each gender. Great Britain 1984-2009. Annual nationally representative samples of approximately 20 000 adults (16+) within 13 000 households. Age (eight groups: 16-17 to 75+ years), period (six groups: 1980-84 to 2005-09) and birth cohorts (19 groups: 1900-04 to 1990-94). Outcome measures were abstinence and average weekly alcohol consumption. Controls were income, education, ethnicity and country. After accounting for period and cohort trends, 18-24-year-olds have the highest consumption levels (incident rate ratio = 1.18-1.15) and lower abstention rates (odds ratio = 0.67-0.87). Consumption generally decreases and abstention rates increase in later life. Until recently, successive birth cohorts' consumption levels were also increasing. However, for those born post-1985, abstention rates are increasing and male consumption is falling relative to preceding cohorts. In contrast, female drinking behaviours have polarized over the study period, with increasing abstention rates accompanying increases in drinkers' consumption levels. Rising female consumption of alcohol and progression of higher-consuming birth cohorts through the life course are key drivers of increased per capita alcohol consumption in the United Kingdom. Recent declines in alcohol consumption appear to be attributable to reduced consumption and increased abstinence rates among the most recent birth cohorts, especially males, and general increased rates of abstention across the study period. © 2013 Society for the Study of Addiction.

What Patterns or Anomalies Develop among the Institutional Characteristics of Colleges and Universities That Have Signed a Title IX Sexual Assault and Harassment Resolution Agreement with the OCR?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brayman, Paul

2017-01-01

The Office for Civil Rights for the Department of Education received 9,989 complaints in 2014. 5,845 of those cases were Title IX complaints, 854 pertaining to sexual harassment or assault (United States Department of Education, 2015). This dissertation answers the question, "What patterns or anomalies develop among the institutional…

Figure mining for biomedical research.

PubMed

Rodriguez-Esteban, Raul; Iossifov, Ivan

2009-08-15

Figures from biomedical articles contain valuable information difficult to reach without specialized tools. Currently, there is no search engine that can retrieve specific figure types. This study describes a retrieval method that takes advantage of principles in image understanding, text mining and optical character recognition (OCR) to retrieve figure types defined conceptually. A search engine was developed to retrieve tables and figure types to aid computational and experimental research. http://iossifovlab.cshl.edu/figurome/.

Understanding Noncompliance: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Title IX Sexual Misconduct Violations Using the Office for Civil Rights Investigative Findings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaffer, Lenore

2017-01-01

On April 4, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) reminding higher education institutions (HEIs) of their obligations under Title IX to respond to complaints of sexual misconduct. The 2011 DCL was meant to be a guidance document to assist HEIs in complying with Title IX, but…

Purification and Pore Forming Activity of Two Hydrophobic Polypeptides from the Secretion of the Red Sea Moses Sole (Pardachirus marmoratus)

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-11-01

Uppsala, Sweden. Ovalbumin, bovine albumin fractio n V, soybean lecithin , sodium cnolate, gramicidin D and Dowex 50 x 8 (50-100 mesh) were obtained from...A-,.ino acid analysis 50 ug duplIcate samples of PXI and PXII, from reverse phase HPLC, were dissolved in 0.4 ml of 6 N HCI and hydrolyzed ocr 24 hr

Boron Hydrides

DTIC Science & Technology

1946-07-01

4cCdocmpcsiti- a c~f wntrca * s~r,,np1. Z P. R. XII, 6; XVII, 4.. 1. i~eu~u~ioa ýf hy,’-.r-ijn pr-babl’ ný.t -h s:bizu£ctr P. R. xII, ý;s XVII!, -1. 2. Vrt ...hour at 200OCr, brown dccozzposition preducts ~were depositod uniformly over tho hoatcd G1aiss surfae* The tube vrts opened and the hydro~cni vns renoved

Sub-word image clustering in Farsi printed books

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soheili, Mohammad Reza; Kabir, Ehsanollah; Stricker, Didier

2015-02-01

Most OCR systems are designed for the recognition of a single page. In case of unfamiliar font faces, low quality papers and degraded prints, the performance of these products drops sharply. However, an OCR system can use redundancy of word occurrences in large documents to improve recognition results. In this paper, we propose a sub-word image clustering method for the applications dealing with large printed documents. We assume that the whole document is printed by a unique unknown font with low quality print. Our proposed method finds clusters of equivalent sub-word images with an incremental algorithm. Due to the low print quality, we propose an image matching algorithm for measuring the distance between two sub-word images, based on Hamming distance and the ratio of the area to the perimeter of the connected components. We built a ground-truth dataset of more than 111000 sub-word images to evaluate our method. All of these images were extracted from an old Farsi book. We cluster all of these sub-words, including isolated letters and even punctuation marks. Then all centers of created clusters are labeled manually. We show that all sub-words of the book can be recognized with more than 99.7% accuracy by assigning the label of each cluster center to all of its members.

Effect of inhomogeneity in a patient's body on the accuracy of the pencil beam algorithm in comparison to Monte Carlo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamashita, T.; Akagi, T.; Aso, T.; Kimura, A.; Sasaki, T.

2012-11-01

The pencil beam algorithm (PBA) is reasonably accurate and fast. It is, therefore, the primary method used in routine clinical treatment planning for proton radiotherapy; still, it needs to be validated for use in highly inhomogeneous regions. In our investigation of the effect of patient inhomogeneity, PBA was compared with Monte Carlo (MC). A software framework was developed for the MC simulation of radiotherapy based on Geant4. Anatomical sites selected for the comparison were the head/neck, liver, lung and pelvis region. The dose distributions calculated by the two methods in selected examples were compared, as well as a dose volume histogram (DVH) derived from the dose distributions. The comparison of the off-center ratio (OCR) at the iso-center showed good agreement between the PBA and MC, while discrepancies were seen around the distal fall-off regions. While MC showed a fine structure on the OCR in the distal fall-off region, the PBA showed smoother distribution. The fine structures in MC calculation appeared downstream of very low-density regions. Comparison of DVHs showed that most of the target volumes were similarly covered, while some OARs located around the distal region received a higher dose when calculated by MC than the PBA.

Relationships between oxygen consumption rate, viability, and subsequent development of in vivo-derived porcine embryos.

PubMed

Sakagami, N; Nishida, K; Akiyama, K; Abe, H; Hoshi, H; Suzuki, C; Yoshioka, K

2015-01-01

Oxygen consumption rate of in vivo-derived porcine embryos was measured, and its value as an objective method for the assessment of embryo quality was evaluated. Embryos were surgically collected 5 or 6 days after artificial insemination (AI), and oxygen consumption rate of embryos was measured using an embryo respirometer. The average oxygen consumption rate (F × 10(14)/mol s(-1)) of the embryos that developed to the compacted morula stage on Day 5 (Day 0 = the day of artificial insemination) was 0.58 ± 0.03 (mean ± standard error of the mean). The Day-6 embryos had consumption rates of 0.56 ± 0.13, 0.87 ± 0.06, and 1.13 ± 0.07 at the early blastocyst, blastocyst, and expanded blastocyst stages, respectively, showing a gradual increase as the embryos developed. Just after collection, the average oxygen consumption rates of embryos that hatched and of those that did not hatch after culture were 0.60 ± 0.04 and 0.50 ± 0.04 for Day 5 (P = 0.08) and 1.05 ± 0.09 and 0.77 ± 0.05 for Day 6 (P < 0.05), respectively. The value and probability of discrimination by measuring the oxygen consumption rates of embryos to predict their hatching ability after culture were 0.56 and 63.6% for Day-5 embryos and 0.91 and 68.4% for Day-6 blastocysts, respectively. When Day-5 embryos were classified based on the oxygen consumption rate and then transferred non-surgically to recipient sows, three of the seven sows, to which embryos having a high oxygen consumption rate (≥ 0.59) were transferred, became pregnant and farrowed a total of 20 piglets. However, none of the four sows, to which embryos having low oxygen consumption rate (< 0.59) were transferred, became pregnant. These results suggest that the viability of in vivo-derived porcine embryos and subsequent development can be estimated by measuring the oxygen consumption rate. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Glucose consumption rate critically depends on redox state in Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen deprivation.

PubMed

Tsuge, Yota; Uematsu, Kimio; Yamamoto, Shogo; Suda, Masako; Yukawa, Hideaki; Inui, Masayuki

2015-07-01

Rapid sugar consumption is important for the microbial production of chemicals and fuels. Here, we show that overexpression of the NADH dehydrogenase gene (ndh) increased glucose consumption rate in Corynebacterium glutamicum under oxygen-deprived conditions through investigating the relationship between the glucose consumption rate and intracellular NADH/NAD(+) ratio in various mutant strains. The NADH/NAD(+) ratio was strongly repressed under oxygen deprivation when glucose consumption was accelerated by the addition of pyruvate or sodium hydrogen carbonate. Overexpression of the ndh gene in the wild-type strain under oxygen deprivation decreased the NADH/NAD(+) ratio from 0.32 to 0.13, whereas the glucose consumption rate increased by 27%. Similarly, in phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase gene (ppc)- or malate dehydrogenase gene (mdh)-deficient strains, overexpression of the ndh gene decreased the NADH/NAD(+) ratio from 1.66 to 0.37 and 2.20 to 0.57, respectively, whereas the glucose consumption rate increased by 57 and 330%, respectively. However, in a lactate dehydrogenase gene (L-ldhA)-deficient strain, although the NADH/NAD(+) ratio decreased from 5.62 to 1.13, the glucose consumption rate was not markedly altered. In a tailored D-lactate-producing strain, which lacked ppc and L-ldhA genes, but expressed D-ldhA from Lactobacillus delbrueckii, overexpression of the ndh gene decreased the NADH/NAD(+) ratio from 1.77 to 0.56, and increased the glucose consumption rate by 50%. Overall, the glucose consumption rate was found to be inversely proportional to the NADH/NAD(+) ratio in C. glutamicum cultured under oxygen deprivation. These findings could provide an option to increase the productivity of chemicals and fuels under oxygen deprivation.

Oxygen Consumption by Red Wines. Part I: Consumption Rates, Relationship with Chemical Composition, and Role of SO₂.

PubMed

Ferreira, Vicente; Carrascon, Vanesa; Bueno, Mónica; Ugliano, Maurizio; Fernandez-Zurbano, Purificación

2015-12-30

Fifteen Spanish red wines extensively characterized in terms of SO2, color, antioxidant indexes, metals, and polyphenols were subjected to five consecutive sensor-controlled cycles of air saturation at 25 °C. Within each cycle, O2 consumption rates cannot be interpreted by simple kinetic models. Plots of cumulated consumed O2 made it possible to define a fast and highly wine-dependent initial O2 consumption rate and a second and less variable average O2 consumption rate which remains constant in saturations 2 to 5. Both rates have been satisfactorily modeled, and in both cases they were independent of Fe and SO2 and highly dependent on Cu levels. Average rates were also related to Mn, pH, Folin, protein precipitable proanthocyanidins (PPAs), and polyphenolic profile. Initial rates were strong and negatively correlated to SO2 consumption, indicating that such an initial rate is either controlled by an unknown antioxidant present in some wines or affected by a poor real availability of SO2. Remaining unreacted SO2 is proportional to initial combined SO2 and to final free acetaldehyde.

