Free Radical Pathology of the Body in the Long-Term Period under Combined Exposure to Gamma Radiation and Emotional Stress in the Experiment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ilderbayeva, Gulzhan O.; Suleymeneva, Dametken M.; Ilderbayev, ?ralbek Z.; Argynbekova, Ainur S.; Berekenova, Gulnar A.; Syzdykaeva, Sayrangul M.; Kabdykanov, Symbat K.

2016-01-01

We have studied the intensity of free radical and antioxidant processes in organs (liver, spleen, thymus, lymph nodes of the small intestine, and adrenal glands) and cells (lymphocytes) in the long-term period after combined exposure to a sublethal dose of ?-radiation (6 Gy) and emotional stress. Combined exposure was followed by accumulation of…

Pulmonary Foreign Body Granulomatosis in Dental Technician.

PubMed

Chung, Sung Jun; Koo, Gun Woo; Park, Dong Won; Kwak, Hyun Jung; Yhi, Ji Young; Moon, Ji-Yong; Kim, Sang-Heon; Sohn, Jang Won; Yoon, Ho Joo; Shin, Dong Ho; Park, Sung Soo; Pyo, Ju Yeon; Oh, Young-Ha; Kim, Tae-Hyung

2015-10-01

Occupational lung diseases are caused by several toxic substances including heavy metals; however, the exact pathologic mechanisms remain unknown. In the workplace, dental technicians are often exposed to heavy metals such as cobalt, nickel, or beryllium and occasionally develop occupational lung diseases. We described a case of occupational lung disease in a patient who was employed as a dental technician for over a decade. A 31-year-old, non-smoking woman presented with productive cough and shortness of breath of several weeks duration. Chest computed tomography revealed a large number of scattered, bilateral small pulmonary nodules throughout the lung field, and multiple mediastinal lymph nodes enlargement. Percutaneous needle biopsy showed multifocal small granulomas with foreign body type giant cells suggestive of heavy metals inhalation. The patient's condition improved on simple avoidance strategy for several months. This case highlighted the importance of proper workplace safety.

IEEE-802.15.4-based low-power body sensor node with RF energy harvester.

PubMed

Tran, Thang Viet; Chung, Wan-Young

2014-01-01

This paper proposes the design and implementation of a low-voltage and low-power body sensor node based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard to collect electrocardiography (ECG) and photoplethysmography (PPG) signals. To achieve compact size, low supply voltage, and low power consumption, the proposed platform is integrated into a ZigBee mote, which contains a DC-DC booster, a PPG sensor interface module, and an ECG front-end circuit that has ultra-low current consumption. The input voltage of the proposed node is very low and has a wide range, from 0.65 V to 3.3 V. An RF energy harvester is also designed to charge the battery during the working mode or standby mode of the node. The power consumption of the proposed node reaches 14 mW in working mode to prolong the battery lifetime. The software is supported by the nesC language under the TinyOS environment, which enables the proposed node to be easily configured to function as an individual health monitoring node or a node in a wireless body sensor network (BSN). The proposed node is used to set up a wireless BSN that can simultaneously collect ECG and PPG signals and monitor the results on the personal computer.

The utility of ultrasound in patients with melanoma.

PubMed

Uren, Roger F; Sanki, Amira; Thompson, John F

2007-11-01

The highest quality gray-scale ultrasound images are obtained with high-frequency transducers; however, such high frequencies do not penetrate more than a few centimeters into body tissue. Fortunately, in patients with melanoma, the structures of interest are close to the skin surface, making them ideal targets for examination with high-resolution ultrasound. These include primary cutaneous melanomas, uveal melanomas and the regional lymph nodes draining the skin that lie in the axilla, groin, neck and other locations. Although ultrasound study of primary melanomas arising in the skin and eye has provided some insights, a major role for ultrasound has evolved recently, to provide early detection of metastatic melanoma in regional lymph nodes. Ultrasound is clearly superior to clinical palpation of the nodes during follow-up and, when combined with guided fine-needle biopsy, allows the earliest possible surgical intervention for regional nodal metastases. In the future the use of ultrasound contrast agents may improve the sensitivity of ultrasound in the detection of very small metastatic deposits.

Laparoscopic surgery for endometrial cancer: increasing body mass index does not impact postoperative complications.

PubMed

Helm, C William; Arumugam, Cibi; Gordinier, Mary E; Metzinger, Daniel S; Pan, Jianmin; Rai, Shesh N

2011-09-01

To determine the effect of body mass index on postoperative complications and the performance of lymph node dissection in women undergoing laparoscopy or laparotomy for endometrial cancer. Retrospective chart review of all patients undergoing surgery for endometrial cancer between 8/2004 and 12/2008. Complications graded and analyzed using Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events ver. 4.03 classification. 168 women underwent surgery: laparoscopy n=65, laparotomy n=103. Overall median body mass index 36.2 (range, 18.1 to 72.7) with similar distributions for age, body mass index and performance of lymph node dissection between groups. Following laparoscopy vs. laparotomy the percent rate of overall complications 53.8:73.8 (p=0.01), grade ≥3 complications 9.2:34.0 (p<0.01), ≥3 wound complications 3.1:22.3 (p<0.01) and ≥3 wound infection 3.1:20.4 (p=0.01) were significantly lower after laparoscopy. In a logistic model there was no effect of body mass index (≥36 and<36) on complications after laparoscopy in contrast to laparotomy. Para-aortic lymph node dissection was performed by laparoscopy 19/65 (29%): by laparotomy 34/103 (33%) p=0.61 and pelvic lymph node dissection by laparoscopy 21/65 (32.3%): by laparotomy 46/103 (44.7%) p=0.11. Logistic regression analysis revealed that for patients undergoing laparoscopy for stage I disease there was an inverse relationship between the performance of both para-aortic lymph node dissection and pelvic lymph node dissection and increasing body mass index (p=0.03 and p<0.01 respectively) in contrast to the laparotomy group where there was a trend only (p=0.09 and 0.05). For patients undergoing laparoscopy, increasing body mass index did not impact postoperative complications but did influence the decision to perform lymph node dissection.

Acute glandular fever-like illness in a patient with HTLV-III antibody.

PubMed

McCaul, T F; Tovey, G; Farthing, C F; Gazzard, B; Zuckerman, A J

1985-10-01

A lymph node biopsy obtained from a patient with human T-cell lymphocytotropic virus III/lymphadenopathy-associated virus (HTLV-III/LAV) antibody, presenting with an acute glandular fever-like illness, was examined by electron microscopy. Numerous pathological changes were present in the biopsy, including hypertrophy of smooth endoplasmic reticulum, intracytoplasmic rod-like inclusions within the cisternae of endoplasmic reticulum, multivesicular bodies, test-tube and ring-shaped forms, and tubulo-reticular structures. Intranuclear and intracytoplasmic viral-like particles measuring 105-120 nm in diameter and small cytoplasmic particles measuring 50-70 nm in diameter were found in some degenerating lymph node cells. These pathological findings may reflect a host cell response to various pathological and viral stimuli resulting from immune deficiency owing to infection with HTLV-III/LAV.

Diagnostic performance of 18F-FDG PET/CT and whole-body diffusion-weighted imaging with background body suppression (DWIBS) in detection of lymph node and bone metastases from pediatric neuroblastoma.

PubMed

Ishiguchi, Hiroaki; Ito, Shinji; Kato, Katsuhiko; Sakurai, Yusuke; Kawai, Hisashi; Fujita, Naotoshi; Abe, Shinji; Narita, Atsushi; Nishio, Nobuhiro; Muramatsu, Hideki; Takahashi, Yoshiyuki; Naganawa, Shinji

2018-06-01

Recent many studies have shown that whole body "diffusion-weighted imaging with background body signal suppression" (DWIBS) seems a beneficial tool having higher tumor detection sensitivity without ionizing radiation exposure for pediatric tumors. In this study, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of whole body DWIBS and 18 F-FDG PET/CT for detecting lymph node and bone metastases in pediatric patients with neuroblastoma. Subjects in this retrospective study comprised 13 consecutive pediatric patients with neuroblastoma (7 males, 6 females; mean age, 2.9 ± 2.0 years old) who underwent both 18 F-FDG PET/CT and whole-body DWIBS. All patients were diagnosed as neuroblastoma on the basis of pathological findings. Eight regions of lymph nodes and 17 segments of skeletons in all patients were evaluated. The images of 123 I-MIBG scintigraphy/SPECT-CT, bone scintigraphy/SPECT, and CT were used to confirm the presence of lymph node and bone metastases. Two radiologists trained in nuclear medicine evaluated independently the uptake of lesions in 18 F-FDG PET/CT and the signal-intensity of lesions in whole-body DWIBS visually. Interobserver difference was overcome through discussion to reach a consensus. The sensitivities, specificities, and overall accuracies of 18 F-FDG PET/CT and whole-body DWIBS were compared using McNemer's test. Positive predictive values (PPVs) and negative predictive values (NPVs) of both modalities were compared using Fisher's exact test. The total numbers of lymph node regions and bone segments which were confirmed to have metastasis in the total 13 patients were 19 and 75, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, overall accuracy, PPV, and NPV of 18 F-FDG PET/CT for detecting lymph node metastasis from pediatric neuroblastoma were 100, 98.7, 98.9, 95.0, and 100%, respectively, and those for detecting bone metastasis were 90.7, 73.1, 80.3, 70.1, and 91.9%, respectively. In contrast, the sensitivity, specificity, overall accuracy, PPV, and NPV of whole-body DWIBS for detecting bone metastasis from pediatric neuroblastoma were 94.7, 24.0, 53.0, 46.4 and 86.7%, respectively, whereas those for detecting lymph node metastasis were 94.7, 85.3, 87.2, 62.1, and 98.5%, respectively. The low specificity, overall accuracy, and PPV of whole-body DWIBS for detecting bone metastasis were due to a high incidence of false-positive findings (82/108, 75.9%). The specificity, overall accuracy, and PPV of whole-body DWIBS for detecting lymph node metastasis were also significantly lower than those of 18 F-FDG PET/CT for detecting lymph node metastasis, although the difference between these 2 modalities was less than that for detecting bone metastasis. The specificity, overall accuracy, and PPV of whole-body DWIBS are significantly lower than those of 18 F-FDG PET/CT because of a high incidence of false-positive findings particularly for detecting bone metastasis, whereas whole-body DWIBS shows a similar level of sensitivities for detecting lymph node and bone metastases to those of 18 F-FDG PET/CT. DWIBS should be carefully used for cancer staging in children because of its high incidence of false-positive findings in skeletons.

A secure RFID-based WBAN for healthcare applications.

PubMed

Ullah, Sana; Alamri, Atif

2013-10-01

A Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) allows the seamless integration of small and intelligent invasive or non-invasive sensor nodes in, on or around a human body for continuous health monitoring. These nodes are expected to use different power-efficient protocols in order to extend the WBAN lifetime. This paper highlights the power consumption and security issues of WBAN for healthcare applications. Numerous power saving mechanisms are discussed and a secure RFID-based protocol for WBAN is proposed. The performance of the proposed protocol is analyzed and compared with that of IEEE 802.15.6-based CSMA/CA and preamble-based TDMA protocols using extensive simulations. It is shown that the proposed protocol is power-efficient and protects patients' data from adversaries. It is less vulnerable to different attacks compared to that of IEEE 802.15.6-based CSMA/CA and preamble-based TDMA protocols. For a low traffic load and a single alkaline battery of capacity 2.6 Ah, the proposed protocol could extend the WBAN lifetime, when deployed on patients in hospitals or at homes, to approximately five years.

[Value of asymmetry criterion in MRI for the diagnosis of small pelvic lymphadenopathies (inferior or equal to 1 cm)].

PubMed

Roy, C; Le Bras, Y; Mangold, L; Tuchmann, C; Vasilescu, C; Saussine, C; Jacqmin, D

1996-12-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if lymph node asymmetry in small (< 1.0 cm) pelvic nodes was a significant prognostic feature in determining metastatic disease. 216 patients who presented pelvic carcinoma underwent MR imaging. They were correlated to pathological findings obtained by surgery. We considered on the axial plan the maximum diameter (MAD) of both round or oval-shaped suspicious masses. Two different cut-off values were determined: node diameter superior to 1.0 cm (criterion 1) and node diameter superior to 0.5 cm with asymmetry relative to the opposite side for nodes ranging from 0.5 cm to 1.0 cm (criterion 2). With criterion 1 MR Imaging had an accuracy of 88%, a sensitivity of 65%, a specificity of 96%, a PPV of 88% and a NPV of 88% in detection of pelvic node metastasis. By considering criterion 2, MR Imaging had an accuracy of 85%, a sensitivity of 75%, a specificity of 89%, a PPV of 71% and a NPV of 91%. Normal small asymmetric lymph nodes were present in 5.6% of cases. Asymmetry of normal or inflammatory pelvic nodes is not uncommon. It cannot be relied on to diagnose metastatic involvement in cases of small suspicious lymph nodes, especially because of its low specificity and positive predictive value.

Generalizing the self-healing diffusion Monte Carlo approach to finite temperature: a path for the optimization of low-energy many-body basis expansions

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

Kim, Jeongnim; Reboredo, Fernando A.

The self-healing diffusion Monte Carlo method for complex functions [F. A. Reboredo J. Chem. Phys. {\\bf 136}, 204101 (2012)] and some ideas of the correlation function Monte Carlo approach [D. M. Ceperley and B. Bernu, J. Chem. Phys. {\\bf 89}, 6316 (1988)] are blended to obtain a method for the calculation of thermodynamic properties of many-body systems at low temperatures. In order to allow the evolution in imaginary time to describe the density matrix, we remove the fixed-node restriction using complex antisymmetric trial wave functions. A statistical method is derived for the calculation of finite temperature properties of many-body systemsmore » near the ground state. In the process we also obtain a parallel algorithm that optimizes the many-body basis of a small subspace of the many-body Hilbert space. This small subspace is optimized to have maximum overlap with the one expanded by the lower energy eigenstates of a many-body Hamiltonian. We show in a model system that the Helmholtz free energy is minimized within this subspace as the iteration number increases. We show that the subspace expanded by the small basis systematically converges towards the subspace expanded by the lowest energy eigenstates. Possible applications of this method to calculate the thermodynamic properties of many-body systems near the ground state are discussed. The resulting basis can be also used to accelerate the calculation of the ground or excited states with Quantum Monte Carlo.« less

Small size of metastatic lymph nodes with extracapsular spread greatly impacts treatment outcomes in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients.

PubMed

Michikawa, C; Izumo, T; Sumino, J; Morita, T; Ohyama, Y; Michi, Y; Uzawa, N

2018-07-01

Extracapsular spread (ECS) of metastatic lymph nodes from oral carcinoma is the most significant prognostic predictor of a poor treatment outcome. However, only a few reports on prognostic factors in ECS-positive cases have been investigated. To address this problem, a detailed examination of ECS pathology was conducted to determine the prognostic factors of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) with ECS of metastatic lymph nodes. This study involved 63 OSCC patients with at least one pathologically metastatic node with ECS. Among the 229 metastatic lymph nodes, 149 exhibited ECS. Univariate analysis revealed that a poor outcome and recurrence were significantly associated with the number of ECS-positive nodes, density of ECS, and the minor axis of the smallest ECS-positive node. However, multivariate analysis identified only small size of ECS-positive nodes as a significant and independent factor predicting recurrence and a poor outcome. Thus, small size of ECS-positive nodes is the most important prognostic indicator for OSCC with ECS in metastatic lymph nodes. The classification of ECS status using the minor axis of ECS-positive nodes may be useful for further prediction of a poorer prognosis in OSCC cases. Standardization of ECS diagnosis and multicenter prospective studies will be required to confirm and refine these findings. Copyright © 2017 International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

From Micro to Nano: The Evolution of Wireless Sensor-Based Health Care.

PubMed

Sarkar, Subhadeep; Misra, Sudip

2016-01-01

Over the past decade, embedded systems and microelectromechanical systems have evolved in a radical way, redefining our standard of living and enhancing the quality of life. Health care, among various other fields, has benefited vastly from this technological development. The concept of using sensors for health care purposes originated in the late 1980s when sensors were developed to measure certain physiological parameters associated with the human body. In traditional sensor nodes, the signal sources are mostly different environmental phenomena (such as temperature, vibration, and luminosity) or man-made events (such as intrusion and mobile target tracking), whereas in case of the physiological sensors, the signal source is living human tissue. These sensor nodes, as their primary sensing element, have a diaphragm that converts pressure into displacement. This displacement, in turn, is subsequently transformed into an electrical signal. The concept of wireless physiological sensor nodes, however, gained popularity in the mid-2000s, with the sensed data from the nodes transmitted to the hub via a wireless medium. The network formed by this heterogeneous set of wireless body sensor nodes is termed a wireless body-area network (WBAN). Each WBAN is essentially a composition of multiple wireless body sensor nodes and a single hub. The hub is primarily responsible for acquisition of the raw sensed data from all the component sensor nodes and first-level aggregation of the data before transmitting the aggregated data for further analysis to a remote data acquisition center. Here, we outline the evolution of WBANs in the context of modern health care and its convergence with nanotechnology.

Generalizing the self-healing diffusion Monte Carlo approach to finite temperature: a path for the optimization of low-energy many-body bases.

PubMed

Reboredo, Fernando A; Kim, Jeongnim

2014-02-21

A statistical method is derived for the calculation of thermodynamic properties of many-body systems at low temperatures. This method is based on the self-healing diffusion Monte Carlo method for complex functions [F. A. Reboredo, J. Chem. Phys. 136, 204101 (2012)] and some ideas of the correlation function Monte Carlo approach [D. M. Ceperley and B. Bernu, J. Chem. Phys. 89, 6316 (1988)]. In order to allow the evolution in imaginary time to describe the density matrix, we remove the fixed-node restriction using complex antisymmetric guiding wave functions. In the process we obtain a parallel algorithm that optimizes a small subspace of the many-body Hilbert space to provide maximum overlap with the subspace spanned by the lowest-energy eigenstates of a many-body Hamiltonian. We show in a model system that the partition function is progressively maximized within this subspace. We show that the subspace spanned by the small basis systematically converges towards the subspace spanned by the lowest energy eigenstates. Possible applications of this method for calculating the thermodynamic properties of many-body systems near the ground state are discussed. The resulting basis can also be used to accelerate the calculation of the ground or excited states with quantum Monte Carlo.

Generalizing the self-healing diffusion Monte Carlo approach to finite temperature: A path for the optimization of low-energy many-body bases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reboredo, Fernando A.; Kim, Jeongnim

2014-02-01

A statistical method is derived for the calculation of thermodynamic properties of many-body systems at low temperatures. This method is based on the self-healing diffusion Monte Carlo method for complex functions [F. A. Reboredo, J. Chem. Phys. 136, 204101 (2012)] and some ideas of the correlation function Monte Carlo approach [D. M. Ceperley and B. Bernu, J. Chem. Phys. 89, 6316 (1988)]. In order to allow the evolution in imaginary time to describe the density matrix, we remove the fixed-node restriction using complex antisymmetric guiding wave functions. In the process we obtain a parallel algorithm that optimizes a small subspace of the many-body Hilbert space to provide maximum overlap with the subspace spanned by the lowest-energy eigenstates of a many-body Hamiltonian. We show in a model system that the partition function is progressively maximized within this subspace. We show that the subspace spanned by the small basis systematically converges towards the subspace spanned by the lowest energy eigenstates. Possible applications of this method for calculating the thermodynamic properties of many-body systems near the ground state are discussed. The resulting basis can also be used to accelerate the calculation of the ground or excited states with quantum Monte Carlo.

A game-theoretic approach to optimize ad hoc networks inspired by small-world network topology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Mian; Yang, Tinghong; Chen, Xing; Yang, Gang; Zhu, Guoqing; Holme, Petter; Zhao, Jing

2018-03-01

Nodes in ad hoc networks are connected in a self-organized manner. Limited communication radius makes information transmit in multi-hop mode, and each forwarding needs to consume the energy of nodes. Insufficient communication radius or exhaustion of energy may cause the absence of some relay nodes and links, further breaking network connectivity. On the other hand, nodes in the network may refuse to cooperate due to objective faulty or personal selfish, hindering regular communication in the network. This paper proposes a model called Repeated Game in Small World Networks (RGSWN). In this model, we first construct ad hoc networks with small-world feature by forming "communication shortcuts" between multiple-radio nodes. Small characteristic path length reduces average forwarding times in networks; meanwhile high clustering coefficient enhances network robustness. Such networks still maintain relative low global power consumption, which is beneficial to extend the network survival time. Then we use MTTFT strategy (Mend-Tolerance Tit-for-Tat) for repeated game as a rule for the interactions between neighbors in the small-world networks. Compared with other five strategies of repeated game, this strategy not only punishes the nodes' selfishness more reasonably, but also has the best tolerance to the network failure. This work is insightful for designing an efficient and robust ad hoc network.

Neck circumference correlates with tumor size and lateral lymph node metastasis in men with small papillary thyroid carcinoma.

PubMed

Kim, Mi Ra; Kim, Sang Soo; Huh, Jung Eun; Lee, Byung Joo; Lee, Jin Choon; Jeon, Yun Kyung; Kim, Bo Hyun; Kim, Seong Jang; Wang, Soo Geun; Kim, Yong Ki; Kim, In Joo

2013-01-01

Obesity is correlated with numerous diseases, including thyroid cancer, but the clinical significance of obesity with regard to the clinical characteristics of thyroid cancer remains unclear. Neck circumference is an index of upper-body adipose tissue distribution. In total, 401 patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) measuring ≤ 2 cm were included. Neck circumference was measured horizontally at the level just below the thyroid cartilage on preoperative neck computed tomographic images. Neck circumference correlated significantly with tumor size in men (p = 0.001) but not in women (p = 0.930). Body mass index (BMI) did not significantly correlate with tumor size in either sex. Neck circumference was significantly larger in men with lateral lymph node (LN) metastasis than in those without (p = 0.004). Neck circumference and BMI did not differ significantly in women according to other factors such as tumor size, multifocality, extrathyroid extension, and LN metastasis. Tumor size and the prevalence of lateral LN metastasis in men tended to increase in the middle/large neck circumference subgroup compared with those in the low neck circumference subgroup. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that neck circumference (p = 0.009) was a predictor for the presence of lateral LN metastasis in men. BMI was not a predictive factor for lateral LN involvement in either sex. Neck circumference, an indicator of central or visceral obesity but not BMI, may be associated with some prognostic factors in men with small PTC.

Directional MAC approach for wireless body area networks.

PubMed

Hussain, Md Asdaque; Alam, Md Nasre; Kwak, Kyung Sup

2011-01-01

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) designed for medical, sports, and entertainment applications, have drawn the attention of academia and industry alike. A WBAN is a special purpose network, designed to operate autonomously to connect various medical sensors and appliances, located inside and/or outside of a human body. This network enables physicians to remotely monitor vital signs of patients and provide real time feedback for medical diagnosis and consultations. The WBAN system can offer two significant advantages: patient mobility due to their use of portable monitoring devices and a location independent monitoring facility. With its appealing dimensions, it brings about a new set of challenges, which we do not normally consider in such small sensor networks. It requires a scalable network in terms of heterogeneous data traffic, low power consumption of sensor nodes, integration in and around the body networking and coexistence. This work presents a medium access control protocol for WBAN which tries to overcome the aforementioned challenges. We consider the use of multiple beam adaptive arrays (MBAA) at BAN Coordinator (BAN_C) node. When used as a BAN_C, an MBAA can successfully receive two or more overlapping packets at the same time. Each beam captures a different packet by automatically pointing its pattern toward one packet while annulling other contending packets. This paper describes how an MBAA can be integrated into a single hope star topology as a BAN_C. Simulation results show the performance of our proposed protocol.

Application of the FUN3D Unstructured-Grid Navier-Stokes Solver to the 4th AIAA Drag Prediction Workshop Cases

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee-Rausch, Elizabeth M.; Hammond, Dana P.; Nielsen, Eric J.; Pirzadeh, S. Z.; Rumsey, Christopher L.

2010-01-01

FUN3D Navier-Stokes solutions were computed for the 4th AIAA Drag Prediction Workshop grid convergence study, downwash study, and Reynolds number study on a set of node-based mixed-element grids. All of the baseline tetrahedral grids were generated with the VGRID (developmental) advancing-layer and advancing-front grid generation software package following the gridding guidelines developed for the workshop. With maximum grid sizes exceeding 100 million nodes, the grid convergence study was particularly challenging for the node-based unstructured grid generators and flow solvers. At the time of the workshop, the super-fine grid with 105 million nodes and 600 million elements was the largest grid known to have been generated using VGRID. FUN3D Version 11.0 has a completely new pre- and post-processing paradigm that has been incorporated directly into the solver and functions entirely in a parallel, distributed memory environment. This feature allowed for practical pre-processing and solution times on the largest unstructured-grid size requested for the workshop. For the constant-lift grid convergence case, the convergence of total drag is approximately second-order on the finest three grids. The variation in total drag between the finest two grids is only 2 counts. At the finest grid levels, only small variations in wing and tail pressure distributions are seen with grid refinement. Similarly, a small wing side-of-body separation also shows little variation at the finest grid levels. Overall, the FUN3D results compare well with the structured-grid code CFL3D. The FUN3D downwash study and Reynolds number study results compare well with the range of results shown in the workshop presentations.

Field-Based Optimal Placement of Antennas for Body-Worn Wireless Sensors

PubMed Central

Januszkiewicz, Łukasz; Di Barba, Paolo; Hausman, Sławomir

2016-01-01

We investigate a case of automated energy-budget-aware optimization of the physical position of nodes (sensors) in a Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). This problem has not been presented in the literature yet, as opposed to antenna and routing optimization, which are relatively well-addressed. In our research, which was inspired by a safety-critical application for firefighters, the sensor network consists of three nodes located on the human body. The nodes communicate over a radio link operating in the 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz ISM frequency band. Two sensors have a fixed location: one on the head (earlobe pulse oximetry) and one on the arm (with accelerometers, temperature and humidity sensors, and a GPS receiver), while the position of the third sensor can be adjusted within a predefined region on the wearer’s chest. The path loss between each node pair strongly depends on the location of the nodes and is difficult to predict without performing a full-wave electromagnetic simulation. Our optimization scheme employs evolutionary computing. The novelty of our approach lies not only in the formulation of the problem but also in linking a fully automated optimization procedure with an electromagnetic simulator and a simplified human body model. This combination turns out to be a computationally effective solution, which, depending on the initial placement, has a potential to improve performance of our example sensor network setup by up to about 20 dB with respect to the path loss between selected nodes. PMID:27196911

Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in High Performance Massively Parallel Direct N-body Simulations on Large GPU Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spurzem, R.; Berczik, P.; Zhong, S.; Nitadori, K.; Hamada, T.; Berentzen, I.; Veles, A.

2012-07-01

Astrophysical Computer Simulations of Dense Star Clusters in Galactic Nuclei with Supermassive Black Holes are presented using new cost-efficient supercomputers in China accelerated by graphical processing cards (GPU). We use large high-accuracy direct N-body simulations with Hermite scheme and block-time steps, parallelised across a large number of nodes on the large scale and across many GPU thread processors on each node on the small scale. A sustained performance of more than 350 Tflop/s for a science run on using simultaneously 1600 Fermi C2050 GPUs is reached; a detailed performance model is presented and studies for the largest GPU clusters in China with up to Petaflop/s performance and 7000 Fermi GPU cards. In our case study we look at two supermassive black holes with equal and unequal masses embedded in a dense stellar cluster in a galactic nucleus. The hardening processes due to interactions between black holes and stars, effects of rotation in the stellar system and relativistic forces between the black holes are simultaneously taken into account. The simulation stops at the complete relativistic merger of the black holes.

A Survey on Mobility Support in Wireless Body Area Networks

PubMed Central

Kim, Beom-Su; Kim, Kyong Hoon; Kim, Ki-Il

2017-01-01

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) have attracted research interests from the community, as more promising healthcare applications have a tendency to employ them as underlying network technology. While taking design issues, such as small size hardware as well as low power computing, into account, a lot of research has been proposed to accomplish the given tasks in WBAN. However, since most of the existing works are basically developed by assuming all nodes in the static state, these schemes therefore cannot be applied in real scenarios where network topology between sensor nodes changes frequently and unexpectedly according to human moving behavior. However, as far as the authors know, there is no survey paper to focus on research challenges for mobility support in WBAN yet. To address this deficiency, in this paper, we present the state-of-the-art approaches and discuss the important features of related to mobility in WBAN. We give an overview of mobility model and categorize the models as individual and group. Furthermore, an overview of networking techniques in the recent literature and summary are compiled for comparison in several aspects. The article also suggests potential directions for future research in the field. PMID:28387745

A Survey on Mobility Support in Wireless Body Area Networks.

PubMed

Kim, Beom-Su; Kim, Kyong Hoon; Kim, Ki-Il

2017-04-07

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) have attracted research interests from the community, as more promising healthcare applications have a tendency to employ them as underlying network technology. While taking design issues, such as small size hardware as well as low power computing, into account, a lot of research has been proposed to accomplish the given tasks in WBAN. However, since most of the existing works are basically developed by assuming all nodes in the static state, these schemes therefore cannot be applied in real scenarios where network topology between sensor nodes changes frequently and unexpectedly according to human moving behavior. However, as far as the authors know, there is no survey paper to focus on research challenges for mobility support in WBAN yet. To address this deficiency, in this paper, we present the state-of-the-art approaches and discuss the important features of related to mobility in WBAN. We give an overview of mobility model and categorize the models as individual and group. Furthermore, an overview of networking techniques in the recent literature and summary are compiled for comparison in several aspects. The article also suggests potential directions for future research in the field.

Influence of central venous pressure upon sinus node responses to arterial baroreflex stimulation in man

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mark, A. L.; Takeshita, A.; Eckberg, D. L.; Abboud, F. M.

1978-01-01

Measurements were made of sinus node responses to arterial baroreceptor stimulation with phenylephrine injection or neck suction, before and during changes of central venous pressure provoked by lower body negative pressure or leg and lower truck elevation. Variations of central venous pressure between 1.1 and 9.0 mm Hg did not influence arterial baroreflex mediated bradycardia. Baroreflex sinus node responses were augmented by intravenous propranolol, but the level of responses after propranolol was comparable during the control state, lower body negative pressure, and leg and trunk elevation. Sinus node responses to very brief baroreceptor stimuli applied during the transitions of central venous pressure also were comparable in the three states. The authors conclude that physiological variations of central venous pressure do not influence sinus node responses to arterial baroreceptor stimulation in man.

Small worlds in space: Synchronization, spatial and relational modularity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brede, M.

2010-06-01

In this letter we investigate networks that have been optimized to realize a trade-off between enhanced synchronization and cost of wire to connect the nodes in space. Analyzing the evolved arrangement of nodes in space and their corresponding network topology, a class of small-world networks characterized by spatial and network modularity is found. More precisely, for low cost of wire optimal configurations are characterized by a division of nodes into two spatial groups with maximum distance from each other, whereas network modularity is low. For high cost of wire, the nodes organize into several distinct groups in space that correspond to network modules connected on a ring. In between, spatially and relationally modular small-world networks are found.

Body surface detection method for photoacoustic image data using cloth-simulation technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sekiguchi, H.; Yoshikawa, A.; Matsumoto, Y.; Asao, Y.; Yagi, T.; Togashi, K.; Toi, M.

2018-02-01

Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is a novel modality that can visualize blood vessels without contrast agents. It clearly shows blood vessels near the body surface. However, these vessels obstruct the observation of deep blood vessels. As the existence range of each vessel is determined by the distance from the body surface, they can be separated if the position of the skin is known. However, skin tissue, which does not contain hemoglobin, does not appear in PAT results, therefore, manual estimation is required. As this task is very labor-intensive, its automation is highly desirable. Therefore, we developed a method to estimate the body surface using the cloth-simulation technique, which is a commonly used method to create computer graphics (CG) animations; however, it has not yet been employed for medical image processing. In cloth simulations, the virtual cloth is represented by a two-dimensional array of mass nodes. The nodes are connected with each other by springs. Once the cloth is released from a position away from the body, each node begins to move downwards under the effect of gravity, spring, and other forces; some of the nodes hit the superficial vessels and stop. The cloth position in the stationary state represents the body surface. The body surface estimation, which required approximately 1 h with the manual method, is automated and it takes only approximately 10 s with the proposed method. The proposed method could facilitate the practical use of PAT.

Using body temperature, food and water consumption as biomarkers of disease progression in mice with Eμ-myc lymphoma.

PubMed

Hunter, J E; Butterworth, J; Perkins, N D; Bateson, M; Richardson, C A

2014-02-18

Non-invasive biomarkers of disease progression in mice with cancer are lacking making it challenging to implement appropriate humane end points. We investigated whether body temperature, food and water consumption could be used to predict tumour burden. Thirty-six male, wild-type C57Bl/6 mice were implanted with subcutaneous RFID temperature sensors and inoculated with Eμ-myc tumours that infiltrate lymphoid tissue. Decrease in body temperature over the course of the study positively predicted post-mortem lymph node tumour burden (R(2)=0.68, F(1,22)=44.8, P<0.001). At experimental and humane end points, all mice that had a mean decrease in body temperature of 0.7 °C or greater had lymph nodes heavier than 0.5 g (100% sensitivity), whereas a mean decrease in body temperature <0.7 °C always predicted lymph nodes lighter than 0.5 g (100% specificity). The mean decrease in food consumption in each cage also predicted mean post-mortem lymph node tumour burden at 3 weeks (R(2)=0.89, F(1,3)=23.2, P=0.017). Temperature, food and water consumption were useful biomarkers of disease progression in mice with lymphoma and could potentially be used more widely to monitor mice with other forms of cancer.

Intensity-modulated radiotherapy improves lymph node coverage and dose to critical structures compared with three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy in clinically localized prostate cancer

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

Wang-Chesebro, Alice; Xia Ping; Coleman, Joy

2006-11-01

Purpose: The aim of this study was to quantify gains in lymph node coverage and critical structure dose reduction for whole-pelvis (WP) and extended-field (EF) radiotherapy in prostate cancer using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) compared with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) for the first treatment phase of 45 Gy in the concurrent treatment of lymph nodes and prostate. Methods and Materials: From January to August 2005, 35 patients with localized prostate cancer were treated with pelvic IMRT; 7 had nodes defined up to L5-S1 (Group 1), and 28 had nodes defined above L5-S1 (Group 2). Each patient had 2 plans retrospectively generated:more » 1 WP 3DCRT plan using bony landmarks, and 1 EF 3DCRT plan to cover the vascular defined volumes. Dose-volume histograms for the lymph nodes, rectum, bladder, small bowel, and penile bulb were compared by group. Results: For Group 1, WP 3DCRT missed 25% of pelvic nodes with the prescribed dose 45 Gy and missed 18% with the 95% prescribed dose 42.75 Gy, whereas WP IMRT achieved V{sub 45Gy} = 98% and V{sub 42.75Gy} = 100%. Compared with WP 3DCRT, IMRT reduced bladder V{sub 45Gy} by 78%, rectum V{sub 45Gy} by 48%, and small bowel V{sub 45Gy} by 232 cm{sup 3}. EF 3DCRT achieved 95% coverage of nodes for all patients at high cost to critical structures. For Group 2, IMRT decreased bladder V{sub 45Gy} by 90%, rectum V{sub 45Gy} by 54% and small bowel V{sub 45Gy} by 455 cm{sup 3} compared with EF 3DCRT. Conclusion: In this study WP 3DCRT missed a significant percentage of pelvic nodes. Although EF 3DCRT achieved 95% pelvic nodal coverage, it increased critical structure doses. IMRT improved pelvic nodal coverage while decreasing dose to bladder, rectum, small bowel, and penile bulb. For patients with extended node involvement, IMRT especially decreases small bowel dose.« less

Body size in early life and risk of breast cancer.

PubMed

Shawon, Md Shajedur Rahman; Eriksson, Mikael; Li, Jingmei

2017-07-21

Body size in early life is inversely associated with adult breast cancer (BC) risk, but it is unclear whether the associations differ by tumor characteristics. In a pooled analysis of two Swedish population-based studies consisting of 6731 invasive BC cases and 28,705 age-matched cancer-free controls, we examined the associations between body size in early life and BC risk. Self-reported body sizes at ages 7 and 18 years were collected by a validated nine-level pictogram (aggregated into three categories: small, medium and large). Odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated from multivariable logistic regression models in case-control analyses, adjusting for study, age at diagnosis, age at menarche, number of children, hormone replacement therapy, and family history of BC. Body size change between ages 7 and 18 were also examined in relation to BC risk. Case-only analyses were performed to test whether the associations differed by tumor characteristics. Medium or large body size at age 7 and 18 was associated with a statistically significant decreased BC risk compared to small body size (pooled OR (95% CI): comparing large to small, 0.78 (0.70-0.86), P trend <0.001 and 0.72 (0.64-0.80), P trend <0.001, respectively). The majority of the women (~85%) did not change body size categories between age 7 and 18 . Women who remained medium or large between ages 7 and 18 had significantly decreased BC risk compared to those who remained small. A reduction in body size between ages 7 and 18 was also found to be inversely associated with BC risk (0.90 (0.81-1.00)). No significant association was found between body size at age 7 and tumor characteristics. Body size at age 18 was found to be inversely associated with tumor size (P trend  = 0.006), but not estrogen receptor status and lymph node involvement. For all analyses, the overall inferences did not change appreciably after further adjustment for adult body mass index. Our data provide further support for a strong and independent inverse relationship between early life body size and BC risk. The association between body size at age 18 and tumor size could be mediated by mammographic density.

An Investigation of the Differences and Similarities between Generated Small-World Networks for Right- and Left-Hand Motor Imageries.

PubMed

Zhang, Jiang; Li, Yuyao; Chen, Huafu; Ding, Jurong; Yuan, Zhen

2016-11-04

In this study, small-world network analysis was performed to identify the similarities and differences between functional brain networks for right- and left-hand motor imageries (MIs). First, Pearson correlation coefficients among the nodes within the functional brain networks from healthy subjects were calculated. Then, small-world network indicators, including the clustering coefficient, the average path length, the global efficiency, the local efficiency, the average node degree, and the small-world index, were generated for the functional brain networks during both right- and left-hand MIs. We identified large differences in the small-world network indicators between the functional networks during MI and in the random networks. More importantly, the functional brain networks underlying the right- and left-hand MIs exhibited similar small-world properties in terms of the clustering coefficient, the average path length, the global efficiency, and the local efficiency. By contrast, the right- and left-hand MI brain networks showed differences in small-world characteristics, including indicators such as the average node degree and the small-world index. Interestingly, our findings also suggested that the differences in the activity intensity and range, the average node degree, and the small-world index of brain networks between the right- and left-hand MIs were associated with the asymmetry of brain functions.

User's manual for CNVUFAC, the general dynamics heat-transfer radiation view factor program

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

Wong, R. L.

CNVUFAC, the General Dynamics heat-transfer radiation veiw factor program, has been adapted for use on the LLL CDC 7600 computer system. The input and output have been modified, and a node incrementing logic was included to make the code compatible with the TRUMP thermal analyzer and related codes. The program performs the multiple integration necessary to evaluate the geometric black-body radiaton node to node view factors. Card image output that contains node number and view factor information is generated for input into the related program GRAY. Program GRAY is then used to include the effects of gray-body emissivities and multiplemore » reflections, generating the effective gray-body view factors usable in TRUMP. CNVUFAC uses an elemental area summation scheme to evaluate the multiple integrals. The program permits shadowing and self-shadowing. The basic configuration shapes that can be considered are cylinders, cones, spheres, ellipsoids, flat plates, disks, toroids, and polynomials of revolution. Portions of these shapes can also be considered.« less

Generalizing the self-healing diffusion Monte Carlo approach to finite temperature: A path for the optimization of low-energy many-body bases

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

Reboredo, Fernando A.; Kim, Jeongnim

A statistical method is derived for the calculation of thermodynamic properties of many-body systems at low temperatures. This method is based on the self-healing diffusion Monte Carlo method for complex functions [F. A. Reboredo, J. Chem. Phys. 136, 204101 (2012)] and some ideas of the correlation function Monte Carlo approach [D. M. Ceperley and B. Bernu, J. Chem. Phys. 89, 6316 (1988)]. In order to allow the evolution in imaginary time to describe the density matrix, we remove the fixed-node restriction using complex antisymmetric guiding wave functions. In the process we obtain a parallel algorithm that optimizes a small subspacemore » of the many-body Hilbert space to provide maximum overlap with the subspace spanned by the lowest-energy eigenstates of a many-body Hamiltonian. We show in a model system that the partition function is progressively maximized within this subspace. We show that the subspace spanned by the small basis systematically converges towards the subspace spanned by the lowest energy eigenstates. Possible applications of this method for calculating the thermodynamic properties of many-body systems near the ground state are discussed. The resulting basis can also be used to accelerate the calculation of the ground or excited states with quantum Monte Carlo.« less

[Correlation factors of lymph node metastasis in patients with clinical stage T1a non-small cell lung cancer].

PubMed

Ruochuan, Zang; Shugeng, Guo; Jie, He; Yousheng, Mao; Qi, Xue; Dali, Wang; Juwei, Mu; Jun, Zhao; Yonggang, Wang; Xiangyang, Liu; Fengwei, Tan; Gefei, Zhao; Qian, Zhang; Moyan, Zhang; Peng, Song

2015-04-01

To explore the relationship between the lymph node metastasis and clinicopathological features in patients with clinical stage T1a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Clinicopathological data of a total of 418 patients who underwent lobectomy and systematic lymph node dissection were retrospectively analyzed. Logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between lymph node metastasis and clinicopathological features. Lymph node metastasis was observed in 25 patients. There were 122 patients who were diagnosed as ground glass opacity with no lymph node metastasis. 399 patients had subcarinal dissection, among them 7 patients were found to have lymph node metastasis. Univariate analysis showed that gender, smoking history, diameter of lymph node, ground glass opacity (GGO), differentiation of the tumor and tumor site were the factors affecting lymph node metastasis (all P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that diameter of lymph node, differentiation of the tumor and the site of lesion were independent risk factors for lymph node metastasis of NSCLC. Tumor in the left lung, poor differentiation, and diameter of lymph nodes ≥ 1 cm on the preoperative CT image are independent risk factors for lymph node metastasis of NSCLC, hence we should pay attention before surgery and systematic lymph node dissection should be done. For patients with poor differentiation and lymph nodes ≥ 1 cm, subcarinal lymph nodes dissection is recommended for the sake of higher possibility of lymph node metastasis. For patients with ground glass opacity ≤ 2 cm, the lymph node metastasis is extremely rare, therefore, selective lymph node dissection is reconmmended.

Europlanet-RI IDIS - A Data Network in Support of Planetary Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, Walter; Capria, Maria Teresa; Chanteur, Gérard

2010-05-01

The "Europlanet Research Infrastructure - Europlanet RI", supported by the European Commission's Framework Program 7, aims at integrating major parts of the distributed European Planetary Research infrastructure with as diverse components as space exploration, ground-based observations, laboratory experiments and numerical modeling teams. A central part of Europlanet RI is the "Integrated and Distributed Information Service" (IDIS), a network of data and information access facilities in Europe via which information relevant for planetary research can be easily found and retrieved. This covers the wide range from contact addresses of possible research partners, laboratories and test facilities to the access of data collected with space missions or during laboratory or simulation tests and to model software useful for their interpretation. During the following three years the capabilities of the network will be extended to allow the combination of many different data sources for comperative studies including the results of modeling calculations and simulations of instrument observations. Together with the access to complex databases for spectra of atmospheric molecules and planetary surface material IDIS will offer a versatile working environment for making the scientific exploitation of the resources put into planetary research in the past and future more effective. Many of the mentioned capabilities are already available now. List of contact web-sites: Technical node for support and management aspects: http://www.idis.europlanet-ri.eu/ Planetary Surfaces and Interiors node: http://www.idis-interiors.europlanet-ri.eu/ Planetary Plasma node: http://www.idis-plasma.europlanet-ri.eu/ Planetary Atmospheres node: http://www.idis-atmos.europlanet-ri.eu/ Small Bodies and Dust node: http://www.idis-sbdn.europlanet-ri.eu/ Planetary Dynamics and Extraterrestrial Matter node: http://www.idis-dyn.europlanet-ri.eu/

Himalia and Phoebe: Little moons that punch above their weight

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LI, Daohai; Christou, Apostolos

2016-05-01

Small bodies in the solar system are usually treated as massless particles. While a sufficient approximation for many purposes, the small but finite mass of some of these (mass ratio μ=10^{-10}-10^{-8} of primary) can have observable consequences on the local population. Numerical experiments have shown this to be true for the orbital neighbourhood of Himalia, a prograde irregular moon of Jupiter (Christou 2005). In a recent demonstration of the same mechanism in a different context, Novaković et al. (2015) showed that the dwarf planet Ceres activates its own secular resonances, causing the long-term diffusion of asteroids in the middle part of the Main Belt.Seeking to better understand the dynamics caused by “internecine” interactions, we have constructed a semi-analytical model of a test particle’s secular evolution in the Sun-Planet-massive moon-particle restricted 4-body problem. By combining the Kozai-Lidov formalism with a model of coorbital motion valid for non-planar & non-circular orbits (Namouni 1999) we have overcome the difficulty in treating the interaction between potentially-crossing neighbouring orbits.We have applied this model to the cases of (a) J6 Himalia, a jovian irregular satellite (μ≃ 2× 10^{-9}) and the largest in a family of five moons, and (b) S9 Phoebe, a retrograde irregular moon of Saturn with μ=1.5× 10^{-8} which, curiously, is not associated with a family (Ćuk et al. 2003). We observe numerous instances of capture into secular resonances where the critical angle is a linear combination of the relative nodes and apses of the particle and the perturber. In particular we are able to reproduce the libration of the differential node found by Christou (2005). We generate fictitious families of test particles around Himalia and Phoebe and find that, while ~8% of local phase space is occupied by these resonances for Himalia, this figure is ~16% for Phoebe. We confirm these results using N-body integrations of the full equations of motion. During the meeting, we will show examples of orbital evolution in the resonances, describe the principal features of the dynamics and discuss the implications for the long-term evolution of families of small bodies.

Noninvasive and real-time monitoring of molecular targeting therapy for lymph node and peritoneal metastasis in nude mice bearing xenografts of human colorectal cancer cells tagged with GFP and DsRed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakanishi, Hayao; Hara, Masayasu; Ikehara, Yuzuru; Tatematsu, Masae

2007-02-01

We have developed an in vivo imaging system consisting of GFP- and DsRed-tagged human colonic cancer cell line, which has peritoneal and lymph node metastatic potential and show high sensitivity to EGFR targeting drugs, and convenient detection devices for GFP and DsRed. The latter includes a small handy fluorescence detection device for external monitoring of the therapeutic effect of the drug and a convenient stereo fluorescent microscope for internal visualization of micrometastases. We applied this imaging system to investigate anti-metastatic effects of EGFR targeting drugs such as gefitinib (Iressa). This system allowed sensitive detection of the development of peritoneal and lymph node metastases from the micrometastasis stage at the cellular level and also permited noninvasive, non-anesthetic monitoring of anti-metastatic effect of the drug in an animal facility without any pretreatment. Significant decreases in the intraabdominal metastatic tumor growth and prevention of inguinal lymph node metastasis by gefitinib treatment could be clearly monitored. These results suggest that convenient, low-cost, true real-time monitoring of therapeutic effect using such a fluorescence-mediated whole body imaging system seems to enhance the speed of preclinical study for novel anti-cancer agents and will allow us to understand the action mechanism of molecular targeting drugs.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT): Technological innovation and application in gynecologic oncology.

PubMed

Higginson, Daniel S; Morris, David E; Jones, Ellen L; Clarke-Pearson, Daniel; Varia, Mahesh A

2011-03-01

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a novel form of noninvasive, highly conformal radiation treatment that delivers a high dose to tumor. The advantage of the technique resides in its ability to provide a high dose to tumor but spare normal tissues to an extent not previously possible. In this paper we will provide an introduction and review of this technology with regard to its use in gynecologic malignancies. Preliminary results from our experience are presented for the purpose of illustrating the range of SBRT applications in gynecologic oncology. A comprehensive literature review was conducted and our experience from the past three years was reviewed. Six case series are published that report results of SBRT for gynecologic malignancies. Sixteen gynecologic patients have been treated with SBRT at our institution. Treatment sites include pelvic and periaortic nodes (9 patients), oligometastatic disease (2), and cervical or endometrial primary tumors when other conventional external radiation or brachytherapy techniques were unsuitable (5). Preliminary follow-up at a median of 11 months (range, 0.3-33 months) demonstrates 79% locoregional control, 43% distant failure, and 50% overall survival. SBRT boosts to macroscopic periaortic node recurrences and other sites seem to provide local control and a possibility of long-term disease-free survival in carefully selected patients. Previously this had been difficult to achieve with conventional radiotherapy because of the proximity of periaortic nodes to small bowel. SBRT also offers a novel approach for minimally invasive treatment in the management of gynecological cancer where current surgical and radiotherapy techniques are unsuitable. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Development of an LSI for Tactile Sensor Systems on the Whole-Body of Robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muroyama, Masanori; Makihata, Mitsutoshi; Nakano, Yoshihiro; Matsuzaki, Sakae; Yamada, Hitoshi; Yamaguchi, Ui; Nakayama, Takahiro; Nonomura, Yutaka; Fujiyoshi, Motohiro; Tanaka, Shuji; Esashi, Masayoshi

We have developed a network type tactile sensor system, which realizes high-density tactile sensors on the whole-body of nursing and communication robots. The system consists of three kinds of nodes: host, relay and sensor nodes. Roles of the sensor node are to sense forces and, to encode the sensing data and to transmit the encoded data on serial channels by interruption handling. Relay nodes and host deal with a number of the encoded sensing data from the sensor nodes. A sensor node consists of a capacitive MEMS force sensor and a signal processing/transmission LSI. In this paper, details of an LSI for the sensor node are described. We designed experimental sensor node LSI chips by a commercial 0.18µm standard CMOS process. The 0.18µm LSIs were supplied in wafer level for MEMS post-process. The LSI chip area is 2.4mm × 2.4mm, which includes logic, CF converter and memory circuits. The maximum clock frequency of the chip with a large capacitive load is 10MHz. Measured power consumption at 10MHz clock is 2.23mW. Experimental results indicate that size, response time, sensor sensitivity and power consumption are all enough for practical tactile sensor systems.

On the co-existence of maximal and whiskered tori in the planetary three-body problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinzari, Gabriella

2018-05-01

In this paper, we discuss about the possibility of the coexistence of stable and unstable quasi-periodic Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (kam) tori in a region of the phase space of the three-body problem. The argument of proof goes along kam theory and, especially, the production of two non-smoothly related systems of canonical coordinates in the same region of the phase space, the possibility of which is foreseen, for "properly degenerate" systems, by a theorem of Nekhoroshev and Miščenko and Fomenko. The two coordinate systems are alternative to the classical reduction of the nodes by Jacobi, described, e.g., in Arnold ["Small denominators and problems of stability of motion in classical and celestial mechanics," 18, 85-191 (1963)].

A batch process micromachined thermoelectric energy harvester: fabrication and characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, J.; Leonov, V.; Goedbloed, M.; van Andel, Y.; de Nooijer, M. C.; Elfrink, R.; Wang, Z.; Vullers, R. J. M.

2010-10-01

Micromachined thermopiles are considered as a cost-effective solution for energy harvesters working at a small temperature difference and weak heat flows typical for, e.g., the human body. They can be used for powering autonomous wireless sensor nodes in a body area network. In this paper, a micromachined thermoelectric energy harvester with 6 µm high polycrystalline silicon germanium (poly-SiGe) thermocouples fabricated on a 6 inch wafer is presented. An open circuit voltage of 1.49 V and an output power of 0.4 µW can be generated with 3.5 K temperature difference in a model of a wearable micromachined energy harvester of the discussed design, which has a die size of 1.0 mm × 2.5 mm inside a watch-size generator.

Accretion rates of protoplanets 2: Gaussian distribution of planestesimal velocities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Greenzweig, Yuval; Lissauer, Jack J.

1991-01-01

The growth rate of a protoplanet embedded in a uniform surface density disk of planetesimals having a triaxial Gaussian velocity distribution was calculated. The longitudes of the aspses and nodes of the planetesimals are uniformly distributed, and the protoplanet is on a circular orbit. The accretion rate in the two body approximation is enhanced by a factor of approximately 3, compared to the case where all planetesimals have eccentricity and inclination equal to the root mean square (RMS) values of those variables in the Gaussian distribution disk. Numerical three body integrations show comparable enhancements, except when the RMS initial planetesimal eccentricities are extremely small. This enhancement in accretion rate should be incorporated by all models, analytical or numerical, which assume a single random velocity for all planetesimals, in lieu of a Gaussian distribution.

Marginal Zone Lymphoma

MedlinePlus

... MALT) is the most common form of MZL, accounting for about two-thirds of all MZL cases per year. This type occurs outside the lymph nodes Small bean-shaped glands located in the small vessels of the lymphatic system. There are thousands of lymph nodes located throughout ...

A Study of the Errors of the Fixed-Node Approximation in Diffusion Monte Carlo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rasch, Kevin M.

Quantum Monte Carlo techniques stochastically evaluate integrals to solve the many-body Schrodinger equation. QMC algorithms scale favorably in the number of particles simulated and enjoy applicability to a wide range of quantum systems. Advances in the core algorithms of the method and their implementations paired with the steady development of computational assets have carried the applicability of QMC beyond analytically treatable systems, such as the Homogeneous Electron Gas, and have extended QMC's domain to treat atoms, molecules, and solids containing as many as several hundred electrons. FN-DMC projects out the ground state of a wave function subject to constraints imposed by our ansatz to the problem. The constraints imposed by the fixed-node Approximation are poorly understood. One key step in developing any scientific theory or method is to qualify where the theory is inaccurate and to quantify how erroneous it is under these circumstances. I investigate the fixed-node errors as they evolve over changing charge density, system size, and effective core potentials. I begin by studying a simple system for which the nodes of the trial wave function can be solved almost exactly. By comparing two trial wave functions, a single determinant wave function flawed in a known way and a nearly exact wave function, I show that the fixed-node error increases when the charge density is increased. Next, I investigate a sequence of Lithium systems increasing in size from a single atom, to small molecules, up to the bulk metal form. Over these systems, FN-DMC calculations consistently recover 95% or more of the correlation energy of the system. Given this accuracy, I make a prediction for the binding energy of Li4 molecule. Last, I turn to analyzing the fixed-node error in first and second row atoms and their molecules. With the appropriate pseudo-potentials, these systems are iso-electronic, show similar geometries and states. One would expect with identical number of particles involved in the calculation, errors in the respective total energies of the two iso-electronic species would be quite similar. I observe, instead, that the first row atoms and their molecules have errors larger by twice or more in size. I identify a cause for this difference in iso-electronic species. The fixed-node errors in all of these cases are calculated by careful comparison to experimental results, showing that FN-DMC to be a robust tool for understanding quantum systems and also a method for new investigations into the nature of many-body effects.

Using body temperature, food and water consumption as biomarkers of disease progression in mice with Eμ-myc lymphoma

PubMed Central

Hunter, J E; Butterworth, J; Perkins, N D; Bateson, M; Richardson, C A

2014-01-01

Background: Non-invasive biomarkers of disease progression in mice with cancer are lacking making it challenging to implement appropriate humane end points. We investigated whether body temperature, food and water consumption could be used to predict tumour burden. Methods: Thirty-six male, wild-type C57Bl/6 mice were implanted with subcutaneous RFID temperature sensors and inoculated with Eμ-myc tumours that infiltrate lymphoid tissue. Results: Decrease in body temperature over the course of the study positively predicted post-mortem lymph node tumour burden (R2=0.68, F(1,22)=44.8, P<0.001). At experimental and humane end points, all mice that had a mean decrease in body temperature of 0.7 °C or greater had lymph nodes heavier than 0.5 g (100% sensitivity), whereas a mean decrease in body temperature <0.7 °C always predicted lymph nodes lighter than 0.5 g (100% specificity). The mean decrease in food consumption in each cage also predicted mean post-mortem lymph node tumour burden at 3 weeks (R2=0.89, F(1,3)=23.2, P=0.017). Conclusion: Temperature, food and water consumption were useful biomarkers of disease progression in mice with lymphoma and could potentially be used more widely to monitor mice with other forms of cancer. PMID:24407190

Locating multiple diffusion sources in time varying networks from sparse observations.

PubMed

Hu, Zhao-Long; Shen, Zhesi; Cao, Shinan; Podobnik, Boris; Yang, Huijie; Wang, Wen-Xu; Lai, Ying-Cheng

2018-02-08

Data based source localization in complex networks has a broad range of applications. Despite recent progress, locating multiple diffusion sources in time varying networks remains to be an outstanding problem. Bridging structural observability and sparse signal reconstruction theories, we develop a general framework to locate diffusion sources in time varying networks based solely on sparse data from a small set of messenger nodes. A general finding is that large degree nodes produce more valuable information than small degree nodes, a result that contrasts that for static networks. Choosing large degree nodes as the messengers, we find that sparse observations from a few such nodes are often sufficient for any number of diffusion sources to be located for a variety of model and empirical networks. Counterintuitively, sources in more rapidly varying networks can be identified more readily with fewer required messenger nodes.

High-frequency Ultrasound Imaging of Mouse Cervical Lymph Nodes.

PubMed

Walk, Elyse L; McLaughlin, Sarah L; Weed, Scott A

2015-07-25

High-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) is widely employed as a non-invasive method for imaging internal anatomic structures in experimental small animal systems. HFUS has the ability to detect structures as small as 30 µm, a property that has been utilized for visualizing superficial lymph nodes in rodents in brightness (B)-mode. Combining power Doppler with B-mode imaging allows for measuring circulatory blood flow within lymph nodes and other organs. While HFUS has been utilized for lymph node imaging in a number of mouse  model systems, a detailed protocol describing HFUS imaging and characterization of the cervical lymph nodes in mice has not been reported. Here, we show that HFUS can be adapted to detect and characterize cervical lymph nodes in mice. Combined B-mode and power Doppler imaging can be used to detect increases in blood flow in immunologically-enlarged cervical nodes. We also describe the use of B-mode imaging to conduct fine needle biopsies of cervical lymph nodes to retrieve lymph tissue for histological  analysis. Finally, software-aided steps are described to calculate changes in lymph node volume and to visualize changes in lymph node morphology following image reconstruction. The ability to visually monitor changes in cervical lymph node biology over time provides a simple and powerful technique for the non-invasive monitoring of cervical lymph node alterations in preclinical mouse models of oral cavity disease.

A broadcast-based key agreement scheme using set reconciliation for wireless body area networks.

PubMed

Ali, Aftab; Khan, Farrukh Aslam

2014-05-01

Information and communication technologies have thrived over the last few years. Healthcare systems have also benefited from this progression. A wireless body area network (WBAN) consists of small, low-power sensors used to monitor human physiological values remotely, which enables physicians to remotely monitor the health of patients. Communication security in WBANs is essential because it involves human physiological data. Key agreement and authentication are the primary issues in the security of WBANs. To agree upon a common key, the nodes exchange information with each other using wireless communication. This information exchange process must be secure enough or the information exchange should be minimized to a certain level so that if information leak occurs, it does not affect the overall system. Most of the existing solutions for this problem exchange too much information for the sake of key agreement; getting this information is sufficient for an attacker to reproduce the key. Set reconciliation is a technique used to reconcile two similar sets held by two different hosts with minimal communication complexity. This paper presents a broadcast-based key agreement scheme using set reconciliation for secure communication in WBANs. The proposed scheme allows the neighboring nodes to agree upon a common key with the personal server (PS), generated from the electrocardiogram (EKG) feature set of the host body. Minimal information is exchanged in a broadcast manner, and even if every node is missing a different subset, by reconciling these feature sets, the whole network will still agree upon a single common key. Because of the limited information exchange, if an attacker gets the information in any way, he/she will not be able to reproduce the key. The proposed scheme mitigates replay, selective forwarding, and denial of service attacks using a challenge-response authentication mechanism. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme has a great deal of adoptability in terms of security, communication overhead, and running time complexity, as compared to the existing EKG-based key agreement scheme.

A Multimodal Adaptive Wireless Control Interface for People With Upper-Body Disabilities.

PubMed

Fall, Cheikh Latyr; Quevillon, Francis; Blouin, Martine; Latour, Simon; Campeau-Lecours, Alexandre; Gosselin, Clement; Gosselin, Benoit

2018-06-01

This paper describes a multimodal body-machine interface (BoMI) to help individuals with upper-limb disabilities using advanced assistive technologies, such as robotic arms. The proposed system uses a wearable and wireless body sensor network (WBSN) supporting up to six sensor nodes to measure the natural upper-body gesture of the users and translate it into control commands. Natural gesture of the head and upper-body parts, as well as muscular activity, are measured using inertial measurement units (IMUs) and surface electromyography (sEMG) using custom-designed multimodal wireless sensor nodes. An IMU sensing node is attached to a headset worn by the user. It has a size of 2.9 cm 2.9 cm, a maximum power consumption of 31 mW, and provides angular precision of 1. Multimodal patch sensor nodes, including both IMU and sEMG sensing modalities are placed over the user able-body parts to measure the motion and muscular activity. These nodes have a size of 2.5 cm 4.0 cm and a maximum power consumption of 11 mW. The proposed BoMI runs on a Raspberry Pi. It can adapt to several types of users through different control scenarios using the head and shoulder motion, as well as muscular activity, and provides a power autonomy of up to 24 h. JACO, a 6-DoF assistive robotic arm, is used as a testbed to evaluate the performance of the proposed BoMI. Ten able-bodied subjects performed ADLs while operating the AT device, using the Test d'Évaluation des Membres Supérieurs de Personnes Âgées to evaluate and compare the proposed BoMI with the conventional joystick controller. It is shown that the users can perform all tasks with the proposed BoMI, almost as fast as with the joystick controller, with only 30% time overhead on average, while being potentially more accessible to the upper-body disabled who cannot use the conventional joystick controller. Tests show that control performance with the proposed BoMI improved by up to 17% on average, after three trials.

Sampling versus systematic full lymphatic dissection in surgical treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

PubMed

Koulaxouzidis, Georgios; Karagkiouzis, Grigorios; Konstantinou, Marios; Gkiozos, Ioannis; Syrigos, Konstantinos

2013-04-22

The extent of mediastinal lymph node assessment during surgery for non-small cell cancer remains controversial. Different techniques are used, ranging from simple visual inspection of the unopened mediastinum to an extended bilateral lymph node dissection. Furthermore, different terms are used to define these techniques. Sampling is the removal of one or more lymph nodes under the guidance of pre-operative findings. Systematic (full) nodal dissection is the removal of all mediastinal tissue containing the lymph nodes systematically within anatomical landmarks. A Medline search was conducted to identify articles in the English language that addressed the role of mediastinal lymph node resection in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Opinions as to the reasons for favoring full lymphatic dissection include complete resection, improved nodal staging and better local control due to resection of undetected micrometastasis. Arguments against routine full lymphatic dissection are increased morbidity, increase in operative time, and lack of evidence of improved survival. For complete resection of non-small cell lung cancer, many authors recommend a systematic nodal dissection as the standard approach during surgery, and suggest that this provides both adequate nodal staging and guarantees complete resection. Whether extending the lymph node dissection influences survival or recurrence rate is still not known. There are valid arguments in favor in terms not only of an improved local control but also of an improved long-term survival. However, the impact of lymph node dissection on long-term survival should be further assessed by large-scale multicenter randomized trials.

Occult Pelvic Lymph Node Involvement in Bladder Cancer: Implications for Definitive Radiation

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

Goldsmith, Benjamin; Baumann, Brian C.; He, Jiwei

2014-03-01

Purpose: To inform radiation treatment planning for clinically staged, node-negative bladder cancer patients by identifying clinical factors associated with the presence and location of occult pathologic pelvic lymph nodes. Methods and Materials: The records of patients with clinically staged T1-T4N0 urothelial carcinoma of the bladder undergoing radical cystectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy at a single institution were reviewed. Logistic regression was used to evaluate associations between preoperative clinical variables and occult pathologic pelvic or common iliac lymph nodes. Percentages of patient with involved lymph node regions entirely encompassed within whole bladder (perivesicular nodal region), small pelvic (perivesicular, obturator, internal iliac, andmore » external iliac nodal regions), and extended pelvic clinical target volume (CTV) (small pelvic CTV plus common iliac regions) were calculated. Results: Among 315 eligible patients, 81 (26%) were found to have involved pelvic lymph nodes at the time of surgery, with 38 (12%) having involved common iliac lymph nodes. Risk of occult pathologically involved lymph nodes did not vary with clinical T stage. On multivariate analysis, the presence of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) on preoperative biopsy was significantly associated with occult pelvic nodal involvement (odds ratio 3.740, 95% confidence interval 1.865-7.499, P<.001) and marginally associated with occult common iliac nodal involvement (odds ratio 2.307, 95% confidence interval 0.978-5.441, P=.056). The percentages of patients with involved lymph node regions entirely encompassed by whole bladder, small pelvic, and extended pelvic CTVs varied with clinical risk factors, ranging from 85.4%, 95.1%, and 100% in non-muscle-invasive patients to 44.7%, 71.1%, and 94.8% in patients with muscle-invasive disease and biopsy LVI. Conclusions: Occult pelvic lymph node rates are substantial for all clinical subgroups, especially patients with LVI on biopsy. Extended coverage of pelvic lymph nodes up to the level of the common iliac nodes may be warranted in subsets of patients.« less

[A case of cytology-positive, stage IV gastric cancer, alive with no recurrence for 4 years, curatively treated with combination chemotherapy using S-1, CPT-11 and subsequent total gastrectomy].

PubMed

Kubo, Naoshi; Nobuhara, Yasuyuki; Kanemura, Mizuyuki; Sunami, Takeshi; Nishimura, Shigehiko; Ako, Eiji; Yo, Taiho

2007-11-01

A 68-year-old man was admitted to another hospital because of progressive weight decrease and appetite loss. Endoscopic examination revealed type 4 advanced gastric cancer at the upper body of the stomach. In February, 2003, he patient had probe laparotomy because there was a small amount of ascites in his peritoneal cavity, and intraoperative washing cytology revealed cancer cells in ascites.Subsequently, we started chemotherapy using S-1 and CPT-11. S-1 at a dose of 100 mg/day was orally administered for 2 weeks, and CPT-11 at a dose of 90 mg/body was intravenously administered once a week for 2 weeks followed by a 2-week drug-free period as 1 course. After 7 courses of the chemotherapy, the main lesion endoscopically vanished.Subsequently, the patient underwent curative total gastrectomy together with D2 lymph node dissection. Intraoperative cytology revealed no cancer cells, and histological examination of the primary lesion showed cancer cells invading the subserosa with no metastasis to any dissected lymph nodes. This therapy induced Grade 2 effect on cancer cells.Postoperatively, only S-1 was administered to the patient, who has remained alive with no recurrence for 4 years as of January, 2007.

Treecode with a Special-Purpose Processor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makino, Junichiro

1991-08-01

We describe an implementation of the modified Barnes-Hut tree algorithm for a gravitational N-body calculation on a GRAPE (GRAvity PipE) backend processor. GRAPE is a special-purpose computer for N-body calculations. It receives the positions and masses of particles from a host computer and then calculates the gravitational force at each coordinate specified by the host. To use this GRAPE processor with the hierarchical tree algorithm, the host computer must maintain a list of all nodes that exert force on a particle. If we create this list for each particle of the system at each timestep, the number of floating-point operations on the host and that on GRAPE would become comparable, and the increased speed obtained by using GRAPE would be small. In our modified algorithm, we create a list of nodes for many particles. Thus, the amount of the work required of the host is significantly reduced. This algorithm was originally developed by Barnes in order to vectorize the force calculation on a Cyber 205. With this algorithm, the computing time of the force calculation becomes comparable to that of the tree construction, if the GRAPE backend processor is sufficiently fast. The obtained speed-up factor is 30 to 50 for a RISC-based host computer and GRAPE-1A with a peak speed of 240 Mflops.

Chemical modulation of glycerolipid signaling and metabolic pathways

PubMed Central

Scott, Sarah A.; Mathews, Thomas P.; Ivanova, Pavlina T.; Lindsley, Craig W.; Brown, H. Alex

2014-01-01

Thirty years ago, glycerolipids captured the attention of biochemical researchers as novel cellular signaling entities. We now recognize that these biomolecules occupy signaling nodes critical to a number of physiological and pathological processes. Thus, glycerolipid-metabolizing enzymes present attractive targets for new therapies. A number of fields—ranging from neuroscience and cancer to diabetes and obesity—have elucidated the signaling properties of glycerolipids. The biochemical literature teems with newly emerging small molecule inhibitors capable of manipulating glycerolipid metabolism and signaling. This ever-expanding pool of chemical modulators appears daunting to those interested in exploiting glycerolipid-signaling pathways in their model system of choice. This review distills the current body of literature surrounding glycerolipid metabolism into a more approachable format, facilitating the application of small molecule inhibitors to novel systems. PMID:24440821

Depreciation of bearing blocks of rollers of roller conveyers of rolling mills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Artiukh, Viktor; Belyaev, Michael; Ignatovich, Igor; Miloradova, Nadezda

2017-10-01

Essential increase in functional durability of a node of a roller of the roller conveyer of the rolling mill by the rational choice of parameters of the small-size shock-absorber (buffer adapter) is shown. At the same time dimensions of a node don’t change, costs of reconstruction are small. The possibility of management of loadings in a bearing node without change of technology parameters of the process which is carried out by the rolling mill is confirmed.

