Reconstruction after complex facial trauma: achieving optimal outcome through multiple contemporary surgeries.

PubMed

Jaiswal, Rohit; Pu, Lee L Q

2013-04-01

Major facial trauma injuries often require complex repair. Traditionally, the reconstruction of such injuries has primarily utilized only free tissue transfer. However, the advent of newer, contemporary procedures may lead to potential reconstructive improvement through the use of complementary procedures after free flap reconstruction. An 18-year-old male patient suffered a major left facial degloving injury resulting in soft-tissue defect with exposed zygoma, and parietal bone. Multiple operations were undertaken in a staged manner for reconstruction. A state-of-the-art free anterolateral thigh (ALT) perforator flap and Medpor implant reconstruction of the midface were initially performed, followed by flap debulking, lateral canthopexy, midface lift with redo canthopexy, scalp tissue expansion for hairline reconstruction, and epidermal skin grafting for optimal skin color matching. Over a follow-up period of 2 years, a good and impressive reconstructive result was achieved through the use of multiple contemporary reconstructive procedures following an excellent free ALT flap reconstruction. Multiple staged reconstructions are essential in producing an optimal outcome in this complex facial injury that would likely not have been produced through a 1-stage traditional free flap reconstruction. Utilizing multiple, sequential contemporary surgeries may substantially improve outcome through the enhancement and refinement of results based on possibly the best initial soft-tissue reconstruction.

Surrogate endpoints in clinical trials of chronic kidney disease progression: moving from single to multiple risk marker response scores.

PubMed

Schievink, Bauke; Mol, Peter G M; Lambers Heerspink, Hiddo J

2015-11-01

There is increased interest in developing surrogate endpoints for clinical trials of chronic kidney disease progression, as the established clinically meaningful endpoint end-stage renal disease requires large and lengthy trials to assess drug efficacy. We describe recent developments in the search for novel surrogate endpoints. Declines in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of 30% or 40% and albuminuria have been proposed as surrogates for end-stage renal disease. However, changes in eGFR or albuminuria may not be valid under all circumstances as drugs always have effects on multiple renal risk markers. Changes in each of these other 'off-target' risk markers can alter renal risk (either beneficially or adversely), and can thereby confound the relationship between surrogates that are based on single risk markers and renal outcome. Risk algorithms that integrate the short-term drug effects on multiple risk markers to predict drug effects on hard renal outcomes may therefore be more accurate. The validity of these risk algorithms is currently investigated. Given that drugs affect multiple renal risk markers, risk scores that integrate these effects are a promising alternative to using eGFR decline or albuminuria. Proper validation is required before these risk scores can be implemented.

Why Are There Developmental Stages in Language Learning? A Developmental Robotics Model of Language Development.

PubMed

Morse, Anthony F; Cangelosi, Angelo

2017-02-01

Most theories of learning would predict a gradual acquisition and refinement of skills as learning progresses, and while some highlight exponential growth, this fails to explain why natural cognitive development typically progresses in stages. Models that do span multiple developmental stages typically have parameters to "switch" between stages. We argue that by taking an embodied view, the interaction between learning mechanisms, the resulting behavior of the agent, and the opportunities for learning that the environment provides can account for the stage-wise development of cognitive abilities. We summarize work relevant to this hypothesis and suggest two simple mechanisms that account for some developmental transitions: neural readiness focuses on changes in the neural substrate resulting from ongoing learning, and perceptual readiness focuses on the perceptual requirements for learning new tasks. Previous work has demonstrated these mechanisms in replications of a wide variety of infant language experiments, spanning multiple developmental stages. Here we piece this work together as a single model of ongoing learning with no parameter changes at all. The model, an instance of the Epigenetic Robotics Architecture (Morse et al 2010) embodied on the iCub humanoid robot, exhibits ongoing multi-stage development while learning pre-linguistic and then basic language skills. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Experience of two trauma-centers with pancreatic injuries requiring immediate surgery.

PubMed

Ouaïssi, Mehdi; Sielezneff, Igor; Chaix, Jean Baptiste; Mardion, Remi Bon; Pirrò, Nicolas; Berdah, Stéphane; Emungania, Olivier; Consentino, Bernard; Cresti, Silvia; Dahan, Laetitia; Orsoni, Pierre; Moutardier, Vincent; Brunet, C; Sastre, Bernard

2008-01-01

Pancreatic injury from blunt trauma is infrequent. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a simplified approach of management of pancreatic trauma injuries requiring immediate surgery consisting of either drainage in complex situation or pancreatectomy in the other cases. From January 1986 to December 2006, 40 pancreatic traumas requiring immediate surgery were performed. Mechanism of trauma, clinical and laboratories findings were noted upon admission, classification of pancreatic injury according to Lucas' classification were considered. Fifteen (100%) drainages were performed for stage I (n=15), 60% splenopancreatectomies and 40% drainage was achieved for stage II (n=18), 3 Pancreaticoduonectomies and 2 exclusion of duodenum with drainage and 2 packing were performed for stage IV (n=7). There were 30 men and 10 women with mean age of 29+/-13 years (15-65). Thirty-eight patients had multiple trauma. Overall, mortality and global morbidity rate were 17% and 65% respectively, and the rates increased with Lucas' pancreatic trauma stage. Distal pancreatectomy is indicated for distal injuries with duct involvement, and complex procedures such as pancreaticoduodenectomy should be performed in hemodynamically stable patients.

Developing a national dental education research strategy: priorities, barriers and enablers.

PubMed

Ajjawi, Rola; Barton, Karen L; Dennis, Ashley A; Rees, Charlotte E

2017-03-29

This study aimed to identify national dental education research (DER) priorities for the next 3-5 years and to identify barriers and enablers to DER. Scotland. In this two-stage online questionnaire study, we collected data with multiple dental professions (eg, dentistry, dental nursing and dental hygiene) and stakeholder groups (eg, learners, clinicians, educators, managers, researchers and academics). Eighty-five participants completed the Stage 1 qualitative questionnaire and 649 participants the Stage 2 quantitative questionnaire. Eight themes were identified at Stage 1. Of the 24 DER priorities identified, the top three were: role of assessments in identifying competence; undergraduate curriculum prepares for practice and promoting teamwork. Following exploratory factor analysis, the 24 items loaded onto four factors: teamwork and professionalism, measuring and enhancing performance, dental workforce issues and curriculum integration and innovation. Barriers and enablers existed at multiple levels: individual, interpersonal, institutional structures and cultures and technology. This priority setting exercise provides a necessary first step to developing a national DER strategy capturing multiple perspectives. Promoting DER requires improved resourcing alongside efforts to overcome peer stigma and lack of valuing and motivation. 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/.

Message Processing Research from Psychology to Communication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basil, Michael D.

Information processing theories have been very useful in psychology. The application of information processing literature to communication, however, requires definitions of audiences and definitions of messages relevant to information-processing theories. In order to establish the relevant aspect of audiences, a multiple-stage model of audiences…

Concrete Operations and Attentional Capacity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chapman, Michael; Lindenberger, Ulman

1989-01-01

To test predictions regarding the attentional capacity requirements of Piaget's stage of concrete operations, a battery of concrete operational tasks and two measures of attentional capacity were administered to 120 first-, second-, and third-graders. Findings concern class inclusion, transitivity of length and weight, and multiplication of…

Nontranscriptional regulation of SYK by the coactivator OCA-B is required at multiple stages of B cell development.

PubMed

Siegel, Rachael; Kim, Unkyu; Patke, Alina; Yu, Xin; Ren, Xiaodi; Tarakhovsky, Alexander; Roeder, Robert G

2006-05-19

OCA-B was originally identified as a nuclear transcriptional coactivator that is essential for antigen-driven immune responses. The later identification of a membrane bound, myristoylated form of OCA-B suggested additional, unique functions in B cell signaling pathways. This study has shown that OCA-B also functions in the pre-B1-to-pre-B2 cell transition and, most surprisingly, that it directly interacts with SYK, a tyrosine kinase critical for pre-BCR and BCR signaling. This unprecedented type of interaction-a transcriptional coactivator with a signaling kinase-occurs in the cytoplasm and directly regulates SYK stability. This study indicates that OCA-B is required for pre-BCR and BCR signaling at multiple stages of B cell development through its nontranscriptional regulation of SYK. Combined with the deregulation of OCA-B target genes, this may help explain the multitude of defects observed in B cell development and immune responses of Oca-b-/- mice.

Autologous Stem Cell Transplant Followed By Maintenance Therapy in Treating Elderly Patients With Multiple Myeloma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-02-27

Extramedullary Plasmacytoma; Isolated Plasmacytoma of Bone; Light Chain Deposition Disease; Primary Systemic Amyloidosis; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma

Staging and laser acceleration of ions in underdense plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ting, Antonio; Hafizi, Bahman; Helle, Michael; Chen, Yu-Hsin; Gordon, Daniel; Kaganovich, Dmitri; Polyanskiy, Mikhail; Pogorelsky, Igor; Babzien, Markus; Miao, Chenlong; Dover, Nicholas; Najmudin, Zulfikar; Ettlinger, Oliver

2017-03-01

Accelerating ions from rest in a plasma requires extra considerations because of their heavy mass. Low phase velocity fields or quasi-electrostatic fields are often necessary, either by operating above or near the critical density or by applying other slow wave generating mechanisms. Solid targets have been a favorite and have generated many good results. High density gas targets have also been reported to produce energetic ions. It is interesting to consider acceleration of ions in laser-driven plasma configurations that will potentially allow continuous acceleration in multiple consecutive stages. The plasma will be derived from gaseous targets, producing plasma densities slightly below the critical plasma density (underdense) for the driving laser. Such a plasma is experimentally robust, being repeatable and relatively transparent to externally injected ions from a previous stage. When optimized, multiple stages of this underdense laser plasma acceleration mechanism can progressively accelerate the ions to a high final energy. For a light mass ion such as the proton, relativistic velocities could be reached, making it suitable for further acceleration by high phase velocity plasma accelerators to energies appropriate for High Energy Physics applications. Negatively charged ions such as antiprotons could be similarly accelerated in this multi-staged ion acceleration scheme.

Precision magnetic suspension linear bearing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trumper, David L.; Queen, Michael A.

1992-01-01

We have shown the design and analyzed the electromechanics of a linear motor suitable for independently controlling two suspension degrees of freedom. This motor, at least on paper, meets the requirements for driving an X-Y stage of 10 Kg mass with about 4 m/sq sec acceleration, with travel of several hundred millimeters in X and Y, and with reasonable power dissipation. A conceptual design for such a stage is presented. The theoretical feasibility of linear and planar bearings using single or multiple magnetic suspension linear motors is demonstrated.

Lunar Base Heat Pump

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, D.; Fischbach, D.; Tetreault, R.

1996-01-01

The objective of this project was to investigate the feasibility of constructing a heat pump suitable for use as a heat rejection device in applications such as a lunar base. In this situation, direct heat rejection through the use of radiators is not possible at a temperature suitable for lde support systems. Initial analysis of a heat pump of this type called for a temperature lift of approximately 378 deg. K, which is considerably higher than is commonly called for in HVAC and refrigeration applications where heat pumps are most often employed. Also because of the variation of the rejection temperature (from 100 to 381 deg. K), extreme flexibility in the configuration and operation of the heat pump is required. A three-stage compression cycle using a refrigerant such as CFC-11 or HCFC-123 was formulated with operation possible with one, two or three stages of compression. Also, to meet the redundancy requirements, compression was divided up over multiple compressors in each stage. A control scheme was devised that allowed these multiple compressors to be operated as required so that the heat pump could perform with variable heat loads and rejection conditions. A prototype heat pump was designed and constructed to investigate the key elements of the high-lift heat pump concept. Control software was written and implemented in the prototype to allow fully automatic operation. The heat pump was capable of operation over a wide range of rejection temperatures and cooling loads, while maintaining cooling water temperature well within the required specification of 40 deg. C +/- 1.7 deg. C. This performance was verified through testing.

Electrophysiology Tool Construction

PubMed Central

Ide, David

2016-01-01

This protocol documents the construction of a custom microscope stage system currently in widespread use by a wide variety of investigators. The current design and construction of this stage is the result of multiple iterations, integrating input from a number of electrophysiologists working with a variety of preparations. Thus, this tool is a generally applicable solution, suitable for a wide array of end-user requirements; its flexible design facilitates rapid and easy configuration, making it useful for multi-user microscopes, as individual researchers can reconfigure the stage system or have their own readily replaceable stage plates. Furthermore, the stage can be manufactured using equipment typically found in small research machine shops, and by keeping the various parts on hand, machinists can quickly satisfy new requests and/or modifications for a wide variety of applications. PMID:23315946

Hedgehog signaling is required at multiple stages of zebrafish tooth development.

PubMed

Jackman, William R; Yoo, James J; Stock, David W

2010-11-30

The accessibility of the developing zebrafish pharyngeal dentition makes it an advantageous system in which to study many aspects of tooth development from early initiation to late morphogenesis. In mammals, hedgehog signaling is known to be essential for multiple stages of odontogenesis; however, potential roles for the pathway during initiation of tooth development or in later morphogenesis are incompletely understood. We have identified mRNA expression of the hedgehog ligands shha and the receptors ptc1 and ptc2 during zebrafish pharyngeal tooth development. We looked for, but did not detect, tooth germ expression of the other known zebrafish hedgehog ligands shhb, dhh, ihha, or ihhb, suggesting that as in mammals, only Shh participates in zebrafish tooth development. Supporting this idea, we found that morphological and gene expression evidence of tooth initiation is eliminated in shha mutant embryos, and that morpholino antisense oligonucleotide knockdown of shha, but not shhb, function prevents mature tooth formation. Hedgehog pathway inhibition with the antagonist compound cyclopamine affected tooth formation at each stage in which we applied it: arresting development at early stages and disrupting mature tooth morphology when applied later. These results suggest that hedgehog signaling is required continuously during odontogenesis. In contrast, over-expression of shha had no effect on the developing dentition, possibly because shha is normally extensively expressed in the zebrafish pharyngeal region. We have identified previously unknown requirements for hedgehog signaling for early tooth initiation and later morphogenesis. The similarity of our results with data from mouse and other vertebrates suggests that despite gene duplication and changes in the location of where teeth form, the roles of hedgehog signaling in tooth development have been largely conserved during evolution.

A methodological framework to support the initiation, design and institutionalization of participatory modeling processes in water resources management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halbe, Johannes; Pahl-Wostl, Claudia; Adamowski, Jan

2018-01-01

Multiple barriers constrain the widespread application of participatory methods in water management, including the more technical focus of most water agencies, additional cost and time requirements for stakeholder involvement, as well as institutional structures that impede collaborative management. This paper presents a stepwise methodological framework that addresses the challenges of context-sensitive initiation, design and institutionalization of participatory modeling processes. The methodological framework consists of five successive stages: (1) problem framing and stakeholder analysis, (2) process design, (3) individual modeling, (4) group model building, and (5) institutionalized participatory modeling. The Management and Transition Framework is used for problem diagnosis (Stage One), context-sensitive process design (Stage Two) and analysis of requirements for the institutionalization of participatory water management (Stage Five). Conceptual modeling is used to initiate participatory modeling processes (Stage Three) and ensure a high compatibility with quantitative modeling approaches (Stage Four). This paper describes the proposed participatory model building (PMB) framework and provides a case study of its application in Québec, Canada. The results of the Québec study demonstrate the applicability of the PMB framework for initiating and designing participatory model building processes and analyzing barriers towards institutionalization.

Real-time traffic sign detection and recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herbschleb, Ernst; de With, Peter H. N.

2009-01-01

The continuous growth of imaging databases increasingly requires analysis tools for extraction of features. In this paper, a new architecture for the detection of traffic signs is proposed. The architecture is designed to process a large database with tens of millions of images with a resolution up to 4,800x2,400 pixels. Because of the size of the database, a high reliability as well as a high throughput is required. The novel architecture consists of a three-stage algorithm with multiple steps per stage, combining both color and specific spatial information. The first stage contains an area-limitation step which is performance critical in both the detection rate as the overall processing time. The second stage locates suggestions for traffic signs using recently published feature processing. The third stage contains a validation step to enhance reliability of the algorithm. During this stage, the traffic signs are recognized. Experiments show a convincing detection rate of 99%. With respect to computational speed, the throughput for line-of-sight images of 800×600 pixels is 35 Hz and for panorama images it is 4 Hz. Our novel architecture outperforms existing algorithms, with respect to both detection rate and throughput

Design Assessment: "Consumer Reports" Style

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelley, Todd R.

2010-01-01

Novices to the design process often struggle at first to understand the various stages of design. Learning to design is a process not easily mastered, and therefore requires multiple levels of exposure to the design process. It is helpful if teachers are able to implement various entry-level design assignments such as reverse-engineering…

Chapter 6: Managing forests for wildlife communities

Treesearch

M North; P. Manley

2012-01-01

Forest management to maintain native wildlife communities is an important, yet complex objective. The complexities stem from two primary sources: habitat requirements for native species are diverse and span multiple spatial scales and seral stages, and habitat is a species-specific concept making multispecies community response difficult to predict. Given these...

Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (CPS) Configuration in Support of NASA's Multiple Design Reference Missions (DRMs)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hanna, Stephen G.; Jones, David L.; Creech, Stephen D.; Lawrence, Thomas D.

2012-01-01

In support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD), the Space Launch System (SLS) is being designed for safe, affordable, and sustainable human and scientific exploration missions beyond Earth's or-bit (BEO). The SLS Team is tasked with developing a system capable of safely and repeatedly lofting a new fleet of spaceflight vehicles beyond Earth orbit. The Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (CPS) is a key enabler for evolving the SLS capability for BEO missions. This paper reports on the methodology and initial recommendations relative to the CPS, giving a brief retrospective of early studies on this promising propulsion hardware. This paper provides an overview of the requirements development and CPS configuration in support of NASA's multiple Design Reference Missions (DRMs).

SLS EM-1 Launch Animation

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-31

Animation depicting NASA’s Space Launch System, the world's most powerful rocket for a new era of human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. With its unprecedented capabilities, SLS will launch astronauts in the agency’s Orion spacecraft on missions to explore multiple, deep-space destinations, including Mars. Traveling to deep space requires a large vehicle that can carry huge payloads, and future evolutions of SLS with the exploration upper stage and advanced boosters will increase the rocket’s lift capability and flexibility for multiple types of mission needs.

Space Shuttle guidance for multiple main engine failures during first stage

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sponaugle, Steven J.; Fernandes, Stanley T.

1987-01-01

This paper presents contingency abort guidance schemes recently developed for multiple Space Shuttle main engine failures during the first two minutes of flight (first stage). The ascent and entry guidance schemes greatly improve the possibility of the crew and/or the Orbiter surviving a first stage contingency abort. Both guidance schemes were required to meet certain structural and controllability constraints. In addition, the systems were designed with the flexibility to allow for seasonal variations in the atmosphere and wind. The ascent scheme guides the vehicle to a desirable, lofted state at solid rocket booster burnout while reducing the structural loads on the vehicle. After Orbiter separation from the solid rockets and the external tank, the entry scheme guides the Orbiter through one of two possible entries. If the proper altitude/range/velocity conditions have been met, a return-to-launch-site 'Split-S' maneuver may be attempted. Otherwise, a down-range abort to an equilibrium glide and subsequent crew bailout is performed.

Aggregation of carbon dioxide sequestration storage assessment units

USGS Publications Warehouse

Blondes, Madalyn S.; Schuenemeyer, John H.; Olea, Ricardo A.; Drew, Lawrence J.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey is currently conducting a national assessment of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage resources, mandated by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Pre-emission capture and storage of CO2 in subsurface saline formations is one potential method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the negative impact of global climate change. Like many large-scale resource assessments, the area under investigation is split into smaller, more manageable storage assessment units (SAUs), which must be aggregated with correctly propagated uncertainty to the basin, regional, and national scales. The aggregation methodology requires two types of data: marginal probability distributions of storage resource for each SAU, and a correlation matrix obtained by expert elicitation describing interdependencies between pairs of SAUs. Dependencies arise because geologic analogs, assessment methods, and assessors often overlap. The correlation matrix is used to induce rank correlation, using a Cholesky decomposition, among the empirical marginal distributions representing individually assessed SAUs. This manuscript presents a probabilistic aggregation method tailored to the correlations and dependencies inherent to a CO2 storage assessment. Aggregation results must be presented at the basin, regional, and national scales. A single stage approach, in which one large correlation matrix is defined and subsets are used for different scales, is compared to a multiple stage approach, in which new correlation matrices are created to aggregate intermediate results. Although the single-stage approach requires determination of significantly more correlation coefficients, it captures geologic dependencies among similar units in different basins and it is less sensitive to fluctuations in low correlation coefficients than the multiple stage approach. Thus, subsets of one single-stage correlation matrix are used to aggregate to basin, regional, and national scales.

Modeling the influence of genetic and environmental variation on the expression of plant life cycles across landscapes.

PubMed

Burghardt, Liana T; Metcalf, C Jessica E; Wilczek, Amity M; Schmitt, Johanna; Donohue, Kathleen

2015-02-01

Organisms develop through multiple life stages that differ in environmental tolerances. The seasonal timing, or phenology, of life-stage transitions determines the environmental conditions to which each life stage is exposed and the length of time required to complete a generation. Both environmental and genetic factors contribute to phenological variation, yet predicting their combined effect on life cycles across a geographic range remains a challenge. We linked submodels of the plasticity of individual life stages to create an integrated model that predicts life-cycle phenology in complex environments. We parameterized the model for Arabidopsis thaliana and simulated life cycles in four locations. We compared multiple "genotypes" by varying two parameters associated with natural genetic variation in phenology: seed dormancy and floral repression. The model predicted variation in life cycles across locations that qualitatively matches observed natural phenology. Seed dormancy had larger effects on life-cycle length than floral repression, and results suggest that a genetic cline in dormancy maintains a life-cycle length of 1 year across the geographic range of this species. By integrating across life stages, this approach demonstrates how genetic variation in one transition can influence subsequent transitions and the geographic distribution of life cycles more generally.

Promoting Research in an Undergraduate Shakespeare Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fike, Matthew A.

2011-01-01

This essay concerns the methods I use in my 300-level Shakespeare course at Winthrop University to foster research worthy of frequent conference presentation and occasional publication. In short, my approach is to provide suitable topics and to require multiple stages in the composition and research process. The results, I have discovered, are…

Multiple Roles in Responding to Strategic Communications: Wearing Trifocals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forman, Janis

2004-01-01

Teaching communication to MBAs often involves focusing on corporate strategic discourse when student projects are intended to help companies move to a more advanced stage of development. This focus on corporate strategy--the language and concepts that concern the mission and direction that an organization should adopt--requires, in turn, that…

[Orange Platform].

PubMed

Toba, Kenji

2017-07-01

The Organized Registration for the Assessment of dementia on Nationwide General consortium toward Effective treatment in Japan (ORANGE platform) is a recently established nationwide clinical registry for dementia. This platform consists of multiple registries of patients with dementia stratified by the following clinical stages: preclinical, mild cognitive impairment, early-stage, and advanced-stage dementia. Patients will be examined in a super-longitudinal fashion, and their lifestyle, social background, genetic risk factors, and required care process will be assessed. This project is also notable because the care registry includes information on the successful, comprehensive management of patients with dementia. Therefore, this multicenter prospective cohort study will contribute participants to all clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease as well as improve the understanding of individuals with dementia.

Two-stage damage diagnosis based on the distance between ARMA models and pre-whitening filters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, H.; Mita, A.

2007-10-01

This paper presents a two-stage damage diagnosis strategy for damage detection and localization. Auto-regressive moving-average (ARMA) models are fitted to time series of vibration signals recorded by sensors. In the first stage, a novel damage indicator, which is defined as the distance between ARMA models, is applied to damage detection. This stage can determine the existence of damage in the structure. Such an algorithm uses output only and does not require operator intervention. Therefore it can be embedded in the sensor board of a monitoring network. In the second stage, a pre-whitening filter is used to minimize the cross-correlation of multiple excitations. With this technique, the damage indicator can further identify the damage location and severity when the damage has been detected in the first stage. The proposed methodology is tested using simulation and experimental data. The analysis results clearly illustrate the feasibility of the proposed two-stage damage diagnosis methodology.

From the cradle to the grave: activities of GATA-3 throughout T cell development and differentiation

PubMed Central

Hosoya, Tomonori; Maillard, Ivan; Engel, James Douglas

2010-01-01

Summary GATA family transcription factors play multiple vital roles in hematopoiesis in many cell lineages, and in particular, T cells require GATA-3 for execution of several developmental steps. Transcriptional activation of the Gata3 gene is observed throughout T-cell development and differentiation in stage-specific fashion. GATA-3 has been described as a master regulator of T-helper 2 (Th2) cell differentiation in mature CD4+ T cells. During T-cell development in the thymus, its roles in the CD4 vs. CD8 lineage choice and at the β-selection checkpoint are the best characterized. In contrast, its importance prior to β-selection has been obscured both by the developmental heterogeneity of double negative (DN) 1 thymocytes and the paucity of early T-lineage progenitors (ETPs), a subpopulation of DN1 cells that contains the most immature thymic progenitors that retain potent T-lineage developmental potential. By examining multiple lines of in vivo evidence procured through the analysis of Gata3 mutant mice, we have recently demonstrated that GATA-3 is additionally required at the earliest stage of thymopoiesis for the development of the ETP population. Here, we review the characterized functions of GATA-3 at each stage of T-cell development and discuss hypothetical molecular pathways that mediate these functions. PMID:20969588

Multi-surface topography targeted plateau honing for the processing of cylinder liner surfaces of automotive engines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawrence, K. Deepak; Ramamoorthy, B.

2016-03-01

Cylinder bores of automotive engines are 'engineered' surfaces that are processed using multi-stage honing process to generate multiple layers of micro geometry for meeting the different functional requirements of the piston assembly system. The final processed surfaces should comply with several surface topographic specifications that are relevant for the good tribological performance of the engine. Selection of the process parameters in three stages of honing to obtain multiple surface topographic characteristics simultaneously within the specification tolerance is an important module of the process planning and is often posed as a challenging task for the process engineers. This paper presents a strategy by combining the robust process design and gray-relational analysis to evolve the operating levels of honing process parameters in rough, finish and plateau honing stages targeting to meet multiple surface topographic specifications on the final running surface of the cylinder bores. Honing experiments were conducted in three stages namely rough, finish and plateau honing on cast iron cylinder liners by varying four honing process parameters such as rotational speed, oscillatory speed, pressure and honing time. Abbott-Firestone curve based functional parameters (Rk, Rpk, Rvk, Mr1 and Mr2) coupled with mean roughness depth (Rz, DIN/ISO) and honing angle were measured and identified as the surface quality performance targets to be achieved. The experimental results have shown that the proposed approach is effective to generate cylinder liner surface that would simultaneously meet the explicit surface topographic specifications currently practiced by the industry.

Prediction of lethal/effective concentration/dose in the presence of multiple auxiliary covariates and components of variance

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gutreuter, S.; Boogaard, M.A.

2007-01-01

Predictors of the percentile lethal/effective concentration/dose are commonly used measures of efficacy and toxicity. Typically such quantal-response predictors (e.g., the exposure required to kill 50% of some population) are estimated from simple bioassays wherein organisms are exposed to a gradient of several concentrations of a single agent. The toxicity of an agent may be influenced by auxiliary covariates, however, and more complicated experimental designs may introduce multiple variance components. Prediction methods lag examples of those cases. A conventional two-stage approach consists of multiple bivariate predictions of, say, medial lethal concentration followed by regression of those predictions on the auxiliary covariates. We propose a more effective and parsimonious class of generalized nonlinear mixed-effects models for prediction of lethal/effective dose/concentration from auxiliary covariates. We demonstrate examples using data from a study regarding the effects of pH and additions of variable quantities 2???,5???-dichloro-4???- nitrosalicylanilide (niclosamide) on the toxicity of 3-trifluoromethyl-4- nitrophenol to larval sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). The new models yielded unbiased predictions and root-mean-squared errors (RMSEs) of prediction for the exposure required to kill 50 and 99.9% of some population that were 29 to 82% smaller, respectively, than those from the conventional two-stage procedure. The model class is flexible and easily implemented using commonly available software. ?? 2007 SETAC.

4(1H)-Pyridone and 4(1H)-Quinolone Derivatives as Antimalarials with Erythrocytic, Exoerythrocytic, and Transmission Blocking Activities

PubMed Central

Monastyrskyi, Andrii; Kyle, Dennis E.; Manetsch, Roman

2015-01-01

Infectious diseases are the second leading cause of deaths in the world with malaria being responsible for approximately the same amount of deaths as cancer in 2012. Despite the success in malaria prevention and control measures decreasing the disease mortality rate by 45% since 2000, the development of single-dose therapeutics with radical cure potential is required to completely eradicate this deadly condition. Targeting multiple stages of the malaria parasite is becoming a primary requirement for new candidates in antimalarial drug discovery and development. Recently, 4(1H)-pyridone, 4(1H)-quinolone, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroacridone, and phenoxyethoxy-4(1H)-quinolone chemotypes have been shown to be antimalarials with blood stage activity, liver stage activity, and transmission blocking activity. Advancements in structure-activity relationship and structure-property relationship studies, biological evaluation in vitro and in vivo, as well as pharmacokinetics of the 4(1H)-pyridone and 4(1H)-quinolone chemotypes will be discussed. PMID:25116582

Bronchoscopy with endobronchial ultrasound guided transbronchial needle aspiration vs. transthoracic needle aspiration in lung cancer diagnosis and staging.

PubMed

Munoz, Mark L; Lechtzin, Noah; Li, Qing Kay; Wang, KoPen; Yarmus, Lonny B; Lee, Hans J; Feller-Kopman, David J

2017-07-01

In evaluating patients with suspected lung cancer, it is important to not only obtain a tissue diagnosis, but also to obtain enough tissue for both histologic and molecular analysis in order to appropriately stage the patient with a safe and efficient strategy. The diagnostic approach may often be dependent on local resources and practice patterns rather than current guidelines. We Describe lung cancer staging at two large academic medical centers to identify the impact different procedural approaches have on patient outcomes. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all patients undergoing a lung cancer diagnostic evaluation at two multidisciplinary centers during a 1-year period. Identifying complication rates and the need for multiple biopsies as our primary outcomes, we developed a multivariate regression model to determine features associated with complications and need for multiple biopsies. Of 830 patients, 285 patients were diagnosed with lung cancers during the study period. Those staged at the institution without an endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) program were more likely to require multiple biopsies (OR 3.62, 95% CI: 1.71-7.67, P=0.001) and suffer complications associated with the diagnostic procedure (OR 10.2, 95% CI: 3.08-33.58, P<0.001). Initial staging with transthoracic needle aspiration (TTNA) and conventional bronchoscopy were associated with greater need for subsequent biopsies (OR 8.05 and 14.00, 95% CI: 3.43-18.87 and 5.17-37.86, respectively) and higher complication rates (OR 37.75 and 7.20, 95% CI: 10.33-137.96 and 1.36-37.98, respectively). Lung cancer evaluation at centers with a dedicated EBUS program results in fewer biopsies and complications than at multidisciplinary counterparts without an EBUS program.

Two stage low noise advanced technology fan. 1: Aerodynamic, structural, and acoustic design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Messenger, H. E.; Ruschak, J. T.; Sofrin, T. G.

1974-01-01

A two-stage fan was designed to reduce noise 20 db below current requirements. The first-stage rotor has a design tip speed of 365.8 m/sec and a hub/tip ratio of 0.4. The fan was designed to deliver a pressure ratio of 1.9 with an adiabatic efficiency of 85.3 percent at a specific inlet corrected flow of 209.2kg/sec/sq m. Noise reduction devices include acoustically treated casing walls, a flowpath exit acoustic splitter, a translating centerbody sonic inlet device, widely spaced blade rows, and the proper ratio of blades and vanes. Multiple-circular-arc rotor airfoils, resettable stators, split outer casings, and capability to go to close blade-row spacing are also included.

Spatial requirements of different life-stages of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) from a distinct population segment in the northern Gulf of Mexico

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lamont, Margaret M.; Putman, Nathan F.; Fujisaki, Ikuko; Hart, Kristen M.

2015-01-01

Many marine species have complex life histories that involve disparate developmental, foraging and reproductive habitats and a holistic assessment of the spatial requirements for different life stages is a challenge that greatly complicates their management. Here, we combined data from oceanographic modeling, nesting surveys, and satellite tracking to examine the spatial requirements of different life stages of Loggerhead Turtles (Caretta caretta) from a distinct population segment in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Our findings indicate that after emerging from nesting beaches in Alabama and Northwest Florida, hatchlings disperse widely and the proportion of turtles following a given route varies substantially through time, with the majority (mean of 74.4%) projected to leave the Gulf of Mexico. Adult females use neritic habitat throughout the northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico both during the inter-nesting phase and as post-nesting foraging areas. Movements and habitat use of juveniles and adult males represent a large gap in our knowledge, but given the hatchling dispersal predictions and tracks of post-nesting females it is likely that some Loggerhead Turtles remain in the Gulf of Mexico throughout their life. More than two-thirds of the Gulf provides potential habitat for at least one life-stage of Loggerhead Turtles. These results demonstrate the importance of the Gulf of Mexico to this Distinct Population Segment of Loggerhead Turtles. It also highlights the benefits of undertaking comprehensive studies of multiple life stages simultaneously: loss of individual habitats have the potential to affect several life stages thereby having long-term consequences to population recovery.

Sorafenib in Treating Patients With Metastatic or Unresectable Solid Tumors, Multiple Myeloma, or Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma With or Without Impaired Liver or Kidney Function

ClinicalTrials.gov

2013-01-04

Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Unspecified Adult Solid Tumor, Protocol Specific; Waldenström Macroglobulinemia

Some controversial multiple testing problems in regulatory applications.

PubMed

Hung, H M James; Wang, Sue-Jane

2009-01-01

Multiple testing problems in regulatory applications are often more challenging than the problems of handling a set of mathematical symbols representing multiple null hypotheses under testing. In the union-intersection setting, it is important to define a family of null hypotheses relevant to the clinical questions at issue. The distinction between primary endpoint and secondary endpoint needs to be considered properly in different clinical applications. Without proper consideration, the widely used sequential gate keeping strategies often impose too many logical restrictions to make sense, particularly to deal with the problem of testing multiple doses and multiple endpoints, the problem of testing a composite endpoint and its component endpoints, and the problem of testing superiority and noninferiority in the presence of multiple endpoints. Partitioning the null hypotheses involved in closed testing into clinical relevant orderings or sets can be a viable alternative to resolving the illogical problems requiring more attention from clinical trialists in defining the clinical hypotheses or clinical question(s) at the design stage. In the intersection-union setting there is little room for alleviating the stringency of the requirement that each endpoint must meet the same intended alpha level, unless the parameter space under the null hypothesis can be substantially restricted. Such restriction often requires insurmountable justification and usually cannot be supported by the internal data. Thus, a possible remedial approach to alleviate the possible conservatism as a result of this requirement is a group-sequential design strategy that starts with a conservative sample size planning and then utilizes an alpha spending function to possibly reach the conclusion early.

Harnessing Teams and Technology to Improve Outcomes in Infants With Single Ventricle.

PubMed

Shirali, Girish; Erickson, Lori; Apperson, Jonathan; Goggin, Kathy; Williams, David; Reid, Kimberly; Bradley-Ewing, Andrea; Tucker, Dawn; Bingler, Michael; Spertus, John; Rabbitt, Leslie; Stroup, Richard

2016-05-01

Infants with single ventricle require staged cardiac surgery, with stage I typically performed shortly after birth, stage II at 4 to 6 months of age, and stage III at 3 to 5 years of age. There is a high risk of interstage mortality and morbidity after infants are discharged from the hospital between stages I and II. Traditional home monitoring requires caregivers to record measurements of weight and oxygen saturation into a binder and requires families to assume a surveillance role. We have developed a tablet PC-based solution that provides secure and nearly instantaneous transfer of patient information to a cloud-based server, with the capacity for instant alerts to be sent to the caregiver team. The cloud-based IT infrastructure lends itself well to being able to be scaled to multiple sites while maintaining strict control over the privacy of each site. All transmitted data are transferred to the electronic medical record daily. The system conforms to recently released Food and Drug Administration regulation that pertains to mobile health technologies and devices. Since this platform was developed in March 2014, 30 patients have been monitored. There have been no interstage deaths. The experience of care providers has been unanimously positive. The addition of video has added to the use of the monitoring program. Of 30 families, 23 expressed a preference for the tablet PC over the notebook, 3 had no preference, and 4 preferred the notebook to the tablet PC. © 2016 American Heart Association, Inc.

Veliparib, Capecitabine, and Temozolomide in Patients With Advanced, Metastatic, and Recurrent Neuroendocrine Tumor

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-09-26

Functional Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor; Malignant Somatostatinoma; Merkel Cell Carcinoma; Metastatic Adrenal Gland Pheochromocytoma; Metastatic Carcinoid Tumor; Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1; Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2A; Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2B; Neuroendocrine Neoplasm; Non-Functional Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor; Pancreatic Glucagonoma; Pancreatic Insulinoma; Recurrent Adrenal Cortex Carcinoma; Recurrent Adrenal Gland Pheochromocytoma; Recurrent Merkel Cell Carcinoma; Somatostatin-Producing Neuroendocrine Tumor; Stage III Adrenal Cortex Carcinoma; Stage III Thyroid Gland Medullary Carcinoma; Stage IIIA Merkel Cell Carcinoma; Stage IIIB Merkel Cell Carcinoma; Stage IV Adrenal Cortex Carcinoma; Stage IV Merkel Cell Carcinoma; Stage IVA Thyroid Gland Medullary Carcinoma; Stage IVB Thyroid Gland Medullary Carcinoma; Stage IVC Thyroid Gland Medullary Carcinoma; Thymic Carcinoid Tumor; VIP-Producing Neuroendocrine Tumor; Well Differentiated Adrenal Cortex Carcinoma; Zollinger Ellison Syndrome

Health care administrators' perspectives on the role of absorptive capacity for strategic change initiatives: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Kash, Bita A; Spaulding, Aaron; Gamm, Larry; Johnson, Christopher E

2013-01-01

The dimensions of absorptive capacity (ACAP) are defined, and the importance of ACAP is established in the management literature, but the concept has not been applied to health care organizations attempting to implement multiple strategic initiatives. The aim of this study was to test the utility of ACAP by analyzing health care administrators' experiences with multiple strategic initiatives within two health systems. Results are drawn from administrators' assessments of multiple initiatives within two health systems using in-depth personal interviews with a total of 61 health care administrators. Data analysis was performed following deductive qualitative analysis guidelines. Interview transcripts were coded based on the four dimensions of ACAP: acquiring, assimilating, internalizing/transforming, and exploiting knowledge. Furthermore, we link results related to utilization of management resources, including number of key personnel involved and time consumption, to dimensions of ACAP. Participants' description of multiple strategic change initiatives confirmed the importance of the four ACAP dimensions. ACAP can be a useful framework to assess organizational capacity with respect to the organization's ability to concurrently implement multiple strategic initiatives. This capacity specifically revolves around human capital requirements from upper management based on the initiatives' location or stage within the ACAP framework. Strategic change initiatives in health care can be usefully viewed from an ACAP perspective. There is a tendency for those strategic initiatives ranking higher in priority and time consumption to reflect more advanced dimensions of ACAP (assimilate and transform), whereas few initiatives were identified in the ACAP "exploit" dimension. This may suggest that health care leaders tend to no longer identify as strategic initiatives those innovations that have moved to the exploitation stage or that less attention is given to the exploitation elements of a strategic initiative than to the earlier stages.

The Multiple Doppler Radar Workshop, November 1979.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carbone, R. E.; Harris, F. I.; Hildebrand, P. H.; Kropfli, R. A.; Miller, L. J.; Moninger, W.; Strauch, R. G.; Doviak, R. J.; Johnson, K. W.; Nelson, S. P.; Ray, P. S.; Gilet, M.

1980-10-01

The findings of the Multiple Doppler Radar Workshop are summarized by a series of six papers. Part I of this series briefly reviews the history of multiple Doppler experimentation, fundamental concepts of Doppler signal theory, and organization and objectives of the Workshop. Invited presentations by dynamicists and cloud physicists are also summarized.Experimental design and procedures (Part II) are shown to be of critical importance. Well-defined and limited experimental objectives are necessary in view of technological limitations. Specified radar scanning procedures that balance temporal and spatial resolution considerations are discussed in detail. Improved siting for suppression of ground clutter as well as scanning procedures to minimize errors at echo boundaries are discussed. The need for accelerated research using numerically simulated proxy data sets is emphasized.New technology to eliminate various sampling limitations is cited as an eventual solution to many current problems in Part III. Ground clutter contamination may be curtailed by means of full spectral processing, digital filters in real time, and/or variable pulse repetition frequency. Range and velocity ambiguities also may be minimized by various pulsing options as well as random phase transmission. Sidelobe contamination can be reduced through improvements in radomes, illumination patterns, and antenna feed types. Radar volume-scan time can be sharply reduced by means of wideband transmission, phased array antennas, multiple beam antennas, and frequency agility.Part IV deals with synthesis of data from several radars in the context of scientific requirements in cumulus clouds, widespread precipitation, and severe convective storms. The important temporal and spatial scales are examined together with the accuracy required for vertical air motion in each phenomenon. Factors that introduce errors in the vertical velocity field are identified and synthesis techniques are discussed separately for the dual Doppler and multiple Doppler cases. Various filters and techniques, including statistical and variational approaches, are mentioned. Emphasis is placed on the importance of experiment design and procedures, technological improvements, incorporation of all information from supporting sensors, and analysis priority for physically simple cases. Integrated reliability is proposed as an objective tool for radar siting.Verification of multiple Doppler-derived vertical velocity is discussed in Part V. Three categories of verification are defined as direct, deductive, and theoretical/numerical. Direct verification consists of zenith-pointing radar measurements (from either airborne or ground-based systems), air motion sensing aircraft, instrumented towers, and tracking of radar chaff. Deductive sources include mesonetworks, aircraft (thermodynamic and microphysical) measurements, satellite observations, radar reflectivity, multiple Doppler consistency, and atmospheric soundings. Theoretical/numerical sources of verification include proxy data simulation, momentum checking, and numerical cloud models. New technology, principally in the form of wide bandwidth radars, is seen as a development that may reduce the need for extensive verification of multiple Doppler-derived vertical air motions. Airborne Doppler radar is perceived as the single most important source of verification within the bounds of existing technology.Nine stages of data processing and display are identified in Part VI. The stages are identified as field checks, archival, selection, editing, coordinate transformation, synthesis of Cartesian fields, filtering, display, and physical analysis. Display of data is considered to be a problem critical to assimilation of data at all stages. Interactive computing systems and software are concluded to be very important, particularly for the editing stage. Three- and 4-dimensional displays are considered essential for data assimilation, particularly at the physical analysis stage. The concept of common data tape formats is approved both for data in radar spherical space as well as for synthesized Cartesian output.1169

Hydraulic Fracture Induced Seismicity During A Multi-Stage Pad Completion in Western Canada: Evidence of Activation of Multiple, Parallel Faults

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maxwell, S.; Garrett, D.; Huang, J.; Usher, P.; Mamer, P.

2017-12-01

Following reports of injection induced seismicity in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, regulators have imposed seismic monitoring and traffic light protocols for fracturing operations in specific areas. Here we describe a case study in one of these reservoirs, the Montney Shale in NE British Columbia, where induced seismicity was monitored with a local array during multi-stage hydraulic fracture stimulations on several wells from a single drilling pad. Seismicity primarily occurred during the injection time periods, and correlated with periods of high injection rates and wellhead pressures above fracturing pressures. Sequential hydraulic fracture stages were found to progressively activate several parallel, critically-stressed faults, as illuminated by multiple linear hypocenter patterns in the range between Mw 1 and 3. Moment tensor inversion of larger events indicated a double-couple mechanism consistent with the regional strike-slip stress state and the hypocenter lineations. The critically-stressed faults obliquely cross the well paths which were purposely drilled parallel to the minimum principal stress direction. Seismicity on specific faults started and stopped when fracture initiation points of individual injection stages were proximal to the intersection of the fault and well. The distance ranges when the seismicity occurs is consistent with expected hydraulic fracture dimensions, suggesting that the induced fault slip only occurs when a hydraulic fracture grows directly into the fault and the faults are temporarily exposed to significantly elevated fracture pressures during the injection. Some faults crossed multiple wells and the seismicity was found to restart during injection of proximal stages on adjacent wells, progressively expanding the seismogenic zone of the fault. Progressive fault slip is therefore inferred from the seismicity migrating further along the faults during successive injection stages. An accelerometer was also deployed close to the pad operations providing information about the local ground motion at near offsets, although no ground motion was recorded that exceeds the minimum levels requiring mandatory reporting to the regulator.

Gas Production Strategy of Underground Coal Gasification Based on Multiple Gas Sources

PubMed Central

Tianhong, Duan; Zuotang, Wang; Limin, Zhou; Dongdong, Li

2014-01-01

To lower stability requirement of gas production in UCG (underground coal gasification), create better space and opportunities of development for UCG, an emerging sunrise industry, in its initial stage, and reduce the emission of blast furnace gas, converter gas, and coke oven gas, this paper, for the first time, puts forward a new mode of utilization of multiple gas sources mainly including ground gasifier gas, UCG gas, blast furnace gas, converter gas, and coke oven gas and the new mode was demonstrated by field tests. According to the field tests, the existing power generation technology can fully adapt to situation of high hydrogen, low calorific value, and gas output fluctuation in the gas production in UCG in multiple-gas-sources power generation; there are large fluctuations and air can serve as a gasifying agent; the gas production of UCG in the mode of both power and methanol based on multiple gas sources has a strict requirement for stability. It was demonstrated by the field tests that the fluctuations in gas production in UCG can be well monitored through a quality control chart method. PMID:25114953

Gas production strategy of underground coal gasification based on multiple gas sources.

PubMed

Tianhong, Duan; Zuotang, Wang; Limin, Zhou; Dongdong, Li

2014-01-01

To lower stability requirement of gas production in UCG (underground coal gasification), create better space and opportunities of development for UCG, an emerging sunrise industry, in its initial stage, and reduce the emission of blast furnace gas, converter gas, and coke oven gas, this paper, for the first time, puts forward a new mode of utilization of multiple gas sources mainly including ground gasifier gas, UCG gas, blast furnace gas, converter gas, and coke oven gas and the new mode was demonstrated by field tests. According to the field tests, the existing power generation technology can fully adapt to situation of high hydrogen, low calorific value, and gas output fluctuation in the gas production in UCG in multiple-gas-sources power generation; there are large fluctuations and air can serve as a gasifying agent; the gas production of UCG in the mode of both power and methanol based on multiple gas sources has a strict requirement for stability. It was demonstrated by the field tests that the fluctuations in gas production in UCG can be well monitored through a quality control chart method.

Understanding Existing Salmonid Habitat Availability and Connectivity to Improve River Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duffin, J.; Yager, E.; Tonina, D.; Benjankar, R. M.

2017-12-01

In the Pacific Northwest river restoration is common for salmon conservation. Mangers need methods to help target restoration to problem areas in rivers to create habitat that meets a species' needs. Hydraulic models and habitat suitability curves provide basic information on habitat availability and overall quality, but these analyses need to be expanded to address habitat quality based on the accessibility of habitats required for multiple life stages. Scientists are starting to use connectivity measurements to understand the longitudinal proximity of habitat patches, which can be used to address the habitat variability of a reach. By evaluating the availability and quality of habitat and calculating the connectivity between complementary habitats, such as spawning and rearing habitats, we aim to identify areas that should be targeted for restoration. To meet these goals, we assessed Chinook salmon habitat on the Lemhi River in Idaho. The depth and velocity outputs from a 2D hydraulic model are used in conjunction with locally created habitat suitability curves to evaluate the availability and quality of habitat for multiple Chinook salmon life stages. To assess the variability of the habitat, connectivity between habitat patches necessary for different life stages is calculated with a proximity index. A spatial representation of existing habitat quality and connectivity between complimentary habitats can be linked to river morphology by the evaluation of local geomorphic characteristics, including sinuosity and channel units. The understanding of the current habitat availability for multiple life stage needs, the connectivity between these habitat patches, and their relationship with channel morphology can help managers better identify restoration needs and direct their limited resources.

Plasmodium falciparum CRK4 directs continuous rounds of DNA replication during schizogony.

PubMed

Ganter, Markus; Goldberg, Jonathan M; Dvorin, Jeffrey D; Paulo, Joao A; King, Jonas G; Tripathi, Abhai K; Paul, Aditya S; Yang, Jing; Coppens, Isabelle; Jiang, Rays H Y; Elsworth, Brendan; Baker, David A; Dinglasan, Rhoel R; Gygi, Steven P; Duraisingh, Manoj T

2017-02-17

Plasmodium parasites, the causative agents of malaria, have evolved a unique cell division cycle in the clinically relevant asexual blood stage of infection 1 . DNA replication commences approximately halfway through the intracellular development following invasion and parasite growth. The schizont stage is associated with multiple rounds of DNA replication and nuclear division without cytokinesis, resulting in a multinucleated cell. Nuclei divide asynchronously through schizogony, with only the final round of DNA replication and segregation being synchronous and coordinated with daughter cell assembly 2,3 . However, the control mechanisms for this divergent mode of replication are unknown. Here, we show that the Plasmodium-specific kinase PfCRK4 is a key cell-cycle regulator that orchestrates multiple rounds of DNA replication throughout schizogony in Plasmodium falciparum. PfCRK4 depletion led to a complete block in nuclear division and profoundly inhibited DNA replication. Quantitative phosphoproteomic profiling identified a set of PfCRK4-regulated phosphoproteins with greatest functional similarity to CDK2 substrates, particularly proteins involved in the origin of replication firing. PfCRK4 was required for initial and subsequent rounds of DNA replication during schizogony and, in addition, was essential for development in the mosquito vector. Our results identified an essential S-phase promoting factor of the unconventional P. falciparum cell cycle. PfCRK4 is required for both a prolonged period of the intraerythrocytic stage of Plasmodium infection, as well as for transmission, revealing a broad window for PfCRK4-targeted chemotherapeutics.

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet as a Dry Alternative to Inkjet Printing in Flexible Electronics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gandhiraman, Ram Prasad; Lopez, Arlene; Koehne, Jessica; Meyyappan, M.

2016-01-01

We have developed an atmospheric pressure plasma jet printing system that works at room temperature to 50 deg C unlike conventional aerosol assisted techniques which require a high temperature sintering step to obtain desired thin films. Multiple jets can be configured to increase throughput or to deposit multiple materials, and the jet(s) can be moved across large areas using a x-y stage. The plasma jet has been used to deposit carbon nanotubes, graphene, silver nanowires, copper nanoparticles and other materials on substrates such as paper, cotton, plastic and thin metal foils.

An informational diversity framework, illustrated with sexually deceptive orchids in early stages of speciation.

PubMed

Smouse, Peter E; Whitehead, Michael R; Peakall, Rod

2015-11-01

Reconstructing evolutionary history for emerging species complexes is notoriously difficult, with newly isolated taxa often morphologically cryptic and the signature of reproductive isolation often restricted to a few genes. Evidence from multiple loci and genomes is highly desirable, but multiple inputs require 'common currency' translation. Here we deploy a Shannon information framework, converting into diversity analogue, which provides a common currency analysis for maternally inherited haploid and bi-parentally inherited diploid nuclear markers, and then extend that analysis to construction of minimum-spanning networks for both genomes. The new approach is illustrated with a quartet of cryptic congeners from the sexually deceptive Australian orchid genus Chiloglottis, still in the early stages of speciation. Divergence is more rapid for haploid plastids than for nuclear markers, consistent with the effective population size differential (N(ep) < (N(en)), but divergence patterns are broadly correlated for the two genomes. There are nevertheless intriguing discrepancies between the emerging plastid and nuclear signals of early phylogenetic radiation of these taxa, and neither pattern is entirely consistent with the available information on the sexual cues used by the orchids to lure the pollinators enforcing reproductive isolation. We describe possible extensions of this methodology to multiple ploidy levels and other types of markers, which should increase the range of application to any taxonomic assemblage in the very early stages of reproductive isolation and speciation. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

[Clinical patterns and stages of multiple organ failure in the elderly].

PubMed

Wang, S

1990-05-01

Multiple organ failure in the elderly (MOFE) is a new clinical syndrome different from multiple organ failure (MOF) caused by trauma occurring most often in young and mid-aged persons. The authors retrospectively analysed 158 cases of MOFE hospitalized in the past 12 years and commented on its definition, diagnostic criteria, clinical patterns and stages. The suggested definition of MOFE is the sequential 2 or more organs failure within a short period in the elderly patients (greater than or equal to 60 years old) with multiple organ chronic diseases in the presence of aging of organs and age-related malfunction. The most common precipitating factors are pulmonary infections and acute attack of chronic cardiac, cerebral and renal diseases. The interval between failures of various organs is mostly less than 10 days and seldom longer than 1 month. MOFE has 3 different patterns: rapid pattern with single phase; delayed pattern with two phases and recurrent pattern with multiple phase. In the last pattern the patients suffer from multiple attacks of multiple organ failure. It is only seen in MOFE, but not in MOF. The presentation of this particular pattern is related to the following facts: (1). A few organs or only the heart and lungs are involved. (2) Kidney, brain and hemopoietic system etc. usually with poor prognosis are not involved. (3) The age of patients are relatively younger. (4) More resuscitation experiences have been accumulated and better resuscitation measures are available. The clinical course of MOFE can be divided into 3 stages: prefailure stage (stage I), failure compensations stage (stage II) and decompensation stage (stage III).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Timing of Acute Palliative Care Consultation in Critically Ill Patients

ClinicalTrials.gov

2016-08-03

Multiple Organ Failure; End Stage Cardiac Failure; End Stage Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease; Chronic Kidney Disease Stage 5; Hepatic Encephalopathy; Sepsis; Dementia; Multiple Sclerosis; Parkinson's Disease; In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest; Solid Organ Cancer

Online two-stage association method for robust multiple people tracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lv, Jingqin; Fang, Jiangxiong; Yang, Jie

2011-07-01

Robust multiple people tracking is very important for many applications. It is a challenging problem due to occlusion and interaction in crowded scenarios. This paper proposes an online two-stage association method for robust multiple people tracking. In the first stage, short tracklets generated by linking people detection responses grow longer by particle filter based tracking, with detection confidence embedded into the observation model. And, an examining scheme runs at each frame for the reliability of tracking. In the second stage, multiple people tracking is achieved by linking tracklets to generate trajectories. An online tracklet association method is proposed to solve the linking problem, which allows applications in time-critical scenarios. This method is evaluated on the popular CAVIAR dataset. The experimental results show that our two-stage method is robust.

Glycolysis, Glutaminolysis, and Fatty Acid Synthesis Are Required for Distinct Stages of Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Lytic Replication.

PubMed

Sanchez, Erica L; Pulliam, Thomas H; Dimaio, Terri A; Thalhofer, Angel B; Delgado, Tracie; Lagunoff, Michael

2017-05-15

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiologic agent of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). KSHV infection induces and requires multiple metabolic pathways, including the glycolysis, glutaminolysis, and fatty acid synthesis (FAS) pathways, for the survival of latently infected endothelial cells. To determine the metabolic requirements for productive KSHV infection, we induced lytic replication in the presence of inhibitors of different metabolic pathways. We found that glycolysis, glutaminolysis, and FAS are all required for maximal KSHV virus production and that these pathways appear to participate in virus production at different stages of the viral life cycle. Glycolysis and glutaminolysis, but not FAS, inhibit viral genome replication and, interestingly, are required for different early steps of lytic gene expression. Glycolysis is necessary for early gene transcription, while glutaminolysis is necessary for early gene translation but not transcription. Inhibition of FAS resulted in decreased production of extracellular virions but did not reduce intracellular genome levels or block intracellular virion production. However, in the presence of FAS inhibitors, the intracellular virions are noninfectious, indicating that FAS is required for virion assembly or maturation. KS tumors support both latent and lytic KSHV replication. Previous work has shown that multiple cellular metabolic pathways are required for latency, and we now show that these metabolic pathways are required for efficient lytic replication, providing novel therapeutic avenues for KS tumors. IMPORTANCE KSHV is the etiologic agent of Kaposi's sarcoma, the most common tumor of AIDS patients. KS spindle cells, the main tumor cells, all contain KSHV, mostly in the latent state, during which there is limited viral gene expression. However, a percentage of spindle cells support lytic replication and production of virus and these cells are thought to contribute to overall tumor formation. Our previous findings showed that latently infected cells are sensitive to inhibitors of cellular metabolic pathways, including glycolysis, glutaminolysis, and fatty acid synthesis. Here we found that these same inhibitors block the production of infectious virus from lytically infected cells, each at a different stage of viral replication. Therefore, inhibition of specific cellular metabolic pathways can both eliminate latently infected cells and block lytic replication, thereby inhibiting infection of new cells. Inhibition of metabolic pathways provides novel therapeutic approaches for KS tumors. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Microbiology.

Glycolysis, Glutaminolysis, and Fatty Acid Synthesis Are Required for Distinct Stages of Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Lytic Replication

PubMed Central

Sanchez, Erica L.; Pulliam, Thomas H.; Dimaio, Terri A.; Thalhofer, Angel B.; Delgado, Tracie

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiologic agent of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). KSHV infection induces and requires multiple metabolic pathways, including the glycolysis, glutaminolysis, and fatty acid synthesis (FAS) pathways, for the survival of latently infected endothelial cells. To determine the metabolic requirements for productive KSHV infection, we induced lytic replication in the presence of inhibitors of different metabolic pathways. We found that glycolysis, glutaminolysis, and FAS are all required for maximal KSHV virus production and that these pathways appear to participate in virus production at different stages of the viral life cycle. Glycolysis and glutaminolysis, but not FAS, inhibit viral genome replication and, interestingly, are required for different early steps of lytic gene expression. Glycolysis is necessary for early gene transcription, while glutaminolysis is necessary for early gene translation but not transcription. Inhibition of FAS resulted in decreased production of extracellular virions but did not reduce intracellular genome levels or block intracellular virion production. However, in the presence of FAS inhibitors, the intracellular virions are noninfectious, indicating that FAS is required for virion assembly or maturation. KS tumors support both latent and lytic KSHV replication. Previous work has shown that multiple cellular metabolic pathways are required for latency, and we now show that these metabolic pathways are required for efficient lytic replication, providing novel therapeutic avenues for KS tumors. IMPORTANCE KSHV is the etiologic agent of Kaposi's sarcoma, the most common tumor of AIDS patients. KS spindle cells, the main tumor cells, all contain KSHV, mostly in the latent state, during which there is limited viral gene expression. However, a percentage of spindle cells support lytic replication and production of virus and these cells are thought to contribute to overall tumor formation. Our previous findings showed that latently infected cells are sensitive to inhibitors of cellular metabolic pathways, including glycolysis, glutaminolysis, and fatty acid synthesis. Here we found that these same inhibitors block the production of infectious virus from lytically infected cells, each at a different stage of viral replication. Therefore, inhibition of specific cellular metabolic pathways can both eliminate latently infected cells and block lytic replication, thereby inhibiting infection of new cells. Inhibition of metabolic pathways provides novel therapeutic approaches for KS tumors. PMID:28275189

Operations analysis (study 2.1): Shuttle upper stage software requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolfe, R. R.

1974-01-01

An investigation of software costs related to space shuttle upper stage operations with emphasis on the additional costs attributable to space servicing was conducted. The questions and problem areas include the following: (1) the key parameters involved with software costs; (2) historical data for extrapolation of future costs; (3) elements of the basic software development effort that are applicable to servicing functions; (4) effect of multiple servicing on complexity of the operation; and (5) are recurring software costs significant. The results address these questions and provide a foundation for estimating software costs based on the costs of similar programs and a series of empirical factors.

Innovative curriculum: Integrating the bio-behavioral and social science principles across the LifeStages in basic science years.

PubMed

Lele Mookerjee, Anuradha; Fischer, Bradford D; Cavanaugh, Susan; Rajput, Vijay

2018-05-20

Behavioral and social science integration in clinical practice improves health outcomes across the life stages. The medical school curriculum requires an integration of the behavioral and social science principles in early medical education. We developed and delivered a four-week course entitled "LifeStages" to the first year medical students. The learning objectives of the bio-behavioral and social science principles along with the cultural, economic, political, and ethical parameters were integrated across the lifespan in the curriculum matrix. We focused on the following major domains: Growth and Brain Development; Sexuality, Hormones and Gender; Sleep; Cognitive and Emotional Development; Mobility, Exercise, Injury and Safety; Nutrition, Diet and Lifestyle; Stress and coping skills, Domestic Violence; Substance Use Disorders; Pain, Illness and Suffering; End of Life, Ethics and Death along with Intergenerational issues and Family Dynamics. Collaboration from the clinical and biomedical science departments led to the dynamic delivery of the course learning objectives and content. The faculty developed and led a scholarly discussion, using the case of a multi-racial, multi-generational family during Active Learning Group (ALG) sessions. The assessment in the LifeStages course involved multiple assessment tools: including the holistic assessment by the faculty facilitator inside ALGs, a Team-Based Learning (TBL) exercise, multiple choice questions and Team Work Assessment during which the students had to create a clinical case on a LifeStages domain along with the facilitators guide and learning objectives.

TEAMS (Tele-Exercise and Multiple Sclerosis), a Tailored Telerehabilitation mHealth App: Participant-Centered Development and Usability Study

PubMed Central

Rimmer, James H; Johnson, George; Wilroy, Jereme; Young, Hui-Ju; Mehta, Tapan; Lai, Byron

2018-01-01

Background People with multiple sclerosis face varying levels of disability and symptoms, thus requiring highly trained therapists and/or exercise trainers to design personalized exercise programs. However, for people living in geographically isolated communities, access to such trained professionals can be challenging due to a number of barriers associated with cost, access to transportation, and travel distance. Generic mobile health exercise apps often fall short of what people with multiple sclerosis need to become physically active (ie, exercise content that has been adapted to accommodate a wide range of functional limitations). Objective This usability study describes the development process of the TEAMS (Tele-Exercise and Multiple Sclerosis) app, which is being used by people with multiple sclerosis in a large randomized controlled trial to engage in home-based telerehabilitation. Methods Twenty-one participants with disabilities (10 people with multiple sclerosis) were involved in the double iterative design, which included the simultaneous development of the app features and exercise content (exercise videos and articles). Framed within a user-centered design approach, the development process included 2 stages: ground-level creation (focus group followed by early stage evaluations and developments), and proof of concept through 2 usability tests. Usability (effectiveness, usefulness, and satisfaction) was evaluated using a mixed-methods approach. Results During testing of the app’s effectiveness, the second usability test resulted in an average of 1 problem per participant, a decrease of 53% compared to the initial usability test. Five themes were constructed from the qualitative data that related to app usefulness and satisfaction, namely: high perceived confidence for app usability, positive perceptions of exercise videos, viable exercise option at home, orientation and familiarity required for successful participation, and app issues. Participants acknowledged that the final app was ready to be delivered to the public after minor revisions. After including these revisions, the project team released the final app that is being used in the randomized controlled trial. Conclusions A multi-level user-centered development process resulted in the development of an inclusive exercise program for people with multiple sclerosis operated through an easy-to-use app. The promotion of exercise through self-regulated mHealth programs requires a stakeholder-driven approach to app development. This ensures that app and content match the preferences and functional abilities of the end user (ie, people with varying levels of multiple sclerosis). PMID:29798832

TEAMS (Tele-Exercise and Multiple Sclerosis), a Tailored Telerehabilitation mHealth App: Participant-Centered Development and Usability Study.

PubMed

Thirumalai, Mohanraj; Rimmer, James H; Johnson, George; Wilroy, Jereme; Young, Hui-Ju; Mehta, Tapan; Lai, Byron

2018-05-24

People with multiple sclerosis face varying levels of disability and symptoms, thus requiring highly trained therapists and/or exercise trainers to design personalized exercise programs. However, for people living in geographically isolated communities, access to such trained professionals can be challenging due to a number of barriers associated with cost, access to transportation, and travel distance. Generic mobile health exercise apps often fall short of what people with multiple sclerosis need to become physically active (ie, exercise content that has been adapted to accommodate a wide range of functional limitations). This usability study describes the development process of the TEAMS (Tele-Exercise and Multiple Sclerosis) app, which is being used by people with multiple sclerosis in a large randomized controlled trial to engage in home-based telerehabilitation. Twenty-one participants with disabilities (10 people with multiple sclerosis) were involved in the double iterative design, which included the simultaneous development of the app features and exercise content (exercise videos and articles). Framed within a user-centered design approach, the development process included 2 stages: ground-level creation (focus group followed by early stage evaluations and developments), and proof of concept through 2 usability tests. Usability (effectiveness, usefulness, and satisfaction) was evaluated using a mixed-methods approach. During testing of the app's effectiveness, the second usability test resulted in an average of 1 problem per participant, a decrease of 53% compared to the initial usability test. Five themes were constructed from the qualitative data that related to app usefulness and satisfaction, namely: high perceived confidence for app usability, positive perceptions of exercise videos, viable exercise option at home, orientation and familiarity required for successful participation, and app issues. Participants acknowledged that the final app was ready to be delivered to the public after minor revisions. After including these revisions, the project team released the final app that is being used in the randomized controlled trial. A multi-level user-centered development process resulted in the development of an inclusive exercise program for people with multiple sclerosis operated through an easy-to-use app. The promotion of exercise through self-regulated mHealth programs requires a stakeholder-driven approach to app development. This ensures that app and content match the preferences and functional abilities of the end user (ie, people with varying levels of multiple sclerosis). ©Mohanraj Thirumalai, James H Rimmer, George Johnson, Jereme Wilroy, Hui-Ju Young, Tapan Mehta, Byron Lai. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 24.05.2018.

Neither Serotonin nor Adenosine-dependent Mechanisms Preserve Ventilatory Capacity in ALS rats

PubMed Central

Nichols, N.L.; Johnson, R.A.; Satriotomo, I.; Mitchell, G.S.

2014-01-01

In rats over-expressing SOD1G93A, ventilation is preserved despite significant loss of respiratory motor neurons. Thus, unknown forms of compensatory respiratory plasticity may offset respiratory motor neuron cell death. Although mechanisms of such compensation are unknown, other models of respiratory motor plasticity may provide a conceptual guide. Multiple cellular mechanisms give rise to phrenic motor facilitation; one mechanism requires spinal serotonin receptor and NADPH oxidase activity whereas another requires spinal adenosine receptor activation. Here, we studied whether these mechanisms contribute to compensatory respiratory plasticity in SOD1G93A rats. Using plethysmography, we assessed ventilation in end-stage SOD1G93A rats after: 1) serotonin depletion with parachlorophenylalanine (PCPA), 2) serotonin (methysergide) and A2A (MSX-3) receptor inhibition, 3) NADPH oxidase inhibition (apocynin), and 4) combined treatments. The ability to increase ventilation was not decreased by individual or combined treatments; thus, these mechanisms do not maintain breathing capacity at end-stage motor neuron disease. Possible mechanisms giving rise to enhanced breathing capacity with combined treatment in end-stage SOD1G93A rats are discussed. PMID:24681328

Engineering at SLAC: Designing and constructing experimental devices for the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource - Final Paper

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

Djang, Austin

2015-08-22

Thanks to the versatility of the beam lines at SSRL, research there is varied and benefits multiple fields. Each experiment requires a particular set of experiment equipment, which in turns requires its own particular assembly. As such, new engineering challenges arise from each new experiment. My role as an engineering intern has been to help solve these challenges, by designing and assembling experimental devices. My first project was to design a heated sample holder, which will be used to investigate the effect of temperature on a sample's x-ray diffraction pattern. My second project was to help set up an imagingmore » test, which involved designing a cooled grating holder and assembling multiple positioning stages. My third project was designing a 3D-printed pencil holder for the SSRL workstations.« less

Progression of regional grey matter atrophy in multiple sclerosis

PubMed Central

Marinescu, Razvan V; Young, Alexandra L; Firth, Nicholas C; Jorge Cardoso, M; Tur, Carmen; De Angelis, Floriana; Cawley, Niamh; Brownlee, Wallace J; De Stefano, Nicola; Laura Stromillo, M; Battaglini, Marco; Ruggieri, Serena; Gasperini, Claudio; Filippi, Massimo; Rocca, Maria A; Rovira, Alex; Sastre-Garriga, Jaume; Geurts, Jeroen J G; Vrenken, Hugo; Wottschel, Viktor; Leurs, Cyra E; Uitdehaag, Bernard; Pirpamer, Lukas; Enzinger, Christian; Ourselin, Sebastien; Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott, Claudia A; Chard, Declan; Thompson, Alan J; Barkhof, Frederik; Alexander, Daniel C; Ciccarelli, Olga

2018-01-01

Abstract See Stankoff and Louapre (doi:10.1093/brain/awy114) for a scientific commentary on this article. Grey matter atrophy is present from the earliest stages of multiple sclerosis, but its temporal ordering is poorly understood. We aimed to determine the sequence in which grey matter regions become atrophic in multiple sclerosis and its association with disability accumulation. In this longitudinal study, we included 1417 subjects: 253 with clinically isolated syndrome, 708 with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, 128 with secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis, 125 with primary-progressive multiple sclerosis, and 203 healthy control subjects from seven European centres. Subjects underwent repeated MRI (total number of scans 3604); the mean follow-up for patients was 2.41 years (standard deviation = 1.97). Disability was scored using the Expanded Disability Status Scale. We calculated the volume of brain grey matter regions and brainstem using an unbiased within-subject template and used an established data-driven event-based model to determine the sequence of occurrence of atrophy and its uncertainty. We assigned each subject to a specific event-based model stage, based on the number of their atrophic regions. Linear mixed-effects models were used to explore associations between the rate of increase in event-based model stages, and T2 lesion load, disease-modifying treatments, comorbidity, disease duration and disability accumulation. The first regions to become atrophic in patients with clinically isolated syndrome and relapse-onset multiple sclerosis were the posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, followed by the middle cingulate cortex, brainstem and thalamus. A similar sequence of atrophy was detected in primary-progressive multiple sclerosis with the involvement of the thalamus, cuneus, precuneus, and pallidum, followed by the brainstem and posterior cingulate cortex. The cerebellum, caudate and putamen showed early atrophy in relapse-onset multiple sclerosis and late atrophy in primary-progressive multiple sclerosis. Patients with secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis showed the highest event-based model stage (the highest number of atrophic regions, P < 0.001) at the study entry. All multiple sclerosis phenotypes, but clinically isolated syndrome, showed a faster rate of increase in the event-based model stage than healthy controls. T2 lesion load and disease duration in all patients were associated with increased event-based model stage, but no effects of disease-modifying treatments and comorbidity on event-based model stage were observed. The annualized rate of event-based model stage was associated with the disability accumulation in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, independent of disease duration (P < 0.0001). The data-driven staging of atrophy progression in a large multiple sclerosis sample demonstrates that grey matter atrophy spreads to involve more regions over time. The sequence in which regions become atrophic is reasonably consistent across multiple sclerosis phenotypes. The spread of atrophy was associated with disease duration and with disability accumulation over time in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. PMID:29741648

Progression of regional grey matter atrophy in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Eshaghi, Arman; Marinescu, Razvan V; Young, Alexandra L; Firth, Nicholas C; Prados, Ferran; Jorge Cardoso, M; Tur, Carmen; De Angelis, Floriana; Cawley, Niamh; Brownlee, Wallace J; De Stefano, Nicola; Laura Stromillo, M; Battaglini, Marco; Ruggieri, Serena; Gasperini, Claudio; Filippi, Massimo; Rocca, Maria A; Rovira, Alex; Sastre-Garriga, Jaume; Geurts, Jeroen J G; Vrenken, Hugo; Wottschel, Viktor; Leurs, Cyra E; Uitdehaag, Bernard; Pirpamer, Lukas; Enzinger, Christian; Ourselin, Sebastien; Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott, Claudia A; Chard, Declan; Thompson, Alan J; Barkhof, Frederik; Alexander, Daniel C; Ciccarelli, Olga

2018-06-01

See Stankoff and Louapre (doi:10.1093/brain/awy114) for a scientific commentary on this article.Grey matter atrophy is present from the earliest stages of multiple sclerosis, but its temporal ordering is poorly understood. We aimed to determine the sequence in which grey matter regions become atrophic in multiple sclerosis and its association with disability accumulation. In this longitudinal study, we included 1417 subjects: 253 with clinically isolated syndrome, 708 with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, 128 with secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis, 125 with primary-progressive multiple sclerosis, and 203 healthy control subjects from seven European centres. Subjects underwent repeated MRI (total number of scans 3604); the mean follow-up for patients was 2.41 years (standard deviation = 1.97). Disability was scored using the Expanded Disability Status Scale. We calculated the volume of brain grey matter regions and brainstem using an unbiased within-subject template and used an established data-driven event-based model to determine the sequence of occurrence of atrophy and its uncertainty. We assigned each subject to a specific event-based model stage, based on the number of their atrophic regions. Linear mixed-effects models were used to explore associations between the rate of increase in event-based model stages, and T2 lesion load, disease-modifying treatments, comorbidity, disease duration and disability accumulation. The first regions to become atrophic in patients with clinically isolated syndrome and relapse-onset multiple sclerosis were the posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus, followed by the middle cingulate cortex, brainstem and thalamus. A similar sequence of atrophy was detected in primary-progressive multiple sclerosis with the involvement of the thalamus, cuneus, precuneus, and pallidum, followed by the brainstem and posterior cingulate cortex. The cerebellum, caudate and putamen showed early atrophy in relapse-onset multiple sclerosis and late atrophy in primary-progressive multiple sclerosis. Patients with secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis showed the highest event-based model stage (the highest number of atrophic regions, P < 0.001) at the study entry. All multiple sclerosis phenotypes, but clinically isolated syndrome, showed a faster rate of increase in the event-based model stage than healthy controls. T2 lesion load and disease duration in all patients were associated with increased event-based model stage, but no effects of disease-modifying treatments and comorbidity on event-based model stage were observed. The annualized rate of event-based model stage was associated with the disability accumulation in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, independent of disease duration (P < 0.0001). The data-driven staging of atrophy progression in a large multiple sclerosis sample demonstrates that grey matter atrophy spreads to involve more regions over time. The sequence in which regions become atrophic is reasonably consistent across multiple sclerosis phenotypes. The spread of atrophy was associated with disease duration and with disability accumulation over time in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Phase-shifting point diffraction interferometer mask designs

DOEpatents

Goldberg, Kenneth Alan

2001-01-01

In a phase-shifting point diffraction interferometer, different image-plane mask designs can improve the operation of the interferometer. By keeping the test beam window of the mask small compared to the separation distance between the beams, the problem of energy from the reference beam leaking through the test beam window is reduced. By rotating the grating and mask 45.degree., only a single one-dimensional translation stage is required for phase-shifting. By keeping two reference pinholes in the same orientation about the test beam window, only a single grating orientation, and thus a single one-dimensional translation stage, is required. The use of a two-dimensional grating allows for a multiplicity of pinholes to be used about the pattern of diffracted orders of the grating at the mask. Orientation marks on the mask can be used to orient the device and indicate the position of the reference pinholes.

