On the MAC/network/energy performance evaluation of Wireless Sensor Networks: Contrasting MPH, AODV, DSR and ZTR routing protocols.

PubMed

Del-Valle-Soto, Carolina; Mex-Perera, Carlos; Orozco-Lugo, Aldo; Lara, Mauricio; Galván-Tejada, Giselle M; Olmedo, Oscar

2014-12-02

Wireless Sensor Networks deliver valuable information for long periods, then it is desirable to have optimum performance, reduced delays, low overhead, and reliable delivery of information. In this work, proposed metrics that influence energy consumption are used for a performance comparison among our proposed routing protocol, called Multi-Parent Hierarchical (MPH), the well-known protocols for sensor networks, Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV), Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), and Zigbee Tree Routing (ZTR), all of them working with the IEEE 802.15.4 MAC layer. Results show how some communication metrics affect performance, throughput, reliability and energy consumption. It can be concluded that MPH is an efficient protocol since it reaches the best performance against the other three protocols under evaluation, such as 19.3% reduction of packet retransmissions, 26.9% decrease of overhead, and 41.2% improvement on the capacity of the protocol for recovering the topology from failures with respect to AODV protocol. We implemented and tested MPH in a real network of 99 nodes during ten days and analyzed parameters as number of hops, connectivity and delay, in order to validate our Sensors 2014, 14 22812 simulator and obtain reliable results. Moreover, an energy model of CC2530 chip is proposed and used for simulations of the four aforementioned protocols, showing that MPH has 15.9% reduction of energy consumption with respect to AODV, 13.7% versus DSR, and 5% against ZTR.

NASA Exercise Physiology and Countermeasures Project Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loerch, Linda; Ploutz-Snyder, Lori

2009-01-01

Efficient exercise countermeasures are necessary to offset or minimize spaceflight-induced deconditioning and to maximize crew performance of mission tasks. These countermeasure protocols should use the fewest crew and vehicle resources. NASA s Exercise Physiology and Countermeasures (ExPC) Project works to identify, collect, interpret, and summarize evidence that results in effective exercise countermeasure protocols which protect crew health and performance during International Space Station (ISS) and future exploration-class missions. The ExPC and NASA s Human Research Program are sponsoring multiple studies to evaluate and improve the efficacy of spaceflight exercise countermeasures. First, the Project will measure maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max) during cycle ergometry before, during, and after ISS missions. Second, the Project is sponsoring an evaluation of a new prototype harness that offers improved comfort and increased loading during treadmill operations. Third, the Functional Tasks Test protocol will map performance of anticipated lunar mission tasks with physiologic systems before and after short and long-duration spaceflight, to target system contributions and the tailoring of exercise protocols to maximize performance. In addition to these studies that are actively enrolling crewmember participants, the ExPC is planning new studies that include an evaluation of a higher-intensity/lower-volume exercise countermeasure protocol aboard the ISS using the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device and second-generation treadmill, studies that evaluate bone loading during spaceflight exercise, and ground-based studies that focus on fitness for duty standards required to complete lunar mission tasks and for which exercise protocols need to protect. Summaries of these current and future studies and strategies will be provided to international colleagues for knowledge sharing and possible collaboration.

[Primary care screening of problems in the elderly and a proposal for a screening protocol with a multidimensional approach].

PubMed

Lino, Valéria Teresa Saraiva; Portela, Margareth Crisóstomo; Camacho, Luiz Antonio Bastos; Rodrigues, Nadia Cristina Pinheiro; Andrade, Monica Kramer de Noronha; O'Dwyer, Gisele

2016-07-21

The objectives were to examine psychometric properties of a screening test for the elderly and to propose a protocol for use in primary care. The method consisted of four stages: (1) inter-evaluator reliability for performance tests and self-assessment questions for eight functions; (2) sensitivity and specificity of questions on depression and social support; (3) meeting of experts to select instrumental activities of daily living (IADL); and (4) elaboration of the protocol. Screening lasted 16 minutes. Inter-evaluator reliability was excellent for performance tests but poor for questions. Depression and social support showed satisfactory sensitivity and specificity (0.74/0.77 and 0.77/0.96). Four IADL were selected by more than 55% of the experts. Following the results, a screening protocol was elaborated that prioritized the use of performance tests, maintaining questions on mood, social support, and IADL. The study suggests better reproducibility of performance tests when compared to questions. For mood and social support, the questions may provide a first screening stage. The proposed protocol allows rapid screening of problems.

Performance bounds on parallel self-initiating discrete-event

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nicol, David M.

1990-01-01

The use is considered of massively parallel architectures to execute discrete-event simulations of what is termed self-initiating models. A logical process in a self-initiating model schedules its own state re-evaluation times, independently of any other logical process, and sends its new state to other logical processes following the re-evaluation. The interest is in the effects of that communication on synchronization. The performance is considered of various synchronization protocols by deriving upper and lower bounds on optimal performance, upper bounds on Time Warp's performance, and lower bounds on the performance of a new conservative protocol. The analysis of Time Warp includes the overhead costs of state-saving and rollback. The analysis points out sufficient conditions for the conservative protocol to outperform Time Warp. The analysis also quantifies the sensitivity of performance to message fan-out, lookahead ability, and the probability distributions underlying the simulation.

Efficacy of pre-exercise low-level laser therapy on isokinetic muscle performance in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Type 2 diabetes, also known non-insulin-dependent diabetes, is the most prevalent type of the disease and involves defects in the secretion and action of insulin. The aim of the proposed study is to evaluate the efficacy of pre-exercise low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on muscle performance of the quadriceps femoris in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Methods/Design A double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial will be carried out in two treatment phases. In the first phase, quadriceps muscle performance will be evaluated using an isokinetic dynamometer and the levels of creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase (biochemical markers of muscle damage) will be determined. The participants will then be allocated to four LLLT groups through a randomization process using opaque envelopes: Group A (4 Joules), Group B (6 Joules), Group C (8 Joules) and Group D (0 Joules; placebo). Following the administration of LLLT, the participants will be submitted to an isokinetic eccentric muscle fatigue protocol involving the quadriceps muscle bilaterally. Muscle performance and biochemical markers of muscle damage will be evaluated again immediately after as well as 24 and 48 hours after the experimental protocol. One week after the last evaluation the second phase will begin, during which Groups A, B and C will receive the LLLT protocol that achieved the best muscle performance in phase 1 for a period of 4 weeks. At the end of this period, muscle performance will be evaluated again. The protocol for this study is registered with the World Health Organization under Universal Trial Number U1111-1146-7109. Discussion The purpose of this randomized clinical trial is to evaluate the efficacy of pre-exercise LLLT on the performance of the quadriceps muscle (peak torque, total muscle work, maximum power and fatigue index – normalized by body mass) in individuals with DM-2. The study will support the practice of evidence-based to the use of LLLT in improving muscle performance in Individuals with DM-2. Data will be published after the study is completed. PMID:24716713

Efficacy of pre-exercise low-level laser therapy on isokinetic muscle performance in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Gomes, Cid André Fidelis de Paula; Leal-Junior, Ernesto Cesar Pinto; Biasotto-Gonzalez, Daniela Aparecida; El-Hage, Yasmin; Politti, Fabiano; Gonzalez, Tabajara de Oliveira; Dibai-Filho, Almir Vieira; de Oliveira, Adriano Rodrigues; Frigero, Marcelo; Antonialli, Fernanda Colella; Vanin, Adriane Aver; de Tarso Camillo de Carvalho, Paulo

2014-04-09

Type 2 diabetes, also known non-insulin-dependent diabetes, is the most prevalent type of the disease and involves defects in the secretion and action of insulin. The aim of the proposed study is to evaluate the efficacy of pre-exercise low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on muscle performance of the quadriceps femoris in individuals with type 2 diabetes. A double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial will be carried out in two treatment phases. In the first phase, quadriceps muscle performance will be evaluated using an isokinetic dynamometer and the levels of creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase (biochemical markers of muscle damage) will be determined. The participants will then be allocated to four LLLT groups through a randomization process using opaque envelopes: Group A (4 Joules), Group B (6 Joules), Group C (8 Joules) and Group D (0 Joules; placebo). Following the administration of LLLT, the participants will be submitted to an isokinetic eccentric muscle fatigue protocol involving the quadriceps muscle bilaterally. Muscle performance and biochemical markers of muscle damage will be evaluated again immediately after as well as 24 and 48 hours after the experimental protocol. One week after the last evaluation the second phase will begin, during which Groups A, B and C will receive the LLLT protocol that achieved the best muscle performance in phase 1 for a period of 4 weeks. At the end of this period, muscle performance will be evaluated again. The protocol for this study is registered with the World Health Organization under Universal Trial Number U1111-1146-7109. The purpose of this randomized clinical trial is to evaluate the efficacy of pre-exercise LLLT on the performance of the quadriceps muscle (peak torque, total muscle work, maximum power and fatigue index - normalized by body mass) in individuals with DM-2. The study will support the practice of evidence-based to the use of LLLT in improving muscle performance in Individuals with DM-2. Data will be published after the study is completed.

FDA approved drugs complexed to their targets: evaluating pose prediction accuracy of docking protocols.

PubMed

Bohari, Mohammed H; Sastry, G Narahari

2012-09-01

Efficient drug discovery programs can be designed by utilizing existing pools of knowledge from the already approved drugs. This can be achieved in one way by repositioning of drugs approved for some indications to newer indications. Complex of drug to its target gives fundamental insight into molecular recognition and a clear understanding of putative binding site. Five popular docking protocols, Glide, Gold, FlexX, Cdocker and LigandFit have been evaluated on a dataset of 199 FDA approved drug-target complexes for their accuracy in predicting the experimental pose. Performance for all the protocols is assessed at default settings, with root mean square deviation (RMSD) between the experimental ligand pose and the docked pose of less than 2.0 Å as the success criteria in predicting the pose. Glide (38.7 %) is found to be the most accurate in top ranked pose and Cdocker (58.8 %) in top RMSD pose. Ligand flexibility is a major bottleneck in failure of docking protocols to correctly predict the pose. Resolution of the crystal structure shows an inverse relationship with the performance of docking protocol. All the protocols perform optimally when a balanced type of hydrophilic and hydrophobic interaction or dominant hydrophilic interaction exists. Overall in 16 different target classes, hydrophobic interactions dominate in the binding site and maximum success is achieved for all the docking protocols in nuclear hormone receptor class while performance for the rest of the classes varied based on individual protocol.

Implementation of a timed, electronic, assessment-driven potassium-replacement protocol.

PubMed

Zielenski, Christopher; Crabtree, Adam; Le, Tien; Marlatt, Alyse; Ng, Dana; Tran, Alan

2017-06-15

The adherence to and effectiveness and safety of a timed, electronic, assessment-driven potassium-replacement protocol (TARP) were compared with an electronic nurse-driven replacement protocol (NRP) are reported. A retrospective observational study was conducted in a community hospital evaluating protocol adherence, effectiveness, and safety for 2 potassium-replacement protocols. All adults on medical units with an order for potassium replacement per protocol during the 3-month trial periods were reviewed. All patients requiring potassium replacement per protocol were included in the analysis. Adherence to the protocol was assessed by evaluating the dose of potassium administered and performance of reassessments. Effectiveness of the protocol was assessed by evaluating the time to achieve target potassium levels. Safety was assessed by evaluating the route of administration and occurrence of hyperkalemia. A total of 300 patients treated using potassium-replacement protocols required potassium replacement during the study period, with 148 patients in the NRP group requiring 491 instances of potassium replacement. In the TARP group a total of 564 instances requiring potassium replacement corresponded to 152 patients. Of the 491 instances requiring replacement in the NRP group, the correct dose was administered and reassessment performed 117 times (23.8%). Overall adherence ( p < 0.05), correct dose given ( p < 0.05), average time from blood draw to potassium replacement ( p < 0.0001), use of oral replacement ( p < 0.05), and time to achieve target potassium level within 12 hours ( p < 0.05) were significantly improved in the TARP group. The TARP improved the effectiveness and safety of potassium-replacement therapy over the traditional NRP without negatively affecting timeliness of care. Copyright © 2017 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

Performance analysis of wireless sensor networks in geophysical sensing applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uligere Narasimhamurthy, Adithya

Performance is an important criteria to consider before switching from a wired network to a wireless sensing network. Performance is especially important in geophysical sensing where the quality of the sensing system is measured by the precision of the acquired signal. Can a wireless sensing network maintain the same reliability and quality metrics that a wired system provides? Our work focuses on evaluating the wireless GeoMote sensor motes that were developed by previous computer science graduate students at Mines. Specifically, we conducted a set of experiments, namely WalkAway and Linear Array experiments, to characterize the performance of the wireless motes. The motes were also equipped with the Sticking Heartbeat Aperture Resynchronization Protocol (SHARP), a time synchronization protocol developed by a previous computer science graduate student at Mines. This protocol should automatically synchronize the mote's internal clocks and reduce time synchronization errors. We also collected passive data to evaluate the response of GeoMotes to various frequency components associated with the seismic waves. With the data collected from these experiments, we evaluated the performance of the SHARP protocol and compared the performance of our GeoMote wireless system against the industry standard wired seismograph system (Geometric-Geode). Using arrival time analysis and seismic velocity calculations, we set out to answer the following question. Can our wireless sensing system (GeoMotes) perform similarly to a traditional wired system in a realistic scenario?

An Evaluation of Protocol Enhancing Proxies and File Transport Protocols for Satellite Communication

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Finch, Patrick Eugene; Sullivan, Donald; Ivancic, William D.

2012-01-01

NASA is utilizing Global Hawk aircraft in high-altitude, long-duration Earth science missions. Communications with the onboard research equipment and sensors (the science payload) is via Ku-Band radio utilizing satellites in geostationary orbits. All payload communications use standard Internet Protocols and routing, and much of the data to be transferred is comprised of very large files. The science community is interested in fully utilizing these communication links to retrieve data as quickly and reliably as possible. A test bed was developed at NASA Ames to evaluate modern transport protocols as well as Protocol Enhancing Proxies (PEPs) to determine what tools best fit the needs of the science community. This paper describes the test bed used, the protocols, the PEPs that were evaluated, the particular tests performed and the results and conclusions.

The use of high-fidelity human patient simulation as an evaluative tool in the development of clinical research protocols and procedures.

PubMed

Wright, Melanie C; Taekman, Jeffrey M; Barber, Linda; Hobbs, Gene; Newman, Mark F; Stafford-Smith, Mark

2005-12-01

Errors in clinical research can be costly, in terms of patient safety, data integrity, and data collection. Data inaccuracy in early subjects of a clinical study may be associated with problems in the design of the protocol, procedures, and data collection tools. High-fidelity patient simulation centers provide an ideal environment to apply human-centered design to clinical trial development. A draft of a complex clinical protocol was designed, evaluated and modified using a high-fidelity human patient simulator in the Duke University Human Simulation and Patient Safety Center. The process included walk-throughs, detailed modifications of the protocol and development of procedural aids. Training of monitors and coordinators provided an opportunity for observation of performance that was used to identify further improvements to the protocol. Evaluative steps were used to design the research protocol and procedures. Iterative modifications were made to the protocol and data collection tools. The success in use of human simulation in the preparation of a complex clinical drug trial suggests the benefits of human patient simulation extend beyond training and medical equipment evaluation. Human patient simulation can provide a context for informal expert evaluation of clinical protocol design and for formal "rehearsal" to evaluate the efficacy of procedures and support tools.

Statistical performance evaluation of ECG transmission using wireless networks.

PubMed

Shakhatreh, Walid; Gharaibeh, Khaled; Al-Zaben, Awad

2013-07-01

This paper presents simulation of the transmission of biomedical signals (using ECG signal as an example) over wireless networks. Investigation of the effect of channel impairments including SNR, pathloss exponent, path delay and network impairments such as packet loss probability; on the diagnosability of the received ECG signal are presented. The ECG signal is transmitted through a wireless network system composed of two communication protocols; an 802.15.4- ZigBee protocol and an 802.11b protocol. The performance of the transmission is evaluated using higher order statistics parameters such as kurtosis and Negative Entropy in addition to the common techniques such as the PRD, RMS and Cross Correlation.

Performance analysis of multi-radio routing protocol in cognitive radio ad hoc networks under different path failure rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Che-Aron, Z.; Abdalla, A. H.; Abdullah, K.; Hassan, W. H.

2013-12-01

In recent years, Cognitive Radio (CR) technology has largely attracted significant studies and research. Cognitive Radio Ad Hoc Network (CRAHN) is an emerging self-organized, multi-hop, wireless network which allows unlicensed users to opportunistically access available licensed spectrum bands for data communication under an intelligent and cautious manner. However, in CRAHNs, a lot of failures can easily occur during data transmission caused by PU (Primary User) activity, topology change, node fault, or link degradation. In this paper, an attempt has been made to evaluate the performance of the Multi-Radio Link-Quality Source Routing (MR-LQSR) protocol in CRAHNs under different path failure rate. In the MR-LQSR protocol, the Weighted Cumulative Expected Transmission Time (WCETT) is used as the routing metric. The simulations are carried out using the NS-2 simulator. The protocol performance is evaluated with respect to performance metrics like average throughput, packet loss, average end-to-end delay and average jitter. From the simulation results, it is observed that the number of path failures depends on the PUs number and mobility rate of SUs (Secondary Users). Moreover, the protocol performance is greatly affected when the path failure rate is high, leading to major service outages.

SU-E-T-148: Benchmarks and Pre-Treatment Reviews: A Study of Quality Assurance Effectiveness

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

Lowenstein, J; Nguyen, H; Roll, J

Purpose: To determine the impact benchmarks and pre-treatment reviews have on improving the quality of submitted clinical trial data. Methods: Benchmarks are used to evaluate a site’s ability to develop a treatment that meets a specific protocol’s treatment guidelines prior to placing their first patient on the protocol. A pre-treatment review is an actual patient placed on the protocol in which the dosimetry and contour volumes are evaluated to be per protocol guidelines prior to allowing the beginning of the treatment. A key component of these QA mechanisms is that sites are provided timely feedback to educate them on howmore » to plan per the protocol and prevent protocol deviations on patients accrued to a protocol. For both benchmarks and pre-treatment reviews a dose volume analysis (DVA) was performed using MIM softwareTM. For pre-treatment reviews a volume contour evaluation was also performed. Results: IROC Houston performed a QA effectiveness analysis of a protocol which required both benchmarks and pre-treatment reviews. In 70 percent of the patient cases submitted, the benchmark played an effective role in assuring that the pre-treatment review of the cases met protocol requirements. The 35 percent of sites failing the benchmark subsequently modified there planning technique to pass the benchmark before being allowed to submit a patient for pre-treatment review. However, in 30 percent of the submitted cases the pre-treatment review failed where the majority (71 percent) failed the DVA. 20 percent of sites submitting patients failed to correct their dose volume discrepancies indicated by the benchmark case. Conclusion: Benchmark cases and pre-treatment reviews can be an effective QA tool to educate sites on protocol guidelines and to minimize deviations. Without the benchmark cases it is possible that 65 percent of the cases undergoing a pre-treatment review would have failed to meet the protocols requirements.Support: U24-CA-180803.« less

Histologic findings in protocol biopsies performed in stable renal allografts under different immunosuppressive schedules.

PubMed

Moreso, F; Alperovich, G; Fulladosa, X; Gil-Vernet, S; Ibernon, M; Carrera, M; Castelao, A M; Hueso, M; Grinyo, J M; Serón, D

2003-08-01

Protocol biopsies performed in stable renal allografts show different degrees of acute and chronic lesions. Histologic findings in protocol biopsies have been related to graft outcome. We evaluated histologic lesions observed in protocol biopsies performed in patients under different immunosuppression therapies. From June 1988 a protocol biopsy was performed at approximately 4 months in patients who fulfilled the following criteria: serum creatinine <300 micromol/L; stable renal function; and proteinuria <1 g/d. Histologic lesions were graded according to 1997 Banff criteria. For the present study we considered the following groups according to immunosuppressive schedule: (i) induction therapy with polyclonal or monoclonal antilymphocytic antibodies associated with cyclosporine and prednisone (n=201); (ii) cyclosporine, mycophenolate mofetil, and prednisone (n=127); and (iii) tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, and prednisone (n=51). On protocol biopsy patients treated with tacrolimus displayed a lower acute score (0.61+/-1.01 vs 1.24+/-1.23 in group I, 1.28+/-1.41 in group II; P<.0001) and a higher proportion of normal biopsies (57.1% vs 41.9% in group I, 45.1% in group II; P=.016). A similar proportion of chronic lesions (chronic score of group I: 1.30+/-1.56; group II: 1.34+/-1.80; group III: 1.51+/-0.95; P=NS) was observed in the three groups. Protocol biopsies displayed fewer acute lesions in patients treated with tacrolimus. This result suggests that the efficacy of new immunosuppression schedules can be evaluated using the protocol biopsy as a surrogate marker of graft outcome.

Coexistence of WiFi and WiMAX systems based on PS-request protocols.

PubMed

Kim, Jongwoo; Park, Suwon; Rhee, Seung Hyong; Choi, Yong-Hoon; Chung, Young-uk; Hwang, Ho Young

2011-01-01

We introduce both the coexistence zone within the WiMAX frame structure and a PS-Request protocol for the coexistence of WiFi and WiMAX systems sharing a frequency band. Because we know that the PS-Request protocol has drawbacks, we propose a revised PS-Request protocol to improve the performance. Two PS-Request protocols are based on the time division operation (TDO) of WiFi system and WiMAX system to avoid the mutual interference, and use the vestigial power management (PwrMgt) bit within the Frame Control field of the frames transmitted by a WiFi AP. The performance of the revised PS-Request protocol is evaluated by computer simulation, and compared to those of the cases without a coexistence protocol and to the original PS-Request protocol.

30 CFR 254.45 - Verifying the capabilities of your response equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE OIL-SPILL RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS FOR FACILITIES LOCATED SEAWARD OF THE... Protocol for the Evaluation of Oil-Spill Containment Booms,” available from BSEE, for guidance. Performance... document “Suggested Test Protocol for the Evaluation of Oil Spill Skimmers for the OCS,” available from...

30 CFR 254.45 - Verifying the capabilities of your response equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

..., DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR OFFSHORE OIL-SPILL RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS FOR FACILITIES LOCATED SEAWARD OF THE... Protocol for the Evaluation of Oil-Spill Containment Booms,” available from BSEE, for guidance. Performance... document “Suggested Test Protocol for the Evaluation of Oil Spill Skimmers for the OCS,” available from...

A two-hop based adaptive routing protocol for real-time wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Rachamalla, Sandhya; Kancherla, Anitha Sheela

2016-01-01

One of the most important and challenging issues in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is to optimally manage the limited energy of nodes without degrading the routing efficiency. In this paper, we propose an energy-efficient adaptive routing mechanism for WSNs, which saves energy of nodes by removing the much delayed packets without degrading the real-time performance of the used routing protocol. It uses the adaptive transmission power algorithm which is based on the attenuation of the wireless link to improve the energy efficiency. The proposed routing mechanism can be associated with any geographic routing protocol and its performance is evaluated by integrating with the well known two-hop based real-time routing protocol, PATH and the resulting protocol is energy-efficient adaptive routing protocol (EE-ARP). The EE-ARP performs well in terms of energy consumption, deadline miss ratio, packet drop and end-to-end delay.

Effects of Warm-Up and Fatigue on Knee Joint Position Sense and Jump Performance.

PubMed

Romero-Franco, N; Jiménez-Reyes, P

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a warm-up and fatigue protocol on the vertical jump and knee joint position sense of sprinters. Thirty-two sprinters were randomly allocated to either a control group (CONT) or a plyometric group (PLYO) that performed a warm-up, followed by a high-intensity plyometric protocol. Absolute (AAE), relative (RAE), and variable (VAE) angular errors and vertical jump were evaluated before and after the warm-up, as well as after the plyometric protocol and again 5 min later. After the warm-up, athletes improved RAE and jump performance. After the plyometric protocol, scores on the RAE, VAE, and the vertical jump performance worsened compared to the control group and to the values obtained after the warm-up. Five minutes later, RAE and vertical jump continued to be impaired. AAE did not show significant differences. The vertical jump is improved after the warm-up, although it is deteriorated after high-intensity plyometry. Regarding knee proprioception, the lack of impairments in the AAE make unclear the effects of the plyometric exercises on knee proprioception.

Evaluation plan for space station network interface units

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weaver, Alfred C.

1990-01-01

Outlined here is a procedure for evaluating network interface units (NIUs) produced for the Space Station program. The procedures should be equally applicable to the data management system (DMS) testbed NIUs produced by Honeywell and IBM. The evaluation procedures are divided into four areas. Performance measurement tools are hardware and software that must be developed in order to evaluate NIU performance. Performance tests are a series of tests, each of which documents some specific characteristic of NIU and/or network performance. In general, these performance tests quantify the speed, capacity, latency, and reliability of message transmission under a wide variety of conditions. Functionality tests are a series of tests and code inspections that demonstrate the functionality of the particular subset of ISO protocols which have been implemented in a given NIU. Conformance tests are a series of tests which would expose whether or not selected features within the ISO protocols are present and interoperable.

Using Green Star Metrics to Optimize the Greenness of Literature Protocols for Syntheses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duarte, Rita C. C.; Ribeiro, M. Gabriela T. C.; Machado, Adélio A. S. C.

2015-01-01

A procedure to improve the greenness of a synthesis, without performing laboratory work, using alternative protocols available in the literature is presented. The greenness evaluation involves the separate assessment of the different steps described in the available protocols--reaction, isolation, and purification--as well as the global process,…

An empirical evaluation of lightweight random walk based routing protocol in duty cycle aware wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Mian, Adnan Noor; Fatima, Mehwish; Khan, Raees; Prakash, Ravi

2014-01-01

Energy efficiency is an important design paradigm in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and its consumption in dynamic environment is even more critical. Duty cycling of sensor nodes is used to address the energy consumption problem. However, along with advantages, duty cycle aware networks introduce some complexities like synchronization and latency. Due to their inherent characteristics, many traditional routing protocols show low performance in densely deployed WSNs with duty cycle awareness, when sensor nodes are supposed to have high mobility. In this paper we first present a three messages exchange Lightweight Random Walk Routing (LRWR) protocol and then evaluate its performance in WSNs for routing low data rate packets. Through NS-2 based simulations, we examine the LRWR protocol by comparing it with DYMO, a widely used WSN protocol, in both static and dynamic environments with varying duty cycles, assuming the standard IEEE 802.15.4 in lower layers. Results for the three metrics, that is, reliability, end-to-end delay, and energy consumption, show that LRWR protocol outperforms DYMO in scalability, mobility, and robustness, showing this protocol as a suitable choice in low duty cycle and dense WSNs.

A Study of Shared-Memory Mutual Exclusion Protocols Using CADP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mateescu, Radu; Serwe, Wendelin

Mutual exclusion protocols are an essential building block of concurrent systems: indeed, such a protocol is required whenever a shared resource has to be protected against concurrent non-atomic accesses. Hence, many variants of mutual exclusion protocols exist in the shared-memory setting, such as Peterson's or Dekker's well-known protocols. Although the functional correctness of these protocols has been studied extensively, relatively little attention has been paid to their non-functional aspects, such as their performance in the long run. In this paper, we report on experiments with the performance evaluation of mutual exclusion protocols using Interactive Markov Chains. Steady-state analysis provides an additional criterion for comparing protocols, which complements the verification of their functional properties. We also carefully re-examined the functional properties, whose accurate formulation as temporal logic formulas in the action-based setting turns out to be quite involved.

Coexistence of WiFi and WiMAX Systems Based on PS-Request Protocols†

PubMed Central

Kim, Jongwoo; Park, Suwon; Rhee, Seung Hyong; Choi, Yong-Hoon; Chung, Young-uk; Hwang, Ho Young

2011-01-01

We introduce both the coexistence zone within the WiMAX frame structure and a PS-Request protocol for the coexistence of WiFi and WiMAX systems sharing a frequency band. Because we know that the PS-Request protocol has drawbacks, we propose a revised PS-Request protocol to improve the performance. Two PS-Request protocols are based on the time division operation (TDO) of WiFi system and WiMAX system to avoid the mutual interference, and use the vestigial power management (PwrMgt) bit within the Frame Control field of the frames transmitted by a WiFi AP. The performance of the revised PS-Request protocol is evaluated by computer simulation, and compared to those of the cases without a coexistence protocol and to the original PS-Request protocol. PMID:22163721

Verification and large scale clinical evaluation of a national standard protocol for Salmonella spp./Shigella spp. screening using real-time PCR combined with guided culture.

PubMed

Tang, Xi-Jun; Yang, Ze; Chen, Xin-Bin; Tian, Wen-Fang; Tu, Cheng-Ning; Wang, Hai-Bo

2018-02-01

Salmonella spp./Shigella spp. are often associated with food poisoning and fecal-oral transmission of acute gastroenteritis that requires strict monitoring, especially among people who would handle food and water. In 2014, the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the P. R. China issued a national standard protocol (recommendatory) for the screening of Salmonella spp./Shigella spp.. However, its performance has not been fully studied. Whether it was suitable for use in our laboratory was still unknown. In the current study, the new protocol was first verified by various experiments and then its clinical performance was evaluated in about 20,000 stool samples over a three-year period. Verification results showed that the new protocol was highly specific and reproducible. Sensitivity (as defined as the lower limit of detection) of the new protocol at the PCR step was 10 3 CFU/mL and 10 1 CFU/mL for Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp., while that at the guided culture step was 10 4 CFU/mL and 10 3 CFU/mL, respectively. The large scale clinical evaluation indicated that the new protocol could increase the positivity rate by two fold and decrease the workload/median turnaround time significantly. In conclusion, the protocol was verified and evaluated and was proven to be a valuable platform for the rapid, specific, sensitive and high-throughput screening of Salmonella spp./Shigella spp. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design and evaluation of prosthetic shoulder controller

PubMed Central

Barton, Joseph E.; Sorkin, John D.

2015-01-01

We developed a 2-degree-of-freedom (DOF) shoulder position transducer (sensing shoulder protraction-retraction and elevation-depression) that can be used to control two of a powered prosthetic humerus' DOFs. We also developed an evaluation protocol based on Fitts' law to assess the performance of our device. The primary motivation for this work was to support development of powered prosthetic shoulder joints of a new generation of prosthetic arms for people with shoulder disarticulation and very high-level transhumeral amputation. We found that transducers that provided resistance to shoulder movement performed better than those providing no resistance. We also found that a position control scheme, where effector position is proportional to shoulder position, performed better than a velocity control scheme, where effector velocity is proportional to shoulder position. More generally, our transducer can be used to control motion along any two DOFs. It can also be used in a more general 4-DOF control scheme by sequentially controlling two DOFs at a time. The evaluation protocol has general applicability for researchers and practitioners. Researchers can employ it to compare different prosthesis designs and control schemes, while practitioners may find the evaluation protocol useful in evaluating and training people with amputation in the use of prostheses. PMID:25357185

On the Effective Evaluation of TCP

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allman, Mark; Falk, Aaron

2000-01-01

Understanding the performance of the Internet's Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is important because it is the dominant protocol used in the Internet today. Various testing methods exist to evaluate TCP performance, however all have pitfalls an that need to be understood prior to obtaining useful results. Simulating TCP is difficult because of the wide range of variables, environments, and implementations available. Testing TCP modifications in the global Internet may not be the answer either: testing new protocols on real networks endangers other people's traffic and, if not done correctly, may also yield inaccurate or misleading results. In order for TCP research to be independently evaluated in the Internet research community there is a set of questions that researchers should try to answer. This paper attempts to list some of those questions and make recommendations as to how TCP testing can be structured to be provide useful answers.

Integration and Analysis of Neighbor Discovery and Link Quality Estimation in Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Radi, Marjan; Dezfouli, Behnam; Abu Bakar, Kamalrulnizam; Abd Razak, Shukor

2014-01-01

Network connectivity and link quality information are the fundamental requirements of wireless sensor network protocols to perform their desired functionality. Most of the existing discovery protocols have only focused on the neighbor discovery problem, while a few number of them provide an integrated neighbor search and link estimation. As these protocols require a careful parameter adjustment before network deployment, they cannot provide scalable and accurate network initialization in large-scale dense wireless sensor networks with random topology. Furthermore, performance of these protocols has not entirely been evaluated yet. In this paper, we perform a comprehensive simulation study on the efficiency of employing adaptive protocols compared to the existing nonadaptive protocols for initializing sensor networks with random topology. In this regard, we propose adaptive network initialization protocols which integrate the initial neighbor discovery with link quality estimation process to initialize large-scale dense wireless sensor networks without requiring any parameter adjustment before network deployment. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first attempt to provide a detailed simulation study on the performance of integrated neighbor discovery and link quality estimation protocols for initializing sensor networks. This study can help system designers to determine the most appropriate approach for different applications. PMID:24678277

Performance Evaluation of Relay Selection Schemes in Beacon-Assisted Dual-Hop Cognitive Radio Wireless Sensor Networks under Impact of Hardware Noises.

PubMed

Hieu, Tran Dinh; Duy, Tran Trung; Dung, Le The; Choi, Seong Gon

2018-06-05

To solve the problem of energy constraints and spectrum scarcity for cognitive radio wireless sensor networks (CR-WSNs), an underlay decode-and-forward relaying scheme is considered, where the energy constrained secondary source and relay nodes are capable of harvesting energy from a multi-antenna power beacon (PB) and using that harvested energy to forward the source information to the destination. Based on the time switching receiver architecture, three relaying protocols, namely, hybrid partial relay selection (H-PRS), conventional opportunistic relay selection (C-ORS), and best opportunistic relay selection (B-ORS) protocols are considered to enhance the end-to-end performance under the joint impact of maximal interference constraint and transceiver hardware impairments. For performance evaluation and comparison, we derive the exact and asymptotic closed-form expressions of outage probability (OP) and throughput (TP) to provide significant insights into the impact of our proposed protocols on the system performance over Rayleigh fading channel. Finally, simulation results validate the theoretical results.

Performance Analysis of the IEEE 802.11p Multichannel MAC Protocol in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) employ multichannel to provide a variety of safety and non-safety applications, based on the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols. The safety applications require timely and reliable transmissions, while the non-safety applications require efficient and high throughput. In the IEEE 1609.4 protocol, operating interval is divided into alternating Control Channel (CCH) interval and Service Channel (SCH) interval with an identical length. During the CCH interval, nodes transmit safety-related messages and control messages, and Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) mechanism is employed to allow four Access Categories (ACs) within a station with different priorities according to their criticality for the vehicle’s safety. During the SCH interval, the non-safety massages are transmitted. An analytical model is proposed in this paper to evaluate performance, reliability and efficiency of the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols. The proposed model improves the existing work by taking serval aspects and the character of multichannel switching into design consideration. Extensive performance evaluations based on analysis and simulation help to validate the accuracy of the proposed model and analyze the capabilities and limitations of the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols, and enhancement suggestions are given. PMID:29231882

Performance Analysis of the IEEE 802.11p Multichannel MAC Protocol in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks.

PubMed

Song, Caixia

2017-12-12

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) employ multichannel to provide a variety of safety and non-safety applications, based on the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols. The safety applications require timely and reliable transmissions, while the non-safety applications require efficient and high throughput. In the IEEE 1609.4 protocol, operating interval is divided into alternating Control Channel (CCH) interval and Service Channel (SCH) interval with an identical length. During the CCH interval, nodes transmit safety-related messages and control messages, and Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) mechanism is employed to allow four Access Categories (ACs) within a station with different priorities according to their criticality for the vehicle's safety. During the SCH interval, the non-safety massages are transmitted. An analytical model is proposed in this paper to evaluate performance, reliability and efficiency of the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols. The proposed model improves the existing work by taking serval aspects and the character of multichannel switching into design consideration. Extensive performance evaluations based on analysis and simulation help to validate the accuracy of the proposed model and analyze the capabilities and limitations of the IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4 protocols, and enhancement suggestions are given.

Radon Assessment of Occupational Facilities, Grissom ARB, IN

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-28

4) EPA 402-R-92-014, Radon Measurements in Schools , July 1993 b. Measurement Device Protocols: The following protocols were used when placing...Performance Tests : A biennial performance test from commercial vendors evaluates the proficiency of USAFSAM’s radon analysis. A proficiency test ...listing of duplicates and analysis. (4) Calibration Tests : Please see Attachment 4 for calibration certificates. 3. RESULTS: In total, 106 radon monitors

Zoom Reconstruction Tool: Evaluation of Image Quality and Influence on the Diagnosis of Root Fracture.

PubMed

Queiroz, Polyane Mazucatto; Santaella, Gustavo Machado; Capelozza, Ana Lúcia Alvares; Rosalen, Pedro Luiz; Freitas, Deborah Queiroz; Haiter-Neto, Francisco

2018-04-01

This study evaluated the image quality and the diagnosis of root fractures when using the Zoom Reconstruction tool (J Morita, Kyoto, Japan). A utility wax phantom with a metal sample inside was used for objective evaluation, and a mandible with 27 single-rooted teeth (with and without obturation and with and without vertical or horizontal fractures) was used for diagnostic evaluation. The images were acquired in 3 protocols: protocol 1, field of view (FOV) of 4 × 4 cm and a voxel size of 0.08 mm; protocol 2, FOV of 10 × 10 cm and a voxel size of 0.2 mm; and protocol 3, Zoom Reconstruction of images from protocol 2 (FOV of 4 × 4 cm and a voxel size of 0.08 mm). The objective evaluation was achieved by measuring the image noise, and the diagnosis of fractures was performed by 3 evaluators. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to calculate accuracy, and analysis of variance compared the accuracy and image quality of the protocols. Regarding quality, protocol 1 was superior to protocol 2 (P < .0001) and Zoom Reconstruction (P < .0001). Additionally, images of protocol 2 presented less noise than the Zoom Reconstruction image (P < .0001); however, for diagnosis, Zoom Reconstruction was superior in relation to protocol 2 (P = .011) and did not differ from protocol 1 (P = .228) for the diagnosis of a vertical root fracture in filled teeth. The Zoom Reconstruction tool allows better accuracy for vertical root fracture detection in filled teeth, making it possible to obtain a higher-resolution image from a lower-resolution examination without having to expose the patient to more radiation. Copyright © 2017 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Efficiency Improvement in a Busy Radiology Practice: Determination of Musculoskeletal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Protocol Using Deep-Learning Convolutional Neural Networks.

PubMed

Lee, Young Han

2018-04-04

The purposes of this study are to evaluate the feasibility of protocol determination with a convolutional neural networks (CNN) classifier based on short-text classification and to evaluate the agreements by comparing protocols determined by CNN with those determined by musculoskeletal radiologists. Following institutional review board approval, the database of a hospital information system (HIS) was queried for lists of MRI examinations, referring department, patient age, and patient gender. These were exported to a local workstation for analyses: 5258 and 1018 consecutive musculoskeletal MRI examinations were used for the training and test datasets, respectively. The subjects for pre-processing were routine or tumor protocols and the contents were word combinations of the referring department, region, contrast media (or not), gender, and age. The CNN Embedded vector classifier was used with Word2Vec Google news vectors. The test set was tested with each classification model and results were output as routine or tumor protocols. The CNN determinations were evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The accuracies were evaluated by a radiologist-confirmed protocol as the reference protocols. The optimal cut-off values for protocol determination between routine protocols and tumor protocols was 0.5067 with a sensitivity of 92.10%, a specificity of 95.76%, and an area under curve (AUC) of 0.977. The overall accuracy was 94.2% for the ConvNet model. All MRI protocols were correct in the pelvic bone, upper arm, wrist, and lower leg MRIs. Deep-learning-based convolutional neural networks were clinically utilized to determine musculoskeletal MRI protocols. CNN-based text learning and applications could be extended to other radiologic tasks besides image interpretations, improving the work performance of the radiologist.

Analysis of Proximity-1 Space Link Interleaved Time Synchronization (PITS) Protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woo, Simon S.

2011-01-01

To synchronize clocks between spacecraft in proximity, the Proximity-1 Space Link Interleaved Time Synchronization (PITS) Protocol has been proposed. PITS is based on the NTP Interleaved On-Wire Protocol and is capable of being adapted and integrated into CCSDS Proximity-1 Space Link Protocol with minimal modifications. In this work, we will discuss the correctness and liveness of PITS. Further, we analyze and evaluate the performance of time synchronization latency with various channel error rates in different PITS operational modes.

Simulation Modeling and Performance Evaluation of Space Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jennings, Esther H.; Segui, John

2006-01-01

In space exploration missions, the coordinated use of spacecraft as communication relays increases the efficiency of the endeavors. To conduct trade-off studies of the performance and resource usage of different communication protocols and network designs, JPL designed a comprehensive extendable tool, the Multi-mission Advanced Communications Hybrid Environment for Test and Evaluation (MACHETE). The design and development of MACHETE began in 2000 and is constantly evolving. Currently, MACHETE contains Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) protocol standards such as Proximity-1, Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS), Packet Telemetry/Telecommand, Space Communications Protocol Specification (SCPS), and the CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP). MACHETE uses the Aerospace Corporation s Satellite Orbital Analysis Program (SOAP) to generate the orbital geometry information and contact opportunities. Matlab scripts provide the link characteristics. At the core of MACHETE is a discrete event simulator, QualNet. Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) is an end-to-end architecture providing communication in and/or through highly stressed networking environments. Stressed networking environments include those with intermittent connectivity, large and/or variable delays, and high bit error rates. To provide its services, the DTN protocols reside at the application layer of the constituent internets, forming a store-and-forward overlay network. The key capabilities of the bundling protocols include custody-based reliability, ability to cope with intermittent connectivity, ability to take advantage of scheduled and opportunistic connectivity, and late binding of names to addresses. In this presentation, we report on the addition of MACHETE models needed to support DTN, namely: the Bundle Protocol (BP) model. To illustrate the use of MACHETE with the additional DTN model, we provide an example simulation to benchmark its performance. We demonstrate the use of the DTN protocol and discuss statistics gathered concerning the total time needed to simulate numerous bundle transmissions

A slotted access control protocol for metropolitan WDM ring networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baziana, P. A.; Pountourakis, I. E.

2009-03-01

In this study we focus on the serious scalability problems that many access protocols for WDM ring networks introduce due to the use of a dedicated wavelength per access node for either transmission or reception. We propose an efficient slotted MAC protocol suitable for WDM ring metropolitan area networks. The proposed network architecture employs a separate wavelength for control information exchange prior to the data packet transmission. Each access node is equipped with a pair of tunable transceivers for data communication and a pair of fixed tuned transceivers for control information exchange. Also, each access node includes a set of fixed delay lines for synchronization reasons; to keep the data packets, while the control information is processed. An efficient access algorithm is applied to avoid both the data wavelengths and the receiver collisions. In our protocol, each access node is capable of transmitting and receiving over any of the data wavelengths, facing the scalability issues. Two different slot reuse schemes are assumed: the source and the destination stripping schemes. For both schemes, performance measures evaluation is provided via an analytic model. The analytical results are validated by a discrete event simulation model that uses Poisson traffic sources. Simulation results show that the proposed protocol manages efficient bandwidth utilization, especially under high load. Also, comparative simulation results prove that our protocol achieves significant performance improvement as compared with other WDMA protocols which restrict transmission over a dedicated data wavelength. Finally, performance measures evaluation is explored for diverse numbers of buffer size, access nodes and data wavelengths.

Performance Evaluation of Reliable Multicast Protocol for Checkout and Launch Control Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shu, Wei Wennie; Porter, John

2000-01-01

The overall objective of this project is to study reliability and performance of Real Time Critical Network (RTCN) for checkout and launch control systems (CLCS). The major tasks include reliability and performance evaluation of Reliable Multicast (RM) package and fault tolerance analysis and design of dual redundant network architecture.

Influence of warm-up duration on physical performance and psychological perceptions in handball players.

PubMed

Romaratezabala, Estibaliz; Nakamura, Fábio Yuzo; Castillo, Daniel; Gorostegi-Anduaga, Ilargi; Yanci, Javier

2018-01-01

The purpose of the study was to analyse the effect of two warm-up protocols of different duration on physical performance, perceived load and perception of being ready for a match in handball players. Eighteen handball players were randomly divided into two groups (Wup 34min , warm-up protocol of 34 min, Wup 17min , warm-up protocol of 17 min). Before and after the warm-up protocols, they performed a battery of physical tests and recorded their perception of feeling ready for a match. At the end of the warm-up protocols, all the players evaluated their differentiated perceived effort (dRPE). The results showed that neither of the protocols significantly modified (p > 0.05) the players' physical performance. However, the Wup 34min group showed higher values in the differentiated warm-up perceived load (dRPE-WL) (p < 0.01, TE = 0.97-1.27, high) than the Wup 17min group. The players with a greater perceived muscular load (RPE MUSC ) experienced a greater decrease in their acceleration capacity (r = 0.48-0.49, p < 0.05). In spite of the fact that neither of the warm-up protocols significantly modified the players' physical performance, a greater perceived muscular load may cause a greater decrease in acceleration capacity.

Evaluation of a continuous-rotation, high-speed scanning protocol for micro-computed tomography.

PubMed

Kerl, Hans Ulrich; Isaza, Cristina T; Boll, Hanne; Schambach, Sebastian J; Nolte, Ingo S; Groden, Christoph; Brockmann, Marc A

2011-01-01

Micro-computed tomography is used frequently in preclinical in vivo research. Limiting factors are radiation dose and long scan times. The purpose of the study was to compare a standard step-and-shoot to a continuous-rotation, high-speed scanning protocol. Micro-computed tomography of a lead grid phantom and a rat femur was performed using a step-and-shoot and a continuous-rotation protocol. Detail discriminability and image quality were assessed by 3 radiologists. The signal-to-noise ratio and the modulation transfer function were calculated, and volumetric analyses of the femur were performed. The radiation dose of the scan protocols was measured using thermoluminescence dosimeters. The 40-second continuous-rotation protocol allowed a detail discriminability comparable to the step-and-shoot protocol at significantly lower radiation doses. No marked differences in volumetric or qualitative analyses were observed. Continuous-rotation micro-computed tomography significantly reduces scanning time and radiation dose without relevantly reducing image quality compared with a normal step-and-shoot protocol.

Protocol for Uniformly Measuring and Expressing the Performance of Energy Storage Systems

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

Conover, David R.; Crawford, Alasdair J.; Fuller, Jason

This Protocol provides a set of “best practices” for characterizing energy storage systems (ESSs) and measuring and reporting their performance. It serves as a basis for assessing how an ESS will perform with respect to key performance attributes relevant to different applications. It is intended to provide a valid and accurate basis for the comparison of different ESSs. By achieving the stated purpose, the Protocol will enable more informed decision-making in the selection of ESSs for various stationary applications. The Protocol identifies general information and technical specifications relevant in describing an ESS and also defines a set of test, measurement,more » and evaluation criteria with which to express the performance of ESSs that are intended for energy-intensive and/or power-intensive stationary applications. An ESS includes a storage device, battery management system, and any power conversion systems installed with the storage device. The Protocol is agnostic with respect to the storage technology and the size and rating of the ESS. The Protocol does not apply to single-use storage devices and storage devices that are not coupled with power conversion systems, nor does it address safety, security, or operations and maintenance of ESSs, or provide any pass/fail criteria.« less

Defining standardized protocols for determining the efficacy of a postmilking teat disinfectant following experimental exposure of teats to mastitis pathogens.

PubMed

Schukken, Y H; Rauch, B J; Morelli, J

2013-04-01

The objective of this paper was to define standardized protocols for determining the efficacy of a postmilking teat disinfectant following experimental exposure of teats to both Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae. The standardized protocols describe the selection of cows and herds and define the critical points in performing experimental exposure, performing bacterial culture, evaluating the culture results, and finally performing statistical analyses and reporting of the results. The protocols define both negative control and positive control trials. For negative control trials, the protocol states that an efficacy of reducing new intramammary infections (IMI) of at least 40% is required for a teat disinfectant to be considered effective. For positive control trials, noninferiority to a control disinfectant with a published efficacy of reducing new IMI of at least 70% is required. Sample sizes for both negative and positive control trials are calculated. Positive control trials are expected to require a large trial size. Statistical analysis methods are defined and, in the proposed methods, the rate of IMI may be analyzed using generalized linear mixed models. The efficacy of the test product can be evaluated while controlling for important covariates and confounders in the trial. Finally, standards for reporting are defined and reporting considerations are discussed. The use of the defined protocol is shown through presentation of the results of a recent trial of a test product against a negative control. Copyright © 2013 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pilot study to evaluate 3 hygiene protocols on the reduction of bacterial load on the hands of veterinary staff performing routine equine physical examinations.

PubMed

Traub-Dargatz, Josie L; Weese, J Scott; Rousseau, Joyce D; Dunowska, Magdalena; Morley, Paul S; Dargatz, David A

2006-07-01

Reduction factors (RFs) for bacterial counts on examiners' hands were compared when performing a standardized equine physical examination, followed by the use of one of 3 hand-hygiene protocols (washing with soap, ethanol gel application, and chlorohexidine-ethanol application). The mean RFs were 1.29 log10 and 1.44 log10 at 2 study sites for the alcohol-gel (62% ethyl alcohol active ingredient) protocols and 1.47 log10 and 1.94 log10 at 2 study sites for the chlorhexidine-alcohol (61% ethyl alcohol plus 1% chlorhexidine active ingredients) protocols, respectively. The RFs were significantly different (P < 0.0001) between the hand-washing group and the other 2 treatment groups (the alcohol-gel and the chlorhexidine-alcohol lotion). The use of alcohol-based gels or chlorhexidine-alcohol hand hygiene protocols must still be proven effective in equine practice settings, but in this study, these protocols were equivalent or superior to hand washing for reduction in bacterial load on the hands of people after they perform routine physical examinations.

Pilot study to evaluate 3 hygiene protocols on the reduction of bacterial load on the hands of veterinary staff performing routine equine physical examinations

PubMed Central

Traub-Dargatz, Josie L.; Weese, J. Scott; Rousseau, Joyce D.; Dunowska, Magdalena; Morley, Paul S.; Dargatz, David A.

2006-01-01

Abstract Reduction factors (RFs) for bacterial counts on examiners’ hands were compared when performing a standardized equine physical examination, followed by the use of one of 3 hand-hygiene protocols (washing with soap, ethanol gel application, and chlorohexidine-ethanol application). The mean RFs were 1.29 log10 and 1.44 log10 at 2 study sites for the alcohol-gel (62% ethyl alcohol active ingredient) protocols and 1.47 log10 and 1.94 log10 at 2 study sites for the chlorhexidine-alcohol (61% ethyl alcohol plus 1% chlorhexidine active ingredients) protocols, respectively. The RFs were significantly different (P < 0.0001) between the hand-washing group and the other 2 treatment groups (the alcohol-gel and the chlorhexidine-alcohol lotion). The use of alcohol-based gels or chlorhexidine-alcohol hand hygiene protocols must still be proven effective in equine practice settings, but in this study, these protocols were equivalent or superior to hand washing for reduction in bacterial load on the hands of people after they perform routine physical examinations. PMID:16898109

Energy Efficient Medium Access Control Protocol for Clustered Wireless Sensor Networks with Adaptive Cross-Layer Scheduling.

PubMed

Sefuba, Maria; Walingo, Tom; Takawira, Fambirai

2015-09-18

This paper presents an Energy Efficient Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for clustered wireless sensor networks that aims to improve energy efficiency and delay performance. The proposed protocol employs an adaptive cross-layer intra-cluster scheduling and an inter-cluster relay selection diversity. The scheduling is based on available data packets and remaining energy level of the source node (SN). This helps to minimize idle listening on nodes without data to transmit as well as reducing control packet overhead. The relay selection diversity is carried out between clusters, by the cluster head (CH), and the base station (BS). The diversity helps to improve network reliability and prolong the network lifetime. Relay selection is determined based on the communication distance, the remaining energy and the channel quality indicator (CQI) for the relay cluster head (RCH). An analytical framework for energy consumption and transmission delay for the proposed MAC protocol is presented in this work. The performance of the proposed MAC protocol is evaluated based on transmission delay, energy consumption, and network lifetime. The results obtained indicate that the proposed MAC protocol provides improved performance than traditional cluster based MAC protocols.

Energy Efficient Medium Access Control Protocol for Clustered Wireless Sensor Networks with Adaptive Cross-Layer Scheduling

PubMed Central

Sefuba, Maria; Walingo, Tom; Takawira, Fambirai

2015-01-01

This paper presents an Energy Efficient Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol for clustered wireless sensor networks that aims to improve energy efficiency and delay performance. The proposed protocol employs an adaptive cross-layer intra-cluster scheduling and an inter-cluster relay selection diversity. The scheduling is based on available data packets and remaining energy level of the source node (SN). This helps to minimize idle listening on nodes without data to transmit as well as reducing control packet overhead. The relay selection diversity is carried out between clusters, by the cluster head (CH), and the base station (BS). The diversity helps to improve network reliability and prolong the network lifetime. Relay selection is determined based on the communication distance, the remaining energy and the channel quality indicator (CQI) for the relay cluster head (RCH). An analytical framework for energy consumption and transmission delay for the proposed MAC protocol is presented in this work. The performance of the proposed MAC protocol is evaluated based on transmission delay, energy consumption, and network lifetime. The results obtained indicate that the proposed MAC protocol provides improved performance than traditional cluster based MAC protocols. PMID:26393608

Impact of a virtual reality-based intervention on motor performance and balance of a child with cerebral palsy: a case study

PubMed Central

Pavão, Silvia Leticia; Arnoni, Joice Luiza Bruno; de Oliveira, Alyne Kalyane Câmara; Rocha, Nelci Adriana Cicuto Ferreira

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To verify the effect of an intervention protocol using virtual reality (VR) on the motor performance and balance of a child with cerebral palsy (CP). CASE DESCRIPTION: To comply with the proposed objectives, a 7-year old child with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy (CP), GMFCS level I, was submitted to a physiotherapy intervention protocol of 12 45-minute sessions, twice a week, using virtual reality-based therapy. The protocol used a commercially-available console (XBOX(r)360 Kinect(r)) able to track and reproduce body movements on a screen. Prior to the intervention protocol, the child was evaluated using the Motor Development Scale (MDS) and the Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS) in order to assess motor development and balance, respectively. Two baseline assessments with a 2-week interval between each other were carried out for each tool. Then, the child was re-evaluated after the twelfth session. The results showed no changes in the two baseline scores. After the intervention protocol, the child improved his scores in both tools used: the PBS score increased by 3 points, reaching the maximal score, and the MDS increased from a much inferior motor performance to just an inferior motor performance. COMMENTS: The evidence presented in this case supports the use of virtual reality as a promising tool to be incorporated into the rehabilitation process of patients with neuromotor dysfunction. PMID:25511004

Efficiency in nonequilibrium molecular dynamics Monte Carlo simulations

DOE PAGES

Radak, Brian K.; Roux, Benoît

2016-10-07

Hybrid algorithms combining nonequilibrium molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo (neMD/MC) offer a powerful avenue for improving the sampling efficiency of computer simulations of complex systems. These neMD/MC algorithms are also increasingly finding use in applications where conventional approaches are impractical, such as constant-pH simulations with explicit solvent. However, selecting an optimal nonequilibrium protocol for maximum efficiency often represents a non-trivial challenge. This work evaluates the efficiency of a broad class of neMD/MC algorithms and protocols within the theoretical framework of linear response theory. The approximations are validated against constant pH-MD simulations and shown to provide accurate predictions of neMD/MC performance.more » An assessment of a large set of protocols confirms (both theoretically and empirically) that a linear work protocol gives the best neMD/MC performance. Lastly, a well-defined criterion for optimizing the time parameters of the protocol is proposed and demonstrated with an adaptive algorithm that improves the performance on-the-fly with minimal cost.« less

Social-aware data dissemination in opportunistic mobile social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Yibo; Zhao, Honglin; Ma, Jinlong; Han, Xiaowei

Opportunistic Mobile Social Networks (OMSNs), formed by mobile users with social relationships and characteristics, enhance spontaneous communication among users that opportunistically encounter each other. Such networks can be exploited to improve the performance of data forwarding. Discovering optimal relay nodes is one of the important issues for efficient data propagation in OMSNs. Although traditional centrality definitions to identify the nodes features in network, they cannot identify effectively the influential nodes for data dissemination in OMSNs. Existing protocols take advantage of spatial contact frequency and social characteristics to enhance transmission performance. However, existing protocols have not fully exploited the benefits of the relations and the effects between geographical information, social features and user interests. In this paper, we first evaluate these three characteristics of users and design a routing protocol called Geo-Social-Interest (GSI) protocol to select optimal relay nodes. We compare the performance of GSI using real INFOCOM06 data sets. The experiment results demonstrate that GSI overperforms the other protocols with highest data delivery ratio and low communication overhead.

Myocardial perfusion in patients with suspected coronary artery disease: comparison between 320-MDCT and rubidium-82 PET.

PubMed

Dantas, Roberto Nery; Assuncao, Antonildes Nascimento; Marques, Ismar Aguiar; Fahel, Mateus Guimaraes; Nomura, Cesar Higa; Avila, Luiz Francisco Rodrigues; Giorgi, Maria Clementina Pinto; Soares, Jose; Meneghetti, Jose Claudio; Parga, Jose Rodrigues

2018-06-01

Despite advances in non-invasive myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) evaluation, computed tomography (CT) multiphase MPI protocols have not yet been compared with the highly accurate rubidium-82 positron emission tomography ( 82 RbPET) MPI. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate agreement between 82 RbPET and 320-detector row CT (320-CT) MPI using a multiphase protocol in suspected CAD patients. Forty-four patients referred for MPI evaluation were prospectively enrolled and underwent dipyridamole stress 82 RbPET and multiphase 320-CT MPI (five consecutive volumetric acquisitions during stress). Statistical analyses were performed using the R software. There was high agreement for recognizing summed stress scores ≥ 4 (kappa 0.77, 95% CI 0.55-0.98, p < 0.001) and moderate for detecting SDS ≥ 2 (kappa 0.51, 95% CI 0.23-0.80, p < 0.001). In a per segment analysis, agreement was high for the presence of perfusion defects during stress and rest (kappa 0.75 and 0.82, respectively) and was moderate for impairment severity (kappa 0.58 and 0.65, respectively). The 320-CT protocol was safe, with low radiation burden (9.3 ± 2.4 mSv). There was a significant agreement between dipyridamole stress 320-CT MPI and 82 RbPET MPI in the evaluation of suspected CAD patients of intermediate risk. The multiphase 320-CT MPI protocol was feasible, diagnostic and with relatively low radiation exposure. • Rubidium-82 PET and 320-MDCT can perform MPI studies for CAD investigation. • There is high agreement between rubidium-82 PET and 320-MDCT for MPI assessment. • Multiphase CT perfusion protocols are feasible and with low radiation. • Multiphase CT perfusion protocols can identify image artefacts.

Evaluation of prototype air/fluid separator for Space Station Freedom Health Maintenance Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Billica, Roger; Smith, Maureen; Murphy, Linda; Kizzee, Victor D.

1991-01-01

A prototype air/fluid separator suction apparatus proposed as a possible design for use with the Health Maintenance Facility aboard Space Station Freedom (SSF) was evaluated. A KC-135 parabolic flight test was performed for this purpose. The flights followed the standard 40 parabola profile with 20 to 25 seconds of near-zero gravity in each parabola. A protocol was prepared to evaluate the prototype device in several regulator modes (or suction force), using three fluids of varying viscosity, and using either continuous or intermittent suction. It was felt that a matrixed approach would best approximate the range of utilization anticipated for medical suction on SSF. The protocols were performed in one-gravity in a lab setting to familiarize the team with procedures and techniques. Identical steps were performed aboard the KC-135 during parabolic flight.

Performance analysis of routing protocols for IoT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manda, Sridhar; Nalini, N.

2018-04-01

Internet of Things (IoT) is an arrangement of advancements that are between disciplinary. It is utilized to have compelling combination of both physical and computerized things. With IoT physical things can have personal virtual identities and participate in distributed computing. Realization of IoT needs the usage of sensors based on the sector for which IoT is integrated. For instance, in healthcare domain, IoT needs to have integration with wearable sensors used by patients. As sensor devices produce huge amount of data, often called big data, there should be efficient routing protocols in place. To the extent remote systems is worried there are some current protocols, for example, OLSR, DSR and AODV. It additionally tosses light into Trust based routing protocol for low-power and lossy systems (TRPL) for IoT. These are broadly utilized remote directing protocols. As IoT is developing round the corner, it is basic to investigate routing protocols that and evaluate their execution regarding throughput, end to end delay, and directing overhead. The execution experiences can help in settling on very much educated choices while incorporating remote systems with IoT. In this paper, we analyzed different routing protocols and their performance is compared. It is found that AODV showed better performance than other routing protocols aforementioned.

Improving the performance of community health workers in humanitarian emergencies: a realist evaluation protocol for the PIECES programme

PubMed Central

Gilmore, Brynne; Adams, Ben Jack; Bartoloni, Alex; Alhaydar, Bana; McAuliffe, Eilish; Raven, Joanna; Taegtmeyer, Miriam; Vallières, Frédérique

2016-01-01

Introduction Understanding what enhances the motivation and performance of community health workers (CHWs) in humanitarian emergencies represents a key research gap within the field of human resources for health. This paper presents the research protocol for the Performance ImprovEment of CHWs in Emergency Settings (PIECES) research programme. Enhancing Learning and Research in Humanitarian Action (ELRHA) funded the development of this protocol as part of their Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) call (No.19839). PIECES aims to understand what factors improve the performance of CHWs in level III humanitarian emergencies. Methods and analysis The suggested protocol uses a realist evaluation with multiple cases across the 3 country sites: Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon. Working with International Medical Corps (IMC), an initial programme theory was elicited through literature and document reviews, semistructured interviews and focus groups with IMC programme managers and CHWs. Based on this initial theory, this protocol proposes a combination of semistructured interviews, life histories and critical incident narratives, surveys and latent variable modelling of key constructs to explain how contextual factors work to trigger mechanisms for specific outcomes relating to IMC's 300+ CHWs' performance. Participants will also include programme staff, CHWs and programme beneficiaries. Realist approaches will be used to better understand ‘what works, for whom and under what conditions’ for improving CHW performance within humanitarian contexts. Ethics and dissemination Trinity College Dublin's Health Policy and Management/Centre for Global Health Research Ethics Committee gave ethical approval for the protocol development phase. For the full research project, additional ethical approval will be sought from: Université St. Joseph (Lebanon), the Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Health in Baghdad (Iraq) and the Middle East Technical University (Turkey). Dissemination activities will involve a mixture of research feedback, policy briefs, guidelines and recommendations, as well as open source academic articles. PMID:27531730

Improving the performance of community health workers in humanitarian emergencies: a realist evaluation protocol for the PIECES programme.

PubMed

Gilmore, Brynne; Adams, Ben Jack; Bartoloni, Alex; Alhaydar, Bana; McAuliffe, Eilish; Raven, Joanna; Taegtmeyer, Miriam; Vallières, Frédérique

2016-08-16

Understanding what enhances the motivation and performance of community health workers (CHWs) in humanitarian emergencies represents a key research gap within the field of human resources for health. This paper presents the research protocol for the Performance ImprovEment of CHWs in Emergency Settings (PIECES) research programme. Enhancing Learning and Research in Humanitarian Action (ELRHA) funded the development of this protocol as part of their Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) call (No.19839). PIECES aims to understand what factors improve the performance of CHWs in level III humanitarian emergencies. The suggested protocol uses a realist evaluation with multiple cases across the 3 country sites: Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon. Working with International Medical Corps (IMC), an initial programme theory was elicited through literature and document reviews, semistructured interviews and focus groups with IMC programme managers and CHWs. Based on this initial theory, this protocol proposes a combination of semistructured interviews, life histories and critical incident narratives, surveys and latent variable modelling of key constructs to explain how contextual factors work to trigger mechanisms for specific outcomes relating to IMC's 300+ CHWs' performance. Participants will also include programme staff, CHWs and programme beneficiaries. Realist approaches will be used to better understand 'what works, for whom and under what conditions' for improving CHW performance within humanitarian contexts. Trinity College Dublin's Health Policy and Management/Centre for Global Health Research Ethics Committee gave ethical approval for the protocol development phase. For the full research project, additional ethical approval will be sought from: Université St. Joseph (Lebanon), the Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Health in Baghdad (Iraq) and the Middle East Technical University (Turkey). Dissemination activities will involve a mixture of research feedback, policy briefs, guidelines and recommendations, as well as open source academic articles. 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/

Evaluation of Aspergillus PCR protocols for testing serum specimens.

PubMed

White, P Lewis; Mengoli, Carlo; Bretagne, Stéphane; Cuenca-Estrella, Manuel; Finnstrom, Niklas; Klingspor, Lena; Melchers, Willem J G; McCulloch, Elaine; Barnes, Rosemary A; Donnelly, J Peter; Loeffler, Juergen

2011-11-01

A panel of human serum samples spiked with various amounts of Aspergillus fumigatus genomic DNA was distributed to 23 centers within the European Aspergillus PCR Initiative to determine analytical performance of PCR. Information regarding specific methodological components and PCR performance was requested. The information provided was made anonymous, and meta-regression analysis was performed to determine any procedural factors that significantly altered PCR performance. Ninety-seven percent of protocols were able to detect a threshold of 10 genomes/ml on at least one occasion, with 83% of protocols reproducibly detecting this concentration. Sensitivity and specificity were 86.1% and 93.6%, respectively. Positive associations between sensitivity and the use of larger sample volumes, an internal control PCR, and PCR targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were shown. Negative associations between sensitivity and the use of larger elution volumes (≥100 μl) and PCR targeting the mitochondrial genes were demonstrated. Most Aspergillus PCR protocols used to test serum generate satisfactory analytical performance. Testing serum requires less standardization, and the specific recommendations shown in this article will only improve performance.

Evaluation of Aspergillus PCR Protocols for Testing Serum Specimens▿†

PubMed Central

White, P. Lewis; Mengoli, Carlo; Bretagne, Stéphane; Cuenca-Estrella, Manuel; Finnstrom, Niklas; Klingspor, Lena; Melchers, Willem J. G.; McCulloch, Elaine; Barnes, Rosemary A.; Donnelly, J. Peter; Loeffler, Juergen

2011-01-01

A panel of human serum samples spiked with various amounts of Aspergillus fumigatus genomic DNA was distributed to 23 centers within the European Aspergillus PCR Initiative to determine analytical performance of PCR. Information regarding specific methodological components and PCR performance was requested. The information provided was made anonymous, and meta-regression analysis was performed to determine any procedural factors that significantly altered PCR performance. Ninety-seven percent of protocols were able to detect a threshold of 10 genomes/ml on at least one occasion, with 83% of protocols reproducibly detecting this concentration. Sensitivity and specificity were 86.1% and 93.6%, respectively. Positive associations between sensitivity and the use of larger sample volumes, an internal control PCR, and PCR targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were shown. Negative associations between sensitivity and the use of larger elution volumes (≥100 μl) and PCR targeting the mitochondrial genes were demonstrated. Most Aspergillus PCR protocols used to test serum generate satisfactory analytical performance. Testing serum requires less standardization, and the specific recommendations shown in this article will only improve performance. PMID:21940479

Evaluation of a navigation system for dental implantation as a tool to train novice dental practitioners.

PubMed

Casap, Nardy; Nadel, Sahar; Tarazi, Eyal; Weiss, Ervin I

2011-10-01

This study evaluated the benefits of a virtual reality navigation system for teaching the surgical stage of dental implantation to final-year dental students. The study aimed to assess the students' performance in dental implantation assignments by comparing freehand protocols with virtual reality navigation. Forty final-year dentistry students without previous experience in dental implantation surgery were given an implantation assignment comprising 3 tasks. Marking, drilling, and widening of implant holes were executed by a freehand protocol on the 2 mandibular sides by 1 group and by virtual reality navigation on 1 side and contralaterally with the freehand protocol by the other group. Subjective and objective assessments of the students' performance were graded. Marking with the navigation system was more accurate than with the standard protocol. The 2 groups performed similarly in the 2-mm drilling on the 2 mandibular sides. Widening of the 2 mesial holes to 3 mm was significantly better with the second execution in the standard protocol group, but not in the navigation group. The navigation group's second-site freehand drilling of the molar was significantly worse than the first. The execution of all assignments was significantly faster in the freehand group than in the navigation group (60.75 vs 77.25 minutes, P = .02). Self-assessment only partly matched the objective measurements and was more realistic in the standard protocol group. Despite the improved performance with the navigation system, the added value of training in dental implantation surgery with virtual reality navigation was minimal. Copyright © 2011 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cheating and Anti-Cheating in Gossip-Based Protocol: An Experimental Investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Xin; Shi, Yuanchun; Tang, Yun; Zhang, Nan

During recent years, there has been a rapid growth in deployment of gossip-based protocol in many multicast applications. In a typical gossip-based protocol, each node acts as dual roles of receiver and sender, independently exchanging data with its neighbors to facilitate scalability and resilience. However, most of previous work in this literature seldom considered cheating issue of end users, which is also very important in face of the fact that the mutual cooperation inherently determines overall system performance. In this paper, we investigate the dishonest behaviors in decentralized gossip-based protocol through extensive experimental study. Our original contributions come in two-fold: In the first part of cheating study, we analytically discuss two typical cheating strategies, that is, intentionally increasing subscription requests and untruthfully calculating forwarding probability, and further evaluate their negative impacts. The results indicate that more attention should be paid to defending cheating behaviors in gossip-based protocol. In the second part of anti-cheating study, we propose a receiver-driven measurement mechanism, which evaluates individual forwarding traffic from the perspective of receivers and thus identifies cheating nodes with high incoming/outgoing ratio. Furthermore, we extend our mechanism by introducing reliable factor to further improve its accuracy. The experiments under various conditions show that it performs quite well in case of serious cheating and achieves considerable performance in other cases.

DTN routing in body sensor networks with dynamic postural partitioning.

PubMed

Quwaider, Muhannad; Biswas, Subir

2010-11-01

This paper presents novel store-and-forward packet routing algorithms for Wireless Body Area Networks ( WBAN ) with frequent postural partitioning. A prototype WBAN has been constructed for experimentally characterizing on-body topology disconnections in the presence of ultra short range radio links, unpredictable RF attenuation, and human postural mobility. On-body DTN routing protocols are then developed using a stochastic link cost formulation, capturing multi-scale topological localities in human postural movements. Performance of the proposed protocols are evaluated experimentally and via simulation, and are compared with a number of existing single-copy DTN routing protocols and an on-body packet flooding mechanism that serves as a performance benchmark with delay lower-bound. It is shown that via multi-scale modeling of the spatio-temporal locality of on-body link disconnection patterns, the proposed algorithms can provide better routing performance compared to a number of existing probabilistic, opportunistic, and utility-based DTN routing protocols in the literature.

Adaptation to hot environmental conditions: an exploration of the performance basis, procedures and future directions to optimise opportunities for elite athletes.

PubMed

Guy, Joshua H; Deakin, Glen B; Edwards, Andrew M; Miller, Catherine M; Pyne, David B

2015-03-01

Extreme environmental conditions present athletes with diverse challenges; however, not all sporting events are limited by thermoregulatory parameters. The purpose of this leading article is to identify specific instances where hot environmental conditions either compromise or augment performance and, where heat acclimation appears justified, evaluate the effectiveness of pre-event acclimation processes. To identify events likely to be receptive to pre-competition heat adaptation protocols, we clustered and quantified the magnitude of difference in performance of elite athletes competing in International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships (1999-2011) in hot environments (>25 °C) with those in cooler temperate conditions (<25 °C). Athletes in endurance events performed worse in hot conditions (~3 % reduction in performance, Cohen's d > 0.8; large impairment), while in contrast, performance in short-duration sprint events was augmented in the heat compared with temperate conditions (~1 % improvement, Cohen's d > 0.8; large performance gain). As endurance events were identified as compromised by the heat, we evaluated common short-term heat acclimation (≤7 days, STHA) and medium-term heat acclimation (8-14 days, MTHA) protocols. This process identified beneficial effects of heat acclimation on performance using both STHA (2.4 ± 3.5 %) and MTHA protocols (10.2 ± 14.0 %). These effects were differentially greater for MTHA, which also demonstrated larger reductions in both endpoint exercise heart rate (STHA: -3.5 ± 1.8 % vs MTHA: -7.0 ± 1.9 %) and endpoint core temperature (STHA: -0.7 ± 0.7 % vs -0.8 ± 0.3 %). It appears that worthwhile acclimation is achievable for endurance athletes via both short-and medium-length protocols but more is gained using MTHA. Conversely, it is also conceivable that heat acclimation may be counterproductive for sprinters. As high-performance athletes are often time-poor, shorter duration protocols may be of practical preference for endurance athletes where satisfactory outcomes can be achieved.

Comprehensive evaluation of lung allograft function in infants after lung and heart-lung transplantation.

PubMed

Hayes, Don; Naguib, Aymen; Kirkby, Stephen; Galantowicz, Mark; McConnell, Patrick I; Baker, Peter B; Kopp, Benjamin T; Lloyd, Eric A; Astor, Todd L

2014-05-01

Limited data exist on methods to evaluate allograft function in infant recipients of lung and heart-lung transplants. At our institution, we developed a procedural protocol in coordination with pediatric anesthesia where infants were sedated to perform infant pulmonary function testing, computed tomography imaging of the chest, and flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy with transbronchial biopsies. A retrospective review was performed of children aged younger than 1 year who underwent lung or heart-lung transplantation at our institution to assess the effect of this procedural protocol in the evaluation of infant lung allografts. Since 2005, 5 infants have undergone thoracic transplantation (3 heart-lung, 2 lung). At time of transplant, the mean ± standard deviation age was 7.2 ± 2.8 months (range, 3-11 months). Of 24 procedural sessions performed to evaluate lung allografts, 83% (20 of 24) were considered surveillance where the patients were completely asymptomatic. Of the surveillance procedures, 80% were performed as an outpatient, whereas 20% were done as inpatients during the lung or heart-lung transplant post-operative period before discharge home. Sedation was performed with propofol alone (23 of 24) or in addition to ketamine (1 of 24) infusion; mean sedation time was 141 ± 39 minutes (range, 70-214) minutes. Of the 16 outpatient procedures, patients were discharged after 14 (88%) on the same day, and after 2 (12%) were admitted for observation, with 1 being due to transportation issues and the other due to fever during the observation period. A comprehensive procedural protocol to evaluate allograft function in infant lung and heart-lung transplant recipients was performed safely as an outpatient. Copyright © 2014 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation for Loss of Lubrication Performance of Black Oxide, Superfinished, and As-Ground Surfaces for Use in Rotorcraft Transmissions

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

2.3.2 Loss -of-Lubrication Protocol 5 2.3.3 Friction Mapping Protocol 7 2.4 Test Matrices 9 3. Results and Discussion 10 3.1 Load Capacity 10...protocols used to simulate relevant contact conditions are the load capacity (LC), loss -of-lubrication (LoL), and mapping protocols. 2.3.1 Load ...Entrainment velocity (m/s) Slip (%) Skew (°) Load (N) Contact stress (GPa) LoL 16 –100 0 100 1.29 2.3.2.2 Low-Speed Loss -of-Lubrication

An Efficient Mutual Authentication Framework for Healthcare System in Cloud Computing.

PubMed

Kumar, Vinod; Jangirala, Srinivas; Ahmad, Musheer

2018-06-28

The increasing role of Telecare Medicine Information Systems (TMIS) makes its accessibility for patients to explore medical treatment, accumulate and approach medical data through internet connectivity. Security and privacy preservation is necessary for medical data of the patient in TMIS because of the very perceptive purpose. Recently, Mohit et al.'s proposed a mutual authentication protocol for TMIS in the cloud computing environment. In this work, we reviewed their protocol and found that it is not secure against stolen verifier attack, many logged in patient attack, patient anonymity, impersonation attack, and fails to protect session key. For enhancement of security level, we proposed a new mutual authentication protocol for the similar environment. The presented framework is also more capable in terms of computation cost. In addition, the security evaluation of the protocol protects resilience of all possible security attributes, and we also explored formal security evaluation based on random oracle model. The performance of the proposed protocol is much better in comparison to the existing protocol.

A protocol avoiding allogeneic transfusion in joint arthroplasties.

PubMed

Suh, You-Sung; Nho, Jae-Hwi; Choi, Hyung-Suk; Ha, Yong-Chan; Park, Jong-Seok; Koo, Kyung-Hoi

2016-09-01

Arthroplasties of hip and knee are associated with blood loss, which may lead to adverse patient outcome. Performing arthroplasties in Jehovah's Witness patients who do not accept transfusion has been a matter of concern. We developed a protocol, which avoids transfusion in arthroplasties of Jehovah's Witness patients, and evaluated the feasibility and safety of the protocol. The target of preoperative hemoglobin was more than 10 g/dL. When preoperative hemoglobin was lower than 10 g/dL, 4000 U erythropoietin (3 times a week) and 100 mg iron supplement (every day) were administered until the hemoglobin reached 10 g/dL. When the preoperative hemoglobin was higher than 10 g/dL, 4000 U erythropoietin and 100 mg iron supplement were administered once, before operation. During the operation, cell saver was used. Postoperatively, erythropoietin and iron supplements were administered until the hemoglobin reached 10 g/dL, similar to the preoperative protocol. We evaluated the feasibility of our protocol, perioperative complications and hematologic changes. From 2002 to 2014, 186 Witness patients visited our department. In 179 patients (96.2 %), 77 total knee arthroplasties, 69 bipolar hemiarthroplasties and 33 total hip arthroplasties were performed. The mean hemoglobin level was 12.3 g/dL preoperatively, 9.4 g/dL on postoperative day 3 and 10.3 g/dL on postoperative day 7. One patient died immediately after the arthroplasty and the remaining 178 patients survived. Total joint arthroplasty could be done without transfusion using this protocol in most of our patients. The rates of infection and mortality were similar with known infection and mortality rates of arthroplasties. In patients who do not want allogeneic transfusions, our protocol is a safe alternative to perform joint arthroplasties.

Londrina Activities of Daily Living Protocol: Reproducibility, Validity, and Reference Values in Physically Independent Adults Age 50 Years and Older.