Evaluation of image deblurring methods via a classification metric

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perrone, Daniele; Humphreys, David; Lamb, Robert A.; Favaro, Paolo

2012-09-01

The performance of single image deblurring algorithms is typically evaluated via a certain discrepancy measure between the reconstructed image and the ideal sharp image. The choice of metric, however, has been a source of debate and has also led to alternative metrics based on human visual perception. While fixed metrics may fail to capture some small but visible artifacts, perception-based metrics may favor reconstructions with artifacts that are visually pleasant. To overcome these limitations, we propose to assess the quality of reconstructed images via a task-driven metric. In this paper we consider object classification as the task and therefore use the rate of classification as the metric to measure deblurring performance. In our evaluation we use data with different types of blur in two cases: Optical Character Recognition (OCR), where the goal is to recognise characters in a black and white image, and object classification with no restrictions on pose, illumination and orientation. Finally, we show how off-the-shelf classification algorithms benefit from working with deblurred images.

Determine Neuronal Tuning Curves by Exploring Optimum Firing Rate Distribution for Information Efficiency

PubMed Central

Han, Fang; Wang, Zhijie; Fan, Hong

2017-01-01

This paper proposed a new method to determine the neuronal tuning curves for maximum information efficiency by computing the optimum firing rate distribution. Firstly, we proposed a general definition for the information efficiency, which is relevant to mutual information and neuronal energy consumption. The energy consumption is composed of two parts: neuronal basic energy consumption and neuronal spike emission energy consumption. A parameter to model the relative importance of energy consumption is introduced in the definition of the information efficiency. Then, we designed a combination of exponential functions to describe the optimum firing rate distribution based on the analysis of the dependency of the mutual information and the energy consumption on the shape of the functions of the firing rate distributions. Furthermore, we developed a rapid algorithm to search the parameter values of the optimum firing rate distribution function. Finally, we found with the rapid algorithm that a combination of two different exponential functions with two free parameters can describe the optimum firing rate distribution accurately. We also found that if the energy consumption is relatively unimportant (important) compared to the mutual information or the neuronal basic energy consumption is relatively large (small), the curve of the optimum firing rate distribution will be relatively flat (steep), and the corresponding optimum tuning curve exhibits a form of sigmoid if the stimuli distribution is normal. PMID:28270760

The Effects of the Habitual Consumption of Miso Soup on the Blood Pressure and Heart Rate of Japanese Adults: A Cross-sectional Study of a Health Examination.

PubMed

Ito, Koji; Miyata, Kenji; Mohri, Masahiro; Origuchi, Hideki; Yamamoto, Hideo

Objective It is recommended that middle-aged and elderly individuals reduce their salt intake because of the high prevalence of hypertension. The consumption of miso soup is associated with salt intake, and the reduced consumption of miso soup has been recommended. Recent studies have demonstrated that the consumption of miso soup can attenuate an autonomic imbalance in animal models. However, it is unclear whether these results are applicable to humans. This study examined the cross-sectional association between the frequency of miso soup consumption and the blood pressure and heart rate of human subjects. Methods A total of 527 subjects of 50 to 81 years of age who participated in our hospital health examination were enrolled in the present study and divided into four groups based on the frequency of their miso soup consumption ([bowl(s) of miso soup/week] Group 1, <1; Group2, <4; Group3, <7; Group4, ≥7). The blood pressure levels and heart rates of the subjects in each group were compared. Furthermore, a multivariable analysis was performed to determine whether miso soup consumption was an independent factor affecting the incidence of hypertension or the heart rate. Results The frequency of miso soup consumption was not associated with blood pressure. The heart rate was, however, lower in the participants who reported a high frequency of miso soup consumption. A multivariable analysis revealed that the participants who reported a high frequency of miso soup consumption were more likely to have a lower heart rate, but that the consumption of miso soup was not associated with the incidence of hypertension. Conclusion These results indicate that miso soup consumption might decrease the heart rate, but not have a significant effect on the blood pressure of in middle-aged and elderly Japanese individuals.

The Effects of the Habitual Consumption of Miso Soup on the Blood Pressure and Heart Rate of Japanese Adults: A Cross-sectional Study of a Health Examination

PubMed Central

Ito, Koji; Miyata, Kenji; Mohri, Masahiro; Origuchi, Hideki; Yamamoto, Hideo

2017-01-01

Objective It is recommended that middle-aged and elderly individuals reduce their salt intake because of the high prevalence of hypertension. The consumption of miso soup is associated with salt intake, and the reduced consumption of miso soup has been recommended. Recent studies have demonstrated that the consumption of miso soup can attenuate an autonomic imbalance in animal models. However, it is unclear whether these results are applicable to humans. This study examined the cross-sectional association between the frequency of miso soup consumption and the blood pressure and heart rate of human subjects. Methods A total of 527 subjects of 50 to 81 years of age who participated in our hospital health examination were enrolled in the present study and divided into four groups based on the frequency of their miso soup consumption ([bowl(s) of miso soup/week] Group 1, <1; Group2, <4; Group3, <7; Group4, ≥7). The blood pressure levels and heart rates of the subjects in each group were compared. Furthermore, a multivariable analysis was performed to determine whether miso soup consumption was an independent factor affecting the incidence of hypertension or the heart rate. Results The frequency of miso soup consumption was not associated with blood pressure. The heart rate was, however, lower in the participants who reported a high frequency of miso soup consumption. A multivariable analysis revealed that the participants who reported a high frequency of miso soup consumption were more likely to have a lower heart rate, but that the consumption of miso soup was not associated with the incidence of hypertension. Conclusion These results indicate that miso soup consumption might decrease the heart rate, but not have a significant effect on the blood pressure of in middle-aged and elderly Japanese individuals. PMID:28049996

Rapid screening method to study the reactivity of UV filter substances towards skin proteins by high-performance thin-layer chromatography.

PubMed

Stiefel, C; Schwack, W

2013-12-01

Most UV filters used in sunscreens and other cosmetic products contain carbonyl groups, which generally are able to react with peptides or free amino acids of the human skin. To estimate their reactivity, we studied different prominent UV filter substances, octocrylene, ethylhexyl salicylate, 4-t-butyl-4'-methoxydibenzoylmethane, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, benzophenone-3, hydroxymethylbenzoyl sulphonic acid, octyldimethyl p-aminobenzoic acid, 3-benzylidene camphor, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor, diethylhexyl butamido triazone and ethylhexyl triazone. A simple screening method using an amino HPTLC plate as protein model was established. The influence of different reaction conditions like heating and irradiation was determined. The ketones BP-3, HMBS and BM-DBM revealed the highest binding rates after both irradiation and heating. After 1 h of irradiation, 82%, 28% and 96%, respectively, were bonded to the amino phase, while heating resulted in values of 52%, 36% and 16%. For BP-3 and HMBS, even storage in the dark at room temperature resulted in a low binding. Contrarily, for the two camphor derivatives 3-BC and 4-MBC, only irradiation led to a slightly turnover. UV filters with ester groups also showed a different behaviour depending on their main skeleton. While OCR especially reacted under heating with the amino phase, resulting in 36% of bound species after one hour, UV irradiation particularly encouraged a reaction of the other esters. After 1 h irradiation, 15% of EHMC, 38% of EHS and 48% of OD-PABA were bonded to the amino groups of the HPTLC plate, whereas the reactivity of the two triazones, EHT and DEBT, was comparatively low. Especially the UV filters BP-3, BM-DBM, HMBS, EHMC or OCR, which are commonly known to cause contact dermatitis, showed a high tendency to form adducts with the amino layer. Thus, the amino plate seems to be a proper tool to screen for skin sensitizers. © 2013 Society of Cosmetic Scientists and the Société Française de Cosmétologie.

Helping General Physical Educators and Adapted Physical Educators Address the Office of Civil Rights Dear Colleague Guidance Letter: Part V--Outdoor Pursuits as an Extracurricular Alternative for Addressing Office of Civil Rights Guidance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Timothy D.; Felix, Manny

2013-01-01

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) recently clarified that schools are required to provide students with disabilities (SWD) equal opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities (U.S. Department of Education [USDE] Office for Civil Rights, 2013). Schools have flexibility to design and expand extracurricular opportunities based on existing…

Expanding perceptions of subsistence fish consumption: evidence of high commercial fish consumption and dietary mercury exposure in an urban coastal community.

PubMed

Holloman, Erica L; Newman, Michael C

2012-02-01

Through collaborative partnerships established between current researchers and The Moton Community House (a local community center), African American women (ages 16-49yrs) from the Southeast Community of Newport News, Virginia, USA were surveyed to assess the reproducibility and consistency of fish consumption patterns (ingestion rates, exposure frequencies, weight, and fish consumption rates) derived from a community-specific fish consumption survey. Women were also surveyed to assess the reliability of the survey responses, and to estimate daily mercury intake. Fish consumption patterns were reproducible and the survey responses were reliable. Comparison between years revealed that fish consumption patterns remained consistent over time. In addition, the high fish consumption rate estimated in 2008 (147.8g/day; 95% CI: 117.6-185.8g/day) was confirmed with a rate (134.9g/day; 95% CI: 88-207g/day) not materially different and still considerably higher than mean fish consumption rates reported for U.S. women. Daily mercury intake rates were estimated using consumption data from 2008 and three consumption scenarios (canned white, canned light, and no tuna) due to confirmed differences in mercury concentration between canned white and light tuna. Arithmetic mean daily mercury intake rates were 0.284μg/kg bw/day (95% CI: 0.229-0.340μg/kg bw/day) using canned white tuna, 0.212μg/kg bw/day (95% CI: 0.165-0.259μg/kg bw/day) using light tuna, and 0.197μg/kg bw/day (95% CI: 0.151-0.243μg/kg bw/day) using no tuna. Approximately 58%-73% of the daily mercury intake rates for African American women in the Southeast Community exceeded US EPA's oral reference dose (RfD) of 0.10μg/kg bw/day for mercury. In addition, 2% of the rates exceeded a level (1.00μg/kg bw/day) documented to produce adverse health effects. Past and current investigations confirmed that even though women in this community were not subsistence fishers, they are subsistence fish consumers. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Metabolically Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA announced the availability of the final report, Metabolically Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates. This report provides a revised approach for calculating an individual's ventilation rate directly from their oxygen consumption rate. This approach will be used to update the ventilation rate information in the Exposure Factors Handbook, which serve as a resources for exposure assessors for calculating inhalation and other exposures. In this report, EPA presents a revised approach in which ventilation rate is calculated directly from an individual's oxygen consumption rate.

Local modelling of land consumption in Germany with RegioClust

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hagenauer, Julian; Helbich, Marco

2018-03-01

Germany is experiencing extensive land consumption. This necessitates local models to understand actual and future land consumption patterns. This research examined land consumption rates on a municipality level in Germany for the period 2000-10 and predicted rates for 2010-20. For this purpose, RegioClust, an algorithm that combines hierarchical clustering and regression analysis to identify regions with similar relationships between land consumption and its drivers, was developed. The performance of RegioClust was compared against geographically weighted regression (GWR). Distinct spatially varying relationships across regions emerged, whereas population density is suggested as the central driver. Although both RegioClust and GWR predicted an increase in land consumption rates for east Germany for 2010-20, only RegioClust forecasts a decline for west Germany. In conclusion, both models predict for 2010-20 a rate of land consumption that suggests that the policy objective of reducing land consumption to 30 ha per day in 2020 will not be achieved. Policymakers are advised to take action and revise existing planning strategies to counteract this development.

Intraspecific competition and density dependence of food consumption and growth in Arctic charr.