TRIO Platform: A Novel Low Profile In vivo Imaging Support and Restraint System for Mice.

PubMed

Voziyanov, Vladislav; Kemp, Benjamin S; Dressel, Chelsea A; Ponder, Kayla; Murray, Teresa A

2016-01-01

High resolution, in vivo optical imaging of the mouse brain over time often requires anesthesia, which necessitates maintaining the animal's body temperature and level of anesthesia, as well as securing the head in an optimal, stable position. Controlling each parameter usually requires using multiple systems. Assembling multiple components into the small space on a standard microscope stage can be difficult and some commercially available parts simply do not fit. Furthermore, it is time-consuming to position an animal in the identical position over multiple imaging sessions for longitudinal studies. This is especially true when using an implanted gradient index (GRIN) lens for deep brain imaging. The multiphoton laser beam must be parallel with the shaft of the lens because even a slight tilt of the lens can degrade image quality. In response to these challenges, we have designed a compact, integrated in vivo imaging support system to overcome the problems created by using separate systems during optical imaging in mice. It is a single platform that provides (1) sturdy head fixation, (2) an integrated gas anesthesia mask, and (3) safe warm water heating. This THREE-IN-ONE (TRIO) Platform has a small footprint and a low profile that positions a mouse's head only 20 mm above the microscope stage. This height is about one half to one third the height of most commercially available immobilization devices. We have successfully employed this system, using isoflurane in over 40 imaging sessions with an average of 2 h per session with no leaks or other malfunctions. Due to its smaller size, the TRIO Platform can be used with a wider range of upright microscopes and stages. Most of the components were designed in SOLIDWORKS® and fabricated using a 3D printer. This additive manufacturing approach also readily permits size modifications for creating systems for other small animals.

TRIO Platform: A Novel Low Profile In vivo Imaging Support and Restraint System for Mice

PubMed Central

Voziyanov, Vladislav; Kemp, Benjamin S.; Dressel, Chelsea A.; Ponder, Kayla; Murray, Teresa A.

2016-01-01

High resolution, in vivo optical imaging of the mouse brain over time often requires anesthesia, which necessitates maintaining the animal's body temperature and level of anesthesia, as well as securing the head in an optimal, stable position. Controlling each parameter usually requires using multiple systems. Assembling multiple components into the small space on a standard microscope stage can be difficult and some commercially available parts simply do not fit. Furthermore, it is time-consuming to position an animal in the identical position over multiple imaging sessions for longitudinal studies. This is especially true when using an implanted gradient index (GRIN) lens for deep brain imaging. The multiphoton laser beam must be parallel with the shaft of the lens because even a slight tilt of the lens can degrade image quality. In response to these challenges, we have designed a compact, integrated in vivo imaging support system to overcome the problems created by using separate systems during optical imaging in mice. It is a single platform that provides (1) sturdy head fixation, (2) an integrated gas anesthesia mask, and (3) safe warm water heating. This THREE-IN-ONE (TRIO) Platform has a small footprint and a low profile that positions a mouse's head only 20 mm above the microscope stage. This height is about one half to one third the height of most commercially available immobilization devices. We have successfully employed this system, using isoflurane in over 40 imaging sessions with an average of 2 h per session with no leaks or other malfunctions. Due to its smaller size, the TRIO Platform can be used with a wider range of upright microscopes and stages. Most of the components were designed in SOLIDWORKS® and fabricated using a 3D printer. This additive manufacturing approach also readily permits size modifications for creating systems for other small animals. PMID:27199633

Gerbera micropropagation.

PubMed

Cardoso, Jean C; Teixeira da Silva, Jaime A

2013-12-01

Gerbera jamesonii (gerbera) is an important cut-flower in the global floricultural industry. Micropropagation is the main system used to clonally propagate gerbera in vitro resulting in the production of millions of plantlets each year. Numerous types of explants and protocols for micropropagation have been established and used for gerbera. Shoot tips are the commonly used explant while adventitious shoot induction from the capitulum is also a popular method. Most papers in the literature have focused on testing the influence of different types and combinations of plant growth regulators with the aim of improving the regeneration and multiplication stage of one or few cultivars. Genotype is one of the most influential factors on the response of gerbera in vitro. Despite this, no successful universal protocol has yet been developed for multiple cultivars, limiting the usefulness of current protocols for commercial biotechnology labs. Slow-growing endogenous bacteria are one of the most important problems in gerbera micropropagation but require more studies on control and prevention. Individual shoots are normally easy to root, usually in excess of 90% of plantlets, but the acclimatization stage requires improvements and new technologies to increase the survival of plants. Epigenetic variations in micropropagated gerbera are frequently observed only with high concentrations of cytokinins in the culture medium but somaclonal variation is rare. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated Long-Term Monitoring of Parallel Microfluidic Operations Applying a Machine Vision-Assisted Positioning Method

PubMed Central

Yip, Hon Ming; Li, John C. S.; Cui, Xin; Gao, Qiannan; Leung, Chi Chiu

2014-01-01

As microfluidics has been applied extensively in many cell and biochemical applications, monitoring the related processes is an important requirement. In this work, we design and fabricate a high-throughput microfluidic device which contains 32 microchambers to perform automated parallel microfluidic operations and monitoring on an automated stage of a microscope. Images are captured at multiple spots on the device during the operations for monitoring samples in microchambers in parallel; yet the device positions may vary at different time points throughout operations as the device moves back and forth on a motorized microscopic stage. Here, we report an image-based positioning strategy to realign the chamber position before every recording of microscopic image. We fabricate alignment marks at defined locations next to the chambers in the microfluidic device as reference positions. We also develop image processing algorithms to recognize the chamber positions in real-time, followed by realigning the chambers to their preset positions in the captured images. We perform experiments to validate and characterize the device functionality and the automated realignment operation. Together, this microfluidic realignment strategy can be a platform technology to achieve precise positioning of multiple chambers for general microfluidic applications requiring long-term parallel monitoring of cell and biochemical activities. PMID:25133248

A Compact, High-Performance Continuous Magnetic Refrigerator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shirron, Peter; Canavan, Edgar; DiPirro, Michael; Jackson, Michael; King, Todd; Panek, John; Tuttle, James; Brodeur, Stephen J. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

We present test results of the first adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) that can produce continuous cooling at sub-kelvin temperatures. This system uses multiple stages that operate in sequence to cascade heat from a continuous stage up to a heat sink. Continuous operation aids the usual constraints of long hold times and short recycle times that lead to the generally large mass of single-shot ADRs, and allows us to achieve much higher cooling power per unit mass. Our design goal is 10 microW of cooling at 50 mK while rejecting heat to a 6-10 K heat sink. The total cold mass is estimated to be less than 10 kg, including magnetic shielding of each stage. These parameters envelop the requirements for currently planned astronomy missions. The relatively high heat rejection capability allows it to operate with a mechanical cryocooler as part of a cryogen-free, low temperature cooling system. This has the advantages of long, mission life and reduced complexity and cost. At present, we have assembled a three-stage ADR that operates with a superfluid helium bath. Additional work is underway to develop magnetocaloric materials that can extend its heat rejection capability up to 10 K. This paper discusses the design and operation of the ADR, as well as interface requirements for cryocooler-based operation.

Singular Isothermal Disks and the Formation of Multiple Stars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Galli, Daniele; Shu, Frank H.; Laughlin, Gregory; Lizano, Susana; DeVincenzi, Donald (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

A crucial missing ingredient in previous theoretical studies of fragmentation is the inclusion of dynamically important levels of magnetic fields. As a minimal model for a candidate presursor to the formation of binary and multiple stars, we therefore consider the equilibrium configuration of isopedically magnetized, scale-free, singular isothermal disks, without the assumption of axial symmetry. We find that lopsided (M = 1) configurations exist at any dimensionless rotation rate, including zero. Multiple-lobed (M = 2, 3, 4, ...) configurations bifurcate from an underlying axisymmetric sequence at progressively higher dimensionless rates of rotation, but such nonaxisymmetric sequences always terminate in shockwaves before they have a chance to fission into separate bodies. We advance the hypothesis that binary and multiple star-formation from smooth (i.e., not highly turbulent) starting states that are supercritical but in unstable mechanical balance requires the rapid (i.e., dynamical) loss of magnetic flux at some stage of the ensuing gravitational collapse.

Chronic Colovesical Fistula Leading to Chronic Urinary Tract Infection Resulting in End-Stage Renal Disease in a Chronic Granulomatous Disease Patient.

PubMed

Siddiqui, M R; Sanford, T; Nair, A; Zerbe, C S; Hughes, M S; Folio, L; Agarwal, Piyush K; Brancato, S J

2017-02-01

A 46-year old man with X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) being followed at the National Institute of Health with uncontrolled CGD colitis who developed chronic colovesical fistula, and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Despite aggressive medical management of symptoms with immunomodulators and antibiotic prophylaxis, the chronic colovesical fistula led to chronic pyelonephritis, recurrent urinary tract infections, persistent air in the collecting system and bladder, and post-renal obstruction resulting in renal failure. Patient is now hemodialysis dependent and required diverting loop ileostomy placement. This report highlights multiple potential etiologies of rising serum creatinine in patients with CGD.

Patella Tendon Injuries Secondary to Cement Spacers Used at First-Stage Revision of Infected Total Knee Replacement

PubMed Central

Wilson, Katherine; Kothwal, Rahul; Khan, Wasim S.; Williams, Rhodri; Morgan-Jones, Rhidian

2015-01-01

We describe a series of three patients who sustained patella tendon injuries in infected total knee arthroplasties following the use of a static cement spacer at first-stage knee revision. The patella tendon injuries resulted in significant compromise to wound healing and knee stability requiring multiple surgeries. The mid-term function was poor with an Oxford score at 24 months ranging from 12 to 20. Based on our experience, we advise caution in the use of static cement spacer blocks. If they are to be used, we recommend that they should be keyed in the bone to prevent patella tendon injuries. PMID:25905106

Integration of multi-objective structural optimization into cementless hip prosthesis design: Improved Austin-Moore model.

PubMed

Kharmanda, G

2016-11-01

A new strategy of multi-objective structural optimization is integrated into Austin-Moore prosthesis in order to improve its performance. The new resulting model is so-called Improved Austin-Moore. The topology optimization is considered as a conceptual design stage to sketch several kinds of hollow stems according to the daily loading cases. The shape optimization presents the detailed design stage considering several objectives. Here, A new multiplicative formulation is proposed as a performance scale in order to define the best compromise between several requirements. Numerical applications on 2D and 3D problems are carried out to show the advantages of the proposed model.

Pregnancy with aortic dissection in Ehler-Danlos syndrome. Staged replacement of the total aorta (10-year follow-up).

PubMed

Babatasi, G; Massetti, M; Bhoyroo, S; Khayat, A

1997-10-01

Pregnancy complicated by aortic dissection in patients with hereditary disorder of connective tissue presents interesting considerations including management of caesarean section with the unexpected need for cardiac surgery in emergency. Generalizations can be made on management principles with long-term follow-up requiring an aggressive individualized approach by a multidisciplinary team. A 33-year-old parturient presenting an aortic dissection at 37 weeks gestation required prompt diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome in combination with correct surgical therapy resulted in the survival of both the mother and infant. During the 10-year follow-up, multiple complex dissection required transverse aortic arch and thoracoabdominal aortic replacement.

Miniature High-Force, Long-Stroke SMA Linear Actuators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cummin, Mark A.; Donakowski, William; Cohen, Howard

2008-01-01

Improved long-stroke shape-memory-alloy (SMA) linear actuators are being developed to exert significantly higher forces and operate at higher activation temperatures than do prior SMA actuators. In these actuators, long linear strokes are achieved through the principle of displacement multiplication, according to which there are multiple stages, each intermediate stage being connected by straight SMA wire segments to the next stage so that relative motions of stages are additive toward the final stage, which is the output stage. Prior SMA actuators typically include polymer housings or shells, steel or aluminum stages, and polymer pads between successive stages of displacement-multiplication assemblies. Typical output forces of prior SMA actuators range from 10 to 20 N, and typical strokes range from 0.5 to 1.5 cm. An important disadvantage of prior SMA wire actuators is relatively low cycle speed, which is related to actuation temperature as follows: The SMA wires in prior SMA actuators are typically made of a durable nickel/titanium alloy that has a shape-memory activation temperature of 80 C. An SMA wire can be heated quickly from below to above its activation temperature to obtain a stroke in one direction, but must then be allowed to cool to somewhat below its activation temperature (typically, less than or equal to 60 C in the case of an activation temperature of 80 C) to obtain a stroke in the opposite direction (return stroke). At typical ambient temperatures, cooling times are of the order of several seconds. Cooling times thus limit cycle speeds. Wires made of SMA alloys having significantly higher activation temperatures [denoted ultra-high-temperature (UHT) SMA alloys] cool to the required lower return-stroke temperatures more rapidly, making it possible to increase cycle speeds. The present development is motivated by a need, in some applications (especially aeronautical and space-flight applications) for SMA actuators that exert higher forces, operate at greater cycle speeds, and have stronger housings that can withstand greater externally applied forces and impacts. The main novel features of the improved SMA actuators are the following: 1) The ends of the wires are anchored in compact crimps made from short steel tubes. Each wire end is inserted in a tube, the tube is flattened between planar jaws to make the tube grip the wire, the tube is compressed to a slight U-cross-section deformation to strengthen the grip, then the crimp is welded onto one of the actuator stages. The pull strength of a typical crimp is about 125 N -- comparable to the strength of the SMA wire and greater than the typical pull strengths of wire-end anchors in prior SMA actuators. Greater pull strength is one of the keys to achievement of higher actuation force; 2) For greater strength and resistance to impacts, housings are milled from aluminum instead of being made from polymers. Each housing is made from two pieces in a clamshell configuration. The pieces are anodized to reduce sliding friction; 3) Stages are made stronger (to bear greater compression loads without excessive flexing) by making them from steel sheets thicker than those used in prior SMA actuators. The stages contain recessed pockets to accommodate the crimps. Recessing the pockets helps to keep overall dimensions as small as possible; and, 4) UHT SMA wires are used to satisfy the higher-speed/higher-temperature requirement.

Multiple myeloma: diagnosis and treatment.

PubMed

Nau, Konrad C; Lewis, William D

2008-10-01

Multiple myeloma, the most common bone malignancy, is occurring with increasing frequency in older persons. Typical symptoms are bone pain, malaise, anemia, renal insufficiency, and hypercalcemia. Incidental discovery on comprehensive laboratory panels is common. The disease is diagnosed with serum or urine protein electrophoresis or immunofixation and bone marrow aspirate analysis. Skeletal radiographs are important in staging multiple myeloma and revealing lytic lesions, vertebral compression fractures, and osteoporosis. Magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography or computed tomography are emerging as useful tools in the evaluation of patients with myeloma; magnetic resonance imaging is preferred for evaluating acute spinal compression. Nuclear bone scans and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry have no role in the diagnosis and staging of myeloma. The differential diagnosis of monoclonal gammopathies includes monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance, smoldering (asymptomatic) and symptomatic multiple myeloma, amyloidosis, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Waldenström macroglobulinemia, and rare plasma cell leukemia and heavy chain diseases. Patients with monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance or smoldering multiple myeloma should be followed closely, but not treated. Symptomatic multiple myeloma is treated with chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation, if possible. Melphalan, prednisolone, dexamethasone, vincristine, doxorubicin, bortezomib, and thalidomide and its analogue lenalidomide have been used successfully. It is important that family physicians recognize and appropriately treat multiple myeloma complications. Bone pain is treated with opiates, bisphosphonates, radiotherapy, vertebroplasty, or kyphoplasty; nephrotoxic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should be avoided. Hypercalcemia is treated with isotonic saline infusions, steroids, furosemide, or bisphosphonates. Because of susceptibility to infections, patients require broad-spectrum antibiotics for febrile illness and immunization against influenza, pneumococcus, and Haemophilus influenzae B. Five-year survival rates approach 33 percent, and the median survival rate is 33 months.

Cure by age and stage at diagnosis for colorectal cancer patients in North West England, 1997-2004: a population-based study.

PubMed

Shack, L G; Shah, A; Lambert, P C; Rachet, B

2012-12-01

Stage and age at diagnosis are important prognostic factors for patients with colorectal cancer. However, the proportion cured by stage and age is unknown in England. This population-based study includes 29,563 adult patients who were diagnosed and registered with colorectal cancer during 1997-2004 and followed till 2007 in North West England. Multiple imputation was used to provide more reliable estimates of stage at diagnosis, when these data were missing. Cure mixture models were used to estimate the proportion 'cured' and the median survival of the uncured by age and stage. For both colon and rectal cancer the proportion of patients cured and median survival time of the uncured decreased with advancing stage and increasing age. Patients aged under 65 years had the highest proportion cured and longest median survival of the uncured. Cure of colorectal cancer patients is dependent on stage and age at diagnosis with younger patients or those with less advanced disease having a better prognosis. Further efforts are required, in order to reduce the proportion of patients presenting with stage III and IV disease and ultimately increase the chance of cure. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multi-trip vehicle routing and scheduling problem with time window in real life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sze, San-Nah; Chiew, Kang-Leng; Sze, Jeeu-Fong

2012-09-01

This paper studies a manpower scheduling problem with multiple maintenance operations and vehicle routing considerations. Service teams located at a common service centre are required to travel to different customer sites. All customers must be served within given time window, which are known in advance. The scheduling process must take into consideration complex constraints such as a meal break during the team's shift, multiple travelling trips, synchronisation of service teams and working shifts. The main objective of this study is to develop a heuristic that can generate high quality solution in short time for large problem instances. A Two-stage Scheduling Heuristic is developed for different variants of the problem. Empirical results show that the proposed solution performs effectively and efficiently. In addition, our proposed approximation algorithm is very flexible and can be easily adapted to different scheduling environments and operational requirements.

Hierarchical screening for multiple mental disorders.

PubMed

Batterham, Philip J; Calear, Alison L; Sunderland, Matthew; Carragher, Natacha; Christensen, Helen; Mackinnon, Andrew J

2013-10-01

There is a need for brief, accurate screening when assessing multiple mental disorders. Two-stage hierarchical screening, consisting of brief pre-screening followed by a battery of disorder-specific scales for those who meet diagnostic criteria, may increase the efficiency of screening without sacrificing precision. This study tested whether more efficient screening could be gained using two-stage hierarchical screening than by administering multiple separate tests. Two Australian adult samples (N=1990) with high rates of psychopathology were recruited using Facebook advertising to examine four methods of hierarchical screening for four mental disorders: major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder and social phobia. Using K6 scores to determine whether full screening was required did not increase screening efficiency. However, pre-screening based on two decision tree approaches or item gating led to considerable reductions in the mean number of items presented per disorder screened, with estimated item reductions of up to 54%. The sensitivity of these hierarchical methods approached 100% relative to the full screening battery. Further testing of the hierarchical screening approach based on clinical criteria and in other samples is warranted. The results demonstrate that a two-phase hierarchical approach to screening multiple mental disorders leads to considerable increases efficiency gains without reducing accuracy. Screening programs should take advantage of prescreeners based on gating items or decision trees to reduce the burden on respondents. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Plasmodium immunomics.

PubMed

Doolan, Denise L

2011-01-01

The Plasmodium parasite, the causative agent of malaria, is an excellent model for immunomic-based approaches to vaccine development. The Plasmodium parasite has a complex life cycle with multiple stages and stage-specific expression of ∼5300 putative proteins. No malaria vaccine has yet been licensed. Many believe that an effective vaccine will need to target several antigens and multiple stages, and will require the generation of both antibody and cellular immune responses. Vaccine efforts to date have been stage-specific and based on only a very limited number of proteins representing <0.5% of the genome. The recent availability of comprehensive genomic, proteomic and transcriptomic datasets from human and selected non-human primate and rodent malarias provide a foundation to exploit for vaccine development. This information can be mined to identify promising vaccine candidate antigens, by proteome-wide screening of antibody and T cell reactivity using specimens from individuals exposed to malaria and technology platforms such as protein arrays, high throughput protein production and epitope prediction algorithms. Such antigens could be incorporated into a rational vaccine development process that targets specific stages of the Plasmodium parasite life cycle with immune responses implicated in parasite elimination and control. Immunomic approaches which enable the selection of the best possible targets by prioritising antigens according to clinically relevant criteria may overcome the problem of poorly immunogenic, poorly protective vaccines that has plagued malaria vaccine developers for the past 25 years. Herein, current progress and perspectives regarding Plasmodium immunomics are reviewed. Copyright © 2010 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Low Dose Radiation Cancer Risks: Epidemiological and Toxicological Models

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

David G. Hoel, PhD

2012-04-19

The basic purpose of this one year research grant was to extend the two stage clonal expansion model (TSCE) of carcinogenesis to exposures other than the usual single acute exposure. The two-stage clonal expansion model of carcinogenesis incorporates the biological process of carcinogenesis, which involves two mutations and the clonal proliferation of the intermediate cells, in a stochastic, mathematical way. The current TSCE model serves a general purpose of acute exposure models but requires numerical computation of both the survival and hazard functions. The primary objective of this research project was to develop the analytical expressions for the survival functionmore » and the hazard function of the occurrence of the first cancer cell for acute, continuous and multiple exposure cases within the framework of the piece-wise constant parameter two-stage clonal expansion model of carcinogenesis. For acute exposure and multiple exposures of acute series, it is either only allowed to have the first mutation rate vary with the dose, or to have all the parameters be dose dependent; for multiple exposures of continuous exposures, all the parameters are allowed to vary with the dose. With these analytical functions, it becomes easy to evaluate the risks of cancer and allows one to deal with the various exposure patterns in cancer risk assessment. A second objective was to apply the TSCE model with varing continuous exposures from the cancer studies of inhaled plutonium in beagle dogs. Using step functions to estimate the retention functions of the pulmonary exposure of plutonium the multiple exposure versions of the TSCE model was to be used to estimate the beagle dog lung cancer risks. The mathematical equations of the multiple exposure versions of the TSCE model were developed. A draft manuscript which is attached provides the results of this mathematical work. The application work using the beagle dog data from plutonium exposure has not been completed due to the fact that the research project did not continue beyond its first year.« less

Comparison of UK and US screening criteria for detection of retinopathy of prematurity in a developing nation.

PubMed

Ugurbas, Silay Canturk; Gulcan, Hande; Canan, Handan; Ankarali, Handan; Torer, Birgin; Akova, Yonca Aydın

2010-12-01

To determine the incidence, risk factors, and appropriateness of differing guidelines in developed nations for screening for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in a single nursery in a large urban city in southern Turkey. The records of 260 premature infants born ≤34 weeks in a single tertiary unit were retrospectively reviewed for ROP risk factors and diagnosis. Applicability of UK and US criteria were assessed by the use of receiver operating characteristic curves. ROP of any stage was present in 60 infants (23%); ROP requiring treatment was seen in 30 (11.5%). Univariate analysis showed a significant relationship among the following factors: gestational age, birth weight, total duration of supplemental oxygen, duration of mechanical ventilation, respiratory distress syndrome, anemia, and intraventricular hemorrhage (p < 0.0001). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed gestational age (p = 0.039), birth weight (p = 0.05), respiratory distress syndrome (p = 0.05), and anemia (p = 0.004) as independent predictors of ROP requiring treatment. Area under curve for gestational age alone for diagnosing stage 2 or greater ROP was 0.824 ± 0.03 (p = 0.0001) and for birth weight alone was 0.808 ± 0.03 (p = 0.0001). UK screening criteria detected all stage 2 and greater ROP; US screening criteria missed 2 infants with stage 2 ROP but detected all treatment-requiring disease. Adoption of these screening criteria would have reduced unnecessary examinations by either 21% (UK) or 37% (US). UK and US criteria improved the detection accuracy for ROP requiring treatment in Turkey and should be studied for other developing nations. Copyright © 2010 American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Army Communicator. Voice of the Signal Regiment. Volume 33, Number 2, Spring 2008

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

platform and a satellite terminal trailer . This configuration supported the requirements of the TAC, as well as, provided additional power generation...Satellite Terminal Trailer TAC – Tactical Assault Command TDMA – time division multiple ac- cess TOCNET – Tactical Operations Cen- ter Network VHF – very...cies as necessary, in order to organize the Reception , Staging, Onward Movements, and Integra- tion, as appropriate. Finally, the home base CP is key

Bortezomib and Filgrastim in Promoting Stem Cell Mobilization in Patients With Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma or Multiple Myeloma Undergoing Stem Cell Transplant

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-05-23

Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; B-cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Contiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Cutaneous B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Intraocular Lymphoma; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Progressive Hairy Cell Leukemia, Initial Treatment; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Small Intestine Lymphoma; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage I Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Untreated Hairy Cell Leukemia; Waldenström Macroglobulinemia

CRYOGENIC UPPER STAGE SYSTEM SAFETY

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, R. Kenneth; French, James V.; LaRue, Peter F.; Taylor, James L.; Pollard, Kathy (Technical Monitor)

2005-01-01

NASA s Exploration Initiative will require development of many new systems or systems of systems. One specific example is that safe, affordable, and reliable upper stage systems to place cargo and crew in stable low earth orbit are urgently required. In this paper, we examine the failure history of previous upper stages with liquid oxygen (LOX)/liquid hydrogen (LH2) propulsion systems. Launch data from 1964 until midyear 2005 are analyzed and presented. This data analysis covers upper stage systems from the Ariane, Centaur, H-IIA, Saturn, and Atlas in addition to other vehicles. Upper stage propulsion system elements have the highest impact on reliability. This paper discusses failure occurrence in all aspects of the operational phases (Le., initial burn, coast, restarts, and trends in failure rates over time). In an effort to understand the likelihood of future failures in flight, we present timelines of engine system failures relevant to initial flight histories. Some evidence suggests that propulsion system failures as a result of design problems occur shortly after initial development of the propulsion system; whereas failures because of manufacturing or assembly processing errors may occur during any phase of the system builds process, This paper also explores the detectability of historical failures. Observations from this review are used to ascertain the potential for increased upper stage reliability given investments in integrated system health management. Based on a clear understanding of the failure and success history of previous efforts by multiple space hardware development groups, the paper will investigate potential improvements that can be realized through application of system safety principles.

On-coil multiple channel transmit system based on class-D amplification and pre-amplification with current amplitude feedback

PubMed Central

Gudino, N.; Heilman, J.A; Riffe, M. J.; Heid, O.; Vester, M.; Griswold, M.A.

2016-01-01

A complete high-efficiency transmit amplifier unit designed to be implemented in on-coil transmit arrays is presented. High power capability, low power dissipation, scalability and cost minimization were some of the requirements imposed to the design. The system is composed of a current mode class-D (CMCD) amplifier output stage and a voltage mode class-D (VMCD) preamplification stage. The amplitude information of the radio frequency pulse was added through a customized step-down DC-DC converter with current amplitude feedback that connects to the CMCD stage. Benchtop measurements and imaging experiments were carried out to analyze system performance. Direct control of B1 was possible and its load sensitivity was reduced to less than 10% variation from unloaded to full loaded condition. When using the amplifiers in an array configuration, isolation above 20 dB was achieved between neighboring coils by the amplifier decoupling method. High output current operation of the transmitter was proved on the benchtop through output power measurements and in a 1.5 T scanner through flip angle quantification. Finally, single and multiple channel excitations with the new hardware were demonstrated by receiving signal with the body coil of the scanner. PMID:22890962

On-coil multiple channel transmit system based on class-D amplification and pre-amplification with current amplitude feedback.

PubMed

Gudino, Natalia; Heilman, Jeremiah A; Riffe, Matthew J; Heid, Oliver; Vester, Markus; Griswold, Mark A

2013-07-01

A complete high-efficiency transmit amplifier unit designed to be implemented in on-coil transmit arrays is presented. High power capability, low power dissipation, scalability, and cost minimization were some of the requirements imposed to the design. The system is composed of a current mode class-D amplifier output stage and a voltage mode class-D preamplification stage. The amplitude information of the radio frequency pulse was added through a customized step-down DC-DC converter with current amplitude feedback that connects to the current mode class-D stage. Benchtop measurements and imaging experiments were carried out to analyze system performance. Direct control of B1 was possible and its load sensitivity was reduced to less than 10% variation from unloaded to full loaded condition. When using the amplifiers in an array configuration, isolation above 20 dB was achieved between neighboring coils by the amplifier decoupling method. High output current operation of the transmitter was proved on the benchtop through output power measurements and in a 1.5T scanner through flip angle quantification. Finally, single and multiple channel excitations with the new hardware were demonstrated by receiving signal with the body coil of the scanner. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Commentary: considerations for using the 'Trials within Cohorts' design in a clinical trial of an investigational medicinal product.

PubMed

Bibby, Anna C; Torgerson, David J; Leach, Samantha; Lewis-White, Helen; Maskell, Nick A

2018-01-08

The 'trials within cohorts' (TwiC) design is a pragmatic approach to randomised trials in which trial participants are randomly selected from an existing cohort. The design has multiple potential benefits, including the option of conducting multiple trials within the same cohort. To date, the TwiC design methodology been used in numerous clinical settings but has never been applied to a clinical trial of an investigational medicinal product (CTIMP). We have recently secured the necessary approvals to undertake the first CTIMP using the TwiC design. In this paper, we describe some of the considerations and modifications required to ensure such a trial is compliant with Good Clinical Practice and international clinical trials regulations. We advocate using a two-stage consent process and using the consent stages to explicitly differentiate between trial participants and cohort participants who are providing control data. This distinction ensured compliance but had consequences with respect to costings, recruitment and the trial assessment schedule. We have demonstrated that it is possible to secure ethical and regulatory approval for a CTIMP TwiC. By including certain considerations at the trial design stage, we believe this pragmatic and efficient methodology could be utilised in other CTIMPs in future.

[Long-term outcome with end-stage renal disease - survival is not enough: does dialysis or kidney transplantation matter?].

PubMed

Schulz, K-H; Thaiss, F

2012-04-01

Patients with end-stage renal disease require renal replacement therapy with either dialysis or kidney transplantation. Survival and quality of life (QoL) after transplantation are superior to chronic dialysis. Early living donor kidney transplantation is best for patient and graft survival. Preemptive living-related kidney transplantation therefore is the best medical treatment option for these patients. Patients with end-stage renal disease suffer from multiple physical and psychological complaints. The prevalence of depressive disorders is 20-25% in this population. Studies on QoL in children after kidney transplantation show a reduced physical QoL, but an overall good psychological QoL. Alarming results of numerous studies are the high non-adherence rates in adolescents. Especially exercise interventions during dialysis and after kidney transplantation show promising results. Whether QoL of patients will improve with new approaches to immunosuppressive therapy remains to be evaluated in future studies.

Correcting bias due to missing stage data in the non-parametric estimation of stage-specific net survival for colorectal cancer using multiple imputation.

PubMed

Falcaro, Milena; Carpenter, James R

2017-06-01

Population-based net survival by tumour stage at diagnosis is a key measure in cancer surveillance. Unfortunately, data on tumour stage are often missing for a non-negligible proportion of patients and the mechanism giving rise to the missingness is usually anything but completely at random. In this setting, restricting analysis to the subset of complete records gives typically biased results. Multiple imputation is a promising practical approach to the issues raised by the missing data, but its use in conjunction with the Pohar-Perme method for estimating net survival has not been formally evaluated. We performed a resampling study using colorectal cancer population-based registry data to evaluate the ability of multiple imputation, used along with the Pohar-Perme method, to deliver unbiased estimates of stage-specific net survival and recover missing stage information. We created 1000 independent data sets, each containing 5000 patients. Stage data were then made missing at random under two scenarios (30% and 50% missingness). Complete records analysis showed substantial bias and poor confidence interval coverage. Across both scenarios our multiple imputation strategy virtually eliminated the bias and greatly improved confidence interval coverage. In the presence of missing stage data complete records analysis often gives severely biased results. We showed that combining multiple imputation with the Pohar-Perme estimator provides a valid practical approach for the estimation of stage-specific colorectal cancer net survival. As usual, when the percentage of missing data is high the results should be interpreted cautiously and sensitivity analyses are recommended. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Could the clinical interpretability of subgroups detected using clustering methods be improved by using a novel two-stage approach?

PubMed

Kent, Peter; Stochkendahl, Mette Jensen; Christensen, Henrik Wulff; Kongsted, Alice

2015-01-01

Recognition of homogeneous subgroups of patients can usefully improve prediction of their outcomes and the targeting of treatment. There are a number of research approaches that have been used to recognise homogeneity in such subgroups and to test their implications. One approach is to use statistical clustering techniques, such as Cluster Analysis or Latent Class Analysis, to detect latent relationships between patient characteristics. Influential patient characteristics can come from diverse domains of health, such as pain, activity limitation, physical impairment, social role participation, psychological factors, biomarkers and imaging. However, such 'whole person' research may result in data-driven subgroups that are complex, difficult to interpret and challenging to recognise clinically. This paper describes a novel approach to applying statistical clustering techniques that may improve the clinical interpretability of derived subgroups and reduce sample size requirements. This approach involves clustering in two sequential stages. The first stage involves clustering within health domains and therefore requires creating as many clustering models as there are health domains in the available data. This first stage produces scoring patterns within each domain. The second stage involves clustering using the scoring patterns from each health domain (from the first stage) to identify subgroups across all domains. We illustrate this using chest pain data from the baseline presentation of 580 patients. The new two-stage clustering resulted in two subgroups that approximated the classic textbook descriptions of musculoskeletal chest pain and atypical angina chest pain. The traditional single-stage clustering resulted in five clusters that were also clinically recognisable but displayed less distinct differences. In this paper, a new approach to using clustering techniques to identify clinically useful subgroups of patients is suggested. Research designs, statistical methods and outcome metrics suitable for performing that testing are also described. This approach has potential benefits but requires broad testing, in multiple patient samples, to determine its clinical value. The usefulness of the approach is likely to be context-specific, depending on the characteristics of the available data and the research question being asked of it.

A two-stage path planning approach for multiple car-like robots based on PH curves and a modified harmony search algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Wenhui; Yi, Jin; Rao, Xiao; Zheng, Yun

2017-11-01

In this article, collision-avoidance path planning for multiple car-like robots with variable motion is formulated as a two-stage objective optimization problem minimizing both the total length of all paths and the task's completion time. Accordingly, a new approach based on Pythagorean Hodograph (PH) curves and Modified Harmony Search algorithm is proposed to solve the two-stage path-planning problem subject to kinematic constraints such as velocity, acceleration, and minimum turning radius. First, a method of path planning based on PH curves for a single robot is proposed. Second, a mathematical model of the two-stage path-planning problem for multiple car-like robots with variable motion subject to kinematic constraints is constructed that the first-stage minimizes the total length of all paths and the second-stage minimizes the task's completion time. Finally, a modified harmony search algorithm is applied to solve the two-stage optimization problem. A set of experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Personalized medicine in multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Giovannoni, Gavin

2017-11-01

The therapeutic approach in multiple sclerosis (MS) requires a personalized medicine frame beyond the precision medicine concept, which is not currently implementable due to the lack of robust biomarkers and detailed understanding of MS pathogenesis. Personalized medicine demands a patient-focused approach, with disease taxonomy informed by characterization of pathophysiological processes. Important questions concerning MS taxonomy are: when does MS begin? When does the progressive phase begin? Is MS really two or three diseases? Does a therapeutic window truly exist? Newer evidence points to a disease spectrum and a therapeutic lag of several years for benefits to be observed from disease-modifying therapy. For personalized treatment, it is important to ascertain disease stage and any worsening of focal inflammatory lesions over time.

The Impact of Multiple Malignancies on Patients with Bladder Carcinoma: A Population-Based Study Using the SEER Database

PubMed Central

Ehrlich, Joshua R.; Schwartz, Michael J.; Ng, Casey K.; Kauffman, Eric C.; Scherr, Douglas S.

2009-01-01

Purpose. To date, no study has examined a population-based registry to determine the impact of multiple malignancies on survival of bladder cancer patients. Our experience suggests that bladder cancer patients with multiple malignancies may have relatively positive outcomes. Materials & Methods. We utilized data from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEERs) database to examine survival between patients with only bladder cancer (BO) and with bladder cancer and additional cancer(s) antecedent (AB), subsequent (BS), or antecedent and subsequent to bladder cancer (ABS). Results. Analyses demonstrated diminished survival among AB and ABS cohorts. However, when cohorts were substratified by stage, patients in the high-stage BS cohort appeared to have a survival advantage over high-stage BO patients. Conclusions. Bladder cancer patients with multiple malignancies have diminished survival. The survival advantage of high-stage BS patients is likely a statistical phenomenon. Such findings are important to shape future research and to improve our understanding of patients with multiple malignancies. PMID:20069054

Comprehensive preoperative staging system for endoscopic single and multicorridor approaches to juvenile nasal angiofibromas

PubMed Central

Janakiram, Trichy N.; Sharma, Shilpee B.; Kasper, Ekkehard; Deshmukh, Onkar; Cherian, Iype

2017-01-01

Background: Juvenile nasal angiofibromas (JNA) is a benign lesion with high vascularity and propensity of bone erosion leading to skull base invasion and intracranial extension. It is known to involve multiple compartments, which are often surgically difficult to access. With evolution in surgical expertise and technical innovations, endoscopic and endoscopic-assisted management has become the preferred choice of surgical management. Over the last four decades, various staging systems have been proposed, which are largely based on the extent of nasal angiofibroma. However, no clear guidelines exist for the stage-appropriate surgical management. In this study, we aim to formulate a novel staging system based on the analysis of high quality preoperative imaging and propose detailed surgical guidelines related to disease stages as observed in 242 primary cases of JNA. Methods: A retrospective analysis of the case records of 242 primary JNA cases was performed at our center. Patients were staged according to various existing staging systems as well as our own new staging system, and outcome variables were compared with respect to intraoperative blood loss, multiple staged operations, and tumor recurrences. Operative records were studied and precise endoscopic surgical guidelines were formulated for each stage. Results: Comparing the intraoperative blood loss seen in stages of various classifications, it was found that intraoperative blood loss correlated best and statistically significantly with stages in the newly proposed Janakiram staging system when compared to the existing staging systems. Staged operations were performed in a total of 7/242 patients, and there was a significant association between the requirement of a staged operation and tumor extent (Fischer's exact test, P < 0.001). Tumor recurrence was seen in 22 cases and the pterygoid wedge was found to be the most frequent site of recurrence initially. As the extent of resection improved with better surgical technique over time, recurrences were only found in superior orbital fissure, around the internal carotid artery, and in the middle cranial fossa. Conclusion: This new Janakiram staging system is based on preoperative imaging data from one of the largest JNA case series reported thus far. Respective guidelines reliably stratify patients into treatment groups with definite surgical approaches and predicts outcome. Improved surgical approaches in the modern endoscopic era have redefined JNA management with improved outcome. This study shows the importance of precise presurgical imaging and the choice of the most suitable surgical approach in reducing morbidity and mortality in JNA surgery. PMID:28540121

Space station microscopy: Beyond the box

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunter, N. R.; Pierson, Duane L.; Mishra, S. K.

1993-01-01

Microscopy aboard Space Station Freedom poses many unique challenges for in-flight investigations. Disciplines such as material processing, plant and animal research, human reseach, enviromental monitoring, health care, and biological processing have diverse microscope requirements. The typical microscope not only does not meet the comprehensive needs of these varied users, but also tends to require excessive crew time. To assess user requirements, a comprehensive survey was conducted among investigators with experiments requiring microscopy. The survey examined requirements such as light sources, objectives, stages, focusing systems, eye pieces, video accessories, etc. The results of this survey and the application of an Intelligent Microscope Imaging System (IMIS) may address these demands for efficient microscopy service in space. The proposed IMIS can accommodate multiple users with varied requirements, operate in several modes, reduce crew time needed for experiments, and take maximum advantage of the restrictive data/ instruction transmission environment on Freedom.

Irreversible electroporation of stage 3 locally advanced pancreatic cancer: optimal technique and outcomes

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Objective Irreversible electroporation (IRE) of stage 3 pancreatic adenocarcinoma has been used to provide quality of life time in patients who have undergone appropriate induction therapy. The optimal technique has been reported within the literature, but not in video form. IRE of locally advanced pancreatic cancer is technically demanding requiring precision ultrasound use for continuous imaging in multiple needle placements and during IRE energy delivery. Methods Appropriate patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer should have undergone appropriate induction chemotherapy for a reasonable duration. The safe and effective technique for irreversible electroporation is preformed through an open approach with the emphasis on intra-operative ultrasound and intra-operative electroporation management. Results The technique of open irreversible electroporation of the pancreas involves bracketing the target tumor with IRE probes and any and all invaded vital structures including the celiac axis, superior mesenteric artery (SMA), superior mesenteric-portal vein, and bile duct with continuous intraoperative ultrasound imaging through a caudal to cranial approach. Optimal IRE delivery requires a change in amperage of at least 12 amps from baseline tissue conductivity in order to achieve technical success. Multiple pull-backs are necessary since the IRE ablation probe lengths are 1 cm and thus needed to achieve technical success along the caudal to cranial plane. Conclusions Irreversible electroporation in combination with multi-modality therapy for locally advanced pancreatic carcinoma is feasible for appropriate patients with locally advanced cancer. Technical demands are high and require the highest quality ultrasound for precise spacing measurements and optimal delivery to ensure adequate change in tissue resistance. PMID:29075594

[A comparison between 3.0 T MRI and histopathology for preoperative T staging of potentially resectable esophageal cancer].

PubMed

Wang, Z Q; Zhang, F G; Guo, J; Zhang, H K; Qin, J J; Zhao, Y; Ding, Z D; Zhang, Z X; Zhang, J B; Yuan, J H; Li, H L; Qu, J R

2017-03-21

Objective: To explore the value of 3.0 T MRI using multiple sequences (star VIBE+ BLADE) in evaluating the preoperative T staging for potentially resectable esophageal cancer (EC). Methods: Between April 2015 and March 2016, a total of 66 consecutive patients with endoscopically proven resectable EC underwent 3.0T MRI in the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University.Two independent readers were assigned a T staging on MRI according to the 7th edition of UICC-AJCC TNM Classification, the results of preoperative T staging were compared and analyzed with post-operative pathologic confirmation. Results: The MRI T staging of two readers were highly consistent with histopathological findings, and the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of preoperative T staging MR imaging were also very high. Conclusion: 3.0 T MRI using multiple sequences is with high accuracy for patients of potentially resectable EC in T staging. The staging accuracy of T1, T2 and T3 is better than that of T4a. 3.0T MRI using multiple sequences could be used as a noninvasive imaging method for pre-operative T staging of EC.

Analysis of dynamic behavior of multiple-stage planetary gear train used in wind driven generator.

PubMed

Wang, Jungang; Wang, Yong; Huo, Zhipu

2014-01-01

A dynamic model of multiple-stage planetary gear train composed of a two-stage planetary gear train and a one-stage parallel axis gear is proposed to be used in wind driven generator to analyze the influence of revolution speed and mesh error on dynamic load sharing characteristic based on the lumped parameter theory. Dynamic equation of the model is solved using numerical method to analyze the uniform load distribution of the system. It is shown that the load sharing property of the system is significantly affected by mesh error and rotational speed; load sharing coefficient and change rate of internal and external meshing of the system are of obvious difference from each other. The study provides useful theoretical guideline for the design of the multiple-stage planetary gear train of wind driven generator.

Shielded multi-stage EMI noise filter

DOEpatents

Kisner, Roger Allen; Fugate, David Lee

2016-11-08

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise filter embodiments and methods for filtering are provided herein. EMI noise filters include multiple signal exclusion enclosures. The multiple signal exclusion enclosures contain filter circuit stages. The signal exclusion enclosures can attenuate noise generated external to the enclosures and/or isolate noise currents generated by the corresponding filter circuits within the enclosures. In certain embodiments, an output of one filter circuit stage is connected to an input of the next filter circuit stage. The multiple signal exclusion enclosures can be chambers formed using conductive partitions to divide an outer signal exclusion enclosure. EMI noise filters can also include mechanisms to maintain the components of the filter circuit stages at a consistent temperature. For example, a metal base plate can distribute heat among filter components, and an insulating material can be positioned inside signal exclusion enclosures.

Analysis of Dynamic Behavior of Multiple-Stage Planetary Gear Train Used in Wind Driven Generator

PubMed Central

Wang, Jungang; Wang, Yong; Huo, Zhipu

2014-01-01

A dynamic model of multiple-stage planetary gear train composed of a two-stage planetary gear train and a one-stage parallel axis gear is proposed to be used in wind driven generator to analyze the influence of revolution speed and mesh error on dynamic load sharing characteristic based on the lumped parameter theory. Dynamic equation of the model is solved using numerical method to analyze the uniform load distribution of the system. It is shown that the load sharing property of the system is significantly affected by mesh error and rotational speed; load sharing coefficient and change rate of internal and external meshing of the system are of obvious difference from each other. The study provides useful theoretical guideline for the design of the multiple-stage planetary gear train of wind driven generator. PMID:24511295

GATA-3 is required for early T lineage progenitor development

PubMed Central

Hosoya, Tomonori; Kuroha, Takashi; Moriguchi, Takashi; Cummings, Dustin; Maillard, Ivan; Lim, Kim-Chew

2009-01-01

Most T lymphocytes appear to arise from very rare early T lineage progenitors (ETPs) in the thymus, but the transcriptional programs that specify ETP generation are not completely known. The transcription factor GATA-3 is required for the development of T lymphocytes at multiple late differentiation steps as well as for the development of thymic natural killer cells. However, a role for GATA-3 before the double-negative (DN) 3 stage of T cell development has to date been obscured both by the developmental heterogeneity of DN1 thymocytes and the paucity of ETPs. We provide multiple lines of in vivo evidence through the analysis of T cell development in Gata3 hypomorphic mutant embryos, in irradiated mice reconstituted with Gata3 mutant hematopoietic cells, and in mice conditionally ablated for the Gata3 gene to show that GATA-3 is required for ETP generation. We further show that Gata3 loss does not affect hematopoietic stem cells or multipotent hematopoietic progenitors. Finally, we demonstrate that Gata3 mutant lymphoid progenitors exhibit neither increased apoptosis nor diminished cell-cycle progression. Thus, GATA-3 is required for the cell-autonomous development of the earliest characterized thymic T cell progenitors. PMID:19934022

Seismic isolation of Advanced LIGO: Review of strategy, instrumentation and performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matichard, F.; Lantz, B.; Mittleman, R.; Mason, K.; Kissel, J.; Abbott, B.; Biscans, S.; McIver, J.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, S.; Allwine, E.; Barnum, S.; Birch, J.; Celerier, C.; Clark, D.; Coyne, D.; DeBra, D.; DeRosa, R.; Evans, M.; Foley, S.; Fritschel, P.; Giaime, J. A.; Gray, C.; Grabeel, G.; Hanson, J.; Hardham, C.; Hillard, M.; Hua, W.; Kucharczyk, C.; Landry, M.; Le Roux, A.; Lhuillier, V.; Macleod, D.; Macinnis, M.; Mitchell, R.; O'Reilly, B.; Ottaway, D.; Paris, H.; Pele, A.; Puma, M.; Radkins, H.; Ramet, C.; Robinson, M.; Ruet, L.; Sarin, P.; Shoemaker, D.; Stein, A.; Thomas, J.; Vargas, M.; Venkateswara, K.; Warner, J.; Wen, S.

2015-09-01

The new generation of gravitational waves detectors require unprecedented levels of isolation from seismic noise. This article reviews the seismic isolation strategy and instrumentation developed for the Advanced LIGO observatories. It summarizes over a decade of research on active inertial isolation and shows the performance recently achieved at the Advanced LIGO observatories. The paper emphasizes the scientific and technical challenges of this endeavor and how they have been addressed. An overview of the isolation strategy is given. It combines multiple layers of passive and active inertial isolation to provide suitable rejection of seismic noise at all frequencies. A detailed presentation of the three active platforms that have been developed is given. They are the hydraulic pre-isolator, the single-stage internal isolator and the two-stage internal isolator. The architecture, instrumentation, control scheme and isolation results are presented for each of the three systems. Results show that the seismic isolation sub-system meets Advanced LIGO’s stringent requirements and robustly supports the operation of the two detectors.

Integrated NTP Vehicle Radiation Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Caffrey, Jarvis A.; Rodriquez, Mitchell A.

2018-01-01

The development of a nuclear thermal propulsion stage requires consideration for radiation emitted from the nuclear reactor core. Applying shielding mass is an effective mitigating solution, but a better alternative is to incorporate some mitigation strategies into the propulsion stage and crew habitat. In this way, the required additional mass is minimized and the mass that must be applied may in some cases be able to serve multiple purposes. Strategies for crew compartment shielding are discussed that reduce dose from both engine and cosmic sources, and in some cases may also serve to reduce life support risks by permitting abundant water reserves. Early consideration for integrated mitigation solutions in a crewed nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) vehicle will enable reduced radiation burden from both cosmic and nuclear sources, improved thrust-to-weight ratio or payload capacity by reducing 'dead mass' of shielding, and generally support a more robust risk posture for a NTP-powered Mars mission by permitting shorter trip times and increased water reserves.

Integrated NTP Vehicle Radiation Design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Caffrey, Jarvis; Rodriquez, Mitchell

2018-01-01

The development of a nuclear thermal propulsion stage requires consideration for radiation emitted from the nuclear reactor core. Applying shielding mass is an effective mitigating solution, but a better alternative is to incorporate some mitigation strategies into the propulsion stage and crew habitat. In this way, the required additional mass is minimized and the mass that must be applied may in some cases be able to serve multiple purposes. Strategies for crew compartment shielding are discussed that reduce dose from both engine and cosmic sources, and in some cases may also serve to reduce life support risks by permitting abundant water reserves. Early consideration for integrated mitigation solutions in a crewed nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) vehicle will enable reduced radiation burden from both cosmic and nuclear sources, improved thrust-to-weight ratio or payload capacity by reducing 'dead mass' of shielding, and generally support a more robust risk posture for a NTP-powered Mars mission by permitting shorter trip times and increased water reserves

Advancing Supersonic Retropropulsion Using Mars-Relevant Flight Data: An Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Braun, Robert D.; Sforzo, Brandon; Campbell, Charles H.

2017-01-01

Advanced robotic and human missions to Mars require landed masses well in excess of current capabilities. One approach to safely land these large payloads on the Martian surface is to extend the propulsive capability currently required during subsonic descent to supersonic initiation velocities. However, until recently, no rocket engine had ever been fired into an opposing supersonic freestream. In September 2013, SpaceX performed the first supersonic retropropulsion (SRP) maneuver to decelerate the entry of the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket. Since that flight, SpaceX has continued to perform SRP for the reentry of their vehicle first stage, having completed multiple SRP events in Mars-relevant conditions in July 2017. In FY 2014, NASA and SpaceX formed a three-year public-private partnership centered upon SRP data analysis. These activities focused on flight reconstruction, CFD analysis, a visual and infrared imagery campaign, and Mars EDL design analysis. This paper provides an overview of these activities undertaken to advance the technology readiness of Mars SRP.

Fast discrete cosine transform structure suitable for implementation with integer computation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeong, Yeonsik; Lee, Imgeun

2000-10-01

The discrete cosine transform (DCT) has wide applications in speech and image coding. We propose a fast DCT scheme with the property of reduced multiplication stages and fewer additions and multiplications. The proposed algorithm is structured so that most multiplications are performed at the final stage, which reduces the propagation error that could occur in the integer computation.

Motivational and Volitional Variables Associated with Stages of Change for Exercise in Multiple Sclerosis: A Multiple Discriminant Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiu, Chung-Yi; Fitzgerald, Sandra D.; Strand, David M.; Muller, Veronica; Brooks, Jessica; Chan, Fong

2012-01-01

The main objective of this study was to determine whether motivational and volitional variables identified in the health action process approach (HAPA) model can be used to successfully differentiate people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in different stages of change for exercise and physical activity. Ex-post-facto design using multiple…

Massage Therapy Given by Caregiver in Treating Quality of Life of Young Patients Undergoing Treatment for Cancer

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-05-24

Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Acute Undifferentiated Leukemia; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, BCR-ABL1 Negative; Blastic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Burkitt Lymphoma; Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Childhood Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Childhood Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Childhood Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Childhood Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Childhood Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Childhood Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Chronic Neutrophilic Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Contiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Cutaneous B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Essential Thrombocythemia; Extramedullary Plasmacytoma; Intraocular Lymphoma; Isolated Plasmacytoma of Bone; Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Mast Cell Leukemia; Meningeal Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Polycythemia Vera; Post-transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder; Primary Myelofibrosis; Primary Systemic Amyloidosis; Progressive Hairy Cell Leukemia, Initial Treatment; Prolymphocytic Leukemia; Recurrent Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Childhood Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Childhood Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent/Refractory Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Stage 0 Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage I Childhood Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage I Childhood Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Childhood Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage I Childhood Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage I Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage I Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage II Childhood Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage II Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage II Childhood Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage II Childhood Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage II Childhood Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage II Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage II Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage III Childhood Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Childhood Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Childhood Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Childhood Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage IV Childhood Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Childhood Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Childhood Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Childhood Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; T-cell Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia; Unspecified Childhood Solid Tumor, Protocol Specific

Low voltage to high voltage level shifter and related methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mentze, Erik J. (Inventor); Buck, Kevin M. (Inventor); Hess, Herbert L. (Inventor); Cox, David F. (Inventor)

2006-01-01

A shifter circuit comprises a high and low voltage buffer stages and an output buffer stage. The high voltage buffer stage comprises multiple transistors arranged in a transistor stack having a plurality of intermediate nodes connecting individual transistors along the stack. The transistor stack is connected between a voltage level being shifted to and an input voltage. An inverter of this stage comprises multiple inputs and an output. Inverter inputs are connected to a respective intermediate node of the transistor stack. The low voltage buffer stage has an input connected to the input voltage and an output, and is operably connected to the high voltage buffer stage. The low voltage buffer stage is connected between a voltage level being shifted away from and a lower voltage. The output buffer stage is driven by the outputs of the high voltage buffer stage inverter and the low voltage buffer stage.

Thermal performance of the CrIS passive cryocooler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghaffarian, B.; Kohrman, R.; Magner, A.

2006-02-01

The configuration, performance, and test validation of a passive radiant cooler for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Crosstrack Infrared Sounder (CrIS) Instrument are presented. The cooler is required to provide cryogenic operation of IR focal planes. The 11 kg device, based on prior ITT Industries Space Systems Division coolers, requires virtually no power. It uses multiple thermally isolated cooling stages, each with an independent cryoradiator, operating at successively colder temperatures. The coldest stage, with a controlled set point at 81 K, cools a longwave IR (LWIR) focal plane. An intermediate stage, with a 98 K control point, cools detectors operating in MWIR and SWIR spectral regions. The warmest stage includes a fixed, integral earth shield that limits the thermal load from the earth in the NPOESS Operational Low-earth Orbiting (LEO) orbit. A study of the thermal balance and loads analysis used to evaluate the predicted cooler performance is discussed. High performance margins have been retained throughout the cooler development, fabrication and test phases of the program. The achievable in-orbit temperatures for this cooler are anticipated to be 73 K for the LWIR cooling stage and 91 K for the midwave IR (MWIR)/shortwave IR (SWIR) stage. Test results from two iterations of thermal vacuum verification testing are presented. Lessons learned from the first test, which failed to produce the predicted performance are included. The thermal model of the cooler and test configuration was used to identify deficiencies in the test targets resulting in unexpected heat loads. Corrective action was implemented to remove the heat leaks and a second test verified both the cooler performance and the correlation of the detailed thermal model.

RS-34 Phoenix (Peacekeeper Post Boost Propulsion System) Utilization Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Esther, Elizabeth A.; Kos, Larry; Bruno, Cy

2012-01-01

The Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in conjunction with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne conducted a study to evaluate potential in-space applications for the Rocketdyne produced RS-34 propulsion system. The existing RS-34 propulsion system is a remaining asset from the decommissioned United States Air Force Peacekeeper ICBM program; specifically the pressure-fed storable bipropellant Stage IV Post Boost Propulsion System, renamed Phoenix. MSFC gained experience with the RS-34 propulsion system on the successful Ares I-X flight test program flown in October 2009. RS-34 propulsion system components were harvested from stages supplied by the USAF and used on the Ares I-X Roll control system (RoCS). The heritage hardware proved extremely robust and reliable and sparked interest for further utilization on other potential in-space applications. Subsequently, MSFC is working closely with the USAF to obtain all the remaining RS-34 stages for re-use opportunities. Prior to pursuit of securing the hardware, MSFC commissioned the Advanced Concepts Office to understand the capability and potential applications for the RS-34 Phoenix stage as it benefits NASA, DoD, and commercial industry. Originally designed, the RS-34 Phoenix provided in-space six-degrees-of freedom operational maneuvering to deploy multiple payloads at various orbital locations. The RS-34 Phoenix Utilization Study sought to understand how the unique capabilities of the RS-34 Phoenix and its application to six candidate missions: 1) small satellite delivery (SSD), 2) orbital debris removal (ODR), 3) ISS re-supply, 4) SLS kick stage, 5) manned GEO servicing precursor mission, and an Earth-Moon L-2 Waypoint mission. The small satellite delivery and orbital debris removal missions were found to closely mimic the heritage RS-34 mission. It is believed that this technology will enable a small, low-cost multiple satellite delivery to multiple orbital locations with a single boost. For both the small satellite delivery and the orbital debris mission candidates, the RS-34 Phoenix requires the least amount of modification to the existing hardware. The results of the RS-34 Phoenix Utilization Study show that the system is technically sufficient to successfully support all of the missions analyzed

RS-34 Phoenix (Peacekeeper Post Boost Propulsion System) Utilization Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Esther, Elizabeth A.; Kos, Larry; Burnside, Christopher G.; Bruno, Cy

2013-01-01

The Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in conjunction with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne conducted a study to evaluate potential in-space applications for the Rocketdyne produced RS-34 propulsion system. The existing RS-34 propulsion system is a remaining asset from the de-commissioned United States Air Force Peacekeeper ICBM program, specifically the pressure-fed storable bipropellant Stage IV Post Boost Propulsion System, renamed Phoenix. MSFC gained experience with the RS-34 propulsion system on the successful Ares I-X flight test program flown in October 2009. RS-34 propulsion system components were harvested from stages supplied by the USAF and used on the Ares I-X Roll control system (RoCS). The heritage hardware proved extremely robust and reliable and sparked interest for further utilization on other potential in-space applications. MSFC is working closely with the USAF to obtain RS-34 stages for re-use opportunities. Prior to pursuit of securing the hardware, MSFC commissioned the Advanced Concepts Office to understand the capability and potential applications for the RS-34 Phoenix stage as it benefits NASA, DoD, and commercial industry. As originally designed, the RS-34 Phoenix provided in-space six-degrees-of freedom operational maneuvering to deploy multiple payloads at various orbital locations. The RS-34 Phoenix Utilization Study sought to understand how the unique capabilities of the RS-34 Phoenix and its application to six candidate missions: 1) small satellite delivery (SSD), 2) orbital debris removal (ODR), 3) ISS re-supply, 4) SLS kick stage, 5) manned GEO servicing precursor mission, and an Earth-Moon L-2 Waypoint mission. The small satellite delivery and orbital debris removal missions were found to closely mimic the heritage RS-34 mission. It is believed that this technology will enable a small, low-cost multiple satellite delivery to multiple orbital locations with a single boost. For both the small satellite delivery and the orbital debris mission candidates, the RS-34 Phoenix requires the least amount of modification to the existing hardware. The results of the RS-34 Phoenix Utilization Study show that the system is technically sufficient to successfully support all of the missions analyzed.

Development of the 10-11 July 2015 two-stage sequence of multiple emplacements of pyroclastic density currents at Volcán de Colima, México: Insight from associated seismic signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zobin, Vyacheslav M.

2018-02-01

The 10-11 July 2015 partial collapses of the lava dome in the crater of Volcán de Colima, México, were accompanied by a sequence of two-stage multiple PDCs, separated by a 15-h interval, with a total bulk volume of 14.2 × 106 m3 of fragmentary material and runout distances reaching 9.1 and 10.3 km, respectively (Reyes-Dávila et al., 2016). Broad-band seismic signals, associated with the PDCs and recorded at seismic station EZ5 installed at a distance of 4 km from the crater, were used for analysis of the 20-h eruption process. This process included two stages of the multiple PDCs emplacements, two one-hour periods of preliminary events to each of the stages, and the inter-stage period. Analysis of seismic signals allowed us to identify the types of volcanic events composing this eruption episode and estimate their quantitative characteristics and spectral parameters of generated seismic signals. It was shown that the seismic signals produced by PDCs emplacements, recorded during the two stages, were characterized by different characteristics. The second stage PDCs had radiated greater seismic energy than the PDCs emplaced during the first stage. Spectral analysis of the seismic signals, produced by PDCs, indicates a clearly separation in frequency content at 1.95 Hz between the higher-frequency events of the first stage and the lower-frequency events of the second stage of the PDCs emplacements. The obtained difference in the spectral contents of the seismic signals, produced by the movement of two multiple PDCs, may be supposed as a consequence of the proposed relative difference in the volumes of the PDCs of two multiple sequences due to a difference in the level of radiated seismic energy and a change in bottom conditions of the ravines during their passing along the ravines. Results of seismic study were used in discussion of the nature of the two-stage eruptive process.

Management of non-traumatic avascular necrosis of the femoral head-a comparative analysis of the outcome of multiple small diameter drilling and core decompression with fibular grafting.

PubMed

Mohanty, S P; Singh, K A; Kundangar, R; Shankar, V

2017-04-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical and radiological outcomes of multiple small diameter drilling and core decompression with fibular strut grafting in the management of non-traumatic avascular necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head. Outcomes of patients with AVN treated by multiple small diameter drilling (group 1) were compared retrospectively with patients treated by core decompression and fibular grafting (group 2). Harris hip score (HHS) was used to assess the clinical status pre- and postoperatively. Modified Ficat and Arlet classification was used to assess the radiological stage pre- and postoperatively. Forty-six patients (68 hips) were included in this study. Group 1 consisted of 33 hips, and group 2 consisted of 35 hips. In stages I and IIB, there was no statistically significant difference in the final HHS between the two groups. However, in stages IIA and III, hips in group 2 had a better final HHS (P < 0.05). In terms of radiographic progression, there was no statistical difference between hips in stages I, IIA and stage IIB. However, in stage III, hips belonging to group 2 had better results (P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier survivorship analysis showed better outcome in group 2 in stage III (P < 0.05). Hips with AVN in the precollapse stage can be salvaged by core decompression with or without fibular grafting. Multiple small diameter drilling is relatively simple and carries less morbidity and hence preferred in stages I and II. However, in stage III disease, core decompression with fibular strut grafting gives better results.

Managing System of Systems Requirements with a Requirements Screening Group

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

Ronald R. Barden

2012-07-01

Figuring out an effective and efficient way to manage not only your Requirement’s Baseline, but also the development of all your individual requirements during a Program’s/Project’s Conceptual and Development Life Cycle Stages can be both daunting and difficult. This is especially so when you are dealing with a complex and large System of Systems (SoS) Program with potentially thousands and thousands of Top Level Requirements as well as an equal number of lower level System, Subsystem and Configuration Item requirements that need to be managed. This task is made even more overwhelming when you have to add in integration withmore » multiple requirements’ development teams (e.g., Integrated Product Development Teams (IPTs)) and/or numerous System/Subsystem Design Teams. One solution for tackling this difficult activity on a recent large System of Systems Program was to develop and make use of a Requirements Screening Group (RSG). This group is essentially a Team made up of co-chairs from the various Stakeholders with an interest in the Program of record that are enabled and accountable for Requirements Development on the Program/Project. The RSG co-chairs, often with the help of individual support team, work together as a Program Board to monitor, make decisions on, and provide guidance on all Requirements Development activities during the Conceptual and Development Life Cycle Stages of a Program/Project. In addition, the RSG can establish and maintain the Requirements Baseline, monitor and enforce requirements traceability across the entire Program, and work with other elements of the Program/Project to ensure integration and coordination.« less

Micropropagation of apple--a review.

PubMed

Dobránszki, Judit; da Silva, Jaime A Teixeira

2010-01-01

Micropropagation of apple has played an important role in the production of healthy, disease-free plants and in the rapid multiplication of scions and rootstocks with desirable traits. During the last few decades, in apple, many reliable methods have been developed for both rootstocks and scions from a practical, commercial point of view. Successful micropropagation of apple using pre-existing meristems (culture of apical buds or nodal segments) is influenced by several internal and external factors including ex vitro (e.g. genotype and physiological state) and in vitro conditions (e.g., media constituents and light). Specific requirements during stages of micropropagation, such as the establishment of in vitro cultures, shoot multiplication, rooting of microshoots and acclimatization are summarized in this review. New approaches for increasing shoot multiplication and rooting for apple and current use of micropropagated plantlets as tools in basic and applied research are also discussed.

Ocean acidification in the coastal zone from an organism's perspective: multiple system parameters, frequency domains, and habitats.

PubMed

Waldbusser, George G; Salisbury, Joseph E

2014-01-01

Multiple natural and anthropogenic processes alter the carbonate chemistry of the coastal zone in ways that either exacerbate or mitigate ocean acidification effects. Freshwater inputs and multiple acid-base reactions change carbonate chemistry conditions, sometimes synergistically. The shallow nature of these systems results in strong benthic-pelagic coupling, and marine invertebrates at different life history stages rely on both benthic and pelagic habitats. Carbonate chemistry in coastal systems can be highly variable, responding to processes with temporal modes ranging from seconds to centuries. Identifying scales of variability relevant to levels of biological organization requires a fuller characterization of both the frequency and magnitude domains of processes contributing to or reducing acidification in pelagic and benthic habitats. We review the processes that contribute to coastal acidification with attention to timescales of variability and habitats relevant to marine bivalves.

Prediction and control of the service-related properties of parts at the technological preparation stage and during the manufacture process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bez'iazychnyi, V. F.

The paper is concerned with the problem of optimizing the machining of aircraft engine parts in order to satisfy certain requirements for tool wear, machining precision and surface layer characteristics, and hardening depth. A generalized multiple-objective function and its computer implementation are developed which make it possible to optimize the machining process without the use of experimental data. Alternative methods of controlling the machining process are discussed.

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

Stone, D.M.; Huffmyer, W.A.; Greener, J.M.

This paper describes the geoscience and engineering aspects of the Opon Gas Field located in the Middle Magdalena Basin, Colombia. The remoteness and extreme downhole conditions make the drilling, completion, testing and geoscience interpretation of the two most recent Opon wells technically very challenging. Multiple faults, steep dips, rugged topography, a sensitive jungle environment and variable surface velocities complicate field definition. A full assessment of the commercial potential of the reservoir requires additional development drilling. Now in the early development stages, the Opon Gas Field has first production scheduled for late 1996.

Stage acoustics for musicians: A multidimensional approach using 3D ambisonic technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guthrie, Anne

In this research, a method was outlined and tested for the use of 3D Ambisonic technology to inform stage acoustics research and design. Stage acoustics for musicians as a field has yet to benefit from recent advancements in auralization and spatial acoustic analysis. This research attempts to address common issues in stage acoustics: subjective requirements for performers in relation to feelings of support, quality of sound, and ease of ensemble playing in relation to measurable, objective characteristics that can be used to design better stage enclosures. While these issues have been addressed in previous work, this research attempts to use technological advancements to improve the resolution and realism of the testing and analysis procedures. Advancements include measurement of spatial impulse responses using a spherical microphone array, higher-order ambisonic encoding and playback for real-time performer auralization, high-resolution spatial beamforming for analysis of onstage impulse responses, and multidimensional scaling procedures to determine subjective musician preferences. The methodology for implementing these technologies into stage acoustics research is outlined in this document and initial observations regarding implications for stage enclosure design are proposed. This research provides a robust method for measuring and analyzing performer experiences on multiple stages without the costly and time-intensive process of physically surveying orchestras on different stages, with increased repeatability while maintaining a high level of immersive realism and spatial resolution. Along with implications for physical design, this method provides possibilities for virtual teaching and rehearsal, parametric modeling and co-located performance.

High-charge and multiple-star vortex coronagraphy from stacked vector vortex phase masks.

PubMed

Aleksanyan, Artur; Brasselet, Etienne

2018-02-01

Optical vortex phase masks are now installed at many ground-based large telescopes for high-contrast astronomical imaging. To date, such instrumental advances have been restricted to the use of helical phase masks of the lowest even order, while future giant telescopes will require high-order masks. Here we propose a single-stage on-axis scheme to create high-order vortex coronagraphs based on second-order vortex phase masks. By extending our approach to an off-axis design, we also explore the implementation of multiple-star vortex coronagraphy. An experimental laboratory demonstration is reported and supported by numerical simulations. These results offer a practical roadmap to the development of future coronagraphic tools with enhanced performances.

Bridging the Generation Gap: A Rapid Early Career Hire Training Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rieber, Richard R.; Coffee, Thomas; Dong, Shuonan; Infield, Samantha I.; Kilbride, Kendra B.; Seibert, Michael A.; Solish, Benjamin S.

2008-01-01

This paper describes a training program to provide Early Career Hires (ECHs) in the aerospace industry with real, rapid, hands-on exposure to multiple phases and multiple disciplines of flight project development. Such a program has become necessary to close the Generation Gap and ensure that aerospace organizations maintain a highly skilled workforce as experienced personnel begin to retire. This paper discusses the specific motivations for and implementation of such a program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. However, the essential features are widely applicable to other NASA centers and organizations delivering large llight systems. This paper details the overall program concept, stages of participation by an ECH, oversight and mentoring, program assessment, training project selection, and facilities requirements.

ECOTOXICOGENOMICS: EXPOSURE INDICATORS USING ESTS AND SUBTRACTIVE LIBRARIES FOR MULTI-LIFE STAGES OF PIMEPHALES

EPA Science Inventory

Ecotoxicogenomics is research that identifies patterns of gene expression in wildlife and predicts effects of environmental stressors. We are developing a multiple stressor, multiple life stage exposure model using the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), initially studying fou...

The librarian's roles in the systematic review process: a case study*

PubMed Central

Harris, Martha R.

2005-01-01

Question/Setting: Although the systematic review has become a research standard, little information addresses the actions of the librarian on a systematic review team. Method: This article is an observational case study that chronicles a librarian's required involvement, skills, and responsibilities in each stage of a real-life systematic review. Main Results: Examining the review process reveals that the librarian's multiple roles as an expert searcher, organizer, and analyzer form an integral part of the Cochrane Collaboration's criteria for conducting systematic reviews. Moreover, the responsibilities of the expert searcher directly reflect the key skills and knowledge depicted in the “Definition of Expert Searching” section of the Medical Library Association's policy statement, “Role of Expert Searching in Health Sciences Libraries.” Conclusion: Although the librarian's multiple roles are important in all forms of medical research, they are crucial in a systematic review. As an expert searcher, the librarian must interact with the investigators to develop the terms required for a comprehensive search strategy in multiple appropriate sources. As an organizer and analyzer, the librarian must effectively manage the articles and document the search, retrieval, and archival processes. PMID:15685279

Dose finding with the sequential parallel comparison design.

PubMed

Wang, Jessie J; Ivanova, Anastasia

2014-01-01

The sequential parallel comparison design (SPCD) is a two-stage design recommended for trials with possibly high placebo response. A drug-placebo comparison in the first stage is followed in the second stage by placebo nonresponders being re-randomized between drug and placebo. We describe how SPCD can be used in trials where multiple doses of a drug or multiple treatments are compared with placebo and present two adaptive approaches. We detail how to analyze data in such trials and give recommendations about the allocation proportion to placebo in the two stages of SPCD.

Lanthanide-Containing Polymer Microspheres by Multiple-Stage Dispersion Polymerization for Highly Multiplexed Bioassays

PubMed Central

Abdelrahman, Ahmed I.; Dai, Sheng; Thickett, Stuart C.; Ornatsky, Olga; Bandura, Dmitry; Baranov, Vladimir; Winnik, Mitchell A.

2009-01-01

We describe the synthesis and characterization of metal-encoded polystyrene microspheres by multiple-stage dispersion polymerization with diameters on the order of 2 µm and a very narrow size distribution. Different lanthanides were loaded into these microspheres through the addition of a mixture of LnCl3 salts and excess acrylic acid or acetoacetylethyl methacrylate (AAEM) dissolved in ethanol to the reaction after about 10% conversion of styrene, i.e., well after the particle nucleation stage was complete. Individual microspheres contain ca. 106 – 108 chelated lanthanide ions, of either a single element or a mixture of elements. These microspheres were characterized one-by-one utilizing a novel mass cytometer with an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ionization source and time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry detection. Microspheres containing a range of different metals at different levels of concentration were synthesized to meet the requirements of binary encoding and enumeration encoding protocols. With four different metals at five levels of concentration, we could achieve a variability of 624, and the strategy we report should allow one to obtain much larger variability. To demonstrate the usefulness of element-encoded beads for highly multiplexed immunoassays, we carried out a proof-of-principle model bioassay involving conjugation of mouse IgG to the surface of La and Tm containing particles, and its detection by an anti-mouse IgG bearing a metal-chelating polymer with Pr. PMID:19807075

Lanthanide-containing polymer microspheres by multiple-stage dispersion polymerization for highly multiplexed bioassays.

PubMed

Abdelrahman, Ahmed I; Dai, Sheng; Thickett, Stuart C; Ornatsky, Olga; Bandura, Dmitry; Baranov, Vladimir; Winnik, Mitchell A

2009-10-28

We describe the synthesis and characterization of metal-encoded polystyrene microspheres by multiple-stage dispersion polymerization with diameters on the order of 2 mum and a very narrow size distribution. Different lanthanides were loaded into these microspheres through the addition of a mixture of lanthanide salts (LnCl(3)) and excess acrylic acid (AA) or acetoacetylethyl methacrylate (AAEM) dissolved in ethanol to the reaction after about 10% conversion of styrene, that is, well after the particle nucleation stage was complete. Individual microspheres contain ca. 10(6)-10(8) chelated lanthanide ions, of either a single element or a mixture of elements. These microspheres were characterized one-by-one utilizing a novel mass cytometer with an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) ionization source and time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry detection. Microspheres containing a range of different metals at different levels of concentration were synthesized to meet the requirements of binary encoding and enumeration encoding protocols. With four different metals at five levels of concentration, we could achieve a variability of 624, and the strategy we report should allow one to obtain much larger variability. To demonstrate the usefulness of element-encoded beads for highly multiplexed immunoassays, we carried out a proof-of-principle model bioassay involving conjugation of mouse IgG to the surface of La and Tm containing particles and its detection by an antimouse IgG bearing a metal-chelating polymer with Pr.