Definition and automatic anatomy recognition of lymph node zones in the pelvis on CT images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yu; Udupa, Jayaram K.; Odhner, Dewey; Tong, Yubing; Guo, Shuxu; Attor, Rosemary; Reinicke, Danica; Torigian, Drew A.

2016-03-01

Currently, unlike IALSC-defined thoracic lymph node zones, no explicitly provided definitions for lymph nodes in other body regions are available. Yet, definitions are critical for standardizing the recognition, delineation, quantification, and reporting of lymphadenopathy in other body regions. Continuing from our previous work in the thorax, this paper proposes a standardized definition of the grouping of pelvic lymph nodes into 10 zones. We subsequently employ our earlier Automatic Anatomy Recognition (AAR) framework designed for body-wide organ modeling, recognition, and delineation to actually implement these zonal definitions where the zones are treated as anatomic objects. First, all 10 zones and key anatomic organs used as anchors are manually delineated under expert supervision for constructing fuzzy anatomy models of the assembly of organs together with the zones. Then, optimal hierarchical arrangement of these objects is constructed for the purpose of achieving the best zonal recognition. For actual localization of the objects, two strategies are used -- optimal thresholded search for organs and one-shot method for the zones where the known relationship of the zones to key organs is exploited. Based on 50 computed tomography (CT) image data sets for the pelvic body region and an equal division into training and test subsets, automatic zonal localization within 1-3 voxels is achieved.

Node Depth Adjustment Based Target Tracking in UWSNs Using Improved Harmony Search.

PubMed

Liu, Meiqin; Zhang, Duo; Zhang, Senlin; Zhang, Qunfei

2017-12-04

Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) can provide a promising solution to underwater target tracking. Due to the limited computation and bandwidth resources, only a small part of nodes are selected to track the target at each interval. How to improve tracking accuracy with a small number of nodes is a key problem. In recent years, a node depth adjustment system has been developed and applied to issues of network deployment and routing protocol. As far as we know, all existing tracking schemes keep underwater nodes static or moving with water flow, and node depth adjustment has not been utilized for underwater target tracking yet. This paper studies node depth adjustment method for target tracking in UWSNs. Firstly, since a Fisher Information Matrix (FIM) can quantify the estimation accuracy, its relation to node depth is derived as a metric. Secondly, we formulate the node depth adjustment as an optimization problem to determine moving depth of activated node, under the constraint of moving range, the value of FIM is used as objective function, which is aimed to be minimized over moving distance of nodes. Thirdly, to efficiently solve the optimization problem, an improved Harmony Search (HS) algorithm is proposed, in which the generating probability is modified to improve searching speed and accuracy. Finally, simulation results are presented to verify performance of our scheme.

Node Depth Adjustment Based Target Tracking in UWSNs Using Improved Harmony Search

PubMed Central

Zhang, Senlin; Zhang, Qunfei

2017-01-01

Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) can provide a promising solution to underwater target tracking. Due to the limited computation and bandwidth resources, only a small part of nodes are selected to track the target at each interval. How to improve tracking accuracy with a small number of nodes is a key problem. In recent years, a node depth adjustment system has been developed and applied to issues of network deployment and routing protocol. As far as we know, all existing tracking schemes keep underwater nodes static or moving with water flow, and node depth adjustment has not been utilized for underwater target tracking yet. This paper studies node depth adjustment method for target tracking in UWSNs. Firstly, since a Fisher Information Matrix (FIM) can quantify the estimation accuracy, its relation to node depth is derived as a metric. Secondly, we formulate the node depth adjustment as an optimization problem to determine moving depth of activated node, under the constraint of moving range, the value of FIM is used as objective function, which is aimed to be minimized over moving distance of nodes. Thirdly, to efficiently solve the optimization problem, an improved Harmony Search (HS) algorithm is proposed, in which the generating probability is modified to improve searching speed and accuracy. Finally, simulation results are presented to verify performance of our scheme. PMID:29207541

Modified methylene blue injection improves lymph node harvest in rectal cancer.

PubMed

Liu, Jianpei; Huang, Pinjie; Zheng, Zongheng; Chen, Tufeng; Wei, Hongbo

2017-04-01

The presence of nodal metastases in rectal cancer plays an important role in accurate staging and prognosis, which depends on adequate lymph node harvest. The aim of this prospective study is to investigate the feasibility and survival benefit of improving lymph node harvest by a modified method with methylene blue injection in rectal cancer specimens. One hundred and thirty-one patients with rectal cancer were randomly assigned to the control group in which lymph nodes were harvested by palpation and sight, or to the methylene blue group using a modified method of injection into the superior rectal artery with methylene blue. Analysis of clinicopathologic records, including a long-term follow-up, was performed. In the methylene blue group, 678 lymph nodes were harvested by simple palpation and sight. Methylene blue injection added 853 lymph nodes to the total harvest as well as 32 additional metastatic lymph nodes, causing a shift to node-positive stage in four patients. The average number of lymph nodes harvested was 11.7 ± 3.4 in the control group and 23.2 ± 4.7 in the methylene blue group, respectively. The harvest of small lymph nodes (<5 mm) and the average number of metastatic nodes were both significantly higher in the methylene blue group. The modified method of injection with methylene blue had no impact on overall survival. The modified method with methylene blue injection improved lymph node harvest in rectal cancer, especially small node and metastatic node retrieval, which provided more accurate staging. However, it was not associated with overall survival. © 2014 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

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

Zhang, Guo Qiang; Luo, Lingyun; Ogbuji, Chime

The interaction of multiple types of relationships among anatomical classes in the Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) can provide inferred information valuable for quality assurance. This paper introduces a method called Motif Checking (MOCH) to study the effects of such multi-relation type interactions. MOCH represents patterns of multitype interaction as small labeled sub-graph motifs, whose nodes represent class variables, and labeled edges represent relational types. By representing FMA as an RDF graph and motifs as SPARQL queries, fragments of FMA are automatically obtained as auditing candidates. Leveraging the scalability and reconfigurability of Semantic Web Technology (OWL, RDF and SPARQL) andmore » Virtuoso, we performed exhaustive analyses of three 2-node motifs, resulting in 638 matching FMA configurations; twelve 3-node motifs, resulting in 202,960 configurations. Using the Principal Ideal Explorer (PIE) methodology as an extension of MOCH, we were able to identify 755 root nodes with 4,100 respective descendants with opposing antonyms in their class names for arbitrary-length motifs. With possible disjointness implied by antonyms, we performed manual inspection of a subset of the resulting FMA fragments and tracked down a source of abnormal inferred conclusions (captured by the motifs), coming from a gender-neutral class being modeled as a part of gender-specific class, such as “Urinary system” is a part of “Female human body.” Our results demonstrate that MOCH and PIE provide a unique source of valuable information for quality assurance. Since our approach is general, it is applicable to any ontological system with an OWL representation.« less

Avatar - a multi-sensory system for real time body position monitoring.

PubMed

Jovanov, E; Hanish, N; Courson, V; Stidham, J; Stinson, H; Webb, C; Denny, K

2009-01-01

Virtual reality and computer assisted physical rehabilitation applications require an unobtrusive and inexpensive real time monitoring systems. Existing systems are usually complex and expensive and based on infrared monitoring. In this paper we propose Avatar, a hybrid system consisting of off-the-shelf components and sensors. Absolute positioning of a few reference points is determined using infrared diode on subject's body and a set of Wii Remotes as optical sensors. Individual body segments are monitored by intelligent inertial sensor nodes iSense. A network of inertial nodes is controlled by a master node that serves as a gateway for communication with a capture device. Each sensor features a 3D accelerometer and a 2 axis gyroscope. Avatar system is used for control of avatars in Virtual Reality applications, but could be used in a variety of augmented reality, gaming, and computer assisted physical rehabilitation applications.

A review of stereotactic body radiotherapy – is volumetric modulated arc therapy the answer?

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

Sapkaroski, Daniel, E-mail: daniel.sapkaroski@gmail.com; Osborne, Catherine; Knight, Kellie A

2015-06-15

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a high precision radiotherapy technique used for the treatment of small to moderate extra-cranial tumours. Early studies utilising SBRT have shown favourable outcomes. However, major disadvantages of static field SBRT include long treatment times and toxicity complications. Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) may potentially mitigate these disadvantages. This review aims to assess the feasibility of emerging VMAT and IMRT-based SBRT treatment techniques and qualify which offers the best outcome for patients, whilst identifying any emerging and advantageous SBRT planning trends. A review and synthesis of data from current literature upmore » to September 2013 was conducted on EMBASE, Medline, PubMed, Science Direct, Proquest central, Google Scholar and the Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews. Only full text papers comparing VMAT and or IMRT and or Static SBRT were included. Ten papers were identified that evaluated the results of VMAT/IMRT SBRT. Five related to medically inoperable stage 1 and 2 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), three to spinal metastasis, one related to abdominal lymph node malignancies, with the final one looking at pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Overall treatment times with VMAT were reduced by 66–70% for lung, 46–58% for spine, 42% and 21% for lymph node and pancreatic metastasis respectively, planning constraints were met with several studies showing improved organs at risk sparing with IMRT/VMAT to static SBRT. Both IMRT and VMAT were able to meet all planning constraints in the studies reviewed, with VMAT offering the greatest treatment efficiency. Early clinical outcomes with VMAT and IMRT SBRT have demonstrated excellent local control and favourable survival outcomes.« less

Sentinel Lymph Node Evaluation in Women with Cervical Cancer

PubMed Central

Holman, Laura L.; Levenback, Charles F.; Frumovitz, Michael

2014-01-01

Lymph node status is the most important prognosticator of survival among women with early stage cervical cancer. This means that many cervical cancer patients will undergo pelvic lymphadenectomy as part of their treatment. Unfortunately, this procedure is associated with significant morbidity. Utilizing the sentinel lymph node technique for women with cervical cancer has the potential to decrease this morbidity. Multiple studies have suggested that sentinel lymph node mapping in these patients is feasible with excellent detection rates and sensitivity. This review examines the current body of literature regarding sentinel lymph node biopsy among women with cervical cancer. PMID:24407177

XML-based information system for planetary sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carraro, F.; Fonte, S.; Turrini, D.

2009-04-01

EuroPlaNet (EPN in the following) has been developed by the planetological community under the "Sixth Framework Programme" (FP6 in the following), the European programme devoted to the improvement of the European research efforts through the creation of an internal market for science and technology. The goal of the EPN programme is the creation of a European network aimed to the diffusion of data produced by space missions dedicated to the study of the Solar System. A special place within the EPN programme is that of I.D.I.S. (Integrated and Distributed Information Service). The main goal of IDIS is to offer to the planetary science community a user-friendly access to the data and information produced by the various types of research activities, i.e. Earth-based observations, space observations, modeling, theory and laboratory experiments. During the FP6 programme IDIS development consisted in the creation of a series of thematic nodes, each of them specialized in a specific scientific domain, and a technical coordination node. The four thematic nodes are the Atmosphere node, the Plasma node, the Interiors & Surfaces node and the Small Bodies & Dust node. The main task of the nodes have been the building up of selected scientific cases related with the scientific domain of each node. The second work done by EPN nodes have been the creation of a catalogue of resources related to their main scientific theme. Both these efforts have been used as the basis for the development of the main IDIS goal, i.e. the integrated distributed service. An XML-based data model have been developed to describe resources using meta-data and to store the meta-data within an XML-based database called eXist. A search engine has been then developed in order to allow users to search resources within the database. Users can select the resource type and can insert one or more values or can choose a value among those present in a list, depending on selected resource. The system searches for all the resources containing the inserted values within the resources descriptions. An important facility of the IDIS search system is the multi-node search capability. This is due to the capacity of eXist to make queries on remote databases. This allows the system to show all resources which satisfy the search criteria on local node and to show how many resources are found on remote nodes, giving also a link to open the results page on remote nodes. During FP7 the development of the IDIS system will have the main goal to make the service Virtual Observatory compliant.

Subcarinal lymph node in upper lobe non-small cell lung cancer patients: is selective lymph node dissection valid?

PubMed

Aokage, Keiju; Yoshida, Junji; Ishii, Genichiro; Hishida, Tomoyuki; Nishimura, Mitsuyo; Nagai, Kanji

2010-11-01

Little is known about selective lymph node dissection in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. We sought to gain insight into subcarinal node involvement for its frequency and impact on outcome to evaluate whether it is valid to omit subcarinal lymph node dissection in upper lobe NSCLC patients. We reviewed node metastases distribution according to node region, tumor location, and histology among 1099 patients with upper lobe NSCLC. We paid special attention to subcarinal metastases patients without superior mediastinal node metastases, because their pathological stages would have been underdiagnosed if subcarinal node dissection had been omitted. We also assessed the outcome and the pattern of failure among subcarinal metastases patients. To identify subcarinal node involvement predictors, we analyzed 7 clinical factors. Subcarinal node metastases were found in 20 patients and were least frequent among squamous cell carcinoma patients (0.5%). Two of them were free from superior mediastinal metastases but died of the disease at 1 month and due to an unknown cause at 18 months, respectively. Seventeen of the 20 patients developed multi-site recurrence within 37 months. The 5-year survival rate of the 20 patients with subcarinal metastases was 9.0%, which was significantly lower than 32.0% of patients with only superior mediastinal metastases. Clinical diagnosis of node metastases was significantly predictive of subcarinal metastases. Subcarinal node metastases from upper lobe NSCLC were rare and predicted an extremely poor outcome. It appears valid to omit subcarinal node dissection in upper lobe NSCLC patients, especially in clinical N0 squamous cell carcinoma patients. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Implementation of Wireless Body Area Networks for Improving Priority Data Transmission Delay.

PubMed

Gündoğdu, Köksal; Çalhan, Ali

2016-03-01

The rapid growth of wireless sensor networks has enabled the human health monitoring of patients using body sensor nodes that gather and evaluate human body parameters and movements. This study describes both simulation model and implementation of a new traffic sensitive wireless body area network by using non-preemptive priority queue discipline. A wireless body area network implementation employing TDMA is designed with three different priorities of data traffics. Besides, a coordinator node having the non-preemptive priority queue is performed in this study. We have also developed, modeled and simulated example network scenarios by using the Riverbed Modeler simulation software with the purpose of verifying the implementation results. The simulation results obtained under various network load conditions are consistent with the implementation results.

Secure anonymous mutual authentication for star two-tier wireless body area networks.

PubMed

Ibrahim, Maged Hamada; Kumari, Saru; Das, Ashok Kumar; Wazid, Mohammad; Odelu, Vanga

2016-10-01

Mutual authentication is a very important service that must be established between sensor nodes in wireless body area network (WBAN) to ensure the originality and integrity of the patient's data sent by sensors distributed on different parts of the body. However, mutual authentication service is not enough. An adversary can benefit from monitoring the traffic and knowing which sensor is in transmission of patient's data. Observing the traffic (even without disclosing the context) and knowing its origin, it can reveal to the adversary information about the patient's medical conditions. Therefore, anonymity of the communicating sensors is an important service as well. Few works have been conducted in the area of mutual authentication among sensor nodes in WBAN. However, none of them has considered anonymity among body sensor nodes. Up to our knowledge, our protocol is the first attempt to consider this service in a two-tier WBAN. We propose a new secure protocol to realize anonymous mutual authentication and confidential transmission for star two-tier WBAN topology. The proposed protocol uses simple cryptographic primitives. We prove the security of the proposed protocol using the widely-accepted Burrows-Abadi-Needham (BAN) logic, and also through rigorous informal security analysis. In addition, to demonstrate the practicality of our protocol, we evaluate it using NS-2 simulator. BAN logic and informal security analysis prove that our proposed protocol achieves the necessary security requirements and goals of an authentication service. The simulation results show the impact on the various network parameters, such as end-to-end delay and throughput. The nodes in the network require to store few hundred bits. Nodes require to perform very few hash invocations, which are computationally very efficient. The communication cost of the proposed protocol is few hundred bits in one round of communication. Due to the low computation cost, the energy consumed by the nodes is also low. Our proposed protocol is a lightweight anonymous mutually authentication protocol to mutually authenticate the sensor nodes with the controller node (hub) in a star two-tier WBAN topology. Results show that our protocol proves efficiency over previously proposed protocols and at the same time, achieves the necessary security requirements for a secure anonymous mutual authentication scheme. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Node-node correlations and transport properties in scale-free networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Obregon, Bibiana; Guzman, Lev

2011-03-01

We study some transport properties of complex networks. We focus our attention on transport properties of scale-free and small-world networks and compare two types of transport: Electric and max-flow cases. In particular, we construct scale-free networks, with a given degree sequence, to estimate the distribution of conductances for different values of assortative/dissortative mixing. For the electric case we find that the distributions of conductances are affect ed by the assortative mixing of the network whereas for the max-flow case, the distributions almost do not show changes when node-node correlations are altered. Finally, we compare local and global transport in terms of the average conductance for the small-world (Watts-Strogatz) model

[Surgical Treatment of Small Pulmonary Nodules Under Video-assisted Thoracoscopy 
(A Report of 129 Cases)].

PubMed

Wang, Tong; Yan, Tiansheng; Wan, Feng; Ma, Shaohua; Wang, Keyi; Wang, Jingdi; Song, Jintao; He, Wei; Bai, Jie; Jin, Liang

2017-01-20

The development of image technology has led to increasing detection of pulmonary small nodules year by year, but the determination of their nature before operation is difficult. This clinical study aimed to investigate the necessity and feasibility of surgical resection of pulmonary small nodules through a minimally invasive approach and the operational manner of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The clinical data of 129 cases with pulmonary small nodule of 10 mm or less in diameter were retrospectively analyzed in our hospital from December 2013 to November 2016. Thin-section computed tomography (CT) was performed on all cases with 129 pulmonary small nodules. CT-guided hook-wire precise localization was performed on 21 cases. Lobectomy, wedge resection, and segmentectomy with lymph node dissection might be performed in patients according to physical condition. Results of the pathological examination of 37 solid pulmonary nodules (SPNs) revealed 3 primary squamous cell lung cancers, 3 invasive adenocarcinomas (IAs), 2 metastatic cancers, 2 small cell lung cancers (SCLCs), 16 hamartomas, and 12 nonspecific chronic inflammations. The results of pathological examination of 49 mixed ground glass opacities revealed 19 IAs, 6 micro invasive adenocarcinomas (MIAs), 4 adenocarcinomas in situ (AIS), 1 atypical adenomatous hyperplasia (AAH), 1 SCLC, and 18 nonspecific chronic inflammations. The results of pathological examination of 43 pure ground glass opacities revealed 19 AIS, 6 MIAs, 6 IA, 6 AAHs, and 6 nonspecific chronic inflammations. Wedge resection under video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was performed in patients with 52 benign pulmonary small nodules. Lobectomy and systematic lymph node dissection under VATS were performed in 33 patients with NSCLC. Segmentectomy with selective lymph node dissection, wedge resection, and selective lymph node dissection under VATS were performed in six patients with NSCLC. Two patients received secondary lobectomy and systematic lymph node dissection under VATS because of intraoperative frozen pathologic error that happened in six cases. Two cases of N2 lymph node metastasis were found in patients with SPN of IA. Positive surgical treatment should be taken on patients with persistent pulmonary small nodules, especially ground glass opacity, because they have a high rate of malignant lesions. During the perioperative period, surgeons should fully inform the patients and family members that error exist in frozen pathologic results to avoid medical disputes.

Sentinel lymph node scintigraphy in cutaneous melanoma using a planar calibration phantom filled with Tc-99m pertechnetate solution for body contouring.

PubMed

Peştean, Claudiu; Bărbuş, Elena; Piciu, Andra; Larg, Maria Iulia; Sabo, Alexandrina; Moisescu-Goia, Cristina; Piciu, Doina

2016-01-01

Melanoma is a disease that has an increasing incidence worldwide. Sentinel lymph node scintigraphy is a diagnostic tool that offers important information regarding the localization of the sentinel lymph nodes offering important input data to establish a pertinent and personalized therapeutic strategy. The golden standard in body contouring for sentinel lymph node scintigraphy is to use a planar flood source of Cobalt-57 (Co-57) placed behind the patients, against the gamma camera. The purpose of the study was to determine the performance of the procedure using a flood calibration planar phantom filled with aqueous solution of Technetion-99m (Tc-99m) in comparison with the published data in literature where the gold standard was used. The study was conducted in the Department of Nuclear Medicine of Oncology Institute "Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuţă" Cluj-Napoca in 95 patients, 31 males and 64 females. The localization of the lesions was grouped by anatomical regions as follows: 23 on lower limbs, 17 on upper limbs, 45 on thorax and 10 on abdomen. The calibration flood phantom containing aqueous solution of Tc-99m pertechnetate was used as planar source to visualize the body contour of the patients for a proper anatomic localization of detected sentinel lymph nodes. The radiopharmaceutical uptake in sentinel lymph nodes has been recorded in serial images following peritumoral injection of 1 ml solution of Tc-99m albumin nanocolloids with an activity of 1 mCi (37 MBq). The used protocol consisted in early acquired planar images within 15 minutes post-injection and delayed images at 2-3 hours and when necessary, additional images at 6-7 hours. The acquisition matrix used was 128×128 pixels for an acquisition time of 5 - 7 minutes. The skin projection of the sentinel lymph nodes was marked on the skin and surgical removal of detected sentinel lymph nodes was performed the next day using a gamma probe for detection and measurements. The sentinel lymph nodes were detected in 92 cases and confirmed with the gamma probe during the surgical procedure. The localization of the lymph nodes was as follows: for the tumors localized on lower limb 23 lymph nodes were localized in inguinal region, for the tumors localized on upper limb, 17 lymph nodes were localized in axilla, for the tumors localized on the thorax, 40 lymph nodes were localized in axilla and 3 were localized in the inguinal region; for the tumors localized on the abdomen, 1 lymph node was localized in axilla and 8 lymph nodes was localized in inguinal region. Regarding the negative sentinel lymph node cases, 2 cases were registered for primarily lesions localized on thorax and 1 for a lesion localized on abdomen. According to histology, 26 cases revealed lymphatic metastatic invasion. Dose rates measured at 1m from the calibrator phantom had an average value of 3.46 μSv/h (SD 0.19) and at 1.4m, the value was 2.57 μSv/h (SD 0.22). Dose rates measured at the same distances from the Co-57 planar flood source had a average values of 32.5μSv/h (SD 0.11) respectively 24.1 μSv/h (SD 0.14). The planar calibration flood phantom is an effective tool for body contouring in sentinel lymph node scintigraphy and offers accurate anatomical information to efficiently localize the detected sentinel lymph nodes in melanoma, being for the first time used and mentioned as a pertinent alternative in our department.

Energy Harvesting Chip and the Chip Based Power Supply Development for a Wireless Sensor Network.

PubMed

Lee, Dasheng

2008-12-02

In this study, an energy harvesting chip was developed to scavenge energy from artificial light to charge a wireless sensor node. The chip core is a miniature transformer with a nano-ferrofluid magnetic core. The chip embedded transformer can convert harvested energy from its solar cell to variable voltage output for driving multiple loads. This chip system yields a simple, small, and more importantly, a battery-less power supply solution. The sensor node is equipped with multiple sensors that can be enabled by the energy harvesting power supply to collect information about the human body comfort degree. Compared with lab instruments, the nodes with temperature, humidity and photosensors driven by harvested energy had variation coefficient measurement precision of less than 6% deviation under low environmental light of 240 lux. The thermal comfort was affected by the air speed. A flow sensor equipped on the sensor node was used to detect airflow speed. Due to its high power consumption, this sensor node provided 15% less accuracy than the instruments, but it still can meet the requirement of analysis for predicted mean votes (PMV) measurement. The energy harvesting wireless sensor network (WSN) was deployed in a 24-hour convenience store to detect thermal comfort degree from the air conditioning control. During one year operation, the sensor network powered by the energy harvesting chip retained normal functions to collect the PMV index of the store. According to the one month statistics of communication status, the packet loss rate (PLR) is 2.3%, which is as good as the presented results of those WSNs powered by battery. Referring to the electric power records, almost 54% energy can be saved by the feedback control of an energy harvesting sensor network. These results illustrate that, scavenging energy not only creates a reliable power source for electronic devices, such as wireless sensor nodes, but can also be an energy source by building an energy efficient program.

Energy Harvesting Chip and the Chip Based Power Supply Development for a Wireless Sensor Network

PubMed Central

Lee, Dasheng

2008-01-01

In this study, an energy harvesting chip was developed to scavenge energy from artificial light to charge a wireless sensor node. The chip core is a miniature transformer with a nano-ferrofluid magnetic core. The chip embedded transformer can convert harvested energy from its solar cell to variable voltage output for driving multiple loads. This chip system yields a simple, small, and more importantly, a battery-less power supply solution. The sensor node is equipped with multiple sensors that can be enabled by the energy harvesting power supply to collect information about the human body comfort degree. Compared with lab instruments, the nodes with temperature, humidity and photosensors driven by harvested energy had variation coefficient measurement precision of less than 6% deviation under low environmental light of 240 lux. The thermal comfort was affected by the air speed. A flow sensor equipped on the sensor node was used to detect airflow speed. Due to its high power consumption, this sensor node provided 15% less accuracy than the instruments, but it still can meet the requirement of analysis for predicted mean votes (PMV) measurement. The energy harvesting wireless sensor network (WSN) was deployed in a 24-hour convenience store to detect thermal comfort degree from the air conditioning control. During one year operation, the sensor network powered by the energy harvesting chip retained normal functions to collect the PMV index of the store. According to the one month statistics of communication status, the packet loss rate (PLR) is 2.3%, which is as good as the presented results of those WSNs powered by battery. Referring to the electric power records, almost 54% energy can be saved by the feedback control of an energy harvesting sensor network. These results illustrate that, scavenging energy not only creates a reliable power source for electronic devices, such as wireless sensor nodes, but can also be an energy source by building an energy efficient program. PMID:27873953

Rigid body formulation in a finite element context with contact interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Refachinho de Campos, Paulo R.; Gay Neto, Alfredo

2018-03-01

The present work proposes a formulation to employ rigid bodies together with flexible bodies in the context of a nonlinear finite element solver, with contact interactions. Inertial contributions due to distribution of mass of a rigid body are fully developed, considering a general pole position associated with a single node, representing a rigid body element. Additionally, a mechanical constraint is proposed to connect a rigid region composed by several nodes, which is useful for linking rigid/flexible bodies in a finite element environment. Rodrigues rotation parameters are used to describe finite rotations, by an updated Lagrangian description. In addition, the contact formulation entitled master-surface to master-surface is employed in conjunction with the rigid body element and flexible bodies, aiming to consider their interaction in a rigid-flexible multibody environment. New surface parameterizations are presented to establish contact pairs, permitting pointwise interaction in a frictional scenario. Numerical examples are provided to show robustness and applicability of the methods.

Robust superconductivity with nodes in the superconducting topological insulator CuxBi2Se3 : Zeeman orbital field and nonmagnetic impurities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagai, Yuki

2015-02-01

We study the robustness against nonmagnetic impurities in the topological superconductor with point nodes, focusing on an effective model of CuxBi2Se3 . We find that the topological superconductivity with point nodes is not fragile against nonmagnetic impurities, although the superconductivity with nodes in past studies is usually fragile. Exchanging the role of spin with the one of orbital, and vice versa, we find that in the "dual" space the topological superconductor with point nodes is regarded as the intraorbital spin-singlet s -wave one. From the viewpoint of the dual space, we deduce that the point-node state is not fragile against nonmagnetic impurity, when the orbital imbalance in the normal states is small. Since the spin imbalance is induced by the Zeeman magnetic field, we shall name this key quantity for the impurity effects the Zeeman "orbital" field. The numerical calculations support that the deduction is correct. If the Zeeman orbital field is small, the topological superconductivity is not fragile in dirty materials, even with nodes. Thus, the topological superconductors cannot be simply regarded as one of the conventional unconventional superconductors.

Supplying the power requirements to a sensor network using radio frequency power transfer.

PubMed

Percy, Steven; Knight, Chris; Cooray, Francis; Smart, Ken

2012-01-01

Wireless power transmission is a method of supplying power to small electronic devices when there is no wired connection. One way to increase the range of these systems is to use a directional transmitting antenna, the problem with this approach is that power can only be transmitted through a narrow beam and directly forward, requiring the transmitter to always be aligned with the sensor node position. The work outlined in this article describes the design and testing of an autonomous radio frequency power transfer system that is capable of rotating the base transmitter to track the position of sensor nodes and transferring power to that sensor node. The system's base station monitors the node's energy levels and forms a charge queue to plan charging order and maintain energy levels of the nodes. Results show a radio frequency harvesting circuit with a measured S11 value of -31.5 dB and a conversion efficiency of 39.1%. Simulation and experimentation verified the level of power transfer and efficiency. The results of this work show a small network of three nodes with different storage types powered by a central base node.

Suppressed epidemics in multirelational networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Elvis H. W.; Wang, Wei; Xu, C.; Tang, Ming; Do, Younghae; Hui, P. M.

2015-08-01

A two-state epidemic model in networks with links mimicking two kinds of relationships between connected nodes is introduced. Links of weights w1 and w0 occur with probabilities p and 1 -p , respectively. The fraction of infected nodes ρ (p ) shows a nonmonotonic behavior, with ρ drops with p for small p and increases for large p . For small to moderate w1/w0 ratios, ρ (p ) exhibits a minimum that signifies an optimal suppression. For large w1/w0 ratios, the suppression leads to an absorbing phase consisting only of healthy nodes within a range pL≤p ≤pR , and an active phase with mixed infected and healthy nodes for p pR . A mean field theory that ignores spatial correlation is shown to give qualitative agreement and capture all the key features. A physical picture that emphasizes the intricate interplay between infections via w0 links and within clusters formed by nodes carrying the w1 links is presented. The absorbing state at large w1/w0 ratios results when the clusters are big enough to disrupt the spread via w0 links and yet small enough to avoid an epidemic within the clusters. A theory that uses the possible local environments of a node as variables is formulated. The theory gives results in good agreement with simulation results, thereby showing the necessity of including longer spatial correlations.

Protograph LDPC Codes with Node Degrees at Least 3

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Divsalar, Dariush; Jones, Christopher

2006-01-01

In this paper we present protograph codes with a small number of degree-3 nodes and one high degree node. The iterative decoding threshold for proposed rate 1/2 codes are lower, by about 0.2 dB, than the best known irregular LDPC codes with degree at least 3. The main motivation is to gain linear minimum distance to achieve low error floor. Also to construct rate-compatible protograph-based LDPC codes for fixed block length that simultaneously achieves low iterative decoding threshold and linear minimum distance. We start with a rate 1/2 protograph LDPC code with degree-3 nodes and one high degree node. Higher rate codes are obtained by connecting check nodes with degree-2 non-transmitted nodes. This is equivalent to constraint combining in the protograph. The condition where all constraints are combined corresponds to the highest rate code. This constraint must be connected to nodes of degree at least three for the graph to have linear minimum distance. Thus having node degree at least 3 for rate 1/2 guarantees linear minimum distance property to be preserved for higher rates. Through examples we show that the iterative decoding threshold as low as 0.544 dB can be achieved for small protographs with node degrees at least three. A family of low- to high-rate codes with minimum distance linearly increasing in block size and with capacity-approaching performance thresholds is presented. FPGA simulation results for a few example codes show that the proposed codes perform as predicted.

Improving the communication reliability of body sensor networks based on the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol.

PubMed

Gomes, Diogo; Afonso, José A

2014-03-01

Body sensor networks (BSNs) enable continuous monitoring of patients anywhere, with minimum constraints to daily life activities. Although the IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee(®) (ZigBee Alliance, San Ramon, CA) standards were mainly developed for use in wireless sensors network (WSN) applications, they are also widely used in BSN applications because of device characteristics such as low power, low cost, and small form factor. However, compared with WSNs, BSNs present some very distinctive characteristics in terms of traffic and mobility patterns, heterogeneity of the nodes, and quality of service requirements. This article evaluates the suitability of the carrier sense multiple access-collision avoidance protocol, used by the IEEE 802.15.4 and ZigBee standards, for data-intensive BSN applications, through the execution of experimental tests in different evaluation scenarios, in order to take into account the effects of contention, clock drift, and hidden nodes on the communication reliability. Results show that the delivery ratio may decrease substantially during transitory periods, which can last for several minutes, to a minimum of 90% with retransmissions and 13% without retransmissions. This article also proposes and evaluates the performance of the BSN contention avoidance mechanism, which was designed to solve the identified reliability problems. This mechanism was able to restore the delivery ratio to 100% even in the scenario without retransmissions.

Burbank uses ARED in the Node 3

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-12-18

ISS030-E-012727 (18 Dec. 2011) --- NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, Expedition 30 commander, uses the short bar for the advanced Resistive Exercise Device (aRED) equipment to perform upper body strengthening pull-ups in the Tranquility node of the International Space Station.

Burbank uses ARED in the Node 3

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-12-18

ISS030-E-012724 (18 Dec. 2011) --- NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, Expedition 30 commander, uses the short bar for the advanced Resistive Exercise Device (aRED) equipment to perform upper body strengthening pull-ups in the Tranquility node of the International Space Station.

Burbank uses ARED in the Node 3

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-12-18

ISS030-E-012725 (18 Dec. 2011) --- NASA astronaut Dan Burbank, Expedition 30 commander, uses the short bar for the advanced Resistive Exercise Device (aRED) equipment to perform upper body strengthening pull-ups in the Tranquility node of the International Space Station.

Implementation of body area networks based on MICS/WMTS medical bands for healthcare systems.

PubMed

Yuce, Mehmet R; Ho, Chee Keong

2008-01-01

A multi-hoping sensor network system has been implemented to monitor physiological parameters from multiple patient bodies by means of medical communication standards MICS (Medical Implant Communication Service) and WMTS (Wireless Medical Telemetry Service). Unlike the other medical sensor networks (they usually use 2.4 GHz ISM band), we used the two medical standards occupying the frequency bands that are mainly assigned to medical applications. The prototype system uses the MICS band (402-405 MHz) between the sensor nodes and a remote central control unit (CCU). And WMTS frequencies (608-614MHz) are used between the CCUs and the remote base stations allowing for a much larger range acting as an intermediate node. The sensor nodes in the prototype can measure up to four body signals (i.e. 4-channel) where one is dedicated to a continuous physiological signal such as ECC/EEG. The system includes firmware and software designs that can provide a long distance data transfer through the internet or a mobile network.

Focus-based filtering + clustering technique for power-law networks with small world phenomenon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boutin, François; Thièvre, Jérôme; Hascoët, Mountaz

2006-01-01

Realistic interaction networks usually present two main properties: a power-law degree distribution and a small world behavior. Few nodes are linked to many nodes and adjacent nodes are likely to share common neighbors. Moreover, graph structure usually presents a dense core that is difficult to explore with classical filtering and clustering techniques. In this paper, we propose a new filtering technique accounting for a user-focus. This technique extracts a tree-like graph with also power-law degree distribution and small world behavior. Resulting structure is easily drawn with classical force-directed drawing algorithms. It is also quickly clustered and displayed into a multi-level silhouette tree (MuSi-Tree) from any user-focus. We built a new graph filtering + clustering + drawing API and report a case study.

Tattoo Pigments Are Observed in the Kupffer Cells of the Liver Indicating Blood-Borne Distribution of Tattoo Ink.

PubMed

Sepehri, Mitra; Sejersen, Tobias; Qvortrup, Klaus; Lerche, Catharina M; Serup, Jørgen

2017-01-01

Tattoo pigments are deposited in the skin and known to distribute to regional lymph nodes. Tattoo pigments are small particles and may be hypothesized to reach the blood stream and become distributed to peripheral organs. This has not been studied in the past. The aim of the study was to trace tattoo pigments in internal organs in mice extensively tattooed with 2 different tattoo ink products. Three groups of mice were studied, i.e., 10 tattooed black, 10 tattooed red, and 5 untreated controls. They were tattooed on the entire back with commercial tattoo inks, black and red. Mice were sacrificed after 1 year. Samples were isolated from tattooed skin, lymph nodes, liver, spleen, kidney, and lung. Samples were examined for deposits of tattoo pigments by light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM identified intracellular tattoo pigments in the skin and in lymph nodes. TEM in both groups of tattooed mice showed tattoo pigment deposits in the Kupffer cells in the liver, which is a new observation. TEM detected no pigment in other internal organs. Light microscopy showed dense pigment in the skin and in lymph nodes but not in internal organs. The study demonstrated black and red tattoo pigment deposits in the liver; thus, tattoo pigment distributed from the tattooed skin via the blood stream to this important organ of detoxification. The finding adds a new dimension to tattoo pigment distribution in the body, i.e., as observed via the blood in addition to the lymphatic pathway. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The impact of body habitus on the surgical outcomes of transaxillary single-incision robotic thyroidectomy in papillary thyroid carcinoma patients.

PubMed

Lee, Sohee; Park, Seulkee; Lee, Cho Rok; Son, Haiyoung; Kim, Jungwoo; Kang, Sang-Wook; Jeong, Jong Ju; Nam, Kee-Hyun; Chung, Woong Youn; Park, Cheong Soo

2013-07-01

Robotic applications have achieved safe and precise thyroidectomy with notable cosmetic and functional benefits. This study was designed to document the influence of body habitus on robotic thyroidectomy in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients. From July 2009 to February 2010, 352 patients underwent robotic thyroidectomy using a gasless, transaxillary single-incision approach at Yonsei University Health System. Body habitus was described using body mass index category (normal weight, overweight, obese), neck length, shoulder width, and shoulder width to neck length ratios. The impact of body habitus on surgical outcomes was analyzed with respect to operation time, number of retrieved central nodes, bleeding amount, and postoperative complications. Of the 352 patients, 217 underwent less than total thyroidectomy and 135 underwent total thyroidectomy. Operative variables (i.e. operation times, bleeding amounts, and numbers of retrieved central nodes) showed no significant differences between three BMI groups for less than total thyroidectomy. However, total operation and working space times were longer for obese patients during total thyroidectomy. In particular, shoulder width was positively correlated with total operation time, working space time, console time, and number of retrieved central nodes. On the other hand, postoperative complications were not significantly different in the three BMI groups and showed no significant correlation with the other indices of body habitus. Standardized robotic thyroidectomy can be performed safely and feasibly in patients with a large body habitus despite longer operation times.

11C-Choline-Pet Guided Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Lymph Node Metastases in Oligometastatic Prostate Cancer.

PubMed

Franzese, Ciro; Lopci, Egesta; Di Brina, Lucia; D'Agostino, Giuseppe Roberto; Navarria, Pierina; Mancosu, Pietro; Tomatis, Stefano; Chiti, Arturo; Scorsetti, Marta

2017-10-21

aim is outcome of 11C-Choline-PET guided SBRT on lymph node metastases. patients with 1 - 4 lymph node metastases detected by 11C-choline-PET were treated with SBRT. Toxicity, treated metastases control and Progression Free Survival were computed. twenty-six patients, 38 lymph node metastases were irradiated. No grade ≥ 2 toxicity. Median PSA-nadir after RT was 1.02 ng/mL. Post-treatment 11C-Choline-PET showed metabolic complete response in 17 metastases (44,7%), partial response in 9 metastases (38%). SBRT is effective and safe for lymph node metastases. PET is important in identification of gross tumor and evaluation of the response.

R2NA: Received Signal Strength (RSS) Ratio-Based Node Authentication for Body Area Network

PubMed Central

Wu, Yang; Wang, Kai; Sun, Yongmei; Ji, Yuefeng

2013-01-01

The body area network (BAN) is an emerging branch of wireless sensor networks for personalized applications. The services in BAN usually have a high requirement on security, especially for the medical diagnosis. One of the fundamental directions to ensure security in BAN is how to provide node authentication. Traditional research using cryptography relies on prior secrets shared among nodes, which leads to high resource cost. In addition, most existing non-cryptographic solutions exploit out-of-band (OOB) channels, but they need the help of additional hardware support or significant modifications to the system software. To avoid the above problems, this paper presents a proximity-based node authentication scheme, which only uses wireless modules equipped on sensors. With only one sensor and one control unit (CU) in BAN, we could detect a unique physical layer characteristic, namely, the difference between the received signal strength (RSS) measured on different devices in BAN. Through the above-mentioned particular difference, we can tell whether the sender is close enough to be legitimate. We validate our scheme through both theoretical analysis and experiments, which are conducted on the real Shimmer nodes. The results demonstrate that our proposed scheme has a good security performance.

Voss retrieves a small tool from a tool kit in ISS Node 1/Unity

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-08-13

STS105-E-5175 (13 August 2001) --- Astronaut James S. Voss, retrieves a small tool from a tool case in the U.S.-built Unity node aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The Expedition Two flight engineer is only days away from returning to Earth following five months aboard the orbital outpost. The image was recorded with a digital still camera.

Scale-free models for the structure of business firm networks.

PubMed

Kitsak, Maksim; Riccaboni, Massimo; Havlin, Shlomo; Pammolli, Fabio; Stanley, H Eugene

2010-03-01

We study firm collaborations in the life sciences and the information and communication technology sectors. We propose an approach to characterize industrial leadership using k -shell decomposition, with top-ranking firms in terms of market value in higher k -shell layers. We find that the life sciences industry network consists of three distinct components: a "nucleus," which is a small well-connected subgraph, "tendrils," which are small subgraphs consisting of small degree nodes connected exclusively to the nucleus, and a "bulk body," which consists of the majority of nodes. Industrial leaders, i.e., the largest companies in terms of market value, are in the highest k -shells of both networks. The nucleus of the life sciences sector is very stable: once a firm enters the nucleus, it is likely to stay there for a long time. At the same time we do not observe the above three components in the information and communication technology sector. We also conduct a systematic study of these three components in random scale-free networks. Our results suggest that the sizes of the nucleus and the tendrils in scale-free networks decrease as the exponent of the power-law degree distribution lambda increases, and disappear for lambda>or=3 . We compare the k -shell structure of random scale-free model networks with two real-world business firm networks in the life sciences and in the information and communication technology sectors. We argue that the observed behavior of the k -shell structure in the two industries is consistent with the coexistence of both preferential and random agreements in the evolution of industrial networks.

Tani Exercises on the RED in Node 1

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-02-06

ISS016-E-027909 (6 Feb. 2008) --- Astronaut Daniel Tani, Expedition 16 flight engineer, uses the short bar for the Interim Resistive Exercise Device (IRED) to perform upper body strengthening pull-ups. The IRED hardware is located in the Unity node of the International Space Station.

On Designing Thermal-Aware Localized QoS Routing Protocol for in-vivo Sensor Nodes in Wireless Body Area Networks.

PubMed

Monowar, Muhammad Mostafa; Bajaber, Fuad

2015-06-15

In this paper, we address the thermal rise and Quality-of-Service (QoS) provisioning issue for an intra-body Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) having in-vivo sensor nodes. We propose a thermal-aware QoS routing protocol, called TLQoS, that facilitates the system in achieving desired QoS in terms of delay and reliability for diverse traffic types, as well as avoids the formation of highly heated nodes known as hotspot(s), and keeps the temperature rise along the network to an acceptable level. TLQoS exploits modular architecture wherein different modules perform integrated operations in providing multiple QoS service with lower temperature rise. To address the challenges of highly dynamic wireless environment inside the human body. TLQoS implements potential-based localized routing that requires only local neighborhood information. TLQoS avoids routing loop formation as well as reduces the number of hop traversal exploiting hybrid potential, and tuning a configurable parameter. We perform extensive simulations of TLQoS, and the results show that TLQoS has significant performance improvements over state-of-the-art approaches.

On Designing Thermal-Aware Localized QoS Routing Protocol for in-vivo Sensor Nodes in Wireless Body Area Networks

PubMed Central

Monowar, Muhammad Mostafa; Bajaber, Fuad

2015-01-01

In this paper, we address the thermal rise and Quality-of-Service (QoS) provisioning issue for an intra-body Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) having in-vivo sensor nodes. We propose a thermal-aware QoS routing protocol, called TLQoS, that facilitates the system in achieving desired QoS in terms of delay and reliability for diverse traffic types, as well as avoids the formation of highly heated nodes known as hotspot(s), and keeps the temperature rise along the network to an acceptable level. TLQoS exploits modular architecture wherein different modules perform integrated operations in providing multiple QoS service with lower temperature rise. To address the challenges of highly dynamic wireless environment inside the human body. TLQoS implements potential-based localized routing that requires only local neighborhood information. TLQoS avoids routing loop formation as well as reduces the number of hop traversal exploiting hybrid potential, and tuning a configurable parameter. We perform extensive simulations of TLQoS, and the results show that TLQoS has significant performance improvements over state-of-the-art approaches. PMID:26083228

[Morphofunctional characteristics of the myocardium and regional lymph nodes of the heart in experimental myocardial ischemia under the effect of radon water on the body].

PubMed

Bikbulatov, Z T; Kolesnikov, S I; Golovnev, V A

1990-03-01

A positive effect of radon baths (health resort "Belokurikha") has been stated on the course of restorative processes in the myocardium and regional lymph nodes of the heart at ischemic disease. An enhanced drainage activity of the lymph nodes revealed facilitates to a quick outflow of toxic lymph from the ischemic zone and, accordingly, to its biological treatment in the lymph nodes and contributes to a more complete restoration of the structure in the ischemia-damaged area of the myocardium.

Acoustic ranging of small arms fire using a single sensor node collocated with the target.

PubMed

Lo, Kam W; Ferguson, Brian G

2015-06-01

A ballistic model-based method, which builds upon previous work by Lo and Ferguson [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 132, 2997-3017 (2012)], is described for ranging small arms fire using a single acoustic sensor node collocated with the target, without a priori knowledge of the muzzle speed and ballistic constant of the bullet except that they belong to a known two-dimensional parameter space. The method requires measurements of the differential time of arrival and differential angle of arrival of the muzzle blast and ballistic shock wave at the sensor node. Its performance is evaluated using both simulated and real data.

Compression in wearable sensor nodes: impacts of node topology.

PubMed

Imtiaz, Syed Anas; Casson, Alexander J; Rodriguez-Villegas, Esther

2014-04-01

Wearable sensor nodes monitoring the human body must operate autonomously for very long periods of time. Online and low-power data compression embedded within the sensor node is therefore essential to minimize data storage/transmission overheads. This paper presents a low-power MSP430 compressive sensing implementation for providing such compression, focusing particularly on the impact of the sensor node architecture on the compression performance. Compression power performance is compared for four different sensor nodes incorporating different strategies for wireless transmission/on-sensor-node local storage of data. The results demonstrate that the compressive sensing used must be designed differently depending on the underlying node topology, and that the compression strategy should not be guided only by signal processing considerations. We also provide a practical overview of state-of-the-art sensor node topologies. Wireless transmission of data is often preferred as it offers increased flexibility during use, but in general at the cost of increased power consumption. We demonstrate that wireless sensor nodes can highly benefit from the use of compressive sensing and now can achieve power consumptions comparable to, or better than, the use of local memory.

Lessons Learned from Providing Internet Support for the Shoemaker-Levy 9 Observing Campaign

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raugh, A. C.

1994-12-01

In January of 1994, the comet/asteroid team of the University of Maryland Astronomy Department (including staff of the Small Bodies Node of the Planetary Data System) accepted the task of providing a central communications link for observers of the SL9 impact. To that end we established an email exploder, a log-in type bulletin board account, World Wide Web pages and an anonymous FTP server on an existing department node. It was obvious from the comments received from observers, however, that the nature of the impacts made reliable communication on the timescale of minutes to hours absolutely essential to extracting the best possible data from the concerted observations. To provide as stable a link as possible, we took several specific actions: we focused our efforts on providing well-defined services to the smaller community of observers, rather than attempting to provide complete service to the general public; we kept the solutions simple, both to implement and to maintain; and we developed contingency plans to be implemented immediately in the event of hardware failure, network failure or CPU overload.

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

Wylie, Brian Neil; Moreland, Kenneth D.

Graphs are a vital way of organizing data with complex correlations. A good visualization of a graph can fundamentally change human understanding of the data. Consequently, there is a rich body of work on graph visualization. Although there are many techniques that are effective on small to medium sized graphs (tens of thousands of nodes), there is a void in the research for visualizing massive graphs containing millions of nodes. Sandia is one of the few entities in the world that has the means and motivation to handle data on such a massive scale. For example, homeland security generates graphsmore » from prolific media sources such as television, telephone, and the Internet. The purpose of this project is to provide the groundwork for visualizing such massive graphs. The research provides for two major feature gaps: a parallel, interactive visualization framework and scalable algorithms to make the framework usable to a practical application. Both the frameworks and algorithms are designed to run on distributed parallel computers, which are already available at Sandia. Some features are integrated into the ThreatView{trademark} application and future work will integrate further parallel algorithms.« less

SMART Solar Sail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Curtis, Steven A.

2005-01-01

A report summarizes the design concept of a super miniaturized autonomous reconfigurable technology (SMART) solar sail a proposed deployable, fully autonomous solar sail for use in very fine station keeping of a spacecraft. The SMART solar sail would include a reflective film stretched among nodes of a SMART space frame made partly of nanotubule struts. A microelectromechanical system (MEMS) at each vertex of the frame would spool and unspool nanotubule struts between itself and neighboring nodes to vary the shape of the frame. The MEMSs would be linked, either wirelessly or by thin wires within the struts, to an evolvable neural software system (ENSS) that would control the MEMSs to reconfigure the sail as needed. The solar sail would be highly deformable from an initially highly compressed configuration, yet also capable of enabling very fine maneuvering of the spacecraft by means of small sail-surface deformations. The SMART Solar Sail would be connected to the main body of the spacecraft by a SMART multi-tether structure, which would include MEMS actuators like those of the frame plus tethers in the form of longer versions of the struts in the frame.

Results from a new die-to-database reticle inspection platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Broadbent, William; Xiong, Yalin; Giusti, Michael; Walsh, Robert; Dayal, Aditya

2007-03-01

A new die-to-database high-resolution reticle defect inspection system has been developed for the 45nm logic node and extendable to the 32nm node (also the comparable memory nodes). These nodes will use predominantly 193nm immersion lithography although EUV may also be used. According to recent surveys, the predominant reticle types for the 45nm node are 6% simple tri-tone and COG. Other advanced reticle types may also be used for these nodes including: dark field alternating, Mask Enhancer, complex tri-tone, high transmission, CPL, EUV, etc. Finally, aggressive model based OPC will typically be used which will include many small structures such as jogs, serifs, and SRAF (sub-resolution assist features) with accompanying very small gaps between adjacent structures. The current generation of inspection systems is inadequate to meet these requirements. The architecture and performance of a new die-to-database inspection system is described. This new system is designed to inspect the aforementioned reticle types in die-to-database and die-to-die modes. Recent results from internal testing of the prototype systems are shown. The results include standard programmed defect test reticles and advanced 45nm and 32nm node reticles from industry sources. The results show high sensitivity and low false detections being achieved.

The Jellyfish: smart electro-active polymers for an autonomous distributed sensing node

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blottman, John B.; Richards, Roger T.

2006-05-01

The US Navy has recently placed emphasis on deployable, distributed sensors for Force Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Homeland Defense missions. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center has embarked on the development of a self-contained deployable node that is composed of electro-active polymers (EAP) for use in a covert persistent distributed surveillance system. Electro-Active Polymers (EAP) have matured to a level that permits their application in energy harvesting, hydrophones, electro-elastic actuation and electroluminescence. The problem to resolve is combining each of these functions into an autonomous sensing platform. The concept presented here promises an operational life several orders of magnitude beyond what is expected of a Sonobuoy due to energy conservation and harvesting, and at a reasonable cost. The embodiment envisioned is that of a deployed device resembling a jellyfish, made in most part of polymers, with the body encapsulating the necessary electronic processing and communications package and the tentacles of the jellyfish housing the sonar sensors. It will be small, neutrally buoyant, and will survey the water column much in the manner of a Cartesian Diver. By using the Electro-Active Polymers as artificial muscles, the motion of the jellyfish can be finely controlled. An increased range of detection and true node autonomy is achieved through volumetric array beamforming to focus the direction of interrogation and to null-out extraneous ambient noise.

Lymphatics and the breast

MedlinePlus Videos and Cool Tools

... lymphatic system called lymph nodes are distributed at specific locations throughout the body. There is also an ... result in the formation of a secondary cancer mass in a different location of the body. Regular ...

Performance Optimization of Priority Assisted CSMA/CA Mechanism of 802.15.6 under Saturation Regime

PubMed Central

Shakir, Mustafa; Rehman, Obaid Ur; Rahim, Mudassir; Alrajeh, Nabil; Khan, Zahoor Ali; Khan, Mahmood Ashraf; Niaz, Iftikhar Azim; Javaid, Nadeem

2016-01-01

Due to the recent development in the field of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), the Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) have become a major area of interest for the developers and researchers. Human body exhibits postural mobility due to which distance variation occurs and the status of connections amongst sensors change time to time. One of the major requirements of WBAN is to prolong the network lifetime without compromising on other performance measures, i.e., delay, throughput and bandwidth efficiency. Node prioritization is one of the possible solutions to obtain optimum performance in WBAN. IEEE 802.15.6 CSMA/CA standard splits the nodes with different user priorities based on Contention Window (CW) size. Smaller CW size is assigned to higher priority nodes. This standard helps to reduce delay, however, it is not energy efficient. In this paper, we propose a hybrid node prioritization scheme based on IEEE 802.15.6 CSMA/CA to reduce energy consumption and maximize network lifetime. In this scheme, optimum performance is achieved by node prioritization based on CW size as well as power in respective user priority. Our proposed scheme reduces the average back off time for channel access due to CW based prioritization. Additionally, power based prioritization for a respective user priority helps to minimize required number of retransmissions. Furthermore, we also compare our scheme with IEEE 802.15.6 CSMA/CA standard (CW assisted node prioritization) and power assisted node prioritization under postural mobility in WBAN. Mathematical expressions are derived to determine the accurate analytical model for throughput, delay, bandwidth efficiency, energy consumption and life time for each node prioritization scheme. With the intention of analytical model validation, we have performed the simulations in OMNET++/MIXIM framework. Analytical and simulation results show that our proposed hybrid node prioritization scheme outperforms other node prioritization schemes in terms of average network delay, average throughput, average bandwidth efficiency and network lifetime. PMID:27598167

Tani Exercises on the RED in Node 1

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-02-06

ISS016-E-027914 (6 Feb. 2008) --- Astronaut Daniel Tani, Expedition 16 flight engineer, prepares to use the short bar for the Interim Resistive Exercise Device (IRED) to perform upper body strengthening pull-ups. The IRED hardware is located in the Unity node of the International Space Station.

Alpha imaging confirmed efficient targeting of CD45-positive cells after astatine-211 (211At)-radioimmunotherapy for hematopoietic cell transplantation

PubMed Central

Frost, Sofia H.L.; Miller, Brian W.; Bäck, Tom A.; Santos, Erlinda B.; Hamlin, Donald K.; Knoblaugh, Sue E.; Frayo, Shani L.; Kenoyer, Aimee L.; Storb, Rainer; Press, Oliver W.; Wilbur, D. Scott; Pagel, John M.; Sandmaier, Brenda M.

2015-01-01

Alpha-radioimmunotherapy targeting CD45 may substitute for total body irradiation in hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) preparative regimens for lymphoma. Our goal was to optimize the anti-CD45 monoclonal antibody (MAb; CA12.10C12) protein dose for astatine-211 (211At)-radioimmunotherapy, extending the analysis to include intra-organ 211At activity distribution and α-imaging-based small-scale dosimetry, along with immunohistochemical staining. Methods Eight normal dogs were injected with either 0.75 (n=5) or 1.00 mg/kg (n=3) of 211At-B10-CA12.10C12 (11.5–27.6 MBq/kg). Two were euthanized and necropsied 19–22 hours post injection (p.i.), and six received autologous HCT three days after 211At-radioimmunotherapy, following lymph node and bone marrow biopsies at 2–4 and/or 19 hours p.i. Blood was sampled to study toxicity and clearance; CD45 targeting was evaluated by flow cytometry. 211At localization and small-scale dosimetry were assessed using two α-imaging systems: α-camera and iQID. Results Uptake of 211At was highest in spleen (0.31–0.61 %IA/g), lymph nodes (0.02–0.16 %IA/g), liver (0.11–0.12 %IA/g), and marrow (0.06–0.08 %IA/g). Lymphocytes in blood and marrow were efficiently targeted using either MAb dose. Lymph nodes remained unsaturated, but displayed targeted 211At localization in T lymphocyte-rich areas. Absorbed doses to blood, marrow, and lymph nodes were estimated at 3.1, 2.4, and 3.4 Gy/166 MBq, respectively. All transplanted dogs experienced transient hepatic toxicity. Liver enzyme levels were temporarily elevated in 5 of 6 dogs; 1 treated with 1.00 mg MAb/kg developed ascites and was euthanized 136 days after HCT. Conclusion 211At-anti-CD45 radioimmunotherapy with 0.75 mg MAb/kg efficiently targeted blood and marrow without severe toxicity. Dosimetry calculations and observed radiation-induced effects indicated that sufficient 211At-B10-CA12.10C12 localization was achieved for efficient conditioning for HCT. PMID:26338894

Three faces of node importance in network epidemiology: Exact results for small graphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holme, Petter

2017-12-01

We investigate three aspects of the importance of nodes with respect to susceptible-infectious-removed (SIR) disease dynamics: influence maximization (the expected outbreak size given a set of seed nodes), the effect of vaccination (how much deleting nodes would reduce the expected outbreak size), and sentinel surveillance (how early an outbreak could be detected with sensors at a set of nodes). We calculate the exact expressions of these quantities, as functions of the SIR parameters, for all connected graphs of three to seven nodes. We obtain the smallest graphs where the optimal node sets are not overlapping. We find that (i) node separation is more important than centrality for more than one active node, (ii) vaccination and influence maximization are the most different aspects of importance, and (iii) the three aspects are more similar when the infection rate is low.

Hyperswitch Network For Hypercube Computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chow, Edward; Madan, Herbert; Peterson, John

1989-01-01

Data-driven dynamic switching enables high speed data transfer. Proposed hyperswitch network based on mixed static and dynamic topologies. Routing header modified in response to congestion or faults encountered as path established. Static topology meets requirement if nodes have switching elements that perform necessary routing header revisions dynamically. Hypercube topology now being implemented with switching element in each computer node aimed at designing very-richly-interconnected multicomputer system. Interconnection network connects great number of small computer nodes, using fixed hypercube topology, characterized by point-to-point links between nodes.

Cross Layer Design for Optimizing Transmission Reliability, Energy Efficiency, and Lifetime in Body Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Chen, Xi; Xu, Yixuan; Liu, Anfeng

2017-04-19

High transmission reliability, energy efficiency, and long lifetime are pivotal issues for wireless body area networks (WBANs. However, these performance metrics are not independent of each other, making it hard to obtain overall improvements through optimizing one single aspect. Therefore, a Cross Layer Design Optimal (CLDO) scheme is proposed to simultaneously optimize transmission reliability, energy efficiency, and lifetime of WBANs from several layers. Firstly, due to the fact that the transmission power of nodes directly influences the reliability of links, the optimized transmission power of different nodes is deduced, which is able to maximize energy efficiency in theory under the premise that requirements on delay and jitter are fulfilled. Secondly, a relay decision algorithm is proposed to choose optimized relay nodes. Using this algorithm, nodes will choose relay nodes that ensure a balance of network energy consumption, provided that all nodes transmit with optimized transmission power and the same packet size. Thirdly, the energy consumption of nodes is still unbalanced even with optimized transmission power because of their different locations in the topology of the network. In addition, packet size also has an impact on final performance metrics. Therefore, a synthesized cross layer method for optimization is proposed. With this method, the transmission power of nodes with more residual energy will be enhanced while suitable packet size is determined for different links in the network, leading to further improvements in the WBAN system. Both our comprehensive theoretical analysis and experimental results indicate that the performance of our proposed scheme is better than reported in previous studies. Relative to the relay selection and power control game (RSPCG) scheme, the CLDO scheme can enhance transmission reliability by more than 44.6% and prolong the lifetime by as much as 33.2%.

Cross Layer Design for Optimizing Transmission Reliability, Energy Efficiency, and Lifetime in Body Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Chen, Xi; Xu, Yixuan; Liu, Anfeng

2017-01-01

High transmission reliability, energy efficiency, and long lifetime are pivotal issues for wireless body area networks (WBANs). However, these performance metrics are not independent of each other, making it hard to obtain overall improvements through optimizing one single aspect. Therefore, a Cross Layer Design Optimal (CLDO) scheme is proposed to simultaneously optimize transmission reliability, energy efficiency, and lifetime of WBANs from several layers. Firstly, due to the fact that the transmission power of nodes directly influences the reliability of links, the optimized transmission power of different nodes is deduced, which is able to maximize energy efficiency in theory under the premise that requirements on delay and jitter are fulfilled. Secondly, a relay decision algorithm is proposed to choose optimized relay nodes. Using this algorithm, nodes will choose relay nodes that ensure a balance of network energy consumption, provided that all nodes transmit with optimized transmission power and the same packet size. Thirdly, the energy consumption of nodes is still unbalanced even with optimized transmission power because of their different locations in the topology of the network. In addition, packet size also has an impact on final performance metrics. Therefore, a synthesized cross layer method for optimization is proposed. With this method, the transmission power of nodes with more residual energy will be enhanced while suitable packet size is determined for different links in the network, leading to further improvements in the WBAN system. Both our comprehensive theoretical analysis and experimental results indicate that the performance of our proposed scheme is better than reported in previous studies. Relative to the relay selection and power control game (RSPCG) scheme, the CLDO scheme can enhance transmission reliability by more than 44.6% and prolong the lifetime by as much as 33.2%. PMID:28422062

A moat around castle walls. The role of axillary and facial hair in lymph node protection from mutagenic factors.

PubMed

Komarova, Svetlana V

2006-01-01

Axillary hair is a highly conserved phenotypical feature in humans, and as such deserves at least consideration of its functional significance. Protection from environmental factors is one of the main functions attributed to hair in furred vertebrates, but is believed to be inapplicable to humans. I considered the hypothesis that the phenotypic preservation of axillary hair is due to its unrecognized role in the organism protection. Two immediate questions arise--what exactly is being protected and what it is protected from. A large group of axillary lymph nodes represents a major difference between underarms and the adjacent areas of the trunk. The consideration of potential factors from which hair can offer protection identifies sunlight as the most likely candidate. Intense sweat production underarms may represent an independent defense mechanism, specifically protecting lymph nodes from overheating. Moreover, the pattern of facial hair growth in males strikingly overlaps with the distribution of superficial lymph nodes, suggesting potential role for facial hair in protection of lymph nodes, and possibly thymus and thyroid. The idea of lymph node protection from environmental mutagenic factors, such as UV radiation and heat, appears particularly important in light of wide association of lymph nodes with cancers. The position of contemporary fashion towards body hair is aggressively negative, including the social pressure for removal of axillary and bikini line hair for women, facial hair for men in many professional occupations, and even body hair for men. If this hypothesis is proven to be true, the implications will be significant for immunology (by providing new insights in lymph node physiology), health sciences (depilation is painful and therefore easily modifiable habit if proven to increase disease risk), as well as art, social fashion and economy.

Controlling Flexible Robot Arms Using High Speed Dynamics Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jain, Abhinandan (Inventor)

1996-01-01

A robot manipulator controller for a flexible manipulator arm having plural bodies connected at respective movable hinges and flexible in plural deformation modes corresponding to respective modal spatial influence vectors relating deformations of plural spaced nodes of respective bodies to the plural deformation modes, operates by computing articulated body quantities for each of the bodies from respective modal spatial influence vectors, obtaining specified body forces for each of the bodies, and computing modal deformation accelerations of the nodes and hinge accelerations of the hinges from the specified body forces, from the articulated body quantities and from the modal spatial influence vectors. In one embodiment of the invention, the controller further operates by comparing the accelerations thus computed to desired manipulator motion to determine a motion discrepancy, and correcting the specified body forces so as to reduce the motion discrepancy. The manipulator bodies and hinges are characterized by respective vectors of deformation and hinge configuration variables, and computing modal deformation accelerations and hinge accelerations is carried out for each one of the bodies beginning with the outermost body by computing a residual body force from a residual body force of a previous body and from the vector of deformation and hinge configuration variables, computing a resultant hinge acceleration from the body force, the residual body force and the articulated hinge inertia, and revising the residual body force modal body acceleration.

Simultaneous mapping of pan and sentinel lymph nodes for real-time image-guided surgery.

PubMed

Ashitate, Yoshitomo; Hyun, Hoon; Kim, Soon Hee; Lee, Jeong Heon; Henary, Maged; Frangioni, John V; Choi, Hak Soo

2014-01-01

The resection of regional lymph nodes in the basin of a primary tumor is of paramount importance in surgical oncology. Although sentinel lymph node mapping is now the standard of care in breast cancer and melanoma, over 20% of patients require a completion lymphadenectomy. Yet, there is currently no technology available that can image all lymph nodes in the body in real time, or assess both the sentinel node and all nodes simultaneously. In this study, we report an optical fluorescence technology that is capable of simultaneous mapping of pan lymph nodes (PLNs) and sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in the same subject. We developed near-infrared fluorophores, which have fluorescence emission maxima either at 700 nm or at 800 nm. One was injected intravenously for identification of all regional lymph nodes in a basin, and the other was injected locally for identification of the SLN. Using the dual-channel FLARE intraoperative imaging system, we could identify and resect all PLNs and SLNs simultaneously. The technology we describe enables simultaneous, real-time visualization of both PLNs and SLNs in the same subject.

Methylene blue intra-arterial staining of resected colorectal cancer specimens improves accuracy of nodal staging: A randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Reima, H; Saar, H; Innos, K; Soplepmann, J

2016-11-01

Metastatic involvement of regional lymph nodes is a major prognostic factor of colorectal cancer, which influences also its treatment strategy. International consensus foresees retrieval of ≥12 lymph nodes from colorectal specimens. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of intra-arterial staining of colorectal specimens with methylene blue on lymph node harvest. A total of 266 radically operated colorectal cancer patients were randomized into the methylene blue staining and non-staining groups. In the staining group, methylene blue solution was injected into the colorectal specimen's artery after its removal. The specimens were analysed for lymph node count, diameter and metastatic involvement. The median number of lymph nodes was higher in the staining group, 27 (95% CI 23-31%), compared with the control group, 16 (95% CI 14-19, p < 0.001). The number of examined lymph-nodes was ≥12 in 86% of the cases in the staining group and in 69% of the cases in the control group (p = 0.001). In the staining group more small-diameter (≤4 mm) lymph nodes were examined (median number 20.5 vs. 10, p < 0.001). The proportion of patients with metatatic lymph nodes was 42% in the staining group and 43% in the control group (NS). Methylene blue staining improves significantly staging accuracy through finding more small-diameter lymph nodes. It enables to detect ≥12 lymph nodes in the majority of cases. We recommend routine use of this technique in all colorectal resections with curative intent. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd, BASO ~ the Association for Cancer Surgery, and the European Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights reserved.

Prognostic relevance of lymph node ratio and total lymph node count for small bowel adenocarcinoma.

PubMed

Tran, Thuy B; Qadan, Motaz; Dua, Monica M; Norton, Jeffrey A; Poultsides, George A; Visser, Brendan C

2015-08-01

Nodal metastasis is a known prognostic factor for small bowel adenocarcinoma. The goals of this study were to evaluate the number of lymph nodes (LNs) that should be retrieved and the impact of lymph node ratio (LNR) on survival. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results was queried to identify patients with small bowel adenocarcinoma who underwent resection from 1988 to 2010. Survival was calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate analysis identified predictors of survival. A total of 2,772 patients underwent resection with at least one node retrieved, and this sample included equal numbers of duodenal (n = 1,387) and jejunoileal (n = 1,386) adenocarcinomas. There were 1,371 patients with no nodal metastasis (N0, 49.4%), 928 N1 (33.5%), and 474 N2 (17.1%). The median numbers of LNs examined for duodenal and jejunoileal cancers were 9 and 8, respectively. Cut-point analysis demonstrated that harvesting at least 9 for jejunoileal and 5 LN for duodenal cancers resulted in the greatest survival difference. Increasing LNR at both sites was associated with decreased overall median survival (LNR = 0, 71 months; LNR 0-0.02, 35 months; LNR 0.21-0.4, 25 months; and LNR >0.4, 16 months; P < .001). Multivariate analysis confirmed number of LNs examined, T-stage, LN positivity, and LNR were independent predictors of survival. LNR has a profound impact on survival in patients with small bowel adenocarcinoma. To achieve adequate staging, we recommend retrieving a minimum of 5 LN for duodenal and 9 LN for jejunoileal adenocarcinomas. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of affected lymph nodes on long-term outcome after surgical therapy of alveolar echinococcosis.