PubMed

Paes, Thaís; Belo, Letícia Fernandes; da Silva, Diego Rodrigues; Morita, Andrea Akemi; Donária, Leila; Furlanetto, Karina Couto; Sant'Anna, Thaís; Pitta, Fabio; Hernandes, Nidia Aparecida

2017-03-01

It is important to assess activities of daily living (ADL) in older adults due to impairment of independence and quality of life. However, there is no objective and standardized protocol available to assess this outcome. Thus, the aim of this study was to verify the reproducibility and validity of a new protocol for ADL assessment applied in physically independent adults age ≥50 y, the Londrina ADL protocol, and to establish an equation to predict reference values of the Londrina ADL protocol. Ninety-three physically independent adults age ≥50 y had their performance in ADL evaluated by registering the time spent to conclude the protocol. The protocol was performed twice. The 6-min walk test, which assesses functional exercise capacity, was used as a validation criterion. A multiple linear regression model was applied, including anthropometric and demographic variables that correlated with the protocol, to establish an equation to predict the protocol's reference values. In general, the protocol was reproducible (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.91). The average difference between the first and second protocol was 5.3%. The new protocol was valid to assess ADL performance in the studied subjects, presenting a moderate correlation with the 6-min walk test (r = -0.53). The time spent to perform the protocol correlated significantly with age (r = 0.45) but neither with weight (r = -0.17) nor with height (r = -0.17). A model of stepwise multiple regression including sex and age showed that age was the only determinant factor to the Londrina ADL protocol, explaining 21% ( P < .001) of its variability. The derived reference equation was: Londrina ADL protocol pred (s) = 135.618 + (3.102 × age [y]). The Londrina ADL protocol was reproducible and valid in physically independent adults age ≥50 y. A reference equation for the protocol was established including only age as an independent variable (r 2 = 0.21), allowing a better interpretation of the protocol's results in clinical practice. Copyright © 2017 by Daedalus Enterprises.

Materials testing protocol for small joint prostheses.

PubMed

Savory, K M; Hutchinson, D T; Bloebaum, R

1994-10-01

In this article, a protocol for the evaluation of new materials for small joint prostheses is introduced. The testing methods employed in the protocol were developed by reviewing reported clinical failure modes and conditions found in vivo. The methods developed quantitatively evaluates the fatigue, fatigue crack propagation, and wear resistance properties of materials. For this study, a silicone elastomer similar to Dow Corning Silastic HP100, a radiation stable polypropylene, and a copolymer of polypropylene and ethylene propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) are evaluated. None of the materials tested demonstrated the ideal properties that are sought in a self-hinging joint prostheses. The silicone elastomer had excellent wear properties; however, cracks quickly propagated, causing catastrophic failure when fatigued. Conversely, the copolymer showed excellent fatigue crack propagation resistance and less than favorable wear properties. The polypropylene did not perform well in any evaluation.

A performance study of WebDav access to storages within the Belle II collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pardi, S.; Russo, G.

2017-10-01

WebDav and HTTP are becoming popular protocols for data access in the High Energy Physics community. The most used Grid and Cloud storage solutions provide such kind of interfaces, in this scenario tuning and performance evaluation became crucial aspects to promote the adoption of these protocols within the Belle II community. In this work, we present the results of a large-scale test activity, made with the goal to evaluate performances and reliability of the WebDav protocol, and study a possible adoption for the user analysis. More specifically, we considered a pilot infrastructure composed by a set of storage elements configured with the WebDav interface, hosted at the Belle II sites. The performance tests include a comparison with xrootd and gridftp. As reference tests we used a set of analysis jobs running under the Belle II software framework, accessing the input data with the ROOT I/O library, in order to simulate as much as possible a realistic user activity. The final analysis shows the possibility to achieve promising performances with WebDav on different storage systems, and gives an interesting feedback, for Belle II community and for other high energy physics experiments.

Protocol to Exploit Waiting Resources for UASNs.

PubMed

Hung, Li-Ling; Luo, Yung-Jeng

2016-03-08

The transmission speed of acoustic waves in water is much slower than that of radio waves in terrestrial wireless sensor networks. Thus, the propagation delay in underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASN) is much greater. Longer propagation delay leads to complicated communication and collision problems. To solve collision problems, some studies have proposed waiting mechanisms; however, long waiting mechanisms result in low bandwidth utilization. To improve throughput, this study proposes a slotted medium access control protocol to enhance bandwidth utilization in UASNs. The proposed mechanism increases communication by exploiting temporal and spatial resources that are typically idle in order to protect communication against interference. By reducing wait time, network performance and energy consumption can be improved. A performance evaluation demonstrates that when the data packets are large or sensor deployment is dense, the energy consumption of proposed protocol is less than that of existing protocols as well as the throughput is higher than that of existing protocols.

ATM QoS Experiments Using TCP Applications: Performance of TCP/IP Over ATM in a Variety of Errored Links

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frantz, Brian D.; Ivancic, William D.

2001-01-01

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Quality of Service (QoS) experiments using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) were performed for various link delays. The link delay was set to emulate a Wide Area Network (WAN) and a Satellite Link. The purpose of these experiments was to evaluate the ATM QoS requirements for applications that utilize advance TCP/IP protocols implemented with large windows and Selective ACKnowledgements (SACK). The effects of cell error, cell loss, and random bit errors on throughput were reported. The detailed test plan and test results are presented herein.

Improvement of burn pain management through routine pain monitoring and pain management protocol.

PubMed

Yang, Hyeong Tae; Hur, Giyeun; Kwak, In-Suk; Yim, Haejun; Cho, Yong Suk; Kim, Dohern; Hur, Jun; Kim, Jong Hyun; Lee, Boung Chul; Seo, Cheong Hoon; Chun, Wook

2013-06-01

Pain management is an important aspect of burn management. We developed a routine pain monitoring system and pain management protocol for burn patients. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of our new pain management system. From May 2011 to November 2011, the prospective study was performed with 107 burn patients. We performed control group (n=58) data analysis and then developed the pain management protocol and monitoring system. Next, we applied our protocol to patients and performed protocol group (n=49) data analysis, and compared this to control group data. Data analysis was performed using the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) of background pain and procedural pain, Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale (STAIS), and Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale (HRSS). The NRS of background pain for the protocol group was significantly decreased compared to the control group (2.8±2.0 versus 3.9±1.9), and the NRS of procedural pain of the protocol group was significantly decreased compared to the control group (4.8±2.8 versus 3.7±2.5). CAPS and HDRS were decreased in the protocol group, but did not have statistical significance. STAIS and HRSS were decreased in the protocol group, but only the STAIS had statistical significance. Our new pain management system was effective in burn pain management. However, adequate pain management can only be accomplished by a continuous and thorough effort. Therefore, pain control protocol and pain monitoring systems need to be under constant revision and improvement using creative ideas and approaches. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

75 FR 11540 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-11

... the evaluation: (1) Pre/post-test interview protocol--Consisting of both open- and closed-ended... respondents in interviews that will take one hour each. The pre/post-test interview protocol will be... the year. At the end of the year, post-test interviews will be performed as one-hour group interviews...

Step-up training for colorectal and gastric ESD and the challenge of ESD training in the proximal colon: results from a German Center.

PubMed

Ebigbo, Alanna; Probst, Andreas; Römmele, Christoph; Messmann, Helmut

2018-05-01

The endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) of cancerous and precancerous lesions in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is an effective but difficult-to-learn procedure, especially for Western endoscopists. We developed a step-up training protocol and evaluated its outcome on a single endoscopist using specific performance measures. The training protocol included a 12-month period of 50 observational and supervised ESD cases as well as 24 animal procedures. After completion of the protocol, ESD competency was evaluated in the first 30 independent ESD cases. Majority of lesions were located in the stomach and rectum. Performance measures included R0-resection rate, complication rate and resection speed. R0 resection rate was 93 %, complication rate was 7 % and median resection speed was 6,77 cm 2 /h. 1 case of delayed perforation with subsequent hemicolectomy occurred in the descending colon. The ESD step-up training protocol used in this study on a single endoscopist showed excellent outcomes for lesions in the rectum and stomach. However, ESD training in the upper colon remains a challenge.

Evaluation of a single-scan protocol for radiochromic film dosimetry.

PubMed

Shimohigashi, Yoshinobu; Araki, Fujio; Maruyama, Masato; Nakaguchi, Yuji; Kuwahara, Satoshi; Nagasue, Nozomu; Kai, Yudai

2015-03-08

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a single-scan protocol using Gafchromic EBT3 film (EBT3) by comparing it with the commonly used 24-hr measurement protocol for radiochromic film dosimetry. Radiochromic film is generally scanned 24 hr after film exposure (24-hr protocol). The single-scan protocol enables measurement results within a short time using only the verification film, one calibration film, and unirradiated film. The single-scan protocol was scanned 30 min after film irradiation. The EBT3 calibration curves were obtained with the multichannel film dosimetry method. The dose verifications for each protocol were performed with the step pattern, pyramid pattern, and clinical treatment plans for intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The absolute dose distributions for each protocol were compared with those calculated by the treatment planning system (TPS) using gamma evaluation at 3% and 3 mm. The dose distribution for the single-scan protocol was within 2% of the 24-hr protocol dose distribution. For the step pattern, the absolute dose discrepancies between the TPS for the single-scan and 24-hr protocols were 2.0 ± 1.8 cGy and 1.4 ± 1.2 cGy at the dose plateau, respectively. The pass rates were 96.0% for the single-scan protocol and 95.9% for the 24-hr protocol. Similarly, the dose discrepancies for the pyramid pattern were 3.6 ± 3.5cGy and 2.9 ± 3.3 cGy, respectively, while the pass rates for the pyramid pattern were 95.3% and 96.4%, respectively. The average pass rates for the four IMRT plans were 96.7% ± 1.8% for the single-scan protocol and 97.3% ± 1.4% for the 24-hr protocol. Thus, the single-scan protocol measurement is useful for dose verification of IMRT, based on its accuracy and efficiency.

Evaluation of a single‐scan protocol for radiochromic film dosimetry

PubMed Central

Araki, Fujio; Maruyama, Masato; Nakaguchi, Yuji; Kuwahara, Satoshi; Nagasue, Nozomu; Kai, Yudai

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a single‐scan protocol using Gafchromic EBT3 film (EBT3) by comparing it with the commonly used 24‐hr measurement protocol for radiochromic film dosimetry. Radiochromic film is generally scanned 24 hr after film exposure (24‐hr protocol). The single‐scan protocol enables measurement results within a short time using only the verification film, one calibration film, and unirradiated film. The single‐scan protocol was scanned 30 min after film irradiation. The EBT3 calibration curves were obtained with the multichannel film dosimetry method. The dose verifications for each protocol were performed with the step pattern, pyramid pattern, and clinical treatment plans for intensity‐modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The absolute dose distributions for each protocol were compared with those calculated by the treatment planning system (TPS) using gamma evaluation at 3% and 3 mm. The dose distribution for the single‐scan protocol was within 2% of the 24‐hr protocol dose distribution. For the step pattern, the absolute dose discrepancies between the TPS for the single‐scan and 24‐hr protocols were 2.0±1.8 cGy and 1.4±1.2 cGy at the dose plateau, respectively. The pass rates were 96.0% for the single‐scan protocol and 95.9% for the 24‐hr protocol. Similarly, the dose discrepancies for the pyramid pattern were 3.6±3.5 cGy and 2.9±3.3 cGy, respectively, while the pass rates for the pyramid pattern were 95.3% and 96.4%, respectively. The average pass rates for the four IMRT plans were 96.7%±1.8% for the single‐scan protocol and 97.3%±1.4% for the 24‐hr protocol. Thus, the single‐scan protocol measurement is useful for dose verification of IMRT, based on its accuracy and efficiency. PACS number: 87.55.Qr PMID:26103194

A Secure Region-Based Geographic Routing Protocol (SRBGR) for Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Adnan, Ali Idarous; Hanapi, Zurina Mohd; Othman, Mohamed; Zukarnain, Zuriati Ahmad

2017-01-01

Due to the lack of dependency for routing initiation and an inadequate allocated sextant on responding messages, the secure geographic routing protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have attracted considerable attention. However, the existing protocols are more likely to drop packets when legitimate nodes fail to respond to the routing initiation messages while attackers in the allocated sextant manage to respond. Furthermore, these protocols are designed with inefficient collection window and inadequate verification criteria which may lead to a high number of attacker selections. To prevent the failure to find an appropriate relay node and undesirable packet retransmission, this paper presents Secure Region-Based Geographic Routing Protocol (SRBGR) to increase the probability of selecting the appropriate relay node. By extending the allocated sextant and applying different message contention priorities more legitimate nodes can be admitted in the routing process. Moreover, the paper also proposed the bound collection window for a sufficient collection time and verification cost for both attacker identification and isolation. Extensive simulation experiments have been performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol in comparison with other existing protocols. The results demonstrate that SRBGR increases network performance in terms of the packet delivery ratio and isolates attacks such as Sybil and Black hole. PMID:28121992

A Secure Region-Based Geographic Routing Protocol (SRBGR) for Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Adnan, Ali Idarous; Hanapi, Zurina Mohd; Othman, Mohamed; Zukarnain, Zuriati Ahmad

2017-01-01

Due to the lack of dependency for routing initiation and an inadequate allocated sextant on responding messages, the secure geographic routing protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have attracted considerable attention. However, the existing protocols are more likely to drop packets when legitimate nodes fail to respond to the routing initiation messages while attackers in the allocated sextant manage to respond. Furthermore, these protocols are designed with inefficient collection window and inadequate verification criteria which may lead to a high number of attacker selections. To prevent the failure to find an appropriate relay node and undesirable packet retransmission, this paper presents Secure Region-Based Geographic Routing Protocol (SRBGR) to increase the probability of selecting the appropriate relay node. By extending the allocated sextant and applying different message contention priorities more legitimate nodes can be admitted in the routing process. Moreover, the paper also proposed the bound collection window for a sufficient collection time and verification cost for both attacker identification and isolation. Extensive simulation experiments have been performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol in comparison with other existing protocols. The results demonstrate that SRBGR increases network performance in terms of the packet delivery ratio and isolates attacks such as Sybil and Black hole.

FuGeF: A Resource Bound Secure Forwarding Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Umar, Idris Abubakar; Mohd Hanapi, Zurina; Sali, A; Zulkarnain, Zuriati A

2016-06-22

Resource bound security solutions have facilitated the mitigation of spatio-temporal attacks by altering protocol semantics to provide minimal security while maintaining an acceptable level of performance. The Dynamic Window Secured Implicit Geographic Forwarding (DWSIGF) routing protocol for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) has been proposed to achieve a minimal selection of malicious nodes by introducing a dynamic collection window period to the protocol's semantics. However, its selection scheme suffers substantial packet losses due to the utilization of a single distance based parameter for node selection. In this paper, we propose a Fuzzy-based Geographic Forwarding protocol (FuGeF) to minimize packet loss, while maintaining performance. The FuGeF utilizes a new form of dynamism and introduces three selection parameters: remaining energy, connectivity cost, and progressive distance, as well as a Fuzzy Logic System (FLS) for node selection. These introduced mechanisms ensure the appropriate selection of a non-malicious node. Extensive simulation experiments have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed FuGeF protocol as compared to DWSIGF variants. The simulation results show that the proposed FuGeF outperforms the two DWSIGF variants (DWSIGF-P and DWSIGF-R) in terms of packet delivery.

Apples to apples: the origin and magnitude of differences in asbestos cancer risk estimates derived using varying protocols.

PubMed

Berman, D Wayne

2011-08-01

Given that new protocols for assessing asbestos-related cancer risk have recently been published, questions arise concerning how they compare to the "IRIS" protocol currently used by regulators. The newest protocols incorporate findings from 20 additional years of literature. Thus, differences between the IRIS and newer Berman and Crump protocols are examined to evaluate whether these protocols can be reconciled. Risks estimated by applying these protocols to real exposure data from both laboratory and field studies are also compared to assess the relative health protectiveness of each protocol. The reliability of risks estimated using the two protocols are compared by evaluating the degree with which each potentially reproduces the known epidemiology study risks. Results indicate that the IRIS and Berman and Crump protocols can be reconciled; while environment-specific variation within fiber type is apparently due primarily to size effects (not addressed by IRIS), the 10-fold (average) difference between amphibole asbestos risks estimated using each protocol is attributable to an arbitrary selection of the lowest of available mesothelioma potency factors in the IRIS protocol. Thus, the IRIS protocol may substantially underestimate risk when exposure is primarily to amphibole asbestos. Moreover, while the Berman and Crump protocol is more reliable than the IRIS protocol overall (especially for predicting amphibole risk), evidence is presented suggesting a new fiber-size-related adjustment to the Berman and Crump protocol may ultimately succeed in reconciling the entire epidemiology database. However, additional data need to be developed before the performance of the adjusted protocol can be fully validated. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

Are emergency medical technician-basics able to use a selective immobilization of the cervical spine protocol?: a preliminary report.

PubMed

Dunn, Thomas M; Dalton, Alice; Dorfman, Todd; Dunn, William W

2004-01-01

To be a first step in determining whether emergency medicine technician (EMT)-Basics are capable of using a protocol that allows for selective immobilization of the cervical spine. Such protocols are coming into use at an advanced life support level and could be beneficial when used by basic life support providers. A convenience sample of participants (n=95) from 11 emergency medical services agencies and one college class participated in the study. All participants evaluated six patients in written scenarios and decided which should be placed into spinal precautions according to a selective spinal immobilization protocol. Systems without an existing selective spinal immobilization protocol received a one-hour continuing education lecture regarding the topic. College students received a similar lecture written so laypersons could understand the protocol. All participants showed proficiency when applying a selective immobilization protocol to patients in paper-based scenarios. Furthermore, EMT-Basics performed at the same level as paramedics when following the protocol. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences between EMT-Basics and paramedics. A follow-up group of college students (added to have a non-EMS comparison group) also performed as well as paramedics when making decisions to use spinal precautions. Differences between college students and paramedics were also statistically insignificant. The results suggest that EMT-Basics are as accurate as paramedics when making decisions regarding selective immobilization of the cervical spine during paper-based scenarios. That laypersons are also proficient when using the protocol could indicate that it is extremely simple to follow. This study is a first step toward the necessary additional studies evaluating the efficacy of EMT-Basics using selective immobilization as a regular practice.

Partial-mouth periodontal examination protocols for the determination of the prevalence and extent of gingival bleeding in adolescents.

PubMed

Machado, Michely Ediani; Tomazoni, Fernanda; Casarin, Maísa; Ardenghi, Thiago M; Zanatta, Fabricio Batistin

2017-10-01

To compare the performance of partial-mouth periodontal examination (PMPE) protocols with different cut-off points to the full-mouth examination (FME) in the assessment of the prevalence and extent of gingival bleeding in adolescents. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 12-year-old adolescents. Following a systematic two-stage cluster sampling process, 1134 individuals were evaluated. Different PMPE protocols were compared to the FME with six sites per tooth. Sensitivity, specificity, area under the ROC curve (AUC), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), relative and absolute biases and the inflation factor were assessed for each PMPE protocol with different cut-off points for the severity of gingival bleeding. The highest AUC values were found for the six-site two-diagonal quadrant (2-4) (0.97), six-site random half-mouth (0.95) and Community Periodontal Index (0.95) protocols. The assessment of three sites [mesiobuccal (MB), buccal (B) and distolingual (DL)] in two diagonal quadrants and the random half-mouth protocol had higher sensitivity and lower specificity than the same protocols with distobuccal (DB) sites. However, the use of DB sites led to better specificity and improved the balance between sensitivity and specificity, except for the two-diagonal quadrant (1-3) protocol. The ≥1 cut-off point led to the most discrepant results from the FME. Six-site two-diagonal quadrant (2-4) and random half-mouth assessments perform better in the evaluation of gingival bleeding in adolescents. However, when a faster protocol is needed, a two-diagonal quadrant assessment using only MB, B and DL sites can be used with no important loss of information. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Comparison of alternative βhCG follow-up protocols after single-dose methotrexate therapy for tubal ectopic pregnancy.

PubMed

Şükür, Yavuz Emre; Koyuncu, Kazibe; Seval, Mehmet Murat; Çetinkaya, Esra; Dökmeci, Fulya

2017-12-01

To evaluate the performances of five different βhCG follow-up protocols after single-dose methotrexate therapy for tubal ectopic pregnancy (EP). Data of patients who received single-dose methotrexate therapy for tubal EP at a university hospital between January 2011 and July 2016 were reviewed. A 'successful methotrexate treatment' was defined if the EP treated with no need for surgery. The performances of different protocols were tested by comparing with the currently used '15% βhCG decrease between days 4 and 7' protocol. The tested follow-up protocols were '20, 25%, and any βhCG decrease between days 0/1 and 7' and '20% and any βhCG decrease between days 0/1 and 4'. Among the 96 patients evaluated, 12 (12.5%) required second dose. Totally, 91 (94.8%) patients treated successfully with no need for surgery. Four patients were operated within 4 days following the second dose. One patient who did not need second dose according to the standard follow-up protocol was operated on the 10th day due to rupture (specificity = 80%). Two protocols, namely '20% βhCG decrease between days 0/1 and 7' and 'any βhCG decrease between days 0/1 and 7' did not show statistically significant differences from the index protocol regarding the number of patients who should be assigned to 2nd dose. 'Any βhCG decrease between days 0/1 and 7' protocol may substitute the currently used one to decide second dose methotrexate in tubal EP management. Omitting 4th day measurement seems to be more convenient and cost effective.

Auditory fitness for duty: a review.

PubMed

Tufts, Jennifer B; Vasil, Kristin A; Briggs, Sarah

2009-10-01

Auditory fitness for duty (AFFD) refers to the possession of hearing abilities sufficient for safe and effective job performance. In jobs such as law enforcement and piloting, where the ability to hear is critical to job performance and safety, hearing loss can decrease performance, even to the point of being hazardous to self and others. Tests of AFFD should provide an employer with a valid assessment of an employee's ability to perform the job safely, without discriminating against the employee purely on the basis of hearing loss. The purpose of this review is to provide a basic description of the functional hearing abilities required in hearing-critical occupations, and a summary of current practices in AFFD evaluation. In addition, we suggest directions for research and standardization to ensure best practices in the evaluation of AFFD in the future. We conducted a systematic review of the English-language peer-reviewed literature in AFFD. "Popular" search engines were consulted for governmental regulations and trade journal articles. We also contacted professionals with expertise in AFFD regarding research projects, unpublished material, and current standards. The literature review provided information regarding the functional hearing abilities required to perform hearing-critical tasks, the development of and characteristics of AFFD protocols, and the current implementation of AFFD protocols. This review paper provides evidence of the need to institute job-specific AFFD protocols, move beyond the pure-tone audiogram, and establish the validity of test protocols. These needs are arguably greater now than in times past.

Evaluation of the use of automatic exposure control and automatic tube potential selection in low-dose cerebrospinal fluid shunt head CT.

PubMed

Wallace, Adam N; Vyhmeister, Ross; Bagade, Swapnil; Chatterjee, Arindam; Hicks, Brandon; Ramirez-Giraldo, Juan Carlos; McKinstry, Robert C

2015-06-01

Cerebrospinal fluid shunts are primarily used for the treatment of hydrocephalus. Shunt complications may necessitate multiple non-contrast head CT scans resulting in potentially high levels of radiation dose starting at an early age. A new head CT protocol using automatic exposure control and automated tube potential selection has been implemented at our institution to reduce radiation exposure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reduction in radiation dose achieved by this protocol compared with a protocol with fixed parameters. A retrospective sample of 60 non-contrast head CT scans assessing for cerebrospinal fluid shunt malfunction was identified, 30 of which were performed with each protocol. The radiation doses of the two protocols were compared using the volume CT dose index and dose length product. The diagnostic acceptability and quality of each scan were evaluated by three independent readers. The new protocol lowered the average volume CT dose index from 15.2 to 9.2 mGy representing a 39 % reduction (P < 0.01; 95 % CI 35-44 %) and lowered the dose length product from 259.5 to 151.2 mGy/cm representing a 42 % reduction (P < 0.01; 95 % CI 34-50 %). The new protocol produced diagnostically acceptable scans with comparable image quality to the fixed parameter protocol. A pediatric shunt non-contrast head CT protocol using automatic exposure control and automated tube potential selection reduced patient radiation dose compared with a fixed parameter protocol while producing diagnostic images of comparable quality.

Electric Vehicle and Wireless Charging Laboratory

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-03-23

Wireless charging tests of electric vehicles (EV) have been conducted at the EVTC Wireless Laboratory located at the Florida Solar Energy Center, Cocoa, FL. These tests were performed to document testing protocols, evaluate standards and evaluate ope...

Performance evaluation of reactive and proactive routing protocol in IEEE 802.11 ad hoc network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamma, Salima; Cizeron, Eddy; Issaka, Hafiz; Guédon, Jean-Pierre

2006-10-01

Wireless technology based on the IEEE 802.11 standard is widely deployed. This technology is used to support multiple types of communication services (data, voice, image) with different QoS requirements. MANET (Mobile Adhoc NETwork) does not require a fixed infrastructure. Mobile nodes communicate through multihop paths. The wireless communication medium has variable and unpredictable characteristics. Furthermore, node mobility creates a continuously changing communication topology in which paths break and new one form dynamically. The routing table of each router in an adhoc network must be kept up-to-date. MANET uses Distance Vector or Link State algorithms which insure that the route to every host is always known. However, this approach must take into account the adhoc networks specific characteristics: dynamic topologies, limited bandwidth, energy constraints, limited physical security, ... Two main routing protocols categories are studied in this paper: proactive protocols (e.g. Optimised Link State Routing - OLSR) and reactive protocols (e.g. Ad hoc On Demand Distance Vector - AODV, Dynamic Source Routing - DSR). The proactive protocols are based on periodic exchanges that update the routing tables to all possible destinations, even if no traffic goes through. The reactive protocols are based on on-demand route discoveries that update routing tables only for the destination that has traffic going through. The present paper focuses on study and performance evaluation of these categories using NS2 simulations. We have considered qualitative and quantitative criteria. The first one concerns distributed operation, loop-freedom, security, sleep period operation. The second are used to assess performance of different routing protocols presented in this paper. We can list end-to-end data delay, jitter, packet delivery ratio, routing load, activity distribution. Comparative study will be presented with number of networking context consideration and the results show the appropriate routing protocol for two kinds of communication services (data and voice).

TOXICITY TESTING, RISK ASSESSMENT, AND OPTIONS FOR DREDGED MATERIAL MANAGEMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Programs for evaluating proposed discharges of dredged material into waters of the United States specify a tiered testing and evaluation protocol that includes performance of acute and chronic bioassays to assess toxicity of the dredged sediments. Although these evaluations refl...

AD HOC Networks for the Autonomous Car

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ron, Davidescu; Negrus, Eugen

2017-10-01

The future of the vehicle is made of cars, roads and infrastructures connected in a two way automated communication in a holistic system. It is a mandatory to use Encryption to maintain Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability in an ad hoc vehicle network. Vehicle to Vehicle communication, requires multichannel interaction between mobile, moving and changing parties to insure the full benefit from data sharing and real time decision making, a network of such users referred as mobile ad hoc network (MANET), however as ad hoc networks were not implemented in such a scale, it is not clear what is the best method and protocol to apply. Furthermore the visibility of secure preferred asymmetric encrypted ad hoc networks in a real time environment of dense moving autonomous vehicles has to be demonstrated, In order to evaluate the performance of Ad Hoc networks in changing conditions a simulation of multiple protocols was performed on large number of mobile nodes. The following common routing protocols were tested, DSDV is a proactive protocol, every mobile station maintains a routing table with all available destinations, DSR is a reactive routing protocol which allows nodes in the MANET to dynamically discover a source route across multiple network hops, AODV is a reactive routing protocol Instead of being proactive. It minimizes the number of broadcasts by creating routes based on demand, SAODV is a secure version of AODV, requires heavyweight asymmetric cryptographic, ARIANDE is a routing protocol that relies on highly efficient symmetric cryptography the concept is primarily based on DSR. A methodical evolution was performed in a various density of transportation, based on known communication bench mark parameters including, Throughput Vs. time, Routing Load per packets and bytes. Out of the none encrypted protocols, It is clear that in terms of performance of throughput and routing load DSR protocol has a clear advantage the high node number mode. The encrypted protocols show lower performance with ARIANDE being superior to SAODV and SRP. Nevertheless all protocol simulation proved it to match required real time performance.

Building a Simulation Toolkit for Wireless Mesh Clusters and Evaluating the Suitability of Different Families of Ad Hoc Protocols for the Tactical Network Topology

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-03-01

International Conference On Computers Communications and Networks, 153- 161, Lafayette, L.A. Deitel , H.M. and P.J. Deitel . 2003. C++ How to Program ...of this study is to provide an additional performance evaluation technique for the TNT program of Naval Postgraduate School. The current approach...case are the PAMAS and DBTMA protocols. Toh (2002) illustrates how these approaches succeed in solving the problem. In order to address all the

Altered Mental Status: Current Evidence-based Recommendations for Prehospital Care.

PubMed

Sanello, Ashley; Gausche-Hill, Marianne; Mulkerin, William; Sporer, Karl A; Brown, John F; Koenig, Kristi L; Rudnick, Eric M; Salvucci, Angelo A; Gilbert, Gregory H

2018-05-01

In the United States emergency medical services (EMS) protocols vary widely across jurisdictions. We sought to develop evidence-based recommendations for the prehospital evaluation and treatment of a patient with an acute change in mental status and to compare these recommendations against the current protocols used by the 33 EMS agencies in the State of California. We performed a literature review of the current evidence in the prehospital treatment of a patient with altered mental status (AMS) and augmented this review with guidelines from various national and international societies to create our evidence-based recommendations. We then compared the AMS protocols of each of the 33 EMS agencies for consistency with these recommendations. The specific protocol components that we analyzed were patient assessment, point-of-care tests, supplemental oxygen, use of standardized scoring, evaluating for causes of AMS, blood glucose evaluation, toxicological treatment, and pediatric evaluation and management. Protocols across 33 EMS agencies in California varied widely. All protocols call for a blood glucose check, 21 (64%) suggest treating adults at <60mg/dL, and half allow for the use of dextrose 10%. All the protocols recommend naloxone for signs of opioid overdose, but only 13 (39%) give specific parameters. Half the agencies (52%) recommend considering other toxicological causes of AMS, often by using the mnemonic AEIOU TIPS. Eight (24%) recommend a 12-lead electrocardiogram; others simply suggest cardiac monitoring. Fourteen (42%) advise supplemental oxygen as needed; only seven (21%) give specific parameters. In terms of considering various etiologies of AMS, 25 (76%) give instructions to consider trauma, 20 (61%) to consider stroke, and 18 (55%) to consider seizure. Twenty-three (70%) of the agencies have separate pediatric AMS protocols; others include pediatric considerations within the adult protocol. Protocols for patients with AMS vary widely across the State of California. The evidence-based recommendations that we present for the prehospital diagnosis and treatment of this condition may be useful for EMS medical directors tasked with creating and revising these protocols.

Development and evaluation of a study design typology for human research.

PubMed

Carini, Simona; Pollock, Brad H; Lehmann, Harold P; Bakken, Suzanne; Barbour, Edward M; Gabriel, Davera; Hagler, Herbert K; Harper, Caryn R; Mollah, Shamim A; Nahm, Meredith; Nguyen, Hien H; Scheuermann, Richard H; Sim, Ida

2009-11-14

A systematic classification of study designs would be useful for researchers, systematic reviewers, readers, and research administrators, among others. As part of the Human Studies Database Project, we developed the Study Design Typology to standardize the classification of study designs in human research. We then performed a multiple observer masked evaluation of active research protocols in four institutions according to a standardized protocol. Thirty-five protocols were classified by three reviewers each into one of nine high-level study designs for interventional and observational research (e.g., N-of-1, Parallel Group, Case Crossover). Rater classification agreement was moderately high for the 35 protocols (Fleiss' kappa = 0.442) and higher still for the 23 quantitative studies (Fleiss' kappa = 0.463). We conclude that our typology shows initial promise for reliably distinguishing study design types for quantitative human research.

Optimization of 64-MDCT urography: effect of dual-phase imaging with furosemide on collecting system opacification and radiation dose.

PubMed

Portnoy, Orith; Guranda, Larisa; Apter, Sara; Eiss, David; Amitai, Marianne Michal; Konen, Eli

2011-11-01

The purpose of this study was to compare opacification of the urinary collecting system and radiation dose associated with three-phase 64-MDCT urographic protocols and those associated with a split-bolus dual-phase protocol including furosemide. Images from 150 CT urographic examinations performed with three scanning protocols were retrospectively evaluated. Group A consisted of 50 sequentially registered patients who underwent a three-phase protocol with saline infusion. Group B consisted of 50 sequentially registered patients who underwent a reduced-radiation three-phase protocol with saline. Group C consisted of 50 sequentially registered patients who underwent a dual-phase split-bolus protocol that included a low-dose furosemide injection. Opacification of the urinary collecting system was evaluated with segmental binary scoring. Contrast artifacts were evaluated, and radiation doses were recorded. Results were compared by analysis of variance. A significant reduction in mean effective radiation dose was found between groups A and B (p < 0.001) and between groups B and C (p < 0.001), resulting in 65% reduction between groups A and C (p < 0.001). This reduction did not significantly affect opacification score in any of the 12 urinary segments (p = 0.079). In addition, dense contrast artifacts overlying the renal parenchyma observed with the three-phase protocols (groups A and B) were avoided with the dual-phase protocol (group C) (p < 0.001). A dual-phase protocol with furosemide injection is the preferable technique for CT urography. In comparison with commonly used three-phase protocols, the dual-phase protocol significantly reduces radiation exposure dose without reduction in image quality.

MPH-M, AODV-M and DSR-M Performance Evaluation under Jamming Attacks.

PubMed

Del-Valle-Soto, Carolina; Mex-Perera, Carlos; Monroy, Raul; Nolazco-Flores, Juan A

2017-07-05

In this work, we present the design of a mitigation scheme for jamming attacks integrated to the routing protocols MPH, AODV, and DSR. The resulting protocols are named MPH-M (Multi-Parent Hierarchical - Modified), AODV-M (Ad hoc On Demand Distance Vector - Modified), and DSR-M (Dynamic Source Routing - Modified). For the mitigation algorithm, if the detection algorithm running locally in each node produces a positive result then the node is isolated; second, the routing protocol adapts their paths avoiding the isolated nodes. We evaluated how jamming attacks affect different metrics for all these modified protocols. The metrics we employ to detect jamming attack are number of packet retransmissions, number of CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance) retries while waiting for an idle channel and the energy wasted by the node. The metrics to evaluate the performance of the modified routing protocols are the throughput and resilience of the system and the energy used by the nodes. We evaluated all the modified protocols when the attacker position was set near, middle and far of the collector node. The results of our evaluation show that performance for MPH-M is much better than AODV-M and DSR-M. For example, the node energy for MPH-M is 138.13% better than AODV-M and 126.07% better than DSR-M. Moreover, we also find that MPH-M benefits much more of the mitigation scheme than AODV-M and DSR-M. For example, the node energy consumption is 34.61% lower for MPH-M and only 3.92% and 3.42% for AODV-M and DSR-M, respectively. On throughput, the MPH protocol presents a packet reception efficiency at the collector node of 16.4% on to AODV and DSR when there is no mitigation mechanism. Moreover, MPH-M has an efficiency greater than 7.7% with respect to AODV-M and DSR-M when there is a mitigation scheme. In addition, we have that with the mitigation mechanism AODV-M and DSR-M do not present noticeable modification. However, MPH-M improves its efficiency by 8.4%. We also measure the resilience of these algorithms from the average packet re-transmissions perspective, and we find that MPH-M has around a 15% lower change rate than AODV-M and DSR-M. The MPH-M recovery time is 5 s faster than AODV-M and 2 s faster than DSR-M.

MPH-M, AODV-M and DSR-M Performance Evaluation under Jamming Attacks

PubMed Central

Del-Valle-Soto, Carolina

2017-01-01

In this work, we present the design of a mitigation scheme for jamming attacks integrated to the routing protocols MPH, AODV, and DSR. The resulting protocols are named MPH-M (Multi-Parent Hierarchical - Modified), AODV-M (Ad hoc On Demand Distance Vector - Modified), and DSR-M (Dynamic Source Routing - Modified). For the mitigation algorithm, if the detection algorithm running locally in each node produces a positive result then the node is isolated; second, the routing protocol adapts their paths avoiding the isolated nodes. We evaluated how jamming attacks affect different metrics for all these modified protocols. The metrics we employ to detect jamming attack are number of packet retransmissions, number of CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance) retries while waiting for an idle channel and the energy wasted by the node. The metrics to evaluate the performance of the modified routing protocols are the throughput and resilience of the system and the energy used by the nodes. We evaluated all the modified protocols when the attacker position was set near, middle and far of the collector node. The results of our evaluation show that performance for MPH-M is much better than AODV-M and DSR-M. For example, the node energy for MPH-M is 138.13% better than AODV-M and 126.07% better than DSR-M. Moreover, we also find that MPH-M benefits much more of the mitigation scheme than AODV-M and DSR-M. For example, the node energy consumption is 34.61% lower for MPH-M and only 3.92% and 3.42% for AODV-M and DSR-M, respectively. On throughput, the MPH protocol presents a packet reception efficiency at the collector node of 16.4% on to AODV and DSR when there is no mitigation mechanism. Moreover, MPH-M has an efficiency greater than 7.7% with respect to AODV-M and DSR-M when there is a mitigation scheme. In addition, we have that with the mitigation mechanism AODV-M and DSR-M do not present noticeable modification. However, MPH-M improves its efficiency by 8.4%. We also measure the resilience of these algorithms from the average packet re-transmissions perspective, and we find that MPH-M has around a 15% lower change rate than AODV-M and DSR-M. The MPH-M recovery time is 5 s faster than AODV-M and 2 s faster than DSR-M. PMID:28678180

Assessment of human epidermal model LabCyte EPI-MODEL for in vitro skin irritation testing according to European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM)-validated protocol.

PubMed

Katoh, Masakazu; Hamajima, Fumiyasu; Ogasawara, Takahiro; Hata, Ken-Ichiro

2009-06-01

A validation study of an in vitro skin irritation testing method using a reconstructed human skin model has been conducted by the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM), and a protocol using EpiSkin (SkinEthic, France) has been approved. The structural and performance criteria of skin models for testing are defined in the ECVAM Performance Standards announced along with the approval. We have performed several evaluations of the new reconstructed human epidermal model LabCyte EPI-MODEL, and confirmed that it is applicable to skin irritation testing as defined in the ECVAM Performance Standards. We selected 19 materials (nine irritants and ten non-irritants) available in Japan as test chemicals among the 20 reference chemicals described in the ECVAM Performance Standard. A test chemical was applied to the surface of the LabCyte EPI-MODEL for 15 min, after which it was completely removed and the model then post-incubated for 42 hr. Cell v iability was measured by MTT assay and skin irritancy of the test chemical evaluated. In addition, interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1alpha) concentration in the culture supernatant after post-incubation was measured to provide a complementary evaluation of skin irritation. Evaluation of the 19 test chemicals resulted in 79% accuracy, 78% sensitivity and 80% specificity, confirming that the in vitro skin irritancy of the LabCyte EPI-MODEL correlates highly with in vivo skin irritation. These results suggest that LabCyte EPI-MODEL is applicable to the skin irritation testing protocol set out in the ECVAM Performance Standards.

Evaluation of Dogs with Border Collie Collapse, Including Response to Two Standardized Strenuous Exercise Protocols.

PubMed

Taylor, Susan; Shmon, Cindy; Su, Lillian; Epp, Tasha; Minor, Katie; Mickelson, James; Patterson, Edward; Shelton, G Diane

2016-01-01

Clinical and metabolic variables were evaluated in 13 dogs with border collie collapse (BCC) before, during, and following completion of standardized strenuous exercise protocols. Six dogs participated in a ball-retrieving protocol, and seven dogs participated in a sheep-herding protocol. Findings were compared with 16 normal border collies participating in the same exercise protocols (11 retrieving, five herding). Twelve dogs with BCC developed abnormal mentation and/or an abnormal gait during evaluation. All dogs had post-exercise elevations in rectal temperature, pulse rate, arterial blood pH, PaO2, and lactate, and decreased PaCO2 and bicarbonate, as expected with strenuous exercise, but there were no significant differences between BCC dogs and normal dogs. Electrocardiography demonstrated sinus tachycardia in all dogs following exercise. Needle electromyography was normal, and evaluation of muscle biopsy cryosections using a standard panel of histochemical stains and reactions did not reveal a reason for collapse in 10 dogs with BCC in which these tests were performed. Genetic testing excluded the dynamin-1 related exercise-induced collapse mutation and the V547A malignant hyperthermia mutation as the cause of BCC. Common reasons for exercise intolerance were eliminated. Although a genetic basis is suspected, the cause of collapse in BCC was not determined.

Analysis of Pervasive Mobile Ad Hoc Routing Protocols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qadri, Nadia N.; Liotta, Antonio

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are a fundamental element of pervasive networks and therefore, of pervasive systems that truly support pervasive computing, where user can communicate anywhere, anytime and on-the-fly. In fact, future advances in pervasive computing rely on advancements in mobile communication, which includes both infrastructure-based wireless networks and non-infrastructure-based MANETs. MANETs introduce a new communication paradigm, which does not require a fixed infrastructure - they rely on wireless terminals for routing and transport services. Due to highly dynamic topology, absence of established infrastructure for centralized administration, bandwidth constrained wireless links, and limited resources in MANETs, it is challenging to design an efficient and reliable routing protocol. This chapter reviews the key studies carried out so far on the performance of mobile ad hoc routing protocols. We discuss performance issues and metrics required for the evaluation of ad hoc routing protocols. This leads to a survey of existing work, which captures the performance of ad hoc routing algorithms and their behaviour from different perspectives and highlights avenues for future research.

Comparative ergonomic workflow and user experience analysis of MRI versus fluoroscopy-guided vascular interventions: an iliac angioplasty exemplar case study.

PubMed

Fernández-Gutiérrez, Fabiola; Martínez, Santiago; Rube, Martin A; Cox, Benjamin F; Fatahi, Mahsa; Scott-Brown, Kenneth C; Houston, J Graeme; McLeod, Helen; White, Richard D; French, Karen; Gueorguieva, Mariana; Immel, Erwin; Melzer, Andreas

2015-10-01

A methodological framework is introduced to assess and compare a conventional fluoroscopy protocol for peripheral angioplasty with a new magnetic resonant imaging (MRI)-guided protocol. Different scenarios were considered during interventions on a perfused arterial phantom with regard to time-based and cognitive task analysis, user experience and ergonomics. Three clinicians with different expertise performed a total of 43 simulated common iliac angioplasties (9 fluoroscopic, 34 MRI-guided) in two blocks of sessions. Six different configurations for MRI guidance were tested in the first block. Four of them were evaluated in the second block and compared to the fluoroscopy protocol. Relevant stages' durations were collected, and interventions were audio-visually recorded from different perspectives. A cued retrospective protocol analysis (CRPA) was undertaken, including personal interviews. In addition, ergonomic constraints in the MRI suite were evaluated. Significant differences were found when comparing the performance between MRI configurations versus fluoroscopy. Two configurations [with times of 8.56 (0.64) and 9.48 (1.13) min] led to reduce procedure time for MRI guidance, comparable to fluoroscopy [8.49 (0.75) min]. The CRPA pointed out the main influential factors for clinical procedure performance. The ergonomic analysis quantified musculoskeletal risks for interventional radiologists when utilising MRI. Several alternatives were suggested to prevent potential low-back injuries. This work presents a step towards the implementation of efficient operational protocols for MRI-guided procedures based on an integral and multidisciplinary framework, applicable to the assessment of current vascular protocols. The use of first-user perspective raises the possibility of establishing new forms of clinical training and education.

Web usability evaluation with screen reader users: implementation of the partial concurrent thinking aloud technique.

PubMed

Federici, Stefano; Stefano, Federici; Borsci, Simone; Stamerra, Gianluca

2010-08-01

A verbal protocol technique, adopted for a web usability evaluation, requires that the users are able to perform a double task: surfing and talking. Nevertheless, when blind users surf by using a screen reader and talk about the way they interact with the computer, the evaluation is influenced by a structural interference: users are forced to think aloud and listen to the screen reader at the same time. The aim of this study is to build up a verbal protocol technique for samples of visual impaired users in order to overcome the limits of concurrent and retrospective protocols. The technique we improved, called partial concurrent thinking aloud (PCTA), integrates a modified set of concurrent verbalization and retrospective analysis. One group of 6 blind users and another group of 6 sighted users evaluated the usability of a website using PCTA. By estimating the number of necessary users by the means of an asymptotic test, it was found out that the two groups had an equivalent ability of identifying usability problems, both over 80%. The result suggests that PCTA, while respecting the properties of classic verbal protocols, also allows to overcome the structural interference and the limits of concurrent and retrospective protocols when used with screen reader users. In this way, PCTA reduces the efficiency difference of usability evaluation between blind and sighted users.

Dual-energy CT for the characterization of urinary calculi: In vitro and in vivo evaluation of a low-dose scanning protocol.

PubMed

Thomas, C; Patschan, O; Ketelsen, D; Tsiflikas, I; Reimann, A; Brodoefel, H; Buchgeister, M; Nagele, U; Stenzl, A; Claussen, C; Kopp, A; Heuschmid, M; Schlemmer, H-P

2009-06-01

The efficiency and radiation dose of a low-dose dual-energy (DE) CT protocol for the evaluation of urinary calculus disease were evaluated. A low-dose dual-source DE-CT renal calculi protocol (140 kV, 46 mAs; 80 kV, 210 mAs) was derived from the single-energy (SE) CT protocol used in our institution for the detection of renal calculi (120 kV, 75 mAs). An Alderson-Rando phantom was equipped with thermoluminescence dosimeters and examined by CT with both protocols. The effective doses were calculated. Fifty-one patients with suspected or known urinary calculus disease underwent DE-CT. DE analysis was performed if calculi were detected using a dedicated software tool. Results were compared to chemical analysis after invasive calculus extraction. An effective dose of 3.43 mSv (male) and 5.30 mSv (female) was measured in the phantom for the DE protocol (vs. 3.17/4.57 mSv for the SE protocol). Urinary calculi were found in 34 patients; in 28 patients, calculi were removed and analyzed (23 patients with calcified calculi, three with uric acid calculi, one with 2,8-dihyxdroxyadenine-calculi, one patient with a mixed struvite calculus). DE analysis was able to distinguish between calcified and non-calcified calculi in all cases. In conclusion, dual-energy urinary calculus analysis is effective also with a low-dose protocol. The protocol tested in this study reliably identified calcified urinary calculi in vivo.

Effects of manipulating the duration and intensity of aerobic training sessions on the physical performance of rats.

PubMed

Teixeira-Coelho, Francisco; Fonseca, Cletiana Gonçalves; Barbosa, Nicolas Henrique Santos; Vaz, Filipe Ferreira; Cordeiro, Letícia Maria de Souza; Coimbra, Cândido Celso; Pires, Washington; Soares, Danusa Dias; Wanner, Samuel Penna

2017-01-01

This study investigated the effects of manipulating the load components of aerobic training sessions on the physical performance of rats. To achieve this purpose, adult male Wistar rats were divided into four groups: an untrained control (CON) group and training groups with a predominant overload in intensity (INT) or duration (DUR) or alternating and similar overloads in intensity and duration (ID). Prior to, during, and after 8 weeks of the control or training protocols, the performance of the rats (evaluated by their workload) was determined during fatiguing, incremental-speed treadmill running. Two additional incremental running tests were performed prior to and at the end of the protocols to measure the peak rate of oxygen consumption (VO2peak). As expected, the rats in the trained groups exhibited increased performance, whereas the untrained rats showed stable performance throughout the 8 weeks. Notably, the performance gain exhibited by the DUR rats reached a plateau after the 4th week. This plateau was not present in the INT or ID rats, which exhibited increased performance at the end of training protocol compared with the DUR rats. None of the training protocols changed the VO2peak values; however, these values were attained at faster speeds, which indicated increased running economy. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the training protocols improved the physical performance of rats, likely resulting from enhanced running economy. Furthermore, compared with overload in duration, overload in the intensity of training sessions was more effective at inducing performance improvements across the 8 weeks of the study.

Effects of manipulating the duration and intensity of aerobic training sessions on the physical performance of rats

PubMed Central

Teixeira-Coelho, Francisco; Fonseca, Cletiana Gonçalves; Barbosa, Nicolas Henrique Santos; Vaz, Filipe Ferreira; Cordeiro, Letícia Maria de Souza; Coimbra, Cândido Celso; Pires, Washington; Soares, Danusa Dias

2017-01-01

This study investigated the effects of manipulating the load components of aerobic training sessions on the physical performance of rats. To achieve this purpose, adult male Wistar rats were divided into four groups: an untrained control (CON) group and training groups with a predominant overload in intensity (INT) or duration (DUR) or alternating and similar overloads in intensity and duration (ID). Prior to, during, and after 8 weeks of the control or training protocols, the performance of the rats (evaluated by their workload) was determined during fatiguing, incremental-speed treadmill running. Two additional incremental running tests were performed prior to and at the end of the protocols to measure the peak rate of oxygen consumption (VO2peak). As expected, the rats in the trained groups exhibited increased performance, whereas the untrained rats showed stable performance throughout the 8 weeks. Notably, the performance gain exhibited by the DUR rats reached a plateau after the 4th week. This plateau was not present in the INT or ID rats, which exhibited increased performance at the end of training protocol compared with the DUR rats. None of the training protocols changed the VO2peak values; however, these values were attained at faster speeds, which indicated increased running economy. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the training protocols improved the physical performance of rats, likely resulting from enhanced running economy. Furthermore, compared with overload in duration, overload in the intensity of training sessions was more effective at inducing performance improvements across the 8 weeks of the study. PMID:28841706

Synthesizing Existing CSMA and TDMA Based MAC Protocols for VANETs

PubMed Central

Huang, Jiawei; Li, Qi; Zhong, Shaohua; Liu, Lianhai; Zhong, Ping; Wang, Jianxin; Ye, Jin

2017-01-01

Many Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) based medium access control (MAC) protocols for vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have been proposed recently. Contrary to the common perception that they are competitors, we argue that the underlying strategies used in these MAC protocols are complementary. Based on this insight, we design CTMAC, a MAC protocol that synthesizes existing strategies; namely, random accessing channel (used in CSMA-style protocols) and arbitral reserving channel (used in TDMA-based protocols). CTMAC swiftly changes its strategy according to the vehicle density, and its performance is better than the state-of-the-art protocols. We evaluate CTMAC using at-scale simulations. Our results show that CTMAC reduces the channel completion time and increases the network goodput by 45% for a wide range of application workloads and network settings. PMID:28208590

A Simple XML Producer-Consumer Protocol

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Warren; Gunter, Dan; Quesnel, Darcy; Biegel, Bryan (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

There are many different projects from government, academia, and industry that provide services for delivering events in distributed environments. The problem with these event services is that they are not general enough to support all uses and they speak different protocols so that they cannot interoperate. We require such interoperability when we, for example, wish to analyze the performance of an application in a distributed environment. Such an analysis might require performance information from the application, computer systems, networks, and scientific instruments. In this work we propose and evaluate a standard XML-based protocol for the transmission of events in distributed systems. One recent trend in government and academic research is the development and deployment of computational grids. Computational grids are large-scale distributed systems that typically consist of high-performance compute, storage, and networking resources. Examples of such computational grids are the DOE Science Grid, the NASA Information Power Grid (IPG), and the NSF Partnerships for Advanced Computing Infrastructure (PACIs). The major effort to deploy these grids is in the area of developing the software services to allow users to execute applications on these large and diverse sets of resources. These services include security, execution of remote applications, managing remote data, access to information about resources and services, and so on. There are several toolkits for providing these services such as Globus, Legion, and Condor. As part of these efforts to develop computational grids, the Global Grid Forum is working to standardize the protocols and APIs used by various grid services. This standardization will allow interoperability between the client and server software of the toolkits that are providing the grid services. The goal of the Performance Working Group of the Grid Forum is to standardize protocols and representations related to the storage and distribution of performance data. These standard protocols and representations must support tasks such as profiling parallel applications, monitoring the status of computers and networks, and monitoring the performance of services provided by a computational grid. This paper describes a proposed protocol and data representation for the exchange of events in a distributed system. The protocol exchanges messages formatted in XML and it can be layered atop any low-level communication protocol such as TCP or UDP Further, we describe Java and C++ implementations of this protocol and discuss their performance. The next section will provide some further background information. Section 3 describes the main communication patterns of our protocol. Section 4 describes how we represent events and related information using XML. Section 5 describes our protocol and Section 6 discusses the performance of two implementations of the protocol. Finally, an appendix provides the XML Schema definition of our protocol and event information.

Implementation of a 5-Minute Magnetic Resonance Imaging Screening Protocol for Prostate Cancer in Men With Elevated Prostate-Specific Antigen Before Biopsy.

PubMed

Weiss, Jakob; Martirosian, Petros; Notohamiprodjo, Mike; Kaufmann, Sascha; Othman, Ahmed E; Grosse, Ulrich; Nikolaou, Konstantin; Gatidis, Sergios

2018-03-01

The aims of this study were to establish a 5-minute magnetic resonance (MR) screening protocol for prostate cancer in men before biopsy and to evaluate effects on Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) V2 scoring in comparison to a conventional, fully diagnostic multiparametric MR imaging (mpMRI) approach. Fifty-two patients with elevated prostate-specific antigen levels and without prior biopsy were prospectively included in this institutional review board-approved study. In all patients, an mpMRI protocol according to the PI-RADS recommendations was acquired on a 3 T MRI system. In addition, an accelerated diffusion-weighted imaging sequence was acquired using simultaneous multislice technique (DW-EPISMS). Two readers independently evaluated the images for the presence/absence of prostate cancer according to the PI-RADS criteria and for additional findings. In a first reading session, only the screening protocol consisting of axial T2-weighted and DW-EPISMS images was made available. In a subsequent reading session, the mpMRI protocol was assessed blinded to the results of the first reading, serving as reference standard. Both readers successfully established a final diagnosis according to the PI-RADS criteria in the screening and mpMRI protocol. Mean lesion size was 1.2 cm in the screening and 1.4 cm in the mpMRI protocol (P = 0.4) with 35% (18/52) of PI-RADS IV/V lesions. Diagnostic performance of the screening protocol was excellent with a sensitivity and specificity of 100% for both readers with no significant differences in comparison to the mpMRI standard (P = 1.0). In 3 patients, suspicious lymph nodes were reported as additional finding, which were equally detectable in the screening and mpMRI protocol. A 5-minute MR screening protocol for prostate cancer in men with elevated prostate-specific antigen levels before biopsy is applicable for clinical routine with similar diagnostic performance as the full diagnostic mpMRI approach.

An improved in-house lysis-filtration protocol for bacterial identification from positive blood culture bottles with high identification rates by MALDI-TOF MS.

PubMed

Tsuchida, Sachio; Murata, Syota; Miyabe, Akiko; Satoh, Mamoru; Takiwaki, Masaki; Matsushita, Kazuyuki; Nomura, Fumio

2018-05-01

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is now a well-established method for identification of microorganisms from positive blood cultures. Pretreatments to effectively remove non-bacterial proteins are a prerequisite for successful identification, and a variety of protocols have been reported. Although commercially available kits, mainly the Sepsityper Kit, are increasingly used, the identification rates reported often are not satisfactory, particularly for Gram-positive isolates. We developed a new, in-house lysis-filtration protocol and prospectively evaluated its performance compared to the Sepsityper kit. The in-house protocol consists of three simple steps: lysis by ammonium chloride, aspiration with a syringe fitted with a 0.45-μm membrane, and centrifugation to collect microbes. The novel protocol requires only 20 min. Performance of the in-house protocol was evaluated using a total of 117 monomicrobial cases of positive blood culture. Medium from blood culture bottles was pretreated by the in-house protocol or the commercial kit, and isolated cells were subjected to direct identification by mass spectrometry fingerprinting in parallel with conventional subculturing for reference identification. The overall MALDI-TOF MS-based identification rates with score > 1.7 and > 2.0 obtained using the in-house protocol were 99.2% and 85.5%, respectively, whereas those obtained using the Sepsityper Kit were 85.4% and 61.5%, respectively. For Gram-positive cases, the in-house protocol yielded scores >1.7 and > 2.0 at 98.5% and 76.1%, respectively, whereas the commercial kit yielded these scores at 76.1% and 43.3%, respectively. Although these are preliminary results, these values suggest that this easy lysis-filtration protocol deserves assessment in a larger-scale test. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel protocol for dispatcher assisted CPR improves CPR quality and motivation among rescuers-A randomized controlled simulation study.

PubMed

Rasmussen, Stinne Eika; Nebsbjerg, Mette Amalie; Krogh, Lise Qvirin; Bjørnshave, Katrine; Krogh, Kristian; Povlsen, Jonas Agerlund; Riddervold, Ingunn Skogstad; Grøfte, Thorbjørn; Kirkegaard, Hans; Løfgren, Bo

2017-01-01

Emergency dispatchers use protocols to instruct bystanders in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Studies changing one element in the dispatcher's protocol report improved CPR quality. Whether several changes interact is unknown and the effect of combining multiple changes previously reported to improve CPR quality into one protocol remains to be investigated. We hypothesize that a novel dispatch protocol, combining multiple beneficial elements improves CPR quality compared with a standard protocol. A novel dispatch protocol was designed including wording on chest compressions, using a metronome, regular encouragements and a 10-s rest each minute. In a simulated cardiac arrest scenario, laypersons were randomized to perform single-rescuer CPR guided with the novel or the standard protocol. a composite endpoint of time to first compression, hand position, compression depth and rate and hands-off time (maximum score: 22 points). Afterwards participants answered a questionnaire evaluating the dispatcher assistance. The novel protocol (n=61) improved CPR quality score compared with the standard protocol (n=64) (mean (SD): 18.6 (1.4)) points vs. 17.5 (1.7) points, p<0.001. The novel protocol resulted in deeper chest compressions (mean (SD): 58 (12)mm vs. 52 (13)mm, p=0.02) and improved rate of correct hand position (61% vs. 36%, p=0.01) compared with the standard protocol. In both protocols hands-off time was short. The novel protocol improved motivation among rescuers compared with the standard protocol (p=0.002). Participants guided with a standard dispatch protocol performed high quality CPR. A novel bundle of care protocol improved CPR quality score and motivation among rescuers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

PROTOCOL TO EVALUATE THE MOISTURE DURABILITY OF ENERGY-EFFICIENT WALLS

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

Boudreaux, Philip R; Pallin, Simon B; Hun, Diana E

Walls account for about 8% of the energy used in residential buildings. This energy penalty can be reduced with higher insulation levels and increased airtightness. However, these measures can compromise the moisture durability and long-term performance of wall assemblies because they can lead to lower moisture tolerance due to reduced drying potential. To avert these problems, a moisture durability protocol was developed to evaluate the probability that an energy-efficient wall design will experience mold growth. This protocol examines the effects of moisture sources in walls through a combination of simulations and lab experiments, uses the mold growth index as themore » moisture durability indicator, and is based on a probabilistic approach that utilizes stochastically varying input parameters. The simulation tools used include a new validated method for taking into account the effects of air leakage in wall assemblies This paper provides an overview of the developed protocol, discussion of the probabilistic simulation approach and describes results from the evaluation of two wall assemblies in Climate Zones 2, 4, and 6. The protocol will be used to supply builders with wall designs that are energy efficient, moisture durable and cost-effective.« less

A secure protocol for protecting the identity of providers when disclosing data for disease surveillance

PubMed Central

Hu, Jun; Mercer, Jay; Peyton, Liam; Kantarcioglu, Murat; Malin, Bradley; Buckeridge, David; Samet, Saeed; Earle, Craig

2011-01-01

Background Providers have been reluctant to disclose patient data for public-health purposes. Even if patient privacy is ensured, the desire to protect provider confidentiality has been an important driver of this reluctance. Methods Six requirements for a surveillance protocol were defined that satisfy the confidentiality needs of providers and ensure utility to public health. The authors developed a secure multi-party computation protocol using the Paillier cryptosystem to allow the disclosure of stratified case counts and denominators to meet these requirements. The authors evaluated the protocol in a simulated environment on its computation performance and ability to detect disease outbreak clusters. Results Theoretical and empirical assessments demonstrate that all requirements are met by the protocol. A system implementing the protocol scales linearly in terms of computation time as the number of providers is increased. The absolute time to perform the computations was 12.5 s for data from 3000 practices. This is acceptable performance, given that the reporting would normally be done at 24 h intervals. The accuracy of detection disease outbreak cluster was unchanged compared with a non-secure distributed surveillance protocol, with an F-score higher than 0.92 for outbreaks involving 500 or more cases. Conclusion The protocol and associated software provide a practical method for providers to disclose patient data for sentinel, syndromic or other indicator-based surveillance while protecting patient privacy and the identity of individual providers. PMID:21486880

Comparison of Bruce treadmill exercise test protocols: is ramped Bruce equal or superior to standard bruce in producing clinically valid studies for patients presenting for evaluation of cardiac ischemia or arrhythmia with body mass index equal to or greater than 30?

PubMed

Bires, Angela Macci; Lawson, Dori; Wasser, Thomas E; Raber-Baer, Donna

2013-12-01

Clinically valid cardiac evaluation via treadmill stress testing requires patients to achieve specific target heart rates and to successfully complete the cardiac examination. A comparison of the standard Bruce protocol and the ramped Bruce protocol was performed using data collected over a 1-y period from a targeted patient population with a body mass index (BMI) equal to or greater than 30 to determine which treadmill protocol provided more successful examination results. The functional capacity, metabolic equivalent units achieved, pressure rate product, and total time on the treadmill as measured for the obese patients were clinically valid and comparable to normal-weight and overweight patients (P < 0.001). Data gathered from each protocol demonstrated that the usage of the ramped Bruce protocol achieved more consistent results in comparison across all BMI groups in achieving 80%-85% of their age-predicted maximum heart rate. This study did not adequately establish that the ramped Bruce protocol was superior to the standard Bruce protocol for the examination of patients with a BMI equal to or greater than 30.

Anaerobic threshold employed on exercise training prescription and performance assessment for laboratory rodents: A short review.

PubMed

Abreu, Phablo; Mendes, Sávio Victor Diogenes; Leal-Cardoso, José Henrique; Ceccatto, Vânia Marilande

2016-04-15

Several studies have generated numerous terms in the field of exercise training prescription and performance assessment that often do not match the information previously demonstrated by many other works, generating much debate and resulting in an immense pool of scientific results. Several protocols in exercise training prescription and performance assessment have been proposed for these purposes by many reasons. In the field of exercise science, the protocol must be thoroughly investigated and provide real tools to be reproducible. Many laboratories have been adapting and developing evaluation protocols and testing on physical training of rodents in different experimental conditions. In this context, mice, rats and rabbits are preferentially chosen due to easy manipulation and good response to exercise, and comparable at results obtained with humans in compatible effort intensities. But, the exercise training programs and aerobic-anaerobic transition assessment proposed for animal models vary extensively, depending on the species, gender, age, type of stimulus, type of exercise, type of method and also on the specific objectives of the program. This short review demonstrates the need in offering tools performed by invasive measurement to assess the anaerobic threshold by blood lactate employed on evolution of aerobic-anaerobic parameters of rodents. The objective of this short review was to present and to discuss physical evaluation protocols applications to rodents. The table submitted may give a basis for anaerobic threshold employed on exercise training prescription and performance assessment for laboratory rodents in future research. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Traffic placement policies for a multi-band network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maly, Kurt J.; Foudriat, E. C.; Game, David; Mukkamala, R.; Overstreet, C. Michael

1990-01-01

Recently protocols were introduced that enable the integration of synchronous traffic (voice or video) and asynchronous traffic (data) and extend the size of local area networks without loss in speed or capacity. One of these is DRAMA, a multiband protocol based on broadband technology. It provides dynamic allocation of bandwidth among clusters of nodes in the total network. A number of traffic placement policies for such networks are proposed and evaluated. Metrics used for performance evaluation include average network access delay, degree of fairness of access among the nodes, and network throughput. The feasibility of the DRAMA protocol is established through simulation studies. DRAMA provides effective integration of synchronous and asychronous traffic due to its ability to separate traffic types. Under the suggested traffic placement policies, the DRAMA protocol is shown to handle diverse loads, mixes of traffic types, and numbers of nodes, as well as modifications to the network structure and momentary traffic overloads.

Design and performance evaluation of a distributed OFDMA-based MAC protocol for MANETs.

PubMed

Park, Jaesung; Chung, Jiyoung; Lee, Hyungyu; Lee, Jung-Ryun

2014-01-01

In this paper, we propose a distributed MAC protocol for OFDMA-based wireless mobile ad hoc multihop networks, in which the resource reservation and data transmission procedures are operated in a distributed manner. A frame format is designed considering the characteristics of OFDMA that each node can transmit or receive data to or from multiple nodes simultaneously. Under this frame structure, we propose a distributed resource management method including network state estimation and resource reservation processes. We categorize five types of logical errors according to their root causes and show that two of the logical errors are inevitable while three of them are avoided under the proposed distributed MAC protocol. In addition, we provide a systematic method to determine the advertisement period of each node by presenting a clear relation between the accuracy of estimated network states and the signaling overhead. We evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol in respect of the reservation success rate and the success rate of data transmission. Since our method focuses on avoiding logical errors, it could be easily placed on top of the other resource allocation methods focusing on the physical layer issues of the resource management problem and interworked with them.

Advanced dementia pain management protocols.

PubMed

Montoro-Lorite, Mercedes; Canalias-Reverter, Montserrat

Pain management in advanced dementia is complex because of neurological deficits present in these patients, and nurses are directly responsible for providing interventions for the evaluation, management and relief of pain for people suffering from this health problem. In order to facilitate and help decision-makers, pain experts recommend the use of standardized protocols to guide pain management, but in Spain, comprehensive pain management protocols have not yet been developed for advanced dementia. This article reflects the need for an integrated management of pain in advanced dementia. From the review and analysis of the most current and relevant studies in the literature, we performed an approximation of the scales for the determination of pain in these patients, with the observational scale PAINAD being the most recommended for the hospital setting. In addition, we provide an overview for comprehensive management of pain in advanced dementia through the conceptual framework «a hierarchy of pain assessment techniques by McCaffery and Pasero» for the development and implementation of standardized protocols, including a four-phase cyclical process (evaluation, planning/performance, revaluation and recording), which can facilitate the correct management of pain in these patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

A Proxy Design to Leverage the Interconnection of CoAP Wireless Sensor Networks with Web Applications

PubMed Central

Ludovici, Alessandro; Calveras, Anna

2015-01-01

In this paper, we present the design of a Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) proxy able to interconnect Web applications based on Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and WebSocket with CoAP based Wireless Sensor Networks. Sensor networks are commonly used to monitor and control physical objects or environments. Smart Cities represent applications of such a nature. Wireless Sensor Networks gather data from their surroundings and send them to a remote application. This data flow may be short or long lived. The traditional HTTP long-polling used by Web applications may not be adequate in long-term communications. To overcome this problem, we include the WebSocket protocol in the design of the CoAP proxy. We evaluate the performance of the CoAP proxy in terms of latency and memory consumption. The tests consider long and short-lived communications. In both cases, we evaluate the performance obtained by the CoAP proxy according to the use of WebSocket and HTTP long-polling. PMID:25585107

Performance evaluation of secured DICOM image communication with next generation internet protocol IPv6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Fenghai; Zhang, Jianguo; Chen, Xiaomeng; Huang, H. K.

2005-04-01

Next Generation Internet (NGI) technology with new communication protocol IPv6 emerges as a potential solution for low-cost and high-speed networks for image data transmission. IPv6 is designed to solve many of the problems of the current version of IP (known as IPv4) with regard to address depletion, security, autoconfiguration, extensibility, and more. We choose CTN (Central Test Node) DICOM software developed by The Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology to implement IPv6/IPv4 enabled DICOM communication software on different operating systems (Windows/Linux), and used this DICOM software to evaluate the performance of the IPv6/IPv4 enabled DICOM image communication with different security setting and environments. We compared the security communications of IPsec with SSL/TLS on different TCP/IP protocols (IPv6/IPv4), and find that there are some trade-offs to choose security solution between IPsec and SSL/TLS in the security implementation of IPv6/IPv4 communication networks.

A dyadic protocol for training complex skills: a replication using female participants.

PubMed

Sanchez-Ku, M L; Arthur, W

2000-01-01

The effectiveness and efficiency of the active interlocked modeling (AIM) dyadic protocol in training complex skills has been extensively demonstrated. However, past evaluation studies have all used male participants exclusively. Consequently, the present study investigated the generalizability of the effectiveness and efficiency gains to women. We randomly assigned 108 female participants to either the AIM-dyad condition or a standard individual control training condition. The results supported the robustness and viability of the AIM protocol. Although their overall performance was lower than that obtained for men in previous studies, women trained in the AIM-dyad condition performed as well as those trained in the individual condition. Thus, the efficiency gains associated with the AIM-dyad protocol, which result from the ability to train two people simultaneously to reach the same performance level as a single person with no increase in training time or machine cost, are generalizable to female participants. The applied and basic research implications of the present study are discussed within the context of well-documented male/female differences in the performance of complex psychomotor tasks. For instance, given the number of women entering the workforce and the significant proportion of women in professions previously deemed to be male-dominated (e.g., air navigation), it is reassuring to know that sex differences in task performance do not necessarily imply sex differences in the effectiveness of training protocols.

Tracheal decannulation protocol in patients affected by traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Zanata, Isabel de Lima; Santos, Rosane Sampaio; Hirata, Gisela Carmona

2014-04-01

Introduction The frequency of tracheostomy in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) contrasts with the lack of objective criteria for its management. The study arose from the need for a protocol in the decision to remove the tracheal tube. Objective To evaluate the applicability of a protocol for tracheal decannulation. Methods A prospective study with 20 patients, ranging between 21 and 85 years of age (average 33.55), 4 of whom were women (20%) and 16 were men (80%). All patients had been diagnosed by a neurologist as having TBI, and the anatomical region of the lesion was known. Patients were evaluated following criteria for tracheal decannulation through a clinical evaluation protocol developed by the authors. Results Decannulation was performed in 12 (60%) patients. Fourteen (70%) had a score greater than 8 on the Glasgow Coma Scale and only 2 (14%) of these were not able to undergo decannulation. Twelve (60%) patients maintained the breathing pattern with occlusion of the tube and were successfully decannulated. Of the 20 patients evaluated, 11 (55%) showed no signs suggestive of tracheal aspiration, and of these, 9 (82%) began training on occlusion of the cannula. The protocol was relevant to establish the beginning of the decannulation process. The clinical assessment should focus on the patient's condition to achieve early tracheal decannulation. Conclusion This study allowed, with the protocol, to establish six criteria for tracheal decannulation: level of consciousness, respiration, tracheal secretion, phonation, swallowing, and coughing.

Tracheal Decannulation Protocol in Patients Affected by Traumatic Brain Injury

PubMed Central

Zanata, Isabel de Lima; Santos, Rosane Sampaio; Hirata, Gisela Carmona

2014-01-01

Introduction The frequency of tracheostomy in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) contrasts with the lack of objective criteria for its management. The study arose from the need for a protocol in the decision to remove the tracheal tube. Objective To evaluate the applicability of a protocol for tracheal decannulation. Methods A prospective study with 20 patients, ranging between 21 and 85 years of age (average 33.55), 4 of whom were women (20%) and 16 were men (80%). All patients had been diagnosed by a neurologist as having TBI, and the anatomical region of the lesion was known. Patients were evaluated following criteria for tracheal decannulation through a clinical evaluation protocol developed by the authors. Results Decannulation was performed in 12 (60%) patients. Fourteen (70%) had a score greater than 8 on the Glasgow Coma Scale and only 2 (14%) of these were not able to undergo decannulation. Twelve (60%) patients maintained the breathing pattern with occlusion of the tube and were successfully decannulated. Of the 20 patients evaluated, 11 (55%) showed no signs suggestive of tracheal aspiration, and of these, 9 (82%) began training on occlusion of the cannula. The protocol was relevant to establish the beginning of the decannulation process. The clinical assessment should focus on the patient's condition to achieve early tracheal decannulation. Conclusion This study allowed, with the protocol, to establish six criteria for tracheal decannulation: level of consciousness, respiration, tracheal secretion, phonation, swallowing, and coughing. PMID:25992074

A semi-nested real-time PCR method to detect low chimerism percentage in small quantity of hematopoietic stem cell transplant DNA samples.

PubMed

Aloisio, Michelangelo; Bortot, Barbara; Gandin, Ilaria; Severini, Giovanni Maria; Athanasakis, Emmanouil

2017-02-01

Chimerism status evaluation of post-allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation samples is essential to predict post-transplant relapse. The most commonly used technique capable of detecting small increments of chimerism is quantitative real-time PCR. Although this method is already used in several laboratories, previously described protocols often lack sensitivity and the amount of the DNA required for each chimerism analysis is too high. In the present study, we compared a novel semi-nested allele-specific real-time PCR (sNAS-qPCR) protocol with our in-house standard allele-specific real-time PCR (gAS-qPCR) protocol. We selected two genetic markers and analyzed technical parameters (slope, y-intercept, R2, and standard deviation) useful to determine the performances of the two protocols. The sNAS-qPCR protocol showed better sensitivity and precision. Moreover, the sNAS-qPCR protocol requires, as input, only 10 ng of DNA, which is at least 10-fold less than the gAS-qPCR protocols described in the literature. Finally, the proposed sNAS-qPCR protocol could prove very useful for performing chimerism analysis with a small amount of DNA, as in the case of blood cell subsets.

Why standard brain-computer interface (BCI) training protocols should be changed: an experimental study.

PubMed

Jeunet, Camille; Jahanpour, Emilie; Lotte, Fabien

2016-06-01

While promising, electroencephaloraphy based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are barely used due to their lack of reliability: 15% to 30% of users are unable to control a BCI. Standard training protocols may be partly responsible as they do not satisfy recommendations from psychology. Our main objective was to determine in practice to what extent standard training protocols impact users' motor imagery based BCI (MI-BCI) control performance. We performed two experiments. The first consisted in evaluating the efficiency of a standard BCI training protocol for the acquisition of non-BCI related skills in a BCI-free context, which enabled us to rule out the possible impact of BCIs on the training outcome. Thus, participants (N = 54) were asked to perform simple motor tasks. The second experiment was aimed at measuring the correlations between motor tasks and MI-BCI performance. The ten best and ten worst performers of the first study were recruited for an MI-BCI experiment during which they had to learn to perform two MI tasks. We also assessed users' spatial ability and pre-training μ rhythm amplitude, as both have been related to MI-BCI performance in the literature. Around 17% of the participants were unable to learn to perform the motor tasks, which is close to the BCI illiteracy rate. This suggests that standard training protocols are suboptimal for skill teaching. No correlation was found between motor tasks and MI-BCI performance. However, spatial ability played an important role in MI-BCI performance. In addition, once the spatial ability covariable had been controlled for, using an ANCOVA, it appeared that participants who faced difficulty during the first experiment improved during the second while the others did not. These studies suggest that (1) standard MI-BCI training protocols are suboptimal for skill teaching, (2) spatial ability is confirmed as impacting on MI-BCI performance, and (3) when faced with difficult pre-training, subjects seemed to explore more strategies and therefore learn better.

Understanding the motivation and performance of community health volunteers involved in the delivery of health programmes in Kampala, Uganda: a realist evaluation protocol

PubMed Central

Vareilles, Gaëlle; Pommier, Jeanine; Kane, Sumit; Pictet, Gabriel; Marchal, Bruno

2015-01-01

Introduction The recruitment of community health volunteers to support the delivery of health programmes is a well-established approach in many countries, particularly where health services are not readily available. However, studies on management of volunteers are scarce and current research on human resource management of volunteers faces methodological challenges. This paper presents the protocol of a realist evaluation that aims at identifying the factors influencing the performance of community health volunteers involved in the delivery of a Red Cross immunisation programme in Kampala (Uganda) with a specific focus on motivation. Methods and analysis The realist evaluation cycle structures the protocol. To develop the theoretical basis for the evaluation, the authors conducted interviews and reviewed the literature on community health volunteers’ performance, management and organisational behaviour. This led to the formulation of the initial programme theory, which links the intervention inputs (capacity-building strategies) to the expected outcomes (positive work behaviour) with mechanisms that point in the direction of drivers of motivation. The contextual elements include components such as organisational culture, resource availability, etc. A case study design will be adopted. We define a case as a Red Cross branch, run by a programme manager, and will select two cases at the district level in Kampala. Mixed methods will be used in data collection, including individual interviews of volunteers, participant observation and document review. The thematic analysis will be based on the initial programme theory and will seek for context-mechanism-outcome configurations. Findings from the two cases will be compared. Discussion We discuss the scope for applying realist evaluation and the methodological challenges we encountered in developing this protocol. Ethics and dissemination The study was approved by the Ethical Committee at Rennes University Hospital, France. Results will be published in scientific journals, and communicated to respondents and relevant institutions. PMID:25631314

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

Nielsen, Yousef W., E-mail: yujwni01@heh.regionh.d; Eiberg, Jonas P., E-mail: Eiberg@dadlnet.d; Logager, Vibeke B., E-mail: viloe@heh.regionh.d

The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic performance of 3T whole-body magnetic resonance angiography (WB-MRA) using a hybrid protocol in comparison with a standard protocol in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). In 26 consecutive patients with PAD two different protocols were used for WB-MRA: a standard sequential protocol (n = 13) and a hybrid protocol (n = 13). WB-MRA was performed using a gradient echo sequence, body coil for signal reception, and gadoterate meglumine as contrast agent (0.3 mmol/kg body weight). Two blinded observers evaluated all WB-MRA examinations with regard to presence of stenoses, as wellmore » as diagnostic quality and degree of venous contamination in each of the four stations used in WB-MRA. Digital subtraction angiography served as the method of reference. Sensitivity for detecting significant arterial disease (luminal narrowing {>=} 50%) using standard-protocol WB-MRA for the two observers was 0.63 (95%CI: 0.51-0.73) and 0.66 (0.58-0.78). Specificities were 0.94 (0.91-0.97) and 0.96 (0.92-0.98), respectively. In the hybrid protocol WB-MRA sensitivities were 0.75 (0.64-0.84) and 0.70 (0.58-0.8), respectively. Specificities were 0.93 (0.88-0.96) and 0.95 (0.91-0.97). Interobserver agreement was good using both the standard and the hybrid protocol, with {kappa} = 0.62 (0.44-0.67) and {kappa} = 0.70 (0.59-0.79), respectively. WB-MRA quality scores were significantly higher in the lower leg using the hybrid protocol compared to standard protocol (p = 0.003 and p = 0.03, observers 1 and 2). Distal venous contamination scores were significantly lower with the hybrid protocol (p = 0.02 and p = 0.01, observers 1 and 2). In conclusion, hybrid-protocol WB-MRA shows a better diagnostic performance than standard protocol WB-MRA at 3 T in patients with PAD.« less

FuGeF: A Resource Bound Secure Forwarding Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Umar, Idris Abubakar; Mohd Hanapi, Zurina; Sali, A.; Zulkarnain, Zuriati A.