MicroRNA-20a is essential for normal embryogenesis by targeting vsx1 mRNA in fish

PubMed Central

Sun, Lei; Li, Heng; Xu, Xiaofeng; Xiao, Guanxiu; Luo, Chen

2015-01-01

MicroRNAs are major post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression and have essential roles in diverse developmental processes. In vertebrates, some regulatory genes play different roles at different developmental stages. These genes are initially transcribed in a wide embryonic region but restricted within distinct cell types at subsequent stages during development. Therefore, post-transcriptional regulation is required for the transition from one developmental stage to the next and the establishment of different cell identities. However, the regulation of many multiple functional genes at post-transcription level during development remains unknown. Here we show that miR-20a can target the mRNA of vsx1, a multiple functional gene, at the 3′-UTR and inhibit protein expression in both goldfish and zebrafish. The expression of miR-20a is initiated ubiquitously at late gastrula stage and exhibits a tissue-specific pattern in the developing retina. Inhibition of vsx1 3′-UTR mediated protein expression occurs when and where miR-20a is expressed. Decoying miR-20a resulted in severely impaired head, eye and trunk formation in association with excessive generation of vsx1 marked neurons in the spinal cord and defects of somites in the mesoderm region. These results demonstrate that miR-20a is essential for normal embryogenesis by restricting Vsx1 expression in goldfish and zebrafish, and that post-transcriptional regulation is an essential mechanism for Vsx1 playing different roles in diverse developmental processes. PMID:25833418

Flavopiridol in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Lymphoma or Multiple Myeloma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2016-06-27

Adult Lymphocyte Depletion Hodgkin Lymphoma; Adult Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma; Adult Mixed Cellularity Hodgkin Lymphoma; Adult Nodular Sclerosis Hodgkin Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Waldenström Macroglobulinemia

Diabetic nephropathy. Is end-stage renal disease inevitable?

PubMed

Bogusky, R T

1983-10-01

The appearance of proteinuria in an insulin-dependent diabetic patient is an ominous sign. Proteinuria heralds the presence of diabetic nephropathy and early death, or chronic renal failure requiring dialysis or transplantation, in 50% of patients. The pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy is unknown. Adequate insulin administration is the most important preventive measure. Hypertension, if present, should be aggressively treated to delay progression of renal disease. Good nutrition, prompt treatment of urinary tract infections, and caution in the use of radiocontrast agents are other important preventive measures. Hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and transplantation are options for patients with end-stage renal disease. No matter which is selected, the patient may still have multiple amputations, blindness, congestive heart failure, infections, and uncontrolled glycemia. Advancements are being made, however, that promise a better future for insulin-dependent diabetics.

Nitric Oxide Decreases Acute Kidney Injury and Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease after Cardiac Surgery.

PubMed

Lei, Chong; Berra, Lorenzo; Rezoagli, Emanuele; Yu, Binglan; Dong, Hailong; Yu, Shiqiang; Hou, Lihong; Chen, Min; Chen, Wensheng; Wang, Hongbing; Zheng, Qijun; Shen, Jie; Jin, Zhenxiao; Chen, Tao; Zhao, Rong; Christie, Emily; Sabbisetti, Venkata S; Nordio, Francesco; Bonventre, Joseph V; Xiong, Lize; Zapol, Warren M

2018-06-22

No medical intervention has been identified that decreases acute kidney injury and improves renal outcome at 1-year after cardiac surgery. To determine whether administration of nitric oxide reduces the incidence of post-operative acute kidney injury and improves long-term kidney outcomes after multiple cardiac valve replacement requiring prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass. 244 Patients undergoing elective, multiple valve replacement surgery mostly due to rheumatic fever were randomized to receive either nitric oxide (treatment) or nitrogen (control). Nitric oxide and nitrogen were administered via the gas exchanger during cardiopulmonary bypass and by inhalation for 24h post-operatively. Primary outcome: Oxidation of ferrous plasma oxyhemoglobin to ferric methemoglobin was associated to a reduced post-operative acute kidney injury from 64% (control group) to 50% (nitric oxide) (RR, 95% CI; 0.78, 0.62-0.97;P=0.014). At 90-days, transition to stage 3 chronic kidney disease was reduced from 33% in the controls to 21% in the treatment group (RR, 95%CI; 0.64, 0.41 - 0.99;P=0.024); and at 1-year, from 31% to 18% (RR, 95% CI; 0.59, 0.36 - 0.96;P=0.017). Nitric oxide treatment reduced the overall major adverse kidney events at 30-days (RR, 95% CI; 0.40, 0.18 - 0.92;P=0.016, 90-days (RR, 95% CI; 0.40, 0.17 - 0.92;P=0.015 and 1-year (RR, 95% CI; 0.47, 0.20-1.10;P=0.041). In patients undergoing multiple valve replacement and prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass, administration of nitric oxide decreased the incidence of acute kidney injury, transition to stage 3 chronic kidney disease and major adverse kidney events at 30-days, 90-days, and 1-year. Clinical trial registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01802619).

Reliability based design including future tests and multiagent approaches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villanueva, Diane

The initial stages of reliability-based design optimization involve the formulation of objective functions and constraints, and building a model to estimate the reliability of the design with quantified uncertainties. However, even experienced hands often overlook important objective functions and constraints that affect the design. In addition, uncertainty reduction measures, such as tests and redesign, are often not considered in reliability calculations during the initial stages. This research considers two areas that concern the design of engineering systems: 1) the trade-off of the effect of a test and post-test redesign on reliability and cost and 2) the search for multiple candidate designs as insurance against unforeseen faults in some designs. In this research, a methodology was developed to estimate the effect of a single future test and post-test redesign on reliability and cost. The methodology uses assumed distributions of computational and experimental errors with re-design rules to simulate alternative future test and redesign outcomes to form a probabilistic estimate of the reliability and cost for a given design. Further, it was explored how modeling a future test and redesign provides a company an opportunity to balance development costs versus performance by simultaneously designing the design and the post-test redesign rules during the initial design stage. The second area of this research considers the use of dynamic local surrogates, or surrogate-based agents, to locate multiple candidate designs. Surrogate-based global optimization algorithms often require search in multiple candidate regions of design space, expending most of the computation needed to define multiple alternate designs. Thus, focusing on solely locating the best design may be wasteful. We extended adaptive sampling surrogate techniques to locate multiple optima by building local surrogates in sub-regions of the design space to identify optima. The efficiency of this method was studied, and the method was compared to other surrogate-based optimization methods that aim to locate the global optimum using two two-dimensional test functions, a six-dimensional test function, and a five-dimensional engineering example.

Renal complications in multiple myeloma and related disorders: survivorship care plan of the International Myeloma Foundation Nurse Leadership Board.

PubMed

Faiman, Beth M; Mangan, Patricia; Spong, Jacy; Tariman, Joseph D

2011-08-01

Kidney dysfunction is a common clinical feature of symptomatic multiple myeloma. Some degree of renal insufficiency or renal failure is present at diagnosis or will occur during the course of the disease and, if not reversed, will adversely affect overall survival and quality of life. Chronic insults to the kidneys from other illnesses, treatment, or multiple myeloma itself can further damage renal function and increase the risk for additional complications, such as anemia. Patients with multiple myeloma who have light chain (Bence Jones protein) proteinuria may experience renal failure or progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and require dialysis because of light chain cast nephropathy. Kidney failure in patients with presumed multiple myeloma also may result from amyloidosis, light chain deposition disease, or acute tubular necrosis caused by nephrotoxic agents; therefore, identification of patients at risk for kidney damage is essential. The International Myeloma Foundation's Nurse Leadership Board has developed practice recommendations for screening renal function, identifying positive and negative contributing risk and environmental factors, selecting appropriate therapies and supportive care measures to decrease progression to ESRD, and enacting dialysis to reduce and manage renal complications in patients with multiple myeloma.

Moral motivation based on multiple developmental structures: an exploration of cognitive and emotional dynamics.

PubMed

Kaplan, Ulas; Tivnan, Terrence

2014-01-01

Intrapersonal variability and multiplicity in the complexity of moral motivation were examined from Dynamic Systems and Self-Determination Theory perspectives. L. Kohlberg's (1969) stages of moral development are reconceptualized as soft-assembled and dynamically transformable process structures of motivation that may operate simultaneously within person in different degrees. Moral motivation is conceptualized as the real-time process of self-organization of cognitive and emotional dynamics out of which moral judgment and action emerge. A detailed inquiry into intrapersonal variation in moral motivation is carried out based on the differential operation of multiple motivational structures. A total of 74 high school students and 97 college students participated in the study by completing a new questionnaire, involving 3 different hypothetical moral judgments. As hypothesized, findings revealed significant multiplicity in the within-person operation of developmental stage structures, and intrapersonal variability in the degrees to which stages were used. Developmental patterns were found in terms of different distributions of multiple stages between high school and college samples, as well as the association between age and overall motivation scores. Differential relations of specific emotions to moral motivation revealed and confirmed the value of differentiating multiple emotions. Implications of the present theoretical perspective and the findings for understanding the complexity of moral judgment and motivation are discussed.

Histone acetyltransferase activity of MOF is required for adult but not early fetal hematopoiesis in mice.

PubMed

Valerio, Daria G; Xu, Haiming; Eisold, Meghan E; Woolthuis, Carolien M; Pandita, Tej K; Armstrong, Scott A

2017-01-05

K(lysine) acetyltransferase 8 (KAT8, also known as MOF) mediates the acetylation of histone H4 at lysine 16 (H4K16ac) and is crucial for murine embryogenesis. Lysine acetyltransferases have been shown to regulate various stages of normal hematopoiesis. However, the function of MOF in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) development has not yet been elucidated. We set out to study the role of MOF in general hematopoiesis by using a Vav1-cre-induced conditional murine Mof knockout system and found that MOF is critical for hematopoietic cell maintenance and HSC engraftment capacity in adult hematopoiesis. Rescue experiments with a MOF histone acetyltransferase domain mutant illustrated the requirement for MOF acetyltransferase activity in the clonogenic capacity of HSCs and progenitors. In stark contrast, fetal steady-state hematopoiesis at embryonic day (E) 14.5 was not affected by homozygous Mof deletion despite dramatic loss of global H4K16ac. Hematopoietic defects start manifesting in late gestation at E17.5. The discovery that MOF and its H4K16ac activity are required for adult but not early and midgestational hematopoiesis supports the notion that multiple chromatin regulators may be crucial for hematopoiesis at varying stages of development. MOF is therefore a developmental-stage-specific chromatin regulator found to be essential for adult but not early fetal hematopoiesis. © 2017 by The American Society of Hematology.

Multiple Removal of Spent Rocket Upper Stages with an Ion Beam Shepherd

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bombardelli, C.; Herrera-Montojo, J.; Gonzalo, J. L.

2013-08-01

Among the many advantages of the recently proposed ion beam shepherd (IBS) debris removal technique is the capability to deal with multiple targets in a single mission. A preliminary analysis is here conducted in order to estimate the cost in terms of spacecraft mass and total mission time to remove multiple large-size upper stages of the Zenit family. Zenit-2 upper stages are clustered at 71 degrees inclination around 850 km altitude in low Earth orbit. It is found that a removal of two targets per year is feasible with a modest size spacecraft. The most favorable combinations of targets are outlined.

Role of whole-body 64-slice multidetector computed tomography in treatment planning for multiple myeloma.

PubMed

Razek, Ahmed Abdel Khalek Abdel; Ezzat, Amany; Azmy, Emad; Tharwat, Nehal

2013-08-01

The authors evaluated the role of whole-body 64-slice multidetector computed tomography (WB-MDCT) in treatment planning for multiple myeloma. This was a prospective study of 28 consecutive patients with multiple myeloma (19 men, nine women; age range, 51-73 years; mean age, 60 years) who underwent WB-MDCT and conventional radiography (CR) of the skeleton. The images were interpreted for the presence of bony lesions, medullary lesions, fractures and extraosseous lesions. We evaluated any changes in treatment planning as a result of WB-MDCT findings. WB-MDCT was superior to CR for detecting bony lesions (p=0.001), especially of the spine (p=0.001) and thoracic cage (p=0.006). WB-MDCT upstaged 14 patients, with a significant difference in staging (p=0.002) between WB-MDCT and CR. Medullary involvement either focal (n=6) or diffuse (n=3) had a positive correlation with the overall score (r=0.790) and stage (r=0.618) of disease. Spine fractures were better detected at WB-MDCT (n=4) than at CR (n=2). Extraosseous soft tissue lesions (n=7) were detected only at WB-MDCT. Findings detected at the WB-MDCT led to changes in the patient's treatment plan in 39% of cases. Upstaging of seven patients (25%) altered the medical treatment plan, and four of 28 (14%) patients required additional radiotherapy (7%) and vertebroplasty (7%). We conclude that WB-MDCT has an impact on treatment planning and prognosis in patients with multiple myeloma, as it has high rate of detecting cortical and medullary bone lesions, spinal fracture and extraosseous lesions. This information may alter treatment planning in multiple myeloma due to disease upstaging and detection of spine fracture and extraosseous spinal lesions.

Shielding Development for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Caffrey, Jarvis A.; Gomez, Carlos F.; Scharber, Luke L.

2015-01-01

Radiation shielding analysis and development for the Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (NCPS) effort is currently in progress and preliminary results have enabled consideration for critical interfaces in the reactor and propulsion stage systems. Early analyses have highlighted a number of engineering constraints, challenges, and possible mitigating solutions. Performance constraints include permissible crew dose rates (shared with expected cosmic ray dose), radiation heating flux into cryogenic propellant, and material radiation damage in critical components. Design strategies in staging can serve to reduce radiation scatter and enhance the effectiveness of inherent shielding within the spacecraft while minimizing the required mass of shielding in the reactor system. Within the reactor system, shield design is further constrained by the need for active cooling with minimal radiation streaming through flow channels. Material selection and thermal design must maximize the reliability of the shield to survive the extreme environment through a long duration mission with multiple engine restarts. A discussion of these challenges and relevant design strategies are provided for the mitigation of radiation in nuclear thermal propulsion.

Ipilimumab After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant in Treating Patients With Persistent or Progressive Cancer

ClinicalTrials.gov

2013-03-26

Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, BCR-ABL1 Negative; Childhood Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, BCR-ABL1 Positive; Disseminated Neuroblastoma; Malignant Neoplasm; Ovarian Choriocarcinoma; Ovarian Embryonal Carcinoma; Ovarian Immature Teratoma; Ovarian Mature Teratoma; Ovarian Mixed Germ Cell Tumor; Ovarian Monodermal and Highly Specialized Teratoma; Ovarian Polyembryoma; Ovarian Yolk Sac Tumor; Previously Treated Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Recurrent Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Malignant Testicular Germ Cell Tumor; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Neuroblastoma; Recurrent Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Recurrent Ovarian Germ Cell Tumor; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage III Malignant Testicular Germ Cell Tumor; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage IIIA Breast Cancer; Stage IIIB Breast Cancer; Stage IIIC Breast Cancer; Stage IV Breast Cancer; Stage IV Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Testicular Choriocarcinoma; Testicular Choriocarcinoma and Embryonal Carcinoma; Testicular Choriocarcinoma and Seminoma; Testicular Choriocarcinoma and Teratoma; Testicular Choriocarcinoma and Yolk Sac Tumor; Testicular Embryonal Carcinoma; Testicular Embryonal Carcinoma and Seminoma; Testicular Embryonal Carcinoma and Teratoma; Testicular Embryonal Carcinoma and Teratoma With Seminoma; Testicular Embryonal Carcinoma and Yolk Sac Tumor; Testicular Embryonal Carcinoma and Yolk Sac Tumor With Seminoma; Testicular Teratoma; Testicular Yolk Sac Tumor; Testicular Yolk Sac Tumor and Teratoma; Testicular Yolk Sac Tumor and Teratoma With Seminoma

Magnetic positioner having a single moving part

DOEpatents

Trumper, David L.; Kim, Won-Jong

1999-01-01

A magnetic positioner is provided which is capable of providing long travel in two dimension and short travel in the remaining four dimensions. The positioner has a movable stage and a stator oriented adjacent and substantially parallel to this stage. At least three sets of first magnetic elements, which for preferred embodiments are winding sets capable of generating forces in two directions, are on the portion of the stator adjacent to the stage at any given time, and at least two second magnetic elements, which are magnet arrays for the preferred embodiment, are on the stage adjacent to the stator. At least one of the second magnetic elements overlaps multiple first magnetic elements for all positions of the stage relative to the stator, with one magnet overlapping multiple windings for one preferred embodiment of the invention and two magnets on the stage overlapping multiple windings on the stator for a second embodiment. The windings form a linear motor providing forces in both a corresponding long travel dimension and in a dimension perpendicular to both long travel dimensions.

Integrating genome-wide association studies and gene expression data highlights dysregulated multiple sclerosis risk pathways.

PubMed

Liu, Guiyou; Zhang, Fang; Jiang, Yongshuai; Hu, Yang; Gong, Zhongying; Liu, Shoufeng; Chen, Xiuju; Jiang, Qinghua; Hao, Junwei

2017-02-01

Much effort has been expended on identifying the genetic determinants of multiple sclerosis (MS). Existing large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets provide strong support for using pathway and network-based analysis methods to investigate the mechanisms underlying MS. However, no shared genetic pathways have been identified to date. We hypothesize that shared genetic pathways may indeed exist in different MS-GWAS datasets. Here, we report results from a three-stage analysis of GWAS and expression datasets. In stage 1, we conducted multiple pathway analyses of two MS-GWAS datasets. In stage 2, we performed a candidate pathway analysis of the large-scale MS-GWAS dataset. In stage 3, we performed a pathway analysis using the dysregulated MS gene list from seven human MS case-control expression datasets. In stage 1, we identified 15 shared pathways. In stage 2, we successfully replicated 14 of these 15 significant pathways. In stage 3, we found that dysregulated MS genes were significantly enriched in 10 of 15 MS risk pathways identified in stages 1 and 2. We report shared genetic pathways in different MS-GWAS datasets and highlight some new MS risk pathways. Our findings provide new insights on the genetic determinants of MS.

The Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI) Multi-site Quality Assurance Program for Cryopreserved Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

PubMed Central

Sarzotti-Kelsoe, Marcella; Needham, Leila K.; Rountree, Wes; Bainbridge, John; Gray, Clive M.; Fiscus, Susan A.; Ferrari, Guido; Stevens, Wendy S.; Stager, Susan L.; Binz, Whitney; Louzao, Raul; Long, Kristy O.; Mokgotho, Pauline; Moodley, Niranjini; Mackay, Melanie; Kerkau, Melissa; McMillion, Takesha; Kirchherr, Jennifer; Soderberg, Kelly A.; Haynes, Barton F.; Denny, Thomas N.

2014-01-01

The Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI) consortium was established to determine the host and virus factors associated with HIV transmission, infection and containment of virus replication, with the goal of advancing the development of an HIV protective vaccine. Studies to meet this goal required the use of cryopreserved Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell (PBMC) specimens, and therefore it was imperative that a quality assurance (QA) oversight program be developed to monitor PBMC samples obtained from study participants at multiple international sites. Nine site-affiliated laboratories in Africa and the USA collected and processed PBMCs, and cryopreserved PBMC were shipped to CHAVI repositories in Africa and the USA for long-term storage. A three-stage program was designed, based on Good Clinical Laboratory Practices (GCLP), to monitor PBMC integrity at each step of this process. The first stage evaluated the integrity of fresh PBMCs for initial viability, overall yield, and processing time at the site-affiliated laboratories (Stage 1); for the second stage, the repositories determined post-thaw viability and cell recovery of cryopreserved PBMC, received from the site-affiliated laboratories (Stage 2); the third stage assessed the long-term specimen storage at each repository (Stage 3). Overall, the CHAVI PBMC QA oversight program results highlight the relative importance of each of these stages to the ultimate goal of preserving specimen integrity from peripheral blood collection to long-term repository storage. PMID:24910414

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

Lindley, Benjamin A.; Parks, Geoffrey T.; Franceschini, Fausto

Multiple recycle of long-lived actinides has the potential to greatly reduce the required storage time for spent nuclear fuel or high level nuclear waste. This is generally thought to require fast reactors as most transuranic (TRU) isotopes have low fission probabilities in thermal reactors. Reduced-moderation LWRs are a potential alternative to fast reactors with reduced time to deployment as they are based on commercially mature LWR technology. Thorium (Th) fuel is neutronically advantageous for TRU multiple recycle in LWRs due to a large improvement in the void coefficient. If Th fuel is used in reduced-moderation LWRs, it appears neutronically feasiblemore » to achieve full actinide recycle while burning an external supply of TRU, with related potential improvements in waste management and fuel utilization. In this paper, the fuel cycle of TRU-bearing Th fuel is analysed for reduced-moderation PWRs and BWRs (RMPWRs and RBWRs). RMPWRs have the advantage of relatively rapid implementation and intrinsically low conversion ratios. However, it is challenging to simultaneously satisfy operational and fuel cycle constraints. An RBWR may potentially take longer to implement than an RMPWR due to more extensive changes from current BWR technology. However, the harder neutron spectrum can lead to favourable fuel cycle performance. A two-stage fuel cycle, where the first pass is Th-Pu MOX, is a technically reasonable implementation of either concept. The first stage of the fuel cycle can therefore be implemented at relatively low cost as a Pu disposal option, with a further policy option of full recycle in the medium term. (authors)« less

Mutations in Nonconserved Domains of Ty3 Integrase Affect Multiple Stages of the Ty3 Life Cycle

PubMed Central

Nymark-McMahon, M. Henrietta; Sandmeyer, Suzanne B.

1999-01-01

Ty3, a retroviruslike element of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, transposes into positions immediately upstream of RNA polymerase III-transcribed genes. The Ty3 integrase (IN) protein is required for integration of the replicated, extrachromosomal Ty3 DNA. In retroviral IN, a conserved core region is sufficient for strand transfer activity. In this study, charged-to-alanine scanning mutagenesis was used to investigate the roles of the nonconserved amino- and carboxyl-terminal regions of Ty3 IN. Each of the 20 IN mutants was defective for transposition, but no mutant was grossly defective for capsid maturation. All mutations affecting steady-state levels of mature IN protein resulted in reduced levels of replicated DNA, even when polymerase activity was not grossly defective as measured by exogenous reverse transcriptase activity assay. Thus, IN could contribute to nonpolymerase functions required for DNA production in vivo or to the stability of the DNA product. Several mutations in the carboxyl-terminal domain resulted in relatively low levels of processed 3′ ends of the replicated DNA, suggesting that this domain may be important for binding of IN to the long terminal repeat. Another class of mutants produced wild-type amounts of DNA with correctly processed 3′ ends. This class could include mutants affected in nuclear entry and target association. Collectively, these mutations demonstrate that in vivo, within the preintegration complex, IN performs a central role in coordinating multiple late stages of the retrotransposition life cycle. PMID:9847351

Fully automated MR liver volumetry using watershed segmentation coupled with active contouring.

PubMed

Huynh, Hieu Trung; Le-Trong, Ngoc; Bao, Pham The; Oto, Aytek; Suzuki, Kenji

2017-02-01

Our purpose is to develop a fully automated scheme for liver volume measurement in abdominal MR images, without requiring any user input or interaction. The proposed scheme is fully automatic for liver volumetry from 3D abdominal MR images, and it consists of three main stages: preprocessing, rough liver shape generation, and liver extraction. The preprocessing stage reduced noise and enhanced the liver boundaries in 3D abdominal MR images. The rough liver shape was revealed fully automatically by using the watershed segmentation, thresholding transform, morphological operations, and statistical properties of the liver. An active contour model was applied to refine the rough liver shape to precisely obtain the liver boundaries. The liver volumes calculated by the proposed scheme were compared to the "gold standard" references which were estimated by an expert abdominal radiologist. The liver volumes computed by using our developed scheme excellently agreed (Intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.94) with the "gold standard" manual volumes by the radiologist in the evaluation with 27 cases from multiple medical centers. The running time was 8.4 min per case on average. We developed a fully automated liver volumetry scheme in MR, which does not require any interaction by users. It was evaluated with cases from multiple medical centers. The liver volumetry performance of our developed system was comparable to that of the gold standard manual volumetry, and it saved radiologists' time for manual liver volumetry of 24.7 min per case.

Evaluation of the utility of 99m Tc-MDP bone scintigraphy versus MIBG scintigraphy and cross-sectional imaging for staging patients with neuroblastoma.

PubMed

Gauguet, Jean-Marc; Pace-Emerson, Tamara; Grant, Frederick D; Shusterman, Suzanne; DuBois, Steven G; Frazier, A Lindsay; Voss, Stephan D

2017-11-01

Accurate staging of neuroblastoma requires multiple imaging examinations. The purpose of this study was to determine the relative contribution of 99m Tc-methylene diphosphonate (MDP) bone scintigraphy (bone scan) versus metaiodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy (MIBG scan) for accurate staging of neuroblastoma. A medical record search by the identified patients with neuroblastoma from 1993 to 2012 who underwent both MIBG and bone scan for disease staging. Cross-sectional imaging was used to corroborate the scintigraphy results. Clinical records were used to correlate imaging findings with clinical staging and patient management. One hundred thirty-two patients underwent both MIBG and bone scan for diagnosis. All stage 1 (n = 12), 2 (n = 8), and 4S (n = 4) patients had a normal bone scan with no skeletal MIBG uptake. Six of 30 stage 3 patients had false (+) bone scans. In the 78 stage 4 patients, 58/78 (74%) were both skeletal MIBG(+)/bone scan (+). In 56 of the 58 cases, skeletal involvement detected with MIBG was equal to or greater than that detected by bone scan. Only 3/78 had (-) skeletal MIBG uptake and (+) bone scans; all 3 had other sites of metastatic disease. Five of 78 had (+) skeletal MIBG with a (-) bone scan, while 12/78 had no skeletal involvement by either MIBG or bone scan. In no case did a positive bone scan alone determine a stage 4 designation. In the staging of neuroblastoma, 99m Tc-MDP bone scintigraphy does not identify unique sites of disease that affect disease stage or clinical management, and in the majority of cases bone scans can be omitted from the routine neuroblastoma staging algorithm. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Face-Processing Network Is Resilient to Focal Resection of Human Visual Cortex

PubMed Central

Jonas, Jacques; Gomez, Jesse; Maillard, Louis; Brissart, Hélène; Hossu, Gabriela; Jacques, Corentin; Loftus, David; Colnat-Coulbois, Sophie; Stigliani, Anthony; Barnett, Michael A.; Grill-Spector, Kalanit; Rossion, Bruno

2016-01-01

Human face perception requires a network of brain regions distributed throughout the occipital and temporal lobes with a right hemisphere advantage. Present theories consider this network as either a processing hierarchy beginning with the inferior occipital gyrus (occipital face area; IOG-faces/OFA) or a multiple-route network with nonhierarchical components. The former predicts that removing IOG-faces/OFA will detrimentally affect downstream stages, whereas the latter does not. We tested this prediction in a human patient (Patient S.P.) requiring removal of the right inferior occipital cortex, including IOG-faces/OFA. We acquired multiple fMRI measurements in Patient S.P. before and after a preplanned surgery and multiple measurements in typical controls, enabling both within-subject/across-session comparisons (Patient S.P. before resection vs Patient S.P. after resection) and between-subject/across-session comparisons (Patient S.P. vs controls). We found that the spatial topology and selectivity of downstream ipsilateral face-selective regions were stable 1 and 8 month(s) after surgery. Additionally, the reliability of distributed patterns of face selectivity in Patient S.P. before versus after resection was not different from across-session reliability in controls. Nevertheless, postoperatively, representations of visual space were typical in dorsal face-selective regions but atypical in ventral face-selective regions and V1 of the resected hemisphere. Diffusion weighted imaging in Patient S.P. and controls identifies white matter tracts connecting retinotopic areas to downstream face-selective regions, which may contribute to the stable and plastic features of the face network in Patient S.P. after surgery. Together, our results support a multiple-route network of face processing with nonhierarchical components and shed light on stable and plastic features of high-level visual cortex following focal brain damage. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Brain networks consist of interconnected functional regions commonly organized in processing hierarchies. Prevailing theories predict that damage to the input of the hierarchy will detrimentally affect later stages. We tested this prediction with multiple brain measurements in a rare human patient requiring surgical removal of the putative input to a network processing faces. Surprisingly, the spatial topology and selectivity of downstream face-selective regions are stable after surgery. Nevertheless, representations of visual space were typical in dorsal face-selective regions but atypical in ventral face-selective regions and V1. White matter connections from outside the face network may support these stable and plastic features. As processing hierarchies are ubiquitous in biological and nonbiological systems, our results have pervasive implications for understanding the construction of resilient networks. PMID:27511014

Multi-stage complex contagions.

PubMed

Melnik, Sergey; Ward, Jonathan A; Gleeson, James P; Porter, Mason A

2013-03-01

The spread of ideas across a social network can be studied using complex contagion models, in which agents are activated by contact with multiple activated neighbors. The investigation of complex contagions can provide crucial insights into social influence and behavior-adoption cascades on networks. In this paper, we introduce a model of a multi-stage complex contagion on networks. Agents at different stages-which could, for example, represent differing levels of support for a social movement or differing levels of commitment to a certain product or idea-exert different amounts of influence on their neighbors. We demonstrate that the presence of even one additional stage introduces novel dynamical behavior, including interplay between multiple cascades, which cannot occur in single-stage contagion models. We find that cascades-and hence collective action-can be driven not only by high-stage influencers but also by low-stage influencers.

Plerixafor and Filgrastim For Mobilization of Donor Peripheral Blood Stem Cells Before A Donor Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplant in Treating Patients With Hematologic Malignancies

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-06-26

Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, BCR-ABL Negative; Blastic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, Unclassifiable; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Previously Treated Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Recurrent Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Secondary Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma

Utilization of computer processed high definition video imaging for measuring motility of microscopic nematode stages on a quantitative scale: "The Worminator".

PubMed

Storey, Bob; Marcellino, Chris; Miller, Melissa; Maclean, Mary; Mostafa, Eman; Howell, Sue; Sakanari, Judy; Wolstenholme, Adrian; Kaplan, Ray

2014-12-01

A major hindrance to evaluating nematode populations for anthelmintic resistance, as well as for screening existing drugs, new compounds, or bioactive plant extracts for anthelmintic properties, is the lack of an efficient, objective, and reproducible in vitro assay that is adaptable to multiple life stages and parasite genera. To address this need we have developed the "Worminator" system, which objectively and quantitatively measures the motility of microscopic stages of parasitic nematodes. The system is built around the computer application "WormAssay", developed at the Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases at the University of California, San Francisco. WormAssay was designed to assess motility of macroscopic parasites for the purpose of high throughput screening of potential anthelmintic compounds, utilizing high definition video as an input to assess motion of adult stage (macroscopic) parasites (e.g. Brugia malayi). We adapted this assay for use with microscopic parasites by modifying the software to support a full frame analysis mode that applies the motion algorithm to the entire video frame. Thus, the motility of all parasites in a given well are recorded and measured simultaneously. Assays performed on third-stage larvae (L3) of the bovine intestinal nematode Cooperia spp., as well as microfilariae (mf) of the filarioid nematodes B. malayi and Dirofilaria immitis, yielded reproducible dose responses using the macrocyclic lactones ivermectin, doramectin, and moxidectin, as well as the nicotinic agonists, pyrantel, oxantel, morantel, and tribendimidine. This new computer based-assay is simple to use, requires minimal new investment in equipment, is robust across nematode genera and developmental stage, and does not require subjective scoring of motility by an observer. Thus, the "Worminator" provides a relatively low-cost platform for developing genera- and stage-specific assays with high efficiency and reproducibility, low labor input, and yields objective motility data that is not subject to scorer bias.

Optimizing the antioxidant activity of Kelakai (Stenochlaena palustris) through multiplestage extraction process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wijaya, Elza; Widiputri, Diah Indriani; Rahmawati, Della

2017-11-01

Kelakai is known as traditional remedy for treating several diseases, such as fever, anemia, and stimulate the production of breast milk for breastfeeding mother. Instead of those benefits, kelakai also proved has several kinds of antioxidant properties. Therefore, extracting antioxidant properties from kelakai is one way to discover the amount of antioxidant activity contained in kelakai. In this research, the multiple-stage extraction process was done in order to optimize the antioxidant activity. Moreover, based on data obtained from single stage extraction process, the most suitable condition was discovered. It turns out that the use of milled sample in water solvent for 12 hours at 44°C produce the highest antioxidant activity, which is 919.95 mg to inhibit 50% of DPPH. Referred to the experiment, the antioxidant activity of the extract which gained from multiple-stage was higher than from single stage. Multiple-stage process has proven the increasing of antioxidant activity up to 72.43%, which is need 404 mg to inhibit 50% of DPPH.

AR-42 in Treating Patients With Advanced or Relapsed Multiple Myeloma, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, or Lymphoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-02-21

Adult Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Cutaneous B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Hepatosplenic T-cell Lymphoma; Intraocular Lymphoma; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma; Post-transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder; Prolymphocytic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Testicular Lymphoma; Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia

Robust design of configurations and parameters of adaptable products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jian; Chen, Yongliang; Xue, Deyi; Gu, Peihua

2014-03-01

An adaptable product can satisfy different customer requirements by changing its configuration and parameter values during the operation stage. Design of adaptable products aims at reducing the environment impact through replacement of multiple different products with single adaptable ones. Due to the complex architecture, multiple functional requirements, and changes of product configurations and parameter values in operation, impact of uncertainties to the functional performance measures needs to be considered in design of adaptable products. In this paper, a robust design approach is introduced to identify the optimal design configuration and parameters of an adaptable product whose functional performance measures are the least sensitive to uncertainties. An adaptable product in this paper is modeled by both configurations and parameters. At the configuration level, methods to model different product configuration candidates in design and different product configuration states in operation to satisfy design requirements are introduced. At the parameter level, four types of product/operating parameters and relations among these parameters are discussed. A two-level optimization approach is developed to identify the optimal design configuration and its parameter values of the adaptable product. A case study is implemented to illustrate the effectiveness of the newly developed robust adaptable design method.

Thirty Meter Telescope narrow-field infrared adaptive optics system real-time controller prototyping results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Malcolm; Kerley, Dan; Chapin, Edward L.; Dunn, Jennifer; Herriot, Glen; Véran, Jean-Pierre; Boyer, Corinne; Ellerbroek, Brent; Gilles, Luc; Wang, Lianqi

2016-07-01

Prototyping and benchmarking was performed for the Real-Time Controller (RTC) of the Narrow Field InfraRed Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS). To perform wavefront correction, NFIRAOS utilizes two deformable mirrors (DM) and one tip/tilt stage (TTS). The RTC receives wavefront information from six Laser Guide Star (LGS) Shack- Hartmann WaveFront Sensors (WFS), one high-order Natural Guide Star Pyramid WaveFront Sensor (PWFS) and multiple low-order instrument detectors. The RTC uses this information to determine the commands to send to the wavefront correctors. NFIRAOS is the first light AO system for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The prototyping was performed using dual-socket high performance Linux servers with the real-time (PREEMPT_RT) patch and demonstrated the viability of a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware approach to large scale AO reconstruction. In particular, a large custom matrix vector multiplication (MVM) was benchmarked which met the required latency requirements. In addition all major inter-machine communication was verified to be adequate using 10Gb and 40Gb Ethernet. The results of this prototyping has enabled a CPU-based NFIRAOS RTC design to proceed with confidence and that COTS hardware can be used to meet the demanding performance requirements.

A blind hierarchical coherent search for gravitational-wave signals from coalescing compact binaries in a network of interferometric detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bose, Sukanta; Dayanga, Thilina; Ghosh, Shaon; Talukder, Dipongkar

2011-07-01

We describe a hierarchical data analysis pipeline for coherently searching for gravitational-wave signals from non-spinning compact binary coalescences (CBCs) in the data of multiple earth-based detectors. This search assumes no prior information on the sky position of the source or the time of occurrence of its transient signals and, hence, is termed 'blind'. The pipeline computes the coherent network search statistic that is optimal in stationary, Gaussian noise. More importantly, it allows for the computation of a suite of alternative multi-detector coherent search statistics and signal-based discriminators that can improve the performance of CBC searches in real data, which can be both non-stationary and non-Gaussian. Also, unlike the coincident multi-detector search statistics that have been employed so far, the coherent statistics are different in the sense that they check for the consistency of the signal amplitudes and phases in the different detectors with their different orientations and with the signal arrival times in them. Since the computation of coherent statistics entails searching in the sky, it is more expensive than that of the coincident statistics that do not require it. To reduce computational costs, the first stage of the hierarchical pipeline constructs coincidences of triggers from the multiple interferometers, by requiring their proximity in time and component masses. The second stage follows up on these coincident triggers by computing the coherent statistics. Here, we compare the performances of this hierarchical pipeline with and without the second (or coherent) stage in Gaussian noise. Although introducing hierarchy can be expected to cause some degradation in the detection efficiency compared to that of a single-stage coherent pipeline, nevertheless it improves the computational speed of the search considerably. The two main results of this work are as follows: (1) the performance of the hierarchical coherent pipeline on Gaussian data is shown to be better than the pipeline with just the coincident stage; (2) the three-site network of LIGO detectors, in Hanford and Livingston (USA), and Virgo detector in Cascina (Italy) cannot resolve the polarization of waves arriving from certain parts of the sky. This can cause the three-site coherent statistic at those sky positions to become singular. Regularized versions of the statistic can avoid that problem, but can be expected to be sub-optimal. The aforementioned improvement in the pipeline's performance due to the coherent stage is in spite of this handicap.

Viroporins, Examples of the Two-Stage Membrane Protein Folding Model.

PubMed

Martinez-Gil, Luis; Mingarro, Ismael

2015-06-26

Viroporins are small, α-helical, hydrophobic virus encoded proteins, engineered to form homo-oligomeric hydrophilic pores in the host membrane. Viroporins participate in multiple steps of the viral life cycle, from entry to budding. As any other membrane protein, viroporins have to find the way to bury their hydrophobic regions into the lipid bilayer. Once within the membrane, the hydrophobic helices of viroporins interact with each other to form higher ordered structures required to correctly perform their porating activities. This two-step process resembles the two-stage model proposed for membrane protein folding by Engelman and Poppot. In this review we use the membrane protein folding model as a leading thread to analyze the mechanism and forces behind the membrane insertion and folding of viroporins. We start by describing the transmembrane segment architecture of viroporins, including the number and sequence characteristics of their membrane-spanning domains. Next, we connect the differences found among viroporin families to their viral genome organization, and finalize focusing on the pathways used by viroporins in their way to the membrane and on the transmembrane helix-helix interactions required to achieve proper folding and assembly.

Multistage Passive Cooler for Spaceborne Instruments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rodriquez, Jose I.

2007-01-01

A document describes a three-stage passive radiative cooler for a cryogenic spectrometer to be launched into a low orbit around the Moon. This cooler is relatively lightweight and compact, and its basic design is scalable and otherwise adaptable to other applications in which there are requirements for cooling instrumentation in orbit about planets. The cooler includes multiple lightweight flat radiator blades alternating with cylindrical parabolic infrared reflectors. The radiator blades are oriented at an angle chosen to prevent infrared loading from the Moon limb at the intended orbital altitude and attitude. The reflectors are shaped and oriented to position their foci outside the radiator surfaces. There are six radiator-blade/reflector pairs - two pairs for each stage of cooling. The radiator blades and reflectors are coated on their front and back surfaces with materials having various infrared emissivities, infrared reflectivities, and solar reflectivities so as to maximize infrared radiation to cold outer space and minimize inadvertent solar heating. The radiator blades and reflectors are held in place by a lightweight support structure, the components of which are designed to satisfy a complex combination of thermal and mechanical requirements.

Electrolyte and Acid-Base Disturbances in End-Stage Liver Disease: A Physiopathological Approach.

PubMed

Jiménez, José Víctor; Carrillo-Pérez, Diego Luis; Rosado-Canto, Rodrigo; García-Juárez, Ignacio; Torre, Aldo; Kershenobich, David; Carrillo-Maravilla, Eduardo

2017-08-01

Electrolyte and acid-base disturbances are frequent in patients with end-stage liver disease; the underlying physiopathological mechanisms are often complex and represent a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to the physician. Usually, these disorders do not develop in compensated cirrhotic patients, but with the onset of the classic complications of cirrhosis such as ascites, renal failure, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and variceal bleeding, multiple electrolyte, and acid-base disturbances emerge. Hyponatremia parallels ascites formation and is a well-known trigger of hepatic encephalopathy; its management in this particular population poses a risky challenge due to the high susceptibility of cirrhotic patients to osmotic demyelination. Hypokalemia is common in the setting of cirrhosis: multiple potassium wasting mechanisms both inherent to the disease and resulting from its management make these patients particularly susceptible to potassium depletion even in the setting of normokalemia. Acid-base disturbances range from classical respiratory alkalosis to high anion gap metabolic acidosis, almost comprising the full acid-base spectrum. Because most electrolyte and acid-base disturbances are managed in terms of their underlying trigger factors, a systematic physiopathological approach to their diagnosis and treatment is required.

Density dependence governs when population responses to multiple stressors are magnified or mitigated.

PubMed

Hodgson, Emma E; Essington, Timothy E; Halpern, Benjamin S

2017-10-01

Population endangerment typically arises from multiple, potentially interacting anthropogenic stressors. Extensive research has investigated the consequences of multiple stressors on organisms, frequently focusing on individual life stages. Less is known about population-level consequences of exposure to multiple stressors, especially when exposure varies through life. We provide the first theoretical basis for identifying species at risk of magnified effects from multiple stressors across life history. By applying a population modeling framework, we reveal conditions under which population responses from stressors applied to distinct life stages are either magnified (synergistic) or mitigated. We find that magnification or mitigation critically depends on the shape of density dependence, but not the life stage in which it occurs. Stressors are always magnified when density dependence is linear or concave, and magnified or mitigated when it is convex. Using Bayesian numerical methods, we estimated the shape of density dependence for eight species across diverse taxa, finding support for all three shapes. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Multiple-Stage Screening of Youth Depression in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morey, Melissa E.; Arora, Prerna; Stark, Kevin D.

2015-01-01

Schools present a unique environment in which to conduct universal screenings for youth depression. The present study examines the efficiency of a multiple-stage assessment procedure assessing youth depression in the schools by calculating hit rates and establishing diagnostic accuracy for the measures used. Girls (N = 3318) aged 8 to 13,…

Building world-class microlithographic lens systems: optical material requirements and qualification methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeStefano, Paul R.; Michaloski, Paul F.

1993-12-01

Building successive generations of state-of-the-art wide field, sub-micron microlithographic lens systems dictates ever-tightening material tolerances that challenge glass manufacturers. This paper discusses the optical material needs for microlithographic lens systems and Tropel's in-house material qualification program. Material qualification is divided into three successive stages: (1) fluorescence testing to qualitatively analyze color center characteristics of the material; (2) homogeneity testing to determine the relative volumetric variations in index; and (3) absolute index testing at multiple wavelengths to determine the material's dispersion characteristics.

Reliable use of determinants to solve nonlinear structural eigenvalue problems efficiently

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, F. W.; Kennedy, D.

1988-01-01

The analytical derivation, numerical implementation, and performance of a multiple-determinant parabolic interpolation method (MDPIM) for use in solving transcendental eigenvalue (critical buckling or undamped free vibration) problems in structural mechanics are presented. The overall bounding, eigenvalue-separation, qualified parabolic interpolation, accuracy-confirmation, and convergence-recovery stages of the MDPIM are described in detail, and the numbers of iterations required to solve sample plane-frame problems using the MDPIM are compared with those for a conventional bisection method and for the Newtonian method of Simpson (1984) in extensive tables. The MDPIM is shown to use 31 percent less computation time than bisection when accuracy of 0.0001 is required, but 62 percent less when accuracy of 10 to the -8th is required; the time savings over the Newtonian method are about 10 percent.

Palifermin in Preventing Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease in Patients Who Have Undergone Donor Stem Cell Transplant for Hematologic Cancer

ClinicalTrials.gov

2014-02-19

Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Del(5q); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, BCR-ABL1 Negative; Blastic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Chronic Neutrophilic Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Graft Versus Host Disease; Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, Unclassifiable; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Previously Treated Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Primary Myelofibrosis; Recurrent Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Secondary Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma

Internet-Based Program With or Without Telephone-Based Problem-Solving Training in Helping Long-Term Survivors of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Cope With Late Complications

ClinicalTrials.gov

2012-03-05

Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, BCR-ABL Negative; Blastic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Cancer Survivor; Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Chronic Neutrophilic Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Depression; Disseminated Neuroblastoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Fatigue; Long-term Effects Secondary to Cancer Therapy in Adults; Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, Unclassifiable; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Previously Treated Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Primary Myelofibrosis; Psychosocial Effects of Cancer and Its Treatment; Recurrent Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Secondary Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma

Diagnostic accuracy of apparent diffusion coefficient and 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine for differentiation of multiple system atrophy and Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Umemura, Atsushi; Oeda, Tomoko; Hayashi, Ryutaro; Tomita, Satoshi; Kohsaka, Masayuki; Yamamoto, Kenji; Sawada, Hideyuki

2013-01-01

It is often hard to differentiate Parkinson's disease (PD) and parkinsonian variant of multiple system atrophy (MSA-P), especially in the early stages. Cardiac sympathetic denervation and putaminal rarefaction are specific findings for PD and MSA-P, respectively. We investigated diagnostic accuracy of putaminal apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) test for MSA-P and (123)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigram for PD, especially in early-stage patients. The referral standard diagnosis of PD and MSA-P were the diagnostic criteria of the United Kingdom Parkinson's Disease Society Brain Bank Criteria and the second consensus criteria, respectively. Based on the referral standard criteria, diagnostic accuracy [area under the receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity] of the ADC and MIBG tests was estimated retrospectively. Diagnostic accuracy of these tests performed within 3 years of symptom onset was also investigated. ADC and MIBG tests were performed on 138 patients (20 MSA and 118 PD). AUC was 0.95 and 0.83 for the ADC and MIBG tests, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity were 85.0% and 89.0% for MSA-P diagnosis by ADC test and 67.0% and 80.0% for PD diagnosis by MIBG test. When these tests were restricted to patients with disease duration ≤ 3 years, the sensitivity and specificity were 75.0% and 91.4% for the ADC test (MSA-P diagnosis) and 47.7% and 92.3% for the MIBG test (PD diagnosis). Both tests were useful in differentiating between PD and MSA-P, even in the early stages. In early-stage patients, elevated putaminal ADC was a diagnostic marker for MSA-P. Despite high specificity of the MIBG test, careful neurological history and examinations were required for PD diagnosis because of possible false-negative results.

Airway reconstruction: review of an approach to the advanced-stage laryngotracheal stenosis.

PubMed

Bitar, Mohamad Ahmad; Al Barazi, Randa; Barakeh, Rana

The management of laryngotracheal stenosis is complex and is influenced by multiple factors that can affect the ultimate outcome. Advanced lesions represent a special challenge to the treating surgeon to find the best remedying technique. To review the efficacy of our surgical reconstructive approach in managing advanced-stage laryngotracheal stenosis treated at a tertiary medical center. A retrospective review of all patients that underwent open laryngotracheal repair/reconstruction by the senior author between 2002 and 2014. Patients with mild/moderate stenosis (e.g. stage 1 or 2), or those who had an open reconstructive procedure prior to referral, were excluded. Patients who had only endoscopic treatment (e.g. laser, balloon dilatation) and were not subjected to an open reconstructive procedure at our institution, were not included in this study. Variables studied included patient demographics, clinical presentation, etiology of the laryngotracheal pathology, the location of stenosis, the stage of stenosis, the type of corrective or reconstructive procedure performed with the type of graft used (where applicable), the type and duration of stent used, the post-reconstruction complications, and the duration of follow-up. Outcome measures included decannulation rate, total number of reconstructive surgeries needed to achieve decannulation, and the number of post-operative endoscopies needed to reach a safe patent airway. Twenty five patients were included, aged 0.5 months to 45 years (mean 13.5 years, median 15 years) with 16 males and 9 females. Seventeen patients (68%) were younger than 18 years. Most patients presented with stridor, failure of decannulation, or respiratory distress. Majority had acquired etiology for their stenosis with only 24% having a congenital pathology. Thirty-two reconstructive procedures were performed resulting in decannulating 24 patients (96%), with 15/17 (88%) pediatric patients and 5/8 (62.5%) adult patients requiring only a single reconstructive procedure. Cartilage grafts were mostly used in children (84% vs. 38%) and stents were mostly silicone made, followed by endotracheal tubes. The number of endoscopies required ranged from 1 to 7 (mean 3). More co-morbidities existed in young children, resulting in failure to decannulate one patient. Adult patients had more complex pathologies requiring multiple procedures to achieve decannulation, with grafting less efficacious than in younger patients. The pediatric patients had double the incidence of granulation tissue compared to adults. The decannulated patients remained asymptomatic at a mean follow-up of 50.5 months. The review of our approach to open airway repair/reconstruction showed its efficacy in advanced-stage laryngotracheal stenosis. Good knowledge of a variety of reconstructive techniques is important to achieve good results in a variety of age groups. Copyright © 2016 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Tourette syndrome and other chronic tic disorders: an update on clinical management.

PubMed

Martino, Davide; Pringsheim, Tamara M

2018-02-01

The management of Tourette syndrome (TS) and other chronic tic disorders occurs in multiple stages and begins with comprehensive assessment and complex psychoeducation. Behavioral and pharmacological interventions (second stage) are needed when tics cause physical or psychosocial impairment. Deep brain stimulation surgery or experimental therapies represent the third stage. Areas covered: Discussed are recent advances in assessment and therapy of chronic tic disorders, encompassing the three stages of intervention, with the addition of experimental, non-invasive brain stimulation strategies. A PubMed search was performed using as keywords: 'tic disorders', 'Tourette syndrome', 'assessment', 'rating scales', 'behavioral treatment', 'pharmacological treatment', 'deep brain stimulation', 'transcranial magnetic (or current) stimulation', and 'transcranial current stimulation'. More than 300 peer-reviewed articles were evaluated. The studies discussed have been selected on the basis of novelty and impact. Expert commentary: Comprehensive assessment of tic disorders and psychoeducation are crucial to a correct active management approach. Behavioral treatments represent first line of active interventions, with increasing potential offered by telehealth. Antipsychotics and alpha agonists remain first line pharmacological interventions for tics, although VMAT-2 inhibitors appear promising. Deep brain stimulation is a potential option for medically refractory, severely disabled patients with tics, but age and target selection require further investigation.

CRISPR-Cas9-modified pfmdr1 protects Plasmodium falciparum asexual blood stages and gametocytes against a class of piperazine-containing compounds but potentiates artemisinin-based combination therapy partner drugs.

PubMed

Ng, Caroline L; Siciliano, Giulia; Lee, Marcus C S; de Almeida, Mariana J; Corey, Victoria C; Bopp, Selina E; Bertuccini, Lucia; Wittlin, Sergio; Kasdin, Rachel G; Le Bihan, Amélie; Clozel, Martine; Winzeler, Elizabeth A; Alano, Pietro; Fidock, David A

2016-08-01

Emerging resistance to first-line antimalarial combination therapies threatens malaria treatment and the global elimination campaign. Improved therapeutic strategies are required to protect existing drugs and enhance treatment efficacy. We report that the piperazine-containing compound ACT-451840 exhibits single-digit nanomolar inhibition of the Plasmodium falciparum asexual blood stages and transmissible gametocyte forms. Genome sequence analyses of in vitro-derived ACT-451840-resistant parasites revealed single nucleotide polymorphisms in pfmdr1, which encodes a digestive vacuole membrane-bound ATP-binding cassette transporter known to alter P. falciparum susceptibility to multiple first-line antimalarials. CRISPR-Cas9 based gene editing confirmed that PfMDR1 point mutations mediated ACT-451840 resistance. Resistant parasites demonstrated increased susceptibility to the clinical drugs lumefantrine, mefloquine, quinine and amodiaquine. Stage V gametocytes harboring Cas9-introduced pfmdr1 mutations also acquired ACT-451840 resistance. These findings reveal that PfMDR1 mutations can impart resistance to compounds active against asexual blood stages and mature gametocytes. Exploiting PfMDR1 resistance mechanisms provides new opportunities for developing disease-relieving and transmission-blocking antimalarials. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Multi-stage complex contagions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melnik, Sergey; Ward, Jonathan A.; Gleeson, James P.; Porter, Mason A.

2013-03-01

The spread of ideas across a social network can be studied using complex contagion models, in which agents are activated by contact with multiple activated neighbors. The investigation of complex contagions can provide crucial insights into social influence and behavior-adoption cascades on networks. In this paper, we introduce a model of a multi-stage complex contagion on networks. Agents at different stages—which could, for example, represent differing levels of support for a social movement or differing levels of commitment to a certain product or idea—exert different amounts of influence on their neighbors. We demonstrate that the presence of even one additional stage introduces novel dynamical behavior, including interplay between multiple cascades, which cannot occur in single-stage contagion models. We find that cascades—and hence collective action—can be driven not only by high-stage influencers but also by low-stage influencers.

Metrology requirements for the serial production of ELT primary mirror segments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rees, Paul C. T.; Gray, Caroline

2015-08-01

The manufacture of the next generation of large astronomical telescopes, the extremely large telescopes (ELT), requires the rapid manufacture of greater than 500 1.44m hexagonal segments for the primary mirror of each telescope. Both leading projects, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), have set highly demanding technical requirements for each fabricated segment. These technical requirements, when combined with the anticipated construction schedule for each telescope, suggest that more than one optical fabricator will be involved in the delivery of the primary mirror segments in order to meet the project schedule. For one supplier, the technical specification is challenging and requires highly consistent control of metrology in close coordination with the polishing technologies used in order to optimize production rates. For production using multiple suppliers, however the supply chain is structured, consistent control of metrology along the supply chain will be required. This requires a broader pattern of independent verification than is the case of a single supplier. This paper outlines the metrology requirements for a single supplier throughout all stages of the fabrication process. We identify and outline those areas where metrology accuracy and duration have a significant impact on production efficiency. We use the challenging ESO E-ELT technical specification as an example of our treatment, including actual process data. We further develop this model for the case of a supply chain consisting of multiple suppliers. Here, we emphasize the need to control metrology throughout the supply chain in order to optimize net production efficiency.

Contraction Options and Optimal Multiple-Stopping in Spectrally Negative Lévy Models

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

Yamazaki, Kazutoshi, E-mail: kyamazak@kansai-u.ac.jp

This paper studies the optimal multiple-stopping problem arising in the context of the timing option to withdraw from a project in stages. The profits are driven by a general spectrally negative Lévy process. This allows the model to incorporate sudden declines of the project values, generalizing greatly the classical geometric Brownian motion model. We solve the one-stage case as well as the extension to the multiple-stage case. The optimal stopping times are of threshold-type and the value function admits an expression in terms of the scale function. A series of numerical experiments are conducted to verify the optimality and tomore » evaluate the efficiency of the algorithm.« less

Resistance of Metallic Screens in a Cryogenic Flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fischer, Alexander; Stief, Malte

The propellant behaviour in cryogenic upper stages tanks imposes challenging requirements on the design, especially for future upper stages designed for multiple restarts and long ballistic flight phases. The main challenge is the supply of the propellants to the feed system prior to the engine reignition. During the entire mission the engine requires a gaseous and bubble free liquid supply of propellant at the required thermodynamic conditions. The current research focus is to prepare the initial steps for the maturation of the Propellant Management Device (PMD) technology for cryogenic tank systems. Main components of such a PMD are metallic screens. The metallic screens are used as barrier for any gas bubbles within the fluid stream approaching the space craft engines. The screen characteristics are of fundamental importance for the PMD and feed system design. The paper presents a summary on available experimental screen data with regard to the flow resistance and gives a comparison with theoretical and empirical predictions found in literature. The lack on comparable data with regard to space craft applications and the need on further research with cryogenic flows is demonstrated. The DLR Institute of Space Systems is preparing various cryogenic tests to collect the desired information about the flow properties of such metallic screens. The planned test setup and the foreseen experiments will be presented.

Representation of Students in Solving Simultaneous Linear Equation Problems Based on Multiple Intelligence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yanti, Y. R.; Amin, S. M.; Sulaiman, R.

2018-01-01

This study described representation of students who have musical, logical-mathematic and naturalist intelligence in solving a problem. Subjects were selected on the basis of multiple intelligence tests (TPM) consists of 108 statements, with 102 statements adopted from Chislet and Chapman and 6 statements equal to eksistensial intelligences. Data were analyzed based on problem-solving tests (TPM) and interviewing. See the validity of the data then problem-solving tests (TPM) and interviewing is given twice with an analyzed using the representation indikator and the problem solving step. The results showed that: the stage of presenting information known, stage of devising a plan, and stage of carrying out the plan those three subjects were using same form of representation. While he stage of presenting information asked and stage of looking back, subject of logical-mathematic was using different forms of representation with subjects of musical and naturalist intelligence. From this research is expected to provide input to the teacher in determining the learning strategy that will be used by considering the representation of students with the basis of multiple intelligences.

A small step in VLC systems - a big step in Li-Fi implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rîurean, S. M.; Nagy, A. A.; Leba, M.; Ionica, A. C.

2018-01-01

Light is part of our sustainable environmental life so, using it would be the handiest and cheapest way for wireless communication. Since ever, light has been used to send messages in different ways and now, due to the high technological improvements, bits through light, at high speed on multiple paths, allow humans to communicate. Using the lighting system both for illumination and communication represents lately one of the worldwide main research issues with several implementations with real benefits. This paper presents a viable VLC system, that proves its sustainability for sending by light information not only few millimetres but meters away. This system has multiple potential applications in different areas where other communication systems are bottlenecked, too expensive, unavailable or even forbidden. Since a Li-Fi fully developed system requires bidirectional, multiple access communication, there are still some challenges towards a functional Li-Fi wireless network. Although important steps have been made, Li-Fi is still under experimental stage.

Analysis of partially observed clustered data using generalized estimating equations and multiple imputation

PubMed Central

Aloisio, Kathryn M.; Swanson, Sonja A.; Micali, Nadia; Field, Alison; Horton, Nicholas J.

2015-01-01

Clustered data arise in many settings, particularly within the social and biomedical sciences. As an example, multiple–source reports are commonly collected in child and adolescent psychiatric epidemiologic studies where researchers use various informants (e.g. parent and adolescent) to provide a holistic view of a subject’s symptomatology. Fitzmaurice et al. (1995) have described estimation of multiple source models using a standard generalized estimating equation (GEE) framework. However, these studies often have missing data due to additional stages of consent and assent required. The usual GEE is unbiased when missingness is Missing Completely at Random (MCAR) in the sense of Little and Rubin (2002). This is a strong assumption that may not be tenable. Other options such as weighted generalized estimating equations (WEEs) are computationally challenging when missingness is non–monotone. Multiple imputation is an attractive method to fit incomplete data models while only requiring the less restrictive Missing at Random (MAR) assumption. Previously estimation of partially observed clustered data was computationally challenging however recent developments in Stata have facilitated their use in practice. We demonstrate how to utilize multiple imputation in conjunction with a GEE to investigate the prevalence of disordered eating symptoms in adolescents reported by parents and adolescents as well as factors associated with concordance and prevalence. The methods are motivated by the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and their Children (ALSPAC), a cohort study that enrolled more than 14,000 pregnant mothers in 1991–92 and has followed the health and development of their children at regular intervals. While point estimates were fairly similar to the GEE under MCAR, the MAR model had smaller standard errors, while requiring less stringent assumptions regarding missingness. PMID:25642154

WikiBuild: a new online collaboration process for multistakeholder tool development and consensus building.

PubMed

Gupta, Samir; Wan, Flora T; Newton, David; Bhattacharyya, Onil K; Chignell, Mark H; Straus, Sharon E

2011-12-08

Production of media such as patient education tools requires methods that can integrate multiple stakeholder perspectives. Existing consensus techniques are poorly suited to design of visual media, can be expensive and logistically demanding, and are subject to caveats arising from group dynamics such as participant hierarchies. Our objective was to develop a method that enables multistakeholder tool building while averting these difficulties. We developed a wiki-inspired method and tested this through the collaborative design of an asthma action plan (AAP). In the development stage, we developed the Web-based tool by (1) establishing AAP content and format options, (2) building a Web-based application capable of representing each content and format permutation, (3) testing this tool among stakeholders, and (4) revising this tool based on stakeholder feedback. In the wiki stage, groups of participants used the revised tool in three separate 1-week "wiki" periods during which each group collaboratively authored an AAP by making multiple online selections. In the development stage, we recruited 16 participants (9/16 male) (4 pulmonologists, 4 primary care physicians, 3 certified asthma educators, and 5 patients) for system testing. The mean System Usability Scale (SUS) score for the tool used in testing was 72.2 (SD 10.2). In the wiki stage, we recruited 41 participants (15/41 male) (9 pulmonologists, 6 primary care physicians, 5 certified asthma educators, and 21 patients) from diverse locations. The mean SUS score for the revised tool was 75.9 (SD 19.6). Users made 872, 466, and 599 successful changes to the AAP in weeks 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The site was used actively for a mean of 32.0 hours per week, of which 3.1 hours per week (9.7%) constituted synchronous multiuser use (2-4 users at the same time). Participants averaged 23 (SD 33) minutes of login time and made 7.7 (SD 15) changes to the AAP per day. Among participants, 28/35 (80%) were satisfied with the final AAP, and only 3/34 (9%) perceived interstakeholder group hierarchies. Use of a wiki-inspired method allowed for effective collaborative design of content and format aspects of an AAP while minimizing logistical requirements, maximizing geographical representation, and mitigating hierarchical group dynamics. Our method faced unique software and hardware challenges, and raises certain questions regarding its effect on group functioning. Potential uses of our method are broad, and further studies are required.

WikiBuild: A New Online Collaboration Process For Multistakeholder Tool Development and Consensus Building

PubMed Central

Wan, Flora T; Newton, David; Bhattacharyya, Onil K; Chignell, Mark H; Straus, Sharon E

2011-01-01

Background Production of media such as patient education tools requires methods that can integrate multiple stakeholder perspectives. Existing consensus techniques are poorly suited to design of visual media, can be expensive and logistically demanding, and are subject to caveats arising from group dynamics such as participant hierarchies. Objective Our objective was to develop a method that enables multistakeholder tool building while averting these difficulties. Methods We developed a wiki-inspired method and tested this through the collaborative design of an asthma action plan (AAP). In the development stage, we developed the Web-based tool by (1) establishing AAP content and format options, (2) building a Web-based application capable of representing each content and format permutation, (3) testing this tool among stakeholders, and (4) revising this tool based on stakeholder feedback. In the wiki stage, groups of participants used the revised tool in three separate 1-week “wiki” periods during which each group collaboratively authored an AAP by making multiple online selections. Results In the development stage, we recruited 16 participants (9/16 male) (4 pulmonologists, 4 primary care physicians, 3 certified asthma educators, and 5 patients) for system testing. The mean System Usability Scale (SUS) score for the tool used in testing was 72.2 (SD 10.2). In the wiki stage, we recruited 41 participants (15/41 male) (9 pulmonologists, 6 primary care physicians, 5 certified asthma educators, and 21 patients) from diverse locations. The mean SUS score for the revised tool was 75.9 (SD 19.6). Users made 872, 466, and 599 successful changes to the AAP in weeks 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The site was used actively for a mean of 32.0 hours per week, of which 3.1 hours per week (9.7%) constituted synchronous multiuser use (2–4 users at the same time). Participants averaged 23 (SD 33) minutes of login time and made 7.7 (SD 15) changes to the AAP per day. Among participants, 28/35 (80%) were satisfied with the final AAP, and only 3/34 (9%) perceived interstakeholder group hierarchies. Conclusion Use of a wiki-inspired method allowed for effective collaborative design of content and format aspects of an AAP while minimizing logistical requirements, maximizing geographical representation, and mitigating hierarchical group dynamics. Our method faced unique software and hardware challenges, and raises certain questions regarding its effect on group functioning. Potential uses of our method are broad, and further studies are required. PMID:22155694

A transcriptional switch underlies commitment to sexual development in malaria parasites.

PubMed

Kafsack, Björn F C; Rovira-Graells, Núria; Clark, Taane G; Bancells, Cristina; Crowley, Valerie M; Campino, Susana G; Williams, April E; Drought, Laura G; Kwiatkowski, Dominic P; Baker, David A; Cortés, Alfred; Llinás, Manuel

2014-03-13

The life cycles of many parasites involve transitions between disparate host species, requiring these parasites to go through multiple developmental stages adapted to each of these specialized niches. Transmission of malaria parasites (Plasmodium spp.) from humans to the mosquito vector requires differentiation from asexual stages replicating within red blood cells into non-dividing male and female gametocytes. Although gametocytes were first described in 1880, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in commitment to gametocyte formation is extremely limited, and disrupting this critical developmental transition remains a long-standing goal. Here we show that expression levels of the DNA-binding protein PfAP2-G correlate strongly with levels of gametocyte formation. Using independent forward and reverse genetics approaches, we demonstrate that PfAP2-G function is essential for parasite sexual differentiation. By combining genome-wide PfAP2-G cognate motif occurrence with global transcriptional changes resulting from PfAP2-G ablation, we identify early gametocyte genes as probable targets of PfAP2-G and show that their regulation by PfAP2-G is critical for their wild-type level expression. In the asexual blood-stage parasites pfap2-g appears to be among a set of epigenetically silenced loci prone to spontaneous activation. Stochastic activation presents a simple mechanism for a low baseline of gametocyte production. Overall, these findings identify PfAP2-G as a master regulator of sexual-stage development in malaria parasites and mark the first discovery of a transcriptional switch controlling a differentiation decision in protozoan parasites.

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling is required for a late-stage fusion process during skeletal myotube maturation.

PubMed

Park, In-Hyun; Chen, Jie

2005-09-09

Skeletal myogenesis is a well orchestrated cascade of events regulated by multiple signaling pathways, one of which is recently characterized by its sensitivity to the bacterial macrolide rapamycin. Previously we reported that the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) regulates the initiation of the differentiation program in mouse C2C12 myoblasts by controlling the expression of insulin-like growth factor-II in a kinase-independent manner. Here we provide experimental evidence suggesting that a different mode of mTOR signaling regulates skeletal myogenesis at a later stage. In the absence of endogenous mTOR function in C2C12 cells treated with rapamycin, a kinase-inactive mTOR fully supports myogenin expression, but causes a delay in contractile protein expression. Myoblasts fuse to form nascent myotubes in the absence of kinase-active mTOR, whereas the formation of mature myotubes by further fusion requires the catalytic activity of mTOR. Therefore, the two stages of myocyte fusion are molecularly separable at the level of mTOR signaling. In addition, our data suggest that a factor secreted into the culture medium is responsible for mediating the function of mTOR in regulating the late-stage fusion leading to mature myotubes. Furthermore, taking advantage of the unique features of cells stably expressing a mutant mTOR, we have performed cDNA microarray analysis to compare global gene expression profiles between mature and nascent myotubes, the results of which have implicated classes of genes and revealed candidate regulators in myotube maturation or functions of mature myotubes.

Reconfigurable multiport EPON repeater

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oishi, Masayuki; Inohara, Ryo; Agata, Akira; Horiuchi, Yukio

2009-11-01

An extended reach EPON repeater is one of the solutions to effectively expand FTTH service areas. In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable multi-port EPON repeater for effective accommodation of multiple ODNs with a single OLT line card. The proposed repeater, which has multi-ports in both OLT and ODN sides, consists of TRs, BTRs with the CDR function and a reconfigurable electrical matrix switch, can accommodate multiple ODNs to a single OLT line card by controlling the connection of the matrix switch. Although conventional EPON repeaters require full OLT line cards to accommodate subscribers from the initial installation stage, the proposed repeater can dramatically reduce the number of required line cards especially when the number of subscribers is less than a half of the maximum registerable users per OLT. Numerical calculation results show that the extended reach EPON system with the proposed EPON repeater can save 17.5% of the initial installation cost compared with a conventional repeater, and can be less expensive than conventional systems up to the maximum subscribers especially when the percentage of ODNs in lightly-populated areas is higher.

Real-Time Simulation of Ares I Launch Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tobbe, Patrick; Matras, Alex; Wilson, Heath; Alday, Nathan; Walker, David; Betts, Kevin; Hughes, Ryan; Turbe, Michael

2009-01-01

The Ares Real-Time Environment for Modeling, Integration, and Simulation (ARTEMIS) has been developed for use by the Ares I launch vehicle System Integration Laboratory (SIL) at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The primary purpose of the Ares SIL is to test the vehicle avionics hardware and software in a hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) environment to certify that the integrated system is prepared for flight. ARTEMIS has been designed to be the real-time software backbone to stimulate all required Ares components through high-fidelity simulation. ARTEMIS has been designed to take full advantage of the advances in underlying computational power now available to support HWIL testing. A modular real-time design relying on a fully distributed computing architecture has been achieved. Two fundamental requirements drove ARTEMIS to pursue the use of high-fidelity simulation models in a real-time environment. First, ARTEMIS must be used to test a man-rated integrated avionics hardware and software system, thus requiring a wide variety of nominal and off-nominal simulation capabilities to certify system robustness. The second driving requirement - derived from a nationwide review of current state-of-the-art HWIL facilities - was that preserving digital model fidelity significantly reduced overall vehicle lifecycle cost by reducing testing time for certification runs and increasing flight tempo through an expanded operational envelope. These two driving requirements necessitated the use of high-fidelity models throughout the ARTEMIS simulation. The nature of the Ares mission profile imposed a variety of additional requirements on the ARTEMIS simulation. The Ares I vehicle is composed of multiple elements, including the First Stage Solid Rocket Booster (SRB), the Upper Stage powered by the J- 2X engine, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) which houses the crew, the Launch Abort System (LAS), and various secondary elements that separate from the vehicle. At launch, the integrated vehicle stack is composed of these stages, and throughout the mission, various elements separate from the integrated stack and tumble back towards the earth. ARTEMIS must be capable of simulating the integrated stack through the flight as well as propagating each individual element after separation. In addition, abort sequences can lead to other unique configurations of the integrated stack as the timing and sequence of the stage separations are altered.

Systematic genomic identification of colorectal cancer genes delineating advanced from early clinical stage and metastasis

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. The initial assessment of colorectal cancer involves clinical staging that takes into account the extent of primary tumor invasion, determining the number of lymph nodes with metastatic cancer and the identification of metastatic sites in other organs. Advanced clinical stage indicates metastatic cancer, either in regional lymph nodes or in distant organs. While the genomic and genetic basis of colorectal cancer has been elucidated to some degree, less is known about the identity of specific cancer genes that are associated with advanced clinical stage and metastasis. Methods We compiled multiple genomic data types (mutations, copy number alterations, gene expression and methylation status) as well as clinical meta-data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We used an elastic-net regularized regression method on the combined genomic data to identify genetic aberrations and their associated cancer genes that are indicators of clinical stage. We ranked candidate genes by their regression coefficient and level of support from multiple assay modalities. Results A fit of the elastic-net regularized regression to 197 samples and integrated analysis of four genomic platforms identified the set of top gene predictors of advanced clinical stage, including: WRN, SYK, DDX5 and ADRA2C. These genetic features were identified robustly in bootstrap resampling analysis. Conclusions We conducted an analysis integrating multiple genomic features including mutations, copy number alterations, gene expression and methylation. This integrated approach in which one considers all of these genomic features performs better than any individual genomic assay. We identified multiple genes that robustly delineate advanced clinical stage, suggesting their possible role in colorectal cancer metastatic progression. PMID:24308539

The art and science of choosing efficacy endpoints for rare disease clinical trials.

PubMed

Cox, Gerald F

2018-04-01

An important challenge in rare disease clinical trials is to demonstrate a clinically meaningful and statistically significant response to treatment. Selecting the most appropriate and sensitive efficacy endpoints for a treatment trial is part art and part science. The types of endpoints should align with the stage of development (e.g., proof of concept vs. confirmation of clinical efficacy). The patient characteristics and disease stage should reflect the treatment goal of improving disease manifestations or preventing disease progression. For rare diseases, regulatory approval requires demonstration of clinical benefit, defined as how a patient, feels, functions, or survives, in at least one adequate and well-controlled pivotal study conducted according to Good Clinical Practice. In some cases, full regulatory approval can occur using a validated surrogate biomarker, while accelerated, or provisional, approval can occur using a biomarker that is likely to predict clinical benefit. Rare disease studies are small by necessity and require the use of endpoints with large effect sizes to demonstrate statistical significance. Understanding the quantitative factors that determine effect size and its impact on powering the study with an adequate sample size is key to the successful choice of endpoints. Interpreting the clinical meaningfulness of an observed change in an efficacy endpoint can be justified by statistical methods, regulatory precedence, and clinical context. Heterogeneous diseases that affect multiple organ systems may be better accommodated by endpoints that assess mean change across multiple endpoints within the same patient rather than mean change in an individual endpoint across all patients. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Prevalence of autoimmune hemolytic anemia in multiple myeloma: A prospective study.

PubMed

Kashyap, Rajesh; Singh, Abhay; Kumar, Pradeep

2016-06-01

Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is frequently associated with B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders, and patients rarely develop overt clinical manifestations of AIHA. AIHA is rare in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). We conducted a prospective study to detect the presence of AIHA in MM patients and its impact on clinical presentation and outcome of the disease. Sixty-six patients were diagnosed to have MM. Seventeen of these patients who had severe anemia (hemoglobin < 6 g/dL) requiring frequent blood transfusions with or without features of hemolysis were screened for AIHA by performing direct and indirect antiglobulin (Coombs') test. Seven (10.6%) of these 17 patients were found to be complicated with AIHA and carried autoantibodies in their sera. Five patients had de novo MM and two had relapsed MM. Six patients (85.7%) had stage IIIA disease and one (14.3%) had stage IIIB disease. The IgG subclass of the antibody binding to red cell membrane was compared with that of M-protein and these findings showed full correlation in all the seven patients. All of these patients were positive for subtypes of IgG and one patient had simultaneous positivity for IgA and IgG2, with presence of cold antibodies in the serum. Patients with primary disease showed remission of AIHA with therapy, whereas both the patients with relapsed disease showed no response to treatment and remained positive for antiglobulin test. AIHA should be suspected in MM patients with severe anemia requiring frequent blood transfusions. © 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

The Latest in Surgical Management of Stage IIIA Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery and Tumor Molecular Profiling.