PubMed

Amundsen, Per-Arne; Knudsen, Rune; Klemetsen, Anders

2007-01-01

1. Intraspecific competition for restricted food resources is considered to play a fundamental part in density dependence of somatic growth and other population characteristics, but studies simultaneously addressing the interrelationships between population density, food acquisition and somatic growth have been missing. 2. We explored the food consumption and individual growth rates of Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus in a long-term survey following a large-scale density manipulation experiment in a subarctic lake. 3. Prior to the initiation of the experiment, the population density was high and the somatic growth rates low, revealing a severely overcrowded and stunted fish population. 4. During the 6-year period of stock depletion the population density of Arctic charr was reduced with about 75%, resulting in an almost twofold increase in food consumption rates and enhanced individual growth rates of the fish. 5. Over the decade following the density manipulation experiment, the population density gradually rose to intermediate levels, accompanied by corresponding reductions in food consumption and somatic growth rates. 6. The study revealed negative relationships with population density for both food consumption and individual growth rates, reflecting a strong positive correlation between quantitative food intake and somatic growth rates. 7. Both the growth and consumption rate relationships with population density were well described by negative power curves, suggesting that large density perturbations are necessary to induce improved feeding conditions and growth rates in stunted fish populations. 8. The findings demonstrate that quantitative food consumption represents the connective link between population density and individual growth rates, apparently being highly influenced by intraspecific competition for limited resources.

Increased Cyclooxygenase-2-Derived Prostanoids Contributes to the Hyperreactivity to Noradrenaline in Mesenteric Resistance Arteries from Offspring of Diabetic Rats

PubMed Central

Santos-Rocha, Juliana; Duarte, Gloria P.; Xavier, Fabiano E.

2012-01-01

This study analyzed the effect of in utero exposure to maternal diabetes on contraction to noradrenaline in mesenteric resistance arteries (MRA) from adult offspring, focusing on the role of cyclooxygenase (COX)-derived prostanoids. Diabetes in the maternal rat was induced by a single injection of streptozotocin (50 mg/kg body weight) on day 7 of pregnancy. Contraction to noradrenaline was analyzed in isolated MRA from offspring of diabetic (O-DR) and non-diabetic (O-CR) rats at 3, 6 and 12 months of age. Release of thromboxane A2 (TxA2) and prostaglandins E2 (PGE2) and F2α (PGF2α), was measured by specific enzyme immunoassay kits. O-DR developed hypertension from 6 months of age compared with O-CR. Arteries from O-DR were hyperactive to noradrenaline only at 6 and 12 months of age. Endothelial removal abolished this hyperreactivity to noradrenaline between O-CR and O-DR. Preincubation with either the COX-1/2 (indomethacin) or COX-2 inhibitor (NS-398) decreased noradrenaline contraction only in 6- and 12-month-old O-DR, while it remained unmodified by COX-1 inhibitor SC-560. In vessels from 6-month-old O-DR, a similar reduction in the contraction to noradrenaline produced by NS-398 was observed when TP and EP receptors were blocked (SQ29548+AH6809). In 12-month-old O-DR, this effect was only achieved when TP, EP and FP were blocked (SQ29548+AH6809+AL8810). Noradrenaline-stimulated TxB2 and PGE2 release was higher in 6- and 12-month-old O-DR, whereas PGF2α was increased only in 12-month-old O-DR. Our results demonstrated that in utero exposure to maternal hyperglycaemia in rats increases the participation of COX-2-derived prostanoids on contraction to noradrenaline, which might help to explain the greater response to this agonist in MRA from 6- and 12-month-old offspring. As increased contractile response in resistance vessels may contribute to hypertension, our results suggest a role for these COX-2-derived prostanoids in elevating vascular resistance and blood pressure in offspring of diabetic rats. PMID:23209788

School Lunch Consumption Among 3 Food Service Providers in New Orleans.

PubMed

Canterberry, Melanie; Francois, Samantha; van Hattum, Taslim; Rudov, Lindsey; Carton, Thomas W

2018-02-01

Louisiana has one of the highest rates of overweight and obese children in the United States. The Healthy School Food Collaborative (HSFC) was created to allow New Orleans's schools to select their own healthy school Food Service Provider (FSP) with requirements for higher nutritional standards than traditional options. The goal of this cross-sectional study was to examine whether HSFC membership was associated with lunch consumption rates in elementary school children. An 8-week plate waste study examining 18,070 trays of food among fourth and fifth graders was conducted. Participants included 7 schools and the 3 FSPs (2 HSFC and 1 non-HSFC member) that serviced them. Mixed models analysis examined whether consumption rates of food items differed among FSPs. On average, students consumed 307 cal during lunch. Analyses showed significant differences in consumption rates of entrée, vegetables, fruit, and milk between the 3 FSPs (p < .01). The highest consumption rate was among entrées at 65%. One HSFC provider had consumption levels consistent with the non-HSFC FSP. Overall, students consumed less than 60% of the US Department of Agriculture recommended calories for school lunch. While overall caloric consumption was higher among the non-HSFC schools, interventions to increase lunch consumption across all schools are needed. © 2018, American School Health Association.

Oxygen consumption is a quality marker for human oocyte competence conditioned by ovarian stimulation regimens.

PubMed

Tejera, Aberto; Herrero, Javier; de Los Santos, M J; Garrido, Nicolás; Ramsing, Niels; Meseguer, Marcos

2011-09-01

To evaluate the effect of different ovarian stimulation protocols on oocyte respiration and to investigate the relationship between oocyte oxygen consumption and reproductive outcome. Prospective observational cohort study. Infertility clinic in a university hospital. A total of 349 oocytes from 56 IVF treatment cycles in our oocyte donation program. None. Average oocyte oxygen consumption rate in fmol/s. We correlated oxygen consumption values with ovarian stimulation features, fertilization, embryo quality on days 2 and 3, and implantation. Differences in the measured oxygen consumption rates were found depending on which type of gonadotropins were used in the stimulation protocol. Higher consumption rates were found for oocytes that underwent normal fertilization compared with rates from nonfertilized or abnormal oocytes (odds ratio = 1.340; 95% confidence intervals = 1.037-1.732). Furthermore, higher oxygen consumption was observed for those oocytes which generated embryos that implanted compared with those that did not implant (6.21 ± 0.849 fmol/s vs. 5.23 ± 0.345 fmol/s. Measurement of oxygen consumption rates for individual oocytes before fertilization provides a noninvasive marker of oocyte quality and hence a quantitative assessment of the reproductive potential for the oocyte. Copyright © 2011 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

10 CFR 431.264 - Uniform test method for the measurement of flow rate for commercial prerinse spray valves.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

..., the water consumption flow rate of commercial prerinse spray valves. (b) Testing and Calculations. The test procedure to determine the water consumption flow rate for prerinse spray valves, expressed in... the previous step. Round the final water consumption value to one decimal place as follows: (1) A...

77 FR 3440 - Utility Scale Wind Towers From the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-01-24

... Exhibit II-12. Petitioner determined labor costs using the labor consumption rates of the Wind Tower... natural gas costs using the natural gas consumption rates derived from the Wind Tower Producer's.... Petitioner determined labor costs using the labor consumption rates of the Wind Tower Producer. See Volume IV...

State Enforcement of Civil Rights in Vocational Education: Partner or Stepchild? A Report on Implementation of Section II of the 1979 Vocational Education Guidelines by the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chachkin, Norman

An investigation was conducted of state enforcement of the Vocational Education Guidelines issued in 1979 to prevent discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, sex, or handicap in vocational training. The guidelines are administered by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) through methods of administration (MOA) developed by the states that…

Validation of Ocean Color Sensors Using a Profiling Hyperspectral Radiometer

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

shadows. The HyperOCRs are all thermally characterized for temperature corrections and spectrally characterized to account for stray light corrections...August 24,2010 is shown in Figure 4A along with the mean percent difference between the NOAA Hyperpro ( Black /Dash) and the other two identical Hyperpro...difference (n=24) between the NOAA Hyperpro ( Black /Dash, Fig. 4A) and the other two Hyperpro systems. The dotted line for the red (bottom) and dash line for

Semantic classification of business images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erol, Berna; Hull, Jonathan J.

2006-01-01

Digital cameras are becoming increasingly common for capturing information in business settings. In this paper, we describe a novel method for classifying images into the following semantic classes: document, whiteboard, business card, slide, and regular images. Our method is based on combining low-level image features, such as text color, layout, and handwriting features with high-level OCR output analysis. Several Support Vector Machine Classifiers are combined for multi-class classification of input images. The system yields 95% accuracy in classification.

Textual blocks rectification method based on fast Hough transform analysis in identity documents recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bezmaternykh, P. V.; Nikolaev, D. P.; Arlazarov, V. L.

2018-04-01

Textual blocks rectification or slant correction is an important stage of document image processing in OCR systems. This paper considers existing methods and introduces an approach for the construction of such algorithms based on Fast Hough Transform analysis. A quality measurement technique is proposed and obtained results are shown for both printed and handwritten textual blocks processing as a part of an industrial system of identity documents recognition on mobile devices.

Combining transcription factor binding affinities with open-chromatin data for accurate gene expression prediction

PubMed Central

Schmidt, Florian; Gasparoni, Nina; Gasparoni, Gilles; Gianmoena, Kathrin; Cadenas, Cristina; Polansky, Julia K.; Ebert, Peter; Nordström, Karl; Barann, Matthias; Sinha, Anupam; Fröhler, Sebastian; Xiong, Jieyi; Dehghani Amirabad, Azim; Behjati Ardakani, Fatemeh; Hutter, Barbara; Zipprich, Gideon; Felder, Bärbel; Eils, Jürgen; Brors, Benedikt; Chen, Wei; Hengstler, Jan G.; Hamann, Alf; Lengauer, Thomas; Rosenstiel, Philip; Walter, Jörn; Schulz, Marcel H.

2017-01-01

The binding and contribution of transcription factors (TF) to cell specific gene expression is often deduced from open-chromatin measurements to avoid costly TF ChIP-seq assays. Thus, it is important to develop computational methods for accurate TF binding prediction in open-chromatin regions (OCRs). Here, we report a novel segmentation-based method, TEPIC, to predict TF binding by combining sets of OCRs with position weight matrices. TEPIC can be applied to various open-chromatin data, e.g. DNaseI-seq and NOMe-seq. Additionally, Histone-Marks (HMs) can be used to identify candidate TF binding sites. TEPIC computes TF affinities and uses open-chromatin/HM signal intensity as quantitative measures of TF binding strength. Using machine learning, we find low affinity binding sites to improve our ability to explain gene expression variability compared to the standard presence/absence classification of binding sites. Further, we show that both footprints and peaks capture essential TF binding events and lead to a good prediction performance. In our application, gene-based scores computed by TEPIC with one open-chromatin assay nearly reach the quality of several TF ChIP-seq data sets. Finally, these scores correctly predict known transcriptional regulators as illustrated by the application to novel DNaseI-seq and NOMe-seq data for primary human hepatocytes and CD4+ T-cells, respectively. PMID:27899623

Rectification of curved document images based on single view three-dimensional reconstruction.

PubMed

Kang, Lai; Wei, Yingmei; Jiang, Jie; Bai, Liang; Lao, Songyang

2016-10-01

Since distortions in camera-captured document images significantly affect the accuracy of optical character recognition (OCR), distortion removal plays a critical role for document digitalization systems using a camera for image capturing. This paper proposes a novel framework that performs three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction and rectification of camera-captured document images. While most existing methods rely on additional calibrated hardware or multiple images to recover the 3D shape of a document page, or make a simple but not always valid assumption on the corresponding 3D shape, our framework is more flexible and practical since it only requires a single input image and is able to handle a general locally smooth document surface. The main contributions of this paper include a new iterative refinement scheme for baseline fitting from connected components of text line, an efficient discrete vertical text direction estimation algorithm based on convex hull projection profile analysis, and a 2D distortion grid construction method based on text direction function estimation using 3D regularization. In order to examine the performance of our proposed method, both qualitative and quantitative evaluation and comparison with several recent methods are conducted in our experiments. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms relevant approaches for camera-captured document image rectification, in terms of improvements on both visual distortion removal and OCR accuracy.