2016-01-01

Resource bound security solutions have facilitated the mitigation of spatio-temporal attacks by altering protocol semantics to provide minimal security while maintaining an acceptable level of performance. The Dynamic Window Secured Implicit Geographic Forwarding (DWSIGF) routing protocol for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) has been proposed to achieve a minimal selection of malicious nodes by introducing a dynamic collection window period to the protocol’s semantics. However, its selection scheme suffers substantial packet losses due to the utilization of a single distance based parameter for node selection. In this paper, we propose a Fuzzy-based Geographic Forwarding protocol (FuGeF) to minimize packet loss, while maintaining performance. The FuGeF utilizes a new form of dynamism and introduces three selection parameters: remaining energy, connectivity cost, and progressive distance, as well as a Fuzzy Logic System (FLS) for node selection. These introduced mechanisms ensure the appropriate selection of a non-malicious node. Extensive simulation experiments have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed FuGeF protocol as compared to DWSIGF variants. The simulation results show that the proposed FuGeF outperforms the two DWSIGF variants (DWSIGF-P and DWSIGF-R) in terms of packet delivery. PMID:27338411

Safety of aspirin desensitization in patients with reported aspirin allergy and cardiovascular disease.

PubMed

McMullan, Kathryn L; Wedner, H James

2013-01-01

Aspirin (ASA) is the drug of choice in patients with coronary artery disease for primary and secondary prevention. This poses a problem for those patients reporting hypersensitivity to this drug or class of drugs. Desensitization to ASA may be carried out safely and effectively in patients with reported ASA or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) hypersensitivity needing ASA for cardiac indications. Our 7-step protocol is one choice for a rapid desensitization protocol. A retrospective chart review was conducted evaluating ASA desensitization in patients with reported ASA or NSAID hypersensitivity and a cardiac indication for ASA. In 160 evaluations over 15 years, 89 desensitizations were performed in both the inpatient and outpatient setting with only 16 reactions (18%). Eleven of these 16 patients (68.7%) were able to take daily ASA. Twenty-six desensitization procedures were performed with our 7-step rapid desensitization protocol in 10 inpatients and 16 outpatients with 3 reactions (18.75% of reactions). Initial reaction to ASA involving angioedema and reacting to ASA within the past year increased the risk of having a reaction to desensitization. Desensitization may be safely performed in patients with reported ASA or NSAID hypersensitivity and a cardiac indication for ASA. Our 7-step rapid protocol may be used in both the inpatient and outpatient setting to desensitize these patients. Patients who had angioedema with ASA ingestion or a reaction to ASA within the past year are at higher risk for reaction during the desensitization protocol. The authors have no funding, financial relationships, or conflicts of interest to disclose. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Malaria rapid diagnostic test as point-of-care test: study protocol for evaluating the VIKIA Malaria Ag Pf/Pan.

PubMed

Kim, Saorin; Nhem, Sina; Dourng, Dany; Ménard, Didier

2015-03-14

Malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are generally considered as point-of-care tests. However, most of the studies assessing the performance of malaria RDTs are conducted by research teams that are not representative of the classical end-users, who are typically unskilled in traditional laboratory techniques for diagnosing malaria. To evaluate the performance of a malaria RDT by end-users in a malaria-endemic area, a study protocol was designed and the VIKIA Malaria Ag Pf/Pan test, previously evaluated in 2013, was re-evaluated by representative end-users. Twenty end-users with four different profiles in seven communes in Kampot Province (Cambodia) were selected. A set of 20 calibrated aliquots, including negative samples, low positive samples (200 parasites/μL of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax) and high positive samples (2,000 parasites/μL of P. falciparum and P. vivax) was used. Testing was performed directly by the end-users without any practical training on the VIKIA Malaria Ag Pf/Pan kit. All results obtained by the end-users were consistent with the expected results, except for the low positive (200 parasites/μL) P. vivax aliquot (35% of concordant results). No significant difference was observed between the different end-users. End-user interviews evaluating ease-of-use and ease-of-reading of the VIKIA Malaria Ag Pf/Pan kit recorded 159 positive answers and only one negative answer. Out of 20 end-users, only one considered the test was not easy to perform with the support of the quick guide. The data presented in this study clearly demonstrate that the performance of the VIKIA Malaria Ag Pf/Pan test when performed by traditional end-users in field conditions is similar to that obtained by a research team and that this RDT can be considered as a point-of-care tool/assay. Furthermore, the protocol designed for this study could be used systematically in parallel to conventional evaluation studies to determine the performance of malaria RDTs in field conditions.

Evaluation of response to bovine viral diarrhea virus type 2 vaccination and timing of weaning on yearling ultrasound body composition, performance, and carcass quality traits in Angus calves

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

There are concerns about antagonisms between immunity and animal productivity in livestock production. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of antibody levels through a response to vaccination protocol, weaning timing, and their interaction on performance and carcass quality traits...

MFAHP: A novel method on the performance evaluation of the industrial wireless networked control system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Linqin; Xu, Sheng; Jiang, Dezhi

2015-12-01

Industrial wireless networked control system has been widely used, and how to evaluate the performance of the wireless network is of great significance. In this paper, considering the shortcoming of the existing performance evaluation methods, a comprehensive performance evaluation method of networks multi-indexes fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (MFAHP) combined with the fuzzy mathematics and the traditional analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is presented. The method can overcome that the performance evaluation is not comprehensive and subjective. Experiments show that the method can reflect the network performance of real condition. It has direct guiding role on protocol selection, network cabling, and node setting, and can meet the requirements of different occasions by modifying the underlying parameters.

Comparison and uncertainty evaluation of different calibration protocols and ionization chambers for low-energy surface brachytherapy dosimetry

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

Candela-Juan, C., E-mail: ccanjuan@gmail.com; Vijande, J.; García-Martínez, T.

2015-08-15

Purpose: A surface electronic brachytherapy (EBT) device is in fact an x-ray source collimated with specific applicators. Low-energy (<100 kVp) x-ray beam dosimetry faces several challenges that need to be addressed. A number of calibration protocols have been published for x-ray beam dosimetry. The media in which measurements are performed are the fundamental difference between them. The aim of this study was to evaluate the surface dose rate of a low-energy x-ray source with small field applicators using different calibration standards and different small-volume ionization chambers, comparing the values and uncertainties of each methodology. Methods: The surface dose rate ofmore » the EBT unit Esteya (Elekta Brachytherapy, The Netherlands), a 69.5 kVp x-ray source with applicators of 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 mm diameter, was evaluated using the AAPM TG-61 (based on air kerma) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) TRS-398 (based on absorbed dose to water) dosimetry protocols for low-energy photon beams. A plane parallel T34013 ionization chamber (PTW Freiburg, Germany) calibrated in terms of both absorbed dose to water and air kerma was used to compare the two dosimetry protocols. Another PTW chamber of the same model was used to evaluate the reproducibility between these chambers. Measurements were also performed with two different Exradin A20 (Standard Imaging, Inc., Middleton, WI) chambers calibrated in terms of air kerma. Results: Differences between surface dose rates measured in air and in water using the T34013 chamber range from 1.6% to 3.3%. No field size dependence has been observed. Differences are below 3.7% when measurements with the A20 and the T34013 chambers calibrated in air are compared. Estimated uncertainty (with coverage factor k = 1) for the T34013 chamber calibrated in water is 2.2%–2.4%, whereas it increases to 2.5% and 2.7% for the A20 and T34013 chambers calibrated in air, respectively. The output factors, measured with the PTW chambers, differ by less than 1.1% for any applicator size when compared to the output factors that were measured with the A20 chamber. Conclusions: Measurements using both dosimetric protocols are consistent, once the overall uncertainties are considered. There is also consistency between measurements performed with both chambers calibrated in air. Both the T34013 and A20 chambers have negligible stem effect. Any x-ray surface brachytherapy system, including Esteya, can be characterized using either one of these calibration protocols and ionization chambers. Having less correction factors, lower uncertainty, and based on measurements, performed in closer to clinical conditions, the TRS-398 protocol seems to be the preferred option.« less

An adaptive density-based routing protocol for flying Ad Hoc networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Xueli; Qi, Qian; Wang, Qingwen; Li, Yongqiang

2017-10-01

An Adaptive Density-based Routing Protocol (ADRP) for Flying Ad Hoc Networks (FANETs) is proposed in this paper. The main objective is to calculate forwarding probability adaptively in order to increase the efficiency of forwarding in FANETs. ADRP dynamically fine-tunes the rebroadcasting probability of a node for routing request packets according to the number of neighbour nodes. Indeed, it is more interesting to privilege the retransmission by nodes with little neighbour nodes. We describe the protocol, implement it and evaluate its performance using NS-2 network simulator. Simulation results reveal that ADRP achieves better performance in terms of the packet delivery fraction, average end-to-end delay, normalized routing load, normalized MAC load and throughput, which is respectively compared with AODV.

An electronic specimen collection protocol schema (eSCPS). Document architecture for specimen management and the exchange of specimen collection protocols between biobanking information systems.

PubMed

Eminaga, O; Semjonow, A; Oezguer, E; Herden, J; Akbarov, I; Tok, A; Engelmann, U; Wille, S

2014-01-01

The integrity of collection protocols in biobanking is essential for a high-quality sample preparation process. However, there is not currently a well-defined universal method for integrating collection protocols in the biobanking information system (BIMS). Therefore, an electronic schema of the collection protocol that is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML) is required to maintain the integrity and enable the exchange of collection protocols. The development and implementation of an electronic specimen collection protocol schema (eSCPS) was performed at two institutions (Muenster and Cologne) in three stages. First, we analyzed the infrastructure that was already established at both the biorepository and the hospital information systems of these institutions and determined the requirements for the sufficient preparation of specimens and documentation. Second, we designed an eSCPS according to these requirements. Finally, a prospective study was conducted to implement and evaluate the novel schema in the current BIMS. We designed an eSCPS that provides all of the relevant information about collection protocols. Ten electronic collection protocols were generated using the supplementary Protocol Editor tool, and these protocols were successfully implemented in the existing BIMS. Moreover, an electronic list of collection protocols for the current studies being performed at each institution was included, new collection protocols were added, and the existing protocols were redesigned to be modifiable. The documentation time was significantly reduced after implementing the eSCPS (5 ± 2 min vs. 7 ± 3 min; p = 0.0002). The eSCPS improves the integrity and facilitates the exchange of specimen collection protocols in the existing open-source BIMS.

Optimized protocol for quantitative multiple reaction monitoring-based proteomic analysis of formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissues

PubMed Central

Kennedy, Jacob J.; Whiteaker, Jeffrey R.; Schoenherr, Regine M.; Yan, Ping; Allison, Kimberly; Shipley, Melissa; Lerch, Melissa; Hoofnagle, Andrew N.; Baird, Geoffrey Stuart; Paulovich, Amanda G.

2016-01-01

Despite a clinical, economic, and regulatory imperative to develop companion diagnostics, precious few new biomarkers have been successfully translated into clinical use, due in part to inadequate protein assay technologies to support large-scale testing of hundreds of candidate biomarkers in formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues. While the feasibility of using targeted, multiple reaction monitoring-mass spectrometry (MRM-MS) for quantitative analyses of FFPE tissues has been demonstrated, protocols have not been systematically optimized for robust quantification across a large number of analytes, nor has the performance of peptide immuno-MRM been evaluated. To address this gap, we used a test battery approach coupled to MRM-MS with the addition of stable isotope labeled standard peptides (targeting 512 analytes) to quantitatively evaluate the performance of three extraction protocols in combination with three trypsin digestion protocols (i.e. 9 processes). A process based on RapiGest buffer extraction and urea-based digestion was identified to enable similar quantitation results from FFPE and frozen tissues. Using the optimized protocols for MRM-based analysis of FFPE tissues, median precision was 11.4% (across 249 analytes). There was excellent correlation between measurements made on matched FFPE and frozen tissues, both for direct MRM analysis (R2 = 0.94) and immuno-MRM (R2 = 0.89). The optimized process enables highly reproducible, multiplex, standardizable, quantitative MRM in archival tissue specimens. PMID:27462933

Visual grading characteristics and ordinal regression analysis during optimisation of CT head examinations.

PubMed

Zarb, Francis; McEntee, Mark F; Rainford, Louise

2015-06-01

To evaluate visual grading characteristics (VGC) and ordinal regression analysis during head CT optimisation as a potential alternative to visual grading assessment (VGA), traditionally employed to score anatomical visualisation. Patient images (n = 66) were obtained using current and optimised imaging protocols from two CT suites: a 16-slice scanner at the national Maltese centre for trauma and a 64-slice scanner in a private centre. Local resident radiologists (n = 6) performed VGA followed by VGC and ordinal regression analysis. VGC alone indicated that optimised protocols had similar image quality as current protocols. Ordinal logistic regression analysis provided an in-depth evaluation, criterion by criterion allowing the selective implementation of the protocols. The local radiology review panel supported the implementation of optimised protocols for brain CT examinations (including trauma) in one centre, achieving radiation dose reductions ranging from 24 % to 36 %. In the second centre a 29 % reduction in radiation dose was achieved for follow-up cases. The combined use of VGC and ordinal logistic regression analysis led to clinical decisions being taken on the implementation of the optimised protocols. This improved method of image quality analysis provided the evidence to support imaging protocol optimisation, resulting in significant radiation dose savings. • There is need for scientifically based image quality evaluation during CT optimisation. • VGC and ordinal regression analysis in combination led to better informed clinical decisions. • VGC and ordinal regression analysis led to dose reductions without compromising diagnostic efficacy.

Diagnostic protocol for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) (IADPSG/ADA, 2011): influence on the occurrence of GDM and mild gestational hyperglycemia (MGH) and on the perinatal outcomes.

PubMed

Sirimarco, Mariana Pinto; Guerra, Helena Maciel; Lisboa, Eduardo Guimarães; Vernini, Joice Monalisa; Cassetari, Bianca Nicolosi; de Araujo Costa, Roberto Antonio; Rudge, Marilza Vieira Cunha; de Mattos Paranhos Calderon, Iracema

2017-01-01

In August 2011, the Specialized Center for Diabetes and Pregnancy of the Botucatu Medical School/Unesp adopted a new diagnostic protocol for gestational diabetes mellitus, recommended by the American Diabetes Association and the International Association of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Group. The glycemic profile was evaluated using the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) used to diagnose mild gestational hyperglycemia, recognized and treated in our department as gestational diabetes mellitus. The cost-effectiveness of the new guidelines and the continued need for the evaluation of the glycemic profile, as part of our Service protocol, are controversial and require further investigation. We aimed to assess the impact of the new guidelines on the evaluation of mild gestational hyperglycemia and gestational diabetes mellitus, the incidence of adverse perinatal outcomes, and the association between the 75-g OGTT and the glycemic profile for the diagnosis of mild gestational hyperglycemia. This cross-sectional study was performed identifying a convenience sample of pregnant women and their newborns. The women used our Service for diagnostic procedures, prenatal care and delivery, both before (January 2008 to August 14, 2011) and after (August 15, 2011 to December 2014) the protocol modification. The following variables were compared, following stratification according to diagnostic protocol: prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus and mild gestational hyperglycemia, newborns large for gestational age, macrosomia, first cesarean delivery, and newborn hospital stay. Statistical analysis was performed using Poisson regression, the Student's t test, the Chi square or Fisher's exact test and risk estimate. The statistical significance threshold was set at 95% (p < 0.05). The new protocol resulted in an 85% increase in the number of women with GDM, but failed to identify 17.3% of pregnant women classified as having mild gestational hyperglycemia, despite a normal 75-g OGTT. The new guidelines did not affect perinatal outcome. These results support the validity of maintaining the glycemic profile as part of the diagnostic protocol at our hospital. Large multicenter studies with an adequate sample size are required for conclusive evidence on the cost-effectiveness of the new protocol.

Acute Effect of Different Combined Stretching Methods on Acceleration and Speed in Soccer Players.

PubMed

Amiri-Khorasani, Mohammadtaghi; Calleja-Gonzalez, Julio; Mogharabi-Manzari, Mansooreh

2016-04-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the acute effect of different stretching methods, during a warm-up, on the acceleration and speed of soccer players. The acceleration performance of 20 collegiate soccer players (body height: 177.25 ± 5.31 cm; body mass: 65.10 ± 5.62 kg; age: 16.85 ± 0.87 years; BMI: 20.70 ± 5.54; experience: 8.46 ± 1.49 years) was evaluated after different warm-up procedures, using 10 and 20 m tests. Subjects performed five types of a warm-up: static, dynamic, combined static + dynamic, combined dynamic + static, and no-stretching. Subjects were divided into five groups. Each group performed five different warm-up protocols in five non-consecutive days. The warm-up protocol used for each group was randomly assigned. The protocols consisted of 4 min jogging, a 1 min stretching program (except for the no-stretching protocol), and 2 min rest periods, followed by the 10 and 20 m sprint test, on the same day. The current findings showed significant differences in the 10 and 20 m tests after dynamic stretching compared with static, combined, and no-stretching protocols. There were also significant differences between the combined stretching compared with static and no-stretching protocols. We concluded that soccer players performed better with respect to acceleration and speed, after dynamic and combined stretching, as they were able to produce more force for a faster execution.

Modeling On-Body DTN Packet Routing Delay in the Presence of Postural Disconnections.

PubMed

Quwaider, Muhannad; Taghizadeh, Mahmoud; Biswas, Subir

2011-01-01

This paper presents a stochastic modeling framework for store-and-forward packet routing in Wireless Body Area Networks ( WBAN ) with postural partitioning. A prototype WBANs has been constructed for experimentally characterizing and capturing on-body topology disconnections in the presence of ultrashort range radio links, unpredictable RF attenuation, and human postural mobility. Delay modeling techniques for evaluating single-copy on-body DTN routing protocols are then developed. End-to-end routing delay for a series of protocols including opportunistic, randomized, and two other mechanisms that capture multiscale topological localities in human postural movements have been evaluated. Performance of the analyzed protocols are then evaluated experimentally and via simulation to compare with the results obtained from the developed model. Finally, a mechanism for evaluating the topological importance of individual on-body sensor nodes is developed. It is shown that such information can be used for selectively reducing the on-body sensor-count without substantially sacrificing the packet delivery delay.

Modeling On-Body DTN Packet Routing Delay in the Presence of Postural Disconnections

PubMed Central

Quwaider, Muhannad; Taghizadeh, Mahmoud; Biswas, Subir

2014-01-01

This paper presents a stochastic modeling framework for store-and-forward packet routing in Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) with postural partitioning. A prototype WBANs has been constructed for experimentally characterizing and capturing on-body topology disconnections in the presence of ultrashort range radio links, unpredictable RF attenuation, and human postural mobility. Delay modeling techniques for evaluating single-copy on-body DTN routing protocols are then developed. End-to-end routing delay for a series of protocols including opportunistic, randomized, and two other mechanisms that capture multiscale topological localities in human postural movements have been evaluated. Performance of the analyzed protocols are then evaluated experimentally and via simulation to compare with the results obtained from the developed model. Finally, a mechanism for evaluating the topological importance of individual on-body sensor nodes is developed. It is shown that such information can be used for selectively reducing the on-body sensor-count without substantially sacrificing the packet delivery delay. PMID:25530749

Altered Mental Status: Current Evidence-based Recommendations for Prehospital Care

PubMed Central

Sanello, Ashley; Mulkerin, William; Sporer, Karl A.; Brown, John F.; Koenig, Kristi L.; Rudnick, Eric M.; Salvucci, Angelo A.; Gilbert, Gregory H.

2018-01-01

Introduction In the United States emergency medical services (EMS) protocols vary widely across jurisdictions. We sought to develop evidence-based recommendations for the prehospital evaluation and treatment of a patient with an acute change in mental status and to compare these recommendations against the current protocols used by the 33 EMS agencies in the State of California. Methods We performed a literature review of the current evidence in the prehospital treatment of a patient with altered mental status (AMS) and augmented this review with guidelines from various national and international societies to create our evidence-based recommendations. We then compared the AMS protocols of each of the 33 EMS agencies for consistency with these recommendations. The specific protocol components that we analyzed were patient assessment, point-of-care tests, supplemental oxygen, use of standardized scoring, evaluating for causes of AMS, blood glucose evaluation, toxicological treatment, and pediatric evaluation and management. Results Protocols across 33 EMS agencies in California varied widely. All protocols call for a blood glucose check, 21 (64%) suggest treating adults at <60mg/dL, and half allow for the use of dextrose 10%. All the protocols recommend naloxone for signs of opioid overdose, but only 13 (39%) give specific parameters. Half the agencies (52%) recommend considering other toxicological causes of AMS, often by using the mnemonic AEIOU TIPS. Eight (24%) recommend a 12-lead electrocardiogram; others simply suggest cardiac monitoring. Fourteen (42%) advise supplemental oxygen as needed; only seven (21%) give specific parameters. In terms of considering various etiologies of AMS, 25 (76%) give instructions to consider trauma, 20 (61%) to consider stroke, and 18 (55%) to consider seizure. Twenty-three (70%) of the agencies have separate pediatric AMS protocols; others include pediatric considerations within the adult protocol. Conclusion Protocols for patients with AMS vary widely across the State of California. The evidence-based recommendations that we present for the prehospital diagnosis and treatment of this condition may be useful for EMS medical directors tasked with creating and revising these protocols. PMID:29760852

Protocol and Demonstrations of Probabilistic Reliability Assessment for Structural Health Monitoring Systems (Preprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-11-01

assessment to quality of localization/characterization estimates. This protocol includes four critical components: (1) a procedure to identify the...critical factors impacting SHM system performance; (2) a multistage or hierarchical approach to SHM system validation; (3) a model -assisted evaluation...Lindgren, E. A ., Buynak, C. F., Steffes, G., Derriso, M., “ Model -assisted Probabilistic Reliability Assessment for Structural Health Monitoring

The aging physician and surgeon.

PubMed

Sataloff, Robert T; Hawkshaw, Mary; Kutinsky, Joshua; Maitz, Edward A

2016-01-01

As the population of aging physicians increases, methods of assessing physicians' cognitive function and predicting clinically significant changes in clinical performance become increasingly important. Although several approaches have been suggested, no evaluation system is accepted or utilized widely. This article reviews literature using MEDLINE, PubMed, and other sources. Articles discussing the problems of geriatric physicians are summarized, stressing publications that proposed methods of evaluation. Selected literature on evaluating aging pilots also was reviewed, and potential applications for physician evaluation are proposed. Neuropsychological cognitive test protocols were summarized, and a reduced evaluation protocol is proposed for interdisciplinary longitudinal research. Although there are several articles evaluating cognitive function in aging physicians and aging pilots, and although a few institutions have instituted cognitive evaluation, there are no longitudinal data assessing cognitive function in physicians over time or correlating them with performance. Valid, reliable testing of cognitive function of physicians is needed. In order to understand its predictive value, physicians should be tested over time starting when they are young, and results should be correlated with physician performance. Early testing is needed to determine whether cognitive deficits are age-related or long-standing. A multi-institutional study over many years is proposed. Additional assessments of other factors such as manual dexterity (perhaps using simulators) and physician frailty are recommended.

Quality of protection evaluation of security mechanisms.

PubMed

Ksiezopolski, Bogdan; Zurek, Tomasz; Mokkas, Michail

2014-01-01

Recent research indicates that during the design of teleinformatic system the tradeoff between the systems performance and the system protection should be made. The traditional approach assumes that the best way is to apply the strongest possible security measures. Unfortunately, the overestimation of security measures can lead to the unreasonable increase of system load. This is especially important in multimedia systems where the performance has critical character. In many cases determination of the required level of protection and adjustment of some security measures to these requirements increase system efficiency. Such an approach is achieved by means of the quality of protection models where the security measures are evaluated according to their influence on the system security. In the paper, we propose a model for QoP evaluation of security mechanisms. Owing to this model, one can quantify the influence of particular security mechanisms on ensuring security attributes. The methodology of our model preparation is described and based on it the case study analysis is presented. We support our method by the tool where the models can be defined and QoP evaluation can be performed. Finally, we have modelled TLS cryptographic protocol and presented the QoP security mechanisms evaluation for the selected versions of this protocol.

Dosimetry Formalism and Implementation of a Homogenous Irradiation Protocol to Improve the Accuracy of Small Animal Whole-Body Irradiation Using a Cesium-137 Irradiator

PubMed Central

Brodin, N. Patrik; Chen, Yong; Yaparpalvi, Ravindra; Guha, Chandan; Tomé, Wolfgang A.

2015-01-01

Shielded 137Cs irradiators are routinely used in pre-clinical radiation research to perform in vitro or in vivo investigations. Without appropriate dosimetry and irradiation protocols in place, there can be large uncertainty in the delivered dose of radiation between irradiated subjects that could lead to inaccurate and possibly misleading results. Here, a dosimetric evaluation of the JL Shepard Mark I-68A 137Cs irradiator and an irradiation technique for whole-body irradiation of small animals that allows one to limit the between subject variation in delivered dose to ±3% are provided. Mathematical simulation techniques and Gafchromic EBT film were used to describe the region within the irradiation cavity with homogeneous dose distribution (100% ±5%), the dosimetric impact of varying source-to-subject distance, and the variation in attenuation thickness due to turntable rotation. Furthermore, an irradiation protocol and dosimetry formalism that allows calculation of irradiation time for whole-body irradiation of small animals is proposed, that is designed to ensure a more consistent dose delivery between irradiated subjects. To compare this protocol with the conventional irradiation protocol suggested by the vendor, high-resolution film dosimetry measurements evaluating the dose difference between irradiation subjects and the dose distribution throughout subjects was performed, using phantoms resembling small animals. Based on these results, there can be considerable variation in the delivered dose of > ±5% using the conventional irradiation protocol for whole-body irradiation doses below 5 Gy. Using the proposed irradiation protocol this variability can be reduced to within ±3% and the dosimetry formalism allows for more accurate calculation of the irradiation time in relation to the intended prescription dose. PMID:26710162

Evaluation of Modified 2-Tiered Serodiagnostic Testing Algorithms for Early Lyme Disease

PubMed Central

Strle, Klemen; Nigrovic, Lise E.; Lantos, Paul M.; Lepore, Timothy J.; Damle, Nitin S.; Ferraro, Mary Jane; Steere, Allen C.

2017-01-01

Abstract Background. The conventional 2-tiered serologic testing protocol for Lyme disease (LD), an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) followed by immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G Western blots, performs well in late-stage LD but is insensitive in patients with erythema migrans (EM), the most common manifestation of the illness. Western blots are also complex, difficult to interpret, and relatively expensive. In an effort to improve test performance and simplify testing in early LD, we evaluated several modified 2-tiered testing (MTTT) protocols, which use 2 assays designed as first-tier tests sequentially, without the need of Western blots. Methods. The MTTT protocols included (1) a whole-cell sonicate (WCS) EIA followed by a C6 EIA; (2) a WCS EIA followed by a VlsE chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA); and (3) a variable major protein-like sequence, expressed (VlsE) CLIA followed by a C6 EIA. Sensitivity was determined using serum from 55 patients with erythema migrans; specificity was determined using serum from 50 patients with other illnesses and 1227 healthy subjects. Results. Sensitivity of the various MTTT protocols in patients with acute erythema migrans ranged from 36% (95% confidence interval [CI], 25%–50%) to 54% (95% CI, 42%–67%), compared with 25% (95% CI, 16%–38%) using the conventional protocol (P = .003–0.3). Among control subjects, the 3 MTTT protocols were similarly specific (99.3%–99.5%) compared with conventional 2-tiered testing (99.5% specificity; P = .6–1.0). Conclusions. Although there were minor differences in sensitivity and specificity among MTTT protocols, each provides comparable or greater sensitivity in acute EM, and similar specificity compared with conventional 2-tiered testing, obviating the need for Western blots. PMID:28329259

Rapid Identification of Microorganisms from Positive Blood Culture by MALDI-TOF MS After Short-Term Incubation on Solid Medium.

PubMed

Curtoni, Antonio; Cipriani, Raffaella; Marra, Elisa Simona; Barbui, Anna Maria; Cavallo, Rossana; Costa, Cristina

2017-01-01

Matrix-assisted laser-desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) is a useful tool for rapid identification of microorganisms. Unfortunately, its direct application to positive blood culture is still lacking standardized procedures. In this study, we evaluated an easy- and rapid-to-perform protocol for MALDI-TOF MS direct identification of microorganisms from positive blood culture after a short-term incubation on solid medium. This protocol was used to evaluate direct identification of microorganisms from 162 positive monomicrobial blood cultures; at different incubation times (3, 5, 24 h), MALDI-TOF MS assay was performed from the growing microorganism patina. Overall, MALDI-TOF MS concordance with conventional methods at species level was 60.5, 80.2, and 93.8% at 3, 5, and 24 h, respectively. Considering only bacteria, the identification performances at species level were 64.1, 85.0, and 94.1% at 3, 5, and 24 h, respectively. This protocol applied to a commercially available MS typing system may represent, a fast and powerful diagnostic tool for pathogen direct identification and for a promptly and pathogen-driven antimicrobial therapy in selected cases.

GROUND-WATER MODEL TESTING: SYSTEMATIC EVALUATION AND TESTING OF CODE FUNCTIONALITY AND PERFORMANCE

EPA Science Inventory

Effective use of ground-water simulation codes as management decision tools requires the establishment of their functionality, performance characteristics, and applicability to the problem at hand. This is accomplished through application of a systematic code-testing protocol and...

Exosome-like vesicles in uterine aspirates: a comparison of ultracentrifugation-based isolation protocols.

PubMed

Campoy, Irene; Lanau, Lucia; Altadill, Tatiana; Sequeiros, Tamara; Cabrera, Silvia; Cubo-Abert, Montserrat; Pérez-Benavente, Assumpción; Garcia, Angel; Borrós, Salvador; Santamaria, Anna; Ponce, Jordi; Matias-Guiu, Xavier; Reventós, Jaume; Gil-Moreno, Antonio; Rigau, Marina; Colas, Eva

2016-06-18

Uterine aspirates are used in the diagnostic process of endometrial disorders, yet further applications could emerge if its complex milieu was simplified. Exosome-like vesicles isolated from uterine aspirates could become an attractive source of biomarkers, but there is a need to standardize isolation protocols. The objective of the study was to determine whether exosome-like vesicles exist in the fluid fraction of uterine aspirates and to compare protocols for their isolation, characterization, and analysis. We collected uterine aspirates from 39 pre-menopausal women suffering from benign gynecological diseases. The fluid fraction of 27 of those aspirates were pooled and split into equal volumes to evaluate three differential centrifugation-based procedures: (1) a standard protocol, (2) a filtration protocol, and (3) a sucrose cushion protocol. Characterization of isolated vesicles was assessed by electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking analysis and immunoblot. Specifically for RNA material, we evaluate the effect of sonication and RNase A treatment at different steps of the protocol. We finally confirmed the efficiency of the selected methods in non-pooled samples. All protocols were useful to isolate exosome-like vesicles. However, the Standard procedure was the best performing protocol to isolate exosome-like vesicles from uterine aspirates: nanoparticle tracking analysis revealed a higher concentration of vesicles with a mode of 135 ± 5 nm, and immunoblot showed a higher expression of exosome-related markers (CD9, CD63, and CD81) thus verifying an enrichment in this type of vesicles. RNA contained in exosome-like vesicles was successfully extracted with no sonication treatment and exogenous nucleic acids digestion with RNaseA, allowing the analysis of the specific inner cargo by Real-Time qPCR. We confirmed the existence of exosome-like vesicles in the fluid fraction of uterine aspirates. They were successfully isolated by differential centrifugation giving sufficient proteomic and transcriptomic material for further analyses. The Standard protocol was the best performing procedure since the other two tested protocols did not ameliorate neither yield nor purity of exosome-like vesicles. This study contributes to establishing the basis for future comparative studies to foster the field of biomarker research in gynecology.

Lightweight and confidential data discovery and dissemination for wireless body area networks.

PubMed

He, Daojing; Chan, Sammy; Zhang, Yan; Yang, Haomiao

2014-03-01

As a special sensor network, a wireless body area network (WBAN) provides an economical solution to real-time monitoring and reporting of patients' physiological data. After a WBAN is deployed, it is sometimes necessary to disseminate data into the network through wireless links to adjust configuration parameters of body sensors or distribute management commands and queries to sensors. A number of such protocols have been proposed recently, but they all focus on how to ensure reliability and overlook security vulnerabilities. Taking into account the unique features and application requirements of a WBAN, this paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a secure, lightweight, confidential, and denial-of-service-resistant data discovery and dissemination protocol for WBANs to ensure the data items disseminated are not altered or tampered. Based on multiple one-way key hash chains, our protocol provides instantaneous authentication and can tolerate node compromise. Besides the theoretical analysis that demonstrates the security and performance of the proposed protocol, this paper also reports the experimental evaluation of our protocol in a network of resource-limited sensor nodes, which shows its efficiency in practice. In particular, extensive security analysis shows that our protocol is provably secure.

A holistic approach to ZigBee performance enhancement for home automation networks.

PubMed

Betzler, August; Gomez, Carles; Demirkol, Ilker; Paradells, Josep

2014-08-14

Wireless home automation networks are gaining importance for smart homes. In this ambit, ZigBee networks play an important role. The ZigBee specification defines a default set of protocol stack parameters and mechanisms that is further refined by the ZigBee Home Automation application profile. In a holistic approach, we analyze how the network performance is affected with the tuning of parameters and mechanisms across multiple layers of the ZigBee protocol stack and investigate possible performance gains by implementing and testing alternative settings. The evaluations are carried out in a testbed of 57 TelosB motes. The results show that considerable performance improvements can be achieved by using alternative protocol stack configurations. From these results, we derive two improved protocol stack configurations for ZigBee wireless home automation networks that are validated in various network scenarios. In our experiments, these improved configurations yield a relative packet delivery ratio increase of up to 33.6%, a delay decrease of up to 66.6% and an improvement of the energy efficiency for battery powered devices of up to 48.7%, obtainable without incurring any overhead to the network.

A Holistic Approach to ZigBee Performance Enhancement for Home Automation Networks

PubMed Central

Betzler, August; Gomez, Carles; Demirkol, Ilker; Paradells, Josep

2014-01-01

Wireless home automation networks are gaining importance for smart homes. In this ambit, ZigBee networks play an important role. The ZigBee specification defines a default set of protocol stack parameters and mechanisms that is further refined by the ZigBee Home Automation application profile. In a holistic approach, we analyze how the network performance is affected with the tuning of parameters and mechanisms across multiple layers of the ZigBee protocol stack and investigate possible performance gains by implementing and testing alternative settings. The evaluations are carried out in a testbed of 57 TelosB motes. The results show that considerable performance improvements can be achieved by using alternative protocol stack configurations. From these results, we derive two improved protocol stack configurations for ZigBee wireless home automation networks that are validated in various network scenarios. In our experiments, these improved configurations yield a relative packet delivery ratio increase of up to 33.6%, a delay decrease of up to 66.6% and an improvement of the energy efficiency for battery powered devices of up to 48.7%, obtainable without incurring any overhead to the network. PMID:25196004

Design and Analysis of Optimization Algorithms to Minimize Cryptographic Processing in BGP Security Protocols.

PubMed

Sriram, Vinay K; Montgomery, Doug

2017-07-01

The Internet is subject to attacks due to vulnerabilities in its routing protocols. One proposed approach to attain greater security is to cryptographically protect network reachability announcements exchanged between Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routers. This study proposes and evaluates the performance and efficiency of various optimization algorithms for validation of digitally signed BGP updates. In particular, this investigation focuses on the BGPSEC (BGP with SECurity extensions) protocol, currently under consideration for standardization in the Internet Engineering Task Force. We analyze three basic BGPSEC update processing algorithms: Unoptimized, Cache Common Segments (CCS) optimization, and Best Path Only (BPO) optimization. We further propose and study cache management schemes to be used in conjunction with the CCS and BPO algorithms. The performance metrics used in the analyses are: (1) routing table convergence time after BGPSEC peering reset or router reboot events and (2) peak-second signature verification workload. Both analytical modeling and detailed trace-driven simulation were performed. Results show that the BPO algorithm is 330% to 628% faster than the unoptimized algorithm for routing table convergence in a typical Internet core-facing provider edge router.

Evaluation of accuracy in implant site preparation performed in single- or multi-step drilling procedures.

PubMed

Marheineke, Nadine; Scherer, Uta; Rücker, Martin; von See, Constantin; Rahlf, Björn; Gellrich, Nils-Claudius; Stoetzer, Marcus

2018-06-01

Dental implant failure and insufficient osseointegration are proven results of mechanical and thermal damage during the surgery process. We herein performed a comparative study of a less invasive single-step drilling preparation protocol and a conventional multiple drilling sequence. Accuracy of drilling holes was precisely analyzed and the influence of different levels of expertise of the handlers and additional use of drill template guidance was evaluated. Six experimental groups, deployed in an osseous study model, were representing template-guided and freehanded drilling actions in a stepwise drilling procedure in comparison to a single-drill protocol. Each experimental condition was studied by the drilling actions of respectively three persons without surgical knowledge as well as three highly experienced oral surgeons. Drilling actions were performed and diameters were recorded with a precision measuring instrument. Less experienced operators were able to significantly increase the drilling accuracy using a guiding template, especially when multi-step preparations are performed. Improved accuracy without template guidance was observed when experienced operators were executing single-step versus multi-step technique. Single-step drilling protocols have shown to produce more accurate results than multi-step procedures. The outcome of any protocol can be further improved by use of guiding templates. Operator experience can be a contributing factor. Single-step preparations are less invasive and are promoting osseointegration. Even highly experienced surgeons are achieving higher levels of accuracy by combining this technique with template guidance. Hereby template guidance enables a reduction of hands-on time and side effects during surgery and lead to a more predictable clinical diameter.

Test-retest reliability of jump execution variables using mechanography: A comparison of jump protocols

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Mechanography during the vertical jump test allows for evaluation of force-time variables reflecting jump execution, which may enhance screening for functional deficits that reduce physical performance and determining mechanistic causes underlying performance changes. However, utility of jump mechan...

Carbohydrate ingestion improves performance of a new reliable test of soccer performance.

PubMed

Currell, Kevin; Conway, Steve; Jeukendrup, Asker E

2009-02-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the reliability of a new test of soccer performance and evaluate the effect of carbohydrate (CHO) on soccer performance. Eleven university footballers were recruited and underwent 3 trials in a randomized order. Two of the trials involved ingesting a placebo beverage, and the other, a 7.5% maltodextrin solution. The protocol comprised a series of ten 6-min exercise blocks on an outdoor Astroturf pitch, separated by the performance of 2 of the 4 soccer-specific tests, making the protocol 90 min in duration. The intensity of the exercise was designed to be similar to the typical activity pattern during soccer match play. Participants performed skill tests of dribbling, agility, heading, and shooting throughout the protocol. The coefficients of variation for dribbling, agility, heading, and shooting were 2.2%, 1.2%, 7.0%, and 2.8%, respectively. The mean combined placebo scores were 42.4 +/- 2.7 s, 43.1 +/- 3.7 s, 210 +/- 34 cm, and 212 +/- 17 points for agility, dribbling, heading, and kicking, respectively. CHO ingestion led to a combined agility time of 41.5 +/- 0.8 s, for dribbling 41.7 +/- 3.5 s, 213 +/- 11 cm for heading, and 220 +/- 5 points for kicking accuracy. There was a significant improvement in performance for dribbling, agility, and shooting (p < .05) when CHO was ingested compared with placebo. In conclusion, the protocol is a reliable test of soccer performance, and ingesting CHO leads to an improvement in soccer performance.

Performance evaluation of the CT component of the IRIS PET/CT preclinical tomograph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panetta, Daniele; Belcari, Nicola; Tripodi, Maria; Burchielli, Silvia; Salvadori, Piero A.; Del Guerra, Alberto

2016-01-01

In this paper, we evaluate the physical performance of the CT component of the IRIS scanner, a novel combined PET/CT scanner for preclinical imaging. The performance assessment is based on phantom measurement for the determination of image quality parameters (spatial resolution, linearity, geometric accuracy, contrast to noise ratio) and reproducibility in dynamic (4D) imaging. The CTDI100 has been measured free in air with a pencil ionization chamber, and the animal dose was calculated using Monte Carlo derived conversion factors taken from the literature. The spatial resolution at the highest quality protocol was 6.9 lp/mm at 10% of the MTF, using the smallest reconstruction voxel size of 58.8 μm. The accuracy of the reconstruction voxel size was within 0.1%. The linearity of the CT numbers as a function of the concentration of iodine was very good, with R2>0.996 for all the tube voltages. The animal dose depended strongly on the scanning protocol, ranging from 158 mGy for the highest quality protocol (2 min, 80 kV) to about 12 mGy for the fastest protocol (7.3 s, 80 kV). In 4D dynamic modality, the maximum scanning rate reached was 3.1 frames per minute, using a short-scan protocol with 7.3 s of scan time per frame at the isotropic voxel size of 235 μm. The reproducibility of the system was high throughout the 10 frames acquired in dynamic modality, with a standard deviation of the CT values of all frames <8 HU and an average spatial reproducibility within 30% of the voxel size across all the field of view. Example images obtained during animal experiments are also shown.

Strategies to improve fertility in post partum Bos indicus cows submitted to a fixed-time insemination protocol with GnRH and PGF2a

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In Experiment 1, we evaluated the effects of two lengths of progesterone exposure (CIDR; 7 vs. 14 d) prior to a modified CO-Synch protocol, with or without temporary weaning (TW) before GnRH treatments, on fertility of suckled Bos indicus Nelore cows (n = 283) and on calf performance. Timed AI (TAI)...

Validity of an Exercise Test Based on Habitual Gait Speed in Mobility-Limited Older Adults

PubMed Central

Li, Xin; Forman, Daniel E.; Kiely, Dan K.; LaRose, Sharon; Hirschberg, Ronald; Frontera, Walter R.; Bean, Jonathan F.

2013-01-01

Objective To evaluate whether a customized exercise tolerance testing (ETT) protocol based on an individual’s habitual gait speed (HGS) on level ground would be a valid mode of exercise testing older adults. Although ETT provides a useful means to risk-stratify adults, age-related declines in gait speed paradoxically limit the utility of standard ETT protocols for evaluating older adults. A customized ETT protocol may be a useful alternative to these standard methods, and this study hypothesized that this alternative approach would be valid. Design We performed a cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a randomized controlled trial of older adults with observed mobility problems. Screening was performed using a treadmill-based ETT protocol customized for each individual’s HGS. We determined the content validity by assessing the results of the ETTs, and we evaluated the construct validity of treadmill time in relation to the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) and the Late Life Function and Disability Instrument (LLFDI). Setting Outpatient rehabilitation center. Participants Community-dwelling, mobility-limited older adults (N = 141). Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Cardiac instability, ETT duration, peak heart rate, peak systolic blood pressure, PASE, and LLFDI. Results Acute cardiac instability was identified in 4 of the participants who underwent ETT. The remaining participants (n = 137, 68% female; mean age, 75.3y) were included in the subsequent analyses. Mean exercise duration was 9.39 minutes, with no significant differences in durations being observed after evaluating among tertiles by HGS status. Mean peak heart rate and mean peak systolic blood pressure were 126.6 beats/ min and 175.0mmHg, respectively. Within separate multivariate models, ETT duration in each of the 3 gait speed groups was significantly associated (P<.05) with PASE and LLFDI. Conclusions Mobility-limited older adults can complete this customized ETT protocol, allowing for the identification of acute cardiac instability and the achievement of optimal exercise parameters. PMID:22289248

SU-F-R-06: Traumatic Brachial Plexus Injury Imaging, Developing a Coherent Clinical Protocol From Literature Review Through Practice

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

Wu, D; France, E; Lambert, J

Purpose: Medical Physics teams can now play a critical role to help plan and provide studied approaches for traumatic brachial plexus MR imaging (tbpMRI). This is especially important for coordination with uncommon applications, since it is challenging to select the right modality, parameters, and train technologists on the essential components. For this work, we started with a review of the medical literature, performed crossover/volunteer studies to bring tbpMRI to practice with greater image QC and protocol management. Methods: To the best of our knowledge, we reviewed the known searchable domain for tbpMRI. We found 69 total articles since 2000. Articlesmore » were evaluated with our published protocol for literature management (LIMES3). Two physicists and two radiologists condensed the information from all articles into a knowledgebase. Results: The initial literature demonstrated great heterogeneity, which was a sign that this area needed greater consistency. Despite inconsistency and imprecision, we extracted the most relevant targets using our long-term experience with protocol development in MSK. We ran volunteers on six different magnets of various field strengths with multiple receiver coils, and rebuilt a coherent protocol for tbpMRI. Our radiologists rated LIMES3 work as superior. We have received referrals from the ER and have conducted four patient evaluations. Conclusion: Traumatic brachial plexus MRI has great possible benefits for patients. This work supports the complexity of tbpMRI scanning. As this is rarely performed, it requires a more diligent protocol workflow, coordination of caregivers, and education within multiple clinical departments. Choosing the correct imaging exam can be critical, as patients can have significant neuropathy and/or paralysis. The LIMES3 protocol is well liked at our institution, and forms the cornerstone of understanding for our work. Our literature management led to a better clinical protocol creation despite the diffuse and inconclusive information presented in the existing medical literature.« less

Comparison of protocols for measuring and calculating postmortem submersion intervals for human analogs in fresh water.

PubMed

Humphreys, Michael K; Panacek, Edward; Green, William; Albers, Elizabeth

2013-03-01

Protocols for determining postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) have long been problematic for forensic investigators due to the wide variety of factors affecting the rate of decomposition of submerged carrion. Likewise, it has been equally problematic for researchers to develop standardized experimental protocols to monitor underwater decomposition without artificially affecting the decomposition rate. This study compares two experimental protocols: (i) underwater in situ evaluation with photographic documentation utilizing the Heaton et al. total aquatic decomposition (TAD) score and (ii) weighing the carrion before and after submersion. Complete forensic necropsies were performed as a control. Perinatal piglets were used as human analogs. The results of this study indicate that in order to objectively measure decomposition over time, the human analog should be examined at depth using the TAD scoring system rather than utilizing a carrion weight evaluation. The acquired TAD score can be used to calculate an approximate PMSI. © 2012 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Routing in Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks: A Leader-Based Approach.

PubMed

Burgos, Unai; Amozarrain, Ugaitz; Gómez-Calzado, Carlos; Lafuente, Alberto

2017-07-07

This paper presents a leader-based approach to routing in Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks (MWSN). Using local information from neighbour nodes, a leader election mechanism maintains a spanning tree in order to provide the necessary adaptations for efficient routing upon the connectivity changes resulting from the mobility of sensors or sink nodes. We present two protocols following the leader election approach, which have been implemented using Castalia and OMNeT++. The protocols have been evaluated, besides other reference MWSN routing protocols, to analyse the impact of network size and node velocity on performance, which has demonstrated the validity of our approach.

A General Small-Scale Reactor To Enable Standardization and Acceleration of Photocatalytic Reactions.

PubMed

Le, Chi Chip; Wismer, Michael K; Shi, Zhi-Cai; Zhang, Rui; Conway, Donald V; Li, Guoqing; Vachal, Petr; Davies, Ian W; MacMillan, David W C

2017-06-28

Photocatalysis for organic synthesis has experienced an exponential growth in the past 10 years. However, the variety of experimental procedures that have been reported to perform photon-based catalyst excitation has hampered the establishment of general protocols to convert visible light into chemical energy. To address this issue, we have designed an integrated photoreactor for enhanced photon capture and catalyst excitation. Moreover, the evaluation of this new reactor in eight photocatalytic transformations that are widely employed in medicinal chemistry settings has confirmed significant performance advantages of this optimized design while enabling a standardized protocol.

Evaluation of commercial DNA and RNA extraction methods for high-throughput sequencing of FFPE samples.

PubMed

Kresse, Stine H; Namløs, Heidi M; Lorenz, Susanne; Berner, Jeanne-Marie; Myklebost, Ola; Bjerkehagen, Bodil; Meza-Zepeda, Leonardo A

2018-01-01

Nucleic acid material of adequate quality is crucial for successful high-throughput sequencing (HTS) analysis. DNA and RNA isolated from archival FFPE material are frequently degraded and not readily amplifiable due to chemical damage introduced during fixation. To identify optimal nucleic acid extraction kits, DNA and RNA quantity, quality and performance in HTS applications were evaluated. DNA and RNA were isolated from five sarcoma archival FFPE blocks, using eight extraction protocols from seven kits from three different commercial vendors. For DNA extraction, the truXTRAC FFPE DNA kit from Covaris gave higher yields and better amplifiable DNA, but all protocols gave comparable HTS library yields using Agilent SureSelect XT and performed well in downstream variant calling. For RNA extraction, all protocols gave comparable yields and amplifiable RNA. However, for fusion gene detection using the Archer FusionPlex Sarcoma Assay, the truXTRAC FFPE RNA kit from Covaris and Agencourt FormaPure kit from Beckman Coulter showed the highest percentage of unique read-pairs, providing higher complexity of HTS data and more frequent detection of recurrent fusion genes. truXTRAC simultaneous DNA and RNA extraction gave similar outputs as individual protocols. These findings show that although successful HTS libraries could be generated in most cases, the different protocols gave variable quantity and quality for FFPE nucleic acid extraction. Selecting the optimal procedure is highly valuable and may generate results in borderline quality specimens.

Immunophenotype of infiltrating cells in protocol renal allograft biopsies from tacrolimus-versus cyclosporine-treated patients.

PubMed

Serón, Daniel; O'Valle, Francisco; Moreso, Francesc; Gomà, Montse; Hueso, Miguel; Grinyó, Josep M; Garcia del Moral, Raimundo

2007-03-15

The prevalence of subclinical rejection is lower in patients receiving tacrolimus than in patients treated with cyclosporine. However, it is not known whether this difference is related to the modulation of a specific cell immunophenotype. We perform a two case-one control study in patients treated with tacrolimus (n=44) or cyclosporine (n=22) with a protocol biopsy performed at 4 to 6 months. Immunophenotype of infiltrating cells was evaluated with monoclonal antibodies directed against CD45 (all leukocytes), CD3 (T lymphocytes), CD68 (monocytes/macrophages), and CD20 (B lymphocytes) and expressed as interstitial positive cells/mm(2). The number of interstitial CD45 (290+/-209 vs. 696+/-560; P<0.01), CD3 (121+/-84 vs. 208+/-104; P<0.01), and CD68 (155+/-232 vs. 242+/-280; P<0.05) but not CD20 (137+/-119 vs. 197+/-154) positive cells was lower in tacrolimus-treated patients. T lymphocytes and macrophages interstitial infiltration was reduced in tacrolimus treated patients evaluated with protocol biopsies in comparison to cyclosporine-treated patients.

40 CFR 59.208 - Charcoal lighter material testing protocol.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... the performance, design, and operation specifications of the prescribed equipment. A demonstration... Administrator prior to compliance testing, based on an evaluation of comparative performance specifications and... stack barbecue charcoal that is designed to be lit without the packaging, the same as in paragraph (h)(1...

40 CFR 59.208 - Charcoal lighter material testing protocol.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... the performance, design, and operation specifications of the prescribed equipment. A demonstration... Administrator prior to compliance testing, based on an evaluation of comparative performance specifications and... stack barbecue charcoal that is designed to be lit without the packaging, the same as in paragraph (h)(1...

40 CFR 59.208 - Charcoal lighter material testing protocol.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... the performance, design, and operation specifications of the prescribed equipment. A demonstration... Administrator prior to compliance testing, based on an evaluation of comparative performance specifications and... stack barbecue charcoal that is designed to be lit without the packaging, the same as in paragraph (h)(1...

Mirror neuron system and observational learning: behavioral and neurophysiological evidence.

PubMed

Lago-Rodriguez, Angel; Lopez-Alonso, Virginia; Fernández-del-Olmo, Miguel

2013-07-01

Three experiments were performed to study observational learning using behavioral, perceptual, and neurophysiological data. Experiment 1 investigated whether observing an execution model, during physical practice of a transitive task that only presented one execution strategy, led to performance improvements compared with physical practice alone. Experiment 2 investigated whether performing an observational learning protocol improves subjects' action perception. In experiment 3 we evaluated whether the type of practice performed determined the activation of the Mirror Neuron System during action observation. Results showed that, compared with physical practice, observing an execution model during a task that only showed one execution strategy does not provide behavioral benefits. However, an observational learning protocol allows subjects to predict more precisely the outcome of the learned task. Finally, intersperse observation of an execution model with physical practice results in changes of primary motor cortex activity during the observation of the motor pattern previously practiced, whereas modulations in the connectivity between primary and non primary motor areas (PMv-M1; PPC-M1) were not affected by the practice protocol performed by the observer. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Why standard brain-computer interface (BCI) training protocols should be changed: an experimental study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeunet, Camille; Jahanpour, Emilie; Lotte, Fabien

2016-06-01

Objective. While promising, electroencephaloraphy based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are barely used due to their lack of reliability: 15% to 30% of users are unable to control a BCI. Standard training protocols may be partly responsible as they do not satisfy recommendations from psychology. Our main objective was to determine in practice to what extent standard training protocols impact users’ motor imagery based BCI (MI-BCI) control performance. Approach. We performed two experiments. The first consisted in evaluating the efficiency of a standard BCI training protocol for the acquisition of non-BCI related skills in a BCI-free context, which enabled us to rule out the possible impact of BCIs on the training outcome. Thus, participants (N = 54) were asked to perform simple motor tasks. The second experiment was aimed at measuring the correlations between motor tasks and MI-BCI performance. The ten best and ten worst performers of the first study were recruited for an MI-BCI experiment during which they had to learn to perform two MI tasks. We also assessed users’ spatial ability and pre-training μ rhythm amplitude, as both have been related to MI-BCI performance in the literature. Main results. Around 17% of the participants were unable to learn to perform the motor tasks, which is close to the BCI illiteracy rate. This suggests that standard training protocols are suboptimal for skill teaching. No correlation was found between motor tasks and MI-BCI performance. However, spatial ability played an important role in MI-BCI performance. In addition, once the spatial ability covariable had been controlled for, using an ANCOVA, it appeared that participants who faced difficulty during the first experiment improved during the second while the others did not. Significance. These studies suggest that (1) standard MI-BCI training protocols are suboptimal for skill teaching, (2) spatial ability is confirmed as impacting on MI-BCI performance, and (3) when faced with difficult pre-training, subjects seemed to explore more strategies and therefore learn better.

MDCT of acute pancreatitis: Intraindividual comparison of single-phase versus dual-phase MDCT for initial assessment of acute pancreatitis using different CT scoring systems.

PubMed

Avanesov, Maxim; Weinrich, Julius M; Kraus, Thomas; Derlin, Thorsten; Adam, Gerhard; Yamamura, Jin; Karul, Murat

2016-11-01

The purpose of the retrospective study was to evaluate the additional value of dual-phase multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) protocols over a single-phase protocol on initial MDCT in patients with acute pancreatitis using three CT-based pancreatitis severity scores with regard to radiation dose. In this retrospective, IRB approved study MDCT was performed in 102 consecutive patients (73 males; 55years, IQR48-64) with acute pancreatitis. Inclusion criteria were CT findings of interstitial edematous pancreatitis (IP) or necrotizing pancreatitis (NP) and a contrast-enhanced dual-phase (arterial phase and portal-venous phase) abdominal CT performed at ≥72h after onset of symptoms. The severity of pancreatic and extrapancreatic changes was independently assessed by 2 observers using 3 validated CT-based scoring systems (CTSI, mCTSI, EPIC). All scores were applied to arterial phase and portal venous phase scans and compared to score results of portal venous phase scans, assessed ≥14days after initial evaluation. For effective dose estimation, volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) and dose length product (DLP) were recorded in all examinations. In neither of the CT severity scores a significant difference was observed after application of a dual-phase protocol compared with a single-phase protocol (IP: CTSI: 2.7 vs. 2.5, p=0.25; mCTSI: 4.0 vs. 4.0, p=0.10; EPIC: 2.0 vs. 2.0, p=0.41; NP: CTSI: 8.0 vs. 7.0, p=0.64; mCTSI: 8.0 vs. 8.0, p=0.10; EPIC: 3.0 vs. 3.0, p=0.06). The application of a single-phase CT protocol was associated with a median effective dose reduction of 36% (mean dose reduction 31%) compared to a dual-phase CT scan. An initial dual-phase abdominal CT after ≥72h after onset of symptoms of acute pancreatitis was not superior to a single-phase protocol for evaluation of the severity of pancreatic and extrapancreatic changes. However, the effective radiation dose may be reduced by 36% using a single-phase protocol. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

CT protocols in interstitial lung diseases--a survey among members of the European Society of Thoracic Imaging and a review of the literature.

PubMed

Prosch, Helmut; Schaefer-Prokop, Cornelia M; Eisenhuber, Edith; Kienzl, Daniela; Herold, Christian J

2013-06-01

The aim of this study was to survey the current CT protocols used by members of the European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI) to evaluate patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILD). A questionnaire was e-mailed to 173 ESTI members. The survey focussed on CT acquisition and reconstruction techniques. In particular, questions referred to the use of discontinuous HRCT or volume CT protocols, the acquisition of additional acquisitions in expiration or in the prone position, and methods of radiation dose reduction and on reconstruction algorithms. The overall response rate was 37 %. Eighty-five percent of the respondents used either volume CT alone or in combination with discontinuous HRCT. Forty-five percent of the respondents adapt their CT protocols to the patient's weight and/or age. Expiratory CT or CT in the prone position was performed by 58 % and 59 % of the respondents, respectively. The number of reconstructed series ranged from two to eight. Our survey showed that radiologists with a special interest and experience in chest radiology use a variety of CT protocols for the evaluation of ILD. There is a clear preference for volumetric scans and a strong tendency to use the 3D information. • Experienced thoracic radiologists use various CT protocols for evaluating interstitial lung diseases. • Most workers prefer volumetric CT acquisitions, making use of the 3D information • More attention to reducing the radiation dose appears to be needed.

EVALUATION OF METRIC PRECISION FOR A RIPARIAN FOREST SURVEY

EPA Science Inventory

This paper evaluates the performance of a protocol to monitor riparian forests in western Oregon based on the quality of the data obtained from a recent field survey. Precision and accuracy are the criteria used to determine the quality of 19 field metrics. The field survey con...

Dense concentric circle scanning protocol for measuring pulsatile retinal blood flow in rats with Doppler optical coherence tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Bingyao; Hosseinaee, Zohreh; Bizheva, Kostadinka

2017-11-01

The variability in the spatial orientation of retinal blood vessels near the optic nerve head (ONH) results in imprecision of the measured Doppler angle and therefore the pulsatile blood flow (BF), when those parameters are evaluated using Doppler OCT imaging protocols based on dual-concentric circular scans. Here, we utilized a dense concentric circle scanning protocol and evaluated its precision for measuring pulsatile retinal BF in rats for different numbers of the circular scans. An spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) system operating in the 1060-nm spectral range with image acquisition rate of 47,000 A-scans/s was used to acquire concentric circular scans centered at the rat's ONH, with diameters ranging from 0.8 to 1.0 mm. A custom, automatic blood vessel segmentation algorithm was used to track the spatial orientation of the retinal blood vessels in three dimensions, evaluate the spatially dependent Doppler angle and calculate more accurately the axial BF for each major retinal blood vessel. Metrics such as retinal BF, pulsatility index, and resistance index were evaluated for each and all of the major retinal blood vessels. The performance of the proposed dense concentric circle scanning protocols was compared with that of the dual-circle scanning protocol. Results showed a 3.8±2.2 deg difference in the Doppler angle calculation between the two approaches, which resulted in ˜7% difference in the calculated retinal BF.

Effects of dynamic head tilts on sensory organization test performance: a comparison between college-age athletes and nonathletes.

PubMed

Clark, Sean; Iltis, Peter W

2008-05-01

Controlled laboratory study. To compare postural performance measures of athletes with those of nonathletes when completing the standard Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and a modified SOT that included dynamic head tilts (DHT-SOT). Authors of recently published research have suggested that modifications to the SOT protocol (eg, introduction of pitch and roll head tilts) may enhance the test's sensitivity when assessing postural stability in individuals with higher balance capabilities or with well-compensated sensory deficits. Nineteen athletes and 19 nonathletes (group) completed both the SOT and DHT-SOT (protocol). During the SOT, participants stood upright as steadily as possible for 20 seconds during each of 6 different sensory conditions. As a variation of the SOT, the DHT-SOT incorporated active pitch and roll head tilts into the SOT protocol. Four 2-way mixed-model analyses of variance (with protocol as the repeated factor) were performed to determine if the composite equilibrium score or the visual, vestibular, or somatosensory ratio scores differed between the 2 groups across the 2 testing protocols. Significant group-by-protocol interaction effects were present for both the composite equilibrium score and visual ratio. Follow-up simple main-effects analyses indicated that these measures did not differ between groups for the SOT protocol but were significantly different on the DHT-SOT. The addition of dynamic head tilts to the SOT protocol resulted in subtle differences in balance function between athletes and nonathletes. Athletes demonstrated an increased ability to adapt to sensory disruptions during the DHT-SOT. Therapists should consider including active pitch and roll head tilts to the SOT when evaluating individuals with higher balance function or to detect subtle deficits in balance function. Diagnosis, level 3b.

Definition and evaluation of the data-link layer of PACnet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alsafadi, Yasser H.; Martinez, Ralph; Sanders, William H.

1991-07-01

PACnet is a 200-500 Mbps dual-ring fiber optic network designed to implement a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) in a hospital environment. The network consists of three channels: an image transfer channel, a command and control channel, and a real-time data channel. An initial network interface unit (NIU) design for PACnet consisted of a functional description of the protocols and NIU major components. In order to develop a demonstration prototype, additional definition of protocol algorithms of each channel is necessary. Using the International Standards Organization/Open Systems Interconnection (ISO/OSI) reference model as a guide, the definition of the data link layer is extended. This definition covers interface service specifications for the two constituent sublayers: logical link control (LLC) and medium access control (MAC). Furthermore, it describes procedures for data transfer, mechanisms of error detection and fault recovery. A performance evaluation study was then made to determine how the network performs under various application scenarios. The performance evaluation study was performed using stochastic activity networks, which can formally describe the network behavior. The results of the study demonstrate the feasibility of PACnet as an integrated image, data, and voice network for PACS.

Impact of study design on development and evaluation of an activity-type classifier.

PubMed

van Hees, Vincent T; Golubic, Rajna; Ekelund, Ulf; Brage, Søren

2013-04-01

Methods to classify activity types are often evaluated with an experimental protocol involving prescribed physical activities under confined (laboratory) conditions, which may not reflect real-life conditions. The present study aims to evaluate how study design may impact on classifier performance in real life. Twenty-eight healthy participants (21-53 yr) were asked to wear nine triaxial accelerometers while performing 58 activity types selected to simulate activities in real life. For each sensor location, logistic classifiers were trained in subsets of up to 8 activities to distinguish between walking and nonwalking activities and were then evaluated in all 58 activities. Different weighting factors were used to convert the resulting confusion matrices into an estimation of the confusion matrix as would apply in the real-life setting by creating four different real-life scenarios, as well as one traditional laboratory scenario. The sensitivity of a classifier estimated with a traditional laboratory protocol is within the range of estimates derived from real-life scenarios for any body location. The specificity, however, was systematically overestimated by the traditional laboratory scenario. Walking time was systematically overestimated, except for lower back sensor data (range: 7-757%). In conclusion, classifier performance under confined conditions may not accurately reflect classifier performance in real life. Future studies that aim to evaluate activity classification methods are warranted to pay special attention to the representativeness of experimental conditions for real-life conditions.

Performance Evaluation of a PEM Scanner Using the NEMA NU 4—2008 Small Animal PET Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Weidong; Anashkin, Edward; Matthews, Christopher G.

2010-02-01

The recently published NEMA NU 4-2008 Standards has been specially designed for evaluating the performance of small animal PET scanners used in preclinical applications. In this paper, we report on the NU 4 performance of a clinical positron emission mammography (PEM) system. Since there are no PEM specific performance test protocols available, and the NU 2 protocol (intended for whole-body PET scanners) cannot be applied without modification due to the compact design of the PEM scanner, we decided to evaluate the NU 4 Standards as an alternative. We obtained the following results: Trans-axial spatial resolution 1.8 mm FWHM for high resolution reconstruction mode and 2.4 mm FWHM for standard resolution reconstruction mode with no significant variation within the field of view. The total system sensitivity was 0.16 cps/Bq. In image quality testing, the uniformity was found to be 3.9% STD at the standard resolution mode and 5.6% at the high resolution mode when measured with a 34 mm paddle separation. The NEMA NU 4-2008 Standards were found to be a practicable tool to evaluate the performance of the PEM scanner after some modifications to address the specifics of its detector configuration. Furthermore, the PEM scanner's in-plane spatial resolution was comparable to other small animal PET scanners with good image quality.

A novel Smart Routing Protocol for remote health monitoring in Medical Wireless Networks.

PubMed

Sundararajan, T V P; Sumithra, M G; Maheswar, R

2014-01-01

In a Medical Wireless Network (MWN), sensors constantly monitor patient's physiological condition and movement. Inter-MWN communications are set up between the Patient Server and one or more Centralized Coordinators. However, MWNs require protocols with little energy consumption and the self-organizing attribute perceived in ad-hoc networks. The proposed Smart Routing Protocol (SRP) selects only the nodes with a higher residual energy and lower traffic density for routing. This approach enhances cooperation among the nodes of a Mobile Ad Hoc Network. Consequently, SRP produces better results than the existing protocols, namely Conditional Min-Max Battery Cost Routing, Min-Max Battery Cost Routing and AdHoc On-demand Distance Vector in terms of network parameters. The performance of the erstwhile schemes for routing protocols is evaluated using the network simulator Qualnet v 4.5.

Standard Test Procedures for Evaluating Various Leak Detection Methods

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Learn about protocols that testers could use to demonstrate that an individual release detection equipment type could meet the performance requirements noted in the federal UST requirements for detecting leaks.

SU-F-207-16: CT Protocols Optimization Using Model Observer

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

Tseng, H; Fan, J; Kupinski, M

2015-06-15

Purpose: To quantitatively evaluate the performance of different CT protocols using task-based measures of image quality. This work studies the task of size and the contrast estimation of different iodine concentration rods inserted in head- and body-sized phantoms using different imaging protocols. These protocols are designed to have the same dose level (CTDIvol) but using different X-ray tube voltage settings (kVp). Methods: Different concentrations of iodine objects inserted in a head size phantom and a body size phantom are imaged on a 64-slice commercial CT scanner. Scanning protocols with various tube voltages (80, 100, and 120 kVp) and current settingsmore » are selected, which output the same absorbed dose level (CTDIvol). Because the phantom design (size of the iodine objects, the air gap between the inserted objects and the phantom) is not ideal for a model observer study, the acquired CT images are used to generate simulation images with four different sizes and five different contracts iodine objects. For each type of the objects, 500 images (100 x 100 pixels) are generated for the observer study. The observer selected in this study is the channelized scanning linear observer which could be applied to estimate the size and the contrast. The figure of merit used is the correct estimation ratio. The mean and the variance are estimated by the shuffle method. Results: The results indicate that the protocols with 100 kVp tube voltage setting provides the best performance for iodine insert size and contrast estimation for both head and body phantom cases. Conclusion: This work presents a practical and robust quantitative approach using channelized scanning linear observer to study contrast and size estimation performance from different CT protocols. Different protocols at same CTDIvol setting could Result in different image quality performance. The relationship between the absorbed dose and the diagnostic image quality is not linear.« less

Scanning protocols dedicated to smart velocity ranging in spectral OCT.

PubMed

Grulkowski, Ireneusz; Gorczynska, Iwona; Szkulmowski, Maciej; Szlag, Daniel; Szkulmowska, Anna; Leitgeb, Rainer A; Kowalczyk, Andrzej; Wojtkowski, Maciej

2009-12-21

We introduce a new type of scanning protocols, called segmented protocols, which enable extracting multi-range flow velocity information from a single Spectral OCT data set. The protocols are evaluated using a well defined flow in a glass capillary. As an example of in vivo studies, we demonstrate two- and three-dimensional imaging of the retinal vascular system in the eyes of healthy volunteers. The flow velocity detection is performed using a method of Joint Spectral and Time domain OCT. Velocity ranging is demonstrated in imaging of retinal vasculature in the macular region and in the optic disk area characterized by different flow velocity values. Additionally, an enhanced visualization of retinal capillary network is presented in the close proximity to macula.

Vitrification and xenografting of human ovarian tissue.

PubMed

Amorim, Christiani Andrade; Dolmans, Marie-Madeleine; David, Anu; Jaeger, Jonathan; Vanacker, Julie; Camboni, Alessandra; Donnez, Jacques; Van Langendonckt, Anne

2012-11-01

To assess the efficiency of two vitrification protocols to cryopreserve human preantral follicles with the use of a xenografting model. Pilot study. Gynecology research unit in a university hospital. Ovarian biopsies were obtained from seven women aged 30-41 years. Ovarian tissue fragments were subjected to one of three cryopreservation protocols (slow freezing, vitrification protocol 1, and vitrification protocol 2) and xenografted for 1 week to nude mice. The number of morphologically normal follicles after cryopreservation and grafting and fibrotic surface area were determined by histologic analysis. Apoptosis was assessed by the TUNEL method. Morphometric analysis of TUNEL-positive surface area also was performed. Follicle proliferation was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. After xenografting, a difference was observed between the cryopreservation procedures applied. According to TUNEL analysis, both vitrification protocols showed better preservation of preantral follicles than the conventional freezing method. Moreover, histologic evaluation showed a significantly higher proportion of primordial follicles in vitrified (protocol 2)-warmed ovarian tissue than in frozen-thawed tissue. The proportion of growing follicles and fibrotic surface area was similar in all groups. Vitrification procedures appeared to preserve not only the morphology and survival of preantral follicles after 1 week of xenografting, but also their ability to resume folliculogenesis. In addition, vitrification protocol 2 had a positive impact on the quiescent state of primordial follicles after xenografting. Copyright © 2012 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Optimizing the ASC WAN: evaluating network performance tools for comparing transport protocols.

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

Lydick, Christopher L.

2007-07-01

The Advanced Simulation & Computing Wide Area Network (ASC WAN), which is a high delay-bandwidth network connection between US Department of Energy National Laboratories, is constantly being examined and evaluated for efficiency. One of the current transport-layer protocols which is used, TCP, was developed for traffic demands which are different from that on the ASC WAN. The Stream Control Transport Protocol (SCTP), on the other hand, has shown characteristics which make it more appealing to networks such as these. Most important, before considering a replacement for TCP on any network, a testing tool that performs well against certain criteria needsmore » to be found. In order to try to find such a tool, two popular networking tools (Netperf v.2.4.3 & v.2.4.6 (OpenSS7 STREAMS), and Iperf v.2.0.6) were tested. These tools implement both TCP and SCTP and were evaluated using four metrics: (1) How effectively can the tool reach a throughput near the bandwidth? (2) How much of the CPU does the tool utilize during operation? (3) Is the tool freely and widely available? And, (4) Is the tool actively developed? Following the analysis of those tools, this paper goes further into explaining some recommendations and ideas for future work.« less

Removal of Giardia spp. and Cryptosporidium spp. from water supply with high turbidity: analytical challenges and perspectives.

PubMed

Maciel, P M F; Sabogal-Paz, L P

2016-06-01

Giardia and Cryptosporidium species are a serious problem if present in water supplies. The removal of these protozoans and the adaptation of existing protocols are essential for supplying drinking water to developing countries. Considering this, the aim of this study is to evaluate, on a bench level, the removal of Giardia spp. cysts and of Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts from water with high turbidity, using polyaluminium chloride as a coagulant. Filtration using mixed cellulose ester membranes, followed, or not, by purification through immunomagnetic separation (IMS) was used for detecting protozoans. By evaluating the adopted protocol, without using IMS, retrievals of 80% of cysts and 5% of oocysts were obtained, whereas by using IMS, recoveries of 31.5% of cysts and 5.75% of oocysts were reached. When analyzing the coagulant performance, a dosage of 65 mg L(-1) showed contamination from protozoans in all the samples of filtered water. A dosage of 25 mg L(-1) presented protozoans in 50% of the filtered water samples. The results showed an improved performance for the 25 mg L(-1) dosage; therefore, the control of coagulation and adaptation of detection protocols must be evaluated according to the features of raw water and availability of local resources.

Quality of Protection Evaluation of Security Mechanisms

PubMed Central

Ksiezopolski, Bogdan; Zurek, Tomasz; Mokkas, Michail

2014-01-01

Recent research indicates that during the design of teleinformatic system the tradeoff between the systems performance and the system protection should be made. The traditional approach assumes that the best way is to apply the strongest possible security measures. Unfortunately, the overestimation of security measures can lead to the unreasonable increase of system load. This is especially important in multimedia systems where the performance has critical character. In many cases determination of the required level of protection and adjustment of some security measures to these requirements increase system efficiency. Such an approach is achieved by means of the quality of protection models where the security measures are evaluated according to their influence on the system security. In the paper, we propose a model for QoP evaluation of security mechanisms. Owing to this model, one can quantify the influence of particular security mechanisms on ensuring security attributes. The methodology of our model preparation is described and based on it the case study analysis is presented. We support our method by the tool where the models can be defined and QoP evaluation can be performed. Finally, we have modelled TLS cryptographic protocol and presented the QoP security mechanisms evaluation for the selected versions of this protocol. PMID:25136683

EON: a component-based approach to automation of protocol-directed therapy.

PubMed Central

Musen, M A; Tu, S W; Das, A K; Shahar, Y

1996-01-01

Provision of automated support for planning protocol-directed therapy requires a computer program to take as input clinical data stored in an electronic patient-record system and to generate as output recommendations for therapeutic interventions and laboratory testing that are defined by applicable protocols. This paper presents a synthesis of research carried out at Stanford University to model the therapy-planning task and to demonstrate a component-based architecture for building protocol-based decision-support systems. We have constructed general-purpose software components that (1) interpret abstract protocol specifications to construct appropriate patient-specific treatment plans; (2) infer from time-stamped patient data higher-level, interval-based, abstract concepts; (3) perform time-oriented queries on a time-oriented patient database; and (4) allow acquisition and maintenance of protocol knowledge in a manner that facilitates efficient processing both by humans and by computers. We have implemented these components in a computer system known as EON. Each of the components has been developed, evaluated, and reported independently. We have evaluated the integration of the components as a composite architecture by implementing T-HELPER, a computer-based patient-record system that uses EON to offer advice regarding the management of patients who are following clinical trial protocols for AIDS or HIV infection. A test of the reuse of the software components in a different clinical domain demonstrated rapid development of a prototype application to support protocol-based care of patients who have breast cancer. PMID:8930854

Evaluation of refractive correction for standard automated perimetry in eyes wearing multifocal contact lenses

PubMed Central

Hirasawa, Kazunori; Ito, Hikaru; Ohori, Yukari; Takano, Yui; Shoji, Nobuyuki

2017-01-01

AIM To evaluate the refractive correction for standard automated perimetry (SAP) in eyes with refractive multifocal contact lenses (CL) in healthy young participants. METHODS Twenty-nine eyes of 29 participants were included. Accommodation was paralyzed in all participants with 1% cyclopentolate hydrochloride. SAP was performed using the Humphrey SITA-standard 24-2 and 10-2 protocol under three refractive conditions: monofocal CL corrected for near distance (baseline); multifocal CL corrected for distance (mCL-D); and mCL-D corrected for near vision using a spectacle lens (mCL-N). Primary outcome measures were the foveal threshold, mean deviation (MD), and pattern standard deviation (PSD). RESULTS The foveal threshold of mCL-N with both the 24-2 and 10-2 protocols significantly decreased by 2.2-2.5 dB (P<0.001), while that of mCL-D with the 24-2 protocol significantly decreased by 1.5 dB (P=0.0427), as compared with that of baseline. Although there was no significant difference between the MD of baseline and mCL-D with the 24-2 and 10-2 protocols, the MD of mCL-N was significantly decreased by 1.0-1.3 dB (P<0.001) as compared with that of both baseline and mCL-D, with both 24-2 and 10-2 protocols. There was no significant difference in the PSD among the three refractive conditions with both the 24-2 and 10-2 protocols. CONCLUSION Despite the induced mydriasis and the optical design of the multifocal lens used in this study, our results indicated that, when the dome-shaped visual field test is performed with eyes with large pupils and wearing refractive multifocal CLs, distance correction without additional near correction is to be recommended. PMID:29062776

Evaluation of refractive correction for standard automated perimetry in eyes wearing multifocal contact lenses.

PubMed

Hirasawa, Kazunori; Ito, Hikaru; Ohori, Yukari; Takano, Yui; Shoji, Nobuyuki

2017-01-01

To evaluate the refractive correction for standard automated perimetry (SAP) in eyes with refractive multifocal contact lenses (CL) in healthy young participants. Twenty-nine eyes of 29 participants were included. Accommodation was paralyzed in all participants with 1% cyclopentolate hydrochloride. SAP was performed using the Humphrey SITA-standard 24-2 and 10-2 protocol under three refractive conditions: monofocal CL corrected for near distance (baseline); multifocal CL corrected for distance (mCL-D); and mCL-D corrected for near vision using a spectacle lens (mCL-N). Primary outcome measures were the foveal threshold, mean deviation (MD), and pattern standard deviation (PSD). The foveal threshold of mCL-N with both the 24-2 and 10-2 protocols significantly decreased by 2.2-2.5 dB ( P <0.001), while that of mCL-D with the 24-2 protocol significantly decreased by 1.5 dB ( P =0.0427), as compared with that of baseline. Although there was no significant difference between the MD of baseline and mCL-D with the 24-2 and 10-2 protocols, the MD of mCL-N was significantly decreased by 1.0-1.3 dB ( P <0.001) as compared with that of both baseline and mCL-D, with both 24-2 and 10-2 protocols. There was no significant difference in the PSD among the three refractive conditions with both the 24-2 and 10-2 protocols. Despite the induced mydriasis and the optical design of the multifocal lens used in this study, our results indicated that, when the dome-shaped visual field test is performed with eyes with large pupils and wearing refractive multifocal CLs, distance correction without additional near correction is to be recommended.

Osteogenic differentiation of equine adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells using CaCl2.

PubMed

Elashry, Mohamed I; Baulig, Nadine; Heimann, Manuela; Bernhardt, Caroline; Wenisch, Sabine; Arnhold, Stefan

2018-04-01

Adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) may be used to cure bone defects after osteogenic differentiation. In this study we tried to optimize osteogenic differentiation for equine ASCs using various concentrations of CaCl 2 in comparison to the standard osteogenic protocol. ASCs were isolated from subcutaneous adipose tissue from mixed breed horses. The osteogenic induction protocols were (1) the standard osteogenic medium (OM) composed of dexamethasone, ascorbic acid and β-glycerol phosphate; (2) CaCl 2 based protocol composed of 3, 5 and 7.5mM CaCl 2 . Differentiation and proliferation were evaluated at 7, 10, 14 and 21days post-differentiation induction using the alizarin red staining (ARS) detecting matrix calcification. Semi-quantification of cell protein content, ARS and alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) were performed using an ELISA reader. Quantification of the transcription level for the common osteogenic markers alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Osteopontin (OP) was performed using RT-qPCR. In the presence of CaCl 2 , a concentration dependent effect on the osteogenic differentiation capacity was evident by the ARS evaluation and OP gene expression. We provide evidence that 5 and 7mM CaCl 2 enhance the osteogenic differentiation compared to the OM protocol. Although, there was a clear commitment of ASCs to the osteogenic fate in the presence of 5 and 7mM CaCl 2 , cell proliferation was increased compared to OM. We report that an optimized CaCl 2 protocol reliably influences ASCs osteogenesis while conserving the proliferation capacity. Thus, using these protocols provide a platform for using ASCs as a cell source in bone tissue engineering. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Importance of dosimetry protocol for cell irradiation on a low X-rays facility and consequences for the biological response.