PubMed

Hillenbrand, Andreas; Beck, Annika; Kratzer, Wolfgang; Graeter, Tilmann; Barth, Thomas F E; Schmidberger, Julian; Möller, Peter; Henne-Bruns, Doris; Gruener, Beate

2018-06-16

Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a life-threatening helminthic disease. In humans, AE mostly affects the liver; the regional hepatic lymph nodes may be involved, indicating dissemination of AE from the liver. To achieve complete removal of the disease, enlarged hepatic lymph nodes may be resected during surgical treatment. We evaluated the frequency of affected lymph nodes by conventional microscopic and immunohistochemical analyses including detection of small particles of Echinococcus multilocularis (spem). Furthermore, we analyzed the association of resection of enlarged and affected lymph nodes with long-term outcome after surgical therapy of patients who underwent surgery with curative intent. We identified 43 patients who underwent hepatic surgery with curative intent with lymph node resection for AE. We analyzed the cohort for the manifestation of the parasite in the resected lymph nodes by conventional histology and by immunohistochemistry and compared these data with the further course of AE. Microscopically infected lymph nodes (laminar layer visible) were found in 7 out of these 43 patients (16%). In more than three quarters (25/32) of all specimens investigated, lymph nodes showed spems when stained with antibody against Em2G11, a monoclonal antibody specific for the Em2 antigen of the Echinococcus multilocularis metacestode. Most frequently, lymph nodes were resected due to enlargement. The median size of microscopically affected lymph nodes was 2 cm (range, 1.2 to 2.5 cm), the median size of immunohistochemically and non-affected lymph nodes was 1.3 cm each (range, "small" to 2.3 or 2.5 cm, respectively). Median follow-up was 8 years for all patients, 5 years for patients with lymph node resection, and 4 years for patients with infested lymph nodes. Overall, recurrent disease was seen in ten patients (10/109; 9%) after a median period of 1.5 years (range, 4 months to 4 years). None of the seven patients with conventionally microscopically affected lymph nodes suffered from recurrent disease. One patient with negative resected nodes and one patient with spems showed recurrent disease after 4 and 35 months, respectively. Lymph node involvement in AE is frequent, particularly when evaluated by immunohistochemical examination of lymph nodes with the monoclonal antibody Em2G11. Affected lymph nodes tend to be larger in size. Lymph node involvement is not associated with recurrent disease and therefore warrants further analysis of the biological significance of lymph node involvement.

An Energy-Efficient ASIC for Wireless Body Sensor Networks in Medical Applications.

PubMed

Xiaoyu Zhang; Hanjun Jiang; Lingwei Zhang; Chun Zhang; Zhihua Wang; Xinkai Chen

2010-02-01

An energy-efficient application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) featured with a work-on-demand protocol is designed for wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) in medical applications. Dedicated for ultra-low-power wireless sensor nodes, the ASIC consists of a low-power microcontroller unit (MCU), a power-management unit (PMU), reconfigurable sensor interfaces, communication ports controlling a wireless transceiver, and an integrated passive radio-frequency (RF) receiver with energy harvesting ability. The MCU, together with the PMU, provides quite flexible communication and power-control modes for energy-efficient operations. The always-on passive RF receiver with an RF energy harvesting block offers the sensor nodes the capability of work-on-demand with zero standby power. Fabricated in standard 0.18-¿m complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology, the ASIC occupies a die area of 2 mm × 2.5 mm. A wireless body sensor network sensor-node prototype using this ASIC only consumes < 10-nA current under the passive standby mode, and < 10 ¿A under the active standby mode, when supplied by a 3-V battery.

Lymph Node Metastases and Prognosis in Left Upper Division Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers: The Impact of Interlobar Lymph Node Metastasis

PubMed Central

Kuroda, Hiroaki; Sakao, Yukinori; Mun, Mingyon; Uehara, Hirofumi; Nakao, Masayuki; Matsuura, Yousuke; Mizuno, Tetsuya; Sakakura, Noriaki; Motoi, Noriko; Ishikawa, Yuichi; Yatabe, Yasushi; Nakagawa, Ken; Okumura, Sakae

2015-01-01

Background Left upper division segmentectomy is one of the major pulmonary procedures; however, it is sometimes difficult to completely dissect interlobar lymph nodes. We attempted to clarify the prognostic importance of hilar and mediastinal nodes, especially of interlobar lymph nodes, in patients with primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) located in the left upper division. Methods We retrospectively studied patients with primary left upper lobe NSCLC undergoing surgical pulmonary resection (at least lobectomy) with radical lymphadenectomy. The representative evaluation of therapeutic value from the lymph node dissection was determined using Sasako’s method. This analysis was calculated by multiplying the frequency of metastasis to the station and the 5-year survival rate of the patients with metastasis to the station. Results We enrolled 417 patients (237 men, 180 women). Tumors were located in the lingular lobe and at the upper division of left upper lobe in 69 and 348 patients, respectively. The pathological nodal statuses were pN0 in 263 patients, pN1 in 70 patients, and pN2 in 84 patients. Lymph nodes #11 and #7 were significantly correlated with differences in node involvement in patients with left upper lobe NSCLC. Among those with left upper division NSCLC, the 5-year overall survival in pN1 was 31.5% for #10, 39.3% for #11, and 50.4% for #12U. The involvement of node #11 was 1.89-fold higher in the anterior segment than that in the apicoposterior segment. The therapeutic index of estimated benefit from lymph node dissection for #11 was 3.38, #4L was 1.93, and the aortopulmonary window was 4.86 in primary left upper division NSCLC. Conclusions Interlobar node involvement is not rare in left upper division NSCLC, occurring in >20% cases. Furthermore, dissection of interlobar nodes was found to be beneficial in patients with left upper division NSCLC. PMID:26247881

Extreme events and event size fluctuations in biased random walks on networks.

PubMed

Kishore, Vimal; Santhanam, M S; Amritkar, R E

2012-05-01

Random walk on discrete lattice models is important to understand various types of transport processes. The extreme events, defined as exceedences of the flux of walkers above a prescribed threshold, have been studied recently in the context of complex networks. This was motivated by the occurrence of rare events such as traffic jams, floods, and power blackouts which take place on networks. In this work, we study extreme events in a generalized random walk model in which the walk is preferentially biased by the network topology. The walkers preferentially choose to hop toward the hubs or small degree nodes. In this setting, we show that extremely large fluctuations in event sizes are possible on small degree nodes when the walkers are biased toward the hubs. In particular, we obtain the distribution of event sizes on the network. Further, the probability for the occurrence of extreme events on any node in the network depends on its "generalized strength," a measure of the ability of a node to attract walkers. The generalized strength is a function of the degree of the node and that of its nearest neighbors. We obtain analytical and simulation results for the probability of occurrence of extreme events on the nodes of a network using a generalized random walk model. The result reveals that the nodes with a larger value of generalized strength, on average, display lower probability for the occurrence of extreme events compared to the nodes with lower values of generalized strength.

[Analysis of the Characteristics of Infantile Small World Neural Network Node Properties Correlated with the Influencing Factors].

PubMed

Qu, Haibo; Lu, Su; Zhang, Wenjing; Xiao, Yuan; Ning, Gang; Sun, Huaiqiang

2016-10-01

We applied resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rfMRI)combined with graph theory to analyze 90 regions of the infantile small world neural network of the whole brain.We tried to get the following two points clear:1 whether the parameters of the node property of the infantile small world neural network are correlated with the level of infantile intelligence development;2 whether the parameters of the infantile small world neural network are correlated with the children’s baseline parameters,i.e.,the demographic parameters such as gender,age,parents’ education level,etc.Twelve cases of healthy infants were included in the investigation(9males and 3females with the average age of 33.42±8.42 months.)We then evaluated the level of infantile intelligence of all the cases and graded by Gesell Development Scale Test.We used a Siemens 3.0T Trio imaging system to perform resting-state(rs)EPI scans,and collected the BOLD functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging(fMRI)data.We performed the data processing with Statistical Parametric Mapping 5(SPM5)based on Matlab environment.Furthermore,we got the attributes of the whole brain small world and node attributes of 90 encephalic regions of templates of Anatomatic Automatic Labeling(ALL).At last,we carried out correlation study between the above-mentioned attitudes,intelligence scale parameters and demographic data.The results showed that many node attributes of small world neural network were closely correlated with intelligence scale parameters.Betweeness was mainly centered in thalamus,superior frontal gyrus,and occipital lobe(negative correlation).The r value of superior occipital gyrus associated with the individual and social intelligent scale was-0.729(P=0.007);degree was mainly centered in amygdaloid nucleus,superior frontal gyrus,and inferior parietal gyrus(positive correlation).The r value of inferior parietal gyrus associated with the gross motor intelligent scale was 0.725(P=0.008);efficiency was mainly centered in inferior frontal gyrus,inferior parietal gyrus,and insular lobe(positive correlation).The r value of inferior parietal gyrus associated with the language intelligent scale was 0.738(P=0.006);Anoda cluster coefficient(anodalCp)was centered in frontal lobe,inferior parietal gyrus,and paracentral lobule(positive correlation);Node shortest path length(nlp)was centered in frontal lobe,inferior parietal gyrus,and insular lobe.The distribution of the encephalic regions in the left and right brain was different.However,no statistical significance was found between the correlation of monolithic attributes of small world and intelligence scale.The encephalic regions,in which node attributes of small world were related to other demographic indices,were mainly centered in temporal lobe,cuneus,cingulated gyrus,angular gyrus,and paracentral lobule areas.Most of them belong to the default mode network(DMN).The node attributes of small world neural network are widely related to infantile intelligence level,moreover the distribution is characteristic in different encephalic regions.The distribution of dominant encephalic is in accordance the related functions.The existing correlations reflect the ever changing small world nervous network during infantile development.

Williams exercises with short bar from the IRED in the Node 1 during Expedition 15

NASA Image and Video Library

2007-05-07

ISS015-E-06911 (7 May 2007) --- Astronaut Sunita L. Williams, Expedition 15 flight engineer, uses the short bar for the Interim Resistive Exercise Device (IRED) to perform upper body strengthening pull-ups. The IRED hardware is located in the Unity node of the International Space Station.

Salmonella persistence within the peripheral lymph nodes of cattle following experimental inoculation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Utilizing a transdermal method of inoculation developed in our laboratory, the duration of infection of Salmonella in the peripheral lymph nodes of steers was examined. Thirty-six Holstein steers (mean body weight of 137 kg) were inoculated with Salmonella Montevideo (day 0) on each lower leg and b...

Local Higher-Order Graph Clustering

PubMed Central

Yin, Hao; Benson, Austin R.; Leskovec, Jure; Gleich, David F.

2018-01-01

Local graph clustering methods aim to find a cluster of nodes by exploring a small region of the graph. These methods are attractive because they enable targeted clustering around a given seed node and are faster than traditional global graph clustering methods because their runtime does not depend on the size of the input graph. However, current local graph partitioning methods are not designed to account for the higher-order structures crucial to the network, nor can they effectively handle directed networks. Here we introduce a new class of local graph clustering methods that address these issues by incorporating higher-order network information captured by small subgraphs, also called network motifs. We develop the Motif-based Approximate Personalized PageRank (MAPPR) algorithm that finds clusters containing a seed node with minimal motif conductance, a generalization of the conductance metric for network motifs. We generalize existing theory to prove the fast running time (independent of the size of the graph) and obtain theoretical guarantees on the cluster quality (in terms of motif conductance). We also develop a theory of node neighborhoods for finding sets that have small motif conductance, and apply these results to the case of finding good seed nodes to use as input to the MAPPR algorithm. Experimental validation on community detection tasks in both synthetic and real-world networks, shows that our new framework MAPPR outperforms the current edge-based personalized PageRank methodology. PMID:29770258

Pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis with cervical lymph node involvement, and coexistence with pulmonary tuberculosis and right pneumothorax: a case report and review of literature.

PubMed

Gao, Limin; Li, Huifang; Li, Gandi; Liu, Weiping; Li, Jinnan; Zhang, Wenyan

2015-01-01

We report an uncommon 22-year-old male Pulmonary Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (PLCH) case which co-existed with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). Unlike the common PLCH cases, this PLCH case has cervical lymph node involvement and right pneumothorax. The diagnosis was established by the imaging of lung and the biopsies of the lung and left neck lymph node. Imaging of the chest showed characteristic small nodules and thin-walled cysts and right pneumothorax. The LCH cells in the lung and left neck lymph node were characterized by large convoluted nuclei with cerebriform indentations of the nuclear envelope and longitudinal grooves. The nuclei contained small eosinophilic nucleoli and moderate amount cytoplasm. Immunohistochemically, the histiocytoid cells were positive for Langerin, CD1a and S-100. Acid-fast bacilli were found in sputum and lung biopsy tissue. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of PLCH with cervical lymph node involvement, and coexisted with pulmonary tuberculosis, right pneumothorax. A contribution of this case and review three of the five cases of PLCH with extrapulmonary involvement to lymph nodes resolved spontaneously after smoking cessation constitute a novel addition that it is inappropriate to regard pulmonary/nodal LCH as multi-organ or disseminated disease, and the treatment methods are the same whether the PLCH patient with lymph node involvement or not.

MRI and (31)P magnetic resonance spectroscopy hardware for axillary lymph node investigation at 7T.

PubMed

Rivera, Debra S; Wijnen, Jannie P; van der Kemp, Wybe J M; Raaijmakers, Alexander J; Luijten, Peter R; Klomp, Dennis W J

2015-05-01

Neoadjuvant treatment response in lymph nodes predicts patient outcome, but existing methods do not track response during therapy accurately. In this study, specialized hardware was used to adapt high-field (7T) (31) P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), which has been shown to track treatment response in small breast tumors, to monitor axillary lymph nodes. A dual-tuned quadrature coil that is a (31) P (120 MHz) transceiver and a (1) H (300 MHz) receiver was designed using a novel detune circuit. The transceiver/receiver coil in the axilla is used with a fractionated dipole antenna on the back of the subject and the conventional breast coil for transmit. The novel circuit detuned the (1) H resonance without disturbing the (31) P resonance. In vivo demonstrations included: >80% homogeneous B1 (+) for (1) H over the axilla, identification of a small (3-mm diameter) lymph node, and (31) P MR spectra from a single healthy lymph node. The setup can detect <2 millimolar concentrations of metabolites from a 2-mL voxel. The first (31) P MR spectrum from an in vivo lymph node indicates that the presented design may be sufficiently sensitive to detect metabolic response to neoadjuvant therapy. Multinuclei MRS of the lymph nodes at 7T is possible through combining lightweight antenna elements with dual-tuned transceiver/receive-only coils. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Anatomic Variability of the Upper Mediastinal Lymph Node Level VII.

PubMed

Hartl, Dana M; Breuskin, Ingrid; Mirghani, Haïtham; Berdelou, Amandine; Déandréis, Désirée; Pottier, Edwige; Borget, Isabelle; Schlumberger, Martin; Leboulleux, Sophie

2016-08-01

Lymph node level VII, between the sternal notch and the innominate artery, is a frequent site of lymph node metastases in thyroid cancer. The objective of this study was to determine the cranial-caudal dimensions of level VII in patients undergoing central neck dissection for thyroid cancer and its accessibility through a neck incision only. Consecutive patients undergoing central neck dissection for thyroid cancer, with no previous neck dissection, mediastinal or thoracic surgery. The innominate artery was identified and the distance between the sternal notch and the upper border of the artery was measured to the nearest .5 mm. The sizes of level VII were compared with respect to age, sex, height, body mass index, type of neck dissection (therapeutic or prophylactic), and the incidence of previous thyroidectomy. One-hundred-one consecutive patients (65 women, 36 men, mean age 44 years (range 15-87) underwent prophylactic (n = 55) or therapeutic (n = 46) bilateral central compartment neck dissection. Level VII was accessible via the horizontal neck incision in all cases. Sizes of level VII ranged from 6 cm above the sternal notch to 35 mm below the sternal notch, with a mean distance of 3.5 mm below the sternal notch. The innominate artery was at the level of the sternal notch in 29 patients, and cranial to the sternal notch in 20 cases. No statistical relationship with age, sex, therapeutic/prophylactic neck dissection, previous surgery, body mass index or height was found. The maximal distance below the sternal notch was 35 mm. Level VII did not exist in 49 % of patients, and was less than 25 mm caudal to the sternal notch in 95 % of cases. Distinguishing level VII from level VI in thyroid cancer surgery may not be pertinent, due to the ease of access via a classic horizontal neck incision and the small sizes of level VII in the majority of patients.

[Advances in sensor node and wireless communication technology of body sensor network].

PubMed

Lin, Weibing; Lei, Sheng; Wei, Caihong; Li, Chunxiang; Wang, Cang

2012-06-01

With the development of the wireless communication technology, implantable biosensor technology, and embedded system technology, Body Sensor Network (BSN) as one branch of wireless sensor networks and important part of the Internet of things has caught more attention of researchers and enterprises. This paper offers the basic concept of the BSN and analyses the related research. We focus on sensor node and wireless communication technology from perspectives of technology challenges, research advance and development trend in the paper. Besides, we also present a relative overview of domestic and overseas projects for the BSN.

Tracer injection sites and combinations for sentinel lymph node detection in patients with endometrial cancer.

PubMed

Niikura, Hitoshi; Kaiho-Sakuma, Michiko; Tokunaga, Hideki; Toyoshima, Masafumi; Utsunomiya, Hiroki; Nagase, Satoru; Takano, Tadao; Watanabe, Mika; Ito, Kiyoshi; Yaegashi, Nobuo

2013-11-01

The aim of the present study was to clarify the most effective combination of injected tracer types and injection sites in order to detect sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in early endometrial cancer. The study included 100 consecutive patients with endometrial cancer treated at Tohoku University Hospital between June 2001 and December 2012. The procedure for SLN identification entailed either radioisotope (RI) injection into the endometrium during hysteroscopy (55 cases) or direct RI injection into the uterine cervix (45 cases). A combination of blue dye injected into the uterine cervix or uterine body intraoperatively in addition to preoperative RI injection occurred in 69 of 100 cases. All detected SLNs were recorded according to the individual tracer and the resultant staging from this method was compared to the final pathology of lymph node metastases including para-aortic nodes. SLN detection rate was highest (96%) by cervical RI injection; however, no SLNs were detected in para-aortic area. Para-aortic SLNs were detected only by hysteroscopic RI injection (56%). All cases with pelvic lymph node metastases were detected by pelvic SLN biopsy. Isolated positive para-aortic lymph nodes were detected in 3 patients. Bilateral SLN detection rate was high (96%; 26 of 27 cases) by cervical RI injection combined with dye. RI injection into the uterine cervix is highly sensitive in detection of SLN metastasis in early stage endometrial cancer. It is a useful and safe modality when combined with blue dye injection into the uterine body. © 2013.

Prototype ultra wideband-based wireless body area network--consideration of CAP and CFP slot allocation during human walking motion.

PubMed

Takei, Yuichiro; Katsuta, Hiroki; Takizawa, Kenichi; Ikegami, Tetsushi; Hamaguchi, Kiyoshi

2012-01-01

This paper presents an experimental evaluation of communication during human walking motion, using the medium access control (MAC) evaluation system for a prototype ultra-wideband (UWB) based wireless body area network for suitable MAC parameter settings for data transmission. Its physical layer and MAC specifications are based on the draft standard in IEEE802.15.6. This paper studies the effects of the number of retransmissions and the number of commands of GTS (guaranteed time slot) request packets in the CAP (contention access period) during human walking motion by varying the number of sensor nodes or the number of CFP (contention free period) slots in the superframe. The experiments were performed in an anechoic chamber. The number of packets received is decreased by packet loss caused by human walking motion in the case where 2 slots are set for CFP, regardless of the number of nodes, and this materially decreases the total number of packets received. The number of retransmissions and the GTS request commands increase according to increases in the number of nodes, largely reflecting the effects of the number of CFP slots in the case where 4 nodes are attached. In the cases where 2 or 3 nodes are attached and 4 slots are set for CFP, the packet transmission rate is more than 95%. In the case where 4 nodes are attached and 6 slots are set for CFP, the packet transmission rate is reduced to 88% at best.

The congestion control algorithm based on queue management of each node in mobile ad hoc networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Yifei; Chang, Lin; Wang, Yali; Wang, Gaoping

2016-12-01

This paper proposes an active queue management mechanism, considering the node's own ability and its importance in the network to set the queue threshold. As the network load increases, local congestion of mobile ad hoc network may lead to network performance degradation, hot node's energy consumption increase even failure. If small energy nodes congested because of forwarding data packets, then when it is used as the source node will cause a lot of packet loss. This paper proposes an active queue management mechanism, considering the node's own ability and its importance in the network to set the queue threshold. Controlling nodes buffer queue in different levels of congestion area probability by adjusting the upper limits and lower limits, thus nodes can adjust responsibility of forwarding data packets according to their own situation. The proposed algorithm will slow down the send rate hop by hop along the data package transmission direction from congestion node to source node so that to prevent further congestion from the source node. The simulation results show that, the algorithm can better play the data forwarding ability of strong nodes, protect the weak nodes, can effectively alleviate the network congestion situation.

Analysis Methods and Models for Small Unit Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-07-01

wordt in andere studies ogebruikt orn a-an te geven welke op welke wijze operationele effectiviteit kan worden gekwalificeerd en gekwanuificeerd...the node ’Prediction’ is called a child of the node ’Success’ and the node ’Success’ is called a parent of the node ’Prediction’. Figure C.2 A simple...event A is a child of event B and event B is a child of event C ( C -- B -- A). The belief network or influence diagram has to be a directed network

Unstructured P2P Network Load Balance Strategy Based on Multilevel Partitioning of Hypergraph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Lv; Chunlin, Gao; Kaiyang, Ma

2017-05-01

With rapid development of computer performance and distributed technology, P2P-based resource sharing mode plays important role in Internet. P2P network users continued to increase so the high dynamic characteristics of the system determine that it is difficult to obtain the load of other nodes. Therefore, a dynamic load balance strategy based on hypergraph is proposed in this article. The scheme develops from the idea of hypergraph theory in multilevel partitioning. It adopts optimized multilevel partitioning algorithms to partition P2P network into several small areas, and assigns each area a supernode for the management and load transferring of the nodes in this area. In the case of global scheduling is difficult to be achieved, the priority of a number of small range of load balancing can be ensured first. By the node load balance in each small area the whole network can achieve relative load balance. The experiments indicate that the load distribution of network nodes in our scheme is obviously compacter. It effectively solves the unbalanced problems in P2P network, which also improve the scalability and bandwidth utilization of system.

Scale-free models for the structure of business firm networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kitsak, Maksim; Riccaboni, Massimo; Havlin, Shlomo; Pammolli, Fabio; Stanley, H. Eugene

2010-03-01

We study firm collaborations in the life sciences and the information and communication technology sectors. We propose an approach to characterize industrial leadership using k -shell decomposition, with top-ranking firms in terms of market value in higher k -shell layers. We find that the life sciences industry network consists of three distinct components: a “nucleus,” which is a small well-connected subgraph, “tendrils,” which are small subgraphs consisting of small degree nodes connected exclusively to the nucleus, and a “bulk body,” which consists of the majority of nodes. Industrial leaders, i.e., the largest companies in terms of market value, are in the highest k -shells of both networks. The nucleus of the life sciences sector is very stable: once a firm enters the nucleus, it is likely to stay there for a long time. At the same time we do not observe the above three components in the information and communication technology sector. We also conduct a systematic study of these three components in random scale-free networks. Our results suggest that the sizes of the nucleus and the tendrils in scale-free networks decrease as the exponent of the power-law degree distribution λ increases, and disappear for λ≥3 . We compare the k -shell structure of random scale-free model networks with two real-world business firm networks in the life sciences and in the information and communication technology sectors. We argue that the observed behavior of the k -shell structure in the two industries is consistent with the coexistence of both preferential and random agreements in the evolution of industrial networks.

(18)F-FDG and (18)F-FLT PET/CT imaging in the characterization of mediastinal lymph nodes.

PubMed

Rayamajhi, Sampanna Jung; Mittal, Bhagwant Rai; Maturu, Venkata Nagarjuna; Agarwal, Ritesh; Bal, Amanjit; Dey, Pranab; Shukla, Jaya; Gupta, Dheeraj

2016-04-01

There is currently no single modality for accurate characterization of enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes into benign or malignant. Recently (18)F-fluorothymidine (FLT) has been used as a proliferation marker. In this prospective study, we examined the role of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and (18)F-FLT PET/CT in categorizing mediastinal lymph nodes as benign or malignant. A total of 70 consecutive patients with mediastinal lymphadenopathy detected on computed tomography (CT) or chest radiograph underwent whole body (18)F-FLT PET/CT and (18)F-FDG PET/CT (within 1 week of each other). Lymph nodal tracer uptake was determined by calculation of standardized uptake value (SUV) with both the tracers. Results of PET/CT were compared with histopathology of the lymph nodes. Histopathology results showed thirty-seven patients with sarcoidosis, seven patients with tuberculosis, nine patients with non-small cell lung cancer, five patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma and twelve patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The mean FDG SUVmax of sarcoidosis, tuberculosis, Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was 12.7, 13.4, 8.2, and 8.8, respectively, and the mean FLT SUVmax was 6.0, 5.4, 4.4, and 3.8, respectively. It was not possible to characterize mediastinal lymphadenopathy as benign or malignant solely based on FDG SUVmax values (p > 0.05) or FLT SUVmax values (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference in FDG uptake (p > 0.9) or FLT uptake (p > 0.9) between sarcoidosis and tuberculosis. In lung cancer patients, the FDG SUVmax and FLT SUVmax of those lymph nodes with tumor infiltration on biopsy was 6.7 and 3.9, respectively, and those without nodal infiltration was 6.4 and 3.7, respectively, and both the tracers were not able to characterize the nodal status as malignant or benign (p > 0.05). Though (18)F-FLT PET/CT and (18)F-FDG PET/CT reflect different aspects of biology, i.e., proliferation and metabolism, respectively, neither tracer could provide satisfactory categorization of benign and malignant lymph nodes. The results of this study clearly suggest that differentiation of mediastinal nodes into benign and malignant solely based on SUVmax values cannot be relied upon, especially in settings where tuberculosis and sarcoidosis are common.

Toxicology and carcinogenesis studies of sodium dichromate dihydrate (Cas No. 7789-12-0) in F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice (drinking water studies).

PubMed

2008-07-01

Sodium dichromate dihydrate is one of a number of inorganic compounds containing hexavalent chromium (Cr VI) found in drinking water source supplies as a contaminant resulting from various industrial processes including electroplating operations, leather tanning, and textile manufacturing. Because of the lack of adequate experimental data on the toxicity and carcinogenicity of hexavalent chromium ingested orally and because hexavalent chromium has been found in drinking water source supplies, the California Congressional Delegation, the California Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Department of Health Services nominated hexavalent chromium to the National Toxicology Program for study. Results of 3 month toxicity studies in F344/N rats and B6C3F1, BALB/c, and am3-C57BL/6 mice were reported earlier in NTP Toxicity Report 72. In the current study, male and female F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice were exposed to sodium dichromate dihydrate (greater than 99.7% pure) in drinking water for 2 years. 2-YEAR STUDY IN RATS: Groups of 50 male and 50 female rats were exposed to drinking water containing 0, 14.3, 57.3, 172, or 516 mg/L sodium dichromate dihydrate (equivalent to 0, 5, 20, 60, or 180 mg/L chromium) for 2 years (equivalent to average daily doses of approximately 0.6, 2.2, 6, or 17 mg sodium dichromate dihydrate/kg body weight for males and 0.7, 2.7, 7, or 20 mg/kg for females). Survival of exposed groups was similar to that of the control groups. Mean body weights of 516 mg/L males and females were less than those of the controls throughout the study. The lower body weights were partly attributed to poor palatability of the dosed water and consequent reductions in water consumption. Water consumption by 172 and 516 mg/L rats was less than that by the controls throughout the study. Exposure to sodium dichromate dihydrate caused a microcytic hypochromic anemia in rats that ameliorated with time. Exposure to sodium dichromate dihydrate resulted in the development of neoplasms of the squamous epithelium that lines the oral mucosa and tongue. The incidences of squamous cell carcinoma in the oral mucosa of 516 mg/L male and female rats were significantly greater than those in the controls. The incidence in 172 mg/L females exceeded the historical control ranges for drinking water studies and for all routes of administration. The incidences of squamous cell papilloma or squamous cell carcinoma (combined) of the oral mucosa or tongue of 516 mg/L male and female rats were significantly greater than those in the controls. Exposure concentration-related nonneoplastic liver lesions were observed in males and females exposed to 57.3 mg/L or greater. These included histiocytic cellular infiltration, chronic inflammation, fatty change (females), basophilic focus (males), and clear cell focus (females). Increased incidences of histiocytic cellular infiltration also occurred in the small intestine (duodenum), mesenteric lymph node, and pancreatic lymph node of males and/or females exposed to 57.3 mg/L or greater. 2-YEAR STUDY IN MICE: Groups of 50 male mice were exposed to drinking water containing 0, 14.3, 28.6, 85.7, or 257.4 mg/L sodium dichromate dihydrate (equivalent to 0, 5, 10, 30, or 90 mg/L chromium) for 2 years (equivalent to average daily doses of approximately 1.1, 2.6, 7, or 17 mg sodium dichromate dihydrate/kg body weight). Groups of 50 female mice were exposed to drinking water containing 0, 14.3, 57.3, 172, or 516 mg/L sodium dichromate dihydrate (equivalent to 0, 5, 20, 60, or 180 mg/L chromium) for 2 years (equivalent to average daily doses of approximately 1.1, 3.9, 9, or 25 mg/kg). Survival of exposed groups was similar to that of the control groups. Mean body weights of 257.4 mg/L males were less than those of controls from months 2 through 6 of the study, but by the end of the study, the mean body weight of 257.4 mg/L males was only slightly less than that of the control group. Mean body weights of 172 mg/L females were less than those of the controls from months 3 through 12 of the study, and mean body weights of 516 mg/L females were less than those of the controls from month 2 until the end of the study. By the end of the study, the mean body weight of 172 mg/L females was 8% less than that of the controls, and the mean body weight of 516 mg/L females was 15% less than that of the controls. The lower body weights were partly attributed to poor palatability of the dosed water and consequent reductions in water consumption. Water consumption by 85.7 and 257.4 mg/L males and 172 and 516 mg/L females was less than that by the controls throughout the study. A treatment-related microcytosis occurred in exposed mice; the mice were less affected than the rats. The incidences of neoplasms of the small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, or ileum) were increased in exposed groups of male and female mice. The incidences of adenoma of the duodenum in 257.4 mg/L males and 172 and 516 mg/L females were significantly greater than those in the controls. The incidence of carcinoma of the duodenum was significantly increased in 516 mg/L females. The incidence of adenoma of the jejunum in 516 mg/L females was significantly increased compared to that in the controls. When the incidences of adenoma and carcinoma were combined for all sites of the small intestine, the incidences were significantly increased in 85.7 and 257.4 mg/L males and 172 and 516 mg/L females compared to those in the controls. The incidences in 57.3 mg/L females exceeded the historical control ranges for drinking water studies and for all routes of administration. The incidences of diffuse epithelial hyperplasia were significantly increased in the duodenum of all exposed groups of male and female mice. The incidences of histiocytic cellular infiltration were significantly increased in the duodenum of 85.7 and 257.4 mg/L males and in 172 and 516 mg/L females. In the jejunum, the incidences of diffuse epithelial hyperplasia and histiocytic cellular infiltration were significantly increased in 516 mg/L females. The incidences of histiocytic cellular infiltration of the liver in all exposed groups of females, of the mesenteric lymph node in all exposed groups of males and females, and of the pancreatic lymph node of 85.7 and 257.4 mg/L males and 172 and 516 mg/L females were significantly increased. Tissue distribution studies showed that total chromium concentrations tended to increase with increasing exposure concentration and duration of exposure. Under the conditions of these 2-year drinking water studies, there was clear evidence of carcinogenic activity of sodium dichromate dihydrate in male and female F344/N rats based on increased incidences of squamous cell neoplasms of the oral cavity. There was clear evidence of carcinogenic activity of sodium dichromate dihydrate in male and female B6C3F1 mice based on increased incidences of neoplasms of the small intestine (duodenum, jejunum, or ileum). Exposure to sodium dichromate dihydrate resulted in histiocytic cellular infiltration in the liver, small intestine, and pancreatic and mesenteric lymph nodes of rats and mice and diffuse epithelial hyperplasia in the small intestine of male and female mice.

Risk Factors for Predicting Occult Lymph Node Metastasis in Patients with Clinical Stage I Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Staged by Integrated Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography.

PubMed

Kaseda, Kaoru; Asakura, Keisuke; Kazama, Akio; Ozawa, Yukihiko

2016-12-01

Lymph nodes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are often staged using integrated 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT). However, this modality has limited ability to detect micrometastases. We aimed to define risk factors for occult lymph node metastasis in patients with clinical stage I NSCLC diagnosed by preoperative integrated FDG-PET/CT. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 246 patients diagnosed with clinical stage I NSCLC based on integrated FDG-PET/CT between April 2007 and May 2015. All patients were treated by complete surgical resection. The prevalence of occult lymph node metastasis in patients with clinical stage I NSCLC was analysed according to clinicopathological factors. Risk factors for occult lymph node metastasis were defined using univariate and multivariate analyses. Occult lymph node metastasis was detected in 31 patients (12.6 %). Univariate analysis revealed CEA (P = 0.04), SUV max of the primary tumour (P = 0.031), adenocarcinoma (P = 0.023), tumour size (P = 0.002) and pleural invasion (P = 0.046) as significant predictors of occult lymph node metastasis. Multivariate analysis selected SUV max of the primary tumour (P = 0.049), adenocarcinoma (P = 0.003) and tumour size (P = 0.019) as independent predictors of occult lymph node metastasis. The SUV max of the primary tumour, adenocarcinoma and tumour size were risk factors for occult lymph node metastasis in patients with NSCLC diagnosed as clinical stage I by preoperative integrated FDG-PET/CT. These findings would be helpful in selecting candidates for mediastinoscopy or endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration.

In vivo and ex vivo sentinel node mapping does not identify the same lymph nodes in colon cancer.

PubMed

Andersen, Helene Schou; Bennedsen, Astrid Louise Bjørn; Burgdorf, Stefan Kobbelgaard; Eriksen, Jens Ravn; Eiholm, Susanne; Toxværd, Anders; Riis, Lene Buhl; Rosenberg, Jacob; Gögenur, Ismail

2017-07-01

Identification of lymph nodes and pathological analysis is crucial for the correct staging of colon cancer. Lymph nodes that drain directly from the tumor area are called "sentinel nodes" and are believed to be the first place for metastasis. The purpose of this study was to perform sentinel node mapping in vivo with indocyanine green and ex vivo with methylene blue in order to evaluate if the sentinel lymph nodes can be identified by both techniques. Patients with colon cancer UICC stage I-III were included from two institutions in Denmark from February 2015 to January 2016. In vivo sentinel node mapping with indocyanine green during laparoscopy and ex vivo sentinel node mapping with methylene blue were performed in all patients. Twenty-nine patients were included. The in vivo sentinel node mapping was successful in 19 cases, and ex vivo sentinel node mapping was successful in 13 cases. In seven cases, no sentinel nodes were identified. A total of 51 sentinel nodes were identified, only one of these where identified by both techniques (2.0%). In vivo sentinel node mapping identified 32 sentinel nodes, while 20 sentinel nodes were identified by ex vivo sentinel node mapping. Lymph node metastases were found in 10 patients, and only two had metastases in a sentinel node. Placing a deposit in relation to the tumor by indocyanine green in vivo or of methylene blue ex vivo could only identify sentinel lymph nodes in a small group of patients.

Fusion positron emission/computed tomography underestimates the presence of hilar nodal metastases in patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer.

PubMed

Carrillo, Sergio A; Daniel, Vincent C; Hall, Nathan; Hitchcock, Charles L; Ross, Patrick; Kassis, Edmund S

2012-05-01

The 5-year survival for patients with resected stage II (N1) non-small cell lung cancer ranges from 40% to 55%. No data exist addressing the benefit of neoadjuvant therapy for patients with stage II disease. This is largely in part due to the lack of a reliable, minimally invasive method to assess hilar nodes. This study is aimed at determining the ability of fusion positron emission/computed tomography (PET/CT) to identify hilar metastases in patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer. A retrospective review of surgically resected patients with fusion PET/CT within 30 days of resection was performed. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for PET/CT in detecting hilar nodal metastases was calculated for a range of maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax). Hilar nodes from patients with falsely positive PET/CT scans were analyzed for the presence of histoplasmosis. Additionally, the impact of hilar node size greater than 1 centimeter on the calculated values was assessed. There were 119 patients evaluated. The number of lymph nodes resected ranged from 1 to 12 (X=2.98). There was decreased sensitivity and increased specificity with higher SUVmax cutoff values. At the standard SUVmax value of 2.5, the sensitivity and specificity were only 48.5% and 80.2%. The addition of size of hilar node by CT led to a modest improvement in sensitivity at all SUVmax cutoff values. Fusion PET/CT lacks sensitivity and specificity in identifying hilar nodal metastasis in patients with resected non-small cell lung cancer. Further prospective studies assessing the utility of PET/CT versus alternative sampling techniques are warranted. Copyright © 2012 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Palatine tonsillar metastasis of a small pulmonary adenocarcinoma showing an invasive micropapillary carcinoma pattern and Pagetoid spread at the tonsil: a case suggesting retrograde lymphatic metastasis from bulky lymph node metastases of the neck.

PubMed

Tajima, Shogo; Koda, Kenji

2015-01-01

Metastasis rarely occurs in the palatine tonsils. Among primary pulmonary carcinoma subtypes, small cell carcinoma more frequently metastasizes to this site. Herein, we present an exceedingly rare case of a small pulmonary adenocarcinoma that metastasized to the cervical lymph nodes and the right palatine tonsil in a 62-year-old man. In spite of the small size of the primary site, such extensive metastasis may have occurred because of the invasive micropapillary carcinoma pattern seen in the metastatic sites. The manner of metastasis to the palatine tonsil was considered retrograde lymphatic metastasis originating from carcinoma cells in the cervical lymph nodes. Furthermore, Pagetoid spread was observed at the palatine tonsil. Although there have been only a few cases showing retrograde lymphatic metastasis and Pagetoid spread at the metastatic site, we should be careful when speculating about the primary site based on such metastatic sites, especially when dealing with a biopsy sample exhibiting Pagetoid spread.

[Involved-field three-dimensional conformal radiation treatment for stage III non-small-cell lung].

PubMed

Yu, Jin-Ming; Sun, Xin-Dong; Li, Ming-Huan; Zhang, Jian-Dong; Yao, Chun-Ping; Liu, Sen; Zhang, Zhen

2006-07-01

To investigate the feasibility of involved-field irradiation (IFI ) for stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). From September 1997 to November 2001, 200 stage-III NSCLC patients were randomly divided into two groups-- IFI and ENI (elective node irradiation). The IFI group was irradiated by 3DCR to a dose of 68-74 Gy/34-37f/7-9 w including the primary tumor and the lymph nodes of > or = 10 mm in short axis. The ENI group was irradiated to a dose of 60-64 Gy/30-32f/6-7.5 w including the primary tumor, ipsilateral hilum, subcarinal and mediastinal lymph nodes, even the supraclavicular area when the lymph nodes of superior mediastinum were involved. The overall response (CR + PR) rates were 90.0% in IFI group and 79.0% in ENI group. Radiation pneumonitis developed in 29.0% of the patients in ENI group and 17.0% in IFI group (P = 0.04). The 1-year primary tumor failure rate in IFI group (13.0%) was lower than that (23.0%) in ENI group. The 1-year involved nodal failure rate was 20.0% in ENI group and 10.0% in IFI group (P = 0.048). The 1-year elective node failure rate was 16.0% in ENI group versus 21.0% in IFI group (P = 0.39). The 1-, 2-and 3-year overall survival rate was 67.2% , 38.7% , 27.3% , respectively, in IFI group; versus 59.7% , 25.6% , 19.2% in ENI group, with a difference significant in the 2-year overall survival rate between IFI and ENI group (P = 0.048). Involved-field 3D-CRT for stage-III non-small cell lung cancer is well tolerated. It does not increase the rate of lymph node failure in the elective node irradiation field, and may improve the survival due to dose escalation.

Comparison of Node-Centered and Cell-Centered Unstructured Finite-Volume Discretizations: Inviscid Fluxes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diskin, Boris; Thomas, James L.

2010-01-01

Cell-centered and node-centered approaches have been compared for unstructured finite-volume discretization of inviscid fluxes. The grids range from regular grids to irregular grids, including mixed-element grids and grids with random perturbations of nodes. Accuracy, complexity, and convergence rates of defect-correction iterations are studied for eight nominally second-order accurate schemes: two node-centered schemes with weighted and unweighted least-squares (LSQ) methods for gradient reconstruction and six cell-centered schemes two node-averaging with and without clipping and four schemes that employ different stencils for LSQ gradient reconstruction. The cell-centered nearest-neighbor (CC-NN) scheme has the lowest complexity; a version of the scheme that involves smart augmentation of the LSQ stencil (CC-SA) has only marginal complexity increase. All other schemes have larger complexity; complexity of node-centered (NC) schemes are somewhat lower than complexity of cell-centered node-averaging (CC-NA) and full-augmentation (CC-FA) schemes. On highly anisotropic grids typical of those encountered in grid adaptation, discretization errors of five of the six cell-centered schemes converge with second order on all tested grids; the CC-NA scheme with clipping degrades solution accuracy to first order. The NC schemes converge with second order on regular and/or triangular grids and with first order on perturbed quadrilaterals and mixed-element grids. All schemes may produce large relative errors in gradient reconstruction on grids with perturbed nodes. Defect-correction iterations for schemes employing weighted least-square gradient reconstruction diverge on perturbed stretched grids. Overall, the CC-NN and CC-SA schemes offer the best options of the lowest complexity and secondorder discretization errors. On anisotropic grids over a curved body typical of turbulent flow simulations, the discretization errors converge with second order and are small for the CC-NN, CC-SA, and CC-FA schemes on all grids and for NC schemes on triangular grids; the discretization errors of the CC-NA scheme without clipping do not converge on irregular grids. Accurate gradient reconstruction can be achieved by introducing a local approximate mapping; without approximate mapping, only the NC scheme with weighted LSQ method provides accurate gradients. Defect correction iterations for the CC-NA scheme without clipping diverge; for the NC scheme with weighted LSQ method, the iterations either diverge or converge very slowly. The best option in curved geometries is the CC-SA scheme that offers low complexity, second-order discretization errors, and fast convergence.

A large-scale photonic node architecture that utilizes interconnected OXC subsystems.

PubMed

Iwai, Yuto; Hasegawa, Hiroshi; Sato, Ken-ichi

2013-01-14

We propose a novel photonic node architecture that is composed of interconnected small-scale optical cross-connect subsystems. We also developed an efficient dynamic network control algorithm that complies with a restriction on the number of intra-node fibers used for subsystem interconnection. Numerical evaluations verify that the proposed architecture offers almost the same performance as the equivalent single large-scale cross-connect switch, while enabling substantial hardware scale reductions.

Energy-Efficient Querying of Wireless Sensor Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-01

will fail to locate the desired information. Depending on the rate of node movement , this data exchange will be costly in terms of total network...nodes is best accomplished using a small time window to reduce errors introduced by the node’s movement (i.e., older measurements are less likely to...embedded processor or input from upper layer applications,” nodes which detect their own movement transmit an alert signal over a “wake-up” channel

Anatomical variations in lymphatic drainage of the right lung: applications in lung cancer surgery.

PubMed

Ndiaye, Assane; Di-Marino, V; Ba, P S; Ndiaye, Aï; Gaye, M; Nazarian, S

2016-12-01

To specify the topography and variations in lymphatic drainage of the right lung to the mediastinum and their therapeutic implications in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC). We injected a dye into the subpleural lymphatic vessels in 65 right lung segments, followed by dissection in 22 subjects. At the upper lobe, we had injected 32 segments. We noted extrasegmental overflow in one case; extrasegmental and extralobar drainage in two cases; drainage to the lymph nodes of another lobe in one case. Fifty-six percent of the segments drained directly (skipping intrapulmonary and hilar lymph nodes) into the right paratracheal lymph nodes, and one dorsal segment drained into the thoracic duct. A ventral segment drained into the inferior tracheobronchial lymph nodes. A contralateral drainage to the recurrent chain was observed in two cases. Sixteen segments of the middle lobe were injected and mainly drained into the inferior tracheobronchial lymph nodes with six direct paths; one medial segment drained into the right anterior mediastinal chain. We noted three contralateral drainages and eight downward abdominal drainages. Out of the 17 segments of the lower lobe injected, 6 segments drained into the lymph nodes of another lobe, 5 segments showed a direct route to the lower quadrant chains. We noted one time a drainage into the paraesophageal lymph nodes. The variations in lymphatic drainage of the right lung require to carry out systematically a radical mediastinal lymphadenectomy during the removal of non-small cell lung cancers and to associate an adjuvant treatment.

Sentinel Lymph Node Occult Metastases Have Minimal Survival Effect in Some Breast Cancer Patients

Cancer.gov

Detailed examination of sentinel lymph node tissue from breast cancer patients revealed previously unidentified metastases in about 16% of the samples, but the difference in 5-year survival between patients with and without these metastases was very small

Two-Phase Thermal Switching System for a Small, Extended Duration Lunar Science Platform

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bugby, D.; Farmer, J.; OConnor, B.; Wirzburger, M.; Abel, E.; Stouffer, C.

2010-01-01

Issue: extended duration lunar science platforms, using solar/battery or radioisotope power, require thermal switching systems that: a) Provide efficient cooling during the 15-earth-day 390 K lunar day; b) Consume minimal power during the 15-earth-day 100 K lunar night. Objective: carry out an analytical study of thermal switching systems that can meet the thermal requirements of: a) International Lunar Network (ILN) anchor node mission - primary focus; b) Other missions such as polar crater landers. ILN Anchor Nodes: network of geophysical science platforms to better understand the interior structure/composition of the moon: a) Rationale: no data since Apollo seismic stations ceased operation in 1977; b) Anchor Nodes: small, low-power, long-life (6-yr) landers with seismographic and a few other science instruments (see next chart); c) WEB: warm electronics box houses ILN anchor node electronics/batteries. Technology Need: thermal switching system that will keep the WEB cool during the lunar day and warm during the lunar night.

Trade-offs between driving nodes and time-to-control in complex networks

PubMed Central

Pequito, Sérgio; Preciado, Victor M.; Barabási, Albert-László; Pappas, George J.

2017-01-01

Recent advances in control theory provide us with efficient tools to determine the minimum number of driving (or driven) nodes to steer a complex network towards a desired state. Furthermore, we often need to do it within a given time window, so it is of practical importance to understand the trade-offs between the minimum number of driving/driven nodes and the minimum time required to reach a desired state. Therefore, we introduce the notion of actuation spectrum to capture such trade-offs, which we used to find that in many complex networks only a small fraction of driving (or driven) nodes is required to steer the network to a desired state within a relatively small time window. Furthermore, our empirical studies reveal that, even though synthetic network models are designed to present structural properties similar to those observed in real networks, their actuation spectra can be dramatically different. Thus, it supports the need to develop new synthetic network models able to replicate controllability properties of real-world networks. PMID:28054597

Trade-offs between driving nodes and time-to-control in complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pequito, Sérgio; Preciado, Victor M.; Barabási, Albert-László; Pappas, George J.

2017-01-01

Recent advances in control theory provide us with efficient tools to determine the minimum number of driving (or driven) nodes to steer a complex network towards a desired state. Furthermore, we often need to do it within a given time window, so it is of practical importance to understand the trade-offs between the minimum number of driving/driven nodes and the minimum time required to reach a desired state. Therefore, we introduce the notion of actuation spectrum to capture such trade-offs, which we used to find that in many complex networks only a small fraction of driving (or driven) nodes is required to steer the network to a desired state within a relatively small time window. Furthermore, our empirical studies reveal that, even though synthetic network models are designed to present structural properties similar to those observed in real networks, their actuation spectra can be dramatically different. Thus, it supports the need to develop new synthetic network models able to replicate controllability properties of real-world networks.

A Comprehensive Review of Contemporary Role of Local Treatment of the Primary Tumor and/or the Metastases in Metastatic Prostate Cancer

PubMed Central

Aoun, Fouad; Peltier, Alexandre; van Velthoven, Roland

2014-01-01

To provide an overview of the currently available literature regarding local control of primary tumor and oligometastases in metastatic prostate cancer and salvage lymph node dissection of clinical lymph node relapse after curative treatment of prostate cancer. Evidence Acquisition. A systematic literature search was conducted in 2014 to identify abstracts, original articles, review articles, research articles, and editorials relevant to the local control in metastatic prostate cancer. Evidence Synthesis. Local control of primary tumor in metastatic prostate cancer remains experimental with low level of evidence. The concept is supported by a growing body of genetic and molecular research as well as analogy with other cancers. There is only one retrospective observational population based study showing prolonged survival. To eradicate oligometastases, several options exist with excellent local control rates. Stereotactic body radiotherapy is safe, well tolerated, and efficacious treatment for lymph node and bone lesions. Both biochemical and clinical progression are slowed down with a median time to initiate ADT of 2 years. Salvage lymph node dissection is feasible in patients with clinical lymph node relapse after local curable treatment. Conclusion. Despite encouraging oncologic midterm results, a complete cure remains elusive in metastatic prostate cancer patients. Further advances in imaging are crucial in order to rapidly evolve beyond the proof of concept. PMID:25485280

The mouse homeobox gene Noto regulates node morphogenesis, notochordal ciliogenesis, and left–right patterning

PubMed Central

Beckers, Anja; Alten, Leonie; Viebahn, Christoph; Andre, Philipp; Gossler, Achim

2007-01-01

The mouse homeobox gene Noto represents the homologue of zebrafish floating head (flh) and is expressed in the organizer node and in the nascent notochord. Previous analyses suggested that Noto is required exclusively for the formation of the caudal part of the notochord. Here, we show that Noto is also essential for node morphogenesis, controlling ciliogenesis in the posterior notochord, and the establishment of laterality, whereas organizer functions in anterior–posterior patterning are apparently not compromised. In mutant embryos, left–right asymmetry of internal organs and expression of laterality markers was randomized. Mutant posterior notochord regions were variable in size and shape, cilia were shortened with highly irregular axonemal microtubuli, and basal bodies were, in part, located abnormally deep in the cytoplasm. The transcription factor Foxj1, which regulates the dynein gene Dnahc11 and is required for the correct anchoring of basal bodies in lung epithelial cells, was down-regulated in mutant nodes. Likewise, the transcription factor Rfx3, which regulates cilia growth, was not expressed in Noto mutants, and various other genes important for cilia function or assembly such as Dnahc5 and Nphp3 were down-regulated. Our results establish Noto as an essential regulator of node morphogenesis and ciliogenesis in the posterior notochord, and suggest Noto acts upstream of Foxj1 and Rfx3. PMID:17884984

[Injection of methylene blue into inferior mesenteric artery improves lymph node harvest in rectal cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy].

PubMed

Liu, Jianpei; Huang, Pinjie; Huang, Jianglong; Chen, Tufeng; Wei, Hongbo

2015-06-09

To confirm the feasibility of improving lymph node harvest by injecting methylene blue into inferior mesenteric artery in rectal cancer after neoadjuvant therapy. Forty two ex vivo specimens were collected from rectal cancer patients with neoadjuvant therapy and radical operation at our hospital. Traditional method with palpation and injection of methylene blue into inferior mesenteric artery were employed. The data of lymph node harvest were analyzed by paired t and chi-square tests. The average number of detected lymph node in traditional method and methylene blue groups were 6.1 ± 4.3 and 15.2 ± 6.4 respectively (P<0.001). The proportions of lymph nodes <5 mm were 14.1% and 46.7% in traditional method and methylene blue groups respectively (P<0.001). And the injection of methylene blue added 13 extra metastatic lymph nodes and caused a shift to node-positive stage (P=0.89). Neoadjuvant therapy decrease lymph node retrieval in rectal cancer. Injecting methylene blue into inferior mesenteric artery improves lymph node harvest especially for small nodes and helps to acquire more metastatic nodes for accurate pathological staging.

Bulk Fermi Surfaces of the Dirac Type-II Semimetallic Candidates M Al3 (Where M =V , Nb, and Ta)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, K.-W.; Lian, X.; Lai, Y.; Aryal, N.; Chiu, Y.-C.; Lan, W.; Graf, D.; Manousakis, E.; Baumbach, R. E.; Balicas, L.

2018-05-01

We report a de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) effect study on the Dirac type-II semimetallic candidates M Al3 (where, M =V , Nb and Ta). The angular dependence of their Fermi surface (FS) cross-sectional areas reveals a remarkably good agreement with our first-principles calculations. Therefore, dHvA supports the existence of tilted Dirac cones with Dirac type-II nodes located at 100, 230 and 250 meV above the Fermi level ɛF for VAl3 , NbAl3 and TaAl3 respectively, in agreement with the prediction of broken Lorentz invariance in these compounds. However, for all three compounds we find that the cyclotron orbits on their FSs, including an orbit nearly enclosing the Dirac type-II node, yield trivial Berry phases. We explain this via an analysis of the Berry phase where the position of this orbit, relative to the Dirac node, is adjusted within the error implied by the small disagreement between our calculations and the experiments. We suggest that a very small amount of doping could displace ɛF to produce topologically nontrivial orbits encircling their Dirac node(s).

Design of nodes for embedded and ultra low-power wireless sensor networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Jun; You, Bo; Cui, Juan; Ma, Jing; Li, Xin

2008-10-01

Sensor network integrates sensor technology, MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical system) technology, embedded computing, wireless communication technology and distributed information management technology. It is of great value to use it where human is quite difficult to reach. Power consumption and size are the most important consideration when nodes are designed for distributed WSN (wireless sensor networks). Consequently, it is of great importance to decrease the size of a node, reduce its power consumption and extend its life in network. WSN nodes have been designed using JN5121-Z01-M01 module produced by jennic company and IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee technology. Its new features include support for CPU sleep modes and a long-term ultra low power sleep mode for the entire node. In low power configuration the node resembles existing small low power nodes. An embedded temperature sensor node has been developed to verify and explore our architecture. The experiment results indicate that the WSN has the characteristic of high reliability, good stability and ultra low power consumption.

Wakata uses Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) in Node 1 Unity

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-03-22

ISS018-E-042651 (22 March 2009) --- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, Expedition 18 flight engineer, uses the short bar for the advanced Resistive Exercise Device (aRED) equipment to perform upper body strengthening pull-ups in the Unity node of the International Space Station while Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-119) remains docked with the station.

Securing While Sampling in Wireless Body Area Networks With Application to Electrocardiography.

PubMed

Dautov, Ruslan; Tsouri, Gill R

2016-01-01

Stringent resource constraints and broadcast transmission in wireless body area network raise serious security concerns when employed in biomedical applications. Protecting data transmission where any minor alteration is potentially harmful is of significant importance in healthcare. Traditional security methods based on public or private key infrastructure require considerable memory and computational resources, and present an implementation obstacle in compact sensor nodes. This paper proposes a lightweight encryption framework augmenting compressed sensing with wireless physical layer security. Augmenting compressed sensing to secure information is based on the use of the measurement matrix as an encryption key, and allows for incorporating security in addition to compression at the time of sampling an analog signal. The proposed approach eliminates the need for a separate encryption algorithm, as well as the predeployment of a key thereby conserving sensor node's limited resources. The proposed framework is evaluated using analysis, simulation, and experimentation applied to a wireless electrocardiogram setup consisting of a sensor node, an access point, and an eavesdropper performing a proximity attack. Results show that legitimate communication is reliable and secure given that the eavesdropper is located at a reasonable distance from the sensor node and the access point.

[Application of subserosal injection of carbon nanoparticles via infusion needle to label lymph nodes in laparoscopic radical gastrectomy].

PubMed

Chen, Hongyuan; Wang, Yanan; Xue, Fangqin; Yu, Jiang; Hu, Yanfeng; Liu, Hao; Yan, Jun; Li, Guoxin

2014-05-01

To explore the feasibility of subserosal injection of carbon nanoparticle via venous infusion needle to label lymph node and its application value in laparoscopic radical gastrectomy. Forty patients with gastric cancer were randomly divided into two groups (carbon nanoparticle group and control group). Subserosal injection of carbon nanoparticle around the tumor was performed via venous infusion needle laparoscopically at the beginning of surgery in carbon nanoparticles group, while the patients routinely underwent laparoscopic radical gastrectomy in control group. Results of harvested lymph nodes were compared between the two groups. The perioperative complications and the side effect of carbon nanoparticle were also evaluated. The average number of harvested lymph node in carbon nanoparticle group (31.7±7.6) was significantly higher than that in control group (19.8±6.1, P<0.05). The proportion of harvested small node (< 5 mm) in carbon nanoparticles group(61.0%) was higher than that in control group(43.3%, P<0.01). The mean harvest time in carbon nanoparticle group [(23.5±4.8) min] was shorter than that in control group [(32.6±5.5) min, P<0.05]. The rate of black-dyed harvested lymph node was 61.9% and the metastasis rate of black-dyed lymph node was 23.0% in carbon nanoparticle group, which were significantly higher than those without black-dyed(6.2%, P<0.05) and those in control group (15.7%, P<0.05). The operative time and perioperative complications were not significantly different between the two groups, and no serious side effect caused by carbon nanoparticle was observed. Subserosal injection of carbon nanoparticle via venous infusion needle to label lymph nodes during laparoscopic radical gastrectomy is safe and feasible. It can increase the number of harvested lymph node, especially the small node.

Complex network inference from P300 signals: Decoding brain state under visual stimulus for able-bodied and disabled subjects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Zhong-Ke; Cai, Qing; Dong, Na; Zhang, Shan-Shan; Bo, Yun; Zhang, Jie

2016-10-01

Distinguishing brain cognitive behavior underlying disabled and able-bodied subjects constitutes a challenging problem of significant importance. Complex network has established itself as a powerful tool for exploring functional brain networks, which sheds light on the inner workings of the human brain. Most existing works in constructing brain network focus on phase-synchronization measures between regional neural activities. In contrast, we propose a novel approach for inferring functional networks from P300 event-related potentials by integrating time and frequency domain information extracted from each channel signal, which we show to be efficient in subsequent pattern recognition. In particular, we construct brain network by regarding each channel signal as a node and determining the edges in terms of correlation of the extracted feature vectors. A six-choice P300 paradigm with six different images is used in testing our new approach, involving one able-bodied subject and three disabled subjects suffering from multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain and spinal-cord injury, respectively. We then exploit global efficiency, local efficiency and small-world indices from the derived brain networks to assess the network topological structure associated with different target images. The findings suggest that our method allows identifying brain cognitive behaviors related to visual stimulus between able-bodied and disabled subjects.

How useful is abdominal ultrasonography in dogs with diarrhoea?

PubMed

Mapletoft, E K; Allenspach, K; Lamb, C R

2018-01-01

To assess the utility of abdominal ultrasonography in the diagnostic work-up of dogs with diarrhoea. Retrospective cross-sectional study based on a referral population of dogs with diarrhoea. Associations between the clinical signs, use of abdominal ultrasonography, results of abdominal ultrasonography and subsequent work-up were examined. The utility of abdominal ultrasonography was scored as high, moderate, none or counterproductive based on review of medical records. Medical records of 269 dogs were reviewed, of which 149 (55%) had abdominal ultrasonography. The most frequent result was no ultrasonographic abnormalities affecting the intestine in 65 (44%) dogs. Ultrasonography results were associated with subsequent work-up as follows: (1) no detected abnormalities and dietary trial; (2) focal thickening of the intestinal wall, loss of intestinal wall layers or enlarged abdominal lymph nodes and ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspirates; (3) diffuse thickening of the intestinal wall or hyperechoic striations in the small intestinal mucosa and endoscopy; and (4) small intestinal foreign body and coeliotomy. Abdominal ultrasonography was considered to be diagnostic without further testing in only four (3%) dogs: two had a portosystemic shunt identified ultrasonographically, one had a linear foreign body and one had a perforated pyloric ulcer. Abdominal ultrasonography had moderate utility in 56 (38%) dogs and no utility in 79 (53%) dogs. Abdominal ultrasonography was considered counterproductive in 10 (7%) dogs because results were either falsely negative or falsely positive. These results should prompt clinicians to reconsider routine use of abdominal ultrasonography in dogs with diarrhoea. © 2017 British Small Animal Veterinary Association.

What Is a False Negative Sentinel Node Biopsy: Definition, Reasons and Ways to Minimize It?

PubMed

Kataria, Kamal; Srivastava, Anurag; Qaiser, Darakhshan

2016-10-01

Sentinel node biopsy helps in assessing the involvement of axillary lymph node without the morbidity of full axillary lymph node dissection, namely arm and shoulder pain, paraesthesia and lymphoedema. The various methods described in the literature identify the sentinel lymph nodes in approximately 96 % of cases and associated with a false negativity rate of 5 to 10 %. A false negative sentinel node is defined as the proportion of cases in whom sentinel node biopsy is reported as negative, but the rest of axillary lymph node(s) harbours cancer cells. The possible causes of a false negative sentinel lymph node may be because of blocked lymphatics either by cancer cells or following fibrosis of previous surgery/radiotherapy, and an alternative pathway opens draining the blue dye or isotope to another uninvolved node . The other reasons may be two lymphatic pathways for a tumour area, the one opening to a superficial node and the other in deep nodes. Sometimes, lymphatics do not relay into a node but traverse it going to a higher node. In some patients, the microscopic focus of metastasis inside a lymph node is so small-micrometastasis (i.e. between 0.2 and 2 mm) or isolated tumour cells (i.e. less than 0.2 mm) that is missed by the pathologist. The purpose of this review is to clear some fears lurking in the mind of most surgeons about the false negative sentinel lymph node (FNSLN).

Prognostic Significance of the Number of Metastatic pN2 Lymph Nodes in Stage IIIA-N2 Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer After Curative Resection.

PubMed

Yoo, Changhoon; Yoon, Shinkyo; Lee, Dae Ho; Park, Seung-Il; Kim, Dong Kwan; Kim, Yong-Hee; Kim, Hyeong Ryul; Choi, Se Hoon; Kim, Woo Sung; Choi, Chang-Min; Jang, Se Jin; Song, Si Yeol; Kim, Su Ssan; Choi, Eun Kyung; Lee, Jae Cheol; Suh, Cheolwon; Lee, Jung-Shin; Kim, Sang-We

2015-11-01

Stage IIIA-N2 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) shows prognostic heterogeneity. We investigated the prognostic relevance of the number of metastatic pN2 nodes in patients with IIIA-N2 NSCLC. The criteria for the number of pN2 used in this study were significantly associated with the survival outcomes after surgery and may improve the accuracy of prognostic prediction in this subgroup of patients. There have been controversies regarding the prognostic relevance of the number of positive N2 nodes in pathologic stage IIIA-N2 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We examine prognosis of patients with pathologic stage IIIA-N2 with classifying the number of positive N2 nodes into subgroups. From January 1997 to December 2004, 250 patients were diagnosed with pathologic stage IIIA-N2 disease. All patients underwent mediastinal lymph node dissection. After excluding 44 patients with preoperative chemotherapy, incomplete resection, and postsurgical mortality, 206 patients were included in the analysis. Patients were classified according to the number of positive N2 lymph nodes (N2a: 1 [n = 83], N2b: 2-4 [n = 82], N2c: ≥ 5 [n = 41]), and its correlation with survival outcomes were investigated. With a median follow-up of 96.3 months, 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) was 27.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 21.6-33.7), and 5-year overall survival (OS) was 37.7% (95% CI, 31.5-44.7) in all patients. The number of metastatic N2 lymph nodes was associated with DFS (P < .001) and OS (P = .01). In the N2a, N2b, and N2c groups, 5-year DFS rates were 38%, 24%, and 5%, respectively, and 5-year OS rates were 47%, 35%, and 24%, respectively. In a multivariate analysis, the number of metastatic N2 lymph nodes was an independent prognostic factor for DFS and OS. Stratification of patients according to the number of metastatic N2 lymph nodes may improve the accuracy of prognostic prediction among patients with curatively resected stage IIIA-N2 NSCLC. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Progress in the study of pancreatic cancer and its pathology.

PubMed

Yanagisawa, A

1998-01-01

Recent advances in diagnostic techniques allow detection of relatively small ductal cancers and mucinous cystic neoplasms of the human pancreas. The histopathological characteristics of a series of such small pancreatic carcinomas encountered in our hospital were: 1) all were invasive ductal carcinomas accompanied by fibrosis, 2) four of seven carcinomas were thought to originate in the branch ducts, 3) no precancerous lesions were found, and 4) lymph node metastasis was detected in only one patient. Mucinous cystic neoplasms were of two types: megacystic and ductectatic. The megacystic type is the classical mucinous cystic neoplasm. The ductectatic type is characterized by the presence of multilocular cysts (reminiscent of bronchiectasia of the lung), and papillary proliferation of the lining epithelium-differing from typical ductal carcinomas as well as from megacystic lesions in terms of morphological features, intrapancreatic location, patient age, and sex. The ductectatic type occurs exclusively in the head and body of the pancreas, and is found predominantly in aging males.

Left-right asymmetry in neck lymph nodes distribution in patients with bilateral laryngeal cancer.

PubMed

Yoruk, Ozgur; Yuksel, Ramazan; Yuksel, Yasemin; Dane, Senol

2014-04-01

We aimed to examine left-right asymmetry in involved and total neck lymph nodes distribution in patients with bilateral laryngeal cancer in the present study. Forty-six patients with bilateral laryngeal cancer was included the study. The oncologic database of our otorhinolaryngology department was used. The right and left lymph node with and without involvement by cancer cells counts were retrieved from pathological reports. The numbers of both involved and total neck lymph nodes were significantly higher on right side than on left side for all neck levels in laryngeal malignancies. The results of the present study suggest the existence of a left-right asymmetry in neck lymph node distribution and in the neck lymph node distribution involved by laryngeal cancer cells. The stronger cell-mediated immune activity in the left side of humans may be associated with the blocking of the metastatic invasion of cancer cells from laryngeal malignancies in the left body side.

Energy Efficient Communication Using Relationships between Biological Signals for Ubiquitous Health Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Songjun; Na, Doosu; Koo, Bonmin

Wireless sensor networks with a star network topology are commonly applied for health monitoring systems. To determine the condition of a patient, sensor nodes are attached to the body to transmit the data to a coordinator. However, this process is inefficient because the coordinator is always communicating with each sensor node resulting in a data processing workload for the coordinator that becomes much greater than that of the sensor nodes. In this paper, a method is proposed to reduce the number of data transmissions from the sensor nodes to the coordinator by establishing a threshold for data from the biological signals to ensure that only relevant information is transmitted. This results in a dramatic reduction in power consumption throughout the entire network.

Think locally, act locally: detection of small, medium-sized, and large communities in large networks.

PubMed

Jeub, Lucas G S; Balachandran, Prakash; Porter, Mason A; Mucha, Peter J; Mahoney, Michael W

2015-01-01

It is common in the study of networks to investigate intermediate-sized (or "meso-scale") features to try to gain an understanding of network structure and function. For example, numerous algorithms have been developed to try to identify "communities," which are typically construed as sets of nodes with denser connections internally than with the remainder of a network. In this paper, we adopt a complementary perspective that communities are associated with bottlenecks of locally biased dynamical processes that begin at seed sets of nodes, and we employ several different community-identification procedures (using diffusion-based and geodesic-based dynamics) to investigate community quality as a function of community size. Using several empirical and synthetic networks, we identify several distinct scenarios for "size-resolved community structure" that can arise in real (and realistic) networks: (1) the best small groups of nodes can be better than the best large groups (for a given formulation of the idea of a good community); (2) the best small groups can have a quality that is comparable to the best medium-sized and large groups; and (3) the best small groups of nodes can be worse than the best large groups. As we discuss in detail, which of these three cases holds for a given network can make an enormous difference when investigating and making claims about network community structure, and it is important to take this into account to obtain reliable downstream conclusions. Depending on which scenario holds, one may or may not be able to successfully identify "good" communities in a given network (and good communities might not even exist for a given community quality measure), the manner in which different small communities fit together to form meso-scale network structures can be very different, and processes such as viral propagation and information diffusion can exhibit very different dynamics. In addition, our results suggest that, for many large realistic networks, the output of locally biased methods that focus on communities that are centered around a given seed node (or set of seed nodes) might have better conceptual grounding and greater practical utility than the output of global community-detection methods. They also illustrate structural properties that are important to consider in the development of better benchmark networks to test methods for community detection.

Think locally, act locally: Detection of small, medium-sized, and large communities in large networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeub, Lucas G. S.; Balachandran, Prakash; Porter, Mason A.; Mucha, Peter J.; Mahoney, Michael W.