PubMed

Woodard, Gavitt A; Jablons, David M

2015-01-01

Stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains a treatment challenge and requires a multidisciplinary care team to optimize survival outcomes. Thoracic surgeons play an important role in selecting operative candidates and assisting with pathologic mediastinal staging via cervical mediastinoscopy, endobronchial ultrasound, or esophageal ultrasound with fine needle aspiration. The majority of patients with stage IIIA disease will receive induction therapy followed by repeat staging before undergoing lobectomy or pneumonectomy; occasionally, a patient with an incidentally found, single-station microscopic IIIA tumor will undergo resection as the primary initial therapy. Multiple large clinical trials, including SWOG-8805, EORTC-8941, INT-0139, and ANITA, have shown 5-year overall survival rates of up to 30% to 40% using triple-modality treatments, and the best outcomes repeatedly are seen among patients who respond to induction treatment or who have tumors amenable to lobectomy instead of pneumonectomy. The need for a pneumonectomy is not a reason to deny patients an operation, because current operative mortality and morbidity rates are acceptably low at 5% and 30%, respectively. In select patients with stage IIIA disease, video-assisted thoracic surgery and open resections have been shown to have comparable rates of local recurrence and long-term survival. New developments in genetic profiling and personalized medicine are exciting areas of research, and early data suggest that molecular profiling of stage IIIA NSCLC tumors can accurately stratify patients by risk within this stage and predict survival outcomes. Future advances in treating stage IIIA disease will involve developing better systemic therapies and customizing treatment plans on the basis of an individual tumor's genetic profile.

Fatal case of Herbaspirillum seropedicae bacteremia secondary to pneumonia in an end-stage renal disease patient with multiple myeloma.

PubMed

Suwantarat, Nuntra; Adams, La'Tonzia L; Romagnoli, Mark; Carroll, Karen C

2015-08-01

Herbaspirillum spp. are rare causes of human infections associated primarily with bacteremia in cancer patients. We report the first fatal case of bacteremia secondary to pneumonia caused by Herbaspirillum seropedicae in a 65-year-old man with end-stage renal disease and multiple myeloma. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Factors influencing recruitment of walleye and white bass to three distinct early ontogenetic stages

USGS Publications Warehouse

DeBoer, Jason A.; Pope, Kevin L.

2015-01-01

Determining the factors that influence recruitment to sequential ontogenetic stages is critical for understanding recruitment dynamics of fish and for effective management of sportfish, particularly in dynamic and unpredictable environments. We sampled walleye (Sander vitreus) and white bass (Morone chrysops) at 3 ontogenetic stages (age 0 during spring: ‘age-0 larval’; age 0 during autumn: ‘age-0 juvenile’; and age 1 during autumn: ‘age-1 juvenile’) from 3 reservoirs. We developed multiple linear regression models to describe factors influencing age-0 larval, age-0 juvenile and age-1 juvenile walleye and white bass abundance indices. Our models explained 40–80% (68 ± 9%; mean ± SE) and 71%–97% (81 ± 6%) of the variability in catch for walleye and white bass respectively. For walleye, gizzard shad were present in the candidate model sets for all three ontogenetic stages we assessed. For white bass, there was no unifying variable in all three stage-specific candidate model sets, although walleye abundance was present in two of the three white bass candidate model sets. We were able to determine several factors affecting walleye and white bass year-class strength at multiple ontogenetic stages; comprehensive analyses of factors influencing recruitment to multiple early ontogenetic stages are seemingly rare in the literature. Our models demonstrate the interdependency among early ontogenetic stages and the complexities involved with sportfish recruitment.

Spectrum analysis on quality requirements consideration in software design documents.

PubMed

Kaiya, Haruhiko; Umemura, Masahiro; Ogata, Shinpei; Kaijiri, Kenji

2013-12-01

Software quality requirements defined in the requirements analysis stage should be implemented in the final products, such as source codes and system deployment. To guarantee this meta-requirement, quality requirements should be considered in the intermediate stages, such as the design stage or the architectural definition stage. We propose a novel method for checking whether quality requirements are considered in the design stage. In this method, a technique called "spectrum analysis for quality requirements" is applied not only to requirements specifications but also to design documents. The technique enables us to derive the spectrum of a document, and quality requirements considerations in the document are numerically represented in the spectrum. We can thus objectively identify whether the considerations of quality requirements in a requirements document are adapted to its design document. To validate the method, we applied it to commercial software systems with the help of a supporting tool, and we confirmed that the method worked well.

Predicate calculus for an architecture of multiple neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Consoli, Robert H.

1990-08-01

Future projects with neural networks will require multiple individual network components. Current efforts along these lines are ad hoc. This paper relates the neural network to a classical device and derives a multi-part architecture from that model. Further it provides a Predicate Calculus variant for describing the location and nature of the trainings and suggests Resolution Refutation as a method for determining the performance of the system as well as the location of needed trainings for specific proofs. 2. THE NEURAL NETWORK AND A CLASSICAL DEVICE Recently investigators have been making reports about architectures of multiple neural networksL234. These efforts are appearing at an early stage in neural network investigations they are characterized by architectures suggested directly by the problem space. Touretzky and Hinton suggest an architecture for processing logical statements1 the design of this architecture arises from the syntax of a restricted class of logical expressions and exhibits syntactic limitations. In similar fashion a multiple neural netword arises out of a control problem2 from the sequence learning problem3 and from the domain of machine learning. 4 But a general theory of multiple neural devices is missing. More general attempts to relate single or multiple neural networks to classical computing devices are not common although an attempt is made to relate single neural devices to a Turing machines and Sun et a!. develop a multiple neural architecture that performs pattern classification.

Revision of FMM-Yukawa: An adaptive fast multipole method for screened Coulomb interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Bo; Huang, Jingfang; Pitsianis, Nikos P.; Sun, Xiaobai

2010-12-01

FMM-YUKAWA is a mathematical software package primarily for rapid evaluation of the screened Coulomb interactions of N particles in three dimensional space. Since its release, we have revised and re-organized the data structure, software architecture, and user interface, for the purpose of enabling more flexible, broader and easier use of the package. The package and its documentation are available at http://www.fastmultipole.org/, along with a few other closely related mathematical software packages. New version program summaryProgram title: FMM-Yukawa Catalogue identifier: AEEQ_v2_0 Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEEQ_v2_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU GPL 2.0 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 78 704 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 854 265 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: FORTRAN 77, FORTRAN 90, and C. Requires gcc and gfortran version 4.4.3 or later Computer: All Operating system: Any Classification: 4.8, 4.12 Catalogue identifier of previous version: AEEQ_v1_0 Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Comm. 180 (2009) 2331 Does the new version supersede the previous version?: Yes Nature of problem: To evaluate the screened Coulomb potential and force field of N charged particles, and to evaluate a convolution type integral where the Green's function is the fundamental solution of the modified Helmholtz equation. Solution method: The new version of fast multipole method (FMM) that diagonalizes the multipole-to-local translation operator is applied with the tree structure adaptive to sample particle locations. Reasons for new version: To handle much larger particle ensembles, to enable the iterative use of the subroutines in a solver, and to remove potential contention in assignments for parallelization. Summary of revisions: The software package FMM-Yukawa has been revised and re-organized in data structure, software architecture, programming methods, and user interface. The revision enables more flexible use of the package and economic use of memory resources. It consists of five stages. The initial stage (stage 1) determines, based on the accuracy requirement and FMM theory, the length of multipole expansions and the number of quadrature points for diagonalization, and loads the quadrature nodes and weights that are computed off line. Stage 2 constructs the oct-tree and interaction lists, with adaptation to the sparsity or density of particles and employing a dynamic memory allocation scheme at every tree level. Stage 3 executes the core FMM subroutine for numerical calculation of the particle interactions. The subroutine can now be used iteratively as in a solver, while the particle locations remain the same. Stage 4 releases the memory allocated in Stage 2 for the adaptive tree and interaction lists. The user can modify the iterative routine easily. When the particle locations are changed such as in a molecular dynamics simulation, stage 2 to 4 can also be used together repeatedly. The final stage releases the memory space used for the quadrature and other remaining FMM parameters. Programs at the stage level and at the user interface are re-written in the C programming language, while most of the translation and interaction operations remain in FORTRAN. As a result of the change in data structures and memory allocation, the revised package can accommodate much larger particle ensembles while maintaining the same accuracy-efficiency performance. The new version is also developed as an important precursor to its parallel counterpart on multi-core or many core processors in a shared memory programming environment. Particularly, in order to ensure mutual exclusion in concurrent updates without incurring extra latency, we have replaced all the assignment statements at a source box that put its data to multiple target boxes with assignments at every target box that gather data from source boxes. This amounts to replacing the column version of matrix-vector multiplication with the row version. The matrix here, however, is in compressive representation. Sufficient care is taken in the revision not to alter the algorithmic complexity or numerical behavior, as concurrent writing potentially takes place in the upward calculation of the multipole expansion coefficients, interactions at every level of the FMM tree, and downward calculation of the local expansion coefficients. The software modules and their compositions are also organized according to the stages they are used. Demonstration files and makefiles for merging the user routines and the library routines are provided. Restrictions: Accuracy requirement is described in terms of three or six digits. Higher multiples of three digits will be allowed in a later version. Finer decimation in digits for accuracy specification may or may not be necessary. Unusual features: Ready and friendly for customized use and instrumental in expression of concurrency and dependency for efficient parallelization. Running time: The running time depends linearly on the number N of particles, and varies with the distribution characteristics of the particle distribution. It also depends on the accuracy requirement, a higher accuracy requirement takes relatively longer time. The code outperforms the direct summation method when N⩾750.

Learning Midlevel Auditory Codes from Natural Sound Statistics.

PubMed

Młynarski, Wiktor; McDermott, Josh H

2018-03-01

Interaction with the world requires an organism to transform sensory signals into representations in which behaviorally meaningful properties of the environment are made explicit. These representations are derived through cascades of neuronal processing stages in which neurons at each stage recode the output of preceding stages. Explanations of sensory coding may thus involve understanding how low-level patterns are combined into more complex structures. To gain insight into such midlevel representations for sound, we designed a hierarchical generative model of natural sounds that learns combinations of spectrotemporal features from natural stimulus statistics. In the first layer, the model forms a sparse convolutional code of spectrograms using a dictionary of learned spectrotemporal kernels. To generalize from specific kernel activation patterns, the second layer encodes patterns of time-varying magnitude of multiple first-layer coefficients. When trained on corpora of speech and environmental sounds, some second-layer units learned to group similar spectrotemporal features. Others instantiate opponency between distinct sets of features. Such groupings might be instantiated by neurons in the auditory cortex, providing a hypothesis for midlevel neuronal computation.

The Applicability of the International Staging System in Chinese Patients with Multiple Myeloma Receiving Bortezomib or Thalidomide-Based Regimens as Induction Therapy: A Multicenter Analysis

PubMed Central

Lu, Jing; Lu, Jin; Liu, Aijun; Fu, Weijun; Du, Juan; Huang, Xiaojun; Chen, Wenming; Hou, Jian

2015-01-01

The International Staging System (ISS) is the most important prognostic system for multiple myeloma (MM). It was identified in the era of conventional agents. The outcome of MM has significantly changed by novel agents. Thus the applicability of ISS system in the era of novel agents in Chinese patients needs to be demonstrated. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical outcomes and prognostic significance of ISS system in 1016 patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma in Chinese patients between 2008 and 2012, who received bortezomib- or thalidomide-based regimens as first-line therapy. The median overall survival (OS) of patients for ISS stages I/II/III was not reached/55.4 months/41.7 months (p < 0.001), and the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 30/29.5/25 months (p = 0.072), respectively. Statistically significant difference in survival was confirmed among three ISS stages in thalidomide-based group, but not between ISS stages I and II in bortezomib-based group. These findings suggest that ISS system can predict the survival in the era of novel agents in Chinese MM patients, and bortezomib may have the potential to partially overcome adverse effect of risk factors on survival, especially in higher stage of ISS system. PMID:26640799

Micropropagation of tulip: production of virus-free stock plants.

PubMed

Podwyszyńska, Małgorzata; Sochacki, Dariusz

2010-01-01

We describe here a new tulip micropropagation method based on the cyclic shoot multiplication in presence of the thidiazuron (TDZ), which enables the production of virus-free stock plants, speeds up breeding, and provides new genotypes for the market. In our novel protocol, cyclic shoot multiplication can be performed for 2-3 years by using TDZ instead of other cytokinins, as 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and N(6)-(-isopentyl)adenine (2iP). It makes possible to produce 500-2,000 microbulbs from one healthy plant. There are six main stages of tulip micropropagation. Stage 0 is the selection of true-to-type and virus-free plants, confirmed by ELISA. Fragments of flower stems isolated from bulbs are used as initial explants. Shoot multiplication is based on the regeneration of adventitious shoots, which are sub-cultured every 8 weeks. In the Stage 3, the specially prepared shoots are induced by low temperature treatment to form bulbs which finally develop on a sucrose-rich medium at 20 degrees C. Bulbs are then dried for 6 weeks and rooted in vivo. The number of multiplication subcultures should be limited to 5-10 cycles in order to lower the risk of mutation. Virus indexing should be repeated 3-4 times, at the initial stage and then during shoot multiplication. Genetic stability of micropropagated shoots can be confirmed using molecular markers.

Paving the Way for Lignin Valorisation: Recent Advances in Bioengineering, Biorefining and Catalysis

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

Rinaldi, Roberto; Jastrzebski, Robin; Clough, Matthew T.

2016-06-17

Lignin is an abundant biopolymer with a high carbon content and high aromaticity. Despite its potential as a raw material for the fuel and chemical industries, lignin remains the most poorly utilised of the lignocellulosic biopolymers. Effective valorisation of lignin requires careful fine-tuning of multiple “upstream” (i.e., lignin bioengineering, lignin isolation and “early-stage catalytic conversion of lignin”) and “downstream” (i.e., lignin depolymerisation and upgrading) process stages, demanding input and understanding from a broad array of scientific disciplines. This review provides a “beginning-to-end” analysis of the recent advances reported in lignin valorisation. Particular emphasis is placed on the improved understanding ofmore » ligninÏs biosynthesis and structure, differences in structure and chemical bonding between native and technical lignins, emerging catalytic valorisation strategies, and the relationships between lignin structure and catalyst performance.« less

Preventing Obesity Across Generations: Evidence for Early Life Intervention.

PubMed

Haire-Joshu, Debra; Tabak, Rachel

2016-01-01

To prevent the intergenerational transfer of obesity and end the current epidemic, interventions are needed across the early life stages, from preconception to prenatal to infancy through the age of 2 years. The foundation for obesity is laid in early life by actions and interactions passed from parent to child that have long-lasting biologic and behavioral consequences. The purpose of this paper is to examine the best evidence about (a) factors in parents and offspring that promote obesity during the early life stages, (b) the social determinants and dimensions of obesity in early life, (c) promising and effective interventions for preventing obesity in early life, and (d) opportunities for future research into strategies to disrupt the intergenerational cycle of obesity that begins early in life. The pathway for halting the intergenerational obesity epidemic requires the discovery and development of evidence-based interventions that can act across multiple dimensions of influence on early life.

Preventing Obesity Across Generations: Evidence for Early Life Intervention

PubMed Central

Haire-Joshu, Debra; Tabak, Rachel

2017-01-01

To prevent the intergenerational transfer of obesity and end the current epidemic, interventions are needed across the early life stages, from preconception to prenatal to infancy through the age of 2 years. The foundation for obesity is laid in early life by actions and interactions passed from parent to child that have long-lasting biologic and behavioral consequences. The purpose of this paper is to examine the best evidence about (a) factors in parents and offspring that promote obesity during the early life stages, (b) the social determinants and dimensions of obesity in early life, (c) promising and effective interventions for preventing obesity in early life, and (d) opportunities for future research into strategies to disrupt the intergenerational cycle of obesity that begins early in life. The pathway for halting the intergenerational obesity epidemic requires the discovery and development of evidence-based interventions that can act across multiple dimensions of influence on early life. PMID:26989828

Full-field 3D shape measurement of specular object having discontinuous surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Zonghua; Huang, Shujun; Gao, Nan; Gao, Feng; Jiang, Xiangqian

2017-06-01

This paper presents a novel Phase Measuring Deflectometry (PMD) method to measure specular objects having discontinuous surfaces. A mathematical model is established to directly relate the absolute phase and depth, instead of the phase and gradient. Based on the model, a hardware measuring system has been set up, which consists of a precise translating stage, a projector, a diffuser and a camera. The stage locates the projector and the diffuser together to a known position during measurement. By using the model-based and machine vision methods, system calibration is accomplished to provide the required parameters and conditions. The verification tests are given to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed system. 3D (Three-Dimensional) shapes of a concave mirror and a monolithic multi-mirror array having multiple specular surfaces have been measured. Experimental results show that the proposed method can obtain 3D shape of specular objects having discontinuous surfaces effectively

Paving the Way for Lignin Valorisation: Recent Advances in Bioengineering, Biorefining and Catalysis

DOE PAGES

Rinaldi, Roberto; Jastrzebski, Robin; Clough, Matthew T.; ...

2016-06-17

In this study, lignin is an abundant biopolymer with a high carbon content and high aromaticity. Despite its potential as a raw material for the fuel and chemical industries, lignin remains the most poorly utilised of the lignocellulosic biopolymers. Effective valorisation of lignin requires careful fine-tuning of multiple “upstream” (i.e., lignin bioengineering, lignin isolation and “early-stage catalytic conversion of lignin”) and “downstream” (i.e., lignin depolymerisation and upgrading) process stages, demanding input and understanding from a broad array of scientific disciplines. This review provides a “beginning-to-end” analysis of the recent advances reported in lignin valorisation. Particular emphasis is placed on themore » improved understanding of ligninÏs biosynthesis and structure, differences in structure and chemical bonding between native and technical lignins, emerging catalytic valorisation strategies, and the relationships between lignin structure and catalyst performance.« less

Optimization of 2-Anilino 4-Amino Substituted Quinazolines into Potent Antimalarial Agents with Oral in Vivo Activity.

PubMed

Gilson, Paul R; Tan, Cyrus; Jarman, Kate E; Lowes, Kym N; Curtis, Joan M; Nguyen, William; Di Rago, Adrian E; Bullen, Hayley E; Prinz, Boris; Duffy, Sandra; Baell, Jonathan B; Hutton, Craig A; Jousset Subroux, Helene; Crabb, Brendan S; Avery, Vicky M; Cowman, Alan F; Sleebs, Brad E

2017-02-09

Novel antimalarial therapeutics that target multiple stages of the parasite lifecycle are urgently required to tackle the emerging problem of resistance with current drugs. Here, we describe the optimization of the 2-anilino quinazoline class as antimalarial agents. The class, identified from publicly available antimalarial screening data, was optimized to generate lead compounds that possess potent antimalarial activity against P. falciparum parasites comparable to the known antimalarials, chloroquine and mefloquine. During the optimization process, we defined the functionality necessary for activity and improved in vitro metabolism and solubility. The resultant lead compounds possess potent activity against a multidrug resistant strain of P. falciparum and arrest parasites at the ring phase of the asexual stage and also gametocytogensis. Finally, we show that the lead compounds are orally efficacious in a 4 day murine model of malaria disease burden.

The Face-Processing Network Is Resilient to Focal Resection of Human Visual Cortex.

PubMed

Weiner, Kevin S; Jonas, Jacques; Gomez, Jesse; Maillard, Louis; Brissart, Hélène; Hossu, Gabriela; Jacques, Corentin; Loftus, David; Colnat-Coulbois, Sophie; Stigliani, Anthony; Barnett, Michael A; Grill-Spector, Kalanit; Rossion, Bruno

2016-08-10

Human face perception requires a network of brain regions distributed throughout the occipital and temporal lobes with a right hemisphere advantage. Present theories consider this network as either a processing hierarchy beginning with the inferior occipital gyrus (occipital face area; IOG-faces/OFA) or a multiple-route network with nonhierarchical components. The former predicts that removing IOG-faces/OFA will detrimentally affect downstream stages, whereas the latter does not. We tested this prediction in a human patient (Patient S.P.) requiring removal of the right inferior occipital cortex, including IOG-faces/OFA. We acquired multiple fMRI measurements in Patient S.P. before and after a preplanned surgery and multiple measurements in typical controls, enabling both within-subject/across-session comparisons (Patient S.P. before resection vs Patient S.P. after resection) and between-subject/across-session comparisons (Patient S.P. vs controls). We found that the spatial topology and selectivity of downstream ipsilateral face-selective regions were stable 1 and 8 month(s) after surgery. Additionally, the reliability of distributed patterns of face selectivity in Patient S.P. before versus after resection was not different from across-session reliability in controls. Nevertheless, postoperatively, representations of visual space were typical in dorsal face-selective regions but atypical in ventral face-selective regions and V1 of the resected hemisphere. Diffusion weighted imaging in Patient S.P. and controls identifies white matter tracts connecting retinotopic areas to downstream face-selective regions, which may contribute to the stable and plastic features of the face network in Patient S.P. after surgery. Together, our results support a multiple-route network of face processing with nonhierarchical components and shed light on stable and plastic features of high-level visual cortex following focal brain damage. Brain networks consist of interconnected functional regions commonly organized in processing hierarchies. Prevailing theories predict that damage to the input of the hierarchy will detrimentally affect later stages. We tested this prediction with multiple brain measurements in a rare human patient requiring surgical removal of the putative input to a network processing faces. Surprisingly, the spatial topology and selectivity of downstream face-selective regions are stable after surgery. Nevertheless, representations of visual space were typical in dorsal face-selective regions but atypical in ventral face-selective regions and V1. White matter connections from outside the face network may support these stable and plastic features. As processing hierarchies are ubiquitous in biological and nonbiological systems, our results have pervasive implications for understanding the construction of resilient networks. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/368426-16$15.00/0.

Extracellular and intracellular cleavages of proBDNF required at two distinct stages of late-phase LTP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pang, Petti T.; Nagappan, Guhan; Guo, Wei; Lu, Bai

2016-05-01

Although late-phase long-term potentiation (L-LTP) is implicated in long-term memory, its molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. Here we provide evidence that L-LTP can be divided into two stages: an induction stage (I) and a maintenance stage (II). Both stages require mature brain-derived neurotrophic factor (mBDNF), but involve distinct underlying mechanisms. Stage I requires secretion of existing proBDNF followed by extracellular cleavage by tPA/plasmin. Stage II depends on newly synthesized BDNF. Surprisingly, mBDNF at stage II is derived from intracellular cleavage of proBDNF by furin/PC1. Moreover, stage I involves BDNF-TrkB signaling mainly through MAP kinase, whereas all three signaling pathways (phospholipase C-γ, PI3 kinase, and MAP kinase) are required for the maintenance of L-LTP at stage II. These results reveal the molecular basis for two temporally distinct stages in L-LTP, and provide insights on how BDNF modulates this long-lasting synaptic alternation at two critical time windows.

Bias due to two-stage residual-outcome regression analysis in genetic association studies.

PubMed

Demissie, Serkalem; Cupples, L Adrienne

2011-11-01

Association studies of risk factors and complex diseases require careful assessment of potential confounding factors. Two-stage regression analysis, sometimes referred to as residual- or adjusted-outcome analysis, has been increasingly used in association studies of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and quantitative traits. In this analysis, first, a residual-outcome is calculated from a regression of the outcome variable on covariates and then the relationship between the adjusted-outcome and the SNP is evaluated by a simple linear regression of the adjusted-outcome on the SNP. In this article, we examine the performance of this two-stage analysis as compared with multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis. Our findings show that when a SNP and a covariate are correlated, the two-stage approach results in biased genotypic effect and loss of power. Bias is always toward the null and increases with the squared-correlation between the SNP and the covariate (). For example, for , 0.1, and 0.5, two-stage analysis results in, respectively, 0, 10, and 50% attenuation in the SNP effect. As expected, MLR was always unbiased. Since individual SNPs often show little or no correlation with covariates, a two-stage analysis is expected to perform as well as MLR in many genetic studies; however, it produces considerably different results from MLR and may lead to incorrect conclusions when independent variables are highly correlated. While a useful alternative to MLR under , the two -stage approach has serious limitations. Its use as a simple substitute for MLR should be avoided. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cascaded neural networks for sequenced propagation estimation, multiuser detection, and adaptive radio resource control of third-generation wireless networks for multimedia services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hortos, William S.

1999-03-01

A hybrid neural network approach is presented to estimate radio propagation characteristics and multiuser interference and to evaluate their combined impact on throughput, latency and information loss in third-generation (3G) wireless networks. The latter three performance parameters influence the quality of service (QoS) for multimedia services under consideration for 3G networks. These networks, based on a hierarchical architecture of overlaying macrocells on top of micro- and picocells, are planned to operate in mobile urban and indoor environments with service demands emanating from circuit-switched, packet-switched and satellite-based traffic sources. Candidate radio interfaces for these networks employ a form of wideband CDMA in 5-MHz and wider-bandwidth channels, with possible asynchronous operation of the mobile subscribers. The proposed neural network (NN) architecture allocates network resources to optimize QoS metrics. Parameters of the radio propagation channel are estimated, followed by control of an adaptive antenna array at the base station to minimize interference, and then joint multiuser detection is performed at the base station receiver. These adaptive processing stages are implemented as a sequence of NN techniques that provide their estimates as inputs to a final- stage Kohonen self-organizing feature map (SOFM). The SOFM optimizes the allocation of available network resources to satisfy QoS requirements for variable-rate voice, data and video services. As the first stage of the sequence, a modified feed-forward multilayer perceptron NN is trained on the pilot signals of the mobile subscribers to estimate the parameters of shadowing, multipath fading and delays on the uplinks. A recurrent NN (RNN) forms the second stage to control base stations' adaptive antenna arrays to minimize intra-cell interference. The third stage is based on a Hopfield NN (HNN), modified to detect multiple users on the uplink radio channels to mitigate multiaccess interference, control carrier-sense multiple-access (CSMA) protocols, and refine call handoff procedures. In the final stage, the Kohonen SOFM, operating in a hybrid continuous and discrete space, adaptively allocates the resources of antenna-based cell sectorization, activity monitoring, variable-rate coding, power control, handoff and caller admission to meet user demands for various multimedia services at minimum QoS levels. The performance of the NN cascade is evaluated through simulation of a candidate 3G wireless network using W-CDMA parameters in a small-cell environment. The simulated network consists of a representative number of cells. Mobile users with typical movement patterns are assumed. QoS requirements for different classes of multimedia services are considered. The proposed method is shown to provide relatively low probability of new call blocking and handoff dropping, while maintaining efficient use of the network's radio resources.

Targeting Cislunar Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits for Human Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Williams, Jacob; Lee, David E.; Whitley, Ryan J.; Bokelmann, Kevin A.; Davis, Diane C.; Berry, Christopher F.

2017-01-01

Part of the challenge of charting a human exploration space architecture is finding locations to stage missions to multiple destinations. To that end, a specific subset of Earth-Moon halo orbits, known as Near Rectilinear Halo Orbits (NRHOs) are evaluated. In this paper, a systematic process for generating full ephemeris based ballistic NRHOs is outlined, different size NRHOs are examined for their favorability to avoid eclipses, the performance requirements for missions to and from NRHOs are calculated, and disposal options are evaluated. Combined, these studies confirm the feasibility of cislunar NRHOs to enable human exploration in the cislunar proving ground.

Staging of breast cancer and the advanced applications of digital mammogram: what the physician needs to know?

PubMed

Helal, Maha H; Mansour, Sahar M; Zaglol, Mai; Salaleldin, Lamia A; Nada, Omniya M; Haggag, Marwa A

2017-03-01

To study the role of advanced applications of digital mammogram, whether contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) or digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), in the "T" staging of histologically proven breast cancer before planning for treatment management. In this prospective analysis, we evaluated 98 proved malignant breast masses regarding their size, multiplicity and the presence of associated clusters of microcalcifications. Evaluation methods included digital mammography (DM), 3D tomosynthesis and CESM. Traditional DM was first performed then in a period of 10-14-day interval; breast tomosynthesis and contrast-based mammography were performed for the involved breast only. Views at tomosynthesis were acquired in a "step-and-shoot" tube motion mode to produce multiple (11-15), low-dose images and in contrast-enhanced study, low-energy (22-33 kVp) and high-energy (44-49 kVp) exposures were taken after the i.v. injection of the contrast agent. Operative data were the gold standard reference. Breast tomosynthesis showed the highest accuracy in size assessment (n = 69, 70.4%) than contrast-enhanced (n = 49, 50%) and regular mammography (n = 59, 60.2%). Contrast-enhanced mammography presented the least performance in assessing calcifications, yet it was most sensitive in the detection of multiplicity (92.3%), followed by tomosynthesis (77%) and regular mammography (53.8%). The combined analysis of the three modalities provided an accuracy of 74% in the "T" staging of breast cancer. The combined application of tomosynthesis and contrast-enhanced digital mammogram enhanced the performance of the traditional DM and presented an informative method in the staging of breast cancer. Advances in knowledge: Staging and management planning of breast cancer can divert according to tumour size, multiplicity and the presence of microcalcifications. DBT shows sharp outlines of the tumour with no overlap tissue and spots microcalcifications. Contrast-enhanced spectral mammogram shows the extent of abnormal contrast uptake and detects multiplicity. Integrated analysis provides optimal findings for proper "T" staging of breast cancer.

Association between serum bicarbonate levels and albuminuria in stage 3 and stage 4 chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Lee, Yu-Ji; Cho, Seong; Kim, Sung Rok

2014-06-01

Metabolic acidosis is a common manifestation of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and appears to be associated with CKD progression and mortality. We evaluated whether serum bicarbonate level is associated with albuminuria in patients with stage 3 and 4 CKD. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of outpatients with CKD stages 3 - 4 (estimated glomerular filtration rate 15 - 59 mL/minutes/1.73 m2). Serum bicarbonate levels, serum creatinine levels, and random urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratios (UA/Cr) examined on the same day were required for enrollment. Significant albuminuria was defined as UA/Cr >= 300 mg/g. Serum bicarbonate was analyzed as both a continuous variable and a categorical variable after it was divided into categories of < 23, 23 - 25.9, and >= 26 mmol/L. 151 patients were included in this study. Their mean age was 59.1 ± 13.9 years, and 60.9% were men. The mean serum bicarbonate level was 23.7 ± 3.3 mmol/L. In a multiple logistic regression analysis to determine the factors associated with significant albuminuria, the serum bicarbonate categories were independent factors associated with significant albuminuria after adjustments were made for relevant covariates (p = 0.028). In a subgroup analysis according to CKD stage, the association between bicarbonate categories and significant albuminuria was significant only for patients with stage 3 disease, regardless of renal function or blood pressure (p = 0.014 and 0.706 in stage 3 and 4 diseases, respectively). Low serum bicarbonate levels were ssociated with significant albuminuria, even at levels in the normal range, in CKD patients, especially with stage 3 disease.

NASA Collaborative Design Processes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Davey

2017-01-01

This is Block 1, the first evolution of the world's most powerful and versatile rocket, the Space Launch System, built to return humans to the area around the moon. Eventually, larger and even more powerful and capable configurations will take astronauts and cargo to Mars. On the sides of the rocket are the twin solid rocket boosters that provide more than 75 percent during liftoff and burn for about two minutes, after which they are jettisoned, lightening the load for the rest of the space flight. Four RS-25 main engines provide thrust for the first stage of the rocket. These are the world's most reliable rocket engines. The core stage is the main body of the rocket and houses the fuel for the RS-25 engines, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and the avionics, or "brain" of the rocket. The core stage is all new and being manufactured at NASA's "rocket factory," Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter, or LVSA, connects the core stage to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS, uses one RL-10 rocket engine and will propel the Orion spacecraft on its deep-space journey after first-stage separation. Finally, the Orion human-rated spacecraft sits atop the massive Saturn V-sized launch vehicle. Managed out of Johnson Space Center in Houston, Orion is the first spacecraft in history capable of taking humans to multiple destinations within deep space. 2) Each element of the SLS utilizes collaborative design processes to achieve the incredible goal of sending human into deep space. Early phases are focused on feasibility and requirements development. Later phases are focused on detailed design, testing, and operations. There are 4 basic phases typically found in each phase of development.

Evaluation of efficiency of aircraft liquid waste treatment and identification of daily inspection indices: a case study in Changchun, China.

PubMed

Xu, Jianling; Yang, Jiaqi; Zhao, Nan; Sheng, Lianxi; Zhao, Yuanhui; Tang, Zhanhui

2013-07-01

Evaluation of the efficiency of aircraft liquid waste treatment has previously been conducted to prevent pollution of the environment. The current study aimed to provide a set of practical methods for efficient airport sanitary supervision. Aircraft liquid waste was collected at Longjia International Airport, Changchun from multiple flights. The efficiency of liquid waste treatment as well as the water quality of the wastewater processed via a second-stage wastewater facility were examined by measuring a number of physical, chemical, and biological indices. Our results indicated that treatment solely via resolvable sanitizing liquid was not sufficient. Although the contents of first-class pollutants all met the requirements of the standard criteria, the contents of a number of second-class pollutants did not satisfy these criteria. However, after further treatment via a second-stage wastewater facility installed at the airport, all indices reached second-grade requirements of the discharge standard. We suggest that daily inspection and quarantine indices at airports should include the suspension content, biological oxygen demands after 5 days, chemical oxygen demand total organic carbon content, amino nitrogen content, total phosphorous content, and the level of fecal coliforms.

The pharmacotherapy implications of ventricular assist device in the patient with end-stage heart failure.

PubMed

Von Ruden, Serena A S; Murray, Margaret A; Grice, Jennifer L; Proebstle, Amy K; Kopacek, Karen J

2012-04-01

Advances in mechanical circulatory support, such as the use of ventricular assist devices (VADs), have become a means for prolonging survival in end-stage heart failure (HF). VADs decrease the symptoms of HF and improve quality of life by replacing some of the work of a failing heart. They unload the ventricle to provide improved cardiac output and end-organ perfusion, resulting in improvement in cardiorenal syndromes and New York Heart Association functional class rating. VADs are currently used asa bridge to heart transplantation, a bridge to recovery of cardiac function, or as destination therapy. Complications of VAD include bleeding, infections, arrhythmias, multiple organ failure, right ventricular failure, and neurological dysfunction. Patients with VAD have unique pharmacotherapeutic requirements in terms of anticoagulation, appropriate antibiotic selection, and continuation of HF medications. Pharmacists in acute care and community settings are well prepared to care for the patient with VAD. These patients require thorough counseling and follow-up with regard to prevention and treatment of infections, appropriate levels of anticoagulation, and maintenance of fluid balance. A basic understanding of this unique therapy can assist pharmacists in attending to the needs of patients with VAD.

Relationship between single and multiple perpetrator rape perpetration in South Africa: A comparison of risk factors in a population-based sample.

PubMed

R, Jewkes; Y, Sikweyiya; K, Dunkle; R, Morrell

2015-07-07

Studies of rape of women seldom distinguish between men's participation in acts of single and multiple perpetrator rape. Multiple perpetrator rape (MPR) occurs globally with serious consequences for women. In South Africa it is a cultural practice with defined circumstances in which it commonly occurs. Prevention requires an understanding of whether it is a context specific intensification of single perpetrator rape, or a distinctly different practice of different men. This paper aims to address this question. We conducted a cross-sectional household study with a multi-stage, randomly selected sample of 1686 men aged 18-49 who completed a questionnaire administered using an Audio-enhanced Personal Digital Assistant. We attempted to fit an ordered logistic regression model for factors associated with rape perpetration. 27.6 % of men had raped and 8.8 % had perpetrated multiple perpetrator rape (MPR). Thus 31.9 % of men who had ever raped had done so with other perpetrators. An ordered regression model was fitted, showing that the same associated factors, albeit at higher prevalence, are associated with SPR and MPR. Multiple perpetrator rape appears as an intensified form of single perpetrator rape, rather than a different form of rape. Prevention approaches need to be mainstreamed among young men.

Advanced Aero-Propulsive Mid-Lift-to-Drag Ratio Entry Vehicle for Future Exploration Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Campbell, C. H.; Stosaric, R. R; Cerimele, C. J.; Wong, K. A.; Valle, G. D.; Garcia, J. A.; Melton, J. E.; Munk, M. M.; Blades, E.; Kuruvila, G.;

Deep-cascade: Cascading 3D Deep Neural Networks for Fast Anomaly Detection and Localization in Crowded Scenes.

PubMed

Sabokrou, Mohammad; Fayyaz, Mohsen; Fathy, Mahmood; Klette, Reinhard

2017-02-17

This paper proposes a fast and reliable method for anomaly detection and localization in video data showing crowded scenes. Time-efficient anomaly localization is an ongoing challenge and subject of this paper. We propose a cubicpatch- based method, characterised by a cascade of classifiers, which makes use of an advanced feature-learning approach. Our cascade of classifiers has two main stages. First, a light but deep 3D auto-encoder is used for early identification of "many" normal cubic patches. This deep network operates on small cubic patches as being the first stage, before carefully resizing remaining candidates of interest, and evaluating those at the second stage using a more complex and deeper 3D convolutional neural network (CNN). We divide the deep autoencoder and the CNN into multiple sub-stages which operate as cascaded classifiers. Shallow layers of the cascaded deep networks (designed as Gaussian classifiers, acting as weak single-class classifiers) detect "simple" normal patches such as background patches, and more complex normal patches are detected at deeper layers. It is shown that the proposed novel technique (a cascade of two cascaded classifiers) performs comparable to current top-performing detection and localization methods on standard benchmarks, but outperforms those in general with respect to required computation time.

Shock Equation of State of Multi-Phase Epoxy-Based Composite (Al-MnO2-Epoxy)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-10-01

single stage light gas gun , two...using three different loading techniques— single stage light gas gun , two stage light gas gun , and explosive loading—with multiple diagnostic...wave speed. B. Single stage gas gun loading experiments Four gas gun -driven equation of state experiments were conducted at NSWC-Indian Head using

Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Worry, Uncertainty, and Insomnia for Cancer Survivors

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-04-04

Anxiety Disorder; Worry; Uncertainty; Sleep Disorders; Insomnia; Fatigue; Pain; Depression; Cognitive-behavioral Therapy; Psychological Intervention; Esophageal Cancer; Pancreatic Cancer; Leukemia; Lung Cancer; Multiple Myeloma; Ovarian Neoplasm; Stage III or IV Cervical or Uterine Cancer; Stage IIIB, IIIC, or IV Breast Cancer; Glioblastoma Multiforme; Relapsed Lymphoma; Stage III or IV Colorectal Cancer; Stage IIIC or IV Melanoma

Investigation of advanced counterrotation blade configuration concepts for high speed turboprop systems. Task 4: Advanced fan section aerodynamic analysis computer program user's manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crook, Andrew J.; Delaney, Robert A.

1992-01-01

The computer program user's manual for the ADPACAPES (Advanced Ducted Propfan Analysis Code-Average Passage Engine Simulation) program is included. The objective of the computer program is development of a three-dimensional Euler/Navier-Stokes flow analysis for fan section/engine geometries containing multiple blade rows and multiple spanwise flow splitters. An existing procedure developed by Dr. J. J. Adamczyk and associates at the NASA Lewis Research Center was modified to accept multiple spanwise splitter geometries and simulate engine core conditions. The numerical solution is based upon a finite volume technique with a four stage Runge-Kutta time marching procedure. Multiple blade row solutions are based upon the average-passage system of equations. The numerical solutions are performed on an H-type grid system, with meshes meeting the requirement of maintaining a common axisymmetric mesh for each blade row grid. The analysis was run on several geometry configurations ranging from one to five blade rows and from one to four radial flow splitters. The efficiency of the solution procedure was shown to be the same as the original analysis.

High-speed multishot pellet injector prototype for the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frattolillo, A.; Migliori, S.; Scaramuzzi, F.; Angelone, G.; Baldarelli, M.; Capobianchi, M.; Cardoni, P.; Domma, C.; Mori, L.; Ronci, G.

1998-07-01

The Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) may require multiple high-speed pellet injection in order to achieve quasi-steady-state conditions. A research and development program was thus being pursued at ENEA Frascati, aimed at developing a multishot two-stage pellet injector (MPI), featuring eight "pipe gun" barrels and eight small two-stage pneumatic guns. According to FTU requirements, the final goal is to simultaneously produce up to eight D2 pellets, and then deliver them during a plasma pulse (1 s) with any time schedule, at speeds in the 1-2.5 km/s range. A prototype was constructed and tested to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept, and optimize pellet formation and firing sequences. This laboratory facility was automatically operated by means of a programmable logic controller (PLC), and had a full eight-shot capability. However, it was equipped as a first approach with only four two-stage guns. In this article we will describe in detail the guidelines of the MPI prototype design, which were strongly influenced by some external constraints. We will also report on the results of the experimental campaign, during which the feasibility of such a two-stage MPI was demonstrated. Sequences of four intact D2 pellets in the 1.2-1.6 mm size range, fired at time intervals of a few tens up to a few hundreds of ms, were routinely delivered in a laboratory experiment at injection speeds above 2.5 km/s, with good reproducibility and satisfactory aiming dispersion. Some preliminary effort to address the problem of propellant gas handling, based on an innovative approach, gave encouraging results, and work is in progress to carry out an experiment to definitely test the feasibility of this concept.

Multiple essential functions of Plasmodium falciparum actin-1 during malaria blood-stage development.

PubMed

Das, Sujaan; Lemgruber, Leandro; Tay, Chwen L; Baum, Jake; Meissner, Markus

2017-08-15

The phylum Apicomplexa includes intracellular parasites causing immense global disease burden, the deadliest of them being the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which invades and replicates within erythrocytes. The cytoskeletal protein actin is well conserved within apicomplexans but divergent from mammalian actins, and was primarily reported to function during host cell invasion. However, novel invasion mechanisms have been described for several apicomplexans, and specific functions of the acto-myosin system are being reinvestigated. Of the two actin genes in P. falciparum, actin-1 (pfact1) is ubiquitously expressed in all life-cycle stages and is thought to be required for erythrocyte invasion, although its functions during parasite development are unknown, and definitive in vivo characterisation during invasion is lacking. Here we have used a conditional Cre-lox system to investigate the functions of PfACT1 during P. falciparum blood-stage development and host cell invasion. We demonstrate that PfACT1 is crucially required for segregation of the plastid-like organelle, the apicoplast, and for efficient daughter cell separation during the final stages of cytokinesis. Surprisingly, we observe that egress from the host cell is not an actin-dependent process. Finally, we show that parasites lacking PfACT1 are capable of microneme secretion, attachment and formation of a junction with the erythrocyte, but are incapable of host cell invasion. This study provides important mechanistic insights into the definitive essential functions of PfACT1 in P. falciparum, which are not only of biological interest, but owing to functional divergence from mammalian actins, could also form the basis for the development of novel therapeutics against apicomplexans.

Attrition Bias Related to Missing Outcome Data: A Longitudinal Simulation Study.

PubMed

Lewin, Antoine; Brondeel, Ruben; Benmarhnia, Tarik; Thomas, Frédérique; Chaix, Basile

2018-01-01

Most longitudinal studies do not address potential selection biases due to selective attrition. Using empirical data and simulating additional attrition, we investigated the effectiveness of common approaches to handle missing outcome data from attrition in the association between individual education level and change in body mass index (BMI). Using data from the two waves of the French RECORD Cohort Study (N = 7,172), we first examined how inverse probability weighting (IPW) and multiple imputation handled missing outcome data from attrition in the observed data (stage 1). Second, simulating additional missing data in BMI at follow-up under various missing-at-random scenarios, we quantified the impact of attrition and assessed how multiple imputation performed compared to complete case analysis and to a perfectly specified IPW model as a gold standard (stage 2). With the observed data in stage 1, we found an inverse association between individual education and change in BMI, with complete case analysis, as well as with IPW and multiple imputation. When we simulated additional attrition under a missing-at-random pattern (stage 2), the bias increased with the magnitude of selective attrition, and multiple imputation was useless to address it. Our simulations revealed that selective attrition in the outcome heavily biased the association of interest. The present article contributes to raising awareness that for missing outcome data, multiple imputation does not do better than complete case analysis. More effort is thus needed during the design phase to understand attrition mechanisms by collecting information on the reasons for dropout.

Cis-Lunar Reusable In-Space Transportation Architecture for the Evolvable Mars Campaign

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McVay, Eric S.; Jones, Christopher A.; Merrill, Raymond G.

2016-01-01

Human exploration missions to Mars or other destinations in the solar system require large quantities of propellant to enable the transportation of required elements from Earth's sphere of influence to Mars. Current and proposed launch vehicles are incapable of launching all of the requisite mass on a single vehicle; hence, multiple launches and in-space aggregation are required to perform a Mars mission. This study examines the potential of reusable chemical propulsion stages based in cis-lunar space to meet the transportation objectives of the Evolvable Mars Campaign and identifies cis-lunar propellant supply requirements. These stages could be supplied with fuel and oxidizer delivered to cis-lunar space, either launched from Earth or other inner solar system sources such as the Moon or near Earth asteroids. The effects of uncertainty in the model parameters are evaluated through sensitivity analysis of key parameters including the liquid propellant combination, inert mass fraction of the vehicle, change in velocity margin, and change in payload masses. The outcomes of this research include a description of the transportation elements, the architecture that they enable, and an option for a campaign that meets the objectives of the Evolvable Mars Campaign. This provides a more complete understanding of the propellant requirements, as a function of time, that must be delivered to cis-lunar space. Over the selected sensitivity ranges for the current payload and schedule requirements of the 2016 point of departure of the Evolvable Mars Campaign destination systems, the resulting propellant delivery quantities are between 34 and 61 tonnes per year of hydrogen and oxygen propellant, or between 53 and 76 tonnes per year of methane and oxygen propellant, or between 74 and 92 tonnes per year of hypergolic propellant. These estimates can guide future propellant manufacture and/or delivery architectural analysis.

Multiple stage railgun

DOEpatents

Hawke, Ronald S.; Scudder, Jonathan K.; Aaland, Kristian

1982-01-01

A multiple stage magnetic railgun accelerator (10) for accelerating a projectile (15) by movement of a plasma arc (13) along the rails (11,12). The railgun (10) is divided into a plurality of successive rail stages (10a-n) which are sequentially energized by separate energy sources (14a-n) as the projectile (15) moves through the bore (17) of the railgun (10). Propagation of energy from an energized rail stage back towards the breech end (29) of the railgun (10) can be prevented by connection of the energy sources (14a-n) to the rails (11,12) through isolation diodes (34a-n). Propagation of energy from an energized rail stage back towards the breech end of the railgun can also be prevented by dividing the rails (11,12) into electrically isolated rail sections (11a-n, 12a-n). In such case means (55a-n) are used to extinguish the arc at the end of each energized stage and a fuse (31) or laser device (61) is used to initiate a new plasma arc in the next energized rail stage.

Joint channel estimation and multi-user detection for multipath fading channels in DS-CDMA systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Sau-Hsuan; Kuo, C.-C. Jay

2002-11-01

The technique of joint blind channel estimation and multiple access interference (MAI) suppression for an asynchronous code-division multiple-access (CDMA) system is investigated in this research. To identify and track dispersive time-varying fading channels and to avoid the phase ambiguity that come with the second-order statistic approaches, a sliding-window scheme using the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm is proposed. The complexity of joint channel equalization and symbol detection for all users increases exponentially with system loading and the channel memory. The situation is exacerbated if strong inter-symbol interference (ISI) exists. To reduce the complexity and the number of samples required for channel estimation, a blind multiuser detector is developed. Together with multi-stage interference cancellation using soft outputs provided by this detector, our algorithm can track fading channels with no phase ambiguity even when channel gains attenuate close to zero.

From puddles to planet: modeling approaches to vector-borne diseases at varying resolution and scale.

PubMed

Eckhoff, Philip A; Bever, Caitlin A; Gerardin, Jaline; Wenger, Edward A; Smith, David L

2015-08-01

Since the original Ross-Macdonald formulations of vector-borne disease transmission, there has been a broad proliferation of mathematical models of vector-borne disease, but many of these models retain most to all of the simplifying assumptions of the original formulations. Recently, there has been a new expansion of mathematical frameworks that contain explicit representations of the vector life cycle including aquatic stages, multiple vector species, host heterogeneity in biting rate, realistic vector feeding behavior, and spatial heterogeneity. In particular, there are now multiple frameworks for spatially explicit dynamics with movements of vector, host, or both. These frameworks are flexible and powerful, but require additional data to take advantage of these features. For a given question posed, utilizing a range of models with varying complexity and assumptions can provide a deeper understanding of the answers derived from models. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Low thrust vehicle concept study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

Low thrust chemical (hydrogen-oxygen) propulsion systems configured specifically for low acceleration orbit transfer of large space systems were defined. Results indicate that it is cost effective and least risk to combine the OTV and stowed spacecraft in a single 65 K Shuttle. The study shows that the engine for an optimized low thrust stage (1) does not require very low thrust; (2) 1-3 K thrust range appears optimum; (3) thrust transient is not a concern; (4) throttling probably not worthwhile; and (5) multiple thrusters complicate OTV/LSS design and aggravate LSS loads. Regarding the optimum vehicle for low acceleration missions, the single shuttle launch (LSS and expendable OTV) is most cost effective and least risky. Multiple shuttles increase diameter 20%. The space based radar structure short OTV (which maximizes space available for packaged LSS) favors use of torus tank. Propellant tank pressures/vapor residuals are little affected by engine thrust level or number of burns.

Histone acetyltransferase activity of MOF is required for adult but not early fetal hematopoiesis in mice

PubMed Central

Valerio, Daria G.; Xu, Haiming; Eisold, Meghan E.; Woolthuis, Carolien M.; Pandita, Tej K.

2017-01-01

K(lysine) acetyltransferase 8 (KAT8, also known as MOF) mediates the acetylation of histone H4 at lysine 16 (H4K16ac) and is crucial for murine embryogenesis. Lysine acetyltransferases have been shown to regulate various stages of normal hematopoiesis. However, the function of MOF in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) development has not yet been elucidated. We set out to study the role of MOF in general hematopoiesis by using a Vav1-cre–induced conditional murine Mof knockout system and found that MOF is critical for hematopoietic cell maintenance and HSC engraftment capacity in adult hematopoiesis. Rescue experiments with a MOF histone acetyltransferase domain mutant illustrated the requirement for MOF acetyltransferase activity in the clonogenic capacity of HSCs and progenitors. In stark contrast, fetal steady-state hematopoiesis at embryonic day (E) 14.5 was not affected by homozygous Mof deletion despite dramatic loss of global H4K16ac. Hematopoietic defects start manifesting in late gestation at E17.5. The discovery that MOF and its H4K16ac activity are required for adult but not early and midgestational hematopoiesis supports the notion that multiple chromatin regulators may be crucial for hematopoiesis at varying stages of development. MOF is therefore a developmental-stage–specific chromatin regulator found to be essential for adult but not early fetal hematopoiesis. PMID:27827827

Microlenses and microcameras for biomedical imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanhere, Aditi

Liquid lens technology is a rapidly progressing field driven by the promise of low cost fabrication, faster response, fewer mechanical elements, versatility and ease of customization for different applications. Here we present the use of liquid lenses for biomedical optics and medical imaging. I will specifically focus on our approaches towards the development of two liquid-lens optical systems -- laparoscopic cameras and 3D microscopy. The first part of this work is based on the development of a multi-camera laparoscopic imaging system with tunable focusing capability. The work attempts to find a solution to overcome many of the fundamental challenges faced by current laparoscopic imaging systems. The system is developed upon the key idea that widely spread multiple, tunable microcameras can cover a large range of vantage points and field of view (FoV) for intra-abdominal visualization. Our design features multiple tunable-focus microcameras integrated with a surgical port to provide panoramic intra-abdominal visualization with enhanced depth perception. Our system can be optically tuned to focus in on objects within a range of 5 mm to infinity, with a FoV adjustable between 36 degrees and 130 degrees. This unique approach also eliminates the requirement of an exclusive imaging port and need for navigation of cameras between ports during surgery. The second part of this report focuses on the application of tunable lenses in microscopy. Conventional wide-field microscopy is one of the most widely used optical microscopy technique. This technique typically captures a two dimensional image of a specimen. For a volumetric visualization of the sample or to enable depth scanning along the axial direction, it is necessary to move the sample relative to the fixed focal plane of the microscope objective. For this purpose, a mechanical z-scanning stage is typically employed. The stage enables the focal plane to move through the sample. Typical approaches used to achieve axial scanning are a motorized stepper stage or a piezoelectric stage. While stepper motors offer the advantage of unlimited travel distance, they suffer from hysteresis. Piezoelectric stages on the other hand, help eliminate hysteresis at the cost of the travel distance which is reduced to 100-200 mum. Both the types of stages, however, are bulky and cause vibrations and wobble in the sample due to high inertia. Additional care is required to avoid mechanical overshoots and backlash from the tip touching the sample. Additionally, for water or oil-immersion lenses, vibration of the sample stage can cause disturbance or ripples in the immersion media that can lead to significant distortion in the images. A robust alternative to the use of mechanical scanning stages is a remote focusing system that allows both the objective and the sample to be stationary. One such solution is the employment of a tunable-focus liquid lens in conjunction with a microscope objective to achieve axial scanning through a sample being imaged. Our work demonstrates the implementation of a robust, cost-effective and energy-efficient axial tuning solution for 3D microscopy based on thermo-responsive hydrogel-based tunable liquid lenses.

Split-flow regeneration in absorptive air separation

DOEpatents

Weimer, Robert F.

1987-01-01

A chemical absorptive separation of air in multiple stage of absorption and desorption is performed with partial recycle of absorbent between stages of desorption necessary to match equilibrium conditions in the various stages of absorption. This allows reduced absorbent flow, reduced energy demand and reduced capital costs.

When and how should multiple imputation be used for handling missing data in randomised clinical trials - a practical guide with flowcharts.

PubMed

Jakobsen, Janus Christian; Gluud, Christian; Wetterslev, Jørn; Winkel, Per

2017-12-06

Missing data may seriously compromise inferences from randomised clinical trials, especially if missing data are not handled appropriately. The potential bias due to missing data depends on the mechanism causing the data to be missing, and the analytical methods applied to amend the missingness. Therefore, the analysis of trial data with missing values requires careful planning and attention. The authors had several meetings and discussions considering optimal ways of handling missing data to minimise the bias potential. We also searched PubMed (key words: missing data; randomi*; statistical analysis) and reference lists of known studies for papers (theoretical papers; empirical studies; simulation studies; etc.) on how to deal with missing data when analysing randomised clinical trials. Handling missing data is an important, yet difficult and complex task when analysing results of randomised clinical trials. We consider how to optimise the handling of missing data during the planning stage of a randomised clinical trial and recommend analytical approaches which may prevent bias caused by unavoidable missing data. We consider the strengths and limitations of using of best-worst and worst-best sensitivity analyses, multiple imputation, and full information maximum likelihood. We also present practical flowcharts on how to deal with missing data and an overview of the steps that always need to be considered during the analysis stage of a trial. We present a practical guide and flowcharts describing when and how multiple imputation should be used to handle missing data in randomised clinical.

DeepSkeleton: Learning Multi-Task Scale-Associated Deep Side Outputs for Object Skeleton Extraction in Natural Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Wei; Zhao, Kai; Jiang, Yuan; Wang, Yan; Bai, Xiang; Yuille, Alan

2017-11-01

Object skeletons are useful for object representation and object detection. They are complementary to the object contour, and provide extra information, such as how object scale (thickness) varies among object parts. But object skeleton extraction from natural images is very challenging, because it requires the extractor to be able to capture both local and non-local image context in order to determine the scale of each skeleton pixel. In this paper, we present a novel fully convolutional network with multiple scale-associated side outputs to address this problem. By observing the relationship between the receptive field sizes of the different layers in the network and the skeleton scales they can capture, we introduce two scale-associated side outputs to each stage of the network. The network is trained by multi-task learning, where one task is skeleton localization to classify whether a pixel is a skeleton pixel or not, and the other is skeleton scale prediction to regress the scale of each skeleton pixel. Supervision is imposed at different stages by guiding the scale-associated side outputs toward the groundtruth skeletons at the appropriate scales. The responses of the multiple scale-associated side outputs are then fused in a scale-specific way to detect skeleton pixels using multiple scales effectively. Our method achieves promising results on two skeleton extraction datasets, and significantly outperforms other competitors. Additionally, the usefulness of the obtained skeletons and scales (thickness) are verified on two object detection applications: Foreground object segmentation and object proposal detection.

Prognostic factors in multiple myeloma: selection using Cox's proportional hazard model.

PubMed

Pasqualetti, P; Collacciani, A; Maccarone, C; Casale, R

1996-01-01

The pretreatment characteristics of 210 patients with multiple myeloma, observed between 1980 and 1994, were evaluated as potential prognostic factors for survival. Multivariate analysis according to Cox's proportional hazard model identified in the 160 dead patients with myeloma, among 26 different single prognostic variables, the following factors in order of importance: beta 2-microglobulin; bone marrow plasma cell percentage, hemoglobinemia, degree of lytic bone lesions, serum creatinine, and serum albumin. By analysis of these variables a prognostic index (PI), that considers the regression coefficients derived by Cox's model of all significant factors, was obtained. Using this it was possible to separate the whole patient group into three stages: stage I (PI < 1.485, 67 patients), stage II (PI: 1.485-2.090, 76 patients), and stage III (PI > 2.090, 67 patients), with a median survivals of 68, 36 and 13 months (P < 0.0001), respectively. Also the responses to therapy (P < 0.0001) and the survival curves (P < 0.00001) presented significant differences among the three subgroups. Knowledge of these factors could be of value in predicting prognosis and in planning therapy in patients with multiple myeloma.

Development of a microplate coagulation assay for Factor V in human plasma.

PubMed

Tilley, Derek; Levit, Irina; Samis, John A

2011-06-28

Factor V (FV) in its activated form, FVa, is a critical regulator of thrombin generation during fibrin clot formation. There is a need of a simple, fast, and inexpensive microplate-based coagulation assay to measure the functional activity of FV in human plasma. The objective of this study was to develop a microplate-based assay that measures FV coagulation activity during clot formation in human plasma, which is currently not available. The FV assay requires a kinetic microplate reader to measure the change in absorbance at 405nm during fibrin formation in human plasma. The FV assay accurately measures the time, initial rate, and extent of fibrin clot formation in human plasma. The FV microplate assay is simple, fast, economical, sensitive to approx 24-80pM, and multiple samples may be analyzed simultaneously. All the required materials are commercially available. Standard curves of time or initial rate of fibrin clot formation vs FV activity in the 1-stage assay (Without activation by thrombin) may be used to measure FV activity in samples of human plasma. The assay was used to demonstrate that in nine patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), the FV 1-stage, 2-stage (With activation by thrombin), and total (2-stage activity - 1-stage activity) activities were decreased, on average, by approximately 54%, 44%, and 42%, respectively, from prolonged clot times when compared to normal pooled human reference plasma (NHP). The results indicate that the FV in the DIC patient plasmas supported both a delayed and slower rate of fibrin clot formation compared with NHP; however, the extent of fibrin clot formation in the DIC patients remained largely unchanged from that observed with NHP. The FV microplate assay may be easily adapted to measure the activity of any coagulation factor using the appropriate factor-deficient plasma and clot initiating reagent. The microplate assay will find use in both research and clinical laboratories to provide measurement of the functional coagulation activity of FV in human plasma.

Quantification of Estradiol Uptake in Zebrafish Embryos and Larvae.

PubMed

Souder, Jaclyn Paige; Gorelick, Daniel A

2017-08-01

Zebrafish are a powerful model system to assess the molecular and cellular effects of exposure to toxic chemicals during embryonic development. To study the effects of environmental endocrine disruptors, embryos and larvae are commonly exposed to supraphysiologic concentrations of these compounds in the water, but their bioavailability in zebrafish is largely unknown. One hypothesis is that supraphysiologic concentrations of estrogens in the water are required to achieve physiologic levels in vivo; however, this has not been directly tested. To test this hypothesis, we developed an assay using radiolabeled estradiol ([3H]E2) to measure uptake from water at multiple concentrations and exposure durations in developing zebrafish from 0 to 5 days postfertilization (dpf). We found that [3H]E2 uptake increased with increasing concentration, duration, and developmental stage. Percent uptake from the total volume of treatment solution increased with increasing exposure duration and developmental stage, but remained constant with increasing concentration. We also found that the chorion, an acellular envelope surrounding embryos through 3 dpf, did not substantially affect [3H]E2 uptake. Finally, we found that at 1 dpf, E2 was preferentially taken up by the yolk at multiple exposure durations, while at 2 dpf E2 was preferentially taken up into the embryonic body. Our results support the hypothesis that exposing zebrafish embryos and larvae to supraphysiologic concentrations of estrogens is required to achieve physiologically relevant doses in vivo. The isotopic assay reported here will provide a foundation for determining the uptake of other compounds for teratogenicity, toxicology and drug discovery studies. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Analytic Modeling of Pressurization and Cryogenic Propellant

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Corpening, Jeremy H.

2010-01-01

An analytic model for pressurization and cryogenic propellant conditions during all mission phases of any liquid rocket based vehicle has been developed and validated. The model assumes the propellant tanks to be divided into five nodes and also implements an empirical correlation for liquid stratification if desired. The five nodes include a tank wall node exposed to ullage gas, an ullage gas node, a saturated propellant vapor node at the liquid-vapor interface, a liquid node, and a tank wall node exposed to liquid. The conservation equations of mass and energy are then applied across all the node boundaries and, with the use of perfect gas assumptions, explicit solutions for ullage and liquid conditions are derived. All fluid properties are updated real time using NIST Refprop.1 Further, mass transfer at the liquid-vapor interface is included in the form of evaporation, bulk boiling of liquid propellant, and condensation given the appropriate conditions for each. Model validation has proven highly successful against previous analytic models and various Saturn era test data and reasonably successful against more recent LH2 tank self pressurization ground test data. Finally, this model has been applied to numerous design iterations for the Altair Lunar Lander, Ares V Core Stage, and Ares V Earth Departure Stage in order to characterize Helium and autogenous pressurant requirements, propellant lost to evaporation and thermodynamic venting to maintain propellant conditions, and non-uniform tank draining in configurations utilizing multiple LH2 or LO2 propellant tanks. In conclusion, this model provides an accurate and efficient means of analyzing multiple design configurations for any cryogenic propellant tank in launch, low-acceleration coast, or in-space maneuvering and supplies the user with pressurization requirements, unusable propellants from evaporation and liquid stratification, and general ullage gas, liquid, and tank wall conditions as functions of time.

Progress in surgical and nonsurgical approaches for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment.

PubMed

Yegin, Ender Gunes; Oymaci, Erkan; Karatay, Emrah; Coker, Ahmet

2016-06-01

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a complex and heterogeneous malignancy, frequently occurs in the setting of a chronically diseased organ, with multiple confounding factors making its management challenging. HCC represents one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality globally with a rising trend of incidence in some of the developed countries, which indicates the need for better surgical and nonsurgical management strategies. PubMed database was searched for relevant articles in English on the issue of HCC management. Surgical resection represents a potentially curative option for appropriate candidates with tumors detected at earlier stages and with well-preserved liver function. The long-term outcome of surgery is impaired by a high rate of recurrence. Surgical approaches are being challenged by local ablative therapies such as radiofrequency ablation and microwave ablation in selected patients. Liver transplantation offers potential cure for HCC and also correction of underlying liver disease, and minimizes the risk of recurrence, but is reserved for patients within a set of criteria proposed for a prudent allocation in the shortage of donor organs. Transcatheter locoregional therapies have become the palliative standard allowing local control for intermediate stage patients with noninvasive multinodular or large HCC who are beyond the potentially curative options. The significant survival benefit with the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib for advanced HCC has shifted the direction of research regarding systemic treatment toward molecular therapies targeting the disregulated pathways of hepatocarcinogenesis. Potential benefit is suggested from simultaneous or sequential multimodal therapies, and optimal combinations are being investigated. Despite the striking progress in preclinical studies of HCC immunotherapy and gene therapy, extensive clinical trials are required to achieve successful clinical applications of these innovative approaches. Treatment decisions have become increasingly complex for HCC with the availability of multiple surgical and nonsurgical therapeutic options and require a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach.

Combination free electron and gaseous laser

DOEpatents

Brau, Charles A.; Rockwood, Stephen D.; Stein, William E.

1980-01-01

A multiple laser having one or more gaseous laser stages and one or more free electron stages. Each of the free electron laser stages is sequentially pumped by a microwave linear accelerator. Subsequently, the electron beam is directed through a gaseous laser, in the preferred embodiment, and in an alternative embodiment, through a microwave accelerator to lower the energy level of the electron beam to pump one or more gaseous lasers. The combination laser provides high pulse repetition frequencies, on the order of 1 kHz or greater, high power capability, high efficiency, and tunability in the synchronous production of multiple beams of coherent optical radiation.

It Takes a Village - Strategies to increase Minority Participation in the Earth and Life Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mourad, T.

2013-12-01

The issues surrounding minority participation are multifaceted and complex. To be successful in increasing minority participation in the earth and life sciences requires multiple layers of support both in formal and nonformal settings. A comprehensive approach to broadening participation needs to build in: 1) Awareness and exposure to the wide range of career options 2) Nurture of multiple professional experiences from novice to leadership over multiple years 3) mentoring and advice at critical decision stages 4) opportunities for peer networking among other like-minded minority scientists and 5) institutional leadership and investment. The presentation will share the major accomplishments of the award-winning SEEDS program of the Ecological Society of America which recognizes and welcomes the diversity of cultures and perspectives. It seeks to create a professional home for its students, nearly 90% of whom are from minority backgrounds. No single organization can do it all. We will also share how we have partnered with other organizations including the Institute for Broadening Participation's MSPhD's program and discuss strategies that universities can develop to work with professional societies to accomplish your diversity goals.

The parietal cortex in sensemaking: the dissociation of multiple types of spatial information.

PubMed

Sun, Yanlong; Wang, Hongbin

2013-01-01

According to the data-frame theory, sensemaking is a macrocognitive process in which people try to make sense of or explain their observations by processing a number of explanatory structures called frames until the observations and frames become congruent. During the sensemaking process, the parietal cortex has been implicated in various cognitive tasks for the functions related to spatial and temporal information processing, mathematical thinking, and spatial attention. In particular, the parietal cortex plays important roles by extracting multiple representations of magnitudes at the early stages of perceptual analysis. By a series of neural network simulations, we demonstrate that the dissociation of different types of spatial information can start early with a rather similar structure (i.e., sensitivity on a common metric), but accurate representations require specific goal-directed top-down controls due to the interference in selective attention. Our results suggest that the roles of the parietal cortex rely on the hierarchical organization of multiple spatial representations and their interactions. The dissociation and interference between different types of spatial information are essentially the result of the competition at different levels of abstraction.

The Parietal Cortex in Sensemaking: The Dissociation of Multiple Types of Spatial Information

PubMed Central

Sun, Yanlong; Wang, Hongbin

2013-01-01

According to the data-frame theory, sensemaking is a macrocognitive process in which people try to make sense of or explain their observations by processing a number of explanatory structures called frames until the observations and frames become congruent. During the sensemaking process, the parietal cortex has been implicated in various cognitive tasks for the functions related to spatial and temporal information processing, mathematical thinking, and spatial attention. In particular, the parietal cortex plays important roles by extracting multiple representations of magnitudes at the early stages of perceptual analysis. By a series of neural network simulations, we demonstrate that the dissociation of different types of spatial information can start early with a rather similar structure (i.e., sensitivity on a common metric), but accurate representations require specific goal-directed top-down controls due to the interference in selective attention. Our results suggest that the roles of the parietal cortex rely on the hierarchical organization of multiple spatial representations and their interactions. The dissociation and interference between different types of spatial information are essentially the result of the competition at different levels of abstraction. PMID:23710165

So you think you've designed an effective recruitment protocol?

PubMed

Green, Cara; Vandall-Walker, Virginia

2017-03-22

Background Recruiting acutely ill patients to participate in research can be challenging. This paper outlines the difficulties the first author encountered in a study and the steps she took to overcome problems with research ethics, gain access to participants and implement a recruitment protocol in multiple hospitals. It also compares these steps with literature related to recruitment. Aim To inform and inspire neophyte researchers about the need for planning and resilience when dealing with recruitment challenges in multiple hospitals. Discussion The multiple enablers and barriers to the successful implementation of a hospital-based study recruitment protocol are explored based on a neophyte researcher's optimistic assumptions about this stage of the study. Conclusions Perseverance, adequately planning for contingencies, and accepting the barriers and challenges to recruitment are essential for completing one's research study and ensuring fulfilment as a researcher. Implications for practice Healthcare students carrying out research require adequate knowledge about conducting hospital-based, patient research to inform their recruitment plan. Maximising control over recruitment, allowing for adequate time to conduct data collection, and maintaining a good work ethic will help to ensure success.

Multiple Stages of Weekend Field Trips To Expose Students to Nature: Emphasis on Discovery and Awareness.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krupa, James J.

2002-01-01

Describes the three stages of a field trip and reviews stage 1, weekend field trips, which focuses on an organism's morphology, behavior, and ecology. Presents activities on salamanders, small mammals, fish, birds, and bats. Explains the difficulties of weekend trips. (YDS)

Split-flow regeneration in absorptive air separation

DOEpatents

Weimer, R.F.

1987-11-24

A chemical absorptive separation of air in multiple stage of absorption and desorption is performed with partial recycle of absorbent between stages of desorption necessary to match equilibrium conditions in the various stages of absorption. This allows reduced absorbent flow, reduced energy demand and reduced capital costs. 4 figs.

Hierarchical group testing for multiple infections.

PubMed

Hou, Peijie; Tebbs, Joshua M; Bilder, Christopher R; McMahan, Christopher S

2017-06-01

Group testing, where individuals are tested initially in pools, is widely used to screen a large number of individuals for rare diseases. Triggered by the recent development of assays that detect multiple infections at once, screening programs now involve testing individuals in pools for multiple infections simultaneously. Tebbs, McMahan, and Bilder (2013, Biometrics) recently evaluated the performance of a two-stage hierarchical algorithm used to screen for chlamydia and gonorrhea as part of the Infertility Prevention Project in the United States. In this article, we generalize this work to accommodate a larger number of stages. To derive the operating characteristics of higher-stage hierarchical algorithms with more than one infection, we view the pool decoding process as a time-inhomogeneous, finite-state Markov chain. Taking this conceptualization enables us to derive closed-form expressions for the expected number of tests and classification accuracy rates in terms of transition probability matrices. When applied to chlamydia and gonorrhea testing data from four states (Region X of the United States Department of Health and Human Services), higher-stage hierarchical algorithms provide, on average, an estimated 11% reduction in the number of tests when compared to two-stage algorithms. For applications with rarer infections, we show theoretically that this percentage reduction can be much larger. © 2016, The International Biometric Society.

Hierarchical group testing for multiple infections

PubMed Central

Hou, Peijie; Tebbs, Joshua M.; Bilder, Christopher R.; McMahan, Christopher S.

2016-01-01

Summary Group testing, where individuals are tested initially in pools, is widely used to screen a large number of individuals for rare diseases. Triggered by the recent development of assays that detect multiple infections at once, screening programs now involve testing individuals in pools for multiple infections simultaneously. Tebbs, McMahan, and Bilder (2013, Biometrics) recently evaluated the performance of a two-stage hierarchical algorithm used to screen for chlamydia and gonorrhea as part of the Infertility Prevention Project in the United States. In this article, we generalize this work to accommodate a larger number of stages. To derive the operating characteristics of higher-stage hierarchical algorithms with more than one infection, we view the pool decoding process as a time-inhomogeneous, finite-state Markov chain. Taking this conceptualization enables us to derive closed-form expressions for the expected number of tests and classification accuracy rates in terms of transition probability matrices. When applied to chlamydia and gonorrhea testing data from four states (Region X of the United States Department of Health and Human Services), higher-stage hierarchical algorithms provide, on average, an estimated 11 percent reduction in the number of tests when compared to two-stage algorithms. For applications with rarer infections, we show theoretically that this percentage reduction can be much larger. PMID:27657666

Common Peroneal Nerve Palsy with Multiple-Ligament Knee Injury and Distal Avulsion of the Biceps Femoris Tendon

PubMed Central

Oshima, Takeshi; Nakase, Junsuke; Numata, Hitoaki; Takata, Yasushi

2015-01-01

A multiple-ligament knee injury that includes posterolateral corner (PLC) disruption often causes palsy of the common peroneal nerve (CPN), which occurs in 44% of cases with PLC injury and biceps femoris tendon rupture or avulsion of the fibular head. Approximately half of these cases do not show functional recovery. This case report aims to present a criteria-based approach to the operation and postoperative management of CPN palsy that resulted from a multiple-ligament knee injury in a 22-year-old man that occurred during judo. We performed a two-staged surgery. The first stage was to repair the injuries to the PLC and biceps femoris. The second stage involved anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. The outcomes were excellent, with a stable knee, excellent range of motion, and improvement in the palsy. The patient was able to return to judo competition 27 weeks after the injury. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report describing a return to sports following CPN palsy with multiple-ligament knee injury. PMID:26064740

Research on elastic resource management for multi-queue under cloud computing environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

CHENG, Zhenjing; LI, Haibo; HUANG, Qiulan; Cheng, Yaodong; CHEN, Gang

2017-10-01

As a new approach to manage computing resource, virtualization technology is more and more widely applied in the high-energy physics field. A virtual computing cluster based on Openstack was built at IHEP, using HTCondor as the job queue management system. In a traditional static cluster, a fixed number of virtual machines are pre-allocated to the job queue of different experiments. However this method cannot be well adapted to the volatility of computing resource requirements. To solve this problem, an elastic computing resource management system under cloud computing environment has been designed. This system performs unified management of virtual computing nodes on the basis of job queue in HTCondor based on dual resource thresholds as well as the quota service. A two-stage pool is designed to improve the efficiency of resource pool expansion. This paper will present several use cases of the elastic resource management system in IHEPCloud. The practical run shows virtual computing resource dynamically expanded or shrunk while computing requirements change. Additionally, the CPU utilization ratio of computing resource was significantly increased when compared with traditional resource management. The system also has good performance when there are multiple condor schedulers and multiple job queues.

Factors associated with higher oxytocin requirements in labor.

PubMed

Frey, Heather A; Tuuli, Methodius G; England, Sarah K; Roehl, Kimberly A; Odibo, Anthony O; Macones, George A; Cahill, Alison G

2015-09-01

To identify clinical characteristics associated with high maximum oxytocin doses in women who achieve complete cervical dilation. A retrospective nested case-control study was performed within a cohort of all term women at a single center between 2004 and 2008 who reached the second stage of labor. Cases were defined as women who had a maximum oxytocin dose during labor >20 mu/min, while women in the control group had a maximum oxytocin dose during labor of ≤20 mu/min. Exclusion criteria included no oxytocin administration during labor, multiple gestations, major fetal anomalies, nonvertex presentation, and prior cesarean delivery. Multiple maternal, fetal, and labor factors were evaluated with univariable analysis and multivariable logistic regression. Maximum oxytocin doses >20 mu/min were administered to 108 women (3.6%), while 2864 women received doses ≤20 mu/min. Factors associated with higher maximum oxytocin dose after adjusting for relevant confounders included maternal diabetes, birthweight >4000 g, intrapartum fever, administration of magnesium, and induction of labor. Few women who achieve complete cervical dilation require high doses of oxytocin. We identified maternal, fetal and labor factors that characterize this group of parturients.