Two binuclear cyanide-bridged Cr(III)-Mn(III) complexes based-on [Cr(2,2'-bipy)(CN)4]- building block: synthesis, crystal structures and magnetic properties.

PubMed

Zhanga, Daopeng; Kong, Lingqian; Zhang, Hongyan

2015-01-01

Tetracyanide building block [Cr(2,2'-bipy)(CN)(4)]- and two bicompartimental Schiff-base based manganese(III) compounds have been employed to assemble cyanide-bridged heterometallic complexes, resulting in two cyanide-bridged CrIII-MnIII complexes: [Mn(L(1))(H(2)O)][Cr(2,2'-bipy)(CN)(4)]·CH(3)OH·2.5H(2)O (1) and [Mn(L(2))(H(2)O)][Cr(2,2'-bipy)(CN)(4)]·CH(3)OH·(3)H(2)O (2) (L1 = N,N'-(1,3-propylene)-bis(3-methoxysalicylideneiminate), L2 = N,N'-ethylene-bis(3-ethoxysalicylideneiminate)). Single X-ray diffraction analysis shows their similar cyanide-bridged binuclear structures, in which the cyanide precursor acting as monodentate ligand connects the manganese(III) ion. The binuclear complexes are self-complementary through coordinated aqua ligand and the free O4 compartment from the neighboring complex, giving H-bond linking dimer structure. Investigation over magnetic properties reveals the antiferromagnetic magnetic coupling between the cyanide-bridged Cr(III) and Mn(III) ions. A best-fit to the magnetic susceptibilities of these two complexes leads to the magnetic coupling constants J = -5.95 cm(-1), j = -0.61 cm(-1) (1) and J = -4.15 cm(-1), j = -0.57 cm(-1) (2), respectively.

Lateral Entorhinal Cortex is Critical for Novel Object-Context Recognition

PubMed Central

Wilson, David IG; Langston, Rosamund F; Schlesiger, Magdalene I; Wagner, Monica; Watanabe, Sakurako; Ainge, James A

2013-01-01

Episodic memory incorporates information about specific events or occasions including spatial locations and the contextual features of the environment in which the event took place. It has been modeled in rats using spontaneous exploration of novel configurations of objects, their locations, and the contexts in which they are presented. While we have a detailed understanding of how spatial location is processed in the brain relatively little is known about where the nonspatial contextual components of episodic memory are processed. Initial experiments measured c-fos expression during an object-context recognition (OCR) task to examine which networks within the brain process contextual features of an event. Increased c-fos expression was found in the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC; a major hippocampal afferent) during OCR relative to control conditions. In a subsequent experiment it was demonstrated that rats with lesions of LEC were unable to recognize object-context associations yet showed normal object recognition and normal context recognition. These data suggest that contextual features of the environment are integrated with object identity in LEC and demonstrate that recognition of such object-context associations requires the LEC. This is consistent with the suggestion that contextual features of an event are processed in LEC and that this information is combined with spatial information from medial entorhinal cortex to form episodic memory in the hippocampus. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:23389958

Association of the consumption of common food groups and beverages with mortality from cancer, ischaemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus in Serbia, 1991–2010: an ecological study

PubMed Central

Ilic, Milena; Ilic, Irena; Stojanovic, Goran; Zivanovic-Macuzic, Ivana

2016-01-01

Objectives This paper reports association between mortality rates from cancer, ischaemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus and the consumption of common food groups and beverages in Serbia. Design In this ecological study, data on both mortality and the average annual consumption of common food groups and beverages per household's member were obtained from official data-collection sources. The multivariate linear regression analysis was used to determine the strength of the associations between consumption of common food groups and beverages and mortality rates. Results Markedly increasing trends of cancer, ischaemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus mortality rates were observed in Serbia in the period 1991–2010. Mortality rates from cancer were negatively associated with consumption of vegetable oil (p=0.005) and grains (p=0.001), and same was found for ischaemic heart disease (p=0.002 and 0.021, respectively), while consumption of other dairy products showed a significant positive association (p<0.001 and p=0.032, respectively). In men and women, mortality rates from diabetes mellitus showed a significant positive association with consumption of poultry (p=0.014 and 0.004, respectively). Consumption of beef and grains showed a significant negative association with cancer mortality rates in both genders (p=0.002 and p<0.001 in men, and p<0.001 and p=0.014 in women, respectively), while consumption of cheese was negatively associated only in men (p<0.001). Mortality from diabetes mellitus showed a significant positive association with consumption of animal fat and other dairy products only in women (p=0.003 and 0.046, respectively). Conclusions Association between unfavourable mortality trends from cancer, ischaemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus, and common food groups and beverages consumption was observed and should be assessed in future analytical epidemiological studies. Promotion of healthy diet is sorely needed in Serbia. PMID:26733565

Per Capita Alcohol Consumption and Suicide Rates in the U.S., 1950-2002

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Landberg, Jonas

2009-01-01

The aim of this paper was to estimate how suicide rates in the United States are affected by changes in per capita consumption during the postwar period. The analysis included Annual suicide rates and per capita alcohol consumption data (total and beverage specific) for the period 1950-2002. Gender- and age-specific models were estimated using the…

Alcohol consumption and ischemic heart disease mortality in Russia.

PubMed

Razvodovsky, Yury E

2012-01-01

It has been repeatedly emphasized that alcohol provides the most plausible explanation for both the high rate of cardiovascular mortality rate and its dramatic fluctuations in Russia over recent decades, while other traditional risk factors identified in epidemiological studies have little predictive value. The aim of this study was to examine the relation between alcohol consumption and ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality rates in Russia. A ge-standardized sex-specific male and female IHD mortality data for the period 1980-2005 and data on overall alcohol consumption were analyzed by means of ARIMA time series analysis. The results of the analysis showed that alcohol consumption was significantly associated with both male and female IHD mortality rates: a 1-liter increase in overall alcohol consumption would result in a 3.9% increase in the male IHD mortality rate and a 2.7% increase in the female IHD mortality rate. As a conclusion, the results of this study provide indirect support for the hypothesis that the drastic fluctuations in IHD mortality in Russia over recent decades are related to alcohol, as indicated by the close temporal association between number of deaths from IHD and overall alcohol consumption per capita.

Comparative developmental toxicity of environmentally relevant oxygenated PAHs

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

Knecht, Andrea L., E-mail: andrea.knecht@tanguaylab.com; Goodale, Britton C., E-mail: goodaleb@onid.orst.edu; Truong, Lisa, E-mail: lisa.truong.888@gmail.com

2013-09-01

Oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (OPAHs) are byproducts of combustion and photo-oxidation of parent PAHs. OPAHs are widely present in the environment and pose an unknown hazard to human health. The developing zebrafish was used to evaluate a structurally diverse set of 38 OPAHs for malformation induction, gene expression changes and mitochondrial function. Zebrafish embryos were exposed from 6 to 120 h post fertilization (hpf) to a dilution series of 38 different OPAHs and evaluated for 22 developmental endpoints. AHR activation was determined via CYP1A immunohistochemistry. Phenanthrenequinone (9,10-PHEQ), 1,9-benz-10-anthrone (BEZO), xanthone (XAN), benz(a)anthracene-7,12-dione (7,12-B[a]AQ), and 9,10-anthraquinone (9,10-ANTQ) were evaluated for transcriptionalmore » responses at 48 hpf, prior to the onset of malformations. qRT-PCR was conducted for a number of oxidative stress genes, including the glutathione transferase(gst), glutathione peroxidase(gpx), and superoxide dismutase(sod) families. Bioenergetics was assayed to measure in vivo oxidative stress and mitochondrial function in 26 hpf embryos exposed to OPAHs. Hierarchical clustering of the structure-activity outcomes indicated that the most toxic of the OPAHs contained adjacent diones on 6-carbon moieties or terminal, para-diones on multi-ring structures. 5-carbon moieties with adjacent diones were among the least toxic OPAHs while the toxicity of multi-ring structures with more centralized para-diones varied considerably. 9,10-PHEQ, BEZO, 7,12-B[a]AQ, and XAN exposures increased expression of several oxidative stress related genes and decreased oxygen consumption rate (OCR), a measurement of mitochondrial respiration. Comprehensive in vivo characterization of 38 structurally diverse OPAHs indicated differential AHR dependency and a prominent role for oxidative stress in the toxicity mechanisms. - Highlights: • OPAHs are byproducts of combustion present in the environment. • OPAHs pose a largely unknown hazard to human health. • We assayed the developmental toxicology of 39 different OPAHs in zebrafish. • The most toxic OPAHs contained adjacent diones or terminal, para-diones. • AHR dependency varied among OPAHs, and oxidative stress influenced their toxicology.« less

Impact of alcohol harm reduction strategies in community sports clubs: pilot evaluation of the Good Sports program.

PubMed

Rowland, Bosco; Allen, Felicity; Toumbourou, John W

2012-05-01

Approximately 4.5 million Australians are involved in community sports clubs. A high level of alcohol consumption tends to be commonplace in this setting. The only program of its type in the world, the Good Sports program was designed to reduce harmful alcohol consumption in these Australian community sports clubs. The program offers a staged accreditation process to encourage the implementation of alcohol harm-reduction strategies. We conducted a postintervention adoption study to evaluate whether community sports club accreditation through the Good Sports program was associated with lower rates of alcohol consumption. We examined alcohol consumption rates in 113 clubs (N = 1,968 participants) and compared these to consumption rates in the general community. We hypothesized that members of clubs with more advanced implementation of the Good Sports accreditation program (Stage Two) would consume less alcohol than those with less advanced implementation (Stage One). Multilevel modeling (MLM) indicated that on days when teams competed, Stage Two club members consumed 19% less alcohol than Stage One club members. MLM also indicated that the length of time a club had been in the Good Sports program was associated with reduced rates of weekly drinking that exceeded Australian short-term risky drinking guidelines. However consumption rates for all clubs were still higher than the general community. Higher accreditation stage also predicted reduced long-term risky drinking by club members. Our findings suggest that community sports clubs show evidence of higher levels of alcohol consumption and higher rates of risky consumption than the general community. Implementation of the Good Sports accreditation strategy was associated with lower alcohol consumption in these settings.

Does the cost function matter in Bayes decision rule?

PubMed

Schlü ter, Ralf; Nussbaum-Thom, Markus; Ney, Hermann

2012-02-01

In many tasks in pattern recognition, such as automatic speech recognition (ASR), optical character recognition (OCR), part-of-speech (POS) tagging, and other string recognition tasks, we are faced with a well-known inconsistency: The Bayes decision rule is usually used to minimize string (symbol sequence) error, whereas, in practice, we want to minimize symbol (word, character, tag, etc.) error. When comparing different recognition systems, we do indeed use symbol error rate as an evaluation measure. The topic of this work is to analyze the relation between string (i.e., 0-1) and symbol error (i.e., metric, integer valued) cost functions in the Bayes decision rule, for which fundamental analytic results are derived. Simple conditions are derived for which the Bayes decision rule with integer-valued metric cost function and with 0-1 cost gives the same decisions or leads to classes with limited cost. The corresponding conditions can be tested with complexity linear in the number of classes. The results obtained do not make any assumption w.r.t. the structure of the underlying distributions or the classification problem. Nevertheless, the general analytic results are analyzed via simulations of string recognition problems with Levenshtein (edit) distance cost function. The results support earlier findings that considerable improvements are to be expected when initial error rates are high.