2015-01-01

It is common in the study of networks to investigate intermediate-sized (or "meso-scale") features to try to gain an understanding of network structure and function. For example, numerous algorithms have been developed to try to identify "communities," which are typically construed as sets of nodes with denser connections internally than with the remainder of a network. In this paper, we adopt a complementary perspective that communities are associated with bottlenecks of locally biased dynamical processes that begin at seed sets of nodes, and we employ several different community-identification procedures (using diffusion-based and geodesic-based dynamics) to investigate community quality as a function of community size. Using several empirical and synthetic networks, we identify several distinct scenarios for "size-resolved community structure" that can arise in real (and realistic) networks: (1) the best small groups of nodes can be better than the best large groups (for a given formulation of the idea of a good community); (2) the best small groups can have a quality that is comparable to the best medium-sized and large groups; and (3) the best small groups of nodes can be worse than the best large groups. As we discuss in detail, which of these three cases holds for a given network can make an enormous difference when investigating and making claims about network community structure, and it is important to take this into account to obtain reliable downstream conclusions. Depending on which scenario holds, one may or may not be able to successfully identify "good" communities in a given network (and good communities might not even exist for a given community quality measure), the manner in which different small communities fit together to form meso-scale network structures can be very different, and processes such as viral propagation and information diffusion can exhibit very different dynamics. In addition, our results suggest that, for many large realistic networks, the output of locally biased methods that focus on communities that are centered around a given seed node (or set of seed nodes) might have better conceptual grounding and greater practical utility than the output of global community-detection methods. They also illustrate structural properties that are important to consider in the development of better benchmark networks to test methods for community detection.

Precision of EM Simulation Based Wireless Location Estimation in Multi-Sensor Capsule Endoscopy

PubMed Central

Ye, Yunxing; Aisha, Ain-Ul; Swar, Pranay; Pahlavan, Kaveh

2018-01-01

In this paper, we compute and examine two-way localization limits for an RF endoscopy pill as it passes through an individuals gastrointestinal (GI) tract. We obtain finite-difference time-domain and finite element method-based simulation results position assessment employing time of arrival (TOA). By means of a 3-D human body representation from a full-wave simulation software and lognormal models for TOA propagation from implant organs to body surface, we calculate bounds on location estimators in three digestive organs: stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. We present an investigation of the causes influencing localization precision, consisting of a range of organ properties; peripheral sensor array arrangements, number of pills in cooperation, and the random variations in transmit power of sensor nodes. We also perform a localization precision investigation for the situation where the transmission signal of the antenna is arbitrary with a known probability distribution. The computational solver outcome shows that the number of receiver antennas on the exterior of the body has higher impact on the precision of the location than the amount of capsules in collaboration within the GI region. The large intestine is influenced the most by the transmitter power probability distribution. PMID:29651364

Precision of EM Simulation Based Wireless Location Estimation in Multi-Sensor Capsule Endoscopy.

PubMed

Khan, Umair; Ye, Yunxing; Aisha, Ain-Ul; Swar, Pranay; Pahlavan, Kaveh

2018-01-01

In this paper, we compute and examine two-way localization limits for an RF endoscopy pill as it passes through an individuals gastrointestinal (GI) tract. We obtain finite-difference time-domain and finite element method-based simulation results position assessment employing time of arrival (TOA). By means of a 3-D human body representation from a full-wave simulation software and lognormal models for TOA propagation from implant organs to body surface, we calculate bounds on location estimators in three digestive organs: stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. We present an investigation of the causes influencing localization precision, consisting of a range of organ properties; peripheral sensor array arrangements, number of pills in cooperation, and the random variations in transmit power of sensor nodes. We also perform a localization precision investigation for the situation where the transmission signal of the antenna is arbitrary with a known probability distribution. The computational solver outcome shows that the number of receiver antennas on the exterior of the body has higher impact on the precision of the location than the amount of capsules in collaboration within the GI region. The large intestine is influenced the most by the transmitter power probability distribution.

α-Imaging Confirmed Efficient Targeting of CD₄₅-Positive Cells After ²¹¹At-Radioimmunotherapy for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

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

Frost, Sophia; Miller, Brian W.; Back, Tom

Alpha-radioimmunotherapy (α-RIT) targeting CD45 may substitute for total body irradiation in hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) preparative regimens for lymphoma. Our goal was to optimize the anti-CD45 monoclonal antibody (MAb; CA12.10C12) protein dose for astatine-²¹¹(²¹¹At)-RIT, extending the analysis to include intra-organ ²¹¹At activity distribution and α-imaging-based small-scale dosimetry, along with imunohistochemical staining. Methods: Eight normal dogs were injected with either 0.75 (n=5) or 1.00 mg/kg (n=3) of ²¹¹At-B10-CA12.10C12 (11.5–27.6 MBq/kg). Two were euthanized and necropsied 19–22 hours postinjection (p.i.), and six received autologous HCT three days after ²¹¹At-RIT, following lymph node and bone marrow biopsies at 2–4 and/or 19 hours p.i.more » Blood was sampled to study toxicity and clearance; CD45 targeting was evaluated by flow cytometry. ²¹¹At localization and small scale dosimetry were assessed using two α-imaging : α-camera and iQID. Results: Uptake of ²¹¹At was highest in spleen (0.31–0.61 %IA/g), lymph nodes (0.02–0.16 %IA/g), liver (0.11–0.12 %IA/g), and marrow (0.06–0.08 %IA/g). Lymphocytes in blood and marrow were efficiently targeted using either MAb dose. Lymph nodes remained unsaturated, but displayed targeted ²¹¹At localization in T lymphocyte-rich areas. Absorbed doses to blood, marrow, and lymph nodes were estimated at 3.9, 3.0, and 4.2 Gy/210 MBq, respectively. All transplanted dogs experienced transient hepatic toxicity. Liver enzyme levels were temporarily elevated in 5 of 6 dogs; 1 treated with 1.00 mg MAb/kg developed ascites and was euthanized 136 days after HCT. Conclusion: ²¹¹At-anti-CD45 RIT with 0.75 mg MAb/kg efficiently targeted blood and marrow without severe toxicity. Dosimetry calculations and observed radiation-induced effects indicated that sufficient ²¹¹At-B10-CA12.10C12 localization was achieved for efficient conditioning for HCT.« less

[Low-power Wireless Micro Ambulatory Electrocardiogram Node].

PubMed

Cai, Zhipeng; Luo, Kan; Li, Jianqing

2016-02-01

Ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring can effectively reduce the risk and death rate of patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The Body Sensor Network (BSN) based ECG monitoring is a new and efficien method to protect the CVDs patients. To meet the challenges of miniaturization, low power and high signal quality of the node, we proposed a novel 50 mmX 50 mmX 10 mm, 30 g wireless ECG node, which includes the single-chip an alog front-end AD8232, ultra-low power microprocessor MSP430F1611 and Bluetooth module HM-11. The ECG signal quality is guaranteed by the on-line digital filtering. The difference threshold algorithm results in accuracy of R-wave detection and heart rate. Experiments were carried out to test the node and the results showed that the pro posed node reached the design target, and it has great potential in application of wireless ECG monitoring.

Browsing schematics: Query-filtered graphs with context nodes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ciccarelli, Eugene C.; Nardi, Bonnie A.

1988-01-01

The early results of a research project to create tools for building interfaces to intelligent systems on the NASA Space Station are reported. One such tool is the Schematic Browser which helps users engaged in engineering problem solving find and select schematics from among a large set. Users query for schematics with certain components, and the Schematic Browser presents a graph whose nodes represent the schematics with those components. The query greatly reduces the number of choices presented to the user, filtering the graph to a manageable size. Users can reformulate and refine the query serially until they locate the schematics of interest. To help users maintain orientation as they navigate a large body of data, the graph also includes nodes that are not matches but provide global and local context for the matching nodes. Context nodes include landmarks, ancestors, siblings, children and previous matches.

Self-assembly of the yeast actomyosin contractile ring as an aggregation process: kinetics of formation and instability regimes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ojkic, Nikola; Vavylonis, Dimitrios

2009-03-01

Fission yeast cells assemble an equatorial contractile ring for cytokinesis, the last step of mitosis. The ring assembles from ˜ 65 membrane-bound ``nodes''' containing myosin motors and other proteins. Actin filaments that grow out from the nodes establish transient connections among the nodes and aid in pulling them together in a process that appears as pair-wise attraction (Vavylonis et al. Science 97:319, 2008). We used scaling arguments, coarse grained stability analysis of homogeneous states, and Monte Carlo simulations of simple models, to explore the conditions that yield fast and efficient ring formation, as opposed to formation of isolated clumps. We described our results as a function of: number of nodes, rate of establishing connections, range of node interaction, distance traveled per node interaction and broad band width, w. Uniform cortical 2d distributions of nodes are stable over short times due to randomness of connections among nodes, but become unstable over long times due to fluctuations in the initial node distribution. Successful condensation of nodes into a ring requires sufficiently small w such that lateral contraction occurs faster then clump formation.

Optimal MRI sequences for 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/MRI in evaluation of biochemically recurrent prostate cancer.

PubMed

Lake, Spencer T; Greene, Kirsten L; Westphalen, Antonio C; Behr, Spencer C; Zagoria, Ronald; Small, Eric J; Carroll, Peter R; Hope, Thomas A

2017-09-19

PET/MRI can be used for the detection of disease in biochemical recurrence (BCR) patients imaged with 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET. This study was designed to determine the optimal MRI sequences to localize positive findings on 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET of patients with BCR after definitive therapy. Fifty-five consecutive prostate cancer patients with BCR imaged with 68 Ga-PSMA-11 3.0T PET/MRI were retrospectively analyzed. Mean PSA was 7.9 ± 12.9 ng/ml, and mean PSA doubling time was 7.1 ± 6.6 months. Detection rates of anatomic correlates for prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive foci were evaluated on small field of view (FOV) T2, T1 post-contrast, and diffusion-weighted images. For prostate bed recurrences, the detection rate of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) imaging for PSMA-positive foci was evaluated. Finally, the detection sensitivity for PSMA-avid foci on 3- and 8-min PET acquisitions was compared. PSMA-positive foci were detected in 89.1% (49/55) of patients evaluated. Small FOV T2 performed best for lymph nodes and detected correlates for all PSMA-avid lymph nodes. DCE imaging performed the best for suspected prostate bed recurrence, detecting correlates for 87.5% (14/16) of PSMA-positive prostate bed foci. The 8-min PET acquisition performed better than the 3-min acquisition for lymph nodes smaller than 1 cm, detecting 100% (57/57) of lymph nodes less than 1 cm, compared to 78.9% (45/57) for the 3-min acquisition. PSMA PET/MRI performed well for the detection of sites of suspected recurrent disease in patients with BCR. Of the MRI sequences obtained for localization, small FOV T2 images detected the greatest proportion of PSMA-positive abdominopelvic lymph nodes and DCE imaging detected the greatest proportion of PSMA-positive prostate bed foci. The 8-min PET acquisition was superior to the 3 min acquisition for detection of small lymph nodes.

Field results from a new die-to-database reticle inspection platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Broadbent, William; Yokoyama, Ichiro; Yu, Paul; Seki, Kazunori; Nomura, Ryohei; Schmalfuss, Heiko; Heumann, Jan; Sier, Jean-Paul

2007-05-01

A new die-to-database high-resolution reticle defect inspection platform, TeraScanHR, has been developed for advanced production use with the 45nm logic node, and extendable for development use with the 32nm node (also the comparable memory nodes). These nodes will use predominantly ArF immersion lithography although EUV may also be used. According to recent surveys, the predominant reticle types for the 45nm node are 6% simple tri-tone and COG. Other advanced reticle types may also be used for these nodes including: dark field alternating, Mask Enhancer, complex tri-tone, high transmission, CPL, etc. Finally, aggressive model based OPC will typically be used which will include many small structures such as jogs, serifs, and SRAF (sub-resolution assist features) with accompanying very small gaps between adjacent structures. The current generation of inspection systems is inadequate to meet these requirements. The architecture and performance of the new TeraScanHR reticle inspection platform is described. This new platform is designed to inspect the aforementioned reticle types in die-to-database and die-to-die modes using both transmitted and reflected illumination. Recent results from field testing at two of the three beta sites are shown (Toppan Printing in Japan and the Advanced Mask Technology Center in Germany). The results include applicable programmed defect test reticles and advanced 45nm product reticles (also comparable memory reticles). The results show high sensitivity and low false detections being achieved. The platform can also be configured for the current 65nm, 90nm, and 130nm nodes.

Distribution of shortest path lengths in a class of node duplication network models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steinbock, Chanania; Biham, Ofer; Katzav, Eytan

2017-09-01

We present analytical results for the distribution of shortest path lengths (DSPL) in a network growth model which evolves by node duplication (ND). The model captures essential properties of the structure and growth dynamics of social networks, acquaintance networks, and scientific citation networks, where duplication mechanisms play a major role. Starting from an initial seed network, at each time step a random node, referred to as a mother node, is selected for duplication. Its daughter node is added to the network, forming a link to the mother node, and with probability p to each one of its neighbors. The degree distribution of the resulting network turns out to follow a power-law distribution, thus the ND network is a scale-free network. To calculate the DSPL we derive a master equation for the time evolution of the probability Pt(L =ℓ ) , ℓ =1 ,2 ,⋯ , where L is the distance between a pair of nodes and t is the time. Finding an exact analytical solution of the master equation, we obtain a closed form expression for Pt(L =ℓ ) . The mean distance 〈L〉 t and the diameter Δt are found to scale like lnt , namely, the ND network is a small-world network. The variance of the DSPL is also found to scale like lnt . Interestingly, the mean distance and the diameter exhibit properties of a small-world network, rather than the ultrasmall-world network behavior observed in other scale-free networks, in which 〈L〉 t˜lnlnt .

A general design strategy for block copolymer directed self-assembly patterning of integrated circuits contact holes using an alphabet approach.

PubMed

Yi, He; Bao, Xin-Yu; Tiberio, Richard; Wong, H-S Philip

2015-02-11

Directed self-assembly (DSA) is a promising lithography candidate for technology nodes beyond 14 nm. Researchers have shown contact hole patterning for random logic circuits using DSA with small physical templates. This paper introduces an alphabet approach that uses a minimal set of small physical templates to pattern all contacts configurations on integrated circuits. We illustrate, through experiments, a general and scalable template design strategy that links the DSA material properties to the technology node requirements.

Effectiveness of Implemented Interventions on Pathologic Nodal Staging of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

PubMed

Ray, Meredith A; Faris, Nicholas R; Smeltzer, Matthew P; Fehnel, Carrie; Houston-Harris, Cheryl; Levy, Paul; Wiggins, Lynn; Sachdev, Vishal; Robbins, Todd; Spencer, David; Osarogiagbon, Raymond U

2018-03-10

Accurate pathologic nodal staging improves early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer survival. In an ongoing implementation study, we measured the impact of a surgical lymph node specimen collection kit and a more thorough pathologic gross dissection method, on attainment of guideline-recommended pathologic nodal staging quality. We prospectively collected data on curative-intent non-small cell lung cancer resections from 2009-2016 from 11 hospitals in 4 contiguous Dartmouth Hospital Referral Regions. We categorized patients into 4 groups based on exposure to the two interventions in our staggered implementation study design. We used Chi-squared tests to examine the differences in demographic and disease characteristics and surgical quality criteria across implementation groups. Of 2,469 patients, 1,615 (65%) received neither intervention; 167 (7%) received only the pathology intervention; 264 (11%) received only the surgery intervention; 423 (17%) had both. Rates of non-examination of lymph nodes reduced sequentially in the order of no intervention, novel dissection, kit, and combined interventions, including non-examination of: any lymph nodes, hilar/intrapulmonary and mediastinal nodes (p<0.001 for all comparisons). The rates of attainment of National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Commission on Cancer, American Joint Committee on Cancer, and American College of Surgeons Oncology Group guidelines increased significantly in the same sequential order (p<0.001 for all comparisons). The combined effect of two interventions to improve pathologic lymph node examination has a greater effect on attainment of a range of surgical quality criteria than either intervention alone. Copyright © 2018 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Empirical Determination of Pattern Match Confidence in Labeled Graphs

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-07

were explored; Erdős–Rényi [6] random graphs, Barabási–Albert preferential attachment graphs [2], and Watts– Strogatz [18] small world graphs. The ER...B. Erdos - Renyi Barabasi - Albert Gr ap h Ty pe Strogatz - Watts Direct Within 2 nodes Within 4 nodes Search Limit 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 100...Barabási–Albert (BA, crosses) and Watts– Strogatz (WS, trian- gles) graphs were generated with sizes ranging from 50 to 2500 nodes, and labeled

[PMU therapy of recurrent gastric cancer. A case report].

PubMed

Ohyama, S; Yonemura, Y; Matsuki, N; Miyata, R; Noto, H; Sakuma, H; Yagi, M; Sawa, T; Ogino, S; Miyazaka, I

1986-03-01

A 56-year-old woman with recurrent gastric cancer treated with PMU therapy, combined CDDP 75 mg/m2 i.v. MMC 10 mg/body i.v. and UFT 400mg/body/2 alpha/day p.o., was reported. She was admitted because of cervical lymph node swelling and abdominal tumor (para-aorta lymph node swelling). She was treated two times with this therapy and induced into complete remission. The serum CEA level, more than 500 ng/ml before the treatment, was reduced to 6.7 ng/ml after treatment. She has currently been free of disease for more than four weeks. We conclude that this PMU therapy is extremely effective for indurable gastric cancer.

Locating influential nodes in complex networks

PubMed Central

Malliaros, Fragkiskos D.; Rossi, Maria-Evgenia G.; Vazirgiannis, Michalis

2016-01-01

Understanding and controlling spreading processes in networks is an important topic with many diverse applications, including information dissemination, disease propagation and viral marketing. It is of crucial importance to identify which entities act as influential spreaders that can propagate information to a large portion of the network, in order to ensure efficient information diffusion, optimize available resources or even control the spreading. In this work, we capitalize on the properties of the K-truss decomposition, a triangle-based extension of the core decomposition of graphs, to locate individual influential nodes. Our analysis on real networks indicates that the nodes belonging to the maximal K-truss subgraph show better spreading behavior compared to previously used importance criteria, including node degree and k-core index, leading to faster and wider epidemic spreading. We further show that nodes belonging to such dense subgraphs, dominate the small set of nodes that achieve the optimal spreading in the network. PMID:26776455

Influence of quartz exposure on lung cancer types in cases of lymph node-only silicosis and lung silicosis in German uranium miners.

PubMed

Mielke, Stefan; Taeger, Dirk; Weitmann, Kerstin; Brüning, Thomas; Hoffmann, Wolfgang

2018-05-04

Inhaled crystalline quartz is a carcinogen. Analyses show differences in the distribution of lung cancer types depending on the status of silicosis. Using 2,524 lung tumor cases from the WISMUT autopsy repository database, silicosis was differentiated into cases without silicosis in lung parenchyma and its lymph nodes, with lymph node-only silicosis, or with lung silicosis including lymph node silicosis. The proportions of adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and small-cell lung carcinoma mortality for increasing quartz exposures were estimated in a multinomial logistic regression model. The relative proportions of the lung cancer subtypes in lymph node-only silicosis were more similar to lung silicosis than without any silicosis. The results support the hypothesis that quartz-related carcinogenesis in case of lymph node-only silicosis is more similar to that in lung silicosis than in without silicosis.

An ultra low-power and traffic-adaptive medium access control protocol for wireless body area network.

PubMed

Ullah, Sana; Kwak, Kyung Sup

2012-06-01

Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) consists of low-power, miniaturized, and autonomous wireless sensor nodes that enable physicians to remotely monitor vital signs of patients and provide real-time feedback with medical diagnosis and consultations. It is the most reliable and cheaper way to take care of patients suffering from chronic diseases such as asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Some of the most important attributes of WBAN is low-power consumption and delay. This can be achieved by introducing flexible duty cycling techniques on the energy constraint sensor nodes. Stated otherwise, low duty cycle nodes should not receive frequent synchronization and control packets if they have no data to send/receive. In this paper, we introduce a Traffic-adaptive MAC protocol (TaMAC) by taking into account the traffic information of the sensor nodes. The protocol dynamically adjusts the duty cycle of the sensor nodes according to their traffic-patterns, thus solving the idle listening and overhearing problems. The traffic-patterns of all sensor nodes are organized and maintained by the coordinator. The TaMAC protocol is supported by a wakeup radio that is used to accommodate emergency and on-demand events in a reliable manner. The wakeup radio uses a separate control channel along with the data channel and therefore it has considerably low power consumption requirements. Analytical expressions are derived to analyze and compare the performance of the TaMAC protocol with the well-known beacon-enabled IEEE 802.15.4 MAC, WiseMAC, and SMAC protocols. The analytical derivations are further validated by simulation results. It is shown that the TaMAC protocol outperforms all other protocols in terms of power consumption and delay.

Water Selective Imaging and bSSFP Banding Artifact Correction in Humans and Small Animals at 3T and 7T, Respectively

PubMed Central

Ribot, Emeline J.; Wecker, Didier; Trotier, Aurélien J.; Dallaudière, Benjamin; Lefrançois, William; Thiaudière, Eric; Franconi, Jean-Michel; Miraux, Sylvain

2015-01-01

Introduction The purpose of this paper is to develop an easy method to generate both fat signal and banding artifact free 3D balanced Steady State Free Precession (bSSFP) images at high magnetic field. Methods In order to suppress fat signal and bSSFP banding artifacts, two or four images were acquired with the excitation frequency of the water-selective binomial radiofrequency pulse set On Resonance or shifted by a maximum of 3/4TR. Mice and human volunteers were imaged at 7T and 3T, respectively to perform whole-body and musculoskeletal imaging. “Sum-Of-Square” reconstruction was performed and combined or not with parallel imaging. Results The frequency selectivity of 1-2-3-2-1 or 1-3-3-1 binomial pulses was preserved after (3/4TR) frequency shifting. Consequently, whole body small animal 3D imaging was performed at 7T and enabled visualization of small structures within adipose tissue like lymph nodes. In parallel, this method allowed 3D musculoskeletal imaging in humans with high spatial resolution at 3T. The combination with parallel imaging allowed the acquisition of knee images with ~500μm resolution images in less than 2min. In addition, ankles, full head coverage and legs of volunteers were imaged, demonstrating the possible application of the method also for large FOV. Conclusion In conclusion, this robust method can be applied in small animals and humans at high magnetic fields. The high SNR and tissue contrast obtained in short acquisition times allows to prescribe bSSFP sequence for several preclinical and clinical applications. PMID:26426849

CT-based definition of thoracic lymph node stations: an atlas from the University of Michigan.

PubMed

Chapet, Olivier; Kong, Feng-Ming; Quint, Leslie E; Chang, Andrew C; Ten Haken, Randall K; Eisbruch, Avraham; Hayman, James A

2005-09-01

Accurate delineation of the mediastinal and hilar lymph node regions is essential for a reproducible definition of target volumes used in conformal irradiation of non-small-cell lung cancer. The goal of this work was to generate a consensus to delineate these nodal regions based on definitions from the American Joint Committee on Cancer. A dedicated thoracic radiologist, thoracic surgeon, medical physicist, and three radiation oncologists were gathered to generate a three-dimensional radiologic description for the mediastinal and hilar nodal regions on axial CT scans. This paper proposes an atlas of most of the lymph node stations described by Mountain and Dresler. The CT boundaries of lymph node stations 1-2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10-11 were defined on axial CT, along with image illustrations. These CT-based illustrative definitions will provide guidelines for clinical practice and studies evaluating incidental radiation in radiotherapy. Studies are ongoing at the University of Michigan to measure quantitatively the incidental nodal radiation received by patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

Fatal CNS vasculopathy in a patient with refractory celiac disease and lymph node cavitation.

PubMed

Keller, Christian E; Gamboa, Eugenia T; Hays, Arthur P; Karlitz, Jordan; Lowe, Gina; Green, Peter H R; Bhagat, Govind

2006-02-01

Celiac disease is an enteropathy occurring in genetically predisposed individuals due to a dietary intolerance to gluten. Patients with celiac disease may develop a neurological disorder of unknown cause, although autoimmune mechanisms are suspected. We report on a 56-year-old man with celiac disease, who became refractory to a gluten-free diet and died of a rapidly progressive encephalopathy. Magnetic resonance imaging indicated focal lesions of the cerebellum and brainstem, and electrodiagnostic studies suggested an axonal neuropathy. Autopsy revealed a flattened small-bowel mucosa with intraepithelial lymphocytosis, a spectrum of degenerative changes of the intra-abdominal and mediastinal lymph nodes, including cavitary degeneration, and splenomegaly. Histologically, the lymph nodes showed pseudocyst formation and lymphocytic vasculitis with fibrinoid necrosis, and sections of the brain exhibited fibrinoid degeneration of small blood vessels, sparse perivascular lymphocytic infiltrates, and perivascular ischemic lesions. Identical T-cell clones were identified in the duodenum, stomach, lymph nodes, and spleen. This patient had an unusual neurological disorder related to a vasculopathy, probably mediated by a circulating neoplastic clone of activated T cells.

Towards Whole-Body Fluorescence Imaging in Humans

PubMed Central

Piper, Sophie K.; Habermehl, Christina; Schmitz, Christoph H.; Kuebler, Wolfgang M.; Obrig, Hellmuth; Steinbrink, Jens; Mehnert, Jan

2013-01-01

Dynamic near-infrared fluorescence (DNIF) whole-body imaging of small animals has become a popular tool in experimental biomedical research. In humans, however, the field of view has been limited to body parts, such as rheumatoid hands, diabetic feet or sentinel lymph nodes. Here we present a new whole-body DNIF-system suitable for adult subjects. We explored whether this system (i) allows dynamic whole-body fluorescence imaging and (ii) can detect modulations in skin perfusion. The non-specific fluorescent probe indocyanine green (ICG) was injected intravenously into two subjects, and fluorescence images were obtained at 5 Hz. The in- and out-flow kinetics of ICG have been shown to correlate with tissue perfusion. To validate the system, skin perfusion was modulated by warming and cooling distinct areas on the chest and the abdomen. Movies of fluorescence images show a bolus passage first in the face, then in the chest, abdomen and finally in the periphery (∼10, 15, 20 and 30 seconds, respectively). When skin perfusion is augmented by warming, bolus arrives about 5 seconds earlier than when the skin is cooled and perfusion decreased. Calculating bolus arrival times and spatial fitting of basis time courses extracted from different regions of interest allowed a mapping of local differences in subcutaneous skin perfusion. This experiment is the first to demonstrate the feasibility of whole-body dynamic fluorescence imaging in humans. Since the whole-body approach demonstrates sensitivity to circumscribed alterations in skinperfusion, it may be used to target autonomous changes in polyneuropathy and to screen for peripheral vascular diseases. PMID:24391820

Myeloid Clusters Are Associated with a Pro-Metastatic Environment and Poor Prognosis in Smoking-Related Early Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

PubMed Central

Zhang, Wang; Pal, Sumanta K.; Liu, Xueli; Yang, Chunmei; Allahabadi, Sachin; Bhanji, Shaira; Figlin, Robert A.; Yu, Hua; Reckamp, Karen L.

2013-01-01

Background This study aimed to understand the role of myeloid cell clusters in uninvolved regional lymph nodes from early stage non-small cell lung cancer patients. Methods Uninvolved regional lymph node sections from 67 patients with stage I–III resected non-small cell lung cancer were immunostained to detect myeloid clusters, STAT3 activity and occult metastasis. Anthracosis intensity, myeloid cluster infiltration associated with anthracosis and pSTAT3 level were scored and correlated with patient survival. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed with prognostic variables. Human macrophages were used for in vitro nicotine treatment. Results CD68+ myeloid clusters associated with anthracosis and with an immunosuppressive and metastasis-promoting phenotype and elevated overall STAT3 activity were observed in uninvolved lymph nodes. In patients with a smoking history, myeloid cluster score significantly correlated with anthracosis intensity and pSTAT3 level (P<0.01). Nicotine activated STAT3 in macrophages in long-term culture. CD68+ myeloid clusters correlated and colocalized with occult metastasis. Myeloid cluster score was an independent prognostic factor (P = 0.049) and was associated with survival by Kaplan-Maier estimate in patients with a history of smoking (P = 0.055). The combination of myeloid cluster score with either lymph node stage or pSTAT3 level defined two populations with a significant difference in survival (P = 0.024 and P = 0.004, respectively). Conclusions Myeloid clusters facilitate a pro-metastatic microenvironment in uninvolved regional lymph nodes and associate with occult metastasis in early stage non-small cell lung cancer. Myeloid cluster score is an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with a history of smoking, and may present a novel method to inform therapy choices in the adjuvant setting. Further validation studies are warranted. PMID:23717691

Adjuvant trastuzumab with chemotherapy is effective in women with small, node-negative, HER2-positive breast cancer.

PubMed

McArthur, Heather L; Mahoney, Kathleen M; Morris, Patrick G; Patil, Sujata; Jacks, Lindsay M; Howard, Jane; Norton, Larry; Hudis, Clifford A

2011-12-15

Several large, randomized trials established the benefits of adjuvant trastuzumab with chemotherapy. However, the benefit for women with small, node-negative HER2-positive (HER2+) disease is unknown, as these patients were largely excluded from these trials. Therefore, a retrospective, single-institution, sequential cohort study of women with small, node-negative, HER2+ breast cancer who did or did not receive adjuvant trastuzumab was conducted. Women with ≤ 2 cm, node-negative, HER2+ (immunohistochemistry 3+ or fluorescence in situ hybridization ≥ 2) breast cancer were identified through an institutional database. A "no-trastuzumab" cohort of 106 trastuzumab-untreated women diagnosed between January 1, 2002 and May 14, 2004 and a "trastuzumab" cohort of 155 trastuzumab-treated women diagnosed between May 16, 2005 and December 31, 2008 were described. Survival and recurrence outcomes were estimated by Kaplan-Meier methods. The cohorts were similar in age, median tumor size, histology, hormone receptor status, hormone therapy, and locoregional therapy. Chemotherapy was administered in 66% and 100% of the "no trastuzumab" and "trastuzumab" cohorts, respectively. The median recurrence-free and survival follow-up was: 6.5 years (0.7-8.5) and 6.8 years (0.7-8.5), respectively, for the "no trastuzumab" cohort and 3.0 years (0.5-5.2) and 3.0 years (0.6-5.2), respectively, for the "trastuzumab" cohort. The 3-year locoregional invasive recurrence-free, distant recurrence-free, invasive disease-free, and overall survival were 92% versus 98% (P = .0137), 95% versus 100% (P = .0072), 82% versus 97% (P < .0001), and 97% versus 99% (P = .18) for the "no trastuzumab" and "trastuzumab" cohorts, respectively. Women with small, node-negative, HER2+ primary breast cancers likely derive significant benefit from adjuvant trastuzumab with chemotherapy. Copyright © 2011 American Cancer Society.

Lymph node toxoplasmosis. Follow-up of 237 histologically diagnosed and serologically verified cases.

PubMed

Miettinen, M; Saxén, L; Saxén, E

1980-01-01

The clinical features, histology and follow-up of lymph node toxoplasmosis are presented in the light of 237 histologically and serologically verified cases. Lymph node toxoplasmosis is a disease with mild symptoms, and in most patients the enlarged lymph nodes were the only sign. Three fourths of the patients were women and the majority were under 40 years of age. The clinical picture was not specific, but suggestive features included a relatively short history, presence of the nodes in the neck and relative lymphocytosis in peripheral blood. Histological changes in the lymph nodes were characteristic. The most important features were strong hyperplasia but preserved general structure with small groups of epithelioid cells both in the paracortical area and in the germinal centers. Strands of monocytoid cells were usually found. 80% of the cases with typical histology also had high antibody titers, and in more than 85% of the cases with high antibodies, the lymph nodes presented a typical picture of toxoplasmosis. The follow-up revealed that lymph node toxoplasmosis. The follow-up revealed that lymph node toxoplasmosis is a disease without complications, nor is there any connection with malignant lymphomas.

New Scheduling Algorithms for Agile All-Photonic Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehri, Mohammad Saleh; Ghaffarpour Rahbar, Akbar

2017-12-01

An optical overlaid star network is a class of agile all-photonic networks that consists of one or more core node(s) at the center of the star network and a number of edge nodes around the core node. In this architecture, a core node may use a scheduling algorithm for transmission of traffic through the network. A core node is responsible for scheduling optical packets that arrive from edge nodes and switching them toward their destinations. Nowadays, most edge nodes use virtual output queue (VOQ) architecture for buffering client packets to achieve high throughput. This paper presents two efficient scheduling algorithms called discretionary iterative matching (DIM) and adaptive DIM. These schedulers find maximum matching in a small number of iterations and provide high throughput and incur low delay. The number of arbiters in these schedulers and the number of messages exchanged between inputs and outputs of a core node are reduced. We show that DIM and adaptive DIM can provide better performance in comparison with iterative round-robin matching with SLIP (iSLIP). SLIP means the act of sliding for a short distance to select one of the requested connections based on the scheduling algorithm.

Tumor implantation model for rapid testing of lymphatic dye uptake from paw to node in small animals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DSouza, Alisha V.; Elliott, Jonathan T.; Gunn, Jason R.; Barth, Richard J.; Samkoe, Kimberley S.; Tichauer, Kenneth M.; Pogue, Brian W.

2015-03-01

Morbidity and complexity involved in lymph node staging via surgical resection and biopsy calls for staging techniques that are less invasive. While visible blue dyes are commonly used in locating sentinel lymph nodes, since they follow tumor-draining lymphatic vessels, they do not provide a metric to evaluate presence of cancer. An area of active research is to use fluorescent dyes to assess tumor burden of sentinel and secondary lymph nodes. The goal of this work was to successfully deploy and test an intra-nodal cancer-cell injection model to enable planar fluorescence imaging of a clinically relevant blue dye, specifically methylene blue - used in the sentinel lymph node procedure - in normal and tumor-bearing animals, and subsequently segregate tumor-bearing from normal lymph nodes. This direct-injection based tumor model was employed in athymic rats (6 normal, 4 controls, 6 cancer-bearing), where luciferase-expressing breast cancer cells were injected into axillary lymph nodes. Tumor presence in nodes was confirmed by bioluminescence imaging before and after fluorescence imaging. Lymphatic uptake from the injection site (intradermal on forepaw) to lymph node was imaged at approximately 2 frames/minute. Large variability was observed within each cohort.

Integrated microarray and ChIP analysis identifies multiple Foxa2 dependent target genes in the notochord.

PubMed

Tamplin, Owen J; Cox, Brian J; Rossant, Janet

2011-12-15

The node and notochord are key tissues required for patterning of the vertebrate body plan. Understanding the gene regulatory network that drives their formation and function is therefore important. Foxa2 is a key transcription factor at the top of this genetic hierarchy and finding its targets will help us to better understand node and notochord development. We performed an extensive microarray-based gene expression screen using sorted embryonic notochord cells to identify early notochord-enriched genes. We validated their specificity to the node and notochord by whole mount in situ hybridization. This provides the largest available resource of notochord-expressed genes, and therefore candidate Foxa2 target genes in the notochord. Using existing Foxa2 ChIP-seq data from adult liver, we were able to identify a set of genes expressed in the notochord that had associated regions of Foxa2-bound chromatin. Given that Foxa2 is a pioneer transcription factor, we reasoned that these sites might represent notochord-specific enhancers. Candidate Foxa2-bound regions were tested for notochord specific enhancer function in a zebrafish reporter assay and 7 novel notochord enhancers were identified. Importantly, sequence conservation or predictive models could not have readily identified these regions. Mutation of putative Foxa2 binding elements in two of these novel enhancers abrogated reporter expression and confirmed their Foxa2 dependence. The combination of highly specific gene expression profiling and genome-wide ChIP analysis is a powerful means of understanding developmental pathways, even for small cell populations such as the notochord. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Infection dynamics on spatial small-world network models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iotti, Bryan; Antonioni, Alberto; Bullock, Seth; Darabos, Christian; Tomassini, Marco; Giacobini, Mario

2017-11-01

The study of complex networks, and in particular of social networks, has mostly concentrated on relational networks, abstracting the distance between nodes. Spatial networks are, however, extremely relevant in our daily lives, and a large body of research exists to show that the distances between nodes greatly influence the cost and probability of establishing and maintaining a link. A random geometric graph (RGG) is the main type of synthetic network model used to mimic the statistical properties and behavior of many social networks. We propose a model, called REDS, that extends energy-constrained RGGs to account for the synergic effect of sharing the cost of a link with our neighbors, as is observed in real relational networks. We apply both the standard Watts-Strogatz rewiring procedure and another method that conserves the degree distribution of the network. The second technique was developed to eliminate unwanted forms of spatial correlation between the degree of nodes that are affected by rewiring, limiting the effect on other properties such as clustering and assortativity. We analyze both the statistical properties of these two network types and their epidemiological behavior when used as a substrate for a standard susceptible-infected-susceptible compartmental model. We consider and discuss the differences in properties and behavior between RGGs and REDS as rewiring increases and as infection parameters are changed. We report considerable differences both between the network types and, in the case of REDS, between the two rewiring schemes. We conclude that REDS represent, with the application of these rewiring mechanisms, extremely useful and interesting tools in the study of social and epidemiological phenomena in synthetic complex networks.

LAG-3 in Non-Small-cell Lung Cancer: Expression in Primary Tumors and Metastatic Lymph Nodes Is Associated With Improved Survival.

PubMed

Hald, Sigurd M; Rakaee, Mehrdad; Martinez, Inigo; Richardsen, Elin; Al-Saad, Samer; Paulsen, Erna-Elise; Blix, Egil Støre; Kilvaer, Thomas; Andersen, Sigve; Busund, Lill-Tove; Bremnes, Roy M; Donnem, Tom

2018-05-01

Lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3) is an immune checkpoint receptor and a putative therapeutic target in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We explored the prognostic effect of LAG-3 + tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in primary tumors and metastatic lymph nodes in NSCLC and its potential for inclusion in an immunoscore, supplementing the TNM classification. Primary tumor tissue from 553 stage I-IIIB NSCLC patients and 143 corresponding metastatic lymph nodes were collected. The expression of LAG-3 was evaluated by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays. On univariate analysis, LAG-3 + TILs in the intraepithelial and stromal compartments of primary tumors and in the intraepithelial and extraepithelial compartments of metastatic lymph nodes were associated with improved disease-specific survival (DSS). On multivariate analysis, stromal LAG-3 + TILs were a significant independent predictor of improved DSS (hazard ratio [HR], 0.59; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.43-0.82; P = .002). Stromal LAG-3 + TILs did not have prognostic impact across all pathologic stages. In the metastatic lymph nodes, intraepithelial (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.38-0.99; P = .049) and extraepithelial (HR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.29-0.70; P < .001) LAG-3 + TILs were independently associated with favorable DSS. LAG-3 + TILs are an independent positive prognostic factor in stage I-IIIB NSCLC. LAG-3 in metastatic lymph nodes is a candidate marker for an immunoscore in NSCLC. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Distributed estimation of sensors position in underwater wireless sensor network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zandi, Rahman; Kamarei, Mahmoud; Amiri, Hadi

2016-05-01

In this paper, a localisation method for determining the position of fixed sensor nodes in an underwater wireless sensor network (UWSN) is introduced. In this simple and range-free scheme, the node localisation is achieved by utilising an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that transverses through the network deployment area, and that periodically emits a message block via four directional acoustic beams. A message block contains the actual known AUV position as well as a directional dependent marker that allows a node to identify the respective transmit beam. The beams form a fixed angle with the AUV body. If a node passively receives message blocks, it could calculate the arithmetic mean of the coordinates existing in each messages sequence, to find coordinates at two different time instants via two different successive beams. The node position can be derived from the two computed positions of the AUV. The major advantage of the proposed localisation algorithm is that it is silent, which leads to energy efficiency for sensor nodes. The proposed method does not require any synchronisation among the nodes owing to being silent. Simulation results, using MATLAB, demonstrated that the proposed method had better performance than other similar AUV-based localisation methods in terms of the rates of well-localised sensor nodes and positional root mean square error.

Risk of Subclinical Micrometastatic Disease in the Supraclavicular Nodal Bed According to the Anatomic Distribution in Patients With Advanced Breast Cancer

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

Reed, Valerie K.; Cavalcanti, Jose L.; Strom, Eric A.

Purpose: To determine the anatomic distribution of gross supraclavicular nodes within the supraclavicular fossa using 2-deoxy-2-[F-18] fluoro-d-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans, and to evaluate likely coverage of specific regions of the supraclavicular fossa using standard radiation fields. Methods and Materials: We identified 33 patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer who had a PET/CT scan demonstrating hypermetabolic supraclavicular lymph nodes in 2005. The locations of the involved lymph nodes were mapped onto a single CT set of images of the supraclavicular fossa. These lymph nodes were also mapped onto the treatment-planning CT dataset of 4 patients treatedmore » in our institution (2 patients with biopsy-proven supraclavicular nodes and 2 patients with clinically negative supraclavicular nodes). Results: We were able to determine the distribution of 52 supraclavicular lymph nodes in 32 patients. Of 32 patients, 28 (87%) had a history of metastatic disease, and 2 patients had isolated nodal recurrences. Five patients had supraclavicular nodes posterior to the vertebral body transverse process, and several lymph nodes were in close proximity to the medial field border, raising the possibility of geographic miss in these areas. Conclusions: In patients with locally advanced disease, increased coverage of the supraclavicular fossa medially and posteriorly may be warranted.« less

Extraction and Characterization of Lipids from Salicornia virginica and Salicornia europaea

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kulis,Michael J.; Hepp, Aloysius F.; Pham, Phong X.; Ribita, Daniela; Bomani, Bilal M. M.; Duraj, Stan A.

2010-01-01

The lipid content from Salicornia virginica and Salicornia europaea is investigated. The plants are leafless halophytes with seeds contained in terminal nodes. The lipids, in the form of cell membranes and oil bodies that come directly from the node cells, are observed using fluorescence microscopy. Two extraction methods as well as the results of extracting from the seeds and from the entire nodes are described. Characterization of the fatty acid components of the lipids using Gas Chromatography in tandem with Mass Spectroscopy is also described. Comparisons are made between the two methods and between the two plant materials as lipid sources.

A Very Low Power MAC (VLPM) Protocol for Wireless Body Area Networks

PubMed Central

Ullah, Niamat; Khan, Pervez; Kwak, Kyung Sup

2011-01-01

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) consist of a limited number of battery operated nodes that are used to monitor the vital signs of a patient over long periods of time without restricting the patient’s movements. They are an easy and fast way to diagnose the patient’s status and to consult the doctor. Device as well as network lifetime are among the most important factors in a WBAN. Prolonging the lifetime of the WBAN strongly depends on controlling the energy consumption of sensor nodes. To achieve energy efficiency, low duty cycle MAC protocols are used, but for medical applications, especially in the case of pacemakers where data have time-limited relevance, these protocols increase latency which is highly undesirable and leads to system instability. In this paper, we propose a low power MAC protocol (VLPM) based on existing wakeup radio approaches which reduce energy consumption as well as improving the response time of a node. We categorize the traffic into uplink and downlink traffic. The nodes are equipped with both a low power wake-up transmitter and receiver. The low power wake-up receiver monitors the activity on channel all the time with a very low power and keeps the MCU (Micro Controller Unit) along with main radio in sleep mode. When a node [BN or BNC (BAN Coordinator)] wants to communicate with another node, it uses the low-power radio to send a wakeup packet, which will prompt the receiver to power up its primary radio to listen for the message that follows shortly. The wake-up packet contains the desired node’s ID along with some other information to let the targeted node to wake-up and take part in communication and let all other nodes to go to sleep mode quickly. The VLPM protocol is proposed for applications having low traffic conditions. For high traffic rates, optimization is needed. Analytical results show that the proposed protocol outperforms both synchronized and unsynchronized MAC protocols like T-MAC, SCP-MAC, B-MAC and X-MAC in terms of energy consumption and response time. PMID:22163818

Penile Cancer: Contemporary Lymph Node Management.

PubMed

O'Brien, Jonathan S; Perera, Marlon; Manning, Todd; Bozin, Mike; Cabarkapa, Sonja; Chen, Emily; Lawrentschuk, Nathan

2017-06-01

In penile cancer, the optimal diagnostics and management of metastatic lymph nodes are not clear. Advances in minimally invasive staging, including dynamic sentinel lymph node biopsy, have widened the diagnostic repertoire of the urologist. We aimed to provide an objective update of the recent trends in the management of penile squamous cell carcinoma, and inguinal and pelvic lymph node metastases. We systematically reviewed several medical databases, including the Web of Science® (with MEDLINE®), Embase® and Cochrane databases, according to PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. The search terms used were penile cancer, lymph node, sentinel node, minimally invasive, surgery and outcomes, alone and in combination. Articles pertaining to the management of lymph nodes in penile cancer were reviewed, including original research, reviews and clinical guidelines published between 1980 and 2016. Accurate and minimally invasive lymph node staging is of the utmost importance in the surgical management of penile squamous cell carcinoma. In patients with clinically node negative disease, a growing body of evidence supports the use of sentinel lymph node biopsies. Dynamic sentinel lymph node biopsy exposes the patient to minimal risk, and results in superior sensitivity and specificity profiles compared to alternate nodal staging techniques. In the presence of locoregional disease, improvements in inguinal or pelvic lymphadenectomy have reduced morbidity and improved oncologic outcomes. A multimodal approach of chemotherapy and surgery has demonstrated a survival benefit for patients with advanced disease. Recent developments in lymph node management have occurred in penile cancer, such as minimally invasive lymph node diagnosis and intervention strategies. These advances have been met with a degree of controversy in the contemporary literature. Current data suggest that dynamic sentinel lymph node biopsy provides excellent sensitivity and specificity for detecting lymph node metastases. More robust long-term data on multicenter patient cohorts are required to determine the optimal management of lymph nodes in penile cancer. Copyright © 2017 American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Migrating the Dawn Data Archive to the PDS4 Standard

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joy, S. P.; Mafi, J. N.; King, T. A.; Raymond, C. A.; Russell, C. T.

2017-12-01

The Dawn mission was proposed prior to the development of the PDS4 standard and all of its data are archived at the PDS Small Bodies Node (SBN) using the older PDS3 standard. Plans to migrate the existing PDS archives to PDS4 have been discussed within PDS for some time, and have been reemphasized in the PDS Roadmap Study for 2017 - 2026 (https://pds.nasa.gov/roadmap/PlanetaryDataSystemRMS17-26_20jun17.pdf). Updating the Dawn metadata to PDS4 would enable users of those data to take advantage of new capabilities offered by PDS4, and insure the full compatibility of past archives with current and future PDS4 tools and services. The Dawn data themselves will not require any reformatting during the migration to PDS4. The data and documentation will need to be reorganized and the metadata enhanced to fill in the gaps in the PDS3 metadata. The planned migration to PDS4 would be primarily carried out at the Dawn Science Center (DSC) at UCLA but the activity will require close coordination with the PDS-SBN. The PDS4 standard allows individual nodes to customize the metadata through the use of optional parameters and local data dictionaries to satisfy discipline and mission specific search and retrieval requirements and support node tools and services. The DSC shares much of its staff with the Planetary Plasma Interactions (PPI) Node of the PDS. This sharing of personnel means that the DSC staff are well versed in the PDS4 standard, have actively participated in the development of this standard, and are fully trained in the use of PPI tools for PDS4 metadata migration and/or generation. The combination of PDS4 training and detailed understanding of the Dawn mission, instruments, and datasets makes the DSC the most cost-effective organization to migrate these data to PDS4.

[Peripheral lymphadenopathy in childhood--recommendations for diagnostic evaluation].

PubMed

Benesch, M; Kerbl, R; Wirnsberger, A; Stünzner, D; Mangge, H; Schenkeli, R; Deutsch, J

2000-01-01

Enlargement of peripheral lymph nodes most commonly caused by a local inflammatory process is frequently seen in childhood. The aim of the present study was to analyze the most common causes of peripheral lymphadenopathy and to develop a simple algorithm for the primary diagnostic evaluation of peripheral lymph node enlargement in this age group. Between April and September 1999 87 unselected children (median age: 5 1/2 years) with peripheral lymphadenopathy were referred to the Department of Pediatrics, University of Graz, for further investigation. EBV infection was diagnosed in 20 (23.0%) children. 19 (21.8%) patients had acute bacterial lymphadenitis. In 21 (24.1%) patients lymph node enlargement was classified as "post/parainfectious (viral)". Four patients each had toxoplasmosis and cat scratch disease. In 11 (12.6%) patients neither physical nor laboratory examinations revealed pathologic results. Among the remaining 8 children sarcoidosis and Hodgkin disease was diagnosed in one patient each. Small, soft, mobile, nontender, cervical, axillary or inguinal lymph nodes do not require further investigations. In case of enlarged, tender lymph nodes with overlying skin erythema and fever diagnostic evaluation should include complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and/or c-reactive protein level, supplemented by appropriate antibody testing (EBV, CMV, Toxoplasma gondii, Bartonella henselae). Firm, enlarged, painless lymph nodes which are matted together and fixed to the skin or underlying tissues necessitate a more detailed diagnostic evaluation in order to exclude malignant or granulomatous diseases. Our study demonstrated that primary diagnostic evaluation of childhood peripheral lymphadenopathy is mainly based on clinical grounds. In most cases a small number of additionally performed laboratory tests allow to correctly identify the cause of the peripheral lymph node enlargement.

Aggressive rat prostate tumors reprogram the benign parts of the prostate and regional lymph nodes prior to metastasis

PubMed Central

Thysell, Elin; Halin Bergström, Sofia; Bergh, Anders

2017-01-01

In order to grow and spread tumors need to interact with adjacent tissues. We therefore hypothesized that small but aggressive prostate cancers influence the rest of the prostate and regional lymph nodes differently than tumors that are more indolent. Poorly metastatic (Dunning AT1) or highly metastatic (Dunning MLL) rat prostate tumor cells were injected into the ventral prostate lobe of immunocompetent rats. After 10 days—when the tumors occupied about 30% of the prostate lobe and lymph node metastases were undetectable—the global gene expression in tumors, benign parts of the prostate, and regional iliac lymph nodes were examined to define tumor-induced changes related to preparation for future metastasis. The tumors induced profound effects on the gene expression profiles in the benign parts of the prostate and these were strikingly different in the two tumor models. Gene ontology enrichment analysis suggested that tumors with high metastatic capacity were more successful than less metastatic tumors in inducing tumor-promoting changes and suppressing anti-tumor immune responses in the entire prostate. Some of these differences such as altered angiogenesis, nerve density, accumulation of T-cells and macrophages were verified by immunohistochemistry. Gene expression alterations in the regional lymph nodes suggested decreased quantity and activation of immune cells in MLL-lymph nodes that were also verified by immunostaining. In summary, even when small highly metastatic prostate tumors can affect the entire tumor-bearing organ and pre-metastatic lymph nodes differently than less metastatic tumors. When the kinetics of these extratumoral influences (by us named TINT = tumor instructed normal tissue) are more precisely defined they could potentially be used as markers of disease aggressiveness and become therapeutic targets. PMID:28472073

Neural Networks for Nodal Staging of Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer with FDG PET and CT: Importance of Combining Uptake Values and Sizes of Nodes and Primary Tumor

PubMed Central

Vesselle, Hubert J.

2014-01-01

Purpose To evaluate the effect of adding lymph node size to three previously explored artificial neural network (ANN) input parameters (primary tumor maximum standardized uptake value or tumor uptake, tumor size, and nodal uptake at N1, N2, and N3 stations) in the structure of the ANN. The goal was to allow the resulting ANN structure to relate lymph node uptake for size to primary tumor uptake for size in the determination of the status of nodes as human readers do. Materials and Methods This prospective study was approved by the institutional review board, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. The authors developed a back-propagation ANN with one hidden layer and eight processing units. The data set used to train the network included node and tumor size and uptake from 133 patients with non–small cell lung cancer with surgically proved N status. Statistical analysis was performed with the paired t test. Results The ANN correctly predicted the N stage in 99.2% of cases, compared with 72.4% for the expert reader (P < .001). In categorization of N0 and N1 versus N2 and N3 disease, the ANN performed with 99.2% accuracy versus 92.2% for the expert reader (P < .001). Conclusion The ANN is 99.2% accurate in predicting surgical-pathologic nodal status with use of four fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT)–derived parameters. Malignant and benign inflammatory lymph nodes have overlapping appearances at FDG PET/CT but can be differentiated by ANNs when the crucial input of node size is used. © RSNA, 2013 Online supplemental material is available for this article. PMID:24056403

Location of Sentinel Lymph Node in Cervical Carcinoma and Factors Associated With Unilateral Detection.

PubMed

Wuntakal, Rekha; Papadopoulos, Andreas John; Montalto, Stephen Attard; Perovic, Milica; Coutts, Michael; Devaja, Omer

2015-11-01

The aims of this study were to assess locality of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) in cervical carcinoma and examine factors affecting bilateral SLN detection. This was a retrospective review of SLN data (anatomical location, count and laterality) in patients with early-stage cervical cancer (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage IA1 with lymphovascular space invasion to stage IIA) using intraoperative gamma probe and blue dye. The preoperative single-photon emission computed tomography with computed tomography was used to detect laterality, number of the SLNs, and rare locations. Patients were treated between January 2005 to January 2015 at the West Kent Gynaecological Oncology Centre, Maidstone Hospital, Maidstone, United Kingdom. A total of 132 women were investigated. The most common SLN location was the external iliac (38.6%) followed by obturator (25.3%) and internal iliac (23.6%) regions. A small percentage was identified in presacral (1.4%) and para-aortic regions (0.7%). Older age (P = 0.01) and an elevated body mass index (P = 0.03) were associated with decreased SLN count by preoperative single-photon emission computed tomography with computed tomography, and only age affected SLN count by gamma probe (P = 0.01). Initial surgery, large loop excision of the transformation zone, or cone biopsy of the cervix had no effect on SLN count. There was no difference observed in bilateral detection with respect to surgical approach (open: n = 48/laparoscopic: n = 84). However, older age was independently associated with a decrease in bilateral SLN detection (P = 0.003). In these patients who underwent unilateral full pelvic lymphadenectomy, all the nonsentinel nodes were negative. The majority of SLNs were located in the external iliac, obturator, and internal iliac regions. Both older age and an elevated body mass index were associated with a reduced SLN count. Unilateral detection of SLN was independently associated with older age, which may be due to sclerosis in the lymphatic vessels or reduced perfusion in the pelvis in these women. If no SLN is detected on one side, the consensus is to perform a full pelvic lymphadenectomy on that side of the pelvis.

Adjustable bias column end joint assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wallsom, Richard E. (Inventor); Bush, Harold G. (Inventor)

1994-01-01

An adjustable mechanical end joint system for connecting structural column elements and eliminating the possibility of free movement between joint halves during loading or vibration has a node joint body having a cylindrical engaging end and a column end body having a cylindrical engaging end. The column end joint body has a compressible preload mechanism and plunger means housed therein. The compressible preload mechanism may be adjusted from the exterior of the column end joint body through a port.

Resilience of networks to environmental stress: From regular to random networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eom, Young-Ho

2018-04-01

Despite the huge interest in network resilience to stress, most of the studies have concentrated on internal stress damaging network structure (e.g., node removals). Here we study how networks respond to environmental stress deteriorating their external conditions. We show that, when regular networks gradually disintegrate as environmental stress increases, disordered networks can suddenly collapse at critical stress with hysteresis and vulnerability to perturbations. We demonstrate that this difference results from a trade-off between node resilience and network resilience to environmental stress. The nodes in the disordered networks can suppress their collapses due to the small-world topology of the networks but eventually collapse all together in return. Our findings indicate that some real networks can be highly resilient against environmental stress to a threshold yet extremely vulnerable to the stress above the threshold because of their small-world topology.

Conformist-contrarian interactions and amplitude dependence in the Kuramoto model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lohe, M. A.

2014-11-01

We derive exact formulas for the frequency of synchronized oscillations in Kuramoto models with conformist-contrarian interactions, and determine necessary conditions for synchronization to occur. Numerical computations show that for certain parameters repulsive nodes behave as conformists, and that in other cases attractive nodes can display frustration, being neither conformist nor contrarian. The signs of repulsive couplings can be placed equivalently outside the sum, as proposed in Hong and Strogatz (2011 Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 054102), or inside the sum as in Hong and Strogatz (2012 Phys. Rev. E 85 056210), but the two models have different characteristics for small magnitudes of the coupling constants. In the latter case we show that the distributed coupling constants can be viewed as oscillator amplitudes which are constant in time, with the property that oscillators of small amplitude couple only weakly to connected nodes. Such models provide a means of investigating the effect of amplitude variations on synchronization properties.

Microfluidic ultrasonic particle separators with engineered node locations and geometries

DOEpatents

Rose, Klint A.; Fisher, Karl A.; Wajda, Douglas A.; Mariella, Jr., Raymond P.; Bailey, Christopher; Dehlinger, Dietrich; Shusteff, Maxim; Jung, Byoungsok; Ness, Kevin D.

2016-04-26

An ultrasonic microfluidic system includes a separation channel for conveying a sample fluid containing small particles and large particles, flowing substantially parallel, adjacent to a recovery fluid, with which it is in contact. An acoustic transducer produces an ultrasound standing wave, that generates a pressure field having at least one node of minimum pressure amplitude. An acoustic extension structure is located proximate to said separation channel for positioning said acoustic node off center in said acoustic area and concentrating the large particles in said recovery fluid stream.

Microfluidic ultrasonic particle separators with engineered node locations and geometries

DOEpatents

Rose, Klint A; Fisher, Karl A; Wajda, Douglas A; Mariella, Jr., Raymond P; Bailey, Christopher; Dehlinger, Dietrich; Shusteff, Maxim; Jung, Byoungsok; Ness, Kevin D

2015-03-31

An ultrasonic microfluidic system includes a separation channel for conveying a sample fluid containing small particles and large particles, flowing substantially parallel, adjacent to a recovery fluid, with which it is in contact. An acoustic transducer produces an ultrasound standing wave, that generates a pressure field having at least one node of minimum, pressure amplitude. An acoustic extension structure is located proximate to said separation channel for positioning said acoustic node off center in said acoustic area and concentrating the large particles in said recovery fluid stream.

Microfluidic ultrasonic particle separators with engineered node locations and geometries

DOEpatents

Rose, Klint A; Fisher, Karl A; Wajda, Douglas A; Mariella, Jr., Raymond P; Bailey, Christoppher; Dehlinger, Dietrich; Shusteff, Maxim; Jung, Byoungsok; Ness, Kevin D

2014-05-20

An ultrasonic microfluidic system includes a separation channel for conveying a sample fluid containing small particles and large particles, flowing substantially parallel, adjacent to a recovery fluid, with which it is in contact. An acoustic transducer produces an ultrasound standing wave, that generates a pressure field having at least one node of minimum pressure amplitude. An acoustic extension structure is located proximate to said separation channel for positioning said acoustic node off center in said acoustic area and concentrating the large particles in said recovery fluid stream.

[Measurement of intrafraction displacement of the mediastinal metastatic lymph nodes of non-small cell lung cancer based on four-dimensional computed tomography (4D-CT)].

PubMed

Wang, Su-zhen; Li, Jian-bin; Zhang, Ying-jie; Li, Feng-xiang; Wang, Wei; Liu, Tong-hai

2012-09-01

To measure the intrafraction displacement of the mediastinal metastatic lymph nodes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) based on four-dimensional computed tomography (4D-CT), and to provide the basis for the internal margin of metastatic mediastinal lymph nodes. Twenty-four NSCLC patients with mediastinal metastatic lymph nodes confirmed by contrast enhanced CT (short axis diameter ≥ 1 cm) were included in this study. 4D-CT simulation was carried out during free breathing and 10 image sets were acquired. The mediastinal metastatic lymph nodes and the dome of ipsilateral diaphragma were separately delineated on the CT images of 10 phases of breath cycle, and the lymph nodes were grouped as the upper, middle and lower mediastinal groups depending on the mediastinal station. Then the displacements of the lymph nodes in the left-right, anterior-posterior, superior-inferior directions and the 3-dimensional vector were measured. The differences of displacement in three directions for the same group of metastatic lymph nodes and in the same direction for different groups of metastatic lymph nodes were compared. The correlation between the displacement of ipsilateral diaphragma and mediastinal lymph nodes was analyzed in superior-inferior direction. The displacements in left-right, anterior-posterior and superior-inferior directions were (2.24 ± 1.55) mm, (1.87 ± 0.92) mm and (3.28 ± 2.59) mm for the total (53) mediastinal lymph nodes, respectively. The vectors were (4.70 ± 2.66) mm, (3.87 ± 2.45) mm, (4.97 ± 2.75) mm and (5.23 ± 2.67) mm for the total, upper, middle and lower mediastinal lymph nodes, respectively. For the upper mediastinal lymph nodes, the displacements in left-right, anterior-posterior and superior-inferior directions showed no significant difference between each other (P > 0.05). For the middle mediastinal lymph nodes, the displacements merely in anterior-posterior and superior-inferior directions showed significant difference (P = 0.005), while the displacements were not significantly different in the left-right and anterior-posterior, left-right and superior-inferior directions (P > 0.05). The displacements of the total and the lower mediastinal lymph nodes in left-right and superior-inferior, or anterior-posterior and superior-inferior directions were significantly different (P < 0.05), but was not significantly different in left-right and anterior-posterior directions (P > 0.05). The displacements of different group of mediastinal lymph nodes in a single direction or vector showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). In the superior-inferior direction, the correlation between the displacements of ipsilateral diaphragma and mediastinal lymph nodes were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). During free breathing, the differences between the intrafractional displacement of mediastinal metastatic lymph nodes in the same direction and its station were not statistically significant. The displacements of the total mediastinal metastatic lymph nodes in the superior-inferior direction were greater than that in the left-right and anterior-posterior directions, especially for the middle and lower mediastinal metastatic lymph nodes. There was no significant correlation between the displacements of ipsilateral diaphragma and the mediastinal metastatic lymph nodes in the superior-inferior direction, so it was unreasonable to estimate and predict the displacement of mediastinal metastatic lymph nodes by the displacement of ipsilateral diaphragma.

Structural alterations in tumor-draining lymph nodes before papillary thyroid carcinoma metastasis.

PubMed

Hinson, Andrew M; Massoll, Nicole A; Jolly, Lee Ann; Stack, Brendan C; Bodenner, Donald L; Franco, Aime T

2017-08-01

The purpose of this study was to define and characterize the thyroid tumor-draining lymph nodes in genetically engineered mice harboring thyroid-specific expression of oncogenic Braf V600E with and without Pten insufficiency. After intratumoral injection of methylene blue, the lymphatic drainage of the thyroid gland was visualized in real time. The thyroid gland/tumor was resected en bloc with the respiratory system for histological analysis. Although mice harboring Braf V600E mutations were smaller in body size compared with their wild-type (WT) littermates, the size of their thyroid glands and deep cervical lymph nodes were significantly larger. Additionally, the tumor-draining lymph nodes showed increased and enlarged lymphatic sinuses that were distributed throughout the cortex and medulla. Tumor-reactive lymphadenopathy and histiocytosis, but no frank metastases, were observed in all mice harboring Braf V600E mutations. The tumor-draining lymph nodes undergo significant structural alterations in immunocompetent mice, and this may represent a primer for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) metastasis. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Opinion formation driven by PageRank node influence on directed networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eom, Young-Ho; Shepelyansky, Dima L.

2015-10-01

We study a two states opinion formation model driven by PageRank node influence and report an extensive numerical study on how PageRank affects collective opinion formations in large-scale empirical directed networks. In our model the opinion of a node can be updated by the sum of its neighbor nodes' opinions weighted by the node influence of the neighbor nodes at each step. We consider PageRank probability and its sublinear power as node influence measures and investigate evolution of opinion under various conditions. First, we observe that all networks reach steady state opinion after a certain relaxation time. This time scale is decreasing with the heterogeneity of node influence in the networks. Second, we find that our model shows consensus and non-consensus behavior in steady state depending on types of networks: Web graph, citation network of physics articles, and LiveJournal social network show non-consensus behavior while Wikipedia article network shows consensus behavior. Third, we find that a more heterogeneous influence distribution leads to a more uniform opinion state in the cases of Web graph, Wikipedia, and Livejournal. However, the opposite behavior is observed in the citation network. Finally we identify that a small number of influential nodes can impose their own opinion on significant fraction of other nodes in all considered networks. Our study shows that the effects of heterogeneity of node influence on opinion formation can be significant and suggests further investigations on the interplay between node influence and collective opinion in networks.

Metastatic patterns and metastatic sites in mucosal melanoma: a retrospective study.

PubMed

Grözinger, Gerd; Mann, Steven; Mehra, Tarun; Klumpp, Bernhard; Grosse, Ulrich; Nikolaou, Konstantin; Garbe, Claus; Clasen, Stephan

2016-06-01

Melanomas arising from mucosa are rare and associated with a poor prognosis. This study aims to provide an analysis of metastatic pathways, time intervals, factors influencing metastatic spread and organs for distant metastases. A total of 116 patients with mucosal melanomas of different sites were included. The mean follow-up interval was 47 ± 52 months. Patients were assigned to two different metastatic pathways, either presenting loco-regional lymph node metastases as first spread or direct distant metastases. The distribution of distant metastases was assessed. Twenty-six patients presented with a pre-existing metastatic spread and were not assigned to pathways. Of the included patients, 44 developed metastases after treatment of the primary tumour; 25 patients directly developed distant metastases; 16 patients developed regional lymph node metastases prior to distant metastases. Location of the primary tumour in the upper airway or GI tract and advanced T stage were significant risk factors of direct distant metastases. Distant metastases are mainly located in the lung, the liver and non-regional lymph nodes. Mucosal melanomas show a high rate of direct distant metastases rather than regional lymph node metastases. Thus the follow-up should always include a whole-body cross-sectional imaging in high-risk tumours. • Mucosal melanomas show a high rate of direct distant metastases. • T stage and primary location are predictors for direct distant metastases. • Distant metastases were mainly found in lung, liver and lymph nodes. • Follow-up of a high-risk mucosal melanoma should include whole-body imaging.

Rapid identifying high-influence nodes in complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Bo; Jiang, Guo-Ping; Song, Yu-Rong; Xia, Ling-Ling

2015-10-01

A tiny fraction of influential individuals play a critical role in the dynamics on complex systems. Identifying the influential nodes in complex networks has theoretical and practical significance. Considering the uncertainties of network scale and topology, and the timeliness of dynamic behaviors in real networks, we propose a rapid identifying method (RIM) to find the fraction of high-influential nodes. Instead of ranking all nodes, our method only aims at ranking a small number of nodes in network. We set the high-influential nodes as initial spreaders, and evaluate the performance of RIM by the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model. The simulations show that in different networks, RIM performs well on rapid identifying high-influential nodes, which is verified by typical ranking methods, such as degree, closeness, betweenness, and eigenvector centrality methods. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61374180 and 61373136), the Ministry of Education Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences Planning Fund Project, China (Grant No. 12YJAZH120), and the Six Projects Sponsoring Talent Summits of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. RLD201212).

Design of Secure ECG-Based Biometric Authentication in Body Area Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Peter, Steffen; Pratap Reddy, Bhanu; Momtaz, Farshad; Givargis, Tony

2016-01-01

Body area sensor networks (BANs) utilize wireless communicating sensor nodes attached to a human body for convenience, safety, and health applications. Physiological characteristics of the body, such as the heart rate or Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals, are promising means to simplify the setup process and to improve security of BANs. This paper describes the design and implementation steps required to realize an ECG-based authentication protocol to identify sensor nodes attached to the same human body. Therefore, the first part of the paper addresses the design of a body-area sensor system, including the hardware setup, analogue and digital signal processing, and required ECG feature detection techniques. A model-based design flow is applied, and strengths and limitations of each design step are discussed. Real-world measured data originating from the implemented sensor system are then used to set up and parametrize a novel physiological authentication protocol for BANs. The authentication protocol utilizes statistical properties of expected and detected deviations to limit the number of false positive and false negative authentication attempts. The result of the described holistic design effort is the first practical implementation of biometric authentication in BANs that reflects timing and data uncertainties in the physical and cyber parts of the system. PMID:27110785

Design of Secure ECG-Based Biometric Authentication in Body Area Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Peter, Steffen; Reddy, Bhanu Pratap; Momtaz, Farshad; Givargis, Tony

2016-04-22

Body area sensor networks (BANs) utilize wireless communicating sensor nodes attached to a human body for convenience, safety, and health applications. Physiological characteristics of the body, such as the heart rate or Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals, are promising means to simplify the setup process and to improve security of BANs. This paper describes the design and implementation steps required to realize an ECG-based authentication protocol to identify sensor nodes attached to the same human body. Therefore, the first part of the paper addresses the design of a body-area sensor system, including the hardware setup, analogue and digital signal processing, and required ECG feature detection techniques. A model-based design flow is applied, and strengths and limitations of each design step are discussed. Real-world measured data originating from the implemented sensor system are then used to set up and parametrize a novel physiological authentication protocol for BANs. The authentication protocol utilizes statistical properties of expected and detected deviations to limit the number of false positive and false negative authentication attempts. The result of the described holistic design effort is the first practical implementation of biometric authentication in BANs that reflects timing and data uncertainties in the physical and cyber parts of the system.

Link-state-estimation-based transmission power control in wireless body area networks.

PubMed

Kim, Seungku; Eom, Doo-Seop

2014-07-01

This paper presents a novel transmission power control protocol to extend the lifetime of sensor nodes and to increase the link reliability in wireless body area networks (WBANs). We first experimentally investigate the properties of the link states using the received signal strength indicator (RSSI). We then propose a practical transmission power control protocol based on both short- and long-term link-state estimations. Both the short- and long-term link-state estimations enable the transceiver to adapt the transmission power level and target the RSSI threshold range, respectively, to simultaneously satisfy the requirements of energy efficiency and link reliability. Finally, the performance of the proposed protocol is experimentally evaluated in two experimental scenarios-body posture change and dynamic body motion-and compared with the typical WBAN transmission power control protocols, a real-time reactive scheme, and a dynamic postural position inference mechanism. From the experimental results, it is found that the proposed protocol increases the lifetime of the sensor nodes by a maximum of 9.86% and enhances the link reliability by reducing the packet loss by a maximum of 3.02%.