PubMed

Dos Santos, Morgane; Paget, Vincent; Ben Kacem, Mariam; Trompier, François; Benadjaoud, Mohamed Amine; François, Agnès; Guipaud, Olivier; Benderitter, Marc; Milliat, Fabien

2018-06-01

The main objective of radiobiology is to establish links between doses and radiation-induced biological effects. In this context, well-defined dosimetry protocols are crucial to the determination of experimental protocols. This work proposes a new dosimetry protocol for cell irradiation in a SARRP and shows the importance of the modification of some parameters defined in dosimetry protocol for physical dose and biological outcomes. Once all parameters of the configuration were defined, dosimetry measurements with ionization chambers and EBT3 films were performed to evaluate the dose rate and the attenuation due to the cell culture medium. To evaluate the influence of changes in cell culture volume and/or additional filtration, 6-well plates containing EBT3 films with water were used to determine the impact on the physical dose at 80 kV. Then, experiments with the same irradiation conditions were performed by replacing EBT3 films by HUVECs. The biological response was assessed using clonogenic assay. Using a 0.15 mm copper filter lead to a variation of +1% using medium thickness of 0.104 cm to -8% using a medium thickness of 0.936 cm on the physical dose compare to the reference condition (0.313 cm). For the 1 mm aluminum filter, a variation of +8 to -40% for the same medium thickness conditions has been observed. Cells irradiated in the same conditions showed significant differences in survival fraction, corroborating the effects of dosimetric changes on physical dose. This work shows the importance of dosimetry in radiobiology studies and the need of an accurate description of the dosimetry protocol used for irradiation.

Excessive training impairs the insulin signal transduction in mice skeletal muscles.

PubMed

Pereira, Bruno C; da Rocha, Alisson L; Pinto, Ana P; Pauli, José R; de Moura, Leandro P; Mekary, Rania A; de Freitas, Ellen C; da Silva, Adelino S R

2016-07-01

The main aim of this investigation was to verify the effects of overtraining (OT) on the insulin and inflammatory signaling pathways in mice skeletal muscles. Rodents were divided into control (CT), overtrained by downhill running (OTR/down), overtrained by uphill running (OTR/up), and overtrained by running without inclination (OTR) groups. Rotarod, incremental load, exhaustive, and grip force tests were used to evaluate performance. Thirty-six hours after the grip force test, the extensor digitorum longus (EDL) and soleus were extracted for subsequent protein analyses. The three OT protocols led to similar responses of all performance evaluation tests. The phosphorylation of insulin receptor beta (pIRβ; Tyr), protein kinase B (pAkt; Ser473), and the protein levels of plasma membrane glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4) were lower in the EDL and soleus after the OTR/down protocol and in the soleus after the OTR/up and OTR protocols. While the pIRβ was lower after the OTR/up and OTR protocols, the pAkt was higher after the OTR/up in the EDL. The phosphorylation of IκB kinase alpha and beta (pIKKα/β; Ser180/181), stress-activated protein kinases/Jun amino-terminal kinases (pSAPK-JNK; Thr183/Tyr185), factor nuclear kappa B (pNFκB p65; Ser536), and insulin receptor substrate 1 (pIRS1; Ser307) were higher after the OTR/down protocol, but were not altered after the two other OT protocols. In summary, these data suggest that OT may lead to skeletal muscle insulin signaling pathway impairment, regardless of the predominance of eccentric contractions, although the insulin signal pathway impairment induced in OTR/up and OTR appeared to be muscle fiber-type specific. © 2016 Society for Endocrinology.

Accuracy of prehospital triage protocols in selecting severely injured patients: A systematic review.

PubMed

van Rein, Eveline A J; Houwert, R Marijn; Gunning, Amy C; Lichtveld, Rob A; Leenen, Luke P H; van Heijl, Mark

2017-08-01

Prehospital trauma triage ensures proper transport of patients at risk of severe injury to hospitals with an appropriate corresponding level of trauma care. Incorrect triage results in undertriage and overtriage. The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma recommends an undertriage rate below 5% and an overtriage rate below 50% for prehospital trauma triage protocols. To find the most accurate prehospital trauma triage protocol, a clear overview of all currently available protocols and corresponding outcomes is necessary. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the current literature on all available prehospital trauma triage protocols and determine accuracy of protocol-based triage quality in terms of sensitivity and specificity. A search of Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases was performed to identify all studies describing prehospital trauma triage protocols before November 2016. The search terms included "trauma," "trauma center," or "trauma system" combined with "triage," "undertriage," or "overtriage." All studies describing protocol-based triage quality were reviewed. To assess the quality of these type of studies, a new critical appraisal tool was developed. In this review, 21 articles were included with numbers of patients ranging from 130 to over 1 million. Significant predictors for severe injury were: vital signs, suspicion of certain anatomic injuries, mechanism of injury, and age. Sensitivity ranged from 10% to 100%; specificity from 9% to 100%. Nearly all protocols had a low sensitivity, thereby failing to identify severely injured patients. Additionally, the critical appraisal showed poor quality of the majority of included studies. This systematic review shows that nearly all protocols are incapable of identifying severely injured patients. Future studies of high methodological quality should be performed to improve prehospital trauma triage protocols. Systematic review, level III.

Understanding the motivation and performance of community health volunteers involved in the delivery of health programmes in Kampala, Uganda: a realist evaluation protocol.

PubMed

Vareilles, Gaëlle; Pommier, Jeanine; Kane, Sumit; Pictet, Gabriel; Marchal, Bruno

2015-01-28

The recruitment of community health volunteers to support the delivery of health programmes is a well-established approach in many countries, particularly where health services are not readily available. However, studies on management of volunteers are scarce and current research on human resource management of volunteers faces methodological challenges. This paper presents the protocol of a realist evaluation that aims at identifying the factors influencing the performance of community health volunteers involved in the delivery of a Red Cross immunisation programme in Kampala (Uganda) with a specific focus on motivation. The realist evaluation cycle structures the protocol. To develop the theoretical basis for the evaluation, the authors conducted interviews and reviewed the literature on community health volunteers' performance, management and organisational behaviour. This led to the formulation of the initial programme theory, which links the intervention inputs (capacity-building strategies) to the expected outcomes (positive work behaviour) with mechanisms that point in the direction of drivers of motivation. The contextual elements include components such as organisational culture, resource availability, etc. A case study design will be adopted. We define a case as a Red Cross branch, run by a programme manager, and will select two cases at the district level in Kampala. Mixed methods will be used in data collection, including individual interviews of volunteers, participant observation and document review. The thematic analysis will be based on the initial programme theory and will seek for context-mechanism-outcome configurations. Findings from the two cases will be compared. We discuss the scope for applying realist evaluation and the methodological challenges we encountered in developing this protocol. The study was approved by the Ethical Committee at Rennes University Hospital, France. Results will be published in scientific journals, and communicated to respondents and relevant institutions. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Simulator of Space Communication Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clare, Loren; Jennings, Esther; Gao, Jay; Segui, John; Kwong, Winston

2005-01-01

Multimission Advanced Communications Hybrid Environment for Test and Evaluation (MACHETE) is a suite of software tools that simulates the behaviors of communication networks to be used in space exploration, and predict the performance of established and emerging space communication protocols and services. MACHETE consists of four general software systems: (1) a system for kinematic modeling of planetary and spacecraft motions; (2) a system for characterizing the engineering impact on the bandwidth and reliability of deep-space and in-situ communication links; (3) a system for generating traffic loads and modeling of protocol behaviors and state machines; and (4) a system of user-interface for performance metric visualizations. The kinematic-modeling system makes it possible to characterize space link connectivity effects, including occultations and signal losses arising from dynamic slant-range changes and antenna radiation patterns. The link-engineering system also accounts for antenna radiation patterns and other phenomena, including modulations, data rates, coding, noise, and multipath fading. The protocol system utilizes information from the kinematic-modeling and link-engineering systems to simulate operational scenarios of space missions and evaluate overall network performance. In addition, a Communications Effect Server (CES) interface for MACHETE has been developed to facilitate hybrid simulation of space communication networks with actual flight/ground software/hardware embedded in the overall system.

An investigation of networking techniques for the ASRM facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moorhead, Robert J., II; Smith, Wayne D.; Thompson, Dale R.

1992-01-01

This report is based on the early design concepts for a communications network for the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) facility being built at Yellow Creek near Iuka, MS. The investigators have participated in the early design concepts and in the evaluation of the initial concepts. The continuing system design effort and any modification of the plan will require a careful evaluation of the required bandwidth of the network, the capabilities of the protocol, and the requirements of the controllers and computers on the network. The overall network, which is heterogeneous in protocol and bandwidth, is being modeled, analyzed, simulated, and tested to obtain some degree of confidence in its performance capabilities and in its performance under nominal and heavy loads. The results of the proposed work should have an impact on the design and operation of the ASRM facility.

Psychobiological responses to critically evaluated multitasking.

PubMed

Wetherell, Mark A; Craw, Olivia; Smith, Kenny; Smith, Michael A

2017-12-01

In order to understand psychobiological responses to stress it is necessary to observe how people react to controlled stressors. A range of stressors exist for this purpose; however, laboratory stressors that are representative of real life situations provide more ecologically valid opportunities for assessing stress responding. The current study assessed psychobiological responses to an ecologically valid laboratory stressor involving multitasking and critical evaluation. The stressor elicited significant increases in psychological and cardiovascular stress reactivity; however, no cortisol reactivity was observed. Other socially evaluative laboratory stressors that lead to cortisol reactivity typically require a participant to perform tasks that involve verbal responses, whilst standing in front of evaluative others. The current protocol contained critical evaluation of cognitive performance; however, this was delivered from behind a seated participant. The salience of social evaluation may therefore be related to the response format of the task and the method of evaluation. That is, the current protocol did not involve the additional vulnerability associated with in person, face-to-face contact, and verbal delivery. Critical evaluation of multitasking provides an ecologically valid technique for inducing laboratory stress and provides an alternative tool for assessing psychological and cardiovascular reactivity. Future studies could additionally use this paradigm to investigate those components of social evaluation necessary for eliciting a cortisol response.

Mobility Models for Systems Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Musolesi, Mirco; Mascolo, Cecilia

Mobility models are used to simulate and evaluate the performance of mobile wireless systems and the algorithms and protocols at the basis of them. The definition of realistic mobility models is one of the most critical and, at the same time, difficult aspects of the simulation of applications and systems designed for mobile environments. There are essentially two possible types of mobility patterns that can be used to evaluate mobile network protocols and algorithms by means of simulations: traces and synthetic models [130]. Traces are obtained by means of measurements of deployed systems and usually consist of logs of connectivity or location information, whereas synthetic models are mathematical models, such as sets of equations, which try to capture the movement of the devices.

The reliability and validity of fatigue measures during multiple-sprint work: an issue revisited.

PubMed

Glaister, Mark; Howatson, Glyn; Pattison, John R; McInnes, Gill

2008-09-01

The ability to repeatedly produce a high-power output or sprint speed is a key fitness component of most field and court sports. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of eight different approaches to quantify this parameter in tests of multiple-sprint performance. Ten physically active men completed two trials of each of two multiple-sprint running protocols with contrasting recovery periods. Protocol 1 consisted of 12 x 30-m sprints repeated every 35 seconds; protocol 2 consisted of 12 x 30-m sprints repeated every 65 seconds. All testing was performed in an indoor sports facility, and sprint times were recorded using twin-beam photocells. All but one of the formulae showed good construct validity, as evidenced by similar within-protocol fatigue scores. However, the assumptions on which many of the formulae were based, combined with poor or inconsistent test-retest reliability (coefficient of variation range: 0.8-145.7%; intraclass correlation coefficient range: 0.09-0.75), suggested many problems regarding logical validity. In line with previous research, the results support the percentage decrement calculation as the most valid and reliable method of quantifying fatigue in tests of multiple-sprint performance.

Early-Dynamic Positron Emission Tomography (PET)/Computed Tomography and PET Angiography for Endoleak Detection After Endovascular Aneurysm Repair.

PubMed

Drescher, Robert; Gühne, Falk; Freesmeyer, Martin

2017-06-01

To propose a positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) protocol including early-dynamic and late-phase acquisitions to evaluate graft patency and aneurysm diameter, detect endoleaks, and rule out graft or vessel wall inflammation after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) in one examination without intravenous contrast medium. Early-dynamic PET/CT of the endovascular prosthesis is performed for 180 seconds immediately after intravenous injection of F-18-fluorodeoxyglucose. Data are reconstructed in variable time frames (time periods after tracer injection) to visualize the arterial anatomy and are displayed as PET angiography or fused with CT images. Images are evaluated in view of vascular abnormalities, graft configuration, and tracer accumulation in the aneurysm sac. Whole-body PET/CT is performed 90 to 120 minutes after tracer injection. This protocol for early-dynamic PET/CT and PET angiography has the potential to evaluate vascular diseases, including the diagnosis of complications after endovascular procedures.

Advanced communications technology satellite high burst rate link evaluation terminal communication protocol software user's guide, version 1.0

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reinhart, Richard C.

1993-01-01

The Communication Protocol Software was developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center to support the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite High Burst Rate Link Evaluation Terminal (ACTS HBR-LET). The HBR-LET is an experimenters terminal to communicate with the ACTS for various experiments by government, university, and industry agencies. The Communication Protocol Software is one segment of the Control and Performance Monitor (C&PM) Software system of the HBR-LET. The Communication Protocol Software allows users to control and configure the Intermediate Frequency Switch Matrix (IFSM) on board the ACTS to yield a desired path through the spacecraft payload. Besides IFSM control, the C&PM Software System is also responsible for instrument control during HBR-LET experiments, uplink power control of the HBR-LET to demonstrate power augmentation during signal fade events, and data display. The Communication Protocol Software User's Guide, Version 1.0 (NASA CR-189162) outlines the commands and procedures to install and operate the Communication Protocol Software. Configuration files used to control the IFSM, operator commands, and error recovery procedures are discussed. The Communication Protocol Software Maintenance Manual, Version 1.0 (NASA CR-189163, to be published) is a programmer's guide to the Communication Protocol Software. This manual details the current implementation of the software from a technical perspective. Included is an overview of the Communication Protocol Software, computer algorithms, format representations, and computer hardware configuration. The Communication Protocol Software Test Plan (NASA CR-189164, to be published) provides a step-by-step procedure to verify the operation of the software. Included in the Test Plan is command transmission, telemetry reception, error detection, and error recovery procedures.

Comparison of carboplatin and doxorubicin-based chemotherapy protocols in 470 dogs after amputation for treatment of appendicular osteosarcoma.

PubMed

Selmic, L E; Burton, J H; Thamm, D H; Withrow, S J; Lana, S E

2014-01-01

Many chemotherapy protocols have been reported for treatment of canine appendicular osteosarcoma (OSA), but outcome comparisons in a single population are lacking. To evaluate the effects of protocol and dose intensity (DI) on treatment outcomes for carboplatin and doxorubicin-based chemotherapy protocols. Four hundred and seventy dogs with appendicular OSA. A retrospective cohort study was performed comprising consecutive dogs treated (1997-2012) with amputation followed by 1 of 5 chemotherapy protocols: carboplatin 300 mg/m(2) IV q21d for 4 or 6 cycles (CARBO6), doxorubicin 30 mg/m(2) IV q14d or q21d for 5 cycles, and alternating carboplatin 300 mg/m(2) IV and doxorubicin 30 mg/m(2) IV q21d for 3 cycles. Adverse events (AE) and DI were evaluated. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazards regression were used to compare disease-free interval (DFI) and survival time (ST) among protocols. The overall median DFI and ST were 291 days and 284 days, respectively. A lower proportion of dogs prescribed CARBO6 experienced AEs compared to other protocols (48.4% versus 60.8-75.8%; P = .001). DI was not associated with development of metastases or death. After adjustment for baseline characteristics and prognostic factors, none of the protocols provided a significant reduction in risk of development of metastases or death. Although choice of protocol did not result in significant differences in DFI or ST, the CARBO6 protocol resulted in a lower proportion of dogs experiencing AEs, which could be advantageous in maintaining high quality of life during treatment. DI was not a prognostic indicator in this study. Copyright © 2014 by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

How the gender of a victim character in a virtual scenario created to learn CPR protocol affects student nurses' performance.

PubMed

Boada, Imma; Rodriguez-Benitez, Antonio; Thió-Henestrosa, Santiago; Olivet, Josep; Soler, Josep

2018-08-01

Virtual simulations recreate scenarios where student nurses can practice procedures in a safe and supervised manner and with no risk to the patient. Virtual scenarios include digital characters that reproduce human actions. Generally, these characters are modeled as males and restricted roles are assigned to females. Our objective is to evaluate how the character gender of a victim in a scenario created to practice the cardiopulmonary resuscitation protocol (CPR) affects performance of student nurses. Three virtual scenarios with cardiac arrest victims modeled as males or females were assigned to 41 students of the Nursing Faculty to practice the CPR protocol. We evaluated student performance with respect to the time to remove clothes, the time to perform the CPR maneuver, and the hands position for CPR. Chi-square, Fisher exact, and Mann-Whitney U were used to test primary outcome measures in the experimental design of victim character sex (male vs. female) and student sex (men vs. women). The analysis performed did not find statistically differences in time to remove clothes or in time to start CPR. With respect to hands placement we also did not find significant difference in any of the cases. Nurse student actions are not influenced by the character gender of the victim. Excellent results with respect to hands placement to start CPR are obtained. Virtual scenarios can be a suitable strategy to reduce gender differences in gender sensitive situations such as CPR performance. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

New Protocol for Skin Landmark Registration in Image-Guided Neurosurgery: Technical Note.

PubMed

Gerard, Ian J; Hall, Jeffery A; Mok, Kelvin; Collins, D Louis

2015-09-01

Newer versions of the commercial Medtronic StealthStation allow the use of only 8 landmark pairs for patient-to-image registration as opposed to 9 landmarks in older systems. The choice of which landmark pair to drop in these newer systems can have an effect on the quality of the patient-to-image registration. To investigate 4 landmark registration protocols based on 8 landmark pairs and compare the resulting registration accuracy with a 9-landmark protocol. Four different protocols were tested on both phantoms and patients. Two of the protocols involved using 4 ear landmarks and 4 facial landmarks and the other 2 involved using 3 ear landmarks and 5 facial landmarks. Both the fiducial registration error and target registration error were evaluated for each of the different protocols to determine any difference between them and the 9-landmark protocol. No difference in fiducial registration error was found between any of the 8-landmark protocols and the 9-landmark protocol. A significant decrease (P < .05) in target registration error was found when using a protocol based on 4 ear landmarks and 4 facial landmarks compared with the other protocols based on 3 ear landmarks. When using 8 landmarks to perform the patient-to-image registration, the protocol using 4 ear landmarks and 4 facial landmarks greatly outperformed the other 8-landmark protocols and 9-landmark protocol, resulting in the lowest target registration error.

Develop a new testing and evaluation protocol to assess flexbase performance using strength of soil binder.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-01-01

This research involved a detailed laboratory study of a new test method for evaluating road base materials based on : the strength of the soil binder. In this test method, small test specimens (5.0in length and 0.75in square cross : section) of binde...

Latest approaches on green chemistry preconcentration methods for trace metal determination in seawater--a review.

PubMed

La Colla, Noelia Soledad; Domini, Claudia Elizabeth; Marcovecchio, Jorge Eduardo; Botté, Sandra Elizabeth

2015-03-15

Evaluation of trace metal levels in seawater samples is undertaken regularly by research groups all over the world, leading to a growing demand for techniques involving fewer toxic reagents, less time-consuming protocols and lower limits of detection. This review focuses on providing a brief but concise description of the latest methodologies developed to this end, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of the various protocols, chelating and dispersive agents and instruments used. Conclusions are drawn on the basis of the articles reviewed, highlighting improvements introduced in order to enhance the performance of the protocols. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Feasibility and Safety of Evaluating Patients with Prior Coronary Artery Disease Using an Accelerated Diagnostic Algorithm in a Chest Pain Unit

PubMed Central

Goldkorn, Ronen; Goitein, Orly; Ben-Zekery, Sagit; Shlomo, Nir; Narodetsky, Michael; Livne, Moran; Sabbag, Avi; Asher, Elad; Matetzky, Shlomi

2016-01-01

An accelerated diagnostic protocol for evaluating low-risk patients with acute chest pain in a cardiologist-based chest pain unit (CPU) is widely employed today. However, limited data exist regarding the feasibility of such an algorithm for patients with a history of prior coronary artery disease (CAD). The aim of the current study was to assess the feasibility and safety of evaluating patients with a history of prior CAD using an accelerated diagnostic protocol. We evaluated 1,220 consecutive patients presenting with acute chest pain and hospitalized in our CPU. Patients were stratified according to whether they had a history of prior CAD or not. The primary composite outcome was defined as a composite of readmission due to chest pain, acute coronary syndrome, coronary revascularization, or death during a 60-day follow-up period. Overall, 268 (22%) patients had a history of prior CAD. Non-invasive evaluation was performed in 1,112 (91%) patients. While patients with a history of prior CAD had more comorbidities, the two study groups were similar regarding hospitalization rates (9% vs. 13%, p = 0.08), coronary angiography (13% vs. 11%, p = 0.41), and revascularization (6.5% vs. 5.7%, p = 0.8) performed during CPU evaluation. At 60-days the primary endpoint was observed in 12 (1.6%) and 6 (3.2%) patients without and with a history of prior CAD, respectively (p = 0.836). No mortalities were recorded. To conclude, Patients with a history of prior CAD can be expeditiously and safely evaluated using an accelerated diagnostic protocol in a CPU with outcomes not differing from patients without such a history. PMID:27669521

Performance and evaluation of real-time multicomputer control systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shin, K. G.

1985-01-01

Three experiments on fault tolerant multiprocessors (FTMP) were begun. They are: (1) measurement of fault latency in FTMP; (2) validation and analysis of FTMP synchronization protocols; and investigation of error propagation in FTMP.

Evaluation of warm mix asphalt for Alaska conditions : [summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-09-01

This project developed and tested protocols to determine concrete curing strength during the construction process, so that : building under very cold conditions can be performed safely and quickly. Researchers determined the laboratory strengthmaturi...

In-field Welding and Coating Protocols

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-05-12

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and Edison Welding Institute (EWI) created both laboratory and infield girth weld samples to evaluate the effects of weld geometry and hydrogen off-gassing on the performance of protective coatings. Laboratory made plat...

Florida's wet weather demonstration project : final report, January 2009.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-11-01

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) established a wet-weather pavement marking demonstration project with goals to gather performance data, evaluate various wet-weather marking systems, and develop a measurement protocol for measuring ret...

Diagnostic performance of a streamlined 18F-choline PET-CT protocol for the detection of prostate carcinoma recurrence in combination with appropriate-use criteria.

PubMed

Frood, R; Baren, J; McDermott, G; Bottomley, D; Patel, C; Scarsbrook, A

2018-04-30

To evaluate the efficacy of single time-point half-body (skull base to thighs) fluorine-18 choline positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) compared to a triple-phase acquisition protocol in the detection of prostate carcinoma recurrence. Consecutive choline PET-CT studies performed at a single tertiary referral centre in patients with biochemical recurrence of prostate carcinoma between September 2012 and March 2017 were reviewed retrospectively. The indication for the study, imaging protocol used, imaging findings, whether management was influenced by the PET-CT, and subsequent patient outcome were recorded. Ninety-one examinations were performed during the study period; 42 were carried out using a triple-phase protocol (dynamic pelvic imaging for 20 minutes after tracer injection, half-body acquisition at 60 minutes and delayed pelvic scan at 90 minutes) between 2012 and August 2015. Subsequently following interim review of diagnostic performance, a streamlined protocol and appropriate-use criteria were introduced. Forty-nine examinations were carried out using the single-phase protocol between 2015 and 2017. Twenty-nine (69%) of the triple-phase studies were positive for recurrence compared to 38 (78%) of the single-phase studies. Only one patient who had a single-phase study would have benefited from a dynamic acquisition, they have required no further treatment or imaging and are currently under prostate-specific antigen (PSA) surveillance. Choline PET-CT remains a useful tool for the detection of prostate recurrence when used in combination with appropriate-use criteria. Removal of dynamic and delayed acquisition phases reduces study time without adversely affecting accuracy. Benefits include shorter imaging time which improves patient comfort, reduced cost, and improved scanner efficiency. Copyright © 2018 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Zagreb Amblyopia Preschool Screening Study: near and distance visual acuity testing increase the diagnostic accuracy of screening for amblyopia.

PubMed

Bušić, Mladen; Bjeloš, Mirjana; Petrovečki, Mladen; Kuzmanović Elabjer, Biljana; Bosnar, Damir; Ramić, Senad; Miletić, Daliborka; Andrijašević, Lidija; Kondža Krstonijević, Edita; Jakovljević, Vid; Bišćan Tvrdi, Ana; Predović, Jurica; Kokot, Antonio; Bišćan, Filip; Kovačević Ljubić, Mirna; Motušić Aras, Ranka

2016-02-01

To present and evaluate a new screening protocol for amblyopia in preschool children. Zagreb Amblyopia Preschool Screening (ZAPS) study protocol performed screening for amblyopia by near and distance visual acuity (VA) testing of 15 648 children aged 48-54 months attending kindergartens in the City of Zagreb County between September 2011 and June 2014 using Lea Symbols in lines test. If VA in either eye was >0.1 logMAR, the child was re-tested, if failed at re-test, the child was referred to comprehensive eye examination at the Eye Clinic. 78.04% of children passed the screening test. Estimated prevalence of amblyopia was 8.08%. Testability, sensitivity, and specificity of the ZAPS study protocol were 99.19%, 100.00%, and 96.68% respectively. The ZAPS study used the most discriminative VA test with optotypes in line as they do not underestimate amblyopia. The estimated prevalence of amblyopia was considerably higher than reported elsewhere. To the best of our knowledge, the ZAPS study protocol reached the highest sensitivity and specificity when evaluating diagnostic accuracy of VA tests for screening. The pass level defined at ≤0.1 logMAR for 4-year-old children, using Lea Symbols in lines missed no amblyopia cases, advocating that both near and distance VA testing should be performed when screening for amblyopia.

Zagreb Amblyopia Preschool Screening Study: near and distance visual acuity testing increase the diagnostic accuracy of screening for amblyopia

PubMed Central

Bušić, Mladen; Bjeloš, Mirjana; Petrovečki, Mladen; Kuzmanović Elabjer, Biljana; Bosnar, Damir; Ramić, Senad; Miletić, Daliborka; Andrijašević, Lidija; Kondža Krstonijević, Edita; Jakovljević, Vid; Bišćan Tvrdi, Ana; Predović, Jurica; Kokot, Antonio; Bišćan, Filip; Kovačević Ljubić, Mirna; Motušić Aras, Ranka

2016-01-01

Aim To present and evaluate a new screening protocol for amblyopia in preschool children. Methods Zagreb Amblyopia Preschool Screening (ZAPS) study protocol performed screening for amblyopia by near and distance visual acuity (VA) testing of 15 648 children aged 48-54 months attending kindergartens in the City of Zagreb County between September 2011 and June 2014 using Lea Symbols in lines test. If VA in either eye was >0.1 logMAR, the child was re-tested, if failed at re-test, the child was referred to comprehensive eye examination at the Eye Clinic. Results 78.04% of children passed the screening test. Estimated prevalence of amblyopia was 8.08%. Testability, sensitivity, and specificity of the ZAPS study protocol were 99.19%, 100.00%, and 96.68% respectively. Conclusion The ZAPS study used the most discriminative VA test with optotypes in lines as they do not underestimate amblyopia. The estimated prevalence of amblyopia was considerably higher than reported elsewhere. To the best of our knowledge, the ZAPS study protocol reached the highest sensitivity and specificity when evaluating diagnostic accuracy of VA tests for screening. The pass level defined at ≤0.1 logMAR for 4-year-old children, using Lea Symbols in lines missed no amblyopia cases, advocating that both near and distance VA testing should be performed when screening for amblyopia. PMID:26935612

A Privacy-Preserving Platform for User-Centric Quantitative Benchmarking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herrmann, Dominik; Scheuer, Florian; Feustel, Philipp; Nowey, Thomas; Federrath, Hannes

We propose a centralised platform for quantitative benchmarking of key performance indicators (KPI) among mutually distrustful organisations. Our platform offers users the opportunity to request an ad-hoc benchmarking for a specific KPI within a peer group of their choice. Architecture and protocol are designed to provide anonymity to its users and to hide the sensitive KPI values from other clients and the central server. To this end, we integrate user-centric peer group formation, exchangeable secure multi-party computation protocols, short-lived ephemeral key pairs as pseudonyms, and attribute certificates. We show by empirical evaluation of a prototype that the performance is acceptable for reasonably sized peer groups.

Software-defined Radio Based Measurement Platform for Wireless Networks

PubMed Central

Chao, I-Chun; Lee, Kang B.; Candell, Richard; Proctor, Frederick; Shen, Chien-Chung; Lin, Shinn-Yan

2015-01-01

End-to-end latency is critical to many distributed applications and services that are based on computer networks. There has been a dramatic push to adopt wireless networking technologies and protocols (such as WiFi, ZigBee, WirelessHART, Bluetooth, ISA100.11a, etc.) into time-critical applications. Examples of such applications include industrial automation, telecommunications, power utility, and financial services. While performance measurement of wired networks has been extensively studied, measuring and quantifying the performance of wireless networks face new challenges and demand different approaches and techniques. In this paper, we describe the design of a measurement platform based on the technologies of software-defined radio (SDR) and IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) for evaluating the performance of wireless networks. PMID:27891210

Software-defined Radio Based Measurement Platform for Wireless Networks.

PubMed

Chao, I-Chun; Lee, Kang B; Candell, Richard; Proctor, Frederick; Shen, Chien-Chung; Lin, Shinn-Yan

2015-10-01

End-to-end latency is critical to many distributed applications and services that are based on computer networks. There has been a dramatic push to adopt wireless networking technologies and protocols (such as WiFi, ZigBee, WirelessHART, Bluetooth, ISA100.11a, etc. ) into time-critical applications. Examples of such applications include industrial automation, telecommunications, power utility, and financial services. While performance measurement of wired networks has been extensively studied, measuring and quantifying the performance of wireless networks face new challenges and demand different approaches and techniques. In this paper, we describe the design of a measurement platform based on the technologies of software-defined radio (SDR) and IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) for evaluating the performance of wireless networks.

Measurement of fecal elastase improves performance of newborn screening for cystic fibrosis.

PubMed

Barben, Juerg; Rueegg, Corina S; Jurca, Maja; Spalinger, Johannes; Kuehni, Claudia E

2016-05-01

The aim of newborn screening (NBS) for CF is to detect children with 'classic' CF where early treatment is possible and improves prognosis. Children with inconclusive CF diagnosis (CFSPID) should not be detected, as there is no evidence for improvement through early treatment. No algorithm in current NBS guidelines explains what to do when sweat test (ST) fails. This study compares the performance of three different algorithms for further diagnostic evaluations when first ST is unsuccessful, regarding the numbers of children detected with CF and CFSPID, and the time until a definite diagnosis. In Switzerland, CF-NBS was introduced in January 2011 using an IRT-DNA-IRT algorithm followed by a ST. In children, in whom ST was not possible (no or insufficient sweat), 3 different protocols were applied between 2011 and 2014: in 2011, ST was repeated until it was successful (protocol A), in 2012 we proceeded directly to diagnostic DNA testing (protocol B), and 2013-2014, fecal elastase (FE) was measured in the stool, in order to determine a pancreas insufficiency needing immediate treatment (protocol C). The ratio CF:CFSPID was 7:1 (27/4) with protocol A, 2:1 (22/10) with protocol B, and 14:1 (54/4) with protocol C. The mean time to definite diagnosis was significantly shorter with protocol C (33days) compared to protocol A or B (42 and 40days; p=0.014 compared to A, and p=0.036 compared to B). The algorithm for the diagnostic part of the newborn screening used in the CF centers is important and affects the performance of a CF-NBS program with regard to the ratio CF:CFSPID and the time until definite diagnosis. Our results suggest to include FE after initial sweat test failure in the CF-NBS guidelines to keep the proportion of CFSPID low and the time until definite diagnosis short. Copyright © 2016 European Cystic Fibrosis Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Performance Evaluation of a SLA Negotiation Control Protocol for Grid Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cergol, Igor; Mirchandani, Vinod; Verchere, Dominique

A framework for an autonomous negotiation control protocol for service delivery is crucial to enable the support of heterogeneous service level agreements (SLAs) that will exist in distributed environments. We have first given a gist of our augmented service negotiation protocol to support distinct service elements. The augmentations also encompass related composition of the services and negotiation with several service providers simultaneously. All the incorporated augmentations will enable to consolidate the service negotiation operations for telecom networks, which are evolving towards Grid networks. Furthermore, our autonomous negotiation protocol is based on a distributed multi-agent framework to create an open market for Grid services. Second, we have concisely presented key simulation results of our work in progress. The results exhibit the usefulness of our negotiation protocol for realistic scenarios that involves different background traffic loading, message sizes and traffic flow asymmetry between background and negotiation traffics.

An optimized immunohistochemistry protocol for detecting the guidance cue Netrin-1 in neural tissue.

PubMed

Salameh, Samer; Nouel, Dominique; Flores, Cecilia; Hoops, Daniel

2018-01-01

Netrin-1, an axon guidance protein, is difficult to detect using immunohistochemistry. We performed a multi-step, blinded, and controlled protocol optimization procedure to establish an efficient and effective fluorescent immunohistochemistry protocol for characterizing Netrin-1 expression. Coronal mouse brain sections were used to test numerous antigen retrieval methods and combinations thereof in order to optimize the stain quality of a commercially available Netrin-1 antibody. Stain quality was evaluated by experienced neuroanatomists for two criteria: signal intensity and signal-to-noise ratio. After five rounds of testing protocol variants, we established a modified immunohistochemistry protocol that produced a Netrin-1 signal with good signal intensity and a high signal-to-noise ratio. The key protocol modifications are as follows: •Use phosphate buffer (PB) as the blocking solution solvent.•Use 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) treatment for antigen retrieval. The original protocol was optimized for use with the Netrin-1 antibody produced by Novus Biologicals. However, we subsequently further modified the protocol to work with the antibody produced by Abcam. The Abcam protocol uses PBS as the blocking solution solvent and adds a citrate buffer antigen retrieval step.

Inhibitory Effects of Hydroethanolic Leaf Extracts of Kalanchoe brasiliensis and Kalanchoe pinnata (Crassulaceae) against Local Effects Induced by Bothrops jararaca Snake Venom

PubMed Central

Fernandes, Júlia Morais; Félix-Silva, Juliana; da Cunha, Lorena Medeiros; Gomes, Jacyra Antunes dos Santos; Siqueira, Emerson Michell da Silva; Gimenes, Luisa Possamai; Lopes, Norberto Peporine; Soares, Luiz Alberto Lira; Fernandes-Pedrosa, Matheus de Freitas; Zucolotto, Silvana Maria

2016-01-01

The species Kalanchoe brasiliensis and Kalanchoe pinnata, both known popularly as “Saião,” are used interchangeably in traditional medicine for their antiophidic properties. Studies evaluating the anti-venom activity of these species are scarce. This study aims to characterize the chemical constituents and evaluate the inhibitory effects of hydroethanolic leaf extracts of K. brasiliensis and K. pinnata against local effects induced by Bothrops jararaca snake venom. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with Diode Array Detection and Electrospray Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-MS/MS) were performed for characterization of chemical markers of the extracts from these species. For antiophidic activity evaluation, B. jararaca venom-induced paw edema and skin hemorrhage in mice were evaluated. In both models, hydroethanolic extracts (125–500 mg/kg) were administered intraperitoneally in different protocols. Inhibition of phospholipase enzymatic activity of B. jararaca was evaluated. The HPLC-DAD-MS/MS chromatographic profile of extracts showed some particularities in the chemical profile of the two species. K. brasileinsis exhibited major peaks that have UV spectra similar to flavonoid glycosides derived from patuletin and eupafolin, while K. pinnata showed UV spectra similar to flavonoids glycosides derived from quercetin and kaempferol. Both extracts significantly reduced the hemorrhagic activity of B. jararaca venom in pre-treatment protocol, reaching about 40% of inhibition, while only K. pinnata was active in post-treatment protocol (about 30% of inhibition). In the antiedematogenic activity, only K. pinnata was active, inhibiting about 66% and 30% in pre and post-treatment protocols, respectively. Both extracts inhibited phospholipase activity; however, K. pinnata was more active. In conclusion, the results indicate the potential antiophidic activity of Kalanchoe species against local effects induced by B. jararaca snake venom, suggesting their potential use as a new source of bioactive molecules against bothropic venom. PMID:28033347

HIV and Cognitive Impairment in Clinical Practice: The Evaluation of a Stepwise Screening Protocol in Relation to Clinical Outcomes and Management.

PubMed

Hakkers, Charlotte S; Kraaijenhof, Jordan M; van Oers-Hazelzet, Esther B; Visser-Meily, Anne J M A; Hoepelman, Andy I M; Arends, Joop E; Barth, Roos E

2017-09-01

Neurocognitive impairment (NCI) is an increasingly important comorbidity in an ageing HIV+ population. Despite the lack of available treatment modalities, screening for NCI is recommended. In the UMC Utrecht, yearly NCI screening is done using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) tool and the HIV Dementia Scale (HDS). The aim of this study was to evaluate this screening protocol in relation to clinical outcomes and management. A retrospective cohort study was performed in suppressed adult HIV+ patients. Apart from the MoCa and the HDS, the Utrecht Scale for Evaluation of Rehabilitation-Participation (USER-P) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were performed. Patients scoring below average on cognitive screening tests or with subjective cognitive complaints were further evaluated using a standardized protocol, including optimizing cART and checking for somatic disorders. In patients with cognitive complaints and participation restrictions, cognitive rehabilitation was proposed. Two hundred eighty-six patients were screened. The vast majority were MSM with an average age of 49 years. One hundred forty-four out of 286 patients (50%) had an abnormal test score and/or had subjective cognitive complaints. Restrictions in participation were present in 23% of patients. Six patients on Efavirenz switched their regimes, as this drug is known for its potential central nervous system (CNS) side effects. A depressive component was present in 58 patients (40%). Five patients had a clinical relevant laboratory abnormality. Moreover, six patients were referred for cognitive rehabilitation, which resulted in a 100% success rate in set goals in the five evaluable patients. Although the protocol was not fully adhered to in all patients, it did result in detectable underlying causes of NCI in 59% of patients, and 21% was referred for further treatment. Moreover, cognitive rehabilitation appears to be a very successful intervention for patients with NCI who experience subjective complaints and participation restrictions.

Inhibitory Effects of Hydroethanolic Leaf Extracts of Kalanchoe brasiliensis and Kalanchoe pinnata (Crassulaceae) against Local Effects Induced by Bothrops jararaca Snake Venom.

PubMed

Fernandes, Júlia Morais; Félix-Silva, Juliana; da Cunha, Lorena Medeiros; Gomes, Jacyra Antunes Dos Santos; Siqueira, Emerson Michell da Silva; Gimenes, Luisa Possamai; Lopes, Norberto Peporine; Soares, Luiz Alberto Lira; Fernandes-Pedrosa, Matheus de Freitas; Zucolotto, Silvana Maria

2016-01-01

The species Kalanchoe brasiliensis and Kalanchoe pinnata, both known popularly as "Saião," are used interchangeably in traditional medicine for their antiophidic properties. Studies evaluating the anti-venom activity of these species are scarce. This study aims to characterize the chemical constituents and evaluate the inhibitory effects of hydroethanolic leaf extracts of K. brasiliensis and K. pinnata against local effects induced by Bothrops jararaca snake venom. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with Diode Array Detection and Electrospray Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-MS/MS) were performed for characterization of chemical markers of the extracts from these species. For antiophidic activity evaluation, B. jararaca venom-induced paw edema and skin hemorrhage in mice were evaluated. In both models, hydroethanolic extracts (125-500 mg/kg) were administered intraperitoneally in different protocols. Inhibition of phospholipase enzymatic activity of B. jararaca was evaluated. The HPLC-DAD-MS/MS chromatographic profile of extracts showed some particularities in the chemical profile of the two species. K. brasileinsis exhibited major peaks that have UV spectra similar to flavonoid glycosides derived from patuletin and eupafolin, while K. pinnata showed UV spectra similar to flavonoids glycosides derived from quercetin and kaempferol. Both extracts significantly reduced the hemorrhagic activity of B. jararaca venom in pre-treatment protocol, reaching about 40% of inhibition, while only K. pinnata was active in post-treatment protocol (about 30% of inhibition). In the antiedematogenic activity, only K. pinnata was active, inhibiting about 66% and 30% in pre and post-treatment protocols, respectively. Both extracts inhibited phospholipase activity; however, K. pinnata was more active. In conclusion, the results indicate the potential antiophidic activity of Kalanchoe species against local effects induced by B. jararaca snake venom, suggesting their potential use as a new source of bioactive molecules against bothropic venom.

A Documentation System to Save Time and Ensure Proper Application of the Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES®)

PubMed Central

Hey, Christiane; Pluschinski, Petra; Stanschus, Soenke; Euler, Harald A.; Sader, Robert A.; Langmore, Susan; Neumann, Katrin

2011-01-01

A properly performed fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES®) is comprehensive and time-consuming. Editing times of FEES protocols and attempts for efficiency maximization are unknown. Here, the protocol editing times of completed FEES examinations were determined. The present study reports the time savings and quality gains of a newly developed documentation system tailored to the FEES standard of Langmore. Four independent examiners analyzed twelve videos of FEES procedures, six without and six with the documentation system. Effectiveness of the documentation system was evaluated according to the times for total evaluation, interpretation, documentation, report writing, and for report completeness. The documentation system reduced editing times and increased report completeness with large effect sizes. Averaged total evaluation time decreased from 42 to 27 min, report completeness increased from 55 to 80%. The use of the documentation system facilitates and improves the assessment of the swallowing process. PMID:20938202

Study on Cloud Security Based on Trust Spanning Tree Protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lai, Yingxu; Liu, Zenghui; Pan, Qiuyue; Liu, Jing

2015-09-01

Attacks executed on Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) expose the weakness of link layer protocols and put the higher layers in jeopardy. Although the problems have been studied for many years and various solutions have been proposed, many security issues remain. To enhance the security and credibility of layer-2 network, we propose a trust-based spanning tree protocol aiming at achieving a higher credibility of LAN switch with a simple and lightweight authentication mechanism. If correctly implemented in each trusted switch, the authentication of trust-based STP can guarantee the credibility of topology information that is announced to other switch in the LAN. To verify the enforcement of the trusted protocol, we present a new trust evaluation method of the STP using a specification-based state model. We implement a prototype of trust-based STP to investigate its practicality. Experiment shows that the trusted protocol can achieve security goals and effectively avoid STP attacks with a lower computation overhead and good convergence performance.

Dedicated dental volumetric and total body multislice computed tomography: a comparison of image quality and radiation dose

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strocchi, Sabina; Colli, Vittoria; Novario, Raffaele; Carrafiello, Gianpaolo; Giorgianni, Andrea; Macchi, Aldo; Fugazzola, Carlo; Conte, Leopoldo

2007-03-01

Aim of this work is to compare the performances of a Xoran Technologies i-CAT Cone Beam CT for dental applications with those of a standard total body multislice CT (Toshiba Aquilion 64 multislice) used for dental examinations. Image quality and doses to patients have been compared for the three main i-CAT protocols, the Toshiba standard protocol and a Toshiba modified protocol. Images of two phantoms have been acquired: a standard CT quality control phantom and an Alderson Rando ® anthropomorphic phantom. Image noise, Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR) and geometric accuracy have been considered. Clinical image quality was assessed. Effective dose and doses to main head and neck organs were evaluated by means of thermo-luminescent dosimeters (TLD-100) placed in the anthropomorphic phantom. A Quality Index (QI), defined as the ratio of squared CNR to effective dose, has been evaluated. The evaluated effective doses range from 0.06 mSv (i-CAT 10 s protocol) to 2.37 mSv (Toshiba standard protocol). The Toshiba modified protocol (halved tube current, higher pitch value) imparts lower effective dose (0.99 mSv). The conventional CT device provides lower image noise and better SNR, but clinical effectiveness similar to that of dedicated dental CT (comparable CNR and clinical judgment). Consequently, QI values are much higher for this second CT scanner. No geometric distortion has been observed with both devices. As a conclusion, dental volumetric CT supplies adequate image quality to clinical purposes, at doses that are really lower than those imparted by a conventional CT device.

Plan delivery quality assurance for CyberKnife: Statistical process control analysis of 350 film-based patient-specific QAs.

PubMed

Bellec, J; Delaby, N; Jouyaux, F; Perdrieux, M; Bouvier, J; Sorel, S; Henry, O; Lafond, C

2017-07-01

Robotic radiosurgery requires plan delivery quality assurance (DQA) but there has never been a published comprehensive analysis of a patient-specific DQA process in a clinic. We proposed to evaluate 350 consecutive film-based patient-specific DQAs using statistical process control. We evaluated the performance of the process to propose achievable tolerance criteria for DQA validation and we sought to identify suboptimal DQA using control charts. DQAs were performed on a CyberKnife-M6 using Gafchromic-EBT3 films. The signal-to-dose conversion was performed using a multichannel-correction and a scanning protocol that combined measurement and calibration in a single scan. The DQA analysis comprised a gamma-index analysis at 3%/1.5mm and a separate evaluation of spatial and dosimetric accuracy of the plan delivery. Each parameter was plotted on a control chart and control limits were calculated. A capability index (Cpm) was calculated to evaluate the ability of the process to produce results within specifications. The analysis of capability showed that a gamma pass rate of 85% at 3%/1.5mm was highly achievable as acceptance criteria for DQA validation using a film-based protocol (Cpm>1.33). 3.4% of DQA were outside a control limit of 88% for gamma pass-rate. The analysis of the out-of-control DQA helped identify a dosimetric error in our institute for a specific treatment type. We have defined initial tolerance criteria for DQA validations. We have shown that the implementation of a film-based patient-specific DQA protocol with the use of control charts is an effective method to improve patient treatment safety on CyberKnife. Copyright © 2017 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving generalized inverted index lock wait times

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borodin, A.; Mirvoda, S.; Porshnev, S.; Ponomareva, O.

2018-01-01

Concurrent operations on tree like data structures is a cornerstone of any database system. Concurrent operations intended for improving read\\write performance and usually implemented via some way of locking. Deadlock-free methods of concurrency control are known as tree locking protocols. These protocols provide basic operations(verbs) and algorithm (ways of operation invocations) for applying it to any tree-like data structure. These algorithms operate on data, managed by storage engine which are very different among RDBMS implementations. In this paper, we discuss tree locking protocol implementation for General inverted index (Gin) applied to multiversion concurrency control (MVCC) storage engine inside PostgreSQL RDBMS. After that we introduce improvements to locking protocol and provide usage statistics about evaluation of our improvement in very high load environment in one of the world’s largest IT company.

An Ultra-low-power Medium Access Control Protocol for Body Sensor Network.

PubMed

Li, Huaming; Tan, Jindong

2005-01-01

In this paper, a medium access control (MAC) protocol designed for Body Sensor Network (BSN-MAC) is proposed. BSN-MAC is an adaptive, feedback-based and IEEE 802.15.4-compatible MAC protocol. Due to the traffic coupling and sensor diversity characteristics of BSNs, common MAC protocols can not satisfy the unique requirements of the biomedical sensors in BSN. BSN-MAC exploits the feedback information from the deployed sensors to form a closed-loop control of the MAC parameters. A control algorithm is proposed to enable the BSN coordinator to adjust parameters of the IEEE 802.15.4 superframe to achieve both energy efficiency and low latency on energy critical nodes. We evaluate the performance of BSN-MAC using energy efficiency as the primary metric.

Randomized trial for answers to clinical questions: evaluating a pre-appraised versus a MEDLINE search protocol.

PubMed

Patel, Manesh R; Schardt, Connie M; Sanders, Linda L; Keitz, Sheri A

2006-10-01

The paper compares the speed, validity, and applicability of two different protocols for searching the primary medical literature. A randomized trial involving medicine residents was performed. An inpatient general medicine rotation was used. Thirty-two internal medicine residents were block randomized into four groups of eight. Success rate of each search protocol was measured by perceived search time, number of questions answered, and proportion of articles that were applicable and valid. Residents randomized to the MEDLINE-first (protocol A) group searched 120 questions, and residents randomized to the MEDLINE-last (protocol B) searched 133 questions. In protocol A, 104 answers (86.7%) and, in protocol B, 117 answers (88%) were found to clinical questions. In protocol A, residents reported that 26 (25.2%) of the answers were obtained quickly or rated as "fast" (<5 minutes) as opposed to 55 (51.9%) in protocol B, (P = 0.0004). A subset of questions and articles (n = 79) were reviewed by faculty who found that both protocols identified similar numbers of answer articles that addressed the questions and were felt to be valid using critical appraisal criteria. For resident-generated clinical questions, both protocols produced a similarly high percentage of applicable and valid articles. The MEDLINE-last search protocol was perceived to be faster. However, in the MEDLINE-last protocol, a significant portion of questions (23%) still required searching MEDLINE to find an answer.

The Traffic Adaptive Data Dissemination (TrAD) Protocol for both Urban and Highway Scenarios.

PubMed

Tian, Bin; Hou, Kun Mean; Zhou, Haiying

2016-06-21

The worldwide economic cost of road crashes and injuries is estimated to be US$518 billion per year and the annual congestion cost in France is estimated to be €5.9 billion. Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) are one solution to improve transport features such as traffic safety, traffic jam and infotainment on wheels, where a great number of event-driven messages need to be disseminated in a timely way in a region of interest. In comparison with traditional wireless networks, VANETs have to consider the highly dynamic network topology and lossy links due to node mobility. Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) protocols are the keystone of VANETs. According to our survey, most of the proposed IVC protocols focus on either highway or urban scenarios, but not on both. Furthermore, too few protocols, considering both scenarios, can achieve high performance. In this paper, an infrastructure-less Traffic Adaptive data Dissemination (TrAD) protocol which takes into account road traffic and network traffic status for both highway and urban scenarios will be presented. TrAD has double broadcast suppression techniques and is designed to adapt efficiently to the irregular road topology. The performance of the TrAD protocol was evaluated quantitatively by means of realistic simulations taking into account different real road maps, traffic routes and vehicular densities. The obtained simulation results show that TrAD is more efficient in terms of packet delivery ratio, number of transmissions and delay in comparison with the performance of three well-known reference protocols. Moreover, TrAD can also tolerate a reasonable degree of GPS drift and still achieve efficient data dissemination.

The Traffic Adaptive Data Dissemination (TrAD) Protocol for both Urban and Highway Scenarios

PubMed Central

Tian, Bin; Hou, Kun Mean; Zhou, Haiying

2016-01-01

The worldwide economic cost of road crashes and injuries is estimated to be US$518 billion per year and the annual congestion cost in France is estimated to be €5.9 billion. Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANETs) are one solution to improve transport features such as traffic safety, traffic jam and infotainment on wheels, where a great number of event-driven messages need to be disseminated in a timely way in a region of interest. In comparison with traditional wireless networks, VANETs have to consider the highly dynamic network topology and lossy links due to node mobility. Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) protocols are the keystone of VANETs. According to our survey, most of the proposed IVC protocols focus on either highway or urban scenarios, but not on both. Furthermore, too few protocols, considering both scenarios, can achieve high performance. In this paper, an infrastructure-less Traffic Adaptive data Dissemination (TrAD) protocol which takes into account road traffic and network traffic status for both highway and urban scenarios will be presented. TrAD has double broadcast suppression techniques and is designed to adapt efficiently to the irregular road topology. The performance of the TrAD protocol was evaluated quantitatively by means of realistic simulations taking into account different real road maps, traffic routes and vehicular densities. The obtained simulation results show that TrAD is more efficient in terms of packet delivery ratio, number of transmissions and delay in comparison with the performance of three well-known reference protocols. Moreover, TrAD can also tolerate a reasonable degree of GPS drift and still achieve efficient data dissemination. PMID:27338393

Evaluation and Adaptation of a Laboratory-Based cDNA Library Preparation Protocol for Retrospective Sequencing of Archived MicroRNAs from up to 35-Year-Old Clinical FFPE Specimens

PubMed Central

Loudig, Olivier; Wang, Tao; Ye, Kenny; Lin, Juan; Wang, Yihong; Ramnauth, Andrew; Liu, Christina; Stark, Azadeh; Chitale, Dhananjay; Greenlee, Robert; Multerer, Deborah; Honda, Stacey; Daida, Yihe; Spencer Feigelson, Heather; Glass, Andrew; Couch, Fergus J.; Rohan, Thomas; Ben-Dov, Iddo Z.

2017-01-01

Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens, when used in conjunction with patient clinical data history, represent an invaluable resource for molecular studies of cancer. Even though nucleic acids extracted from archived FFPE tissues are degraded, their molecular analysis has become possible. In this study, we optimized a laboratory-based next-generation sequencing barcoded cDNA library preparation protocol for analysis of small RNAs recovered from archived FFPE tissues. Using matched fresh and FFPE specimens, we evaluated the robustness and reproducibility of our optimized approach, as well as its applicability to archived clinical specimens stored for up to 35 years. We then evaluated this cDNA library preparation protocol by performing a miRNA expression analysis of archived breast ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) specimens, selected for their relation to the risk of subsequent breast cancer development and obtained from six different institutions. Our analyses identified six miRNAs (miR-29a, miR-221, miR-375, miR-184, miR-363, miR-455-5p) differentially expressed between DCIS lesions from women who subsequently developed an invasive breast cancer (cases) and women who did not develop invasive breast cancer within the same time interval (control). Our thorough evaluation and application of this laboratory-based miRNA sequencing analysis indicates that the preparation of small RNA cDNA libraries can reliably be performed on older, archived, clinically-classified specimens. PMID:28335433

Capacity building and predictors of success for HIV-1 drug resistance testing in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa

PubMed Central

Land, Sally; Zhou, Julian; Cunningham, Philip; Sohn, Annette H; Singtoroj, Thida; Katzenstein, David; Mann, Marita; Sayer, David; Kantor, Rami

2013-01-01

Background The TREAT Asia Quality Assessment Scheme (TAQAS) was developed as a quality assessment programme through expert education and training, for laboratories in the Asia-Pacific and Africa that perform HIV drug-resistance (HIVDR) genotyping. We evaluated the programme performance and factors associated with high-quality HIVDR genotyping. Methods Laboratories used their standard protocols to test panels of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive plasma samples or electropherograms. Protocols were documented and performance was evaluated according to a newly developed scoring system, agreement with panel-specific consensus sequence, and detection of drug-resistance mutations (DRMs) and mixtures of wild-type and resistant virus (mixtures). High-quality performance was defined as detection of ≥95% DRMs. Results Over 4.5 years, 23 participating laboratories in 13 countries tested 45 samples (30 HIV-1 subtype B; 15 non-B subtypes) in nine panels. Median detection of DRMs was 88–98% in plasma panels and 90–97% in electropherogram panels. Laboratories were supported to amend and improve their test outcomes as appropriate. Three laboratories that detected <80% DRMs in early panels demonstrated subsequent improvement. Sample complexity factors – number of DRMs (p<0.001) and number of DRMs as mixtures (p<0.001); and laboratory performance factors – detection of mixtures (p<0.001) and agreement with consensus sequence (p<0.001), were associated with high performance; sample format (plasma or electropherogram), subtype and genotyping protocol were not. Conclusion High-quality HIVDR genotyping was achieved in the TAQAS collaborative laboratory network. Sample complexity and detection of mixtures were associated with performance quality. Laboratories conducting HIVDR genotyping are encouraged to participate in quality assessment programmes. PMID:23845227

CT evaluation of living liver donor: Can 100-kVp plus iterative reconstruction protocol provide accurate liver volume and vascular anatomy for liver transplantation with reduced radiation and contrast dose?

PubMed

Yoshida, Morikatsu; Utsunomiya, Daisuke; Kidoh, Masafumi; Yuki, Hideaki; Oda, Seitaro; Shiraishi, Shinya; Yamamoto, Hidekazu; Inomata, Yukihiro; Yamashita, Yasuyuki

2017-06-01

We evaluated whether donor computed tomography (CT) with a combined technique of lower tube voltage and iterative reconstruction (IR) can provide sufficient preoperative information for liver transplantation.We retrospectively reviewed CT of 113 liver donor candidates. Dynamic contrast-enhanced CT of the liver was performed on the following protocol: protocol A (n = 70), 120-kVp with filtered back projection (FBP); protocol B (n = 43), 100-kVp with IR. To equalize the background covariates, one-to-one propensity-matched analysis was used. We visually compared the score of the hepatic artery (A-score), portal vein (P-score), and hepatic vein (V-score) of the 2 protocols and quantitatively correlated the graft volume obtained by CT volumetry (graft-CTv) under the 2 protocols with the actual graft weight.In total, 39 protocol-A and protocol-B candidates showed comparable preoperative clinical characteristics with propensity matching. For protocols A and B, the A-score was 3.87 ± 0.73 and 4.51 ± 0.56 (P < .01), the P-score was 4.92 ± 0.27 and 5.0 ± 0.0 (P = .07), and the V-score was 4.23 ± 0.78 and 4.82 ± 0.39 (P < .01), respectively. Correlations between the actual graft weight and graft-CTv of protocols A and B were 0.97 and 0.96, respectively.Liver-donor CT imaging under 100-kVp plus IR protocol provides better visualization for vascular structures than that under 120-kVp plus FBP protocol with comparable accuracy for graft-CTv, while lowering radiation exposure by more than 40% and reducing contrast-medium dose by 20%.

Standard Operational Protocols in professional nursing practice: use, weaknesses and potentialities.

PubMed

Sales, Camila Balsero; Bernardes, Andrea; Gabriel, Carmen Silvia; Brito, Maria de Fátima Paiva; Moura, André Almeida de; Zanetti, Ariane Cristina Barboza

2018-01-01

to evaluate the use of Standard Operational Protocols (SOPs) in the professional practice of the nursing team based on the theoretical framework of Donabedian, as well as to identify the weaknesses and potentialities from its implementation. Evaluative research, with quantitative approach performed with nursing professionals working in the Health Units of a city of São Paulo, composed of two stages: document analysis and subsequent application of a questionnaire to nursing professionals. A total of 247 nursing professionals participated and reported changes in the way the interventions were performed. The main weaknesses were the small number of professionals, inadequate physical structure and lack of materials. Among the potentialities were: the standardization of materials and concern of the manager and professional related to patient safety. The reassessment of SOPs is necessary, as well as the adoption of a strategy of permanent education of professionals aiming at improving the quality of care provided.

ICC '86; Proceedings of the International Conference on Communications, Toronto, Canada, June 22-25, 1986, Conference Record. Volumes 1, 2, & 3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papers are presented on ISDN, mobile radio systems and techniques for digital connectivity, centralized and distributed algorithms in computer networks, communications networks, quality assurance and impact on cost, adaptive filters in communications, the spread spectrum, signal processing, video communication techniques, and digital satellite services. Topics discussed include performance evaluation issues for integrated protocols, packet network operations, the computer network theory and multiple-access, microwave single sideband systems, switching architectures, fiber optic systems, wireless local communications, modulation, coding, and synchronization, remote switching, software quality, transmission, and expert systems in network operations. Consideration is given to wide area networks, image and speech processing, office communications application protocols, multimedia systems, customer-controlled network operations, digital radio systems, channel modeling and signal processing in digital communications, earth station/on-board modems, computer communications system performance evaluation, source encoding, compression, and quantization, and adaptive communications systems.

High-throughput quantification for a drug mixture in rat plasma-a comparison of Ultra Performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry with high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Yu, Kate; Little, David; Plumb, Rob; Smith, Brian

2006-01-01

A quantitative Ultra Performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPL/MS/MS) protocol was developed for a five-compound mixture in rat plasma. A similar high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS) quantification protocol was developed for comparison purposes. Among the five test compounds, three preferred positive electrospray ionization (ESI) and two preferred negative ESI. As a result, both UPLC/MS/MS and HPLC/MS/MS analyses were performed by having the mass spectrometer collecting ESI multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) data in both positive and negative ion modes during a single injection. Peak widths for most standards were 4.8 s for the HPLC analysis and 2.4 s for the UPLC analysis. There were 17 to 20 data points obtained for each of the LC peaks. Compared with the HPLC/MS/MS method, the UPLC/MS/MS method offered 3-fold decrease in retention time, up to 10-fold increase in detected peak height, with 2-fold decrease in peak width. Limits of quantification (LOQs) for both HPLC and UPLC methods were evaluated. For UPLC/MS/MS analysis, a linear range up to four orders of magnitude was obtained with r2 values ranging from 0.991 to 0.998. The LOQs for the five analytes ranged from 0.08 to 9.85 ng/mL. Three levels of quality control (QC) samples were analyzed. For the UPLC/MS/MS protocol, the percent relative standard deviation (RSD%) for low QC (2 ng/mL) ranged from 3.42 to 8.67% (N = 18). The carryover of the UPLC/MS/MS protocol was negligible and the robustness of the UPLC/MS/MS system was evaluated with up to 963 QC injections. Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Evaluation of the articular cartilage of the knee joint: value of adding a T2 mapping sequence to a routine MR imaging protocol.

PubMed

Kijowski, Richard; Blankenbaker, Donna G; Munoz Del Rio, Alejandro; Baer, Geoffrey S; Graf, Ben K

2013-05-01

To determine whether the addition of a T2 mapping sequence to a routine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging protocol could improve diagnostic performance in the detection of surgically confirmed cartilage lesions within the knee joint at 3.0 T. This prospective study was approved by the institutional review board, and the requirement to obtain informed consent was waived. The study group consisted of 150 patients (76 male and 74 female patients with an average age of 41.2 and 41.5 years, respectively) who underwent MR imaging and arthroscopy of the knee joint. MR imaging was performed at 3.0 T by using a routine protocol with the addition of a sagittal T2 mapping sequence. Images from all MR examinations were reviewed in consensus by two radiologists before surgery to determine the presence or absence of cartilage lesions on each articular surface, first by using the routine MR protocol alone and then by using the routine MR protocol with T2 maps. Each articular surface was then evaluated at arthroscopy. Generalized estimating equation models were used to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the routine MR imaging protocol with and without T2 maps in the detection of surgically confirmed cartilage lesions. The sensitivity and specificity in the detection of 351 cartilage lesions were 74.6% and 97.8%, respectively, for the routine MR protocol alone and 88.9% and 93.1% for the routine MR protocol with T2 maps. Differences in sensitivity and specificity were statistically significant (P < .001). The addition of T2 maps to the routine MR imaging protocol significantly improved the sensitivity in the detection of 24 areas of cartilage softening (from 4.2% to 62%, P < .001), 41 areas of cartilage fibrillation (from 20% to 66%, P < .001), and 96 superficial partial-thickness cartilage defects (from 71% to 88%, P = .004). The addition of a T2 mapping sequence to a routine MR protocol at 3.0 T improved sensitivity in the detection of cartilage lesions within the knee joint from 74.6% to 88.9%, with only a small reduction in specificity. The greatest improvement in sensitivity with use of the T2 maps was in the identification of early cartilage degeneration. © RSNA, 2013.

Rectal lymphoma in 11 dogs: a retrospective study.

PubMed

Van den Steen, N; Berlato, D; Polton, G; Dobson, J; Stewart, J; Maglennon, G; Hayes, A M; Murphy, S

2012-10-01

To retrospectively evaluate the clinical behaviour and immunophenotype of lymphoma of the rectum in dogs. Eleven dogs diagnosed with lymphoma of the rectum on histopathology were retrospectively reviewed. Immunohistochemistry with CD3 and CD79a antibodies was performed at diagnosis or retrospectively. Treatment protocol varied with six dogs undergoing surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, two received chemotherapy after only incisional biopsy, one had surgical resection only, one was treated symptomatically and one dog was not treated. Chemotherapy treatment consisted of either a -low-dose COP (cyclophosphamide - prednisolone - vincristine) protocol (four dogs) or a six-week CHOP-based (cyclophosphamide - vincristine - -prednisolone - anthracycline) protocol (four dogs). Dogs that received chemotherapy lived significantly longer than dogs that did not receive chemotherapy (2352 versus 70 days). Median survival time was not reached, and there was an overall mean survival time of 1697 days. Immunohistochemistry was performed in 10 of 11 samples, and was consistent with B-cell -lymphoma in all cases. Canine lymphoma of the rectum is associated with a favourable prognosis. Immunohistochemical evaluation of these lesions was consistent with B-cell lymphoma in all cases in which it was examined. © 2012 British Small Animal Veterinary Association.

Pelvic Muscle Rehabilitation: A Standardized Protocol for Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

PubMed Central

Pedraza, Rodrigo; Nieto, Javier; Ibarra, Sergio; Haas, Eric M.

2014-01-01

Introduction. Pelvic floor dysfunction syndromes present with voiding, sexual, and anorectal disturbances, which may be associated with one another, resulting in complex presentation. Thus, an integrated diagnosis and management approach may be required. Pelvic muscle rehabilitation (PMR) is a noninvasive modality involving cognitive reeducation, modification, and retraining of the pelvic floor and associated musculature. We describe our standardized PMR protocol for the management of pelvic floor dysfunction syndromes. Pelvic Muscle Rehabilitation Program. The diagnostic assessment includes electromyography and manometry analyzed in 4 phases: (1) initial baseline phase; (2) rapid contraction phase; (3) tonic contraction and endurance phase; and (4) late baseline phase. This evaluation is performed at the onset of every session. PMR management consists of 6 possible therapeutic modalities, employed depending on the diagnostic evaluation: (1) down-training; (2) accessory muscle isolation; (3) discrimination training; (4) muscle strengthening; (5) endurance training; and (6) electrical stimulation. Eight to ten sessions are performed at one-week intervals with integration of home exercises and lifestyle modifications. Conclusions. The PMR protocol offers a standardized approach to diagnose and manage pelvic floor dysfunction syndromes with potential advantages over traditional biofeedback, involving additional interventions and a continuous pelvic floor assessment with management modifications over the clinical course. PMID:25006337

Scalable parallel communications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maly, K.; Khanna, S.; Overstreet, C. M.; Mukkamala, R.; Zubair, M.; Sekhar, Y. S.; Foudriat, E. C.

1992-01-01

Coarse-grain parallelism in networking (that is, the use of multiple protocol processors running replicated software sending over several physical channels) can be used to provide gigabit communications for a single application. Since parallel network performance is highly dependent on real issues such as hardware properties (e.g., memory speeds and cache hit rates), operating system overhead (e.g., interrupt handling), and protocol performance (e.g., effect of timeouts), we have performed detailed simulations studies of both a bus-based multiprocessor workstation node (based on the Sun Galaxy MP multiprocessor) and a distributed-memory parallel computer node (based on the Touchstone DELTA) to evaluate the behavior of coarse-grain parallelism. Our results indicate: (1) coarse-grain parallelism can deliver multiple 100 Mbps with currently available hardware platforms and existing networking protocols (such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and parallel Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) rings); (2) scale-up is near linear in n, the number of protocol processors, and channels (for small n and up to a few hundred Mbps); and (3) since these results are based on existing hardware without specialized devices (except perhaps for some simple modifications of the FDDI boards), this is a low cost solution to providing multiple 100 Mbps on current machines. In addition, from both the performance analysis and the properties of these architectures, we conclude: (1) multiple processors providing identical services and the use of space division multiplexing for the physical channels can provide better reliability than monolithic approaches (it also provides graceful degradation and low-cost load balancing); (2) coarse-grain parallelism supports running several transport protocols in parallel to provide different types of service (for example, one TCP handles small messages for many users, other TCP's running in parallel provide high bandwidth service to a single application); and (3) coarse grain parallelism will be able to incorporate many future improvements from related work (e.g., reduced data movement, fast TCP, fine-grain parallelism) also with near linear speed-ups.

First Annual Progress Report on Transmission of Information by Acoustic Communication along Metal Pathways in Nuclear Facilities

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

Heifetz, A.; Bakhtiari, S.; Huang, X.

The objective of this project is to develop and demonstrate methods for transmission of information in nuclear facilities by acoustic means along existing in-place metal piping infrastructure. Pipes are omnipresent in a nuclear facility, and penetrate enclosures and partitions, such as the containment building wall. In the envisioned acoustic communication (AC) system, packets of information will be transmitted as guided acoustic waves along pipes. Performance of AC hardware and network protocols for efficient and secure communications under development in this project will be eventually evaluated in a representative nuclear power plant environment. Research efforts in the first year of thismore » project have been focused on identification of appropriate transducers, and evaluation of their performance for information transmission along nuclear-grade metallic pipes. COMSOL computer simulations were performed to study acoustic wave generation, propagation, and attenuation on pipes. An experimental benchtop system was used to evaluate signal attenuation and spectral dispersion using piezo-electric transducers (PZTs) and electromagnetic acoustic transducers (EMATs). Communication protocols under evaluation consisted on-off keying (OOK) signal modulation, in particular amplitude shift keying (ASK) and phase shift keying (PSK). Tradeoffs between signal power and communication data rate were considered for ASK and PSK coding schemes.« less

Prospective Evaluation of a Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry System in a Hospital Clinical Microbiology Laboratory for Identification of Bacteria and Yeasts: a Bench-by-Bench Study for Assessing the Impact on Time to Identification and Cost-Effectiveness

PubMed Central

Tan, K. E.; Ellis, B. C.; Lee, R.; Stamper, P. D.; Zhang, S. X.

2012-01-01

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has been found to be an accurate, rapid, and inexpensive method for the identification of bacteria and yeasts. Previous evaluations have compared the accuracy, time to identification, and costs of the MALDI-TOF MS method against standard identification systems or commercial panels. In this prospective study, we compared a protocol incorporating MALDI-TOF MS (MALDI protocol) with the current standard identification protocols (standard protocol) to determine the performance in actual practice using a specimen-based, bench-by-bench approach. The potential impact on time to identification (TTI) and costs had MALDI-TOF MS been the first-line identification method was quantitated. The MALDI protocol includes supplementary tests, notably for Streptococcus pneumoniae and Shigella, and indications for repeat MALDI-TOF MS attempts, often not measured in previous studies. A total of 952 isolates (824 bacterial isolates and 128 yeast isolates) recovered from 2,214 specimens were assessed using the MALDI protocol. Compared with standard protocols, the MALDI protocol provided identifications 1.45 days earlier on average (P < 0.001). In our laboratory, we anticipate that the incorporation of the MALDI protocol can reduce reagent and labor costs of identification by $102,424 or 56.9% within 12 months. The model included the fixed annual costs of the MALDI-TOF MS, such as the cost of protein standards and instrument maintenance, and the annual prevalence of organisms encountered in our laboratory. This comprehensive cost analysis model can be generalized to other moderate- to high-volume laboratories. PMID:22855510

Prospective evaluation of a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry system in a hospital clinical microbiology laboratory for identification of bacteria and yeasts: a bench-by-bench study for assessing the impact on time to identification and cost-effectiveness.

PubMed

Tan, K E; Ellis, B C; Lee, R; Stamper, P D; Zhang, S X; Carroll, K C

2012-10-01

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has been found to be an accurate, rapid, and inexpensive method for the identification of bacteria and yeasts. Previous evaluations have compared the accuracy, time to identification, and costs of the MALDI-TOF MS method against standard identification systems or commercial panels. In this prospective study, we compared a protocol incorporating MALDI-TOF MS (MALDI protocol) with the current standard identification protocols (standard protocol) to determine the performance in actual practice using a specimen-based, bench-by-bench approach. The potential impact on time to identification (TTI) and costs had MALDI-TOF MS been the first-line identification method was quantitated. The MALDI protocol includes supplementary tests, notably for Streptococcus pneumoniae and Shigella, and indications for repeat MALDI-TOF MS attempts, often not measured in previous studies. A total of 952 isolates (824 bacterial isolates and 128 yeast isolates) recovered from 2,214 specimens were assessed using the MALDI protocol. Compared with standard protocols, the MALDI protocol provided identifications 1.45 days earlier on average (P < 0.001). In our laboratory, we anticipate that the incorporation of the MALDI protocol can reduce reagent and labor costs of identification by $102,424 or 56.9% within 12 months. The model included the fixed annual costs of the MALDI-TOF MS, such as the cost of protein standards and instrument maintenance, and the annual prevalence of organisms encountered in our laboratory. This comprehensive cost analysis model can be generalized to other moderate- to high-volume laboratories.

Variability in usual care mechanical ventilation for pediatric acute lung injury: the potential benefit of a lung protective computer protocol.

PubMed

Khemani, Robinder G; Sward, Katherine; Morris, Alan; Dean, J Michael; Newth, Christopher J L

2011-11-01

Although pediatric intensivists claim to embrace lung protective ventilation for acute lung injury (ALI), ventilator management is variable. We describe ventilator changes clinicians made for children with hypoxemic respiratory failure, and evaluate the potential acceptability of a pediatric ventilation protocol. This was a retrospective cohort study performed in a tertiary care pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The study period was from January 2000 to July 2007. We included mechanically ventilated children with PaO(2)/FiO(2) (P/F) ratio less than 300. We assessed variability in ventilator management by evaluating actual changes to ventilator settings after an arterial blood gas (ABG). We evaluated the potential acceptability of a pediatric mechanical ventilation protocol we adapted from National Institutes of Health/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI) Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) Network protocols by comparing actual practice changes in ventilator settings to changes that would have been recommended by the protocol. A total of 2,719 ABGs from 402 patients were associated with 6,017 ventilator settings. Clinicians infrequently decreased FiO(2), even when the PaO(2) was high (>68 mmHg). The protocol would have recommended more positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) than was used in actual practice 42% of the time in the mid PaO(2) range (55-68 mmHg) and 67% of the time in the low PaO(2) range (<55 mmHg). Clinicians often made no change to either peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) or ventilator rate (VR) when the protocol would have recommended a change, even when the pH was greater than 7.45 with PIP at least 35 cmH(2)O. There may be lost opportunities to minimize potentially injurious ventilator settings for children with ALI. A reproducible pediatric mechanical ventilation protocol could prompt clinicians to make ventilator changes that are consistent with lung protective ventilation.

Dynamic Postural Control in Female Athletes and Nonathletes After a Whole-Body Fatigue Protocol.

PubMed

Baghbani, Fatemeh; Woodhouse, Linda J; Gaeini, Abbas A

2016-07-01

Baghbani, F, Woodhouse, LJ, and Gaeini, AA. Dynamic postural control in female athletes and nonathletes after a whole-body fatigue protocol. J Strength Cond Res 30(7): 1942-1947, 2016-Postural control is a crucial element in regular training of athletes, development of complex technical movement, and injury prevention; however, distributing factor of the postural control such as fatigue has been neglected by athletic trainers in novice and inexperienced athletes. The objective of this study was to compare changes in dynamic postural control of young female athletes and nonathletes after a fatigue protocol. Thirty females (15 athletes and 15 nonathletes) with no orthopedic problems were recruited to participate in this study. All participants completed the pre-SEBT (star excursion balance test) in 8 directions at baseline; then, they performed a 20-minute fatigue protocol after which post-SEBT was measured. Rating of perceived exertion was measured using the Borg scale immediately before, mid-way through (i.e., after the third station), and after performing the fatigue protocol (i.e., immediately before the post-SEBT). Female nonathlete groups had significant differences in dynamic balance performance after fatigue in the medial, posteromedial, and posterior directions (p < 0.01) measured by SEBT. Athletes, however, showed no significant changes after the fatigue protocol. Our results indicates the importance of evaluation and monitoring of dynamic postural control of the novice with progressing the exercise time. Our findings could also help coaches to develop trainings focused on the 3 directions of medial, posteromedial, and posterior directions and aimed at exercises increasing fatigue resistance.

Optimization of intra-voxel incoherent motion imaging at 3.0 Tesla for fast liver examination.

PubMed

Leporq, Benjamin; Saint-Jalmes, Hervé; Rabrait, Cecile; Pilleul, Frank; Guillaud, Olivier; Dumortier, Jérôme; Scoazec, Jean-Yves; Beuf, Olivier

2015-05-01

Optimization of multi b-values MR protocol for fast intra-voxel incoherent motion imaging of the liver at 3.0 Tesla. A comparison of four different acquisition protocols were carried out based on estimated IVIM (DSlow , DFast , and f) and ADC-parameters in 25 healthy volunteers. The effects of respiratory gating compared with free breathing acquisition then diffusion gradient scheme (simultaneous or sequential) and finally use of weighted averaging for different b-values were assessed. An optimization study based on Cramer-Rao lower bound theory was then performed to minimize the number of b-values required for a suitable quantification. The duration-optimized protocol was evaluated on 12 patients with chronic liver diseases No significant differences of IVIM parameters were observed between the assessed protocols. Only four b-values (0, 12, 82, and 1310 s.mm(-2) ) were found mandatory to perform a suitable quantification of IVIM parameters. DSlow and DFast significantly decreased between nonadvanced and advanced fibrosis (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01) whereas perfusion fraction and ADC variations were not found to be significant. Results showed that IVIM could be performed in free breathing, with a weighted-averaging procedure, a simultaneous diffusion gradient scheme and only four optimized b-values (0, 10, 80, and 800) reducing scan duration by a factor of nine compared with a nonoptimized protocol. Preliminary results have shown that parameters such as DSlow and DFast based on optimized IVIM protocol can be relevant biomarkers to distinguish between nonadvanced and advanced fibrosis. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evaluation of results obtained with corifollitropin alfa after poor ovarian response in previous cycle using recombinant follicular stimulating hormone in the long-term protocol.

PubMed

Salgueiro, Lister L; Rolim, Juliana R; Moura, Bernardo R L; Machado, Suelen P P; Haddad, Carolina

2016-08-01

This study evaluated the use of Corifollitropin alfa in patients with previous poor response to recombinant follicle stimulating hormone in long-term protocols using gonadotropin-releasing hormone. Twenty-seven poor responders to previous treatment with the long term protocol using the recombinant follicle stimulating hormone (Group 1) were selected and then submitted to a second attempt using the same long term protocol with Corifollitropin alfa instead of the recombinant follicle stimulating hormone (Group 2).Ovarian down-regulation was achieved using subcutaneous administration of Leuprolide Acetate. Ovarian stimulation was performed with recombinant follicle stimulating hormone until the administration of human chorionic gonadotropin, followed by follicular aspiration (Group 1). Group 2 was submitted to this same protocol using Corifollitropin alfa instead of recombinant follicle stimulating hormone. There were significant differences in the number of aspirated oocytes, percentage of mature oocytes, amount of injected oocytes and transferred embryos - with all of these parameters being increased in the Corifollitropin alfa group. In addition, the rates of pregnancy and ongoing pregnancy were also significantly higher in the Corifollitropin alfa group. The present study demonstrated that the use of Corifollitropin alfa in the long-term protocol could be a highly effective alternative for patients with poor ovarian response, who were unsuccessful in a previous treatment with In Vitro Fertilization - Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection.