Contrast enhancement of mail piece images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Yong-Chul; Sridhar, Ramalingam; Demjanenko, Victor; Palumbo, Paul W.; Hull, Jonathan J.

1992-08-01

A New approach to contrast enhancement of mail piece images is presented. The contrast enhancement is used as a preprocessing step in the real-time address block location (RT-ABL) system. The RT-ABL system processes a stream of mail piece images and locates destination address blocks. Most of the mail pieces (classified into letters) show high contrast between background and foreground. As an extreme case, however, the seasonal greeting cards usually use colored envelopes which results in reduced contrast osured by an error rate by using a linear distributed associative memory (DAM). The DAM is trained to recognize the spectra of three classes of images: with high, medium, and low OCR error rates. The DAM is not forced to make a classification every time. It is allowed to reject as unknown a spectrum presented that does not closely resemble any that has been stored in the DAM. The DAM was fairly accurate with noisy images but conservative (i.e., rejected several text images as unknowns) when there was little ground and foreground degradations without affecting the nondegraded images. This approach provides local enhancement which adapts to local features. In order to simplify the computation of A and (sigma) , dynamic programming technique is used. Implementation details, performance, and the results on test images are presented in this paper.

Food consumption and growth rates of juvenile black carp fed natural and prepared feeds

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hodgins, Nathaniel C.; Schramm, Harold L.; Gerard, Patrick D.

2014-01-01

The introduced mollusciphagic black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus poses a significant threat to native mollusks in temperate waters throughout the northern hemisphere, but consumption rates necessary to estimate the magnitude of impact on mollusks have not been established. We measured food consumption and growth rates for small (77–245 g) and large (466–1,071 g) triploid black carp held individually under laboratory conditions at 20, 25, and 30°C. Daily consumption rates (g food · g wet weight fish−1·d−1·100) of black carp that received prepared feed increased with temperature (small black carp 1.39–1.71; large black carp 1.28–2.10), but temperature-related increases in specific growth rate (100[ln(final weight) - ln(initial weight)]/number of days) only occurred for the large black carp (small black carp −0.02 to 0.19; large black carp 0.16–0.65). Neither daily consumption rates (5.90–6.28) nor specific growth rates (0.05–0.24) differed among temperatures for small black carp fed live snails. The results of these laboratory feeding trials indicate food consumption rates can vary from 289.9 to 349.5 J·g−1·d−1 for 150 g black carp receiving prepared feed, from 268.8 to 441.0 J·g−1·d−1for 800 g black carp receiving prepared feed, and from 84.8 to 90.2 J·g−1·d−1 for 150 g black carp that feed on snails. Applying estimated daily consumption rates to estimated biomass of native mollusks indicates that a relatively low biomass of bla

Oxygen consumption in Plasmodium berghei-infected murine red cells: a direct spectrophotometric assay in intact erythrocytes.

PubMed

Deslauriers, R; Moffatt, D J; Smith, I C

1986-05-29

A spectrophotometric assay has been devised to measure oxygen consumption non-invasively in intact murine red cells parasitized by Plasmodium berghei. The method uses oxyhemoglobin in the erythrocytes both as a source of oxygen and as an indicator of oxygen consumption. Spectra of intact cells show broad peaks and sloping baselines due to light-scattering. In order to ascertain the number of varying components in the 370-450 nm range, the resolution of the spectra was enhanced using Fourier transforms of the frequency domain spectra. Calculation of oxygen consumption was carried out for two-component systems (oxyhemoglobin, deoxyhemoglobin) using absorbances at 415 and 431 nm. Samples prepared from highly parasitized mice (greater than 80% parasitemia, 5% hematocrit) showed oxygen consumption rates of (4-8) X 10(-8) microliter/cell per h. This rate was not attributable to the presence of white cells or reticulocytes. The rate of oxygen consumption in the erythrocytes is shown to be modulated by various agents: the respiratory inhibitors NaN3 and KCN (1 mM) reduced oxygen consumption 2-3-fold; salicylhydroxamic acid (2.5 mM) caused a 20% reduction in rate and 10 mM NaN3, completely blocked deoxygenation. Antimalarial drugs and metal-chelating agents were also tested. Chloroquine, EDTA and desferal (desferoxamine mesylate) did not decrease the deoxygenation rate of hemoglobin in parasitized cells. Quinacrine, quinine and primaquine reduced the rate of formation of deoxyhemoglobin but also produced substantial quantities of methemoglobin. The lipophilic chelator, 5-hydroxyquinoline, decreased the rate of deoxygenation one-third. The spectrophotometric assay provides a convenient means to monitor oxygen consumption in parasitized red cells, to test the effects of various agents thereon, and potentially to explore possible mechanisms for oxygen utilization.

Something from nothing: Estimating consumption rates using propensity scores, with application to emissions reduction policies

PubMed Central

Büchs, Milena; Schnepf, Sylke V.

2017-01-01

Consumption surveys often record zero purchases of a good because of a short observation window. Measures of distribution are then precluded and only mean consumption rates can be inferred. We show that Propensity Score Matching can be applied to recover the distribution of consumption rates. We demonstrate the method using the UK National Travel Survey, in which c.40% of motorist households purchase no fuel. Estimated consumption rates are plausible judging by households’ annual mileages, and highly skewed. We apply the same approach to estimate CO2 emissions and outcomes of a carbon cap or tax. Reliance on means apparently distorts analysis of such policies because of skewness of the underlying distributions. The regressiveness of a simple tax or cap is overstated, and redistributive features of a revenue-neutral policy are understated. PMID:29020029

Alcohol consumption and pancreatitis mortality in Russia.

PubMed

Razvodovsky, Yury E

2014-07-28

Pancreatitis is a major public health problem with high associated economic costs. The incidence of pancreatitis has increased in many European countries in recent decade. Accumulated research and empirical evidence suggests that excessive alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for both acute and chronic pancreatitis. The aim of this study was to examine the aggregate-level relation between the alcohol consumption and pancreatitis mortality rates in Russia. Age-standardized sex-specific male and female pancreatitis mortality data for the period 1970-2005 and data on overall alcohol consumption were analyzed by means ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) time series analysis. Alcohol consumption was significantly associated with both male and female pancreatitis mortality rates: a 1 liter increase in overall alcohol consumption would result in a 7.0% increase in the male pancreatitis mortality rate and in 2.3% increase in the female mortality rate. The results of the analysis suggest that 63.1% of all male pancreatitis deaths and 26.8% female deaths in Russia could be attributed to alcohol. Conclusions The outcomes of this study provide indirect support for the hypothesis that unfavorable mixture of higher overall level of alcohol consumption and binge drinking pattern is an important contributor to the pancreatitis mortality rate in Russian Federation.

DRR is a teenager

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagy, George

2008-01-01

The fifteenth anniversary of the first SPIE symposium (titled Character Recognition Technologies) on Document Recognition and Retrieval provides an opportunity to examine DRR's contributions to the development of document technologies. Many of the tools taken for granted today, including workable general purpose OCR, large-scale, semi-automatic forms processing, inter-format table conversion, and text mining, followed research presented at this venue. This occasion also affords an opportunity to offer tribute to the conference organizers and proceedings editors and to the coterie of professionals who regularly participate in DRR.

M-Estimation for Discrete Data: Asymptotic Distribution Theory and Implications.

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-11-01

the influence function of an M-estimator is proportional to its score function; see Hampel (1974) or Huber (1981) for details. Surprisingly, M...consistently estimates 0 when the model is correct. Suppose now that OcR The influence function at F of an M-estimator for e has the form a(x,e...variance and the bound on the influence function at F This is assuming, of course, that the estimator is asymptotically normal at Fe. 6’ The truncation

Bioenergetics of Stromal Cells As a Predictor of Aggressive Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

presence of glucose or glutamine alone or in combination compared to RWPE-1 cells and decreases with increasing malignancy. Glutamine maintained higher...increasing malignancy in presence of glucose or glutamine alone or in combination. It was performed using MIST. MiST: After three baseline OCR...measurements in an assay medium (DMEM containing 10 mM glucose, 4 mM glutamine at pH 7.4 without bicarbonate), Oligomycin (1.0 μM), FCCP (0.125 μM), and

Application of Automated Data-Scanning Techniques to U.S. Army Directorates of Engineering and Housing Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-09-01

back of a paper or plastic card. A decoder reads the flux reversals and translates them into letters and numbers for processing by a computer. The best...read without decoding. In the past 3 or 4 years, OCR technology has been improved significantly due mostly to the availability of relatively low-cost...transaction readers, and hand- held readers. Page readers scan pages of text either directly from paper or from digitized images of documents stored in the

Long Island Sound Coastal Observatory: Assessment of Above-Water Radiometric Measurement Uncertainties Using Collocated Multi and Hyper-Spectral Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-10-14

Chi]. These as- sumptions are usually not valid in coastal waters. This can create significant errors in BRDF estima- tions in coastal zones [38,39...collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ORGANIZATION. 1. REPORT...platform (LISCO) near Northport, New York, has been recently established to support validation of ocean color radiometry (OCR) satellite data. LISCO

Visual Power Data Files for Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Visual Powerfiles for EEO is an information management and reporting system designed to meet Federal requirements for the agency's Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) function in accordance with several civil rights laws and regulations. EPA OCR is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of affirmative programs, conducting workforce ad hoc anlysis and summaries for data related to applicant flow, new hires, promotions, awards, training, disciplinary actions, and selection procedures., and developing plans and actions for an annual Management Directive 715.

Metabolically Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates (Final Report, 2009)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the availability of the final report, Metabolically Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates. This report provides a revised approach for calculating an individual's ventilation rate directly from their oxygen c...

DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER ASSISTED PERSONAL INTERVIEW SOFTWARE SYSTEM FOR COLLECTION OF TRIBAL FISH CONSUMPTION DATA

EPA Science Inventory

Abstract: Native Americans who consume seafood often have higher seafood consumption rates and consequently greater exposures to contaminants in seafood than the general U.S. population. Defensible and quantifiable tribal seafood consumption rates are needed for development of ...

Estimates of fish consumption rates for consumers of bought and self-caught fish in Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota, and North Dakota.

PubMed

Moya, Jacqueline; Itkin, Cheryl; Selevan, Sherry G; Rogers, John W; Clickner, Robert P

2008-09-15

Fish consumption rates derived from national surveys may not accurately reflect consumption rates in a particular population such as recreational anglers. Many state and local health agencies in the U.S. have conducted area-specific surveys to study fish consumption patterns in local populations, assess exposure to environmental contaminants, or evaluate compliance with fish advisories. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has analyzed the raw data from fish consumption surveys in Florida, Connecticut, Minnesota, and North Dakota for the purpose of deriving distributions of fish consumption rates and studying the variables that may be more predictive of high-end consumers. Distributions of fish consumption for different age cohorts, ethnic groups, socioeconomic statuses, types of fish (i.e., freshwater, marine, estuarine), and source of fish (i.e., store-bought versus self-caught) were derived. Consumption of fish and shellfish for those who consume both caught and bought fish is higher than those who reported eating only bought or only self-caught. Mean fish consumption per kilogram of body weight ranged from 0.11 g/kg-day to 2.3 g/kg-day. The highest values were observed in Florida for children 1<6 years of age. The Florida data show a statistically significant increase in the percentage of the population reporting fish and shellfish consumption with an increase in household income and education. This trend was not observed in the other states.