Murine chronic lymph node window for longitudinal intravital lymph node imaging.

PubMed

Meijer, Eelco F J; Jeong, Han-Sin; Pereira, Ethel R; Ruggieri, Thomas A; Blatter, Cedric; Vakoc, Benjamin J; Padera, Timothy P

2017-08-01

Chronic imaging windows in mice have been developed to allow intravital microscopy of many different organs and have proven to be of paramount importance in advancing our knowledge of normal and disease processes. A model system that allows long-term intravital imaging of lymph nodes would facilitate the study of cell behavior in lymph nodes during the generation of immune responses in a variety of disease settings and during the formation of metastatic lesions in cancer-bearing mice. We describe a chronic lymph node window (CLNW) surgical preparation that allows intravital imaging of the inguinal lymph node in mice. The CLNW is custom-made from titanium and incorporates a standard coverslip. It allows stable longitudinal imaging without the need for serial surgeries while preserving lymph node blood and lymph flow. We also describe how to build and use an imaging stage specifically designed for the CLNW to prevent (large) rotational changes as well as respiratory movement during imaging. The entire procedure takes approximately half an hour per mouse, and subsequently allows for longitudinal intravital imaging of the murine lymph node and surrounding structures for up to 14 d. Small-animal surgery experience is required to successfully carry out the protocol.

Pathological characteristics and clinical specifications in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: a study of 68 cases.

PubMed

Stoica-Mustafa, Elena; Pechianu, C; Iorgescu, Andreea; Hortopan, Monica; Dima, Simona Olimpia; Tomulescu, V; Dumitraşcu, T; Ungureanu, C; Andronesi, D; Popescu, I; Herlea, V

2012-01-01

Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) represent a group of tumors, having their origin in cells of diffuse endocrine system, with particular clinical course, diagnosis and treatment. In our study, were included 68 patients with neuroendocrine digestive tumors admitted, diagnosed and treated in Fundeni Clinical Institute, Bucharest, in the last ten years--2000-2010 (retrospective study). Thirty-three (49%) patients were males, 35 (51%) females, and the main age was 58.9 years. In 62 (90.3%) cases was possible to find the primary tumor. The examined tumors had different localizations: pancreas--32 (47.04%) cases (head--17 (24.99%) cases, and body and tail--15 (22.05%) cases), stomach--7 (10.29%) cases, small intestine--7 (10.29%) cases, 6 (8.82%) cases--unknown primary site (diagnosis was established on metastases), right colon--6 (8.82%) cases, liver--6 (8.82%) cases, rectum--2 (2.94%) cases, and retroperitoneum--2 (2.94%) cases. Microscopic examination revealed 59 (86.8%) malignant tumors and 9 (13.2%) benign tumors. Using WHO 2000 Classification, 28 cases of malignant tumors were well-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas, and 31 cases were poor differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas. From malignant cases, 25 (42.3%) have distant metastases and 15 (25.9%) lymph node metastases. Cases of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors included in our study had clinical and histopathological features in correspondence with data from literature--slight predominance in women, predominance in 5th and 6th decades of life, the most frequent localizations were at pancreatic level--both head and body and tail, but the rarest were in colon and retroperitoneum. Most of the cases studied, were malignant tumors, from these more than a half were poor differentiated, and a quarter of them having lymph node or distant metastases.

Linking pain and the body: neural correlates of visually induced analgesia.

PubMed

Longo, Matthew R; Iannetti, Gian Domenico; Mancini, Flavia; Driver, Jon; Haggard, Patrick

2012-02-22

The visual context of seeing the body can reduce the experience of acute pain, producing a multisensory analgesia. Here we investigated the neural correlates of this "visually induced analgesia" using fMRI. We induced acute pain with an infrared laser while human participants looked either at their stimulated right hand or at another object. Behavioral results confirmed the expected analgesic effect of seeing the body, while fMRI results revealed an associated reduction of laser-induced activity in ipsilateral primary somatosensory cortex (SI) and contralateral operculoinsular cortex during the visual context of seeing the body. We further identified two known cortical networks activated by sensory stimulation: (1) a set of brain areas consistently activated by painful stimuli (the so-called "pain matrix"), and (2) an extensive set of posterior brain areas activated by the visual perception of the body ("visual body network"). Connectivity analyses via psychophysiological interactions revealed that the visual context of seeing the body increased effective connectivity (i.e., functional coupling) between posterior parietal nodes of the visual body network and the purported pain matrix. Increased connectivity with these posterior parietal nodes was seen for several pain-related regions, including somatosensory area SII, anterior and posterior insula, and anterior cingulate cortex. These findings suggest that visually induced analgesia does not involve an overall reduction of the cortical response elicited by laser stimulation, but is consequent to the interplay between the brain's pain network and a posterior network for body perception, resulting in modulation of the experience of pain.

Fermi-Dirac statistics and traffic in complex networks.

PubMed

de Moura, Alessandro P S

2005-06-01

We propose an idealized model for traffic in a network, in which many particles move randomly from node to node, following the network's links, and it is assumed that at most one particle can occupy any given node. This is intended to mimic the finite forwarding capacity of nodes in communication networks, thereby allowing the possibility of congestion and jamming phenomena. We show that the particles behave like free fermions, with appropriately defined energy-level structure and temperature. The statistical properties of this system are thus given by the corresponding Fermi-Dirac distribution. We use this to obtain analytical expressions for dynamical quantities of interest, such as the mean occupation of each node and the transport efficiency, for different network topologies and particle densities. We show that the subnetwork of free nodes always fragments into small isolated clusters for a sufficiently large number of particles, implying a communication breakdown at some density for all network topologies. These results are compared to direct simulations.

An Efficient Next Hop Selection Algorithm for Multi-Hop Body Area Networks

PubMed Central

Ayatollahitafti, Vahid; Ngadi, Md Asri; Mohamad Sharif, Johan bin; Abdullahi, Mohammed

2016-01-01

Body Area Networks (BANs) consist of various sensors which gather patient’s vital signs and deliver them to doctors. One of the most significant challenges faced, is the design of an energy-efficient next hop selection algorithm to satisfy Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for different healthcare applications. In this paper, a novel efficient next hop selection algorithm is proposed in multi-hop BANs. This algorithm uses the minimum hop count and a link cost function jointly in each node to choose the best next hop node. The link cost function includes the residual energy, free buffer size, and the link reliability of the neighboring nodes, which is used to balance the energy consumption and to satisfy QoS requirements in terms of end to end delay and reliability. Extensive simulation experiments were performed to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm using the NS-2 simulator. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm provides significant improvement in terms of energy consumption, number of packets forwarded, end to end delay and packet delivery ratio compared to the existing routing protocol. PMID:26771586

Adjuvant chemotherapy versus chemoradiotherapy for small cell lung cancer with lymph node metastasis: a retrospective observational study with use of a national database in Japan.

PubMed

Urushiyama, Hirokazu; Jo, Taisuke; Yasunaga, Hideo; Yamauchi, Yasuhiro; Matsui, Hiroki; Hasegawa, Wakae; Takeshima, Hideyuki; Hiraishi, Yoshihisa; Mitani, Akihisa; Fushimi, Kiyohide; Nagase, Takahide

2017-09-02

The optimal postoperative treatment strategy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) remains unclear, especially in patients with lymph node metastasis. We aimed to compare the outcomes of patients with SCLC and lymph node metastasis treated with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. We retrospectively collected data on patients with postoperative SCLC diagnosed with N1 and N2 lymph node metastasis from the Diagnosis Procedure Combination database in Japan, between July 2010 and March 2015. We extracted data on patient age, sex, comorbidities, and TNM classification at lung surgery; operative procedures, chemotherapy drugs, and radiotherapy during hospitalization; and discharge status. Recurrence-free survival was compared between the chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy groups using multivariable Cox regression analysis. Median recurrence-free survival was 1146 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 885-1407) in the chemotherapy group (n = 489) and 873 days (95% CI, 464-1282) in the chemoradiotherapy group (n = 75). There was no significant difference between these after adjusting for patient backgrounds (hazard ratio, 1.29; 95% CI, 0.91-1.84). There was no significant difference in recurrence-free survival between patients with SCLC and N1-2 lymph node metastasis treated with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy. Further randomized clinical trials are needed to address this issue.

Highly Branched Phenotype of the Petunia dad1-1 Mutant Is Reversed by Grafting.

PubMed Central

Napoli, C.

1996-01-01

The recessive dad1-1 allele conditions a highly branched growth habit resulting from a proliferation of first- and second-order branches. Unlike the wild-type parent, which has lateral branching delayed until the third or fourth leaf node distal to the cotyledons, dad1-1 initiates lateral branching from each cotyledon axil. In addition to initiating lateral branching sooner than the wild type, dad1-1 sustains branching through more nodes on the main shoot axis than the wild type. In keeping with a propensity for branching at basal nodes, dad1-1 produces second-order branches at the proximal-most nodes on first-order branches and small shoots from accessory buds at basal nodes on the main shoot axis. Additional traits associated with the mutation are late flowering, adventitious root formation, shortened internodes, and mild leaf chlorosis. Graft studies show that a dad1-1 scion, when grafted onto wild-type stock, is converted to a phenotype resembling the wild type. Furthermore, a small wild-type interstock fragment inserted between a mutant root stock and a mutant scion is sufficient to convert the dad1-1 scion from mutant to a near wild-type appearance. The recessive dad1-1 phenotype combines traits associated with cytokinin overexpression, auxin overexpression, and gibberellin limitation, which suggests a complex interaction of hormones in establishing the mutant phenotype. PMID:12226274

Potential and challenges of body area networks for personal health.

PubMed

Penders, Julien; van de Molengraft, Jef; Brown, Lindsay; Grundlehner, Bernard; Gyselinckx, Bert; Van Hoof, Chris

2009-01-01

This paper illustrates how body area network technology may enable new personal health concepts. A BAN technology platform is presented, which integrates technology building blocks from the Human++ research program on autonomous wireless sensors. Technology evaluation for the case of wireless sleep staging and real-time arousal monitoring is reported. Key technology challenges are discussed. The ultimate target is the development of miniaturized body sensor nodes powered by body-energy, anticipating the needs of emerging personal health applications.

Scale-free networks which are highly assortative but not small world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Small, Michael; Xu, Xiaoke; Zhou, Jin; Zhang, Jie; Sun, Junfeng; Lu, Jun-An

2008-06-01

Uncorrelated scale-free networks are necessarily small world (and, in fact, smaller than small world). Nonetheless, for scale-free networks with correlated degree distribution this may not be the case. We describe a mechanism to generate highly assortative scale-free networks which are not small world. We show that it is possible to generate scale-free networks, with arbitrary degree exponent γ>1 , such that the average distance between nodes in the network is large. To achieve this, nodes are not added to the network with preferential attachment. Instead, we greedily optimize the assortativity of the network. The network generation scheme is physically motivated, and we show that the recently observed global network of Avian Influenza outbreaks arises through a mechanism similar to what we present here. Simulations show that this network exhibits very similar physical characteristics (very high assortativity, clustering, and path length).

Lymphedema

MedlinePlus

... body. Specific causes of primary lymphedema include: Milroy's disease (congenital lymphedema). This disorder begins in infancy and causes lymph nodes to form abnormally. Meige's disease (lymphedema praecox). This disorder often causes lymphedema around ...

Sentinel node detection in pre-operative axillary staging.

PubMed

Trifirò, Giuseppe; Viale, Giuseppe; Gentilini, Oreste; Travaini, Laura Lavinia; Paganelli, Giovanni

2004-06-01

The concept of sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer surgery is based on the fact that the tumour drains in a logical way via the lymphatic system, from the first to upper levels. Since axillary node dissection does not improve the prognosis of patients with breast cancer, sentinel lymph node biopsy might replace complete axillary dissection for staging of the axilla in clinically N0 patients. Sentinel lymph node biopsy would represent a significant advantage as a minimally invasive procedure, considering that about 70% of patients are found to be free from metastatic disease, yet axillary node dissection can lead to significant morbidity. Subdermal or peritumoural injection of small aliquots (and very low activity) of radiotracer is preferred to intratumoural administration, and (99m)Tc-labelled colloids with most of the particles in the 100-200 nm size range would be ideal for radioguided sentinel node biopsy in breast cancer. The success rate of radioguidance in localising the sentinel lymph node in breast cancer surgery is about 97% in institutions where a high number of procedures are performed, and the success rate of lymphoscintigraphy in sentinel node detection is about 100%. The sentinel lymph node should be processed for intraoperative frozen section examination in its entirety, based on conventional histopathology and, when necessary, immune staining with anti-cytokeratin antibody. Nowadays, lymphoscintigraphy is a useful procedure in patients with different clinical evidence of breast cancer.

Adaptive Aggregation Routing to Reduce Delay for Multi-Layer Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Li, Xujing; Liu, Anfeng; Xie, Mande; Xiong, Neal N; Zeng, Zhiwen; Cai, Zhiping

2018-04-16

The quality of service (QoS) regarding delay, lifetime and reliability is the key to the application of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Data aggregation is a method to effectively reduce the data transmission volume and improve the lifetime of a network. In the previous study, a common strategy required that data wait in the queue. When the length of the queue is greater than or equal to the predetermined aggregation threshold ( N t ) or the waiting time is equal to the aggregation timer ( T t ), data are forwarded at the expense of an increase in the delay. The primary contributions of the proposed Adaptive Aggregation Routing (AAR) scheme are the following: (a) the senders select the forwarding node dynamically according to the length of the data queue, which effectively reduces the delay. In the AAR scheme, the senders send data to the nodes with a long data queue. The advantages are that first, the nodes with a long data queue need a small amount of data to perform aggregation; therefore, the transmitted data can be fully utilized to make these nodes aggregate. Second, this scheme balances the aggregating and data sending load; thus, the lifetime increases. (b) An improved AAR scheme is proposed to improve the QoS. The aggregation deadline ( T t ) and the aggregation threshold ( N t ) are dynamically changed in the network. In WSNs, nodes far from the sink have residual energy because these nodes transmit less data than the other nodes. In the improved AAR scheme, the nodes far from the sink have a small value of T t and N t to reduce delay, and the nodes near the sink are set to a large value of T t and N t to reduce energy consumption. Thus, the end to end delay is reduced, a longer lifetime is achieved, and the residual energy is fully used. Simulation results demonstrate that compared with the previous scheme, the performance of the AAR scheme is improved. This scheme reduces the delay by 14.91%, improves the lifetime by 30.91%, and increases energy efficiency by 76.40%.

Adaptive Aggregation Routing to Reduce Delay for Multi-Layer Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Li, Xujing; Xie, Mande; Zeng, Zhiwen; Cai, Zhiping

2018-01-01

The quality of service (QoS) regarding delay, lifetime and reliability is the key to the application of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Data aggregation is a method to effectively reduce the data transmission volume and improve the lifetime of a network. In the previous study, a common strategy required that data wait in the queue. When the length of the queue is greater than or equal to the predetermined aggregation threshold (Nt) or the waiting time is equal to the aggregation timer (Tt), data are forwarded at the expense of an increase in the delay. The primary contributions of the proposed Adaptive Aggregation Routing (AAR) scheme are the following: (a) the senders select the forwarding node dynamically according to the length of the data queue, which effectively reduces the delay. In the AAR scheme, the senders send data to the nodes with a long data queue. The advantages are that first, the nodes with a long data queue need a small amount of data to perform aggregation; therefore, the transmitted data can be fully utilized to make these nodes aggregate. Second, this scheme balances the aggregating and data sending load; thus, the lifetime increases. (b) An improved AAR scheme is proposed to improve the QoS. The aggregation deadline (Tt) and the aggregation threshold (Nt) are dynamically changed in the network. In WSNs, nodes far from the sink have residual energy because these nodes transmit less data than the other nodes. In the improved AAR scheme, the nodes far from the sink have a small value of Tt and Nt to reduce delay, and the nodes near the sink are set to a large value of Tt and Nt to reduce energy consumption. Thus, the end to end delay is reduced, a longer lifetime is achieved, and the residual energy is fully used. Simulation results demonstrate that compared with the previous scheme, the performance of the AAR scheme is improved. This scheme reduces the delay by 14.91%, improves the lifetime by 30.91%, and increases energy efficiency by 76.40%. PMID:29659535

A wireless modular multi-modal multi-node patch platform for robust biosignal monitoring.

PubMed

Pantelopoulos, Alexandros; Saldivar, Enrique; Roham, Masoud

2011-01-01

In this paper a wireless modular, multi-modal, multi-node patch platform is described. The platform comprises low-cost semi-disposable patch design aiming at unobtrusive ambulatory monitoring of multiple physiological parameters. Owing to its modular design it can be interfaced with various low-power RF communication and data storage technologies, while the data fusion of multi-modal and multi-node features facilitates measurement of several biosignals from multiple on-body locations for robust feature extraction. Preliminary results of the patch platform are presented which illustrate the capability to extract respiration rate from three different independent metrics, which combined together can give a more robust estimate of the actual respiratory rate.

The Robustness Analysis of Wireless Sensor Networks under Uncertain Interference

PubMed Central

Deng, Changjian

2013-01-01

Based on the complex network theory, robustness analysis of condition monitoring wireless sensor network under uncertain interference is present. In the evolution of the topology of sensor networks, the density weighted algebraic connectivity is taken into account, and the phenomenon of removing and repairing the link and node in the network is discussed. Numerical simulation is conducted to explore algebraic connectivity characteristics and network robustness performance. It is found that nodes density has the effect on algebraic connectivity distribution in the random graph model; high density nodes carry more connections, use more throughputs, and may be more unreliable. Moreover, the results show that, when network should be more error tolerant or robust by repairing nodes or adding new nodes, the network should be better clustered in median and high scale wireless sensor networks and be meshing topology in small scale networks. PMID:24363613

Magnetic sensor nodes for enhanced situational awareness in urban settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trammell, Hoke; Shelby, Richard; Mathis, Kevin; Dalichaouch, Yacine; Kumar, Sankaran

2005-05-01

Military forces conducting urban operations are in need of non-line-of-sight sensor technologies for enhanced situational awareness. Disposable sensors ought to be able to detect and track targets through walls and within rooms in a building and relay that information in real-time to the soldier. We have recently developed magnetic sensor nodes aimed towards low cost, small size, low power consumption, and wireless communication. The current design uses a three-axis thin-film magnetoresistive sensor for low bandwidth B-field monitoring of magnetic targets such as vehicles and weapons carried by personnel. These sensor nodes are battery operated and use IEEE 802.15.4 communication link for control and data transmission. Power consumption during signal acquisition and communication is approximately 300 mW per channel. We will present and discuss node array performance, future node development and sensor fusion concepts.

Automatic detection of pelvic lymph nodes using multiple MR sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Michelle; Lu, Yue; Lu, Renzhi; Requardt, Martin; Moeller, Thomas; Takahashi, Satoru; Barentsz, Jelle

2007-03-01

A system for automatic detection of pelvic lymph nodes is developed by incorporating complementary information extracted from multiple MR sequences. A single MR sequence lacks sufficient diagnostic information for lymph node localization and staging. Correct diagnosis often requires input from multiple complementary sequences which makes manual detection of lymph nodes very labor intensive. Small lymph nodes are often missed even by highly-trained radiologists. The proposed system is aimed at assisting radiologists in finding lymph nodes faster and more accurately. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such system reported in the literature. A 3-dimensional (3D) MR angiography (MRA) image is employed for extracting blood vessels that serve as a guide in searching for pelvic lymph nodes. Segmentation, shape and location analysis of potential lymph nodes are then performed using a high resolution 3D T1-weighted VIBE (T1-vibe) MR sequence acquired by Siemens 3T scanner. An optional contrast-agent enhanced MR image, such as post ferumoxtran-10 T2*-weighted MEDIC sequence, can also be incorporated to further improve detection accuracy of malignant nodes. The system outputs a list of potential lymph node locations that are overlaid onto the corresponding MR sequences and presents them to users with associated confidence levels as well as their sizes and lengths in each axis. Preliminary studies demonstrates the feasibility of automatic lymph node detection and scenarios in which this system may be used to assist radiologists in diagnosis and reporting.

Sarcoidosis

MedlinePlus

Sarcoidosis is a disease that leads to inflammation, usually in your lungs, skin, or lymph nodes. It starts as tiny, grain-like lumps, called granulomas. Sarcoidosis can affect any organ in your body. No ...

Ectopic Enterobius Vermicularis Infestation; An Extremely Rare Cause Of Mesenteric Lymphadenopathy Mimicking Tuberculous Lymphadenitis.

PubMed

Zafar, Summaiya; Tariq, Muhammad Usman; Ahmed, Zubair

2018-01-01

Enterobius vermicularis (EV) is a pinworm which commonly resides in the lumen of the intestinal tract and lays eggs on the perianal skin. However, rarely the worm can infest various other sites in the body and cases with infestation of such ectopic sites have been reported in literature. Rare cases of mesenteric lymph node involvement have also been reported. We report a case in a young male who presented with signs and symptoms of acute appendicitis. During surgery, enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes were identified. Histological examination revealed adult worm in the appendiceal lumen. Histological examination of mesenteric lymph node revealed degenerated worm surrounded by caseating chronic granulomatous inflammation. We conclude that EV infestation should be considered in the differential diagnosis of enlarged mesenteric lymph node with chronic granulomatous inflammation, especially in young patients and when accompanying bowel tissue also reveal the helminth.

Convergence studies in meshfree peridynamic simulations

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

Seleson, Pablo; Littlewood, David J.

2016-04-15

Meshfree methods are commonly applied to discretize peridynamic models, particularly in numerical simulations of engineering problems. Such methods discretize peridynamic bodies using a set of nodes with characteristic volume, leading to particle-based descriptions of systems. In this article, we perform convergence studies of static peridynamic problems. We show that commonly used meshfree methods in peridynamics suffer from accuracy and convergence issues, due to a rough approximation of the contribution to the internal force density of nodes near the boundary of the neighborhood of a given node. We propose two methods to improve meshfree peridynamic simulations. The first method uses accuratemore » computations of volumes of intersections between neighbor cells and the neighborhood of a given node, referred to as partial volumes. The second method employs smooth influence functions with a finite support within peridynamic kernels. Numerical results demonstrate great improvements in accuracy and convergence of peridynamic numerical solutions, when using the proposed methods.« less

Compact OXC architecture, design and prototype development for flexible waveband routing optical networks.

PubMed

Ishikawa, Tomohiro; Mori, Yojiro; Hasegawa, Hiroshi; Subramaniam, Suresh; Sato, Ken-Ichi; Moriwaki, Osamu

2017-07-10

A novel compact OXC node architecture that combines WSSs and arrays of small scale optical delivery-coupling type switches ("DCSWs") is proposed. Unlike conventional OXC nodes, the WSSs are only responsible for dynamic path bundling ("flexible waveband") while the small scale optical switches route bundled path groups. A network design algorithm that is aware of the routing scheme is also proposed, and numerical experiments elucidate that the necessary number of WSSs and amplifiers can be significantly reduced. A prototype of the proposed OXC is also developed using monolithic arrayed DCSWs. Transmission experiments on the prototype verify the proposal's technical feasibility.

Think Locally, Act Locally: The Detection of Small, Medium-Sized, and Large Communities in Large Networks

PubMed Central

Jeub, Lucas G. S.; Balachandran, Prakash; Porter, Mason A.; Mucha, Peter J.; Mahoney, Michael W.

2016-01-01

It is common in the study of networks to investigate intermediate-sized (or “meso-scale”) features to try to gain an understanding of network structure and function. For example, numerous algorithms have been developed to try to identify “communities,” which are typically construed as sets of nodes with denser connections internally than with the remainder of a network. In this paper, we adopt a complementary perspective that “communities” are associated with bottlenecks of locally-biased dynamical processes that begin at seed sets of nodes, and we employ several different community-identification procedures (using diffusion-based and geodesic-based dynamics) to investigate community quality as a function of community size. Using several empirical and synthetic networks, we identify several distinct scenarios for “size-resolved community structure” that can arise in real (and realistic) networks: (i) the best small groups of nodes can be better than the best large groups (for a given formulation of the idea of a good community); (ii) the best small groups can have a quality that is comparable to the best medium-sized and large groups; and (iii) the best small groups of nodes can be worse than the best large groups. As we discuss in detail, which of these three cases holds for a given network can make an enormous difference when investigating and making claims about network community structure, and it is important to take this into account to obtain reliable downstream conclusions. Depending on which scenario holds, one may or may not be able to successfully identify “good” communities in a given network (and good communities might not even exist for a given community quality measure), the manner in which different small communities fit together to form meso-scale network structures can be very different, and processes such as viral propagation and information diffusion can exhibit very different dynamics. In addition, our results suggest that, for many large realistic networks, the output of locally-biased methods that focus on communities that are centered around a given seed node might have better conceptual grounding and greater practical utility than the output of global community-detection methods. They also illustrate subtler structural properties that are important to consider in the development of better benchmark networks to test methods for community detection. PMID:25679670

Tbx6 controls left-right asymmetry through regulation of Gdf1.

PubMed

Concepcion, Daniel; Hamada, Hiroshi; Papaioannou, Virginia E

2018-05-04

The Tbx6 transcription factor plays multiple roles during gastrulation, somite formation and body axis determination. One of the notable features of the Tbx6 homozygous mutant phenotype is randomization of left/right axis determination. Cilia of the node are morphologically abnormal, leading to the hypothesis that disrupted nodal flow is the cause of the laterality defect. However, Tbx6 is expressed around but not in the node, leading to uncertainty as to the mechanism of this effect. In this study, we have examined the molecular characteristics of the node and the genetic cascade determining left/right axis determination. We found evidence that a leftward nodal flow is generated in Tbx6 homozygous mutants despite the cilia defect, establishing the initial asymmetric gene expression in Dand5 around the node, but that the transduction of the signal from the node to the left lateral plate mesoderm is disrupted due to lack of expression of the Nodal coligand Gdf1 around the node. Gdf1 was shown to be a downstream target of Tbx6 and a Gdf1 transgene partially rescues the laterality defect. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Design of QoS-Aware Multi-Level MAC-Layer for Wireless Body Area Network.

PubMed

Hu, Long; Zhang, Yin; Feng, Dakui; Hassan, Mohammad Mehedi; Alelaiwi, Abdulhameed; Alamri, Atif

2015-12-01

With the advances in wearable computing and various wireless technologies, there is an increasing trend to outsource body signals from wireless body area network (WBAN) to outside world including cyber space, healthcare big data clouds, etc. Since the environmental and physiological data collected by multimodal sensors have different importance, the provisioning of quality of service (QoS) for the sensory data in WBAN is a critical issue. This paper proposes multiple level-based QoS design at WBAN media access control layer in terms of user level, data level and time level. In the proposed QoS provisioning scheme, different users have different priorities, various sensory data collected by different sensor nodes have different importance, while data priority for the same sensor node varies over time. The experimental results show that the proposed multi-level based QoS provisioning solution in WBAN yields better performance for meeting QoS requirements of personalized healthcare applications while achieving energy saving.

Dynamic analysis of flexible gear trains/transmissions - An automated approach

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Amirouche, F. M. L.; Shareef, N. H.; Xie, M.

1992-01-01

In this paper an automated algorithmic method is presented for the dynamic analysis of geared trains/transmissions. These are treated as a system of interconnected flexible bodies. The procedure developed explains the switching of constraints with time as a result of the change in the contacting areas at the gear teeth. The elastic behavior of the system is studied through the employment of three-dimensional isoparametric elements having six degrees-of-freedom at each node. The contact between the bodies is assumed at the various nodes, which could be either a line or a plane. The kinematical expressions, together with the equations of motion using Kane's method, strain energy concepts, are presented in a matrix form suitable for computer implementation. The constraint Jacobian matrices are generated automatically based on the contact information between the bodies. The concepts of the relative velocity at the contacting points at the tooth pairs and the subsequent use of the transmission ratios in the analysis is presented.

Differential Motion Between Mediastinal Lymph Nodes and Primary Tumor in Radically Irradiated Lung Cancer Patients

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

Schaake, Eva E.; Department of Radiation Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam; Rossi, Maddalena M.G.

2014-11-15

Purpose/Objective: In patients with locally advanced lung cancer, planning target volume margins for mediastinal lymph nodes and tumor after a correction protocol based on bony anatomy registration typically range from 1 to 1.5 cm. Detailed information about lymph node motion variability and differential motion with the primary tumor, however, is lacking from large series. In this study, lymph node and tumor position variability were analyzed in detail and correlated to the main carina to evaluate possible margin reduction. Methods and Materials: Small gold fiducial markers (0.35 × 5 mm) were placed in the mediastinal lymph nodes of 51 patients with non-small cell lung cancermore » during routine diagnostic esophageal or bronchial endoscopic ultrasonography. Four-dimensional (4D) planning computed tomographic (CT) and daily 4D cone beam (CB) CT scans were acquired before and during radical radiation therapy (66 Gy in 24 fractions). Each CBCT was registered in 3-dimensions (bony anatomy) and 4D (tumor, marker, and carina) to the planning CT scan. Subsequently, systematic and random residual misalignments of the time-averaged lymph node and tumor position relative to the bony anatomy and carina were determined. Additionally, tumor and lymph node respiratory amplitude variability was quantified. Finally, required margins were quantified by use of a recipe for dual targets. Results: Relative to the bony anatomy, systematic and random errors ranged from 0.16 to 0.32 cm for the markers and from 0.15 to 0.33 cm for the tumor, but despite similar ranges there was limited correlation (0.17-0.71) owing to differential motion. A large variability in lymph node amplitude between patients was observed, with an average motion of 0.56 cm in the cranial-caudal direction. Margins could be reduced by 10% (left-right), 27% (cranial-caudal), and 10% (anteroposterior) for the lymph nodes and −2%, 15%, and 7% for the tumor if an online carina registration protocol replaced a protocol based on bony anatomy registration. Conclusions: Detailed analysis revealed considerable lymph node position variability, differential motion, and respiratory motion. Planning target volume margins can be reduced up to 27% in lung cancer patients when the carina registration replaces bony anatomy registration.« less

Characterization of vascular lesions in pigs affected by porcine circovirus type 2-systemic disease.

PubMed

Resendes, A R; Segalés, J

2015-05-01

Vascular lesions and their association with porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) were evaluated in multiple organs from 10 pigs affected with PCV2-systemic disease (PCV2-SD). Animals had vascular lesions in multiple organs, consisting of lymphohistiocytic lymphangitis and/or phlebitis, mild to severe necrotizing arteritis, and thrombosis within splenic arterioles and choroid plexus capillaries. Variable amounts of PCV2 nucleic acid detected by in situ hybridization were present within endothelial cells, tunica media myocytes, and perivascular and/or intralesional inflammatory cell infiltrates. PCV2 nucleic acid was detected within endothelial cells of both lymphatic and blood vessels without lesions in the associated tissues. Necrotizing arteritis was principally present in lymph nodes and kidney and consisted of degeneration, necrosis, and pyknosis of myocytes, often with intracytoplasmic, brightly eosinophilic inclusion bodies that were strongly positive for PCV2 nucleic acid. Segmental or circumferential fibrinoid necrosis was mainly present in vessels of the lymph node, spleen, and choroid plexus and was variably associated with PCV2 nucleic acid. Severe lymphangitis associated with strong intralesional PCV2 labeling was frequently detected within the mesenteric and mediastinal lymph nodes and the lamina propria of the ileum. In most tissues, medium and large lymphatics and/or veins often had disruption of the intima and mild mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltration that was variably associated with PCV2 nucleic acid. The present study indicates that vasculitis is a frequent finding in natural cases of PCV2-SD and that PCV2 may have a direct cytopathic effect on tunica media myocytes of small- and medium-sized arteries as well as endothelium. © The Author(s) 2014.

Iodine-131: An Effective Method for Treating Lymph Node Metastases of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.

PubMed

He, Ying; Pan, Ming-Zhi; Huang, Jian-Min; Xie, Peng; Zhang, Fang; Wei, Ling-Ge

2016-12-15

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of radioactive iodine-131 (¹³¹I) therapy for lymph node metastasis of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) and to identify influential factors using univariate and multivariate analyses to determine if identified factors influence the efficacy of treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS This study included a retrospective review of 218 patients with histologically proven DTC in the post-operation stage. After thyroid tissue remnants were eliminated with ¹³¹I therapy, patients' lymph node status was confirmed by ultrasound and by ¹³¹I whole body scan regarding lymph node metastasis, and then patients were treated with ¹³¹I as appropriate. The treatment efficacy was assessed and possible influencing factors were identified using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS The total effective rate of ¹³¹I therapy was 88.07% (including a cure rate of 20.64% and an improvement rate of 67.43%). The non-effective rate was 11.93%. Of the total 406 lymph nodes of 218 patients, 319 lymph nodes (78.57%) were judged to be effectively cured, including 133 (32.75%) lymph nodes that were totally eliminated and 186 (45.82%) lymph nodes that shrank. Eighty-seven (21.43%) of the 406 lymph nodes had no obvious change. No lymph nodes were found to be in a continuously enlarging state. Distant metastasis, size of lymph node, human serum thyroglobulin (HTG) level, and condition of thyroid remnants ablation were identified as the independent factors influencing the efficacy of treatment using univariate and multivariate analyses. CONCLUSIONS The use of ¹³¹I is a promising treatment for lymph node metastasis of DCT. Distant metastasis, size of lymph nodes, HTG level, and condition of thyroid remnant ablation were independent factors influencing the treatment efficacy.

Dynamic Simulation of Human Thermoregulation and Heat Transfer for Spaceflight Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Thomas R.; Nelson, David A.; Bue, Grant; Kuznetz, Lawrence

2011-01-01

Models of human thermoregulation and heat transfer date from the early 1970s and have been developed for applications ranging from evaluating thermal comfort in spacecraft and aircraft cabin environments to predicting heat stress during EVAs. Most lumped or compartment models represent the body as an assemblage cylindrical and spherical elements which may be subdivided into layers to describe tissue heterogeneity. Many existing models are of limited usefulness in asymmetric thermal environments, such as may be encountered during an EVA. Conventional whole-body clothing models also limit the ability to describe local surface thermal and evaporation effects in sufficient detail. A further limitation is that models based on a standard man model are not readily scalable to represent large or small subjects. This work describes development of a new human thermal model derived from the 41-node man model. Each segment is divided into four concentric, constant thickness cylinders made up of a central core surrounded by muscle, fat, and skin, respectively. These cylinders are connected by the flow of blood from a central blood pool to each part. The central blood pool is updated at each time step, based on a whole-body energy balance. Results show the model simulates core and surface temperature histories, sweat evaporation and metabolic rates which generally are consistent with controlled exposures of human subjects. Scaling rules are developed to enable simulation of small and large subjects (5th percentile and 95th percentile). Future refinements will include a clothing model that addresses local surface insulation and permeation effects and developing control equations to describe thermoregulatory effects such as may occur with prolonged weightlessness or with aging.

Not all occult papillary carcinomas are minimal

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

Allo, M.D.; Christianson, W.; Koivunen, D.

1988-12-01

Occult papillary carcinomas are characterized as small papillary tumors of less than 1.5 cm in maximum diameter, with or without bulky metastatic deposits in cervical nodes. The primary lesion is usually not palpable, and although the clinical behavior usually follows a benign course, tumors with unfavorable histologic features (invasiveness, multifocality) or extrathyroidal disease or a combination of both may not do so. In this report six cases are presented to illustrate this entity. No patient had a history of irradiation to the head or neck. All had primary lesions smaller than 1.5 cm. None had a palpable nodule or abnormalmore » thyroid scan results, and the diagnosis of thyroid cancer was based on cervical lymph node or lung biopsy specimens, which revealed papillary thyroid cancer. All of the patients underwent total or near-total thyroidectomies and were found to have small, invasive papillary lesions with additional metastases to cervical nodes noted at the time of thyroidectomy. Adjunctive treatment consisted of a 5 mCi iodine-131 scan, ablative iodine-131 therapy, and suppression with L-thyroxine. Although distant metastasis to lung or other organs is uncommon and the mortality rate is low (as in larger papillary cancers), these invasive lesions--despite their small size--have a high propensity for recurrence and should be considered to behave more like encapsulated papillary tumors with extrathyroidal extension than like their small, unencapsulated intrathyroidal counterparts.« less

Ratio between maximum standardized uptake value of N1 lymph nodes and tumor predicts N2 disease in patients with non-small cell lung cancer in 18F-FDG PET-CT scan.

PubMed

Honguero Martínez, A F; García Jiménez, M D; García Vicente, A; López-Torres Hidalgo, J; Colon, M J; van Gómez López, O; Soriano Castrejón, Á M; León Atance, P

2016-01-01

F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose integrated PET-CT scan is commonly used in the work-up of lung cancer to improve preoperative disease stage. The aim of the study was to analyze the ratio between SUVmax of N1 lymph nodes and primary lung cancer to establish prediction of mediastinal disease (N2) in patients operated on non-small cell lung cancer. This is a retrospective study of a prospective database. Patients operated on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with N1 disease by PET-CT scan were included. None of them had previous induction treatment, but they underwent standard surgical resection plus systematic lymphadenectomy. There were 51 patients with FDG-PET-CT scan N1 disease. 44 (86.3%) patients were male with a mean age of 64.1±10.8 years. Type of resection: pneumonectomy=4 (7.9%), lobectomy/bilobectomy=44 (86.2%), segmentectomy=3 (5.9%). adenocarcinoma=26 (51.0%), squamous=23 (45.1%), adenosquamous=2 (3.9%). Lymph nodes after surgical resection: N0=21 (41.2%), N1=12 (23.5%), N2=18 (35.3%). Mean ratio of the SUVmax of N1 lymph node to the SUVmax of the primary lung tumor (SUVmax N1/T ratio) was 0.60 (range 0.08-2.80). ROC curve analysis to obtain the optimal cut-off value of SUVmax N1/T ratio to predict N2 disease was performed. At multivariate analysis, we found that a ratio of 0.46 or greater was an independent predictor factor of N2 mediastinal lymph node metastases with a sensitivity and specificity of 77.8% and 69.7%, respectively. SUVmax N1/T ratio in NSCLC patients correlates with mediastinal lymph node metastasis (N2 disease) after surgical resection. When SUVmax N1/T ratio on integrated PET-CT scan is equal or superior to 0.46, special attention should be paid on higher probability of N2 disease. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier España, S.L.U. and SEMNIM. All rights reserved.

Adinkras from ordered quartets of BC4 Coxeter group elements and regarding 1,358,954,496 matrix elements of the Gadget

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gates, S. James; Guyton, Forrest; Harmalkar, Siddhartha; Kessler, David S.; Korotkikh, Vadim; Meszaros, Victor A.

2017-06-01

We examine values of the Adinkra Holoraumy-induced Gadget representation space metric over all possible four-color, four-open node, and four-closed node adinkras. Of the 1,358,954,496 gadget matrix elements, only 226,492,416 are non-vanishing and take on one of three values: -1/3, 1/3, or 1 and thus a subspace isomorphic to a description of a body-centered tetrahedral molecule emerges.

Hybrid wireless sensor network for rescue site monitoring after earthquake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Rui; Wang, Shuo; Tang, Chong; Zhao, Xiaoguang; Hu, Weijian; Tan, Min; Gao, Bowei

2016-07-01

This paper addresses the design of a low-cost, low-complexity, and rapidly deployable wireless sensor network (WSN) for rescue site monitoring after earthquakes. The system structure of the hybrid WSN is described. Specifically, the proposed hybrid WSN consists of two kinds of wireless nodes, i.e., the monitor node and the sensor node. Then the mechanism and the system configuration of the wireless nodes are detailed. A transmission control protocol (TCP)-based request-response scheme is proposed to allow several monitor nodes to communicate with the monitoring center. UDP-based image transmission algorithms with fast recovery have been developed to meet the requirements of in-time delivery of on-site monitor images. In addition, the monitor node contains a ZigBee module that used to communicate with the sensor nodes, which are designed with small dimensions to monitor the environment by sensing different physical properties in narrow spaces. By building a WSN using these wireless nodes, the monitoring center can display real-time monitor images of the monitoring area and visualize all collected sensor data on geographic information systems. In the end, field experiments were performed at the Training Base of Emergency Seismic Rescue Troops of China and the experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the monitor system.

Growth dominates choice in network percolation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vijayaraghavan, Vikram S.; Noël, Pierre-André; Waagen, Alex; D'Souza, Raissa M.

2013-09-01

The onset of large-scale connectivity in a network (i.e., percolation) often has a major impact on the function of the system. Traditionally, graph percolation is analyzed by adding edges to a fixed set of initially isolated nodes. Several years ago, it was shown that adding nodes as well as edges to the graph can yield an infinite order transition, which is much smoother than the traditional second-order transition. More recently, it was shown that adding edges via a competitive process to a fixed set of initially isolated nodes can lead to a delayed, extremely abrupt percolation transition with a significant jump in large but finite systems. Here we analyze a process that combines both node arrival and edge competition. If started from a small collection of seed nodes, we show that the impact of node arrival dominates: although we can significantly delay percolation, the transition is of infinite order. Thus, node arrival can mitigate the trade-off between delay and abruptness that is characteristic of explosive percolation transitions. This realization may inspire new design rules where network growth can temper the effects of delay, creating opportunities for network intervention and control.

Dynamical Response of Networks Under External Perturbations: Exact Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chinellato, David D.; Epstein, Irving R.; Braha, Dan; Bar-Yam, Yaneer; de Aguiar, Marcus A. M.

2015-04-01

We give exact statistical distributions for the dynamic response of influence networks subjected to external perturbations. We consider networks whose nodes have two internal states labeled 0 and 1. We let nodes be frozen in state 0, in state 1, and the remaining nodes change by adopting the state of a connected node with a fixed probability per time step. The frozen nodes can be interpreted as external perturbations to the subnetwork of free nodes. Analytically extending and to be smaller than 1 enables modeling the case of weak coupling. We solve the dynamical equations exactly for fully connected networks, obtaining the equilibrium distribution, transition probabilities between any two states and the characteristic time to equilibration. Our exact results are excellent approximations for other topologies, including random, regular lattice, scale-free and small world networks, when the numbers of fixed nodes are adjusted to take account of the effect of topology on coupling to the environment. This model can describe a variety of complex systems, from magnetic spins to social networks to population genetics, and was recently applied as a framework for early warning signals for real-world self-organized economic market crises.

Implementation of bipartite or remote unitary gates with repeater nodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Li; Nemoto, Kae

2016-08-01

We propose some protocols to implement various classes of bipartite unitary operations on two remote parties with the help of repeater nodes in-between. We also present a protocol to implement a single-qubit unitary with parameters determined by a remote party with the help of up to three repeater nodes. It is assumed that the neighboring nodes are connected by noisy photonic channels, and the local gates can be performed quite accurately, while the decoherence of memories is significant. A unitary is often a part of a larger computation or communication task in a quantum network, and to reduce the amount of decoherence in other systems of the network, we focus on the goal of saving the total time for implementing a unitary including the time for entanglement preparation. We review some previously studied protocols that implement bipartite unitaries using local operations and classical communication and prior shared entanglement, and apply them to the situation with repeater nodes without prior entanglement. We find that the protocols using piecewise entanglement between neighboring nodes often require less total time compared to preparing entanglement between the two end nodes first and then performing the previously known protocols. For a generic bipartite unitary, as the number of repeater nodes increases, the total time could approach the time cost for direct signal transfer from one end node to the other. We also prove some lower bounds of the total time when there are a small number of repeater nodes. The application to position-based cryptography is discussed.

Rationale of lymph node dissection for breast cancer--from the viewpoint of analysis of axillary lymphatic flow using activated carbon particle CH40.

PubMed

Sawai, K; Hagiwara, A; Shimotsuma, M; Sakakibara, T; Imanishi, T; Takemoto, Y; Takahashi, T

1996-03-01

In order to rationalize lymph node dissection for breast cancer, we reviewed regional lymphatic flow from the mesial and outer half of the breast using intra-tumoral injection of activated carbon particles (CH40). Seventy patients with breast cancer were included in this study. Cancers were located in the mesial half of the breast in 25 cases and in its outer half in 41 cases. Since regional lymph nodes were blackened by CH40, lymph node dissection was performed easily and small lymph nodes could be readily examined. The average number of resected nodes in each case was 29.4. When CH40 was injected into the mesial half of the breast, the rates of blackened nodes (number of macroscopically blackened lymph nodes/number of total removed lymph nodes) in the stations were 46.6% (No. 1a), 41.4% (No. 1b), 62.1% (No. 1c), 61.8% (No. 2), 69.2.% (No. 2h), and 65.6% (No. 3). When CH40 was injected into outer half of the breast, those were 62.0% (No. 1a), 64.3% (No. 1b), 68.7% (No. 1c), 75.3% (No. 2), and 67.8% (No. 2h). Regardless of tumor location, the rates of blackened nodes were high in each station. In conclusion, regardless of tumor location it is impossible to determine the level of axillary dissection for breast cancer. It should be all or nothing.

Bayes Node Energy Polynomial Distribution to Improve Routing in Wireless Sensor Network

PubMed Central

Palanisamy, Thirumoorthy; Krishnasamy, Karthikeyan N.

2015-01-01

Wireless Sensor Network monitor and control the physical world via large number of small, low-priced sensor nodes. Existing method on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) presented sensed data communication through continuous data collection resulting in higher delay and energy consumption. To conquer the routing issue and reduce energy drain rate, Bayes Node Energy and Polynomial Distribution (BNEPD) technique is introduced with energy aware routing in the wireless sensor network. The Bayes Node Energy Distribution initially distributes the sensor nodes that detect an object of similar event (i.e., temperature, pressure, flow) into specific regions with the application of Bayes rule. The object detection of similar events is accomplished based on the bayes probabilities and is sent to the sink node resulting in minimizing the energy consumption. Next, the Polynomial Regression Function is applied to the target object of similar events considered for different sensors are combined. They are based on the minimum and maximum value of object events and are transferred to the sink node. Finally, the Poly Distribute algorithm effectively distributes the sensor nodes. The energy efficient routing path for each sensor nodes are created by data aggregation at the sink based on polynomial regression function which reduces the energy drain rate with minimum communication overhead. Experimental performance is evaluated using Dodgers Loop Sensor Data Set from UCI repository. Simulation results show that the proposed distribution algorithm significantly reduce the node energy drain rate and ensure fairness among different users reducing the communication overhead. PMID:26426701

Bayes Node Energy Polynomial Distribution to Improve Routing in Wireless Sensor Network.

PubMed

Palanisamy, Thirumoorthy; Krishnasamy, Karthikeyan N

2015-01-01

Wireless Sensor Network monitor and control the physical world via large number of small, low-priced sensor nodes. Existing method on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) presented sensed data communication through continuous data collection resulting in higher delay and energy consumption. To conquer the routing issue and reduce energy drain rate, Bayes Node Energy and Polynomial Distribution (BNEPD) technique is introduced with energy aware routing in the wireless sensor network. The Bayes Node Energy Distribution initially distributes the sensor nodes that detect an object of similar event (i.e., temperature, pressure, flow) into specific regions with the application of Bayes rule. The object detection of similar events is accomplished based on the bayes probabilities and is sent to the sink node resulting in minimizing the energy consumption. Next, the Polynomial Regression Function is applied to the target object of similar events considered for different sensors are combined. They are based on the minimum and maximum value of object events and are transferred to the sink node. Finally, the Poly Distribute algorithm effectively distributes the sensor nodes. The energy efficient routing path for each sensor nodes are created by data aggregation at the sink based on polynomial regression function which reduces the energy drain rate with minimum communication overhead. Experimental performance is evaluated using Dodgers Loop Sensor Data Set from UCI repository. Simulation results show that the proposed distribution algorithm significantly reduce the node energy drain rate and ensure fairness among different users reducing the communication overhead.

About Infectious Mononucleosis

MedlinePlus

... fever sore throat head and body aches swollen lymph nodes in the neck and armpits swollen liver or ... infections that can cause infectious mononucleosis: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Toxoplasmosis HIV Rubella Hepatitis A, B, or C Adenovirus ...

Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs)

MedlinePlus

... This natural pacemaker produces the electrical impulses that trigger the normal heartbeat. From the sinus node, electrical ... occur? The reasons aren't always clear. Certain triggers, heart diseases or changes in the body can ...

Use of a surgical specimen-collection kit to improve mediastinal lymph-node examination of resectable lung cancer.

PubMed

Osarogiagbon, Raymond U; Miller, Laura E; Ramirez, Robert A; Wang, Christopher G; O'Brien, Thomas F; Yu, Xinhua; Khandekar, Alim; Schoettle, Glenn P; Robbins, Samuel G; Robbins, Edward T; Gibson, Jeffrey B

2012-08-01

Pathologic examination of mediastinal lymph nodes (MLNs) after resection of non-small-cell lung cancer is critical in the determination of prognosis and postoperative management. Although systematic nodal dissection is recommended, the quality of pathologic lymph-node staging often falls short of recommendations in practice. We tested the feasibility of improving pathologic lymph-node staging of resectable non-small-cell lung cancer by using a prelabeled specimen-collection kit. Case-control study with comparison of 51 resections, using a special lymph-node collection kit, with 51 controls matched for surgeon, extent of resection, pathologist, and T category. Appropriate statistical methods were used for all comparisons. The median number of MLNs examined increased from one in the control group, to six in the case group (p < 0.001). The percentage of resections attaining the National Comprehensive Cancer Network-recommended quality of MLN examination, and the proportion that would have been eligible for recent landmark postresection adjuvant therapy trials increased significantly (p < 0.001). The duration of surgery and postoperative complication rates were similar between cases and controls. Eighteen percent of kit cases had positive MLN, compared with 8% of controls. The use of a specialized specimen-collection kit for MLN examination was feasible, markedly improved MLN staging, and showed a trend toward increased detection of patients with MLN metastasis, with only a modest increase in duration of surgery, and no increase in perioperative morbidity, mortality, or hospital length of stay.

Optimizing treatment for children and adolescents with papillary thyroid carcinoma in post-Chernobyl exposed region: The roles of lymph node dissections in the central and lateral neck compartments.

PubMed

Fridman, Mikhail; Krasko, Olga; Lam, Alfred King-Yin

2018-06-01

There is lack of data to predict lymph node metastases in pediatric thyroid cancer. The aims are to study (1) the factors affecting the lymph node metastases in children and adolescence with papillary thyroid carcinoma in region exposed to radiation and (2) to evaluate the predictive significance of these factors for lateral compartment lymphadenectomy. Five hundred and nine patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma underwent total thyroidectomy and lymph nodes resection (central and lateral compartments of the neck) surgery during the period of 1991-2010 in Belarus were recruited. The factors related to lymph node metastases were studied in these patients. In the patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma, increase number of cancer-positive lymph nodes in the central neck compartment were associated with a risk to develop lateral nodal disease as well as bilateral nodal disease. Futhermore, positive lateral compartment nodal metastases are associated with age and gender of the patients, tumour size, minimal extra-thyroidal extension, solid architectonic, extensive desmoplasia in carcinoma, presence of psammoma bodies, extensive involvement of the thyroid and metastatic ratio index revealed after examination of the central cervical chain lymph nodes. The presence of nodal disease, degree of lymph node involvement and the distribution of lymph node metastases significantly increase the recurrence rates of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. To conclude, the lymph nodes metastases in young patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma in post-Chernobyl exposed region are common and the pattern could be predicted by many clinical and pathological factors. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd, BASO ~ The Association for Cancer Surgery, and the European Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights reserved.

Toward Theoretical Foundations of Resistive Force Theory of Granular-Structural Interaction, with Expansions to Flexible Locomotors

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-05-07

the proper depth-dependent pressure distribution before intruder motion begins. We model the intruder as a rigid surface within the granular body by...assigning corresponding planar nodes to move as a rigid body at a constant rate. This resembles a fully rough surface due to the no-slip condition, no...Stokesian fluids. Despite its remarkable capability to predict experimental locomotion and force distributions on mobile bodies in granular media, there is

Organisation of autonomic nervous structures in the small intestine of chinchilla (Chinchilla laniger, Molina).

PubMed

Nowak, E

2014-08-01

Using histochemical, histological and immunocytochemical methods, organisation of the autonomic nerve structures in small intestine of chinchilla was investigated. Myenteric plexus was localised between circular and longitudinal layers of the smooth muscles. Forming network nodes, the small autonomic, cholinergic ganglia were linked with the bundles of nerve fibres. Adrenergic structures were visible as specific varicose, rosary-like fibres forming bundles of parallel fibres connecting network nodes. Structures of the submucosal plexus formed a finer network than those of the myenteric plexus. Moreover, in 'whole-mount' specimens, fibres forming thick perivascular plexuses were also observed. Immunocytochemical studies confirmed the cholinergic and adrenergic character of the investigated structures. VAChT-positive neurones were found only in myenteric plexus, and numerous VAChT-positive and DBH-positive fibres were found in both plexuses. © 2013 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Using Cross-Correlation Methods to Characterize Earthquakes Associated with the Socorro Magma Body

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vieceli, R.; Bilek, S. L.; Worthington, L. L.; Schmandt, B.; Aster, R. C.; Dodge, D. A.; Pyle, M. L.; Walter, W. R.

2017-12-01

The Socorro Magma Body (SMB), a thin, sill-like body with a top surface-depth of 19 km situated within the Rio Grande Rift in central New Mexico, is one of the largest recognized continental mid-crustal magma bodies in the world by area. SMB-associated inflation leads to slow regional uplift of a few mm/yr and has been linked to longstanding concentrated shallow seismicity (< 10 km depth) with variable spatial and temporal occurrence, including early 20th century events of magnitude 5.5 - 6. Recent small earthquakes (magnitudes 3 to -1) have been monitored with a variety of broadband and short-term local seismic networks over the past several decades, but these routine catalogs have not been relocated or fully interpreted in terms of newer models of the structure, or its emplacement and history. In February 2015 seismic data were collected above the northern and most rapidly uplifting region of the SMB with a densely spaced temporary array, consisting of seven broadband and 804 short period Fairfield nodal vertical component seismographs. The total array area was 50 x 25 km with typical node spacing of 300 m along a road network. In this study, we exploit all available seismic network data in a cross-correlation framework developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to detect events and characterize earthquake swarms, clusters, and patterns occurring over the last 15 years. We use a power detector to build an initial catalog of small magnitude earthquakes, including 33 events (M <= 2.5) recorded during the February 2015 deployment, as templates to detect additional events. We also develop an updated shallow velocity model for the region and refine event hypocenters using Bayesloc, a bayesian, multiple-event location algorithm. This enhanced seismicity catalog will be utilized in interpreting the recent seismicity of the SMB. LLNL-ABS-735529

Eradicating catastrophic collapse in interdependent networks via reinforced nodes

PubMed Central

Yuan, Xin; Hu, Yanqing; Havlin, Shlomo

2017-01-01

In interdependent networks, it is usually assumed, based on percolation theory, that nodes become nonfunctional if they lose connection to the network giant component. However, in reality, some nodes, equipped with alternative resources, together with their connected neighbors can still be functioning after disconnected from the giant component. Here, we propose and study a generalized percolation model that introduces a fraction of reinforced nodes in the interdependent networks that can function and support their neighborhood. We analyze, both analytically and via simulations, the order parameter—the functioning component—comprising both the giant component and smaller components that include at least one reinforced node. Remarkably, it is found that, for interdependent networks, we need to reinforce only a small fraction of nodes to prevent abrupt catastrophic collapses. Moreover, we find that the universal upper bound of this fraction is 0.1756 for two interdependent Erdős–Rényi (ER) networks: regular random (RR) networks and scale-free (SF) networks with large average degrees. We also generalize our theory to interdependent networks of networks (NONs). These findings might yield insight for designing resilient interdependent infrastructure networks. PMID:28289204

Concurrent communication among multi-transceiver stations over shared media. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birk, Yitzhak

1987-01-01

In order to increase a local-area network's throughput beyond a single bus data rate without using dedicated switching nodes, multiple buses and multitransceiver stations are required. The design space of single-hop interconnections is explored among such stations. Interconnections are presented whose throughput can grow quadratically with the number of transmitters and receivers per station. These are referred to as selective broadcast interconnections (SBIs). The performance of various SBIs are studied. A spread-spectrum channel can accommodate several current successful transmission, and a single-transceiver node can thus utilize only a small fraction of the channel capacity. In order to allocate the appropriate fraction of capacity to a busy node, it is proposed to equip it with several transmitters and receivers, thereby turning it into a supernode. Several architectures and operation policies for supernodes are suggested and compared. It is shown that a supernode can significantly outperform a collection of independent conventional nodes with the same total numbers of transmitters and receivers. Packet-radio networks with half-duplex nodes, as well as networks with full-duplex nodes, are considered.

Development of response models for the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) sensors. Part 1: Dynamic models and computer simulations for the ERBE nonscanner, scanner and solar monitor sensors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Halyo, Nesim; Choi, Sang H.; Chrisman, Dan A., Jr.; Samms, Richard W.

1987-01-01

Dynamic models and computer simulations were developed for the radiometric sensors utilized in the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). The models were developed to understand performance, improve measurement accuracy by updating model parameters and provide the constants needed for the count conversion algorithms. Model simulations were compared with the sensor's actual responses demonstrated in the ground and inflight calibrations. The models consider thermal and radiative exchange effects, surface specularity, spectral dependence of a filter, radiative interactions among an enclosure's nodes, partial specular and diffuse enclosure surface characteristics and steady-state and transient sensor responses. Relatively few sensor nodes were chosen for the models since there is an accuracy tradeoff between increasing the number of nodes and approximating parameters such as the sensor's size, material properties, geometry, and enclosure surface characteristics. Given that the temperature gradients within a node and between nodes are small enough, approximating with only a few nodes does not jeopardize the accuracy required to perform the parameter estimates and error analyses.

blastjs: a BLAST+ wrapper for Node.js.

PubMed

Page, Martin; MacLean, Dan; Schudoma, Christian

2016-02-27

To cope with the ever-increasing amount of sequence data generated in the field of genomics, the demand for efficient and fast database searches that drive functional and structural annotation in both large- and small-scale genome projects is on the rise. The tools of the BLAST+ suite are the most widely employed bioinformatic method for these database searches. Recent trends in bioinformatics application development show an increasing number of JavaScript apps that are based on modern frameworks such as Node.js. Until now, there is no way of using database searches with the BLAST+ suite from a Node.js codebase. We developed blastjs, a Node.js library that wraps the search tools of the BLAST+ suite and thus allows to easily add significant functionality to any Node.js-based application. blastjs is a library that allows the incorporation of BLAST+ functionality into bioinformatics applications based on JavaScript and Node.js. The library was designed to be as user-friendly as possible and therefore requires only a minimal amount of code in the client application. The library is freely available under the MIT license at https://github.com/teammaclean/blastjs.

Three-dimensional separation and reattachment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peake, D. J.; Tobak, M.

1982-01-01

The separation of three dimensional turbulent boundary layers from the lee of flight vehicles at high angles of attack is investigated. The separation results in dominant, large scale, coiled vortex motions that pass along the body in the general direction of the free stream. In all cases of three dimensional flow separation and reattachment, the assumption of continuous vector fields of skin friction lines and external flow streamlines, coupled with simple laws of topology, provides a flow grammar whose elemental constituents are the singular points: the nodes, spiral nodes (foci), and saddles. The phenomenon of three dimensional separation may be construed as either a local or a global event, depending on whether the skin friction line that becomes a line of separation originates at a node or a saddle point.

Cervical Cancer Stage IVB

MedlinePlus

... drawing shows other parts of the body where cervical cancer may spread, including the lymph nodes, lung, liver, intestinal tract, and bone. An inset shows cancer cells spreading from the cervix, through the blood and ...

Unobstructive Body Area Networks (BAN) for efficient movement monitoring.

PubMed

Felisberto, Filipe; Costa, Nuno; Fdez-Riverola, Florentino; Pereira, António

2012-01-01

The technological advances in medical sensors, low-power microelectronics and miniaturization, wireless communications and networks have enabled the appearance of a new generation of wireless sensor networks: the so-called wireless body area networks (WBAN). These networks can be used for continuous monitoring of vital parameters, movement, and the surrounding environment. The data gathered by these networks contributes to improve users' quality of life and allows the creation of a knowledge database by using learning techniques, useful to infer abnormal behaviour. In this paper we present a wireless body area network architecture to recognize human movement, identify human postures and detect harmful activities in order to prevent risk situations. The WBAN was created using tiny, cheap and low-power nodes with inertial and physiological sensors, strategically placed on the human body. Doing so, in an as ubiquitous as possible way, ensures that its impact on the users' daily actions is minimum. The information collected by these sensors is transmitted to a central server capable of analysing and processing their data. The proposed system creates movement profiles based on the data sent by the WBAN's nodes, and is able to detect in real time any abnormal movement and allows for a monitored rehabilitation of the user.

Optimized dosing of a CCR2 antagonist for amplification of vaccine immunity.

PubMed

Mitchell, Leah A; Hansen, Ryan J; Beaupre, Adam J; Gustafson, Daniel L; Dow, Steven W

2013-02-01

We have recently discovered that inflammatory monocytes recruited to lymph nodes in response to vaccine-induced inflammation can function as potent negative regulators of both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses to vaccination. Monocyte depletion or migration blockade can significantly amplify both antibody titers and cellular immune responses to vaccination with several different antigens in mouse models. Thus, we hypothesized that the use of small molecule CCR2 inhibitors to block monocyte migration into lymph nodes may represent a broadly effective means of amplifying vaccine immunity. To address this question, the role of CCR2 in monocyte recruitment to vaccine draining lymph nodes was initially explored in CCR2-/- mice. Next, a small molecule antagonist of CCR2 (RS102895) was evaluated in mouse vaccination models. Initial studies revealed that a single intraperitoneal dose of RS102895 failed to effectively block monocyte recruitment following vaccination. Pharmacokinetic analysis of RS102895 revealed a short half-life (approximately 1h), and suggested that a multi-dose treatment regimen would be more effective. We found that administration of RS102895 every 6 h resulted in consistent plasma levels of 20 ng/ml or greater, which effectively blocked monocyte migration to lymph nodes following vaccination. Moreover, administration of RS102895 with concurrent vaccination markedly enhanced vaccine responses following immunization against the influenza antigen HA1. We concluded that administration of small molecule CCR2 antagonists such as RS102895 in the immediate post-vaccine period could be used as a novel means of significantly enhancing vaccine immunity. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relativistic satellite orbits: central body with higher zonal harmonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schanner, Maximilian; Soffel, Michael

2018-06-01

Satellite orbits around a central body with arbitrary zonal harmonics are considered in a relativistic framework. Our starting point is the relativistic Celestial Mechanics based upon the first post-Newtonian approximation to Einstein's theory of gravity as it has been formulated by Damour et al. (Phys Rev D 43:3273-3307, 1991; 45:1017-1044, 1992; 47:3124-3135, 1993; 49:618-635, 1994). Since effects of order (GM/c^2R) × J_k with k ≥ 2 for the Earth are very small (of order 7 × 10^{-10} × J_k) we consider an axially symmetric body with arbitrary zonal harmonics and a static external gravitational field. In such a field the explicit J_k/c^2-terms (direct terms) in the equations of motion for the coordinate acceleration of a satellite are treated first with first-order perturbation theory. The derived perturbation theoretical results of first order have been checked by purely numerical integrations of the equations of motion. Additional terms of the same order result from the interaction of the Newtonian J_k-terms with the post-Newtonian Schwarzschild terms (relativistic terms related to the mass of the central body). These `mixed terms' are treated by means of second-order perturbation theory based on the Lie-series method (Hori-Deprit method). Here we concentrate on the secular drifts of the ascending node <{\\dot{Ω }}> and argument of the pericenter <{\\dot{ω }}>. Finally orders of magnitude are given and discussed.

A Lifetime Maximization Relay Selection Scheme in Wireless Body Area Networks.

PubMed

Zhang, Yu; Zhang, Bing; Zhang, Shi

2017-06-02

Network Lifetime is one of the most important metrics in Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). In this paper, a relay selection scheme is proposed under the topology constrains specified in the IEEE 802.15.6 standard to maximize the lifetime of WBANs through formulating and solving an optimization problem where relay selection of each node acts as optimization variable. Considering the diversity of the sensor nodes in WBANs, the optimization problem takes not only energy consumption rate but also energy difference among sensor nodes into account to improve the network lifetime performance. Since it is Non-deterministic Polynomial-hard (NP-hard) and intractable, a heuristic solution is then designed to rapidly address the optimization. The simulation results indicate that the proposed relay selection scheme has better performance in network lifetime compared with existing algorithms and that the heuristic solution has low time complexity with only a negligible performance degradation gap from optimal value. Furthermore, we also conduct simulations based on a general WBAN model to comprehensively illustrate the advantages of the proposed algorithm. At the end of the evaluation, we validate the feasibility of our proposed scheme via an implementation discussion.

William Hunter and lymphatics.

PubMed

McDonald, Stuart W; Russell, David

2018-04-03

William Hunter along with his brother, John, and their colleagues William Hewson, William Cruikshank and John Sheldon made a large contribution to understanding of lymphatic vessels. Hewson, Cruikshank and Sheldon all carried out mercury injections and made much progress in mapping the distribution of lymphatics in the human body. William Hunter appreciated that lymphatics absorbed fluid from the tissues of the body and that lacteals of the intestine and lymphatics are similar structures. John Hunter carried out an elegant series of experiments that proved that lacteals absorb products of digestion. The Hunters, however, were wrong in dismissing absorption by blood vessels and missed the importance of blood capillaries. William Hewson showed that lymphatics were not confined to mammals but that they are present in reptiles, birds and fish. Hewson also demonstrated that tracheobronchial glands are lymph nodes and not mucus-secreting glands as previously thought. Although William Hunter appreciated that tuberculosis and venereal diseases might involve the regional lymph nodes, he does not seem to have fully grasped that malignant disease might involve the local nodes or the concept that knowledge of lymph drainage could be used to define the likely site of a primary malignancy. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Mixed H2/H∞-Based Fusion Estimation for Energy-Limited Multi-Sensors in Wearable Body Networks

PubMed Central

Li, Chao; Zhang, Zhenjiang; Chao, Han-Chieh

2017-01-01

In wireless sensor networks, sensor nodes collect plenty of data for each time period. If all of data are transmitted to a Fusion Center (FC), the power of sensor node would run out rapidly. On the other hand, the data also needs a filter to remove the noise. Therefore, an efficient fusion estimation model, which can save the energy of the sensor nodes while maintaining higher accuracy, is needed. This paper proposes a novel mixed H2/H∞-based energy-efficient fusion estimation model (MHEEFE) for energy-limited Wearable Body Networks. In the proposed model, the communication cost is firstly reduced efficiently while keeping the estimation accuracy. Then, the parameters in quantization method are discussed, and we confirm them by an optimization method with some prior knowledge. Besides, some calculation methods of important parameters are researched which make the final estimates more stable. Finally, an iteration-based weight calculation algorithm is presented, which can improve the fault tolerance of the final estimate. In the simulation, the impacts of some pivotal parameters are discussed. Meanwhile, compared with the other related models, the MHEEFE shows a better performance in accuracy, energy-efficiency and fault tolerance. PMID:29280950

Secure Overlay Services (SOS)

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-08-01

special node in the SOS architecture that is easily reached, called the beacon. 3. The beacon forwards the packet to a “secret” node, called the secret servlet...whose identity is known to only a small subset of participants in the SOS architecture. 6 4. The secret servlet forwards the packet to...address is the secret servlet. In the following discussion, we motivate why the SOS architecture requires the series of steps described above

Studies of pointing, acquisition, and tracking of agile optical wireless transceivers for free-space optical communication networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ho, Tzung-Hsien; Trisno, Sugianto; Smolyaninov, Igor I.; Milner, Stuart D.; Davis, Christopher C.

2004-02-01

Free space, dynamic, optical wireless communications will require topology control for optimization of network performance. Such networks may need to be configured for bi- or multiple-connectedness, reliability and quality-of-service. Topology control involves the introduction of new links and/or nodes into the network to achieve such performance objectives through autonomous reconfiguration as well as precise pointing, acquisition, tracking, and steering of laser beams. Reconfiguration may be required because of link degradation resulting from obscuration or node loss. As a result, the optical transceivers may need to be re-directed to new or existing nodes within the network and tracked on moving nodes. The redirection of transceivers may require operation over a whole sphere, so that small-angle beam steering techniques cannot be applied. In this context, we are studying the performance of optical wireless links using lightweight, bi-static transceivers mounted on high-performance stepping motor driven stages. These motors provide an angular resolution of 0.00072 degree at up to 80,000 steps per second. This paper focuses on the performance characteristics of these agile transceivers for pointing, acquisition, and tracking (PAT), including the influence of acceleration/deceleration time, motor angular speed, and angular re-adjustment, on latency and packet loss in small free space optical (FSO) wireless test networks.

Size-dependent lymphatic uptake of nanoscale-tailored particles as tumor mass increases.