Automating individualized coaching and authentic role-play practice for brief intervention training.

PubMed

Hayes-Roth, B; Saker, R; Amano, K

2010-01-01

Brief intervention helps to reduce alcohol abuse, but there is a need for accessible, cost-effective training of clinicians. This study evaluated STAR Workshop , a web-based training system that automates efficacious techniques for individualized coaching and authentic role-play practice. We compared STAR Workshop to a web-based, self-guided e-book and a no-treatment control, for training the Engage for Change (E4C) brief intervention protocol. Subjects were medical and nursing students. Brief written skill probes tested subjects' performance of individual protocol steps, in different clinical scenarios, at three test times: pre-training, post-training, and post-delay (two weeks). Subjects also did live phone interviews with a standardized patient, post-delay. STAR subjects performed significantly better than both other groups. They showed significantly greater improvement from pre-training probes to post-training and post-delay probes. They scored significantly higher on post-delay phone interviews. STAR Workshop appears to be an accessible, cost-effective approach for training students to use the E4C protocol for brief intervention in alcohol abuse. It may also be useful for training other clinical interviewing protocols.

An adaptive toolkit for image quality evaluation in system performance test of digital breast tomosynthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Guozhi; Petrov, Dimitar; Marshall, Nicholas; Bosmans, Hilde

2017-03-01

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is a relatively new diagnostic imaging modality for women. Currently, various models of DBT systems are available on the market and the number of installations is rapidly increasing. EUREF, the European Reference Organization for Quality Assured Breast Screening and Diagnostic Services, has proposed a preliminary Guideline - protocol for the quality control of the physical and technical aspects of digital breast tomosynthesis systems, with an ultimate aim of providing limiting values guaranteeing proper performance for different applications of DBT. In this work, we introduce an adaptive toolkit developed in accordance with this guideline to facilitate the process of image quality evaluation in DBT performance test. This toolkit implements robust algorithms to quantify various technical parameters of DBT images and provides a convenient user interface in practice. Each test is built into a separate module with configurations set corresponding to the European guideline, which can be easily adapted to different settings and extended with additional tests. This toolkit largely improves the efficiency for image quality evaluation of DBT. It is also going to evolve with the development of protocols in quality control of DBT systems.

Development of a grinding-specific performance test set-up.

PubMed

Olesen, C G; Larsen, B H; Andresen, E L; de Zee, M

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to develop a performance test set-up for America's Cup grinders. The test set-up had to mimic the on-boat grinding activity and be capable of collecting data for analysis and evaluation of grinding performance. This study included a literature-based analysis of grinding demands and a test protocol developed to accommodate the necessary physiological loads. This study resulted in a test protocol consisting of 10 intervals of 20 revolutions each interspersed with active resting periods of 50 s. The 20 revolutions are a combination of both forward and backward grinding and an exponentially rising resistance. A custom-made grinding ergometer was developed with computer-controlled resistance and capable of collecting data during the test. The data collected can be used to find measures of grinding performance such as peak power, time to complete and the decline in repeated grinding performance.

In situ continuous monitoring of nitrogen with ion-selective electrodes in a constructed wetland receiving treated wastewater: an operating protocol to obtain reliable data.

PubMed

Papias, Sandrine; Masson, Matthieu; Pelletant, Sébastien; Prost-Boucle, Stéphanie; Boutin, Catherine

2018-03-01

Constructed wetlands receiving treated wastewater (CWtw) are placed between wastewater treatment plants and receiving water bodies, under the perception that they increase water quality. A better understanding of the CWtw functioning is required to evaluate their real performance. To achieve this, in situ continuous monitoring of nitrate and ammonium concentrations with ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) can provide valuable information. However, this measurement needs precautions to be taken to produce good data quality, especially in areas with high effluent quality requirements. In order to study the functioning of a CWtw instrumented with six ISE probes, we have developed an appropriate methodology for probe management and data processing. It is based on an evaluation of performance in the laboratory and an adapted field protocol for calibration, data treatment and validation. The result is an operating protocol concerning an acceptable cleaning frequency of 2 weeks, a complementary calibration using CWtw water, a drift evaluation and the determination of limits of quantification (1 mgN/L for ammonium and 0.5 mgN/L for nitrate). An example of a 9-month validated dataset confirms that it is fundamental to include the technical limitations of the measuring equipment and set appropriate maintenance and calibration methodologies in order to ensure an accurate interpretation of data.

[Real-time three-dimensional (4D) ultrasound-guided prostatic biopsies on a phantom. Comparative study versus 2D guidance].

PubMed

Long, Jean-Alexandre; Daanen, Vincent; Moreau-Gaudry, Alexandre; Troccaz, Jocelyne; Rambeaud, Jean-Jacques; Descotes, Jean-Luc

2007-11-01

The objective of this study was to determine the added value of real-time three-dimensional (4D) ultrasound guidance of prostatic biopsies on a prostate phantom in terms of the precision of guidance and distribution. A prostate phantom was constructed. A real-time 3D ultrasonograph connected to a transrectal 5.9 MHz volumic transducer was used. Fourteen operators performed 336 biopsies with 2D guidance then 4D guidance according to a 12-biopsy protocol. Biopsy tracts were modelled by segmentation in a 3D ultrasound volume. Specific software allowed visualization of biopsy tracts in the reference prostate and evaluated the zone biopsied. A comparative study was performed to determine the added value of 4D guidance compared to 2D guidance by evaluating the precision of entry points and target points. The distribution was evaluated by measuring the volume investigated and by a redundancy ratio of the biopsy points. The precision of the biopsy protocol was significantly improved by 4D guidance (p = 0.037). No increase of the biopsy volume and no improvement of the distribution of biopsies were observed with 4D compared to 2D guidance. The real-time 3D ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy technique on a phantom model appears to improve the precision and reproducibility of a biopsy protocol, but the distribution of biopsies does not appear to be improved.

Evaluation of training nurses to perform semi-automated three-dimensional left ventricular ejection fraction using a customised workstation-based training protocol.

PubMed

Guppy-Coles, Kristyan B; Prasad, Sandhir B; Smith, Kym C; Hillier, Samuel; Lo, Ada; Atherton, John J

2015-06-01

We aimed to determine the feasibility of training cardiac nurses to evaluate left ventricular function utilising a semi-automated, workstation-based protocol on three dimensional echocardiography images. Assessment of left ventricular function by nurses is an attractive concept. Recent developments in three dimensional echocardiography coupled with border detection assistance have reduced inter- and intra-observer variability and analysis time. This could allow abbreviated training of nurses to assess cardiac function. A comparative, diagnostic accuracy study evaluating left ventricular ejection fraction assessment utilising a semi-automated, workstation-based protocol performed by echocardiography-naïve nurses on previously acquired three dimensional echocardiography images. Nine cardiac nurses underwent two brief lectures about cardiac anatomy, physiology and three dimensional left ventricular ejection fraction assessment, before a hands-on demonstration in 20 cases. We then selected 50 cases from our three dimensional echocardiography library based on optimal image quality with a broad range of left ventricular ejection fractions, which was quantified by two experienced sonographers and the average used as the comparator for the nurses. Nurses independently measured three dimensional left ventricular ejection fraction using the Auto lvq package with semi-automated border detection. The left ventricular ejection fraction range was 25-72% (70% with a left ventricular ejection fraction <55%). All nurses showed excellent agreement with the sonographers. Minimal intra-observer variability was noted on both short-term (same day) and long-term (>2 weeks later) retest. It is feasible to train nurses to measure left ventricular ejection fraction utilising a semi-automated, workstation-based protocol on previously acquired three dimensional echocardiography images. Further study is needed to determine the feasibility of training nurses to acquire three dimensional echocardiography images on real-world patients to measure left ventricular ejection fraction. Nurse-performed evaluation of left ventricular function could facilitate the broader application of echocardiography to allow cost-effective screening and monitoring for left ventricular dysfunction in high-risk populations. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[Ingestion of caustic substances: An analysis of the safety and benefit of a less aggressive protocol].

PubMed

Ripoll Trujillo, Noelia; Martínez Sánchez, Lidia; Habimana Jordana, Anna; Trenchs Sainz de La Maza, Victoria; Vila Miravet, Víctor; Luaces Cubells, Carles

2018-04-14

The ingestion of a caustic agent is the most common cause of admission after being in contact with a domestic product. A group of patients could be considered low risk and not require aggressive procedures such a corticosteroid administration and endoscopy, especially in the paediatric population. To evaluate the safety and benefit of a less aggressive protocol for patients defined as low risk. An analytical-observational study conducted on patients who consulted for caustic ingestion between January 2011 and December 2015. Two periods were differentiated according to the current protocol. Period-1: usual protocol (which included admission and parenteral corticosteroid and antibiotic administration) and Period-2: less aggressive protocol for the low risk patients (oral intake test after 6hours and discharged if they remained asymptomatic). Low risk patients were considered as those who met the following criteria: unintentional intake, absence of symptoms and oral lesions. In the rest of the patients the usual protocol was performed. Re-admission with a diagnosis of digestive lesions was considered as a complication. Forty-eight patients were included in period 1, and 35 in period 2. In period 2, thirteen patients met low risk criteria. The adherence to the less aggressive protocol was 100%. None of the low risk patients required admission or endoscopy after discharge. In period 1 the adherence to the usual protocol was 60.4%. Six patients would have benefited from the application of the less aggressive protocol. Adopting a more conservative attitude in low risk patients is safe. These patients benefit from clinical observation, without performing more aggressive measures with their possible iatrogenic adverse effects. Copyright © 2018. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U.

Return of Postural Control to Baseline After Anaerobic and Aerobic Exercise Protocols

PubMed Central

Fox, Zachary G; Mihalik, Jason P; Blackburn, J Troy; Battaglini, Claudio L; Guskiewicz, Kevin M

2008-01-01

Context: With regard to sideline concussion testing, the effect of fatigue associated with different types of exercise on postural control is unknown. Objective: To evaluate the effects of fatigue on postural control in healthy college-aged athletes performing anaerobic and aerobic exercise protocols and to establish an immediate recovery time course from each exercise protocol for postural control measures to return to baseline status. Design: Counterbalanced, repeated measures. Setting: Research laboratory. Patients Or Other Participants: Thirty-six collegiate athletes (18 males, 18 females; age  =  19.00 ± 1.01 years, height  =  172.44 ± 10.47 cm, mass  =  69.72 ± 12.84 kg). Intervention(s): Participants completed 2 counterbalanced sessions within 7 days. Each session consisted of 1 exercise protocol followed by postexercise measures of postural control taken at 3-, 8-, 13-, and 18-minute time intervals. Baseline measures were established during the first session, before the specified exertion protocol was performed. Main Outcome Measure(s): Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) results, sway velocity, and elliptical sway area. Results: We found a decrease in postural control after each exercise protocol for all dependent measures. An interaction was noted between exercise protocol and time for total BESS score (P  =  .002). For both exercise protocols, all measures of postural control returned to baseline within 13 minutes. Conclusions: Postural control was negatively affected after anaerobic and aerobic exercise protocols as measured by total BESS score, elliptical sway area, and sway velocity. The effect of exertion lasted up to 13 minutes after each exercise was completed. Certified athletic trainers and clinicians should be aware of these effects and their recovery time course when determining an appropriate time to administer sideline assessments of postural control after a suspected mild traumatic brain injury. PMID:18833307

Return of postural control to baseline after anaerobic and aerobic exercise protocols.

PubMed

Fox, Zachary G; Mihalik, Jason P; Blackburn, J Troy; Battaglini, Claudio L; Guskiewicz, Kevin M

2008-01-01

With regard to sideline concussion testing, the effect of fatigue associated with different types of exercise on postural control is unknown. To evaluate the effects of fatigue on postural control in healthy college-aged athletes performing anaerobic and aerobic exercise protocols and to establish an immediate recovery time course from each exercise protocol for postural control measures to return to baseline status. Counterbalanced, repeated measures. Research laboratory. Thirty-six collegiate athletes (18 males, 18 females; age = 19.00 +/- 1.01 years, height = 172.44 +/- 10.47 cm, mass = 69.72 +/- 12.84 kg). Participants completed 2 counterbalanced sessions within 7 days. Each session consisted of 1 exercise protocol followed by postexercise measures of postural control taken at 3-, 8-, 13-, and 18-minute time intervals. Baseline measures were established during the first session, before the specified exertion protocol was performed. Balance Error Scoring System (BESS) results, sway velocity, and elliptical sway area. We found a decrease in postural control after each exercise protocol for all dependent measures. An interaction was noted between exercise protocol and time for total BESS score (P = .002). For both exercise protocols, all measures of postural control returned to baseline within 13 minutes. Postural control was negatively affected after anaerobic and aerobic exercise protocols as measured by total BESS score, elliptical sway area, and sway velocity. The effect of exertion lasted up to 13 minutes after each exercise was completed. Certified athletic trainers and clinicians should be aware of these effects and their recovery time course when determining an appropriate time to administer sideline assessments of postural control after a suspected mild traumatic brain injury.

Eccentric overload training for patients with chronic Achilles tendon pain--a randomised controlled study with reliability testing of the evaluation methods.

PubMed

Silbernagel, K G; Thomeé, R; Thomeé, P; Karlsson, J

2001-08-01

The purpose was to examine the reliability of measurement techniques and evaluate the effect of a treatment protocol including eccentric overload for patients with chronic pain from the Achilles tendon. Thirty-two patients with proximal achillodynia (44 involved Achilles tendons) participated in tests for reliability measures. No significant differences and strong (r=0.56-0.72) or very strong (r=0.90-0.93) correlations were found between pre-tests, except for the documentation of pain at rest (P<0.008, r=0.45). To evaluate the effect of a 12-week treatment protocol for patients with chronic proximal achillodynia (pain longer than three months) 40 patients (57 involved Achilles tendons) with a mean age of 45 years (range 19-77) were randomised into an experiment group (n=22) and a control group (n=18). Evaluations were performed after six weeks of treatment and after three and six months. The evaluations (including the pre-tests), performed by a physical therapist unaware of the group the patients belonged to, consisted of a questionnaire, a range of motion test, a jumping test, a toe-raise test, a pain on palpation test and pain evaluation during jumping, toe-raises and at rest. A follow-up was also performed after one year. There were no significant differences between groups at any of the evaluations, except that the experiment group jumped significantly lower than the control group at the six-week evaluation. There was, however, an overall better result for the experiment group with significant improvements in plantar flexion, and reduction in pain on palpation, number of patients having pain during walking, having periods when asymptomatic and having swollen Achilles tendon. The controls did not show such changes. Furthermore, at the one-year follow-up there were significantly more patients in the experiment group, compared with the control group, that were satisfied with their present physical activity level, considered themselves fully recovered, and had no pain during or after physical activity. The measurement techniques and the treatment protocol with eccentric overload used in the present study can be recommended for patients with chronic pain from the Achilles tendon.

Effects of a dynamic balance training protocol on podalic support in older women. Pilot Study.

PubMed

Battaglia, Giuseppe; Bellafiore, Marianna; Bianco, Antonino; Paoli, Antonio; Palma, Antonio

2010-01-01

The foot provides the only direct contact with supporting surfaces and therefore plays an important role in all postural tasks. Changes in the musculoskeletal and neurological characteristics of the foot with advancing age can alter plantar loading patterns and postural balance. Several studies have reported that exercise training improves postural performance in elderly individuals. The aim of our study was to investigate the effectiveness of a dynamic balance training protocol performed for 5 weeks on the support surface, percentage distribution of load in both feet, and body balance performance in healthy elderly women. Ten subjects (68.67±5.50 yrs old; 28.17±3.35 BMI) were evaluated with a monopodalic performance test and baropodometric analyses before and after the training period. We found a significant improvement in balance unipedal performance times on left and right foot by 20.18% and 26.23% respectively (p<0.05). The support surface of the right foot significantly increased in response to the training protocol and, in particular, in both forefoot and rearfoot regions (p<0.05). In addition, before the training period, load distribution on the left foot was greater than on the right one; equal load redistribution was measured on both feet in response to exercise (p>0.05). The increased support surface and equal redistribution of body weight on both feet obtained in response to our training protocol may be postural adaptations sufficient to improve static balance in elderly women.

How to Study Biofilms after Microbial Colonization of Materials Used in Orthopaedic Implants.

PubMed

Drago, Lorenzo; Agrappi, Serse; Bortolin, Monica; Toscano, Marco; Romanò, Carlo Luca; De Vecchi, Elena

2016-02-26

Over the years, various techniques have been proposed for the quantitative evaluation of microbial biofilms. Spectrophotometry after crystal violet staining is a widespread method for biofilm evaluation, but several data indicate that it does not guarantee a good specificity, although it is rather easy to use and cost saving. Confocal laser microscopy is one of the most sensitive and specific tools to study biofilms, and it is largely used for research. However, in some cases, no quantitative measurement of the matrix thickness or of the amount of embedded microorganisms has been performed, due to limitation in availability of dedicated software. For this reason, we have developed a protocol to evaluate the microbial biofilm formed on sandblasted titanium used for orthopaedic implants, that allows measurement of biomass volume and the amount of included cells. Results indicate good reproducibility in terms of measurement of biomass and microbial cells. Moreover, this protocol has proved to be applicable for evaluation of the efficacy of different anti-biofilm treatments used in the orthopaedic setting. Summing up, the protocol here described is a valid and inexpensive method for the study of microbial biofilm on prosthetic implant materials.

The Impact of Governance on the Performance of the Higher Education Sector in Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Silva Lokuwaduge, Chitra; Armstrong, Anona

2015-01-01

Australian government concern for improved governance in the higher education sector over recent years has driven the implementation of governance protocols. However, there has been little evidence of any evaluation of the impact of the governance structures on the performance of universities. This paper presents an analysis of the impact of the…

Using a Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety to Evaluate a Hospital-wide Daily Chlorhexidine Bathing Intervention.

PubMed

Caya, Teresa; Musuuza, Jackson; Yanke, Eric; Schmitz, Michelle; Anderson, Brooke; Carayon, Pascale; Safdar, Nasia

2015-01-01

We undertook a systems engineering approach to evaluate housewide implementation of daily chlorhexidine bathing. We performed direct observations of the bathing process and conducted provider and patient surveys. The main outcome was compliance with bathing using a checklist. Fifty-seven percent of baths had full compliance with the chlorhexidine bathing protocol. Additional time was the main barrier. Institutions undertaking daily chlorhexidine bathing should perform a rigorous assessment of implementation to optimize the benefits of this intervention.

A Murine Model of Robotic Training to Evaluate Skeletal Muscle Recovery after Injury.

PubMed

Lai, Stefano; Panarese, Alessandro; Lawrence, Ross; Boninger, Michael L; Micera, Silvestro; Ambrosio, Fabrisia

2017-04-01

In vivo studies have suggested that motor exercise can improve muscle regeneration after injury. Nevertheless, preclinical investigations still lack reliable tools to monitor motor performance over time and to deliver optimal training protocols to maximize force recovery. Here, we evaluated the utility of a murine robotic platform (i) to detect early impairment and longitudinal recovery after acute skeletal muscle injury and (ii) to administer varying intensity training protocols to enhance forelimb motor performance. A custom-designed robotic platform was used to train mice to perform a forelimb retraction task. After an acute injury to bilateral biceps brachii muscles, animals performed a daily training protocol in the platform at high (HL) or low (LL) loading levels over the course of 3 wk. Control animals were not trained (NT). Motor performance was assessed by quantifying force, time, submovement count, and number of movement attempts to accomplish the task. Myofiber number and cross-sectional area at the injury site were quantified histologically. Two days after injury, significant differences in the time, submovement count, number of movement attempts, and exerted force were observed in all mice, as compared with baseline values. Interestingly, the recovery time of muscle force production differed significantly between intervention groups, with HL group showing a significantly accelerated recovery. Three weeks after injury, all groups showed motor performance comparable with baseline values. Accordingly, there were no differences in the number of myofibers or average cross-sectional area among groups after 3 wk. Our findings demonstrate the utility of our custom-designed robotic device for the quantitative assessment of skeletal muscle function in preclinical murine studies. Moreover, we demonstrate that this device may be used to apply varying levels of resistance longitudinally as a means manipulate physiological muscle responses.

A secure distributed logistic regression protocol for the detection of rare adverse drug events

PubMed Central

El Emam, Khaled; Samet, Saeed; Arbuckle, Luk; Tamblyn, Robyn; Earle, Craig; Kantarcioglu, Murat

2013-01-01

Background There is limited capacity to assess the comparative risks of medications after they enter the market. For rare adverse events, the pooling of data from multiple sources is necessary to have the power and sufficient population heterogeneity to detect differences in safety and effectiveness in genetic, ethnic and clinically defined subpopulations. However, combining datasets from different data custodians or jurisdictions to perform an analysis on the pooled data creates significant privacy concerns that would need to be addressed. Existing protocols for addressing these concerns can result in reduced analysis accuracy and can allow sensitive information to leak. Objective To develop a secure distributed multi-party computation protocol for logistic regression that provides strong privacy guarantees. Methods We developed a secure distributed logistic regression protocol using a single analysis center with multiple sites providing data. A theoretical security analysis demonstrates that the protocol is robust to plausible collusion attacks and does not allow the parties to gain new information from the data that are exchanged among them. The computational performance and accuracy of the protocol were evaluated on simulated datasets. Results The computational performance scales linearly as the dataset sizes increase. The addition of sites results in an exponential growth in computation time. However, for up to five sites, the time is still short and would not affect practical applications. The model parameters are the same as the results on pooled raw data analyzed in SAS, demonstrating high model accuracy. Conclusion The proposed protocol and prototype system would allow the development of logistic regression models in a secure manner without requiring the sharing of personal health information. This can alleviate one of the key barriers to the establishment of large-scale post-marketing surveillance programs. We extended the secure protocol to account for correlations among patients within sites through generalized estimating equations, and to accommodate other link functions by extending it to generalized linear models. PMID:22871397

A secure distributed logistic regression protocol for the detection of rare adverse drug events.

PubMed

El Emam, Khaled; Samet, Saeed; Arbuckle, Luk; Tamblyn, Robyn; Earle, Craig; Kantarcioglu, Murat

2013-05-01

There is limited capacity to assess the comparative risks of medications after they enter the market. For rare adverse events, the pooling of data from multiple sources is necessary to have the power and sufficient population heterogeneity to detect differences in safety and effectiveness in genetic, ethnic and clinically defined subpopulations. However, combining datasets from different data custodians or jurisdictions to perform an analysis on the pooled data creates significant privacy concerns that would need to be addressed. Existing protocols for addressing these concerns can result in reduced analysis accuracy and can allow sensitive information to leak. To develop a secure distributed multi-party computation protocol for logistic regression that provides strong privacy guarantees. We developed a secure distributed logistic regression protocol using a single analysis center with multiple sites providing data. A theoretical security analysis demonstrates that the protocol is robust to plausible collusion attacks and does not allow the parties to gain new information from the data that are exchanged among them. The computational performance and accuracy of the protocol were evaluated on simulated datasets. The computational performance scales linearly as the dataset sizes increase. The addition of sites results in an exponential growth in computation time. However, for up to five sites, the time is still short and would not affect practical applications. The model parameters are the same as the results on pooled raw data analyzed in SAS, demonstrating high model accuracy. The proposed protocol and prototype system would allow the development of logistic regression models in a secure manner without requiring the sharing of personal health information. This can alleviate one of the key barriers to the establishment of large-scale post-marketing surveillance programs. We extended the secure protocol to account for correlations among patients within sites through generalized estimating equations, and to accommodate other link functions by extending it to generalized linear models.

Original implementation of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) in symmetric cells: Evaluation of post-mortem protocols applied to characterize electrode materials for Li-ion batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, Isabel Jiménez; Genies, Sylvie; Si Larbi, Gregory; Boulineau, Adrien; Daniel, Lise; Alias, Mélanie

2016-03-01

Understanding ageing mechanisms of Li-ion batteries is essential for further optimizations. To determine performance loss causes, post-mortem analyses are commonly applied. For each type of post-mortem test, different sample preparation protocols are adopted. However, reports on the reliability of these protocols are rare. Herein, Li-ion pouch cells with LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 - polyvinylidene fluoride positive electrode, graphite-carboxymethyl cellulose-styrene rubber negative electrode and LiPF6 - carbonate solvents mixture electrolyte, are opened and electrodes are recovered following a specified protocol. Negative and positive symmetric cells are assembled and their impedances are recorded. A signal analysis is applied to reconstruct the Li-ion pouch cell impedance from the symmetric cells, then comparison against the pouch cell true impedance allows the evaluation of the sample preparation protocols. The results are endorsed by Transmission Electronic Microscopy (TEM) and Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses. Carbonate solvents used to remove the salt impacts slightly the surface properties of both electrodes. Drying electrodes under vacuum at 25 °C produces an impedance increase, particularly very marked for the positive electrode. Drying at 50 °C under vacuum or/and exposition to the anhydrous room atmosphere is very detrimental.

Development of an HPV Educational Protocol for Adolescents

PubMed Central

Wetzel, Caitlin; Tissot, Abbigail; Kollar, Linda M.; Hillard, Paula A.; Stone, Rachel; Kahn, Jessica A.

2007-01-01

Study Objectives To develop an educational protocol about HPV and Pap tests for adolescents, to evaluate the protocol for understandability and clarity, and to evaluate the protocol for its effectiveness in increasing knowledge about HPV. Design In phase 1, investigators and adolescents developed the protocol. In phase 2, adolescents evaluated the protocol qualitatively, investigators evaluated its effectiveness in increasing HPV knowledge in a sample of adolescents, and the protocol was revised. In phase 3, investigators evaluated the effectiveness of the revised protocol in an additional adolescent sample. Setting Urban, hospital-based teen health center. Participants A total of 252 adolescent girls and boys in the three study phases. Main Outcome Measures Pre- and post-protocol knowledge about HPV, measured using a 10- or 11-item scale. Results Scores on the HPV knowledge scale increased significantly (p<.0001) among adolescents who participated in phases 2 and 3 after they received the protocol. Initial differences in scores based on race, insurance type and condom use were not noted post-protocol. Conclusion The protocol significantly increased knowledge scores about HPV in this population, regardless of sociodemographic characteristics and risk behaviors. Effective, developmentally appropriate educational protocols about HPV and Pap tests are particularly important in clinical settings as cervical cancer screening guidelines evolve, HPV DNA testing is integrated into screening protocols, and HPV vaccines become available. In-depth, one-on-one education about HPV may also prevent adverse psychosocial responses and promote healthy sexual and Pap screening behaviors in adolescents with abnormal HPV or Pap test results. Synopsis The investigators developed an educational protocol about HPV and Pap tests and evaluated its effectiveness in increasing knowledge about HPV among adolescents. PMID:17868894

Surveillance strategies for Classical Swine Fever in wild boar – a comprehensive evaluation study to ensure powerful surveillance

PubMed Central

Schulz, Katja; Peyre, Marisa; Staubach, Christoph; Schauer, Birgit; Schulz, Jana; Calba, Clémentine; Häsler, Barbara; Conraths, Franz J.

2017-01-01

Surveillance of Classical Swine Fever (CSF) should not only focus on livestock, but must also include wild boar. To prevent disease transmission into commercial pig herds, it is therefore vital to have knowledge about the disease status in wild boar. In the present study, we performed a comprehensive evaluation of alternative surveillance strategies for Classical Swine Fever (CSF) in wild boar and compared them with the currently implemented conventional approach. The evaluation protocol was designed using the EVA tool, a decision support tool to help in the development of an economic and epidemiological evaluation protocol for surveillance. To evaluate the effectiveness of the surveillance strategies, we investigated their sensitivity and timeliness. Acceptability was analysed and finally, the cost-effectiveness of the surveillance strategies was determined. We developed 69 surveillance strategies for comparative evaluation between the existing approach and the novel proposed strategies. Sampling only within sub-adults resulted in a better acceptability and timeliness than the currently implemented strategy. Strategies that were completely based on passive surveillance performance did not achieve the desired detection probability of 95%. In conclusion, the results of the study suggest that risk-based approaches can be an option to design more effective CSF surveillance strategies in wild boar. PMID:28266576

Surveillance strategies for Classical Swine Fever in wild boar - a comprehensive evaluation study to ensure powerful surveillance.

PubMed

Schulz, Katja; Peyre, Marisa; Staubach, Christoph; Schauer, Birgit; Schulz, Jana; Calba, Clémentine; Häsler, Barbara; Conraths, Franz J

2017-03-07

Surveillance of Classical Swine Fever (CSF) should not only focus on livestock, but must also include wild boar. To prevent disease transmission into commercial pig herds, it is therefore vital to have knowledge about the disease status in wild boar. In the present study, we performed a comprehensive evaluation of alternative surveillance strategies for Classical Swine Fever (CSF) in wild boar and compared them with the currently implemented conventional approach. The evaluation protocol was designed using the EVA tool, a decision support tool to help in the development of an economic and epidemiological evaluation protocol for surveillance. To evaluate the effectiveness of the surveillance strategies, we investigated their sensitivity and timeliness. Acceptability was analysed and finally, the cost-effectiveness of the surveillance strategies was determined. We developed 69 surveillance strategies for comparative evaluation between the existing approach and the novel proposed strategies. Sampling only within sub-adults resulted in a better acceptability and timeliness than the currently implemented strategy. Strategies that were completely based on passive surveillance performance did not achieve the desired detection probability of 95%. In conclusion, the results of the study suggest that risk-based approaches can be an option to design more effective CSF surveillance strategies in wild boar.

An efficient and secure certificateless authentication protocol for healthcare system on wireless medical sensor networks.

PubMed

Guo, Rui; Wen, Qiaoyan; Jin, Zhengping; Zhang, Hua

2013-01-01

Sensor networks have opened up new opportunities in healthcare systems, which can transmit patient's condition to health professional's hand-held devices in time. The patient's physiological signals are very sensitive and the networks are extremely vulnerable to many attacks. It must be ensured that patient's privacy is not exposed to unauthorized entities. Therefore, the control of access to healthcare systems has become a crucial challenge. An efficient and secure authentication protocol will thus be needed in wireless medical sensor networks. In this paper, we propose a certificateless authentication scheme without bilinear pairing while providing patient anonymity. Compared with other related protocols, the proposed scheme needs less computation and communication cost and preserves stronger security. Our performance evaluations show that this protocol is more practical for healthcare system in wireless medical sensor networks.

A hop count based heuristic routing protocol for mobile delay tolerant networks.

PubMed

You, Lei; Li, Jianbo; Wei, Changjiang; Dai, Chenqu; Xu, Jixing; Hu, Lejuan

2014-01-01

Routing in delay tolerant networks (DTNs) is a challenge since it must handle network partitioning, long delays, and dynamic topology. Meanwhile, routing protocols of the traditional mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) cannot work well due to the failure of its assumption that most network connections are available. In this paper, we propose a hop count based heuristic routing protocol by utilizing the information carried by the peripatetic packets in the network. A heuristic function is defined to help in making the routing decision. We formally define a custom operation for square matrices so as to transform the heuristic value calculation into matrix manipulation. Finally, the performance of our proposed algorithm is evaluated by the simulation results, which show the advantage of such self-adaptive routing protocol in the diverse circumstance of DTNs.

An Efficient and Secure Certificateless Authentication Protocol for Healthcare System on Wireless Medical Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Guo, Rui; Wen, Qiaoyan; Jin, Zhengping; Zhang, Hua

2013-01-01

Sensor networks have opened up new opportunities in healthcare systems, which can transmit patient's condition to health professional's hand-held devices in time. The patient's physiological signals are very sensitive and the networks are extremely vulnerable to many attacks. It must be ensured that patient's privacy is not exposed to unauthorized entities. Therefore, the control of access to healthcare systems has become a crucial challenge. An efficient and secure authentication protocol will thus be needed in wireless medical sensor networks. In this paper, we propose a certificateless authentication scheme without bilinear pairing while providing patient anonymity. Compared with other related protocols, the proposed scheme needs less computation and communication cost and preserves stronger security. Our performance evaluations show that this protocol is more practical for healthcare system in wireless medical sensor networks. PMID:23710147

A Hop Count Based Heuristic Routing Protocol for Mobile Delay Tolerant Networks

PubMed Central

Wei, Changjiang; Dai, Chenqu; Xu, Jixing; Hu, Lejuan

2014-01-01

Routing in delay tolerant networks (DTNs) is a challenge since it must handle network partitioning, long delays, and dynamic topology. Meanwhile, routing protocols of the traditional mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) cannot work well due to the failure of its assumption that most network connections are available. In this paper, we propose a hop count based heuristic routing protocol by utilizing the information carried by the peripatetic packets in the network. A heuristic function is defined to help in making the routing decision. We formally define a custom operation for square matrices so as to transform the heuristic value calculation into matrix manipulation. Finally, the performance of our proposed algorithm is evaluated by the simulation results, which show the advantage of such self-adaptive routing protocol in the diverse circumstance of DTNs. PMID:25110736

Performance Evaluation of FAST TCP Traffic-Flows in Multihomed MANETs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mudassir, Mumajjed Ul; Akram, Adeel

In Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) an efficient communication protocol is required at the transport layer. Mobile nodes moving around will have temporary and rather short-lived connectivity with each other and the Internet, thus requiring efficient utilization of network resources. Moreover the problems arising due to high mobility, collision and congestion must also be considered. Multihoming allows higher reliability and enhancement of network throughput. FAST TCP is a new promising transport layer protocol developed for high-speed high-latency networks. In this paper, we have analyzed the performance of FAST TCP traffic flows in multihomed MANETs and compared it with standard TCP (TCP Reno) traffic flows in non-multihomed MANETs.

Design, implementation and multisite evaluation of a system suitability protocol for the quantitative assessment of instrument performance in liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring-MS (LC-MRM-MS).

PubMed

Abbatiello, Susan E; Mani, D R; Schilling, Birgit; Maclean, Brendan; Zimmerman, Lisa J; Feng, Xingdong; Cusack, Michael P; Sedransk, Nell; Hall, Steven C; Addona, Terri; Allen, Simon; Dodder, Nathan G; Ghosh, Mousumi; Held, Jason M; Hedrick, Victoria; Inerowicz, H Dorota; Jackson, Angela; Keshishian, Hasmik; Kim, Jong Won; Lyssand, John S; Riley, C Paige; Rudnick, Paul; Sadowski, Pawel; Shaddox, Kent; Smith, Derek; Tomazela, Daniela; Wahlander, Asa; Waldemarson, Sofia; Whitwell, Corbin A; You, Jinsam; Zhang, Shucha; Kinsinger, Christopher R; Mesri, Mehdi; Rodriguez, Henry; Borchers, Christoph H; Buck, Charles; Fisher, Susan J; Gibson, Bradford W; Liebler, Daniel; Maccoss, Michael; Neubert, Thomas A; Paulovich, Amanda; Regnier, Fred; Skates, Steven J; Tempst, Paul; Wang, Mu; Carr, Steven A

2013-09-01

Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry coupled with stable isotope dilution (SID) and liquid chromatography (LC) is increasingly used in biological and clinical studies for precise and reproducible quantification of peptides and proteins in complex sample matrices. Robust LC-SID-MRM-MS-based assays that can be replicated across laboratories and ultimately in clinical laboratory settings require standardized protocols to demonstrate that the analysis platforms are performing adequately. We developed a system suitability protocol (SSP), which employs a predigested mixture of six proteins, to facilitate performance evaluation of LC-SID-MRM-MS instrument platforms, configured with nanoflow-LC systems interfaced to triple quadrupole mass spectrometers. The SSP was designed for use with low multiplex analyses as well as high multiplex approaches when software-driven scheduling of data acquisition is required. Performance was assessed by monitoring of a range of chromatographic and mass spectrometric metrics including peak width, chromatographic resolution, peak capacity, and the variability in peak area and analyte retention time (RT) stability. The SSP, which was evaluated in 11 laboratories on a total of 15 different instruments, enabled early diagnoses of LC and MS anomalies that indicated suboptimal LC-MRM-MS performance. The observed range in variation of each of the metrics scrutinized serves to define the criteria for optimized LC-SID-MRM-MS platforms for routine use, with pass/fail criteria for system suitability performance measures defined as peak area coefficient of variation <0.15, peak width coefficient of variation <0.15, standard deviation of RT <0.15 min (9 s), and the RT drift <0.5min (30 s). The deleterious effect of a marginally performing LC-SID-MRM-MS system on the limit of quantification (LOQ) in targeted quantitative assays illustrates the use and need for a SSP to establish robust and reliable system performance. Use of a SSP helps to ensure that analyte quantification measurements can be replicated with good precision within and across multiple laboratories and should facilitate more widespread use of MRM-MS technology by the basic biomedical and clinical laboratory research communities.

Design, Implementation and Multisite Evaluation of a System Suitability Protocol for the Quantitative Assessment of Instrument Performance in Liquid Chromatography-Multiple Reaction Monitoring-MS (LC-MRM-MS)*

PubMed Central

Abbatiello, Susan E.; Mani, D. R.; Schilling, Birgit; MacLean, Brendan; Zimmerman, Lisa J.; Feng, Xingdong; Cusack, Michael P.; Sedransk, Nell; Hall, Steven C.; Addona, Terri; Allen, Simon; Dodder, Nathan G.; Ghosh, Mousumi; Held, Jason M.; Hedrick, Victoria; Inerowicz, H. Dorota; Jackson, Angela; Keshishian, Hasmik; Kim, Jong Won; Lyssand, John S.; Riley, C. Paige; Rudnick, Paul; Sadowski, Pawel; Shaddox, Kent; Smith, Derek; Tomazela, Daniela; Wahlander, Asa; Waldemarson, Sofia; Whitwell, Corbin A.; You, Jinsam; Zhang, Shucha; Kinsinger, Christopher R.; Mesri, Mehdi; Rodriguez, Henry; Borchers, Christoph H.; Buck, Charles; Fisher, Susan J.; Gibson, Bradford W.; Liebler, Daniel; MacCoss, Michael; Neubert, Thomas A.; Paulovich, Amanda; Regnier, Fred; Skates, Steven J.; Tempst, Paul; Wang, Mu; Carr, Steven A.

2013-01-01

Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry coupled with stable isotope dilution (SID) and liquid chromatography (LC) is increasingly used in biological and clinical studies for precise and reproducible quantification of peptides and proteins in complex sample matrices. Robust LC-SID-MRM-MS-based assays that can be replicated across laboratories and ultimately in clinical laboratory settings require standardized protocols to demonstrate that the analysis platforms are performing adequately. We developed a system suitability protocol (SSP), which employs a predigested mixture of six proteins, to facilitate performance evaluation of LC-SID-MRM-MS instrument platforms, configured with nanoflow-LC systems interfaced to triple quadrupole mass spectrometers. The SSP was designed for use with low multiplex analyses as well as high multiplex approaches when software-driven scheduling of data acquisition is required. Performance was assessed by monitoring of a range of chromatographic and mass spectrometric metrics including peak width, chromatographic resolution, peak capacity, and the variability in peak area and analyte retention time (RT) stability. The SSP, which was evaluated in 11 laboratories on a total of 15 different instruments, enabled early diagnoses of LC and MS anomalies that indicated suboptimal LC-MRM-MS performance. The observed range in variation of each of the metrics scrutinized serves to define the criteria for optimized LC-SID-MRM-MS platforms for routine use, with pass/fail criteria for system suitability performance measures defined as peak area coefficient of variation <0.15, peak width coefficient of variation <0.15, standard deviation of RT <0.15 min (9 s), and the RT drift <0.5min (30 s). The deleterious effect of a marginally performing LC-SID-MRM-MS system on the limit of quantification (LOQ) in targeted quantitative assays illustrates the use and need for a SSP to establish robust and reliable system performance. Use of a SSP helps to ensure that analyte quantification measurements can be replicated with good precision within and across multiple laboratories and should facilitate more widespread use of MRM-MS technology by the basic biomedical and clinical laboratory research communities. PMID:23689285

Isokinetic Testing in Evaluation Rehabilitation Outcome After ACL Reconstruction.

PubMed

Cvjetkovic, Dragana Dragicevic; Bijeljac, Sinisa; Palija, Stanislav; Talic, Goran; Radulovic, Tatjana Nozica; Kosanovic, Milkica Glogovac; Manojlovic, Slavko

2015-02-01

Numerous rehab protocols have been used in rehabilitation after ACL reconstruction. Isokinetic testing is an objective way to evaluate dynamic stability of the knee joint that estimates the quality of rehabilitation outcome after ACL reconstruction. Our investigation goal was to show importance of isokinetic testing in evaluation thigh muscle strength in patients which underwent ACL reconstruction and rehabilitation protocol. In prospective study, we evaluated 40 subjects which were divided into two groups. Experimental group consisted of 20 recreational males which underwent ACL reconstruction with hamstring tendon and rehabilitation protocol 6 months before isokinetic testing. Control group (20 subjects) consisted of healthy recreational males. In all subjects knee muscle testing was performed on a Biodex System 4 Pro isokinetic dynamo-meter et velocities of 60°/s and 180°/s. We followed average peak torque to body weight (PT/BW) and classic H/Q ratio. In statistical analysis Student's T test was used. There were statistically significant differences between groups in all evaluated parameters except of the mean value of PT/BW of the quadriceps et velocity of 60°/s (p>0.05). Isokinetic testing of dynamic stabilizers of the knee is need in diagnostic and treatment thigh muscle imbalance. We believe that isokinetic testing is an objective parameter for return to sport activities after ACL reconstruction.

Criteria for Evaluating Alternative Network and Link Layer Protocols for the NASA Constellation Program Communication Architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Benbenek, Daniel; Soloff, Jason; Lieb, Erica

2010-01-01

Selecting a communications and network architecture for future manned space flight requires an evaluation of the varying goals and objectives of the program, development of communications and network architecture evaluation criteria, and assessment of critical architecture trades. This paper uses Cx Program proposed exploration activities as a guideline; lunar sortie, outpost, Mars, and flexible path options are described. A set of proposed communications network architecture criteria are proposed and described. They include: interoperability, security, reliability, and ease of automating topology changes. Finally a key set of architecture options are traded including (1) multiplexing data at a common network layer vs. at the data link layer, (2) implementing multiple network layers vs. a single network layer, and (3) the use of a particular network layer protocol, primarily IPv6 vs. Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN). In summary, the protocol options are evaluated against the proposed exploration activities and their relative performance with respect to the criteria are assessed. An architectural approach which includes (a) the capability of multiplexing at both the network layer and the data link layer and (b) a single network layer for operations at each program phase, as these solutions are best suited to respond to the widest array of program needs and meet each of the evaluation criteria.

Chapter 2: Commercial and Industrial Lighting Evaluation Protocol. The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures

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

Kurnik, Charles W; Gowans, Dakers; Telarico, Chad

The Commercial and Industrial Lighting Evaluation Protocol (the protocol) describes methods to account for gross energy savings resulting from the programmatic installation of efficient lighting equipment in large populations of commercial, industrial, and other nonresidential facilities. This protocol does not address savings resulting from changes in codes and standards, or from education and training activities. A separate Uniform Methods Project (UMP) protocol, Chapter 3: Commercial and Industrial Lighting Controls Evaluation Protocol, addresses methods for evaluating savings resulting from lighting control measures such as adding time clocks, tuning energy management system commands, and adding occupancy sensors.

Effect of Exercise Intensity and Duration on Postexercise Executive Function.

PubMed

Tsukamoto, Hayato; Takenaka, Saki; Suga, Tadashi; Tanaka, Daichi; Takeuchi, Tatsuya; Hamaoka, Takafumi; Isaka, Tadao; Hashimoto, Takeshi

2017-04-01

The effect of exercise volume represented by exercise intensity and duration on postexercise executive function (EF) improvement remains unclear. In the present study, involving two volume-controlled evaluations, we aimed to compare acute exercise protocols with differing intensities and durations to establish an effective exercise protocol for improving EF. In study 1, 12 healthy male subjects performed cycle ergometer exercise, based on a low-intensity (LI) protocol for 20 min (LI20), moderate-intensity (MI) protocol for 20 min (MI20), and MI20 volume-matched LI protocol for 40 min (LI40). The exercise intensities for the LI and MI were set at 30% and 60% of peak oxygen consumption, respectively. In study 2, 15 healthy male subjects performed MI exercise for 10 min (MI10), MI20, and 40 min (MI40). To evaluate the EF, the color-word Stroop task was administrated before exercise, immediately after exercise, and during the 30-min postexercise recovery. In study 1, postexercise EF improvement was sustained for a longer duration after MI20 than after LI40 and was sustained for a longer duration after LI40 than after LI20. In study 2, although there was no significant difference in post-MI exercise EF improvement, the magnitude of difference in the EF between preexercise and 30-min postexercise recovery period was moderately larger in MI40, but not in MI10 and MI20, indicating that the EF improvement during postexercise recovery could be sustained after MI40. The present findings showed that postexercise EF improvement could be prolonged after MI exercise with a moderate duration compared with volume-matched LI exercise with a longer duration. In addition, MI exercise with a relatively long duration may slightly prolong the postexercise EF improvement.

Effects of exercise training on systo-diastolic ventricular dysfunction in patients with hypertension: an echocardiographic study with tissue velocity and strain imaging evaluation.

PubMed

Leggio, Massimo; Mazza, Andrea; Cruciani, Giancarlo; Sgorbini, Luca; Pugliese, Marco; Bendini, Maria Grazia; Severi, Paolo; Jesi, Anna Patrizia

2014-07-01

There is a lack of detailed data regarding the effect of exercise training in pharmacologically treated hypertensive patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of exercise training on left and right ventricular morphologic and functional parameters by means of conventional echocardiography and sensitive new echocardiographic techniques including tissue Doppler velocity and strain imaging, that were performed in pharmacologically treated hypertensive patients at baseline and at the end of a specific exercise training protocol for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. We selected 116 pharmacologically treated hypertensive patients who completed the exercise training protocol. All patients underwent a clinical history and examination; transthoracic echocardiography and exercise testing were performed at baseline and at the end of the exercise training protocol. Conventional echocardiography revealed a mild degree of diastolic dysfunction without significant differences or variations from baseline to the end of the exercise training protocol. In contrast, tissue Doppler velocity and strain imaging measurements demonstrated and highlighted the positive influence of exercise training: for both left and right ventricle myocardial early peak diastolic velocities (Em), the ratio of myocardial early-late peak diastolic velocity (Em/Am), myocardial peak systolic velocities (Sm) and peak strain and strain rate values significantly increased at the end of the exercise training protocol, suggesting a relationship between exercise capacity and both left and right ventricular systo-diastolic function. Our study, by means of newer more sensitive echocardiographic techniques, clearly demonstrated the positive impact of exercise training on both left and right ventricular systo-diastolic function, in terms of adjunctive subclinical improvement, in pharmacologically treated hypertensive patients.

Evaluation of a focussed protocol for hand-held echocardiography and computer-assisted auscultation in detecting latent rheumatic heart disease in scholars.

PubMed

Zühlke, Liesl J; Engel, Mark E; Nkepu, Simpiwe; Mayosi, Bongani M

2016-08-01

Introduction Echocardiography is the diagnostic test of choice for latent rheumatic heart disease. The utility of echocardiography for large-scale screening is limited by high cost, complex diagnostic protocols, and time to acquire multiple images. We evaluated the performance of a brief hand-held echocardiography protocol and computer-assisted auscultation in detecting latent rheumatic heart disease with or without pathological murmur. A total of 27 asymptomatic patients with latent rheumatic heart disease based on the World Heart Federation criteria and 66 healthy controls were examined by standard cardiac auscultation to detect pathological murmur. Hand-held echocardiography using a focussed protocol that utilises one view - that is, the parasternal long-axis view - and one measurement - that is, mitral regurgitant jet - and a computer-assisted auscultation utilising an automated decision tool were performed on all patients. The sensitivity and specificity of computer-assisted auscultation in latent rheumatic heart disease were 4% (95% CI 1.0-20.4%) and 93.7% (95% CI 84.5-98.3%), respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the focussed hand-held echocardiography protocol for definite rheumatic heart disease were 92.3% (95% CI 63.9-99.8%) and 100%, respectively. The test reliability of hand-held echocardiography was 98.7% for definite and 94.7% for borderline disease, and the adjusted diagnostic odds ratios were 1041 and 263.9 for definite and borderline disease, respectively. Computer-assisted auscultation has extremely low sensitivity but high specificity for pathological murmur in latent rheumatic heart disease. Focussed hand-held echocardiography has fair sensitivity but high specificity and diagnostic utility for definite or borderline rheumatic heart disease in asymptomatic patients.

Effect of automated tube voltage selection, integrated circuit detector and advanced iterative reconstruction on radiation dose and image quality of 3rd generation dual-source aortic CT angiography: An intra-individual comparison.

PubMed

Mangold, Stefanie; De Cecco, Carlo N; Wichmann, Julian L; Canstein, Christian; Varga-Szemes, Akos; Caruso, Damiano; Fuller, Stephen R; Bamberg, Fabian; Nikolaou, Konstantin; Schoepf, U Joseph

2016-05-01

To compare, on an intra-individual basis, the effect of automated tube voltage selection (ATVS), integrated circuit detector and advanced iterative reconstruction on radiation dose and image quality of aortic CTA studies using 2nd and 3rd generation dual-source CT (DSCT). We retrospectively evaluated 32 patients who had undergone CTA of the entire aorta with both 2nd generation DSCT at 120kV using filtered back projection (FBP) (protocol 1) and 3rd generation DSCT using ATVS, an integrated circuit detector and advanced iterative reconstruction (protocol 2). Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was calculated. Image quality was subjectively evaluated using a five-point scale. Radiation dose parameters were recorded. All studies were considered of diagnostic image quality. CNR was significantly higher with protocol 2 (15.0±5.2 vs 11.0±4.2; p<.0001). Subjective image quality analysis revealed no significant differences for evaluation of attenuation (p=0.08501) but image noise was rated significantly lower with protocol 2 (p=0.0005). Mean tube voltage and effective dose were 94.7±14.1kV and 6.7±3.9mSv with protocol 2; 120±0kV and 11.5±5.2mSv with protocol 1 (p<0.0001, respectively). Aortic CTA performed with 3rd generation DSCT, ATVS, integrated circuit detector, and advanced iterative reconstruction allow a substantial reduction of radiation exposure while improving image quality in comparison to 120kV imaging with FBP. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A novel ultrafast-low-dose computed tomography protocol allows concomitant coronary artery evaluation and lung cancer screening.

PubMed

Gaudio, Carlo; Petriello, Gennaro; Pelliccia, Francesco; Tanzilli, Alessandra; Bandiera, Alberto; Tanzilli, Gaetano; Barillà, Francesco; Paravati, Vincenzo; Pellegrini, Massimo; Mangieri, Enrico; Barillari, Paolo

2018-05-08

Cardiac computed tomography (CT) is often performed in patients who are at high risk for lung cancer in whom screening is currently recommended. We tested diagnostic ability and radiation exposure of a novel ultra-low-dose CT protocol that allows concomitant coronary artery evaluation and lung screening. We studied 30 current or former heavy smoker subjects with suspected or known coronary artery disease who underwent CT assessment of both coronary arteries and thoracic area (Revolution CT, General Electric). A new ultrafast-low-dose single protocol was used for ECG-gated helical acquisition of the heart and the whole chest. A single IV iodine bolus (70-90 ml) was used. All patients with CT evidence of coronary stenosis underwent also invasive coronary angiography. All the coronary segments were assessable in 28/30 (93%) patients. Only 8 coronary segments were not assessable in 2 patients due to motion artefacts (assessability: 98%; 477/485 segments). In the assessable segments, 20/21 significant stenoses (> 70% reduction of vessel diameter) were correctly diagnosed. Pulmonary nodules were detected in 5 patients, thus requiring to schedule follow-up surveillance CT thorax. Effective dose was 1.3 ± 0.9 mSv (range: 0.8-3.2 mSv). Noteworthy, no contrast or radiation dose increment was required with the new protocol as compared to conventional coronary CT protocol. The novel ultrafast-low-dose CT protocol allows lung cancer screening at time of coronary artery evaluation. The new approach might enhance the cost-effectiveness of coronary CT in heavy smokers with suspected or known coronary artery disease.

Delay and Disruption Tolerant Networking MACHETE Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Segui, John S.; Jennings, Esther H.; Gao, Jay L.

2011-01-01

To verify satisfaction of communication requirements imposed by unique missions, as early as 2000, the Communications Networking Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) saw the need for an environment to support interplanetary communication protocol design, validation, and characterization. JPL's Multi-mission Advanced Communications Hybrid Environment for Test and Evaluation (MACHETE), described in Simulator of Space Communication Networks (NPO-41373) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 29, No. 8 (August 2005), p. 44, combines various commercial, non-commercial, and in-house custom tools for simulation and performance analysis of space networks. The MACHETE environment supports orbital analysis, link budget analysis, communications network simulations, and hardware-in-the-loop testing. As NASA is expanding its Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) capabilities to support planned and future missions, building infrastructure to maintain services and developing enabling technologies, an important and broader role is seen for MACHETE in design-phase evaluation of future SCaN architectures. To support evaluation of the developing Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) field and its applicability for space networks, JPL developed MACHETE models for DTN Bundle Protocol (BP) and Licklider/Long-haul Transmission Protocol (LTP). DTN is an Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) architecture providing communication in and/or through highly stressed networking environments such as space exploration and battlefield networks. Stressed networking environments include those with intermittent (predictable and unknown) connectivity, large and/or variable delays, and high bit error rates. To provide its services over existing domain specific protocols, the DTN protocols reside at the application layer of the TCP/IP stack, forming a store-and-forward overlay network. The key capabilities of the Bundle Protocol include custody-based reliability, the ability to cope with intermittent connectivity, the ability to take advantage of scheduled and opportunistic connectivity, and late binding of names to addresses.

Comparison of Cryopreservation Protocols (Single and Two-steps) and Thawing (Fast and Slow) for Canine Sperm.

PubMed

Brito, Maíra M; Lúcio, Cristina F; Angrimani, Daniel S R; Losano, João Diego A; Dalmazzo, Andressa; Nichi, Marcílio; Vannucchi, Camila I

2017-01-02

In addition to the existence of several cryopreservation protocols, no systematic research has been carried out in order to confirm the suitable protocol for canine sperm. This study aims to assess the effect of adding 5% glycerol during cryopreservation at 37°C (one-step) and 5°C (two-steps), in addition of testing two thawing protocols (37°C for 30 seconds, and 70°C for 8 seconds). We used 12 sperm samples divided into four experimental groups: Single-Step - Slow Thawing Group; Two-Step - Slow Thawing Group; Single-Step - Fast Thawing Group; and Two-Step - Fast Thawing Group. Frozen-thawed samples were submitted to automated analysis of sperm motility, evaluation of plasmatic membrane integrity, acrosomal integrity, mitochondrial activity, sperm morphology, sperm susceptibility to oxidative stress, and sperm binding assay to perivitellinic membrane of chicken egg yolk. Considering the comparison between freezing protocols, no statistical differences were verified for any of the response variables. When comparison between thawing protocols was performed, slow thawing protocol presented higher sperm count bound to perivitelline membrane of chicken egg yolk, compared to fast thawing protocol. Regardless of the freezing process, the slow thawing protocol can be recommended for the large scale cryopreservation of canine semen, since it shows a consistent better functional result.

Validation of the Pangao PG-800A11 wrist device assessed according to the European Society of Hypertension and the British Hypertension Society protocols.

PubMed

Xie, Peigen; Wang, Yanling; Xu, Xiaoying; Huang, Fei; Pan, Jingru

2015-04-01

The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of the Pangao PG-800A11 wrist blood pressure monitor according to the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol (ESH-IP) revision 2010 and the protocol of the British Hypertension Society (BHS). The device evaluations were performed in 85 participants, 33 of whom were included according to the ESH-IP revision 2010 and 52 of whom were included on the basis of the requirements of the BHS protocol. The validation procedure and data analysis followed the protocols precisely. The device achieved an A/A grading for the BHS protocol and passed all phases of the ESH-IP revision 2010 protocol. The mean difference ±SD for the ESH and BHS protocols, respectively, was -0.6±4.5 and -0.8±6.2 mmHg for systolic pressure and 1.2±4.6 and -0.5±5.1 mmHg for diastolic pressure. The device maintained its A/A grading throughout the low, medium, and high-pressure ranges. The Pangao PG-800A11 wrist blood pressure monitor passed all requirements of the ESH-IP revision 2010 and achieved A/A grade of the BHS protocol in an adult population.

Improving management performance of P2PSIP for mobile sensing in wireless overlays.

PubMed

Sendín-Raña, Pablo; González-Castaño, Francisco Javier; Gómez-Cuba, Felipe; Asorey-Cacheda, Rafael; Pousada-Carballo, José María

2013-11-08

Future wireless communications are heading towards an all-Internet Protocol (all-IP) design, and will rely on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to manage services, such as voice over IP (VoIP). The centralized architecture of traditional SIP has numerous disadvantages for mobile ad hoc services that may be possibly overcome by advanced peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies initially developed for the Internet. In the context of mobile sensing, P2PSIP protocols facilitate decentralized and fast communications with sensor-enabled terminals. Nevertheless, in order to make P2PSIP protocols feasible in mobile sensing networks, it is necessary to minimize overhead transmissions for signaling purposes, which reduces the battery lifetime. In this paper, we present a solution to improve the management of wireless overlay networks by defining an adaptive algorithm for the calculation of refresh time. The main advantage of the proposed algorithm is that it takes into account new parameters, such as the delay between nodes, and provides satisfactory performance and reliability levels at a much lower management overhead than previous approaches. The proposed solution can be applied to many structured P2P overlays or P2PSIP protocols. We evaluate it with Kademlia-based distributed hash tables (DHT) and dSIP.

Improving Management Performance of P2PSIP for Mobile Sensing in Wireless Overlays

PubMed Central

Sendín-Raña, Pablo; González-Castaño, Francisco Javier; Gómez-Cuba, Felipe; Asorey-Cacheda, Rafael; Pousada-Carballo, José María

2013-01-01

Future wireless communications are heading towards an all-Internet Protocol (all-IP) design, and will rely on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to manage services, such as voice over IP (VoIP). The centralized architecture of traditional SIP has numerous disadvantages for mobile ad hoc services that may be possibly overcome by advanced peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies initially developed for the Internet. In the context of mobile sensing, P2PSIP protocols facilitate decentralized and fast communications with sensor-enabled terminals. Nevertheless, in order to make P2PSIP protocols feasible in mobile sensing networks, it is necessary to minimize overhead transmissions for signaling purposes, which reduces the battery lifetime. In this paper, we present a solution to improve the management of wireless overlay networks by defining an adaptive algorithm for the calculation of refresh time. The main advantage of the proposed algorithm is that it takes into account new parameters, such as the delay between nodes, and provides satisfactory performance and reliability levels at a much lower management overhead than previous approaches. The proposed solution can be applied to many structured P2P overlays or P2PSIP protocols. We evaluate it with Kademlia-based distributed hash tables (DHT) and dSIP PMID:24217358

A Geographical Heuristic Routing Protocol for VANETs

PubMed Central

Urquiza-Aguiar, Luis; Tripp-Barba, Carolina; Aguilar Igartua, Mónica

2016-01-01

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) leverage the communication system of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Recently, Delay-Tolerant Network (DTN) routing protocols have increased their popularity among the research community for being used in non-safety VANET applications and services like traffic reporting. Vehicular DTN protocols use geographical and local information to make forwarding decisions. However, current proposals only consider the selection of the best candidate based on a local-search. In this paper, we propose a generic Geographical Heuristic Routing (GHR) protocol that can be applied to any DTN geographical routing protocol that makes forwarding decisions hop by hop. GHR includes in its operation adaptations simulated annealing and Tabu-search meta-heuristics, which have largely been used to improve local-search results in discrete optimization. We include a complete performance evaluation of GHR in a multi-hop VANET simulation scenario for a reporting service. Our study analyzes all of the meaningful configurations of GHR and offers a statistical analysis of our findings by means of MANOVA tests. Our results indicate that the use of a Tabu list contributes to improving the packet delivery ratio by around 5% to 10%. Moreover, if Tabu is used, then the simulated annealing routing strategy gets a better performance than the selection of the best node used with carry and forwarding (default operation). PMID:27669254

Implementation of the Spanish ERAS program in bariatric surgery.

PubMed

Ruiz-Tovar, Jaime; Muñoz, José Luis; Royo, Pablo; Duran, Manuel; Redondo, Elisabeth; Ramirez, Jose Manuel

2018-03-08

The essence of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) programs is the multimodal approach, and many authors have demonstrated safety and feasibility in fast track bariatric surgery. According to this concept, a multidisciplinary ERAS program for bariatric surgery has been developed by the Spanish Fast Track Group (ERAS Spain). The aim of this study was to analyze the initial implementation of this Spanish National ERAS protocol in bariatric surgery, comparing it with a historical cohort receiving standard care. A multi-centric prospective study was performed, including 233 consecutive patients undergoing bariatric surgery during 2015 and following ERAS protocol. It was compared with a historical cohort of 286 patients, who underwent bariatric surgery at the same institutions between 2013 and 2014 and following standard care. Compliance with the protocol, morbidity, mortality, hospital stay and readmission were evaluated. Bariatric techniques performed were Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy. There were no significant differences in complications, mortality and readmission. Postoperative pain and hospital stay were significantly lower in the ERAS group. The total compliance to protocol was 80%. The Spanish National ERAS protocol is a safe issue, obtaining similar results to standard care in terms of complications, reoperations, mortality and readmissions. It is associated with less postoperative pain and earlier hospital discharge.

A Geographical Heuristic Routing Protocol for VANETs.

PubMed

Urquiza-Aguiar, Luis; Tripp-Barba, Carolina; Aguilar Igartua, Mónica

2016-09-23

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) leverage the communication system of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Recently, Delay-Tolerant Network (DTN) routing protocols have increased their popularity among the research community for being used in non-safety VANET applications and services like traffic reporting. Vehicular DTN protocols use geographical and local information to make forwarding decisions. However, current proposals only consider the selection of the best candidate based on a local-search. In this paper, we propose a generic Geographical Heuristic Routing (GHR) protocol that can be applied to any DTN geographical routing protocol that makes forwarding decisions hop by hop. GHR includes in its operation adaptations simulated annealing and Tabu-search meta-heuristics, which have largely been used to improve local-search results in discrete optimization. We include a complete performance evaluation of GHR in a multi-hop VANET simulation scenario for a reporting service. Our study analyzes all of the meaningful configurations of GHR and offers a statistical analysis of our findings by means of MANOVA tests. Our results indicate that the use of a Tabu list contributes to improving the packet delivery ratio by around 5% to 10%. Moreover, if Tabu is used, then the simulated annealing routing strategy gets a better performance than the selection of the best node used with carry and forwarding (default operation).

Evaluating the tolerability and acceptability of an alcohol-based hand rub - real-life experience with the WHO protocol.

PubMed

Wolfensberger, Aline; Durisch, Nina; Mertin, Juliane; Ajdler-Schaeffler, Evelyne; Sax, Hugo

2015-01-01

Optimizing user satisfaction with alcohol-based hand rubs (ABHR) may be vital to enhance hand hygiene performance. This study tested the tolerability and acceptability of a new ABHR (EVO9; Ecolab) in healthcare workers under daily working conditions and evaluated the practicability of the corresponding WHO protocol. We strictly applied the WHO single product ABHR evaluation protocol. A trained observer assessed hand skin conditions of healthy volunteers using at least 30 ml ABHR per day during their clinical work at baseline, day 3-5 and one month (visit 1-3). Participants rated ABHR tolerability and acceptability at visit 2 and 3. Additionally, we registered study time for participants and study team. Among 46 volunteers, 76% were female; 37% nurses, 28% physicians. Skin was observer-rated "not" or "incidentally" dry in 64.4%, 77.8%, and 90.9% participants at visit 1, 2, and 3, respectively. EVO9 was scored ≥5 (progressive scale, 1-7) for appearance, intactness, moisture content, and sensation by 95.7%, 97.7%, 88.9%, and 97.8% participants at visit 3, respectively. All WHO benchmarks were exceeded except for "speed of drying" at visit 2, and "texture" at visit 2 and 3. Cumulative study time expenditure was 14 days for the observer and four days for participants. EVO9 was well tolerated and accepted according to the WHO single ABHR evaluation protocol with the potential for improvement for stickiness. The WHO protocol is feasible but requires considerable time and logistics. It does not preclude bias, in this case especially due to the necessary switch to personal dispensers.

Characterizing performance improvement in primary care systems in Mesoamerica: A realist evaluation protocol.

PubMed

Munar, Wolfgang; Wahid, Syed S; Curry, Leslie

2018-01-03

Background . Improving performance of primary care systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may be a necessary condition for achievement of universal health coverage in the age of Sustainable Development Goals. The Salud Mesoamerica Initiative (SMI), a large-scale, multi-country program that uses supply-side financial incentives directed at the central-level of governments, and continuous, external evaluation of public, health sector performance to induce improvements in primary care performance in eight LMICs. This study protocol seeks to explain whether and how these interventions generate program effects in El Salvador and Honduras. Methods . This study presents the protocol for a study that uses a realist evaluation approach to develop a preliminary program theory that hypothesizes the interactions between context, interventions and the mechanisms that trigger outcomes. The program theory was completed through a scoping review of relevant empirical, peer-reviewed and grey literature; a sense-making workshop with program stakeholders; and content analysis of key SMI documents. The study will use a multiple case-study design with embedded units with contrasting cases. We define as a case the two primary care systems of Honduras and El Salvador, each with different context characteristics. Data will be collected through in-depth interviews with program actors and stakeholders, documentary review, and non-participatory observation. Data analysis will use inductive and deductive approaches to identify causal patterns organized as 'context, mechanism, outcome' configurations. The findings will be triangulated with existing secondary, qualitative and quantitative data sources, and contrasted against relevant theoretical literature. The study will end with a refined program theory. Findings will be published following the guidelines generated by the Realist and Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses study (RAMESES II). This study will be performed contemporaneously with SMI's mid-term stage of implementation. Of the methods described, the preliminary program theory has been completed. Data collection, analysis and synthesis remain to be completed.

Characterizing performance improvement in primary care systems in Mesoamerica: A realist evaluation protocol

PubMed Central

Munar, Wolfgang; Wahid, Syed S.; Curry, Leslie

2018-01-01

Background. Improving performance of primary care systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) may be a necessary condition for achievement of universal health coverage in the age of Sustainable Development Goals. The Salud Mesoamerica Initiative (SMI), a large-scale, multi-country program that uses supply-side financial incentives directed at the central-level of governments, and continuous, external evaluation of public, health sector performance to induce improvements in primary care performance in eight LMICs. This study protocol seeks to explain whether and how these interventions generate program effects in El Salvador and Honduras. Methods. This study presents the protocol for a study that uses a realist evaluation approach to develop a preliminary program theory that hypothesizes the interactions between context, interventions and the mechanisms that trigger outcomes. The program theory was completed through a scoping review of relevant empirical, peer-reviewed and grey literature; a sense-making workshop with program stakeholders; and content analysis of key SMI documents. The study will use a multiple case-study design with embedded units with contrasting cases. We define as a case the two primary care systems of Honduras and El Salvador, each with different context characteristics. Data will be collected through in-depth interviews with program actors and stakeholders, documentary review, and non-participatory observation. Data analysis will use inductive and deductive approaches to identify causal patterns organized as ‘context, mechanism, outcome’ configurations. The findings will be triangulated with existing secondary, qualitative and quantitative data sources, and contrasted against relevant theoretical literature. The study will end with a refined program theory. Findings will be published following the guidelines generated by the Realist and Meta-narrative Evidence Syntheses study (RAMESES II). This study will be performed contemporaneously with SMI’s mid-term stage of implementation. Of the methods described, the preliminary program theory has been completed. Data collection, analysis and synthesis remain to be completed. PMID:29431181

Experience with HEP analysis on mounted filesystems.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuhrmann, Patrick; Gasthuber, Martin; Kemp, Yves; Ozerov, Dmitry

2012-12-01

We present results on different approaches on mounted filesystems in use or under investigation at DESY. dCache, established since long as a storage system for physics data has implemented the NFS v4.1/pNFS protocol. New performance results will be shown with the most current version of the dCache server. In addition to the native usage of the mounted filesystem in a LAN environment, the results are given for the performance of the dCache NFS v4.1/pNFS in WAN case. Several commercial vendors are currently in alpha or beta phase of adding the NFS v4.1/pNFS protocol to their storage appliances. We will test some of these vendor solutions for their readiness for HEP analysis. DESY has recently purchased an IBM Sonas system. We will present the result of a thorough performance evaluation using the native protocols NFS (v3 or v4) and GPFS. As the emphasis is on the usability for end user analysis, we will use latest ROOT versions and current end user analysis code for benchmark scenarios.

Effects of scapulohumeral rehabilitation protocol on trunk control recovery in patients with subacute stroke: A pilot randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Dell'Uomo, Daniela; Morone, Giovanni; Centrella, Antonio; Paolucci, Stefano; Caltagirone, Carlo; Grasso, Maria Grazia; Traballesi, Marco; Iosa, Marco

2017-01-01

Despite upper limb rehabilitation is widely investigated in patients with stroke, the effects of scapulohumeral rehabilitation on trunk stabillization are mainly unknown. To test the effects of scapulohumeral rehabilitation protocol on trunk control recovery in patients with subacute stroke. A pilot randomized controlled trial with two groups of 14 patients each one performing 20 minutes per day, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks in add on to standard therapy. Experimental group performed a specific scapulohumeral rehabilitation protocol aiming to improve trunk competencies whereas control group performed conventional arm rehabilitation. Clinical scale tests and accelerometric evaluations were performed pre- and post-treatment. Experimental groups showed better scores at discharge at Trunk impairment Scale (p < 0.001), Barthel Index (p = 0.024), Trunk Control Test (p = 0.002), Sitting Balance Scale (p = 0.002), but neither at Fugl-Meyer Scale (p = 0.194) nor Modified Ashworth Scale (p = 0.114). Accelerometric analysis showed higher stability of trunk for experimental group especially during static and dynamic items. The recovery of scapulohumeral functions also acts on trunk stabilization post-stroke.

On Estimating End-to-End Network Path Properties

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Allman, Mark; Paxson, Vern

1999-01-01

The more information about current network conditions available to a transport protocol, the more efficiently it can use the network to transfer its data. In networks such as the Internet, the transport protocol must often form its own estimates of network properties based on measurements per-formed by the connection endpoints. We consider two basic transport estimation problems: determining the setting of the retransmission timer (RTO) for are reliable protocol, and estimating the bandwidth available to a connection as it begins. We look at both of these problems in the context of TCP, using a large TCP measurement set [Pax97b] for trace-driven simulations. For RTO estimation, we evaluate a number of different algorithms, finding that the performance of the estimators is dominated by their minimum values, and to a lesser extent, the timer granularity, while being virtually unaffected by how often round-trip time measurements are made or the settings of the parameters in the exponentially-weighted moving average estimators commonly used. For bandwidth estimation, we explore techniques previously sketched in the literature [Hoe96, AD98] and find that in practice they perform less well than anticipated. We then develop a receiver-side algorithm that performs significantly better.

Characterization of transgenic mice--a comparison of protocols for welfare evaluation and phenotype characterization of mice with a suggestion on a future certificate of instruction.

PubMed

Jegstrup, I; Thon, R; Hansen, A K; Hoitinga, M Ritskes

2003-01-01

A thorough welfare evaluation performed as part of a general phenotype characterization for both transgenic and traditional mouse strains could not only contribute to the improvement of the welfare of laboratory animals, but could also be of benefit to scientists, laboratory veterinarians and the inspecting authorities. A literature review has been performed to identify and critically evaluate already existing protocols for phenotype and welfare characterization. There are several relevant schemes available, among others the SHIRPA method, the modified score sheet of Morton and Griffiths, the FRIMORFO phenotype characterization scheme and the behavioural phenotype schemes as described by Crawley. These protocols have been evaluated according to four goals: Their ability (1) to reveal any special needs or problems with a transgenic strain, (2) to cover the informational needs of the purchaser/user of the strain, (3) to refine the welfare of the transgenic animal model by identifying relevant humane endpoints, (4) to prevent the duplication of animal models that have already been developed. The protocols described are useful for characterizing the phenotype and judging welfare disturbances, however the total amount of information and the degree of detail varies considerably from one scheme to another. We present a proposal regarding the practical application of the various schemes that will secure proper treatment and the identification of humane endpoints. It is advocated that with every purchase of a particular strain, an instruction document should accompany the strain. This document needs to give detailed descriptions of the typical characteristics of the strain, as well as necessary actions concerning relevant treatment and humane endpoints. At the moment no such documents are required. The introduction of these types of documents will contribute to improvements in animal welfare as well as experimental results in laboratory animal experimentation.

Pharmacological versus microvascular decompression approaches for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia: clinical outcomes and direct costs

PubMed Central

Lemos, Laurinda; Alegria, Carlos; Oliveira, Joana; Machado, Ana; Oliveira, Pedro; Almeida, Armando

2011-01-01

In idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (TN) the neuroimaging evaluation is usually normal, but in some cases a vascular compression of trigeminal nerve root is present. Although the latter condition may be referred to surgery, drug therapy is usually the first approach to control pain. This study compared the clinical outcome and direct costs of (1) a traditional treatment (carbamazepine [CBZ] in monotherapy [CBZ protocol]), (2) the association of gabapentin (GBP) and analgesic block of trigger-points with ropivacaine (ROP) (GBP+ROP protocol), and (3) a common TN surgery, microvascular decompression of the trigeminal nerve (MVD protocol). Sixty-two TN patients were randomly treated during 4 weeks (CBZ [n = 23] and GBP+ROP [n = 17] protocols) from cases of idiopathic TN, or selected for MVD surgery (n = 22) due to intractable pain. Direct medical cost estimates were determined by the price of drugs in 2008 and the hospital costs. Pain was evaluated using the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) and number of pain crises; the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Sickness Impact Profile, and satisfaction with treatment and hospital team were evaluated. Assessments were performed at day 0 and 6 months after the beginning of treatment. All protocols showed a clinical improvement of pain control at month 6. The GBP+ROP protocol was the least expensive treatment, whereas surgery was the most expensive. With time, however, GBP+ROP tended to be the most and MVD the least expensive. No sequelae resulted in any patient after drug therapies, while after MDV surgery several patients showed important side effects. Data reinforce that, (1) TN patients should be carefully evaluated before choosing therapy for pain control, (2) different pharmacological approaches are available to initiate pain control at low costs, and (3) criteria for surgical interventions should be clearly defined due to important side effects, with the initial higher costs being strongly reduced with time. PMID:21941455

Knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour intentions for three bowel management practices in intensive care: effects of a targeted protocol implementation for nursing and medical staff.

PubMed

Knowles, Serena; Lam, Lawrence T; McInnes, Elizabeth; Elliott, Doug; Hardy, Jennifer; Middleton, Sandy

2015-01-01

Bowel management protocols have the potential to minimize complications for critically ill patients. Targeted implementation can increase the uptake of protocols by clinicians into practice. The theory of planned behaviour offers a framework in which to investigate clinicians' intention to perform the behaviour of interest. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of implementing a bowel management protocol on intensive care nursing and medical staffs' knowledge, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, behaviour intentions, role perceptions and past behaviours in relation to three bowel management practices. A descriptive before and after survey using a self-administered questionnaire sent to nursing and medical staff working within three intensive care units before and after implementation of our bowel management protocol (pre: May - June 2008; post: Feb - May 2009). Participants had significantly higher knowledge scores post-implementation of our protocol (pre mean score 17.6; post mean score 19.3; p = 0.004). Post-implementation there was a significant increase in: self-reported past behaviour (pre mean score 5.38; post mean score 7.11; p = 0.002) and subjective norms scores (pre mean score 3.62; post mean score 4.18; p = 0.016) for bowel assessment; and behaviour intention (pre mean score 5.22; post mean score 5.65; p = 0.048) for administration of enema. This evaluation, informed by the theory of planned behaviour, has provided useful insights into factors that influence clinician intentions to perform evidence-based bowel management practices in intensive care. Addressing factors such as knowledge, attitudes and beliefs can assist in targeting implementation strategies to positively affect clinician behaviour change. Despite an increase in clinicians' knowledge scores, our implementation strategy did not, however, significantly change clinician behaviour intentions for all three bowel management practices. Further research is required to explore the influence of opinion leaders and organizational culture on clinicians' behaviour intentions related to bowel management for intensive care patients.

Levels of Hepatic Activating Transcription Factor 6 and Caspase-3 Are Downregulated in Mice after Excessive Training.

PubMed

Pinto, Ana P; da Rocha, Alisson L; Oliveira, Luciana da C; Morais, Gustavo P; de Vicente, Larissa G; Cintra, Dennys E; Pauli, José R; Moura, Leandro P; Ropelle, Eduardo R; da Silva, Adelino S R

2017-01-01

Recently, we demonstrated that different running overtraining (OT) protocols with the same external load, but performed downhill (OTR/down), uphill (OTR/up), and without inclination (OTR), led to hepatic fat accumulation. As the disruption of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis is linked to animal models of fatty liver disease, we investigated the effects of these OT models on the proteins related to ER stress (i.e., BiP, inositol-requiring enzyme 1, protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase, eIF2alpha, ATF6beta, and glucose-regulated protein 94) and apoptosis (C/EBP-homologous protein, Caspase-3, 4, and 12, Bax, and tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 2) in livers of C57BL/6 mice. Also, aerobic training can attenuate cardiac ER stress and improve exercise capacity. Therefore, we investigated whether the decrease in performance induced by our OT protocols is linked to ER stress and apoptosis in mouse hearts. The rodents were divided into six groups: naïve (N, sedentary mice), control (CT, sedentary mice submitted to the performance evaluations), trained (TR), OTR/down, OTR/up, and OTR groups. Rotarod, incremental load, exhaustive, and grip force tests were used to evaluate performance. After the grip force test, the livers and cardiac muscles (i.e., left ventricle) were removed and used for immunoblotting. All of the OT protocols led to similar responses in the performance parameters and displayed significantly lower hepatic ATF6beta values compared to the N group. The OTR/down group exhibited lower liver cleaved caspase-3 values compared to the CT group. However, the other proteins related to ER stress and apoptosis were not modulated. Also, the cardiac proteins related to ER stress and apoptosis were not modulated in the experimental groups. In conclusion, the OT protocols decreased the levels of hepatic ATF6beta, and the OTR/down group decreased the levels of hepatic cleaved caspase-3. Also, the decrease in performance induced by our OT models is not associated with ER stress and apoptosis in mice hearts.