Escaping herbivory: ocean warming as a refuge for primary producers where consumer metabolism and consumption cannot pursue.

PubMed

Mertens, Nicole L; Russell, Bayden D; Connell, Sean D

2015-12-01

Ocean warming is anticipated to strengthen the persistence of turf-forming habitat, yet the concomitant elevation of grazer metabolic rates may accelerate per capita rates of consumption to counter turf predominance. Whilst this possibility of strong top-down control is supported by the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE), it assumes that consumer metabolism and consumption keep pace with increasing production. This assumption was tested by quantifying the metabolic rates of turfs and herbivorous gastropods under a series of elevated temperatures in which the ensuing production and consumption were observed. We discovered that as temperature increases towards near-future levels (year 2100), consumption rates of gastropods peak earlier than the rate of growth of producers. Hence, turfs have greater capacity to persist under near-future temperatures than the capacity for herbivores to counter their growth. These results suggest that whilst MTE predicts stronger top-down control, understanding whether consumer-producer responses are synchronous is key to assessing the future strength of top-down control.

[Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among 18 years old and over adults in 2010-2012 in China].

PubMed

Guo, Haijun; Zhao, Liyun; Xu, Xiaoli; Yu, Wentao; Ju, Lahong; Yu, Dongmei

2018-01-01

To investigate consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among Chinese adults in 2010-2012. Data was collected from Chinese Nutrition and Health Surveillance: 2010-2012. Multi-stage stratified random cluster and probability proportionate sampling method was used, and 45 203 respondents aged 18 and over from 150 sites of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities were involved in the analysis. The consumption rate of sugar-sweetened beverages, distribution of the classification of the consumption frequency and percentage of variety beverages consumption frequency were calculated. There were 50. 1% of Chinese adults in2010-2012 consuming sugar-sweetened beverages, men and women were 49. 2% and 50. 8%, for age groups of 18-44, 45-59 and 60 and over, the consumption rates were65. 4% %, 47. 0% % 36. 3%, respectively. The prevalence in cities was 49. 0% and in counties was 51. 3%. The rate of consuming 1 time/week and over was 15. 3% and consuming 1 time/day was 1. 3%. As the economical level decreased, the two rates decreased. Carbonated beverages had the highest consumption frequency( 39. 8%), and the lactic acid beverages had the lowest( 10. 8%). Consumption of carbonated beverages in men( 44. 8%) was higher than that in women( 35. 3%), while for the fruit and vegetable juice, lactic acid beverages, disposable milk beverages and coffee, the consumption in women were higher than that in men. As the economical level decreased, consumption of carbonated and disposable milk beverages were increasing, and lactic acid beverages and coffee were decreasing significantly. The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among adults in 2010-2012 was relatively high. The targeted nutrition health education and intervention was needed and implemented to decrease the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.

Estimation of cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen consumption using combined multiwavelength photoacoustic microscopy and Doppler microultrasound

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Yan; Zemp, Roger

2018-01-01

The metabolic rate of oxygen consumption is an important metric of tissue oxygen metabolism and is especially critical in the brain, yet few methods are available for measuring it. We use a custom combined photoacoustic-microultrasound system and demonstrate cerebral oxygen consumption estimation in vivo. In particular, the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen consumption was estimated in a murine model during variation of inhaled oxygen from hypoxia to hyperoxia. The hypothesis of brain autoregulation was confirmed with our method even though oxygen saturation and flow in vessels changed.

Energy Intensity Trends in AEO2010 (released in AEO2010)

EIA Publications

2010-01-01

Energy intensity (energy consumption per dollar of real GDP) indicates how much energy a country uses to produce its goods and services. From the early 1950s to the early 1970s, U.S. total primary energy consumption and real GDP increased at nearly the same annual rate. During that period, real oil prices remained virtually flat. In contrast, from the mid-1970s to 2008, the relationship between energy consumption and real GDP growth changed, with primary energy consumption growing at less than one-third the previous average rate and real GDP growth continuing to grow at its historical rate. The decoupling of real GDP growth from energy consumption growth led to a decline in energy intensity that averaged 2.8% per year from 1973 to 2008. In the Annual Energy Outlook 2010 Reference case, energy intensity continues to decline, at an average annual rate of 1.9% from 2008 to 2035.

Oxygen and SO2 Consumption Rates in White and Rosé Wines: Relationship with and Effects on Wine Chemical Composition.

PubMed

Carrascón, Vanesa; Bueno, Mónica; Fernandez-Zurbano, Purificación; Ferreira, Vicente

2017-11-01

This Article addresses the study of O 2 and SO 2 consumption rates of white and rosé wines, their relationship to the initial chemical composition, and their effects on the chemical changes experienced by wine during oxidation. Eight wines were subjected to five consecutive air-saturation cycles. O 2 was monitored periodically; SO 2 , color, and antioxidant indexes were determined after each cycle, and the initial and final compositions of the wines were thoroughly determined. Wines consumed oxygen at progressively decreasing rates. In the last cycles, after a strong decrease, consistent increases of oxygen levels were seen. Oxygen consumption rates were satisfactorily modeled, being proportional to wine copper, quercetin, and kaempherol contents and negatively proportional to cinnamic acids. SO 2 consumption rates were highly diverse between wines and were positively related to free SO 2 , Mn, and pH, among others. In the last saturations, SO 2 consumption took place regardless of O 2 consumption, implying that SO 2 should reduce chemical species oxidized in previous saturations. Some volatile phenols seem to be the end point of radical-mediated oxidation of polyphenols taking place preferably in the first saturation.

Development of a new clinically applicable device for embryo evaluation which measures embryo oxygen consumption.

PubMed

Kurosawa, Hiroki; Utsunomiya, Hiroki; Shiga, Naomi; Takahashi, Aiko; Ihara, Motomasa; Ishibashi, Masumi; Nishimoto, Mitsuo; Watanabe, Zen; Abe, Hiroyuki; Kumagai, Jin; Terada, Yukihiro; Igarashi, Hideki; Takahashi, Toshifumi; Fukui, Atsushi; Suganuma, Ryota; Tachibana, Masahito; Yaegashi, Nobuo

2016-10-01

Does a new system-the chip-sensing embryo respiration monitoring system (CERMs)-enable evaluation of embryo viability for potential application in a clinical IVF setting? The system enabled the oxygen consumption rate of spheroids, bovine embryos and frozen-thawed human embryos to be measured, and this rate corresponded to the developmental potential of embryos. To date, no reliable and clinically suitable objective evaluation methods for embryos are available, which circumvent the differences in inter-observer subjective view. Existing systems such as the scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) technique, which enables the measurement of oxygen consumption rate in embryos, need improvement in usability before they can be applied to a clinical setting. This is a prospective original research study. The feasibility of measuring the oxygen consumption rate was assessed using CERMs for 9 spheroids, 9 bovine embryos and 30 redundant frozen-thawed human embryos. The endpoints for the study were whether CERMs could detect a dissolved oxygen gradient with high sensitivity, had comparable accuracy to the SECM measuring system with improved usability, and could predict the development of an embryo to a blastocyst by measuring the oxygen consumption rate. The relationship between the oxygen consumption rate and standard morphological evaluation was also examined. We developed a new CERMs, which enables the oxygen consumption rate to be measured automatically using an electrochemical method. The device was initially used for measuring a dissolved oxygen concentration gradient in order to calculate oxygen consumption rate using nine spheroids. Next, we evaluated data correlation between the CERMs and the SECM measuring systems using nine bovine embryos. Finally, the oxygen consumption rates of 30 human embryos, which were frozen-thawed on 2nd day after fertilization, were measured by CERMs at 6, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h after thawing with standard morphological evaluation. Furthermore, the developed blastocysts were scored using the blastocyst quality score (BQS), and the correlation with oxygen consumption rate was also assessed. The device enabled the oxygen consumption rate of an embryo to be measured automatically within a minute. The oxygen concentration gradient profile showed excellent linearity in a distance-dependent change. A close correlation in the oxygen consumption rates of bovine embryos was observed between the SECM measuring system and CERMs, with a determination coefficient of 0.8203 (P = 0.0008). Oxygen consumption rates of human embryos that have reached the blastocyst stage were significantly higher than those of arrested embryos at 48, 72 and 96 h after thawing (P = 0.039, 0.004 and 0.049, respectively). Thus, in vitro development of frozen-thawed human embryos to the blastocyst stage would be predicted at 48 h after thawing (day 4) by measuring the oxygen consumption using CERMs. Although a positive linear relationship between BQS and the oxygen consumption rate was observed [the determination coefficient was R(2) = 0.6537 (P = 0.008)], two blastocysts exhibited low oxygen consumption rates considering their relatively high BQS. This suggests that morphology and metabolism in human embryos might not correlate consistently. Transfer of the embryo and pregnancy evaluation was not performed. Thus, a correlation between oxygen consumption and the in vivo viability of embryos remains unknown. Clinical trials, including embryo transfer, would be desirable to determine a threshold value to elect clinically relevant, quality embryos for transfer. We utilized frozen-thawed human embryos in this study. The effect of these manipulations on the respiratory activity of the embryo is also unknown. Selection of quality embryos, especially in a single embryo transfer cycle, by CERMs may have an impact on obtaining better clinical outcomes, albeit with clinical trials being required. Furthermore, the early determination of quality embryos by CERMs may enable the omission of long-term in vitro embryo culture to the blastocyst stage. CERMs is scalable technology that can be integrated into incubators and/or other embryo evaluation systems, such as the time-lapse systems, due to its chip-based architecture. Thus, CERMS would enable automatic measurement of oxygen consumption, under 5% CO2, in the near future, in order to reduce oxidative stress from exposure to atmospheric air. This study was supported by grants from the Health and Labor Sciences Research Grant (H24-Hisaichiiki-Shitei-016). The authors have no conflicts of interest. Not applicable. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

[Study on correlation of oxygen consumption rate and suffocation point of Whitmania pigra and Bellamya purificata and optimum way of feeding Whitmania pigra].

PubMed

Li, Meng-Meng; Shi, Hong-Zhuan; Guo, Qiao-Sheng; Wang, Jia; Dai, Dao-Xin

2016-08-01

The oxygen consumption, oxygen consumption rate and suffocation point of different quality Whitmania pigra and Bellamya purificata were determined by hydrostatic breathing room method. The effects of feeding modes on growth of W.pigra were determined by biomass. The results showed that the oxygen consumption correlated positively with the weight of W.pigra and B. purificata（P<0.05）, suffocation point increased with the increases of the weight（P<0.05）.Oxygen consumption correlated negatively with the weight of W. pigra, the oxygen consumption rate of B.purificata first increased and then decreased with the increasing of the weight. Feeding modes had no significant effects on the finial weight, SGR, WGR, death rates of W. pigra. Feeding modes had significant effects on eating ratio. It suggested that the optimum feeding frequency of W. pigra was once every three days. Scientific and reasonable feeding amount of B. purificata should be calculated based on oxygen consumption and suffocation point of W.pigra and B.purificata at every period. Meanwhile, stocking density, water area and water exchanging frequency should be taken into consideration. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Laboratory evaluation of a walleye (Sander vitreus) bioenergetics model

USGS Publications Warehouse

Madenjian, C.P.; Wang, C.; O'Brien, T. P.; Holuszko, M.J.; Ogilvie, L.M.; Stickel, R.G.