PubMed

Kjellman, Pontus; Fredriksson, Sarah; Kjellman, Christian; Strand, Sven-Erik; Zandt, René In 't

2015-11-01

To investigate the size-dependent lymphatic uptake of nanoparticles in mice with rapidly growing syngeneic tumors. Mice were inoculated subcutaneously with EL4 lymphoma cells and on day 5 or day 6 of tumor growth, injected peritumorally with either 29 nm or 58 nm of ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. Twenty-four hours later the animals were imaged using MRI. The larger of the two particles can only be detected in the lymph node when injected in animals with 6-day-old tumors while the 29 nm ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle is observed on both time points. Tumor mass greatly impacts the size of particles that are transported to the lymph nodes.

Unsupervised learning in general connectionist systems.

PubMed

Dente, J A; Mendes, R Vilela

1996-01-01

There is a common framework in which different connectionist systems may be treated in a unified way. The general system in which they may all be mapped is a network which, in addition to the connection strengths, has an adaptive node parameter controlling the output intensity. In this paper we generalize two neural network learning schemes to networks with node parameters. In generalized Hebbian learning we find improvements to the convergence rate for small eigenvalues in principal component analysis. For competitive learning the use of node parameters also seems useful in that, by emphasizing or de-emphasizing the dominance of winning neurons, either improved robustness or discrimination is obtained.

Value-Based Caching in Information-Centric Wireless Body Area Networks

PubMed Central

Al-Turjman, Fadi M.; Imran, Muhammad; Vasilakos, Athanasios V.

2017-01-01

We propose a resilient cache replacement approach based on a Value of sensed Information (VoI) policy. To resolve and fetch content when the origin is not available due to isolated in-network nodes (fragmentation) and harsh operational conditions, we exploit a content caching approach. Our approach depends on four functional parameters in sensory Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs). These four parameters are: age of data based on periodic request, popularity of on-demand requests, communication interference cost, and the duration for which the sensor node is required to operate in active mode to capture the sensed readings. These parameters are considered together to assign a value to the cached data to retain the most valuable information in the cache for prolonged time periods. The higher the value, the longer the duration for which the data will be retained in the cache. This caching strategy provides significant availability for most valuable and difficult to retrieve data in the WBANs. Extensive simulations are performed to compare the proposed scheme against other significant caching schemes in the literature while varying critical aspects in WBANs (e.g., data popularity, cache size, publisher load, connectivity-degree, and severe probabilities of node failures). These simulation results indicate that the proposed VoI-based approach is a valid tool for the retrieval of cached content in disruptive and challenging scenarios, such as the one experienced in WBANs, since it allows the retrieval of content for a long period even while experiencing severe in-network node failures. PMID:28106817

Culture-Independent Analysis of Indomethacin-Induced Alterations in the Rat Gastrointestinal Microbiota

PubMed Central

Dalby, Andrew B.; Frank, Daniel N.; St. Amand, Allison L.; Bendele, Alison M.; Pace, Norman R.

2006-01-01

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly prescribed for a variety of inflammatory conditions; however, the benefits of this class of drugs are accompanied by deleterious side effects, most commonly gastric irritation and ulceration. NSAID-induced ulceration is thought to be exacerbated by intestinal microbiota, but previous studies have not identified specific microbes that contribute to these adverse effects. In this study, we conducted a culture-independent analysis of ∼1,400 bacterial small-subunit rRNA genes associated with the small intestines and mesenteric lymph nodes of rats treated with the NSAID indomethacin. This is the first molecular analysis of the microbiota of the rat small intestine. A comparison of clone libraries and species-specific quantitative PCR results from rats treated with indomethacin and untreated rats revealed that organisms closely related to Enterococcus faecalis were heavily enriched in the small intestine and mesenteric lymph nodes of the treated rats. These data suggest that treatment of NSAID-induced ulceration may be facilitated by addressing the microbiological imbalances. PMID:17021222

Europlanet - Joining the European Planetary Research Information Service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Capria, M. T.; Chanteur, G.; Schmidt, W.

2009-04-01

The "Europlanet Research Infrastructure - Europlanet RI", supported by the European Commission's Framework Program 7, aims at integrating major parts of the distributed European Planetary Research infrastructure with as diverse components as space exploration, ground-based observations, laboratory experiments and numerical model-ling teams. A central part of Europlanet RI is the "Integrated and Distributed Information Service" or Europlanet-IDIS which intends to provide easy Web-based access to information about scientists and teams working in related fields, observatories or laboratories with capabilities possibly beneficial to planetary research, modelling expertise useful for planetary science and observations from space-based, ground-based or laboratory measurements. As far as the type of data and their access methods allow, IDIS will provide Virtual Observatory (VO) like access to a variety of data from distributed sources and tools to compare and integrate this information to further data analysis and re-search. IDIS itself is providing a platform for information and data sharing and for data mining. It is structured as a network of thematic nodes each concentrating on a sub-set of research areas in planetary sciences. But the most important elements of IDIS and the whole Europlanet RI are the single scientists, institutes, laboratories, observatories and mission project teams. Without them the whole effort would remain an empty shell. How can an interested individual or team join this activity and what are the benefits to be expected from the related effort? The poster gives detailed answers to these questions. Here some highlights: 1. Locate from the Europlanet web pages (addresses see below) the thematic node best related to the own field of expertise. This might be more than one. 2. Define which services you want to offer to the community: just the contact address, field of competence, off-line access to data on request or even on-line searchable access to data to be integrated into the VO features of IDIS? Any combination and many more alternatives are possible. 3. Contact the staff of the selected node(s) to go through the details 4. The node's expert team will evaluate the information to ensure that it is compliant with the minimum requirements for Europlanet information providers like correct address, related field of competence, quality of data if any etc. 5. The new resource meta data (addresses, contents etc) will be added to the IDIS system including update of the search facilities 6. If data are offered for on-line access, the IDIS team will provide tools to generate a network-compatible generic interface. This one-time effort will make it possible to search the new data sets and combine them with related in-formation from other sources. Benefits for the information provider: - wide advertisement for the own resources and capabilities with increase in scientific references to the own activities and publications - new co-operation possibilities with so far unknown teams. Team exchange might be financially supported by other segments of the Europlanet RI - strong arguments for new funding applications and many more aspects List of contact web-sites: Technical node for support and management aspects: http://www.europlanet-idis.fi/ Planetary Surfaces and Interiors node: http://europlanet.dlr.de/ Planetary Plasma node: http://europlanet-plasmanode.oeaw.ac.at/ Planetary Atmospheres node: http://idis.ipsl.jussieu.fr/ Virtual Observatory Paris Data Centre: http://vo.obspm.fr/ Small Bodies and Dust node: http://www.ifsi-roma.inaf.it/europlanet/

Distributed ESO based cooperative tracking control for high-order nonlinear multiagent systems with lumped disturbance and application in multi flight simulators systems.

PubMed

Cong, Zhang

2018-03-01

Based on extended state observer, a novel and practical design method is developed to solve the distributed cooperative tracking problem of higher-order nonlinear multiagent systems with lumped disturbance in a fixed communication topology directed graph. The proposed method is designed to guarantee all the follower nodes ultimately and uniformly converge to the leader node with bounded residual errors. The leader node, modeled as a higher-order non-autonomous nonlinear system, acts as a command generator giving commands only to a small portion of the networked follower nodes. Extended state observer is used to estimate the local states and lumped disturbance of each follower node. Moreover, each distributed controller can work independently only requiring the relative states and/or the estimated relative states information between itself and its neighbors. Finally an engineering application of multi flight simulators systems is demonstrated to test and verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preclinical study of transcervical upper mediastinal dissection for esophageal malignancy by robot-assisted surgery.

PubMed

Mori, Kazuhiko; Yoshimura, Shuntaro; Yamagata, Yukinori; Aikou, Susumu; Seto, Yasuyuki

2017-06-01

Robotic surgical systems are potentially applicable to transcervical mediastinal lymph dissection for esophageal malignancy. Robot-assisted surgery was performed on a male fresh-frozen human cadaver. Devices for single-port laparoscopic surgery were deployed via one small incision in the left clavicular area. The task for the robot-assisted surgery was the upper mediastinal dissection to the level of the left main bronchus and en bloc harvest of the lymph nodes adherent to the left recurrent laryngeal nerve. An up-angled 30° scope in the 6 o'clock port and two robotic arms from the 3 and 9 o'clock ports worked effectively together. No collisions of the devices inside the cadaveric body or unexpected traumatic events occurred. The robotic surgical system can be used safely for the upper mediastinal dissection. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Characterization of topological structure on complex networks.

PubMed

Nakamura, Ikuo

2003-10-01

Characterizing the topological structure of complex networks is a significant problem especially from the viewpoint of data mining on the World Wide Web. "Page rank" used in the commercial search engine Google is such a measure of authority to rank all the nodes matching a given query. We have investigated the page-rank distribution of the real Web and a growing network model, both of which have directed links and exhibit a power law distributions of in-degree (the number of incoming links to the node) and out-degree (the number of outgoing links from the node), respectively. We find a concentration of page rank on a small number of nodes and low page rank on high degree regimes in the real Web, which can be explained by topological properties of the network, e.g., network motifs, and connectivities of nearest neighbors.

Naked Cuticle Drosophila 1 Expression in Histologic Subtypes of Small Adenocarcinoma of the Lung

PubMed Central

Ahn, Sangjeong; Hwangbo, Won; Kim, Hyunchul

2013-01-01

Background Naked cuticle Drosophila 1 (NKD1) has been related to non-small cell lung cancer in that decreased NKD1 levels have been associated with both poor prognosis and increased invasive quality. Methods Forty cases of lung adenocarcinoma staged as Tis or T1a were selected. Cases were subclassified into adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS), minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA), and small adenocarcinoma (SAD). Immunohistochemical studies for NKD1 were performed. Results Forty samples comprised five cases of AIS (12.5%), eight of MIA (20.0%), and 27 of SAD (67.5%). AIS and MIA showed no lymph node metastasis and 100% disease-free survival, whereas among 27 patients with SAD, 2 (7.4%) had lymph node metastasis, and 3 (11.1%) died from the disease. Among the 40 cases, NKD1-reduced expression was detected in 8 (20%) samples, whereas normal expression was found in 15 (37.5%) and overexpression in 17 (42.5%). Loss of NKD1 expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (p=0.001). All cases with predominant papillary pattern showed overexpression of NKD1 (p=0.026). Conclusions Among MIA and SAD, MIA had better outcomes than SAD. Down-regulated NKD1 expression was closely associated with nodal metastasis, and overexpression was associated with papillary predominant adenocarcinoma. PMID:23837013

Integration and validation of a data grid software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carenton-Madiec, Nicolas; Berger, Katharina; Cofino, Antonio

2014-05-01

The Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) Peer-to-Peer (P2P) is a software infrastructure for the management, dissemination, and analysis of model output and observational data. The ESGF grid is composed with several types of nodes which have different roles. About 40 data nodes host model outputs and datasets using thredds catalogs. About 25 compute nodes offer remote visualization and analysis tools. About 15 index nodes crawl data nodes catalogs and implement faceted and federated search in a web interface. About 15 Identity providers nodes manage accounts, authentication and authorization. Here we will present an actual size test federation spread across different institutes in different countries and a python test suite that were started in December 2013. The first objective of the test suite is to provide a simple tool that helps to test and validate a single data node and its closest index, compute and identity provider peer. The next objective will be to run this test suite on every data node of the federation and therefore test and validate every single node of the whole federation. The suite already implements nosetests, requests, myproxy-logon, subprocess, selenium and fabric python libraries in order to test both web front ends, back ends and security services. The goal of this project is to improve the quality of deliverable in a small developers team context. Developers are widely spread around the world working collaboratively and without hierarchy. This kind of working organization context en-lighted the need of a federated integration test and validation process.

Target Control in Logical Models Using the Domain of Influence of Nodes.

PubMed

Yang, Gang; Gómez Tejeda Zañudo, Jorge; Albert, Réka

2018-01-01

Dynamical models of biomolecular networks are successfully used to understand the mechanisms underlying complex diseases and to design therapeutic strategies. Network control and its special case of target control, is a promising avenue toward developing disease therapies. In target control it is assumed that a small subset of nodes is most relevant to the system's state and the goal is to drive the target nodes into their desired states. An example of target control would be driving a cell to commit to apoptosis (programmed cell death). From the experimental perspective, gene knockout, pharmacological inhibition of proteins, and providing sustained external signals are among practical intervention techniques. We identify methodologies to use the stabilizing effect of sustained interventions for target control in Boolean network models of biomolecular networks. Specifically, we define the domain of influence (DOI) of a node (in a certain state) to be the nodes (and their corresponding states) that will be ultimately stabilized by the sustained state of this node regardless of the initial state of the system. We also define the related concept of the logical domain of influence (LDOI) of a node, and develop an algorithm for its identification using an auxiliary network that incorporates the regulatory logic. This way a solution to the target control problem is a set of nodes whose DOI can cover the desired target node states. We perform greedy randomized adaptive search in node state space to find such solutions. We apply our strategy to in silico biological network models of real systems to demonstrate its effectiveness.

Correlation of cytologic and histopathologic findings with perinodal echogenicity of abdominal lymph nodes in dogs and cats.

PubMed

Davé, Aditya C; Zekas, Lisa J; Auld, Danelle M

2017-07-01

Abdominal lymphadenopathy in dogs and cats is routinely investigated with ultrasound. As the determination between benign and neoplastic etiologies of lymphadenopathy affects patient management, specific sonographic characteristics associated with both benign and neoplastic lymph nodes have been suggested. However, a significant overlap between these characteristics exists, necessitating a cytologic or histopathologic diagnosis in most instances. The objectives of this retrospective, cross-sectional study were to evaluate whether echogenicity of perinodal fat could be a discriminator between benign and neoplastic abdominal lymphadenopathy and to assess if additional sonographic features associated with malignancy could be identified in lymph nodes with hyperechoic perinodal fat. Small animal patients (257 dogs and 117 cats) with sonographic evidence of abdominal lymphadenopathy and a cytological or histopathological diagnosis were evaluated for differences in the proportions of sonographic features between benign and neoplastic groups. Greater maximum long axis diameter (in dogs and cats) and a greater number of abnormal lymph nodes (in cats) were associated with malignancy in lymph nodes with hyperechoic perinodal fat. Canine lymph nodes with round cell neoplasia were significantly more likely to have hyperechoic perinodal fat. Lymph nodes affected with other neoplasia or with lymphadenitis were equally likely to have normal or hyperechoic perinodal fat. Reactive lymph nodes were significantly less likely to have hyperechoic perinodal fat in both species. These results suggest that though echogenicity of perinodal fat is a nonspecific finding, abdominal lymph nodes with hyperechoic perinodal fat are less likely to be reactive and sampling of these lymph nodes may be indicated. © 2017 American College of Veterinary Radiology.

Morphological analysis of lymph nodes in Odontocetes from north and northeast coast of Brazil.

PubMed

De Oliveira e Silva, Fernanda Menezes; Guimarães, Juliana Plácido; Vergara-Parente, Jociery Einhardt; Carvalho, Vitor Luz; De Meirelles, Ana Carolina Oliveira; Marmontel, Miriam; Ferrão, Juliana Shimara Pires; Miglino, Maria Angelica

2014-05-01

The morphology and location of lymph nodes from seven species of Odontocetes, of both sexes and different age groups, were described. All animals were derived from stranding events along the North and Northeastern coasts of Brazil. After the identification of lymph nodes in situ, tissue samples were analyzed for light and electron microscopy. Vascular volume density (VVD) and vascular length density (VLD) were evaluated in the mesenteric lymph nodes. Lymph nodes occurred as solitary nodules or in groups, varying in shape and size. In addition to using the nomenclature recommended by Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria, new nomenclatures were suggested based on the lymph nodes topography. Lymph nodes were covered by a highly vascularized and innervated capsule of dense connective tissue, below which muscle fibers were observed, inconsistently, in all studied species. There was no difference in VLD among different age groups. However, VVD was higher in adults. Lymph nodes parenchyma was divided into an outer cortex, containing lymph nodules and germinal centers; a paracortical region, transition zone with dense lymphoid tissue; and an inner medulla, composed of small irregular cords of lymphatic tissue, blood vessels, and diffuse lymphoid tissue. Abundant collagen fibers were observed around arteries and arterioles. Germinal centers were more evident and developed in calves and young animals, being more discrete and sparse in adults. The morphology of lymph nodes in Odontocetes was typical of that observed in other terrestrial mammals. However, new groups of lymph nodes were described for seven species occurring in the Brazilian coast. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Exploring the evolution of node neighborhoods in Dynamic Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orman, Günce Keziban; Labatut, Vincent; Naskali, Ahmet Teoman

2017-09-01

Dynamic Networks are a popular way of modeling and studying the behavior of evolving systems. However, their analysis constitutes a relatively recent subfield of Network Science, and the number of available tools is consequently much smaller than for static networks. In this work, we propose a method specifically designed to take advantage of the longitudinal nature of dynamic networks. It characterizes each individual node by studying the evolution of its direct neighborhood, based on the assumption that the way this neighborhood changes reflects the role and position of the node in the whole network. For this purpose, we define the concept of neighborhood event, which corresponds to the various transformations such groups of nodes can undergo, and describe an algorithm for detecting such events. We demonstrate the interest of our method on three real-world networks: DBLP, LastFM and Enron. We apply frequent pattern mining to extract meaningful information from temporal sequences of neighborhood events. This results in the identification of behavioral trends emerging in the whole network, as well as the individual characterization of specific nodes. We also perform a cluster analysis, which reveals that, in all three networks, one can distinguish two types of nodes exhibiting different behaviors: a very small group of active nodes, whose neighborhood undergo diverse and frequent events, and a very large group of stable nodes.

Lymph node involvement in gastric cancer for different tumor sites and T stage: Italian Research Group for Gastric Cancer (IRGGC) experience.

PubMed

Di Leo, Alberto; Marrelli, Daniele; Roviello, Franco; Bernini, Marco; Minicozzi, AnnaMaria; Giacopuzzi, Simone; Pedrazzani, Corrado; Baiocchi, Luca Gian; de Manzoni, Giovanni

2007-09-01

The aim of lymphadenectomy is to clear all the metastatic nodes achieving a complete removal of the tumor; nevertheless, its role in gastric cancer has been very much debated. The frequency of node metastasis in each lymphatic station according to the International Gastric Cancer Association, was studied in 545 patients who underwent D2 or D3 lymphadenectomy from June 1988 to December 2002. Upper third early cancers have shown an involvement of N2 celiac nodes in 25%. In advanced cancers, there was a high frequency of metastasis in the right gastroepiploic (from 10% in T2 to 50% in T4) and in the paraaortic nodes (26% in T2, 32% in T3, 38 % in T4). N3 left paracardial nodes involvement was observed in an important share of middle third tumors (17% in T3, 36% in T4). Splenic hilum nodes metastasis were common in T3 and T4 cancers located in the upper (39%) and middle (17%) stomach. N2 nodal involvement was frequent in lower third advanced cancers. Metastasis in M left paracardial and short gastric nodes were observed in a small percentage of cases. Given the nodal diffusion in our gastric cancer patients, extended lymphadenectomy is still a rationale to obtain radical resection.

Presentation of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma in a Warthin Tumor: Case Report and Literature Review.

PubMed

Jawad, Hadeel; McCarthy, Peter; O'Leary, Gerard; Heffron, Cynthia C

2018-05-01

Warthin tumor is the second most common salivary gland neoplasm. It occurs more commonly in males than in females. Malignant transformation in Warthin tumor is a rare but well-recognized phenomenon; however, the development or presentation of lymphoma in a Warthin tumor is rare. An 80-year-old man presented with painless mass of the right parotid gland of 2 years duration with recent ulceration of the overlying skin and right cervical lymphadenopathy underwent a surgical resection of parotid mass and biopsy of the periglandular lymph nodes. The histological diagnosis was malignant lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, present within the stroma of a Warthin tumor, and also present within the adjacent lymph node. This case is the third reported case describing a collision of Warthin tumor and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma. It also emphasizes the importance of careful examination of the lymphoid stroma of these tumors.

Black tattoos entail substantial uptake of genotoxicpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in human skin and regional lymph nodes.

PubMed

Lehner, Karin; Santarelli, Francesco; Vasold, Rudolf; Penning, Randolph; Sidoroff, Alexis; König, Burkhard; Landthaler, Michael; Bäumler, Wolfgang

2014-01-01

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide have tattoos, which predominantly contain black inks consisting of soot products like Carbon Black or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). We recently found up to 200 μg/g of PAH in commercial black inks. After skin tattooing, a substantial part of the ink and PAH should be transported to other anatomical sites like the regional lymph nodes. To allow a first estimation of health risk, we aimed to extract and quantify the amount of PAH in black tattooed skin and the regional lymph nodes of pre-existing tattoos. Firstly, we established an extraction method by using HPLC-DAD technology that enables the quantification of PAH concentrations in human tissue. After that, 16 specimens of human tattooed skin and corresponding regional lymph nodes were included in the study. All skin specimen and lymph nodes appeared deep black. The specimens were digested and tested for 20 different PAH at the same time.PAH were found in twelve of the 16 tattooed skin specimens and in eleven regional lymph nodes. The PAH concentration ranged from 0.1-0.6 μg/cm2 in the tattooed skin and 0.1-11.8 μg/g in the lymph nodes. Two major conclusions can be drawn from the present results. Firstly, PAH in black inks stay partially in skin or can be found in the regional lymph nodes. Secondly, the major part of tattooed PAH had disappeared from skin or might be found in other organs than skin and lymph nodes. Thus, beside inhalation and ingestion, tattooing has proven to be an additional, direct and effective route of PAH uptake into the human body.

Black Tattoos Entail Substantial Uptake of Genotoxicpolycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) in Human Skin and Regional Lymph Nodes

PubMed Central

Lehner, Karin; Santarelli, Francesco; Vasold, Rudolf; Penning, Randolph; Sidoroff, Alexis; König, Burkhard; Landthaler, Michael; Bäumler, Wolfgang

2014-01-01

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide have tattoos, which predominantly contain black inks consisting of soot products like Carbon Black or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). We recently found up to 200 μg/g of PAH in commercial black inks. After skin tattooing, a substantial part of the ink and PAH should be transported to other anatomical sites like the regional lymph nodes. To allow a first estimation of health risk, we aimed to extract and quantify the amount of PAH in black tattooed skin and the regional lymph nodes of pre-existing tattoos. Firstly, we established an extraction method by using HPLC – DAD technology that enables the quantification of PAH concentrations in human tissue. After that, 16 specimens of human tattooed skin and corresponding regional lymph nodes were included in the study. All skin specimen and lymph nodes appeared deep black. The specimens were digested and tested for 20 different PAH at the same time.PAH were found in twelve of the 16 tattooed skin specimens and in eleven regional lymph nodes. The PAH concentration ranged from 0.1–0.6 μg/cm2 in the tattooed skin and 0.1–11.8 μg/g in the lymph nodes. Two major conclusions can be drawn from the present results. Firstly, PAH in black inks stay partially in skin or can be found in the regional lymph nodes. Secondly, the major part of tattooed PAH had disappeared from skin or might be found in other organs than skin and lymph nodes. Thus, beside inhalation and ingestion, tattooing has proven to be an additional, direct and effective route of PAH uptake into the human body. PMID:24670978

The Effects of Whole-Body Vibration on Health

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-03-01

strains, sciatica, lumbar disc syndrome, and facet syndrome), cardiovascular system (hypertension, coronary artery disease, obstructive syndromes...compression fractures, Schmorl’s nodes, ankylosing spondylitis, spondylolisthesis, spondylosis , Scheur- man’s disease, supply spondylosis , detached retina

[THE STRUCTURE OF LYMPHATIC CAPILLARIES OF THE CILIARY BODY OF THE HUMAN EYE].

PubMed

Borodin, Yu I; Bgatova, N P; Chernykh, V V; Trunov, A N; Pozhidayeva, A A; Konenkov, V I

2015-01-01

Using light microscopy, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy, the structural organization of interstitial spaces and vessels of the ciliary body of the human eye (n = 5) were studied. The ciliary body was found to contain wide interstitial spaces--tissue clefts bound by collagen fibers and fibroblasts. Organ-specific lymphatic capillaries were also demonstrated in the ciliary body. According to the present findings and the lymphatic region concept, the first 2 elements of the lymphatic region of the eye were described: tissue clefts--prelymphatics and lymphatic capillaries of the ciliary body. The third element of the lymphatic region are the lymph nodes of the head and neck.

Cascade phenomenon against subsequent failures in complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Zhong-Yuan; Liu, Zhi-Quan; He, Xuan; Ma, Jian-Feng

2018-06-01

Cascade phenomenon may lead to catastrophic disasters which extremely imperil the network safety or security in various complex systems such as communication networks, power grids, social networks and so on. In some flow-based networks, the load of failed nodes can be redistributed locally to their neighboring nodes to maximally preserve the traffic oscillations or large-scale cascading failures. However, in such local flow redistribution model, a small set of key nodes attacked subsequently can result in network collapse. Then it is a critical problem to effectively find the set of key nodes in the network. To our best knowledge, this work is the first to study this problem comprehensively. We first introduce the extra capacity for every node to put up with flow fluctuations from neighbors, and two extra capacity distributions including degree based distribution and average distribution are employed. Four heuristic key nodes discovering methods including High-Degree-First (HDF), Low-Degree-First (LDF), Random and Greedy Algorithms (GA) are presented. Extensive simulations are realized in both scale-free networks and random networks. The results show that the greedy algorithm can efficiently find the set of key nodes in both scale-free and random networks. Our work studies network robustness against cascading failures from a very novel perspective, and methods and results are very useful for network robustness evaluations and protections.

A Green Media Access Method for IEEE 802.15.6 Wireless Body Area Network.

PubMed

Jacob, Anil K; Jacob, Lillykutty

2017-09-30

It is of utmost importance to conserve battery energy to the maximum possible extent in WBAN nodes while collecting and transferring medical data. The IEEE 802.15.6 WBAN standard does not specify any method to conserve energy. This paper focuses on a method to conserve energy in IEEE 802.15.6 WBAN nodes when using CSMA/CA, while simultaneously restricting data delivery delay to the required value as specified in medical applications. The technique is to allow the nodes to sleep all the times except for receiving beacons and for transmitting data frames whenever a data frame enters an empty buffer. The energy consumed by the nodes and the average latency of data frame for periodical arrival of data are found out analytically. The analytical results are validated and also the proposed method is compared with other energy conserving schemes, using Castalia simulation studies. The proposed method shows superior performance in both device lifetime and latency of emergency medical data.

Propionibacterium acnes-derived insoluble immune complexes in sinus macrophages of lymph nodes affected by sarcoidosis.

PubMed

Suzuki, Yoshimi; Uchida, Keisuke; Takemura, Tamiko; Sekine, Masaki; Tamura, Tomoki; Furukawa, Asuka; Hebisawa, Akira; Sakakibara, Yumi; Awano, Nobuyasu; Amano, Tomonari; Kobayashi, Daisuke; Negi, Mariko; Kakegawa, Tomoya; Wada, Yuriko; Ito, Takashi; Suzuki, Takashige; Akashi, Takumi; Eishi, Yoshinobu

2018-01-01

Propionibacterium acnes is thought to be a causative agent of sarcoidosis. Patients with sarcoidosis have circulating immune complexes. We attempted to detect P. acnes-derived immune complexes in sarcoid lesions. We evaluated formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded lymph node samples from 38 sarcoidosis patients and 90 non-sarcoidosis patients (27 patients with necrotizing lymphadenitis, 28 patients with reactive lymphadenitis, 16 patients with colon cancer, 19 patients with gastric cancer) by immunohistochemistry using anti-human immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, and IgM) and complement (C1q and C3c) antibodies, and a P. acnes-specific monoclonal antibody (PAB antibody) that reacts with the membrane-bound lipoteichoic acid of P. acnes. Small round bodies (SRBs) bound to IgA, IgM, or IgG were detected in sinus macrophages, in 32 (84%), 32 (84%), or 11 (29%) sarcoid samples, respectively, and in 19 (21%), 26 (29%), or no (0%) control samples, respectively. Some of these insoluble immune complexes (IICs) also bound to C1q and C3c. We developed a microwave treatment followed by brief trypsin digestion (MT treatment) to detect PAB-reactive SRBs bound to immunoglobulins (IIC-forming P. acnes). MT treatment revealed abundant IIC-forming P. acnes in most (89%) of the sarcoid samples and sparse distribution in some (20%) of the control samples with lymphadenitis, but no IIC-forming P. acnes was detected in control samples without inflammation. IIC-forming P. acnes were mostly bound to both IgA and IgM. The PAB-reactive antigen and immunoglobulins were both located at the peripheral rim of the IIC-forming P. acnes. Conventional electron microscopy identified many SRBs (0.5-2.0 μm diameter) in sinus macrophages of sarcoid lymph nodes with many IIC-forming P. acnes, some of which were in phagolysosomes with a degraded and lamellar appearance. P. acnes-derived IICs in sinus macrophages were frequent and abundant in sarcoid lymph nodes, suggesting a potential etiologic link between sarcoidosis and this commensal bacterium.

On the Pre-impact Orbital Evolution of 2018 LA, Parent Body of the Bright Fireball Observed Over Botswana on 2018 June 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl

2018-06-01

On 2018 June 2, meteoroid 2018 LA became the third natural body ever to be observed before entering our atmosphere ---small asteroids 2014 AA and 2008 TC3 had stricken the Earth on 2014 January 2 and 2008 October 7, respectively. Here, we explore the pre-impact orbital evolution of 2018 LA and investigate the possible presence of known NEOs moving in similar orbits using N-body simulations and the D-criteria. We identify several objects moving in orbits similar to that of 2018 LA and focus on three of them: (454100) 2013 BO73, which is the largest of the group and a PHA, 2016 LR, and 2018 BA5, which follows a path very close to that of 2018 LA in terms of semimajor axis, eccentricity, and inclination. All these objects could be part of a dynamical grouping and their orbital evolution is rather chaotic, experiencing close encounters with Venus, the Earth-Moon system, and Mars. NEO encounters take place at the node and, on the short-term, the relative positions of our planet in its orbit around the Sun repeat every year. Besides the bright fireball observed over Botswana on 2018 June 2, three other bolides were observed early in June in recent years: Crete on 2002 June 6, Washington State on 2004 June 3, and Reisadalen on 2007 June 7.

Discovery of a missing disease spreader

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maeno, Yoshiharu

2011-10-01

This study presents a method to discover an outbreak of an infectious disease in a region for which data are missing, but which is at work as a disease spreader. Node discovery for the spread of an infectious disease is defined as discriminating between the nodes which are neighboring to a missing disease spreader node, and the rest, given a dataset on the number of cases. The spread is described by stochastic differential equations. A perturbation theory quantifies the impact of the missing spreader on the moments of the number of cases. Statistical discriminators examine the mid-body or tail-ends of the probability density function, and search for the disturbance from the missing spreader. They are tested with computationally synthesized datasets, and applied to the SARS outbreak and flu pandemic.

[A Case Report of Gastric Carcinoma with Lymphoid Stroma Differentially Diagnosed from Malignant Lymphoma].

PubMed

Yamada, Kazuto; Kosuga, Toshiyuki; Okamoto, Kazuma; Konishi, Hirotaka; Shiozaki, Atsushi; Fujiwara, Hitoshi; Morimura, Ryo; Murayama, Yasutoshi; Kuriu, Yoshiaki; Ikoma, Hisashi; Nakanishi, Masayoshi; Kuroda, Junya; Kishimoto, Mitsuo; Konishi, Eiichi; Otsuji, Eigo

2017-11-01

A 49-year-old man was referred to our hospital for close examination of a submucosal tumor with ulceration located in the upper gastric body. PET-CT showed FDG uptake both in the gastric tumor and an enlarged lymph node. Although routine biopsies and EUS-FNA of this tumor did not demonstrate any malignant findings, he underwent excisional biopsy of the enlarged lymph nodes to rule out malignant lymphoma. Histopathological examination revealed that the excised specimens were metastatic nodes of poorly differentiated carcinoma probably from the known gastric tumor. Subsequently, he underwent total gastrectomy with D2, and histopathological findings confirmed the final diagnosis of gastric carcinoma with lymphoid stroma(GCLS). We report a case of GCLS that was difficult to diagnose.

Therapeutic value of lymph node dissection for right middle lobe non-small-cell lung cancer

PubMed Central

Kuroda, Hiroaki; Mun, Mingyon; Motoi, Noriko; Ishikawa, Yuichi; Nakagawa, Ken; Yatabe, Yasushi; Okumura, Sakae

2016-01-01

Background Superior mediastinal and #11i lymph node (LN) metastases are adverse prognostic factors in patients with middle lobe lung cancer. We aimed to clarify the benefit of thorough lymphadenectomy by LN station or zone in middle lobe non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Among 295 patients who underwent pulmonary resection and thorough lymphadenectomy for primary right middle lobe (RML) NSCLC at two institutions, we enrolled 68 patients (33 men, 35 women) and retrospectively studied their data. We divided each N1 location (i.e., #10, #11s and #11i) into N1(−)N2(+) and N1(+)N2(+) and divided the #12m location into N1(+)N2(−), N1(−)N2(+) and N1(+)N2(+). Results Interlobar node involvement was rare in pN1 NSCLC when compared with that in other N1 nodes. Lymph node dissection (LND) was beneficial when the hilar zone (HZ)/interlobar zone (IZ) LNs were located at the intermediate point of the upper zones (UZs) and subcarinal zones (SCZs), with the therapeutic benefit at the SCZ being 2.8-fold higher than that at the UZ and 9.7-fold higher than that at the lower zone (LZ). Furthermore, LND evidently had greater therapeutic value for the SCZ than the UZ, which was compatible with skip N2 metastases. Conclusions For middle lobe NSCLC, mediastinal LND should be considered a priority in the SCZ than in the UZ. Moreover, the HZ/IZ is central to unfavourable prognoses in patients with pN2 middle lobe NSCLC. PMID:27162652

CoR-MAC: Contention over Reservation MAC Protocol for Time-Critical Services in Wireless Body Area Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Yu, Jeongseok; Park, Laihyuk; Park, Junho; Cho, Sungrae; Keum, Changsup

2016-01-01

Reserving time slots for urgent data, such as life-critical information, seems to be very attractive to guarantee their deadline requirements in wireless body area sensor networks (WBASNs). On the other hand, this reservation imposes a negative impact on performance for the utilization of a channel. This paper proposes a new channel access scheme referred to as the contention over reservation MAC (CoR-MAC) protocol for time-critical services in wireless body area sensor networks. CoR-MAC uses the dual reservation; if the reserved time slots are known to be vacant, other nodes can access the time slots by contention-based reservation to maximize the utilization of a channel and decrease the delay of the data. To measure the effectiveness of the proposed scheme against IEEE 802.15.4 and IEEE 802.15.6, we evaluated their performances with various performance indexes. The CoR-MAC showed 50% to 850% performance improvement in terms of the delay of urgent and time-critical data according to the number of nodes. PMID:27171085

Irradiation of the inguinal lymph nodes in patients of differing body habitus: a comparison of techniques and resulting normal tissue complication probabilities.

PubMed

Brown, Paul D; Kline, Robert W; Petersen, Ivy A; Haddock, Michael G

2004-01-01

The treatment of the inguinal lymph nodes with radiotherapy is strongly influenced by the body habitus of the patient. The effect of 7 radiotherapy techniques on femoral head doses was studied. Three female patients of differing body habitus (ectomorph, mesomorph, endomorph) were selected. Radiation fields included the pelvis and contiguous inguinal regions and were representative of fields used in the treatment of cancers of the lower pelvis. Seven treatment techniques were compared. In the ectomorph and mesomorph, normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) for the femoral heads was lowest with use of anteroposterior (AP) and modified posteroanterior (PA) field with inguinal electron field supplements (technique 1). In the endomorph, NTCP was lowest with use of AP and modified PA field without electron field supplements (technique 2) or a 4-field approach (technique 6). Technique 1 for ectomorphs and mesomorphs and techniques 2 and 6 for endomorphs were optimal techniques for providing relatively homogeneous dose distributions within the target area while minimizing the dose to the femoral heads.

Single-phase Whole-body 64-MDCT Split-bolus Protocol for Pediatric Oncology: Diagnostic Efficacy and Dose Radiation.

PubMed

Scialpi, Michele; Schiavone, Raffaele; D'Andrea, Alfredo; Palumbo, Isabella; Magli, Michelle; Gravante, Sabrina; Falcone, Giuseppe; De Filippi, Claudio; Manganaro, Lucia; Palumbo, Barbara

2015-05-01

To evaluate the image quality and the diagnostic efficacy by single-phase whole-body 64-slice multidetector CT (MDCT) for pediatric oncology. Chest-abdomen-pelvis CT examinations with single-phase split-bolus technique were evaluated for T: detection and delineation of primary tumor (assessment of the extent of the lesion to neighboring tissues), N: regional lymph nodes and M: distant metastasis. Quality scores (5-point scale) were assessed by two radiologists on parenchymal and vascular enhancement. Accurate TNM staging in term of detection and delineation of primary tumor, regional lymph nodes and distant metastasis was obtained in all cases. On the image quality and severity artifact, the Kappa value for the interobserver agreement measure obtained from the analysis was 0.754, (p<0.001), characterizing a very good agreement between observers. Single-pass total body CT split-bolus technique reached the highest overall image quality and an accurate TNM staging in pediatric patients with cancer. Copyright© 2015 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved.

An Efficient Biometric-Based Algorithm Using Heart Rate Variability for Securing Body Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Pirbhulal, Sandeep; Zhang, Heye; Mukhopadhyay, Subhas Chandra; Li, Chunyue; Wang, Yumei; Li, Guanglin; Wu, Wanqing; Zhang, Yuan-Ting

2015-01-01

Body Sensor Network (BSN) is a network of several associated sensor nodes on, inside or around the human body to monitor vital signals, such as, Electroencephalogram (EEG), Photoplethysmography (PPG), Electrocardiogram (ECG), etc. Each sensor node in BSN delivers major information; therefore, it is very significant to provide data confidentiality and security. All existing approaches to secure BSN are based on complex cryptographic key generation procedures, which not only demands high resource utilization and computation time, but also consumes large amount of energy, power and memory during data transmission. However, it is indispensable to put forward energy efficient and computationally less complex authentication technique for BSN. In this paper, a novel biometric-based algorithm is proposed, which utilizes Heart Rate Variability (HRV) for simple key generation process to secure BSN. Our proposed algorithm is compared with three data authentication techniques, namely Physiological Signal based Key Agreement (PSKA), Data Encryption Standard (DES) and Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA). Simulation is performed in Matlab and results suggest that proposed algorithm is quite efficient in terms of transmission time utilization, average remaining energy and total power consumption. PMID:26131666

An Efficient Biometric-Based Algorithm Using Heart Rate Variability for Securing Body Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Pirbhulal, Sandeep; Zhang, Heye; Mukhopadhyay, Subhas Chandra; Li, Chunyue; Wang, Yumei; Li, Guanglin; Wu, Wanqing; Zhang, Yuan-Ting

2015-06-26

Body Sensor Network (BSN) is a network of several associated sensor nodes on, inside or around the human body to monitor vital signals, such as, Electroencephalogram (EEG), Photoplethysmography (PPG), Electrocardiogram (ECG), etc. Each sensor node in BSN delivers major information; therefore, it is very significant to provide data confidentiality and security. All existing approaches to secure BSN are based on complex cryptographic key generation procedures, which not only demands high resource utilization and computation time, but also consumes large amount of energy, power and memory during data transmission. However, it is indispensable to put forward energy efficient and computationally less complex authentication technique for BSN. In this paper, a novel biometric-based algorithm is proposed, which utilizes Heart Rate Variability (HRV) for simple key generation process to secure BSN. Our proposed algorithm is compared with three data authentication techniques, namely Physiological Signal based Key Agreement (PSKA), Data Encryption Standard (DES) and Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA). Simulation is performed in Matlab and results suggest that proposed algorithm is quite efficient in terms of transmission time utilization, average remaining energy and total power consumption.

Europlanet Integrated and Distributed Information Service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, W.; Capria, M. T.; Chanteur, G.

2009-04-01

During the past decades the various disciplines in planetary sciences have developed to a very high international standard. But the collaboration between the different fields should be improved. To overcome the current fragmentation of the EU Planetary Science community and thereby to increase the scientific return of the related investment, the EU commission is funding via its Framework Program 7 the development of the "Europlanet Research Infrastructure -Europlanet RI". The Europlanet RI will consolidate the integration of the European Planetary Science community which started with Europlanet's FP6 project and will integrate major parts of the related distributed European infrastructure to be shared, fed and expanded by all planetary scientists. This infrastructure encompasses as diverse components as space exploration, ground-based observations, laboratory experiments and numerical modeling teams. Europlanet RI aims at bringing scientists from Europe and beyond together who are working in these fields, support the exchange of experts and ideas and make as many resources and data as possible available to the research community. A central part of Europlanet RI is the "Integrated and Distributed Information Service" or Europlanet-IDIS. The task of IDIS as central part of Europlanet is to provide an easy-to-use Web-based platform to locate teams and laboratories with special knowledge needed to support the own research activities, give access to the wealth of already available data, initiate new research activities needed to interpret accumulated data or to solve open questions, and to exploit synergies between space-based missions and capabilities of ground based observatories. It also offers to a wide range of teams and laboratories the possibility to share their data, advertise their capabilities and increase the scientific return by cooperation. IDIS is organized as an EU FP7 Support Activity, consisting of different access nodes which are connected by integrated search facilities, compatible structures and a common management. Each of these nodes concentrates on a special field of planetary sciences, has its own team of related international experts and is responsible for the access to information and data centres related to its area of competence. Integrated keyword-based search-possibilities direct inquiries to those node(s), most likely to return the wanted information. These nodes are hosted by the following organizations: - The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) in Helsinki, Finland, hosts the Technical Node for a wide range of support activities and provides the network management. - The Institute of Planetary Research (IPR) of DLR in Berlin, Germany, hosts the Planetary Surfaces and Interiors Node, concentrating on internal structure, formation and evolution of the planets, their moons, asteroids and comets. - The Institut für Weltraumforschung, IWF (Space Research Institute) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) in Graz hosts the Planetary Plasma Node in close cooperation with the French space plasma data center CDPP in Toulouse. - The Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace in Paris hosts the Planetary Atmospheres Node. - The Paris Observatory hosts the Virtual Observatory Paris Data Center providing among others access to a wide range of atomic and molecular spectral databases. - The Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI) in Rome hosts the Small Bodies and Dust Node, in cooperation with the ESA/ESTECs Virtual Meteor Observatory in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, concentrating on research and observations related to solar system asteroids, comets, meteors and interplanetary dust. During the next four years a set of tools for describing, accessing and combining information and data from different sources will be developed, offering finally a Virtual Observatory like access to many data essential for planetary research from European and None-European sources. Web access via any of the mentioned nodes, e.g. the Technical Node at http://www.europlanet-idis.fi/

A spread willingness computing-based information dissemination model.

PubMed

Huang, Haojing; Cui, Zhiming; Zhang, Shukui

2014-01-01

This paper constructs a kind of spread willingness computing based on information dissemination model for social network. The model takes into account the impact of node degree and dissemination mechanism, combined with the complex network theory and dynamics of infectious diseases, and further establishes the dynamical evolution equations. Equations characterize the evolutionary relationship between different types of nodes with time. The spread willingness computing contains three factors which have impact on user's spread behavior: strength of the relationship between the nodes, views identity, and frequency of contact. Simulation results show that different degrees of nodes show the same trend in the network, and even if the degree of node is very small, there is likelihood of a large area of information dissemination. The weaker the relationship between nodes, the higher probability of views selection and the higher the frequency of contact with information so that information spreads rapidly and leads to a wide range of dissemination. As the dissemination probability and immune probability change, the speed of information dissemination is also changing accordingly. The studies meet social networking features and can help to master the behavior of users and understand and analyze characteristics of information dissemination in social network.

A local immunization strategy for networks with overlapping community structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taghavian, Fatemeh; Salehi, Mostafa; Teimouri, Mehdi

2017-02-01

Since full coverage treatment is not feasible due to limited resources, we need to utilize an immunization strategy to effectively distribute the available vaccines. On the other hand, the structure of contact network among people has a significant impact on epidemics of infectious diseases (such as SARS and influenza) in a population. Therefore, network-based immunization strategies aim to reduce the spreading rate by removing the vaccinated nodes from contact network. Such strategies try to identify more important nodes in epidemics spreading over a network. In this paper, we address the effect of overlapping nodes among communities on epidemics spreading. The proposed strategy is an optimized random-walk based selection of these nodes. The whole process is local, i.e. it requires contact network information in the level of nodes. Thus, it is applicable to large-scale and unknown networks in which the global methods usually are unrealizable. Our simulation results on different synthetic and real networks show that the proposed method outperforms the existing local methods in most cases. In particular, for networks with strong community structures, high overlapping membership of nodes or small size communities, the proposed method shows better performance.

A Spread Willingness Computing-Based Information Dissemination Model

PubMed Central

Cui, Zhiming; Zhang, Shukui

2014-01-01

This paper constructs a kind of spread willingness computing based on information dissemination model for social network. The model takes into account the impact of node degree and dissemination mechanism, combined with the complex network theory and dynamics of infectious diseases, and further establishes the dynamical evolution equations. Equations characterize the evolutionary relationship between different types of nodes with time. The spread willingness computing contains three factors which have impact on user's spread behavior: strength of the relationship between the nodes, views identity, and frequency of contact. Simulation results show that different degrees of nodes show the same trend in the network, and even if the degree of node is very small, there is likelihood of a large area of information dissemination. The weaker the relationship between nodes, the higher probability of views selection and the higher the frequency of contact with information so that information spreads rapidly and leads to a wide range of dissemination. As the dissemination probability and immune probability change, the speed of information dissemination is also changing accordingly. The studies meet social networking features and can help to master the behavior of users and understand and analyze characteristics of information dissemination in social network. PMID:25110738

Automatic detection of axillary lymphadenopathy on CT scans of untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jiamin; Hua, Jeremy; Chellappa, Vivek; Petrick, Nicholas; Sahiner, Berkman; Farooqui, Mohammed; Marti, Gerald; Wiestner, Adrian; Summers, Ronald M.

2012-03-01

Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have an increased frequency of axillary lymphadenopathy. Pretreatment CT scans can be used to upstage patients at the time of presentation and post-treatment CT scans can reduce the number of complete responses. In the current clinical workflow, the detection and diagnosis of lymph nodes is usually performed manually by examining all slices of CT images, which can be time consuming and highly dependent on the observer's experience. A system for automatic lymph node detection and measurement is desired. We propose a computer aided detection (CAD) system for axillary lymph nodes on CT scans in CLL patients. The lung is first automatically segmented and the patient's body in lung region is extracted to set the search region for lymph nodes. Multi-scale Hessian based blob detection is then applied to detect potential lymph nodes within the search region. Next, the detected potential candidates are segmented by fast level set method. Finally, features are calculated from the segmented candidates and support vector machine (SVM) classification is utilized for false positive reduction. Two blobness features, Frangi's and Li's, are tested and their free-response receiver operating characteristic (FROC) curves are generated to assess system performance. We applied our detection system to 12 patients with 168 axillary lymph nodes measuring greater than 10 mm. All lymph nodes are manually labeled as ground truth. The system achieved sensitivities of 81% and 85% at 2 false positives per patient for Frangi's and Li's blobness, respectively.

Lymph node harvest in colon and rectal cancer: Current considerations

PubMed Central

McDonald, James R; Renehan, Andrew G; O’Dwyer, Sarah T; Haboubi, Najib Y

2012-01-01

The prognostic significance of identifying lymph node (LN) metastases following surgical resection for colon and rectal cancer is well recognized and is reflected in accurate staging of the disease. An established body of evidence exists, demonstrating an association between a higher total LN count and improved survival, particularly for node negative colon cancer. In node positive disease, however, the lymph node ratios may represent a better prognostic indicator, although the impact of this on clinical treatment has yet to be universally established. By extension, strategies to increase surgical node harvest and/or laboratory methods to increase LN yield seem logical and might improve cancer staging. However, debate prevails as to whether or not these extrapolations are clinically relevant, particularly when very high LN counts are sought. Current guidelines recommend a minimum of 12 nodes harvested as the standard of care, yet the evidence for such is questionable as it is unclear whether an increasing the LN count results in improved survival. Findings from modern treatments, including down-staging in rectal cancer using pre-operative chemoradiotherapy, paradoxically suggest that lower LN count, or indeed complete absence of LNs, are associated with improved survival; implying that using a specific number of LNs harvested as a measure of surgical quality is not always appropriate. The pursuit of a sufficient LN harvest represents good clinical practice; however, recent evidence shows that the exhaustive searching for very high LN yields may be unnecessary and has little influence on modern approaches to treatment. PMID:22347537

Unification of small and large time scales for biological evolution: deviations from power law.

PubMed

Chowdhury, Debashish; Stauffer, Dietrich; Kunwar, Ambarish

2003-02-14

We develop a unified model that describes both "micro" and "macro" evolutions within a single theoretical framework. The ecosystem is described as a dynamic network; the population dynamics at each node of this network describes the "microevolution" over ecological time scales (i.e., birth, ageing, and natural death of individual organisms), while the appearance of new nodes, the slow changes of the links, and the disappearance of existing nodes accounts for the "macroevolution" over geological time scales (i.e., the origination, evolution, and extinction of species). In contrast to several earlier claims in the literature, we observe strong deviations from power law in the regime of long lifetimes.

77 FR 65767 - Petition for Exemption From the Federal Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard; Chrysler

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-30

... (RFHM), Ignition Node Module (IGNM), Engine Control Module, Body Controller Module, Sentry Key... disable engine operation and immobilize the vehicle after two seconds of running. This process is also...

Breast Cancer Surgery

MedlinePlus

FACTS FOR LIFE Breast Cancer Surgery The goal of breast cancer surgery is to remove the whole tumor from the breast. Some lymph nodes ... might still be in the body. Types of breast cancer surgery There are two types of breast cancer ...

Network topology analysis approach on China's QFII stock investment behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yongjie; Cao, Xing; He, Feng; Zhang, Wei

2017-05-01

In this paper, the investment behavior of QFII in China stock market from 2004 to 2015 is studied with the network topology method. Based on the nodes topological characteristics, stock holding fluctuations correlation is studied from the micro network level. We conclude that the QFII mutual stock holding network have both scale free and small world properties, which presented mainly small world characteristics from 2005 to 2011, and scale free characteristics from 2012 to 2015. Moreover, fluctuations correlation is different with different nodes topological characteristics. In different economic periods, QFII represented different connection patterns and they reacted to the market crash spontaneously. Thus, this paper provides the first evidence of complex network research on QFII' investment behavior in China as an emerging market.

Mechanisms of left-right asymmetry and patterning: driver, mediator and responder.

PubMed

Hamada, Hiroshi; Tam, Patrick P L

2014-01-01

The establishment of a left-right (LR) organizer in the form of the ventral node is an absolute prerequisite for patterning the tissues on contralateral sides of the body of the mouse embryo. The experimental findings to date are consistent with a mechanistic paradigm that the laterality information, which is generated in the ventral node, elicits asymmetric molecular activity and cellular behaviour in the perinodal tissues. This information is then relayed to the cells in the lateral plate mesoderm (LPM) when the left-specific signal is processed and translated into LR body asymmetry. Here, we reflect on our current knowledge and speculate on the following: (a) what are the requisite anatomical and functional attributes of an LR organizer, (b) what asymmetric information is emanated from this organizer, and (c) how this information is transferred across the paraxial tissue compartment and elicits a molecular response specifically in the LPM.

Body-centered orthorhombic C 16 : A novel topological node-line semimetal

DOE PAGES

Wang, Jian -Tao; Weng, Hongming; Nie, Simin; ...

2016-05-11

We identify by ab initio calculations a novel topological semimetal carbon phase in all-sp 2 bonding networks with a 16-atom body-centered orthorhombic unit cell, termed bco-C 16. Total-energy calculations show that bco-C 16 is comparable to solid fcc-C 60 in energetic stability, and phonon and molecular dynamics simulations confirm its dynamical stability. This all-sp 2 carbon allotrope can be regarded as a three-dimensional modification of graphite, and its simulated x-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern matches well a previously unexplained diffraction peak in measured XRD spectra of detonation and chimney soot, indicating its presence in the specimen. Electronic band structure calculations revealmore » that bco-C 16 is a topological node-line semimetal with a single nodal ring. Lastly, these findings establish a novel carbon phase with intriguing structural and electronic properties of fundamental significance and practical interest.« less

Data-centric multiobjective QoS-aware routing protocol for body sensor networks.

PubMed

Razzaque, Md Abdur; Hong, Choong Seon; Lee, Sungwon

2011-01-01

In this paper, we address Quality-of-Service (QoS)-aware routing issue for Body Sensor Networks (BSNs) in delay and reliability domains. We propose a data-centric multiobjective QoS-Aware routing protocol, called DMQoS, which facilitates the system to achieve customized QoS services for each traffic category differentiated according to the generated data types. It uses modular design architecture wherein different units operate in coordination to provide multiple QoS services. Their operation exploits geographic locations and QoS performance of the neighbor nodes and implements a localized hop-by-hop routing. Moreover, the protocol ensures (almost) a homogeneous energy dissipation rate for all routing nodes in the network through a multiobjective Lexicographic Optimization-based geographic forwarding. We have performed extensive simulations of the proposed protocol, and the results show that DMQoS has significant performance improvements over several state-of-the-art approaches.

Some limitations on processing materials in acoustic levitation devices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oran, W. A.; Witherow, W. K.; Ross, B. B.; Rush, J. E.

1979-01-01

The spot heating of samples, suspended in an acoustic field, was investigated to determine if the technique could be used to process materials. A single axis resonance device operating in air at 25 C with an rms pressure maximum of 160 to 170 db was used in the experiments. The heat flow from a hot object suspended in a levitation node is dominated by the effects of the field, with the heat loss approximately 20 times larger than that due to natural convection. The acoustic forces which suspend the body at a node also serve to eject the heated air. The coupling between the locally heated region around the body and the acoustic field results in instabilities in both the pressure wave and force field. The investigations indicated the extreme difficulties in developing a materials processing device based on acoustic/spot heating for use in a terrestrial environment.

Precision Formation Keeping at L2 Using the Autonomous Formation Flying Sensor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McLoughlin, Terence H.; Campbell, Mark

2004-01-01

Recent advances in formation keeping for large numbers of spacecraft using the Autonomous Formation Flying are presented. This sensor, currently under development at JPL, has been identified as a key component in future formation flying spacecraft missions. The sensor provides accurate range and bearing measurements between pairs of spacecraft using GPS technology. Previous theoretical work by the authors has focused on developing a decentralized scheduling algorithm to control the tasking of such a sensor between the relative range and bearing measurements to each node in the formation. The resulting algorithm has been modified to include switching constraints in the sensor. This paper also presents a testbed for real time validation of a sixteen-node formation based on the Stellar Imager mission. Key aspects of the simulation include minimum fuel maneuvers based on free-body dynamics and a three body propagator for simulating the formation at L2.

Competing of Sznajd and Voter Dynamics in the Watts-Strogatz Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rybak, M.; Kułakowski, K.

We investigate the Watts-Strogatz network with the clustering coefficient C dependent on the rewiring probability. The network is an area of two opposite contact processes, where nodes can be in two states, S or D. One of the processes is governed by the Sznajd dynamics: if there are two connected nodes in D-state, all their neighbors become D with probability p. For the opposite process it is sufficient to have only one neighbor in state S; this transition occurs with probability 1. The concentration of S-nodes changes abruptly at given value of the probability p. The result is that for small p, in clusterized networks the activation of S nodes prevails. This result is explained by a comparison of two limit cases: the Watts-Strogatz network without rewiring, where C=0.5, and the Bethe lattice where C=0.

Dynamics of neutrophil migration in lymph nodes during infection.

PubMed

Chtanova, Tatyana; Schaeffer, Marie; Han, Seong-Ji; van Dooren, Giel G; Nollmann, Marcelo; Herzmark, Paul; Chan, Shiao Wei; Satija, Harshita; Camfield, Kristin; Aaron, Holly; Striepen, Boris; Robey, Ellen A

2008-09-19

Although the signals that control neutrophil migration from the blood to sites of infection have been well characterized, little is known about their migration patterns within lymph nodes or the strategies that neutrophils use to find their local sites of action. To address these questions, we used two-photon scanning-laser microscopy to examine neutrophil migration in intact lymph nodes during infection with an intracellular parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. We found that neutrophils formed both small, transient and large, persistent swarms via a coordinated migration pattern. We provided evidence that cooperative action of neutrophils and parasite egress from host cells could trigger swarm formation. Neutrophil swarm formation coincided in space and time with the removal of macrophages that line the subcapsular sinus of the lymph node. Our data provide insights into the cellular mechanisms underlying neutrophil swarming and suggest new roles for neutrophils in shaping immune responses.

Dynamics of neutrophil migration in lymph nodes during infection

PubMed Central

Chtanova, Tatyana; Schaeffer, Marie; Han, Seong-Ji; van Dooren, Giel G.; Nollmann, Marcelo; Herzmark, Paul; Chan, Shiao Wei; Satija, Harshita; Camfield, Kristin; Aaron, Holly; Striepen, Boris; Robey, Ellen A.

2008-01-01

Summary While the signals that control neutrophil migration from the blood to sites of infection have been well characterized, little is known about their migration patterns within lymph nodes, or the strategies that neutrophils use to find their local sites of action. To address these questions, we used two-photon scanning laser microscopy (TPSLM) to examine neutrophil migration in intact lymph nodes during infection with an intracellular parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. We find that neutrophils form both small, transient or large, persistent swarms via a strikingly coordinated migration pattern. We provide evidence that cooperative action of neutrophils and parasite egress from host cells can trigger swarm formation. Neutrophil swarm formation coincides in space and time with the removal of macrophages that line the subcapsular sinus of the lymph node. Our data provide insights into the cellular mechanisms underlying neutrophil swarming and suggest new roles for neutrophils in shaping immune responses. PMID:18718768

A Compact Energy Harvesting System for Outdoor Wireless Sensor Nodes Based on a Low-Cost In Situ Photovoltaic Panel Characterization-Modelling Unit

PubMed Central

Antolín, Diego; Calvo, Belén; Martínez, Pedro A.

2017-01-01

This paper presents a low-cost high-efficiency solar energy harvesting system to power outdoor wireless sensor nodes. It is based on a Voltage Open Circuit (VOC) algorithm that estimates the open-circuit voltage by means of a multilayer perceptron neural network model trained using local experimental characterization data, which are acquired through a novel low cost characterization system incorporated into the deployed node. Both units—characterization and modelling—are controlled by the same low-cost microcontroller, providing a complete solution which can be understood as a virtual pilot cell, with identical characteristics to those of the specific small solar cell installed on the sensor node, that besides allows an easy adaptation to changes in the actual environmental conditions, panel aging, etc. Experimental comparison to a classical pilot panel based VOC algorithm show better efficiency under the same tested conditions. PMID:28777330

A Compact Energy Harvesting System for Outdoor Wireless Sensor Nodes Based on a Low-Cost In Situ Photovoltaic Panel Characterization-Modelling Unit.

PubMed

Antolín, Diego; Medrano, Nicolás; Calvo, Belén; Martínez, Pedro A

2017-08-04

This paper presents a low-cost high-efficiency solar energy harvesting system to power outdoor wireless sensor nodes. It is based on a Voltage Open Circuit (VOC) algorithm that estimates the open-circuit voltage by means of a multilayer perceptron neural network model trained using local experimental characterization data, which are acquired through a novel low cost characterization system incorporated into the deployed node. Both units-characterization and modelling-are controlled by the same low-cost microcontroller, providing a complete solution which can be understood as a virtual pilot cell, with identical characteristics to those of the specific small solar cell installed on the sensor node, that besides allows an easy adaptation to changes in the actual environmental conditions, panel aging, etc. Experimental comparison to a classical pilot panel based VOC algorithm show better efficiency under the same tested conditions.

Simplification of reversible Markov chains by removal of states with low equilibrium occupancy.

PubMed

Ullah, Ghanim; Bruno, William J; Pearson, John E

2012-10-21

We present a practical method for simplifying Markov chains on a potentially large state space when detailed balance holds. A simple and transparent technique is introduced to remove states with low equilibrium occupancy. The resulting system has fewer parameters. The resulting effective rates between the remaining nodes give dynamics identical to the original system's except on very fast timescales. This procedure amounts to using separation of timescales to neglect small capacitance nodes in a network of resistors and capacitors. We illustrate the technique by simplifying various reaction networks, including transforming an acyclic four-node network to a three-node cyclic network. For a reaction step in which a ligand binds, the law of mass action implies a forward rate proportional to ligand concentration. The effective rates in the simplified network are found to be rational functions of ligand concentration. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Weak signal transmission in complex networks and its application in detecting connectivity.

PubMed

Liang, Xiaoming; Liu, Zonghua; Li, Baowen

2009-10-01

We present a network model of coupled oscillators to study how a weak signal is transmitted in complex networks. Through both theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, we find that the response of other nodes to the weak signal decays exponentially with their topological distance to the signal source and the coupling strength between two neighboring nodes can be figured out by the responses. This finding can be conveniently used to detect the topology of unknown network, such as the degree distribution, clustering coefficient and community structure, etc., by repeatedly choosing different nodes as the signal source. Through four typical networks, i.e., the regular one dimensional, small world, random, and scale-free networks, we show that the features of network can be approximately given by investigating many fewer nodes than the network size, thus our approach to detect the topology of unknown network may be efficient in practical situations with large network size.

Rule-Based vs. Behavior-Based Self-Deployment for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Urdiales, Cristina; Aguilera, Francisco; González-Parada, Eva; Cano-García, Jose; Sandoval, Francisco

2016-01-01

In mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSN), nodes are allowed to move autonomously for deployment. This process is meant: (i) to achieve good coverage; and (ii) to distribute the communication load as homogeneously as possible. Rather than optimizing deployment, reactive algorithms are based on a set of rules or behaviors, so nodes can determine when to move. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of both reactive deployment approaches: rule-based and behavior-based ones. Specifically, we compare a backbone dispersion algorithm with a social potential fields algorithm. Most tests are done under simulation for a large number of nodes in environments with and without obstacles. Results are validated using a small robot network in the real world. Our results show that behavior-based deployment tends to provide better coverage and communication balance, especially for a large number of nodes in areas with obstacles. PMID:27399709

Superficial EWSR1-negative undifferentiated small round cell sarcoma with CIC/DUX4 gene fusion: a new variant of Ewing-like tumors with locoregional lymph node metastasis.

PubMed

Machado, Isidro; Cruz, Julia; Lavernia, Javier; Rubio, Luis; Campos, Jorge; Barrios, María; Grison, Camille; Chene, Virginie; Pierron, Gaelle; Delattre, Olivier; Llombart-Bosch, Antonio

2013-12-01

The present study describes a new case of EWSR1-negative undifferentiated sarcoma with CIC/DUX4 gene fusion. This case is similar to tumors described as primitive undifferentiated round cell sarcomas that occur mainly in the trunk and display an aggressive behavior. To our knowledge, this is the first report of such a tumor presenting locoregional lymph node metastasis. In view of previous studies that prove the existence of a particular variant of undifferentiated sarcoma with Ewing-like morphology and CIC/DUX-4 gene fusion, a search for this gene fusion in all undifferentiated round cell sarcomas should be considered if a conclusive diagnosis cannot be reached following other conventional studies. Although additional cases with more extensive follow-up studies are needed, we believe that EWSR1-negative undifferentiated small round cell sarcoma with CIC/DUX4 gene fusion should be added to the list of new sarcoma variants with the possibility of lymph node metastasis.

Novel bright-emission small-molecule NIR-II fluorophores for in vivo tumor imaging and image-guided surgery† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc00251c Click here for additional data file.

PubMed Central

Sun, Yao; Ding, Mingmin; Zeng, Xiaodong; Xiao, Yuling; Wu, Huaping; Zhou, Hui; Ding, Bingbing; Qu, Chunrong; Hou, Wei; Er-bu, AGA; Zhang, Yejun; Cheng, Zhen

2017-01-01

Though high brightness and biocompatible small NIR-II dyes are highly desirable in clinical or translational cancer research, their fluorescent cores are relatively limited and their synthetic processes are somewhat complicated. Herein, we have explored the design and synthesis of novel NIR-II fluorescent materials (H1) without tedious chromatographic isolation with improved fluorescence performance (QY ≈ 2%) by introducing 2-amino 9,9-dialkyl-substituted fluorene as a donor into the backbone. Several types of water-soluble and biocompatible NIR-II probes: SXH, SDH, and H1 NPs were constructed via different chemical strategies based on H1, and then their potential to be used in in vivo tumor imaging and image-guided surgery in the NIR-II region was explored. High levels of uptake were obtained for both passive and active tumor targeting probes SXH and SDH. Furthermore, high resolution imaging of blood vessels on tumors and the whole body of living mice using H1 NPs for the first time has demonstrated precise NIR-II image-guided sentinel lymph node (SLN) surgery. PMID:28507722

Relationship between endobronchial ultrasound‐guided (EBUS)‐transbronchial needle aspiration utility and computed tomography staging, node size at EBUS, and positron emission tomography scan node standard uptake values: A retrospective analysis

PubMed Central

Marchand, Clare

2017-01-01

Background Endobronchial ultrasound‐guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS‐TBNA) diagnoses and stages mediastinal lymph node pathology. This retrospective study determined the relationship between EBUS‐TBNA utility and non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) stage, lymph node size, and positron emission tomography (PET) standard uptake values (SUV), and the utility of neck ultrasound in bulky mediastinal disease. Methods Data of 284 consecutive patients who had undergone EBUS‐TBNA was collected. Two hundred patients had suspected NSCLC, with 148 confirmed NSCLC cases. The diagnostic utility of EBUS‐TBNA was determined according to NSCLC stage, EBUS lymph node size, PET SUV, use in distal metastases, and mutation testing. The utility of neck ultrasound for N3 disease was calculated in patients with bulky mediastinal disease. Results EBUS‐TBNA was well tolerated with 97% sensitivity in distant metastatic disease, avoiding the need for distal metastases biopsy in 81% of cases. It had equivalent diagnostic accuracy in all NSCLC stages and in lymph nodes <10 mm, <20 mm or >20 mm (sensitivity >92% in all cases), with no mutation testing failures. EBUS‐TBNA had 33% sensitivity in PET indolent (SUV < 4) nodes and 79% sensitivity in PET active nodes (SUV > 4). EBUS‐TBNA diagnosed 12 cases of lymphoma without flow cytometry. Conclusions The use of EBUS‐TBNA meant that distant metastatic biopsy was avoided in 81% of cases, performing well irrespective of cancer stage, node size, and facilitating mutation testing. Neck ultrasound failed to detect N3 disease in patients with bulky mediastinal disease. EBUS‐TBNA had a sensitivity of 33% for metastases in PET negative nodes, highlighting PET limitations. PMID:28436173

Use of 99mTc-Tilmanocept as a Single Agent for Sentinel Lymph Node Identification in Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Pilot Study.

PubMed

Unkart, Jonathan T; Wallace, Anne M

2017-09-01

99m Tc-tilmanocept received recent Food and Drug Administration approval for lymphatic mapping in 2013. However, to our knowledge, no prior studies have evaluated the use of 99m Tc-tilmanocept as a single agent in sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy in breast cancer. Methods: We executed this retrospective pilot study to assess the ability of 99m Tc-tilmanocept to identify sentinel nodes as a single agent in clinically node-negative breast cancer patients. Patients received a single intradermal injection overlying the tumor of either 18.5 MBq (0.5 mCi) of 99m Tc-tilmanocept on the day of surgery or 74.0 MBq (2.0 mCi) on the day before surgery by a radiologist. Immediate 3-view lymphoscintigraphy was performed. Intraoperatively, SLNs were identified with a portable γ-probe. A node was classified as hot if the count (per second) of the node was more than 3 times the background count. Descriptive statistics are reported. Results: Nineteen patients underwent SLN biopsy with single-agent 99m Tc-tilmanocept. Immediate lymphoscintigraphy identified at least 1 sentinel node in 13 of 17 patients (76.5%). Intraoperatively, at least 1 (mean, 1.7 ± 0.8; range, 1-3) hot node was identified in all patients. Three patients (15.8%) had 1 disease-positive SLN. Conclusion: In this small, retrospective pilot study, 99m Tc-tilmanocept performed well as a single agent for intraoperative sentinel node identification in breast cancer. A larger, randomized clinical trial is warranted to compare 99m Tc-tilmanocept as a single agent with other radiopharmaceuticals for sentinel node identification in breast cancer. © 2017 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

Availability of sentinel lymph node biopsy for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

PubMed

Maruyama, Hiroshi; Tanaka, Ryota; Fujisawa, Yasuhiro; Nakamura, Yasuhiro; Ito, Shusaku; Fujimoto, Manabu

2017-04-01

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is the second common cutaneous cancer, especially in the elderly. Sentinel lymph node biopsy is generally performed in breast cancers and cutaneous melanomas to detect occult nodal metastases. The benefit of sentinel lymph node biopsy in improving cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma prognosis is doubtful. One hundred and sixty-nine patients who underwent treatment for cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma between 2004 and 2015, and who were followed up for at least 6 months or developed metastases within the follow-up period were included. Forty-nine patients underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy, whereas 120 patients did not, including 13 who exhibited clinical lymph node metastases before treatment. Of these 49 patients, nine (18.4%) presented with sentinel lymph node metastasis, which occurred after treatment in three (6.1%) of them (false-negative). Among the 107 patients who did not undergo lymph node biopsy, 12 (11.2%) developed post-treatment metastases. The metastasis-free and disease-specific survival rates were not significantly different in those who did or did not undergo sentinel lymph node biopsy. Patients with clinical lymph node metastases had a higher risk compared with those without. Patients with T2-T4 tumors had a higher risk compared with those with T1 tumors. When selecting for those with T2 tumors or greater, the same lack of relationship was observed. In conclusion, in this small retrospective cohort, in patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, there were no significant differences in metastasis-free and disease-specific survival rates between those who did or did not undergo sentinel lymph node biopsy, regardless of T staging. © 2016 Japanese Dermatological Association.