Space Launch System Mission Flexibility Assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Monk, Timothy; Holladay, Jon; Sanders, Terry; Hampton, Bryan

2012-01-01

The Space Launch System (SLS) is envisioned as a heavy lift vehicle that will provide the foundation for future beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) missions. While multiple assessments have been performed to determine the optimal configuration for the SLS, this effort was undertaken to evaluate the flexibility of various concepts for the range of missions that may be required of this system. These mission scenarios include single launch crew and/or cargo delivery to LEO, single launch cargo delivery missions to LEO in support of multi-launch mission campaigns, and single launch beyond LEO missions. Specifically, we assessed options for the single launch beyond LEO mission scenario using a variety of in-space stages and vehicle staging criteria. This was performed to determine the most flexible (and perhaps optimal) method of designing this particular type of mission. A specific mission opportunity to the Jovian system was further assessed to determine potential solutions that may meet currently envisioned mission objectives. This application sought to significantly reduce mission cost by allowing for a direct, faster transfer from Earth to Jupiter and to determine the order-of-magnitude mass margin that would be made available from utilization of the SLS. In general, smaller, existing stages provided comparable performance to larger, new stage developments when the mission scenario allowed for optimal LEO dropoff orbits (e.g. highly elliptical staging orbits). Initial results using this method with early SLS configurations and existing Upper Stages showed the potential of capturing Lunar flyby missions as well as providing significant mass delivery to a Jupiter transfer orbit.

Vaccine Therapy in Preventing Cytomegalovirus Infection in Patients With Hematological Malignancies Undergoing Donor Stem Cell Transplant

ClinicalTrials.gov

2018-05-16

Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Del(5q); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Adult Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (M3); Adult Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; Adult Nodular Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; B-cell Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Contiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Cytomegalovirus Infection; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Essential Thrombocythemia; Extramedullary Plasmacytoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Isolated Plasmacytoma of Bone; Monoclonal Gammopathy of Undetermined Significance; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma; Polycythemia Vera; Post-transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder; Previously Treated Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Primary Central Nervous System Hodgkin Lymphoma; Primary Central Nervous System Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Primary Myelofibrosis; Progressive Hairy Cell Leukemia, Initial Treatment; Prolymphocytic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Secondary Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Stage I Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage I Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage I Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage I Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage I Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IA Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage IB Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage II Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage II Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage II Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage II Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage IIA Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage IIB Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IIIA Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage IIIB Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IVA Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage IVB Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; T-cell Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; T-cell Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia; Untreated Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Untreated Hairy Cell Leukemia; Waldenström Macroglobulinemia

MetaPSICOV: combining coevolution methods for accurate prediction of contacts and long range hydrogen bonding in proteins.

PubMed

Jones, David T; Singh, Tanya; Kosciolek, Tomasz; Tetchner, Stuart

2015-04-01

Recent developments of statistical techniques to infer direct evolutionary couplings between residue pairs have rendered covariation-based contact prediction a viable means for accurate 3D modelling of proteins, with no information other than the sequence required. To extend the usefulness of contact prediction, we have designed a new meta-predictor (MetaPSICOV) which combines three distinct approaches for inferring covariation signals from multiple sequence alignments, considers a broad range of other sequence-derived features and, uniquely, a range of metrics which describe both the local and global quality of the input multiple sequence alignment. Finally, we use a two-stage predictor, where the second stage filters the output of the first stage. This two-stage predictor is additionally evaluated on its ability to accurately predict the long range network of hydrogen bonds, including correctly assigning the donor and acceptor residues. Using the original PSICOV benchmark set of 150 protein families, MetaPSICOV achieves a mean precision of 0.54 for top-L predicted long range contacts-around 60% higher than PSICOV, and around 40% better than CCMpred. In de novo protein structure prediction using FRAGFOLD, MetaPSICOV is able to improve the TM-scores of models by a median of 0.05 compared with PSICOV. Lastly, for predicting long range hydrogen bonding, MetaPSICOV-HB achieves a precision of 0.69 for the top-L/10 hydrogen bonds compared with just 0.26 for the baseline MetaPSICOV. MetaPSICOV is available as a freely available web server at http://bioinf.cs.ucl.ac.uk/MetaPSICOV. Raw data (predicted contact lists and 3D models) and source code can be downloaded from http://bioinf.cs.ucl.ac.uk/downloads/MetaPSICOV. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

Radiation therapy in early-stage invasive breast cancer.

PubMed

Lin, Ray; Tripuraneni, Prabhakar

2011-06-01

The treatment of breast cancer involves a multi-disciplinary approach with radiation therapy playing a key role. Breast-conserving surgery has been an option for women with early-stage breast cancer for over two decades now. Multiple randomized trials now have demonstrated the efficacy of breast-conserving surgery followed by radiation therapy. With the advancements in breast imaging and the successful campaign for early detection of breast cancer, more women today are found to have early-stage small breast cancers. Patient factors (breast size, tumor location, history of prior radiation therapy, preexisting conditions such as collagen vascular disease, age, having prosthetically augmented breasts), pathological factors (margin status, tumor size, presence of extensive intraductal component requiring multiple surgical excisions), as well as patient preference are all taken into consideration prior to surgical management of breast cancer. Whole-breast fractionated radiation therapy between 5 and 7 weeks is considered as the standard of care treatment following breast-conserving surgery. However, new radiation treatment strategies have been developed in recent years to provide alternatives to the conventional 5-7 week whole-breast radiation therapy for some patients. Accelerated partial breast radiation therapy (APBI) was introduced because the frequency of breast recurrences outside of the surgical cavity has been shown to be low. This technique allows treatments to be delivered quicker (usually 1 week, twice daily) to a limited volume. Often times, this treatment involves the use of a brachytherapy applicator to be placed into the surgical cavity following breast-conserving surgery. Accelerated hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation may be another faster way to deliver radiation therapy following breast-conserving surgery. This journal article reviews the role of radiation therapy in women with early-stage breast cancer addressing patient selection in breast-conserving therapy, a review of pertinent trials in breast-conserving therapy, as well as the different treatment techniques available to women following breast-conserving surgery.

Deriving percentage study weights in multi-parameter meta-analysis models: with application to meta-regression, network meta-analysis and one-stage individual participant data models.

PubMed

Riley, Richard D; Ensor, Joie; Jackson, Dan; Burke, Danielle L

2017-01-01

Many meta-analysis models contain multiple parameters, for example due to multiple outcomes, multiple treatments or multiple regression coefficients. In particular, meta-regression models may contain multiple study-level covariates, and one-stage individual participant data meta-analysis models may contain multiple patient-level covariates and interactions. Here, we propose how to derive percentage study weights for such situations, in order to reveal the (otherwise hidden) contribution of each study toward the parameter estimates of interest. We assume that studies are independent, and utilise a decomposition of Fisher's information matrix to decompose the total variance matrix of parameter estimates into study-specific contributions, from which percentage weights are derived. This approach generalises how percentage weights are calculated in a traditional, single parameter meta-analysis model. Application is made to one- and two-stage individual participant data meta-analyses, meta-regression and network (multivariate) meta-analysis of multiple treatments. These reveal percentage study weights toward clinically important estimates, such as summary treatment effects and treatment-covariate interactions, and are especially useful when some studies are potential outliers or at high risk of bias. We also derive percentage study weights toward methodologically interesting measures, such as the magnitude of ecological bias (difference between within-study and across-study associations) and the amount of inconsistency (difference between direct and indirect evidence in a network meta-analysis).

Dislocation Multiplication in the Early Stage of Deformation in Mo Single Crystals

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

Hsiung, L.; Lassila, D.H.

Initial dislocation structure in annealed high-purity Mo single crystals and deformation substructure in a crystal subjected to 1% compression have been examined and studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques in order to investigate dislocation multiplication mechanisms in the early stage of plastic deformation. The initial dislocation density is in a range of 10{sup 6} {approx} 10{sup 7} cm{sup -2}, and the dislocation structure is found to contain many grown-in superjogs along dislocation lines. The dislocation density increases to a range of 10{sup 8} {approx} 10{sup 9} cm{sup -2}, and the average jog height is also found to increase aftermore » compressing for a total strain of 1%. It is proposed that the preexisting jogged screw dislocations can act as (multiple) dislocation multiplication sources when deformed under quasi-static conditions. The jog height can increase by stress-induced jog coalescence, which takes place via the lateral migration (drift) of superjogs driven by unbalanced line-tension partials acting on link segments of unequal lengths. The coalescence of superjogs results in an increase of both link length and jog height. Applied shear stress begins to push each link segment to precede dislocation multiplication when link length and jog height are greater than critical lengths. This ''dynamic'' dislocation multiplication source is suggested to be crucial for the dislocation multiplication in the early stage of plastic deformation in Mo.« less

Three primary synchronous malignancies of the uterus, cervix, and fallopian tube: A case report.

PubMed

Song, Liang; Li, Qingli; Yang, Kaixuan; Yin, Rutie; Wang, Danqing

2018-06-01

Multiple primary malignancies can occur in the same organ or in multiple organs or systems. Likewise, they can occur simultaneously or successively. Based on the timing of the diagnosis, they are classified as multiple synchronous (i.e., concurrent) or metachronous (i.e., successive) primary malignancies. The vast majority of patients have multiple metachronous malignant tumors; multiple synchronous tumors are rare. A 63-year-old woman presented with the chief complaint of vaginal fluid discharge for 3 months and abdominal pain for 1 month. The patient was diagnosed with multiple synchronous primary malignancies: 1) endometrial poorly differentiated serous adenocarcinoma, stage IV; 2) poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, stage IB1; and 3) left-sided fallopian tube carcinoma in situ. After total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and comprehensive staging and debulking, the patient was administered eight courses of adjuvant chemotherapy (taxane carboplatin/taxane cisplatin). After chemotherapy completion, the patient has been undergoing regular follow-up examinations; no recurrence has been noted at 18 months. It is important to distinguish between multiple synchronous primary malignancies and metastasis of a primary tumor to select the appropriate treatment regimen and to adequately assess the patient's prognosis. When a cancer patient shows clinical manifestations of another tumor, not only metastasis but also the possibility of multiple synchronous primary malignant tumors should be considered. The duration of follow-up in patients with malignant tumors should be extended as much as possible, as the timely detection and treatment of other primary malignant tumors can prolong survival and improve the quality of life.

Iterative use of nuclear receptor Nr5a2 regulates multiple stages of liver and pancreas development.

PubMed

Nissim, Sahar; Weeks, Olivia; Talbot, Jared C; Hedgepeth, John W; Wucherpfennig, Julia; Schatzman-Bone, Stephanie; Swinburne, Ian; Cortes, Mauricio; Alexa, Kristen; Megason, Sean; North, Trista E; Amacher, Sharon L; Goessling, Wolfram

2016-10-01

The stepwise progression of common endoderm progenitors into differentiated liver and pancreas organs is regulated by a dynamic array of signals that are not well understood. The nuclear receptor subfamily 5, group A, member 2 gene nr5a2, also known as Liver receptor homolog-1 (Lrh-1) is expressed in several tissues including the developing liver and pancreas. Here, we interrogate the role of Nr5a2 at multiple developmental stages using genetic and chemical approaches and uncover novel pleiotropic requirements during zebrafish liver and pancreas development. Zygotic loss of nr5a2 in a targeted genetic null mutant disrupted the development of the exocrine pancreas and liver, while leaving the endocrine pancreas intact. Loss of nr5a2 abrogated exocrine pancreas markers such as trypsin, while pancreas progenitors marked by ptf1a or pdx1 remained unaffected, suggesting a role for Nr5a2 in regulating pancreatic acinar cell differentiation. In the developing liver, Nr5a2 regulates hepatic progenitor outgrowth and differentiation, as nr5a2 mutants exhibited reduced hepatoblast markers hnf4α and prox1 as well as differentiated hepatocyte marker fabp10a. Through the first in vivo use of Nr5a2 chemical antagonist Cpd3, the iterative requirement for Nr5a2 for exocrine pancreas and liver differentiation was temporally elucidated: chemical inhibition of Nr5a2 function during hepatopancreas progenitor specification was sufficient to disrupt exocrine pancreas formation and enhance the size of the embryonic liver, suggesting that Nr5a2 regulates hepatic vs. pancreatic progenitor fate choice. Chemical inhibition of Nr5a2 at a later time during pancreas and liver differentiation was sufficient to block the formation of mature acinar cells and hepatocytes. These findings define critical iterative and pleiotropic roles for Nr5a2 at distinct stages of pancreas and liver organogenesis, and provide novel perspectives for interpreting the role of Nr5a2 in disease. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Iterative use of nuclear receptor Nr5a2 regulates multiple stages of liver and pancreas development

PubMed Central

Nissim, Sahar; Weeks, Olivia; Talbot, Jared C.; Hedgepeth, John W.; Wucherpfennig, Julia; Schatzman-Bone, Stephanie; Swinburne, Ian; Cortes, Mauricio; Alexa, Kristen; Megason, Sean; North, Trista E.; Amacher, Sharon L.; Goessling, Wolfram

2016-01-01

The stepwise progression of common endoderm progenitors into differentiated liver and pancreas organs is regulated by a dynamic array of signals that are not well understood. The nuclear receptor subfamily 5, group A, member 2 gene nr5a2, also known as Liver receptor homolog-1 (Lrh-1) is expressed in several tissues including the developing liver and pancreas. Here, we interrogate the role of Nr5a2 at multiple developmental stages using genetic and chemical approaches and uncover novel pleiotropic requirements during zebrafish liver and pancreas development. Zygotic loss of nr5a2 in a targeted genetic null mutant disrupted the development of the exocrine pancreas and liver, while leaving the endocrine pancreas intact. Loss of nr5a2 abrogated exocrine pancreas markers such as trypsin, while pancreas progenitors marked by ptf1a or pdx1 remained unaffected, suggesting a role for Nr5a2 in regulating pancreatic acinar cell differentiation. In the developing liver, Nr5a2 regulates hepatic progenitor outgrowth and differentiation, as nr5a2 mutants exhibited reduced hepatoblast markers hnf4α and prox1 as well as differentiated hepatocyte marker fabp10a. Through the first in vivo use of Nr5a2 chemical antagonist Cpd3, the iterative requirement for Nr5a2 for exocrine pancreas and liver differentiation was temporally elucidated: chemical inhibition of Nr5a2 function during hepatopancreas progenitor specification was sufficient to disrupt exocrine pancreas formation and enhance the size of the embryonic liver, suggesting that Nr5a2 regulates hepatic versus pancreatic progenitor fate choice. Chemical inhibition of Nr5a2 at a later time during pancreas and liver differentiation was sufficient to block the formation of mature acinar cells and hepatocytes. These findings define critical iterative and pleiotropic roles for Nr5a2 at distinct stages of pancreas and liver organogenesis, and provide novel perspectives for interpreting the role of Nr5a2 in disease. PMID:27474396

Deferasirox for Treating Patients Who Have Undergone Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant and Have Iron Overload

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-11-07

Iron Overload; Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Del(5q); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, BCR-ABL Negative; Blastic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Chronic Neutrophilic Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Disseminated Neuroblastoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, Unclassifiable; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Poor Prognosis Metastatic Gestational Trophoblastic Tumor; Previously Treated Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Primary Myelofibrosis; Recurrent Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Malignant Testicular Germ Cell Tumor; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Neuroblastoma; Recurrent Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Recurrent Ovarian Germ Cell Tumor; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Secondary Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Malignant Testicular Germ Cell Tumor; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IIIA Breast Cancer; Stage IIIB Breast Cancer; Stage IIIC Breast Cancer; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Breast Cancer; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma

Ondansetron in Preventing Nausea and Vomiting in Patients Undergoing Stem Cell Transplant

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-04-20

Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, BCR-ABL Negative; Blastic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Chronic Neutrophilic Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Disseminated Neuroblastoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, Unclassifiable; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Poor Prognosis Metastatic Gestational Trophoblastic Tumor; Previously Treated Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Primary Myelofibrosis; Recurrent Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Malignant Testicular Germ Cell Tumor; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Neuroblastoma; Recurrent Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Recurrent Ovarian Germ Cell Tumor; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Recurrent/Refractory Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Secondary Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Malignant Testicular Germ Cell Tumor; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IIIA Breast Cancer; Stage IIIB Breast Cancer; Stage IIIC Breast Cancer; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Breast Cancer; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma

ARTIP: Automated Radio Telescope Image Processing Pipeline

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Ravi; Gyanchandani, Dolly; Kulkarni, Sarang; Gupta, Neeraj; Pathak, Vineet; Pande, Arti; Joshi, Unmesh

2018-02-01

The Automated Radio Telescope Image Processing Pipeline (ARTIP) automates the entire process of flagging, calibrating, and imaging for radio-interferometric data. ARTIP starts with raw data, i.e. a measurement set and goes through multiple stages, such as flux calibration, bandpass calibration, phase calibration, and imaging to generate continuum and spectral line images. Each stage can also be run independently. The pipeline provides continuous feedback to the user through various messages, charts and logs. It is written using standard python libraries and the CASA package. The pipeline can deal with datasets with multiple spectral windows and also multiple target sources which may have arbitrary combinations of flux/bandpass/phase calibrators.

Development of an Indexing Media Filtration System for Long Duration Space Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Agui, Juan H.; Vijayakumar, R.

2013-01-01

The effective maintenance of air quality aboard spacecraft cabins will be vital to future human exploration missions. A key component will be the air cleaning filtration system which will need to remove a broad size range of particles derived from multiple biological and material sources. In addition, during surface missions any extraterrestrial planetary dust, including dust generated by near-by ISRU equipment, which is tracked into the habitat will also need to be managed by the filtration system inside the pressurized habitat compartments. An indexing media filter system is being developed to meet the demand for long-duration missions that will result in dramatic increases in filter service life and loading capacity, and will require minimal crew involvement. The filtration system consists of three stages: an inertial impactor stage, an indexing media stage, and a high-efficiency filter stage, packaged in a stacked modular cartridge configuration. Each stage will target a specific range of particle sizes that optimize the filtration and regeneration performance of the system. An 1/8th scale and full-scale prototype of the filter system have been fabricated and have been tested in the laboratory and reduced gravity environments that simulate conditions on spacecrafts, landers and habitats. Results from recent laboratory and reduce-gravity flight tests data will be presented. The features of the new filter system may also benefit other closed systems, such as submarines, and remote location terrestrial installations where servicing and replacement of filter units is not practical.

Staging resection of multiple primary esophageal cancer by endoscopic submucosal dissection and esophagectomy: A case report.

PubMed

Yao, Yufeng; Wu, Yimin; Chai, Ying

2018-05-01

Multiple primary esophageal cancer pose great risks to patients and are always challenging to resect surgically. In order to reduce the risk of postoperative complication and meet the needs of minimally invasive and precision medicine, new treatment plans have been always developed for patients with multiple primary esophageal cancer. A 75-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for aggravated dysphagia. No significant abnormalities were identified on physical examination. Endoscopic examination detected 3 masses in the esophagus and biopsy confirmed multiple primary esophageal cancer. The patient received a new staging treatment procedure firstly and an innovative single-position, minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy in our hospital. This patient discharged one week after the surgery and enjoyed a good health during our follow up for 30 month. We believe our procedure provides a beneficial new alternative approach for patients with multiple primary esophageal cancer.

ASIC implementation of recursive scaled discrete cosine transform algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

On, Bill N.; Narasimhan, Sam; Huang, Victor K.

1994-05-01

A program to implement the Recursive Scaled Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) algorithm as proposed by H. S. Hou has been undertaken at the Institute of Microelectronics. Implementation of the design was done using top-down design methodology with VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) for chip modeling. When the VHDL simulation has been satisfactorily completed, the design is synthesized into gates using a synthesis tool. The architecture of the design consists of two processing units together with a memory module for data storage and transpose. Each processing unit is composed of four pipelined stages which allow the internal clock to run at one-eighth (1/8) the speed of the pixel clock. Each stage operates on eight pixels in parallel. As the data flows through each stage, there are various adders and multipliers to transform them into the desired coefficients. The Scaled IDCT was implemented in a similar fashion with the adders and multipliers rearranged to perform the inverse DCT algorithm. The chip has been verified using Field Programmable Gate Array devices. The design is operational. The combination of fewer multiplications required and pipelined architecture give Hou's Recursive Scaled DCT good potential of achieving high performance at a low cost in using Very Large Scale Integration implementation.

Recent high-speed ballistics experiments at ORNL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Combs, S. K.; Gouge, M. J.; Baylor, L. R.; Fisher, P. W.; Foster, C. A.; Foust, C. R.; Milora, S. L.; Qualls, A. L.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been developing pellet injectors for plasma fueling experiments on magnetic confinement devices for almost 20 years. With these devices, pellets (1 to 8 mm in diameter) composed of hydrogen isotopes are formed (at temperatures less than 20 K) and typically accelerated to speeds of (approximately) 1.0 to 2.0 km/s for injection into plasmas of experimental fusion devices. A variety of pellet injector designs have been developed at ORNL, including repeating pneumatic injectors (single- and multiple-barrel light gas guns) that can inject up to hundreds of pellets for long-pulse plasma operation. The repeating pneumatic injectors are of particular importance because long-pulse fueling is required for present large experimental fusion devices, with steady-state operation the objective for future fusion reactors. In this paper, recent advancements in the development of repeating pneumatic injectors are described, including (1) a small-bore (1.8-mm), high-firing-rate (10-Hz) version of a single-stage light gas gun; (2) a repeating single-stage light gas gun for 8-mm-diam tritium pellets; (3) a repeating two-stage light gas gun for operation at higher pellet velocities; and (4) a steady-state hydrogen extruder feed system.

Hybrid video-assisted thoracic surgery with segmental-main bronchial sleeve resection for non-small cell lung cancer.

PubMed

Li, Shuben; Chai, Huiping; Huang, Jun; Zeng, Guangqiao; Shao, Wenlong; He, Jianxing

2014-04-01

The purpose of the current study is to present the clinical and surgical results in patients who underwent hybrid video-assisted thoracic surgery with segmental-main bronchial sleeve resection. Thirty-one patients, 27 men and 4 women, underwent segmental-main bronchial sleeve anastomoses for non-small cell lung cancer between May 2004 and May 2011. Twenty-six (83.9%) patients had squamous cell carcinoma, and 5 patients had adenocarcinoma. Six patients were at stage IIB, 24 patients at stage IIIA, and 1 patient at stage IIIB. Secondary sleeve anastomosis was performed in 18 patients, and Y-shaped multiple sleeve anastomosis was performed in 8 patients. Single segmental bronchiole anastomosis was performed in 5 cases. The average time for chest tube removal was 5.6 days. The average length of hospital stay was 11.8 days. No anastomosis fistula developed in any of the patients. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates were 83.9%, 71.0%, and 41.9%, respectively. Hybrid video-assisted thoracic surgery with segmental-main bronchial sleeve resection is a complex technique that requires training and experience, but it is an effective and safe operation for selected patients.

Current Strategies for Inhibition of Chikungunya Infection.

PubMed

Subudhi, Bharat Bhusan; Chattopadhyay, Soma; Mishra, Priyadarsee; Kumar, Abhishek

2018-05-03

Increasing incidences of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection and co-infections with Dengue/Zika virus have highlighted the urgency for CHIKV management. Failure in developing effective vaccines or specific antivirals has fuelled further research. This review discusses updated strategies of CHIKV inhibition and provides possible future directions. In addition, it analyzes advances in CHIKV lifecycle, drug-target development, and potential hits obtained by in silico and experimental methods. Molecules identified with anti-CHIKV properties using traditional/rational drug design and their potential to succeed in subsequent stages of drug development have also been discussed. Possibilities of repurposing existing drugs based on their in vitro findings have also been elucidated. Probable modes of interference of these compounds at various stages of infection, including entry and replication, have been highlighted. The use of host factors as targets to identify antivirals against CHIKV has been addressed. While most of the earlier antivirals were effective in the early phases of the CHIKV life cycle, this review is also focused on drug candidates that are effective at multiple stages of its life cycle. Since most of these antivirals require validation in preclinical and clinical models, the challenges regarding this have been discussed and will provide critical information for further research.

Current Strategies for Inhibition of Chikungunya Infection

PubMed Central

Subudhi, Bharat Bhusan; Chattopadhyay, Soma; Mishra, Priyadarsee

2018-01-01

Increasing incidences of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection and co-infections with Dengue/Zika virus have highlighted the urgency for CHIKV management. Failure in developing effective vaccines or specific antivirals has fuelled further research. This review discusses updated strategies of CHIKV inhibition and provides possible future directions. In addition, it analyzes advances in CHIKV lifecycle, drug-target development, and potential hits obtained by in silico and experimental methods. Molecules identified with anti-CHIKV properties using traditional/rational drug design and their potential to succeed in subsequent stages of drug development have also been discussed. Possibilities of repurposing existing drugs based on their in vitro findings have also been elucidated. Probable modes of interference of these compounds at various stages of infection, including entry and replication, have been highlighted. The use of host factors as targets to identify antivirals against CHIKV has been addressed. While most of the earlier antivirals were effective in the early phases of the CHIKV life cycle, this review is also focused on drug candidates that are effective at multiple stages of its life cycle. Since most of these antivirals require validation in preclinical and clinical models, the challenges regarding this have been discussed and will provide critical information for further research. PMID:29751486

Recent high-speed ballistics experiments at ORNL

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

Combs, S.K.; Gouge, M.J.; Baylor, L.R.

1994-12-31

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been developing pellet injectors for plasma fueling experiments on magnetic confinement devices for almost 20 years. With these devices, pellets (1 to 8 mm in diameter) composed of hydrogen isotopes are formed (at temperatures <20 K) and typically accelerated to speeds of {approximately} 1.0 to 2.0 km/s for injection into plasmas of experimental fusion devices. A variety of pellet injector designs have been developed at ORNL, including repeating pneumatic injectors (single- and multiple-barrel light gas guns) that can inject up to hundreds of pellets for long-pulse plasma operation. The repeating pneumatic injectors are ofmore » particular importance because long-pulse fueling is required for present large experimental fusion devices, with steady-state operation the objective for future fusion reactors. In this paper, recent advancements in the development of repeating pneumatic injectors are described, including (1) a small-bore (1.8-mm), high-firing-rate (10-Hz) version of a single-stage light gas gun; (2) a repeating single-stage light gas gun for 8-mm-diam tritium pellets; (3) a repeating two-stage light gas gun for operation at higher pellet velocities; and (4) a steady-state hydrogen extruder feed system.« less

Update on the Treatment of Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

PubMed

Sharma, Priyanka

2018-04-14

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 15% of all breast cancers and is associated with poor long-term outcomes compared to other breast cancer subtypes. Currently, chemotherapy remains the main modality of treatment for early-stage TNBC, as there is no approved targeted therapy for this subtype. The biologic heterogeneity of TNBC has hindered the development and evaluation of novel agents, but recent advancements in subclassifying TNBC have paved the way for further investigation of more effective systemic therapies, including cytotoxic and targeted agents. TNBC is enriched for germline BRCA mutation and for somatic deficiencies in homologous recombination DNA repair, the so-called "BRCAness" phenotype. Together, germline BRCA mutations and BRCAness are promising biomarkers of susceptibility to DNA-damaging therapy. Various investigational approaches are consequently being investigated in early-stage TNBC, including immune checkpoint inhibitors, platinum compounds, PI3K pathway inhibitors, and androgen receptor inhibitors. Due to the biological diversity found within TNBC, patient selection based on molecular biomarkers could aid the design of early-phase clinical trials, ultimately accelerating the clinical application of effective new agents. TNBC is an aggressive breast cancer subtype, for which multiple targeted approaches will likely be required for patient outcomes to be substantially improved.

Performance of 15-Stage Experimental J71 Axial-Flow Compressor: II - Individual Stage Performance Characteristics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lucas, James G.; Filippi, Richard E.

1954-01-01

The first four stages were found to cause a major part of the poor low-speed efficiency of this compressor. The low design-speed over-all pressure ratio at surge was caused by the first and the twelfth to fifteenth stages. The multiple over-all performance curves in the intermediate-speed range were at least partly the result of double-branched characteristic curves for the third and seventh stages.

Local search heuristic for the discrete leader-follower problem with multiple follower objectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kochetov, Yury; Alekseeva, Ekaterina; Mezmaz, Mohand

2016-10-01

We study a discrete bilevel problem, called as well as leader-follower problem, with multiple objectives at the lower level. It is assumed that constraints at the upper level can include variables of both levels. For such ill-posed problem we define feasible and optimal solutions for pessimistic case. A central point of this work is a two stage method to get a feasible solution under the pessimistic case, given a leader decision. The target of the first stage is a follower solution that violates the leader constraints. The target of the second stage is a pessimistic feasible solution. Each stage calls a heuristic and a solver for a series of particular mixed integer programs. The method is integrated inside a local search based heuristic that is designed to find near-optimal leader solutions.

Staging of breast cancer and the advanced applications of digital mammogram: what the physician needs to know?

PubMed Central

Helal, Maha H; Zaglol, Mai; Salaleldin, Lamia A; Nada, Omniya M; Haggag, Marwa A

2017-01-01

Objective: To study the role of advanced applications of digital mammogram, whether contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) or digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), in the “T” staging of histologically proven breast cancer before planning for treatment management. Methods: In this prospective analysis, we evaluated 98 proved malignant breast masses regarding their size, multiplicity and the presence of associated clusters of microcalcifications. Evaluation methods included digital mammography (DM), 3D tomosynthesis and CESM. Traditional DM was first performed then in a period of 10–14-day interval; breast tomosynthesis and contrast-based mammography were performed for the involved breast only. Views at tomosynthesis were acquired in a “step-and-shoot” tube motion mode to produce multiple (11–15), low-dose images and in contrast-enhanced study, low-energy (22–33 kVp) and high-energy (44–49 kVp) exposures were taken after the i.v. injection of the contrast agent. Operative data were the gold standard reference. Results: Breast tomosynthesis showed the highest accuracy in size assessment (n = 69, 70.4%) than contrast-enhanced (n = 49, 50%) and regular mammography (n = 59, 60.2%). Contrast-enhanced mammography presented the least performance in assessing calcifications, yet it was most sensitive in the detection of multiplicity (92.3%), followed by tomosynthesis (77%) and regular mammography (53.8%). The combined analysis of the three modalities provided an accuracy of 74% in the “T” staging of breast cancer. Conclusion: The combined application of tomosynthesis and contrast-enhanced digital mammogram enhanced the performance of the traditional DM and presented an informative method in the staging of breast cancer. Advances in knowledge: Staging and management planning of breast cancer can divert according to tumour size, multiplicity and the presence of microcalcifications. DBT shows sharp outlines of the tumour with no overlap tissue and spots microcalcifications. Contrast-enhanced spectral mammogram shows the extent of abnormal contrast uptake and detects multiplicity. Integrated analysis provides optimal findings for proper “T” staging of breast cancer. PMID:28055247

Terrain modeling for microwave landing system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Poulose, M. M.

1991-01-01

A powerful analytical approach for evaluating the terrain effects on a microwave landing system (MLS) is presented. The approach combines a multiplate model with a powerful and exhaustive ray tracing technique and an accurate formulation for estimating the electromagnetic fields due to the antenna array in the presence of terrain. Both uniform theory of diffraction (UTD) and impedance UTD techniques have been employed to evaluate these fields. Innovative techniques are introduced at each stage to make the model versatile to handle most general terrain contours and also to reduce the computational requirement to a minimum. The model is applied to several terrain geometries, and the results are discussed.

A Brokering Protocol for Agent-Based Grid Resource Discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Jaeyong; Sim, Kwang Mong

Resource discovery is one of the basic and key aspects in grid resource management, which aims at searching for the suitable resources for satisfying the requirement of users' applications. This paper introduces an agent-based brokering protocol which connects users and providers in grid environments. In particular, it focuses on addressing the problem of connecting users and providers. A connection algorithm that matches advertisements of users and requests from providers based on pre-specified multiple criteria is devised and implemented. The connection algorithm mainly consists of four stages: selection, evaluation, filtering, and recommendation. A series of experiments that were carried out in executing the protocol, and favorable results were obtained.

Subject order-independent group ICA (SOI-GICA) for functional MRI data analysis.

PubMed

Zhang, Han; Zuo, Xi-Nian; Ma, Shuang-Ye; Zang, Yu-Feng; Milham, Michael P; Zhu, Chao-Zhe

2010-07-15

Independent component analysis (ICA) is a data-driven approach to study functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Particularly, for group analysis on multiple subjects, temporally concatenation group ICA (TC-GICA) is intensively used. However, due to the usually limited computational capability, data reduction with principal component analysis (PCA: a standard preprocessing step of ICA decomposition) is difficult to achieve for a large dataset. To overcome this, TC-GICA employs multiple-stage PCA data reduction. Such multiple-stage PCA data reduction, however, leads to variable outputs due to different subject concatenation orders. Consequently, the ICA algorithm uses the variable multiple-stage PCA outputs and generates variable decompositions. In this study, a rigorous theoretical analysis was conducted to prove the existence of such variability. Simulated and real fMRI experiments were used to demonstrate the subject-order-induced variability of TC-GICA results using multiple PCA data reductions. To solve this problem, we propose a new subject order-independent group ICA (SOI-GICA). Both simulated and real fMRI data experiments demonstrated the high robustness and accuracy of the SOI-GICA results compared to those of traditional TC-GICA. Accordingly, we recommend SOI-GICA for group ICA-based fMRI studies, especially those with large data sets. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Why Are There Developmental Stages in Language Learning? A Developmental Robotics Model of Language Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morse, Anthony F.; Cangelosi, Angelo

2017-01-01

Most theories of learning would predict a gradual acquisition and refinement of skills as learning progresses, and while some highlight exponential growth, this fails to explain why natural cognitive development typically progresses in stages. Models that do span multiple developmental stages typically have parameters to "switch" between…

Alloplastic adjuncts in breast reconstruction

PubMed Central

Cabalag, Miguel S.; Rostek, Marie; Miller, George S.; Chae, Michael P.; Quinn, Tam; Rozen, Warren M.

2016-01-01

Background There has been an increasing role of acellular dermal matrices (ADMs) and synthetic meshes in both single- and two-stage implant/expander breast reconstruction. Numerous alloplastic adjuncts exist, and these vary in material type, processing, storage, surgical preparation, level of sterility, available sizes and cost. However, there is little published data on most, posing a significant challenge to the reconstructive surgeon trying to compare and select the most suitable product. The aims of this systematic review were to identify, summarize and evaluate the outcomes of studies describing the use of alloplastic adjuncts for post-mastectomy breast reconstruction. The secondary aims were to determine their cost-effectiveness and analyze outcomes in patients who also underwent radiotherapy. Methods Using the PRSIMA 2009 statement, a systematic review was conducted to find articles reporting on the outcomes on the use of alloplastic adjuncts in post-mastectomy breast reconstruction. Multiple databases were searched independently by three authors (Cabalag MS, Miller GS and Chae MP), including: Ovid MEDLINE (1950 to present), Embase (1980 to 2015), PubMed and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Results Current published literature on available alloplastic adjuncts are predominantly centered on ADMs, both allogeneic and xenogeneic, with few outcome studies available for synthetic meshes. Outcomes on the 89 articles, which met the inclusion criteria, were summarized and analyzed. The reported outcomes on alloplastic adjunct-assisted breast reconstruction were varied, with most data available on the use of ADMs, particularly AlloDerm® (LifeCell, Branchburg, New Jersey, USA). The use of ADMs in single-stage direct-to-implant breast reconstruction resulted in lower complication rates (infection, seroma, implant loss and late revision), and was more cost effective when compared to non-ADM, two-stage reconstruction. The majority of studies demonstrated inferior outcomes in ADM assisted, two-stage expander-to-implant reconstruction compared to non-ADM use. Multiple studies suggest that the use of ADMs results in a reduction of capsular contracture rates. Additionally, the reported beneficial effects of ADM use in irradiated tissue were varied. Conclusions ADM assisted two-stage breast reconstruction was associated with inferior outcomes when compared to non-ADM use. However, alloplastic adjuncts may have a role in single stage, direct-to-implant breast reconstruction. Published evidence comparing the long-term outcomes between the different types of adjuncts is lacking, and further level one studies are required to identify the ideal product. PMID:27047784

Loading, Release, Biodegradation, and Biocompatibility of a Nanovector Delivery System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferrai, Mauro; Tasciotti, Ennio

2012-01-01

A nanovector multistage system has been created to overcome or bypass sequential barriers within the human body, in order to deliver a therapeutic or imaging agent to a specific location. This innovation consists of a composition that includes two or more stages of particles, such that smaller, later-stage particles are contained in the larger, early-stage particles. An active agent, such as a therapeutic agent or imaging agent, is preferentially delivered and/or localized to a particular target site in the body of a subject. The multistage composition overcomes multiple biological barriers in the body. The multistage composition also allows for simultaneous delivery and localization at the same or different target sites of multiple active agents.

Network meta-analysis of multiple outcome measures accounting for borrowing of information across outcomes.

PubMed

Achana, Felix A; Cooper, Nicola J; Bujkiewicz, Sylwia; Hubbard, Stephanie J; Kendrick, Denise; Jones, David R; Sutton, Alex J

2014-07-21

Network meta-analysis (NMA) enables simultaneous comparison of multiple treatments while preserving randomisation. When summarising evidence to inform an economic evaluation, it is important that the analysis accurately reflects the dependency structure within the data, as correlations between outcomes may have implication for estimating the net benefit associated with treatment. A multivariate NMA offers a framework for evaluating multiple treatments across multiple outcome measures while accounting for the correlation structure between outcomes. The standard NMA model is extended to multiple outcome settings in two stages. In the first stage, information is borrowed across outcomes as well across studies through modelling the within-study and between-study correlation structure. In the second stage, we make use of the additional assumption that intervention effects are exchangeable between outcomes to predict effect estimates for all outcomes, including effect estimates on outcomes where evidence is either sparse or the treatment had not been considered by any one of the studies included in the analysis. We apply the methods to binary outcome data from a systematic review evaluating the effectiveness of nine home safety interventions on uptake of three poisoning prevention practices (safe storage of medicines, safe storage of other household products, and possession of poison centre control telephone number) in households with children. Analyses are conducted in WinBUGS using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations. Univariate and the first stage multivariate models produced broadly similar point estimates of intervention effects but the uncertainty around the multivariate estimates varied depending on the prior distribution specified for the between-study covariance structure. The second stage multivariate analyses produced more precise effect estimates while enabling intervention effects to be predicted for all outcomes, including intervention effects on outcomes not directly considered by the studies included in the analysis. Accounting for the dependency between outcomes in a multivariate meta-analysis may or may not improve the precision of effect estimates from a network meta-analysis compared to analysing each outcome separately.

Efficacy and safety of one-stage posterior hemivertebral resection for unbalanced multiple hemivertebrae: A more than 2-year follow-up.

PubMed

Huang, Yong; Feng, Ganjun; Song, Yueming; Liu, Limin; Zhou, Chunguang; Wang, Lei; Zhou, Zhongjie; Yang, Xi

2017-09-01

One-stage posterior hemivertebral resection has been proven to be an effective, reliable surgical option for treating congenital scoliosis due to a single hemivertebra. To date, however, no studies of treating unbalanced multiple hemivertebrae have appeared. This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of one-stage posterior hemivertebral resection for unbalanced multiple hemivertebrae. Altogether, we studied 15 patients with unbalanced multiple hemivertebrae who had undergone hemivertebral resection using the one-stage posterior approach with at least 2 years of follow-up. Clinical outcomes were assessed radiographically and with the Scoliosis Research Society-22 (SRS-22) score. Related complications were also recorded. The mean Cobb angle of the main curve was 62.4° (46°-98°) before surgery and 18.2° (9°-33°) at the most recent follow-up (average correction 73.3%). The compensatory cranial curve was corrected from 28.5° (11°-52°) to 9.1° (0°-30°) (average correction 70.0%). The compensatory caudal curve was corrected from 31.6° (14°-54°) to 6.9°(0°-19°) (average correction 79.1%). The segmental kyphosis/lordosis was corrected from 41.1° (-40° to 98°) to 12.3° (-25° to 41°) (average correction 65.5%). The mean growth rate of the T1-S1 length in immature patients was 9.8mm/year during the follow-up period. Health-related quality of life (SRS-22 score) had significantly improved. Complications include one wound infection and one developing deformity. One-stage posterior hemivertebral resection for unbalanced multiple hemivertebrae provides good radiographic and clinical outcomes with no severe complications when performed by an experienced surgeon. Longer follow-up to detect late complications is obligatory. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A two-stage design for multiple testing in large-scale association studies.

PubMed

Wen, Shu-Hui; Tzeng, Jung-Ying; Kao, Jau-Tsuen; Hsiao, Chuhsing Kate

2006-01-01

Modern association studies often involve a large number of markers and hence may encounter the problem of testing multiple hypotheses. Traditional procedures are usually over-conservative and with low power to detect mild genetic effects. From the design perspective, we propose a two-stage selection procedure to address this concern. Our main principle is to reduce the total number of tests by removing clearly unassociated markers in the first-stage test. Next, conditional on the findings of the first stage, which uses a less stringent nominal level, a more conservative test is conducted in the second stage using the augmented data and the data from the first stage. Previous studies have suggested using independent samples to avoid inflated errors. However, we found that, after accounting for the dependence between these two samples, the true discovery rate increases substantially. In addition, the cost of genotyping can be greatly reduced via this approach. Results from a study of hypertriglyceridemia and simulations suggest the two-stage method has a higher overall true positive rate (TPR) with a controlled overall false positive rate (FPR) when compared with single-stage approaches. We also report the analytical form of its overall FPR, which may be useful in guiding study design to achieve a high TPR while retaining the desired FPR.

Systematic framework to evaluate the status of physical activity research for persons with multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Dixon-Ibarra, Alicia; Vanderbom, Kerri; Dugala, Anisia; Driver, Simon

2014-04-01

Exploring the current state of health behavior research for individuals with multiple sclerosis is essential to understanding the next steps required to reducing preventable disability. A way to link research to translational health promotion programs is by utilizing the Behavioral Epidemiological Framework, which describes a sequence of phases used to categorize health-related behavioral research. This critical audit of the literature examines the current state of physical activity research for persons with multiple sclerosis by utilizing the proposed Behavioral Epidemiological Framework. After searching MEDLINE, PUBMED, PsycINFO, Google Scholar and several major areas within EBSCOHOST (2000 to present), retrieved articles were categorized according to the framework phases and coding rules. Of 139 articles, 49% were in phase 1 (establishing links between behavior and health), 18% phase 2 (developing methods for measuring behavior), 24% phase 3 (identifying factors influencing behavior and implications for theory), and 9% phase 4 and 5 (evaluating interventions to change behavior and translating research into practice). Emphasis on phase 1 research indicates the field is in its early stages of development. Providing those with multiple sclerosis with necessary tools through health promotion programs is needed to reduce secondary conditions and co-morbidities. Reassessment of the field of physical activity and multiple sclerosis in the future could provide insight into whether the field is evolving over time or remaining stagnant. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Deferasirox in Treating Iron Overload Caused By Blood Transfusions in Patients With Hematologic Malignancies

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-12-22

Acute Undifferentiated Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Del(5q); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Adult Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis; Adult Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Cutaneous B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Hepatosplenic T-cell Lymphoma; Intraocular Lymphoma; Mast Cell Leukemia; Myelodysplastic Syndrome With Isolated Del(5q); Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, Unclassifiable; Myeloid/NK-cell Acute Leukemia; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Noncutaneous Extranodal Lymphoma; Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma; Previously Treated Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Primary Myelofibrosis; Recurrent Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Anemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Secondary Myelofibrosis; Small Intestine Lymphoma; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage I Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage I Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage I Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage I Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage II Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage II Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage II Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage III Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage IV Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Testicular Lymphoma; Untreated Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Untreated Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia

In Silico Repositioning-Chemogenomics Strategy Identifies New Drugs with Potential Activity against Multiple Life Stages of Schistosoma mansoni

PubMed Central

Neves, Bruno J.; Braga, Rodolpho C.; Bezerra, José C. B.; Cravo, Pedro V. L.; Andrade, Carolina H.

2015-01-01

Morbidity and mortality caused by schistosomiasis are serious public health problems in developing countries. Because praziquantel is the only drug in therapeutic use, the risk of drug resistance is a concern. In the search for new schistosomicidal drugs, we performed a target-based chemogenomics screen of a dataset of 2,114 proteins to identify drugs that are approved for clinical use in humans that may be active against multiple life stages of Schistosoma mansoni. Each of these proteins was treated as a potential drug target, and its amino acid sequence was used to interrogate three databases: Therapeutic Target Database (TTD), DrugBank and STITCH. Predicted drug-target interactions were refined using a combination of approaches, including pairwise alignment, conservation state of functional regions and chemical space analysis. To validate our strategy, several drugs previously shown to be active against Schistosoma species were correctly predicted, such as clonazepam, auranofin, nifedipine, and artesunate. We were also able to identify 115 drugs that have not yet been experimentally tested against schistosomes and that require further assessment. Some examples are aprindine, gentamicin, clotrimazole, tetrabenazine, griseofulvin, and cinnarizine. In conclusion, we have developed a systematic and focused computer-aided approach to propose approved drugs that may warrant testing and/or serve as lead compounds for the design of new drugs against schistosomes. PMID:25569258

The Gypsy Database (GyDB) of mobile genetic elements: release 2.0

PubMed Central

Llorens, Carlos; Futami, Ricardo; Covelli, Laura; Domínguez-Escribá, Laura; Viu, Jose M.; Tamarit, Daniel; Aguilar-Rodríguez, Jose; Vicente-Ripolles, Miguel; Fuster, Gonzalo; Bernet, Guillermo P.; Maumus, Florian; Munoz-Pomer, Alfonso; Sempere, Jose M.; Latorre, Amparo; Moya, Andres

2011-01-01

This article introduces the second release of the Gypsy Database of Mobile Genetic Elements (GyDB 2.0): a research project devoted to the evolutionary dynamics of viruses and transposable elements based on their phylogenetic classification (per lineage and protein domain). The Gypsy Database (GyDB) is a long-term project that is continuously progressing, and that owing to the high molecular diversity of mobile elements requires to be completed in several stages. GyDB 2.0 has been powered with a wiki to allow other researchers participate in the project. The current database stage and scope are long terminal repeats (LTR) retroelements and relatives. GyDB 2.0 is an update based on the analysis of Ty3/Gypsy, Retroviridae, Ty1/Copia and Bel/Pao LTR retroelements and the Caulimoviridae pararetroviruses of plants. Among other features, in terms of the aforementioned topics, this update adds: (i) a variety of descriptions and reviews distributed in multiple web pages; (ii) protein-based phylogenies, where phylogenetic levels are assigned to distinct classified elements; (iii) a collection of multiple alignments, lineage-specific hidden Markov models and consensus sequences, called GyDB collection; (iv) updated RefSeq databases and BLAST and HMM servers to facilitate sequence characterization of new LTR retroelement and caulimovirus queries; and (v) a bibliographic server. GyDB 2.0 is available at http://gydb.org. PMID:21036865

The Gypsy Database (GyDB) of mobile genetic elements: release 2.0.

PubMed

Llorens, Carlos; Futami, Ricardo; Covelli, Laura; Domínguez-Escribá, Laura; Viu, Jose M; Tamarit, Daniel; Aguilar-Rodríguez, Jose; Vicente-Ripolles, Miguel; Fuster, Gonzalo; Bernet, Guillermo P; Maumus, Florian; Munoz-Pomer, Alfonso; Sempere, Jose M; Latorre, Amparo; Moya, Andres

2011-01-01

This article introduces the second release of the Gypsy Database of Mobile Genetic Elements (GyDB 2.0): a research project devoted to the evolutionary dynamics of viruses and transposable elements based on their phylogenetic classification (per lineage and protein domain). The Gypsy Database (GyDB) is a long-term project that is continuously progressing, and that owing to the high molecular diversity of mobile elements requires to be completed in several stages. GyDB 2.0 has been powered with a wiki to allow other researchers participate in the project. The current database stage and scope are long terminal repeats (LTR) retroelements and relatives. GyDB 2.0 is an update based on the analysis of Ty3/Gypsy, Retroviridae, Ty1/Copia and Bel/Pao LTR retroelements and the Caulimoviridae pararetroviruses of plants. Among other features, in terms of the aforementioned topics, this update adds: (i) a variety of descriptions and reviews distributed in multiple web pages; (ii) protein-based phylogenies, where phylogenetic levels are assigned to distinct classified elements; (iii) a collection of multiple alignments, lineage-specific hidden Markov models and consensus sequences, called GyDB collection; (iv) updated RefSeq databases and BLAST and HMM servers to facilitate sequence characterization of new LTR retroelement and caulimovirus queries; and (v) a bibliographic server. GyDB 2.0 is available at http://gydb.org.

A patient with MEN1 and end-stage chronic kidney disease due to Alport syndrome: Decision making on the eligibility of transplantation.

PubMed

Matrone, Antonio; Brancatella, Alessandro; Marchetti, Piero; Vasile, Enrico; Boggi, Ugo; Elisei, Rossella; Cetani, Filomena; Marcocci, Claudio; Vitti, Paolo; Latrofa, Francesco

2018-03-01

Absence of neoplastic disease in the organ-recipient is required in order to allow organ transplantation. Due to its rarity, no data regarding management of patients with Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) and end-stage renal failure candidates for kidney transplantation are available. A 36 year-old man was referred to the present hospital with MEN1, with a neuroendocrine pancreatic tumor and primary hyperparathyroidism and associated Alport syndrome with end stage renal failure. The present study aimed to establish the eligibility of the patient for a kidney transplantation. The neuroendocrine tumor had been treated with duodenopancreatectomy two years earlier and hyperparathyroidism by parathyroidectomy. The review of the literature did not provide data regarding the eligibility for kidney transplantation of patients harboring a neuroendocrine pancreatic tumor in the context of MEN1. Due to the end-stage renal failure, neuroendocrine markers were unreliable and the investigation therefore relied on imaging studies, which were unremarkable. Young age, low-grade tumor, low expression of Ki67, absence of metastatic lymph nodes, onset in the setting of a MEN1 were all positive prognostic factors of the neuroendocrine tumor. Normal serum calcium ruled out persistent primary hyperparathyroidism. Overall, hemodyalisis is known to significantly reduce life expectancy. Benefits of kidney transplantation overcome the risk of neuroendocrine tumor recurrence in a young patient bearing MEN1.

Influence of Computer-Generated Mosaic Photographs on Retinopathy of Prematurity Diagnosis and Management.

PubMed

Patel, Samir N; Klufas, Michael A; Douglas, Christina E; Jonas, Karyn E; Ostmo, Susan; Berrocal, Audina; Capone, Antonio; Martinez-Castellanos, Maria A; Chau, Felix; Drenser, Kimberly; Ferrone, Philip; Orlin, Anton; Tsui, Irena; Wu, Wei-Chi; Gupta, Mrinali P; Chiang, Michael F; Chan, R V Paul

2016-11-01

Telemedicine is becoming an increasingly important component of clinical care for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), but little information exists regarding the role of mosaic photography for ROP telemedicine diagnosis. To examine the potential effect of computer-generated mosaic photographs on the diagnosis and management of ROP. In this prospective cohort study performed from July 12, 2011, through September 21, 2015, images were acquired from ROP screening at 8 academic institutions, and ROP experts interpreted 40 sets (20 sets with individual fundus photographs with ≥3 fields and 20 computer-generated mosaic photographs) of wide-angle retinal images from infants with ROP. All experts independently reviewed the 40 sets and provided a diagnosis and management plan for each set presented. The primary outcome measure was the sensitivity and specificity of the ROP diagnosis by experts that was calculated using a consensus reference standard diagnosis, determined from the diagnosis of fundus photographs by 3 experienced readers in combination with the clinical diagnosis based on ophthalmoscopic examination. Mean unweighted κ statistics were used to analyze the mean intergrader agreement among experts for diagnosis of zone, stage, plus disease, and category. Nine ROP experts (4 women and 5 men) who have been practicing ophthalmology for a mean of 10.8 years (range, 3-24 years) consented to participate. Diagnosis by the mosaic photographs compared with diagnosis by multiple individual photographs resulted in improvements in sensitivity for diagnosis of stage 2 disease or worse (95.9% vs 88.9%; difference, 7.0; 95% CI, 3.5 to 10.5; P = .02), plus disease (85.7% vs 63.5%; difference, 22.2; 95% CI, 7.6 to 36.9; P = .02), and treatment-requiring ROP (84.4% vs 68.5%; difference, 15.9; 95% CI, 0.8 to 31.7; P = .047). With use of the κ statistic, mosaic photographs, compared with multiple individual photographs, resulted in improvements in intergrader agreement for diagnosis of plus disease or not (0.54 vs 0.40; mean κ difference, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.07 to 0.21; P = .004), stage 3 disease or worse or not (0.60 vs 0.52; mean κ difference, 0.06; 95% CI, -0.06 to 0.18; P = .04), and type 2 ROP or not (0.58 vs 0.51; mean κ difference, 0.07; 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.11; P = .04). After viewing the mosaic photographs, experts altered their choice of management in 42 of 180 responses (23.3%; 95% CI, 17.1%-29.5%). Compared with multiple individual photographs, computer-generated mosaic photographs were associated with improved accuracy of image-based diagnosis for certain categories (eg, plus disease, stage 2 disease or worse, and treatment-requiring ROP) of ROP by experts. It is unclear, however, whether these findings are generalizable, and the results of this study may not be relevant to mosaic grading of other retinal vascular conditions.

SNV-PPILP: refined SNV calling for tumor data using perfect phylogenies and ILP.

PubMed

van Rens, Karen E; Mäkinen, Veli; Tomescu, Alexandru I

2015-04-01

Recent studies sequenced tumor samples from the same progenitor at different development stages and showed that by taking into account the phylogeny of this development, single-nucleotide variant (SNV) calling can be improved. Accurate SNV calls can better reveal early-stage tumors, identify mechanisms of cancer progression or help in drug targeting. We present SNV-PPILP, a fast and easy to use tool for refining GATK's Unified Genotyper SNV calls, for multiple samples assumed to form a phylogeny. We tested SNV-PPILP on simulated data, with a varying number of samples, SNVs, read coverage and violations of the perfect phylogeny assumption. We always match or improve the accuracy of GATK, with a significant improvement on low read coverage. SNV-PPILP, available at cs.helsinki.fi/gsa/snv-ppilp/, is written in Python and requires the free ILP solver lp_solve. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Process configuration of Liquid-nitrogen Energy Storage System (LESS) for maximum turnaround efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dutta, Rohan; Ghosh, Parthasarathi; Chowdhury, Kanchan

2017-12-01

Diverse power generation sector requires energy storage due to penetration of variable renewable energy sources and use of CO2 capture plants with fossil fuel based power plants. Cryogenic energy storage being large-scale, decoupled system with capability of producing large power in the range of MWs is one of the options. The drawback of these systems is low turnaround efficiencies due to liquefaction processes being highly energy intensive. In this paper, the scopes of improving the turnaround efficiency of such a plant based on liquid Nitrogen were identified and some of them were addressed. A method using multiple stages of reheat and expansion was proposed for improved turnaround efficiency from 22% to 47% using four such stages in the cycle. The novelty here is the application of reheating in a cryogenic system and utilization of waste heat for that purpose. Based on the study, process conditions for a laboratory-scale setup were determined and presented here.

Automatic creation of three-dimensional avatars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villa-Uriol, Maria-Cruz; Sainz, Miguel; Kuester, Falko; Bagherzadeh, Nader

2003-01-01

Highly accurate avatars of humans promise a new level of realism in engineering and entertainment applications, including areas such as computer animated movies, computer game development interactive virtual environments and tele-presence. In order to provide high-quality avatars, new techniques for the automatic acquisition and creation are required. A framework for the capture and construction of arbitrary avatars from image data is presented in this paper. Avatars are automatically reconstructed from multiple static images of a human subject by utilizing image information to reshape a synthetic three-dimensional articulated reference model. A pipeline is presented that combines a set of hardware-accelerated stages into one seamless system. Primary stages in this pipeline include pose estimation, skeleton fitting, body part segmentation, geometry construction and coloring, leading to avatars that can be animated and included into interactive environments. The presented system removes traditional constraints in the initial pose of the captured subject by using silhouette-based modification techniques in combination with a reference model. Results can be obtained in near-real time with very limited user intervention.

Multiple congenital brachymetatarsia. A one-stage combined shortening and lengthening procedure without iliac bone graft.

PubMed

Kim, J S; Baek, G H; Chung, M S; Yoon, P W

2004-09-01

We performed nine metatarsal and three proximal phalangeal lengthenings in five patients with congenital brachymetatarsia of the first and one or two other metatarsal bones, by a one-stage combined shortening and lengthening procedure using intercalcary autogenous bone grafts from adjacent shortened metatarsal bones. Instead of the isolated lengthening of the first and the other metatarsal bones, we shortened the adjacent normal metatarsal and used the excised bone to lengthen the short toes, except for the great toe, to restore the normal parabola. One skin incision was used. All the operations were performed bilaterally and the patients were followed up for a mean period of 69.5 months (29 to 107). They all regained a nearly normal parabola and were satisfied with the cosmetic results. Our technique is straightforward and produces good cosmetic results. Satisfactory, bony union is achieved, morbidity is low, and no additional surgery is required for the removal of metal implants.

Zero-overhead phase noise compensation via decision-directed phase equalizer for coherent optical OFDM.

PubMed

Mousa-Pasandi, Mohammad E; Plant, David V

2010-09-27

We report and investigate the feasibility of zero-overhead laser phase noise compensation (PNC) for long-haul coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) transmission systems, using the decision-directed phase equalizer (DDPE). DDPE updates the equalization parameters on a symbol-by-symbol basis after an initial decision making stage and retrieves an estimation of the phase noise value by extracting and averaging the phase drift of all OFDM sub-channels. Subsequently, a second equalization is performed by using the estimated phase noise value which is followed by a final decision making stage. We numerically compare the performance of DDPE and the CO-OFDM conventional equalizer (CE) for different laser linewidth values after transmission over 2000 km of uncompensated single-mode fiber (SMF) at 40 Gb/s and investigate the effect of fiber nonlinearity and amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise on the received signal quality. Furthermore, we analytically analyze the complexity of DDPE versus CE in terms of the number of required complex multiplications per bit.

Stages of Plasma Cell Neoplasms (Including Multiple Myeloma)

MedlinePlus

... Health Professional Plasma Cell Neoplasms Treatment Research Plasma Cell Neoplasms (Including Multiple Myeloma) Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version General Information About Plasma Cell Neoplasms Go to Health Professional Version Key Points ...

Increasing the automation of a 2D-3D registration system.

PubMed

Varnavas, Andreas; Carrell, Tom; Penney, Graeme

2013-02-01

Routine clinical use of 2D-3D registration algorithms for Image Guided Surgery remains limited. A key aspect for routine clinical use of this technology is its degree of automation, i.e., the amount of necessary knowledgeable interaction between the clinicians and the registration system. Current image-based registration approaches usually require knowledgeable manual interaction during two stages: for initial pose estimation and for verification of produced results. We propose four novel techniques, particularly suited to vertebra-based registration systems, which can significantly automate both of the above stages. Two of these techniques are based upon the intraoperative "insertion" of a virtual fiducial marker into the preoperative data. The remaining two techniques use the final registration similarity value between multiple CT vertebrae and a single fluoroscopy vertebra. The proposed methods were evaluated with data from 31 operations (31 CT scans, 419 fluoroscopy images). Results show these methods can remove the need for manual vertebra identification during initial pose estimation, and were also very effective for result verification, producing a combined true positive rate of 100% and false positive rate equal to zero. This large decrease in required knowledgeable interaction is an important contribution aiming to enable more widespread use of 2D-3D registration technology.

Drift-Free Position Estimation of Periodic or Quasi-Periodic Motion Using Inertial Sensors

PubMed Central

Latt, Win Tun; Veluvolu, Kalyana Chakravarthy; Ang, Wei Tech

2011-01-01

Position sensing with inertial sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes usually requires other aided sensors or prior knowledge of motion characteristics to remove position drift resulting from integration of acceleration or velocity so as to obtain accurate position estimation. A method based on analytical integration has previously been developed to obtain accurate position estimate of periodic or quasi-periodic motion from inertial sensors using prior knowledge of the motion but without using aided sensors. In this paper, a new method is proposed which employs linear filtering stage coupled with adaptive filtering stage to remove drift and attenuation. The prior knowledge of the motion the proposed method requires is only approximate band of frequencies of the motion. Existing adaptive filtering methods based on Fourier series such as weighted-frequency Fourier linear combiner (WFLC), and band-limited multiple Fourier linear combiner (BMFLC) are modified to combine with the proposed method. To validate and compare the performance of the proposed method with the method based on analytical integration, simulation study is performed using periodic signals as well as real physiological tremor data, and real-time experiments are conducted using an ADXL-203 accelerometer. Results demonstrate that the performance of the proposed method outperforms the existing analytical integration method. PMID:22163935

Trends in Mortality After Primary Cytoreductive Surgery for Ovarian Cancer: A Systematic Review and Metaregression of Randomized Clinical Trials and Observational Studies.

PubMed

Di Donato, Violante; Kontopantelis, Evangelos; Aletti, Giovanni; Casorelli, Assunta; Piacenti, Ilaria; Bogani, Giorgio; Lecce, Francesca; Benedetti Panici, Pierluigi

2017-06-01

Primary cytoreductive surgery (PDS) followed by platinum-based chemotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment and the absence of residual tumor after PDS is universally considered the most important prognostic factor. The aim of the present analysis was to evaluate trend and predictors of 30-day mortality in patients undergoing primary cytoreduction for ovarian cancer. Literature was searched for records reporting 30-day mortality after PDS. All cohorts were rated for quality. Simple and multiple Poisson regression models were used to quantify the association between 30-day mortality and the following: overall or severe complications, proportion of patients with stage IV disease, median age, year of publication, and weighted surgical complexity index. Using the multiple regression model, we calculated the risk of perioperative mortality at different levels for statistically significant covariates of interest. Simple regression identified median age and proportion of patients with stage IV disease as statistically significant predictors of 30-day mortality. When included in the multiple Poisson regression model, both remained statistically significant, with an incidence rate ratio of 1.087 for median age and 1.017 for stage IV disease. Disease stage was a strong predictor, with the risk estimated to increase from 2.8% (95% confidence interval 2.02-3.66) for stage III to 16.1% (95% confidence interval 6.18-25.93) for stage IV, for a cohort with a median age of 65 years. Metaregression demonstrated that increased age and advanced clinical stage were independently associated with an increased risk of mortality, and the combined effects of both factors greatly increased the risk.

Evaluating aggregate effects of rare and common variants in the 1000 Genomes Project exon sequencing data using latent variable structural equation modeling.

PubMed

Nock, Nl; Zhang, Lx

2011-11-29

Methods that can evaluate aggregate effects of rare and common variants are limited. Therefore, we applied a two-stage approach to evaluate aggregate gene effects in the 1000 Genomes Project data, which contain 24,487 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 697 unrelated individuals from 7 populations. In stage 1, we identified potentially interesting genes (PIGs) as those having at least one SNP meeting Bonferroni correction using univariate, multiple regression models. In stage 2, we evaluate aggregate PIG effects on trait, Q1, by modeling each gene as a latent construct, which is defined by multiple common and rare variants, using the multivariate statistical framework of structural equation modeling (SEM). In stage 1, we found that PIGs varied markedly between a randomly selected replicate (replicate 137) and 100 other replicates, with the exception of FLT1. In stage 1, collapsing rare variants decreased false positives but increased false negatives. In stage 2, we developed a good-fitting SEM model that included all nine genes simulated to affect Q1 (FLT1, KDR, ARNT, ELAV4, FLT4, HIF1A, HIF3A, VEGFA, VEGFC) and found that FLT1 had the largest effect on Q1 (βstd = 0.33 ± 0.05). Using replicate 137 estimates as population values, we found that the mean relative bias in the parameters (loadings, paths, residuals) and their standard errors across 100 replicates was on average, less than 5%. Our latent variable SEM approach provides a viable framework for modeling aggregate effects of rare and common variants in multiple genes, but more elegant methods are needed in stage 1 to minimize type I and type II error.

Modeling the combined influence of host dispersal and waterborne fate and transport on pathogen spread in complex landscapes

PubMed Central

Lu, Ding; McDowell, Julia Z.; Davis, George M.; Spear, Robert C.; Remais, Justin V.

2012-01-01

Environmental models, often applied to questions on the fate and transport of chemical hazards, have recently become important in tracing certain environmental pathogens to their upstream sources of contamination. These tools, such as first order decay models applied to contaminants in surface waters, offer promise for quantifying the fate and transport of pathogens with multiple environmental stages and/or multiple hosts, in addition to those pathogens whose environmental stages are entirely waterborne. Here we consider the fate and transport capabilities of the human schistosome Schistosoma japonicum, which exhibits two waterborne stages and is carried by an amphibious intermediate snail host. We present experimentally-derived dispersal estimates for the intermediate snail host and fate and transport estimates for the passive downstream diffusion of cercariae, the waterborne, human-infective parasite stage. Using a one dimensional advective transport model exhibiting first-order decay, we simulate the added spatial reach and relative increase in cercarial concentrations that dispersing snail hosts contribute to downstream sites. Simulation results suggest that snail dispersal can substantially increase the concentrations of cercariae reaching downstream locations, relative to no snail dispersal, effectively putting otherwise isolated downstream sites at increased risk of exposure to cercariae from upstream sources. The models developed here can be applied to other infectious diseases with multiple life-stages and hosts, and have important implications for targeted ecological control of disease spread. PMID:23162675

Two alleles of the AtCesA3 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana display intragenic complementation.

PubMed

Pysh, Leonard D

2015-09-01

Cellulose is the most abundant biomolecule on the planet, yet the mechanism by which it is synthesized by higher plants remains largely unknown. In Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh, synthesis of cellulose in the primary cell wall requires three different cellulose synthase genes (AtCesA1, AtCesA3, and AtCesA6-related genes [AtCesA2, AtCesA5, and AtCesA6]). The multiple response expansion1 (mre1) mutant contains a hypomorphic AtCesA3 allele that results in significantly shorter, expanded roots. Crosses between mre1 and another allele of AtCesA3 (constitutive expression of VSP1, cev1) yielded an F1 with roots considerably longer and thinner than either parent, suggesting intragenic complementation. The F2 generation resulting from self-crossing these F1 showed three different root phenotypes: roots like mre1, roots like cev1, and roots like the F1. The segregation patterns of the three root phenotypes in multiple F2 and F3 generations were determined. Multiple characteristics of the roots and shoots were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively at different developmental stages, both on plates and on soil. The trans-heterozygous plants differed significantly from the parental mre1 and cev1 lines. The two alleles display intragenic complementation. A classic genetic interpretation of these results would suggest that cellulose synthesis requires homo-multimerization of cellulose synthase monomers. © 2015 Botanical Society of America.

Wireless device connection problems and design solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Ji-Won; Norman, Donald; Nam, Tek-Jin; Qin, Shengfeng

2016-09-01

Users, especially the non-expert users, commonly experience problems when connecting multiple devices with interoperability. While studies on multiple device connections are mostly concentrated on spontaneous device association techniques with a focus on security aspects, the research on user interaction for device connection is still limited. More research into understanding people is needed for designers to devise usable techniques. This research applies the Research-through-Design method and studies the non-expert users' interactions in establishing wireless connections between devices. The "Learning from Examples" concept is adopted to develop a study focus line by learning from the expert users' interaction with devices. This focus line is then used for guiding researchers to explore the non-expert users' difficulties at each stage of the focus line. Finally, the Research-through-Design approach is used to understand the users' difficulties, gain insights to design problems and suggest usable solutions. When connecting a device, the user is required to manage not only the device's functionality but also the interaction between devices. Based on learning from failures, an important insight is found that the existing design approach to improve single-device interaction issues, such as improvements to graphical user interfaces or computer guidance, cannot help users to handle problems between multiple devices. This study finally proposes a desirable user-device interaction in which images of two devices function together with a system image to provide the user with feedback on the status of the connection, which allows them to infer any required actions.

On the road to invariant recognition: explaining tradeoff and morph properties of cells in inferotemporal cortex using multiple-scale task-sensitive attentive learning.

PubMed

Grossberg, Stephen; Markowitz, Jeffrey; Cao, Yongqiang

2011-12-01

Visual object recognition is an essential accomplishment of advanced brains. Object recognition needs to be tolerant, or invariant, with respect to changes in object position, size, and view. In monkeys and humans, a key area for recognition is the anterior inferotemporal cortex (ITa). Recent neurophysiological data show that ITa cells with high object selectivity often have low position tolerance. We propose a neural model whose cells learn to simulate this tradeoff, as well as ITa responses to image morphs, while explaining how invariant recognition properties may arise in stages due to processes across multiple cortical areas. These processes include the cortical magnification factor, multiple receptive field sizes, and top-down attentive matching and learning properties that may be tuned by task requirements to attend to either concrete or abstract visual features with different levels of vigilance. The model predicts that data from the tradeoff and image morph tasks emerge from different levels of vigilance in the animals performing them. This result illustrates how different vigilance requirements of a task may change the course of category learning, notably the critical features that are attended and incorporated into learned category prototypes. The model outlines a path for developing an animal model of how defective vigilance control can lead to symptoms of various mental disorders, such as autism and amnesia. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coping and the stages of psychosis: an investigation into the coping styles in people at risk of psychosis, in people with first-episode and multiple-episode psychoses.

PubMed

Kommescher, Mareike; Gross, Sonja; Pützfeld, Verena; Klosterkötter, Joachim; Bechdolf, Andreas

2017-04-01

The concept of coping is central to recent models of psychosis. The aim of the present paper is to explore whether specific coping styles relate to certain stages of the disorder. Thirty-nine clients at clinical high risk (CHR) of first-episode psychosis, 19 clients with first-episode psychosis and 52 clients with multiple-episode psychosis completed a Stress Coping Questionnaire. This questionnaire consists of 114 items defining one overall positive coping scale (with three subscales) and one negative coping scale. Analyses of variance with group as between-subject factor and coping behaviour as within-subject factor were used to identify different coping patterns. On the level of subscales no group differences could be detected, but analysis of variance revealed slightly different patterns: CHR clients used significantly more negative than positive coping styles (P = 0.001), followed by patients with multiple-episode psychosis (P = 0.074). First-episode patients were most likely to use negative as well as positive coping (P = 0.960). Across all stages of illness, stress control was significantly preferred compared to the other positive coping styles distraction and devaluation. Again, this pattern was especially pronounced for at-risk clients and patients with multiple-episode psychosis, whereas patients with first-episode psychosis were most likely to use devaluation as well as distraction. The overall coping styles were similar across the different stages of psychosis. However, at-risk persons presented especially pronounced negative coping and a small range of strategies, indicating a specific need for psychosocial support in this stage of the disorder. © 2015 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Haploidentical Donor Bone Marrow Transplant in Treating Patients With High-Risk Hematologic Cancer

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-04-10

Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Del(5q); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Adult Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Childhood Burkitt Lymphoma; Childhood Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Childhood Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Childhood Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; Cutaneous B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Hematopoietic/Lymphoid Cancer; Hepatosplenic T-cell Lymphoma; Intraocular Lymphoma; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma; Post-transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder; Previously Treated Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Childhood Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Recurrent/Refractory Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Secondary Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Small Intestine Lymphoma; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage III Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage IV Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Testicular Lymphoma; Waldenström Macroglobulinemia

Deconstructing Calculation Methods, Part 3: Multiplication

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Ian

2008-01-01

In this third of a series of four articles, the author deconstructs the primary national strategy's approach to written multiplication. The approach to multiplication, as set out on pages 12 to 15 of the primary national strategy's "Guidance paper" "Calculation" (DfES, 2007), is divided into six stages: (1) mental…

Structure D'Ensemble, Multiple Classification, Multiple Seriation and Amount of Irrelevant Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamel, B. Remmo; Van Der Veer, M. A. A.

1972-01-01

A significant positive correlation between multiple classification was found, in testing 65 children aged 6 to 8 years, at the stage of concrete operations. This is interpreted as support for the existence of a structure d'ensemble of operational schemes in the period of concrete operations. (Authors)

Weed and Onion Response to multiple Applications of Goal Tender beginning at the 1-Leaf Stage of Onion

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Broadleaf weed control in onion is difficult in part due to a lack of postemergence herbicide options at an early growth stage of onions. Onion tolerance to sequential applications of oxyfluorfen (Goal-Tender) alone and with bromoxynil (Buctril) beginning at the 1-lf stage of onions was evaluated n...

In-Service Middle and High School Mathematics Teachers: Geometric Reasoning Stages and Gender

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halat, Erdogan

2008-01-01

The purpose of this current study was to investigate the reasoning stages of in-service middle and high school mathematics teachers in geometry. There was a total of 148 in-service middle and high school mathematics teachers involved in the study. Participants' geometric reasoning stages were determined through a multiple-choice geometry test. The…

Multiple stage miniature stepping motor

DOEpatents

Niven, William A.; Shikany, S. David; Shira, Michael L.

1981-01-01

A stepping motor comprising a plurality of stages which may be selectively activated to effect stepping movement of the motor, and which are mounted along a common rotor shaft to achieve considerable reduction in motor size and minimum diameter, whereby sequential activation of the stages results in successive rotor steps with direction being determined by the particular activating sequence followed.