Pre-cooling for endurance exercise performance in the heat: a systematic review

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Endurance exercise capacity diminishes under hot environmental conditions. Time to exhaustion can be increased by lowering body temperature prior to exercise (pre-cooling). This systematic literature review synthesizes the current findings of the effects of pre-cooling on endurance exercise performance, providing guidance for clinical practice and further research. Methods The MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science and SPORTDiscus databases were searched in May 2012 for studies evaluating the effectiveness of pre-cooling to enhance endurance exercise performance in hot environmental conditions (≥ 28°C). Studies involving participants with increased susceptibility to heat strain, cooling during or between bouts of exercise, and protocols where aerobic endurance was not the principle performance outcome were excluded. Potential publications were assessed by two independent reviewers for inclusion and quality. Means and standard deviations of exercise performance variables were extracted or sought from original authors to enable effect size calculations. Results In all, 13 studies were identified. The majority of studies contained low participant numbers and/or absence of sample size calculations. Six studies used cold water immersion, four crushed ice ingestion and three cooling garments. The remaining study utilized mixed methods. Large heterogeneity in methodological design and exercise protocols was identified. Effect size calculations indicated moderate evidence that cold water immersion effectively improved endurance performance, and limited evidence that ice slurry ingestion improved performance. Cooling garments were ineffective. Most studies failed to document or report adverse events. Low participant numbers in each study limited the statistical power of certain reported trends and lack of blinding could potentially have introduced either participant or researcher bias in some studies. Conclusions Current evidence indicates cold water immersion may be the most effective method of pre-cooling to improve endurance performance in hot conditions, although practicality must be considered. Ice slurry ingestion appears to be the most promising practical alternative. Interestingly, cooling garments appear of limited efficacy, despite their frequent use. Mechanisms behind effective pre-cooling remain uncertain, and optimal protocols have yet to be established. Future research should focus on standardizing exercise performance protocols, recruiting larger participant numbers to enable direct comparisons of effectiveness and practicality for each method, and ensuring potential adverse events are evaluated. PMID:23249542

A Natural Language Processing-based Model to Automate MRI Brain Protocol Selection and Prioritization.

PubMed

Brown, Andrew D; Marotta, Thomas R

2017-02-01

Incorrect imaging protocol selection can contribute to increased healthcare cost and waste. To help healthcare providers improve the quality and safety of medical imaging services, we developed and evaluated three natural language processing (NLP) models to determine whether NLP techniques could be employed to aid in clinical decision support for protocoling and prioritization of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain examinations. To test the feasibility of using an NLP model to support clinical decision making for MRI brain examinations, we designed three different medical imaging prediction tasks, each with a unique outcome: selecting an examination protocol, evaluating the need for contrast administration, and determining priority. We created three models for each prediction task, each using a different classification algorithm-random forest, support vector machine, or k-nearest neighbor-to predict outcomes based on the narrative clinical indications and demographic data associated with 13,982 MRI brain examinations performed from January 1, 2013 to June 30, 2015. Test datasets were used to calculate the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity, predictive values, and the area under the curve. Our optimal results show an accuracy of 82.9%, 83.0%, and 88.2% for the protocol selection, contrast administration, and prioritization tasks, respectively, demonstrating that predictive algorithms can be used to aid in clinical decision support for examination protocoling. NLP models developed from the narrative clinical information provided by referring clinicians and demographic data are feasible methods to predict the protocol and priority of MRI brain examinations. Copyright © 2017 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A guideline for the validation of likelihood ratio methods used for forensic evidence evaluation.

PubMed

Meuwly, Didier; Ramos, Daniel; Haraksim, Rudolf

2017-07-01

This Guideline proposes a protocol for the validation of forensic evaluation methods at the source level, using the Likelihood Ratio framework as defined within the Bayes' inference model. In the context of the inference of identity of source, the Likelihood Ratio is used to evaluate the strength of the evidence for a trace specimen, e.g. a fingermark, and a reference specimen, e.g. a fingerprint, to originate from common or different sources. Some theoretical aspects of probabilities necessary for this Guideline were discussed prior to its elaboration, which started after a workshop of forensic researchers and practitioners involved in this topic. In the workshop, the following questions were addressed: "which aspects of a forensic evaluation scenario need to be validated?", "what is the role of the LR as part of a decision process?" and "how to deal with uncertainty in the LR calculation?". The questions: "what to validate?" focuses on the validation methods and criteria and "how to validate?" deals with the implementation of the validation protocol. Answers to these questions were deemed necessary with several objectives. First, concepts typical for validation standards [1], such as performance characteristics, performance metrics and validation criteria, will be adapted or applied by analogy to the LR framework. Second, a validation strategy will be defined. Third, validation methods will be described. Finally, a validation protocol and an example of validation report will be proposed, which can be applied to the forensic fields developing and validating LR methods for the evaluation of the strength of evidence at source level under the following propositions. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A Protocol Layer Trust-Based Intrusion Detection Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Wang, Jian; Jiang, Shuai; Fapojuwo, Abraham O.

2017-01-01

This article proposes a protocol layer trust-based intrusion detection scheme for wireless sensor networks. Unlike existing work, the trust value of a sensor node is evaluated according to the deviations of key parameters at each protocol layer considering the attacks initiated at different protocol layers will inevitably have impacts on the parameters of the corresponding protocol layers. For simplicity, the paper mainly considers three aspects of trustworthiness, namely physical layer trust, media access control layer trust and network layer trust. The per-layer trust metrics are then combined to determine the overall trust metric of a sensor node. The performance of the proposed intrusion detection mechanism is then analyzed using the t-distribution to derive analytical results of false positive and false negative probabilities. Numerical analytical results, validated by simulation results, are presented in different attack scenarios. It is shown that the proposed protocol layer trust-based intrusion detection scheme outperforms a state-of-the-art scheme in terms of detection probability and false probability, demonstrating its usefulness for detecting cross-layer attacks. PMID:28555023

A Protocol Layer Trust-Based Intrusion Detection Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Wang, Jian; Jiang, Shuai; Fapojuwo, Abraham O

2017-05-27

This article proposes a protocol layer trust-based intrusion detection scheme for wireless sensor networks. Unlike existing work, the trust value of a sensor node is evaluated according to the deviations of key parameters at each protocol layer considering the attacks initiated at different protocol layers will inevitably have impacts on the parameters of the corresponding protocol layers. For simplicity, the paper mainly considers three aspects of trustworthiness, namely physical layer trust, media access control layer trust and network layer trust. The per-layer trust metrics are then combined to determine the overall trust metric of a sensor node. The performance of the proposed intrusion detection mechanism is then analyzed using the t-distribution to derive analytical results of false positive and false negative probabilities. Numerical analytical results, validated by simulation results, are presented in different attack scenarios. It is shown that the proposed protocol layer trust-based intrusion detection scheme outperforms a state-of-the-art scheme in terms of detection probability and false probability, demonstrating its usefulness for detecting cross-layer attacks.

Comparative evaluation of canal isthmus debridement efficacy of modified EndoVac technique with different irrigation systems.

PubMed

Thomas, Anchu Rachel; Velmurugan, Natanasabapathy; Smita, Surendran; Jothilatha, Sundaramurthy

2014-10-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the canal isthmus debridement efficacy of a new modified EndoVac (Discus Dental, Culver City, CA) irrigation protocol in comparison with EndoVac, passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI), and conventional needle irrigation in mesial roots of mandibular molars. The mesial roots of 64 extracted mandibular molars mounted in resin using Kuttler's endodontic cube, sectioned at 2 and 4 mm from the working length, were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 16): group 1: Max-I-Probe (Dentsply Tulsa Dental, York, PA), group 2: EndoVac (EVI), group 3: modified EndoVac, and group 4: PUI. The specimens were reassembled and instrumented. A standard irrigation protocol was used during cleaning and shaping and final irrigation with the 4 irrigation/agitation techniques. Images of the isthmus region were taken before and after cleaning and shaping and after final irrigation. The percentage reduction of debris in the isthmus region was calculated by using the software program Image J (v1.43; National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD). Intergroup analysis was performed using the Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. Intragroup analysis was performed using Friedman and Wilcoxon signed rank tests. The level of significance was set at P < .05. Intragroup analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in the percentage reduction of debris after cleaning and shaping and after final irrigation protocol in all the groups (P < .001). The final irrigation protocol produced significantly cleaner canal isthmuses in all the groups (P < .001). On intergroup analysis, the modified EVI group performed significantly better than the other groups. The EVI and PUI groups performed better than the Max-I-Probe group. There was no statistical significance between the EVI and PUI groups. Canal isthmuses were significantly cleaner with the modified EndoVac irrigation technique when compared with the cleanliness seen with the other irrigation systems. Copyright © 2014 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cost-effectiveness of risk stratified followup after urethral reconstruction: a decision analysis.

PubMed

Belsante, Michael J; Zhao, Lee C; Hudak, Steven J; Lotan, Yair; Morey, Allen F

2013-10-01

We propose a novel risk stratified followup protocol for use after urethroplasty and explore potential cost savings. Decision analysis was performed comparing a symptom based, risk stratified protocol for patients undergoing excision and primary anastomosis urethroplasty vs a standard regimen of close followup for urethroplasty. Model assumptions included that excision and primary anastomosis has a 94% success rate, 11% of patients with successful urethroplasty had persistent lower urinary tract symptoms requiring cystoscopic evaluation, patients in whom treatment failed undergo urethrotomy and patients with recurrence on symptom based surveillance have a delayed diagnosis requiring suprapubic tube drainage. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2010 was queried to identify the number of urethroplasties performed per year in the United States. Costs were obtained based on Medicare reimbursement rates. The 5-year cost of a symptom based, risk stratified followup protocol is $430 per patient vs $2,827 per patient using standard close followup practice. An estimated 7,761 urethroplasties were performed in the United States in 2010. Assuming that 60% were excision and primary anastomosis, and with more than 5 years of followup, the risk stratified protocol was projected to yield an estimated savings of $11,165,130. Sensitivity analysis showed that the symptom based, risk stratified followup protocol was far more cost-effective than standard close followup in all settings. Less than 1% of patients would be expected to have an asymptomatic recurrence using the risk stratified followup protocol. A risk stratified, symptom based approach to urethroplasty followup would produce a significant reduction in health care costs while decreasing unnecessary followup visits, invasive testing and radiation exposure. Copyright © 2013 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Framework for performance evaluation of face, text, and vehicle detection and tracking in video: data, metrics, and protocol.

PubMed

Kasturi, Rangachar; Goldgof, Dmitry; Soundararajan, Padmanabhan; Manohar, Vasant; Garofolo, John; Bowers, Rachel; Boonstra, Matthew; Korzhova, Valentina; Zhang, Jing

2009-02-01

Common benchmark data sets, standardized performance metrics, and baseline algorithms have demonstrated considerable impact on research and development in a variety of application domains. These resources provide both consumers and developers of technology with a common framework to objectively compare the performance of different algorithms and algorithmic improvements. In this paper, we present such a framework for evaluating object detection and tracking in video: specifically for face, text, and vehicle objects. This framework includes the source video data, ground-truth annotations (along with guidelines for annotation), performance metrics, evaluation protocols, and tools including scoring software and baseline algorithms. For each detection and tracking task and supported domain, we developed a 50-clip training set and a 50-clip test set. Each data clip is approximately 2.5 minutes long and has been completely spatially/temporally annotated at the I-frame level. Each task/domain, therefore, has an associated annotated corpus of approximately 450,000 frames. The scope of such annotation is unprecedented and was designed to begin to support the necessary quantities of data for robust machine learning approaches, as well as a statistically significant comparison of the performance of algorithms. The goal of this work was to systematically address the challenges of object detection and tracking through a common evaluation framework that permits a meaningful objective comparison of techniques, provides the research community with sufficient data for the exploration of automatic modeling techniques, encourages the incorporation of objective evaluation into the development process, and contributes useful lasting resources of a scale and magnitude that will prove to be extremely useful to the computer vision research community for years to come.

Protocol for Reliability Assessment of Structural Health Monitoring Systems Incorporating Model-assisted Probability of Detection (MAPOD) Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

a quality evaluation with limited data, a model -based assessment must be...that affect system performance, a multistage approach to system validation, a modeling and experimental methodology for efficiently addressing a ...affect system performance, a multistage approach to system validation, a modeling and experimental methodology for efficiently addressing a wide range

One Sample, One Shot - Evaluation of sample preparation protocols for the mass spectrometric proteome analysis of human bile fluid without extensive fractionation.

PubMed

Megger, Dominik A; Padden, Juliet; Rosowski, Kristin; Uszkoreit, Julian; Bracht, Thilo; Eisenacher, Martin; Gerges, Christian; Neuhaus, Horst; Schumacher, Brigitte; Schlaak, Jörg F; Sitek, Barbara

2017-02-10

The proteome analysis of bile fluid represents a promising strategy to identify biomarker candidates for various diseases of the hepatobiliary system. However, to obtain substantive results in biomarker discovery studies large patient cohorts necessarily need to be analyzed. Consequently, this would lead to an unmanageable number of samples to be analyzed if sample preparation protocols with extensive fractionation methods are applied. Hence, the performance of simple workflows allowing for "one sample, one shot" experiments have been evaluated in this study. In detail, sixteen different protocols implying modifications at the stages of desalting, delipidation, deglycosylation and tryptic digestion have been examined. Each method has been individually evaluated regarding various performance criteria and comparative analyses have been conducted to uncover possible complementarities. Here, the best performance in terms of proteome coverage has been assessed for a combination of acetone precipitation with in-gel digestion. Finally, a mapping of all obtained protein identifications with putative biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC) revealed several proteins easily detectable in bile fluid. These results can build the basis for future studies with large and well-defined patient cohorts in a more disease-related context. Human bile fluid is a proximal body fluid and supposed to be a potential source of disease markers. However, due to its biochemical composition, the proteome analysis of bile fluid still represents a challenging task and is therefore mostly conducted using extensive fractionation procedures. This in turn leads to a high number of mass spectrometric measurements for one biological sample. Considering the fact that in order to overcome the biological variability a high number of biological samples needs to be analyzed in biomarker discovery studies, this leads to the dilemma of an unmanageable number of necessary MS-based analyses. Hence, easy sample preparation protocols are demanded representing a compromise between proteome coverage and simplicity. In the presented study, such protocols have been evaluated regarding various technical criteria (e.g. identification rates, missed cleavages, chromatographic separation) uncovering the strengths and weaknesses of various methods. Furthermore, a cumulative bile proteome list has been generated that extends the current bile proteome catalog by 248 proteins. Finally, a mapping with putative biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC) derived from tissue-based studies, revealed several of these proteins being easily and reproducibly detectable in human bile. Therefore, the presented technical work represents a solid base for future disease-related studies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using semantics for representing experimental protocols.

PubMed

Giraldo, Olga; García, Alexander; López, Federico; Corcho, Oscar

2017-11-13

An experimental protocol is a sequence of tasks and operations executed to perform experimental research in biological and biomedical areas, e.g. biology, genetics, immunology, neurosciences, virology. Protocols often include references to equipment, reagents, descriptions of critical steps, troubleshooting and tips, as well as any other information that researchers deem important for facilitating the reusability of the protocol. Although experimental protocols are central to reproducibility, the descriptions are often cursory. There is the need for a unified framework with respect to the syntactic structure and the semantics for representing experimental protocols. In this paper we present "SMART Protocols ontology", an ontology for representing experimental protocols. Our ontology represents the protocol as a workflow with domain specific knowledge embedded within a document. We also present the S ample I nstrument R eagent O bjective (SIRO) model, which represents the minimal common information shared across experimental protocols. SIRO was conceived in the same realm as the Patient Intervention Comparison Outcome (PICO) model that supports search, retrieval and classification purposes in evidence based medicine. We evaluate our approach against a set of competency questions modeled as SPARQL queries and processed against a set of published and unpublished protocols modeled with the SP Ontology and the SIRO model. Our approach makes it possible to answer queries such as Which protocols use tumor tissue as a sample. Improving reporting structures for experimental protocols requires collective efforts from authors, peer reviewers, editors and funding bodies. The SP Ontology is a contribution towards this goal. We build upon previous experiences and bringing together the view of researchers managing protocols in their laboratory work. Website: https://smartprotocols.github.io/ .

MRI of penile fracture: what should be a tailored protocol in emergency?

PubMed

Esposito, Andrea Alessandro; Giannitto, Caterina; Muzzupappa, Claudia; Maccagnoni, Sara; Gadda, Franco; Albo, Giancarlo; Biondetti, Pietro Raimondo

2016-09-01

To conduct a review of literature to summarize the existing MRI protocols for penile trauma, suggesting a tailored protocol to reduce costs and time of examination. A systematic search was performed in Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Cinahl databases from 1995 to 2015 to identify studies evaluating penis trauma with MRI examination. Studies were included if there was the description of MRI protocol with at least sequences and orthogonal planes used. We chose a systematic approach for data extraction and descriptive synthesis. 12 articles were included in our study. Among the list of 12 articles: 2 were case reports, 3 were clinical series, and 7 were reviews. Clinical trials were not found. There is no unanimous consensus among the authors. Summarizing the data, the most used protocol is characterized by T2 sequences in three orthogonal planes plus T1 sequences in one plane (either axial or sagittal) without contrast medium injection. There is a lack of a standard protocol. A tailored protocol to answer the diagnostic question, reducing costs and time of examination, is characterized by T2 sequences in three orthogonal planes plus at least a T1 sequence (either axial or sagittal plane).

Improving preterm infant outcomes: implementing an evidence-based oral feeding advancement protocol in the neonatal intensive care unit.

PubMed

Kish, Mary Z

2014-10-01

The ability of a preterm infant to exclusively oral feed is a necessary standard for discharge readiness from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Many of the interventions related to oral feeding advancement currently employed for preterm infants in the NICU are based on individual nursing observations and judgment. Studies involving standardized feeding protocols for oral feeding advancement have been shown to decrease variability in feeding practices, facilitate shortened transition times from gavage to oral feedings, improve bottle feeding performance, and significantly decrease the length of stay (LOS) in the NICU. This project critically evaluated the implementation of an oral feeding advancement protocol in a 74-bed level III NICU in an attempt to standardize the process of advancing oral feedings in medically stable preterm infants. A comprehensive review of the literature identified key features for successful oral feeding in preterm infants. Strong levels of evidence suggested an association between both nonnutritive sucking (NNS) opportunities and standardized feeding advancement protocols with successful oral feeding in preterm infants. These findings prompted a pilot practice change using a feeding advancement protocol and consisted of NNS and standardized oral feeding advancement opportunities. Time to exclusive oral feedings and LOS were compared pre- and postprotocol implementation during more than a 2-month evaluation period. Infants using NNS and the standardized oral feeding advancement protocol had an observed reduction in time to exclusive oral feedings and LOS, although statistical significance was not achieved.

RELIABILITY OF CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY SPECTRAL IMAGING SYSTEMS: USE OF MULTISPECTRAL BEADS

EPA Science Inventory

Background: There is a need for a standardized, impartial calibration, and validation protocol on confocal spectral imaging (CSI) microscope systems. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to have testing tools to provide a reproducible way to evaluate instrument performance. ...

Quantifying the benefits of improved rolling of chip seals : final report, June 2008.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-06-01

This report presents an improvement in the rolling protocol for chip seals based on an evaluation of aggregate : retention performance and aggregate embedment depth. The flip-over test (FOT), Vialit test, modified sand circle : test, digital image pr...

Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging protocol for endoscopic cranial base image-guided surgery.

PubMed

Grindle, Christopher R; Curry, Joseph M; Kang, Melissa D; Evans, James J; Rosen, Marc R

2011-01-01

Despite the increasing utilization of image-guided surgery, no radiology protocols for obtaining magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of adequate quality are available in the current literature. At our institution, more than 300 endonasal cranial base procedures including pituitary, extended pituitary, and other anterior skullbase procedures have been performed in the past 3 years. To facilitate and optimize preoperative evaluation and assessment, there was a need to develop a magnetic resonance protocol. Retrospective Technical Assessment was performed. Through a collaborative effort between the otolaryngology, neurosurgery, and neuroradiology departments at our institution, a skull base MR image-guided (IGS) protocol was developed with several ends in mind. First, it was necessary to generate diagnostic images useful for the more frequently seen pathologies to improve work flow and limit the expense and inefficiency of case specific MR studies. Second, it was necessary to generate sequences useful for IGS, preferably using sequences that best highlight that lesion. Currently, at our institution, all MR images used for IGS are obtained using this protocol as part of preoperative planning. The protocol that has been developed allows for thin cut precontrast and postcontrast axial cuts that can be used to plan intraoperative image guidance. It also obtains a thin cut T2 axial series that can be compiled separately for intraoperative imaging, or may be fused with computed tomographic images for combined modality. The outlined protocol obtains image sequences effective for diagnostic and operative purposes for image-guided surgery using both T1 and T2 sequences. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the performance of 3D virtual screening protocols: RMSD comparisons, enrichment assessments, and decoy selection--what can we learn from earlier mistakes?

PubMed

Kirchmair, Johannes; Markt, Patrick; Distinto, Simona; Wolber, Gerhard; Langer, Thierry

2008-01-01

Within the last few years a considerable amount of evaluative studies has been published that investigate the performance of 3D virtual screening approaches. Thereby, in particular assessments of protein-ligand docking are facing remarkable interest in the scientific community. However, comparing virtual screening approaches is a non-trivial task. Several publications, especially in the field of molecular docking, suffer from shortcomings that are likely to affect the significance of the results considerably. These quality issues often arise from poor study design, biasing, by using improper or inexpressive enrichment descriptors, and from errors in interpretation of the data output. In this review we analyze recent literature evaluating 3D virtual screening methods, with focus on molecular docking. We highlight problematic issues and provide guidelines on how to improve the quality of computational studies. Since 3D virtual screening protocols are in general assessed by their ability to discriminate between active and inactive compounds, we summarize the impact of the composition and preparation of test sets on the outcome of evaluations. Moreover, we investigate the significance of both classic enrichment parameters and advanced descriptors for the performance of 3D virtual screening methods. Furthermore, we review the significance and suitability of RMSD as a measure for the accuracy of protein-ligand docking algorithms and of conformational space sub sampling algorithms.

MACHETE: Environment for Space Networking Evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jennings, Esther H.; Segui, John S.; Woo, Simon

2010-01-01

Space Exploration missions requires the design and implementation of space networking that differs from terrestrial networks. In a space networking architecture, interplanetary communication protocols need to be designed, validated and evaluated carefully to support different mission requirements. As actual systems are expensive to build, it is essential to have a low cost method to validate and verify mission/system designs and operations. This can be accomplished through simulation. Simulation can aid design decisions where alternative solutions are being considered, support trade-studies and enable fast study of what-if scenarios. It can be used to identify risks, verify system performance against requirements, and as an initial test environment as one moves towards emulation and actual hardware implementation of the systems. We describe the development of Multi-mission Advanced Communications Hybrid Environment for Test and Evaluation (MACHETE) and its use cases in supporting architecture trade studies, protocol performance and its role in hybrid simulation/emulation. The MACHETE environment contains various tools and interfaces such that users may select the set of tools tailored for the specific simulation end goal. The use cases illustrate tool combinations for simulating space networking in different mission scenarios. This simulation environment is useful in supporting space networking design for planned and future missions as well as evaluating performance of existing networks where non-determinism exist in data traffic and/or link conditions.

Evaluation of Introduction of a Delayed Cord Clamping Protocol for Premature Neonates in a High-Volume Maternity Center.

PubMed

Liu, Lilly Y; Feinglass, Joe M; Khan, Janine Y; Gerber, Susan E; Grobman, William A; Yee, Lynn M

2017-05-01

To evaluate adherence to a delayed cord clamping protocol for preterm births in the first 2 years after its introduction, perform a quality improvement assessment, and determine neonatal outcomes associated with protocol implementation and adherence. This is a retrospective cohort study of women delivering singleton neonates at 23-32 weeks of gestation in the 2 years before (preprotocol) and 2 years after (postprotocol) introduction of a 30-second delayed cord clamping protocol at a large-volume academic center. This policy was communicated to obstetric and pediatric health care providers and nurses and reinforced with intermittent educational reviews. Barriers to receiving delayed cord clamping were assessed using χ tests and multivariable logistic regression. Neonatal outcomes then were compared between all neonates in the preprotocol period and all neonates in the postprotocol period and between all neonates in the preprotocol period and neonates receiving delayed cord clamping in the postprotocol period using multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses. Of the 427 eligible neonates, 187 were born postprotocol. Of these, 53.5% (n=100) neonates received delayed cord clamping according to the protocol. The rate of delayed cord clamping preprotocol was 0%. Protocol uptake and frequency of delayed cord clamping increased over the 2 years after its introduction. In the postprotocol period, cesarean delivery was the only factor independently associated with failing to receive delayed cord clamping (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.49, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.25-0.96). In comparison with the preprotocol period, those who received delayed cord clamping in the postprotocol period had significantly higher birth hematocrit (β=2.46, P=.007) and fewer blood transfusions in the first week of life (adjusted OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.25-0.96). After introduction of an institutional delayed cord clamping protocol followed by continued health care provider education and quality feedback, the frequency of delayed cord clamping progressively increased. Compared with historical controls, performing delayed cord clamping in eligible preterm neonates was associated with improved neonatal hematologic indices, demonstrating the effectiveness of delayed cord clamping in a large-volume maternity unit.

Diagnostic accuracy of 256-row multidetector CT coronary angiography with prospective ECG-gating combined with fourth-generation iterative reconstruction algorithm in the assessment of coronary artery bypass: evaluation of dose reduction and image quality.

PubMed

Ippolito, Davide; Fior, Davide; Franzesi, Cammillo Talei; Riva, Luca; Casiraghi, Alessandra; Sironi, Sandro

2017-12-01

Effective radiation dose in coronary CT angiography (CTCA) for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) evaluation is remarkably high because of long scan lengths. Prospective electrocardiographic gating with iterative reconstruction can reduce effective radiation dose. To evaluate the diagnostic performance of low-kV CT angiography protocol with prospective ecg-gating technique and iterative reconstruction (IR) algorithm in follow-up of CABG patients compared with standard retrospective protocol. Seventy-four non-obese patients with known coronary disease treated with artery bypass grafting were prospectively enrolled. All the patients underwent 256 MDCT (Brilliance iCT, Philips) CTCA using low-dose protocol (100 kV; 800 mAs; rotation time: 0.275 s) combined with prospective ECG-triggering acquisition and fourth-generation IR technique (iDose 4 ; Philips); all the lengths of the bypass graft were included in the evaluation. A control group of 42 similar patients was evaluated with a standard retrospective ECG-gated CTCA (100 kV; 800 mAs).On both CT examinations, ROIs were placed to calculate standard deviation of pixel values and intra-vessel density. Diagnostic quality was also evaluated using a 4-point quality scale. Despite the statistically significant reduction of radiation dose evaluated with DLP (study group mean DLP: 274 mGy cm; control group mean DLP: 1224 mGy cm; P value < 0.001). No statistical differences were found between PGA group and RGH group regarding intra-vessel density absolute values and SNR. Qualitative analysis, evaluated by two radiologists in "double blind", did not reveal any significant difference in diagnostic quality of the two groups. The development of high-speed MDCT scans combined with modern IR allows an accurate evaluation of CABG with prospective ECG-gating protocols in a single breath hold, obtaining a significant reduction in radiation dose.

Kilovoltage cone-beam CT: Comparative dose and image quality evaluations in partial and full-angle scan protocols

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

Kim, Sangroh; Yoo, Sua; Yin Fangfang

2010-07-15

Purpose: To assess imaging dose of partial and full-angle kilovoltage CBCT scan protocols and to evaluate image quality for each protocol. Methods: The authors obtained the CT dose index (CTDI) of the kilovoltage CBCT protocols in an on-board imager by ion chamber (IC) measurements and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. A total of six new CBCT scan protocols were evaluated: Standard-dose head (100 kVp, 151 mA s, partial-angle), low-dose head (100 kVp, 75 mA s, partial-angle), high-quality head (100 kVp, 754 mA s, partial-angle), pelvis (125 kVp, 706 mA s, full-angle), pelvis spotlight (125 kVp, 752 mA s, partial-angle), and low-dosemore » thorax (110 kVp, 271 mA s, full-angle). Using the point dose method, various CTDI values were calculated by (1) the conventional weighted CTDI (CTDI{sub w}) calculation and (2) Bakalyar's method (CTDI{sub wb}). The MC simulations were performed to obtain the CTDI{sub w} and CTDI{sub wb}, as well as from (3) central slice averaging (CTDI{sub 2D}) and (4) volume averaging (CTDI{sub 3D}) techniques. The CTDI values of the new protocols were compared to those of the old protocols (full-angle CBCT protocols). Image quality of the new protocols was evaluated following the CBCT image quality assurance (QA) protocol [S. Yoo et al., ''A quality assurance program for the on-board imager registered ,'' Med. Phys. 33(11), 4431-4447 (2006)] testing Hounsfield unit (HU) linearity, spatial linearity/resolution, contrast resolution, and HU uniformity. Results: The CTDI{sub w} were found as 6.0, 3.2, 29.0, 25.4, 23.8, and 7.7 mGy for the new protocols, respectively. The CTDI{sub w} and CTDI{sub wb} differed within +3% between IC measurements and MC simulations. Method (2) results were within {+-}12% of method (1). In MC simulations, the CTDI{sub w} and CTDI{sub wb} were comparable to the CTDI{sub 2D} and CTDI{sub 3D} with the differences ranging from -4.3% to 20.6%. The CTDI{sub 3D} were smallest among all the CTDI values. CTDI{sub w} of the new protocols were found as {approx}14 times lower for standard head scan and 1.8 times lower for standard body scan than the old protocols, respectively. In the image quality QA tests, all the protocols except low-dose head and low-dose thorax protocols were within the tolerance in the HU verification test. The HU value for the two protocols was always higher than the nominal value. All the protocols passed the spatial linearity/resolution and HU uniformity tests. In the contrast resolution test, only high-quality head and pelvis scan protocols were within the tolerance. In addition, crescent effect was found in the partial-angle scan protocols. Conclusions: The authors found that CTDI{sub w} of the new CBCT protocols has been significantly reduced compared to the old protocols with acceptable image quality. The CTDI{sub w} values in the point dose method were close to the volume averaging method within 9%-21% for all the CBCT scan protocols. The Bakalyar's method produced more accurate dose estimation within 14%. The HU inaccuracy from low-dose head and low-dose thorax protocols can render incorrect dose results in the treatment planning system. When high soft-tissue contrast data are desired, high-quality head or pelvis scan protocol is recommended depending on the imaging area. The point dose method can be applicable to estimate CBCT dose with reasonable accuracy in the clinical environment.« less

Evaluating the risk of decompression sickness for a yo-yo dive using a rat model.

PubMed

Ofir, Dror; Yanir, Yoav; Abramovich, Amir; Bar, Ronen; Arieli, Yehuda

2016-01-01

The frequent ascents made during yo-yo diving may contribute to gas bubble clearance but paradoxically may also increase the risk of central nervous system decompression illness (DCI). We evaluated the risk of DCI due to yo-yo dives with very short surface intervals, using a controlled animal model. Dives were conducted on air to a depth of 90 meters (10 atmospheres absolute) for 32 minutes of bottom time, at a descent/ascent rate of 10 meters/ minute. Sprague-Dawley rats weighing ~ 300 grams were divided randomly into three groups. Group A performed a square dive protocol without any surface intervals, Group B conducted a protocol that included two surface intervals during the dive, and Group C performed a protocol with three surface intervals. Ascent/descent rate for surface intervals, each lasting one minute, was also 10 meters/minute. Manifestations of DCI were observed in 13 of 16 animals in Group A (81.3%), six of 12 in Group B (58.3%), and two of 12 in Group C (16.7%). Mortality rates were similar in all groups. Surface intervals during dives breathing air significantly reduced DCI risk in the rat. Further studies are required using a larger animal model to reinforce the results of the present investigation.

A novel protocol to evaluate ankle movements during reaching tasks using pediAnklebot.

PubMed

Martelli, Francesca; Palermo, Eduardo; Rossi, Stefano

2017-07-01

The aim of the study is to design a novel protocol to characterize the ankle movements during dorsal and plantar flexion reaching tasks using the pediAnklebot. Five healthy children were instructed to control a pointer and hit targets appearing on the monitor, by moving their ankle alternatively up and down. The protocol consisted of 60 targets, 30 up and 30 down, reachable via dorsiflexion and plantarflexion movements, respectively. Ankle angular displacements and torques were gathered by encoders and load cells embedded in the robot. Ankle motor performance was evaluated by means of kinematic, submovements and dynamic indices. Results suggest that (i) plantarflexion movements are faster and more accurate than the dorsiflexion ones, but children are able to perform with a higher level of smoothness the latter ones; (ii) children are able to stop the ankle movement more easily at the end of dorsiflexion rather than plantarflexion; (iii) the central nervous system plans plantarflexion and dorsiflexion movements with the same efficiency; (iv) children apply different torque levels during the two motor tasks and they cannot balance the inversion and eversion moments during dorsiflexion. These findings provide an important starting point for the assessment of a reference baseline of motor indices for the ankle joint.

MinION Analysis and Reference Consortium: Phase 1 data release and analysis

PubMed Central

Eccles, David A.; Zalunin, Vadim; Urban, John M.; Piazza, Paolo; Bowden, Rory J.; Paten, Benedict; Mwaigwisya, Solomon; Batty, Elizabeth M.; Simpson, Jared T.; Snutch, Terrance P.

2015-01-01

The advent of a miniaturized DNA sequencing device with a high-throughput contextual sequencing capability embodies the next generation of large scale sequencing tools. The MinION™ Access Programme (MAP) was initiated by Oxford Nanopore Technologies™ in April 2014, giving public access to their USB-attached miniature sequencing device. The MinION Analysis and Reference Consortium (MARC) was formed by a subset of MAP participants, with the aim of evaluating and providing standard protocols and reference data to the community. Envisaged as a multi-phased project, this study provides the global community with the Phase 1 data from MARC, where the reproducibility of the performance of the MinION was evaluated at multiple sites. Five laboratories on two continents generated data using a control strain of Escherichia coli K-12, preparing and sequencing samples according to a revised ONT protocol. Here, we provide the details of the protocol used, along with a preliminary analysis of the characteristics of typical runs including the consistency, rate, volume and quality of data produced. Further analysis of the Phase 1 data presented here, and additional experiments in Phase 2 of E. coli from MARC are already underway to identify ways to improve and enhance MinION performance. PMID:26834992

Effect of cooling during inter-exercise periods on subsequent intramuscular water movement and muscle performance.

PubMed

Yanagisawa, O; Otsuka, S; Fukubayashi, T

2014-02-01

To evaluate the effects of cooling between exercise sessions on intramuscular water movement and muscle performance, the lower extremities of nine untrained men were assigned to either a cooling protocol (20-min water immersion, 15 °C) or a noncooling protocol. Each subject performed two exercise sessions involving maximal concentric knee extension and flexion (three repetitions, 60°/s; followed by 50 repetitions, 180°/s). The peak torque at 60°/s and total work, mean power, and decrease rate of torque value at 180°/s were evaluated. Axial magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted images of the mid-thigh were obtained before and after each exercise session. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values for the quadriceps and hamstrings were calculated for evaluating intramuscular water movement. Both groups exhibited significantly increased ADC values for the quadriceps and hamstrings after each exercise session. These ADC values returned to the pre-exercise level after water immersion. No significant difference was observed in muscle performance from first exercise session to the next in either group, except for increased total work and mean power in knee flexion in the cooled group. Cooling intervention between exercise sessions decreased exercise-induced elevation of intramuscular water movement and had some beneficial effects on muscle endurance of knee flexors, but not knee extensors. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Dose specification and quality assurance of RTOG protocol 95-17; a cooperative group study of 192Ir breast implants as sole therapy

PubMed Central

Ibbott, Geoffrey S.; Hanson, W.F.; Martin, Elizabeth; Kuske, Robert R.; Arthur, Douglas; Rabinovitch, Rachel; White, Julia; Wilenzick, Raymond M.; Harris, Irene; Tailor, Ramesh C.

2007-01-01

Purpose RTOG protocol 95-17 was a phase I/II trial to evaluate multi-catheter brachytherapy as the sole method of adjuvant breast radiotherapy for stage I/II breast carcinoma following breast conserving surgery. Low or high dose rate sources were allowed. Dose prescription and treatment evaluation were based on recommendations in ICRU Report 58, and included the parameters mean central dose (MCD), average peripheral dose, dose homogeneity index (DHI), and the dimensions of the low and high dose regions. Methods and Materials Three levels of quality assurance were implemented: (1) Credentialing of institutions was required prior to entering patients onto the study. (2) Rapid review of each treatment plan was conducted prior to treatment, and (3) Retrospective review was performed by the Radiological Physics Center in conjunction with the study chairman and RTOG dosimetry staff. Results Credentialing focused on the accuracy of dose calculation algorithm and compliance with protocol guidelines. Rapid review was designed to identify and correct deviations from the protocol prior to treatment. The retrospective review involved recalculation of dosimetry parameters and review of dose distributions to evaluate the treatment. Specifying both central and peripheral doses resulted in uniform dose distributions, with a mean dose homogeneity index of 0.83 ±0.06. Conclusions Vigorous quality assurance resulted in a high-quality study with few deviations; only 4 of 100 patients were judged as minor variations from protocol and no patient was judged a major deviation. This study should be considered a model for quality assurance of future trials. PMID:18035213

Geographic variation in lumbar diskectomy: a protocol for evaluation.

PubMed

Barron, M; Kazandjian, V A

1992-03-01

In 1989 the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA) began developing a protocol related to lumbar diskectomy, a procedure with widely reported geographic variation in its use. The MHA's Laminectomy Advisory Committee drafted three criteria for performance of lumbar diskectomy and also developed a data-collection instrument with which the eight hospitals participating in a pilot study could abstract the necessary data from medical records. Both individual hospital and aggregate results showed wide variation in compliance with the criteria. These findings suggest research and development activities such as refinement of the data-collection instrument, use of the protocol for bench-marking, further investigation of clinical and other determinants of rate variation, and study of the effect of new diagnostic technology on utilization rates for this procedure.

Analyzing the effect of routing protocols on media access control protocols in radio networks

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

Barrett, C. L.; Drozda, M.; Marathe, A.

2002-01-01

We study the effect of routing protocols on the performance of media access control (MAC) protocols in wireless radio networks. Three well known MAC protocols: 802.11, CSMA, and MACA are considered. Similarly three recently proposed routing protocols: AODV, DSR and LAR scheme 1 are considered. The experimental analysis was carried out using GloMoSim: a tool for simulating wireless networks. The main focus of our experiments was to study how the routing protocols affect the performance of the MAC protocols when the underlying network and traffic parameters are varied. The performance of the protocols was measured w.r.t. five important parameters: (i)more » number of received packets, (ii) average latency of each packet, (iii) throughput (iv) long term fairness and (v) number of control packets at the MAC layer level. Our results show that combinations of routing and MAC protocols yield varying performance under varying network topology and traffic situations. The result has an important implication; no combination of routing protocol and MAC protocol is the best over all situations. Also, the performance analysis of protocols at a given level in the protocol stack needs to be studied not locally in isolation but as a part of the complete protocol stack. A novel aspect of our work is the use of statistical technique, ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) to characterize the effect of routing protocols on MAC protocols. This technique is of independent interest and can be utilized in several other simulation and empirical studies.« less

Physical layer simulation study for the coexistence of WLAN standards

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

Howlader, M. K.; Keiger, C.; Ewing, P. D.

This paper presents the results of a study on the performance of wireless local area network (WLAN) devices in the presence of interference from other wireless devices. To understand the coexistence of these wireless protocols, simplified physical-layer-system models were developed for the Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), and Zigbee devices, all of which operate within the 2.4-GHz frequency band. The performances of these protocols were evaluated using Monte-Carlo simulations under various interference and channel conditions. The channel models considered were basic additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), Rayleigh fading, and site-specific fading. The study also incorporated the basic modulation schemes, multiple accessmore » techniques, and channel allocations of the three protocols. This research is helping the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) understand the coexistence issues associated with deploying wireless devices and could prove useful in the development of a technical basis for guidance to address safety-related issues with the implementation of wireless systems in nuclear facilities. (authors)« less

Industrial WSN Based on IR-UWB and a Low-Latency MAC Protocol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reinhold, Rafael; Underberg, Lisa; Wulf, Armin; Kays, Ruediger

2016-07-01

Wireless sensor networks for industrial communication require high reliability and low latency. As current wireless sensor networks do not entirely meet these requirements, novel system approaches need to be developed. Since ultra wideband communication systems seem to be a promising approach, this paper evaluates the performance of the IEEE 802.15.4 impulse-radio ultra-wideband physical layer and the IEEE 802.15.4 Low Latency Deterministic Network (LLDN) MAC for industrial applications. Novel approaches and system adaptions are proposed to meet the application requirements. In this regard, a synchronization approach based on circular average magnitude difference functions (CAMDF) and on a clean template (CT) is presented for the correlation receiver. An adapted MAC protocol titled aggregated low latency (ALL) MAC is proposed to significantly reduce the resulting latency. Based on the system proposals, a hardware prototype has been developed, which proves the feasibility of the system and visualizes the real-time performance of the MAC protocol.

Radio astronomy interferometer network testing for a Malaysia-China real-time e-VLBI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abidin, Zamri Zainal; Hashim, Shaiful Jahari; Wei, Lim Yang; Zhong, Chen; Rosli, Zulfazli

2018-01-01

The uv-coverage of the current VLBI network between Australia northern Asia will be significantly enhanced with an existence of a middle baseline VLBI station located in Malaysia. This paper investigated the connecting route of the first half of the Asia-Oceania VLBI network i.e. from Malaysia to China. The investigation of transmission network characteristics between Malaysia and China was carried out in order to perform a real-time and reliable data transfer within the e-VLBI network for future eVLBI observations. MyREN (Malaysia) and CSTNET (China) high-speed research networks were utilized for this proposed e-VLBI connection. Preliminary network test was performed by ping, traceroute, and iperf prior to data transfer tests, which were evaluated with three types of protocols namely FTP, Tsunami-UDT and UDT. The results showed that, on average, there were eighteen hops between Malaysia and China networks with 98 ms round trip time (RTT) delay. Overall UDP protocol has a better throughput compared to TCP protocol. UDP can reach a maximum rate of 90 Mbps with 0% packet loss. In this feasibility test, the VLBI test data was successfully transferred between Malaysia and China by utilizing the three types of data transfer protocols.

Reliable Multihop Broadcast Protocol with a Low-Overhead Link Quality Assessment for ITS Based on VANETs in Highway Scenarios

PubMed Central

Galaviz-Mosqueda, Alejandro; Villarreal-Reyes, Salvador; Galeana-Zapién, Hiram; Rubio-Loyola, Javier; Covarrubias-Rosales, David H.

2014-01-01

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have been identified as a key technology to enable intelligent transport systems (ITS), which are aimed to radically improve the safety, comfort, and greenness of the vehicles in the road. However, in order to fully exploit VANETs potential, several issues must be addressed. Because of the high dynamic of VANETs and the impairments in the wireless channel, one key issue arising when working with VANETs is the multihop dissemination of broadcast packets for safety and infotainment applications. In this paper a reliable low-overhead multihop broadcast (RLMB) protocol is proposed to address the well-known broadcast storm problem. The proposed RLMB takes advantage of the hello messages exchanged between the vehicles and it processes such information to intelligently select a relay set and reduce the redundant broadcast. Additionally, to reduce the hello messages rate dependency, RLMB uses a point-to-zone link evaluation approach. RLMB performance is compared with one of the leading multihop broadcast protocols existing to date. Performance metrics show that our RLMB solution outperforms the leading protocol in terms of important metrics such as packet dissemination ratio, overhead, and delay. PMID:25133224

A direct morphometric comparison of five labeling protocols for multi-atlas driven automatic segmentation of the hippocampus in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Nestor, Sean M; Gibson, Erin; Gao, Fu-Qiang; Kiss, Alex; Black, Sandra E

2013-02-01

Hippocampal volumetry derived from structural MRI is increasingly used to delineate regions of interest for functional measurements, assess efficacy in therapeutic trials of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and has been endorsed by the new AD diagnostic guidelines as a radiological marker of disease progression. Unfortunately, morphological heterogeneity in AD can prevent accurate demarcation of the hippocampus. Recent developments in automated volumetry commonly use multi-template fusion driven by expert manual labels, enabling highly accurate and reproducible segmentation in disease and healthy subjects. However, there are several protocols to define the hippocampus anatomically in vivo, and the method used to generate atlases may impact automatic accuracy and sensitivity - particularly in pathologically heterogeneous samples. Here we report a fully automated segmentation technique that provides a robust platform to directly evaluate both technical and biomarker performance in AD among anatomically unique labeling protocols. For the first time we test head-to-head the performance of five common hippocampal labeling protocols for multi-atlas based segmentation, using both the Sunnybrook Longitudinal Dementia Study and the entire Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 1 (ADNI-1) baseline and 24-month dataset. We based these atlas libraries on the protocols of (Haller et al., 1997; Killiany et al., 1993; Malykhin et al., 2007; Pantel et al., 2000; Pruessner et al., 2000), and a single operator performed all manual tracings to generate de facto "ground truth" labels. All methods distinguished between normal elders, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD in the expected directions, and showed comparable correlations with measures of episodic memory performance. Only more inclusive protocols distinguished between stable MCI and MCI-to-AD converters, and had slightly better associations with episodic memory. Moreover, we demonstrate that protocols including more posterior anatomy and dorsal white matter compartments furnish the best voxel-overlap accuracies (Dice Similarity Coefficient=0.87-0.89), compared to expert manual tracings, and achieve the smallest sample sizes required to power clinical trials in MCI and AD. The greatest distribution of errors was localized to the caudal hippocampus and the alveus-fimbria compartment when these regions were excluded. The definition of the medial body did not significantly alter accuracy among more comprehensive protocols. Voxel-overlap accuracies between automatic and manual labels were lower for the more pathologically heterogeneous Sunnybrook study in comparison to the ADNI-1 sample. Finally, accuracy among protocols appears to significantly differ the most in AD subjects compared to MCI and normal elders. Together, these results suggest that selection of a candidate protocol for fully automatic multi-template based segmentation in AD can influence both segmentation accuracy when compared to expert manual labels and performance as a biomarker in MCI and AD. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Direct Morphometric Comparison of Five Labeling Protocols for Multi-Atlas Driven Automatic Segmentation of the Hippocampus in Alzheimer’s Disease

PubMed Central

Nestor, Sean M.; Gibson, Erin; Gao, Fu-Qiang; Kiss, Alex; Black, Sandra E.

2012-01-01

Hippocampal volumetry derived from structural MRI is increasingly used to delineate regions of interest for functional measurements, assess efficacy in therapeutic trials of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and has been endorsed by the new AD diagnostic guidelines as a radiological marker of disease progression. Unfortunately, morphological heterogeneity in AD can prevent accurate demarcation of the hippocampus. Recent developments in automated volumetry commonly use multitemplate fusion driven by expert manual labels, enabling highly accurate and reproducible segmentation in disease and healthy subjects. However, there are several protocols to define the hippocampus anatomically in vivo, and the method used to generate atlases may impact automatic accuracy and sensitivity – particularly in pathologically heterogeneous samples. Here we report a fully automated segmentation technique that provides a robust platform to directly evaluate both technical and biomarker performance in AD among anatomically unique labeling protocols. For the first time we test head-to-head the performance of five common hippocampal labeling protocols for multi-atlas based segmentation, using both the Sunnybrook Longitudinal Dementia Study and the entire Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 1 (ADNI-1) baseline and 24-month dataset. We based these atlas libraries on the protocols of (Haller et al., 1997; Killiany et al., 1993; Malykhin et al., 2007; Pantel et al., 2000; Pruessner et al., 2000), and a single operator performed all manual tracings to generate de facto “ground truth” labels. All methods distinguished between normal elders, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD in the expected directions, and showed comparable correlations with measures of episodic memory performance. Only more inclusive protocols distinguished between stable MCI and MCI-to-AD converters, and had slightly better associations with episodic memory. Moreover, we demonstrate that protocols including more posterior anatomy and dorsal white matter compartments furnish the best voxel-overlap accuracies (Dice Similarity Coefficient = 0.87–0.89), compared to expert manual tracings, and achieve the smallest sample sizes required to power clinical trials in MCI and AD. The greatest distribution of errors was localized to the caudal hippocampus and alveus-fimbria compartment when these regions were excluded. The definition of the medial body did not significantly alter accuracy among more comprehensive protocols. Voxel-overlap accuracies between automatic and manual labels were lower for the more pathologically heterogeneous Sunnybrook study in comparison to the ADNI-1 sample. Finally, accuracy among protocols appears to significantly differ the most in AD subjects compared to MCI and normal elders. Together, these results suggest that selection of a candidate protocol for fully automatic multi-template based segmentation in AD can influence both segmentation accuracy when compared to expert manual labels and performance as a biomarker in MCI and AD. PMID:23142652

Routing optimization in networks based on traffic gravitational field model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Longgeng; Luo, Guangchun

2017-04-01

For research on the gravitational field routing mechanism on complex networks, we further analyze the gravitational effect of paths. In this study, we introduce the concept of path confidence degree to evaluate the unblocked reliability of paths that it takes the traffic state of all nodes on the path into account from the overall. On the basis of this, we propose an improved gravitational field routing protocol considering all the nodes’ gravities on the path and the path confidence degree. In order to evaluate the transmission performance of the routing strategy, an order parameter is introduced to measure the network throughput by the critical value of phase transition from a free-flow phase to a jammed phase, and the betweenness centrality is used to evaluate the transmission performance and traffic congestion of the network. Simulation results show that compared with the shortest-path routing strategy and the previous gravitational field routing strategy, the proposed algorithm improves the network throughput considerably and effectively balances the traffic load within the network, and all nodes in the network are utilized high efficiently. As long as γ ≥ α, the transmission performance can reach the maximum and remains unchanged for different α and γ, which ensures that the proposed routing protocol is high efficient and stable.

Impact of window decrement rate on TCP performance in an adhoc network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suherman; Hutasuhut, Arief T. W.; Badra, Khaldun; Al-Akaidi, Marwan

2017-09-01

Transmission control protocol (TCP) is a reliable transport protocol handling end to end connection in TCP/IP stack. It works well in copper or optical fibre link, but experiences increasing delay in wireless network. Further, TCP experiences multiple retransmissions due to higher collision probability within wireless network. The situation may get worsen in an ad hoc network. This paper examines the impact half window or window reduction rate to the overall TCP performances. The evaluation using NS-2 simulator shows that the smaller the window decrement rate results the smaller end to end delay. Delay is reduced to 17.05% in average when window decrement rate decreases. Average jitter also decreases 4.15%, while packet loss is not affected.

A Matter of Timing: Identifying Significant Multi-Dose Radiotherapy Improvements by Numerical Simulation and Genetic Algorithm Search

PubMed Central

Angus, Simon D.; Piotrowska, Monika Joanna

2014-01-01

Multi-dose radiotherapy protocols (fraction dose and timing) currently used in the clinic are the product of human selection based on habit, received wisdom, physician experience and intra-day patient timetabling. However, due to combinatorial considerations, the potential treatment protocol space for a given total dose or treatment length is enormous, even for relatively coarse search; well beyond the capacity of traditional in-vitro methods. In constrast, high fidelity numerical simulation of tumor development is well suited to the challenge. Building on our previous single-dose numerical simulation model of EMT6/Ro spheroids, a multi-dose irradiation response module is added and calibrated to the effective dose arising from 18 independent multi-dose treatment programs available in the experimental literature. With the developed model a constrained, non-linear, search for better performing cadidate protocols is conducted within the vicinity of two benchmarks by genetic algorithm (GA) techniques. After evaluating less than 0.01% of the potential benchmark protocol space, candidate protocols were identified by the GA which conferred an average of 9.4% (max benefit 16.5%) and 7.1% (13.3%) improvement (reduction) on tumour cell count compared to the two benchmarks, respectively. Noticing that a convergent phenomenon of the top performing protocols was their temporal synchronicity, a further series of numerical experiments was conducted with periodic time-gap protocols (10 h to 23 h), leading to the discovery that the performance of the GA search candidates could be replicated by 17–18 h periodic candidates. Further dynamic irradiation-response cell-phase analysis revealed that such periodicity cohered with latent EMT6/Ro cell-phase temporal patterning. Taken together, this study provides powerful evidence towards the hypothesis that even simple inter-fraction timing variations for a given fractional dose program may present a facile, and highly cost-effecitive means of significantly improving clinical efficacy. PMID:25460164

A matter of timing: identifying significant multi-dose radiotherapy improvements by numerical simulation and genetic algorithm search.

PubMed

Angus, Simon D; Piotrowska, Monika Joanna

2014-01-01

Multi-dose radiotherapy protocols (fraction dose and timing) currently used in the clinic are the product of human selection based on habit, received wisdom, physician experience and intra-day patient timetabling. However, due to combinatorial considerations, the potential treatment protocol space for a given total dose or treatment length is enormous, even for relatively coarse search; well beyond the capacity of traditional in-vitro methods. In constrast, high fidelity numerical simulation of tumor development is well suited to the challenge. Building on our previous single-dose numerical simulation model of EMT6/Ro spheroids, a multi-dose irradiation response module is added and calibrated to the effective dose arising from 18 independent multi-dose treatment programs available in the experimental literature. With the developed model a constrained, non-linear, search for better performing cadidate protocols is conducted within the vicinity of two benchmarks by genetic algorithm (GA) techniques. After evaluating less than 0.01% of the potential benchmark protocol space, candidate protocols were identified by the GA which conferred an average of 9.4% (max benefit 16.5%) and 7.1% (13.3%) improvement (reduction) on tumour cell count compared to the two benchmarks, respectively. Noticing that a convergent phenomenon of the top performing protocols was their temporal synchronicity, a further series of numerical experiments was conducted with periodic time-gap protocols (10 h to 23 h), leading to the discovery that the performance of the GA search candidates could be replicated by 17-18 h periodic candidates. Further dynamic irradiation-response cell-phase analysis revealed that such periodicity cohered with latent EMT6/Ro cell-phase temporal patterning. Taken together, this study provides powerful evidence towards the hypothesis that even simple inter-fraction timing variations for a given fractional dose program may present a facile, and highly cost-effecitive means of significantly improving clinical efficacy.

Cross-layer protocol design for QoS optimization in real-time wireless sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hortos, William S.

2010-04-01

The metrics of quality of service (QoS) for each sensor type in a wireless sensor network can be associated with metrics for multimedia that describe the quality of fused information, e.g., throughput, delay, jitter, packet error rate, information correlation, etc. These QoS metrics are typically set at the highest, or application, layer of the protocol stack to ensure that performance requirements for each type of sensor data are satisfied. Application-layer metrics, in turn, depend on the support of the lower protocol layers: session, transport, network, data link (MAC), and physical. The dependencies of the QoS metrics on the performance of the higher layers of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) reference model of the WSN protocol, together with that of the lower three layers, are the basis for a comprehensive approach to QoS optimization for multiple sensor types in a general WSN model. The cross-layer design accounts for the distributed power consumption along energy-constrained routes and their constituent nodes. Following the author's previous work, the cross-layer interactions in the WSN protocol are represented by a set of concatenated protocol parameters and enabling resource levels. The "best" cross-layer designs to achieve optimal QoS are established by applying the general theory of martingale representations to the parameterized multivariate point processes (MVPPs) for discrete random events occurring in the WSN. Adaptive control of network behavior through the cross-layer design is realized through the parametric factorization of the stochastic conditional rates of the MVPPs. The cross-layer protocol parameters for optimal QoS are determined in terms of solutions to stochastic dynamic programming conditions derived from models of transient flows for heterogeneous sensor data and aggregate information over a finite time horizon. Markov state processes, embedded within the complex combinatorial history of WSN events, are more computationally tractable and lead to simplifications for any simulated or analytical performance evaluations of the cross-layer designs.

Development and initial evaluation of a reconstituted water formulation that better represents natural waters(poster)

EPA Science Inventory

The use of reconstituted waters is deeply entrenched in many standardized aquatic toxicity testing protocols The primary appeal of reconstituted waters is inter-laboratory comparability, such that experiments performed in different laboratories can be conducted in (nominally) id...

Development and Initial Evaluation of a Reconstituted Water Formulation that Better Represents Natural Waters

EPA Science Inventory

The use of reconstituted waters is deeply entrenched in many standardized aquatic toxicity testing protocols. The primary appeal of reconstituted waters is inter-laboratory comparability, such that experiments performed in different laboratories can be conducted in (nominally) id...

Impact of scalding duration and scalding water temperature on broiler processing wastewater loadings

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Three experiments were performed to evaluate scalding tank poultry processing wastewater (PPW) loading following the slaughter and scalding of commercially raised broilers: hard vs. soft scalding protocols (experiment 1), scalding immersion time and temperature individually (experiment 2), and the p...

Enhanced Precision Time Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Cho, Hyuntae; Kim, Jongdeok; Baek, Yunju

2011-01-01

Time synchronization in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a fundamental issue for the coordination of distributed entities and events. Nondeterministic latency, which may decrease the accuracy and precision of time synchronization can occur at any point in the network layers. Specially, random back-off by channel contention leads to a large uncertainty. In order to reduce the large nondeterministic uncertainty from channel contention, we propose an enhanced precision time synchronization protocol in this paper. The proposed method reduces the traffic needed for the synchronization procedure by selectively forwarding the packet. Furthermore, the time difference between sensor nodes increases as time advances because of the use of a clock source with a cheap crystal oscillator. In addition, we provide a means to maintain accurate time by adopting hardware-assisted time stamp and drift correction. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, for which sensor nodes are designed and implemented. According to the evaluation results, the performance of the proposed method is better than that of a traditional time synchronization protocol. PMID:22164035

Enhanced precision time synchronization for wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Cho, Hyuntae; Kim, Jongdeok; Baek, Yunju

2011-01-01

Time synchronization in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a fundamental issue for the coordination of distributed entities and events. Nondeterministic latency, which may decrease the accuracy and precision of time synchronization can occur at any point in the network layers. Specially, random back-off by channel contention leads to a large uncertainty. In order to reduce the large nondeterministic uncertainty from channel contention, we propose an enhanced precision time synchronization protocol in this paper. The proposed method reduces the traffic needed for the synchronization procedure by selectively forwarding the packet. Furthermore, the time difference between sensor nodes increases as time advances because of the use of a clock source with a cheap crystal oscillator. In addition, we provide a means to maintain accurate time by adopting hardware-assisted time stamp and drift correction. Experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, for which sensor nodes are designed and implemented. According to the evaluation results, the performance of the proposed method is better than that of a traditional time synchronization protocol.

The singer's voice range profile: female professional opera soloists.

PubMed

Lamarche, Anick; Ternström, Sten; Pabon, Peter

2010-07-01

This work concerns the collection of 30 voice range profiles (VRPs) of female operatic voice. We address the questions: Is there a need for a singer's protocol in VRP acquisition? Are physiological measurements sufficient or should the measurement of performance capabilities also be included? Can we address the female singing voice in general or is there a case for categorizing voices when studying phonetographic data? Subjects performed a series of structured tasks involving both standard speech voice protocols and additional singing tasks. Singers also completed an extensive questionnaire. Physiological VRPs differ from performance VRPs. Two new VRP metrics, the voice area above a defined level threshold and the dynamic range independent from the fundamental frequency (F(0)), were found to be useful in the analysis of singer VRPs. Task design had no effect on performance VRP outcomes. Voice category differences were mainly attributable to phonation frequency-based information. Results support the clinical importance of addressing the vocal instrument as it is used in performance. Equally important is the elaboration of a protocol suitable for the singing voice. The given context and instructions can be more important than task design for performance VRPs. Yet, for physiological VRP recordings, task design remains critical. Both types of VRPs are suggested for a singer's voice evaluation. Copyright (c) 2010 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Knee stability before and after total and unicondylar knee replacement: in vivo kinematic evaluation utilizing navigation.

PubMed

Casino, Daniela; Martelli, Sandra; Zaffagnini, Stefano; Lopomo, Nicola; Iacono, Francesco; Bignozzi, Simone; Visani, Andrea; Marcacci, Maurilio

2009-02-01

Surgical navigation systems are currently used to guide the surgeon in the correct alignment of the implant. The aim of this study was to expand the use of navigation systems by proposing a surgical protocol for intraoperative kinematics evaluations during knee arthroplasty. The protocol was evaluated on 20 patients, half undergoing unicondylar knee arthroplasty (UKA) and half undergoing posterior-substituting, rotating-platform total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The protocol includes a simple acquisition procedure and an original elaboration methodology. Kinematic tests were performed before and after surgery and included varus/valgus stress at 0 and 30 degrees and passive range of motion. Both UKA and TKA improved varus/valgus stability in extension and preserved the total magnitude of screw-home motion during flexion. Moreover, compared to preoperative conditions, values assumed by tibial axial rotation during flexion in TKA knees were more similar to the rotating patterns of UKA knees. The analysis of the anteroposterior displacement of the knee compartments confirmed that the two prostheses did not produce medial pivoting, but achieved a postoperative normal behavior. These results demonstrated that proposed intraoperative kinematics evaluations by a navigation system provided new information on the functional outcome of the reconstruction useful to restore knee kinematics during surgery.

Image Quality and Radiation Exposure Comparison of a Double High-Pitch Acquisition for Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography Versus Standard Retrospective Spiral Acquisition in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation.

PubMed

Prazeres, Carlos Eduardo Elias Dos; Magalhães, Tiago Augusto; de Castro Carneiro, Adriano Camargo; Cury, Roberto Caldeira; de Melo Moreira, Valéria; Bello, Juliana Hiromi Silva Matsumoto; Rochitte, Carlos Eduardo

The aim of this study was to compare image quality and radiation dose of coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography performed with dual-source CT scanner using 2 different protocols in patients with atrial fibrillation. Forty-seven patients with AF underwent 2 different acquisition protocols: double high-pitch (DHP) spiral acquisition and retrospective spiral acquisition. The image quality was ranked according to a qualitative score by 2 experts: 1, no evident motion; 2, minimal motion not influencing coronary artery luminal evaluation; and 3, motion with impaired luminal evaluation. A third expert solved any disagreement. A total of 732 segments were evaluated. The DHP group (24 patients, 374 segments) showed more segments classified as score 1 than the retrospective spiral acquisition group (71.3% vs 37.4%). Image quality evaluation agreement was high between observers (κ = 0.8). There was significantly lower radiation exposure for the DHP group (3.65 [1.29] vs 23.57 [10.32] mSv). In this original direct comparison, a DHP spiral protocol for coronary CT angiography acquisition in patients with atrial fibrillation resulted in lower radiation exposure and superior image quality compared with conventional spiral retrospective acquisition.

Performance Comparison of Wireless Sensor Network Standard Protocols in an Aerospace Environment: ISA100.11a and ZigBee

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagner, Raymond S.; Barton, Richard J.

2011-01-01

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) can provide a substantial benefit in spacecraft systems, reducing launch weight and providing unprecedented flexibility by allowing instrumentation capabilities to grow and change over time. Achieving data transport reliability on par with that of wired systems, however, can prove extremely challenging in practice. Fortunately, much progress has been made in developing standard WSN radio protocols for applications from non-critical home automation to mission-critical industrial process control. The relative performances of candidate protocols must be compared in representative aerospace environments, however, to determine their suitability for spaceflight applications. In this paper, we will present the results of a rigorous laboratory analysis of the performance of two standards-based, low power, low data rate WSN protocols: ZigBee Pro and ISA100.11a. Both are based on IEEE 802.15.4 and augment that standard's specifications to build complete, multi-hop networking stacks. ZigBee Pro targets primarily the home and office automation markets, providing an ad-hoc protocol that is computationally lightweight and easy to implement in inexpensive system-on-a-chip components. As a result of this simplicity, however, ZigBee Pro can be susceptible to radio frequency (RF) interference. ISA100.11a, on the other hand, targets the industrial process control market, providing a robust, centrally-managed protocol capable of tolerating a significant amount of RF interference. To achieve these gains, a coordinated channel hopping mechanism is employed, which entails a greater computational complexity than ZigBee and requires more sophisticated and costly hardware. To guide future aerospace deployments, we must understand how well these standards relatively perform in analog environments under expected operating conditions. Specifically, we are interested in evaluating goodput -- application level throughput -- in a representative crewed environment in the presence of varying levels of 802.11g Wi-Fi traffic. To do so, we use the NASA Johnson Space Center Wireless Habitat Testbed (WHT), a metallic, habitation-sized module designed for co-existence testing of wireless systems. In its quiescent state, the sealed WHT provides an RF-quiet environment to which we can selectively add interfering systems; it also provides a realistic level of multi-path self-interference for systems under investigation. In our test, we deploy two representative five node networks, configured in a star topology with all nodes reporting directly to a WSN gateway. Each ZigBee network WSN node is built using a Texas Instruments (TI) CC2530 system-on-a-chip radio running TI's ZigBee Pro Z-stack. Each ISA100.11a network node is built using a Nivis VersaNode 210 system-on-a-chip radio. In both cases, radios interface with TI MSP430-F5438 microcontroller implementing a common test application. Interference is provided by a D-link 802.11g Wi-Fi router transporting traffic generated using the Iperf network testing tool. For the single-channel ZigBee network, effects of both direct and indirect Wi-Fi interference are evaluated. For the channel-hopping ISA100.11a network, effects of interference from multiple Wi-Fi routers configured in non-overlapping 802.11g channels are evaluated. Our results show that, in general, the more lightweight ZigBee network performs well at low interference levels, but performance degrades as interference increases. Conversely, the more complex and costly ISA100.11a network continues to perform well as Wi-Fi interference levels increase.

Differential learning abilities of 129T2/Sv and C57BL/6J mice as assessed in three water maze protocols.

PubMed

Wolff, Mathieu; Savova, Magdaléna; Malleret, Gaël; Segu, Louis; Buhot, Marie-Christine

2002-11-15

Knockout mice are generated by using ES cells from 129 mouse strains and are frequently backcrossed with other strains, like C57BL/6. It is important to characterise the physiological and, in particular, the behavioural profile of each strain in order to correctly analyse the functional contribution of a single gene mutation on the 'cognitive' phenotype. The present study compared 129T2/Sv (129) and C57BL/6J (C57) mice in three different spatial learning protocols in the water maze, using a hidden platform. In the 'standard' reference memory protocol, 129 and C57 attained an equivalent level of performance as assessed by accuracy in reaching the platform (path length), despite a faster swim speed exhibited by C57 mice. In a stepwise learning task, C57 mice showed poorer performances over all stages of learning. However they performed better than 129 in a massed learning protocol which taxes short-term memory, and in which they exhibited lower levels of perseveration. The results emphasize the importance of using various tasks differing in cognitive demand, but using the same experimental environment and motivation, in order to 1) evaluate strain- or mutation-dependent learning abilities, and 2) dissociate the roles played by cognitive and non-cognitive factors in the behavioural requirements of the tasks. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.

Incidence of C4d stain in protocol biopsies from renal allografts: results from a multicenter trial.

PubMed

Mengel, Michael; Bogers, Johannes; Bosmans, Jean-Louis; Serón, Daniel; Moreso, Francesc; Carrera, Marta; Gwinner, Wilfried; Schwarz, Anke; De Broe, Marc; Kreipe, Hans; Haller, Hermann

2005-05-01

C4d staining of renal allografts is regarded as an in situ marker of active humoral rejection. Few data are available about the incidence of C4d deposition in protocol biopsies compared to indication biopsies. To evaluate whether center-specific factors influence the incidence of C4d detection, we performed a multicenter study. From three European centers, 551 protocol and 377 indication biopsies were reclassified according to the updated Banff criteria and stained for C4d. C4d results were recorded as diffuse or focal positive and statistically correlated to clinical parameters, morphology and graft survival. In the protocol biopsies, a diffuse C4d stain was found in 2.0%, and a focal stain in 2.4%. In indication biopsies, 12.2% were diffusely and 8.5% focally C4d positive (protocol:indication p < 0.0001). The incidence of C4d deposition varied significantly between centers, attributable to variable numbers of presensitized patients with more C4d positive indication and protocol biopsies. Diffuse and focal C4d stain correlated with morphology of humoral rejection in protocol as well as in indication biopsies. Protocol biopsies show a significantly lower incidence of C4d deposition than indication biopsies. Subclinical C4d detection in protocol biopsies had no significant impact on allograft survival in our series.

Integration of FMIPv6 in HMIPv6 to Improve Hand-over Performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patil, Dipali P.; Patil, G. A.

2010-11-01

Mobile users move frequently between networks, as they stay connected to the Internet. Thus, as mobility increases across networks, handovers will significantly impact the quality of the connection and user application. Handover performance is very important when evaluating IP mobility protocols. Since handover request are driven by several needs such as cost reduction criteria, network resource optimization and service related requirements. Current works to support seamless mobility in IPv6 network are classified into HMIPv6 and FMIPv6. These two approaches have pros and cons respectively and are being standardized independently in IETF. If one can integrate properly these two approaches, it is expected that the one can get more effective protocols that can provide better handover performance. This paper integrates FHMIPv6 in HMIPv6 (F-HMIPv6) so as to provide effectively fast handover on the hierarchical Mobile IPv6. The simulation performed using Ns-2 extensions to show that a performance of proposed system is better in terms of packet loss and hand-over delay.

Oblique Chest Views as a Routine Part of Skeletal Surveys Performed for Possible Physical Abuse--Is This Practice Worthwhile?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansen, Karen Kirhofer; Prince, Jeffrey S.; Nixon, G. William

2008-01-01

Objective: To evaluate the utility of oblique chest views in the diagnosis of rib fractures when used as a routine part of the skeletal survey performed for possible physical abuse. Methods: Oblique chest views have been part of the routine skeletal survey protocol at Primary Children's Medical Center since October 2002. Dictated radiology reports…

Experimental evaluation of multiprocessor cache-based error recovery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Janssens, Bob; Fuchs, W. K.

1991-01-01

Several variations of cache-based checkpointing for rollback error recovery in shared-memory multiprocessors have been recently developed. By modifying the cache replacement policy, these techniques use the inherent redundancy in the memory hierarchy to periodically checkpoint the computation state. Three schemes, different in the manner in which they avoid rollback propagation, are evaluated. By simulation with address traces from parallel applications running on an Encore Multimax shared-memory multiprocessor, the performance effect of integrating the recovery schemes in the cache coherence protocol are evaluated. The results indicate that the cache-based schemes can provide checkpointing capability with low performance overhead but uncontrollable high variability in the checkpoint interval.

Development of a test protocol for evaluating EVA glove performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hinman, Elaine M.

1992-01-01

Testing gloved hand performance involves work from several disciplines. Evaluations performed in the course of reenabling a disabled hand, designing a robotic end effector or master controller, or hard-suit design have all yielded relevant information, and, in most cases, produced performance test methods. Most times, these test methods have been primarily oriented toward their parent discipline. For space operations, a comparative test which would provide a way to quantify pressure glove and end effector performance would be useful in dividing tasks between humans and robots. Such a test would have to rely heavily on sensored measurement, as opposed to questionnaires, to produce relevant data. However, at some point human preference would have to be taken into account. This paper presents a methodology for evaluating gloved hand performance which attempts to respond to these issues. Glove testing of a prototype glove design using this method is described.

Evaluation of platelet adhesion and activation on polymers: Round-robin study to assess inter-center variability.

PubMed

Braune, S; Sperling, C; Maitz, M F; Steinseifer, U; Clauser, J; Hiebl, B; Krajewski, S; Wendel, H P; Jung, F

2017-10-01

The regulatory agencies provide recommendations rather than protocols or standard operation procedures for the hemocompatibility evaluation of novel materials e.g. for cardiovascular applications. Thus, there is a lack of specifications with regard to test setups and procedures. As a consequence, laboratories worldwide perform in vitro assays under substantially different test conditions, so that inter-laboratory and inter-study comparisons are impossible. Here, we report about a prospective, randomized and double-blind multicenter trial which demonstrates that standardization of in vitro test protocols allows a reproducible assessment of platelet adhesion and activation from fresh human platelet rich plasma as possible indicators of the thrombogenicity of cardiovascular implants. Standardization of the reported static in vitro setup resulted in a laboratory independent scoring of the following materials: poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and poly(tetrafluoro ethylene) (PTFE). The results of this in vitro study provide evidence that inter-laboratory and inter-study comparisons can be achieved for the evaluation of the adhesion and activation of platelets on blood-contacting biomaterials by stringent standardization of test protocols. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A process evaluation of implementing a vocational enablement protocol for employees with hearing difficulties in clinical practice.

PubMed

Gussenhoven, Arjenne H M; Singh, Amika S; Goverts, S Theo; van Til, Marten; Anema, Johannes R; Kramer, Sophia E

2015-08-01

A multidisciplinary vocational rehabilitation programme, the Vocational Enablement Protocol (VEP) was developed to address the specific needs of employees with hearing difficulties. In the current study we evaluated the process of implementing the VEP in audiologic care among employees with hearing impairment. In conjunction with a randomized controlled trial, we collected and analysed data on seven process parameters: recruitment, reach, fidelity, dose delivered, dose received and implemented, satisfaction, and perceived benefit. Sixty-six employees with hearing impairment participated in the VEP. The multidisciplinary team providing the VEP comprised six professionals. The professionals performed the VEP according to the protocol. Of the recommendations delivered by the professionals, 31% were perceived as implemented by the employees. Compliance rate was highest for hearing-aid uptake (51%). Both employees and professionals were highly satisfied with the VEP. Participants rated good perceived benefit from it. Our results indicate that the VEP could be a useful treatment for employees with hearing difficulties from a process evaluation perspective. Implementation research in the audiological setting should be encouraged in order to further provide insight into parameters facilitating or hindering successful implementation of an intervention and to improve its quality and efficacy.

Isokinetic Testing in Evaluation Rehabilitation Outcome After ACL Reconstruction

PubMed Central

Cvjetkovic, Dragana Dragicevic; Bijeljac, Sinisa; Palija, Stanislav; Talic, Goran; Radulovic, Tatjana Nozica; Kosanovic, Milkica Glogovac; Manojlovic, Slavko

2015-01-01

Introduction: Numerous rehab protocols have been used in rehabilitation after ACL reconstruction. Isokinetic testing is an objective way to evaluate dynamic stability of the knee joint that estimates the quality of rehabilitation outcome after ACL reconstruction. Our investigation goal was to show importance of isokinetic testing in evaluation thigh muscle strength in patients which underwent ACL reconstruction and rehabilitation protocol. Subjects and methods: In prospective study, we evaluated 40 subjects which were divided into two groups. Experimental group consisted of 20 recreational males which underwent ACL reconstruction with hamstring tendon and rehabilitation protocol 6 months before isokinetic testing. Control group (20 subjects) consisted of healthy recreational males. In all subjects knee muscle testing was performed on a Biodex System 4 Pro isokinetic dynamo-meter et velocities of 60°/s and 180°/s. We followed average peak torque to body weight (PT/BW) and classic H/Q ratio. In statistical analysis Student’s T test was used. Results: There were statistically significant differences between groups in all evaluated parameters except of the mean value of PT/BW of the quadriceps et velocity of 60°/s (p>0.05). Conclusion: Isokinetic testing of dynamic stabilizers of the knee is need in diagnostic and treatment thigh muscle imbalance. We believe that isokinetic testing is an objective parameter for return to sport activities after ACL reconstruction. PMID:25870471

Clinical implementation and error sensitivity of a 3D quality assurance protocol for prostate and thoracic IMRT

PubMed Central

Cotter, Christopher; Turcotte, Julie Catherine; Crawford, Bruce; Sharp, Gregory; Mah'D, Mufeed

2015-01-01

This work aims at three goals: first, to define a set of statistical parameters and plan structures for a 3D pretreatment thoracic and prostate intensity‐modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) quality assurance (QA) protocol; secondly, to test if the 3D QA protocol is able to detect certain clinical errors; and third, to compare the 3D QA method with QA performed with single ion chamber and 2D gamma test in detecting those errors. The 3D QA protocol measurements were performed on 13 prostate and 25 thoracic IMRT patients using IBA's COMPASS system. For each treatment planning structure included in the protocol, the following statistical parameters were evaluated: average absolute dose difference (AADD), percent structure volume with absolute dose difference greater than 6% (ADD6), and 3D gamma test. To test the 3D QA protocol error sensitivity, two prostate and two thoracic step‐and‐shoot IMRT patients were investigated. Errors introduced to each of the treatment plans included energy switched from 6 MV to 10 MV, multileaf collimator (MLC) leaf errors, linac jaws errors, monitor unit (MU) errors, MLC and gantry angle errors, and detector shift errors. QA was performed on each plan using a single ion chamber and 2D array of ion chambers for 2D and 3D QA. Based on the measurements performed, we established a uniform set of tolerance levels to determine if QA passes for each IMRT treatment plan structure: maximum allowed AADD is 6%; maximum 4% of any structure volume can be with ADD6 greater than 6%, and maximum 4% of any structure volume may fail 3D gamma test with test parameters 3%/3 mm DTA. Out of the three QA methods tested the single ion chamber performed the worst by detecting 4 out of 18 introduced errors, 2D QA detected 11 out of 18 errors, and 3D QA detected 14 out of 18 errors. PACS number: 87.56.Fc PMID:26699299

Simulation improves procedural protocol adherence during central venous catheter placement: a randomized-controlled trial

PubMed Central

Peltan, Ithan D.; Shiga, Takashi; Gordon, James A.; Currier, Paul F.

2015-01-01

Background Simulation training may improve proficiency at and reduces complications from central venous catheter (CVC) placement, but the scope of simulation’s effect remains unclear. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effects of a pragmatic CVC simulation program on procedural protocol adherence, technical skill, and patient outcomes. Methods Internal medicine interns were randomized to standard training for CVC insertion or standard training plus simulation-based mastery training. Standard training involved a lecture, a video-based online module, and instruction by the supervising physician during actual CVC insertions. Intervention-group subjects additionally underwent supervised training on a venous access simulator until they demonstrated procedural competence. Raters evaluated interns’ performance during internal jugular CVC placement on actual patients in the medical intensive care unit. Generalized estimating equations were used to account for outcome clustering within trainees. Results We observed 52 interns place 87 CVCs. Simulation-trained interns exhibited better adherence to prescribed procedural technique than interns who received only standard training (p=0.024). There were no significant differences detected in first-attempt or overall cannulation success rates, mean needle passes, global assessment scores or complication rates. Conclusions Simulation training added to standard training improved protocol adherence during CVC insertion by novice practitioners. This study may have been too small to detect meaningful differences in venous cannulation proficiency and other clinical outcomes, highlighting the difficulty of patient-centered simulation research in settings where poor outcomes are rare. For high-performing systems, where protocol deviations may provide an important proxy for rare procedural complications, simulation may improve CVC insertion quality and safety. PMID:26154250

Reliability of chronic allograft nephropathy diagnosis in sequential protocol biopsies.