2010-01-01

Walleye (Sander vitreus) is an important game fish throughout much of North America. We evaluated the performance of the Wisconsin bioenergetics model for walleye in the laboratory. Walleyes were fed rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) in four laboratory tanks during a 126-day experiment. Based on a statistical comparison of bioenergetics model predictions of monthly consumption with the observed monthly consumption, we concluded that the bioenergetics model significantly underestimated food consumption by walleye in the laboratory. The degree of underestimation appeared to depend on the feeding rate. For the tank with the lowest feeding rate (1.4% of walleye body weight per day), the agreement between the bioenergetics model prediction of cumulative consumption over the entire 126-day experiment and the observed cumulative consumption was remarkably close, as the prediction was within 0.1% of the observed cumulative consumption. Feeding rates in the other three tanks ranged from 1.6% to 1.7% of walleye body weight per day, and bioenergetics model predictions of cumulative consumption over the 126-day experiment ranged between 11 and 15% less than the observed cumulative consumption. ?? 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Association of the consumption of common food groups and beverages with mortality from cancer, ischaemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus in Serbia, 1991-2010: an ecological study.

PubMed

Ilic, Milena; Ilic, Irena; Stojanovic, Goran; Zivanovic-Macuzic, Ivana

2016-01-05

This paper reports association between mortality rates from cancer, ischaemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus and the consumption of common food groups and beverages in Serbia. In this ecological study, data on both mortality and the average annual consumption of common food groups and beverages per household's member were obtained from official data-collection sources. The multivariate linear regression analysis was used to determine the strength of the associations between consumption of common food groups and beverages and mortality rates. Markedly increasing trends of cancer, ischaemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus mortality rates were observed in Serbia in the period 1991-2010. Mortality rates from cancer were negatively associated with consumption of vegetable oil (p=0.005) and grains (p=0.001), and same was found for ischaemic heart disease (p=0.002 and 0.021, respectively), while consumption of other dairy products showed a significant positive association (p<0.001 and p=0.032, respectively). In men and women, mortality rates from diabetes mellitus showed a significant positive association with consumption of poultry (p=0.014 and 0.004, respectively). Consumption of beef and grains showed a significant negative association with cancer mortality rates in both genders (p=0.002 and p<0.001 in men, and p<0.001 and p=0.014 in women, respectively), while consumption of cheese was negatively associated only in men (p<0.001). Mortality from diabetes mellitus showed a significant positive association with consumption of animal fat and other dairy products only in women (p=0.003 and 0.046, respectively). Association between unfavourable mortality trends from cancer, ischaemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus, and common food groups and beverages consumption was observed and should be assessed in future analytical epidemiological studies. Promotion of healthy diet is sorely needed in Serbia. 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/

Dynamic shear-stress-enhanced rates of nutrient consumption in gas-liquid semi-continuous-flow suspensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belfiore, Laurence A.; Volpato, Fabio Z.; Paulino, Alexandre T.; Belfiore, Carol J.

2011-12-01

The primary objective of this investigation is to establish guidelines for generating significant mammalian cell density in suspension bioreactors when stress-sensitive kinetics enhance the rate of nutrient consumption. Ultra-low-frequency dynamic modulations of the impeller (i.e., 35104 Hz) introduce time-dependent oscillatory shear into this transient analysis of cell proliferation under semi-continuous creeping flow conditions. Greater nutrient consumption is predicted when the amplitude A of modulated impeller rotation increases, and stress-kinetic contributions to nutrient consumption rates increase linearly at higher modulation frequency via an application of fluctuation-dissipation response. Interphase mass transfer is required to replace dissolved oxygen as it is consumed by aerobic nutrient consumption in the liquid phase. The theory and predictions described herein could be important at small length scales in the creeping flow regime where viscous shear is significant at the interface between the nutrient medium and isolated cells in suspension. Two-dimensional flow around spherically shaped mammalian cells, suspended in a Newtonian culture medium, is analyzed to calculate the surface-averaged magnitude of the velocity gradient tensor and modify homogeneous rates of nutrient consumption that are stimulated by viscous shear, via the formalism of stress-kinetic reciprocal relations that obey Curie's theorem in non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Time constants for stress-free free and stress-sensitive stress nutrient consumption are defined and quantified to identify the threshold (i.e., stress,threshold) below which the effect of stress cannot be neglected in accurate predictions of bioreactor performance. Parametric studies reveal that the threshold time constant for stress-sensitive nutrient consumption stress,threshold decreases when the time constant for stress-free nutrient consumption free is shorter. Hence, stress,threshold depends directly on free. In other words, the threshold rate of stress-sensitive nutrient consumption is higher when the stress-free rate of nutrient consumption increases. Modulated rotation of the impeller, superimposed on steady shear, increases stress,threshold when free is constant, and stress,threshold depends directly on the amplitude A of these angular velocity modulations.

Patterns in Vegetable Consumption: Implications for Tailored School Meal Interventions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orlowski, Marietta; Lee, Miryoung; Spears, William; Narayan, Roopsi; Pobocik, Rebecca S.; Kennel, Julie; Krafka, Erin; Patton, Susan

2017-01-01

Background: Vegetable consumption is a challenging behavioral target; consumption rates are below recommended levels and when interventions produce improvements, increases in vegetable consumption are typically a fraction of the change in fruit consumption. We describe vegetable consumption within Ohio school meals and examine how fruit selection,…

The effects of beverage type on suicide rate in Russia.

PubMed

Razvodovsky, Yury E

2011-12-01

Research evidence has suggested that the consumption of different types of alcoholic beverage may have a differential effect on suicide rate. The aim of this study was to examine the relation between the consumption of different beverage types and suicide rates in Russia. Age-standardized sex- and age-specific suicide rate for the period 1980-2005 and data on beverage-specific alcohol sale were obtained from the Russian State Statistical Committee. Time-series analytical modeling techniques (ARIMA) were used to examine the relationship between the sale of different alcoholic beverages and suicide rates. Vodka consumption as measured by sale was significantly associated with both male and female suicide rate. The consumption of beer and wine were not associated with suicide rate. The estimates of the age specific models for men were positive (except for the 75+ age group) and ranging from 0.069 (60-74 age group) to 0.123 (30-44 age group). The estimates for women were positive for the 15-29 age group (0.08), 30-44 age group (0.096) and 45-59 age group (0.057). These findings suggest that public health efforts should focus on both reducing overall consumption and changing beverage preference away from distilled spirits in order to reduce suicide rate in Russia.

Effect of surfactants on apparent oxygen consumption of photosystem I isolated from Arthrospira platensis.

PubMed

Yu, Daoyong; Huang, Guihong; Xu, Fengxi; Ge, Baosheng; Liu, Shuang; Xu, Hai; Huang, Fang

2014-11-01

Surfactants play a significant role in solubilization of photosystem I (PSI) in vitro. Triton X-100 (TX), n-Dodecyl-β-D-maltoside (DDM), and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were employed to solubilize PSI particles in MES buffer to compare the effect of surfactant and its dosage on the apparent oxygen consumption rate of PSI. Through a combined assessment of sucrose density gradient centrifugation, Native PAGE and 77 K fluorescence with the apparent oxygen consumption, the nature of the enhancement of the apparent oxygen consumption activity of PSI by surfactants has been analyzed. Aggregated PSI particles can be dispersed by surfactant molecules into micelles, and the apparent oxygen consumption rate is higher for surfactant-solubilized PSI than for integral PSI particles. For DDM, PSI particles are solubilized mostly as the integral trimeric form. For TX, PSI particles are solubilized as incomplete trimeric and some monomeric forms. For the much harsher surfactant, SDS, PSI particles are completely solubilized as monomeric and its subunit forms. The enhancement of the oxygen consumption rate cannot be explained only by the effects of surfactant on the equilibrium between monomeric and trimeric forms of solubililized PSI. Care must be taken when the electron transfer activity of PSI is evaluated by methods based on oxygen consumption because the apparent oxygen consumption rate is influenced by uncoupled chlorophyll (Chl) from PSI, i.e., the larger the amount of uncoupled Chl, the higher the rate of apparent oxygen consumption. 77 K fluorescence spectra can be used to ensure that there is no uncoupled Chl present in the system. In order to eliminate the effect of trace uncoupled Chl, an efficient physical quencher of (1)O2, such as 1 mM NaN3, may be added into the mixture.

Simultaneous Determination of Octinoxate, Oxybenzone, and Octocrylene in a Sunscreen Formulation Using Validated Spectrophotometric and Chemometric Methods.

PubMed

Abdel-Ghany, Maha F; Abdel-Aziz, Omar; Ayad, Miriam F; Mikawy, Neven N

2015-01-01

Accurate, reliable, and sensitive spectrophotometric and chemometric methods were developed for simultaneous determination of octinoxate (OMC), oxybenzone (OXY), and octocrylene (OCR) in a sunscreen formulation without prior separation steps, including derivative ratio spectra zero crossing (DRSZ), double divisor ratio spectra derivative (DDRD), mean centering ratio spectra (MCR), and partial least squares (PLS-2). With the DRSZ technique, the UV filters could be determined in the ranges of 0.5-13.0, 0.3-9.0, and 0.5-9.0 μg/mL at 265.2, 246.6, and 261.8 nm, respectively. By utilizing the DDRD technique, UV filters could be determined in the above ranges at 237.8, 241.0, and 254.2 nm, respectively. With the MCR technique, the UV filters could be determined in the above ranges at 381.7, 383.2, and 355.6 nm, respectively. The PLS-2 technique successfully quantified the examined UV filters in the ranges of 0.5-9.3, 0.3-7.1, and 0.5-6.9 μg/mL, respectively. All the methods were validated according to the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines and successfully applied to determine the UV filters in pure form, laboratory-prepared mixtures, and a sunscreen formulation. The obtained results were statistically compared with reference and reported methods of analysis for OXY, OMC, and OCR, and there were no significant differences with respect to accuracy and precision of the adopted techniques.

Combining transcription factor binding affinities with open-chromatin data for accurate gene expression prediction.

PubMed

Schmidt, Florian; Gasparoni, Nina; Gasparoni, Gilles; Gianmoena, Kathrin; Cadenas, Cristina; Polansky, Julia K; Ebert, Peter; Nordström, Karl; Barann, Matthias; Sinha, Anupam; Fröhler, Sebastian; Xiong, Jieyi; Dehghani Amirabad, Azim; Behjati Ardakani, Fatemeh; Hutter, Barbara; Zipprich, Gideon; Felder, Bärbel; Eils, Jürgen; Brors, Benedikt; Chen, Wei; Hengstler, Jan G; Hamann, Alf; Lengauer, Thomas; Rosenstiel, Philip; Walter, Jörn; Schulz, Marcel H

2017-01-09

The binding and contribution of transcription factors (TF) to cell specific gene expression is often deduced from open-chromatin measurements to avoid costly TF ChIP-seq assays. Thus, it is important to develop computational methods for accurate TF binding prediction in open-chromatin regions (OCRs). Here, we report a novel segmentation-based method, TEPIC, to predict TF binding by combining sets of OCRs with position weight matrices. TEPIC can be applied to various open-chromatin data, e.g. DNaseI-seq and NOMe-seq. Additionally, Histone-Marks (HMs) can be used to identify candidate TF binding sites. TEPIC computes TF affinities and uses open-chromatin/HM signal intensity as quantitative measures of TF binding strength. Using machine learning, we find low affinity binding sites to improve our ability to explain gene expression variability compared to the standard presence/absence classification of binding sites. Further, we show that both footprints and peaks capture essential TF binding events and lead to a good prediction performance. In our application, gene-based scores computed by TEPIC with one open-chromatin assay nearly reach the quality of several TF ChIP-seq data sets. Finally, these scores correctly predict known transcriptional regulators as illustrated by the application to novel DNaseI-seq and NOMe-seq data for primary human hepatocytes and CD4+ T-cells, respectively. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates (External Review Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has released a draft report entitled, Metabolically-Derived Human Ventilation Rates: A Revised Approach Based Upon Oxygen Consumption Rates, for independent external peer review and public comment. NCEA published the Exposure Factors Handbook in 1997. This comprehens...