CLOSEUP VIEW OF THE FIRST STAGE OF THE SATURN I ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

CLOSE-UP VIEW OF THE FIRST STAGE OF THE SATURN I ROCKET, SHOWING A DETAIL VIEW OF THE ENGINE CLUSTER. THE SATURN I ROCKET WAS THE FIRST UNITED STATES ROCKET TO HAVE MULTIPLE ENGINES ON A SINGLE STAGE. - Marshall Space Flight Center, Saturn Propulsion & Structural Test Facility, East Test Area, Huntsville, Madison County, AL

Minimum Requirements for Accurate and Efficient Real-Time On-Chip Spike Sorting

PubMed Central

Navajas, Joaquin; Barsakcioglu, Deren Y.; Eftekhar, Amir; Jackson, Andrew; Constandinou, Timothy G.; Quiroga, Rodrigo Quian

2014-01-01

Background Extracellular recordings are performed by inserting electrodes in the brain, relaying the signals to external power-demanding devices, where spikes are detected and sorted in order to identify the firing activity of different putative neurons. A main caveat of these recordings is the necessity of wires passing through the scalp and skin in order to connect intracortical electrodes to external amplifiers. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the feasibility of an implantable platform (i.e. a chip) with the capability to wirelessly transmit the neural signals and perform real-time on-site spike sorting. New Method We computationally modelled a two-stage implementation for online, robust, and efficient spike sorting. In the first stage, spikes are detected on-chip and streamed to an external computer where mean templates are created and sent back to the chip. In the second stage, spikes are sorted in real-time through template matching. Results We evaluated this procedure using realistic simulations of extracellular recordings and describe a set of specifications that optimise performance while keeping to a minimum the signal requirements and the complexity of the calculations. Comparison with Existing Methods A key bottleneck for the development of long-term BMIs is to find an inexpensive method for real-time spike sorting. Here, we simulated a solution to this problem that uses both offline and online processing of the data. Conclusions Hardware implementations of this method therefore enable low-power long-term wireless transmission of multiple site extracellular recordings, with application to wireless BMIs or closed-loop stimulation designs. PMID:24769170

Stage specific requirement of platelet-derived growth factor receptor-α in embryonic development.

PubMed

Qian, Chen; Wong, Carol Wing Yan; Wu, Zhongluan; He, Qiuming; Xia, Huimin; Tam, Paul Kwong Hang; Wong, Kenneth Kak Yuen; Lui, Vincent Chi Hang

2017-01-01

Platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRα) is a cell-surface receptor tyrosine kinase for platelet-derived growth factors. Correct timing and level of Pdgfra expression is crucial for embryo development, and deletion of Pdgfra caused developmental defects of multiple endoderm and mesoderm derived structures, resulting in a complex phenotypes including orofacial cleft, spina bifida, rib deformities, and omphalocele in mice. However, it is not clear if deletion of Pdgfra at different embryonic stages differentially affects these structures. To address the temporal requirement of Pdgfra in embryonic development. We have deleted the Pdgfra in Pdgfra-expressing tissues at different embryonic stages in mice, examined and quantified the developmental anomalies. Current study showed that (i) conditional deletion of Pdgfra at different embryonic days (between E7.5 and E10.5) resulted in orofacial cleft, spina bifida, rib cage deformities, and omphalocele, and (ii) the day of Pdgfra deletion influenced the combinations, incidence and severities of these anomalies. Deletion of Pdgfra caused apoptosis of Pdgfra-expressing tissues, and developmental defects of their derivatives. Orofacial cleft, spina bifida and omphalocele are among the commonest skeletal and abdominal wall defects of newborns, but their genetic etiologies are largely unknown. The remarkable resemblance of our conditional Pdgfra knockout embryos to theses human congenital anomalies, suggesting that dysregulated PDGFRA expression could cause these anomalies in human. Future work should aim at defining (a) the regulatory elements for the expression of the human PDGFRA during embryonic development, and (b) if mutations / sequence variations of these regulatory elements cause these anomalies.

Combining evidence from multiple electronic health care databases: performances of one-stage and two-stage meta-analysis in matched case-control studies.

PubMed

La Gamba, Fabiola; Corrao, Giovanni; Romio, Silvana; Sturkenboom, Miriam; Trifirò, Gianluca; Schink, Tania; de Ridder, Maria

2017-10-01

Clustering of patients in databases is usually ignored in one-stage meta-analysis of multi-database studies using matched case-control data. The aim of this study was to compare bias and efficiency of such a one-stage meta-analysis with a two-stage meta-analysis. First, we compared the approaches by generating matched case-control data under 5 simulated scenarios, built by varying: (1) the exposure-outcome association; (2) its variability among databases; (3) the confounding strength of one covariate on this association; (4) its variability; and (5) the (heterogeneous) confounding strength of two covariates. Second, we made the same comparison using empirical data from the ARITMO project, a multiple database study investigating the risk of ventricular arrhythmia following the use of medications with arrhythmogenic potential. In our study, we specifically investigated the effect of current use of promethazine. Bias increased for one-stage meta-analysis with increasing (1) between-database variance of exposure effect and (2) heterogeneous confounding generated by two covariates. The efficiency of one-stage meta-analysis was slightly lower than that of two-stage meta-analysis for the majority of investigated scenarios. Based on ARITMO data, there were no evident differences between one-stage (OR = 1.50, CI = [1.08; 2.08]) and two-stage (OR = 1.55, CI = [1.12; 2.16]) approaches. When the effect of interest is heterogeneous, a one-stage meta-analysis ignoring clustering gives biased estimates. Two-stage meta-analysis generates estimates at least as accurate and precise as one-stage meta-analysis. However, in a study using small databases and rare exposures and/or outcomes, a correct one-stage meta-analysis becomes essential. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Rotor redesign for a highly loaded 1800 ft/sec tip speed fan, 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bolt, C. R.

1980-01-01

Tests were conducted on a 0.5 hub/tip ratio single-stage fan designed to produce a pressure ratio of 2.280 at an efficiency of 83.8 percent with a rotor tip speed of 548.6 m/sec (1800 ft/sec). The rotor was designed utilizing a quasi three dimensional design system and four-part, multiple-circular-arc airfoil sections. The rotor is the third in a series of single-stage fans that have included a precompression airfoil design and a multiple-circular-arc airfoil design. The stage achieved a peak efficiency of 82.8 percent after performance had deteriorated by 0.6 of a point. The design mass flow was achieved at the peak efficiency point, and the stage total pressure ratio was 2.20, which is lower than the design goal of 2.28. The surge margin of 13% from the peak efficiency point exceeded the design goal of 7%.

Nanomechanical testing system

DOEpatents

Vodnick, David James; Dwivedi, Arpit; Keranen, Lucas Paul; Okerlund, Michael David; Schmitz, Roger William; Warren, Oden Lee; Young, Christopher David

2014-07-08

An automated testing system includes systems and methods to facilitate inline production testing of samples at a micro (multiple microns) or less scale with a mechanical testing instrument. In an example, the system includes a probe changing assembly for coupling and decoupling a probe of the instrument. The probe changing assembly includes a probe change unit configured to grasp one of a plurality of probes in a probe magazine and couple one of the probes with an instrument probe receptacle. An actuator is coupled with the probe change unit, and the actuator is configured to move and align the probe change unit with the probe magazine and the instrument probe receptacle. In another example, the automated testing system includes a multiple degree of freedom stage for aligning a sample testing location with the instrument. The stage includes a sample stage and a stage actuator assembly including translational and rotational actuators.

Nanomechanical testing system

DOEpatents

Vodnick, David James; Dwivedi, Arpit; Keranen, Lucas Paul; Okerlund, Michael David; Schmitz, Roger William; Warren, Oden Lee; Young, Christopher David

2015-01-27

An automated testing system includes systems and methods to facilitate inline production testing of samples at a micro (multiple microns) or less scale with a mechanical testing instrument. In an example, the system includes a probe changing assembly for coupling and decoupling a probe of the instrument. The probe changing assembly includes a probe change unit configured to grasp one of a plurality of probes in a probe magazine and couple one of the probes with an instrument probe receptacle. An actuator is coupled with the probe change unit, and the actuator is configured to move and align the probe change unit with the probe magazine and the instrument probe receptacle. In another example, the automated testing system includes a multiple degree of freedom stage for aligning a sample testing location with the instrument. The stage includes a sample stage and a stage actuator assembly including translational and rotational actuators.

Nanomechanical testing system

DOEpatents

Vodnick, David James; Dwivedi, Arpit; Keranen, Lucas Paul; Okerlund, Michael David; Schmitz, Roger William; Warren, Oden Lee; Young, Christopher David

2015-02-24

An automated testing system includes systems and methods to facilitate inline production testing of samples at a micro (multiple microns) or less scale with a mechanical testing instrument. In an example, the system includes a probe changing assembly for coupling and decoupling a probe of the instrument. The probe changing assembly includes a probe change unit configured to grasp one of a plurality of probes in a probe magazine and couple one of the probes with an instrument probe receptacle. An actuator is coupled with the probe change unit, and the actuator is configured to move and align the probe change unit with the probe magazine and the instrument probe receptacle. In another example, the automated testing system includes a multiple degree of freedom stage for aligning a sample testing location with the instrument. The stage includes a sample stage and a stage actuator assembly including translational and rotational actuators.

Temporal Downscaling of Crop Coefficient and Crop Water Requirement from Growing Stage to Substage Scales

PubMed Central

Shang, Songhao

2012-01-01

Crop water requirement is essential for agricultural water management, which is usually available for crop growing stages. However, crop water requirement values of monthly or weekly scales are more useful for water management. A method was proposed to downscale crop coefficient and water requirement from growing stage to substage scales, which is based on the interpolation of accumulated crop and reference evapotranspiration calculated from their values in growing stages. The proposed method was compared with two straightforward methods, that is, direct interpolation of crop evapotranspiration and crop coefficient by assuming that stage average values occurred in the middle of the stage. These methods were tested with a simulated daily crop evapotranspiration series. Results indicate that the proposed method is more reliable, showing that the downscaled crop evapotranspiration series is very close to the simulated ones. PMID:22619572

A Type III Protein Arginine Methyltransferase from the Protozoan Parasite Trypanosoma brucei*

PubMed Central

Fisk, John C.; Sayegh, Joyce; Zurita-Lopez, Cecilia; Menon, Sarita; Presnyak, Vladimir; Clarke, Steven G.; Read, Laurie K.

2009-01-01

Arginine methylation is a widespread post-translational modification of proteins catalyzed by a family of protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs). The ancient protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, possesses five putative PRMTs, a relatively large number for a single-celled eukaryote. Trypanosomatids lack gene regulation at the level of transcription, instead relying on post-transcriptional control mechanisms that act at the levels of RNA turnover, translation, and editing, all processes that likely involve multiple RNA-binding proteins, which are common targets of arginine methylation. Here, we report the characterization of a trypanosome PRMT, TbPRMT7, which is homologous to human PRMT7. Interestingly, trypanosomatids are the only single-celled eukaryotes known to harbor a PRMT7 homologue. TbPRMT7 differs dramatically from all known metazoan PRMT7 homologues in lacking the second AdoMet binding-like domain that is required for activity of the human enzyme. Nevertheless, bacterially expressed TbPRMT7 exhibits robust methyltransferase activity toward multiple targets in vitro. High resolution ion exchange chromatography analysis of methylated substrates reveals that TbPRMT7 is a type III PRMT, catalyzing the formation of only monomethylarginine, thereby representing the only exclusively type III PRMT identified to date. TbPRMT7 is expressed in both mammalian and insect stage T. brucei and is apparently dispensable for growth in both life cycle stages. The enzyme is cytoplasmically localized and is a component of several higher order complexes in vivo. Together, our studies indicate that TbPRMT7 is a Type III PRMT, and its robust activity and presence in numerous complexes suggest it plays multiple roles during the complex T. brucei life cycle. PMID:19254949

A type III protein arginine methyltransferase from the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei.

PubMed

Fisk, John C; Sayegh, Joyce; Zurita-Lopez, Cecilia; Menon, Sarita; Presnyak, Vladimir; Clarke, Steven G; Read, Laurie K

2009-04-24

Arginine methylation is a widespread post-translational modification of proteins catalyzed by a family of protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs). The ancient protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma brucei, possesses five putative PRMTs, a relatively large number for a single-celled eukaryote. Trypanosomatids lack gene regulation at the level of transcription, instead relying on post-transcriptional control mechanisms that act at the levels of RNA turnover, translation, and editing, all processes that likely involve multiple RNA-binding proteins, which are common targets of arginine methylation. Here, we report the characterization of a trypanosome PRMT, TbPRMT7, which is homologous to human PRMT7. Interestingly, trypanosomatids are the only single-celled eukaryotes known to harbor a PRMT7 homologue. TbPRMT7 differs dramatically from all known metazoan PRMT7 homologues in lacking the second AdoMet binding-like domain that is required for activity of the human enzyme. Nevertheless, bacterially expressed TbPRMT7 exhibits robust methyltransferase activity toward multiple targets in vitro. High resolution ion exchange chromatography analysis of methylated substrates reveals that TbPRMT7 is a type III PRMT, catalyzing the formation of only monomethylarginine, thereby representing the only exclusively type III PRMT identified to date. TbPRMT7 is expressed in both mammalian and insect stage T. brucei and is apparently dispensable for growth in both life cycle stages. The enzyme is cytoplasmically localized and is a component of several higher order complexes in vivo. Together, our studies indicate that TbPRMT7 is a Type III PRMT, and its robust activity and presence in numerous complexes suggest it plays multiple roles during the complex T. brucei life cycle.

Multiple response optimization for higher dimensions in factors and responses

DOE PAGES

Lu, Lu; Chapman, Jessica L.; Anderson-Cook, Christine M.

2016-07-19

When optimizing a product or process with multiple responses, a two-stage Pareto front approach is a useful strategy to evaluate and balance trade-offs between different estimated responses to seek optimum input locations for achieving the best outcomes. After objectively eliminating non-contenders in the first stage by looking for a Pareto front of superior solutions, graphical tools can be used to identify a final solution in the second subjective stage to compare options and match with user priorities. Until now, there have been limitations on the number of response variables and input factors that could effectively be visualized with existing graphicalmore » summaries. We present novel graphical tools that can be more easily scaled to higher dimensions, in both the input and response spaces, to facilitate informed decision making when simultaneously optimizing multiple responses. A key aspect of these graphics is that the potential solutions can be flexibly sorted to investigate specific queries, and that multiple aspects of the solutions can be simultaneously considered. As a result, recommendations are made about how to evaluate the impact of the uncertainty associated with the estimated response surfaces on decision making with higher dimensions.« less

A qualitative investigation of lay perspectives of diagnosis and self-management strategies employed by people with progressive multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Frost, Julia; Grose, Jane; Britten, Nicky

2017-05-01

This article explores how people with progressive multiple sclerosis give meaning to their experiences. It builds upon the self-management literature, which has captured the tension between the desire for retaining normalcy and the increasing burden of self-management associated with chronic disease progression. This repeat interview study is empirically grounded in 28 interviews with 14 people with progressive multiple sclerosis. We identified gender differences in diagnosis-seeking which impacted subsequent sense-making. Male respondents found a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis difficult to come to terms with, and an enduring sense of loss or anger could inhibit further sense-making. A diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was more difficult to obtain for women respondents, and any sense of certainty that diagnosis provided framed their subsequent sense-making strategies. The complex sequelae of multiple sclerosis require that self-management strategies are both contextual and timely, although even the most accomplished self-managers can lose their sense of self with neurodegeneration. Disease progression can be associated with suicidal ideation, suggesting the need for greater dialogue to ensure that people with multiple sclerosis are adequately supported to fulfil their quality of life at all stages of neurodegeneration. These lay perspectives emphasise the articulation of affect rather than the rendering of a medical diagnosis, although diagnosis may provide a degree of certainty in the short term. The ethos of self-management ensures people attempt to retain their sense of 'normality' and existent social roles for as long as possible, but this ethos can negate both one's ability to self-manage and the management of self.

QuantWorm: a comprehensive software package for Caenorhabditis elegans phenotypic assays.

PubMed

Jung, Sang-Kyu; Aleman-Meza, Boanerges; Riepe, Celeste; Zhong, Weiwei

2014-01-01

Phenotypic assays are crucial in genetics; however, traditional methods that rely on human observation are unsuitable for quantitative, large-scale experiments. Furthermore, there is an increasing need for comprehensive analyses of multiple phenotypes to provide multidimensional information. Here we developed an automated, high-throughput computer imaging system for quantifying multiple Caenorhabditis elegans phenotypes. Our imaging system is composed of a microscope equipped with a digital camera and a motorized stage connected to a computer running the QuantWorm software package. Currently, the software package contains one data acquisition module and four image analysis programs: WormLifespan, WormLocomotion, WormLength, and WormEgg. The data acquisition module collects images and videos. The WormLifespan software counts the number of moving worms by using two time-lapse images; the WormLocomotion software computes the velocity of moving worms; the WormLength software measures worm body size; and the WormEgg software counts the number of eggs. To evaluate the performance of our software, we compared the results of our software with manual measurements. We then demonstrated the application of the QuantWorm software in a drug assay and a genetic assay. Overall, the QuantWorm software provided accurate measurements at a high speed. Software source code, executable programs, and sample images are available at www.quantworm.org. Our software package has several advantages over current imaging systems for C. elegans. It is an all-in-one package for quantifying multiple phenotypes. The QuantWorm software is written in Java and its source code is freely available, so it does not require use of commercial software or libraries. It can be run on multiple platforms and easily customized to cope with new methods and requirements.

Biodiversity and functional regeneration during secondary succession in a tropical dry forest: from microorganisms to mammals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

do Espírito Santo, M. M.; Neves, F. S.; Valério, H. M.; Leite, L. O.; Falcão, L. A.; Borges, M.; Beirão, M.; Reis, R., Jr.; Berbara, R.; Nunes, Y. R.; Silva, A.; Silva, L. F.; Siqueira, P. R.

2015-12-01

In this study, we aimed to determine the changes on soil traits, forest structure and species richness and composition of multiple groups of organisms along secondary succession in a tropical dry forest (TDF) in southeastern Brazil. We defined three successional stages based in forest vertical and horizontal structure and age: early (18-25 years), intermediate (50-60 years) and late (no records of clearing). Five plots of 50 x 20 m were established per stage, and the following groups were sampled using specific techniques: rhizobacteria, mycorrhiza, trees and lianas, butterflies, ants, dung beetles, mosquitoes (Culicidae), birds and bats. We also determined soil chemical and physical characteristics and forest structure (tree height, density and basal area). Soil fertility increased along the successional gradient, and the same pattern was observed for all the forest structure variables. However, species richness and composition showed mixed results depending on the organism group. Three groups usually considered as good bioindicators of habitat quality did not differ in species richness and composition between stages: butterflies, ants and dung beetles. On the other hand, rizhobacteria and mycorrhiza differed both in species richness and composition between stages and may be more sensitive to changes in environmental conditions in TDFs. The other five groups differed either in species richness or composition between one or two pairs of successional stages. Although changes in abiotic conditions and forest structure match the predictions of classical successional models, the response of each group of organism is idiosyncratic in terms of diversity and ecological function, as a consequence of specific resource requirements and life-history traits. In general, diversity increased and functional groups changed mostly from early to intermediate-late stages, strengthening the importance of secondary forests to the maintenance of ecosystem integrity of TDFs.

Acute kidney injury is common with intravenous abuse of extended-release oral oxymorphone and delayed renal recovery rates are associated with increased KDIGO staging.

PubMed

Bonnecaze, Alex K; Wilson, Matthew Whitaker; Dharod, Ajay; Fletcher, Alison; Miller, P J

2017-08-12

Prescription opioid abuse poses a serious problem in the United States, representing 615 per 100,000 deaths annually. Extended-release oxymorphone (Opana-ER) is an oral opioid pain medication that has recently been found to cause thrombotic microangiopathy when intravenously abused. In this retrospective study, prevalence and outcomes of AKI among patients intravenously abusing extended-release oral oxymorphone were analyzed. A query of electronic medical records for "drug abuse" at an academic medical center during January 2012 to December 2015 was performed and yielded 2350 patients. Patients were further identified by documented intravenous abuse of extended-release oxymorphone. Patients were stratified based on multiple renal indices and outcomes. Potential confounders were also identified. 165 patients were found to have a documented history of intravenous abuse of extended-release oral oxymorphone. Prevalence of AKI in this population was a 47.8%. KDIGO stage-I patients consisted of 17.8% of patients with AKI, 40.5% were classified as KDIGO stage-II AKI, and 41.8% were classified as KDIGO stage-III AKI. Among patients with AKI, average age was found to be 37.5 years, 59.4% experienced renal recovery, 56.9% required intensive care unit admission, 13.9% progressed to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and 7.6% expired during admission. Clinicians should be educated to help recognize intravenous abuse of extended-release oral oxymorphone and its associated effects. Our data suggests AKI is common in these patients; higher KDIGO staging appears to be associated with slower rates of renal recovery, increased comorbidities and progression to both CKD and ESRD. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Outcomes and patterns of failure of sarcomatoid carcinoma of the larynx: The Mayo Clinic experience.

PubMed

Gamez, Mauricio E; Jeans, Elizabeth; Hinni, Michael L; Moore, Eric; Young, Geoffrey; Ma, Daniel; McGee, Lisa; Buras, Matthew R; Patel, Samir H

2018-02-01

Sarcomatoid carcinoma is a rare variant of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. No consensus exists on its management. Our aim was to present our outcomes. Retrospective study. Median follow-up 45 months. There were 38 patients with pathologically confirmed sarcomatoid carcinoma of the larynx treated at the Mayo Clinic from 1990 to 2014. Statistical analysis of overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and local control (LC) were conducted using the Kaplan-Meier method. The majority of patients were elderly males (92%) with a smoking history (74%) presenting with early-stage disease (71%). Surgery alone was the primary treatment in 27 patients (71%). Nine patients (25%) were treated with adjuvant radiation due to initial stage or high-risk pathologic features. Median radiation dose to the primary/surgical bed was 65 Gy (range, 60.3-75.0 Gy). A total of 15 patients (39%) had tumor recurrence, majority being local (n = 12). Sixty percent (n = 9) had multiple local recurrences. Five-year OS, PFS, and LC were 63%, 46%, and 72%, respectively. Subgroup analysis by stage I versus higher stages (II-IV) showed an OS of 80% versus 43% (P = .030), PFS of 65% versus 18% (P = .003), and LC of 84% versus 57% (P = .039). Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the larynx is rare, and frequently presents at an early stage in older men with history of smoking. Based on our outcomes and patterns of failure, it appears early-stage tumors are treated appropriately with single-modality therapy, whereas more advanced tumors require multimodality therapy. Validation in a larger cohort is warranted. 4. Laryngoscope, 128:373-377, 2018. © 2017 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Multi-stage high cell continuous fermentation for high productivity and titer.

PubMed

Chang, Ho Nam; Kim, Nag-Jong; Kang, Jongwon; Jeong, Chang Moon; Choi, Jin-dal-rae; Fei, Qiang; Kim, Byoung Jin; Kwon, Sunhoon; Lee, Sang Yup; Kim, Jungbae

2011-05-01

We carried out the first simulation on multi-stage continuous high cell density culture (MSC-HCDC) to show that the MSC-HCDC can achieve batch/fed-batch product titer with much higher productivity to the fed-batch productivity using published fermentation kinetics of lactic acid, penicillin and ethanol. The system under consideration consists of n-serially connected continuous stirred-tank reactors (CSTRs) with either hollow fiber cell recycling or cell immobilization for high cell-density culture. In each CSTR substrate supply and product removal are possible. Penicillin production is severely limited by glucose metabolite repression that requires multi-CSTR glucose feeding. An 8-stage C-HCDC lactic acid fermentation resulted in 212.9 g/L of titer and 10.6 g/L/h of productivity, corresponding to 101 and 429% of the comparable lactic acid fed-batch, respectively. The penicillin production model predicted 149% (0.085 g/L/h) of productivity in 8-stage C-HCDC with 40 g/L of cell density and 289% of productivity (0.165 g/L/h) in 7-stage C-HCDC with 60 g/L of cell density compared with referring batch cultivations. A 2-stage C-HCDC ethanol experimental run showed 107% titer and 257% productivity of the batch system having 88.8 g/L of titer and 3.7 g/L/h of productivity. MSC-HCDC can give much higher productivity than batch/fed-batch system, and yield a several percentage higher titer as well. The productivity ratio of MSC-HCDC over batch/fed-batch system is given as a multiplication of system dilution rate of MSC-HCDC and cycle time of batch/fed-batch system. We suggest MSC-HCDC as a new production platform for various fermentation products including monoclonal antibody.

Pattern-set generation algorithm for the one-dimensional multiple stock sizes cutting stock problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Yaodong; Cui, Yi-Ping; Zhao, Zhigang

2015-09-01

A pattern-set generation algorithm (PSG) for the one-dimensional multiple stock sizes cutting stock problem (1DMSSCSP) is presented. The solution process contains two stages. In the first stage, the PSG solves the residual problems repeatedly to generate the patterns in the pattern set, where each residual problem is solved by the column-generation approach, and each pattern is generated by solving a single large object placement problem. In the second stage, the integer linear programming model of the 1DMSSCSP is solved using a commercial solver, where only the patterns in the pattern set are considered. The computational results of benchmark instances indicate that the PSG outperforms existing heuristic algorithms and rivals the exact algorithm in solution quality.

The contemporary role of 1 vs. 2-stage repair for proximal hypospadias

PubMed Central

Dason, Shawn; Wong, Nathan

2014-01-01

This review discusses the most commonly employed techniques in the repair of proximal hypospadias, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of single versus staged surgical techniques. Hypospadias can have a spectrum of severity with a urethral meatus ranging from the perineum to the glans. Associated abnormalities are commonly found with proximal hypospadias and encompass a large spectrum, including ventral curvature (VC) up to 50 degrees or more, ventral skin deficiency, a flattened glans, penile torsion and penoscrotal transposition. Our contemporary understanding of hypospadiology is comprised of a foundation built by experts who have described a number of techniques and their outcomes, combined with survey data detailing practice patterns. The two largest components of hypospadias repair include repair of VC and urethroplasty. VC greater than 20 degrees is considered clinically relevant to warrant surgical correction. To repair VC, the penis is first degloved—a procedure that may reduce or remove curvature by itself in some cases. Residual curvature is then repaired with dorsal plication techniques, transection of the urethral plate, and/or ventral lengthening techniques. Urethroplasty takes the form of 1- or 2-stage repairs. One-stage options include the tubularized incised urethroplasty (TIP) or various graft or flap-based techniques. Two-stage options also include grafts or flaps, including oral mucosal and preputial skin grafting. One stage repairs are an attractive option in that they may reduce cost, hospital stay, anesthetic risks, and time to the final result. The downside is that these repairs require mastery of multiple techniques may be more complex, and—depending on technique—have higher complication rates. Two-stage repairs are preferred by the majority of surveyed hypospadiologists. The 2-stage repair is versatile and has satisfactory outcomes, but necessitates a second procedure. Given the lack of clear high-quality evidence supporting the superiority of one approach over the others, hypospadiologists should develop their own algorithm, which gives them the best outcomes. PMID:26813851

The contemporary role of 1 vs. 2-stage repair for proximal hypospadias.

PubMed

Dason, Shawn; Wong, Nathan; Braga, Luis H

2014-12-01

This review discusses the most commonly employed techniques in the repair of proximal hypospadias, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of single versus staged surgical techniques. Hypospadias can have a spectrum of severity with a urethral meatus ranging from the perineum to the glans. Associated abnormalities are commonly found with proximal hypospadias and encompass a large spectrum, including ventral curvature (VC) up to 50 degrees or more, ventral skin deficiency, a flattened glans, penile torsion and penoscrotal transposition. Our contemporary understanding of hypospadiology is comprised of a foundation built by experts who have described a number of techniques and their outcomes, combined with survey data detailing practice patterns. The two largest components of hypospadias repair include repair of VC and urethroplasty. VC greater than 20 degrees is considered clinically relevant to warrant surgical correction. To repair VC, the penis is first degloved-a procedure that may reduce or remove curvature by itself in some cases. Residual curvature is then repaired with dorsal plication techniques, transection of the urethral plate, and/or ventral lengthening techniques. Urethroplasty takes the form of 1- or 2-stage repairs. One-stage options include the tubularized incised urethroplasty (TIP) or various graft or flap-based techniques. Two-stage options also include grafts or flaps, including oral mucosal and preputial skin grafting. One stage repairs are an attractive option in that they may reduce cost, hospital stay, anesthetic risks, and time to the final result. The downside is that these repairs require mastery of multiple techniques may be more complex, and-depending on technique-have higher complication rates. Two-stage repairs are preferred by the majority of surveyed hypospadiologists. The 2-stage repair is versatile and has satisfactory outcomes, but necessitates a second procedure. Given the lack of clear high-quality evidence supporting the superiority of one approach over the others, hypospadiologists should develop their own algorithm, which gives them the best outcomes.

Interactions of Salmonella with animals and plants.

PubMed

Wiedemann, Agnès; Virlogeux-Payant, Isabelle; Chaussé, Anne-Marie; Schikora, Adam; Velge, Philippe

2014-01-01

Salmonella enterica species are Gram-negative bacteria, which are responsible for a wide range of food- and water-borne diseases in both humans and animals, thereby posing a major threat to public health. Recently, there has been an increasing number of reports, linking Salmonella contaminated raw vegetables and fruits with food poisoning. Many studies have shown that an essential feature of the pathogenicity of Salmonella is its capacity to cross a number of barriers requiring invasion of a large variety of cells and that the extent of internalization may be influenced by numerous factors. However, it is poorly understood how Salmonella successfully infects hosts as diversified as animals or plants. The aim of this review is to describe the different stages required for Salmonella interaction with its hosts: (i) attachment to host surfaces; (ii) entry processes; (iii) multiplication; (iv) suppression of host defense mechanisms; and to point out similarities and differences between animal and plant infections.

Concept Design of Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer for Space Exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Free, James M.; Motil, Susan M.; Kortes, Trudy F.; Meyer, Michael L.; taylor, William J.

2012-01-01

NASA is in the planning and investigation process of developing innovative paths for human space exploration that strengthen the capability to extend human and robotic presence beyond low Earth orbit and throughout the solar system. NASA is establishing the foundations to enable humans to safely reach multiple potential destinations, including the Moon, asteroids, Lagrange points, and Mars and its environs through technology and capability development. To achieve access to these destinations within a reasonable flight time will require the use of high performance cryogenic propulsion systems. Therefore NASA is examining mission concepts for a Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer (CPST) Flight Demonstration which will test and validate key capabilities and technologies required for future exploration elements such as large cryogenic propulsion stages and propellant depots. The CPST project will perform key ground testing in fiscal year 2012 and execute project formulation and implementation leading to a flight demonstration in 2017.

Thermal Control Subsystem Design for the Avionics of a Space Station Payload

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moran, Matthew E.

1996-01-01

A case study of the thermal control subsystem development for a space based payload is presented from the concept stage through preliminary design. This payload, the Space Acceleration Measurement System 2 (SAMS-2), will measure the acceleration environment at select locations within the International Space Station. Its thermal control subsystem must maintain component temperatures within an acceptable range over a 10 year life span, while restricting accessible surfaces to touch temperature limits and insuring fail safe conditions in the event of loss of cooling. In addition to these primary design objectives, system level requirements and constraints are imposed on the payload, many of which are driven by multidisciplinary issues. Blending these issues into the overall system design required concurrent design sessions with the project team, iterative conceptual design layouts, thermal analysis and modeling, and hardware testing. Multiple tradeoff studies were also performed to investigate the many options which surfaced during the development cycle.

Safety Aspects of Bio-Based Nanomaterials.

PubMed

Catalán, Julia; Norppa, Hannu

2017-12-01

Moving towards a bio-based and circular economy implies a major focus on the responsible and sustainable utilization of bio-resources. The emergence of nanotechnology has opened multiple possibilities, not only in the existing industrial sectors, but also for completely novel applications of nanoscale bio-materials, the commercial exploitation of which has only begun during the last few years. Bio-based materials are often assumed not to be toxic. However, this pre-assumption is not necessarily true. Here, we provide a short overview on health and environmental aspects associated with bio-based nanomaterials, and on the relevant regulatory requirements. We also discuss testing strategies that may be used for screening purposes at pre-commercial stages. Although the tests presently used to reveal hazards are still evolving, regarding modifi-cations required for nanomaterials, their application is needed before the upscaling or commercialization of bio-based nanomaterials, to ensure the market potential of the nanomaterials is not delayed by uncertainties about safety issues.

Propeller Flaps: A Review of Indications, Technique, and Results

PubMed Central

D'Arpa, Salvatore; Toia, Francesca; Pirrello, Roberto; Moschella, Francesco; Cordova, Adriana

2014-01-01

In the last years, propeller flaps have become an appealing option for coverage of a large range of defects. Besides having a more reliable vascular pedicle than traditional flap, propeller flaps allow for great freedom in design and for wide mobilization that extend the possibility of reconstructing difficult wounds with local tissues and minimal donor-site morbidity. They also allow one-stage reconstruction of defects that usually require multiple procedures. Harvesting of a propeller flap requires accurate patient selection, preoperative planning, and dissection technique. Complication rate can be kept low, provided that potential problems are prevented, promptly recognized, and adequately treated. This paper reviews current knowledge on propeller flaps. Definition, classification, and indications in the different body regions are discussed based on a review of the literature and on the authors' experience. Details about surgical technique are provided, together with tips to avoid and manage complications. PMID:24971367

Chondroitin Sulfate Is Indispensable for Pluripotency and Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izumikawa, Tomomi; Sato, Ban; Kitagawa, Hiroshi

2014-01-01

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) proteoglycans are present on the surfaces of virtually all cells and in the extracellular matrix and are required for cytokinesis at early developmental stages. Studies have shown that heparan sulfate (HS) is essential for maintaining mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) that are primed for differentiation, whereas the function of CS has not yet been elucidated. To clarify the role of CS, we generated glucuronyltransferase-I-knockout ESCs lacking CS. We found that CS was required to maintain the pluripotency of ESCs and promoted initial ESC commitment to differentiation compared with HS. In addition, CS-A and CS-E polysaccharides, but not CS-C polysaccharides, bound to E-cadherin and enhanced ESC differentiation. Multiple-lineage differentiation was inhibited in chondroitinase ABC-digested wild-type ESCs. Collectively, these results suggest that CS is a novel determinant in controlling the functional integrity of ESCs via binding to E-cadherin.

In vitro culture of lavenders (Lavandula spp.) and the production of secondary metabolites.

PubMed

Gonçalves, Sandra; Romano, Anabela

2013-01-01

Lavenders (Lavandula spp., Lamiaceae) are aromatic ornamental plants that are used widely in the food, perfume and pharmaceutical industries. The large-scale production of lavenders requires efficient in vitro propagation techniques to avoid the overexploitation of natural populations and to allow the application of biotechnology-based approaches for plant improvement and the production of valuable secondary metabolites. In this review we discuss micropropagation methods that have been developed in several lavender species, mainly based on meristem proliferation and organogenesis. Specific requirements during stages of micropropagation (establishment, shoot multiplication, root induction and acclimatization) and requisites for plant regeneration trough organogenesis, as an important step for the implementation of plant improvement programs, were revised. We also discuss different methods for the in vitro production of valuable secondary metabolites, focusing on the prospects for highly scalable cultures to meet the market demand for lavender-derived products. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A yeast mutant defective at an early stage in import of secretory protein precursors into the endoplasmic reticulum

PubMed Central

1987-01-01

We have devised a genetic selection for mutant yeast cells that fail to translocate secretory protein precursors into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Mutant cells are selected by a procedure that requires a signal peptide-containing cytoplasmic enzyme chimera to remain in contact with the cytosol. This approach has uncovered a new secretory mutant, sec61, that is thermosensitive for growth and that accumulates multiple secretory and vacuolar precursor proteins that have not acquired any detectable posttranslational modifications associated with translocation into the ER. Preproteins that accumulate at the sec61 block sediment with the particulate fraction, but are exposed to the cytosol as judged by sensitivity to proteinase K. Thus, the sec61 mutation defines a gene that is required for an early cytoplasmic or ER membrane-associated step in protein translocation. PMID:3305520

Designing Studies That Would Address the Multilayered Nature of Health Care

PubMed Central

Pennell, Michael; Rhoda, Dale; Hade, Erinn M.; Paskett, Electra D.

2010-01-01

We review design and analytic methods available for multilevel interventions in cancer research with particular attention to study design, sample size requirements, and potential to provide statistical evidence for causal inference. The most appropriate methods will depend on the stage of development of the research and whether randomization is possible. Early on, fractional factorial designs may be used to screen intervention components, particularly when randomization of individuals is possible. Quasi-experimental designs, including time-series and multiple baseline designs, can be useful once the intervention is designed because they require few sites and can provide the preliminary evidence to plan efficacy studies. In efficacy and effectiveness studies, group-randomized trials are preferred when randomization is possible and regression discontinuity designs are preferred otherwise if assignment based on a quantitative score is possible. Quasi-experimental designs may be used, especially when combined with recent developments in analytic methods to reduce bias in effect estimates. PMID:20386057

High accuracy wavelength calibration for a scanning visible spectrometer.

PubMed

Scotti, Filippo; Bell, Ronald E

2010-10-01

Spectroscopic applications for plasma velocity measurements often require wavelength accuracies ≤0.2 Å. An automated calibration, which is stable over time and environmental conditions without the need to recalibrate after each grating movement, was developed for a scanning spectrometer to achieve high wavelength accuracy over the visible spectrum. This method fits all relevant spectrometer parameters using multiple calibration spectra. With a stepping-motor controlled sine drive, an accuracy of ∼0.25 Å has been demonstrated. With the addition of a high resolution (0.075 arc  sec) optical encoder on the grating stage, greater precision (∼0.005 Å) is possible, allowing absolute velocity measurements within ∼0.3 km/s. This level of precision requires monitoring of atmospheric temperature and pressure and of grating bulk temperature to correct for changes in the refractive index of air and the groove density, respectively.

Natural environment design requirements for the Solar Electric Propulsion Stage (SEPS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Andrews, L. E.

1973-01-01

The natural environment design requirements for the solar electric propulsion stage are presented. Environment criteria for the SEP stage will cover earth orbital operations out to geosynchronous altitudes and also interplanetary missions including comet and asteroid missions.

Progressing the global antimalarial portfolio: finding drugs which target multiple Plasmodium life stages.

PubMed

Smith, Paul W; Diagana, Thierry T; Yeung, Bryan K S

2014-01-01

The number of novel antimalarial candidates entering preclinical development has seen an increase over the last several years. Most of these drug candidates were originally identified as hits coming from screening large chemical libraries specifically targeting the asexual blood stages of Plasmodium falciparum. Indeed, a large proportion of the current antimalarial arsenal has mainly targeted the asexual blood stage which is responsible for clinical symptoms of the disease. However, as part of the eradication agenda and to address resistance, any next-generation antimalarial should have additional activity on at least one other parasite life stage, i.e. gametocytocidal and/or tissue schizonticidal activity. We have applied this approach by screening compounds with intrinsic activity on asexual blood stages in assays against sexual and liver stages and identified two new antimalarial chemotypes with activity on multiple parasite life stages. This strategy can be expanded to identify other chemical classes of molecules with similar activity profiles for the next generation antimalarials. The following review summarizes the discovery of the spiroindolones and imidazolopiperazine classes of antimalarials developed by the NGBS consortium (Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, Genomic Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, Biomedical Primate Research Center, and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute) currently in clinical trials.

Vital and dispensable roles of Plasmodium multidrug resistance transporters during blood- and mosquito-stage development.

PubMed

Rijpma, Sanna R; van der Velden, Maarten; Annoura, Takeshi; Matz, Joachim M; Kenthirapalan, Sanketha; Kooij, Taco W A; Matuschewski, Kai; van Gemert, Geert-Jan; van de Vegte-Bolmer, Marga; Siebelink-Stoter, Rianne; Graumans, Wouter; Ramesar, Jai; Klop, Onny; Russel, Frans G M; Sauerwein, Robert W; Janse, Chris J; Franke-Fayard, Blandine M; Koenderink, Jan B

2016-07-01

Multidrug resistance (MDR) proteins belong to the B subfamily of the ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) transporters, which export a wide range of compounds including pharmaceuticals. In this study, we used reverse genetics to study the role of all seven Plasmodium MDR proteins during the life cycle of malaria parasites. Four P. berghei genes (encoding MDR1, 4, 6 and 7) were refractory to deletion, indicating a vital role during blood stage multiplication and validating them as potential targets for antimalarial drugs. Mutants lacking expression of MDR2, MDR3 and MDR5 were generated in both P. berghei and P. falciparum, indicating a dispensable role for blood stage development. Whereas P. berghei mutants lacking MDR3 and MDR5 had a reduced blood stage multiplication in vivo, blood stage growth of P. falciparum mutants in vitro was not significantly different. Oocyst maturation and sporozoite formation in Plasmodium mutants lacking MDR2 or MDR5 was reduced. Sporozoites of these P. berghei mutants were capable of infecting mice and life cycle completion, indicating the absence of vital roles during liver stage development. Our results demonstrate vital and dispensable roles of MDR proteins during blood stages and an important function in sporogony for MDR2 and MDR5 in both Plasmodium species. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Infection Prophylaxis and Management in Treating Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Infection in Patients With Hematologic Malignancies Previously Treated With Donor Stem Cell Transplant

ClinicalTrials.gov

2015-06-03

Hematopoietic/Lymphoid Cancer; Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Acute Undifferentiated Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Del(5q); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Adult Nasal Type Extranodal NK/T-cell Lymphoma; Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Angioimmunoblastic T-cell Lymphoma; Aplastic Anemia; Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, BCR-ABL Negative; Blastic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Chronic Neutrophilic Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Contiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Contiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Cutaneous B-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Cytomegalovirus Infection; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Essential Thrombocythemia; Extramedullary Plasmacytoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Intraocular Lymphoma; Isolated Plasmacytoma of Bone; Mast Cell Leukemia; Meningeal Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, Unclassifiable; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Polycythemia Vera; Post-transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder; Previously Treated Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Primary Myelofibrosis; Primary Systemic Amyloidosis; Progressive Hairy Cell Leukemia, Initial Treatment; Prolymphocytic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Grade III Lymphomatoid Granulomatosis; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Secondary Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Secondary Myelofibrosis; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage 0 Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage I Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage I Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage I Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage I Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage I Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage I Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage I Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage I Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage II Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage II Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage II Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage II Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; T-cell Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia; Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia

Lithium Carbonate in Treating Patients With Acute Intestinal Graft-Versus-Host-Disease (GVHD) After Donor Stem Cell Transplant

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-01-24

Accelerated Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With 11q23 (MLL) Abnormalities; Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With Inv(16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(15;17)(q22;q12); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(16;16)(p13;q22); Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia With t(8;21)(q22;q22); Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, Breakpoint Cluster Region-abl Translocation (BCR-ABL) Negative; Blastic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Remission; Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Remission; Childhood Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Childhood Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia; Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Chronic Neutrophilic Leukemia; Chronic Phase Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; de Novo Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Disseminated Neuroblastoma; Extranodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma of Mucosa-associated Lymphoid Tissue; Gastrointestinal Complications; Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia; Myelodysplastic/Myeloproliferative Neoplasm, Unclassifiable; Nodal Marginal Zone B-cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Noncontiguous Stage II Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Poor Prognosis Metastatic Gestational Trophoblastic Tumor; Previously Treated Childhood Rhabdomyosarcoma; Primary Myelofibrosis; Recurrent Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Recurrent Childhood Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Recurrent Childhood Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Childhood Rhabdomyosarcoma; Recurrent Childhood Small Noncleaved Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Cutaneous T-cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Malignant Testicular Germ Cell Tumor; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Recurrent Mycosis Fungoides/Sezary Syndrome; Recurrent Neuroblastoma; Recurrent Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Recurrent Ovarian Germ Cell Tumor; Recurrent Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Recurrent Wilms Tumor and Other Childhood Kidney Tumors; Recurrent/Refractory Childhood Hodgkin Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia; Relapsing Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia; Secondary Myelodysplastic Syndromes; Splenic Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage I Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Multiple Myeloma; Stage II Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage III Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage III Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage III Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage III Malignant Testicular Germ Cell Tumor; Stage III Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage III Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage III Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma; Stage IIIA Breast Cancer; Stage IIIB Breast Cancer; Stage IIIC Breast Cancer; Stage IV Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Diffuse Small Cleaved Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Hodgkin Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Stage IV Breast Cancer; Stage IV Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Stage IV Grade 1 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 2 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Stage IV Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Stage IV Marginal Zone Lymphoma; Stage IV Ovarian Epithelial Cancer; Stage IV Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma

Thermal habitat restricts patterns of occurrence in multiple life-stages of a headwater fish

Treesearch

Mischa P. Turschwell; Stephen R. Balcombe; E. Ashley Steel; Fran Sheldon; Erin E. Peterson

2017-01-01

Our lack of knowledge on the spatiotemporal drivers of the distribution of many freshwater fishes, particularly as they differ among life-history stages, is a challenge to conservation of these species. We used 2-stage hurdle models to investigate drivers of occurrence and abundance of locally threatened adult and juvenile Northern River Blackfish in the upper...

Immunogenicity and in vitro Protective Efficacy of a Recombinant Multistage Plasmodium falciparum Candidate Vaccine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Ya Ping; Hasnain, Seyed E.; Sacci, John B.; Holloway, Brian P.; Fujioka, Hisashi; Kumar, Nirbhay; Wohlhueter, Robert; Hoffman, Stephen L.; Collins, William E.; Lal, Altaf A.

1999-02-01

Compared with a single-stage antigen-based vaccine, a multistage and multivalent Plasmodium falciparum vaccine would be more efficacious by inducing "multiple layers" of immunity. We have constructed a synthetic gene that encodes for 12 B cell, 6 T cell proliferative, and 3 cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes derived from 9 stage-specific P. falciparum antigens corresponding to the sporozoite, liver, erythrocytic asexual, and sexual stages. The gene was expressed in the baculovirus system, and a 41-kDa antigen, termed CDC/NIIMALVAC-1, was purified. Immunization in rabbits with the purified protein in the presence of different adjuvants generated antibody responses that recognized vaccine antigen, linear peptides contained in the vaccine, and all stages of P. falciparum. In vitro assays of protection revealed that the vaccine-elicited antibodies strongly inhibited sporozoite invasion of hepatoma cells and growth of blood-stage parasites in the presence of monocytes. These observations demonstrate that a multicomponent, multistage malaria vaccine can induce immune responses that inhibit parasite development at multiple stages. The rationale and approach used in the development of a multicomponent P. falciparum vaccine will be useful in the development of a multispecies human malaria vaccine and vaccines against other infectious diseases.

Using public control genotype data to increase power and decrease cost of case-control genetic association studies.

PubMed

Ho, Lindsey A; Lange, Ethan M

2010-12-01

Genome-wide association (GWA) studies are a powerful approach for identifying novel genetic risk factors associated with human disease. A GWA study typically requires the inclusion of thousands of samples to have sufficient statistical power to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms that are associated with only modest increases in risk of disease given the heavy burden of a multiple test correction that is necessary to maintain valid statistical tests. Low statistical power and the high financial cost of performing a GWA study remains prohibitive for many scientific investigators anxious to perform such a study using their own samples. A number of remedies have been suggested to increase statistical power and decrease cost, including the utilization of free publicly available genotype data and multi-stage genotyping designs. Herein, we compare the statistical power and relative costs of alternative association study designs that use cases and screened controls to study designs that are based only on, or additionally include, free public control genotype data. We describe a novel replication-based two-stage study design, which uses free public control genotype data in the first stage and follow-up genotype data on case-matched controls in the second stage that preserves many of the advantages inherent when using only an epidemiologically matched set of controls. Specifically, we show that our proposed two-stage design can substantially increase statistical power and decrease cost of performing a GWA study while controlling the type-I error rate that can be inflated when using public controls due to differences in ancestry and batch genotype effects.

Two-axis gimbal for air-to-air and air-to-ground laser communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Talmor, Amnon G.; Harding, Harvard; Chen, Chien-Chung

2016-03-01

For bi-directional links between high-altitude-platforms (HAPs) and ground, and air-to-air communication between such platforms, a hemispherical +30°C field-of-regard and low-drag low-mass two-axis gimbal was designed and prototyped. The gimbal comprises two servo controlled non-orthogonal elevation over azimuth axis, and inner fast steering mirrors for fine field-of-regard adjustment. The design encompasses a 7.5cm diameter aperture refractive telescope in its elevation stage, folded between two flat mirrors with an exit lens leading to a two mirrors miniature Coude-path fixed to the azimuth stage. Multiple gimbal configurations were traded prior to finalizing a selection that met the requirements. The selected design was manifested onboard a carbon fiber and magnesium composite structure, motorized by custom-built servo motors, and commutated by optical encoders. The azimuth stage is electrically connected to the stationary base via slip ring while the elevation stage made of passive optics. Both axes are aligned by custom-built ceramic-on-steel angular contact duplex bearings, and controlled by embedded electronics featuring a rigid-flex PCB architecture. FEA analysis showed that the design is mechanically robust over a temperature range of +60°C to -80°C, and with first mode of natural frequencies above 400Hz. The total mass of the prototyped gimbal is 3.5kg, including the inner optical bench, which contains fast steering mirrors (FSMs) and tracking sensors. Future version of this gimbal, in prototyping stage, shall weigh less than 3.0kg.

Gene-Expression Signature Predicts Postoperative Recurrence in Stage I Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients

PubMed Central

Lu, Yan; Wang, Liang; Liu, Pengyuan; Yang, Ping; You, Ming

2012-01-01

About 30% stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients undergoing resection will recur. Robust prognostic markers are required to better manage therapy options. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a novel gene-expression signature that can predict tumor recurrence of stage I NSCLC patients. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to identify recurrence-related genes and a partial Cox regression model was used to generate a gene signature of recurrence in the training dataset −142 stage I lung adenocarcinomas without adjunctive therapy from the Director's Challenge Consortium. Four independent validation datasets, including GSE5843, GSE8894, and two other datasets provided by Mayo Clinic and Washington University, were used to assess the prediction accuracy by calculating the correlation between risk score estimated from gene expression and real recurrence-free survival time and AUC of time-dependent ROC analysis. Pathway-based survival analyses were also performed. 104 probesets correlated with recurrence in the training dataset. They are enriched in cell adhesion, apoptosis and regulation of cell proliferation. A 51-gene expression signature was identified to distinguish patients likely to develop tumor recurrence (Dxy = −0.83, P<1e-16) and this signature was validated in four independent datasets with AUC >85%. Multiple pathways including leukocyte transendothelial migration and cell adhesion were highly correlated with recurrence-free survival. The gene signature is highly predictive of recurrence in stage I NSCLC patients, which has important prognostic and therapeutic implications for the future management of these patients. PMID:22292069

UV fatigue investigations with non-destructive tools in silica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Natoli, Jean-Yves; Beaudier, Alexandre; Wagner, Frank R.

2017-08-01

A fatigue effect is often observed under multiple laser irradiations, overall in UV. This decrease of LIDT, is a critical parameter for laser sources with high repetition rates and with a need of long-term life, as in spatial applications at 355nm. A challenge is also to replace excimer lasers by solid laser sources, this challenge requires to improve drastically the lifetime of optical materials at 266nm. Main applications of these sources are devoted to material surface nanostructuration, spectroscopy and medical surgeries. In this work we focus on the understanding of the laser matter interaction at 266nm in silica in order to predict the lifetime of components and study parameters links to these lifetimes to give keys of improvement for material suppliers. In order to study the mechanism involved in the case of multiple irradiations, an interesting approach is to involve the evolution of fluorescence, in order to observe the first stages of material changes just before breakdown. We will show that it is sometime possible to estimate the lifetime of component only with the fluorescence measurement, saving time and materials. Moreover, the data from the diagnostics give relevant informations to highlight "defects" induced by multiple laser irradiations.

Correlating Polymer Crystals via Self-Induced Nucleation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reiter, Günter

Crystallizable polymers often form multiple stacks of uniquely oriented lamellae, which have good registry despite being separated by amorphous fold surfaces. These correlations require multiple synchronized, yet unidentified, nucleation events. Here, we demonstrate that in thin films of isotactic polystyrene, the probability of generating correlated lamellae is controlled by the branched morphology of a single primary lamella. The nucleation density ns of secondary lamellae is found to be dependent on the width of the branches of the primary lamella. This relation is independent of molecular weight, crystallization temperature, and film thickness. We propose a nucleation mechanism based on the insertion of polymers into a branched primary lamellar crystal. Even in single crystals, characterized by faceted structures with a well-defined envelope reflecting the underlying crystal unit cell, polymers are folded and thus in a meta-stable state. Annealing such meta-stable single crystals allowed to unveil the initial morphological framework of a dendritic single crystal, i.e. the initial stages of growth.

Computational Precision of Mental Inference as Critical Source of Human Choice Suboptimality.

PubMed

Drugowitsch, Jan; Wyart, Valentin; Devauchelle, Anne-Dominique; Koechlin, Etienne

2016-12-21

Making decisions in uncertain environments often requires combining multiple pieces of ambiguous information from external cues. In such conditions, human choices resemble optimal Bayesian inference, but typically show a large suboptimal variability whose origin remains poorly understood. In particular, this choice suboptimality might arise from imperfections in mental inference rather than in peripheral stages, such as sensory processing and response selection. Here, we dissociate these three sources of suboptimality in human choices based on combining multiple ambiguous cues. Using a novel quantitative approach for identifying the origin and structure of choice variability, we show that imperfections in inference alone cause a dominant fraction of suboptimal choices. Furthermore, two-thirds of this suboptimality appear to derive from the limited precision of neural computations implementing inference rather than from systematic deviations from Bayes-optimal inference. These findings set an upper bound on the accuracy and ultimate predictability of human choices in uncertain environments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of automated high throughput single molecular microfluidic detection platform for signal transduction analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Po-Jung; Baghbani Kordmahale, Sina; Chou, Chao-Kai; Yamaguchi, Hirohito; Hung, Mien-Chie; Kameoka, Jun

2016-03-01

Signal transductions including multiple protein post-translational modifications (PTM), protein-protein interactions (PPI), and protein-nucleic acid interaction (PNI) play critical roles for cell proliferation and differentiation that are directly related to the cancer biology. Traditional methods, like mass spectrometry, immunoprecipitation, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy require a large amount of sample and long processing time. "microchannel for multiple-parameter analysis of proteins in single-complex (mMAPS)"we proposed can reduce the process time and sample volume because this system is composed by microfluidic channels, fluorescence microscopy, and computerized data analysis. In this paper, we will present an automated mMAPS including integrated microfluidic device, automated stage and electrical relay for high-throughput clinical screening. Based on this result, we estimated that this automated detection system will be able to screen approximately 150 patient samples in a 24-hour period, providing a practical application to analyze tissue samples in a clinical setting.

PrPc Does Not Mediate Internalization of PrPSc but Is Required at an Early Stage for De Novo Prion Infection of Rov Cells▿

PubMed Central

Paquet, Sophie; Daude, Nathalie; Courageot, Marie-Pierre; Chapuis, Jérôme; Laude, Hubert; Vilette, Didier

2007-01-01

We have studied the interactions of exogenous prions with an epithelial cell line inducibly expressing PrPc protein and permissive to infection by a sheep scrapie agent. We demonstrate that abnormal PrP (PrPSc) and prion infectivity are efficiently internalized in Rov cells, whether or not PrPc is expressed. At odds with earlier studies implicating cellular heparan sulfates in PrPSc internalization, we failed to find any involvement of such molecules in Rov cells, indicating that prions can enter target cells by several routes. We further show that PrPSc taken up in the absence of PrPc was unable to promote efficient prion multiplication once PrPc expression was restored in the cells. This observation argues that interaction of PrPSc with PrPc has to occur early, in a specific subcellular compartment(s), and is consistent with the view that the first prion multiplication events may occur at the cell surface. PMID:17626095

Differences in early speech patterns between Parkinson variant of multiple system atrophy and Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Huh, Young Eun; Park, Jongkyu; Suh, Mee Kyung; Lee, Sang Eun; Kim, Jumin; Jeong, Yuri; Kim, Hee-Tae; Cho, Jin Whan

2015-08-01

In Parkinson variant of multiple system atrophy (MSA-P), patterns of early speech impairment and their distinguishing features from Parkinson's disease (PD) require further exploration. Here, we compared speech data among patients with early-stage MSA-P, PD, and healthy subjects using quantitative acoustic and perceptual analyses. Variables were analyzed for men and women in view of gender-specific features of speech. Acoustic analysis revealed that male patients with MSA-P exhibited more profound speech abnormalities than those with PD, regarding increased voice pitch, prolonged pause time, and reduced speech rate. This might be due to widespread pathology of MSA-P in nigrostriatal or extra-striatal structures related to speech production. Although several perceptual measures were mildly impaired in MSA-P and PD patients, none of these parameters showed a significant difference between patient groups. Detailed speech analysis using acoustic measures may help distinguish between MSA-P and PD early in the disease process. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

MaMR: High-performance MapReduce programming model for material cloud applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jing, Weipeng; Tong, Danyu; Wang, Yangang; Wang, Jingyuan; Liu, Yaqiu; Zhao, Peng

2017-02-01

With the increasing data size in materials science, existing programming models no longer satisfy the application requirements. MapReduce is a programming model that enables the easy development of scalable parallel applications to process big data on cloud computing systems. However, this model does not directly support the processing of multiple related data, and the processing performance does not reflect the advantages of cloud computing. To enhance the capability of workflow applications in material data processing, we defined a programming model for material cloud applications that supports multiple different Map and Reduce functions running concurrently based on hybrid share-memory BSP called MaMR. An optimized data sharing strategy to supply the shared data to the different Map and Reduce stages was also designed. We added a new merge phase to MapReduce that can efficiently merge data from the map and reduce modules. Experiments showed that the model and framework present effective performance improvements compared to previous work.

High-loading, 1800 ft/sec tip speed transonic compressor fan stage. 1: Aerodynamic and mechanical design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morris, A. L.; Halle, J. E.; Kennedy, E. E.

1972-01-01

A single stage fan with a tip speed of 1800 ft/sec (548.6m/sec) and hub/tip ratio of 0.5 was designed to produce a pressure ratio of 2.285:1 with an adiabatic efficiency of 84.0%. The design flow per inlet annulus area is 38.7 lbm/sq ft-sec (188.9KG/sqm-sec). Rotor blades have modified multiple-circular-arc and precompression airfoil sections. The stator vanes have multiple-circular-arc airfoil sections.

Multistage position-stabilized vibration isolation system for neutron interferometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arif, Muhammad; Brown, Dennis E.; Greene, Geoffrey L.; Clothier, R.; Littrell, K.

1994-10-01

A two stage, position stabilized vibration isolation system has been constructed and is now in operation at the Cold Neutron Research Facility of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD. The system employs pneumatic isolators with a multiple input/multiple output pneumatic servo system based upon pulse width modulation control loops. The first stage consists of a 40,000 kg reinforced concrete table supported by pneumatic isolators. A large environmentally isolated laboratory enclosure rests on the concrete table. The second stage consists of a 3000 kg granite optical table located within the enclosure and supported by another set of pneumatic isolators. The position of the two stages is monitored by proximity sensors and inclinometers with 12 degrees of freedom. The system controls 12 independent pneumatic airsprings. The signals from these sensors are fed into a personal computer based control system. The control system has maintained the position of the two stages to better than 1 micrometers in translation and 5 (mu) rad in orientation for a period of a few months. A description of the system and its characteristics is given.

Phosphoinositide signaling in sperm development.

PubMed

Brill, Julie A; Yildirim, Sukriye; Fabian, Lacramioara

2016-11-01

Phosphatidylinositol phosphates (PIPs) 1 are membrane lipids with crucial roles during cell morphogenesis, including the establishment of cytoskeletal organization, membrane trafficking, cell polarity, cell-cycle control and signaling. Recent studies in mice (Mus musculus), fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) and other organisms have defined germ cell intrinsic requirements for these lipids and their regulatory enzymes in multiple aspects of sperm development. In particular, PIP levels are crucial in germline stem cell maintenance, spermatogonial proliferation and survival, spermatocyte cytokinesis, spermatid polarization, sperm tail formation, nuclear shaping, and production of mature, motile sperm. Here, we briefly review the stages of spermatogenesis and discuss the roles of PIPs and their regulatory enzymes in male germ cell development. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Occupation-specific illnesses in musicians].

PubMed

Schuppert, M; Altenmüller, E

1999-12-01

Performance-related disorders in musicians are most often caused by multiple risk factors. They are based on the chronic complex, rapid and forceful work that requires highest precision, as well as on poor ergonomic conditions and psychological strain. Predominantly, the musculo-skeletal system of the upper extremity and the spine is affected by acute or chronic pain syndromes and neurological disorders. Stage fright and psychological tension frequently generate somatoform disorders and may contribute to the chronification of physical disabilities in musicians. Depending on the individual characteristics, the actual professional activity and the specific instrument, the performance-related risk factors and disorders differ widely. Early and regular prevention clearly contributes to a reduction of medical problems in musicians.

Origins and activity of the Mediator complex.

PubMed

Conaway, Ronald C; Conaway, Joan Weliky

2011-09-01

The Mediator is a large, multisubunit RNA polymerase II transcriptional regulator that was first identified in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a factor required for responsiveness of Pol II and the general initiation factors to DNA binding transactivators. Since its discovery in yeast, Mediator has been shown to be an integral and highly evolutionarily conserved component of the Pol II transcriptional machinery with critical roles in multiple stages of transcription, from regulation of assembly of the Pol II initiation complex to regulation of Pol II elongation. Here we provide a brief overview of the evolutionary origins of Mediator, its subunit composition, and its remarkably diverse collection of activities in Pol II transcription. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Zebrafish no isthmus reveals a role for pax2.1 in tubule differentiation and patterning events in the pronephric primordia.

PubMed

Majumdar, A; Lun, K; Brand, M; Drummond, I A

2000-05-01

Pax genes are important developmental regulators and function at multiple stages of vertebrate kidney organogenesis. In this report, we have used the zebrafish pax2.1 mutant no isthmus to investigate the role for pax2.1 in development of the pronephros. We demonstrate a requirement for pax2.1 in multiple aspects of pronephric development including tubule and duct epithelial differentiation and cloaca morphogenesis. Morphological analysis demonstrates that noi(- )larvae specifically lack pronephric tubules while glomerular cell differentiation is unaffected. In addition, pax2.1 expression in the lateral cells of the pronephric primordium is required to restrict the domains of Wilms' tumor suppressor (wt1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene expression to medial podocyte progenitors. Ectopic podocyte-specific marker expression in pronephric duct cells correlates with loss of expression of the pronephric tubule and duct-specific markers mAb 3G8 and a Na(+)/K(+) ATPase (&agr;)1 subunit. The results suggest that the failure in pronephric tubule differentiation in noi arises from a patterning defect during differentiation of the pronephric primordium and that mutually inhibitory regulatory interactions play an important role in defining the boundary between glomerular and tubule progenitors in the forming nephron.

Human disturbance and stage-specific habitat requirements influence snowy plover site occupancy during the breeding season

PubMed Central

Webber, Alyson F; Heath, Julie A; Fischer, Richard A

2013-01-01

Habitat use has important consequences for avian reproductive success and survival. In coastal areas with recreational activity, human disturbance may limit use of otherwise suitable habitat. Snowy plovers Charadrius nivosus have a patchy breeding distribution along the coastal areas on the Florida Panhandle, USA. Our goal was to determine the relative effects of seasonal human disturbance and habitat requirements on snowy plover habitat use. We surveyed 303 sites for snowy plovers, human disturbance, and habitat features between January and July 2009 and 2010. We made multiple visits during three different sampling periods that corresponded to snowy plover breeding: pre-breeding, incubation, and brood-rearing and used multi-season occupancy models to examine whether human disturbance, habitat features, or both influenced site occupancy, colonization (probability of transition from an unoccupied site to an occupied site), and extinction (probability of transition from an occupied site to an unoccupied site). Snowy plover site occupancy and colonization was negatively associated with human disturbance and site extinction was positively associated with human disturbance. Interdune vegetation had a negative effect on occupancy and colonization, indicating that plovers were less likely to use areas with uniform, dense vegetation among dunes. Also, dune shape, beach debris, and access to low-energy foraging areas influenced site occupancy, colonization, and extinction. Plovers used habitat based on beach characteristics that provided stage-specific resource needs; however, human disturbance was the strongest predictor of site occupancy. In addition, vegetation plantings used to enhance dune rehabilitation may negatively impact plover site occupancy. Management actions that decrease human disturbance, such as symbolic fencing and signage, may increase the amount of breeding habitat available to snowy plovers on the Florida Panhandle and in other areas with high human activity. The specific areas that require this protection may vary across snowy plover life history stages. PMID:23610630

G-CNV: A GPU-Based Tool for Preparing Data to Detect CNVs with Read-Depth Methods.

PubMed

Manconi, Andrea; Manca, Emanuele; Moscatelli, Marco; Gnocchi, Matteo; Orro, Alessandro; Armano, Giuliano; Milanesi, Luciano

2015-01-01

Copy number variations (CNVs) are the most prevalent types of structural variations (SVs) in the human genome and are involved in a wide range of common human diseases. Different computational methods have been devised to detect this type of SVs and to study how they are implicated in human diseases. Recently, computational methods based on high-throughput sequencing (HTS) are increasingly used. The majority of these methods focus on mapping short-read sequences generated from a donor against a reference genome to detect signatures distinctive of CNVs. In particular, read-depth based methods detect CNVs by analyzing genomic regions with significantly different read-depth from the other ones. The pipeline analysis of these methods consists of four main stages: (i) data preparation, (ii) data normalization, (iii) CNV regions identification, and (iv) copy number estimation. However, available tools do not support most of the operations required at the first two stages of this pipeline. Typically, they start the analysis by building the read-depth signal from pre-processed alignments. Therefore, third-party tools must be used to perform most of the preliminary operations required to build the read-depth signal. These data-intensive operations can be efficiently parallelized on graphics processing units (GPUs). In this article, we present G-CNV, a GPU-based tool devised to perform the common operations required at the first two stages of the analysis pipeline. G-CNV is able to filter low-quality read sequences, to mask low-quality nucleotides, to remove adapter sequences, to remove duplicated read sequences, to map the short-reads, to resolve multiple mapping ambiguities, to build the read-depth signal, and to normalize it. G-CNV can be efficiently used as a third-party tool able to prepare data for the subsequent read-depth signal generation and analysis. Moreover, it can also be integrated in CNV detection tools to generate read-depth signals.

Data Base Design with GIS in Ecosystem Based Multiple Use Forest Management in Artvin, Turkey: A Case Study in Balcı Forest Management Planning Unit.

PubMed

Yolasığmaz, Hacı Ahmet; Keleş, Sedat

2009-01-01

In Turkey, the understanding of planning focused on timber production has given its place on Multiple Use Management (MUM). Because the whole infrastructure of forestry with inventory system leading the way depends on timber production, some cases of bottle neck are expected during the transition period. Database design, probably the most important stage during the transition to MUM, together with the digital basic maps making up the basis of this infrastructure constitute the main point of this article. Firstly, the forest management philosophy of Turkey in the past was shortly touched upon in the article. Ecosystem Based Multiple Use Forest Management (EBMUFM) approaches was briefly introduced. The second stage of the process of EBMUFM, database design was described by examining the classical planning infrastructure and the coverage to be produced and consumed were suggested in the form of lists. At the application stage, two different geographical databases were established with GIS in Balcı Planning Unit of the years 1984 and 2006. Following that the related basic maps are produced. Timely diversity of the planning unit of 20 years is put forward comparatively with regard to the stand parameters such as tree types, age class, development stage, canopy closure, mixture, volume and increment.

ACM-based automatic liver segmentation from 3-D CT images by combining multiple atlases and improved mean-shift techniques.

PubMed

Ji, Hongwei; He, Jiangping; Yang, Xin; Deklerck, Rudi; Cornelis, Jan

2013-05-01

In this paper, we present an autocontext model(ACM)-based automatic liver segmentation algorithm, which combines ACM, multiatlases, and mean-shift techniques to segment liver from 3-D CT images. Our algorithm is a learning-based method and can be divided into two stages. At the first stage, i.e., the training stage, ACM is performed to learn a sequence of classifiers in each atlas space (based on each atlas and other aligned atlases). With the use of multiple atlases, multiple sequences of ACM-based classifiers are obtained. At the second stage, i.e., the segmentation stage, the test image will be segmented in each atlas space by applying each sequence of ACM-based classifiers. The final segmentation result will be obtained by fusing segmentation results from all atlas spaces via a multiclassifier fusion technique. Specially, in order to speed up segmentation, given a test image, we first use an improved mean-shift algorithm to perform over-segmentation and then implement the region-based image labeling instead of the original inefficient pixel-based image labeling. The proposed method is evaluated on the datasets of MICCAI 2007 liver segmentation challenge. The experimental results show that the average volume overlap error and the average surface distance achieved by our method are 8.3% and 1.5 m, respectively, which are comparable to the results reported in the existing state-of-the-art work on liver segmentation.

[Drug Prescribing for Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease in General Practice: a Cross-Sectional Study].

PubMed

Mahner, Maria; Raus, Christina; Ludwig, Fabian; Weckmann, Gesine; Stracke, Sylvia; Chenot, Jean-François

2018-06-01

Many drugs require dose adjustment or are contraindicated in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) to avoid adverse events. The aims of this study were to assess if medication was appropriately dose adjusted in patients with CKD in primary care, to identify medications that were frequently prescribed inappropriately and to identify factors predicting mal-prescription. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study in 34 general practioners' offices, assessing the medication of patients with CKD stage ≥ 3 according to the corresponding pharmaceutical product information. Additional information was extracted from recommendations of scientific societies and regulatory authorities. Contraindicated and overdosed medications were identified. Predictive factors for inadequate prescribing were analyzed with multiple logistic regression. 589 patients (Ø 78 years, 63 % female) with CKD stage ≥ 3 were included. A total of 5102 medications were extracted from the medication sheets (94,6 % regular, 5,4 % "as needed"). 4,2 % were judged as being inadequate according to pharmaceutical information (2,1 % contraindicated, 2,1 % overdosed). 173 patients (29 %) had ≥ 1 inadequate prescription. The proportion of inadequate prescriptions fell to 3,5 % after adjustment for the most recent recommendations of scientific societies and regulatory authorities. Most frequent inappropriate prescriptions were ACE-inhibitors, diuretics, oral antidiabetic drugs, methotrexate and potassium supplements. Most important predictors for inadequate prescriptions were CKD stage ≥ 3b and number of medications. A quarter of all patients had a least one inadequate prescription. The overall proportion of inadequately prescribed drugs was low. Adjustment for recommendations by scientific societies and regulatory authorities further reduced the number of inadequate prescriptions. Valid data on the clinical relevance of inadequate prescriptions is scarce and further research is required. Because of the time and effort needed to assess all medications, future quality improvement projects should focus on CKD stage ≥ 3b, patients with polypharmacy and crucial medication. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

America's Next Great Ship: Space Launch System Core Stage Transitioning from Design to Manufacturing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birkenstock, Benjamin; Kauer, Roy

2014-01-01

The Space Launch System (SLS) Program is essential to achieving the Nation's and NASA's goal of human exploration and scientific investigation of the solar system. As a multi-element program with emphasis on safety, affordability, and sustainability, SLS is becoming America's next great ship of exploration. The SLS Core Stage includes avionics, main propulsion system, pressure vessels, thrust vector control, and structures. Boeing manufactures and assembles the SLS core stage at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, LA, a historical production center for Saturn V and Space Shuttle programs. As the transition from design to manufacturing progresses, the importance of a well-executed manufacturing, assembly, and operation (MA&O) plan is crucial to meeting performance objectives. Boeing employs classic techniques such as critical path analysis and facility requirements definition as well as innovative approaches such as Constraint Based Scheduling (CBS) and Cirtical Chain Project Management (CCPM) theory to provide a comprehensive suite of project management tools to manage the health of the baseline plan on both a macro (overall project) and micro level (factory areas). These tools coordinate data from multiple business systems and provide a robust network to support Material & Capacity Requirements Planning (MRP/CRP) and priorities. Coupled with these tools and a highly skilled workforce, Boeing is orchestrating the parallel buildup of five major sub assemblies throughout the factory. Boeing and NASA are transforming MAF to host state of the art processes, equipment and tooling, the most prominent of which is the Vertical Assembly Center (VAC), the largest weld tool in the world. In concert, a global supply chain is delivering a range of structural elements and component parts necessary to enable an on-time delivery of the integrated Core Stage. SLS is on plan to launch humanity into the next phase of space exploration.

Implementation of a Shared Resource Financial Management System

PubMed Central

Caldwell, T.; Gerlach, R.; Israel, M.; Bobin, S.

2010-01-01

CF-6 Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC), an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center at Dartmouth Medical School, administers 12 Life Sciences Shared Resources. These resources are diverse and offer multiple products and services. Previous methods for tracking resource use, billing, and financial management were time consuming, error prone and lacked appropriate financial management tools. To address these problems, we developed and implemented a web-based application with a built-in authorization system that uses Perl, ModPerl, Apache2, and Oracle as the software infrastructure. The application uses a role-based system to differentiate administrative users with those requesting services and includes many features requested by users and administrators. To begin development, we chose a resource that had an uncomplicated service, a large number of users, and required the use of all of the applications features. The Molecular Biology Core Facility at NCCC fit these requirements and was used as a model for developing and testing the application. After model development, institution wide deployment followed a three-stage process. The first stage was to interview the resource manager and staff to understand day-to-day operations. At the second stage, we generated and tested customized forms defining resource services. During the third stage, we added new resource users and administrators to the system before final deployment. Twelve months after deployment, resource administrators reported that the new system performed well for internal and external billing and tracking resource utilization. Users preferred the application's web-based system for distribution of DNA sequencing and other data. The sample tracking features have enhanced day-to-day resource operations, and an on-line scheduling module for shared instruments has proven a much-needed utility. Principal investigators now are able to restrict user spending to specific accounts and have final approval of the invoices before the billing, which has significantly reduced the number of unpaid invoices.

Breast surgery techniques: preoperative bracketing wire localization by surgeons.

PubMed

Burkholder, Hans C; Witherspoon, Laura E; Burns, R Phillip; Horn, Jeffrey S; Biderman, Michael D

2007-06-01

With the development of expertise in image guidance for breast surgery, many surgeons now perform preoperative wire localization themselves. Use of a single wire versus multiple wires to bracket a radiographic breast abnormality has previously been described, although benefits of this technique based on clinical outcomes such as margin status, tissue volume removed, and re-excision rates have not been established. This study is a retrospective analysis of wire-localized breast biopsies performed by 14 surgeons over 29 months; stereotactic and ultrasound guidance were used. During this time, 489 wire localizations were done, of which 159 used multiple wires. Two hundred eleven of these biopsies were done for malignant disease, 86 using multiple wires. After controlling for tumor node metastases stage, single and multiple wire placements were compared using endpoints of margin status, need for re-excision, and total volume of tissue removed. Neither margin status nor re-excision was related to the number of wires placed. However, the number of wires placed was significantly related to the total volume of tissue removed. Use of more than one localizing wire was associated with greater volume of tissue removal (measured in centimeters cubed) in benign disease (46 vs 25, P < 0.001), equivalent volumes in stage 0 disease (73 vs 67), less volume in stage 1 disease (113 vs 164), and less volume in stages 2 through 4 (158 vs 207, P = 0.03). Outcomes based on surgeon case volume during the study period demonstrated that low- (1-40), medium- (41-80), and high-volume (>80) surgeons did not differ in the type or stage of breast pathology treated. Surgeons with high case volumes were more likely to place multiple localizing wires (P < 0.001) and were more likely to do a breast-conserving procedure if re-excision was performed (P < 0.018). Surgeons with low case volumes were more likely to perform a re-excision (P < 0.025). Surgeon experience has a positive impact on quality outcome measures such as performance of a definitive procedure at the time of initial surgery and use of breast-conserving procedures at the time of re-excision. Multiple wire localization can be used to significantly reduce the volume of breast tissue removed in malignant disease without sacrificing margin status or increasing the need for future re-excision.