PubMed

Serón, Daniel; Moreso, Francesc; Fulladosa, Xavier; Hueso, Miguel; Carrera, Marta; Grinyó, Josep M

2002-02-01

Chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN) progresses rapidly during the first few months and slowly thereafter. Although the presence of CAN in protocol renal biopsies is a predictor of outcome, the reliability of this diagnosis according to Banff criteria has not been characterized. Renal lesions were evaluated according to the Banff criteria in sequential protocol biopsies performed at 4 and 14 months in 310 biopsies obtained from 155 patients. CAN progressed from 40 to 53% (P=0.001) while serum creatinine remained stable (146 +/- 44 vs. 147 +/- 48 micromol/L, P=NS). Graft survival in patients with and without CAN in the first biopsy was 74 versus 91% (P < 0.05), and in the second biopsy 75 versus 94% (P < 0.05). In 54 patients (35%) no CAN was present in both biopsies, 39 (25%) showed progression to CAN, 19 (12%) showed regression of CAN, and 43 (28%) showed CAN in both biopsies. Graft survival was: 100%, 81.6%, 82.6% and 69.4%, respectively (P < 0.01). Assuming that CAN does not regress and sampling error is normally distributed, we estimated that 25% of biopsies cannot be properly classified. The increase in the incidence of CAN between the 4th and 14th month is lower than the proportion of misclassified biopsies. Thus, monitoring the progression of CAN by means of two sequential biopsies at 4 and 14 months is inaccurate. We suggest that progression of scarring be monitored by means of a donor and a protocol biopsy performed during the first year evaluated with a quantitative approach.

Interactive computer simulations of knee-replacement surgery.

PubMed

Gunther, Stephen B; Soto, Gabriel E; Colman, William W

2002-07-01

Current surgical training programs in the United States are based on an apprenticeship model. This model is outdated because it does not provide conceptual scaffolding, promote collaborative learning, or offer constructive reinforcement. Our objective was to create a more useful approach by preparing students and residents for operative cases using interactive computer simulations of surgery. Total-knee-replacement surgery (TKR) is an ideal procedure to model on the computer because there is a systematic protocol for the procedure. Also, this protocol is difficult to learn by the apprenticeship model because of the multiple instruments that must be used in a specific order. We designed an interactive computer tutorial to teach medical students and residents how to perform knee-replacement surgery. We also aimed to reinforce the specific protocol of the operative procedure. Our final goal was to provide immediate, constructive feedback. We created a computer tutorial by generating three-dimensional wire-frame models of the surgical instruments. Next, we applied a surface to the wire-frame models using three-dimensional modeling. Finally, the three-dimensional models were animated to simulate the motions of an actual TKR. The tutorial is a step-by-step tutorial that teaches and tests the correct sequence of steps in a TKR. The student or resident must select the correct instruments in the correct order. The learner is encouraged to learn the stepwise surgical protocol through repetitive use of the computer simulation. Constructive feedback is acquired through a grading system, which rates the student's or resident's ability to perform the task in the correct order. The grading system also accounts for the time required to perform the simulated procedure. We evaluated the efficacy of this teaching technique by testing medical students who learned by the computer simulation and those who learned by reading the surgical protocol manual. Both groups then performed TKR on manufactured bone models using real instruments. Their technique was graded with the standard protocol. The students who learned on the computer simulation performed the task in a shorter time and with fewer errors than the control group. They were also more engaged in the learning process. Surgical training programs generally lack a consistent approach to preoperative education related to surgical procedures. This interactive computer tutorial has allowed us to make a quantum leap in medical student and resident teaching in our orthopedic department because the students actually participate in the entire process. Our technique provides a linear, sequential method of skill acquisition and direct feedback, which is ideally suited for learning stepwise surgical protocols. Since our initial evaluation has shown the efficacy of this program, we have implemented this teaching tool into our orthopedic curriculum. Our plans for future work with this simulator include modeling procedures involving other anatomic areas of interest, such as the hip and shoulder.

[Theoretical evaluation of the risk of decompression illness during simulated extravehicular activity].

PubMed

Nikolaev, V P

2008-01-01

Theoretical analysis of the risk of decompression illness (DI) during extravehicular activity following the Russian and NASA decompression protocols (D-R and D-US, respectively) was performed. In contrast to the tradition approach to decompression stress evaluation by the factor of tissue supersaturation with nitrogen, our probabilistic theory of decompression safety provides a completely reasoned evaluation and comparison of the levels of hazard of these decompression protocols. According to this theory, the function of cumulative DI risk is equal to the sum of functions of cumulative risk of lesion of all body tissues by gas bubbles and their supersaturation by solute gases. Based on modeling of dynamics of these functions, growth of the DI cumulative risk in the course of D-R and D-US follows essentially similar trajectories within the time-frame of up to 330 minutes. However, further extension of D-US but not D-R raises the risk of DI drastically.

Direct data access protocols benchmarking on DPM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furano, Fabrizio; Devresse, Adrien; Keeble, Oliver; Mancinelli, Valentina

2015-12-01

The Disk Pool Manager is an example of a multi-protocol, multi-VO system for data access on the Grid that went though a considerable technical evolution in the last years. Among other features, its architecture offers the opportunity of testing its different data access frontends under exactly the same conditions, including hardware and backend software. This characteristic inspired the idea of collecting monitoring information from various testbeds in order to benchmark the behaviour of the HTTP and Xrootd protocols for the use case of data analysis, batch or interactive. A source of information is the set of continuous tests that are run towards the worldwide endpoints belonging to the DPM Collaboration, which accumulated relevant statistics in its first year of activity. On top of that, the DPM releases are based on multiple levels of automated testing that include performance benchmarks of various kinds, executed regularly every day. At the same time, the recent releases of DPM can report monitoring information about any data access protocol to the same monitoring infrastructure that is used to monitor the Xrootd deployments. Our goal is to evaluate under which circumstances the HTTP-based protocols can be good enough for batch or interactive data access. In this contribution we show and discuss the results that our test systems have collected under the circumstances that include ROOT analyses using TTreeCache and stress tests on the metadata performance.

Evaluating anesthetic protocols for functional blood flow imaging in the rat eye

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moult, Eric M.; Choi, WooJhon; Boas, David A.; Baumann, Bernhard; Clermont, Allen C.; Feener, Edward P.; Fujimoto, James G.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the suitability of five different anesthetic protocols (isoflurane, isoflurane-xylazine, pentobarbital, ketamine-xylazine, and ketamine-xylazine-vecuronium) for functional blood flow imaging in the rat eye. Total retinal blood flow was measured at a series of time points using an ultrahigh-speed Doppler OCT system. Additionally, each anesthetic protocol was qualitatively evaluated according to the following criteria: (1) time-stability of blood flow, (2) overall rate of blood flow, (3) ocular immobilization, and (4) simplicity. We observed that different anesthetic protocols produced markedly different blood flows. Different anesthetic protocols also varied with respect to the four evaluated criteria. These findings suggest that the choice of anesthetic protocol should be carefully considered when designing and interpreting functional blood flow studies in the rat eye.

Evaluation of empirical treatment for blood culture-negative endocarditis.

PubMed

Menu, Estelle; Gouriet, Frédérique; Casalta, Jean-Paul; Tissot-Dupont, Hervé; Vecten, Maude; Saby, Ludivine; Hubert, Sandrine; Salaun, Erwan; Theron, Alexis; Grisoli, Dominique; Lavoute, Cécile; Collart, Frédéric; Habib, Gilbert; Raoult, Didier

2017-01-01

Much progress has been made in understanding the main causes of blood culture-negative endocarditis (BCNE). Few studies concerning BCNE treatment (due to previous antibiotics used or fastidious pathogens) are available. We performed this study to evaluate the effectiveness of our therapeutic protocol in BCNE, based on compliance with the protocol, outcome and 1 year mortality. We collected prospectively and analysed retrospectively cases of BCNE between 2002 and 2014, using a simplified and standardized protocol developed by our multidisciplinary team. We apply two kinds of protocols to treat BCNE, which include only four intravenous antimicrobial agents: amoxicillin, vancomycin, gentamicin and amphotericin B. We had 177 patients with definite BCNE. There were 154 (87.0%) patients treated with both appropriate antimicrobial agents and appropriate duration of treatment. We analysed the causes of inappropriate treatment in 13 (7.3%) cases and inappropriate duration in 10 (5.6%) cases. The treatment changes were justified in all cases except one of discharge against medical advice. The fatality rate was 5.1% (nine cases) and all deaths occurred in the group of patients who were treated with appropriate treatment; however, four deaths were not attributable to empirical treatment failure. Concerning the other deaths, the lack of surgical management, in association with empirical treatment, could explain our protocol's failure, such as poorly tolerated surgery. Our protocol is efficient and our mortality rate was low, compared with the literature review. This may result from a strategy that uses a sampling procedure and a standardized protocol at the same time. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Creative musical expression as a catalyst for quality-of-life improvement in inner-city adolescents placed in a court-referred residential treatment program.

PubMed

Bittman, Barry; Dickson, Larry; Coddington, Kim

2009-01-01

Obstacles to effectively rehabilitate inner-city adolescents in staff-secure residential treatment centers should not be underestimated. Effective evidence-based protocols are lacking to help juveniles who are often angry, detached, frustrated, and in direct conflict with their peers. Facing a myriad of issues ranging from youth delinquency offenses to trauma, abuse, drug/alcohol use, peer pressure/gang-related activities, lack of structure in home environments, mental health diagnoses, and cognitive functioning difficulties, these adolescents present extraordinary challenges to an over-stressed juvenile justice system. A randomized controlled crossover study is utilized to comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of a novel creative musical expression protocol as a catalyst for nonverbal and verbal disclosure leading to improvements in quality of life for inner-city youth in a court-referred residential treatment program. A total of 52 (30 females and 22 males) African-American, Asian, Caucasian, and Puerto Rican subjects ranging in age from 12 to 18 (mean age 14.5) completed the study. Dependent variable measures included the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS), the Adolescent Psychopathology Scale (APS), the Adolescent Anger Rating Scale (AARS), the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale, 2nd edition (RADS 2), and the Adolescent Visual-Analog Recreational Music Making Assessment (A-VARMMA). Statistically significant (experimental vs control) improvements in multiple parameters include school/work role performance, total depression, anhedonia/negative affect, negative self-evaluation, and instrumental anger. In addition, extended impact (experimental vs control) is characterized by statistically significant improvements 6 weeks after completion of the protocol, for school/work role performance, behavior toward others, anhedonia/negative affect, total anger, instrumental anger, anger, and interpersonal problems. The primary limitations of this study include an extended follow-up period of only 6 weeks post completion of the protocol, and the inability to blind the counselors performing standardized assessments. This study is the first of its kind to test a replicable creative musical expression protocol as a catalyst for nonverbal and verbal disclosure leading to improved quality of life for inner-city youth in a court-referred residential treatment program. With substantial potential for widespread dissemination, this innovative protocol for adolescents can be readily utilized by behavioral health professionals without prior musical experience.

Real-time intraoperative monitoring of brainstem auditory evoked potentials during microvascular decompression for hemifacial spasm.

PubMed

Joo, Byung-Euk; Park, Sang-Ku; Cho, Kyung-Rae; Kong, Doo-Sik; Seo, Dae-Won; Park, Kwan

2016-11-01

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to define a new protocol for intraoperative monitoring (IOM) of brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) during microvascular decompression (MVD) surgery to treat hemifacial spasm (HFS) and to evaluate the usefulness of this new protocol to prevent hearing impairment. METHODS To define the optimal stimulation rate, estimate the number of trials to be averaged, and identify useful warning criteria in IOM of BAEPs, the authors performed a preliminary study of 13 patients with HFS in 2010. They increased the stimulation rate from 10.1 Hz/sec to 100.1 Hz/sec by 10-Hz increments, and they elevated the average time from 100 times to 1000 times by 100-unit increments at a fixed stimulus rate of 43.9 Hz. After defining the optimal stimulation rate and the number of trials that needed to be averaged for IOM of BAEPs, they also identified the useful warning criteria for this protocol for MVD surgery. From January to December 2013, 254 patients with HFS underwent MVD surgery following the new IOM of BAEPs protocol. Pure-tone audiometry and speech discrimination scoring were performed before surgery and 1 week after surgery. To evaluate the usefulness of the new protocol, the authors compared the incidence of postoperative hearing impairment with the results from the group that underwent MVD surgery prior to the new protocol. RESULTS Through a preliminary study, the authors confirmed that it was possible to obtain a reliable wave when using a stimulation rate of 43.9 Hz/sec and averaging 400 trials. Only a Wave V amplitude loss > 50% was useful as a warning criterion when using the new protocol. A reliable BAEP could be obtained in approximately 9.1 seconds. When the new protocol was used, 2 patients (0.8%) showed no recovery of Wave V amplitude loss > 50%, and only 1 of those 2 patients (0.39%) ultimately had postoperative hearing impairment. When compared with the outcomes in the pre-protocol group, hearing impairment incidence decreased significantly among patients who underwent surgery with the new protocol (0.39% vs 4.02%, p = 0.002). There were no significant differences between the 2 surgery groups regarding other complications, including facial palsy, sixth cranial nerve palsy, and vocal cord palsy. CONCLUSIONS There was a significant decrease in postoperative hearing impairment after MVD for HFS when the new protocol for IOM of BAEPs was used. Real-time IOM of BAEPs, which can obtain a reliable BAEP in less than 10 seconds, is a successful new procedure for preventing hearing impairment during MVD surgery for HFS.

75 FR 20901 - Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-22

... markets. This rule ensures that participants in wholesale energy markets where demand response products... those markets and addresses performance evaluation methods appropriate to use for demand response... markets, reducing transaction costs and providing an opportunity for more customers to participate in...

Is the flexible GnRH antagonist protocol better suited for fresh eSET cycles?

PubMed

Dahdouh, Elias M; Gomes, Francisco L A F; Granger, Louis; Carranza-Mamane, Belina; Faruqi, Faez; Kattygnarath, Tiao-Virirak; St-Michel, Pierre

2014-10-01

This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of the flexible GnRH antagonist protocol in comparison with the long GnRH agonist protocol in elective single embryo transfer (eSET) practice. It was conducted in a publicly funded in vitro fertilization program. We performed a prospective cohort analysis of data from a private infertility clinic from August 2010 to August 2011. Three hundred fourteen women with normal ovarian reserve and undergoing fresh eSET cycles were included. Sixty-four women underwent follicular stimulation using a flexible GnRH antagonist protocol, and 250 underwent stimulation with a standard long mid-luteal GnRH agonist protocol. Implantation rates (35.9% in the GnRH antagonist group and 29.6% in the GnRH agonist group, P = 0.5) and ongoing pregnancy rates (32.8% in the GnRH antagonist group and 28.8% in the GnRH agonist group, P = 0.5) were equivalent in both groups. The duration of stimulation (9.8 ± 2 days vs. 10.7 ± 1.8 days, P < 0.001) and total FSH dose required (2044 vs. 2775 IU, P < 0.001) were lower in the GnRH antagonist group than in the GnRH agonist group. The number of mature oocytes (6.0 vs. 10.0, P < 0. 001) and number of embryos (5.0 vs. 7.0, P < 0.001) were also lower in GnRH antagonist group. However, the number of embryos cryopreserved was similar in both groups (median 2.0, P = 0.3). In women undergoing in vitro fertilization, the flexible GnRH antagonist protocol yields implantation and ongoing pregnancy rates that are similar to the long GnRH agonist protocol, and requires lower doses of gonadotropins and a shorter duration of treatment. The flexible GnRH antagonist protocol appears to be the protocol of choice for an eSET IVF program.

Combination Protocol of Low-Frequency rTMS and Intensive Occupational Therapy for Post-stroke Upper Limb Hemiparesis: a 6-year Experience of More Than 1700 Japanese Patients.

PubMed

Kakuda, Wataru; Abo, Masahiro; Sasanuma, Jinichi; Shimizu, Masato; Okamoto, Takatsugu; Kimura, Chikou; Kakita, Kiyohito; Hara, Hiroyoshi

2016-06-01

Several years ago, we proposed a combination protocol of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and intensive occupational therapy (OT) for upper limb hemiparesis after stroke. Subsequently, the number of patients treated with the protocol has increased in Japan. We aimed to present the latest data on our proposed combination protocol for post-stroke upper limb hemiparesis as a result of a multi-institutional study. After confirming that a patient met the inclusion criteria for the protocol, they were scheduled to receive the 15-day inpatient protocol. In the protocol, two sessions of 20-min rTMS and 120-min occupational therapy were provided daily, except for Sundays and the days of admission/discharge. Motor function of the affected upper limb was evaluated by the Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA) and Wolf motor function test (WMFT) at admission/discharge and at 4 weeks after discharge if possible. A total of 1725 post-stroke patients were studied (mean age at admission 61.4 ± 13.0 years). The scheduled 15-day protocol was completed by all patients. At discharge, the increase in FMA score, shortening in performance time of WMFT, and increase in functional ability scale (FAS) score of WMFT were significant (FMA score 46.8 ± 12.2 to 50.9 ± 11.4 points, p < 0.001; performance time of WMFT 2.57 ± 1.32 to 2.21 ± 1.33, p < 0.001; FAS score of WMFT 47.4 ± 14. to 51.4 ± 14.3 points, p < 0.001). Our proposed combination protocol can be a potentially safe and useful therapeutic intervention for upper limb hemiparesis after stroke, although its efficacy should be confirmed in a randomized controlled study.

Evaluation of similarity measures for use in the intensity-based rigid 2D-3D registration for patient positioning in radiotherapy

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

Wu Jian; Kim, Minho; Peters, Jorg

2009-12-15

Purpose: Rigid 2D-3D registration is an alternative to 3D-3D registration for cases where largely bony anatomy can be used for patient positioning in external beam radiation therapy. In this article, the authors evaluated seven similarity measures for use in the intensity-based rigid 2D-3D registration using a variation in Skerl's similarity measure evaluation protocol. Methods: The seven similarity measures are partitioned intensity uniformity, normalized mutual information (NMI), normalized cross correlation (NCC), entropy of the difference image, pattern intensity (PI), gradient correlation (GC), and gradient difference (GD). In contrast to traditional evaluation methods that rely on visual inspection or registration outcomes, themore » similarity measure evaluation protocol probes the transform parameter space and computes a number of similarity measure properties, which is objective and optimization method independent. The variation in protocol offers an improved property in the quantification of the capture range. The authors used this protocol to investigate the effects of the downsampling ratio, the region of interest, and the method of the digitally reconstructed radiograph (DRR) calculation [i.e., the incremental ray-tracing method implemented on a central processing unit (CPU) or the 3D texture rendering method implemented on a graphics processing unit (GPU)] on the performance of the similarity measures. The studies were carried out using both the kilovoltage (kV) and the megavoltage (MV) images of an anthropomorphic cranial phantom and the MV images of a head-and-neck cancer patient. Results: Both the phantom and the patient studies showed the 2D-3D registration using the GPU-based DRR calculation yielded better robustness, while providing similar accuracy compared to the CPU-based calculation. The phantom study using kV imaging suggested that NCC has the best accuracy and robustness, but its slow function value change near the global maximum requires a stricter termination condition for an optimization method. The phantom study using MV imaging indicated that PI, GD, and GC have the best accuracy, while NCC and NMI have the best robustness. The clinical study using MV imaging showed that NCC and NMI have the best robustness. Conclusions: The authors evaluated the performance of seven similarity measures for use in 2D-3D image registration using the variation in Skerl's similarity measure evaluation protocol. The generalized methodology can be used to select the best similarity measures, determine the optimal or near optimal choice of parameter, and choose the appropriate registration strategy for the end user in his specific registration applications in medical imaging.« less

Imaging the Parasinus Region with a Third-Generation Dual-Source CT and the Effect of Tin Filtration on Image Quality and Radiation Dose.

PubMed

Lell, M M; May, M S; Brand, M; Eller, A; Buder, T; Hofmann, E; Uder, M; Wuest, W

2015-07-01

CT is the imaging technique of choice in the evaluation of midface trauma or inflammatory disease. We performed a systematic evaluation of scan protocols to optimize image quality and radiation exposure on third-generation dual-source CT. CT protocols with different tube voltage (70-150 kV), current (25-300 reference mAs), prefiltration, pitch value, and rotation time were systematically evaluated. All images were reconstructed with iterative reconstruction (Advanced Modeled Iterative Reconstruction, level 2). To individually compare results with otherwise identical factors, we obtained all scans on a frozen human head. Conebeam CT was performed for image quality and dose comparison with multidetector row CT. Delineation of important anatomic structures and incidental pathologic conditions in the cadaver head was evaluated. One hundred kilovolts with tin prefiltration demonstrated the best compromise between dose and image quality. The most dose-effective combination for trauma imaging was Sn100 kV/250 mAs (volume CT dose index, 2.02 mGy), and for preoperative sinus surgery planning, Sn100 kV/150 mAs (volume CT dose index, 1.22 mGy). "Sn" indicates an additional prefiltration of the x-ray beam with a tin filter to constrict the energy spectrum. Exclusion of sinonasal disease was possible with even a lower dose by using Sn100 kV/25 mAs (volume CT dose index, 0.2 mGy). High image quality at very low dose levels can be achieved by using a Sn100-kV protocol with iterative reconstruction. The effective dose is comparable with that of conventional radiography, and the high image quality at even lower radiation exposure favors multidetector row CT over conebeam CT. © 2015 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

The acute effects of manipulating volume and load of back squats on countermovement vertical jump performance.

PubMed

Moir, Gavin L; Mergy, David; Witmer, Ca; Davis, Shala E

2011-06-01

The acute effects of manipulating the volume and load of back squats on subsequent countermovement vertical jump performance were investigated in the present study. Eleven National Collegiate Athletic Association division II female volleyball players performed 10 countermovement vertical jumps (CMJs) on a force platform 2 minutes after the last squat repetition of a high-load (HL) or high-volume (HV) squat protocol. Two minutes of rest was provided between each CMJ. The HL protocol culminated in the subjects having to perform 3 repetitions with a load equivalent to 90% 1 repetition maximum (1RM) back squat, whereas 12 repetitions with a load equivalent to 37% 1RM were performed in the HV protocol. During an initial familiarization session, knee angles were recorded during a series of CMJs, and these angles were used to control the depth of descent during all subsequent back squats. Jump height (JH) and vertical stiffness (VStiff) were calculated during each of the 10 CMJ, and the change in these variables after the 2 squat protocols was assessed using an analysis of variance model with repeated measures on 2 factors (Protocol [2-levels]; Time [2-levels]). There was no significant difference in JH after the HL and HV protocols (p > 0.05). A significant Protocol × Time interaction for VStiff resulted from the increase after the HL protocol being greater than that after the HV protocol (p = 0.03). The knee angles before the HL and HV protocols were significantly greater than those measured during the initial familiarization session (p = 0.001). Although neither squat protocol provided any benefit in improving JH, the heavy squat protocol produced greater increases in VStiff during the CMJ. Because of the increased VStiff caused by the HL protocol, volleyball coaches may consider using such protocols with their players to improve performance in jumps performed from a run such as the spike and on-court agility.

Optimizing MRI Logistics: Focused Process Improvements Can Increase Throughput in an Academic Radiology Department.

PubMed

O'Brien, Jeremy J; Stormann, Jeremy; Roche, Kelli; Cabral-Goncalves, Ines; Monks, Annamarie; Hallett, Donna; Mortele, Koenraad J

2017-02-01

The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate the effect of focused process improvements on protocol selection and scheduling in the MRI division of a busy academic medical center, as measured by examination and room times, magnet fill rate, and potential revenue increases and cost savings to the department. Focused process improvements, led by a multidisciplinary team at a large academic medical center, were directed at streamlining MRI protocols and optimizing matching protocol ordering to scheduling while maintaining or improving image quality. Data were collected before (June 2013) and after (March 2015) implementation of focused process improvements and divided by subspecialty on type of examination, allotted examination time, actual examination time, and MRI parameters. Direct and indirect costs were compiled and analyzed in consultation with the business department. Data were compared with evaluated effects on selected outcome and efficiency measures, as well as revenue and cost considerations. Statistical analysis was performed using a t test. During the month of June 2013, 2145 MRI examinations were performed at our center; 2702 were performed in March 2015. Neuroradiology examinations were the most common (59% in June 2013, 56% in March 2015), followed by body examinations (25% and 27%). All protocols and parameters were analyzed and streamlined for each examination, with slice thickness, TR, and echo train length among the most adjusted parameters. Mean time per examination decreased from 43.4 minutes to 36.7 minutes, and mean room time per patient decreased from 46.3 to 43.6 minutes (p = 0.009). Potential revenue from increased throughput may yield up to $3 million yearly (at $800 net revenue per scan) or produce cost savings if the facility can reduce staffed scanner hours or the number of scanners in its fleet. Actual revenue and expense impacts depend on the facility's fixed and variable cost structure, payer contracts, MRI fleet composition, and unmet MRI demand. Focused process improvements in selecting MRI protocols and scheduling examinations significantly increased throughput in the MRI division, thereby increasing capacity and revenue. Shorter scan and department times may also improve patient experience.

Protocol for Uniformly Measuring and Expressing the Performance of Energy Storage Systems

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

Conover, David R.; Crawford, Aladsair J.; Viswanathan, Vilayanur V.

2014-06-01

The Protocol for Uniformly Measuring and Expressing the Performance of Energy Storage Systems (PNNL-22010) was first issued in November 2012 as a first step toward providing a foundational basis for developing an initial standard for the uniform measurement and expression of energy storage system (ESS) performance. Its subsequent use in the field and review by the protocol working group and most importantly the users’ subgroup and the thermal subgroup has led to the fundamental modifications reflected in this update of the 2012 Protocol. As an update of the 2012 Protocol, this document (the June 2014 Protocol) is intended to supersedemore » its predecessor and be used as the basis for measuring and expressing ESS performance. The foreword provides general and specific details about what additions, revisions, and enhancements have been made to the 2012 Protocol and the rationale for them in arriving at the June 2014 Protocol.« less

Comparison of the effect of two endodontic irrigation protocols on the elimination of bacteria from root canal system: a prospective, randomized clinical trial.

PubMed

Beus, Christopher; Safavi, Kamran; Stratton, Jeffrey; Kaufman, Blythe

2012-11-01

The purpose of this prospective, randomized clinical study was to compare the results of a nonactivated single-irrigation protocol (NAI) that used only 1% NaOCl with a passive ultrasonic multi-irrigation protocol (PUI) that used 1% NaOCl, 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, and 2% chlorhexidine in rendering canals bacteria free. In addition, the effect of a second-visit instrumentation after intra-appointment calcium hydroxide (CaOH(2)) was also evaluated in bacterial elimination. Fifty patients were recruited with a posterior tooth requiring primary endodontic treatment of apical periodontitis. Standard nonsurgical endodontic therapy was performed on both groups in a 2-visit approach by using calcium hydroxide intracanal medicament. Teeth were randomly treated with the NAI or PUI protocols in the first visit after complete instrumentation. Bacterial cultures were obtained at 4 periods during treatment from the canals: (1) before instrumentation, (2) after irrigation protocol, (3) after CaOH(2) medication, and (4) before obturation. Statistical analysis was performed on data by using the Fisher exact test and multivariate analysis. NAI and PUI rendered canals 80% and 84% bacteria free, respectively, at the end of the first visit. After CaOH(2) medication the total sample (NAI + PUI) had increased to 87% bacteria free, and the second-visit instrumentation resulted in a total of 91% bacteria free. These differences were not significant (P > .05). There was no statistical difference between irrigation methods. Each protocol resulted in a high frequency of negative cultures. This high frequency of negative cultures obtained in 1 visit is most likely related to an increased volume and depth of irrigation compared with previously reported protocols. Copyright © 2012 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Carb-3 is the superior anti-CD15 monoclonal antibody for immunohistochemistry.

PubMed

Røge, Rasmus; Nielsen, Søren; Vyberg, Mogens

2014-07-01

Immunohistochemical detection of CD15 is important in the diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma and may play a role in the classification of renal cell tumors (RCTs). In the NordiQC external quality assessment scheme, 4 CD15 tests, each with 71 to 121 participating laboratories, showed that 24% to 50% of the stains were insufficient. This was mainly because of very low primary antibody (Ab) concentration and insufficient heat-induced epitope retrieval, whereas the Ab clone performance seemed of little importance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of the most commonly used CD15 Abs on the basis of vendor-recommended and in-house optimized protocols. Multitissue blocks with 199 specimens including various malignant lymphomas, RCTs, and normal tissues were stained with 3 different concentrated (conc) CD15 Ab clones Carb-3, MMA, and BY87 according to predetermined in-house optimized protocols on 2 automated immunostaining platforms. Carb-3 and MMA were also applied in ready-to-use (RTU) formats utilized according to vendor protocols. Extension and intensity of stains was determined using the H-score method. Clone Carb-3-conc gave with an in-house optimized protocol the highest H-scores in Hodgkin lymphoma, RCTs, and normal kidney tissue. Clones Carb-3-RTU and MMA-conc gave slightly lower scores, whereas clones MMA-RTU and BY87-conc gave the lowest scores and a large proportion of false-negative reactions. For all concentrated Abs, in-house optimized protocols resulted in increased sensitivity and improved overall staining results compared with vendor-recommended protocols. The importance of Ab selection and protocol optimization in immunohistochemical laboratories is emphasized.

Titrating Oxygen Requirements During Exercise: Evaluation of a Standardized Single Walk Test Protocol.

PubMed

Giovacchini, Coral X; Mathews, Anne M; Lawlor, Brian R; MacIntyre, Neil R

2018-04-01

Oxygen supplementation for exercise-induced hypoxemia is a common clinical practice that improves exercise tolerance. However, we know of no standardized exercise oxygen titration protocol using a single walk test. We report our experience with a protocol developed in our laboratory. Our protocol is based on the 6-min walk test (6MWT). Pulse oximetry readings (oxygen saturation [Spo 2 ]) are monitored, and supplemental oxygen is added in 2 L/min increments to keep Spo 2 > 88%. This continues for at least 6 min of walking with the Spo 2 remaining > 88% for at least 3 min. The records of consecutive patients over 4 months undergoing this procedure were reviewed for test performance, oxygen titration results, and adverse events. Two hundred twenty-two patients were tested; only two prematurely terminated the protocol because of intractable dyspnea. One hundred fifty-six patients (38%) required oxygen supplementation, with the first titration most commonly occurring between 1 and 2 min of walking. Nine of the patients had the first titration after 5 min of walking. The average test duration was 7 min (maximum, 15 min). The average number of titrations was 2.2 (maximum six). Sixteen patients could not maintain Spo 2 > 88% for 3 min despite administration of 15 L/min of supplemental oxygen (maximal dose). Our protocol was easily performed as a modification of a standard 6MWT with no serious adverse events. Because it is based on a widely accepted measurement of functional capabilities, and because it determined a stable final oxygen dose for ≥ 3 min of walking in most patients, we believe this protocol can be easily adapted for clinical use. Copyright © 2017 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Do the Threshold Limit Values for Work in Hot Conditions Adequately Protect Workers?

PubMed

Meade, Robert D; Poirier, Martin P; Flouris, Andreas D; Hardcastle, Stephen G; Kenny, Glen P

2016-06-01

We evaluated core temperature responses and the change in body heat content (ΔHb) during work performed according to the ACGIH threshold limit values (TLV) for heat stress, which are designed to ensure a stable core temperature that does not exceed 38.0°C. Nine young males performed a 120-min work protocol consisting of cycling at a fixed rate of heat production (360 W). On the basis of the TLV, each protocol consisted of a different work-rest (WR) allocation performed in different wet-bulb globe temperatures (WBGT). The first was 120 min of continuous (CON) cycling at 28.0°C WBGT (CON[28.0°C]). The remaining three protocols were intermittent work bouts (15-min duration) performed at various WR and WBGT: (i) WR of 3:1 at 29.0°C (WR3:1[29.0°C]), (ii) WR of 1:1 at 30.0°C (WR1:1[30.0°C]), and (iii) WR of 1:3 at 31.5°C (WR1:3[31.5°C]) (total exercise time: 90, 60, and 30 min, respectively). The change in rectal (ΔTre) and mean body temperature (ΔTb) was evaluated with thermometry. ΔHb was determined via direct calorimetry and also used to calculate ΔTb. Although average rectal temperature did not exceed 38.0°C, heat balance was not achieved during exercise in any work protocol (i.e., rate of ΔTre > 0°C·min; all P values ≤ 0.02). Consequently, it was projected that if work was extended to 4 h, the distribution of participant core temperatures higher and lower than 38.0°C would be statistically similar (all P values ≥ 0.10). Furthermore, ΔHb was similar between protocols (P = 0.70). However, a greater ΔTb was observed with calorimetry relative to thermometry in WR3:1[29.0°C] (P = 0.03), WR1:1[30.0°C] (P = 0.02), and WR1:3[31.5°C] (P < 0.01) but not CON[28.0°C] (P = 0.32). The current study demonstrated that heat balance was not achieved and ΔTb and ΔHb were inconsistent, suggesting that the TLV may not adequately protect workers during work in hot conditions.

Performance of a multi-disciplinary emergency department observation protocol for acetaminophen overdose.

PubMed

Beauchamp, Gillian A; Hart, Kimberly W; Lindsell, Christopher J; Lyons, Michael S; Otten, Edward J; Smith, Carol L; Ward, Michael J; Wright, Stewart W

2013-09-01

The availability of 20-h N-acetylcysteine (NAC) infusion for low-risk acetaminophen (APAP) overdose enabled our center to implement an Emergency Department observation unit (OU) protocol as an alternative to hospitalization. Our objective was to evaluate our early experience with this protocol. This retrospective cohort study included all patients treated for low-risk APAP overdose in our academic hospital between 2006 and 2011. Cases were identified using OU and pharmacy records. Successful OU discharge was defined as disposition with no inpatient admission. Differences in medians with 95 % confidence intervals were used for comparisons. One hundred ninety-six patients received NAC for APAP overdose with a mean age of 35 years (SD 14); 73 % were white, and 43 % were male. Twenty (10 %) received care in the OU; 3/20(15 %) met criteria for inclusion in the OU protocol and 13/20(65 %) were discharged successfully. Out of the 196 patients, 10 met criteria for inclusion in the OU protocol but instead received care in the inpatient setting. The median total length of stay from presentation to ED discharge was 41 h for all patients treated in the OU, compared to 68 h for ten patients who met criteria for inclusion in the OU protocol but who were admitted (difference 27 h, 95 % CI 18-72 h). ED observation for APAP overdose can be a viable alternative to inpatient admission. Most patients were successfully discharged from the OU. This evaluation identified both over- and under-utilization of the OU. OU treatment resulted in shorter median length of stay than inpatient admission.

An in vitro evaluation of the degree of pulp tissue dissolution through different root canal irrigation protocols.

PubMed

Amato, Massimo; Pantaleo, Giuseppe; Abtellatif, Dina; Blasi, Andrea; Gagliani, Massimo; Iandolo, Alfredo

2018-01-01

The aim of this study is to evaluate in vitro , using artificial lateral canals, the rate of dissolution of the pulp tissue through different protocols of canal irrigation. One hundred artificial canals provided with lateral canals have been used. Each lateral canal was filled with pulp tissue and calibrated to 0.002 mg. All canals were irrigated using five different protocols. Five groups have been used for the experiment: Group A, distilled water (control); Group B, preheated NaOCl; Group C, NaOCl heated inside the canal; Group D, NaOCl ultrasonically activated; and Group E, NaOCl heated inside the canal with ultrasonic activation. All samples were weighed through professional microbalance in three different phases: before insertion of the pulp tissue into the lateral canal, after insertion of the pulp tissue and, finally, after different protocols of irrigation. A statistical analysis with Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney test was performed. The partial dissolution of the pulp tissue inside the artificial lateral canal occurs only using the protocol with NaOCl heated inside the canal with ultrasonic activation. Other irrigation protocols are not able to dissolve the pulp tissue. The main objective of endodontic therapy is the removal of damaged tissues and bacteria. Modern literature highlights that it is impossible to remove all the pulp tissues and bacteria from the whole endodontic space. Hence, to achieve excellence and get positive results in the short and long term, it is necessary to use techniques and technologies that may increase the degree of root canal detersion.

Development and validation of a remote home safety protocol.

PubMed

Romero, Sergio; Lee, Mi Jung; Simic, Ivana; Levy, Charles; Sanford, Jon

2018-02-01

Environmental assessments and subsequent modifications conducted by healthcare professionals can enhance home safety and promote independent living. However, travel time, expense and the availability of qualified professionals can limit the broad application of this intervention. Remote technology has the potential to increase access to home safety evaluations. This study describes the development and validation of a remote home safety protocol that can be used by a caregiver of an elderly person to video-record their home environment for later viewing and evaluation by a trained professional. The protocol was developed based on literature reviews and evaluations from clinical and content experts. Cognitive interviews were conducted with a group of six caregivers to validate the protocol. The final protocol included step-by-step directions to record indoor and outdoor areas of the home. The validation process resulted in modifications related to safety, clarity of the protocol, readability, visual appearance, technical descriptions and usability. Our final protocol includes detailed instructions that a caregiver should be able to follow to record a home environment for subsequent evaluation by a home safety professional. Implications for Rehabilitation The results of this study have several implications for rehabilitation practice The remote home safety evaluation protocol can potentially improve access to rehabilitation services for clients in remote areas and prevent unnecessary delays for needed care. Using our protocol, a patient's caregiver can partner with therapists to quickly and efficiently evaluate a patient's home before they are released from the hospital. Caregiver narration, which reflects a caregiver's own perspective, is critical to evaluating home safety. In-home safety evaluations, currently not available to all who need them due to access barriers, can enhance a patient's independence and provide a safer home environment.

Monthly progress report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moorhead, Robert J., II; Smith, Wayne

1992-01-01

This report is the mid-year report intended for the design concepts for the communication network for the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) facility being built at Yellow Creek near Iuka, MS. The overall network is to include heterogeneous computers, to use various protocols, and to have different bandwidths. Performance consideration must be given to the potential network applications in the network environment. The performance evaluation of X window applications was given the major emphasis in this report. A simulation study using Bones will be included later. This mid-year report has three parts: Part 1 is an investigation of X window traffic using TCP/IP over Ethernet networks; part 2 is a survey study of performance concepts of X window applications with Macintosh computers; and the last part is a tutorial on DECnet protocols. The results of this report should be useful in the design and operation of the ASRM communication network.

Development and Evaluation of A Novel and Cost-Effective Approach for Low-Cost NO₂ Sensor Drift Correction.

PubMed

Sun, Li; Westerdahl, Dane; Ning, Zhi

2017-08-19

Emerging low-cost gas sensor technologies have received increasing attention in recent years for air quality measurements due to their small size and convenient deployment. However, in the diverse applications these sensors face many technological challenges, including sensor drift over long-term deployment that cannot be easily addressed using mathematical correction algorithms or machine learning methods. This study aims to develop a novel approach to auto-correct the drift of commonly used electrochemical nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) sensor with comprehensive evaluation of its application. The impact of environmental factors on the NO₂ electrochemical sensor in low-ppb concentration level measurement was evaluated in laboratory and the temperature and relative humidity correction algorithm was evaluated. An automated zeroing protocol was developed and assessed using a chemical absorbent to remove NO₂ as a means to perform zero correction in varying ambient conditions. The sensor system was operated in three different environments in which data were compared to a reference NO₂ analyzer. The results showed that the zero-calibration protocol effectively corrected the observed drift of the sensor output. This technique offers the ability to enhance the performance of low-cost sensor based systems and these findings suggest extension of the approach to improve data quality from sensors measuring other gaseous pollutants in urban air.

in silico Surveillance: evaluating outbreak detection with simulation models

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Detecting outbreaks is a crucial task for public health officials, yet gaps remain in the systematic evaluation of outbreak detection protocols. The authors’ objectives were to design, implement, and test a flexible methodology for generating detailed synthetic surveillance data that provides realistic geographical and temporal clustering of cases and use to evaluate outbreak detection protocols. Methods A detailed representation of the Boston area was constructed, based on data about individuals, locations, and activity patterns. Influenza-like illness (ILI) transmission was simulated, producing 100 years of in silico ILI data. Six different surveillance systems were designed and developed using gathered cases from the simulated disease data. Performance was measured by inserting test outbreaks into the surveillance streams and analyzing the likelihood and timeliness of detection. Results Detection of outbreaks varied from 21% to 95%. Increased coverage did not linearly improve detection probability for all surveillance systems. Relaxing the decision threshold for signaling outbreaks greatly increased false-positives, improved outbreak detection slightly, and led to earlier outbreak detection. Conclusions Geographical distribution can be more important than coverage level. Detailed simulations of infectious disease transmission can be configured to represent nearly any conceivable scenario. They are a powerful tool for evaluating the performance of surveillance systems and methods used for outbreak detection. PMID:23343523

An agenda-based routing protocol in delay tolerant mobile sensor networks.

PubMed

Wang, Xiao-Min; Zhu, Jin-Qi; Liu, Ming; Gong, Hai-Gang

2010-01-01

Routing in delay tolerant mobile sensor networks (DTMSNs) is challenging due to the networks' intermittent connectivity. Most existing routing protocols for DTMSNs use simplistic random mobility models for algorithm design and performance evaluation. In the real world, however, due to the unique characteristics of human mobility, currently existing random mobility models may not work well in environments where mobile sensor units are carried (such as DTMSNs). Taking a person's social activities into consideration, in this paper, we seek to improve DTMSN routing in terms of social structure and propose an agenda based routing protocol (ARP). In ARP, humans are classified based on their agendas and data transmission is made according to sensor nodes' transmission rankings. The effectiveness of ARP is demonstrated through comprehensive simulation studies.

Improving heart failure disease management in skilled nursing facilities: lessons learned.

PubMed

Dolansky, Mary A; Hitch, Jeanne A; Piña, Ileana L; Boxer, Rebecca S

2013-11-01

The purpose of the study was to design and evaluate an improvement project that implemented HF management in four skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Kotter's Change Management principles were used to guide the implementation. In addition, half of the facilities had an implementation coach who met with facility staff weekly for 4 months and monthly for 5 months. Weekly and monthly audits were performed that documented compliance with eight key aspects of the protocol. Contextual factors were captured using field notes. Adherence to the HF management protocols was variable ranging from 17% to 82%. Facilitators of implementation included staff who championed the project, an implementation coach, and physician involvement. Barriers were high staff turnover and a hierarchal culture. Opportunities exist to integrate HF management protocols to improve SNF care.

A novel cuffless device for self-measurement of blood pressure: concept, performance and clinical validation.

PubMed

Boubouchairopoulou, N; Kollias, A; Chiu, B; Chen, B; Lagou, S; Anestis, P; Stergiou, G S

2017-07-01

A pocket-size cuffless electronic device for self-measurement of blood pressure (BP) has been developed (Freescan, Maisense Inc., Zhubei, Taiwan). The device estimates BP within 10 s using three embedded electrodes and one force sensor that is applied over the radial pulse to evaluate the pulse wave. Before use, basic anthropometric characteristics are recorded on the device, and individualized initial calibration is required based on a standard BP measurement performed using an upper-arm BP monitor. The device performance in providing valid BP readings was evaluated in 313 normotensive and hypertensive adults in three study phases during which the device sensor was upgraded. A formal validation study of a prototype device against mercury sphygmomanometer was performed according to the American National Standards Institute/Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation/International Organization for Standardization (ANSI/AAMI/ISO) 2013 protocol. The test device succeeded in obtaining a valid BP measurement (three successful readings within up to five attempts) in 55-72% of the participants, which reached 87% with device sensor upgrade. For the validation study, 125 adults were recruited and 85 met the protocol requirements for inclusion. The mean device-observers BP difference was 3.2±6.7 (s.d.) mm Hg for systolic and 2.6±4.6 mm Hg for diastolic BP (criterion 1). The estimated s.d. (inter-subject variability) were 5.83 and 4.17 mm Hg respectively (criterion 2). These data suggest that this prototype cuffless BP monitor provides valid self-measurements in the vast majority of adults, and satisfies the BP measurement accuracy criteria of the ANSI/AAMI/ISO 2013 validation protocol.

Efficacy of an integrated continuing medical education (CME) and quality improvement (QI) program on radiation oncologist (RO) clinical practice

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

Leong, Cheng Nang; Shakespeare, Thomas Philip; North Coast Cancer Institute, Coffs Harbour

2006-12-01

Purpose: There has been little radiation oncologist (RO)-specific research in continuing medical education (CME) or quality improvement (QI) program efficacy. Our aim was to evaluate a CME/QI program for changes in RO behavior, performance, and adherence to department protocols/studies over the first 12 months of the program. Methods and Materials: The CME/QI program combined chart audit with feedback (C-AWF), simulation review AWF (SR-AWF), reminder checklists, and targeted CME tutorials. Between April 2003 and March 2004, management of 75 patients was evaluated by chart audit with feedback (C-AWF) and 178 patients via simulation review audit (SR-AWF) using a validated instrument. Scoresmore » were presented, and case management was discussed with individualized educational feedback. RO behavior and performance was compared over the first year of the program. Results: Comparing the first and second 6 months, there was a significant improvement in mean behavior (12.7-13.6 of 14, p = 0.0005) and RO performance (7.6-7.9 of 8, p = 0.018) scores. Protocol/study adherence significantly improved from 90.3% to 96.6% (p = 0.005). A total of 50 actions were generated, including the identification of learning needs to direct CME tutorials, the systematic change of suboptimal RO practice, and the alteration of deficient management of 3% of patients audited during the program. Conclusion: An integrated CME/QI program combining C-AWF, SR-AWF, QI reminders, and targeted CME tutorials effectively improved targeted RO behavior and performance over a 12-month period. There was a corresponding increase in departmental protocol and study adherence.« less

What you can't feel won't hurt you: Evaluating haptic hardware using a haptic contrast sensitivity function.

PubMed

Salisbury, C M; Gillespie, R B; Tan, H Z; Barbagli, F; Salisbury, J K

2011-01-01

In this paper, we extend the concept of the contrast sensitivity function - used to evaluate video projectors - to the evaluation of haptic devices. We propose using human observers to determine if vibrations rendered using a given haptic device are accompanied by artifacts detectable to humans. This determination produces a performance measure that carries particular relevance to applications involving texture rendering. For cases in which a device produces detectable artifacts, we have developed a protocol that localizes deficiencies in device design and/or hardware implementation. In this paper, we present results from human vibration detection experiments carried out using three commercial haptic devices and one high performance voice coil motor. We found that all three commercial devices produced perceptible artifacts when rendering vibrations near human detection thresholds. Our protocol allowed us to pinpoint the deficiencies, however, and we were able to show that minor modifications to the haptic hardware were sufficient to make these devices well suited for rendering vibrations, and by extension, the vibratory components of textures. We generalize our findings to provide quantitative design guidelines that ensure the ability of haptic devices to proficiently render the vibratory components of textures.

Orthodontic treatment outcomes obtained by application of a finishing protocol

PubMed Central

Carvajal-Flórez, Alvaro; Barbosa-Lis, Diana María; Zapata-Noreña, Oscar Arturo; Marín-Velásquez, Julissa Andrea; Afanador-Bayona, Sergio Andrés

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the results of a finishing protocol implemented in patients treated in the Orthodontics graduate program at Universidad de Antioquia. Evaluation was carried out by means of the criteria set by the Objective Grading System (OGS) of the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO). Methods: Cast models and panoramic radiographs of 34 patients were evaluated. The intervention group (IG) consisted of 17 patients (19.88 ± 4.4 years old) treated under a finishing protocol. This protocol included training in finishing, application of a finishing guide, brackets repositioning and patient's follow-up. Results of the IG were compared to a control group of 17 patients (21.88 ± 7.0 years old) selected by stratified randomization without finishing intervention (CG). Results: The scores for both CG and IG were 38.00 ± 9.0 and 31.41 ± 9.6 (p = 0.048), respectively. The score improved significantly in the IG group, mainly regarding marginal ridges (CG: 5.59 ± 2.2; IG: 3.65 ± 1.8) (p = 0.009) and root angulation (CG: 7.59 ± 2.8; IG: 4.88 ± 2.6) (p = 0.007). Criteria that did not improve, but had the highest scores were: alignment (CG: 6.35 ± 2.7; IG: 6.82 ± 2.8) (p = 0.62) and buccolingual inclination (CG: 3.6 ± 5.88; IG: 5.29 ± 3.9) (p = 0.65). Conclusions: Standardization and implementation of a finishing protocol contributed to improve clinical performance in the Orthodontics graduate program, as expressed by occlusal outcomes. Greater emphasis should be given on the finishing phase to achieve lower scores in the ABO grading system. PMID:27275620

Development of a Real-Time Intelligent Network Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordonov, Anatoliy; Kress, Michael; Klibaner, Roberta

This paper presents a model of an intelligent computer network that provides real-time evaluation of students' performance by incorporating intelligence into the application layer protocol. Specially designed drills allow students to independently solve a number of problems based on current lecture material; students are switched to the most…

Test-retest reliability of jump execution variables using mechanography: a comparison of jump protocols

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Mechanography during the vertical jump may enhance screening and determining mechanistic causes for functional deficits that reduce physical performance. Utility of jump mechanography for evaluation is limited by scant test-retest reliability data on force-time variables. This study examined the tes...

Performance Improvement Evaluation of Forward Aeromedical Evacuation Platforms in Operation Enduring Freedom

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-08-01

airway Basic Airway management: able to intubate moribund patients without anesthetic agents, as part of advanced life support protocols Tranexamic acid ... tranexamic acid use or other lifesaving interventions including airway procedures are not taken into consideration and may have affected the outcomes on each

Use of Performance Measures to Evaluate, Document Competence and Deterioration of ASSET Surgical Skills

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-01

Fewer motor vehicle occupant injuries and gunshot wounds nationwide; 4) New blood- use protocols (1:1:1 red cell: plasma: platelet) and tranexamic ... acid reduced the need for open surgical interventions to control bleeding. PROBLEM: Reduced clinical opportunities for open surgical control of

THE NEW ENGLAND AIR QUALITY FORECASTING PILOT PROGRAM: DEVELOPMENT OF AN EVALUATION PROTOCOL AND PERFORMANCE BENCHMARK

EPA Science Inventory

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently sponsored the New England Forecasting Pilot Program to serve as a "test bed" for chemical forecasting by providing all of the elements of a National Air Quality Forecasting System, including the development and implemen...

Link-state-estimation-based transmission power control in wireless body area networks.

PubMed

Kim, Seungku; Eom, Doo-Seop

2014-07-01

This paper presents a novel transmission power control protocol to extend the lifetime of sensor nodes and to increase the link reliability in wireless body area networks (WBANs). We first experimentally investigate the properties of the link states using the received signal strength indicator (RSSI). We then propose a practical transmission power control protocol based on both short- and long-term link-state estimations. Both the short- and long-term link-state estimations enable the transceiver to adapt the transmission power level and target the RSSI threshold range, respectively, to simultaneously satisfy the requirements of energy efficiency and link reliability. Finally, the performance of the proposed protocol is experimentally evaluated in two experimental scenarios-body posture change and dynamic body motion-and compared with the typical WBAN transmission power control protocols, a real-time reactive scheme, and a dynamic postural position inference mechanism. From the experimental results, it is found that the proposed protocol increases the lifetime of the sensor nodes by a maximum of 9.86% and enhances the link reliability by reducing the packet loss by a maximum of 3.02%.

Development of the protocol for purification of artemisinin based on combination of commercial and computationally designed adsorbents.

PubMed

Piletska, Elena V; Karim, Kal; Cutler, Malcolm; Piletsky, Sergey A

2013-01-01

A polymeric adsorbent for extraction of the antimalarial drug artemisinin from Artemisia annua L. was computationally designed. This polymer demonstrated a high capacity for artemisinin (120 mg g(-1) ), quantitative recovery (87%) and was found to be an effective material for purification of artemisinin from complex plant matrix. The artemisinin quantification was conducted using an optimised HPLC-MS protocol, which was characterised by high precision and linearity in the concentration range between 0.05 and 2 μg mL(-1) . Optimisation of the purification protocol also involved screening of commercial adsorbents for the removal of waxes and other interfering natural compounds, which inhibit the crystallisation of artemisinin. As a result of a two step-purification protocol crystals of artemisinin were obtained, and artemisinin purity was evaluated as 75%. By performing the second stage of purification twice, the purity of artemisinin can be further improved to 99%. The developed protocol produced high-purity artemisinin using only a few purification steps that makes it suitable for large scale industrial manufacturing process. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Zeolite crystal growth in space - What has been learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sacco, A., Jr.; Thompson, R. W.; Dixon, A. G.

1993-01-01

Three zeolite crystal growth experiments developed at WPI have been performed in space in last twelve months. One experiment, GAS-1, illustrated that to grow large, crystallographically uniform crystals in space, the precursor solutions should be mixed in microgravity. Another experiment evaluated the optimum mixing protocol for solutions that chemically interact ('gel') on contact. These results were utilized in setting the protocol for mixing nineteen zeolite solutions that were then processed and yielded zeolites A, X and mordenite. All solutions in which the nucleation event was influenced produced larger, more 'uniform' crystals than did identical solutions processed on earth.

Keto analogue and amino acid supplementation and its effects on ammonemia and performance under thermoneutral conditions.

PubMed

Camerino, Saulo Rodrigo Alves e Silva; Lima, Rafaela Carvalho Pereira; França, Thássia Casado Lima; Herculano, Edla de Azevedo; Rodrigues, Daniela Souza Araújo; Gouveia, Marcos Guilherme de Sousa; Cameron, L C; Prado, Eduardo Seixas

2016-02-01

Alterations of cerebral function, fatigue and disturbance in cognitive-motor performance can be caused by hyperammonemia and/or hot environmental conditions during exercise. Exercise-induced hyperammonemia can be reduced through supplementation with either amino acids or combined keto analogues and amino acids (KAAA) to improve exercise tolerance. In the present study, we evaluated KAAA supplementation on ammonia metabolism and cognitive-motor performance after high-intensity exercise under a low heat stress environment. Sixteen male cyclists received a ketogenic diet for 2 d and were divided into two groups, KAAA (KEx) or placebo (CEx) supplementation. The athletes performed a 2 h cycling session followed by a maximum test (MAX), and blood samples were obtained at rest and during exercise. Cognitive-motor tasks were performed before and after the protocol, and the exhaustion time was used to evaluate physical performance. The hydration status was also evaluated. The CEx group showed a significant increase (∼ 70%) in ammonia concentration at MAX, which did not change in the KEx group. The non-supplemented group showed a significant increase in uremia. Both the groups had a significant increase in blood urate concentrations at 120 min, and an early significant increase from 120 min was observed in the CEx group. There was no change in the glucose concentrations of the two groups. A significant increase in lactate was observed at the MAX moment in both groups. There was no significant difference in the exhaustion times between the groups. No changes were observed in the cognitive-motor tasks after the protocol. We suggest that KAAA supplementation decreases ammonia concentration during high-intensity exercise but does not affect physical or cognitive-motor performances under a low heat stress environment.

Assessing older drivers: a primary care protocol to evaluate driving safety risk.

PubMed

Murden, Robert A; Unroe, Kathleen

2005-08-01

Most articles on elder drivers offer either general advice, or review testing protocols that divide drivers into two distinct groups: safe or unsafe. We believe it is unreasonable to expect any testing to fully separate drivers into just these two mutually exclusive groups, so we offer a protocol for a more practical approach. This protocol can be applied by primary care physicians. We review the justification for the many steps of this protocol, which have branches that lead to identifying drivers as low risk, high risk (for accidents) or needing further evaluation. Options for further evaluation are provided.

Acute Effects of Back Squats on Countermovement Jump Performance Across Multiple Sets of A Contrast Training Protocol in Resistance-Trained Males.

PubMed

Bauer, Pascal; Sansone, Pierpaolo; Mitter, Benedikt; Makivic, Bojan; Seitz, Laurent B; Tschan, Harald

2018-01-03

The present study was designed to evaluate the voluntary post-activation potentiation (PAP) effects of moderate (MI) or high intensity (HI) back squat exercises on countermovement jump (CMJ) performance across multiple sets of a contrast training protocol. Sixty resistance-trained male subjects (age, 23.3 ± 3.3 y; body mass, 86.0 ± 13.9 kg; parallel back squat 1-repetition maximum [1-RM], 155.2 ± 30.0 kg) participated in a randomized, cross-over study. After familiarization, the subjects visited the laboratory on three separate occasions. They performed a contrast PAP protocol comprising three sets of either MI (6×60% of 1-RM) or HI back squats (4x90% of 1-RM) or 20 s of recovery (CTRL) alternated with seven CMJs that were performed at 15 s, and 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 min after the back squats or recovery. Jump height and relative peak power output recorded with a force platform during MI and HI conditions were compared to those recorded during control condition to calculate the voluntary PAP effect. CMJ performance was decreased immediately after the squats but increased across all three sets of MI and HI between 3 - 7 minutes post-recovery. However, voluntary PAP effects were small or trivial and no difference between the three sets could be found. These findings demonstrate that practitioners can use MI and HI back squats to potentiate CMJs across a contrast training protocol, but a minimum of 3 min of recovery after the squats is needed to benefit from voluntary PAP.

Assisted closed-loop optimization of SSVEP-BCI efficiency

PubMed Central

Fernandez-Vargas, Jacobo; Pfaff, Hanns U.; Rodríguez, Francisco B.; Varona, Pablo

2012-01-01

We designed a novel assisted closed-loop optimization protocol to improve the efficiency of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) based on steady state visually evoked potentials (SSVEP). In traditional paradigms, the control over the BCI-performance completely depends on the subjects' ability to learn from the given feedback cues. By contrast, in the proposed protocol both the subject and the machine share information and control over the BCI goal. Generally, the innovative assistance consists in the delivery of online information together with the online adaptation of BCI stimuli properties. In our case, this adaptive optimization process is realized by (1) a closed-loop search for the best set of SSVEP flicker frequencies and (2) feedback of actual SSVEP magnitudes to both the subject and the machine. These closed-loop interactions between subject and machine are evaluated in real-time by continuous measurement of their efficiencies, which are used as online criteria to adapt the BCI control parameters. The proposed protocol aims to compensate for variability in possibly unknown subjects' state and trait dimensions. In a study with N = 18 subjects, we found significant evidence that our protocol outperformed classic SSVEP-BCI control paradigms. Evidence is presented that it takes indeed into account interindividual variabilities: e.g., under the new protocol, baseline resting state EEG measures predict subjects' BCI performances. This paper illustrates the promising potential of assisted closed-loop protocols in BCI systems. Probably their applicability might be expanded to innovative uses, e.g., as possible new diagnostic/therapeutic tools for clinical contexts and as new paradigms for basic research. PMID:23443214

Assisted closed-loop optimization of SSVEP-BCI efficiency.

PubMed

Fernandez-Vargas, Jacobo; Pfaff, Hanns U; Rodríguez, Francisco B; Varona, Pablo

2013-01-01

We designed a novel assisted closed-loop optimization protocol to improve the efficiency of brain-computer interfaces (BCI) based on steady state visually evoked potentials (SSVEP). In traditional paradigms, the control over the BCI-performance completely depends on the subjects' ability to learn from the given feedback cues. By contrast, in the proposed protocol both the subject and the machine share information and control over the BCI goal. Generally, the innovative assistance consists in the delivery of online information together with the online adaptation of BCI stimuli properties. In our case, this adaptive optimization process is realized by (1) a closed-loop search for the best set of SSVEP flicker frequencies and (2) feedback of actual SSVEP magnitudes to both the subject and the machine. These closed-loop interactions between subject and machine are evaluated in real-time by continuous measurement of their efficiencies, which are used as online criteria to adapt the BCI control parameters. The proposed protocol aims to compensate for variability in possibly unknown subjects' state and trait dimensions. In a study with N = 18 subjects, we found significant evidence that our protocol outperformed classic SSVEP-BCI control paradigms. Evidence is presented that it takes indeed into account interindividual variabilities: e.g., under the new protocol, baseline resting state EEG measures predict subjects' BCI performances. This paper illustrates the promising potential of assisted closed-loop protocols in BCI systems. Probably their applicability might be expanded to innovative uses, e.g., as possible new diagnostic/therapeutic tools for clinical contexts and as new paradigms for basic research.

Smooth operator: The effects of different 3D mesh retriangulation protocols on the computation of Dirichlet normal energy.

PubMed

Spradley, Jackson P; Pampush, James D; Morse, Paul E; Kay, Richard F

2017-05-01

Dirichlet normal energy (DNE) is a metric of surface topography that has been used to evaluate the relationship between the surface complexity of primate cheek teeth and dietary categories. This study examines the effects of different 3D mesh retriangulation protocols on DNE. We examine how different protocols influence the DNE of a simple geometric shape-a hemisphere-to gain a more thorough understanding than can be achieved by investigating a complex biological surface such as a tooth crown. We calculate DNE on 3D surface meshes of hemispheres and on primate molars subjected to various retriangulation protocols, including smoothing algorithms, smoothing amounts, target face counts, and criteria for boundary face exclusion. Software used includes R, MorphoTester, Avizo, and MeshLab. DNE was calculated using the R package "molaR." In all cases, smoothing as performed in Avizo sharply decreases DNE initially, after which DNE becomes stable. Using a broader boundary exclusion criterion or performing additional smoothing (using "mesh fairing" methods) further decreases DNE. Increasing the mesh face count also results in increased DNE on tooth surfaces. Different retriangulation protocols yield different DNE values for the same surfaces, and should not be combined in meta-analyses. Increasing face count will capture surface microfeatures, but at the expense of computational speed. More aggressive smoothing is more likely to alter the essential geometry of the surface. A protocol is proposed that limits potential artifacts created during surface production while preserving pertinent features on the occlusal surface. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Who needs inpatient detox? Development and implementation of a hospitalist protocol for the evaluation of patients for alcohol detoxification.

PubMed

Stephens, John R; Liles, E Allen; Dancel, Ria; Gilchrist, Michael; Kirsch, Jonathan; DeWalt, Darren A

2014-04-01

Clinicians caring for patients seeking alcohol detoxification face many challenges, including lack of evidence-based guidelines for treatment and high recidivism rates. To develop a standardized protocol for determining which alcohol dependent patients seeking detoxification need inpatient versus outpatient treatment, and to study the protocol's implementation. Review of best evidence by ad hoc task force and subsequent creation of standardized protocol. Prospective observational evaluation of initial protocol implementation. Patients presenting for alcohol detoxification. Development and implementation of a protocol for evaluation and treatment of patients requesting alcohol detoxification. Number of admissions per month with primary alcohol related diagnosis (DRG), 30-day readmission rate, and length of stay, all measured before and after protocol implementation. We identified one randomized clinical trial and three cohort studies to inform the choice of inpatient versus outpatient detoxification, along with one prior protocol in this population, and combined that data with clinical experience to create an institutional protocol. After implementation, the average number of alcohol related admissions was 15.9 per month, compared with 18.9 per month before implementation (p = 0.037). There was no difference in readmission rate or length of stay. Creation and utilization of a protocol led to standardization of care for patients requesting detoxification from alcohol. Initial evaluation of protocol implementation showed a decrease in number of admissions.

Protocol of a Multicenter International Randomized Controlled Manikin Study on Different Protocols of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for laypeople (MANI-CPR)

PubMed Central

Contri, Enrico; Burkart, Roman; Borrelli, Paola; Ferraro, Ottavia Eleonora; Tonani, Michela; Cutuli, Amedeo; Bertaia, Daniele; Iozzo, Pasquale; Tinguely, Caroline; Lopez, Daniel; Boldarin, Susi; Deiuri, Claudio; Dénéréaz, Sandrine; Dénéréaz, Yves; Terrapon, Michael; Tami, Christian; Cereda, Cinzia; Somaschini, Alberto; Cornara, Stefano; Cortegiani, Andrea

2018-01-01

Introduction Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in industrialised countries. Survival depends on prompt identification of cardiac arrest and on the quality and timing of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation. For laypeople, there has been a growing interest on hands-only CPR, meaning continuous chest compression without interruption to perform ventilations. It has been demonstrated that intentional interruptions in hands-only CPR can increase its quality. The aim of this randomised trial is to compare three CPR protocols performed with different intentional interruptions with hands-only CPR. Methods and analysis This is a prospective randomised trial performed in eight training centres. Laypeople who passed a basic life support course will be randomised to one of the four CPR protocols in an 8 min simulated cardiac arrest scenario on a manikin: (1) 30 compressions and 2 s pause; (2) 50 compressions and 5 s pause; (3) 100 compressions and 10 s pause; (4) hands-only. The calculated sample size is 552 people. The primary outcome is the percentage of chest compression performed with correct depth evaluated by a computerised feedback system (Laerdal QCPR). Ethics and dissemination Due to the nature of the study, we obtained a waiver from the Ethics Committee (IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy). All participants will sign an informed consent form before randomisation. The results of this study will be published in peer-reviewed journal. The data collected will also be made available in a public data repository. Trial registration number NCT02632500. PMID:29674365

Engineering platform and experimental protocol for design and evaluation of a neurally-controlled powered transfemoral prosthesis.

PubMed

Zhang, Fan; Liu, Ming; Harper, Stephen; Lee, Michael; Huang, He

2014-07-22

To enable intuitive operation of powered artificial legs, an interface between user and prosthesis that can recognize the user's movement intent is desired. A novel neural-machine interface (NMI) based on neuromuscular-mechanical fusion developed in our previous study has demonstrated a great potential to accurately identify the intended movement of transfemoral amputees. However, this interface has not yet been integrated with a powered prosthetic leg for true neural control. This study aimed to report (1) a flexible platform to implement and optimize neural control of powered lower limb prosthesis and (2) an experimental setup and protocol to evaluate neural prosthesis control on patients with lower limb amputations. First a platform based on a PC and a visual programming environment were developed to implement the prosthesis control algorithms, including NMI training algorithm, NMI online testing algorithm, and intrinsic control algorithm. To demonstrate the function of this platform, in this study the NMI based on neuromuscular-mechanical fusion was hierarchically integrated with intrinsic control of a prototypical transfemoral prosthesis. One patient with a unilateral transfemoral amputation was recruited to evaluate our implemented neural controller when performing activities, such as standing, level-ground walking, ramp ascent, and ramp descent continuously in the laboratory. A novel experimental setup and protocol were developed in order to test the new prosthesis control safely and efficiently. The presented proof-of-concept platform and experimental setup and protocol could aid the future development and application of neurally-controlled powered artificial legs.

Penicillin allergy: optimizing diagnostic protocols, public health implications, and future research needs.

PubMed

Macy, Eric

2015-08-01

Unverified penicillin allergy is being increasingly recognized as a public health concern. The ideal protocol for verifying true clinically significant IgE-mediated penicillin allergy needs to use only commercially available materials, be well tolerated and easy to perform in both the inpatient and outpatient settings, and minimize false-positive determinations. This review concentrates on articles published in 2013 and 2014 that present new data relating to the diagnosis and management of penicillin allergy. Penicillin allergy can be safely evaluated at this time, in patients with an appropriate clinical history of penicillin allergy, using only penicilloyl-poly-lysine and native penicillin G as skin test reagents, if an oral challenge with amoxicillin 250 mg, followed by 1 h of observation, is given to all skin test negative individuals. Millions of individuals falsely labeled with penicillin allergy need to be evaluated to safely allow them to use penicillin-class antibiotics and avoid morbidity associated with penicillin avoidance. Further research is needed to determine optimal protocol(s). There will still be a 1-2% rate of adverse reactions reported with all future therapeutic penicillin-class antibiotic use, even with optimal methods used to determine acute penicillin tolerance. Only a small minority of these new reactions will be IgE-mediated.

Biological diagnosis of von Willebrand disease: analytical characteristics of Innovance vWF:Ac assay kit on STA-R Evolution Expert series analyzer (Stago).

PubMed

Florin, Cécile; Garraud, Olivier; Molliex, Serge; Tardy, Brigitte; Campos, Lydia; Scherrer, Carine

2016-06-01

The Innovance VWF:Ac test (Siemens) has the particularity to assess the binding capacity of von Willebrand factor (VWF) to recombinant platelet GPIb mutated in the absence of ristocetin. Our study aimed to evaluate and validate according to standard NF EN ISO 15189 the original protocol adaptation on STA-R Evolution series analyser (Diagnostica Stago). We evaluated the performance in terms of imprecision and we validate additional parameters necessary in range B as recommended by the SH GTA 04 (Cofrac). We compared the new assay with the reference assay: ristocetin cofactor activity (VWF:RCo) performed on the BCS-XP analyser by testing retrospectively samples from 82 healthy normal subjects and 61 patients with von Willebrand disease (VWD). This new assay is consistent with objectives set in terms of imprecision with CV around 4%. Excepted limit of quantification higher, additional parameters evaluated in range B have been validated. The Innovance VWF: Ac assay allowed the detection of all deficits of VWF already detected by the VWF:RCo test on the BCS-XP. This adjustment on STA-R analyser therefore has satisfactory analytical performance criteria. Apart from the limit of quantification, this reagent can be used according to the recommendations specified in the original protocol adaptation. Its performance and compatibility with the spot measurement allow the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of VWD according to current requirements and guidelines.

Development of an ATP measurement method suitable for xenobiotic treatment activated sludge biomass.

PubMed

Nguyen, Lan Huong; Chong, Nyuk-Min

2015-09-01

Activated sludge consumes a large amount of energy to degrade a xenobiotic organic compound. By tracking the energy inventory of activated sludge biomass during the sludge's degradation of a xenobiotic, any disadvantageous effect on the sludge's performance caused by energy deficiency can be observed. The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and accurate method for measuring the ATP contents of activated sludge cells that were to degrade a xenobiotic organic. Cell disruption and cellular ATP extraction were performed by a protocol with which xenobiotic degrading activated sludge biomass was washed with SDS, treated by Tris and TCA, and followed by bead blasting. The suspension of disrupted cells was filtered before the filtrate was injected into HPLC that was set at optimal conditions to measure the ATP concentration therein. This extraction protocol and HPLC measurement of ATP was evaluated for its linearity, limits of detection, and reproducibility. Evaluation test results reported a R(2) of 0.999 of linear fit of ATP concentration versus activated sludge concentration, a LOD=0.00045mg/L, a LOQ=0.0015mg/L for HPLC measurement of ATP, a MDL=0.46mg/g SS for ATP extraction protocol, and a recovery efficiency of 96.4±2%. This method of ATP measurement was simple, rapid, reliable, and was unburdened of some limitations other methods may have. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Research Protocol: Collections Related to Synthetic Turf ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The “Federal Research Action Plan on Recycled Tire Crumb Used on Playing Fields and Playgrounds” (referred to subsequently as the Federal Research Action Plan or FRAP) was finalized in February 2016. The U.S. EPA and CDC/ATSDR, in collaboration with CPSC, have prepared this research protocol to implement portions of the research activities outlined under the FRAP. Specifically, this research protocol is designed to implement three of the research elements described in the Federal Research Action Plan: Conduct a literature review and data gaps analysis; Perform tire crumb rubber characterization research; Perform human exposure characterization research. Concerns have been raised by the public about the safety of recycled tire crumb rubber used in synthetic turf fields and playgrounds in the United States. Several studies have been identified that examine exposure to tire crumb rubber infill in these settings. While, in general, these studies have not provided evidence for these health concerns, the existing studies do not comprehensively evaluate all aspects of exposure associated with these use scenarios. Additional research is needed to help fill important data gaps that will lead to improved exposure assessment and risk evaluation for children and adults using synthetic turf fields and playgrounds with tire crumb rubber. In response, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Su

A multicentre evaluation of two intensive care unit triage protocols for use in an influenza pandemic.

PubMed

Cheung, Winston K; Myburgh, John; Seppelt, Ian M; Parr, Michael J; Blackwell, Nikki; Demonte, Shannon; Gandhi, Kalpesh; Hoyling, Larissa; Nair, Priya; Passer, Melissa; Reynolds, Claire; Saunders, Nicholas M; Saxena, Manoj K; Thanakrishnan, Govindasamy

2012-08-06

To determine the increase in intensive care unit (ICU) bed availability that would result from the use of the New South Wales and Ontario Health Plan for an Influenza Pandemic (OHPIP) triage protocols. Prospective evaluation study conducted in eight Australian, adult, general ICUs, between September 2009 and May 2010. All patients who were admitted to the ICU, excluding those who had elective surgery, were prospectively evaluated using the two triage protocols, simulating a pandemic situation. Both protocols were originally developed to determine which patients should be excluded from accessing ICU resources during an influenza pandemic. Increase in ICU bed availability. At admission, the increases in ICU bed availability using Tiers 1, 2 and 3 of the NSW triage protocol were 3.5%, 14.7% and 22.7%, respectively, and 52.8% using the OHPIP triage protocol (P < 0.001). Re-evaluation of patients at 12 hours after admission using Tiers 1, 2 and 3 of the NSW triage protocol incrementally increased ICU bed availability by 19.2%, 16.1% and 14.1%, respectively (P < 0.001). The maximal cumulative increases in ICU bed availability using Tiers 1, 2 and 3 of the NSW triage protocol were 23.7%, 31.6% and 37.5%, respectively, at 72 hours (P < 0.001), and 65.0% using the OHPIP triage protocol, at 120 hours (P < 0.001). Both triage protocols resulted in increases in ICU bed availability, but the OHPIP protocol provided the greatest increase overall. With the NSW triage protocol, ICU bed availability increased as the protocol was escalated.

Muscle focal vibration in healthy subjects: evaluation of the effects on upper limb motor performance measured using a robotic device.

PubMed

Aprile, Irene; Di Sipio, Enrica; Germanotta, Marco; Simbolotti, Chiara; Padua, Luca

2016-04-01

Muscle vibration is a technique that applies a low-amplitude/high-frequency vibratory stimulus to a specific muscle using a mechanical device. The aim of this study was to evaluate, using robot-based outcomes, the effects of focal muscle vibration, at different frequencies, on the motor performance of the upper limb in healthy subjects. Forty-eight volunteer healthy subjects (age: 31 ± 8 years) were enrolled. Subjects were assigned to three different groups: the first group, in which subjects underwent muscle vibration treatment with a frequency of 100 Hz; the second group of subjects underwent the same treatment protocol, but using a frequency of vibration of 200 Hz; finally, the control group did not undergo any treatment. The robot-based evaluation session consisted of visually guided reaching task, performed in the sagittal plane. Our results showed that the vibration treatment improved upper limb motor performance of healthy subjects from the baseline (T0) to 10 days after the end of the treatment (T2), but only the group treated with a frequency of 200 Hz reached statistical significance. Specifically, in this group we found an increase of the number of repetitions (T0: 51.4 ± 22.7; T2: 66.3 ± 11.8), and the smoothness of the movement, as showed by a decrease of the Normalized Jerk (T0: 10.5 ± 2.8; T2: 7.7 ± 0.5). The results of our study support the use of focal muscle vibration protocols in healthy subjects, to improve motor performance.

α-Conotoxin Decontamination Protocol Evaluation: What Works and What Doesn’t

PubMed Central

Turner, Matthew W.; Cort, John R.; McDougal, Owen M.

2017-01-01

Nine publically available biosafety protocols for safely handling conotoxin peptides were tested to evaluate their decontamination efficacy. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry (MS) were used to assess the effect of each chemical treatment on the secondary and primary structure of α-CTx MII (L10V, E11A). Of the nine decontamination methods tested, treatment with 1% (m/v) solution of the enzymatic detergent Contrex™ EZ resulted in a 76.8% decrease in α-helical content as assessed by the mean residue ellipticity at 222 nm, and partial peptide digestion was demonstrated using high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). Additionally, treatment with 6% sodium hypochlorite (m/v) resulted in 80.5% decrease in α-helical content and complete digestion of the peptide. The Contrex™ EZ treatment was repeated with three additional α-conotoxins (α-CTxs), α-CTxs LvIA, ImI and PeIA, which verified the decontamination method was reasonably robust. These results support the use of either 1% Contrex™ EZ solution or 6% sodium hypochlorite in biosafety protocols for the decontamination of α-CTxs in research laboratories. PMID:28906461

Lewis and Fischer 344 rats as a model for genetic differences in spatial learning and memory: Cocaine effects.

PubMed

Fole, Alberto; Miguéns, Miguel; Morales, Lidia; González-Martín, Carmen; Ambrosio, Emilio; Del Olmo, Nuria

2017-06-02

Lewis (LEW) and Fischer 344 (F344) rats are considered a model of genetic vulnerability to drug addiction. We previously showed important differences in spatial learning and memory between them, but in contrast with previous experiments demonstrating cocaine-induced enhanced learning in Morris water maze (MWM) highly demanding tasks, the eight-arm radial maze (RAM) performance was not modified either in LEW or F344 rats after chronic cocaine treatment. In the present work, chronically cocaine-treated LEW and F344 adult rats have been evaluated in learning and memory performance using the Y-maze, two RAM protocols that differ in difficulty, and a reversal protocol that tests cognitive flexibility. After one of the RAM protocols, we quantified dendritic spine density in hippocampal CA1 neurons and compared it to animals treated with cocaine but not submitted to RAM. LEW cocaine treated rats showed a better performance in the Y maze than their saline counterparts, an effect that was not evident in the F344 strain. F344 rats significantly took more time to learn the RAM task and made a greater number of errors than LEW animals in both protocols tested, whereas cocaine treatment induced deleterious effects in learning and memory in the highly difficult protocol. Moreover, hippocampal spine density was cocaine-modulated in LEW animals whereas no effects were found in F344 rats. We propose that differences in addictive-like behavior between LEW and F344 rats could be related to differences in hippocampal learning and memory processes that could be on the basis of individual vulnerability to cocaine addiction. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Implementation of AICAR analysis by GC-C-IRMS for anti-doping purposes.

PubMed

Buisson, C; Frelat, C; Mongongu, C; Martinat, N; Audran, M

2017-11-01

AICAR (5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-D-ribofuranoside), is a naturally occurring substance which is part to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List. It is claimed to improve physical performance when administered as a supplement. As for other endogenous compounds such as steroids, the gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS) analysis remains an efficient tool to differentiate endogenous substances from exogenous ones. A protocol was described in the literature for the analysis of AICAR by GC-C-IRMS. The aim of the present study was to implement this protocol in our laboratory and to propose solutions to avoid the difficulties encountered. The first point discussed in this study is the derivatization step. Due to the structure of the AICAR molecule, conventional derivatization for GC-C-IRMS such as acetylation could not be applied and silylation was preferred. The improvement of the derivatives stability was achieved thanks to several derivatization conditions tested. This adjustment led to a reproducible derivatization pattern with the 3-TMS form as major derivative product. The second point discussed in this study is the diminution of extracts' background noise. Indeed, the implementation of the published protocol was not easy due to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) problems encountered when concentrated urine was injected into our system. Also, too many interferences in the endogenous reference compound fractions were observed. The addition of both a wash step before the HPLC purification and a HPLC purification step for the endogenous reference compound (ERC) fraction allowed us to increase the robustness of the method. This study presents the modified protocol compared to the original protocol as well as the evaluation of the whole method performances. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Handling of drug-related emergencies: an evaluation of emergency medical dispatch.