Axillary lymph node metastases in patients with breast carcinomas: assessment with nonenhanced versus uspio-enhanced MR imaging.

PubMed

Memarsadeghi, Mazda; Riedl, Christopher C; Kaneider, Andreas; Galid, Arik; Rudas, Margaretha; Matzek, Wolfgang; Helbich, Thomas H

2006-11-01

To prospectively assess the accuracy of nonenhanced versus ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO)-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for depiction of axillary lymph node metastases in patients with breast carcinoma, with histopathologic findings as reference standard. The study was approved by the university ethics committee; written informed consent was obtained. Twenty-two women (mean age, 60 years; range, 40-79 years) with breast carcinomas underwent nonenhanced and USPIO-enhanced (2.6 mg of iron per kilogram of body weight intravenously administered) transverse T1-weighted and transverse and sagittal T2-weighted and T2*-weighted MR imaging in adducted and elevated arm positions. Two experienced radiologists, blinded to the histopathologic findings, analyzed images of axillary lymph nodes with regard to size, morphologic features, and USPIO uptake. A third independent radiologist served as a tiebreaker if consensus between two readers could not be reached. Visual and quantitative analyses of MR images were performed. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy values were calculated. To assess the effect of USPIO after administration, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) changes were statistically analyzed with repeated-measurements analysis of variance (mixed model) for MR sequences. At nonenhanced MR imaging, of 133 lymph nodes, six were rated as true-positive, 99 as true-negative, 23 as false-positive, and five as false-negative. At USPIO-enhanced MR imaging, 11 lymph nodes were rated as true-positive, 120 as true-negative, two as false-positive, and none as false-negative. In two metastatic lymph nodes in two patients with more than one metastatic lymph node, a consensus was not reached. USPIO-enhanced MR imaging revealed a node-by-node sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 100%, 98%, and 98%, respectively. At USPIO-enhanced MR imaging, no metastatic lymph nodes were missed on a patient-by-patient basis. Significant interactions indicating differences in the decrease of SNR values for metastatic and nonmetastatic lymph nodes were found for all sequences (P < .001 to P = .022). USPIO-enhanced MR imaging appears valuable for assessment of axillary lymph node metastases in patients with breast carcinomas and is superior to nonenhanced MR imaging.

First to Fight in the Next Fight?: The Marine Expeditionary Brigade and a Return to an Expeditionary Marine Corps Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

masses of small communications devices. The close-in covert autonomous disposable aircraft ( CICADA ) could provide an expansive network of secure short... CICADAs , the loss of a few nodes could still be compensated for by electronics seeking usable signals from other nearby nodes with network encryption...engine for basic first responder medical information, using a wireless connection, possibly from CICADA , to seek advice from medical personnel, and

Importance of small-degree nodes in assortative networks with degree-weight correlations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Sijuan; Feng, Ling; Monterola, Christopher Pineda; Lai, Choy Heng

2017-10-01

It has been known that assortative network structure plays an important role in spreading dynamics for unweighted networks. Yet its influence on weighted networks is not clear, in particular when weight is strongly correlated with the degrees of the nodes as we empirically observed in Twitter. Here we use the self-consistent probability method and revised nonperturbative heterogenous mean-field theory method to investigate this influence on both susceptible-infective-recovered (SIR) and susceptible-infective-susceptible (SIS) spreading dynamics. Both our simulation and theoretical results show that while the critical threshold is not significantly influenced by the assortativity, the prevalence in the supercritical regime shows a crossover under different degree-weight correlations. In particular, unlike the case of random mixing networks, in assortative networks, the negative degree-weight correlation leads to higher prevalence in their spreading beyond the critical transmissivity than that of the positively correlated. In addition, the previously observed inhibition effect on spreading velocity by assortative structure is not apparent in negatively degree-weight correlated networks, while it is enhanced for that of the positively correlated. Detailed investigation into the degree distribution of the infected nodes reveals that small-degree nodes play essential roles in the supercritical phase of both SIR and SIS spreadings. Our results have direct implications in understanding viral information spreading over online social networks and epidemic spreading over contact networks.

A wirelessly powered electro-acupuncture based on adaptive pulsewidth monophase stimulation.

PubMed

Kiseok Song; Long Yan; Seulki Lee; Yoo, Jerald; Hoi-Jun Yoo

2011-04-01

A wirelessly powered electro-acupuncture (EA) system with adaptive-pulsewidth (APW) monophase stimulation is presented for convenient invasive medicine. The proposed system removes cumbersome wires connected between EA nodes and an EA controller in order to realize both patients' convenience and remedial values simultaneously. An ultra-low-power stimulator integrated circuit (IC) that is integrated on the flexible-printed-circuit board (F-PCB) is attached to the tip of a needle electrode. Combined with a conductive yarn helical antenna wound around the needle electrode, the EA node receives wireless power from the EA controller using 433 MHz with the maximum loss of 6 dB. A zero-Vth nMOS rectifier harvests a supply voltage of 1.0 V from a -16-dBm incoming power signal with 32% efficiency. To deal with a body impedance variation (BIV) in the range of 100-200 kΩ , the proposed APW stimulator IC, fabricated in a 0.18-μm 1P6M complementary metal-oxide semiconductor CMOS process and occupying 1.56 mm(2), enables constant charge injection of 80-nC/stimulation. To ensure the patients' safety, the EA node (a pair of EAs) shares ground and clock wires to operate in alternate monophase (AMP) fashion for neutralizing the injected charge. The proposed wirelessly powered EA node was verified by applying it to a chunk of pork as a body model with the wireless power supplied from an RF signal generator (output power of 10 dBm and located 30 cm away).

Comparison of Node-Centered and Cell-Centered Unstructured Finite-Volume Discretizations. Part 1; Viscous Fluxes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diskin, Boris; Thomas, James L.; Nielsen, Eric J.; Nishikawa, Hiroaki; White, Jeffery A.

2009-01-01

Discretization of the viscous terms in current finite-volume unstructured-grid schemes are compared using node-centered and cell-centered approaches in two dimensions. Accuracy and efficiency are studied for six nominally second-order accurate schemes: a node-centered scheme, cell-centered node-averaging schemes with and without clipping, and cell-centered schemes with unweighted, weighted, and approximately mapped least-square face gradient reconstruction. The grids considered range from structured (regular) grids to irregular grids composed of arbitrary mixtures of triangles and quadrilaterals, including random perturbations of the grid points to bring out the worst possible behavior of the solution. Two classes of tests are considered. The first class of tests involves smooth manufactured solutions on both isotropic and highly anisotropic grids with discontinuous metrics, typical of those encountered in grid adaptation. The second class concerns solutions and grids varying strongly anisotropically over a curved body, typical of those encountered in high-Reynolds number turbulent flow simulations. Results from the first class indicate the face least-square methods, the node-averaging method without clipping, and the node-centered method demonstrate second-order convergence of discretization errors with very similar accuracies per degree of freedom. The second class of tests are more discriminating. The node-centered scheme is always second order with an accuracy and complexity in linearization comparable to the best of the cell-centered schemes. In comparison, the cell-centered node-averaging schemes are less accurate, have a higher complexity in linearization, and can fail to converge to the exact solution when clipping of the node-averaged values is used. The cell-centered schemes using least-square face gradient reconstruction have more compact stencils with a complexity similar to the complexity of the node-centered scheme. For simulations on highly anisotropic curved grids, the least-square methods have to be amended either by introducing a local mapping of the surface anisotropy or modifying the scheme stencil to reflect the direction of strong coupling.

Unobstructive Body Area Networks (BAN) for Efficient Movement Monitoring

PubMed Central

Felisberto, Filipe; Costa, Nuno; Fdez-Riverola, Florentino; Pereira, António

2012-01-01

The technological advances in medical sensors, low-power microelectronics and miniaturization, wireless communications and networks have enabled the appearance of a new generation of wireless sensor networks: the so-called wireless body area networks (WBAN). These networks can be used for continuous monitoring of vital parameters, movement, and the surrounding environment. The data gathered by these networks contributes to improve users' quality of life and allows the creation of a knowledge database by using learning techniques, useful to infer abnormal behaviour. In this paper we present a wireless body area network architecture to recognize human movement, identify human postures and detect harmful activities in order to prevent risk situations. The WBAN was created using tiny, cheap and low-power nodes with inertial and physiological sensors, strategically placed on the human body. Doing so, in an as ubiquitous as possible way, ensures that its impact on the users' daily actions is minimum. The information collected by these sensors is transmitted to a central server capable of analysing and processing their data. The proposed system creates movement profiles based on the data sent by the WBAN's nodes, and is able to detect in real time any abnormal movement and allows for a monitored rehabilitation of the user. PMID:23112726

On Increasing Network Lifetime in Body Area Networks Using Global Routing with Energy Consumption Balancing

PubMed Central

Tsouri, Gill R.; Prieto, Alvaro; Argade, Nikhil

2012-01-01

Global routing protocols in wireless body area networks are considered. Global routing is augmented with a novel link cost function designed to balance energy consumption across the network. The result is a substantial increase in network lifetime at the expense of a marginal increase in energy per bit. Network maintenance requirements are reduced as well, since balancing energy consumption means all batteries need to be serviced at the same time and less frequently. The proposed routing protocol is evaluated using a hardware experimental setup comprising multiple nodes and an access point. The setup is used to assess network architectures, including an on-body access point and an off-body access point with varying number of antennas. Real-time experiments are conducted in indoor environments to assess performance gains. In addition, the setup is used to record channel attenuation data which are then processed in extensive computer simulations providing insight on the effect of protocol parameters on performance. Results demonstrate efficient balancing of energy consumption across all nodes, an average increase of up to 40% in network lifetime corresponding to a modest average increase of 0.4 dB in energy per bit, and a cutoff effect on required transmission power to achieve reliable connectivity. PMID:23201987

On increasing network lifetime in body area networks using global routing with energy consumption balancing.

PubMed

Tsouri, Gill R; Prieto, Alvaro; Argade, Nikhil

2012-09-26

Global routing protocols in wireless body area networks are considered. Global routing is augmented with a novel link cost function designed to balance energy consumption across the network. The result is a substantial increase in network lifetime at the expense of a marginal increase in energy per bit. Network maintenance requirements are reduced as well, since balancing energy consumption means all batteries need to be serviced at the same time and less frequently. The proposed routing protocol is evaluated using a hardware experimental setup comprising multiple nodes and an access point. The setup is used to assess network architectures, including an on-body access point and an off-body access point with varying number of antennas. Real-time experiments are conducted in indoor environments to assess performance gains. In addition, the setup is used to record channel attenuation data which are then processed in extensive computer simulations providing insight on the effect of protocol parameters on performance. Results demonstrate efficient balancing of energy consumption across all nodes, an average increase of up to 40% in network lifetime corresponding to a modest average increase of 0.4 dB in energy per bit, and a cutoff effect on required transmission power to achieve reliable connectivity.

A study of IEEE 802.15.4 security framework for wireless body area networks.

PubMed

Saleem, Shahnaz; Ullah, Sana; Kwak, Kyung Sup

2011-01-01

A Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) is a collection of low-power and lightweight wireless sensor nodes that are used to monitor the human body functions and the surrounding environment. It supports a number of innovative and interesting applications, including ubiquitous healthcare and Consumer Electronics (CE) applications. Since WBAN nodes are used to collect sensitive (life-critical) information and may operate in hostile environments, they require strict security mechanisms to prevent malicious interaction with the system. In this paper, we first highlight major security requirements and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks in WBAN at Physical, Medium Access Control (MAC), Network, and Transport layers. Then we discuss the IEEE 802.15.4 security framework and identify the security vulnerabilities and major attacks in the context of WBAN. Different types of attacks on the Contention Access Period (CAP) and Contention Free Period (CFP) parts of the superframe are analyzed and discussed. It is observed that a smart attacker can successfully corrupt an increasing number of GTS slots in the CFP period and can considerably affect the Quality of Service (QoS) in WBAN (since most of the data is carried in CFP period). As we increase the number of smart attackers the corrupted GTS slots are eventually increased, which prevents the legitimate nodes to utilize the bandwidth efficiently. This means that the direct adaptation of IEEE 802.15.4 security framework for WBAN is not totally secure for certain WBAN applications. New solutions are required to integrate high level security in WBAN.

A Study of IEEE 802.15.4 Security Framework for Wireless Body Area Networks

PubMed Central

Saleem, Shahnaz; Ullah, Sana; Kwak, Kyung Sup

2011-01-01

A Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) is a collection of low-power and lightweight wireless sensor nodes that are used to monitor the human body functions and the surrounding environment. It supports a number of innovative and interesting applications, including ubiquitous healthcare and Consumer Electronics (CE) applications. Since WBAN nodes are used to collect sensitive (life-critical) information and may operate in hostile environments, they require strict security mechanisms to prevent malicious interaction with the system. In this paper, we first highlight major security requirements and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks in WBAN at Physical, Medium Access Control (MAC), Network, and Transport layers. Then we discuss the IEEE 802.15.4 security framework and identify the security vulnerabilities and major attacks in the context of WBAN. Different types of attacks on the Contention Access Period (CAP) and Contention Free Period (CFP) parts of the superframe are analyzed and discussed. It is observed that a smart attacker can successfully corrupt an increasing number of GTS slots in the CFP period and can considerably affect the Quality of Service (QoS) in WBAN (since most of the data is carried in CFP period). As we increase the number of smart attackers the corrupted GTS slots are eventually increased, which prevents the legitimate nodes to utilize the bandwidth efficiently. This means that the direct adaptation of IEEE 802.15.4 security framework for WBAN is not totally secure for certain WBAN applications. New solutions are required to integrate high level security in WBAN. PMID:22319358

Performance Analysis of IEEE 802.15.6 CSMA/CA Protocol for WBAN Medical Scenario through DTMC Model.

PubMed

Kumar, Vivek; Gupta, Bharat

2016-12-01

The newly drafted IEEE 802.15.6 standard for Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) has been concentrating on a numerous medical and non-medical applications. Such short range wireless communication standard offers ultra-low power consumption with variable data rates from few Kbps to Mbps in, on or around the proximity of the human body. In this paper, the performance analysis of carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) scheme based on IEEE 802.15.6 standard in terms of throughput, reliability, clear channel assessment (CCA) failure probability, packet drop probability, and end-to-end delay has been presented. We have developed a discrete-time Markov chain (DTMC) to significantly evaluate the performances of IEEE 802.15.6 CSMA/CA under non-ideal channel condition having saturated traffic condition including node wait time and service time. We also visualize that, as soon as the payload length increases the CCA failure probability increases, which results in lower node's reliability. Also, we have calculated the end-to-end delay in order to prioritize the node wait time cause by backoff and retransmission. The user priority (UP) wise DTMC analysis has been performed to show the importance of the standard especially for medical scenario.

Normal Values for Heart Electrophysiology Parameters of Healthy Swine Determined on Electrophysiology Study.

PubMed

Noszczyk-Nowak, Agnieszka; Cepiel, Alicja; Janiszewski, Adrian; Pasławski, Robert; Gajek, Jacek; Pasławska, Urszula; Nicpoń, Józef

2016-01-01

Swine are a well-recognized animal model for human cardiovascular diseases. Despite the widespread use of porcine model in experimental electrophysiology, still no reference values for intracardiac electrical activity and conduction parameters determined during an invasive electrophysiology study (EPS) have been developed in this species thus far. The aim of the study was to develop a set of normal values for intracardiac electrical activity and conduction parameters determined during an invasive EPS of swine. The study included 36 healthy domestic swine (24-40 kg body weight). EPS was performed under a general anesthesia with midazolam, propofol and isoflurane. The reference values for intracardiac electrical activity and conduction parameters were calculated as arithmetic means ± 2 standard deviations. The reference values were determined for AH, HV and PA intervals, interatrial conduction time at its own and imposed rhythm, sinus node recovery time (SNRT), corrected sinus node recovery time (CSNRT), anterograde and retrograde Wenckebach points, atrial, atrioventricular node and ventricular refractory periods. No significant correlations were found between body weight and heart rate of the examined pigs and their electrophysiological parameters. The hereby presented reference values can be helpful in comparing the results of various studies, as well as in more accurately estimating the values of electrophysiological parameters that can be expected in a given experiment.

An Energy-Efficient MAC Protocol for Medical Emergency Monitoring Body Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Zhang, Chongqing; Wang, Yinglong; Liang, Yongquan; Shu, Minglei; Chen, Changfang

2016-01-01

Medical emergency monitoring body sensor networks (BSNs) monitor the occurrence of medical emergencies and are helpful for the daily care of the elderly and chronically ill people. Such BSNs are characterized by rare traffic when there is no emergency occurring, high real-time and reliable requirements of emergency data and demand for a fast wake-up mechanism for waking up all nodes when an emergency happens. A beacon-enabled MAC protocol is specially designed to meet the demands of medical emergency monitoring BSNs. The rarity of traffic is exploited to improve energy efficiency. By adopting a long superframe structure to avoid unnecessary beacons and allocating most of the superframe to be inactive periods, the duty cycle is reduced to an extremely low level to save energy. Short active time slots are interposed into the superframe and shared by all of the nodes to deliver the emergency data in a low-delay and reliable way to meet the real-time and reliable requirements. The interposition slots can also be used by the coordinator to broadcast network demands to wake-up all nodes in a low-delay and energy-efficient way. Experiments display that the proposed MAC protocol works well in BSNs with low emergency data traffic. PMID:26999145

76 FR 68260 - Petition for Exemption From the Federal Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Standard; Chrysler

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-03

...), Ignition Node Module (IGNM), Engine Control Module (ECM), Body Controller Module (BCM), Sentry Key..., Chrysler stated that the RFHM sends an invalid key message to the ECM, which will disable engine operation...

Surgical quality of wedge resection affects overall survival in patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer.

PubMed

Ajmani, Gaurav S; Wang, Chi-Hsiung; Kim, Ki Wan; Howington, John A; Krantz, Seth B

2018-07-01

Very few studies have examined the quality of wedge resection in patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Using the National Cancer Database, we evaluated whether the quality of wedge resection affects overall survival in patients with early disease and how these outcomes compare with those of patients who receive stereotactic radiation. We identified 14,328 patients with cT1 to T2, N0, M0 disease treated with wedge resection (n = 10,032) or stereotactic radiation (n = 4296) from 2005 to 2013 and developed a subsample of propensity-matched wedge and radiation patients. Wedge quality was grouped as high (negative margins, >5 nodes), average (negative margins, ≤5 nodes), and poor (positive margins). Overall survival was compared between patients who received wedge resection of different quality and those who received radiation, adjusting for demographic and clinical variables. Among patients who underwent wedge resection, 94.6% had negative margins, 44.3% had 0 nodes examined, 17.1% had >5 examined, and 3.0% were nodally upstaged; 16.7% received a high-quality wedge, which was associated with a lower risk of death compared with average-quality resection (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.67-0.82). Compared with stereotactic radiation, wedge patients with negative margins had significantly reduced hazard of death (>5 nodes: aHR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.43-0.58; ≤5 nodes: aHR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.60-0.70). There was no significant survival difference between margin-positive wedge and radiation. Lymph nodes examined and margins obtained are important quality metrics in wedge resection. A high-quality wedge appears to confer a significant survival advantage over lower-quality wedge and stereotactic radiation. A margin-positive wedge appears to offer no benefit compared with radiation. Copyright © 2018 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The application of phase grating to CLM technology for the sub-65nm node optical lithography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Gi-Sung; Kim, Sung-Hyuck; Park, Ji-Soong; Choi, Sun-Young; Jeon, Chan-Uk; Shin, In-Kyun; Choi, Sung-Woon; Han, Woo-Sung

2005-06-01

As a promising technology for sub-65nm node optical lithography, CLM(Chrome-Less Mask) technology among RETs(Resolution Enhancement Techniques) for low k1 has been researched worldwide in recent years. CLM has several advantages, such as relatively simple manufacturing process and competitive performance compared to phase-edge PSM's. For the low-k1 lithography, we have researched CLM technique as a good solution especially for sub-65nm node. As a step for developing the sub-65nm node optical lithography, we have applied CLM technology in 80nm-node lithography with mesa and trench method. From the analysis of the CLM technology in the 80nm lithography, we found that there is the optimal shutter size for best performance in the technique, the increment of wafer ADI CD varied with pattern's pitch, and a limitation in patterning various shapes and size by OPC dead-zone - OPC dead-zone in CLM technique is the specific region of shutter size that dose not make the wafer CD increased more than a specific size. And also small patterns are easily broken, while fabricating the CLM mask in mesa method. Generally, trench method has better optical performance than mesa. These issues have so far restricted the application of CLM technology to a small field. We approached these issues with 3-D topographic simulation tool and found that the issues could be overcome by applying phase grating in trench-type CLM. With the simulation data, we made some test masks which had many kinds of patterns with many different conditions and analyzed their performance through AIMS fab 193 and exposure on wafer. Finally, we have developed the CLM technology which is free of OPC dead-zone and pattern broken in fabrication process. Therefore, we can apply the CLM technique into sub-65nm node optical lithography including logic devices.

Network analysis of translocated Takahe populations to identify disease surveillance targets.

PubMed

Grange, Zoë L; VAN Andel, Mary; French, Nigel P; Gartrell, Brett D

2014-04-01

Social network analysis is being increasingly used in epidemiology and disease modeling in humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. We investigated this tool in describing a translocation network (area that allows movement of animals between geographically isolated locations) used for the conservation of an endangered flightless rail, the Takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri). We collated records of Takahe translocations within New Zealand and used social network principles to describe the connectivity of the translocation network. That is, networks were constructed and analyzed using adjacency matrices with values based on the tie weights between nodes. Five annual network matrices were created using the Takahe data set, each incremental year included records of previous years. Weights of movements between connected locations were assigned by the number of Takahe moved. We calculated the number of nodes (i(total)) and the number of ties (t(total)) between the nodes. To quantify the small-world character of the networks, we compared the real networks to random graphs of the equivalent size, weighting, and node strength. Descriptive analysis of cumulative annual Takahe movement networks involved determination of node-level characteristics, including centrality descriptors of relevance to disease modeling such as weighted measures of in degree (k(i)(in)), out degree (k(i)(out)), and betweenness (B(i)). Key players were assigned according to the highest node measure of k(i)(in), k(i)(out), and B(i) per network. Networks increased in size throughout the time frame considered. The network had some degree small-world characteristics. Nodes with the highest cumulative tie weights connecting them were the captive breeding center, the Murchison Mountains and 2 offshore islands. The key player fluctuated between the captive breeding center and the Murchison Mountains. The cumulative networks identified the captive breeding center every year as the hub of the network until the final network in 2011. Likewise, the wild Murchison Mountains population was consistently the sink of the network. Other nodes, such as the offshore islands and the wildlife hospital, varied in importance over time. Common network descriptors and measures of centrality identified key locations for targeting disease surveillance. The visual representation of movements of animals in a population that this technique provides can aid decision makers when they evaluate translocation proposals or attempt to control a disease outbreak. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

The model of microblog message diffusion based on complex social network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wei; Bai, Shu-Ying; Jin, Rui

2014-05-01

Microblog is a micromessage communication network in which users are the nodes and the followship between users are the edges. Sina Weibo is a typical case of these microblog service websites. As the enormous scale of nodes and complex links in the network, we choose a sample network crawled in Sina Weibo as the base of empirical analysis. The study starts with the analysis of its topological features, and brings in epidemiological SEIR model to explore the mode of message spreading throughout the microblog network. It is found that the network is obvious small-world and scale-free, which made it succeed in transferring messages and failed in resisting negative influence. In addition, the paper focuses on the rich nodes as they constitute a typical feature of Sina Weibo. It is also found that whether the message starts with a rich node will not account for its final coverage. Actually, the rich nodes always play the role of pivotal intermediaries who speed up the spreading and make the message known by much more people.

Synchronous Firefly Algorithm for Cluster Head Selection in WSN.

PubMed

Baskaran, Madhusudhanan; Sadagopan, Chitra

2015-01-01

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of small low-cost, low-power multifunctional nodes interconnected to efficiently aggregate and transmit data to sink. Cluster-based approaches use some nodes as Cluster Heads (CHs) and organize WSNs efficiently for aggregation of data and energy saving. A CH conveys information gathered by cluster nodes and aggregates/compresses data before transmitting it to a sink. However, this additional responsibility of the node results in a higher energy drain leading to uneven network degradation. Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) offsets this by probabilistically rotating cluster heads role among nodes with energy above a set threshold. CH selection in WSN is NP-Hard as optimal data aggregation with efficient energy savings cannot be solved in polynomial time. In this work, a modified firefly heuristic, synchronous firefly algorithm, is proposed to improve the network performance. Extensive simulation shows the proposed technique to perform well compared to LEACH and energy-efficient hierarchical clustering. Simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed method in decreasing the packet loss ratio by an average of 9.63% and improving the energy efficiency of the network when compared to LEACH and EEHC.

Autonomous solutions for powering wireless sensor nodes in rivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamenar, E.; Maćešić, S.; Gregov, G.; Blažević, D.; Zelenika, S.; Marković, K.; Glažar, V.

2015-05-01

There is an evident need for monitoring pollutants and/or other conditions in river flows via wireless sensor networks. In a typical wireless sensor network topography, a series of sensor nodes is to be deployed in the environment, all wirelessly connected to each other and/or their gateways. Each sensor node is composed of active electronic devices that have to be constantly powered. In general, batteries can be used for this purpose, but problems may occur when they have to be replaced. In the case of large networks, when sensor nodes can be placed in hardly accessible locations, energy harvesting can thus be a viable powering solution. The possibility to use three different small-scale river flow energy harvesting principles is hence thoroughly studied in this work: a miniaturized underwater turbine, a so-called `piezoelectric eel' and a hybrid turbine solution coupled with a rigid piezoelectric beam. The first two concepts are then validated experimentally in laboratory as well as in real river conditions. The concept of the miniaturised hydro-generator is finally embedded into the actual wireless sensor node system and its functionality is confirmed.

Interaction between body mass index and hormone-receptor status as a prognostic factor in lymph-node-positive breast cancer

PubMed Central

Chung, Il Yong; Park, Yu Rang; Min, Yul Ha; Lee, Yura; Yoon, Tae In; Sohn, Guiyun; Lee, Sae Byul; Kim, Jisun; Kim, Hee Jeong; Ko, Beom Seok; Son, Byung Ho; Ahn, Sei Hyun

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the body mass index (BMI) at a breast cancer diagnosis and various factors including the hormone-receptor, menopause, and lymph-node status, and identify if there is a specific patient subgroup for which the BMI has an effect on the breast cancer prognosis. We retrospectively analyzed the data of 8,742 patients with non-metastatic invasive breast cancer from the research database of Asan Medical Center. The overall survival (OS) and breast-cancer-specific survival (BCSS) outcomes were compared among BMI groups using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional-hazards regression models with an interaction term. There was a significant interaction between BMI and hormone-receptor status for the OS (P = 0.029), and BCSS (P = 0.013) in lymph-node-positive breast cancers. Obesity in hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer showed a poorer OS (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.92 to 2.48) and significantly poorer BCSS (HR = 1.80, 95% CI = 1.08 to 2.99). In contrast, a high BMI in hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer revealed a better OS (HR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.16 to 1.19) and BCSS (HR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.19 to 1.44). Being underweight (BMI < 18.50 kg/m2) with hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer was associated with a significantly worse OS (HR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.00–3.95) and BCSS (HR = 2.24, 95% CI = 1.12–4.47). There was no significant interaction found between the BMI and hormone-receptor status in the lymph-node-negative setting, and BMI did not interact with the menopause status in any subgroup. In conclusion, BMI interacts with the hormone-receptor status in a lymph-node-positive setting, thereby playing a role in the prognosis of breast cancer. PMID:28248981

Origin of Short-Perihelion Comets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Guliyev, A. S.

2011-01-01

New regularities for short-perihelion comets are found. Distant nodes of cometary orbits of Kreutz family are concentrated in a plane with ascending node 76 and inclination 267 at the distance from 2 up to 3 a.u. and in a very narrow interval of longitudes. There is a correlation dependence between q and cos I concerning the found plane (coefficient of correlation 0.41). Similar results are received regarding to cometary families of Meyer, Kracht and Marsden. Distant nodes of these comets are concentrated close three planes (their parameters are discussed in the article) and at distances 1.4; 0.5; 6 a.u. accordingly. It is concluded that these comet groups were formed as a result of collision of parent bodies with meteoric streams. One more group, consisting of 7 comets is identified. 5 comet pairs are selected among sungrazers.

Automatic localization of IASLC-defined mediastinal lymph node stations on CT images using fuzzy models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsumoto, Monica M. S.; Beig, Niha G.; Udupa, Jayaram K.; Archer, Steven; Torigian, Drew A.

2014-03-01

Lung cancer is associated with the highest cancer mortality rates among men and women in the United States. The accurate and precise identification of the lymph node stations on computed tomography (CT) images is important for staging disease and potentially for prognosticating outcome in patients with lung cancer, as well as for pretreatment planning and response assessment purposes. To facilitate a standard means of referring to lymph nodes, the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) has recently proposed a definition of the different lymph node stations and zones in the thorax. However, nodal station identification is typically performed manually by visual assessment in clinical radiology. This approach leaves room for error due to the subjective and potentially ambiguous nature of visual interpretation, and is labor intensive. We present a method of automatically recognizing the mediastinal IASLC-defined lymph node stations by modifying a hierarchical fuzzy modeling approach previously developed for body-wide automatic anatomy recognition (AAR) in medical imagery. Our AAR-lymph node (AAR-LN) system follows the AAR methodology and consists of two steps. In the first step, the various lymph node stations are manually delineated on a set of CT images following the IASLC definitions. These delineations are then used to build a fuzzy hierarchical model of the nodal stations which are considered as 3D objects. In the second step, the stations are automatically located on any given CT image of the thorax by using the hierarchical fuzzy model and object recognition algorithms. Based on 23 data sets used for model building, 22 independent data sets for testing, and 10 lymph node stations, a mean localization accuracy of within 1-6 voxels has been achieved by the AAR-LN system.

Low-rank network decomposition reveals structural characteristics of small-world networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barranca, Victor J.; Zhou, Douglas; Cai, David

2015-12-01

Small-world networks occur naturally throughout biological, technological, and social systems. With their prevalence, it is particularly important to prudently identify small-world networks and further characterize their unique connection structure with respect to network function. In this work we develop a formalism for classifying networks and identifying small-world structure using a decomposition of network connectivity matrices into low-rank and sparse components, corresponding to connections within clusters of highly connected nodes and sparse interconnections between clusters, respectively. We show that the network decomposition is independent of node indexing and define associated bounded measures of connectivity structure, which provide insight into the clustering and regularity of network connections. While many existing network characterizations rely on constructing benchmark networks for comparison or fail to describe the structural properties of relatively densely connected networks, our classification relies only on the intrinsic network structure and is quite robust with respect to changes in connection density, producing stable results across network realizations. Using this framework, we analyze several real-world networks and reveal new structural properties, which are often indiscernible by previously established characterizations of network connectivity.

Transformation to small-cell lung cancer as a mechanism of acquired resistance to crizotinib and alectinib.

PubMed

Miyamoto, Shingo; Ikushima, Soichiro; Ono, Ryu; Awano, Nobuyasu; Kondo, Keisuke; Furuhata, Yoshiaki; Fukumoto, Kento; Kumasaka, Toshio

2016-02-01

A 56-year-old woman, a never-smoker, had postoperative recurrence of anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearranged lung cancer. She achieved a partial response to treatment with an anaplastic lymphoma kinase tyrosine kinase inhibitor, crizotinib. After the tumor regrowth, crizotinib was switched to alectinib; once again a partial response was observed. At the second recurrence, transbronchial needle aspiration of the right paratracheal node was performed, which revealed cytological findings of small-cell carcinoma. While treatment with cisplatin-irinotecan chemotherapy made reduction of some tumor shadows, including the biopsied mediastinal lymph nodes, new, small, nodular shadows, highly suggestive of pulmonary metastases, were detected in both lung fields. This case may show proof of the transformation to small-cell lung cancer as a mechanism of resistance to anaplastic lymphoma kinase tyrosine kinase inhibitors in anaplastic lymphoma kinase rearranged tumor. However, this transformation may also be only one part of the resistance mechanism of the heterogeneous tumor. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Impact of sentinel lymphadenectomy on survival in a murine model of melanoma.

PubMed

Rebhun, Robert B; Lazar, Alexander J F; Fidler, Isaiah J; Gershenwald, Jeffrey E

2008-01-01

Lymphatic mapping and sentinel lymph node biopsy-also termed sentinel lymphadenectomy (SL)-has become a standard of care for patients with primary invasive cutaneous melanoma. This technique has been shown to provide accurate information about the disease status of the regional lymph node basins at risk for metastasis, provide prognostic information, and provide durable regional lymph node control. The potential survival benefit afforded to patients undergoing SL is controversial. Central to this controversy is whether metastasis to regional lymph nodes occurs independent of or prior to widespread hematogenous dissemination. A related area of uncertainty is whether tumor cells residing within regional lymph nodes have increased metastatic potential. We have used a murine model of primary invasive cutaneous melanoma based on injection of B16-BL6 melanoma cells into the pinna to address two questions: (1) does SL plus wide excision of the primary tumor result in a survival advantage over wide excision alone; and (2) do melanoma cells growing within lymph nodes produce a higher incidence of hematogenous metastases than do cells growing at the primary tumor site? We found that SL significantly improved the survival of mice with small primary tumors. We found no difference in the incidence of lung metastases produced by B16-BL6 melanoma cells growing exclusively within regional lymph nodes and cells growing within the pinna.

A 61-year-old man with cough and white sputum

PubMed Central

Yao, Yanwen; Yin, Jie; Xiao, Xinwu; Lv, Tangfeng; Sun, Wenkui

2015-01-01

A 61-year-old man with cough and white sputum had an abnormal pulmonary mass in the left lower lobe in the computed tomography (CT) imaging. According to the lung cancer multidisciplinary team (MDT) discussion, the patient took the left lower lobe resection and lymphadenectomy and finally diagnosed as left lung adenocarcinoma with TNM stage IIIA (pT3N2M0). After four cycles of postoperative chemotherapy with pemetrexed and nedaplatin and 10-month release, a solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN) appeared in the middle lobe of right lung in CT scanning. The patient took a second operation “the right middle lobe resection” and was diagnosed as left lung adenocarcinoma at TNM stage IV (pT3N2M1a, two lungs) with neither EGFR mutation nor ALK-EML4 fusion gene. After operation, the patient took another four cycles of postoperative chemotherapy with Docetaxel and Nedaplatin. During the follow-up, another PET/CT scanning reported that several enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes, a SPN in left upper lobe and lesion in cerebellum and the brain metastasis was also proved in MRI. The patient was now diagnosed as left lung adenocarcinoma at TNM stage IV (pT3N2M1b, brain). In the third-line therapy, the patient took the stereotactic radiotherapy for metastatic mediastinal lymph nodes and took erlotinib once a day after the radiotherapy. However, the number of small lesions on lungs was increased and the brain metastasis was enlarged. The stereotactic radiotherapy for the single brain metastasis and single agent chemotherapy of abraxane were taken. The whole body examination suggested that there was progression-free after two cycles of chemo. The patient is now took five cycles of single agent chemotherapy of abraxane. The latest whole body examination showed disease was stable with no new lesions and metastasis, performance status (PS) score is 0 and the overall survival (OS) time is 34 months. PMID:25806349

Study of Camelpox Virus Pathogenesis in Athymic Nude Mice

PubMed Central

Duraffour, Sophie; Matthys, Patrick; van den Oord, Joost J.; De Schutter, Tim; Mitera, Tania; Snoeck, Robert; Andrei, Graciela

2011-01-01

Camelpox virus (CMLV) is the closest known orthopoxvirus genetically related to variola virus. So far, CMLV was restricted to camelids but, recently, three human cases of camelpox have been described in India, highlighting the need to pursue research on its pathogenesis, which has been hampered by the lack of small animal models. Here, we confirm that NMRI immunocompetent mice are resistant to intranasal (i.n.) CMLV infection. However, we demonstrate that CMLV induced a severe disease following i.n. challenge of athymic nude mice, which was accompanied with a failure in gaining weight, leading to euthanasia of the animals. On the other hand, intracutaneous (i.c.) infection resulted in disease development without impacting the body weight evolution. CMLV replication in tissues and body fluids was confirmed in the two models. We further analyzed innate immune and B cell responses induced in the spleen and draining lymph nodes after exposure to CMLV. In both models, strong increases in CD11b+F4/80+ macrophages were seen in the spleen, while neutrophils, NK and B cell responses varied between the routes of infection. In the lymph nodes, the magnitude of CD11c+CD8α+ lymphoid and CD11c+CD11b+ myeloid dendritic cell responses increased in i.n. challenged animals. Analysis of cytokine profiles revealed significant increases of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-18 in the sera of infected animals, while those of other cytokines were similar to uninfected controls. The efficacy of two antivirals (cidofovir or HPMPC, and its 2, 6-diaminopurine analog) was evaluated in both models. HPMPC was the most effective molecule affording 100% protection from morbidity. It appeared that both treatments did not affect immune cell responses or cytokine expression. In conclusion, we demonstrated that immunodeficient mice are permissive for CMLV propagation. These results provide a basis for studying the pathogenesis of CMLV, as well as for evaluating potential antiviral therapies in an immunodeficiency context. PMID:21738709

Dielectric elastomer generators that stack up

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKay, T. G.; Rosset, S.; Anderson, I. A.; Shea, H.

2015-01-01

This paper reports the design, fabrication, and testing of a soft dielectric elastomer power generator with a volume of less than 1 cm3. The generator is well suited to harvest energy from ambient and from human body motion as it can harvest from low frequency (sub-Hz) motions, and is compact and lightweight. Dielectric elastomers are highly stretchable variable capacitors. Electrical energy is produced when the deformation of a stretched, charged dielectric elastomer is relaxed; like-charges are compressed together and opposite-charges are pushed apart, resulting in an increased voltage. This technology provides an opportunity to produce soft, high energy density generators with unparalleled robustness. Two major issues block this goal: current configurations require rigid frames that maintain the dielectric elastomer in a prestretched state, and high energy densities have come at the expense of short lifetime. This paper presents a self-supporting stacked generator configuration which does not require rigid frames. The generator consists of 48 generator films stacked on top of each other, resulting in a structure that fits within an 11 mm diameter footprint while containing enough active material to produce useful power. To ensure sustainable power production, we also present a mathematical model for designing the electronic control of the generator which optimizes energy production while limiting the electrical stress on the generator below failure limits. When cyclically compressed at 1.6 Hz, our generator produced 1.8 mW of power, which is sufficient for many low-power wireless sensor nodes. This performance compares favorably with similarly scaled electromagnetic, piezoelectric, and electrostatic generators. The generator’s small form factor and ability to harvest useful energy from low frequency motions such as tree swaying or shoe impact provides an opportunity to deliver power to remote wireless sensor nodes or to distributed points in the human body without the need for costly periodic battery replacement.

Clinical significance of preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen level in patients with clinical stage IA non-small cell lung cancer.

PubMed

Maeda, Ryo; Suda, Takashi; Hachimaru, Ayumi; Tochii, Daisuke; Tochii, Sachiko; Takagi, Yasushi

2017-01-01

The objective of this study was to assess the preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level in patients with clinical stage IA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and to evaluate its clinical significance. Between January 2005 and December 2014, a total of 378 patients with clinical stage IA NSCLC underwent complete resection with systematic node dissection. The survival rate was estimated starting from the date of surgery to the date of either death or the last follow-up by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analyses by log-rank tests were used to determine prognostic factors. Cox proportional hazards ratios were used to identify independent predictors of poor prognosis. Clinicopathological predictors of lymph node metastases were evaluated by logistic regression analyses. The 5-year survival rate of patients with an elevated preoperative serum CEA level was significantly lower than that of patients with a normal CEA level (75.5% vs. 87.7%; P=0.02). However, multivariate analysis did not show the preoperative serum CEA level to be an independent predictor of poor prognosis. Postoperative pathological factors, including lymphatic permeation, visceral pleural invasion, and lymph node metastases, tended to be positive in patients with an elevated preoperative serum CEA level. In addition, the CEA level was a statistically significant independent clinical predictor of lymph node metastases. The preoperative serum CEA level was not an independent predictor of poor prognosis in patients with pathological stage IA NSCLC but was an important clinical predictor of tumor invasiveness and lymph node metastases in patients with clinical stage IA NSCLC. Therefore, measurement of the preoperative serum CEA level should be considered even for patients with early-stage NSCLC.

Ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide mediated magnetic hyperthermia in treatment of neck lymph node metastasis in rabbit pyriform sinus VX2 carcinoma.

PubMed

Wang, Peng; Xie, Xiaofeng; Wang, Jian; Shi, Yuan; Shen, Na; Huang, Xinsheng

2015-09-01

Lymph node metastasis of rabbit VX2 pyriform sinus carcinoma can be enhanced by MR scanning after injecting ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) into the submucosa beside the tumor. The metastasis lymph node which fit in with the diagnostic criteria will be placed into the alternating magnetic field after MR scanning. Then, magnetic particles can be heated to the effective therapeutic temperature. And it evaluates the possibility of diagnosis together with therapy in cervical metastasis of pyriform sinus carcinoma. Twenty rabbits bearing VX2 tumor in pyriform sinuses were randomly divided into hyperthermia group and control group after USPIO MR scanning; each group contained 10 rabbits. The hyperthermia for the experimental group was conducted by the alternating magnetic field. After hyperthermia, the detection of apoptosis for the two groups was tested by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax evaluated by immunohistochemical analysis. The apoptosis rate detected by TUNEL in hyperthermia group was 100 %, while the control group was only 20 % (p < 0.05). TEM observation showed that cell chromatin condensation and clumping, condensed cytoplasm, endoplasmic reticulum membrane fusion with loose change, and the formation of a bubble could be seen in the hyperthermia group. However, the control group showed a more complete cytoplasm and nucleus. Bcl-2 protein expression in the hyperthermia group was lower than the control group, and Bax protein expression in hyperthermia group was higher (p < 0.05). USPIO indirect lymphography could localize the metastatic lymph nodes for hyperthermia. And it could make the metastatic cervical lymph nodes apoptosis when placed into the alternating magnetic field.

The influence of the depth of k-core layers on the robustness of interdependent networks against cascading failures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Zhengcheng; Fang, Yanjun; Tian, Meng; Kong, Zhengmin

The hierarchical structure, k-core, is common in various complex networks, and the actual network always has successive layers from 1-core layer (the peripheral layer) to km-core layer (the core layer). The nodes within the core layer have been proved to be the most influential spreaders, but there is few work about how the depth of k-core layers (the value of km) can affect the robustness against cascading failures, rather than the interdependent networks. First, following the preferential attachment, a novel method is proposed to generate the scale-free network with successive k-core layers (KCBA network), and the KCBA network is validated more realistic than the traditional BA network. Then, with KCBA interdependent networks, the effect of the depth of k-core layers is investigated. Considering the load-based model, the loss of capacity on nodes is adopted to quantify the robustness instead of the number of functional nodes in the end. We conduct two attacking strategies, i.e. the RO-attack (Randomly remove only one node) and the RF-attack (Randomly remove a fraction of nodes). Results show that the robustness of KCBA networks not only depends on the depth of k-core layers, but also is slightly influenced by the initial load. With RO-attack, the networks with less k-core layers are more robust when the initial load is small. With RF-attack, the robustness improves with small km, but the improvement is getting weaker with the increment of the initial load. In a word, the lower the depth is, the more robust the networks will be.

Ultrasonographic thickening of the muscularis propria in feline small intestinal small cell T-cell lymphoma and inflammatory bowel disease

PubMed Central

Daniaux, Lise A; Laurenson, Michele P; Marks, Stanley L; Moore, Peter F; Taylor, Sandra L; Chen, Rachel X; Zwingenberger, Allison L

2014-01-01

Gastrointestinal lymphoma is the most common form of lymphoma in the cat. More recently, an ultrasonographic pattern associated with feline small cell T-cell gastrointestinal lymphoma has been recognized as a diffuse thickening of the muscularis propria of the small intestine. This pattern is also described with feline inflammatory bowel disease. To evaluate the similarities between the diseases, we quantified the thickness of the muscularis propria layer in the duodenum, jejunum and ileum of 14 cats affected by small cell T-cell lymphoma and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and 19 healthy cats. We found a significantly increased thickness of the muscularis propria in cats with lymphoma and IBD compared with healthy cats. The mean thickness of the muscularis propria in cats with lymphoma or IBD was twice the thickness than that of healthy cats, and was the major contributor to significant overall bowel wall thickening in the duodenum and jejunum. A muscularis to submucosa ratio >1 is indicative of an abnormal bowel segment. Colic lymph nodes in cats with lymphoma were increased in size compared with healthy cats. In cats with gastrointestinal lymphoma and histologic transmural infiltration of the small intestines, colic or jejunal lymph nodes were rounded, increased in size and hypoechoic. PMID:23900499

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

Ali, Amjad Majid; Albert, Don; Andersson, Par

SLURM is an open source, fault-tolerant, and highly scalable cluster management and job scheduling system for large and small computer clusters. As a cluster resource manager, SLURM has three key functions. First, it allocates exclusive and/or non-exclusive access to resources (compute nodes) to users for some duration of time so they can perform work. Second, it provides a framework for starting, executing, and monitoring work 9normally a parallel job) on the set of allocated nodes. Finally, it arbitrates conflicting requests for resources by managing a queue of pending work.

Canonical Probability Distributions for Model Building, Learning, and Inference

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-07-14

hand , are for Ranked nodes set at Unobservable and Auxiliary nodes. The value of alpha is set in the diagnostic window by moving the slider in the upper...right hand side of the window. The upper bound of alpha can be modified by typing the new value in the small edit box to the right of the slider. f...TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER University of Pittsburgh

Synthesis of Lymph Node-Targeting Adjuvants.

PubMed

Hanson, Melissa C; Irvine, Darrell J

2017-01-01

Molecular adjuvants based off of pattern recognition receptor agonists are capable of potently stimulating innate immunity and inducing protective immune responses to subunit antigens. One significant disadvantage to these small molecule adjuvants is their pharmacokinetic profile of entering the blood stream rather than the lymphatics after parental injection. In order to target molecular adjuvants to lymph nodes, we have developed nanoparticle carriers whose size has been optimized to avoid the blood and efficiently drain to lymph nodes (Hanson et al. Vaccine 33:861-8,2015; Hanson et al. J Clin Invest 125:2532-2546, 2015). This chapter describes in detail the materials and procedures necessary to synthesize liposome nanoparticle carriers of either hydrophobic or hydrophilic adjuvants, including synthesis tips, alternative equipment options, and pitfalls to avoid.

Comparison of Node-Centered and Cell-Centered Unstructured Finite-Volume Discretizations: Viscous Fluxes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Diskin, Boris; Thomas, James L.; Nielsen, Eric J.; Nishikawa, Hiroaki; White, Jeffery A.

2010-01-01

Discretization of the viscous terms in current finite-volume unstructured-grid schemes are compared using node-centered and cell-centered approaches in two dimensions. Accuracy and complexity are studied for four nominally second-order accurate schemes: a node-centered scheme and three cell-centered schemes - a node-averaging scheme and two schemes with nearest-neighbor and adaptive compact stencils for least-square face gradient reconstruction. The grids considered range from structured (regular) grids to irregular grids composed of arbitrary mixtures of triangles and quadrilaterals, including random perturbations of the grid points to bring out the worst possible behavior of the solution. Two classes of tests are considered. The first class of tests involves smooth manufactured solutions on both isotropic and highly anisotropic grids with discontinuous metrics, typical of those encountered in grid adaptation. The second class concerns solutions and grids varying strongly anisotropically over a curved body, typical of those encountered in high-Reynolds number turbulent flow simulations. Tests from the first class indicate the face least-square methods, the node-averaging method without clipping, and the node-centered method demonstrate second-order convergence of discretization errors with very similar accuracies per degree of freedom. The tests of the second class are more discriminating. The node-centered scheme is always second order with an accuracy and complexity in linearization comparable to the best of the cell-centered schemes. In comparison, the cell-centered node-averaging schemes may degenerate on mixed grids, have a higher complexity in linearization, and can fail to converge to the exact solution when clipping of the node-averaged values is used. The cell-centered schemes using least-square face gradient reconstruction have more compact stencils with a complexity similar to that of the node-centered scheme. For simulations on highly anisotropic curved grids, the least-square methods have to be amended either by introducing a local mapping based on a distance function commonly available in practical schemes or modifying the scheme stencil to reflect the direction of strong coupling. The major conclusion is that accuracies of the node centered and the best cell-centered schemes are comparable at equivalent number of degrees of freedom.

Anatomic Distribution of Fluorodeoxyglucose-Avid Para-aortic Lymph Nodes in Patients With Cervical Cancer

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

Takiar, Vinita; Fontanilla, Hiral P.; Eifel, Patricia J.

Purpose: Conformal treatment of para-aortic lymph nodes (PAN) in cervical cancer allows dose escalation and reduces normal tissue toxicity. Currently, data documenting the precise location of involved PAN are lacking. We define the spatial distribution of this high-risk nodal volume by analyzing fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-avid lymph nodes (LNs) on positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans in patients with cervical cancer. Methods and Materials: We identified 72 PANs on pretreatment PET/CT of 30 patients with newly diagnosed stage IB-IVA cervical cancer treated with definitive chemoradiation. LNs were classified as left-lateral para-aortic (LPA), aortocaval (AC), or right paracaval (RPC). Distances from the LNmore » center to the closest vessel and adjacent vertebral body were calculated. Using deformable image registration, nodes were mapped to a template computed tomogram to provide a visual impression of nodal frequencies and anatomic distribution. Results: We identified 72 PET-positive para-aortic lymph nodes (37 LPA, 32 AC, 3 RPC). All RPC lymph nodes were in the inferior third of the para-aortic region. The mean distance from aorta for all lymph nodes was 8.3 mm (range, 3-17 mm), and from the inferior vena cava was 5.6 mm (range, 2-10 mm). Of the 72 lymph nodes, 60% were in the inferior third, 36% were in the middle third, and 4% were in the upper third of the para-aortic region. In all, 29 of 30 patients also had FDG-avid pelvic lymph nodes. Conclusions: A total of 96% of PET positive nodes were adjacent to the aorta; PET positive nodes to the right of the IVC were rare and were all located distally, within 3 cm of the aortic bifurcation. Our findings suggest that circumferential margins around the vessels do not accurately define the nodal region at risk. Instead, the anatomical extent of the nodal basin should be contoured on each axial image to provide optimal coverage of the para-aortic nodal compartment.« less

A pilot study of lymph node mapping with indocyanine green in robotic gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

PubMed

Lan, Yuan-Tzu; Huang, Kuo-Hung; Chen, Ping-Hsien; Liu, Chien-An; Lo, Su-Shun; Wu, Chew-Wun; Shyr, Yi-Ming; Fang, Wen-Liang

2017-01-01

Robotic gastrectomy has become increasingly popular in the treatment of gastric cancer, especially in Asian countries. The use of indocyanine green fluorescence has been reported in lymphatic mapping for gastric cancer in laparoscopic gastrectomy; however, there have been few reports regarding the use of indocyanine green in robotic gastrectomy. From January 2011 to March 2016, a total of 79 patients underwent robotic gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Among them, intraoperative subserosal injection (n = 9) or preoperative submucosal injection (n = 5) of indocyanine green with near-infrared imaging was performed in 14 patients, and the other 65 patients underwent robotic gastrectomy without the use of indocyanine green. There was no significant difference in the operative time, total number of retrieved lymph nodes, operative blood loss, and postoperative hospital stay between the patients who underwent robotic gastrectomy with or without indocyanine green fluorescence. For each lymph node station, there was significantly more number of retrieved lymph nodes in the indocyanine green group than in the no-indocyanine green group at the greater curvature side of the low body (#4d) to the infrapyloric region (#6) of the stomach. Five of the 14 patients who received an indocyanine green injection for lymphatic mapping had lymph node metastasis, and metastatic lymph nodes were located in the lymph node stations as detected by indocyanine green fluorescence during surgery. Indocyanine green fluorescence with near-infrared imaging is feasible and is a promising method of lymphatic mapping in robotic gastrectomy for gastric cancer. In future studies, larger patient numbers and long-term follow-up are required.

A Multi-Hop Clustering Mechanism for Scalable IoT Networks.

PubMed

Sung, Yoonyoung; Lee, Sookyoung; Lee, Meejeong

2018-03-23

It is expected that up to 26 billion Internet of Things (IoT) equipped with sensors and wireless communication capabilities will be connected to the Internet by 2020 for various purposes. With a large scale IoT network, having each node connected to the Internet with an individual connection may face serious scalability issues. The scalability problem of the IoT network may be alleviated by grouping the nodes of the IoT network into clusters and having a representative node in each cluster connect to the Internet on behalf of the other nodes in the cluster instead of having a per-node Internet connection and communication. In this paper, we propose a multi-hop clustering mechanism for IoT networks to minimize the number of required Internet connections. Specifically, the objective of proposed mechanism is to select the minimum number of coordinators, which take the role of a representative node for the cluster, i.e., having the Internet connection on behalf of the rest of the nodes in the cluster and to map a partition of the IoT nodes onto the selected set of coordinators to minimize the total distance between the nodes and their respective coordinator under a certain constraint in terms of maximum hop count between the IoT nodes and their respective coordinator. Since this problem can be mapped into a set cover problem which is known as NP-hard, we pursue a heuristic approach to solve the problem and analyze the complexity of the proposed solution. Through a set of experiments with varying parameters, the proposed scheme shows 63-87.3% reduction of the Internet connections depending on the number of the IoT nodes while that of the optimal solution is 65.6-89.9% in a small scale network. Moreover, it is shown that the performance characteristics of the proposed mechanism coincide with expected performance characteristics of the optimal solution in a large-scale network.

A Multi-Hop Clustering Mechanism for Scalable IoT Networks

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

It is expected that up to 26 billion Internet of Things (IoT) equipped with sensors and wireless communication capabilities will be connected to the Internet by 2020 for various purposes. With a large scale IoT network, having each node connected to the Internet with an individual connection may face serious scalability issues. The scalability problem of the IoT network may be alleviated by grouping the nodes of the IoT network into clusters and having a representative node in each cluster connect to the Internet on behalf of the other nodes in the cluster instead of having a per-node Internet connection and communication. In this paper, we propose a multi-hop clustering mechanism for IoT networks to minimize the number of required Internet connections. Specifically, the objective of proposed mechanism is to select the minimum number of coordinators, which take the role of a representative node for the cluster, i.e., having the Internet connection on behalf of the rest of the nodes in the cluster and to map a partition of the IoT nodes onto the selected set of coordinators to minimize the total distance between the nodes and their respective coordinator under a certain constraint in terms of maximum hop count between the IoT nodes and their respective coordinator. Since this problem can be mapped into a set cover problem which is known as NP-hard, we pursue a heuristic approach to solve the problem and analyze the complexity of the proposed solution. Through a set of experiments with varying parameters, the proposed scheme shows 63–87.3% reduction of the Internet connections depending on the number of the IoT nodes while that of the optimal solution is 65.6–89.9% in a small scale network. Moreover, it is shown that the performance characteristics of the proposed mechanism coincide with expected performance characteristics of the optimal solution in a large-scale network. PMID:29570691

Dual-modality imaging with 99mTc and fluorescent indocyanine green using surface-modified silica nanoparticles for biopsy of the sentinel lymph node: an animal study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background We propose a new approach to facilitate sentinel node biopsy examination by multimodality imaging in which radioactive and near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent nanoparticles depict deeply situated sentinel nodes and fluorescent nodes with anatomical resolution in the surgical field. For this purpose, we developed polyamidoamine (PAMAM)-coated silica nanoparticles loaded with technetium-99m (99mTc) and indocyanine green (ICG). Methods We conducted animal studies to test the feasibility and utility of this dual-modality imaging probe. The mean diameter of the PAMAM-coated silica nanoparticles was 30 to 50 nm, as evaluated from the images of transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The combined labeling with 99mTc and ICG was verified by thin-layer chromatography before each experiment. A volume of 0.1 ml of the nanoparticle solution (7.4 MBq, except for one rat that was injected with 3.7 MBq, and 1 μg of an ICG derivative [ICG-sulfo-OSu]) was injected submucosally into the tongue of six male Wistar rats. Results Scintigraphic images showed increased accumulation of 99mTc in the neck of four of the six rats. Nineteen lymph nodes were identified in the dissected neck of the six rats, and a contact radiographic study showed three nodes with a marked increase in uptake and three nodes with a weak uptake. NIR fluorescence imaging provided real-time clear fluorescent images of the lymph nodes in the neck with anatomical resolution. Six lymph nodes showed weak (+) to strong (+++) fluorescence, whereas other lymph nodes showed no fluorescence. Nodes showing increased radioactivity coincided with the fluorescent nodes. The radioactivity of 15 excised lymph nodes from the four rats was assayed using a gamma well counter. Comparisons of the levels of radioactivity revealed a large difference between the high-fluorescence-intensity group (four lymph nodes; mean, 0.109% ± 0.067%) and the low- or no-fluorescence-intensity group (11 lymph nodes; mean, 0.001% ± 0.000%, p < 0.05). Transmission electron microscopy revealed that small black granules were localized to and dispersed within the cytoplasm of macrophages in the lymph nodes. Conclusion Although further studies are needed to determine the appropriate dose of the dual-imaging nanoparticle probe for effective sensitivity and safety, the results of this animal study revealed a novel method for improved node detection by a dual-modality approach for sentinel lymph node biopsy. PMID:23618132

A Depth-Adjustment Deployment Algorithm Based on Two-Dimensional Convex Hull and Spanning Tree for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Jiang, Peng; Liu, Shuai; Liu, Jun; Wu, Feng; Zhang, Le

2016-07-14

Most of the existing node depth-adjustment deployment algorithms for underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) just consider how to optimize network coverage and connectivity rate. However, these literatures don't discuss full network connectivity, while optimization of network energy efficiency and network reliability are vital topics for UWSN deployment. Therefore, in this study, a depth-adjustment deployment algorithm based on two-dimensional (2D) convex hull and spanning tree (NDACS) for UWSNs is proposed. First, the proposed algorithm uses the geometric characteristics of a 2D convex hull and empty circle to find the optimal location of a sleep node and activate it, minimizes the network coverage overlaps of the 2D plane, and then increases the coverage rate until the first layer coverage threshold is reached. Second, the sink node acts as a root node of all active nodes on the 2D convex hull and then forms a small spanning tree gradually. Finally, the depth-adjustment strategy based on time marker is used to achieve the three-dimensional overall network deployment. Compared with existing depth-adjustment deployment algorithms, the simulation results show that the NDACS algorithm can maintain full network connectivity with high network coverage rate, as well as improved network average node degree, thus increasing network reliability.

A Depth-Adjustment Deployment Algorithm Based on Two-Dimensional Convex Hull and Spanning Tree for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Jiang, Peng; Liu, Shuai; Liu, Jun; Wu, Feng; Zhang, Le

2016-01-01

Most of the existing node depth-adjustment deployment algorithms for underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) just consider how to optimize network coverage and connectivity rate. However, these literatures don’t discuss full network connectivity, while optimization of network energy efficiency and network reliability are vital topics for UWSN deployment. Therefore, in this study, a depth-adjustment deployment algorithm based on two-dimensional (2D) convex hull and spanning tree (NDACS) for UWSNs is proposed. First, the proposed algorithm uses the geometric characteristics of a 2D convex hull and empty circle to find the optimal location of a sleep node and activate it, minimizes the network coverage overlaps of the 2D plane, and then increases the coverage rate until the first layer coverage threshold is reached. Second, the sink node acts as a root node of all active nodes on the 2D convex hull and then forms a small spanning tree gradually. Finally, the depth-adjustment strategy based on time marker is used to achieve the three-dimensional overall network deployment. Compared with existing depth-adjustment deployment algorithms, the simulation results show that the NDACS algorithm can maintain full network connectivity with high network coverage rate, as well as improved network average node degree, thus increasing network reliability. PMID:27428970

Postsynthetic Tuning of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Targeted Applications.

PubMed

Islamoglu, Timur; Goswami, Subhadip; Li, Zhanyong; Howarth, Ashlee J; Farha, Omar K; Hupp, Joseph T

2017-04-18

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are periodic, hybrid, atomically well-defined porous materials that typically form by self-assembly and consist of inorganic nodes (metal ions or clusters) and multitopic organic linkers. MOFs as a whole offer many intriguing properties, including ultrahigh porosity, tunable chemical functionality, and low density. These properties point to numerous potential applications, including gas storage, chemical separations, catalysis, light harvesting, and chemical sensing, to name a few. Reticular chemistry, or the linking of molecular building blocks into predetermined network structures, has been employed to synthesize thousands of MOFs. Given the vast library of candidate nodes and linkers, the number of potentially synthetically accessible MOFs is enormous. Nevertheless, a powerful complementary approach to obtain specific structures with desired chemical functionality is to modify known MOFs after synthesis. This approach is particularly useful when incorporation of particular chemical functionalities via direct synthesis is challenging or impossible. The challenges may stem from limited stability or solubility of precursors, unwanted secondary reactivity of precursors, or incompatibility of functional groups with the conditions needed for direct synthesis. MOFs can be postsynthetically modified by replacing the metal nodes and/or organic linkers or via functionalization of the metal nodes and/or organic linkers. Here we describe some of our efforts toward the development and application of postsynthetic strategies for imparting desired chemical functionalities in MOFs of known topology. The techniques include methods for functionalizing MOF nodes, i.e., solvent-assisted ligand incorporation (SALI) and atomic layer deposition in MOFs (AIM) as well as a method to replace structural linkers, termed solvent-assisted linker exchange (SALE), also known as postsynthethic exchange (PSE). For each functionalization strategy, we first describe its chemical basis along with the requirements for its successful implementation. We then present a small number of examples, with an emphasis on those that (a) convey the underlying concepts and/or (b) lead to functional structures (e.g., catalysts) that would be difficult or impossible to access via direct routes. The examples, however, are only illustrative, and a significant body of work exists from both our lab and others, especially for the SALE/PSE strategy. We refer readers to the papers cited and to the references therein. More exciting, in our view, will be new examples and new applications of the functionalization strategies-especially applications made possible by creatively combining the strategies. Underexplored (again, in our view) are implementations that impart electrical conductivity, enable increasingly selective chemical sensing, or facilitate cascade catalysis. It will be interesting to see where these strategies and others take this compelling field over the next few years.

Surgical treatment for mediastinal abscess induced by endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration: a case report and literature review.

PubMed

Yokoyama, Yujiro; Nakagomi, Takahiro; Shikata, Daichi; Higuchi, Rumi; Oyama, Toshio; Goto, Taichiro

2017-07-14

Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) is a useful and less invasive procedure for the definitive diagnosis of mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes. However, infectious complications can occur after EBUS-TBNA, although they are extremely rare. A 66-year-old man with necrotic and swollen lower paratracheal lymph nodes underwent EBUS-TBNA. A mediastinal abscess developed 9 days post-procedure. Surgical drainage and debridement of the abscess were performed along with lymph node biopsy followed by daily washing of the thoracic cavity. Surgical treatment was effective, leading to remission of the abscess. Biopsy revealed that the tumor was squamous cell carcinoma with no radiologically detected cancer elsewhere in the body. Mediastinal lung cancer was thus confirmed. Subsequent chemoradiotherapy led to the remission of the tumor. Mediastinitis after EBUS-TBNA is rare but should be considered, particularly if the target lymph nodes are necrotic. Mediastinitis can lead to serious and rapid deterioration of the patient's condition, for which surgical intervention is the treatment of choice.

An Effective Delay Reduction Approach through a Portion of Nodes with a Larger Duty Cycle for Industrial WSNs

PubMed Central

Wu, Minrui; Wu, Yanhui; Liu, Chuyao; Cai, Zhiping; Ma, Ming

2018-01-01

For Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs), sending data with timely style to the stink (or control center, CC) that is monitored by sensor nodes is a challenging issue. However, in order to save energy, wireless sensor networks based on a duty cycle are widely used in the industrial field, which can bring great delay to data transmission. We observe that if the duty cycle of a small number of nodes in the network is set to 1, the sleep delay caused by the duty cycle can be effectively reduced. Thus, in this paper, a novel Portion of Nodes with Larger Duty Cycle (PNLDC) scheme is proposed to reduce delay and optimize energy efficiency for IWSNs. In the PNLDC scheme, a portion of nodes are selected to set their duty cycle to 1, and the proportion of nodes with the duty cycle of 1 is determined according to the energy abundance of the area in which the node is located. The more the residual energy in the region, the greater the proportion of the selected nodes. Because there are a certain proportion of nodes with the duty cycle of 1 in the network, the PNLDC scheme can effectively reduce delay in IWSNs. The performance analysis and experimental results show that the proposed scheme significantly reduces the delay for forwarding data by 8.9~26.4% and delay for detection by 2.1~24.6% without reducing the network lifetime when compared with the fixed duty cycle method. Meanwhile, compared with the dynamic duty cycle strategy, the proposed scheme has certain advantages in terms of energy utilization and delay reduction. PMID:29757236

An Effective Delay Reduction Approach through a Portion of Nodes with a Larger Duty Cycle for Industrial WSNs.

PubMed

Wu, Minrui; Wu, Yanhui; Liu, Chuyao; Cai, Zhiping; Xiong, Neal N; Liu, Anfeng; Ma, Ming

2018-05-12

For Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs), sending data with timely style to the stink (or control center, CC) that is monitored by sensor nodes is a challenging issue. However, in order to save energy, wireless sensor networks based on a duty cycle are widely used in the industrial field, which can bring great delay to data transmission. We observe that if the duty cycle of a small number of nodes in the network is set to 1, the sleep delay caused by the duty cycle can be effectively reduced. Thus, in this paper, a novel Portion of Nodes with Larger Duty Cycle (PNLDC) scheme is proposed to reduce delay and optimize energy efficiency for IWSNs. In the PNLDC scheme, a portion of nodes are selected to set their duty cycle to 1, and the proportion of nodes with the duty cycle of 1 is determined according to the energy abundance of the area in which the node is located. The more the residual energy in the region, the greater the proportion of the selected nodes. Because there are a certain proportion of nodes with the duty cycle of 1 in the network, the PNLDC scheme can effectively reduce delay in IWSNs. The performance analysis and experimental results show that the proposed scheme significantly reduces the delay for forwarding data by 8.9~26.4% and delay for detection by 2.1~24.6% without reducing the network lifetime when compared with the fixed duty cycle method. Meanwhile, compared with the dynamic duty cycle strategy, the proposed scheme has certain advantages in terms of energy utilization and delay reduction.

Low-Latency and Energy-Efficient Data Preservation Mechanism in Low-Duty-Cycle Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Jiang, Chan; Li, Tao-Shen; Liang, Jun-Bin; Wu, Heng

2017-05-06

Similar to traditional wireless sensor networks (WSN), the nodes only have limited memory and energy in low-duty-cycle sensor networks (LDC-WSN). However, different from WSN, the nodes in LDC-WSN often sleep most of their time to preserve their energies. The sleeping feature causes serious data transmission delay. However, each source node that has sensed data needs to quickly disseminate its data to other nodes in the network for redundant storage. Otherwise, data would be lost due to its source node possibly being destroyed by outer forces in a harsh environment. The quick dissemination requirement produces a contradiction with the sleeping delay in the network. How to quickly disseminate all the source data to all the nodes with limited memory in the network for effective preservation is a challenging issue. In this paper, a low-latency and energy-efficient data preservation mechanism in LDC-WSN is proposed. The mechanism is totally distributed. The data can be disseminated to the network with low latency by using a revised probabilistic broadcasting mechanism, and then stored by the nodes with LT (Luby Transform) codes, which are a famous rateless erasure code. After the process of data dissemination and storage completes, some nodes may die due to being destroyed by outer forces. If a mobile sink enters the network at any time and from any place to collect the data, it can recover all of the source data by visiting a small portion of survived nodes in the network. Theoretical analyses and simulation results show that our mechanism outperforms existing mechanisms in the performances of data dissemination delay and energy efficiency.

Testing the structure of earthquake networks from multivariate time series of successive main shocks in Greece

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chorozoglou, D.; Kugiumtzis, D.; Papadimitriou, E.