Valuation of environmental quality and eco-cultural attributes in Northwestern Idaho: Native Americans are more concerned than Caucasians

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

Burger, Joanna, E-mail: burger@biology.rutgers.edu; Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8082

Valuation of features of habitats and ecosystems usually encompasses the goods and services that ecosystems provide, but rarely also examine how people value ecological resources in terms of eco-cultural and sacred activities. The social, sacred, and cultural aspects of ecosystems are particularly important to Native Americans, but western science has rarely examined the importance of eco-cultural attributes quantitatively. In this paper I explore differences in ecosystem evaluations, and compare the perceptions and evaluations of places people go for consumptive and non-consumptive resource use with evaluations of the same qualities for religious and sacred places. Qualities of ecosystems included goods (abundantmore » fish and crabs, butterflies and flowers, clean water), services (complexity of nature, lack of radionuclides that present a health risk), and eco-cultural attributes (appears unspoiled, scenic horizons, noise-free). Native Americans and Caucasians were interviewed at a Pow Wow at Post Falls, Idaho, which is in the region with the Department of Energy's Hanford Site, known for its storage of radioactive wastes and contamination. A higher percentage of Native American subjects engaged in consumptive and religious activities than did Caucasians. Native Americans engaged in higher rates of many activities than did Caucasians, including commune with nature, pray or meditate, fish or hunt, collect herbs, and conduct vision quests or other ceremonies. For nearly all attributes, there was no difference in the relative ratings given by Native Americans for characteristics of sites used for consumption/non-consumptive activities compared to religious/sacred places. However, Caucasians rated nearly all attributes lower for religious/sacred places than they did for places where they engaged in consumptive or non-consumptive activities. Native Americans were less concerned with distance from home for consumptive/non-consumptive activities, compared to religious activities. - Research Highlights: {yields} A higher percentage of Native Americans engaged in consumptive and religious activities than did Caucasians interviewed. {yields} Caucasians rated environmental attributes as more important for consumptive and non-consumptive activities than they did for places where they engaged in religious/cultural ones. {yields} Native Americans rated environmental attributes as equally important regardless of the activities performed. {yields} Eco-cultural attributes (such as 'appears unspoiled') were rated as high as ecosystem services (e.g. unpolluted water).« less

Induction of microcin B17 formation in Escherichia coli ZK650 by limitation of oxygen and glucose is independent of glucose consumption rate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gao, Q.; Fang, A.; Demain, A. L.

2001-01-01

We examined the consumption of glucose from the media in which Escherichia coli ZK650 was grown. This organism, which produces the polypeptide antibiotic microcin B17 best under conditions of limiting supplies of glucose and air, was grown with a low level of glucose (0.5 mg/ml) as well as a high level (5.0 mg/ml) under both high and low aeration. Glucose consumption rates were virtually identical under both high and low aeration. Thus, glucose consumption rate is not a regulating factor in microcin B17 formation.

Oxygen consumption, ammonia excretion and protein use in response to thermal changes in juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar.

PubMed

Kieffer, J D; Wakefield, A M

2009-02-01

Experiments were designed to examine the effects of various temperature challenges on oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion rates and protein utilization in juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. Fish acclimated to 15 degrees C were acutely and abruptly exposed to either 20 or 25 degrees C for a period of 3 h. To simulate a more environmentally relevant temperature challenge, a third group of fish was exposed to a gradual increase in temperature from 15 to 20 degrees C over a period of 3 h (c. 1.7 degrees C h(-1)). Oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion rates were monitored before, during and after the temperature shift. From the ammonia excretion and oxygen consumption rates, protein utilization rates were calculated. Acute temperature changes (15-20 degrees C or 15-25 degrees C) caused large and immediate increases in the oxygen consumption rates. When the temperature was gradually changed (i.e. 1.7 degrees C h(-1)), however, the rates of oxygen consumption and ammonia excretion were only marginally altered. When fish were exposed to warmer temperatures (i.e. 15-20 degrees C or 15-25 degrees C) protein use generally remained at pre-exposure (15 degrees C) levels. A rapid transfer back to 15 degrees C (20-15 degrees C or 25-15 degrees C) generally increased protein use in S. salar. These results indicate that both the magnitude and the rate of temperature change are important in describing the physiological response in juvenile salmonids.

Age-related arterial immune cell infiltration in mice is attenuated by caloric restriction or voluntary exercise.

PubMed

Trott, Daniel W; Henson, Grant D; Ho, Mi H T; Allison, Sheilah A; Lesniewski, Lisa A; Donato, Anthony J

2016-12-22

Age-related arterial inflammation is associated with dysfunction of the arteries and increased risk for cardiovascular disease. To determine if aging increases arterial immune cell infiltration as well as the populations of immune cells principally involved, we tested the hypothesis that large elastic and resistance arteries in old mice would exhibit increased immune cell infiltration compared to young controls. Additionally, we hypothesized that vasoprotective lifestyle interventions such as lifelong caloric restriction or 8weeks of voluntary wheel running would attenuate age-related arterial immune cell infiltration. The aorta and mesenteric vasculature with surrounding perivascular adipose was excised from young normal chow (YNC, 4-6months, n=10), old normal chow (ONC, 28-29months, n=11), old caloric restricted (OCR, 28-29months, n=9), and old voluntary running (OVR, 28-29months, n=5) mice and digested to a single cell suspension. The cells were then labeled with antibodies against CD45 (total leukocytes), CD3 (pan T cells), CD4 (T helper cells), CD8 (cytotoxic T cells), CD19 (B cells), CD11b, and F4/80 (macrophages) and analyzed by flow cytometry. Total leukocytes, T cells (both CD4 + and CD8 + subsets), B cells, and macrophages in both aorta and mesentery were all 5- to 6-fold greater in ONC compared to YNC. Age-related increases in T cell (both CD4 + and CD8 + ), B cell, and macrophage infiltration in aorta were abolished in OCR mice. OVR mice exhibited 50% lower aortic T cell and normalized macrophage infiltration. B cell infiltration was not affected by VR. Age-related mesenteric CD8 + T cell and macrophage infiltration was normalized in OCR and OVR mice compared to young mice, whereas B cell infiltration was normalized by CR but not VR. Splenic CD4 + T cells from ONC mice exhibited a 3-fold increase in gene expression for the T helper (Th) 1 transcription factor, Tbet, and a 4-fold increase in FoxP3, a T regulatory cell transcription factor, compared to YNC. Splenic B cells and mesenteric macrophages from old mice exhibited decreased proinflammatory cytokine gene expression regardless of treatment group. These results demonstrate that aging is associated with infiltration of immune cells around both the large-elastic and resistance arteries and that the vasoprotective lifestyle interventions, CR and VR, can ameliorate age-related arterial immune cell infiltration. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Soil Overconsolidation Changes Caused by Dynamic Replacement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piotr, Kanty; Sławomir, Kwiecień; Jerzy, Sękowski

2017-10-01

In the dynamic replacement method (DR) the soil is improved by initially dropping a large weight (typically 8-20 t) pounder from a significant height up to 25 m. The created crater is filled with a stronger material (gravel, rubble, stone aggregate, debris), and the pounder is dropped once or multiple times again. The construction of dynamic replacement pillars influences the parameters of the adjacent soil. It results from the energy generated by dropping a pounder into the soil. In the current practice, these changes are not taken into the account during the design. This paper focuses on the changes of overconsolidation ratio (OCR) and in situ coefficient of lateral earth pressure (K) values estimated base on cone penetration test (CPTU) and Dilatometric test (DMT) performed at a test site. A single column was constructed and the ground around the column was examined using CPTU and DMT, performed at different distances from the column centre (2, 3, 4 and 6 m) and at different time intervals (during construction and 1, 8, 30 days later). The column was constructed in so-called transition soils (between cohesive and non-cohesive). While interpreting the results of the research, the authors addressed the matter of choosing the procedure of OCR and K indication for transition soils (in this case described as silts and/or sandy silts). Overconsolidation changes may differ depending on the chosen analysis procedure (for cohesive or non-cohesive soils). On the basis of the analysis presented in the paper and the observation of soil (acknowledged as cohesive according to macroscopic observations) during column excavation, it was decided that for more detailed analyses methods dedicated to cohesive soils should be applied. Generally, it can be stated that although the changes were complex, DR pillar formation process resulted in the increase of these parameters. The average increases of OCR and K values were 25% and 10% respectively. The post installation values are not significant from the engineering point of view, but they represent the influence of the formation process of only a single column. The described results indicate that Priebe’s column dimensioning method should be applied with caution, as it assumes the value K=1 which was not obtained in the described research. The results from the conducted tests indicate that different mechanisms occur during stone column formation with vibro-replacement and dynamic replacement. As the authors did not manage to find literature describing the results of K tests in the surrounding of a DR column, the presented results should be acknowledged as significant for designers who will apply the dynamic replacement method.

Alcohol Control Policies and Alcohol Consumption by Youth: A Multi-National Study

PubMed Central

Paschall, Mallie J.; Grube, Joel W.; Kypri, Kypros

2009-01-01

Aims The study examined relationships between alcohol control policies and adolescent alcohol use in 26 countries. Design Cross-sectional analyses of alcohol policy ratings based on the Alcohol Policy Index (API), per capita consumption, and national adolescent survey data. Setting Data are from 26 countries. Participants Adolescents (15-17 years old) who participated in the 2003 ESPAD (European countries) or national secondary school surveys in Spain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. Measurements Alcohol control policy ratings based on the API; prevalence of alcohol use, heavy drinking, and first drink by age 13 based on national secondary school surveys; per capita alcohol consumption for each country in 2003. Analysis Correlational and linear regression analyses were conducted to examine relationships between alcohol control policy ratings and past-30-day prevalence of adolescent alcohol use, heavy drinking, and having first drink by age 13. Per capita consumption of alcohol was included as a covariate in regression analyses. Findings More comprehensive API ratings and alcohol availability and advertising control ratings were inversely related to the past-30-day prevalence of alcohol use and prevalence rates for drinking 3-5 times and 6 or more times in the past 30 days. Alcohol advertising control was also inversely related to the prevalence of past-30-day heavy drinking and having first drink by age 13. Most of the relationships between API, alcohol availability and advertising control and drinking prevalence rates were attenuated and no longer statistically significant when controlling for per capita consumption in regression analyses, suggesting that alcohol use in the general population may confound or mediate observed relationships between alcohol control policies and youth alcohol consumption. Several of the inverse relationships remained statistically significant when controlling for per capita consumption. Conclusions More comprehensive and stringent alcohol control policies, particularly policies affecting alcohol availability and marketing, are associated with lower prevalence and frequency of adolescent alcohol consumption and age of first alcohol use. PMID:19832785

Socio-Demographic Differences in Energy Drink Consumption and Reasons for Consumption among US College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poulos, Natalie S.; Pasch, Keryn E.

2016-01-01

Background: Energy drink consumption has become increasingly prevalent among US college students, yet little is known about current rates of consumption and reasons for consumption among current energy drink users, particularly differences related to gender and race/ethnicity. Objectives: To better understand energy drink consumption alone and…