PubMed

Tonje, Lorem; Elisabeth, Saether; Lars, Wik

2009-02-01

Documenting the quality of emergency dispatch centres handling of emergency calls regarding intoxicated unconscious patients. Interview with eight emergency dispatch centre directors and a nationwide survey among 313 dispatchers in Norway were performed. In addition, a customized scoring system was used to evaluate dispatcher log recordings of real cases. The recordings were compared with information from corresponding ambulance records. Ninety-nine percent of the dispatchers stated that they used the Norwegian protocol for medical emergencies and 89% of them found it useful. The interviews, the survey, and the recordings, however, documented frequent deviation from the protocol. This instructs ambulance dispatch for any unconscious patient, but 21% stated that they would not dispatch any resource for an unconscious patient without further survey in alcohol-related cases. This was significantly more often (P<0.05) than for the narcotic, combination and prescription - drug-related cases with 4, 10 and 7%, respectively. The recordings revealed deviation from the protocol with dispatchers only determining the patients' level of consciousness and respiratory status in 64 and 70% of the cases, respectively. For 16% of the cases, the dispatcher did not ask the caller about consciousness at all, even though these patients later were found with reduced consciousness. On the basis of the interviews and the survey, cases were handled according to guidelines. The log recordings, however, disclosed deviation from the protocol. Alcohol intoxication was associated with higher rate of deviation from the protocol compared with other intoxications.

Reduction in Wound Complications After Total Ankle Arthroplasty Using a Compression Wrap Protocol.

PubMed

Schipper, Oliver N; Hsu, Andrew R; Haddad, Steven L

2015-12-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical differences in wound complications after total ankle arthroplasty (TAA) between a cohort of patients that received a compression wrap protocol and a historical control group treated with cast immobilization. Patient charts and postoperative wound pictures were reviewed for 42 patients who underwent a compression wrap protocol and 50 patients who underwent circumferential casting after primary TAA from 2008 to 2013. A blinded reviewer graded each wound using a novel postoperative wound classification system, and recorded whether the wound was completely healed by or after 3 months. A second blinded review was performed to determine intraobserver reliability. Mean patient age was 55 years (range, 24-80) and all patients had at least 6-month follow-up. There were significantly more total wound complications (P = .02) and mild wound complications (P = .02) in the casted group compared to the compression wrap group. There were no significant differences in the number of moderate and severe complications between each group. A significantly higher proportion of TAA incisions took longer than 3 months to heal in the casted group (P = .02). Based on our clinical experience with postoperative wound care after TAA, use of a compression wrap protocol was safe and effective at reducing wound-related complications, and well tolerated by patients. Further prospective, randomized clinical trials are warranted to evaluate the utility and cost-effectiveness of a compression wrap protocol after TAA. © The Author(s) 2015.

A secure cluster-based multipath routing protocol for WMSNs.

PubMed

Almalkawi, Islam T; Zapata, Manel Guerrero; Al-Karaki, Jamal N

2011-01-01

The new characteristics of Wireless Multimedia Sensor Network (WMSN) and its design issues brought by handling different traffic classes of multimedia content (video streams, audio, and still images) as well as scalar data over the network, make the proposed routing protocols for typical WSNs not directly applicable for WMSNs. Handling real-time multimedia data requires both energy efficiency and QoS assurance in order to ensure efficient utility of different capabilities of sensor resources and correct delivery of collected information. In this paper, we propose a Secure Cluster-based Multipath Routing protocol for WMSNs, SCMR, to satisfy the requirements of delivering different data types and support high data rate multimedia traffic. SCMR exploits the hierarchical structure of powerful cluster heads and the optimized multiple paths to support timeliness and reliable high data rate multimedia communication with minimum energy dissipation. Also, we present a light-weight distributed security mechanism of key management in order to secure the communication between sensor nodes and protect the network against different types of attacks. Performance evaluation from simulation results demonstrates a significant performance improvement comparing with existing protocols (which do not even provide any kind of security feature) in terms of average end-to-end delay, network throughput, packet delivery ratio, and energy consumption.

Comparison of whole-genome bisulfite sequencing library preparation strategies identifies sources of biases affecting DNA methylation data.

PubMed

Olova, Nelly; Krueger, Felix; Andrews, Simon; Oxley, David; Berrens, Rebecca V; Branco, Miguel R; Reik, Wolf

2018-03-15

Whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) is becoming an increasingly accessible technique, used widely for both fundamental and disease-oriented research. Library preparation methods benefit from a variety of available kits, polymerases and bisulfite conversion protocols. Although some steps in the procedure, such as PCR amplification, are known to introduce biases, a systematic evaluation of biases in WGBS strategies is missing. We perform a comparative analysis of several commonly used pre- and post-bisulfite WGBS library preparation protocols for their performance and quality of sequencing outputs. Our results show that bisulfite conversion per se is the main trigger of pronounced sequencing biases, and PCR amplification builds on these underlying artefacts. The majority of standard library preparation methods yield a significantly biased sequence output and overestimate global methylation. Importantly, both absolute and relative methylation levels at specific genomic regions vary substantially between methods, with clear implications for DNA methylation studies. We show that amplification-free library preparation is the least biased approach for WGBS. In protocols with amplification, the choice of bisulfite conversion protocol or polymerase can significantly minimize artefacts. To aid with the quality assessment of existing WGBS datasets, we have integrated a bias diagnostic tool in the Bismark package and offer several approaches for consideration during the preparation and analysis of WGBS datasets.

A Secure Cluster-Based Multipath Routing Protocol for WMSNs

PubMed Central

Almalkawi, Islam T.; Zapata, Manel Guerrero; Al-Karaki, Jamal N.

2011-01-01

The new characteristics of Wireless Multimedia Sensor Network (WMSN) and its design issues brought by handling different traffic classes of multimedia content (video streams, audio, and still images) as well as scalar data over the network, make the proposed routing protocols for typical WSNs not directly applicable for WMSNs. Handling real-time multimedia data requires both energy efficiency and QoS assurance in order to ensure efficient utility of different capabilities of sensor resources and correct delivery of collected information. In this paper, we propose a Secure Cluster-based Multipath Routing protocol for WMSNs, SCMR, to satisfy the requirements of delivering different data types and support high data rate multimedia traffic. SCMR exploits the hierarchical structure of powerful cluster heads and the optimized multiple paths to support timeliness and reliable high data rate multimedia communication with minimum energy dissipation. Also, we present a light-weight distributed security mechanism of key management in order to secure the communication between sensor nodes and protect the network against different types of attacks. Performance evaluation from simulation results demonstrates a significant performance improvement comparing with existing protocols (which do not even provide any kind of security feature) in terms of average end-to-end delay, network throughput, packet delivery ratio, and energy consumption. PMID:22163854

Evaluation of the University of Florida lomustine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone chemotherapy protocol for the treatment of relapsed lymphoma in dogs: 33 cases (2003-2009).

PubMed

Fahey, Christine E; Milner, Rowan J; Barabas, Karri; Lurie, David; Kow, Kelvin; Parfitt, Shannon; Lyles, Sarah; Clemente, Monica

2011-07-15

To evaluate the toxicity and efficacy of a modification of a previously evaluated combination of lomustine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (LOPP) as a rescue protocol for refractory lymphoma in dogs. Retrospective case series. Animals-33 dogs with a cytologic or histologic diagnosis of lymphoma that developed resistance to their induction chemotherapy protocol. Lomustine was administered on day 0 of the protocol. Vincristine was administered on day 0 and again 1 time on day 14. Procarbazine and prednisone were administered on days 0 through 13 of the protocol. This cycle was repeated every 28 days. Median time from initiation to discontinuation of the University of Florida LOPP protocol was 84 days (range, 10 to 308 days). Overall median survival time was 290 days (range, 51 to 762 days). Overall response rate with this protocol was 61% (20/33), with 36% (12) having a complete response and 24% (8) having a partial response. Toxicosis rates were lower than for the previously published LOPP protocol. The University of Florida LOPP protocol may be an acceptable alternative to the mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone protocol as a rescue protocol for dogs with lymphoma.

Towards a five-minute comprehensive cardiac MR examination using highly accelerated parallel imaging with a 32-element coil array: feasibility and initial comparative evaluation.

PubMed

Xu, Jian; Kim, Daniel; Otazo, Ricardo; Srichai, Monvadi B; Lim, Ruth P; Axel, Leon; Mcgorty, Kelly Anne; Niendorf, Thoralf; Sodickson, Daniel K

2013-07-01

To evaluate the feasibility and perform initial comparative evaluations of a 5-minute comprehensive whole-heart magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol with four image acquisition types: perfusion (PERF), function (CINE), coronary artery imaging (CAI), and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). This study protocol was Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant and Institutional Review Board-approved. A 5-minute comprehensive whole-heart MRI examination protocol (Accelerated) using 6-8-fold-accelerated volumetric parallel imaging was incorporated into and compared with a standard 2D clinical routine protocol (Standard). Following informed consent, 20 patients were imaged with both protocols. Datasets were reviewed for image quality using a 5-point Likert scale (0 = non-diagnostic, 4 = excellent) in blinded fashion by two readers. Good image quality with full whole-heart coverage was achieved using the accelerated protocol, particularly for CAI, although significant degradations in quality, as compared with traditional lengthy examinations, were observed for the other image types. Mean total scan time was significantly lower for the Accelerated as compared to Standard protocols (28.99 ± 4.59 min vs. 1.82 ± 0.05 min, P < 0.05). Overall image quality for the Standard vs. Accelerated protocol was 3.67 ± 0.29 vs. 1.5 ± 0.51 (P < 0.005) for PERF, 3.48 ± 0.64 vs. 2.6 ± 0.68 (P < 0.005) for CINE, 2.35 ± 1.01 vs. 2.48 ± 0.68 (P = 0.75) for CAI, and 3.67 ± 0.42 vs. 2.67 ± 0.84 (P < 0.005) for LGE. Diagnostic image quality for Standard vs. Accelerated protocols was 20/20 (100%) vs. 10/20 (50%) for PERF, 20/20 (100%) vs. 18/20 (90%) for CINE, 18/20 (90%) vs. 18/20 (90%) for CAI, and 20/20 (100%) vs. 18/20 (90%) for LGE. This study demonstrates the technical feasibility and promising image quality of 5-minute comprehensive whole-heart cardiac examinations, with simplified scan prescription and high spatial and temporal resolution enabled by highly parallel imaging technology. The study also highlights technical hurdles that remain to be addressed. Although image quality remained diagnostic for most scan types, the reduced image quality of PERF, CINE, and LGE scans in the Accelerated protocol remain a concern. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Implementation research to improve quality of maternal and newborn health care, Malawi.

PubMed

Brenner, Stephan; Wilhelm, Danielle; Lohmann, Julia; Kambala, Christabel; Chinkhumba, Jobiba; Muula, Adamson S; De Allegri, Manuela

2017-07-01

To evaluate the impact of a performance-based financing scheme on maternal and neonatal health service quality in Malawi. We conducted a non-randomized controlled before and after study to evaluate the effects of district- and facility-level performance incentives for health workers and management teams. We assessed changes in the facilities' essential drug stocks, equipment maintenance and clinical obstetric care processes. Difference-in-difference regression models were used to analyse effects of the scheme on adherence to obstetric care treatment protocols and provision of essential drugs, supplies and equipment. We observed 33 health facilities, 23 intervention facilities and 10 control facilities and 401 pregnant women across four districts. The scheme improved the availability of both functional equipment and essential drug stocks in the intervention facilities. We observed positive effects in respect to drug procurement and clinical care activities at non-intervention facilities, likely in response to improved district management performance. Birth assistants' adherence to clinical protocols improved across all studied facilities as district health managers supervised and coached clinical staff more actively. Despite nation-wide stock-outs and extreme health worker shortages, facilities in the study districts managed to improve maternal and neonatal health service quality by overcoming bottlenecks related to supply procurement, equipment maintenance and clinical performance. To strengthen and reform health management structures, performance-based financing may be a promising approach to sustainable improvements in quality of health care.

Deterministic entanglement distillation for secure double-server blind quantum computation.

PubMed

Sheng, Yu-Bo; Zhou, Lan

2015-01-15

Blind quantum computation (BQC) provides an efficient method for the client who does not have enough sophisticated technology and knowledge to perform universal quantum computation. The single-server BQC protocol requires the client to have some minimum quantum ability, while the double-server BQC protocol makes the client's device completely classical, resorting to the pure and clean Bell state shared by two servers. Here, we provide a deterministic entanglement distillation protocol in a practical noisy environment for the double-server BQC protocol. This protocol can get the pure maximally entangled Bell state. The success probability can reach 100% in principle. The distilled maximally entangled states can be remaind to perform the BQC protocol subsequently. The parties who perform the distillation protocol do not need to exchange the classical information and they learn nothing from the client. It makes this protocol unconditionally secure and suitable for the future BQC protocol.

Deterministic entanglement distillation for secure double-server blind quantum computation

PubMed Central

Sheng, Yu-Bo; Zhou, Lan

2015-01-01

Blind quantum computation (BQC) provides an efficient method for the client who does not have enough sophisticated technology and knowledge to perform universal quantum computation. The single-server BQC protocol requires the client to have some minimum quantum ability, while the double-server BQC protocol makes the client's device completely classical, resorting to the pure and clean Bell state shared by two servers. Here, we provide a deterministic entanglement distillation protocol in a practical noisy environment for the double-server BQC protocol. This protocol can get the pure maximally entangled Bell state. The success probability can reach 100% in principle. The distilled maximally entangled states can be remaind to perform the BQC protocol subsequently. The parties who perform the distillation protocol do not need to exchange the classical information and they learn nothing from the client. It makes this protocol unconditionally secure and suitable for the future BQC protocol. PMID:25588565

Semiautomated external defibrillators for in-hospital early defibrillation: a comparative study.

PubMed

Nocchi, Federico; Derrico, Pietro; Masucci, Gerardina; Capussotto, Carlo; Cecchetti, Corrado; Ritrovato, Matteo

2014-01-01

Semiautomated external defibrillators (AEDs) should be considered as a means to facilitate in-hospital early defibrillation (IHED) in areas where advanced life support rescuers are not readily available. In this study, we aimed to develop a checklist and a measurement protocol to evaluate and compare AEDs by assessing factors that may affect IHED. A clinical and technical comparison of six AEDs was performed. Technical specifications were analyzed, while an emergency team evaluated ergonomics and appropriateness for IHED at Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital. A measurement protocol was implemented, which aimed to assess the ability of defibrillators to recognize shockable and nonshockable rhythms, accuracy of delivered energy, and charging time. Designs of AEDs differed in several features which influence their appropriateness for IHED. Some units showed poor ergonomics and instructions/feedback for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Differences between defibrillators in recognizing shockable and nonshockable rhythms emerged for polymorphic ventricular tachycardia waveforms and when the frequency and amplitude of input signals varied. Tests for accuracy revealed poor performances at low and high impedance levels for most AEDs. Notably, differences greater than 20 seconds were found in the time from power-on to "ready for discharge." The approach we used to assess AEDs allowed us to evaluate their appropriateness with respect to the organizational context, to measure their parameters, and to compare models. Results showed that ergonomics and/or performances (timing and accuracy) could be improved in each device.

Analysis of physical exercises and exercise protocols for space transportation system operation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coleman, A. E.

1982-01-01

A quantitative evaluation of the Thornton-Whitmore treadmill was made so that informed management decisions regarding the role of this treadmill in operational flight crew exercise programs could be made. Specific tasks to be completed were: The Thornton-Whitmore passive treadmill as an exercise device at one-g was evaluated. Hardware, harness and restraint systems for use with the Thornton-Whitmore treadmill in the laboratory and in Shuttle flights were established. The quantitative and qualitative performance of human subjects on the Thorton-Whitmore treadmill with forces in excess of one-g, was evaluated. The performance of human subjects on the Thornton-Whitmore treadmill in weightlessness (onboard Shuttle flights) was also determined.

Difficulties in establishing routine amniocentesis for preterm labor evaluation.

PubMed

McIntosh, Jennifer J; McHugh, Katherine; Haas, David M

2012-03-01

After a recent practice change implementing amniocentesis into the evaluation of preterm labor (PTL) or preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), actual performance of the procedure was tracked. Fifty-nine patients were admitted with these diagnoses. Twenty-three patients (39%) were offered amniocentesis and 36 patients (61%) were not offered amniocentesis as part of the clinical protocol. Seven (30%) patients of those offered an amniocentesis underwent the procedure. The predominant reasons for not performing an amniocentesis were patient refusal and provider discomfort. In conclusion, implementation of amniocentesis to evaluate for subclinical infection/inflammation in the setting of PTL or PPROM proved difficult, as only 7 of 59 (11.9%) patients admitted with these diagnoses actually received an amniocentesis.

Comparison of the Liaison® Calprotectin kit with a well established point of care test (Quantum Blue - Bühlmann-Alere®) in terms of analytical performances and ability to detect relapses amongst a Crohn population in follow-up.

PubMed

Delefortrie, Quentin; Schatt, Patricia; Grimmelprez, Alexandre; Gohy, Patrick; Deltour, Didier; Collard, Geneviève; Vankerkhoven, Patrick

2016-02-01

Although colonoscopy associated with histopathological sampling remains the gold standard in the diagnostic and follow-up of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), calprotectin is becoming an essential biomarker in gastroenterology. The aim of this work is to compare a newly developed kit (Liaison® Calprotectin - Diasorin®) and its two distinct extraction protocols (weighing and extraction device protocol) with a well established point of care test (Quantum Blue® - Bühlmann-Alere®) in terms of analytical performances and ability to detect relapses amongst a Crohn's population in follow-up. Stool specimens were collected over a six month period and were composed of control and Crohn's patients. Amongst the Crohn's population disease activity (active vs quiescent) was evaluated by gastroenterologists. A significant difference was found between all three procedures in terms of calprotectin measurements (weighing protocol=30.3μg/g (median); stool extraction device protocol=36.9μg/g (median); Quantum Blue® (median)=63; Friedman test, P value=0.05). However, a good correlation was found between both extraction methods coupled with the Liaison® analyzer and between the Quantum Blue® (weighing protocol/extraction device protocol Rs=0.844, P=0.01; Quantum Blue®/extraction device protocol Rs=0.708, P=0.01; Quantum Blue®/weighing protocol, Rs=0.808, P=0.01). Finally, optimal cut-offs (and associated negative predictive values - NPV) for detecting relapses were in accordance with above results (Quantum Blue® 183.5μg/g and NPV of 100%>extraction device protocol+Liaison® analyzer 124.5μg/g and NPV of 93.5%>weighing protocol+Liaison® analyzer 106.5μg/g and NPV of 95%). Although all three methods correlated well and had relatively good NPV in terms of detecting relapses amongst a Crohn's population in follow-up, the lack of any international standard is the origin of different optimal cut-offs between the three procedures. Copyright © 2015 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SU-E-I-32: Benchmarking Head CT Doses: A Pooled Vs. Protocol Specific Analysis of Radiation Doses in Adult Head CT Examinations

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

Fujii, K; UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA; Bostani, M

Purpose: The aim of this study was to collect CT dose index data from adult head exams to establish benchmarks based on either: (a) values pooled from all head exams or (b) values for specific protocols. One part of this was to investigate differences in scan frequency and CT dose index data for inpatients versus outpatients. Methods: We collected CT dose index data (CTDIvol) from adult head CT examinations performed at our medical facilities from Jan 1st to Dec 31th, 2014. Four of these scanners were used for inpatients, the other five were used for outpatients. All scanners used Tubemore » Current Modulation. We used X-ray dose management software to mine dose index data and evaluate CTDIvol for 15807 inpatients and 4263 outpatients undergoing Routine Brain, Sinus, Facial/Mandible, Temporal Bone, CTA Brain and CTA Brain-Neck protocols, and combined across all protocols. Results: For inpatients, Routine Brain series represented 84% of total scans performed. For outpatients, Sinus scans represented the largest fraction (36%). The CTDIvol (mean ± SD) across all head protocols was 39 ± 30 mGy (min-max: 3.3–540 mGy). The CTDIvol for Routine Brain was 51 ± 6.2 mGy (min-max: 36–84 mGy). The values for Sinus were 24 ± 3.2 mGy (min-max: 13–44 mGy) and for Facial/Mandible were 22 ± 4.3 mGy (min-max: 14–46 mGy). The mean CTDIvol for inpatients and outpatients was similar across protocols with one exception (CTA Brain-Neck). Conclusion: There is substantial dose variation when results from all protocols are pooled together; this is primarily a function of the differences in technical factors of the protocols themselves. When protocols are analyzed separately, there is much less variability. While analyzing pooled data affords some utility, reviewing protocols segregated by clinical indication provides greater opportunity for optimization and establishing useful benchmarks.« less

Sensitivity comparison of sequential monadic and side-by-side presentation protocols in affective consumer testing.

PubMed

Colyar, Jessica M; Eggett, Dennis L; Steele, Frost M; Dunn, Michael L; Ogden, Lynn V

2009-09-01

The relative sensitivity of side-by-side and sequential monadic consumer liking protocols was compared. In the side-by-side evaluation, all samples were presented at once and evaluated together 1 characteristic at a time. In the sequential monadic evaluation, 1 sample was presented and evaluated on all characteristics, then returned before panelists received and evaluated another sample. Evaluations were conducted on orange juice, frankfurters, canned chili, potato chips, and applesauce. Five commercial brands, having a broad quality range, were selected as samples for each product category to assure a wide array of consumer liking scores. Without their knowledge, panelists rated the same 5 retail brands by 1 protocol and then 3 wk later by the other protocol. For 3 of the products, both protocols yielded the same order of overall liking. Slight differences in order of overall liking for the other 2 products were not significant. Of the 50 pairwise overall liking comparisons, 44 were in agreement. The different results obtained by the 2 protocols in order of liking and significance of paired comparisons were due to the experimental variation and differences in sensitivity. Hedonic liking scores were subjected to statistical power analyses and used to calculate minimum number of panelists required to achieve varying degrees of sensitivity when using side-by-side and sequential monadic protocols. In most cases, the side-by-side protocol was more sensitive, thus providing the same information with fewer panelists. Side-by-side protocol was less sensitive in cases where sensory fatigue was a factor.

Evaluating Hydrogen Evolution and Oxidation in Alkaline Media to Establish Baselines

DOE PAGES

Alia, Shaun M.; Pivovar, Bryan S.

2018-04-28

This paper fills a significant gap in the literature for alkaline hydrogen evolution (HER) and oxidation (HOR) baseline performance, while reviewing the different variables that influence observed properties. Although high-performing HER-HOR catalysts in acidic electrolytes are too active to measure kinetic in rotating disk electrode (RDE) half-cells, under alkaline conditions RDE kinetics evaluations are relevant and half-cell performances are comparable to hydrogen pump data. This paper focuses on best practices to ensure that half-cell tests don't unnecessarily lower platinum group metal (PGM) performance or improve non-PGM performance. Specific aspects examined include experiments on PGMs minimizing the impact of impurities (electrolyte,more » cell material) and experiments on non-PGMs minimizing the impact from test protocols (counter electrode).« less

Evaluating Hydrogen Evolution and Oxidation in Alkaline Media to Establish Baselines

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

Alia, Shaun M.; Pivovar, Bryan S.

This paper fills a significant gap in the literature for alkaline hydrogen evolution (HER) and oxidation (HOR) baseline performance, while reviewing the different variables that influence observed properties. Although high-performing HER-HOR catalysts in acidic electrolytes are too active to measure kinetic in rotating disk electrode (RDE) half-cells, under alkaline conditions RDE kinetics evaluations are relevant and half-cell performances are comparable to hydrogen pump data. This paper focuses on best practices to ensure that half-cell tests don't unnecessarily lower platinum group metal (PGM) performance or improve non-PGM performance. Specific aspects examined include experiments on PGMs minimizing the impact of impurities (electrolyte,more » cell material) and experiments on non-PGMs minimizing the impact from test protocols (counter electrode).« less

Network-Friendly Gossiping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serbu, Sabina; Rivière, Étienne; Felber, Pascal

The emergence of large-scale distributed applications based on many-to-many communication models, e.g., broadcast and decentralized group communication, has an important impact on the underlying layers, notably the Internet routing infrastructure. To make an effective use of network resources, protocols should both limit the stress (amount of messages) on each infrastructure entity like routers and links, and balance as much as possible the load in the network. Most protocols use application-level metrics such as delays to improve efficiency of content dissemination or routing, but the extend to which such application-centric optimizations help reduce and balance the load imposed to the infrastructure is unclear. In this paper, we elaborate on the design of such network-friendly protocols and associated metrics. More specifically, we investigate random-based gossip dissemination. We propose and evaluate different ways of making this representative protocol network-friendly while keeping its desirable properties (robustness and low delays). Simulations of the proposed methods using synthetic and real network topologies convey and compare their abilities to reduce and balance the load while keeping good performance.

Evaluating the performance of vehicular platoon control under different network topologies of initial states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yongfu; Li, Kezhi; Zheng, Taixiong; Hu, Xiangdong; Feng, Huizong; Li, Yinguo

2016-05-01

This study proposes a feedback-based platoon control protocol for connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) under different network topologies of initial states. In particularly, algebraic graph theory is used to describe the network topology. Then, the leader-follower approach is used to model the interactions between CAVs. In addition, feedback-based protocol is designed to control the platoon considering the longitudinal and lateral gaps simultaneously as well as different network topologies. The stability and consensus of the vehicular platoon is analyzed using the Lyapunov technique. Effects of different network topologies of initial states on convergence time and robustness of platoon control are investigated. Results from numerical experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed protocol with respect to the position and velocity consensus in terms of the convergence time and robustness. Also, the findings of this study illustrate the convergence time of the control protocol is associated with the initial states, while the robustness is not affected by the initial states significantly.

An Efficient Distributed Coverage Hole Detection Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Sahoo, Prasan Kumar; Chiang, Ming-Jer; Wu, Shih-Lin

2016-03-17

In wireless sensor networks (WSNs), certain areas of the monitoring region may have coverage holes and serious coverage overlapping due to the random deployment of sensors. The failure of electronic components, software bugs and destructive agents could lead to the random death of the nodes. Sensors may be dead due to exhaustion of battery power, which may cause the network to be uncovered and disconnected. Based on the deployment nature of the nodes in remote or hostile environments, such as a battlefield or desert, it is impossible to recharge or replace the battery. However, the data gathered by the sensors are highly essential for the analysis, and therefore, the collaborative detection of coverage holes has strategic importance in WSNs. In this paper, distributed coverage hole detection algorithms are designed, where nodes can collaborate to detect the coverage holes autonomously. The performance evaluation of our protocols suggests that our protocols outperform in terms of hole detection time, limited power consumption and control packet overhead to detect holes as compared to other similar protocols.

Chapter 6: Residential Lighting Evaluation Protocol. The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures

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

Kurnik, Charles W; Dimetrosky, Scott; Parkinson, Katie

Given new regulations, increased complexity in the market, and the general shift from CFLs to LEDs, this evaluation protocol was updated in 2017 to shift the focus of the protocols toward LEDs and away from CFLs and to resolve evaluation uncertainties affecting residential lighting incentive programs.

EVALUATION OF THE PROTOCOL FOR THE NATURAL ATTENUATION OF CHLORINATED SOLVENTS: CASE STUDY AT THE TWIN CITIES ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT

EPA Science Inventory

At the request of staff in the EPA Regions, EPA?s Office of Research and Development carried out an independent evaluation of the Technical Protocol for Evaluating Natural Attenuation of Chlorinated Solvents in Ground Water (EPA/600/R-98/128). The Protocol was developed around c...

Treadmill Slope Modulates Inflammation, Fiber Type Composition, Androgen, and Glucocorticoid Receptors in the Skeletal Muscle of Overtrained Mice

PubMed Central

da Rocha, Alisson L.; Pereira, Bruno C.; Teixeira, Giovana R.; Pinto, Ana P.; Frantz, Fabiani G.; Elias, Lucila L. K.; Lira, Fábio S.; Pauli, José R.; Cintra, Dennys E.; Ropelle, Eduardo R.; de Moura, Leandro P.; Mekary, Rania A.; de Freitas, Ellen C.; da Silva, Adelino S. R.

2017-01-01

Overtraining (OT) may be defined as an imbalance between excessive training and adequate recovery period. Recently, a downhill running-based overtraining (OTR/down) protocol induced the nonfunctional overreaching state, which is defined as a performance decrement that may be associated with psychological and hormonal disruptions and promoted intramuscular and systemic inflammation. To discriminate the eccentric contraction effects on interleukin 1beta (IL-1β), IL-6, IL-10, IL-15, and SOCS-3, we compared the release of these cytokines in OTR/down with other two OT protocols with the same external load (i.e., the product between training intensity and volume), but performed in uphill (OTR/up) and without inclination (OTR). Also, we evaluated the effects of these OT models on the muscle morphology and fiber type composition, serum levels of fatigue markers and corticosterone, as well as androgen receptor (AR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expressions. For extensor digitorum longus (EDL), OTR/down and OTR groups increased the cytokines and exhibited micro-injuries with polymorphonuclear infiltration. While OTR/down group increased the cytokines in soleus muscle, OTR/up group only increased IL-6. All OT groups presented micro-injuries with polymorphonuclear infiltration. In serum, while OTR/down and OTR/up protocols increased IL-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha, OTR group increased IL-1β, IL-6, IL-15, and corticosterone. The type II fibers in EDL and soleus, total and phosphorylated AR levels in soleus, and total GR levels in EDL and soleus were differentially modulated by the OT protocols. In summary, the proinflammatory cytokines were more sensitive for OTR/down than for OTR/up and OTR. Also, the specific treadmill inclination of each OT model influenced most of the other evaluated parameters. PMID:29163473

Protocol for physical assessment in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

PubMed

dos Santos, Michele R; Moro, Claudia M C; Vosgerau, Dilmeire S R

2014-01-01

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic disease that causes pain and fatigue, presenting a negative impact on quality of life. Exercise helps maintaining physical fitness and influences directly on the improvement of quality of life. Develop a protocol for health-related physical fitness assessment of patients with FMS with tests that are feasible and appropriate for this population. An exploratory and analytical literature review was performed, seeking to determine the tests used by the scientific community. With this in mind, we performed a literature revision through the use of virtual libraries databases: PubMed, Bireme, Banco de Teses e Dissertações da Capes and Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Teses e Dissertações, published in between 1992-2012. A variety of tests was found; the following, by number of citations, stood out: Body Mass Index (BMI) and bioimpedance; 6-minute walk; handgrip strength (dynamometer, 1RM [Repetition Maximum]); Sit and reach and Shoulder flexibility; Foot Up and Go, and Flamingo balance. These are the tests that should make up the protocol for the physical evaluation of FMS patients, emphasizing their ease of use.

Wireless Energy Harvesting Two-Way Relay Networks with Hardware Impairments.

PubMed

Peng, Chunling; Li, Fangwei; Liu, Huaping

2017-11-13

This paper considers a wireless energy harvesting two-way relay (TWR) network where the relay has energy-harvesting abilities and the effects of practical hardware impairments are taken into consideration. In particular, power splitting (PS) receiver is adopted at relay to harvests the power it needs for relaying the information between the source nodes from the signals transmitted by the source nodes, and hardware impairments is assumed suffered by each node. We analyze the effect of hardware impairments [-20]on both decode-and-forward (DF) relaying and amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying networks. By utilizing the obtained new expressions of signal-to-noise-plus-distortion ratios, the exact analytical expressions of the achievable sum rate and ergodic capacities for both DF and AF relaying protocols are derived. Additionally, the optimal power splitting (OPS) ratio that maximizes the instantaneous achievable sum rate is formulated and solved for both protocols. The performances of DF and AF protocols are evaluated via numerical results, which also show the effects of various network parameters on the system performance and on the OPS ratio design.

Protocol for Uniformly Measuring and Expressing the Performance of Energy Storage Systems

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

Conover, David R.; Crawford, Aladsair J.; Fuller, Jason C.

The Protocol for Uniformly Measuring and Expressing the Performance of Energy Storage Systems (PNNL-22010) was first issued in November 2012 as a first step toward providing a foundational basis for developing an initial standard for the uniform measurement and expression of energy storage system (ESS) performance. Based on experiences with the application and use of that document, and to include additional ESS applications and associated duty cycles, test procedures and performance metrics, a first revision of the November 2012 Protocol was issued in June 2014 (PNNL 22010 Rev. 1). As an update of the 2014 revision 1 to the Protocol,more » this document (the March 2016 revision 2 to the Protocol) is intended to supersede the June 2014 revision 1 to the Protocol and provide a more user-friendly yet more robust and comprehensive basis for measuring and expressing ESS performance.« less

Utility of intranasal Ketamine and Midazolam to perform gastric aspirates in children: a double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized study

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background We performed a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a sedation protocol based on intranasal Ketamine and Midazolam (INKM) administered by a mucosal atomizer device in uncooperative children undergoing gastric aspirates for suspected tuberculosis. Primary outcome: evaluation of Modified Objective Pain Score (MOPS) reduction in children undergoing INKM compared to the placebo group. Secondary outcomes: evaluation of safety of INKM protocol, start time sedation effect, duration of sedation and evaluation of parents and doctors’ satisfaction about the procedure. Methods In the sedation group, 19 children, mean age 41.5 months, received intranasal Midazolam (0.5 mg/kg) and Ketamine (2 mg/kg). In the placebo group, 17 children received normal saline solution twice in each nostril. The child’s degree of sedation was scored using the MOPS. A questionnaire was designed to evaluate the parents’ and doctors’ opinions on the procedures of both groups. Results Fifty-seven gastric washings were performed in the sedation-group, while in the placebo-group we performed 51 gastric aspirates. The degree of sedation achieved by INMK enabled all procedures to be completed without additional drugs. The mean duration of sedation was 71.5 min. Mean MOPS was 3.5 (range 1-8) in the sedation-group, 7.2 (range 4-9) in the placebo-group (p <0.0001). The questionnaire revealed high levels of satisfaction by both doctors and parents in the sedation-group compared to the placebo-group. The only side effect registered was post-sedation agitation in 6 procedures in the sedation group (10.5%). Conclusions Our experience suggests that atomized INKM makes gastric aspirates more acceptable and easy to perform in children. Trial registration Unique trial Number: UMIN000010623; Receipt Number: R000012422. PMID:24598046

High-throughput process development: I. Process chromatography.

PubMed

Rathore, Anurag S; Bhambure, Rahul

2014-01-01

Chromatographic separation serves as "a workhorse" for downstream process development and plays a key role in removal of product-related, host cell-related, and process-related impurities. Complex and poorly characterized raw materials and feed material, low feed concentration, product instability, and poor mechanistic understanding of the processes are some of the critical challenges that are faced during development of a chromatographic step. Traditional process development is performed as trial-and-error-based evaluation and often leads to a suboptimal process. High-throughput process development (HTPD) platform involves an integration of miniaturization, automation, and parallelization and provides a systematic approach for time- and resource-efficient chromatography process development. Creation of such platforms requires integration of mechanistic knowledge of the process with various statistical tools for data analysis. The relevance of such a platform is high in view of the constraints with respect to time and resources that the biopharma industry faces today. This protocol describes the steps involved in performing HTPD of process chromatography step. It described operation of a commercially available device (PreDictor™ plates from GE Healthcare). This device is available in 96-well format with 2 or 6 μL well size. We also discuss the challenges that one faces when performing such experiments as well as possible solutions to alleviate them. Besides describing the operation of the device, the protocol also presents an approach for statistical analysis of the data that is gathered from such a platform. A case study involving use of the protocol for examining ion-exchange chromatography of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF), a therapeutic product, is briefly discussed. This is intended to demonstrate the usefulness of this protocol in generating data that is representative of the data obtained at the traditional lab scale. The agreement in the data is indeed very significant (regression coefficient 0.93). We think that this protocol will be of significant value to those involved in performing high-throughput process development of process chromatography.

[Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and improving chess performance in promising young chess-players].

PubMed

Ruiz, Francisco J; Luciano, Carmen

2009-08-01

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is shown to be effective in relatively distant fields from the so-called psychological disorders. One of these areas is sport performance improvement. The aim of the current study is to expand the application of brief ACT protocols to improve chess-players' performance. In a previous study, a brief protocol was applied to international-level adult chess-players that was effective. The current study aims to apply an equivalent brief ACT protocol, but in this case, applied in a group format to promising young chess-players. In addition, this brief protocol is compared to a non-intervention control condition. Results show that the ACT brief protocol improved the performance in 5 out of 7 participants, and that none of the chess-players in the control condition reached the established change criterion. The differences between the conditions in chess performance were statistically significant. The results are discussed, emphasizing the replicated impact of a brief ACT protocol on the improvement of chess-players' performance.

The Relation Between Stretching Typology and Stretching Duration: The Effects on Range of Motion.

PubMed

Thomas, Ewan; Bianco, Antonino; Paoli, Antonio; Palma, Antonio

2018-04-01

Different stretching strategies and protocols are widely used to improve flexibility or maintain health, acting on the muscle tendon-unit, in order to improve the range of motion (ROM) of the joints. This review aims to evaluate the current body of literature in order to understand the relation between stretching typology and ROM, and secondly to evaluate if a relation exists between stretching volume (either as a single training session, weekly training and weekly frequency) and ROM, after long-term stretching. Twenty-three articles were considered eligible and included in the quantitative synthesis. All stretching typologies showed ROM improvements over a long-term period, however the static protocols showed significant gains (p<0.05) when compared to the ballistic or PNF protocols. Time spent stretching per week seems fundamental to elicit range of movement improvements when stretches are applied for at least or more than 5 min, whereas the time spent stretching within a single session does not seem to have significant effects for ROM gains. Weekly frequency is positively associated to ROM. Evaluated data indicates that performing stretching at least 5 days a week for at least 5 min per week using static stretching may be beneficial to promote ROM improvements. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

The Role of Scheduling in Observing Teacher-Child Interactions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cash, Anne H.; Pianta, Robert C.

2014-01-01

Observational assessment is being used on a large scale to evaluate the quality of interactions between teachers and children in classroom environments. When one performs observations at scale, features of the protocol such as the scheduling of observations can potentially influence observed scores. In this study interactions were observed for 88…

Validating Cognitive Models of Task Performance in Algebra on the SAT®. Research Report No. 2009-3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gierl, Mark J.; Leighton, Jacqueline P.; Wang, Changjiang; Zhou, Jiawen; Gokiert, Rebecca; Tan, Adele

2009-01-01

The purpose of the study is to present research focused on validating the four algebra cognitive models in Gierl, Wang, et al., using student response data collected with protocol analysis methods to evaluate the knowledge structures and processing skills used by a sample of SAT test takers.

Exercise countermeasure protocol management expert system.

PubMed

Webster, L; Chen, J G; Flores, L; Tan, S

1993-04-01

Exercise will be used primarily to countermeasure against deconditioning on extended space flight. In this paper we describe the development and evaluation of an expert system for exercise countermeasure protocol management. Currently, the system includes two major subsystems: baseline prescription and prescription adjustment. The baseline prescription subsystem is designed to provide initial exercise prescriptions while prescription adjustment subsystem is designed to modify the initial prescription based on the exercised progress. The system runs under three different environments: PC, SUN workstation, and Symbolic machine. The inference engine, baseline prescription module, prescription adjustment module and explanation module are developed under the Symbolic environment by using the ART (Automated Reasoning Tool) software. The Sun environment handles database management features and interfaces with PC environment to obtain physical and physiological data from exercise units on-board during the flight. Eight subjects' data have been used to evaluate the system performance by comparing the prescription of nine experienced exercise physiologists and the one prescribed by the expert system. The results of the validation test indicated that the performance of the expert system was acceptable.

Exercise countermeasure protocol management expert system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Webster, L.; Chen, J. G.; Flores, L.; Tan, S.

1993-01-01

Exercise will be used primarily to countermeasure against deconditioning on extended space flight. In this paper we describe the development and evaluation of an expert system for exercise countermeasure protocol management. Currently, the system includes two major subsystems: baseline prescription and prescription adjustment. The baseline prescription subsystem is designed to provide initial exercise prescriptions while prescription adjustment subsystem is designed to modify the initial prescription based on the exercised progress. The system runs under three different environments: PC, SUN workstation, and Symbolic machine. The inference engine, baseline prescription module, prescription adjustment module and explanation module are developed under the Symbolic environment by using the ART (Automated Reasoning Tool) software. The Sun environment handles database management features and interfaces with PC environment to obtain physical and physiological data from exercise units on-board during the flight. Eight subjects' data have been used to evaluate the system performance by comparing the prescription of nine experienced exercise physiologists and the one prescribed by the expert system. The results of the validation test indicated that the performance of the expert system was acceptable.

Fragment-Based Docking: Development of the CHARMMing Web User Interface as a Platform for Computer-Aided Drug Design

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Web-based user interfaces to scientific applications are important tools that allow researchers to utilize a broad range of software packages with just an Internet connection and a browser.1 One such interface, CHARMMing (CHARMM interface and graphics), facilitates access to the powerful and widely used molecular software package CHARMM. CHARMMing incorporates tasks such as molecular structure analysis, dynamics, multiscale modeling, and other techniques commonly used by computational life scientists. We have extended CHARMMing’s capabilities to include a fragment-based docking protocol that allows users to perform molecular docking and virtual screening calculations either directly via the CHARMMing Web server or on computing resources using the self-contained job scripts generated via the Web interface. The docking protocol was evaluated by performing a series of “re-dockings” with direct comparison to top commercial docking software. Results of this evaluation showed that CHARMMing’s docking implementation is comparable to many widely used software packages and validates the use of the new CHARMM generalized force field for docking and virtual screening. PMID:25151852

Fragment-based docking: development of the CHARMMing Web user interface as a platform for computer-aided drug design.

PubMed

Pevzner, Yuri; Frugier, Emilie; Schalk, Vinushka; Caflisch, Amedeo; Woodcock, H Lee

2014-09-22

Web-based user interfaces to scientific applications are important tools that allow researchers to utilize a broad range of software packages with just an Internet connection and a browser. One such interface, CHARMMing (CHARMM interface and graphics), facilitates access to the powerful and widely used molecular software package CHARMM. CHARMMing incorporates tasks such as molecular structure analysis, dynamics, multiscale modeling, and other techniques commonly used by computational life scientists. We have extended CHARMMing's capabilities to include a fragment-based docking protocol that allows users to perform molecular docking and virtual screening calculations either directly via the CHARMMing Web server or on computing resources using the self-contained job scripts generated via the Web interface. The docking protocol was evaluated by performing a series of "re-dockings" with direct comparison to top commercial docking software. Results of this evaluation showed that CHARMMing's docking implementation is comparable to many widely used software packages and validates the use of the new CHARMM generalized force field for docking and virtual screening.

A Simplified Test for Blanching Susceptibility of Copper Alloys

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomas-Ogbuji, Linus U.; Humphrey, Donald; Setlock, John

2003-01-01

GRCop-84 (Cu-8Cr-4Nb) is a dispersion-strengthened alloy developed for space-launch rocket engine applications, as a liner for the combustion chamber and nozzle ramp. Its main advantage over rival alloys, particularly NARloy-Z (Cu-Ag-Zr), the current liner alloy, is in high temperature mechanical properties. Further validation required that the two alloys be compared with respect to service performance and durability. This has been done, under conditions resembling those expected in reusable launch engine applications. GRCop-84 was found to have a superior resistance to static and cyclic oxidation up to approx. 700 C. In order to improve its performance above 700 C, Cu-Cr coatings have also been developed and evaluated. The major oxidative issue with Cu alloys is blanching, a mode of degradation induced by oxidation-reduction fluctuations in hydrogen-fueled engines. That fluctuation cannot be addressed with conventional static or cyclic oxidation testing. Hence, a further evaluation of the alloy substrates and Cu-Cr coating material necessitated our devising a test protocol that involves oxidaton-reduction cycles. This paper describes the test protocols used and the results obtained.

Rapid Diagnosis of Tuberculosis by Real-Time High-Resolution Imaging of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Colonies.

PubMed

Ghodbane, Ramzi; Asmar, Shady; Betzner, Marlena; Linet, Marie; Pierquin, Joseph; Raoult, Didier; Drancourt, Michel

2015-08-01

Culture remains the cornerstone of diagnosis for pulmonary tuberculosis, but the fastidiousness of Mycobacterium tuberculosis may delay culture-based diagnosis for weeks. We evaluated the performance of real-time high-resolution imaging for the rapid detection of M. tuberculosis colonies growing on a solid medium. A total of 50 clinical specimens, including 42 sputum specimens, 4 stool specimens, 2 bronchoalveolar lavage fluid specimens, and 2 bronchial aspirate fluid specimens were prospectively inoculated into (i) a commercially available Middlebrook broth and evaluated for mycobacterial growth indirectly detected by measuring oxygen consumption (standard protocol) and (ii) a home-made solid medium incubated in an incubator featuring real-time high-resolution imaging of colonies (real-time protocol). Isolates were identified by Ziehl-Neelsen staining and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry. Use of the standard protocol yielded 14/50 (28%) M. tuberculosis isolates, which is not significantly different from the 13/50 (26%) M. tuberculosis isolates found using the real-time protocol (P = 1.00 by Fisher's exact test), and the contamination rate of 1/50 (2%) was not significantly different from the contamination rate of 2/50 (4%) using the real-time protocol (P = 1.00). The real-time imaging protocol showed a 4.4-fold reduction in time to detection, 82 ± 54 h versus 360 ± 142 h (P < 0.05). These preliminary data give the proof of concept that real-time high-resolution imaging of M. tuberculosis colonies is a new technology that shortens the time to growth detection and the laboratory diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Efficacy of right unilateral ultrabrief pulse width ECT: a preliminary report.

PubMed

Magid, Michelle; Truong, Liz; Trevino, Kenneth; Husain, Mustafa

2013-12-01

Ultrabrief (right unilateral) electroconvulsive therapy (UB-RU ECT) is a newer form of ECT, which uses a shorter pulse width than the standard ECT (0.3 vs 1.0 millisecond, respectively). As a result, the use of UB ECT may provide a means of further decreasing ECT-related cognitive adverse effects. In 2011, the University of Texas Southwestern Department of ECT in Austin adopted a UB ECT protocol. The purpose of this study was to perform a preliminary evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of UB-RU ECT. This study also examined whether sex, age, or diagnosis affected response rates. This retrospective chart review identified 62 patients treated with the UB ECT protocol. An analysis of ECT response rates and demographic characteristics was conducted based on the data from clinical evaluations and Patient Health Questionnaire 9. Sixty-eight percent of patients in the study responded to ECT; 55% responded to UB pulse width RU ECT with another 13% responding when switched to standard pulse width bilateral ECT. The mean number of treatments in an index ECT series was 12.5. There was no statistically significant difference in response rates between bipolar and unipolar depressed patients. Men required progression to bilateral treatment more than women. This UB ECT protocol demonstrated a similar response rate when compared to standard ECT protocols; however, an increase in the number of treatments was required. Ultrabrief protocols are a viable option for both bipolar and unipolar depression. In men, UB ECT protocols may be less advantageous due to a need to overcome a potentially higher seizure threshold in men; however, additional research is needed to confirm this finding.

Analysis of agreement between cardiac risk stratification protocols applied to participants of a center for cardiac rehabilitation

PubMed Central

Santos, Ana A. S.; Silva, Anne K. F.; Vanderlei, Franciele M.; Christofaro, Diego G. D.; Gonçalves, Aline F. L.; Vanderlei, Luiz C. M.

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Background Cardiac risk stratification is related to the risk of the occurrence of events induced by exercise. Despite the existence of several protocols to calculate risk stratification, studies indicating that there is similarity between these protocols are still unknown. Objective To evaluate the agreement between the existing protocols on cardiac risk rating in cardiac patients. Method The records of 50 patients from a cardiac rehabilitation program were analyzed, from which the following information was extracted: age, sex, weight, height, clinical diagnosis, medical history, risk factors, associated diseases, and the results from the most recent laboratory and complementary tests performed. This information was used for risk stratification of the patients in the protocols of the American College of Sports Medicine, the Brazilian Society of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the protocol designed by Frederic J. Pashkow, the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, the Société Française de Cardiologie, and the Sociedad Española de Cardiología. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample and the analysis of agreement between the protocols was calculated using the Kappa coefficient. Differences were considered with a significance level of 5%. Results Of the 21 analyses of agreement, 12 were considered significant between the protocols used for risk classification, with nine classified as moderate and three as low. No agreements were classified as excellent. Different proportions were observed in each risk category, with significant differences between the protocols for all risk categories. Conclusion The agreements between the protocols were considered low and moderate and the risk proportions differed between protocols. PMID:27556385

The University of Western Ontario Pediatric Audiological Monitoring Protocol (UWO PedAMP)

PubMed Central

Moodie, Sheila T.; Malandrino, April C.; Richert, Frances M.; Clench, Debbie A.; Scollie, Susan D.

2011-01-01

This study proposed and evaluated a guideline for outcome evaluation for infants and children with hearing loss who wear hearing aids. The University of Western Ontario Pediatric Audiological Monitoring Protocol (UWO PedAMP) was developed following a critical review of pediatric outcome evaluation tools and was systematically examined by the Network of Pediatric Audiologists of Canada. It consists of tools to gather clinical process outcomes as well as functional caregiver reports. The UWO PedAMP was administered to a clinical population of infants and children with hearing aids. Sixty-eight children were administered the functional outcome evaluation tools (i.e., caregiver reports) a total of 133 times. Clinical process outcomes of hearing aid verification (e.g., real-ear-to-coupler difference) revealed typical aided audibility (e.g., Speech Intelligibility Index). Results for the LittlEARS® questionnaire revealed that typically developing children with hearing loss who wear hearing aids are meeting auditory development milestones. Children with mild to moderate comorbidities displayed typical auditory development during the 1st year of life after which development began to decline. Children with complex factors related to hearing aid use had lower scores on the LittlEARS, but auditory development was in parallel to norms. Parents’ Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance (PEACH) results indicated no age effect on scoring for children above 2 years of age; however, the effect of degree of hearing loss was significant. This work provides clinicians with a systematic, evidence-based outcome evaluation protocol to implement as part of a complete pediatric hearing aid fitting. PMID:22194316

Biomechanical adaptations of mice cortical bone submitted to three different exercise modalities

PubMed Central

Frajacomo, Fernando Tadeu Trevisan; Falcai, Maurício José; Fernandes, Cleverson Rodrigues; Shimano, Antonio Carlos; Garcia, Sérgio Britto

2013-01-01

Objective To compare the adaptive effects of three non-weight bearing exercise on bone mechanical properties. Methods 24 male Balb/c mice (22-25g), were randomly divided into four groups (n=6): sedentary group (S); swimming group (N) which performed sessions five times per week for 60 min progressively; resistance group (R), which performed climbing exercise with progressive load, three times per week; and combined group (C), which performed the same protocols aforementioned being three times a week according to N protocol and two times a week the R protocol during eight weeks. Biomechanical tests, load until failure and stiffness evaluation of shinbone was performed after animals have been sacrificed. Results Stiffness values were statistically higher only in the isolated modalities groups (N and R, 41.68 ± 10.43 and 41.21 ± 11.38 N/mm, respectively) compared with the S group (28.48 ± 7.34 N/mm). However, taking into consideration the final body mass, relative values, there was no difference in the biomechanical tests among the groups. Conclusion Data from the present investigation demonstrated a favorable influence of muscle contraction in lower impact isolated exercise modalities on absolute stiffness values, i.e.groups N and R, whereas the combined group (C) did not present any statistical significant difference compared to sedentary group. Level of Evidence II, Prospective Comparative Study. PMID:24453691

Early weight-bearing after periacetabular osteotomy leads to a high incidence of postoperative pelvic fractures.

PubMed

Ito, Hiroshi; Tanino, Hiromasa; Sato, Tatsuya; Nishida, Yasuhiro; Matsuno, Takeo

2014-07-11

It has not been shown whether accelerated rehabilitation following periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is effective for early recovery. The purpose of this retrospective study was to compare complication rates in patients with standard and accelerated rehabilitation protocols who underwent PAO. Between January 2002 and August 2011, patients with a lateral center-edge (CE) angle of < 20°, showing good joint congruency with the hip in abduction, pre- or early stage of osteoarthritis, and age younger than 60 years were included in this study. We evaluated 156 hips in 138 patients, with a mean age at the time of surgery of 30 years. Full weight-bearing with two crutches started 2 months postoperatively in 73 patients (80 hips) with the standard rehabilitation protocol. In 65 patients (76 hips) with the accelerated rehabilitation protocol, postoperative strengthening of the hip, thigh and core musculature was begun on the day of surgery as tolerated. The exercise program included active hip range of motion, and gentle isometric hamstring and quadriceps muscle sets; these exercises were performed for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon with a physical therapist every weekday for 6 weeks. Full weight-bearing with two axillary crutches started on the day of surgery as tolerated. Complications were evaluated for 2 years. The clinical results at the time of follow-up were similar in the two groups. The average periods between the osteotomy and full-weight-bearing walking without support were 4.2 months and 6.9 months in patients with the accelerated and standard rehabilitation protocols (P < 0.001), indicating that the accelerated rehabilitation protocol could achieve earlier recovery of patients. However, postoperative fractures of the ischial ramus and posterior column of the pelvis were more frequently found in patients with the accelerated rehabilitation protocol (8/76) than in those with the standard rehabilitation protocol (1/80) (P = 0.013). The accelerated rehabilitation protocol seems to have advantages for early muscle recovery in patients undergoing PAO; however, postoperative pelvic fracture rates were unacceptably high in patients with this protocol.

SU-F-18C-01: Minimum Detectability Analysis for Comprehensive Sized Based Optimization of Image Quality and Radiation Dose Across CT Protocols

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

Smitherman, C; Chen, B; Samei, E

2014-06-15

Purpose: This work involved a comprehensive modeling of task-based performance of CT across a wide range of protocols. The approach was used for optimization and consistency of dose and image quality within a large multi-vendor clinical facility. Methods: 150 adult protocols from the Duke University Medical Center were grouped into sub-protocols with similar acquisition characteristics. A size based image quality phantom (Duke Mercury Phantom) was imaged using these sub-protocols for a range of clinically relevant doses on two CT manufacturer platforms (Siemens, GE). The images were analyzed to extract task-based image quality metrics such as the Task Transfer Function (TTF),more » Noise Power Spectrum, and Az based on designer nodule task functions. The data were analyzed in terms of the detectability of a lesion size/contrast as a function of dose, patient size, and protocol. A graphical user interface (GUI) was developed to predict image quality and dose to achieve a minimum level of detectability. Results: Image quality trends with variations in dose, patient size, and lesion contrast/size were evaluated and calculated data behaved as predicted. The GUI proved effective to predict the Az values representing radiologist confidence for a targeted lesion, patient size, and dose. As an example, an abdomen pelvis exam for the GE scanner, with a task size/contrast of 5-mm/50-HU, and an Az of 0.9 requires a dose of 4.0, 8.9, and 16.9 mGy for patient diameters of 25, 30, and 35 cm, respectively. For a constant patient diameter of 30 cm, the minimum detected lesion size at those dose levels would be 8.4, 5, and 3.9 mm, respectively. Conclusion: The designed CT protocol optimization platform can be used to evaluate minimum detectability across dose levels and patient diameters. The method can be used to improve individual protocols as well as to improve protocol consistency across CT scanners.« less

Early weight-bearing after periacetabular osteotomy leads to a high incidence of postoperative pelvic fractures

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background It has not been shown whether accelerated rehabilitation following periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is effective for early recovery. The purpose of this retrospective study was to compare complication rates in patients with standard and accelerated rehabilitation protocols who underwent PAO. Methods Between January 2002 and August 2011, patients with a lateral center-edge (CE) angle of < 20°, showing good joint congruency with the hip in abduction, pre- or early stage of osteoarthritis, and age younger than 60 years were included in this study. We evaluated 156 hips in 138 patients, with a mean age at the time of surgery of 30 years. Full weight-bearing with two crutches started 2 months postoperatively in 73 patients (80 hips) with the standard rehabilitation protocol. In 65 patients (76 hips) with the accelerated rehabilitation protocol, postoperative strengthening of the hip, thigh and core musculature was begun on the day of surgery as tolerated. The exercise program included active hip range of motion, and gentle isometric hamstring and quadriceps muscle sets; these exercises were performed for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon with a physical therapist every weekday for 6 weeks. Full weight-bearing with two axillary crutches started on the day of surgery as tolerated. Complications were evaluated for 2 years. Results The clinical results at the time of follow-up were similar in the two groups. The average periods between the osteotomy and full-weight-bearing walking without support were 4.2 months and 6.9 months in patients with the accelerated and standard rehabilitation protocols (P < 0.001), indicating that the accelerated rehabilitation protocol could achieve earlier recovery of patients. However, postoperative fractures of the ischial ramus and posterior column of the pelvis were more frequently found in patients with the accelerated rehabilitation protocol (8/76) than in those with the standard rehabilitation protocol (1/80) (P = 0.013). Conclusion The accelerated rehabilitation protocol seems to have advantages for early muscle recovery in patients undergoing PAO; however, postoperative pelvic fracture rates were unacceptably high in patients with this protocol. PMID:25015753

Chapter 23: Combined Heat and Power Evaluation Protocol. The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures

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

Kurnik, Charles W.; Simons, George; Barsun, Stephan

The main focus of most evaluations is to determine the energy-savings impacts of the installed measure. This protocol defines a combined heat and power (CHP) measure as a system that sequentially generates both electrical energy and useful thermal energy from one fuel source at a host customer's facility or residence. This protocol is aimed primarily at regulators and administrators of ratepayer-funded CHP programs; however, project developers may find the protocol useful to understand how CHP projects are evaluated.

Energy-Aware RFID Anti-Collision Protocol.

PubMed

Arjona, Laura; Simon, Hugo Landaluce; Ruiz, Asier Perallos

2018-06-11

The growing interest in mobile devices is transforming wireless identification technologies. Mobile and battery-powered Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers, such as hand readers and smart phones, are are becoming increasingly attractive. These RFID readers require energy-efficient anti-collision protocols to minimize the tag collisions and to expand the reader's battery life. Furthermore, there is an increasing interest in RFID sensor networks with a growing number of RFID sensor tags. Thus, RFID application developers must be mindful of tag anti-collision protocols. Energy-efficient protocols involve a low reader energy consumption per tag. This work presents a thorough study of the reader energy consumption per tag and analyzes the main factor that affects this metric: the frame size update strategy. Using the conclusion of this analysis, the anti-collision protocol Energy-Aware Slotted Aloha (EASA) is presented to decrease the energy consumption per tag. The frame size update strategy of EASA is configured to minimize the energy consumption per tag. As a result, EASA presents an energy-aware frame. The performance of the proposed protocol is evaluated and compared with several state of the art Aloha-based anti-collision protocols based on the current RFID standard. Simulation results show that EASA, with an average of 15 mJ consumed per tag identified, achieves a 6% average improvement in the energy consumption per tag in relation to the strategies of the comparison.

The Effect of Therapeutic Exercise on Long-Standing Adductor-Related Groin Pain in Athletes: Modified Hölmich Protocol

PubMed Central

Yousefzadeh, Abbas; Olyaei, Gholam Reza; Naseri, Nasrin; Khazaeipour, Zahra

2018-01-01

Objective The Hölmich protocol in therapeutic exercise is the most appropriate method for the treatment of long-standing adductor-related groin pain (LSAGP). Herein, we evaluated a modified Hölmich protocol to resolve the possible limitations intrinsic to the Hölmich protocol in terms of the rate of return to sport and the recovery period for athletes with LSAGP. Design The study followed a single-blind, before/after study design, where 15 athletes with LSAGP (mean age = 26.13 years; SD = 4.48) performed a 10-week modified Hölmich therapeutic exercise protocol. Results Outcome scores related to pain, hip adductor and abductor muscle strengths, and the ratio of maximum isometric and eccentric hip adduction to abduction strength increased significantly. Likewise, hip abduction and internal rotation ROM improved significantly compared to that at baseline. Furthermore, functional records (t-test, Edgren Side Step Test, and Triple Hop Test) showed significant improvement after treatment. Finally, 13 athletes (86.6% of the participants) successfully returned to sports activity in a mean time of 12.06 weeks (SD = 3.41). Conclusion The findings of this study objectively show that the modified Hölmich protocol may be safer and more effective than the Hölmich protocol in athletes with LSAGP in promoting their return to sports activity. This trial is registered with  IRCT2016080829269N1. PMID:29721339

Effect of insulin therapy and dietary adjustments on safety and performance during simulated soccer tests in people with type 1 diabetes: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Calvo-Marín, Javier; Torrealba-Acosta, Gabriel; Campbell, Matthew; Gaboury, Jesse; Ali, Ajmol; Chen-Ku, Chih Hao

2017-07-20

Despite the reduction in glycemic derangement in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) through dietary and therapeutic adjustments implemented before, during and after continuous exercise, evidence for its effectiveness with intermittent forms of exercise, such as soccer, is still lacking. We designed a study protocol for a randomized, crossover, double-blinded, controlled trial, for the evaluation of the effect that a strategy of dietary and therapeutic modifications may have on safety and performance of persons with T1D in soccer training sessions and cognitive testing. Inclusion criteria comprise: age older than 18 years, more than 2 years since T1D diagnosis, low C-peptide level, a stable insulin regimen, HbA1c less than 9.0% and regular participation in soccer activities. Our primary outcome evaluates safety regarding hypoglycemia events in patients using dietary and therapeutic adjustments, compared with the performance under the implementation of current American Diabetes Association (ADA) usual recommendations for nutritional and pharmacological adjustments for exercise. Additionally, we will evaluate as secondary outcomes: soccer performance, indexed by performance in well-established soccer skill tests, cognitive functions (indexed by Stroop, digital vigilance test (DVT), Corsi block-tapping task (CBP), and rapid visual information processing (RVIP) tests), and glycemic control measured with a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). Dietary and insulin adjustments standardized under a 4-step method strategy have never been tested in a clinical trial setting with intermittent forms of exercise, such as soccer. We hypothesize that through this strategy we will observe better performance by persons with T1D in soccer and cognitive evaluations, and more stable control of glycemic parameters before, during and after exercise execution, indexed by CGM measurements. ISRCTN, ISRCTN17447843. Registered on 5 January 2017.

A Smart Collaborative Routing Protocol for Reliable Data Diffusion in IoT Scenarios.

PubMed

Ai, Zheng-Yang; Zhou, Yu-Tong; Song, Fei

2018-06-13

It is knotty for current routing protocols to meet the needs of reliable data diffusion during the Internet of Things (IoT) deployments. Due to the random placement, limited resources and unattended features of existing sensor nodes, the wireless transmissions are easily exposed to unauthorized users, which becomes a vulnerable area for various malicious attacks, such as wormhole and Sybil attacks. However, the scheme based on geographic location is a suitable candidate to defend against them. This paper is inspired to propose a smart collaborative routing protocol, Geographic energy aware routing and Inspecting Node (GIN), for guaranteeing the reliability of data exchanging. The proposed protocol integrates the directed diffusion routing, Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPSR), and the inspecting node mechanism. We first discuss current wireless routing protocols from three diverse perspectives (improving transmission rate, shortening transmission range and reducing transmission consumption). Then, the details of GIN, including the model establishment and implementation processes, are presented by means of the theoretical analysis. Through leveraging the game theory, the inspecting node is elected to monitor the network behaviors. Thirdly, we evaluate the network performances, in terms of transmission delay, packet loss ratio, and throughput, between GIN and three traditional schemes (i.e., Flooding, GPSR, and GEAR). The simulation results illustrate that the proposed protocol is able to outperform the others.

Performance evaluation of complete data transfer of physical layer according to IEEE 802.15.4 standard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raju, Kota Solomon; Merugu, Naresh Babu; Neetu, Babu, E. Ram

2016-03-01

ZigBee is well-accepted industrial standard for wireless sensor networks based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Wireless Sensor Networks is the major concern of communication these days. These Wireless Sensor Networks investigate the properties of networks of small battery-powered sensors with wireless communication. The communication between any two wireless nodes of wireless sensor networks is carried out through a protocol stack. This protocol stack has been designed by different vendors in various ways. Every custom vendor possesses his own protocol stack and algorithms especially at the MAC layer. But, many applications require modifications in their algorithms at various layers as per their requirements, especially energy efficient protocols at MAC layer that are simulated in Wireless sensor Network Simulators which are not being tested in real time systems because vendors do not allow the programmability of each layer in their protocol stack. This problem can be quoted as Vendor-Interoperability. The solution is to develop the programmable protocol stack where we can design our own application as required. As a part of the task first we tried implementing physical layer and transmission of data using physical layer. This paper describes about the transmission of the total number of bytes of Frame according to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard using Physical Layer.

A survey of system architecture requirements for health care-based wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Egbogah, Emeka E; Fapojuwo, Abraham O

2011-01-01

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have emerged as a viable technology for a vast number of applications, including health care applications. To best support these health care applications, WSN technology can be adopted for the design of practical Health Care WSNs (HCWSNs) that support the key system architecture requirements of reliable communication, node mobility support, multicast technology, energy efficiency, and the timely delivery of data. Work in the literature mostly focuses on the physical design of the HCWSNs (e.g., wearable sensors, in vivo embedded sensors, et cetera). However, work towards enhancing the communication layers (i.e., routing, medium access control, et cetera) to improve HCWSN performance is largely lacking. In this paper, the information gleaned from an extensive literature survey is shared in an effort to fortify the knowledge base for the communication aspect of HCWSNs. We highlight the major currently existing prototype HCWSNs and also provide the details of their routing protocol characteristics. We also explore the current state of the art in medium access control (MAC) protocols for WSNs, for the purpose of seeking an energy efficient solution that is robust to mobility and delivers data in a timely fashion. Furthermore, we review a number of reliable transport layer protocols, including a network coding based protocol from the literature, that are potentially suitable for delivering end-to-end reliability of data transmitted in HCWSNs. We identify the advantages and disadvantages of the reviewed MAC, routing, and transport layer protocols as they pertain to the design and implementation of a HCWSN. The findings from this literature survey will serve as a useful foundation for designing a reliable HCWSN and also contribute to the development and evaluation of protocols for improving the performance of future HCWSNs. Open issues that required further investigations are highlighted.

Improving the accuracy of blood pressure measurement: the influence of the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol (ESH-IP) for the validation of blood pressure measuring devices and future perspectives.

PubMed

Stergiou, George S; Asmar, Roland; Myers, Martin; Palatini, Paolo; Parati, Gianfranco; Shennan, Andrew; Wang, Jiguang; O'Brien, Eoin

2018-03-01

The European Society of Hypertension (ESH) International Protocol (ESH-IP) for the validation of blood pressure (BP) measuring devices was published in 2002, with the main objective of simplifying the validation procedures, so that more BP monitors would be subjected to independent validation. This article provides an overview of the international impact of the ESH-IP and of the lessons learned from its use, to be able to justify further developments in validation protocols. A review of published (PubMed) validation studies from 2002 to 2017 was performed. One hundred and seventy-seven validation studies using the ESH-IP, 59 using the British Hypertension Society protocol, 46 using the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) standard and 23 using the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard were identified. Lists of validated office-clinic, home and ambulatory BP monitors are provided. Of the ESH-IP studies, 93% tested oscillometric devices, 80% upper arm, 71% home, 25% office and 7% ambulatory monitors (some had more than one function). The original goal of the ESH-IP has been fulfilled in that in the last decade the number of published validation studies has more than doubled. It is now recognized that the provision of accurate devices would be best served by having a universal protocol. An international initiative has been put in place by AAMI, ESH and ISO experts aiming to reach consensus for a universal validation protocol to be accepted worldwide, which will allow a more thorough evaluation of the accuracy and performance of future BP monitors.

Technical Note: Independent component analysis for quality assurance in functional MRI.

PubMed

Astrakas, Loukas G; Kallistis, Nikolaos S; Kalef-Ezra, John A

2016-02-01

Independent component analysis (ICA) is an established method of analyzing human functional MRI (fMRI) data. Here, an ICA-based fMRI quality control (QC) tool was developed and used. ICA-based fMRI QC tool to be used with a commercial phantom was developed. In an attempt to assess the performance of the tool relative to preexisting alternative tools, it was used seven weeks before and eight weeks after repair of a faulty gradient amplifier of a non-state-of-the-art MRI unit. More specifically, its performance was compared with the AAPM 100 acceptance testing and quality assurance protocol and two fMRI QC protocols, proposed by Freidman et al. ["Report on a multicenter fMRI quality assurance protocol," J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 23, 827-839 (2006)] and Stocker et al. ["Automated quality assurance routines for fMRI data applied to a multicenter study," Hum. Brain Mapp. 25, 237-246 (2005)], respectively. The easily developed and applied ICA-based QC protocol provided fMRI QC indices and maps equally sensitive to fMRI instabilities with the indices and maps of other established protocols. The ICA fMRI QC indices were highly correlated with indices of other fMRI QC protocols and in some cases theoretically related to them. Three or four independent components with slow varying time series are detected under normal conditions. ICA applied on phantom measurements is an easy and efficient tool for fMRI QC. Additionally, it can protect against misinterpretations of artifact components as human brain activations. Evaluating fMRI QC indices in the central region of a phantom is not always the optimal choice.

International Image Concordance Study to Compare a Point of Care Tampon Colposcope to a Standard-of-Care Colposcope

PubMed Central

Mueller, Jenna L.; Asma, Elizabeth; Lam, Christopher T.; Krieger, Marlee S.; Gallagher, Jennifer E.; Erkanli, Alaattin; Hariprasad, Roopa; Malliga, J.S.; Muasher, Lisa C.; Mchome, Bariki; Oneko, Olola; Taylor, Peyton; Venegas, Gino; Wanyoro, Anthony; Mehrotra, Ravi; Schmitt, John W.; Ramanujam, Nimmi

2017-01-01

Objective Barriers to cervical cancer screening in low resource settings include lack of accessible high quality services, high cost, and the need for multiple visits. To address these challenges, we developed a low cost intra-vaginal optical cervical imaging device, the Point of Care Tampon (POCkeT) colposcope, and evaluated whether its performance is comparable to a standard-of-care colposcope. Methods There were two protocols, which included 44 and 18 patients respectively. For the first protocol, white light cervical images were collected in vivo, blinded by device, and sent electronically to 8 physicians from high, middle and low income countries. For the second protocol, green light images were also collected and sent electronically to the highest performing physician from the first protocol who has experience in both a high and low income country. For each image, physicians completed a survey assessing cervix characteristics and severity of precancerous lesions. Corresponding pathology was obtained for all image pairs. Results For the first protocol, average percent agreement between devices was 70% across all physicians. POCkeT and standard-of-care colposcope images had 37% and 51% percent agreement respectively with pathology for high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs). Investigation of HSIL POCkeT images revealed decreased visibility of vascularization and lack of contrast in lesion margins. After changes were made for the second protocol, the two devices achieved similar agreement to pathology for HSIL lesions (55%). Conclusions Based on the exploratory study, physician interpretation of cervix images acquired using a portable, low cost, POCkeT colposcope was comparable to a standard-of-care colposcope. PMID:28263237

Radiation dose to patients and image quality evaluation from coronary 256-slice computed tomographic angiography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Liang-Kuang; Wu, Tung-Hsin; Yang, Ching-Ching; Tsai, Chia-Jung; Lee, Jason J. S.

2010-07-01

The aim of this study is to assess radiation dose and the corresponding image quality from suggested CT protocols which depends on different mean heart rate and high heart rate variability by using 256-slice CT. Fifty consecutive patients referred for a cardiac CT examination were included in this study. All coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) examinations were performed on a 256-slice CT scanner with one of five different protocols: retrospective ECG-gating (RGH) with full dose exposure in all R-R intervals (protocol A), RGH of 30-80% pulsing window with tube current modulation (B), RGH of 78±5% pulsing window with tube current modulation (C), prospective ECG-triggering (PGT) of 78% R-R interval with 5% padding window (D) and PGT of 78% R-R interval without padding window (E). Radiation dose parameters and image quality scoring were determined and compared. In this study, no significant differences were found in comparison on image quality of the five different protocols. Protocol A obtained the highest radiation dose comparing with those of protocols B, C, D and E by a factor of 1.6, 2.4, 2.5 and 4.3, respectively ( p<0.001), which were ranged between 2.7 and 11.8 mSv. The PGT could significantly reduce radiation dose delivered to patients, as compared to the RGH. However, the use of PGT has limitations and is only good in assessing cases with lower mean heart rate and stable heart rate variability. With higher mean heart rate and high heart rate variability circumstances, the RGH within 30-80% of R-R interval pulsing window is suggested as a feasible technique for assessing diagnostic performance.

ASSESSMENT PROTOCOLS - DURABILITY OF PERFORMANCE OF A HOME RADON REDUCTION SYSTEM FOR SUB-SLAB DEPRESSURIZA- TION SYSTEMS

EPA Science Inventory

This handbook contains protocols that compare the immediate performance of subslab depressurization (SSD) mitigation system with performance months or years later. These protocols provide a methodology to test SSD radon mitigation systems in situ to determine long-term performanc...

Cold wall effect eliminating method to determine the contrast recovery coefficient for small animal PET scanners using the NEMA NU-4 image quality phantom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lajtos, Imre; Czernin, Johannes; Dahlbom, Magnus; Daver, Freddie; Emri, Miklos; Farshchi-Heydari, Salman; Forgacs, Attila; Hoh, Carl K.; Joszai, Istvan; Krizsan, Aron K.; Lantos, Judit; Major, Peter; Molnar, Jozsef; Opposits, Gabor; Tron, Lajos; Vera, David R.; Balkay, Laszlo

2014-06-01

The contrast recovery coefficients (CRC) were evaluated for five different small animal PET scanners: GE Explore Vista, Genisys4, MiniPET-2, nanoScan PC and Siemens Inveon. The NEMA NU-4 2008 performance test with the suggested image quality phantom (NU4IQ) does not allow the determination of the CRC values for the hot regions in the phantom. This drawback of NU4IQ phantom motivated us to develop a new method for this purpose. The method includes special acquisition and reconstruction protocols using the original phantom, and results in an artificially merged image enabling the evaluation of CRC values. An advantageous feature of this method is that it stops the cold wall effect from distorting the CRC calculation. Our suggested protocol results in a set of CRC values contributing to the characterization of small animal PET scanners. GATE simulations were also performed to validate the new method and verify the evaluated CRC values. We also demonstrated that the numerical values of this parameter depend on the actual object contrast of the hot region(s) and this mainly comes from the spillover effect. This effect was also studied while analysing the background activity level around the hot rods. We revealed that the calculated background mean values depended on the target contrast in a scanner specific manner. Performing the artificially merged imaging procedure and additional simulations using the micro hollow sphere (MHS) phantom geometry, we also proved that the inactive wall around the hot spheres can have a remarkable impact on the calculated CRC. In conclusion, we have shown that the proposed artificial merging procedure and the commonly used NU4IQ phantom prescribed by the NEMA NU-4 can easily deliver reliable CRC data otherwise unavailable for the NU4IQ phantom in the conventional protocol or the MHS phantom.

Cold wall effect eliminating method to determine the contrast recovery coefficient for small animal PET scanners using the NEMA NU-4 image quality phantom.

PubMed

Lajtos, Imre; Czernin, Johannes; Dahlbom, Magnus; Daver, Freddie; Emri, Miklos; Farshchi-Heydari, Salman; Forgacs, Attila; Hoh, Carl K; Joszai, Istvan; Krizsan, Aron K; Lantos, Judit; Major, Peter; Molnar, Jozsef; Opposits, Gabor; Tron, Lajos; Vera, David R; Balkay, Laszlo

2014-06-07

The contrast recovery coefficients (CRC) were evaluated for five different small animal PET scanners: GE Explore Vista, Genisys4, MiniPET-2, nanoScan PC and Siemens Inveon. The NEMA NU-4 2008 performance test with the suggested image quality phantom (NU4IQ) does not allow the determination of the CRC values for the hot regions in the phantom. This drawback of NU4IQ phantom motivated us to develop a new method for this purpose. The method includes special acquisition and reconstruction protocols using the original phantom, and results in an artificially merged image enabling the evaluation of CRC values. An advantageous feature of this method is that it stops the cold wall effect from distorting the CRC calculation. Our suggested protocol results in a set of CRC values contributing to the characterization of small animal PET scanners. GATE simulations were also performed to validate the new method and verify the evaluated CRC values. We also demonstrated that the numerical values of this parameter depend on the actual object contrast of the hot region(s) and this mainly comes from the spillover effect. This effect was also studied while analysing the background activity level around the hot rods. We revealed that the calculated background mean values depended on the target contrast in a scanner specific manner. Performing the artificially merged imaging procedure and additional simulations using the micro hollow sphere (MHS) phantom geometry, we also proved that the inactive wall around the hot spheres can have a remarkable impact on the calculated CRC. In conclusion, we have shown that the proposed artificial merging procedure and the commonly used NU4IQ phantom prescribed by the NEMA NU-4 can easily deliver reliable CRC data otherwise unavailable for the NU4IQ phantom in the conventional protocol or the MHS phantom.

Chapter 16: Retrocommissioning Evaluation Protocol. The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures

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

Kurnik, Charles W.; Tiessen, Alex

Retrocommissioning (RCx) is a systematic process for optimizing energy performance in existing buildings. It specifically focuses on improving the control of energy-using equipment (e.g., heating, ventilation, and air conditioning [HVAC] equipment and lighting) and typically does not involve equipment replacement. Field results have shown proper RCx can achieve energy savings ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent, with a typical payback of two years or less (Thorne 2003). The method presented in this protocol provides direction regarding: (1) how to account for each measure's specific characteristics and (2) how to choose the most appropriate savings verification approach.

Guidelines and protocols for cardiovascular magnetic resonance in children and adults with congenital heart disease: SCMR expert consensus group on congenital heart disease

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has taken on an increasingly important role in the diagnostic evaluation and pre-procedural planning for patients with congenital heart disease. This article provides guidelines for the performance of CMR in children and adults with congenital heart disease. The first portion addresses preparation for the examination and safety issues, the second describes the primary techniques used in an examination, and the third provides disease-specific protocols. Variations in practice are highlighted and expert consensus recommendations are provided. Indications and appropriate use criteria for CMR examination are not specifically addressed. PMID:23763839

Analysis of Existing Privacy-Preserving Protocols in Domain Name System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Fangming; Hori, Yoshiaki; Sakurai, Kouichi

In a society preoccupied with gradual erosion of electronic privacy, loss of privacy in the current Domain Name System is an important issue worth considering. In this paper, we first review the DNS and some security & privacy threats to make average users begin to concern about the significance of privacy preservation in DNS protocols. Then, by an careful survey of four noise query generation based existing privacy protection approaches, we analyze some benefits and limitations of these proposals in terms of both related performance evaluation results and theoretic proofs. Finally, we point out some problems that still exist for research community's continuing efforts in the future.