Development of a microplate coagulation assay for Factor V in human plasma

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Factor V (FV) in its activated form, FVa, is a critical regulator of thrombin generation during fibrin clot formation. There is a need of a simple, fast, and inexpensive microplate-based coagulation assay to measure the functional activity of FV in human plasma. The objective of this study was to develop a microplate-based assay that measures FV coagulation activity during clot formation in human plasma, which is currently not available. Methods The FV assay requires a kinetic microplate reader to measure the change in absorbance at 405nm during fibrin formation in human plasma. The FV assay accurately measures the time, initial rate, and extent of fibrin clot formation in human plasma. Results The FV microplate assay is simple, fast, economical, sensitive to approx 24-80pM, and multiple samples may be analyzed simultaneously. All the required materials are commercially available. Standard curves of time or initial rate of fibrin clot formation vs FV activity in the 1-stage assay (Without activation by thrombin) may be used to measure FV activity in samples of human plasma. The assay was used to demonstrate that in nine patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), the FV 1-stage, 2-stage (With activation by thrombin), and total (2-stage activity - 1-stage activity) activities were decreased, on average, by approximately 54%, 44%, and 42%, respectively, from prolonged clot times when compared to normal pooled human reference plasma (NHP). The results indicate that the FV in the DIC patient plasmas supported both a delayed and slower rate of fibrin clot formation compared with NHP; however, the extent of fibrin clot formation in the DIC patients remained largely unchanged from that observed with NHP. Conclusions The FV microplate assay may be easily adapted to measure the activity of any coagulation factor using the appropriate factor-deficient plasma and clot initiating reagent. The microplate assay will find use in both research and clinical laboratories to provide measurement of the functional coagulation activity of FV in human plasma. PMID:21711555

Acutely damaged axons are remyelinated in multiple sclerosis and experimental models of demyelination.

PubMed

Schultz, Verena; van der Meer, Franziska; Wrzos, Claudia; Scheidt, Uta; Bahn, Erik; Stadelmann, Christine; Brück, Wolfgang; Junker, Andreas

2017-08-01

Remyelination is in the center of new therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis to resolve and improve disease symptoms and protect axons from further damage. Although remyelination is considered beneficial in the long term, it is not known, whether this is also the case early in lesion formation. Additionally, the precise timing of acute axonal damage and remyelination has not been assessed so far. To shed light onto the interrelation between axons and the myelin sheath during de- and remyelination, we employed cuprizone- and focal lysolecithin-induced demyelination and performed time course experiments assessing the evolution of early and late stage remyelination and axonal damage. We observed damaged axons with signs of remyelination after cuprizone diet cessation and lysolecithin injection. Similar observations were made in early multiple sclerosis lesions. To assess the correlation of remyelination and axonal damage in multiple sclerosis lesions, we took advantage of a cohort of patients with early and late stage remyelinated lesions and assessed the number of APP- and SMI32- positive damaged axons and the density of SMI31-positive and silver impregnated preserved axons. Early de- and remyelinating lesions did not differ with respect to axonal density and axonal damage, but we observed a lower axonal density in late stage demyelinated multiple sclerosis lesions than in remyelinated multiple sclerosis lesions. Our findings suggest that remyelination may not only be protective over a long period of time, but may play an important role in the immediate axonal recuperation after a demyelinating insult. © 2017 The Authors GLIA Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Stem cell implantation for osteonecrosis of the femoral head.

PubMed

Lim, Young Wook; Kim, Yong Sik; Lee, Jong Wook; Kwon, Soon Yong

2013-11-15

What is the most effective treatment for the early stages of osteonecrosis of the femoral head? We assessed multiple drilling and stem cell implantation to treat the early stages of osteonecrosis of the femoral head. We report the clinical and radiological results of stem cell implantation and core decompression. In total, 128 patients (190 hips) who had undergone surgery were divided into two groups based on which treatment they had received: (1) multiple drilling and stem cell implantation or (2) core decompression, curettage and a bone graft. The clinical and radiographic results of the two groups were compared. At 5-year follow-up, in the stem cell implantation group, 64.3% (27/42) of the patients with Stage IIa disease, 56.7% (21/37) of the patients with Stage IIb disease and 42.9% (21/49) of the patients with Stage III disease had undergone no additional surgery. In the conventional core decompression group, 64.3% (9/14) of the patients with Stage IIa disease, 55.6% (5/9) of the patients with Stage IIb disease and 37.5% (3/8) of the patients with Stage III disease had undergone no additional surgery. Success rates were higher in patients with Ficat Stage I or II lesions than in those with Stage III lesions. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in terms of success rate or in the clinical and radiographic results of the two methods. Essentially the same results were found with stem cell implantation as with the conventional method of core decompression.

Subject-independent emotion recognition based on physiological signals: a three-stage decision method.

PubMed

Chen, Jing; Hu, Bin; Wang, Yue; Moore, Philip; Dai, Yongqiang; Feng, Lei; Ding, Zhijie

2017-12-20

Collaboration between humans and computers has become pervasive and ubiquitous, however current computer systems are limited in that they fail to address the emotional component. An accurate understanding of human emotions is necessary for these computers to trigger proper feedback. Among multiple emotional channels, physiological signals are synchronous with emotional responses; therefore, analyzing physiological changes is a recognized way to estimate human emotions. In this paper, a three-stage decision method is proposed to recognize four emotions based on physiological signals in the multi-subject context. Emotion detection is achieved by using a stage-divided strategy in which each stage deals with a fine-grained goal. The decision method consists of three stages. During the training process, the initial stage transforms mixed training subjects to separate groups, thus eliminating the effect of individual differences. The second stage categorizes four emotions into two emotion pools in order to reduce recognition complexity. The third stage trains a classifier based on emotions in each emotion pool. During the testing process, a test case or test trial will be initially classified to a group followed by classification into an emotion pool in the second stage. An emotion will be assigned to the test trial in the final stage. In this paper we consider two different ways of allocating four emotions into two emotion pools. A comparative analysis is also carried out between the proposal and other methods. An average recognition accuracy of 77.57% was achieved on the recognition of four emotions with the best accuracy of 86.67% to recognize the positive and excited emotion. Using differing ways of allocating four emotions into two emotion pools, we found there is a difference in the effectiveness of a classifier on learning each emotion. When compared to other methods, the proposed method demonstrates a significant improvement in recognizing four emotions in the multi-subject context. The proposed three-stage decision method solves a crucial issue which is 'individual differences' in multi-subject emotion recognition and overcomes the suboptimal performance with respect to direct classification of multiple emotions. Our study supports the observation that the proposed method represents a promising methodology for recognizing multiple emotions in the multi-subject context.

Early indicators of exposure to biological threat agents using host gene profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cells

PubMed Central

Das, Rina; Hammamieh, Rasha; Neill, Roger; Ludwig, George V; Eker, Steven; Lincoln, Patrick; Ramamoorthy, Preveen; Dhokalia, Apsara; Mani, Sachin; Mendis, Chanaka; Cummings, Christiano; Kearney, Brian; Royaee, Atabak; Huang, Xiao-Zhe; Paranavitana, Chrysanthi; Smith, Leonard; Peel, Sheila; Kanesa-Thasan, Niranjan; Hoover, David; Lindler, Luther E; Yang, David; Henchal, Erik; Jett, Marti

2008-01-01

Background Effective prophylaxis and treatment for infections caused by biological threat agents (BTA) rely upon early diagnosis and rapid initiation of therapy. Most methods for identifying pathogens in body fluids and tissues require that the pathogen proliferate to detectable and dangerous levels, thereby delaying diagnosis and treatment, especially during the prelatent stages when symptoms for most BTA are indistinguishable flu-like signs. Methods To detect exposures to the various pathogens more rapidly, especially during these early stages, we evaluated a suite of host responses to biological threat agents using global gene expression profiling on complementary DNA arrays. Results We found that certain gene expression patterns were unique to each pathogen and that other gene changes occurred in response to multiple agents, perhaps relating to the eventual course of illness. Nonhuman primates were exposed to some pathogens and the in vitro and in vivo findings were compared. We found major gene expression changes at the earliest times tested post exposure to aerosolized B. anthracis spores and 30 min post exposure to a bacterial toxin. Conclusion Host gene expression patterns have the potential to serve as diagnostic markers or predict the course of impending illness and may lead to new stage-appropriate therapeutic strategies to ameliorate the devastating effects of exposure to biothreat agents. PMID:18667072

Appropriate kidney stone size for ureteroscopic lithotripsy: When to switch to a percutaneous approach

PubMed Central

Takazawa, Ryoji; Kitayama, Sachi; Tsujii, Toshihiko

2015-01-01

Flexible ureteroscopy (fURS) has become a more effective and safer treatment for whole upper urinary tract stones. Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL) is currently the first-line recommended treatment for large kidney stones ≥ 20 mm and it has an excellent stone-free rate for large kidney stones. However, its invasiveness is not negligible considering its major complication rates. Staged fURS is a practical treatment for such large kidney stones because fURS has a minimal blood transfusion risk, short hospitalization and few restrictions on daily routines. However, as the stone size becomes larger, the stone-free rate decreases, and the number of operations required increases. Therefore, in our opinion, staged fURS is a practical option for kidney stones 20 to 40 mm. Miniaturized PNL combined with fURS should be considered to be a preferred option for stones larger than 40 mm. Moreover, URS is an effective treatment for multiple upper urinary tract stones. Especially for patients with a stone burden < 20 mm, URS is a favorable option that promises a high stone-free rate after a single session either unilaterally or bilaterally. However, for patients with a stone burden ≥ 20 mm, a staged operation should be considered to achieve stone-free status. PMID:25664253

Attenuation of p38-Mediated miR-1/133 Expression Facilitates Myoblast Proliferation during the Early Stage of Muscle Regeneration

PubMed Central

Zhang, Duo; Li, Xihua; Chen, Chuchu; Li, Yuyin; Zhao, Lei; Jing, Yanyan; Liu, Wei; Wang, Xiaoyun; Zhang, Ying; Xia, Hongfeng; Chang, Yaning; Gao, Xiang; Yan, Jun; Ying, Hao

2012-01-01

Myoblast proliferation following myotrauma is regulated by multiple factors including growth factors, signal pathways, transcription factors, and miRNAs. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the orchestration of these regulatory factors remain unclear. Here we show that p38 signaling is required for miR-1/133a clusters transcription and both p38 activity and miR-1/133 expression are attenuated during the early stage of muscle regeneration in various animal models. Additionally, we show that both miR-1 and miR-133 reduce Cyclin D1 expression and repress myoblast proliferation by inducing G1 phase arrest. Furthermore, we demonstrate that miR-133 inhibits mitotic progression by targeting Sp1, which mediates Cyclin D1 transcription, while miR-1 suppresses G1/S phase transition by targeting Cyclin D1. Finally, we reveal that proproliferative FGF2, which is elevated during muscle regeneration, attenuates p38 signaling and miR-1/133 expression. Taken together, our results suggest that downregulation of p38-mediated miR-1/133 expression by FGF2 and subsequent upregulation of Sp1/Cyclin D1 contribute to the increased myoblast proliferation during the early stage of muscle regeneration. PMID:22911796

Attenuation of p38-mediated miR-1/133 expression facilitates myoblast proliferation during the early stage of muscle regeneration.

PubMed

Zhang, Duo; Li, Xihua; Chen, Chuchu; Li, Yuyin; Zhao, Lei; Jing, Yanyan; Liu, Wei; Wang, Xiaoyun; Zhang, Ying; Xia, Hongfeng; Chang, Yaning; Gao, Xiang; Yan, Jun; Ying, Hao

2012-01-01

Myoblast proliferation following myotrauma is regulated by multiple factors including growth factors, signal pathways, transcription factors, and miRNAs. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the orchestration of these regulatory factors remain unclear. Here we show that p38 signaling is required for miR-1/133a clusters transcription and both p38 activity and miR-1/133 expression are attenuated during the early stage of muscle regeneration in various animal models. Additionally, we show that both miR-1 and miR-133 reduce Cyclin D1 expression and repress myoblast proliferation by inducing G1 phase arrest. Furthermore, we demonstrate that miR-133 inhibits mitotic progression by targeting Sp1, which mediates Cyclin D1 transcription, while miR-1 suppresses G1/S phase transition by targeting Cyclin D1. Finally, we reveal that proproliferative FGF2, which is elevated during muscle regeneration, attenuates p38 signaling and miR-1/133 expression. Taken together, our results suggest that downregulation of p38-mediated miR-1/133 expression by FGF2 and subsequent upregulation of Sp1/Cyclin D1 contribute to the increased myoblast proliferation during the early stage of muscle regeneration.

An Optimal Bahadur-Efficient Method in Detection of Sparse Signals with Applications to Pathway Analysis in Sequencing Association Studies.

PubMed

Dai, Hongying; Wu, Guodong; Wu, Michael; Zhi, Degui

2016-01-01

Next-generation sequencing data pose a severe curse of dimensionality, complicating traditional "single marker-single trait" analysis. We propose a two-stage combined p-value method for pathway analysis. The first stage is at the gene level, where we integrate effects within a gene using the Sequence Kernel Association Test (SKAT). The second stage is at the pathway level, where we perform a correlated Lancaster procedure to detect joint effects from multiple genes within a pathway. We show that the Lancaster procedure is optimal in Bahadur efficiency among all combined p-value methods. The Bahadur efficiency,[Formula: see text], compares sample sizes among different statistical tests when signals become sparse in sequencing data, i.e. ε →0. The optimal Bahadur efficiency ensures that the Lancaster procedure asymptotically requires a minimal sample size to detect sparse signals ([Formula: see text]). The Lancaster procedure can also be applied to meta-analysis. Extensive empirical assessments of exome sequencing data show that the proposed method outperforms Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA). We applied the competitive Lancaster procedure to meta-analysis data generated by the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium to identify pathways significantly associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and total cholesterol.

Quantitative Tissue Proteomics Analysis Reveals Versican as Potential Biomarker for Early-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

PubMed

Naboulsi, Wael; Megger, Dominik A; Bracht, Thilo; Kohl, Michael; Turewicz, Michael; Eisenacher, Martin; Voss, Don Marvin; Schlaak, Jörg F; Hoffmann, Andreas-Claudius; Weber, Frank; Baba, Hideo A; Meyer, Helmut E; Sitek, Barbara

2016-01-04

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most aggressive tumors, and the treatment outcome of this disease is improved when the cancer is diagnosed at an early stage. This requires biomarkers allowing an accurate and early tumor diagnosis. To identify potential markers for such applications, we analyzed a patient cohort consisting of 50 patients (50 HCC and 50 adjacent nontumorous tissue samples as controls) using two independent proteomics approaches. We performed label-free discovery analysis on 19 HCC and corresponding tissue samples. The data were analyzed considering events known to take place in early events of HCC development, such as abnormal regulation of Wnt/b-catenin and activation of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). 31 proteins were selected for verification experiments. For this analysis, the second set of the patient cohort (31 HCC and corresponding tissue samples) was analyzed using selected (multiple) reaction monitoring (SRM/MRM). We present the overexpression of ATP-dependent RNA helicase (DDX39), Fibulin-5 (FBLN5), myristoylated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate (MARCKS), and Serpin H1 (SERPINH1) in HCC for the first time. We demonstrate Versican core protein (VCAN) to be significantly associated with well differentiated and low-stage HCC. We revealed for the first time the evidence of VCAN as a potential biomarker for early-HCC diagnosis.

The effect of caudal vs intravenous morphine on early extubation and postoperative analgesic requirements for stage 2 and 3 single-ventricle palliation: a double blind randomized trial.

PubMed

Stuth, Eckehard A E; Berens, Richard J; Staudt, Susan R; Robertson, Frederick A; Scott, John P; Stucke, Astrid G; Hoffman, George M; Troshynski, Todd J; Tweddell, James S T; Zuperku, Edward J

2011-04-01

High-dose single-shot caudal morphine has been postulated to facilitate early extubation and to lower initial analgesic requirements after staged single-ventricle (SV) palliation. With Institutional Review Board approval and written informed parental consent, 64 SV children aged 75-1667 days were randomized to pre-incisional caudal morphine-bupivacaine (100 μg·kg(-1) morphine (concentration 0.1%), mixed with 0.25% bupivacaine with 1 : 200,000 epinephrine, total 1 ml·kg(-1)) and postcardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) intravenous (IV) droperidol (75 μg·kg(-1)) ('active caudal group') or pre-incisional caudal saline (1 ml·kg(-1)) and post-CPB IV morphine (150 μg·kg(-1)) with droperidol (75 μg·kg(-1)) ('active IV group'). Assignment remained concealed from families and the care teams throughout the trial. Early extubation failure rates (primary or reintubation within 24 h), time to first postoperative rescue morphine analgesia, and 12-h postoperative morphine requirements were assessed for extubated patients. Thirty-one (12 stage 2) SV patients received caudal morphine and 32 (15 stage 2) received IV morphine. Extubation failure rates were 6/31 (19%) for caudal and 5/32 (16%) for IV morphine. For successfully extubated patients (n = 54), active caudal treatment significantly delayed the need for postoperative rescue morphine in stage 3 patients (P = 0.02) but not in stage 2 patients (P = 0.189) (Kaplan-Meier survival analysis with LogRank test). The reduction in 12-h postoperative morphine requirements with active caudal treatment did not reach significance (P = 0.085) but morphine requirements were significantly higher for stage 2 compared with stage 3 patients (P < 0.001) (two-way anova in n = 50 extubated patients). High-dose caudal morphine with bupivacaine delayed the need for rescue morphine analgesia in stage 3 patients. All stage 2 patients required early rescue morphine and had significantly higher postoperative 12-h morphine requirements than stage 3 patients. Early extubation is feasible for the majority of stage 2 and 3 SV patients regardless of analgesic regimen. The study was underpowered to assess differences in extubation failure rates. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Species-environment relationships and vegetation patterns: Effects of spatial scale and tree life-stage

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stohlgren, T.J.; Bachand, R.R.; Onami, Y.; Binkley, Dan

1998-01-01

Do relationships between species and environmental gradients strengthen or weaken with tree life-stage (i.e., small seedlings, large seedlings, saplings, and mature trees)? Strengthened relationships may lead to distinct forest type boundaries, or weakening connections could lead to gradual ecotones and heterogeneous forest landscapes. We quantified the changes in forest dominance (basal area of tree species by life-stage) and environmental factors (elevation, slope, aspect, intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), summer soil moisture, and soil depth and texture) across 14 forest ecotones (n = 584, 10 m x 10 m plots) in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, U.S.A. Local, ecotone-specific species-environment relationships, based on multiple regression techniques, generally strengthened from the small seedling stage (multiple R2 ranged from 0.00 to 0.26) to the tree stage (multiple R2 ranged from 0.20 to 0.61). At the landscape scale, combined canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) among species and for all tree life-stages suggested that the seedlings of most species became established in lower-elevation, drier sites than where mature trees of the same species dominated. However, conflicting evidence showed that species-environment relationships may weaken with tree life-stage. Seedlings were only found in a subset of plots (habitats) occupied by mature trees of the same species. At the landscape scale, CCA results showed that species-environment relationships weakened somewhat from the small seedling stage (86.4% of the variance explained by the first two axes) to the tree stage (76.6% of variance explained). The basal area of tree species co-occurring with Pinus contorta Doug. ex. Loud declined more gradually than P. contorta basal area declined across ecotones, resulting in less-distinct forest type boundaries. We conclude that broad, gradual ecotones and heterogeneous forest landscapes are created and maintained by: (1) sporadic establishment of seedlings in sub-optimal habitats; (2) survivorship of saplings and mature trees in a wider range of environmental conditions than seedlings presently endure; and (3) the longevity of trees and persistence of tree species in a broad range of soils, climates, and disturbance regimes.

Clustering of diet, physical activity and smoking and a general willingness to change.

PubMed

de Vries, Hein; Kremers, Stef; Smeets, Tamara; Reubsaet, Astrid

2008-01-01

Addressing multiple health behaviours are important in preventing disease and mortality. The present study investigated the clustering of health behaviours, cognitive determinants and stages of change in 2827 adults for the lifestyle factors of physical activity, fruit, vegetable and fat consumption and smoking. The results showed that only 3% of the total population met recommended guidelines for all of the five behaviours. Behaviours were found to be weakly associated. Behaviour-specific cognitions and stages of change for the behaviours clustered more strongly, however. With respect to diet and physical activity, respondents in the preparation stage for one behaviour were likely also to be preparing to change another behaviour. Possible mechanisms for the apparent general willingness to change multiple behaviours are discussed, as well as potential implications for health promotion practice.

Environmental protection requirements for scout/shuttle auxiliary stages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Qualls, G. L.; Kress, S. S.; Storey, W. W.; Ransdell, P. N.

1980-01-01

The requirements for enabling the Scout upper stages to endure the expected temperature, mechanical shock, acoustical and mechanical vibration environments during a specified shuttle mission were determined. The study consisted of: determining a shuttle mission trajectory for a 545 kilogram (1200 pound) Scout payload; compilation of shuttle environmental conditions; determining of Scout upper stages environments in shuttle missions; compilation of Scout upper stages environmental qualification criteria and comparison to shuttle mission expected environments; and recommendations for enabling Scout upper stages to endure the exptected shuttle mission environments.

Network meta-analysis of multiple outcome measures accounting for borrowing of information across outcomes

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Network meta-analysis (NMA) enables simultaneous comparison of multiple treatments while preserving randomisation. When summarising evidence to inform an economic evaluation, it is important that the analysis accurately reflects the dependency structure within the data, as correlations between outcomes may have implication for estimating the net benefit associated with treatment. A multivariate NMA offers a framework for evaluating multiple treatments across multiple outcome measures while accounting for the correlation structure between outcomes. Methods The standard NMA model is extended to multiple outcome settings in two stages. In the first stage, information is borrowed across outcomes as well across studies through modelling the within-study and between-study correlation structure. In the second stage, we make use of the additional assumption that intervention effects are exchangeable between outcomes to predict effect estimates for all outcomes, including effect estimates on outcomes where evidence is either sparse or the treatment had not been considered by any one of the studies included in the analysis. We apply the methods to binary outcome data from a systematic review evaluating the effectiveness of nine home safety interventions on uptake of three poisoning prevention practices (safe storage of medicines, safe storage of other household products, and possession of poison centre control telephone number) in households with children. Analyses are conducted in WinBUGS using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations. Results Univariate and the first stage multivariate models produced broadly similar point estimates of intervention effects but the uncertainty around the multivariate estimates varied depending on the prior distribution specified for the between-study covariance structure. The second stage multivariate analyses produced more precise effect estimates while enabling intervention effects to be predicted for all outcomes, including intervention effects on outcomes not directly considered by the studies included in the analysis. Conclusions Accounting for the dependency between outcomes in a multivariate meta-analysis may or may not improve the precision of effect estimates from a network meta-analysis compared to analysing each outcome separately. PMID:25047164

Sleep stage classification by body movement index and respiratory interval indices using multiple radar sensors.

PubMed

Kagawa, Masayuki; Sasaki, Noriyuki; Suzumura, Kazuki; Matsui, Takemi

2015-01-01

Disturbed sleep has become more common in recent years. To increase the quality of sleep, undergoing sleep observation has gained interest as an attempt to resolve possible problems. In this paper, we evaluate a non-restrictive and non-contact method for classifying real-time sleep stages and report on its potential applications. The proposed system measures body movements and respiratory signals of a sleeping person using a multiple 24-GHz microwave radar placed beneath the mattress. We determined a body-movement index to identify wake and sleep periods, and fluctuation indices of respiratory intervals to identify sleep stages. For identifying wake and sleep periods, the rate agreement between the body-movement index and the reference result using the R&K method was 83.5 ± 6.3%. One-minute standard deviations, one of the fluctuation indices of respiratory intervals, had a high degree of contribution and showed a significant difference across the three sleep stages (REM, LIGHT, and DEEP; p <; 0.001). Although the degree that the 5-min fractal dimension contributed-another fluctuation index-was not as high as expected, its difference between REM and DEEP sleep was significant (p <; 0.05). We applied a linear discriminant function to classify wake or sleep periods and to estimate the three sleep stages. The accuracy was 79.3% for classification and 71.9% for estimation. This is a novel system for measuring body movements and body-surface movements that are induced by respiration and for measuring high sensitivity pulse waves using multiple radar signals. This method simplifies measurement of sleep stages and may be employed at nursing care facilities or by the general public to increase sleep quality.

Early cognitive impairment along with decreased stress-induced BDNF in male and female patients with newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis.

PubMed

Prokopova, Barbora; Hlavacova, Natasa; Vlcek, Miroslav; Penesova, Adela; Grunnerova, Lucia; Garafova, Alexandra; Turcani, Peter; Kollar, Branislav; Jezova, Daniela

2017-01-15

The aim of this study was to evaluate neuroendocrine activation during stress in patients with recently diagnosed multiple sclerosis before starting the immunomodulatory therapy (EDSS score≤2.0). We verified the hypothesis that certain cognitive and affective dysfunction is present already at this early stage of the disease. The sample consisted of 38 subjects, which involved patients who were recently diagnosed multiple sclerosis and age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Stroop test served as mental stress model enabling measurement of cognitive performance. Present results showed increased state anxiety, depression scores and poorer performance in the Stroop test in the group of patients compared to healthy subjects. The cognitive dysfunction was particularly evident in male patients with simultaneously decreased concentrations of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in plasma. The patients at this stage of the disease have not yet developed the hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. They showed normal levels of plasma copeptin and reduced aldosterone response to mental stress test in women only. Concentrations of plasma copeptin were higher in men compared to women. Very early stages of multiple sclerosis are accompanied by disturbances in psychological well-being, mild cognitive dysfunction and decreased plasma concentrations of BDNF, particularly in male patients. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Multivariate space-time modelling of multiple air pollutants and their health effects accounting for exposure uncertainty.

PubMed

Huang, Guowen; Lee, Duncan; Scott, E Marian

2018-03-30

The long-term health effects of air pollution are often estimated using a spatio-temporal ecological areal unit study, but this design leads to the following statistical challenges: (1) how to estimate spatially representative pollution concentrations for each areal unit; (2) how to allow for the uncertainty in these estimated concentrations when estimating their health effects; and (3) how to simultaneously estimate the joint effects of multiple correlated pollutants. This article proposes a novel 2-stage Bayesian hierarchical model for addressing these 3 challenges, with inference based on Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. The first stage is a multivariate spatio-temporal fusion model for predicting areal level average concentrations of multiple pollutants from both monitored and modelled pollution data. The second stage is a spatio-temporal model for estimating the health impact of multiple correlated pollutants simultaneously, which accounts for the uncertainty in the estimated pollution concentrations. The novel methodology is motivated by a new study of the impact of both particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide concentrations on respiratory hospital admissions in Scotland between 2007 and 2011, and the results suggest that both pollutants exhibit substantial and independent health effects. © 2017 The Authors. Statistics in Medicine Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Multiple stage multiple filter hydrate store

DOEpatents

Bjorkman, H.K. Jr.

1983-05-31

An improved hydrate store for a metal halogen battery system is disclosed which employs a multiple stage, multiple filter means for separating the halogen hydrate from the liquid used in forming the hydrate. The filter means is constructed in the form of three separate sections which combine to substantially cover the interior surface of the store container. Exit conduit means is provided in association with the filter means for transmitting liquid passing through the filter means to a hydrate former subsystem. The hydrate former subsystem combines the halogen gas generated during the charging of the battery system with the liquid to form the hydrate in association with the store. Relief valve means is interposed in the exit conduit means for controlling the operation of the separate sections of the filter means, such that the liquid flow through the exit conduit means from each of the separate sections is controlled in a predetermined sequence. The three separate sections of the filter means operate in three discrete stages to provide a substantially uniform liquid flow to the hydrate former subsystem during the charging of the battery system. The separation of the liquid from the hydrate causes an increase in the density of the hydrate by concentrating the hydrate along the filter means. 7 figs.

Multiple stage multiple filter hydrate store

DOEpatents

Bjorkman, Jr., Harry K.

1983-05-31

An improved hydrate store for a metal halogen battery system is disclosed which employs a multiple stage, multiple filter means or separating the halogen hydrate from the liquid used in forming the hydrate. The filter means is constructed in the form of three separate sections which combine to substantially cover the interior surface of the store container. Exit conduit means is provided in association with the filter means for transmitting liquid passing through the filter means to a hydrate former subsystem. The hydrate former subsystem combines the halogen gas generated during the charging of the battery system with the liquid to form the hydrate in association with the store. Relief valve means is interposed in the exit conduit means for controlling the operation of the separate sections of the filter means, such that the liquid flow through the exit conduit means from each of the separate sections is controlled in a predetermined sequence. The three separate sections of the filter means operate in three discrete stages to provide a substantially uniform liquid flow to the hydrate former subsystem during the charging of the battery system. The separation of the liquid from the hydrate causes an increase in the density of the hydrate by concentrating the hydrate along the filter means.

Multi-channel EEG-based sleep stage classification with joint collaborative representation and multiple kernel learning.

PubMed

Shi, Jun; Liu, Xiao; Li, Yan; Zhang, Qi; Li, Yingjie; Ying, Shihui

2015-10-30

Electroencephalography (EEG) based sleep staging is commonly used in clinical routine. Feature extraction and representation plays a crucial role in EEG-based automatic classification of sleep stages. Sparse representation (SR) is a state-of-the-art unsupervised feature learning method suitable for EEG feature representation. Collaborative representation (CR) is an effective data coding method used as a classifier. Here we use CR as a data representation method to learn features from the EEG signal. A joint collaboration model is established to develop a multi-view learning algorithm, and generate joint CR (JCR) codes to fuse and represent multi-channel EEG signals. A two-stage multi-view learning-based sleep staging framework is then constructed, in which JCR and joint sparse representation (JSR) algorithms first fuse and learning the feature representation from multi-channel EEG signals, respectively. Multi-view JCR and JSR features are then integrated and sleep stages recognized by a multiple kernel extreme learning machine (MK-ELM) algorithm with grid search. The proposed two-stage multi-view learning algorithm achieves superior performance for sleep staging. With a K-means clustering based dictionary, the mean classification accuracy, sensitivity and specificity are 81.10 ± 0.15%, 71.42 ± 0.66% and 94.57 ± 0.07%, respectively; while with the dictionary learned using the submodular optimization method, they are 80.29 ± 0.22%, 71.26 ± 0.78% and 94.38 ± 0.10%, respectively. The two-stage multi-view learning based sleep staging framework outperforms all other classification methods compared in this work, while JCR is superior to JSR. The proposed multi-view learning framework has the potential for sleep staging based on multi-channel or multi-modality polysomnography signals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Paths to Expertise in Portuguese National Team Athletes

PubMed Central

Leite, Nuno; Baker, Joseph; Sampaio, Jaime

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify the quantity and type of sporting activities undertaken by expert team sport athletes in the earlier stages of the long- term athlete development. Experts in roller-hockey (n = 19), volleyball (n = 14), soccer (n = 42) and basketball (n = 37) provided detailed information about the sporting activities they undertook throughout their careers. Results showed considerable variation between and within sports; however, generally, athletes began participating in sports between 6 and 10 years of age. The pattern of participation in specific and non-specific (team, individual and combat) sports for each stage of involvement demonstrated an increase in the number of activities participated in until early adolescence. Our results suggest that involvement in multiple sports during early stages of development is an alternative to early specialization and add further evidence of the complexity of skill acquisition in sport. Key points Although most athletes began sport participation between 6 and 10 years of age, there was significant variation across groups suggesting considerable flexibility in the pathways to expertise. The path to expertise in volleyball was clearly distinct from the paths of basketball, soccer and roller-hockey. There is a considerable involvement in sports other than the athlete’s primary sport, suggesting early specialization is not required for these sports. The pattern of participation in specific and non-specific sports for each stage of involvement demonstrated an increase in the number of activities participated in until early adolescence. PMID:24149598

Self-shielding printed circuit boards for high frequency amplifiers and transmitters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Galvin, D.

1969-01-01

Printed circuit boards retaining as much copper as possible provide electromagnetic shielding between stages of the high frequency amplifiers and transmitters. Oscillation is prevented, spurious output signals are reduced, and multiple stages are kept isolated from each other, both thermally and electrically.

Educational Gymnastics--Stages of Content Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nilges, Lynda M.

1997-01-01

Educational gymnastics uses a problem-solving approach to accommodate multiple correct solutions to open-ended movement problems in gymnastics. A four-stage framework is outlined to help teachers systematically increase and decrease task difficulty in educational gymnastics. Answers to common questions about educational gymnastics are provided.…

Identifying predictors of time-inhomogeneous viral evolutionary processes.

PubMed

Bielejec, Filip; Baele, Guy; Rodrigo, Allen G; Suchard, Marc A; Lemey, Philippe

2016-07-01

Various factors determine the rate at which mutations are generated and fixed in viral genomes. Viral evolutionary rates may vary over the course of a single persistent infection and can reflect changes in replication rates and selective dynamics. Dedicated statistical inference approaches are required to understand how the complex interplay of these processes shapes the genetic diversity and divergence in viral populations. Although evolutionary models accommodating a high degree of complexity can now be formalized, adequately informing these models by potentially sparse data, and assessing the association of the resulting estimates with external predictors, remains a major challenge. In this article, we present a novel Bayesian evolutionary inference method, which integrates multiple potential predictors and tests their association with variation in the absolute rates of synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions along the evolutionary history. We consider clinical and virological measures as predictors, but also changes in population size trajectories that are simultaneously inferred using coalescent modelling. We demonstrate the potential of our method in an application to within-host HIV-1 sequence data sampled throughout the infection of multiple patients. While analyses of individual patient populations lack statistical power, we detect significant evidence for an abrupt drop in non-synonymous rates in late stage infection and a more gradual increase in synonymous rates over the course of infection in a joint analysis across all patients. The former is predicted by the immune relaxation hypothesis while the latter may be in line with increasing replicative fitness during the asymptomatic stage.

A new multiple-stage electrocoagulation process on anaerobic digestion effluent to simultaneously reclaim water and clean up biogas.

PubMed

Liu, Zhiguo; Stromberg, David; Liu, Xuming; Liao, Wei; Liu, Yan

2015-03-21

A new multiple-stage treatment process was developed via integrating electrocoagulation with biogas pumping to simultaneously reclaim anaerobic digestion effluent and clean up biogas. The 1st stage of electrocoagulation treatment under the preferred reaction condition led to removal efficiencies of 30%, 81%, 37% and >99.9% for total solids, chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen and total phosphorus, respectively. Raw biogas was then used as a reactant and pumped into the effluent to simultaneously neutralize pH of the effluent and remove H2S in the biogas. The 2nd stage of electrocoagulation treatment on the neutralized effluent showed that under the selected reaction condition, additional 60% and 10% of turbidity and chemical oxygen demand were further removed. The study concluded a dual-purpose approach for the first time to synergistically combine biogas purification and water reclamation for anaerobic digestion system, which well addresses the downstream challenges of anaerobic digestion technology. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effective multiple stages continuous acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation by immobilized bioreactors: Making full use of fresh corn stalk.

PubMed

Chang, Zhen; Cai, Di; Wang, Yong; Chen, Changjing; Fu, Chaohui; Wang, Guoqing; Qin, Peiyong; Wang, Zheng; Tan, Tianwei

2016-04-01

In order to make full use of the fresh corn stalk, the sugar containing juice was used as the sole substrate for acetone-butanol-ethanol production without any nutrients supplement, and the bagasse after squeezing the juice was used as the immobilized carrier. A total 21.34g/L of ABE was produced in batch cells immobilization system with ABE yield of 0.35g/g. A continuous fermentation containing three stages with immobilized cells was conducted and the effect of dilution rate on fermentation was investigated. As a result, the productivity and ABE solvents concentration reached 0.80g/Lh and 19.93g/L, respectively, when the dilution rate in each stage was 0.12/h (corresponding to a dilution rate of 0.04/h in the whole system). And the long-term operation indicated the continuous multiple stages ABE fermentation process had good stability and showed the great potential in future industrial applications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prevalence of chronic kidney disease among patients undergoing transradial percutaneous coronary interventions.

PubMed

Hossain, Mohammad A; Quinlan, Amy; Heck-Kanellidis, Jennifer; Calderon, Dawn; Patel, Tejas; Gandhi, Bhavika; Patel, Shrinil; Hetavi, Mahida; Costanzo, Eric J; Cosentino, James; Patel, Chirag; Dewan, Asa; Kuo, Yen-Hong; Salman, Loay; Vachharajani, Tushar J

2018-07-01

While transradial approach to conduct percutaneous coronary interventions offers multiple advantages, the procedure can cause radial artery damage and occlusion. Because radial artery is the preferred site for the creation of an arteriovenous fistula to provide dialysis, patients with chronic kidney disease are particularly dependent on radial artery for their long-term survival. In this retrospective study, we investigated the prevalence of chronic kidney disease in patients undergoing coronary interventions via radial artery. Stage of chronic kidney disease was based on estimated glomerular filtration rate and National Kidney Foundation - Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative guidelines. A total of 497 patients undergoing transradial percutaneous coronary interventions were included. Over 70.4% (350/497) of the patients had chronic kidney disease. Stage II chronic kidney disease was observed in 243 (69%) patients (estimated glomerular filtration rate = 76.0 ± 8.4 mL/min). Stage III was observed in 93 (27%) patients (estimated glomerular filtration rate = 49 ± 7.5 mL/min). Stage IV chronic kidney disease was observed in 5 (1%) patients (estimated glomerular filtration rate = 25.6 ± 4.3 mL/min) and Stage V chronic kidney disease was observed in 9 (3%) patients (estimated glomerular filtration rate = 9.3 ± 3.5 mL/min). Overall, 107 of 350 patients (30%) had advanced chronic kidney disease, that is, stage III-V chronic kidney disease. Importantly, 14 of the 107 (13%) patients had either stage IV or V chronic kidney disease. This study finds that nearly one-third of the patients undergoing transradial percutaneous coronary interventions have advanced chronic kidney disease. Because many of these patients may require dialysis, the use of radial artery to conduct percutaneous coronary interventions must be carefully considered in chronic kidney disease population.

Feather corticosterone levels are related to age and future body condition, but not to subsequent fitness, in a declining migratory songbird.

PubMed

Boves, Than J; Fairhurst, Graham D; Rushing, Clark S; Buehler, David A

2016-01-01

In migratory species, breeding and non-breeding locations are geographically separate, yet the effects of conditions from one stage may carry over to affect a subsequent stage. Ideally, to understand the mechanisms and implications of 'carry-over effects', one would need to follow individuals throughout the year, quantify potential environmental causal factors and physiological mediators during multiple life-history stages, and measure downstream fitness. Owing to current limitations of tracking technology, this is impossible for small, long-distance migrants, so indirect methods to characterize carry-over effects are required. Corticosterone (CORT) is a suspected physiological mediator of carry-over effects, but when collected from blood it provides only a physiological snapshot at that point in time. When extracted from feathers, however, feather corticosterone (CORT f ) provides a measure of responses to stressors from previous, and longer, time periods. We collected feathers grown during two life-history stages (post-breeding and subsequent wintering) from individuals of two age classes of a rapidly declining migratory songbird, the cerulean warbler ( Setophaga cerulea ), on their breeding grounds and quantified CORT f concentrations. We then monitored reproduction and survival of individuals and analysed relationships among CORT f and age, body condition and future fitness. Compared with older males, second-year males had higher CORT f concentrations during both stages. When controlling for age and year, body condition at capture was positively related to CORT f concentrations from winter (especially for older birds). However, we found no relationships between CORT f and fitness (as defined by reproduction and survival). Thus, elevated CORT may represent a beneficial physiological response (e.g. hyperphagia prior to migration), particularly for certain life-history stages, and may mediate the condition in which individuals transition between stages. But for those birds that survive migration, subsequent fitness is likely determined by more recent events and local conditions (i.e. on breeding grounds), which have the potential to counteract conditions from the winter.

Multiple drilling combined with simvastatin versus multiple drilling alone for the treatment of avascular osteonecrosis of the femoral head: 3-year follow-up study.

PubMed

Yin, Han; Yuan, Zhenfeng; Wang, Dawei

2016-08-15

Multiple small drilling for core decompression is widely used to preserve the femoral head in patients with avascular necrosis of the femoral head (ANFH). Nevertheless, the clinical outcome remains controversial. Simvastatin has been demonstrated to promote bone formation and reduce bone adsorption. The purpose of this study was to determine whether simvastatin enhanced the effect of multiple decompressions in preventing progression of ANFH and to identify independent risk factors associated with poor results. We retrospectively analyzed 58 hips in 36 patients, with a follow-up of 36 months. 20 patients (32 hips) underwent multiple drilling combined with simvastatin treatment (SIM group); 16 patients (26 hips) underwent multiple drilling alone (MD group). We defined clinical failure as a requirement for subsequent hip surgery or Harris Hip Score < 75. New occurrence of collapse or increased collapse > 2 mm on plain radiographs was defined as radiological failure. Successful clinical results were achieved in 27 of 32 hips (84 %) in the SIM group compared with 15 of 26 hips (58 %) in the MD group (OR = 0.2, CI (0.1, 0.6.), P = 0.032). Successful radiological results were achieved in 27 of 32 hips (84 %) in the SIM group and in 16 of 26 hips (61.5 %) in the MD group (P = 0.048). Body mass index, disease stage and location of lesion were independent prognostic factors for overall survival. We believe that simvastatin could enhance the effects of multiple decompressions in preventing progression of ANFH and reducing the risk of femoral head collapse.

Multiple particle tracking in 3-D+t microscopy: method and application to the tracking of endocytosed quantum dots.

PubMed

Genovesio, Auguste; Liedl, Tim; Emiliani, Valentina; Parak, Wolfgang J; Coppey-Moisan, Maité; Olivo-Marin, Jean-Christophe

2006-05-01

We propose a method to detect and track multiple moving biological spot-like particles showing different kinds of dynamics in image sequences acquired through multidimensional fluorescence microscopy. It enables the extraction and analysis of information such as number, position, speed, movement, and diffusion phases of, e.g., endosomal particles. The method consists of several stages. After a detection stage performed by a three-dimensional (3-D) undecimated wavelet transform, we compute, for each detected spot, several predictions of its future state in the next frame. This is accomplished thanks to an interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm which includes several models corresponding to different biologically realistic movement types. Tracks are constructed, thereafter, by a data association algorithm based on the maximization of the likelihood of each IMM. The last stage consists of updating the IMM filters in order to compute final estimations for the present image and to improve predictions for the next image. The performances of the method are validated on synthetic image data and used to characterize the 3-D movement of endocytic vesicles containing quantum dots.

Does Skipping a Meal Matter to a Butterfly's Appearance? Effects of Larval Food Stress on Wing Morphology and Color in Monarch Butterflies

PubMed Central

Johnson, Haley; Solensky, Michelle J.; Satterfield, Dara A.; Davis, Andrew K.

2014-01-01

In animals with complex life cycles, all resources needed to form adult tissues are procured at the larval stage. For butterflies, the proper development of wings involves synthesizing tissue during metamorphosis based on the raw materials obtained by larvae. Similarly, manufacture of pigment for wing scales also requires resources acquired by larvae. We conducted an experiment to test the effects of food deprivation in the larval stage on multiple measures of adult wing morphology and coloration of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), a species in which long-distance migration makes flight efficiency critical. In a captive setting, we restricted food (milkweed) from late-stage larvae for either 24 hrs or 48 hrs, then after metamorphosis we used image analysis methods to measure forewing surface area and elongation (length/width), which are both important for migration. We also measured the brightness of orange pigment and the intensity of black on the wing. There were correlations between several wing features, including an unexpected association between wing elongation and melanism, which will require further study to fully understand. The clearest effect of food restriction was a reduction in adult wing size in the high stress group (by approximately 2%). Patterns observed for other wing traits were ambiguous: monarchs in the low stress group (but not the high) had less elongated and paler orange pigmentation. There was no effect on wing melanism. Although some patterns obtained in this study were unclear, our results concerning wing size have direct bearing on the monarch migration. We show that if milkweed is limited for monarch larvae, their wings become stunted, which could ultimately result in lower migration success. PMID:24695643

Does skipping a meal matter to a butterfly's appearance? Effects of larval food stress on wing morphology and color in monarch butterflies.

PubMed

Johnson, Haley; Solensky, Michelle J; Satterfield, Dara A; Davis, Andrew K

2014-01-01

In animals with complex life cycles, all resources needed to form adult tissues are procured at the larval stage. For butterflies, the proper development of wings involves synthesizing tissue during metamorphosis based on the raw materials obtained by larvae. Similarly, manufacture of pigment for wing scales also requires resources acquired by larvae. We conducted an experiment to test the effects of food deprivation in the larval stage on multiple measures of adult wing morphology and coloration of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), a species in which long-distance migration makes flight efficiency critical. In a captive setting, we restricted food (milkweed) from late-stage larvae for either 24 hrs or 48 hrs, then after metamorphosis we used image analysis methods to measure forewing surface area and elongation (length/width), which are both important for migration. We also measured the brightness of orange pigment and the intensity of black on the wing. There were correlations between several wing features, including an unexpected association between wing elongation and melanism, which will require further study to fully understand. The clearest effect of food restriction was a reduction in adult wing size in the high stress group (by approximately 2%). Patterns observed for other wing traits were ambiguous: monarchs in the low stress group (but not the high) had less elongated and paler orange pigmentation. There was no effect on wing melanism. Although some patterns obtained in this study were unclear, our results concerning wing size have direct bearing on the monarch migration. We show that if milkweed is limited for monarch larvae, their wings become stunted, which could ultimately result in lower migration success.

Motivations and barriers to exercise in chronic kidney disease: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Clarke, Amy L; Young, Hannah M L; Hull, Katherine L; Hudson, Nicky; Burton, James O; Smith, Alice C

2015-11-01

Exercise has the potential to modulate a number of complications associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, typically, CKD patients lead very sedentary lifestyles, the reasons for which are not fully known. The aim of this qualitative study was to gain an understanding of the motivators, barriers and beliefs held by CKD patients regarding exercise. We conducted 3 focus groups and 22 semi-structured interviews. Data were collected from nephrology outpatient clinics in the United Kingdom. A total of 36 individuals with CKD stages 1-5 not requiring renal replacement therapy, aged 26-83 years participated in this study. This manuscript outlines the findings from patients with CKD stages 3-5. Focus groups and interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Positive attitudes to exercise reflected autonomous motivations including: exercising for health; enjoyment and social interaction. Family support and goal setting were seen as motivators for exercise and the accessibility of local facilities influenced activity levels. Barriers to exercise were poor health, fear of injury or aggravating their condition, a lack of guidance from healthcare professionals and a lack of facilities. These findings are an important first stage in the development of a CKD-specific exercise behaviour change intervention. Interventions should operate at multiple levels, with a focus on improving patient autonomy and exercise self-efficacy, support networks and the physical environment (e.g. the accessibility of local facilities). In addition, strategies are required to ensure that the healthcare system is actively promoting and routinely supporting exercise for all patients with CKD. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved.

Temporally-Constrained Group Sparse Learning for Longitudinal Data Analysis in Alzheimer’s Disease

PubMed Central

Jie, Biao; Liu, Mingxia; Liu, Jun

2016-01-01

Sparse learning has been widely investigated for analysis of brain images to assist the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and its prodromal stage, i.e., mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, most existing sparse learning-based studies only adopt cross-sectional analysis methods, where the sparse model is learned using data from a single time-point. Actually, multiple time-points of data are often available in brain imaging applications, which can be used in some longitudinal analysis methods to better uncover the disease progression patterns. Accordingly, in this paper we propose a novel temporally-constrained group sparse learning method aiming for longitudinal analysis with multiple time-points of data. Specifically, we learn a sparse linear regression model by using the imaging data from multiple time-points, where a group regularization term is first employed to group the weights for the same brain region across different time-points together. Furthermore, to reflect the smooth changes between data derived from adjacent time-points, we incorporate two smoothness regularization terms into the objective function, i.e., one fused smoothness term which requires that the differences between two successive weight vectors from adjacent time-points should be small, and another output smoothness term which requires the differences between outputs of two successive models from adjacent time-points should also be small. We develop an efficient optimization algorithm to solve the proposed objective function. Experimental results on ADNI database demonstrate that, compared with conventional sparse learning-based methods, our proposed method can achieve improved regression performance and also help in discovering disease-related biomarkers. PMID:27093313

Consequences of Hatch Phenology on Stages of Fish Recruitment.

PubMed

Bogner, David M; Kaemingk, Mark A; Wuellner, Melissa R

2016-01-01

Little is known about how hatch phenology (e.g., the start, peak, and duration of hatching) could influence subsequent recruitment of freshwater fishes into a population. We used two commonly sympatric fish species that exhibit different hatching phenologies to examine recruitment across multiple life stages. Nine yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) annual cohorts were sampled from 2004 through 2013 across larval, age-0, age-1, and age-2 life stages in a Nebraska (U.S.A.) Sandhill lake. Yellow perch hatched earlier in the season and displayed a more truncated hatch duration compared to bluegill. The timing of hatch influenced recruitment dynamics for both species but important hatching metrics were not similar between species across life stages. A longer hatch duration resulted in greater larval yellow perch abundance but greater age-1 bluegill abundance. In contrast, bluegill larval and age-0 abundances were greater during years when hatching duration was shorter and commenced earlier, whereas age-0 yellow perch abundance was greater when hatching occurred earlier. As a result of hatch phenology, yellow perch recruitment variability was minimized sooner (age-0 life stage) than bluegill (age-1 life stage). Collectively, hatch phenology influenced recruitment dynamics across multiple life stages but was unique for each species. Understanding the complexities of when progeny enter an environment and how this influences eventual recruitment into a population will be critical in the face of ongoing climate change.

Immunopathological Patterns from EAE and Theiler’s Virus Infection: Is Multiple Sclerosis a Homogenous 1-stage or Heterogenous 2-stage Disease?

PubMed Central

Martinez, Nicholas E.; Sato, Fumitaka; Omura, Seiichi; Minagar, Alireza; Alexander, J. Steven; Tsunoda, Ikuo

2012-01-01

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease which can present in different clinical courses. The most common form of MS is the relapsing-remitting (RR) course, which in many cases evolves into secondary progressive (SP) disease. Autoimmune models such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) have been developed to represent the various clinical forms of MS. These models along with clinico-pathological evidence obtained from MS patients have allowed us to propose ‘1-stage’ and ‘2-stage’ disease theories to explain the transition in the clinical course of MS from RR to SP. Relapses in MS are associated with pro-inflammatory T helper (Th) 1/Th17 immune responses, while remissions are associated with anti-inflammatory Th2/regulatory T (Treg) immune responses. Based on the ‘1-stage disease’ theory, the transition from RR to SP disease occurs when the inflammatory immune response overwhelms the anti-inflammatory immune response. The ‘2-stage disease’ theory proposes that the transition from RR to SP-MS occurs when the Th2 response or some other responses overwhelm the inflammatory response resulting in the sustained production of anti-myelin antibodies, which cause continuing demyelination, neurodegeneration, and axonal loss. The Theiler’s virus model is also a 2-stage disease, where axonal degeneration precedes demyelination during the first stage, followed by inflammatory demyelination during the second stage. PMID:22633747

Singular Isothermal Disks. Paper 2; Nonaxiymmetric Bifurcations and Equilibria

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Galli, Danielle; Shu, Frank H.; Laughlin, Gregory; Lizano, Susana

2000-01-01

We review the difficulties of the classical fission and fragmentation hypotheses for the formation of binary and multiple stars. A crucial missing ingredient in previous theoretical studies is the inclusion of dynamically important levels of magnetic fields. As a minimal model for a candidate presursor to the formation of binary and multiple stars, we therefore formulate and solve the problem of the equilibria of isopedically magnetized, singular isothermal disks, without the assumption of axial symmetry. Considerable analytical progress can be made if we restrict our attention to models that are scale-free, i.e., that have surface densities that vary inversely with distance omega from the rotation axis of the system. In agreement with earlier analysis by Syer and Tremaine, we find that lopsided (M = 1) configurations exist at any dimensionless rotation rate, including zero. Multiple-lobed (M = 2, 3, 4, ...) configurations bifurcate from an underlying axisymmetric sequence at progressively higher dimensionless rates of rotation, but such nonaxisymmetric sequences always terminate in shockwaves before they have a chance to fission into M = 2, 3, 4, ... separate bodies. On the basis of our experience in this paper, we advance the hypothesis that binary and multiple star-formation from smooth (i.e., not highly turbulent) starting states that are supercritical but in unstable mechanical balance requires the rapid (i.e., dynamical) loss of magnetic flux at some stage of the ensuing gravitational collapse.

Excess Circulating Alternatively Activated Myeloid (M2) Cells Accelerate ALS Progression While Inhibiting Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

PubMed Central

Miller, Omer; Butovsky, Oleg; Bukshpan, Shay; Beers, David R.; Henkel, Jenny S.; Yoles, Eti; Appel, Stanley H.; Schwartz, Michal

2011-01-01

Background Circulating immune cells including autoreactive T cells and monocytes have been documented as key players in maintaining, protecting and repairing the central nervous system (CNS) in health and disease. Here, we hypothesized that neurodegenerative diseases might be associated, similarly to tumors, with increased levels of circulating peripheral myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), representing a subset of suppressor cells that often expand under pathological conditions and inhibit possible recruitment of helper T cells needed for fighting off the disease. Methods and Findings We tested this working hypothesis in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and its mouse model, which are characterized by a rapid progression once clinical symptoms are evident. Adaptive transfer of alternatively activated myeloid (M2) cells, which homed to the spleen and exhibited immune suppressive activity in G93A mutant superoxide dismutase-1 (mSOD1) mice at a stage before emergence of disease symptoms, resulted in earlier appearance of disease symptoms and shorter life expectancy. The same protocol mitigated the inflammation-induced disease model of multiple sclerosis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), which requires circulating T cells for disease induction. Analysis of whole peripheral blood samples obtained from 28 patients suffering from sporadic ALS (sALS), revealed a two-fold increase in the percentage of circulating MDSCs (LIN−/LowHLA-DR−CD33+) compared to controls. Conclusions Taken together, these results emphasize the distinct requirements for fighting the inflammatory neurodegenerative disease, multiple sclerosis, and the neurodegenerative disease, ALS, though both share a local inflammatory component. Moreover, the increased levels of circulating MDSCs in ALS patients indicates the operation of systemic mechanisms that might lead to an impairment of T cell reactivity needed to overcome the disease conditions within the CNS. This high level of suppressive immune cells might represent a risk factor and a novel target for therapeutic intervention in ALS at least at the early stage. PMID:22073221

Analysis of clinical risk factors associated with the prognosis of severe multiple-trauma patients with acute lung injury.

PubMed

Wu, Junsong; Sheng, Lei; Wang, Shenhua; Li, Qiang; Zhang, Mao; Xu, Shaowen; Gan, Jianxin

2012-09-01

Several clinical risk factors have been reported to be associated with the prognosis of acute lung injury (ALI). However, these studies have included a general trauma patient population, without singling out the severely injured multiple-trauma patient population. To identify the potential risk factors that could affect the prognosis of ALI in multiple-trauma patients and investigate the prognostic effects of certain risk factors among different patient subpopulations. In this retrospective cohort study, severely injured multiple-trauma patients with early onset of ALI from several trauma centers were studied. Potential risk factors affecting the prognosis of ALI were examined by univariate and multivariate logistic analyses. There were 609 multiple-trauma patients with ALI admitted to the emergency department and emergency intensive care unit during the study period. The nine risk factors that affected prognosis, as indicated by the unadjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals, were the APACHE II (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II) score, duration of trauma, age, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, pulmonary contusion, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), multiple blood transfusions in 6 h, Injury Severity Score (ISS), and aspiration of gastric contents. Specific risk factors also affected different patient subpopulations in different ways. Patients older than 65 years and with multiple (> 10 units) blood transfusions in the early stage after multiple trauma were found to be independent risk factors associated with deterioration of ALI. The other factors studied, including pulmonary contusion, APACHE II score ≥ 20, ISS ≥ 16, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, and aspiration of gastric contents, may predict the unfavorable prognosis of ALI in the early stage of trauma, with their effects attenuating in the later stage. Duration of trauma ≥ 1 h and the presence of DIC may also indicate unfavorable prognosis during the entire treatment period. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multiple-stage structure transformation of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3

DOE PAGES

Chen, Qiong; Liu, Henan; Kim, Hui -Seon; ...

2016-09-15

In this study, by performing spatially resolved Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy with varying excitation wavelength, density, and data acquisition parameters, we achieve a unified understanding towards the spectroscopy signatures of the organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite, transforming from the pristine state (CH 3NH 3PbI 3) to the fully degraded state (i.e., PbI 2) for samples with varying crystalline domain size from mesoscopic scale (approximately 100 nm) to macroscopic size (centimeters), synthesized by three different techniques. We show that the hybrid perovskite exhibits multiple stages of structure transformation occurring either spontaneously or under light illumination, with exceptionally high sensitivity to the illumination conditionsmore » (e.g., power, illumination time, and interruption pattern). We highlight four transformation stages (stages I-IV, with stage I being the pristine state) along either the spontaneous or photoinduced degradation path exhibiting distinctly different Raman spectroscopy features at each stage, and point out that previously reported Raman spectra in the literature reflect highly degraded structures of either stage III or stage IV. Additional characteristic optical features of partially degraded materials under the joint action of spontaneous and photodegradation are also given. This study offers reliable benchmark results for understanding the intrinsic material properties and structure transformation of this unique category of hybrid materials, and the findings are pertinently important to a wide range of potential applications where the hybrid material is expected to function in greatly different environment and light-matter interaction conditions.« less

Multiple-Stage Structure Transformation of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Perovskite CH3NH3PbI3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Qiong; Liu, Henan; Kim, Hui-Seon; Liu, Yucheng; Yang, Mengjin; Yue, Naili; Ren, Gang; Zhu, Kai; Liu, Shengzhong; Park, Nam-Gyu; Zhang, Yong

2016-07-01

By performing spatially resolved Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy with varying excitation wavelength, density, and data acquisition parameters, we achieve a unified understanding towards the spectroscopy signatures of the organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite, transforming from the pristine state (CH3NH3PbI3 ) to the fully degraded state (i.e., PbI2 ) for samples with varying crystalline domain size from mesoscopic scale (approximately 100 nm) to macroscopic size (centimeters), synthesized by three different techniques. We show that the hybrid perovskite exhibits multiple stages of structure transformation occurring either spontaneously or under light illumination, with exceptionally high sensitivity to the illumination conditions (e.g., power, illumination time, and interruption pattern). We highlight four transformation stages (stages I-IV, with stage I being the pristine state) along either the spontaneous or photoinduced degradation path exhibiting distinctly different Raman spectroscopy features at each stage, and point out that previously reported Raman spectra in the literature reflect highly degraded structures of either stage III or stage IV. Additional characteristic optical features of partially degraded materials under the joint action of spontaneous and photodegradation are also given. This study offers reliable benchmark results for understanding the intrinsic material properties and structure transformation of this unique category of hybrid materials, and the findings are pertinently important to a wide range of potential applications where the hybrid material is expected to function in greatly different environment and light-matter interaction conditions.

Monitoring Crop Phenology and Growth Stages from Space: Opportunities and Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, F.; Anderson, M. C.; Mladenova, I. E.; Kustas, W. P.; Alfieri, J. G.

2014-12-01

Crop growth stages in concert with weather and soil moisture conditions can have a significant impact on crop yields. In the U.S., crop growth stages and conditions are reported by farmers at the county level. These reports are somewhat subjective and fluctuate between different reporters, locations and times. Remote sensing data provide an alternative approach to monitoring crop growth over large areas in a more consistent and quantitative way. In the recent years, remote sensing data have been used to detect vegetation phenology at 1-km spatial resolution globally. However, agricultural applications at field scale require finer spatial resolution remote sensing data. Landsat (30-m) data have been successfully used for agricultural applications. There are many medium resolution sensors available today or in near future. These include Landsat, SPOT, RapidEye, ASTER and future Sentinel-2 etc. Approaches have been developed in the past several years to integrate remote sensing data from different sensors which may have different sensor characteristics, and spatial and temporal resolutions. This allows us opportunities today to map crop growth stages and conditions using dense time-series remote sensing at field scales. However, remotely sensed phenology (or phenological metrics) is normally derived based on the mathematical functions of the time-series data. The phenological metrics are determined by either identifying inflection (curvature) points or some pre-defined thresholds in the remote sensing phenology algorithms. Furthermore, physiological crop growth stages may not be directly correlated to the remotely sensed phenology. The relationship between remotely sensed phenology and crop growth stages is likely to vary for specific crop types and varieties, growing stages, conditions and even locations. In this presentation, we will examine the relationship between remotely sensed phenology and crop growth stages using in-situ measurements from Fluxnet sites and crop progress reports from USDA NASS. We will present remote sensing approaches and focus on: 1) integrating multiple sources of remote sensing data; and 2) extracting crop phenology at field scales. An example in the U.S. Corn Belt area will be presented and analyzed. Future directions for mapping crop growth stages will be discussed.

Multiple-stage pure phase encoding with biometric information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Wen

2018-01-01

In recent years, many optical systems have been developed for securing information, and optical encryption/encoding has attracted more and more attention due to the marked advantages, such as parallel processing and multiple-dimensional characteristics. In this paper, an optical security method is presented based on pure phase encoding with biometric information. Biometric information (such as fingerprint) is employed as security keys rather than plaintext used in conventional optical security systems, and multiple-stage phase-encoding-based optical systems are designed for generating several phase-only masks with biometric information. Subsequently, the extracted phase-only masks are further used in an optical setup for encoding an input image (i.e., plaintext). Numerical simulations are conducted to illustrate the validity, and the results demonstrate that high flexibility and high security can be achieved.

>100% output differential efficiency 1.55-μm VCSELs using submonolayer superlattices digital-alloy multiple-active-regions grown by MBE on InP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, C. S.; Koda, R.; Huntington, A. S.; Gossard, A. C.; Coldren, L. A.

2005-04-01

High-quality InAlGaAs digital-alloy active regions using submonolayer superlattices were developed and employed in a 3-stage bipolar cascade multiple-active-region vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) design. The photoluminescence intensity and linewidth of these active regions were optimized by varying the substrate temperature and digitization period. These active regions exhibit considerable improvement over previously developed digital-alloy active regions and are comparable to analog-alloy active regions. Multiple-active-region VCSELs, grown all-epitaxially by MBE on InP, demonstrate greater than 100% output differential efficiency at 1.55-μm emission. A record high 104% output differential efficiency was achieved for a 3-stage long-wavelength VCSEL.

Sagittal and Vertical Craniofacial Growth Pattern and Timing of Circumpubertal Skeletal Maturation: A Multiple Regression Study

PubMed Central

Rosso, Luigi; Riatti, Riccardo

2016-01-01

The knowledge of the associations between the timing of skeletal maturation and craniofacial growth is of primary importance when planning a functional treatment for most of the skeletal malocclusions. This cross-sectional study was thus aimed at evaluating whether sagittal and vertical craniofacial growth has an association with the timing of circumpubertal skeletal maturation. A total of 320 subjects (160 females and 160 males) were included in the study (mean age, 12.3 ± 1.7 years; range, 7.6–16.7 years). These subjects were equally distributed in the circumpubertal cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) stages 2 to 5. Each CVM stage group also had equal number of females and males. Multiple regression models were run for each CVM stage group to assess the significance of the association of cephalometric parameters (ANB, SN/MP, and NSBa angles) with age of attainment of the corresponding CVM stage (in months). Significant associations were seen only for stage 3, where the SN/MP angle was negatively associated with age (β coefficient, −0.7). These results show that hyperdivergent and hypodivergent subjects may have an anticipated and delayed attainment of the pubertal CVM stage 3, respectively. However, such association remains of little entity and it would become clinically relevant only in extreme cases. PMID:27995136

Information extraction during simultaneous motion processing.

PubMed

Rideaux, Reuben; Edwards, Mark

2014-02-01

When confronted with multiple moving objects the visual system can process them in two stages: an initial stage in which a limited number of signals are processed in parallel (i.e. simultaneously) followed by a sequential stage. We previously demonstrated that during the simultaneous stage, observers could discriminate between presentations containing up to 5 vs. 6 spatially localized motion signals (Edwards & Rideaux, 2013). Here we investigate what information is actually extracted during the simultaneous stage and whether the simultaneous limit varies with the detail of information extracted. This was achieved by measuring the ability of observers to extract varied information from low detail, i.e. the number of signals presented, to high detail, i.e. the actual directions present and the direction of a specific element, during the simultaneous stage. The results indicate that the resolution of simultaneous processing varies as a function of the information which is extracted, i.e. as the information extraction becomes more detailed, from the number of moving elements to the direction of a specific element, the capacity to process multiple signals is reduced. Thus, when assigning a capacity to simultaneous motion processing, this must be qualified by designating the degree of information extraction. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sagittal and Vertical Craniofacial Growth Pattern and Timing of Circumpubertal Skeletal Maturation: A Multiple Regression Study.

PubMed

Perinetti, Giuseppe; Rosso, Luigi; Riatti, Riccardo; Contardo, Luca

2016-01-01

The knowledge of the associations between the timing of skeletal maturation and craniofacial growth is of primary importance when planning a functional treatment for most of the skeletal malocclusions. This cross-sectional study was thus aimed at evaluating whether sagittal and vertical craniofacial growth has an association with the timing of circumpubertal skeletal maturation. A total of 320 subjects (160 females and 160 males) were included in the study (mean age, 12.3 ± 1.7 years; range, 7.6-16.7 years). These subjects were equally distributed in the circumpubertal cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) stages 2 to 5. Each CVM stage group also had equal number of females and males. Multiple regression models were run for each CVM stage group to assess the significance of the association of cephalometric parameters (ANB, SN/MP, and NSBa angles) with age of attainment of the corresponding CVM stage (in months). Significant associations were seen only for stage 3, where the SN/MP angle was negatively associated with age (β coefficient, -0.7). These results show that hyperdivergent and hypodivergent subjects may have an anticipated and delayed attainment of the pubertal CVM stage 3, respectively. However, such association remains of little entity and it would become clinically relevant only in extreme cases.

Multi-stage fuel cell system method and apparatus

DOEpatents

George, Thomas J.; Smith, William C.

2000-01-01

A high efficiency, multi-stage fuel cell system method and apparatus is provided. The fuel cell system is comprised of multiple fuel cell stages, whereby the temperatures of the fuel and oxidant gas streams and the percentage of fuel consumed in each stage are controlled to optimize fuel cell system efficiency. The stages are connected in a serial, flow-through arrangement such that the oxidant gas and fuel gas flowing through an upstream stage is conducted directly into the next adjacent downstream stage. The fuel cell stages are further arranged such that unspent fuel and oxidant laden gases too hot to continue within an upstream stage because of material constraints are conducted into a subsequent downstream stage which comprises a similar cell configuration, however, which is constructed from materials having a higher heat tolerance and designed to meet higher thermal demands. In addition, fuel is underutilized in each stage, resulting in a higher overall fuel cell system efficiency.

A hybrid optimization approach in non-isothermal glass molding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vu, Anh-Tuan; Kreilkamp, Holger; Krishnamoorthi, Bharathwaj Janaki; Dambon, Olaf; Klocke, Fritz

2016-10-01

Intensively growing demands on complex yet low-cost precision glass optics from the today's photonic market motivate the development of an efficient and economically viable manufacturing technology for complex shaped optics. Against the state-of-the-art replication-based methods, Non-isothermal Glass Molding turns out to be a promising innovative technology for cost-efficient manufacturing because of increased mold lifetime, less energy consumption and high throughput from a fast process chain. However, the selection of parameters for the molding process usually requires a huge effort to satisfy precious requirements of the molded optics and to avoid negative effects on the expensive tool molds. Therefore, to reduce experimental work at the beginning, a coupling CFD/FEM numerical modeling was developed to study the molding process. This research focuses on the development of a hybrid optimization approach in Non-isothermal glass molding. To this end, an optimal configuration with two optimization stages for multiple quality characteristics of the glass optics is addressed. The hybrid Back-Propagation Neural Network (BPNN)-Genetic Algorithm (GA) is first carried out to realize the optimal process parameters and the stability of the process. The second stage continues with the optimization of glass preform using those optimal parameters to guarantee the accuracy of the molded optics. Experiments are performed to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of the model for the process development in Non-isothermal glass molding.

Role of large- and fine-scale variables in predicting catch rates of larval Pacific lamprey in the Willamette Basin, Oregon

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schultz, Luke; Mayfield, Mariah P.; Sheoships, Gabe T.; Wyss, Lance A.; Clemens, Benjamin J.; Whitlock, Steven L.; Schreck, Carl B.

2016-01-01

Pacific lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus is an anadromous fish native to the Pacific Northwest of the USA. That has declined substantially over the last 40 years. Effective conservation of this species will require an understanding of the habitat requirements for each life history stage. Because its life cycle contains extended freshwater rearing (3–8 years), the larval stage may be a critical factor limiting abundance of Pacific lamprey. The objective of our study was to estimate the influence of barriers and habitat characteristics on the catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) of larval Pacific lamprey in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, USA. We sampled lampreys at multiple locations in wadeable streams throughout the basin in 2011–13 and used an information theoretic approach to examine the relative influence of fine- and large-scale predictors of CPUE. Pacific lamprey was observed across the basin, but its relative abundance appeared to be limited by the presence of natural and artificial barriers in some sub-basins. Lower velocity habitats such as off-channel areas and pools contained higher densities of larval lamprey; mean Pacific lamprey CPUE in off-channel habitats was 4 and 32 times greater than in pools and riffles respectively. Restoration and conservation strategies that improve fish passage, enhance natural hydrologic and depositional processes and increase habitat heterogeneity will likely benefit larval Pacific lamprey.

XBtg2 is required for notochord differentiation during early Xenopus development.

PubMed

Sugimoto, Kaoru; Hayata, Tadayoshi; Asashima, Makoto

2005-09-01

The notochord is essential for normal vertebrate development, serving as both a structural support for the embryo and a signaling source for the patterning of adjacent tissues. Previous studies on the notochord have mostly focused on its formation and function in early organogenesis but gene regulation in the differentiation of notochord cells itself remains poorly defined. In the course of screening for genes expressed in developing notochord, we have isolated Xenopus homolog of Btg2 (XBtg2). The mammalian Btg2 genes, Btg2/PC3/TIS21, have been reported to have multiple functions in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation but their roles in early development are still unclear. Here we characterized XBtg2 in early Xenopus laevis embryogenesis with focus on notochord development. Translational inhibition of XBtg2 resulted in a shortened and bent axis phenotype and the abnormal structures in the notochord tissue, which did not undergo vacuolation. The XBtg2-depleted notochord cells expressed early notochord markers such as chordin and Xnot at the early tailbud stage, but failed to express differentiation markers of notochord such as Tor70 and 5-D-4 antigens in the later stages. These results suggest that XBtg2 is required for the differentiation of notochord cells such as the process of vacuolar formation after determination of notochord cell fate.

Biomarker discovery and development in pediatric critical care medicine

PubMed Central

Kaplan, Jennifer M.; Wong, Hector R.

2010-01-01

Objective To frame the general process of biomarker discovery and development, and to describe a proposal for the development of a multi-biomarker based risk model for pediatric septic shock. Data Source Narrative literature review and author generated data. Main Results Biomarkers can be grouped into four broad classes, based on the intended function: diagnostic, monitoring, surrogate, and stratification. Biomarker discovery and development requires a rigorous process, which is frequently not well followed in the critical care medicine literature. Very few biomarkers have successfully transitioned from the candidate stage to the true biomarker stage. There is great interest in developing diagnostic and stratification biomarkers for sepsis. Procalcitonin is currently the most promising diagnostic biomarker for sepsis. Recent evidence suggests that interleukin-8 can be used to stratify children with septic shock having a high likelihood of survival with standard care. Currently, there is a multi-institutional effort to develop a multi-biomarker based sepsis risk model intended to predict outcome and illness severity for individual children with septic shock. Conclusions Biomarker discovery and development is an important portion of the pediatric critical care medicine translational research agenda. This effort will require collaboration across multiple institutions and investigators. Rigorous conduct of biomarker-focused research holds the promise of transforming our ability to care for individual patients and our ability to conduct clinical trials in a more effective manner. PMID:20473243

Impaired mitochondrial Fe-S cluster biogenesis activates the DNA damage response through different signaling mediators.

PubMed

Pijuan, Jordi; María, Carlos; Herrero, Enrique; Bellí, Gemma

2015-12-15

Fe-S cluster biogenesis machinery is required for multiple DNA metabolism processes. In this work, we show that, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, defects at different stages of the mitochondrial Fe-S cluster assembly machinery (ISC) result in increased spontaneous mutation rate and hyper-recombination, accompanied by an increment in Rad52-associated DNA repair foci and a higher phosphorylated state of γH2A histone, altogether supporting the presence of constitutive DNA lesions. Furthermore, ISC assembly machinery deficiency elicits a DNA damage response that upregulates ribonucleotide reductase activity by promoting the reduction of Sml1 levels and the cytosolic redistribution of Rnr2 and Rnr4 enzyme subunits. Depending on the impaired stage of the ISC machinery, different signaling pathway mediators contribute to such a response, converging on Dun1. Thus, cells lacking the glutaredoxin Grx5, which are compromised at the core ISC system, show Mec1- and Rad53-independent Dun1 activation, whereas both Mec1 and Chk1 are required when the non-core ISC member Iba57 is absent. Grx5-null cells exhibit a strong dependence on the error-free post-replication repair and the homologous recombination pathways, demonstrating that a DNA damage response needs to be activated upon ISC impairment to preserve cell viability. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Impact of dementia on cancer discovery and pain.

PubMed

Iritani, Shuji; Tohgi, Mizuho; Miyata, Hiroaki; Ohi, Gen

2011-03-01

Dementia is clinically noted to influence both reporting and experience of cancer pains. However, no systemic evaluation of this aspect has been reported. The aim of the present study was to retrospectively evaluate how dementia modified the cancer discovery process, frequency of cancer pain reports and analgesic-narcotic use at a large psychiatric hospital. We reviewed all the records of cancer patients with and without dementia treated at the surgical ward of Matsuzawa Hospital from 1993 to 2004. Psychiatric diseases other than dementia, brain metastasis and alcoholism, as well as leukaemia and skin cancer, were excluded. Patients' communicativeness as to pain was ascertained from nursing records. A total of 134 cancer patients with and without dementia (50 demented and 84 non-demented) were included. Demented patients were accidentally discovered to have cancer (48%) or by an unexpected unfolding of clinical signs (44%), whereas most non-demented patients (63%) voluntarily sought medical evaluation (P= 0.000). Overall, 76% of non-demented patients had cancer pains (stages I and II, 64%; stages III and IV, 84%), whereas just 22% of demented patients had cancer pains (stages I and II, 16%; stages III and IV, 26%; P= 0.000). Non-demented patients showed stage-dependent requirements for both non-narcotic analgesics (stages I and II, 64%; stages III and IV, 84%) and narcotics (stages I and II, 0%; stages III and IV, 41%). Demented patients required much less analgesics (stages I and II, 11%; stages III and IV, 13%), with only one stage IV patient requiring narcotics (P= 0.000). Dementia greatly modifies the cancer discovery process, reduces prevalence of cancer pain and analgesic requirement. © 2011 The Authors. Psychogeriatrics © 2011 Japanese Psychogeriatric Society.

A 2-Stage Genome-Wide Association Study to Identify Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated With Development of Erectile Dysfunction Following Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer

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

Kerns, Sarah L.; Departments of Pathology and Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York; Stock, Richard

2013-01-01

Purpose: To identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with development of erectile dysfunction (ED) among prostate cancer patients treated with radiation therapy. Methods and Materials: A 2-stage genome-wide association study was performed. Patients were split randomly into a stage I discovery cohort (132 cases, 103 controls) and a stage II replication cohort (128 cases, 102 controls). The discovery cohort was genotyped using Affymetrix 6.0 genome-wide arrays. The 940 top ranking SNPs selected from the discovery cohort were genotyped in the replication cohort using Illumina iSelect custom SNP arrays. Results: Twelve SNPs identified in the discovery cohort and validated in themore » replication cohort were associated with development of ED following radiation therapy (Fisher combined P values 2.1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -5} to 6.2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -4}). Notably, these 12 SNPs lie in or near genes involved in erectile function or other normal cellular functions (adhesion and signaling) rather than DNA damage repair. In a multivariable model including nongenetic risk factors, the odds ratios for these SNPs ranged from 1.6 to 5.6 in the pooled cohort. There was a striking relationship between the cumulative number of SNP risk alleles an individual possessed and ED status (Sommers' D P value = 1.7 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -29}). A 1-allele increase in cumulative SNP score increased the odds for developing ED by a factor of 2.2 (P value = 2.1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -19}). The cumulative SNP score model had a sensitivity of 84% and specificity of 75% for prediction of developing ED at the radiation therapy planning stage. Conclusions: This genome-wide association study identified a set of SNPs that are associated with development of ED following radiation therapy. These candidate genetic predictors warrant more definitive validation in an independent cohort.« less

Bmi1 is required for the initiation of pancreatic cancer through an Ink4a-independent mechanism.

PubMed

Bednar, Filip; Schofield, Heather K; Collins, Meredith A; Yan, Wei; Zhang, Yaqing; Shyam, Nikhil; Eberle, Jaime A; Almada, Luciana L; Olive, Kenneth P; Bardeesy, Nabeel; Fernandez-Zapico, Martin E; Nakada, Daisuke; Simeone, Diane M; Morrison, Sean J; Pasca di Magliano, Marina

2015-07-01

Epigenetic dysregulation is involved in the initiation and progression of many epithelial cancers. BMI1, a component of the polycomb protein family, plays a key role in these processes by controlling the histone ubiquitination and long-term repression of multiple genomic loci. BMI1 has previously been implicated in pancreatic homeostasis and the function of pancreatic cancer stem cells. However, no work has yet addressed its role in the early stages of pancreatic cancer development. Here, we show that BMI1 is required for the initiation of murine pancreatic neoplasia using a novel conditional knockout of Bmi1 in combination with a Kras(G12D)-driven pancreatic cancer mouse model. We also demonstrate that the requirement for Bmi1 in pancreatic carcinogenesis is independent of the Ink4a/Arf locus and at least partially mediated by dysregulation of reactive oxygen species. Our data provide new evidence of the importance of this epigenetic regulator in the genesis of pancreatic cancer. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Combinatorial activation and concentration-dependent repression of the Drosophila even skipped stripe 3+7 enhancer

PubMed Central

Struffi, Paolo; Corado, Maria; Kaplan, Leah; Yu, Danyang; Rushlow, Christine; Small, Stephen

2011-01-01

Despite years of study, the precise mechanisms that control position-specific gene expression during development are not understood. Here, we analyze an enhancer element from the even skipped (eve) gene, which activates and positions two stripes of expression (stripes 3 and 7) in blastoderm stage Drosophila embryos. Previous genetic studies showed that the JAK-STAT pathway is required for full activation of the enhancer, whereas the gap genes hunchback (hb) and knirps (kni) are required for placement of the boundaries of both stripes. We show that the maternal zinc-finger protein Zelda (Zld) is absolutely required for activation, and present evidence that Zld binds to multiple non-canonical sites. We also use a combination of in vitro binding experiments and bioinformatics analysis to redefine the Kni-binding motif, and mutational analysis and in vivo tests to show that Kni and Hb are dedicated repressors that function by direct DNA binding. These experiments significantly extend our understanding of how the eve enhancer integrates positive and negative transcriptional activities to generate sharp boundaries in the early embryo. PMID:21865322

Compressor Study to Meet Large Civil Tilt Rotor Engine Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Veres, Joseph P.

2009-01-01

A vehicle concept study has been made to meet the requirements of the Large Civil Tilt Rotorcraft vehicle mission. A vehicle concept was determined, and a notional turboshaft engine system study was conducted. The engine study defined requirements for the major engine components, including the compressor. The compressor design-point goal was to deliver a pressure ratio of 31:1 at an inlet weight flow of 28.4 lbm/sec. To perform a conceptual design of two potential compressor configurations to meet the design requirement, a mean-line compressor flow analysis and design code were used. The first configuration is an eight-stage axial compressor. Some challenges of the all-axial compressor are the small blade spans of the rear-block stages being 0.28 in., resulting in the last-stage blade tip clearance-to-span ratio of 2.4%. The second configuration is a seven-stage axial compressor, with a centrifugal stage having a 0.28-in. impeller-exit blade span. The compressors conceptual designs helped estimate the flow path dimensions, rotor leading and trailing edge blade angles, flow conditions, and velocity triangles for each stage.

Compressor Study to Meet Large Civil Tilt Rotor Engine Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Veres, Joseph P.

2009-01-01

A vehicle concept study has been made to meet the requirements of the Large Civil Tilt Rotorcraft vehicle mission. A vehicle concept was determined, and a notional turboshaft engine system study was conducted. The engine study defined requirements for the major engine components, including the compressor. The compressor design-point goal was to deliver a pressure ratio of 31:1 at an inlet weight flow of 28.4 lbm/sec. To perform a conceptual design of two potential compressor configurations to meet the design requirement, a mean-line compressor flow analysis and design code were used. The first configuration is an eight-stage axial compressor. Some challenges of the all-axial compressor are the small blade spans of the rear-block stages being 0.28 in., resulting in the last-stage blade tip clearance-to-span ratio of 2.4 percent. The second configuration is a seven-stage axial compressor, with a centrifugal stage having a 0.28-in. impeller-exit blade span. The compressors conceptual designs helped estimate the flow path dimensions, rotor leading and trailing edge blade angles, flow conditions, and velocity triangles for each stage.

Multiple cervical hemivertebra resection and staged thoracic pedicle subtraction osteotomy in the treatment of complicated congenital scoliosis.

PubMed

Zhuang, Qianyu; Zhang, Jianguo; Wang, Shengru; Guo, Jianwei; Qiu, Guixing

2016-05-01

To present our experience of staged correction with multiple cervical hemivertebra resection and thoracic pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO) treating a rare and complicated congenital scoliosis. A 14-year-old male presented with progressive torticollis and spine deformity. The malformation developed since birth, and back pain after long-time sitting or exercise arose since 6 months before, which was unsuccessfully treated by physiotherapy. X-ray showed a right cervical curve of 60° and a left compensatory thoracic curve of 90°. Three-dimensional computed tomography (3-D CT) scan revealed three semi-segmented hemivertebrae (C4, C5 and C6) on the right side. Based on our staged strategy, the three consecutive cervical hemivertebrae, as the major pathology causing the deformity, were firstly resected by the combined posterior and anterior approach. Six months later, T6 PSO osteotomy was used to correct the structural compensatory thoracic curve. The cervical curve was reduced to 23° while the thoracic curve to 60° after the first-stage surgery, and the thoracic curve was further reduced to 30° after the second-stage surgery. The radiograph at 5-year follow-up showed that both the coronal and sagittal balance were well restored and stabilized, with the occipital tilt reduced from 12° to 0°. Our strategy may provide an option for similar cases with multiple consecutive cervical hemivertebrae and a large structural compensatory thoracic curve, which proved to achieve excellent correction in both the coronal and sagittal planes with acceptable neurologic risk.

Lightweight multiple output converter development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kisch, J. J.; Martinelli, R. M.

1978-01-01

A high frequency, multiple output power conditioner was developed and breadboarded using an eight-stage capacitor diode voltage multiplier to provide +1200 Vdc, and a three-stage for -350 Vdc. In addition, two rectifier bridges were capacitively coupled to the eight-stage multiplier to obtain 0.5 and 0.65 a dc constant current outputs referenced to +1200 Vdc. Total power was 120 watts, with an overall efficiency of 85 percent at the 80 kHz operating frequency. All outputs were regulated to three percent or better, with complete short circuit protection. The power conditioner component weight and efficiency were compared to the equivalent four outputs of the 10 kHz conditioner for the 8 cm ion engine. Weight reduction for the four outputs was 557 grams; extrapolated in the same ratio to all nine outputs, it would be 1100 to 1400 grams.

Does recyclable separation reduce the cost of municipal waste management in Japan?

PubMed

Chifari, Rosaria; Lo Piano, Samuele; Matsumoto, Shigeru; Tasaki, Tomohiro

2017-02-01

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is a system involving multiple sub-systems that typically require demanding inputs, materials and resources to properly process generated waste throughput. For this reason, MSW management is generally one of the most expensive services provided by municipalities. In this paper, we analyze the Japanese MSW management system and estimate the cost elasticity with respect to the waste volumes at three treatment stages: collection, processing, and disposal. Although we observe economies of scale at all three stages, the collection cost is less elastic than the disposal cost. We also examine whether source separation at home affects the cost of MSW management. The empirical results show that the separate collection of the recyclable fraction leads to reduced processing costs at intermediate treatment facilities, but does not change the overall waste management cost. Our analysis also reveals that the cost of waste management systems decreases when the service is provided by private companies through a public tender. The cost decreases even more when the service is performed under the coordination of adjacent municipalities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High Performance Pulse Tube Cryocoolers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olson, J. R.; Roth, E.; Champagne, P.; Evtimov, B.; Nast, T. C.

2008-03-01

Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center has been developing pulse tube cryocoolers for more than ten years. Recent innovations include successful testing of four-stage coldheads, no-load temperature below 4 K, and the recent development of a high-efficiency compressor. This paper discusses the predicted performance of single and multiple stage pulse tube coldheads driven by our new 6 kg "M5Midi" compressor, which is capable of 90% efficiency with 200 W input power, and a maximum input power of 1000 W. This compressor retains the simplicity of earlier LM-ATC compressors: it has a moving magnet and an external electrical coil, minimizing organics in the working gas and requiring no electrical penetrations through the pressure wall. Motor losses were minimized during design, resulting in a simple, easily-manufactured compressor with state-of-the-art motor efficiency. The predicted cryocooler performance is presented as simple formulae, allowing an engineer to include the impact of a highly-optimized cryocooler into a full system analysis. Performance is given as a function of the heat rejection temperature and the cold tip temperatures and cooling loads.

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

Oberije, Cary, E-mail: cary.oberije@maastro.nl; De Ruysscher, Dirk; Universitaire Ziekenhuizen Leuven, KU Leuven

Purpose: Although patients with stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are homogeneous according to the TNM staging system, they form a heterogeneous group, which is reflected in the survival outcome. The increasing amount of information for an individual patient and the growing number of treatment options facilitate personalized treatment, but they also complicate treatment decision making. Decision support systems (DSS), which provide individualized prognostic information, can overcome this but are currently lacking. A DSS for stage III NSCLC requires the development and integration of multiple models. The current study takes the first step in this process by developing andmore » validating a model that can provide physicians with a survival probability for an individual NSCLC patient. Methods and Materials: Data from 548 patients with stage III NSCLC were available to enable the development of a prediction model, using stratified Cox regression. Variables were selected by using a bootstrap procedure. Performance of the model was expressed as the c statistic, assessed internally and on 2 external data sets (n=174 and n=130). Results: The final multivariate model, stratified for treatment, consisted of age, gender, World Health Organization performance status, overall treatment time, equivalent radiation dose, number of positive lymph node stations, and gross tumor volume. The bootstrapped c statistic was 0.62. The model could identify risk groups in external data sets. Nomograms were constructed to predict an individual patient's survival probability ( (www.predictcancer.org)). The data set can be downloaded at (https://www.cancerdata.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2015.02.048). Conclusions: The prediction model for overall survival of patients with stage III NSCLC highlights the importance of combining patient, clinical, and treatment variables. Nomograms were developed and validated. This tool could be used as a first building block for a decision support system.« less

Plant-soil feedbacks from 30-year family-specific soil cultures: phylogeny, soil chemistry and plant life stage.

PubMed

Mehrabi, Zia; Bell, Thomas; Lewis, Owen T

2015-06-01

Intraspecific negative feedback effects, where performance is reduced on soils conditioned by conspecifics, are widely documented in plant communities. However, interspecific feedbacks are less well studied, and their direction, strength, causes, and consequences are poorly understood. If more closely related species share pathogens, or have similar soil resource requirements, plants may perform better on soils conditioned by more distant phylogenetic relatives. There have been few empirical tests of this prediction across plant life stages, and none of which attempt to account for soil chemistry. Here, we test the utility of phylogeny for predicting soil feedback effects on plant survival and performance (germination, seedling survival, growth rate, biomass). We implement a full factorial experiment growing species representing five families on five plant family-specific soil sources. Our experiments exploit soils that have been cultured for over 30 years in plant family-specific beds at Oxford University Botanic Gardens. Plant responses to soil source were idiosyncratic, and species did not perform better on soils cultured by phylogenetically more distant relatives. The magnitude and sign of feedback effects could, however, be explained by differences in the chemical properties of "home" and "away" soils. Furthermore, the direction of soil chemistry-related plant-soil feedbacks was dependent on plant life stage, with the effects of soil chemistry on germination success and accumulation of biomass inversely related. Our results (1) suggest that the phylogenetic distance between plant families cannot predict plant-soil feedbacks across multiple life stages, and (2) highlight the need to consider changes in soil chemistry as an important driver of population responses. The contrasting responses at plant life stages suggest that studies focusing on brief phases in plant demography (e.g., germination success) may not give a full picture of plant-soil feedback effects.

Cross-sectional investigation of drug-related problems among adults in a medical center outpatient clinic: application of virtual medicine records in the cloud.

PubMed

Wang, Hue-Yu; Yeh, Ming-Kung; Ho, Chung-Han; Hu, Ming-Kuan; Huang, Yaw-Bin

2017-01-01

To analyze and characterize data regarding the prevalence and types of outpatient drug-related problems (DRPs) found by clinical pharmacists after implementation of the Virtual Medicine Record in Cloud System (VMRCS). A cross-sectional study regarding outpatient pharmaceutical care was conducted at a medical center in Taiwan. Patients aged >20 years old with multiple chronic diseases and polypharmacy were enrolled. In Stage I (1 October-31 December 2014), patients received pharmaceutical care according to prescription data accessed online in the VMRCS. In Stage II (1 June-31 August 2015), the VMRCS were pre-download and arranged to the institute's required format, facilitated DRP detection. Clinical pharmacists then reviewed and evaluated the prescription data through pre-downloaded VMRCS. Overall, 1539 and 1600 prescriptions were evaluated in these two stages, respectively. DRPs were recorded using the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE)-DRP. DRPs were found for 50.2% of patients in Stage I and 55.2% in Stage II (p < 0.05) and were most frequently encountered for "Drugs for the cardiovascular system" and caused by "Inappropriate duplication of therapeutic group or active ingredient." In terms of problems, incidence of "Unnecessary drug treatment" was highest. Duplicate medications were most frequently seen for "Drugs for acid-related disorders." The efficiency to identify DRPs was at least 2.4 times higher with pre-downloaded prescription data than with real-time online queries. With VMRCS, DRPs were more easily identified whether patients received medical care in the same hospital or not. DRPs could be efficiently prevented through the use of pre-downloaded patient prescription data. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Staged lengthening arthroplasty for pediatric osteosarcoma around the knee.

PubMed

Kong, Chang-Bae; Lee, Soo-Yong; Jeon, Dae-Geun

2010-06-01

Orthopaedic oncologists often must address leg-length discrepancy after resection of tumors in growing patients with osteosarcoma. There are various alternatives to address this problem. We describe a three-stage procedure: (1) temporary arthrodesis, (2) lengthening by Ilizarov apparatus, and (3) tumor prosthesis. We asked (1) to what extent are affected limbs actually lengthened; (2) how many of the patients who undergo a lengthening procedure eventually achieve joint arthroplasty; and (3) can the three-stage procedure give patients a functioning joint with equalization of limb length? We reviewed 56 patients (younger than 14 years) with osteosarcoma who had staged lengthening arthroplasty between 1991 and 2004. Thirty-five of the 56 patients (63%) underwent soft tissue lengthening, and of these 35, 28 (50% of the original group of 56) had implantation of a mobile joint. Three of the 28 prostheses were later removed owing to infection after arthroplasty. The overall average length gained was 7.8 cm (range, 4-14 cm), and 25 (71%) of the 35 patients had a mobile joint at final followup. The average Musculoskeletal Tumor Society functional score was 23.2 (range, 15-28) and limb-length discrepancy at final followup was 2.6 cm (range, 0-6.5 cm). Although most mobile joints had an acceptable ROM (average, 74.2 degrees ; range, 35 degrees -110 degrees ), extension lag was frequent. Our approach is one option for skeletally immature patients, especially in situations where an expandable prosthesis is not available. However, this technique requires multiple stages and would be inappropriate for patients who cannot accept prolonged functional deficit owing to a limited lifespan or other reasons. Level IV, therapeutic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

An adaptive two-stage dose-response design method for establishing proof of concept.

PubMed

Franchetti, Yoko; Anderson, Stewart J; Sampson, Allan R

2013-01-01

We propose an adaptive two-stage dose-response design where a prespecified adaptation rule is used to add and/or drop treatment arms between the stages. We extend the multiple comparison procedures-modeling (MCP-Mod) approach into a two-stage design. In each stage, we use the same set of candidate dose-response models and test for a dose-response relationship or proof of concept (PoC) via model-associated statistics. The stage-wise test results are then combined to establish "global" PoC using a conditional error function. Our simulation studies showed good and more robust power in our design method compared to conventional and fixed designs.

Performance characteristics of a slagging gasifier for MHD combustor systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, K. O.

1979-01-01

The performance of a two stage, coal combustor concept for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) systems was investigated analytically. The two stage MHD combustor is comprised of an entrained flow, slagging gasifier as the first stage, and a gas phase reactor as the second stage. The first stage was modeled by assuming instantaneous coal devolatilization, and volatiles combustion and char gasification by CO2 and H2O in plug flow. The second stage combustor was modeled assuming adiabatic instantaneous gas phase reactions. Of primary interest was the dependence of char gasification efficiency on first stage particle residence time. The influence of first stage stoichiometry, heat loss, coal moisture, coal size distribution, and degree of coal devolatilization on gasifier performance and second stage exhaust temperature was determined. Performance predictions indicate that particle residence times on the order of 500 msec would be required to achieve gasification efficiencies in the range of 90 to 95 percent. The use of a finer coal size distribution significantly reduces the required gasifier residence time for acceptable levels of fuel use efficiency. Residence time requirements are also decreased by increased levels of coal devolatilization. Combustor design efforts should maximize devolatilization by minimizing mixing times associated with coal injection.

Effects of extrusion temperature and dwell time on aflatoxin levels in cottonseed.

PubMed

Buser, Michael D; Abbas, Hamed K

2002-04-24

Cottonseed is an economical source of protein and is commonly used in balancing livestock rations; however, its use is typically limited by protein, fat, gossypol, and aflatoxin contents. Whole cottonseed was extruded to determine if the temperature and dwell time (multiple stages of processing) associated with the process affected aflatoxin levels. The extrusion temperature study showed that aflatoxin levels were reduced by an additional 33% when the cottonseed was extruded at 160 degrees C as compared to 104 degrees C. Furthermore, the multiple-pass extrusion study indicated that aflatoxin levels were reduced by an additional 55% when the cottonseed was extruded four times as compared to one time. To estimate the aflatoxin reductions due to extrusion temperature and dwell time, the least mean fits obtained for the individual studies were combined. Total estimated reductions of 55% (three stages of processing at 104 degrees C), 50% (two stages of processing at 132 degrees C), and 47% (one stage of processing at 160 degrees C) were obtained from the combined equations. If the extreme conditions (four stages of processing at 160 degrees C) of the evaluation studies are applied to the combined temperature and processing equation, the resulting aflatoxin reduction would be 76%.

Network Biomarkers of Bladder Cancer Based on a Genome-Wide Genetic and Epigenetic Network Derived from Next-Generation Sequencing Data.

PubMed

Li, Cheng-Wei; Chen, Bor-Sen

2016-01-01

Epigenetic and microRNA (miRNA) regulation are associated with carcinogenesis and the development of cancer. By using the available omics data, including those from next-generation sequencing (NGS), genome-wide methylation profiling, candidate integrated genetic and epigenetic network (IGEN) analysis, and drug response genome-wide microarray analysis, we constructed an IGEN system based on three coupling regression models that characterize protein-protein interaction networks (PPINs), gene regulatory networks (GRNs), miRNA regulatory networks (MRNs), and epigenetic regulatory networks (ERNs). By applying system identification method and principal genome-wide network projection (PGNP) to IGEN analysis, we identified the core network biomarkers to investigate bladder carcinogenic mechanisms and design multiple drug combinations for treating bladder cancer with minimal side-effects. The progression of DNA repair and cell proliferation in stage 1 bladder cancer ultimately results not only in the derepression of miR-200a and miR-200b but also in the regulation of the TNF pathway to metastasis-related genes or proteins, cell proliferation, and DNA repair in stage 4 bladder cancer. We designed a multiple drug combination comprising gefitinib, estradiol, yohimbine, and fulvestrant for treating stage 1 bladder cancer with minimal side-effects, and another multiple drug combination comprising gefitinib, estradiol, chlorpromazine, and LY294002 for treating stage 4 bladder cancer with minimal side-effects.

Neural Correlates of Olfactory Learning: Critical Role of Centrifugal Neuromodulation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fletcher, Max L.; Chen, Wei R.

2010-01-01

The mammalian olfactory system is well established for its remarkable capability of undergoing experience-dependent plasticity. Although this process involves changes at multiple stages throughout the central olfactory pathway, even the early stages of processing, such as the olfactory bulb and piriform cortex, can display a high degree of…

Bryostatin and Vincristine in B-Cell Malignancies

ClinicalTrials.gov

2013-01-10

Recurrent Adult Burkitt Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Diffuse Mixed Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Immunoblastic Large Cell Lymphoma; Recurrent Adult Lymphoblastic Lymphoma; Recurrent Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma; Recurrent Mantle Cell Lymphoma; Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia; Refractory Multiple Myeloma; Stage III Multiple Myeloma

Strain preservation of experimental animals: vitrification of two-cell stage embryos for multiple mouse strains.

PubMed

Eto, Tomoo; Takahashi, Riichi; Kamisako, Tsutomu

2015-04-01

Strain preservation of experimental animals is crucial for experimental reproducibility. Maintaining complete animal strains, however, is costly and there is a risk for genetic mutations as well as complete loss due to disasters or illness. Therefore, the development of effective vitrification techniques for cryopreservation of multiple experimental animal strains is important. We examined whether a vitrification method using cryoprotectant solutions, P10 and PEPeS, is suitable for preservation of multiple inbred and outbred mouse strains. First, we investigated whether our vitrification method using cryoprotectant solutions was suitable for two-cell stage mouse embryos. In vitro development of embryos exposed to the cryoprotectant solutions was similar to that of fresh controls. Further, the survival rate of the vitrified embryos was extremely high (98.1%). Next, we collected and vitrified two-cell stage embryos of 14 mouse strains. The average number of embryos obtained from one female was 7.3-33.3. The survival rate of vitrified embryos ranged from 92.8% to 99.1%, with no significant differences among mouse strains. In vivo development did not differ significantly between fresh controls and vitrified embryos of each strain. For strain preservation using cryopreserved embryos, two offspring for inbred lines and one offspring for outbred lines must be produced from two-cell stage embryos collected from one female. The expected number of surviving fetuses obtained from embryos collected from one female of either the inbred or outbred strains ranged from 2.9 to 19.5. The findings of the present study indicated that this vitrification method is suitable for strain preservation of multiple mouse strains. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Race, gender, class, and sexual orientation: intersecting axes of inequality and self-rated health in Canada

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Intersectionality theory, a way of understanding social inequalities by race, gender, class, and sexuality that emphasizes their mutually constitutive natures, possesses potential to uncover and explicate previously unknown health inequalities. In this paper, the intersectionality principles of "directionality," "simultaneity," "multiplicativity," and "multiple jeopardy" are applied to inequalities in self-rated health by race, gender, class, and sexual orientation in a Canadian sample. Methods The Canadian Community Health Survey 2.1 (N = 90,310) provided nationally representative data that enabled binary logistic regression modeling on fair/poor self-rated health in two analytical stages. The additive stage involved regressing self-rated health on race, gender, class, and sexual orientation singly and then as a set. The intersectional stage involved consideration of two-way and three-way interaction terms between the inequality variables added to the full additive model created in the previous stage. Results From an additive perspective, poor self-rated health outcomes were reported by respondents claiming Aboriginal, Asian, or South Asian affiliations, lower class respondents, and bisexual respondents. However, each axis of inequality interacted significantly with at least one other: multiple jeopardy pertained to poor homosexuals and to South Asian women who were at unexpectedly high risks of fair/poor self-rated health and mitigating effects were experienced by poor women and by poor Asian Canadians who were less likely than expected to report fair/poor health. Conclusions Although a variety of intersections between race, gender, class, and sexual orientation were associated with especially high risks of fair/poor self-rated health, they were not all consistent with the predictions of intersectionality theory. I conclude that an intersectionality theory well suited for explicating health inequalities in Canada should be capable of accommodating axis intersections of multiple kinds and qualities. PMID:21241506

The eyes have it: A Problem-Based Learning Exercise in Molecular Evolution.

PubMed

White, Harold B

2007-05-01

Molecular evolution provides an interesting context in which to use problem-based learning because it integrates a variety of topics in biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. This three-stage problem for advanced students deals with the structure, multiple functions, and properties of lactate dehydrogenase isozymes, and the related evolutionary trade offs of gene sharing versus gene duplication among their corresponding genes. It has directive elements that require students to find and read classic articles, review thermodynamic principles, and apply their understanding to a mythical world wherein dinosaurs continued to evolve. The science fiction writing assignment that brings closure to the problem transformed the problem with respect to student interest and engagement. Copyright © 2007 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Simulating first order optical systems—algorithms for and composition of discrete linear canonical transforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Healy, John J.

2018-01-01

The linear canonical transforms (LCTs) are a parameterised group of linear integral transforms. The LCTs encompass a number of well-known transformations as special cases, including the Fourier transform, fractional Fourier transform, and the Fresnel integral. They relate the scalar wave fields at the input and output of systems composed of thin lenses and free space, along with other quadratic phase systems. In this paper, we perform a systematic search of all algorithms based on up to five stages of magnification, chirp multiplication and Fourier transforms. Based on that search, we propose a novel algorithm, for which we present numerical results. We compare the sampling requirements of three algorithms. Finally, we discuss some issues surrounding the composition of discrete LCTs.

Financing development stage biotechnology companies: RMs vs. IPOs.

PubMed

Ahn, Mark J; Couch, Robert B; Wu, Wei

2011-01-01

We examine reverse mergers (RMs) in the biotechnology industry and find that, when compared to initial public offerings (IPOs), RMs are smaller, have significantly lower market valuations relative to size, and generally invest less. We also find that RMs exhibit positive abnormal returns on the announcement date and throughout the first year after the RM event. In looking at liquidity measures, we find that RMs tend to be less liquid than IPOs and that illiquidity is greater during the six-month lock-up period following the RM event. Thus, RMs may be an appropriate alternative financing vehicle in capital intensive, high-risk biotechnology companies which require accessing deeper and larger pools of investors in public capital markets across multiple milestone periods in a "pay for progress" environment.

Imaging of dynamic ion signaling during root gravitropism.

PubMed

Monshausen, Gabriele B

2015-01-01

Gravitropic signaling is a complex process that requires the coordinated action of multiple cell types and tissues. Ca(2+) and pH signaling are key components of gravitropic signaling cascades and can serve as useful markers to dissect the molecular machinery mediating plant gravitropism. To monitor dynamic ion signaling, imaging approaches combining fluorescent ion sensors and confocal fluorescence microscopy are employed, which allow the visualization of pH and Ca(2+) changes at the level of entire tissues, while also providing high spatiotemporal resolution. Here, I describe procedures to prepare Arabidopsis seedlings for live cell imaging and to convert a microscope for vertical stage fluorescence microscopy. With this imaging system, ion signaling can be monitored during all phases of the root gravitropic response.

Magnetic resonance imaging of pancreatitis: An update

PubMed Central

Manikkavasakar, Sriluxayini; AlObaidy, Mamdoh; Busireddy, Kiran K; Ramalho, Miguel; Nilmini, Viragi; Alagiyawanna, Madhavi; Semelka, Richard C

2014-01-01

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging plays an important role in the diagnosis and staging of acute and chronic pancreatitis and may represent the best imaging technique in the setting of pancreatitis due to its unmatched soft tissue contrast resolution as well as non-ionizing nature and higher safety profile of intravascular contrast media, making it particularly valuable in radiosensitive populations such as pregnant patients, and patients with recurrent pancreatitis requiring multiple follow-up examinations. Additional advantages include the ability to detect early forms of chronic pancreatitis and to better differentiate adenocarcinoma from focal chronic pancreatitis. This review addresses new trends in clinical pancreatic MR imaging emphasizing its role in imaging all types of acute and chronic pancreatitis, pancreatitis complications and other important differential diagnoses that mimic pancreatitis. PMID:25356038

Future exploration of Venus (post-Pioneer Venus 1978)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colin, L.; Evans, L. C.; Greeley, R.; Quaide, W. L.; Schaupp, R. W.; Seiff, A.; Young, R. E.

1976-01-01

A comprehensive study was performed to determine the major scientific unknowns about the planet Venus to be expected in the post-Pioneer Venus 1978 time frame. Based on those results the desirability of future orbiters, atmospheric entry probes, balloons, and landers as vehicles to address the remaining scientific questions were studied. The recommended mission scenario includes a high resolution surface mapping radar orbiter mission for the 1981 launch opportunity, a multiple-lander mission for 1985 and either an atmospheric entry probe or balloon mission in 1988. All the proposed missions can be performed using proposed space shuttle upper stage boosters. Significant amounts of long-lead time supporting research and technology developments are required to be initiated in the near future to permit the recommended launch dates.

Prognostic impact of circulating plasma cells in patients with multiple myeloma: implications for plasma cell leukemia definition

PubMed Central

Granell, Miquel; Calvo, Xavier; Garcia-Guiñón, Antoni; Escoda, Lourdes; Abella, Eugènia; Martínez, Clara Mª; Teixidó, Montserrat; Gimenez, Mª Teresa; Senín, Alicia; Sanz, Patricia; Campoy, Desirée; Vicent, Ana; Arenillas, Leonor; Rosiñol, Laura; Sierra, Jorge; Bladé, Joan; de Larrea, Carlos Fernández

2017-01-01

The presence of circulating plasma cells in patients with multiple myeloma is considered a marker for highly proliferative disease. In the study herein, the impact of circulating plasma cells assessed by cytology on survival of patients with multiple myeloma was analyzed. Wright-Giemsa stained peripheral blood smears of 482 patients with newly diagnosed myeloma or plasma cell leukemia were reviewed and patients were classified into 4 categories according to the percentage of circulating plasma cells: 0%, 1–4%, 5–20%, and plasma cell leukemia with the following frequencies: 382 (79.2%), 83 (17.2%), 12 (2.5%) and 5 (1.0%), respectively. Median overall survival according to the circulating plasma cells group was 47, 50, 6 and 14 months, respectively. At multivariate analysis, the presence of 5 to 20% circulating plasma cells was associated with a worse overall survival (relative risk 4.9, 95% CI 2.6–9.3) independently of age, creatinine, the Durie-Salmon system stage and the International Staging System (ISS) stage. Patients with ≥5% circulating plasma cells had lower platelet counts (median 86×109/L vs. 214×109/L, P<0.0001) and higher bone marrow plasma cells (median 53% vs. 36%, P=0.004). The presence of ≥5% circulating plasma cells in patients with multiple myeloma has a similar adverse prognostic impact as plasma cell leukemia. PMID:28255016

29 CFR 1926.1432 - Multiple-crane/derrick lifts-supplemental requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 8 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Multiple-crane/derrick lifts-supplemental requirements... Cranes and Derricks in Construction § 1926.1432 Multiple-crane/derrick lifts—supplemental requirements... implementation. (1) The multiple-crane/derrick lift must be directed by a person who meets the criteria for both...

De Novo Assembly of a Transcriptome for Calanus finmarchicus (Crustacea, Copepoda) – The Dominant Zooplankter of the North Atlantic Ocean

PubMed Central

Lenz, Petra H.; Roncalli, Vittoria; Hassett, R. Patrick; Wu, Le-Shin; Cieslak, Matthew C.; Hartline, Daniel K.; Christie, Andrew E.

2014-01-01

Assessing the impact of global warming on the food web of the North Atlantic will require difficult-to-obtain physiological data on a key copepod crustacean, Calanus finmarchicus. The de novo transcriptome presented here represents a new resource for acquiring such data. It was produced from multiplexed gene libraries using RNA collected from six developmental stages: embryo, early nauplius (NI-II), late nauplius (NV-VI), early copepodite (CI-II), late copepodite (CV) and adult (CVI) female. Over 400,000,000 paired-end reads (100 base-pairs long) were sequenced on an Illumina instrument, and assembled into 206,041 contigs using Trinity software. Coverage was estimated to be at least 65%. A reference transcriptome comprising 96,090 unique components (“comps”) was annotated using Blast2GO. 40% of the comps had significant blast hits. 11% of the comps were successfully annotated with gene ontology (GO) terms. Expression of many comps was found to be near zero in one or more developmental stages suggesting that 35 to 48% of the transcriptome is “silent” at any given life stage. Transcripts involved in lipid biosynthesis pathways, critical for the C. finmarchicus life cycle, were identified and their expression pattern during development was examined. Relative expression of three transcripts suggests wax ester biosynthesis in late copepodites, but triacylglyceride biosynthesis in adult females. Two of these transcripts may be involved in the preparatory phase of diapause. A key environmental challenge for C. finmarchicus is the seasonal exposure to the dinoflagellate Alexandrium fundyense with high concentrations of saxitoxins, neurotoxins that block voltage-gated sodium channels. Multiple contigs encoding putative voltage-gated sodium channels were identified. They appeared to be the result of both alternate splicing and gene duplication. This is the first report of multiple NaV1 genes in a protostome. These data provide new insights into the transcriptome and physiology of this environmentally important zooplankter. PMID:24586345

HCN4 ion channel function is required for early events that regulate anatomical left-right patterning in a nodal and lefty asymmetric gene expression-independent manner

PubMed Central

Pai, Vaibhav P.; Willocq, Valerie; Pitcairn, Emily J.; Lemire, Joan M.; Paré, Jean-François; Shi, Nian-Qing; McLaughlin, Kelly A.

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Laterality is a basic characteristic of all life forms, from single cell organisms to complex plants and animals. For many metazoans, consistent left-right asymmetric patterning is essential for the correct anatomy of internal organs, such as the heart, gut, and brain; disruption of left-right asymmetry patterning leads to an important class of birth defects in human patients. Laterality functions across multiple scales, where early embryonic, subcellular and chiral cytoskeletal events are coupled with asymmetric amplification mechanisms and gene regulatory networks leading to asymmetric physical forces that ultimately result in distinct left and right anatomical organ patterning. Recent studies have suggested the existence of multiple parallel pathways regulating organ asymmetry. Here, we show that an isoform of the hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) family of ion channels (hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channel 4, HCN4) is important for correct left-right patterning. HCN4 channels are present very early in Xenopus embryos. Blocking HCN channels (Ih currents) with pharmacological inhibitors leads to errors in organ situs. This effect is only seen when HCN4 channels are blocked early (pre-stage 10) and not by a later block (post-stage 10). Injections of HCN4-DN (dominant-negative) mRNA induce left-right defects only when injected in both blastomeres no later than the 2-cell stage. Analysis of key asymmetric genes' expression showed that the sidedness of Nodal, Lefty, and Pitx2 expression is largely unchanged by HCN4 blockade, despite the randomization of subsequent organ situs, although the area of Pitx2 expression was significantly reduced. Together these data identify a novel, developmental role for HCN4 channels and reveal a new Nodal-Lefty-Pitx2 asymmetric gene expression-independent mechanism upstream of organ positioning during embryonic left-right patterning. PMID:28818840

HCN4 ion channel function is required for early events that regulate anatomical left-right patterning in a nodal and lefty asymmetric gene expression-independent manner.

PubMed

Pai, Vaibhav P; Willocq, Valerie; Pitcairn, Emily J; Lemire, Joan M; Paré, Jean-François; Shi, Nian-Qing; McLaughlin, Kelly A; Levin, Michael

2017-10-15

Laterality is a basic characteristic of all life forms, from single cell organisms to complex plants and animals. For many metazoans, consistent left-right asymmetric patterning is essential for the correct anatomy of internal organs, such as the heart, gut, and brain; disruption of left-right asymmetry patterning leads to an important class of birth defects in human patients. Laterality functions across multiple scales, where early embryonic, subcellular and chiral cytoskeletal events are coupled with asymmetric amplification mechanisms and gene regulatory networks leading to asymmetric physical forces that ultimately result in distinct left and right anatomical organ patterning. Recent studies have suggested the existence of multiple parallel pathways regulating organ asymmetry. Here, we show that an isoform of the hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) family of ion channels (hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channel 4, HCN4) is important for correct left-right patterning. HCN4 channels are present very early in Xenopus embryos. Blocking HCN channels ( I h currents) with pharmacological inhibitors leads to errors in organ situs. This effect is only seen when HCN4 channels are blocked early (pre-stage 10) and not by a later block (post-stage 10). Injections of HCN4-DN (dominant-negative) mRNA induce left-right defects only when injected in both blastomeres no later than the 2-cell stage. Analysis of key asymmetric genes' expression showed that the sidedness of Nodal , Lefty , and Pitx2 expression is largely unchanged by HCN4 blockade, despite the randomization of subsequent organ situs, although the area of Pitx2 expression was significantly reduced. Together these data identify a novel, developmental role for HCN4 channels and reveal a new Nodal-Lefty-Pitx2 asymmetric gene expression-independent mechanism upstream of organ positioning during embryonic left-right patterning. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Multiple drilling compared with standard core decompression for avascular necrosis of the femoral head in sickle cell disease patients.

PubMed

Al Omran, Abdullah

2013-05-01

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is the most common cause of avascular necrosis of femoral head (ANFH) in childhood. Advances in medical treatment led to improved life expectancy of such patients. SCD-related ANFH frequently progress to total collapse of the femoral head necessitating hip replacement. However, SCD patient are at more risk of intra- and post-operative complications and suboptimal outcome of total hip arthroplasty. Hence, it is imperative to preserve the femoral head as long as possible. Between September 1992 and June 2007, 94 core decompression procedures were done to SCD patients who had modified Ficat stage I, IIA and IIB ANFH. Sixty one patients underwent a classical 8-mm drilling and 33 patients underwent 3.2-mm diameter MD technique. Patients were followed up for minimum of 2 years and were evaluated for clinical and Harris Hip Score improvement and for radiological progression. All 19 hips that had Ficat stage I had significant reduction of pain and improvement of Harris Hip Score. No patient has required further surgery. Among the 39 hips with Ficat IIA at time of procedure, 80 % of hips which underwent CD and 78 % of MD cases had significant reduction of pain and improvement of HHS. Those patients showed no radiographic progression of the disease. The remaining, 20 % CD and 22 % MD eventually progressed radiologically to grade III or grade IV and had HHS less than 75 at last visit. In the 36 cases with Ficat IIB, 52 % CD and 52.8 % MC had significant reduction of pain and improvement of HHS. The rest showed no improvement in pain and function, and progressed to stage IV; 11 of them underwent THA and one patient refused surgery. While multiple drilling is safer and less invasive than single coring in SCD, there is no statistically significant difference in outcome or complication rate between both procedures done for ANFH in patients with SCD.

An ultrasensitive NanoLuc-based luminescence system for monitoring Plasmodium berghei throughout its life cycle.

PubMed

De Niz, Mariana; Stanway, Rebecca R; Wacker, Rahel; Keller, Derya; Heussler, Volker T

2016-04-21

Bioluminescence imaging is widely used for cell-based assays and animal imaging studies, both in biomedical research and drug development. Its main advantages include its high-throughput applicability, affordability, high sensitivity, operational simplicity, and quantitative outputs. In malaria research, bioluminescence has been used for drug discovery in vivo and in vitro, exploring host-pathogen interactions, and studying multiple aspects of Plasmodium biology. While the number of fluorescent proteins available for imaging has undergone a great expansion over the last two decades, enabling simultaneous visualization of multiple molecular and cellular events, expansion of available luciferases has lagged behind. The most widely used bioluminescent probe in malaria research is the Photinus pyralis firefly luciferase, followed by the more recently introduced Click-beetle and Renilla luciferases. Ultra-sensitive imaging of Plasmodium at low parasite densities has not been previously achieved. With the purpose of overcoming these challenges, a Plasmodium berghei line expressing the novel ultra-bright luciferase enzyme NanoLuc, called PbNLuc has been generated, and is presented in this work. NanoLuc shows at least 150 times brighter signal than firefly luciferase in vitro, allowing single parasite detection in mosquito, liver, and sexual and asexual blood stages. As a proof-of-concept, the PbNLuc parasites were used to image parasite development in the mosquito, liver and blood stages of infection, and to specifically explore parasite liver stage egress, and pre-patency period in vivo. PbNLuc is a suitable parasite line for sensitive imaging of the entire Plasmodium life cycle. Its sensitivity makes it a promising line to be used as a reference for drug candidate testing, as well as the characterization of mutant parasites to explore the function of parasite proteins, host-parasite interactions, and the better understanding of Plasmodium biology. Since the substrate requirements of NanoLuc are different from those of firefly luciferase, dual bioluminescence imaging for the simultaneous characterization of two lines, or two separate biological processes, is possible, as demonstrated in this work.

Mechanisms to deploy the two-stage IUS from the shuttle cargo bay

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haynie, H. T.

1980-01-01

The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) is a two-stage or three-stage booster used to transport spacecraft from the space shuttle orbit to synchronous orbit or on an interplanetary trajectory. The mechanisms which were designed specifically to perform the two-stage IUS required functions while contained within the cargo bay of the space shuttle during the boost phase and while in a low Earth orbit are discussed. The requirements, configuration, and operation of the mechanisms are described, with particular emphasis on the tilt actuator and the mechanism for decoupling the actuators during boost to eliminate redundant load paths.

Principles of cell-free genetic circuit assembly.

PubMed

Noireaux, Vincent; Bar-Ziv, Roy; Libchaber, Albert

2003-10-28

Cell-free genetic circuit elements were constructed in a transcription-translation extract. We engineered transcriptional activation and repression cascades, in which the protein product of each stage is the input required to drive or block the following stage. Although we can find regions of linear response for single stages, cascading to subsequent stages requires working in nonlinear regimes. Substantial time delays and dramatic decreases in output production are incurred with each additional stage because of a bottleneck at the translation machinery. Faster turnover of RNA message can relieve competition between genes and stabilize output against variations in input and parameters.

The Development of Ciprofloxacin Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Involves Multiple Response Stages and Multiple Proteins ▿ † ‡

PubMed Central

Su, Hsun-Cheng; Ramkissoon, Kevin; Doolittle, Janet; Clark, Martha; Khatun, Jainab; Secrest, Ashley; Wolfgang, Matthew C.; Giddings, Morgan C.

2010-01-01

Microbes have developed resistance to nearly every antibiotic, yet the steps leading to drug resistance remain unclear. Here we report a multistage process by which Pseudomonas aeruginosa acquires drug resistance following exposure to ciprofloxacin at levels ranging from 0.5× to 8× the initial MIC. In stage I, susceptible cells are killed en masse by the exposure. In stage II, a small, slow to nongrowing population survives antibiotic exposure that does not exhibit significantly increased resistance according to the MIC measure. In stage III, exhibited at 0.5× to 4× the MIC, a growing population emerges to reconstitute the population, and these cells display heritable increases in drug resistance of up to 50 times the original level. We studied the stage III cells by proteomic methods to uncover differences in the regulatory pathways that are involved in this phenotype, revealing upregulation of phosphorylation on two proteins, succinate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (SSADH) and methylmalonate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (MMSADH), and also revealing upregulation of a highly conserved protein of unknown function. Transposon disruption in the encoding genes for each of these targets substantially dampened the ability of cells to develop the stage III phenotype. Considering these results in combination with computational models of resistance and genomic sequencing results, we postulate that stage III heritable resistance develops from a combination of both genomic mutations and modulation of one or more preexisting cellular pathways. PMID:20696867

Effect of Osteonecrosis Intervention Rod Versus Core Decompression Using Multiple Small Drill Holes on Early Stages of Necrosis of the Femoral Head: A Prospective Study on a Series of 60 Patients with a Minimum 1-Year-Follow-Up.

PubMed

Miao, Haixiong; Ye, Dongping; Liang, Weiguo; Yao, Yicun

2015-01-01

The conventional CD used 10 mm drill holes associated with a lack of structural support. Thus, alternative methods such as a tantalum implant, small drill holes, and biological treatment were developed to prevent deterioration of the joint. The treatment of CD by multiple 3.2 mm drill holes could reduce the femoral neck fracture and partial weight bearing was allowed. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of osteonecrosis intervention rod versus core decompression using multiple small drill holes on early stages of necrosis of the femoral head. From January 2011 to January 2012, 60 patients undergoing surgery for osteonecrosis with core decompression were randomly assigned into 2 groups based on the type of core decompression used: (1) a total of 30 osteonecrosis patients (with 16 hips on Steinburg stageⅠ,20 hips on Steinburg stageⅡ) were treated with a porous tantalum rod insertion. The diameter of the drill hole for the intervention rod was 10mm.(2) a total of 30 osteonecrosis patients (with 14 hips on Steinburg stageⅠ,20 hips on Steinburg stageⅡ) were treated with core decompression using five drill holes on the lateral femur, the diameter of the hole was 3.2 mm. The average age of the patient was 32.6 years (20-45 years) and the average time of follow-up was 25.6 months (12- 28 months) in the rod implanted group. The average age of the patient was 35.2 years (22- 43 years) and the average time of follow-up was 26.3 months (12-28 months) in the small drill holes group. The average of surgical time was 40 min, and the mean volume of blood loss was 30 ml in both surgical groups. The average of Harris score was improved from 56.2 ± 7.1 preoperative to 80.2 ± 11.4 at the last follow-up in the rod implanted group (p < 0.05). The mean Harris score was improved from 53.8 ± 6.6 preoperative to 79.7 ± 13.2 at the last follow-up in the small drill holes group (p<0. 05). No significant difference was observed in Harris score between the two groups. At the last follow-up, 28 of 36 hips were at the same radiographic stages as pre-operation, and 8 deteriorated in the rod implanted group. 26 of 34 hips were at the same radiographic stage as pre-operation, and 8 deteriorated in the small drill holes group. No significant difference was observed in radiographic stage between the two groups. There was no favourable result on the outcome of a tantalum intervention implant compared to multiple small drill holes. CD via multiple small drill holes would allow similar postoperative load-bearing and seems to result in similar or even better clinical outcome without the prolonged implantation of an expensive tantalum implant. A tantalum rod intervention and core decompression using multiple small drill holes were effective on the stage I hips rather than stage II hips.

Software for Allocating Resources in the Deep Space Network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Yeou-Fang; Borden, Chester; Zendejas, Silvino; Baldwin, John

2003-01-01

TIGRAS 2.0 is a computer program designed to satisfy a need for improved means for analyzing the tracking demands of interplanetary space-flight missions upon the set of ground antenna resources of the Deep Space Network (DSN) and for allocating those resources. Written in Microsoft Visual C++, TIGRAS 2.0 provides a single rich graphical analysis environment for use by diverse DSN personnel, by connecting to various data sources (relational databases or files) based on the stages of the analyses being performed. Notable among the algorithms implemented by TIGRAS 2.0 are a DSN antenna-load-forecasting algorithm and a conflict-aware DSN schedule-generating algorithm. Computers running TIGRAS 2.0 can also be connected using SOAP/XML to a Web services server that provides analysis services via the World Wide Web. TIGRAS 2.0 supports multiple windows and multiple panes in each window for users to view and use information, all in the same environment, to eliminate repeated switching among various application programs and Web pages. TIGRAS 2.0 enables the use of multiple windows for various requirements, trajectory-based time intervals during which spacecraft are viewable, ground resources, forecasts, and schedules. Each window includes a time navigation pane, a selection pane, a graphical display pane, a list pane, and a statistics pane.

Second-site prosthetic joint infection in patients with multiple prosthetic joints.

PubMed

Clesham, Kevin; Hughes, Andrew J; O' hEireamhoin, Sven; Fleming, Catherine; Murphy, Colin G

2018-04-10

Prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) are among the most serious complications in arthroplasty. A second-site PJI in patients with multiple prosthetic joints increases morbidity, with many requiring further revision procedures. We aimed to establish why some patients with multiple joints develop second-site infections. Our institution's arthroplasty database was reviewed from 2004 to 2017. All PJIs were identified, and all patients with more than one prosthetic joint in situ were included. We recorded risk factors, causative organisms, number of procedures and length of stay. Forty-four patients meeting the criteria were identified. Four patients (9.1%) developed second-site infection. Eight patients (18.2%) developed re-infection of the primary PJI. Positive MRSA carrier status and PJI of a total knee replacement were associated with an increased risk of a second episode of infection. Patients who developed further infection had more frequent admission and longer lengths of stay than isolated PJIs. Higher morbidity and use of hospital resources are associated with this cohort of patients. PJIs in total knee replacements and positive MRSA status are associated with higher rates of second infection. Identifying this vulnerable cohort of patients at an early stage is critical to ensure measures are taken to reduce the risks of further infection.

Development of a Multiple-Stage Differential Mobility Analyzer (MDMA)

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

Chen, Da-Ren; Cheng, Mengdawn

2007-01-01

A new DMA column has been designed with the capability of simultaneously extracting monodisperse particles of different sizes in multiple stages. We call this design a multistage DMA, or MDMA. A prototype MDMA has been constructed and experimentally evaluated in this study. The new column enables the fast measurement of particles in a wide size range, while preserving the powerful particle classification function of a DMA. The prototype MDMA has three sampling stages, capable of classifying monodisperse particles of three different sizes simultaneously. The scanning voltage operation of a DMA can be applied to this new column. Each stage ofmore » MDMA column covers a fraction of the entire particle size range to be measured. The covered size fractions of two adjacent stages of the MDMA are designed somewhat overlapped. The arrangement leads to the reduction of scanning voltage range and thus the cycling time of the measurement. The modular sampling stage design of the MDMA allows the flexible configuration of desired particle classification lengths and variable number of stages in the MDMA. The design of our MDMA also permits operation at high sheath flow, enabling high-resolution particle size measurement and/or reduction of the lower sizing limit. Using the tandem DMA technique, the performance of the MDMA, i.e., sizing accuracy, resolution, and transmission efficiency, was evaluated at different ratios of aerosol and sheath flowrates. Two aerosol sampling schemes were investigated. One was to extract aerosol flows at an evenly partitioned flowrate at each stage, and the other was to extract aerosol at a rate the same as the polydisperse aerosol flowrate at each stage. We detail the prototype design of the MDMA and the evaluation result on the transfer functions of the MDMA at different particle sizes and operational conditions.« less

Robust, Globally Consistent, and Fully-automatic Multi-image Registration and Montage Synthesis for 3-D Multi-channel Images

PubMed Central

Tsai, Chia-Ling; Lister, James P.; Bjornsson, Christopher J; Smith, Karen; Shain, William; Barnes, Carol A.; Roysam, Badrinath

2013-01-01

The need to map regions of brain tissue that are much wider than the field of view of the microscope arises frequently. One common approach is to collect a series of overlapping partial views, and align them to synthesize a montage covering the entire region of interest. We present a method that advances this approach in multiple ways. Our method (1) produces a globally consistent joint registration of an unorganized collection of 3-D multi-channel images with or without stage micrometer data; (2) produces accurate registrations withstanding changes in scale, rotation, translation and shear by using a 3-D affine transformation model; (3) achieves complete automation, and does not require any parameter settings; (4) handles low and variable overlaps (5 – 15%) between adjacent images, minimizing the number of images required to cover a tissue region; (5) has the self-diagnostic ability to recognize registration failures instead of delivering incorrect results; (6) can handle a broad range of biological images by exploiting generic alignment cues from multiple fluorescence channels without requiring segmentation; and (7) is computationally efficient enough to run on desktop computers regardless of the number of images. The algorithm was tested with several tissue samples of at least 50 image tiles, involving over 5,000 image pairs. It correctly registered all image pairs with an overlap greater than 7%, correctly recognized all failures, and successfully joint-registered all images for all tissue samples studied. This algorithm is disseminated freely to the community as included with the FARSIGHT toolkit for microscopy (www.farsight-toolkit.org). PMID:21361958

Development of a Two-Stage Mars Ascent Vehicle Using In-Situ Propellant Production

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paxton, Laurel; Vaughan, David

2014-01-01

Mars Sample Return (MSR) and Mars In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) present two main challenges for the advancement of Mars science. MSR would demonstrate Mars lift-off capability, while ISRU would test the ability to produce fuel and oxidizer using Martian resources, a crucial step for future human missions. A two-stage Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) concept was developed to support sample return as well as in-situ propellant production. The MAV would be powered by a solid rocket first stage and a LOX-propane second stage. A liquid second-stage provides higher orbit insertion reliability than a solid second stage as well as a degree of complexity eventually required for manned missions. Propane in particular offers comparable performance to methane without requiring cryogenic storage. The total MAV mass would be 119.9 kg to carry an 11 kg payload to orbit. The feasibility of in-situ fuel and oxidizer production was also examined. Two potential schemes were evaluated for production capability, size and power requirements. The schemes examined utilize CO2 and water as starting blocks to produce LOX and a propane blend. The infrastructure required to fuel and launch the MAV was also explored.

Connecting synthetic chemistry decisions to cell and genome biology using small-molecule phenotypic profiling

PubMed Central

Wagner, Bridget K.; Clemons, Paul A.

2009-01-01

Discovering small-molecule modulators for thousands of gene products requires multiple stages of biological testing, specificity evaluation, and chemical optimization. Many cellular profiling methods, including cellular sensitivity, gene-expression, and cellular imaging, have emerged as methods to assess the functional consequences of biological perturbations. Cellular profiling methods applied to small-molecule science provide opportunities to use complex phenotypic information to prioritize and optimize small-molecule structures simultaneously against multiple biological endpoints. As throughput increases and cost decreases for such technologies, we see an emerging paradigm of using more information earlier in probe- and drug-discovery efforts. Moreover, increasing access to public datasets makes possible the construction of “virtual” profiles of small-molecule performance, even when multiplexed measurements were not performed or when multidimensional profiling was not the original intent. We review some key conceptual advances in small-molecule phenotypic profiling, emphasizing connections to other information, such as protein-binding measurements, genetic perturbations, and cell states. We argue that to maximally leverage these measurements in probe and drug discovery requires a fundamental connection to synthetic chemistry, allowing the consequences of synthetic decisions to be described in terms of changes in small-molecule profiles. Mining such data in the context of chemical structure and synthesis strategies can inform decisions about chemistry procurement and library development, leading to optimal small-molecule screening collections. PMID:19825513

Disparities in breast cancer treatment and outcomes: biological, social, and health system determinants and opportunities for research.

PubMed

Wheeler, Stephanie B; Reeder-Hayes, Katherine E; Carey, Lisa A

2013-01-01

Racial disparities in breast cancer mortality have been widely documented for several decades and persist despite advances in receipt of mammography across racial groups. This persistence leads to questions about the roles of biological, social, and health system determinants of poor outcomes. Cancer outcomes are a function not only of innate biological factors but also of modifiable characteristics of individual behavior and decision making as well as characteristics of patient-health system interaction and the health system itself. Attempts to explain persistent racial disparities have mostly been limited to discussion of differences in insurance coverage, socioeconomic status, tumor stage at diagnosis, comorbidity, and molecular subtype of the tumor. This article summarizes existing literature exploring reasons for racial disparities in breast cancer mortality, with an emphasis on treatment disparities and opportunities for future research. Because breast cancer care requires a high degree of multidisciplinary team collaboration, ensuring that guideline recommended treatment (such as endocrine therapy for hormone receptor positive patients) is received by all racial/ethnic groups is critical and requires coordination across multiple providers and health care settings. Recognition that variation in cancer care quality may be correlated with race (and socioeconomic and health system factors) may assist policy makers in identifying strategies to more equally distribute clinical expertise and health infrastructure across multiple user populations.

A novel multiple-stage antimalarial agent that inhibits protein synthesis.

PubMed

Baragaña, Beatriz; Hallyburton, Irene; Lee, Marcus C S; Norcross, Neil R; Grimaldi, Raffaella; Otto, Thomas D; Proto, William R; Blagborough, Andrew M; Meister, Stephan; Wirjanata, Grennady; Ruecker, Andrea; Upton, Leanna M; Abraham, Tara S; Almeida, Mariana J; Pradhan, Anupam; Porzelle, Achim; Luksch, Torsten; Martínez, María Santos; Luksch, Torsten; Bolscher, Judith M; Woodland, Andrew; Norval, Suzanne; Zuccotto, Fabio; Thomas, John; Simeons, Frederick; Stojanovski, Laste; Osuna-Cabello, Maria; Brock, Paddy M; Churcher, Tom S; Sala, Katarzyna A; Zakutansky, Sara E; Jiménez-Díaz, María Belén; Sanz, Laura Maria; Riley, Jennifer; Basak, Rajshekhar; Campbell, Michael; Avery, Vicky M; Sauerwein, Robert W; Dechering, Koen J; Noviyanti, Rintis; Campo, Brice; Frearson, Julie A; Angulo-Barturen, Iñigo; Ferrer-Bazaga, Santiago; Gamo, Francisco Javier; Wyatt, Paul G; Leroy, Didier; Siegl, Peter; Delves, Michael J; Kyle, Dennis E; Wittlin, Sergio; Marfurt, Jutta; Price, Ric N; Sinden, Robert E; Winzeler, Elizabeth A; Charman, Susan A; Bebrevska, Lidiya; Gray, David W; Campbell, Simon; Fairlamb, Alan H; Willis, Paul A; Rayner, Julian C; Fidock, David A; Read, Kevin D; Gilbert, Ian H

2015-06-18

There is an urgent need for new drugs to treat malaria, with broad therapeutic potential and novel modes of action, to widen the scope of treatment and to overcome emerging drug resistance. Here we describe the discovery of DDD107498, a compound with a potent and novel spectrum of antimalarial activity against multiple life-cycle stages of the Plasmodium parasite, with good pharmacokinetic properties and an acceptable safety profile. DDD107498 demonstrates potential to address a variety of clinical needs, including single-dose treatment, transmission blocking and chemoprotection. DDD107498 was developed from a screening programme against blood-stage malaria parasites; its molecular target has been identified as translation elongation factor 2 (eEF2), which is responsible for the GTP-dependent translocation of the ribosome along messenger RNA, and is essential for protein synthesis. This discovery of eEF2 as a viable antimalarial drug target opens up new possibilities for drug discovery.

Detecting text in natural scenes with multi-level MSER and SWT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Tongwei; Liu, Renjun

2018-04-01

The detection of the characters in the natural scene is susceptible to factors such as complex background, variable viewing angle and diverse forms of language, which leads to poor detection results. Aiming at these problems, a new text detection method was proposed, which consisted of two main stages, candidate region extraction and text region detection. At first stage, the method used multiple scale transformations of original image and multiple thresholds of maximally stable extremal regions (MSER) to detect the text regions which could detect character regions comprehensively. At second stage, obtained SWT maps by using the stroke width transform (SWT) algorithm to compute the candidate regions, then using cascaded classifiers to propose non-text regions. The proposed method was evaluated on the standard benchmark datasets of ICDAR2011 and the datasets that we made our own data sets. The experiment results showed that the proposed method have greatly improved that compared to other text detection methods.

Improved CDMA Performance Using Parallel Interference Cancellation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Simon, Marvin; Divsalar, Dariush

1995-01-01

This report considers a general parallel interference cancellation scheme that significantly reduces the degradation effect of user interference but with a lesser implementation complexity than the maximum-likelihood technique. The scheme operates on the fact that parallel processing simultaneously removes from each user the interference produced by the remaining users accessing the channel in an amount proportional to their reliability. The parallel processing can be done in multiple stages. The proposed scheme uses tentative decision devices with different optimum thresholds at the multiple stages to produce the most reliably received data for generation and cancellation of user interference. The 1-stage interference cancellation is analyzed for three types of tentative decision devices, namely, hard, null zone, and soft decision, and two types of user power distribution, namely, equal and unequal powers. Simulation results are given for a multitude of different situations, in particular, those cases for which the analysis is too complex.

Effects of the inner droplet of double emulsions on the film drainage during a head-on collision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jingtao; Jing, Hefeng; Xu, Genmiao; Wang, Xiaoyong; Duan, Zhenya

2015-07-01

As a critical stage which severely affects the final coalescence of droplets, film drainage in the collision process of two simple droplets has been deeply studied for many years. However, the collision of multiple emulsions which contain other phases (like daughter droplets or particles) has never been studied although multiple emulsions are very important in emulsion industries nowadays. In this paper, the head-on collision of two core-shell double emulsions with equal sizes is investigated through a boundary integral method to disclose the effects of the inner droplet on the film drainage. When capillary number Ca is relatively high, due to the effect of the inner droplet on the inner circulation of mother droplets, the film drainage of double emulsions includes three stages: drainage, drainage halt, and second drainage, instead of two stages for that of simple droplets: drainage and drainage halt.

Mechanical design of multiple zone plates precision alignment apparatus for hard X-ray focusing in twenty-nanometer scale

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

Shu, Deming; Liu, Jie; Gleber, Sophie C.

An enhanced mechanical design of multiple zone plates precision alignment apparatus for hard x-ray focusing in a twenty-nanometer scale is provided. The precision alignment apparatus includes a zone plate alignment base frame; a plurality of zone plates; and a plurality of zone plate holders, each said zone plate holder for mounting and aligning a respective zone plate for hard x-ray focusing. At least one respective positioning stage drives and positions each respective zone plate holder. Each respective positioning stage is mounted on the zone plate alignment base frame. A respective linkage component connects each respective positioning stage and the respectivemore » zone plate holder. The zone plate alignment base frame, each zone plate holder and each linkage component is formed of a selected material for providing thermal expansion stability and positioning stability for the precision alignment apparatus.« less

A novel multiple-stage antimalarial agent that inhibits protein synthesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baragaña, Beatriz; Hallyburton, Irene; Lee, Marcus C. S.; Norcross, Neil R.; Grimaldi, Raffaella; Otto, Thomas D.; Proto, William R.; Blagborough, Andrew M.; Meister, Stephan; Wirjanata, Grennady; Ruecker, Andrea; Upton, Leanna M.; Abraham, Tara S.; Almeida, Mariana J.; Pradhan, Anupam; Porzelle, Achim; Martínez, María Santos; Bolscher, Judith M.; Woodland, Andrew; Norval, Suzanne; Zuccotto, Fabio; Thomas, John; Simeons, Frederick; Stojanovski, Laste; Osuna-Cabello, Maria; Brock, Paddy M.; Churcher, Tom S.; Sala, Katarzyna A.; Zakutansky, Sara E.; Jiménez-Díaz, María Belén; Sanz, Laura Maria; Riley, Jennifer; Basak, Rajshekhar; Campbell, Michael; Avery, Vicky M.; Sauerwein, Robert W.; Dechering, Koen J.; Noviyanti, Rintis; Campo, Brice; Frearson, Julie A.; Angulo-Barturen, Iñigo; Ferrer-Bazaga, Santiago; Gamo, Francisco Javier; Wyatt, Paul G.; Leroy, Didier; Siegl, Peter; Delves, Michael J.; Kyle, Dennis E.; Wittlin, Sergio; Marfurt, Jutta; Price, Ric N.; Sinden, Robert E.; Winzeler, Elizabeth A.; Charman, Susan A.; Bebrevska, Lidiya; Gray, David W.; Campbell, Simon; Fairlamb, Alan H.; Willis, Paul A.; Rayner, Julian C.; Fidock, David A.; Read, Kevin D.; Gilbert, Ian H.

2015-06-01

There is an urgent need for new drugs to treat malaria, with broad therapeutic potential and novel modes of action, to widen the scope of treatment and to overcome emerging drug resistance. Here we describe the discovery of DDD107498, a compound with a potent and novel spectrum of antimalarial activity against multiple life-cycle stages of the Plasmodium parasite, with good pharmacokinetic properties and an acceptable safety profile. DDD107498 demonstrates potential to address a variety of clinical needs, including single-dose treatment, transmission blocking and chemoprotection. DDD107498 was developed from a screening programme against blood-stage malaria parasites; its molecular target has been identified as translation elongation factor 2 (eEF2), which is responsible for the GTP-dependent translocation of the ribosome along messenger RNA, and is essential for protein synthesis. This discovery of eEF2 as a viable antimalarial drug target opens up new possibilities for drug discovery.

International Myeloma Working Group Consensus Statement for the Management, Treatment, and Supportive Care of Patients With Myeloma Not Eligible for Standard Autologous Stem-Cell Transplantation

PubMed Central

Palumbo, Antonio; Rajkumar, S. Vincent; San Miguel, Jesus F.; Larocca, Alessandra; Niesvizky, Ruben; Morgan, Gareth; Landgren, Ola; Hajek, Roman; Einsele, Hermann; Anderson, Kenneth C.; Dimopoulos, Meletios A.; Richardson, Paul G.; Cavo, Michele; Spencer, Andrew; Stewart, A. Keith; Shimizu, Kazuyuki; Lonial, Sagar; Sonneveld, Pieter; Durie, Brian G.M.; Moreau, Philippe; Orlowski, Robert Z.

2014-01-01

Purpose To provide an update on recent advances in the management of patients with multiple myeloma who are not eligible for autologous stem-cell transplantation. Methods A comprehensive review of the literature on diagnostic criteria is provided, and treatment options and management of adverse events are summarized. Results Patients with symptomatic disease and organ damage (ie, hypercalcemia, renal failure, anemia, or bone lesions) require immediate treatment. The International Staging System and chromosomal abnormalities identify high- and standard-risk patients. Proteasome inhibitors, immunomodulatory drugs, corticosteroids, and alkylating agents are the most active agents. The presence of concomitant diseases, frailty, or disability should be assessed and, if present, treated with reduced-dose approaches. Bone disease, renal damage, hematologic toxicities, infections, thromboembolism, and peripheral neuropathy are the most frequent disabling events requiring prompt and active supportive care. Conclusion These recommendations will help clinicians ensure the most appropriate care for patients with myeloma in everyday clinical practice. PMID:24419113

Status of SFR Codes and Methods QA Implementation

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

Brunett, Acacia J.; Briggs, Laural L.; Fanning, Thomas H.

2017-01-31

This report details development of the SAS4A/SASSYS-1 SQA Program and describes the initial stages of Program implementation planning. The provisional Program structure, which is largely focused on the establishment of compliant SQA documentation, is outlined in detail, and Program compliance with the appropriate SQA requirements is highlighted. Additional program activities, such as improvements to testing methods and Program surveillance, are also described in this report. Given that the programmatic resources currently granted to development of the SAS4A/SASSYS-1 SQA Program framework are not sufficient to adequately address all SQA requirements (e.g. NQA-1, NUREG/BR-0167, etc.), this report also provides an overview ofmore » the gaps that remain the SQA program, and highlights recommendations on a path forward to resolution of these issues. One key finding of this effort is the identification of the need for an SQA program sustainable over multiple years within DOE annual R&D funding constraints.« less

Space shuttle main engine: Interactive design challenges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mccarty, J. P.; Wood, B. K.

1985-01-01

The operating requirements established by NASA for the SSME were considerably more demanding than those for earlier rocket engines used in the military launch vehicles or Apollo program. The SSME, in order to achieve the high performance, low weight, long life, reusable objectives, embodied technical demands far in excess of its predecessor rocket engines. The requirements dictated the use of high combustion pressure and the staged combustion cycle which maximizes performance through total use of all propellants in the main combustion process. This approach presented a myriad of technical challenges for maximization of performance within attainable state of the art capabilities for operating pressures, operating temperatures and rotating machinery efficiencies. Controlling uniformity of the high pressure turbomachinery turbine temperature environment was a key challenge for thrust level and life capability demanding innovative engineering. New approaches in the design of the components were necessary to accommodate the multiple use, minimum maintenance objectives. Included were the use of line replaceable units to facilitate field maintenance automatic checkout and internal inspection capabilities.

The Use of Synthetic Carriers in Malaria Vaccine Design

PubMed Central

Powles, Liam; Xiang, Sue D.; Selomulya, Cordelia; Plebanski, Magdalena

2015-01-01

Malaria vaccine research has been ongoing since the 1980s with limited success. However, recent improvements in our understanding of the immune responses required to combat each stage of infection will allow for intelligent design of both antigens and their associated delivery vaccine vehicles/vectors. Synthetic carriers (also known as vectors) are usually particulate and have multiple properties, which can be varied to control how an associated vaccine interacts with the host, and consequently how the immune response develops. This review comprehensively analyzes both historical and recent studies in which synthetic carriers are used to deliver malaria vaccines. Furthermore, the requirements for a synthetic carrier, such as size, charge, and surface chemistry are reviewed in order to understand the design of effective particle-based vaccines against malaria, as well as providing general insights. Synthetic carriers have the ability to alter and direct the immune response, and a better control of particle properties will facilitate improved vaccine design in the near future. PMID:26529028

End-Stage Renal Disease From Cast Nephropathy in a Teenager With Neuroendocrine Carcinoma.

PubMed

Butani, Lavjay; Ducore, Jonathan

2016-07-01

Cast nephropathy is the most common manifestation of renal injury in patients with multiple myeloma but is rarely reported in other conditions. We are reporting our experience in caring for a teenager with a metastatic neuroendocrine carcinoma who developed rapidly progressive kidney injury that advanced to end-stage renal disease. On renal biopsy extensive tubular necrosis and intratubular eosinophilic casts were noted. This previously unreported finding should prompt oncologists to closely monitor for such a complication in patients with secretory tumors. Whether early plasmapheresis could be of benefit, as has been tried in multiple myeloma, remains to be determined.

Multiple stage MS in analysis of plasma, serum, urine and in vitro samples relevant to clinical and forensic toxicology.

PubMed

Meyer, Golo M; Maurer, Hans H; Meyer, Markus R

2016-01-01

This paper reviews MS approaches applied to metabolism studies, structure elucidation and qualitative or quantitative screening of drugs (of abuse) and/or their metabolites. Applications in clinical and forensic toxicology were included using blood plasma or serum, urine, in vitro samples, liquids, solids or plant material. Techniques covered are liquid chromatography coupled to low-resolution and high-resolution multiple stage mass analyzers. Only PubMed listed studies published in English between January 2008 and January 2015 were considered. Approaches are discussed focusing on sample preparation and mass spectral settings. Comments on advantages and limitations of these techniques complete the review.

Multiple rings around Wolf-Rayet evolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Marston, A. P.

1995-01-01

We present optical narrow-band imaging of multiple rings existing around galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. The existence of multiple rings of material around Wolf-Rayet stars clearly illustrates the various phases of evolution that massive stars go through. The objects presented here show evidence of a three stage evolution. O stars produce an outer ring with the cavity being partially filled by ejecta from a red supergiant of luminous blue variable phase. A wind from the Wolf-Rayet star then passes into the ejecta materials. A simple model is presented for this three stage evolution. Using observations of the size and dynamics of the rings allows estimates of time scales for each stage of the massive star evolution. These are consistent with recent theoretical evolutionary models. Mass estimates for the ejecta, from the model presented, are consistent with previous ring nebula mass estimates from IRAS data, showing a number of ring nebulae to have large masses, most of which must in be in the form of neutral material. Finally, we illustrate how further observations will allow the determination of many of the parameters of the evolution of massive stars such as total mass loss, average mass loss rates, stellar abundances, and total time spent in each evolutionary phase.

[Combined application of multiple fluorescence in research on the degradation of fluoranthene by potassium ferrate].

PubMed

Li, Si; Yu, Dan-Ni; Ji, Fang-Ying; Zhou, Guang-Ming; He, Qiang

2012-11-01

The degradation of fluoranthene was researched by combined means of multiple fluorescence spectra, including emission, synchronous, excitation emission matrix (EEM), time-scan and photometry. The characteristics of the degradation and fluoranthene molecular changes within the degradation's process were also discussed according to the information about the degradation provided by all of the fluorescence spectra mentioned above. The equations of fluoranthene's degradation by potassium ferrate were obtained on the bases of fitting time-scan fluorescence curves at different time, and the degradation's kinetic was speculated accordingly. From the experimental results, multiple fluorescence data commonly reflected that it had same degradation rate at the same reaction time. t = 10 s, and the degradation rate is -55%, t = 25 s, -81%, t = 40 s, -91%. No new fluorescent characteristic was observed within every degradation' stage. The reaction stage during t < or = 20 s was crucial, in which the degradation process is closest to linear relationship. After this beginning stage, the linear relationship deviated gradually with the development of the degradation process. The degradation of fluoranthene by potassium ferrate was nearly in accord with the order of the first order reaction.