2018-06-01

The seismic hazard assessment in the area of Greece is attempted by studying the earthquake network structure, such as small-world and random. In this network, a node represents a seismic zone in the study area and a connection between two nodes is given by the correlation of the seismic activity of two zones. To investigate the network structure, and particularly the small-world property, the earthquake correlation network is compared with randomized ones. Simulations on multivariate time series of different length and number of variables show that for the construction of randomized networks the method randomizing the time series performs better than methods randomizing directly the original network connections. Based on the appropriate randomization method, the network approach is applied to time series of earthquakes that occurred between main shocks in the territory of Greece spanning the period 1999-2015. The characterization of networks on sliding time windows revealed that small-world structure emerges in the last time interval, shortly before the main shock.

Unimodular lattice triangulations as small-world and scale-free random graphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krüger, B.; Schmidt, E. M.; Mecke, K.

2015-02-01

Real-world networks, e.g., the social relations or world-wide-web graphs, exhibit both small-world and scale-free behaviour. We interpret lattice triangulations as planar graphs by identifying triangulation vertices with graph nodes and one-dimensional simplices with edges. Since these triangulations are ergodic with respect to a certain Pachner flip, applying different Monte Carlo simulations enables us to calculate average properties of random triangulations, as well as canonical ensemble averages, using an energy functional that is approximately the variance of the degree distribution. All considered triangulations have clustering coefficients comparable with real-world graphs; for the canonical ensemble there are inverse temperatures with small shortest path length independent of system size. Tuning the inverse temperature to a quasi-critical value leads to an indication of scale-free behaviour for degrees k≥slant 5. Using triangulations as a random graph model can improve the understanding of real-world networks, especially if the actual distance of the embedded nodes becomes important.

Extended versus peripancreatic lymph node dissection for the treatment of left-sided pancreatic cancer

PubMed Central

Lee, Huisong; Choi, Seong Ho; Choi, Dong Wook

2017-01-01

Purpose The pathways of lymphatic metastases differ according to the tumor location in pancreatic cancer patients. However, it is unclear whether extended lymph node dissection (LND) is essential for all left-sided pancreatic cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the survival outcomes according to the extent of LND and tumor location in patients with left-sided pancreatic cancer. Methods January 2005 to December 2013, we retrospectively identified 107 patients who underwent curative intent surgery for left-sided pancreatic cancer. The left-sided pancreatic cancer was defined as a tumor located in pancreatic body or tail. The extent of LND was divided into 2 groups: extended LND and peripancreatic LND. The extended LND group included celiac and superior mesenteric LNs. Results We included 107 patients with left-sided pancreatic cancer; 59 patients with pancreatic body cancer and 48 patients with pancreatic tail cancer. The median follow-up period was 17 months (range, 3–110 months). Fifty patients with pancreatic body cancer and 30 patients with pancreatic tail cancer underwent extended LND. In patients with pancreatic body cancer, extended LND was associated with improved disease-free survival (DFS) (P = 0.010) and overall survival (P = 0.014). However, extended LND was not associated with DFS in patients with pancreatic tail cancer. Conclusion Extended LND could improve survival in patients with pancreatic body cancer. However, extended LND had no survival benefit for the treatment of pancreatic tail cancer. PMID:28580345

Extended versus peripancreatic lymph node dissection for the treatment of left-sided pancreatic cancer.

PubMed

Lee, Huisong; Heo, Jin Seok; Choi, Seong Ho; Choi, Dong Wook

2017-06-01

The pathways of lymphatic metastases differ according to the tumor location in pancreatic cancer patients. However, it is unclear whether extended lymph node dissection (LND) is essential for all left-sided pancreatic cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the survival outcomes according to the extent of LND and tumor location in patients with left-sided pancreatic cancer. January 2005 to December 2013, we retrospectively identified 107 patients who underwent curative intent surgery for left-sided pancreatic cancer. The left-sided pancreatic cancer was defined as a tumor located in pancreatic body or tail. The extent of LND was divided into 2 groups: extended LND and peripancreatic LND. The extended LND group included celiac and superior mesenteric LNs. We included 107 patients with left-sided pancreatic cancer; 59 patients with pancreatic body cancer and 48 patients with pancreatic tail cancer. The median follow-up period was 17 months (range, 3-110 months). Fifty patients with pancreatic body cancer and 30 patients with pancreatic tail cancer underwent extended LND. In patients with pancreatic body cancer, extended LND was associated with improved disease-free survival (DFS) (P = 0.010) and overall survival (P = 0.014). However, extended LND was not associated with DFS in patients with pancreatic tail cancer. Extended LND could improve survival in patients with pancreatic body cancer. However, extended LND had no survival benefit for the treatment of pancreatic tail cancer.

Prevalence of tuberculous lymphadenitis in slaughtered cattle in Eastern Cape, South Africa.

PubMed

Bhembe, Nolwazi L; Jaja, Ishmael F; Nwodo, Uchechukwu U; Okoh, Anthony I; Green, Ezekiel

2017-08-01

To detect the prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) in the lymph nodes of slaughtered cattle collected from selected abattoirs in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. A total of 376 lymph nodes were collected from slaughtered cattle over a period of 12 months. Certain characteristics (sex, age, body condition score, and breed) were observed to be associated with MTBC among slaughtered cattle. Collected samples were cultured and tested for acid-fast bacilli (AFB). DNA was isolated, purified, and quantified using a spectrophotometer. Quantified DNA was confirmed to be MTBC by multiplex PCR targeting two genes (IS6110 and mpb64). Of the 376 collected lymph nodes, 182 were positive when tested by Ziehl-Neelsen stain and 162 were confirmed positive for MTBC by PCR. MTBC was isolated from lymph nodes with nodular lesions (72.8%, 118/162) and inflamed lymph nodes (27.1%, 44/162). All detected MTBC isolates were positive for region of deletion 1 (RD1). No isolate was detected to have Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG). However, 3.1% had M. bovis and 96.9% had M. tuberculosis. The presence of live Mycobacterium strains in slaughtered cattle poses a health risk to beef consumers and abattoir workers. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Structural action recognition in body sensor networks: distributed classification based on string matching.

PubMed

Ghasemzadeh, Hassan; Loseu, Vitali; Jafari, Roozbeh

2010-03-01

Mobile sensor-based systems are emerging as promising platforms for healthcare monitoring. An important goal of these systems is to extract physiological information about the subject wearing the network. Such information can be used for life logging, quality of life measures, fall detection, extraction of contextual information, and many other applications. Data collected by these sensor nodes are overwhelming, and hence, an efficient data processing technique is essential. In this paper, we present a system using inexpensive, off-the-shelf inertial sensor nodes that constructs motion transcripts from biomedical signals and identifies movements by taking collaboration between the nodes into consideration. Transcripts are built of motion primitives and aim to reduce the complexity of the original data. We then label each primitive with a unique symbol and generate a sequence of symbols, known as motion template, representing a particular action. This model leads to a distributed algorithm for action recognition using edit distance with respect to motion templates. The algorithm reduces the number of active nodes during every classification decision. We present our results using data collected from five normal subjects performing transitional movements. The results clearly illustrate the effectiveness of our framework. In particular, we obtain a classification accuracy of 84.13% with only one sensor node involved in the classification process.

Magnitude of pseudopotential localization errors in fixed node diffusion quantum Monte Carlo

DOE PAGES

Kent, Paul R.; Krogel, Jaron T.

2017-06-22

Growth in computational resources has lead to the application of real space diffusion quantum Monte Carlo to increasingly heavy elements. Although generally assumed to be small, we find that when using standard techniques, the pseudopotential localization error can be large, on the order of an electron volt for an isolated cerium atom. We formally show that the localization error can be reduced to zero with improvements to the Jastrow factor alone, and we define a metric of Jastrow sensitivity that may be useful in the design of pseudopotentials. We employ an extrapolation scheme to extract the bare fixed node energymore » and estimate the localization error in both the locality approximation and the T-moves schemes for the Ce atom in charge states 3+/4+. The locality approximation exhibits the lowest Jastrow sensitivity and generally smaller localization errors than T-moves although the locality approximation energy approaches the localization free limit from above/below for the 3+/4+ charge state. We find that energy minimized Jastrow factors including three-body electron-electron-ion terms are the most effective at reducing the localization error for both the locality approximation and T-moves for the case of the Ce atom. Less complex or variance minimized Jastrows are generally less effective. Finally, our results suggest that further improvements to Jastrow factors and trial wavefunction forms may be needed to reduce localization errors to chemical accuracy when medium core pseudopotentials are applied to heavy elements such as Ce.« less

On calibrating the sensor errors of a PDR-based indoor localization system.

PubMed

Lan, Kun-Chan; Shih, Wen-Yuah

2013-04-10

Many studies utilize the signal strength of short-range radio systems (such as WiFi, ultrasound and infrared) to build a radio map for indoor localization, by deploying a large number of beacon nodes within a building. The drawback of such an infrastructure-based approach is that the deployment and calibration of the system are costly and labor-intensive. Some prior studies proposed the use of Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) for indoor localization, which does not require the deployment of beacon nodes. In a PDR system, a small number of sensors are put on the pedestrian. These sensors (such as a G-sensor and gyroscope) are used to estimate the distance and direction that a user travels. The effectiveness of a PDR system lies in its success in accurately estimating the user's moving distance and direction. In this work, we propose a novel waist-mounted based PDR that can measure the user's step lengths with a high accuracy. We utilize vertical acceleration of the body to calculate the user's change in height during walking. Based on the Pythagorean Theorem, we can then estimate each step length using this data. Furthermore, we design a map matching algorithm to calibrate the direction errors from the gyro using building floor plans. The results of our experiment show that we can achieve about 98.26% accuracy in estimating the user's walking distance, with an overall location error of about 0.48 m.

Structural and functional hyperconnectivity within the sensorimotor system in xenomelia.

PubMed

Hänggi, Jürgen; Vitacco, Deborah A; Hilti, Leonie M; Luechinger, Roger; Kraemer, Bernd; Brugger, Peter

2017-03-01

Xenomelia is a rare condition characterized by the persistent and compulsive desire for the amputation of one or more physically healthy limbs. We highlight the neurological underpinnings of xenomelia by assessing structural and functional connectivity by means of whole-brain connectome and network analyses of regions previously implicated in empirical research in this condition. We compared structural and functional connectivity between 13 xenomelic men with matched controls using diffusion tensor imaging combined with fiber tractography and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Altered connectivity in xenomelia within the sensorimotor system has been predicted. We found subnetworks showing structural and functional hyperconnectivity in xenomelia compared with controls. These subnetworks were lateralized to the right hemisphere and mainly comprised by nodes belonging to the sensorimotor system. In the connectome analyses, the paracentral lobule, supplementary motor area, postcentral gyrus, basal ganglia, and the cerebellum were hyperconnected to each other, whereas in the xenomelia-specific network analyses, hyperconnected nodes have been found in the superior parietal lobule, primary and secondary somatosensory cortex, premotor cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, and insula. Our study provides empirical evidence of structural and functional hyperconnectivity within the sensorimotor system including those regions that are core for the reconstruction of a coherent body image. Aberrant connectivity is a common response to focal neurological damage. As exemplified here, it may affect different brain regions differentially. Due to the small sample size, our findings must be interpreted cautiously and future studies are needed to elucidate potential associations between hyperconnectivity and limb disownership reported in xenomelia.

Numerical model of the evolution of asteroid orbits at the 2:5 resonance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ipatov, S. I.

1992-12-01

The interrelations of the variations in the orbital elements of asteroids at the 2:5 resonance and in its vicinity are investigated.. These investigations are based on the numerical integration of the complete equations of motion of the three-body problem (sun-Jupiter-asteroid) for 500 model asteroids. The time interval under consideration for most versions of the calculations equaled 10(4) orbital periods of Jupiter. The limits of the variations in the orbital elements and the regions of initial data corresponding to different types of interrelations of the variations in the eccentricity and longitude of perihelion are examined. It is shown that thr 2:5 gap may play a larger role than other gaps in the replenishment of the Apollo and Amor groups. The time over which the argument of perihelion changed by 360 degrees was usually equal to two periods of variation in the orbital inclination. When this interrelation was not found, the time over which the longitude of the ascending node changed by 360 degrees was equal, as a rule, to one period of variation in this inclination. For some asteroids moving along orbits of small eccentricity and inclination, interrelations were found between the periods of variation in four orbital elements: eccentricity, inclination, argument of perihelion, and longitude of the ascending node. For initial inclinations i° = 40° of asteroid orbits, the maximum values of inclinations of some model asteroids reached 160 degrees. Such asteroids could reach the sun or nearly parabolic orbits.

On Calibrating the Sensor Errors of a PDR-Based Indoor Localization System

PubMed Central

Lan, Kun-Chan; Shih, Wen-Yuah

2013-01-01

Many studies utilize the signal strength of short-range radio systems (such as WiFi, ultrasound and infrared) to build a radio map for indoor localization, by deploying a large number of beacon nodes within a building. The drawback of such an infrastructure-based approach is that the deployment and calibration of the system are costly and labor-intensive. Some prior studies proposed the use of Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) for indoor localization, which does not require the deployment of beacon nodes. In a PDR system, a small number of sensors are put on the pedestrian. These sensors (such as a G-sensor and gyroscope) are used to estimate the distance and direction that a user travels. The effectiveness of a PDR system lies in its success in accurately estimating the user's moving distance and direction. In this work, we propose a novel waist-mounted based PDR that can measure the user's step lengths with a high accuracy. We utilize vertical acceleration of the body to calculate the user's change in height during walking. Based on the Pythagorean Theorem, we can then estimate each step length using this data. Furthermore, we design a map matching algorithm to calibrate the direction errors from the gyro using building floor plans. The results of our experiment show that we can achieve about 98.26% accuracy in estimating the user's walking distance, with an overall location error of about 0.48 m. PMID:23575036

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

PubMed

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

2014-03-01

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

PDS and NASA Tournament Laboratory Project to Engage Citizen Scientists and to Provide New Access to Cassini Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odess, Jennifer; Gordon, Mitch; Showalter, Mark; LaMora, Andy; Del Villar, Ambi; Raugh, Anne; Erickson, Kristen; Galica, Carol; Grayzeck, Ed; Morgan, Thomas; Knopf, Bill

2014-11-01

Jennifer Odess (1), Mitch Gordon (2), Mark Showalter (2), Andy LaMora (1), Ambi Del Villar (1), Anne Raugh (3), Kristen Erickson (4), Carol Galica (4), Ed Grayzeck (5), T. Morgan (5), and Bill Knopf (4)1. Appirio Top Coder, Inc2. SETI Institute3. University of Maryland4. NASA Headquarters5. Goddard Space Flight CenterThe Planetary Data System (PDS), working with the NASA Tournament Lab (NTL) and TopCoder® , is using challenge-based competition to generate new applications that increase both access to planetary data and discoverability—allowing users to “mine” data, and thus, to make new discoveries from data already “on the ground”. The first challenge-based completion was an optimized database and API for comet data at the PDS Small Bodies Node (SBN) in 2012. Since start-up, the installation at SBN has been tweaked to provide access to the comet data holdings of the SBN, and has introduced new users and new developers to PDS data. A follow-on contest using Cassini images from the PDS Rings Discipline Node, was designed to challenge the competitors to create new, more transparent, agile tools for public access to NASA’s planetary data, where “public” includes citizen scientists and educators. The experience gained with the API at SBN was applied to establishing a second installation at the PDS Planetary Rings Node (Rings), to serve as the basis to develop similar access tools at Rings to make the growing archive of Cassini images available through the API. The Cassini-Rings project had as its goal to develop a crowd-sourcing project with eventual application across the PDS holdings. From the contest results, a preliminary algorithm can detect known satellites hidden in Saturn’s rings which should prove valuable to programmers. The contest approach is also of potential use to educators for exercises studying the solar system. The progress to date and results of this citizen-scientist project will be discussed.

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease: a clinicopathologic update.

PubMed

Pepe, F; Disma, S; Teodoro, C; Pepe, P; Magro, G

2016-09-01

Kikuchi-Fujmoto disease (KFD), also known as "histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis", is a rare lymphadenitis of unknown origin, but with an excellent prognosis. It is more common in Asia, but isolated cases are also reported in America, Africa and Europe. The disease can have an acute or subacute course, usually develops in 1 to 3 weeks, with spontaneous resolution in 1-4 months. The main clinical sign is cervical lymphadenopathy, especially in the posterior cervical triangle with bulky and painful lymph nodes, usually affecting only one side; rare cases of generalized lymphadenopathy can be seen. This common clinical presentation can also be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, weight loss, weakness, headache and arthralgia. An extranodal extension of the disease, including involvement of skin, eye, and bone marrow localizations, has been rarely described. Most patients have leukopenia or neutropenia with a relative leukocytosis. At an ultrasound exploration of the affected lymph nodes, a hypoechoic aspect can be seen, with an external, thick and irregular hyperechoic ring. As there are no specific tests for KFD, the final diagnosis is histologically-based from lymph node excisional biopsy. Histological examination shows paracortical foci of coagulative necrosis containing karyorrhectic debris, which are surrounded by numerous CD68+/myeloperoxidase (MPO)+ histiocytes, CD68+/CD123+ plasmacytoid dendritic cells, and a minority of small- to large-sized CD8+lymphocytes and immunoblasts. Differential diagnosis mainly includes systemic lupus erithematous (SLE)-related lymphadenopathy and large cell lymphoma. The histological absence of neutrophils, plasmacells, as well as hematoxylin bodies, is a feature which argues against the diagnosis of SLE. In addition, the absence of auto-antibodies and anti-nuclear antibodies is useful in ruling out an autoimmune disorder. Early diagnosis of KFD is crucial to prevent the patients undergo extensive investigations related to suspected malignant lymphomas or other diseases. © Copyright Società Italiana di Anatomia Patologica e Citopatologia Diagnostica, Divisione Italiana della International Academy of Pathology.

Role of ultrasound in the assessment of percutaneous laser ablation of cervical metastatic lymph nodes from thyroid carcinoma.

PubMed

Zhang, Lu; Zhou, Wei; Zhan, WeiWei

2018-04-01

Background Few studies have examined the feasibility and efficiency of performing ultrasound and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) after percutaneous laser ablation (PLA) of cervical metastatic lymph nodes from thyroid cancer. Purpose To investigate and describe the use of conventional ultrasound and CEUS in evaluating PLA of metastatic lymph nodes. Material and Methods PLA was performed in a small, prospective, observational study of 21 metastatic lymph nodes in 17 thyroid cancer patients who underwent radical thyroid resection. CEUS was conducted prior to PLA and 1 h and seven days after ablation. Conventional ultrasound examination of all nodes was performed during follow-up after ablation. We observed contrast agent perfusion in the lymph nodes, calculated perfusion defect volumes using CEUS and determined the rates of reduction for metastatic lymph nodes for a mean duration of 17.86 ± 4.704 months (range = 12-27 months). Results CEUS demonstrated that the perfusion defect volume was larger on day 7 than on day 1 post-ablation in 47% of the ablated nodes. Compared to the largest diameters and volumes pre-PLA, the corresponding post-PLA values significantly decreased ( P < 0.05 versus baseline). No statistically significant change in thyroglobulin (Tg) levels before and after PLA was observed in this study ( P > 0.05 versus baseline). Conclusion CEUS can be effectively used to distinguish the margins of ablated regions, assess the accuracy of PLA, and monitor short-term changes in necrotic areas. However, long-term follow-up assessments of the curative effect of PLA will predominantly rely on conventional ultrasonography.

Laparoscopic Pelvic Exenteration for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer, Technique and Short-Term Outcomes.

PubMed

Pokharkar, Ashish; Kammar, Praveen; D'souza, Ashwin; Bhamre, Rahul; Sugoor, Pavan; Saklani, Avanish

2018-05-09

Since last two decades minimally invasive techniques have revolutionized surgical field. In 2003 Pomel first described laparoscopic pelvic exenteration, since then very few reports have described minimally invasive approaches for total pelvic exenteration. We report the 10 cases of locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma which were operated between the periods from March 1, 2017 to November 11, 2017 at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. All male patients had lower rectal cancer with prostate involvement on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). One female patient had uterine and fornix involvement. All perioperative and intraoperative parameters were collected retrospectively from prospectively maintained electronic data. Nine male patients with diagnosis of nonmetastatic locally advanced lower rectal adenocarcinoma were selected. All patients were operated with minimally invasive approach. All patients underwent abdominoperineal resection with permanent sigmoid stoma. Ileal conduit was constructed with Bricker's procedure through small infraumbilical incision (4-5 cm). Lateral pelvic lymph node dissection was done only when postchemoradiotherapy MRI showed enlarged pelvic nodes. All 10 patients received neoadjuvant chemo radiotherapy, whereas 8 patients received additional neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Mean body mass index was 21.73 (range 19.5-26.3). Mean blood loss was 1000 mL (range 300-2000 mL). Mean duration of surgery was 9.13 hours (range 7-13 hours). One patient developed paralytic ileus, which was managed conservatively. One patient developed intestinal obstruction due to herniation of small intestine behind the left ureter and ileal conduit. The same patient developed acute pylonephritis, which was managed with antibiotics. Mean postoperative stay was 14.6 days (range 9-25 days). On postoperative histopathology, all margins were free of tumor in all cases. Minimally invasive approaches can be used safely for total pelvic exenteration in locally advanced lower rectal adenocarcinoma. All patients had fast recovery with less blood loss. In all patients R0 resection was achieved with adequate margins. Long-term oncological outcomes are still uncertain and will require further follow-up.

Dosimetric evaluation of the feasibility of stereotactic body radiotherapy for primary lung cancer with lobe-specific selective elective nodal irradiation

PubMed Central

Komatsu, Tetsuya; Kunieda, Etsuo; Kitahara, Tadashi; Akiba, Takeshi; Nagao, Ryuta; Fukuzawa, Tsuyoshi

2016-01-01

More than 10% of all patients treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for primary lung cancer develop regional lymph node recurrence. We evaluated the dosimetric feasibility of SBRT with lobe-specific selective elective nodal irradiation (ENI) on dose–volume histograms. A total of 21 patients were treated with SBRT for Stage I primary lung cancer between January 2010 and June 2012 at our institution. The extents of lobe-specific selective ENI fields were determined with reference to prior surgical reports. The ENI fields included lymph node stations (LNS) 3 + 4 + 11 for the right upper lobe tumors, LNS 7 + 11 for the right middle or lower lobe tumors, LNS 5 + 11 for the left upper lobe tumors, and LNS 7 + 11 for the left lower lobe tumors. A composite plan was generated by combining the ENI plan and the SBRT plan and recalculating for biologically equivalent doses of 2 Gy per fraction, using a linear quadratic model. The V20 of the lung, D1cm3 of the spinal cord, D1cm3 and D10cm3 of the esophagus and D10cm3 of the tracheobronchial wall were evaluated. Of the 21 patients, nine patients (43%) could not fulfill the dose constraints. In all these patients, the distance between the planning target volume (PTV) of ENI (PTVeni) and the PTV of SBRT (PTVsrt) was ≤2.0 cm. Of the three patients who developed regional metastasis, two patients had isolated lymph node failure, and the lymph node metastasis was included within the ENI field. When the distance between the PTVeni and PTVsrt is >2.0 cm, SBRT with selective ENI may therefore dosimetrically feasible. PMID:26566656

A Locality-Based Threading Algorithm for the Configuration-Interaction Method

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

Shan, Hongzhang; Williams, Samuel; Johnson, Calvin

The Configuration Interaction (CI) method has been widely used to solve the non-relativistic many-body Schrodinger equation. One great challenge to implementing it efficiently on manycore architectures is its immense memory and data movement requirements. To address this issue, within each node, we exploit a hybrid MPI+OpenMP programming model in lieu of the traditional flat MPI programming model. Here in this paper, we develop optimizations that partition the workloads among OpenMP threads based on data locality,-which is essential in ensuring applications with complex data access patterns scale well on manycore architectures. The new algorithm scales to 256 threadson the 64-core Intelmore » Knights Landing (KNL) manycore processor and 24 threads on dual-socket Ivy Bridge (Xeon) nodes. Compared with the original implementation, the performance has been improved by up to 7× on theKnights Landing processor and 3× on the dual-socket Ivy Bridge node.« less

A Locality-Based Threading Algorithm for the Configuration-Interaction Method

DOE PAGES

Shan, Hongzhang; Williams, Samuel; Johnson, Calvin; ...

2017-07-03

The Configuration Interaction (CI) method has been widely used to solve the non-relativistic many-body Schrodinger equation. One great challenge to implementing it efficiently on manycore architectures is its immense memory and data movement requirements. To address this issue, within each node, we exploit a hybrid MPI+OpenMP programming model in lieu of the traditional flat MPI programming model. Here in this paper, we develop optimizations that partition the workloads among OpenMP threads based on data locality,-which is essential in ensuring applications with complex data access patterns scale well on manycore architectures. The new algorithm scales to 256 threadson the 64-core Intelmore » Knights Landing (KNL) manycore processor and 24 threads on dual-socket Ivy Bridge (Xeon) nodes. Compared with the original implementation, the performance has been improved by up to 7× on theKnights Landing processor and 3× on the dual-socket Ivy Bridge node.« less

Biological monitoring of environmental quality: The use of developmental instability

USGS Publications Warehouse

Freeman, D.C.; Emlen, J.M.; Graham, J.H.; Hough, R. A.; Bannon, T.A.

1994-01-01

Distributed robustness is thought to influence the buffering of random phenotypic variation through the scale-free topology of gene regulatory, metabolic, and protein-protein interaction networks. If this hypothesis is true, then the phenotypic response to the perturbation of particular nodes in such a network should be proportional to the number of links those nodes make with neighboring nodes. This suggests a probability distribution approximating an inverse power-law of random phenotypic variation. Zero phenotypic variation, however, is impossible, because random molecular and cellular processes are essential to normal development. Consequently, a more realistic distribution should have a y-intercept close to zero in the lower tail, a mode greater than zero, and a long (fat) upper tail. The double Pareto-lognormal (DPLN) distribution is an ideal candidate distribution. It consists of a mixture of a lognormal body and upper and lower power-law tails.

Amplify-and-forward cooperative diversity for green UWB-based WBSNs.

PubMed

Shaban, Heba; Abou El-Nasr, Mohamad

2013-01-01

This paper proposes a novel green cooperative diversity technique based on suboptimal template-based ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) using amplify-and-forward (AF) relays. In addition, it analyzes the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the proposed nodes. The analysis is based on the moment-generating function (MGF) of the total signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the destination. It also provides an approximate value for the total SNR. The analysis studies the performance of equally correlated binary pulse position modulation (EC-BPPM) assuming the sinusoidal and square suboptimal template pulses. Numerical results are provided for the performance evaluation of optimal and suboptimal template-based nodes with and without relay cooperation. Results show that one relay node provides ~23 dB performance enhancement at 1e - 3 BER, which mitigates the effect of the nondesirable non-line-of-sight (NLOS) links in WBSNs.

Amplify-and-Forward Cooperative Diversity for Green UWB-Based WBSNs

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

This paper proposes a novel green cooperative diversity technique based on suboptimal template-based ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) using amplify-and-forward (AF) relays. In addition, it analyzes the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the proposed nodes. The analysis is based on the moment-generating function (MGF) of the total signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the destination. It also provides an approximate value for the total SNR. The analysis studies the performance of equally correlated binary pulse position modulation (EC-BPPM) assuming the sinusoidal and square suboptimal template pulses. Numerical results are provided for the performance evaluation of optimal and suboptimal template-based nodes with and without relay cooperation. Results show that one relay node provides ~23 dB performance enhancement at 1e − 3 BER, which mitigates the effect of the nondesirable non-line-of-sight (NLOS) links in WBSNs. PMID:24307880

A wireless medical monitoring over a heterogeneous sensor network.

PubMed

Yuce, Mehmet R; Ng, Peng Choong; Lee, Chin K; Khan, Jamil Y; Liu, Wentai

2007-01-01

This paper presents a heterogeneous sensor network system that has the capability to monitor physiological parameters from multiple patient bodies by means of different communication standards. The system uses the recently opened medical band called MICS (Medical Implant Communication Service) between the sensor nodes and a remote central control unit (CCU) that behaves as a base station. The CCU communicates with another network standard (the internet or a mobile network) for a long distance data transfer. The proposed system offers mobility to patients and flexibility to medical staff to obtain patient's physiological data on demand basis via Internet. A prototype sensor network including hardware, firmware and software designs has been implemented and tested by incorporating temperature and pulse rate sensors on nodes. The developed system has been optimized for power consumption by having the nodes sleep when there is no communication via a bidirectional communication.

Robot-assisted radical cystectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection: initial experience at Roswell Park Cancer Institute.

PubMed

Guru, Khurshid A; Kim, Hyung L; Piacente, Pamela M; Mohler, James L

2007-03-01

One series of robot-assisted radical cystectomy with pelvic lymph node dissection has been reported. We report our operative technique and initial experience. Twenty consecutive patients underwent robot-assisted radical cystectomy, pelvic lymph node dissection, and open urinary diversion for operable bladder cancer from October 2005 to June 2006. Data were collected prospectively on patient demographics, intraoperative parameters, pathologic staging, and postoperative outcomes. The mean patient age was 70 years (range 56 to 90). The mean body mass index was 26 kg/m2 (range 17.3 to 36). Fourteen patients had undergone previous abdominal surgery. The mean operative time was 197 minutes for robot-assisted radical cystectomy, 44 minutes for pelvic lymph node dissection, and 133 minutes for urinary diversion. The mean blood loss was 555 mL. One case was converted to an open procedure because of the patient's inability to tolerate the Trendelenburg position. The mean hospital stay was 10 days. Two patients had major complications. One patient had positive vaginal margins and 9 of 26 nodes were positive. Four patients had incidental prostate cancer. The mean time to the return to nonstrenuous activity was 4 weeks and to strenuous activity was 10 weeks. Robot-assisted radical cystectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection can be performed safely in patients who are considered candidates for open cystectomy. Long-term oncologic control data and functional outcomes are needed to assess the true benefits of robot-assisted radical cystectomy.

Pattern Formation on Networks: from Localised Activity to Turing Patterns

PubMed Central

McCullen, Nick; Wagenknecht, Thomas

2016-01-01

Networks of interactions between competing species are used to model many complex systems, such as in genetics, evolutionary biology or sociology and knowledge of the patterns of activity they can exhibit is important for understanding their behaviour. The emergence of patterns on complex networks with reaction-diffusion dynamics is studied here, where node dynamics interact via diffusion via the network edges. Through the application of a generalisation of dynamical systems analysis this work reveals a fundamental connection between small-scale modes of activity on networks and localised pattern formation seen throughout science, such as solitons, breathers and localised buckling. The connection between solutions with a single and small numbers of activated nodes and the fully developed system-scale patterns are investigated computationally using numerical continuation methods. These techniques are also used to help reveal a much larger portion of of the full number of solutions that exist in the system at different parameter values. The importance of network structure is also highlighted, with a key role being played by nodes with a certain so-called optimal degree, on which the interaction between the reaction kinetics and the network structure organise the behaviour of the system. PMID:27273339

CFD Lagrangian Modeling of Water Droplet Transport for ISS Hygiene Activity Application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Son, Chang H.

2013-01-01

The goal of this study was to assess the impacts of free water propagation in the Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) installed in Node 3. Free water can be generated inside the WHC in small quantities due to crew hygiene activity. To mitigate potential impact of free water in Node 3 cabin the WHC doorway is enclosed by a waterproof bump-out, Kabin, with openings at the top and bottom. At the overhead side of the rack, there is a screen that prevents large drops of water from exiting. However, as the avionics fan in the WHC causes airflow toward the deck side of the rack, small quantities of free water may exit at the bottom of the Kabin. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of Node 3 cabin airflow enable identifying the paths of water transport. To simulate the droplet transport the Lagrangian discrete phase approach was used. Various initial droplet distributions were considered in the study. The droplet diameter was varied in the range of 5-20 mm. The results of the computations showed that most of the drops fall to the rack surface not far from the WHC curtain.

Fragmenting networks by targeting collective influencers at a mesoscopic level.

PubMed

Kobayashi, Teruyoshi; Masuda, Naoki

2016-11-25

A practical approach to protecting networks against epidemic processes such as spreading of infectious diseases, malware, and harmful viral information is to remove some influential nodes beforehand to fragment the network into small components. Because determining the optimal order to remove nodes is a computationally hard problem, various approximate algorithms have been proposed to efficiently fragment networks by sequential node removal. Morone and Makse proposed an algorithm employing the non-backtracking matrix of given networks, which outperforms various existing algorithms. In fact, many empirical networks have community structure, compromising the assumption of local tree-like structure on which the original algorithm is based. We develop an immunization algorithm by synergistically combining the Morone-Makse algorithm and coarse graining of the network in which we regard a community as a supernode. In this way, we aim to identify nodes that connect different communities at a reasonable computational cost. The proposed algorithm works more efficiently than the Morone-Makse and other algorithms on networks with community structure.

Fragmenting networks by targeting collective influencers at a mesoscopic level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kobayashi, Teruyoshi; Masuda, Naoki

2016-11-01

A practical approach to protecting networks against epidemic processes such as spreading of infectious diseases, malware, and harmful viral information is to remove some influential nodes beforehand to fragment the network into small components. Because determining the optimal order to remove nodes is a computationally hard problem, various approximate algorithms have been proposed to efficiently fragment networks by sequential node removal. Morone and Makse proposed an algorithm employing the non-backtracking matrix of given networks, which outperforms various existing algorithms. In fact, many empirical networks have community structure, compromising the assumption of local tree-like structure on which the original algorithm is based. We develop an immunization algorithm by synergistically combining the Morone-Makse algorithm and coarse graining of the network in which we regard a community as a supernode. In this way, we aim to identify nodes that connect different communities at a reasonable computational cost. The proposed algorithm works more efficiently than the Morone-Makse and other algorithms on networks with community structure.

Fragmenting networks by targeting collective influencers at a mesoscopic level

PubMed Central

Kobayashi, Teruyoshi; Masuda, Naoki

2016-01-01

A practical approach to protecting networks against epidemic processes such as spreading of infectious diseases, malware, and harmful viral information is to remove some influential nodes beforehand to fragment the network into small components. Because determining the optimal order to remove nodes is a computationally hard problem, various approximate algorithms have been proposed to efficiently fragment networks by sequential node removal. Morone and Makse proposed an algorithm employing the non-backtracking matrix of given networks, which outperforms various existing algorithms. In fact, many empirical networks have community structure, compromising the assumption of local tree-like structure on which the original algorithm is based. We develop an immunization algorithm by synergistically combining the Morone-Makse algorithm and coarse graining of the network in which we regard a community as a supernode. In this way, we aim to identify nodes that connect different communities at a reasonable computational cost. The proposed algorithm works more efficiently than the Morone-Makse and other algorithms on networks with community structure. PMID:27886251

Simple and efficient self-healing strategy for damaged complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gallos, Lazaros K.; Fefferman, Nina H.

2015-11-01

The process of destroying a complex network through node removal has been the subject of extensive interest and research. Node loss typically leaves the network disintegrated into many small and isolated clusters. Here we show that these clusters typically remain close to each other and we suggest a simple algorithm that is able to reverse the inflicted damage by restoring the network's functionality. After damage, each node decides independently whether to create a new link depending on the fraction of neighbors it has lost. In addition to relying only on local information, where nodes do not need knowledge of the global network status, we impose the additional constraint that new links should be as short as possible (i.e., that the new edge completes a shortest possible new cycle). We demonstrate that this self-healing method operates very efficiently, both in model and real networks. For example, after removing the most connected airports in the USA, the self-healing algorithm rejoined almost 90% of the surviving airports.

Critical tipping point distinguishing two types of transitions in modular network structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shai, Saray; Kenett, Dror Y.; Kenett, Yoed N.; Faust, Miriam; Dobson, Simon; Havlin, Shlomo

2015-12-01

Modularity is a key organizing principle in real-world large-scale complex networks. The relatively sparse interactions between modules are critical to the functionality of the system and are often the first to fail. We model such failures as site percolation targeting interconnected nodes, those connecting between modules. We find, using percolation theory and simulations, that they lead to a "tipping point" between two distinct regimes. In one regime, removal of interconnected nodes fragments the modules internally and causes the system to collapse. In contrast, in the other regime, while only attacking a small fraction of nodes, the modules remain but become disconnected, breaking the entire system. We show that networks with broader degree distribution might be highly vulnerable to such attacks since only few nodes are needed to interconnect the modules, consequently putting the entire system at high risk. Our model has the potential to shed light on many real-world phenomena, and we briefly consider its implications on recent advances in the understanding of several neurocognitive processes and diseases.

Enhancement of large fluctuations to extinction in adaptive networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hindes, Jason; Schwartz, Ira B.; Shaw, Leah B.

2018-01-01

During an epidemic, individual nodes in a network may adapt their connections to reduce the chance of infection. A common form of adaption is avoidance rewiring, where a noninfected node breaks a connection to an infected neighbor and forms a new connection to another noninfected node. Here we explore the effects of such adaptivity on stochastic fluctuations in the susceptible-infected-susceptible model, focusing on the largest fluctuations that result in extinction of infection. Using techniques from large-deviation theory, combined with a measurement of heterogeneity in the susceptible degree distribution at the endemic state, we are able to predict and analyze large fluctuations and extinction in adaptive networks. We find that in the limit of small rewiring there is a sharp exponential reduction in mean extinction times compared to the case of zero adaption. Furthermore, we find an exponential enhancement in the probability of large fluctuations with increased rewiring rate, even when holding the average number of infected nodes constant.

Clustering model for transmission of the SARS virus: application to epidemic control and risk assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Small, Michael; Tse, C. K.

2005-06-01

We propose a new four state model for disease transmission and illustrate the model with data from the 2003 SARS epidemic in Hong Kong. The critical feature of this model is that the community is modelled as a small-world network of interconnected nodes. Each node is linked to a fixed number of immediate neighbors and a random number of geographically remote nodes. Transmission can only propagate between linked nodes. This model exhibits two features typical of SARS transmission: geographically localized outbreaks and “super-spreaders”. Neither of these features are evident in standard susceptible-infected-removed models of disease transmission. Our analysis indicates that “super-spreaders” may occur even if the infectiousness of all infected individuals is constant. Moreover, we find that nosocomial transmission in Hong Kong directly contributed to the severity of the outbreak and that by limiting individual exposure time to 3-5 days the extent of the SARS epidemic would have been minimal.

Diamond photonics for distributed quantum networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Sam; Dolan, Philip R.; Smith, Jason M.

2017-09-01

The distributed quantum network, in which nodes comprising small but well-controlled quantum states are entangled via photonic channels, has in recent years emerged as a strategy for delivering a range of quantum technologies including secure communications, enhanced sensing and scalable quantum computing. Colour centres in diamond are amongst the most promising candidates for nodes fabricated in the solid-state, offering potential for large scale production and for chip-scale integrated devices. In this review we consider the progress made and the remaining challenges in developing diamond-based nodes for quantum networks. We focus on the nitrogen-vacancy and silicon-vacancy colour centres, which have demonstrated many of the necessary attributes for these applications. We focus in particular on the use of waveguides and other photonic microstructures for increasing the efficiency with which photons emitted from these colour centres can be coupled into a network, and the use of microcavities for increasing the fraction of photons emitted that are suitable for generating entanglement between nodes.

Computed tomographic findings in 44 dogs and 10 cats with grass seed foreign bodies.

PubMed

Vansteenkiste, D P; Lee, K C L; Lamb, C R

2014-11-01

To supplement recent reports of computed tomographic (CT) findings in dogs and cats with grass seed foreign bodies. Retrospective review of cases that had CT scan and subsequent retrieval of a grass seed during the same period of hospitalisation from a site included in the scan. Records of 44 dogs and 10 cats were reviewed. Most were presented in the months July to December. Median duration of clinical signs was 4 weeks (range 2 days to 2 years). The most frequent clinical signs were soft tissue swelling (30% cases), coughing (28%), sneezing (28%) and discharge (26%). Grass seeds were retrieved from the thorax (35% cases), nasal cavity (31%), ear (7%), other sites in the head and neck (22%), sublumbar muscles (2%) and pelvic limb (2%). The grass seed was visible in CT images in 10 (19%) cases. Secondary lesions were visible in CT images of 52 (96%) cases, including collection of exudate (37%), abscess (24%), enlarged lymph nodes (22%) and pulmonary consolidation (20%). CT images appeared normal in 4% animals. Grass seeds within the respiratory tract are frequently visible in CT images, but in general CT appears to be more useful for localisation of secondary lesions than as a method of definite diagnosis. © 2014 British Small Animal Veterinary Association.

Empirical research on complex networks modeling of combat SoS based on data from real war-game, Part I: Statistical characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Lei; Kou, Yingxin; Li, Zhanwu; Xu, An; Wu, Cheng

2018-01-01

We build a complex networks model of combat System-of-Systems (SoS) based on empirical data from a real war-game, this model is a combination of command & control (C2) subnetwork, sensors subnetwork, influencers subnetwork and logistical support subnetwork, each subnetwork has idiographic components and statistical characteristics. The C2 subnetwork is the core of whole combat SoS, it has a hierarchical structure with no modularity, of which robustness is strong enough to maintain normal operation after any two nodes is destroyed; the sensors subnetwork and influencers subnetwork are like sense organ and limbs of whole combat SoS, they are both flat modular networks of which degree distribution obey GEV distribution and power-law distribution respectively. The communication network is the combination of all subnetworks, it is an assortative Small-World network with core-periphery structure, the Intelligence & Communication Stations/Command Center integrated with C2 nodes in the first three level act as the hub nodes in communication network, and all the fourth-level C2 nodes, sensors, influencers and logistical support nodes have communication capability, they act as the periphery nodes in communication network, its degree distribution obeys exponential distribution in the beginning, Gaussian distribution in the middle, and power-law distribution in the end, and its path length obeys GEV distribution. The betweenness centrality distribution, closeness centrality distribution and eigenvector centrality are also been analyzed to measure the vulnerability of nodes.

A Two-Phase Time Synchronization-Free Localization Algorithm for Underwater Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Luo, Junhai; Fan, Liying

2017-03-30

Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs) can enable a broad range of applications such as resource monitoring, disaster prevention, and navigation-assistance. Sensor nodes location in UWSNs is an especially relevant topic. Global Positioning System (GPS) information is not suitable for use in UWSNs because of the underwater propagation problems. Hence, some localization algorithms based on the precise time synchronization between sensor nodes that have been proposed for UWSNs are not feasible. In this paper, we propose a localization algorithm called Two-Phase Time Synchronization-Free Localization Algorithm (TP-TSFLA). TP-TSFLA contains two phases, namely, range-based estimation phase and range-free evaluation phase. In the first phase, we address a time synchronization-free localization scheme based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to obtain the coordinates of the unknown sensor nodes. In the second phase, we propose a Circle-based Range-Free Localization Algorithm (CRFLA) to locate the unlocalized sensor nodes which cannot obtain the location information through the first phase. In the second phase, sensor nodes which are localized in the first phase act as the new anchor nodes to help realize localization. Hence, in this algorithm, we use a small number of mobile beacons to help obtain the location information without any other anchor nodes. Besides, to improve the precision of the range-free method, an extension of CRFLA achieved by designing a coordinate adjustment scheme is updated. The simulation results show that TP-TSFLA can achieve a relative high localization ratio without time synchronization.

Online Adaboost-Based Parameterized Methods for Dynamic Distributed Network Intrusion Detection.

PubMed

Hu, Weiming; Gao, Jun; Wang, Yanguo; Wu, Ou; Maybank, Stephen

2014-01-01

Current network intrusion detection systems lack adaptability to the frequently changing network environments. Furthermore, intrusion detection in the new distributed architectures is now a major requirement. In this paper, we propose two online Adaboost-based intrusion detection algorithms. In the first algorithm, a traditional online Adaboost process is used where decision stumps are used as weak classifiers. In the second algorithm, an improved online Adaboost process is proposed, and online Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) are used as weak classifiers. We further propose a distributed intrusion detection framework, in which a local parameterized detection model is constructed in each node using the online Adaboost algorithm. A global detection model is constructed in each node by combining the local parametric models using a small number of samples in the node. This combination is achieved using an algorithm based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) and support vector machines. The global model in each node is used to detect intrusions. Experimental results show that the improved online Adaboost process with GMMs obtains a higher detection rate and a lower false alarm rate than the traditional online Adaboost process that uses decision stumps. Both the algorithms outperform existing intrusion detection algorithms. It is also shown that our PSO, and SVM-based algorithm effectively combines the local detection models into the global model in each node; the global model in a node can handle the intrusion types that are found in other nodes, without sharing the samples of these intrusion types.

A Two-Phase Time Synchronization-Free Localization Algorithm for Underwater Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Luo, Junhai; Fan, Liying

2017-01-01

Underwater Sensor Networks (UWSNs) can enable a broad range of applications such as resource monitoring, disaster prevention, and navigation-assistance. Sensor nodes location in UWSNs is an especially relevant topic. Global Positioning System (GPS) information is not suitable for use in UWSNs because of the underwater propagation problems. Hence, some localization algorithms based on the precise time synchronization between sensor nodes that have been proposed for UWSNs are not feasible. In this paper, we propose a localization algorithm called Two-Phase Time Synchronization-Free Localization Algorithm (TP-TSFLA). TP-TSFLA contains two phases, namely, range-based estimation phase and range-free evaluation phase. In the first phase, we address a time synchronization-free localization scheme based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to obtain the coordinates of the unknown sensor nodes. In the second phase, we propose a Circle-based Range-Free Localization Algorithm (CRFLA) to locate the unlocalized sensor nodes which cannot obtain the location information through the first phase. In the second phase, sensor nodes which are localized in the first phase act as the new anchor nodes to help realize localization. Hence, in this algorithm, we use a small number of mobile beacons to help obtain the location information without any other anchor nodes. Besides, to improve the precision of the range-free method, an extension of CRFLA achieved by designing a coordinate adjustment scheme is updated. The simulation results show that TP-TSFLA can achieve a relative high localization ratio without time synchronization. PMID:28358342

Extend MANPADS M&S Capabilities to Include Energetic Materials, Fragmentation Effects, and Wing Flutter Response

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-12-31

MANPADS missile is modeled using LSDYNA . It has 187600 nodes, 52802 shell elements with 13 shell materials, 112200 solid elements with 1804 solid...model capability that includes impact, detonation, penetration, and wing flutter response. This work extends an existing body on body missile model...the missile as well as the expansion of the surrounding fluids was modeled in the Eulerian domain. The Jones-Wilkins-Lee (JWL) equation of state was

Accuracy of microRNAs as markers for the detection of neck lymph node metastases in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

PubMed

de Carvalho, Ana Carolina; Scapulatempo-Neto, Cristovam; Maia, Danielle Calheiros Campelo; Evangelista, Adriane Feijó; Morini, Mariana Andozia; Carvalho, André Lopes; Vettore, André Luiz

2015-05-09

The presence of metastatic disease in cervical lymph nodes of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients is a very important determinant in therapy choice and prognosis, with great impact in overall survival. Frequently, routine lymph node staging cannot detect occult metastases and the post-surgical histologic evaluation of resected lymph nodes is not sensitive in detecting small metastatic deposits. Molecular markers based on tissue-specific microRNA expression are alternative accurate diagnostic markers. Herein, we evaluated the feasibility of using the expression of microRNAs to detect metastatic cells in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) lymph nodes and in fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsies of HNSCC patients. An initial screening compared the expression of 667 microRNAs in a discovery set comprised by metastatic and non-metastatic lymph nodes from HNSCC patients. The most differentially expressed microRNAs were validated by qRT-PCR in two independent cohorts: i) 48 FFPE lymph node samples, and ii) 113 FNA lymph node biopsies. The accuracy of the markers in identifying metastatic samples was assessed through the analysis of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, negative predictive value, positive predictive value, and area under the curve values. Seven microRNAs highly expressed in metastatic lymph nodes from the discovery set were validated in FFPE lymph node samples. MiR-203 and miR-205 identified all metastatic samples, regardless of the size of the metastatic deposit. Additionally, these markers also showed high accuracy when FNA samples were examined. The high accuracy of miR-203 and miR-205 warrant these microRNAs as diagnostic markers of neck metastases in HNSCC. These can be evaluated in entire lymph nodes and in FNA biopsies collected at different time-points such as pre-treatment samples, intraoperative sentinel node biopsy, and during patient follow-up. These markers can be useful in a clinical setting in the management of HNSCC patients from initial disease staging and therapy planning to patient surveillance.

FE Furukawa exercising with the ARED

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-07-30

ISS028-E-019507 (30 July 2011) --- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, Expedition 28 flight engineer, uses the short bar for the advanced Resistive Exercise Device (aRED) equipment to perform upper body strengthening pull-ups in the Tranquility node of the International Space Station.

An Ad-hoc Satellite Network to Measure Filamentary Current Structures in the Auroral Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nabong, C.; Fritz, T. A.; Semeter, J. L.

2014-12-01

An ad-hoc cubesat-based satellite network project known as ANDESITE is under development at Boston University. It aims to develop a dense constellation of easy-to-use, rapidly-deployable low-cost wireless sensor nodes in space. The objectives of the project are threefold: 1) Demonstrate viability of satellite based sensor networks by deploying an 8-node miniature sensor network to study the filamentation of the field aligned currents in the auroral zones of the Earth's magnetosphere. 2) Test the scalability of proposed protocols, including localization techniques, tracking, data aggregation, and routing, for a 3 dimensional wireless sensor network using a "flock" of nodes. 3) Construct a 6U Cube-sat running the Android OS as an integrated constellation manager, data mule and sensor node deplorer. This small network of sensor nodes will resolve current densities at different spatial resolutions in the near-Earth magnetosphere using measurements from magnetometers with 1-nT sensitivities and 0.2 nT/√Hz self-noise. Mapping of these currents will provide new constraints for models of auroral particle acceleration, wave-particle interactions, ionospheric destabilization, and other kinetic processes operating in the low-beta plasma of the near Earth magnetosphere.

Synchronous Firefly Algorithm for Cluster Head Selection in WSN

PubMed Central

Baskaran, Madhusudhanan; Sadagopan, Chitra

2015-01-01

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of small low-cost, low-power multifunctional nodes interconnected to efficiently aggregate and transmit data to sink. Cluster-based approaches use some nodes as Cluster Heads (CHs) and organize WSNs efficiently for aggregation of data and energy saving. A CH conveys information gathered by cluster nodes and aggregates/compresses data before transmitting it to a sink. However, this additional responsibility of the node results in a higher energy drain leading to uneven network degradation. Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) offsets this by probabilistically rotating cluster heads role among nodes with energy above a set threshold. CH selection in WSN is NP-Hard as optimal data aggregation with efficient energy savings cannot be solved in polynomial time. In this work, a modified firefly heuristic, synchronous firefly algorithm, is proposed to improve the network performance. Extensive simulation shows the proposed technique to perform well compared to LEACH and energy-efficient hierarchical clustering. Simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed method in decreasing the packet loss ratio by an average of 9.63% and improving the energy efficiency of the network when compared to LEACH and EEHC. PMID:26495431

Inhibiting diffusion of complex contagions in social networks: theoretical and experimental results

PubMed Central

Anil Kumar, V.S.; Marathe, Madhav V.; Ravi, S.S.; Rosenkrantz, Daniel J.

2014-01-01

We consider the problem of inhibiting undesirable contagions (e.g. rumors, spread of mob behavior) in social networks. Much of the work in this context has been carried out under the 1-threshold model, where diffusion occurs when a node has just one neighbor with the contagion. We study the problem of inhibiting more complex contagions in social networks where nodes may have thresholds larger than 1. The goal is to minimize the propagation of the contagion by removing a small number of nodes (called critical nodes) from the network. We study several versions of this problem and prove that, in general, they cannot even be efficiently approximated to within any factor ρ ≥ 1, unless P = NP. We develop efficient and practical heuristics for these problems and carry out an experimental study of their performance on three well known social networks, namely epinions, wikipedia and slashdot. Our results show that these heuristics perform significantly better than five other known methods. We also establish an efficiently computable upper bound on the number of nodes to which a contagion can spread and evaluate this bound on many real and synthetic networks. PMID:25750583

Spreading gossip in social networks.

PubMed

Lind, Pedro G; da Silva, Luciano R; Andrade, José S; Herrmann, Hans J

2007-09-01

We study a simple model of information propagation in social networks, where two quantities are introduced: the spread factor, which measures the average maximal reachability of the neighbors of a given node that interchange information among each other, and the spreading time needed for the information to reach such a fraction of nodes. When the information refers to a particular node at which both quantities are measured, the model can be taken as a model for gossip propagation. In this context, we apply the model to real empirical networks of social acquaintances and compare the underlying spreading dynamics with different types of scale-free and small-world networks. We find that the number of friendship connections strongly influences the probability of being gossiped. Finally, we discuss how the spread factor is able to be applied to other situations.

Spreading gossip in social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lind, Pedro G.; da Silva, Luciano R.; Andrade, José S., Jr.; Herrmann, Hans J.

2007-09-01

We study a simple model of information propagation in social networks, where two quantities are introduced: the spread factor, which measures the average maximal reachability of the neighbors of a given node that interchange information among each other, and the spreading time needed for the information to reach such a fraction of nodes. When the information refers to a particular node at which both quantities are measured, the model can be taken as a model for gossip propagation. In this context, we apply the model to real empirical networks of social acquaintances and compare the underlying spreading dynamics with different types of scale-free and small-world networks. We find that the number of friendship connections strongly influences the probability of being gossiped. Finally, we discuss how the spread factor is able to be applied to other situations.

Distributed intelligent control and status networking

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fortin, Andre; Patel, Manoj

1993-01-01

Over the past two years, the Network Control Systems Branch (Code 532) has been investigating control and status networking technologies. These emerging technologies use distributed processing over a network to accomplish a particular custom task. These networks consist of small intelligent 'nodes' that perform simple tasks. Containing simple, inexpensive hardware and software, these nodes can be easily developed and maintained. Once networked, the nodes can perform a complex operation without a central host. This type of system provides an alternative to more complex control and status systems which require a central computer. This paper will provide some background and discuss some applications of this technology. It will also demonstrate the suitability of one particular technology for the Space Network (SN) and discuss the prototyping activities of Code 532 utilizing this technology.

Cost-Performance Parametrics for Transporting Small Packages to the Mars Vicinity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McCleskey, C.; Lepsch, Roger A.; Martin, J.; Popescu, M.

2015-01-01

This paper explores the costs and performance required to deliver a small-sized payload package (CubeSat-sized, for instance) to various transportation nodes en route to Mars and near-Mars destinations (such as Mars moons, Phobos and Deimos). Needed is a contemporary assessment and summary compilation of transportation metrics that factor both performance and affordability of modern and emerging delivery capabilities. The paper brings together: (a) required mass transport gear ratios in delivering payload from Earths surface to the Mars vicinity, (b) the cyclical energy required for delivery, and (c) the affordability and availability of various means of transporting material across various Earth-Moon vicinity and Near-Mars vicinity nodes relevant to Mars transportation. Examples for unit deliveries are computed and tabulated, using a CubeSat as a unit, for periodic near-Mars delivery campaign scenarios.

Use of small stand-alone Internet nodes as a distributed control system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodwin, Robert W.; Kucera, Michael J.; Shea, Michael F.

1994-12-01

For several years, the standard model for accelerator control systems has been workstation consoles connected to VME local stations by a Local Area Network with analog and digital data being accessed via a field bus to custom I/O interface electronics. Commercially available hardware has now made it possible to implement a small stand-alone data acquisition station that combines the LAN connection, the computer, and the analog and digital I/O interface on a single board. This eliminates the complexity of a field bus and the associated proprietary I/O hardware. A minimum control system is one data acquisition station and a Macintosh or workstation console, both connected to the network; larger systems have more consoles and nodes. An implementation of this architecture is described along with performance and operational experience.

Size-dependent tissue kinetics of PEG-coated gold nanoparticles

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

Cho, Wan-Seob; Department of Toxicological Research, National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation, Korea Food and Drug Administration, Seoul 122-704; Cho, Minjung

2010-05-15

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) can be used in various biomedical applications, however, very little is known about their size-dependent in vivo kinetics. Here, we performed a kinetic study in mice with different sizes of PEG-coated AuNPs. Small AuNPs (4 or 13 nm) showed high levels in blood for 24 h and were cleared by 7 days, whereas large (100 nm) AuNPs were completely cleared by 24 h. All AuNPs in blood re-increased at 3 months, which correlated with organ levels. Levels of small AuNPs were peaked at 7 days in the liver and spleen and at 1 month in the mesentericmore » lymph node, and remained high until 6 months, with slow elimination. In contrast, large AuNPs were taken up rapidly (approx 30 min) into the liver, spleen, and mesenteric lymph nodes with less elimination phase. TEM showed that AuNPs were entrapped in cytoplasmic vesicles and lysosomes of Kupffer cells and macrophages of spleen and mesenteric lymph node. Small AuNPs transiently activated CYP1A1 and 2B, phase I metabolic enzymes, in liver tissues from 24 h to 7 days, which mirrored with elevated gold levels in the liver. Large AuNPs did not affect the metabolic enzymes. Thus, propensity to accumulate in the reticuloendothelial organs and activation of phase I metabolic enzymes, suggest that extensive further studies are needed for practical in vivo applications.« less

Image overlay navigation by markerless surface registration in gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery.

PubMed

Sugimoto, Maki; Yasuda, Hideki; Koda, Keiji; Suzuki, Masato; Yamazaki, Masato; Tezuka, Tohru; Kosugi, Chihiro; Higuchi, Ryota; Watayo, Yoshihisa; Yagawa, Yohsuke; Uemura, Shuichiro; Tsuchiya, Hironori; Azuma, Takeshi

2010-09-01

We applied a new concept of "image overlay surgery" consisting of the integration of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology, in which dynamic 3D images were superimposed on the patient's actual body surface and evaluated as a reference for surgical navigation in gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery. We carried out seven surgeries, including three cholecystectomies, two gastrectomies and two colectomies. A Macintosh and a DICOM workstation OsiriX were used in the operating room for image analysis. Raw data of the preoperative patient information obtained via MDCT were reconstructed to volume rendering and projected onto the patient's body surface during the surgeries. For accurate registration, OsiriX was first set to reproduce the patient body surface, and the positional coordinates of the umbilicus, left and right nipples, and the inguinal region were fixed as physiological markers on the body surface to reduce the positional error. The registration process was non-invasive and markerlesss, and was completed within 5 min. Image overlay navigation was helpful for 3D anatomical understanding of the surgical target in the gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary and pancreatic anatomies. The surgeon was able to minimize movement of the gaze and could utilize the image assistance without interfering with the forceps operation, reducing the gap from the VR. Unexpected organ injury could be avoided in all procedures. In biliary surgery, the projected virtual cholangiogram on the abdominal wall could advance safely with identification of the bile duct. For early gastric and colorectal cancer, the small tumors and blood vessels, which usually could not be found on the gastric serosa by laparoscopic view, were simultaneously detected on the body surface by carbon dioxide-enhanced MDCT. This provided accurate reconstructions of the tumor and involved lymph node, directly linked with optimization of the surgical procedures. Our non-invasive markerless registration using physiological markers on the body surface reduced logistical efforts. The image overlay technique is a useful tool when highlighting hidden structures, giving more information.

Energy harvesting: small scale energy production from ambient sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeatman, Eric M.

2009-03-01

Energy harvesting - the collection of otherwise unexploited energy in the local environment - is attracting increasing attention for the powering of electronic devices. While the power levels that can be reached are typically modest (microwatts to milliwatts), the key motivation is to avoid the need for battery replacement or recharging in portable or inaccessible devices. Wireless sensor networks are a particularly important application: the availability of essentially maintenance free sensor nodes, as enabled by energy harvesting, will greatly increase the feasibility of large scale networks, in the paradigm often known as pervasive sensing. Such pervasive sensing networks, used to monitor buildings, structures, outdoor environments or the human body, offer significant benefits for large scale energy efficiency, health and safety, and many other areas. Sources of energy for harvesting include light, temperature differences, and ambient motion, and a wide range of miniature energy harvesters based on these sources have been proposed or demonstrated. This paper reviews the principles and practice in miniature energy harvesters, and discusses trends, suitable applications, and possible future developments.

Foreign Body Reaction with High Standard Uptake Value Level in 18-FDG PET/CT Mimicking Relapse in an 8-Year-Old Patient Diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Case Report

PubMed Central

Erdoğan, Derya; Bozkurt, Ceyhun; Özmen, Özlem; Boduroglu, Esin; Sahin, Gürses

2013-01-01

Combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) using 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18-FDG) is one of the most effective methods to identify pathological lymph node involvement. We report the case of a child who underwent cervical lymph node biopsy and chemotherapy for Hodgkin disease. Three years after surgery, PET/CT identified an intense localization of 18-FDG in the inferior cervical region. This finding led to a reexcision of the mass. The only finding was a granuloma arising in reaction to a hemostatic sponge. PMID:25755956

Endoscopic ultrasound: Elastographic lymph node evaluation.

PubMed

Dietrich, Christoph F; Jenssen, Christian; Arcidiacono, Paolo G; Cui, Xin-Wu; Giovannini, Marc; Hocke, Michael; Iglesias-Garcia, Julio; Saftoiu, Adrian; Sun, Siyu; Chiorean, Liliana

2015-01-01

Different imaging techniques can bring different information which will contribute to the final diagnosis and further management of the patients. Even from the time of Hippocrates, palpation has been used in order to detect and characterize a body mass. The so-called virtual palpation has now become a reality due to elastography, which is a recently developed technique. Elastography has already been proving its added value as a complementary imaging method, helpful to better characterize and differentiate between benign and malignant masses. The current applications of elastography in lymph nodes (LNs) assessment by endoscopic ultrasonography will be further discussed in this paper, with a review of the literature and future perspectives.

Optical mapping of prefrontal brain connectivity and activation during emotion anticipation.

PubMed

Wang, Meng-Yun; Lu, Feng-Mei; Hu, Zhishan; Zhang, Juan; Yuan, Zhen

2018-09-17

Accumulated neuroimaging evidence shows that the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is activated during emotion anticipation. The aim of this work is to examine the brain connectivity and activation differences in dlPFC between the positive, neutral and negative emotion anticipation by using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The hemodynamic responses were first assessed for all subjects during the performance of various emotion anticipation tasks. And then small-world analysis was performed, in which the small-world network indicators including the clustering coefficient, average path length, average node degree, and measure of small-world index were calculated for the functional brain networks associated with the positive, neutral and negative emotion anticipation, respectively. We discovered that compared to negative and neutral emotion anticipation, the positive one exhibited enhanced brain activation in the left dlPFC. Although the functional brain networks for the three emotion anticipation cases manifested the small-world properties regarding the clustering coefficient, average path length, average node degree, and measure of small-world index, the positive one showed significantly higher clustering coefficient and shorter average path length than those from the neutral and negative cases. Consequently, the small-world network indicators and brain activation in dlPPC were able to distinguish well between the positive, neutral and negative emotion anticipation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Simple Linux Utility for Resource Management

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

Jette, M.

2009-09-09

SLURM is an open source, fault-tolerant, and highly scalable cluster management and job scheduling system for large and small computer clusters. As a cluster resource manager, SLURM has three key functions. First, it allocates exclusive and/or non exclusive access to resources (compute nodes) to users for some duration of time so they can perform work. Second, it provides a framework for starting, executing, and monitoring work (normally a parallel job) on the set of allciated nodes. Finally, it arbitrates conflicting requests for resouces by managing a queue of pending work.

Bioinspired principles for large-scale networked sensor systems: an overview.

PubMed

Jacobsen, Rune Hylsberg; Zhang, Qi; Toftegaard, Thomas Skjødeberg

2011-01-01

Biology has often been used as a source of inspiration in computer science and engineering. Bioinspired principles have found their way into network node design and research due to the appealing analogies between biological systems and large networks of small sensors. This paper provides an overview of bioinspired principles and methods such as swarm intelligence, natural time synchronization, artificial immune system and intercellular information exchange applicable for sensor network design. Bioinspired principles and methods are discussed in the context of routing, clustering, time synchronization, optimal node deployment, localization and security and privacy.

Probabilistic generation of random networks taking into account information on motifs occurrence.

PubMed

Bois, Frederic Y; Gayraud, Ghislaine

2015-01-01

Because of the huge number of graphs possible even with a small number of nodes, inference on network structure is known to be a challenging problem. Generating large random directed graphs with prescribed probabilities of occurrences of some meaningful patterns (motifs) is also difficult. We show how to generate such random graphs according to a formal probabilistic representation, using fast Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to sample them. As an illustration, we generate realistic graphs with several hundred nodes mimicking a gene transcription interaction network in Escherichia coli.

Probabilistic Generation of Random Networks Taking into Account Information on Motifs Occurrence

PubMed Central

Bois, Frederic Y.

2015-01-01

Abstract Because of the huge number of graphs possible even with a small number of nodes, inference on network structure is known to be a challenging problem. Generating large random directed graphs with prescribed probabilities of occurrences of some meaningful patterns (motifs) is also difficult. We show how to generate such random graphs according to a formal probabilistic representation, using fast Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to sample them. As an illustration, we generate realistic graphs with several hundred nodes mimicking a gene transcription interaction network in Escherichia coli. PMID:25493547

Scheduling Randomly-Deployed Heterogeneous Video Sensor Nodes for Reduced Intrusion Detection Time

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pham, Congduc

This paper proposes to use video sensor nodes to provide an efficient intrusion detection system. We use a scheduling mechanism that takes into account the criticality of the surveillance application and present a performance study of various cover set construction strategies that take into account cameras with heterogeneous angle of view and those with very small angle of view. We show by simulation how a dynamic criticality management scheme can provide fast event detection for mission-critical surveillance applications by increasing the network lifetime and providing low stealth time of intrusions.

Simple Random Sampling-Based Probe Station Selection for Fault Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Huang, Rimao; Qiu, Xuesong; Rui, Lanlan

2011-01-01

Fault detection for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has been studied intensively in recent years. Most existing works statically choose the manager nodes as probe stations and probe the network at a fixed frequency. This straightforward solution leads however to several deficiencies. Firstly, by only assigning the fault detection task to the manager node the whole network is out of balance, and this quickly overloads the already heavily burdened manager node, which in turn ultimately shortens the lifetime of the whole network. Secondly, probing with a fixed frequency often generates too much useless network traffic, which results in a waste of the limited network energy. Thirdly, the traditional algorithm for choosing a probing node is too complicated to be used in energy-critical wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we study the distribution characters of the fault nodes in wireless sensor networks, validate the Pareto principle that a small number of clusters contain most of the faults. We then present a Simple Random Sampling-based algorithm to dynamic choose sensor nodes as probe stations. A dynamic adjusting rule for probing frequency is also proposed to reduce the number of useless probing packets. The simulation experiments demonstrate that the algorithm and adjusting rule we present can effectively prolong the lifetime of a wireless sensor network without decreasing the fault detected rate. PMID:22163789

Simple random sampling-based probe station selection for fault detection in wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Huang, Rimao; Qiu, Xuesong; Rui, Lanlan

2011-01-01

Fault detection for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has been studied intensively in recent years. Most existing works statically choose the manager nodes as probe stations and probe the network at a fixed frequency. This straightforward solution leads however to several deficiencies. Firstly, by only assigning the fault detection task to the manager node the whole network is out of balance, and this quickly overloads the already heavily burdened manager node, which in turn ultimately shortens the lifetime of the whole network. Secondly, probing with a fixed frequency often generates too much useless network traffic, which results in a waste of the limited network energy. Thirdly, the traditional algorithm for choosing a probing node is too complicated to be used in energy-critical wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we study the distribution characters of the fault nodes in wireless sensor networks, validate the Pareto principle that a small number of clusters contain most of the faults. We then present a Simple Random Sampling-based algorithm to dynamic choose sensor nodes as probe stations. A dynamic adjusting rule for probing frequency is also proposed to reduce the number of useless probing packets. The simulation experiments demonstrate that the algorithm and adjusting rule we present can effectively prolong the lifetime of a wireless sensor network without decreasing the fault detected rate.

Operation of the Planetary Plasma Interactions Node of the Planetary Data System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walker, Raymond J.

1997-01-01

Five years ago NASA selected the Planetary Plasma Interactions (PPI) Node at UCLA to help the scientific community locate, access and preserve particles and fields data from planetary missions. We propose to continue to serve for 5 more years. During the first five years we have served the scientific community by providing them with high quality data products. We worked with missions and individual scientists to secure the highest quality data possible and to thoroughly document it. We validated the data, placed it on long lasting media and made sure it was properly archived for future use. So far we have prepared and archived over 10(exp 11) bytes of data from 26 instruments on 4 spacecraft. We have produced 106 CD-ROMs with peer reviewed data. In so doing, we have developed an efficient system to prepare and archive the data and thereby have been able to steadily increase the rate at which the data are produced. Although we produced a substantial archive during the initial five years, we have an even larger amount of work in progress. This includes preparing CD-ROM data sets with all of the Voyager, Pioneer and Ulysses data at Jupiter and Saturn. We will have the Jupiter data ready for the Galileo encounter in December, 1995. We are also completing the Pioneer Venus data restoration. The Galileo Venus archive and radio science data from Magellan will be prepared early in the next period. We are assisting the Small Bodies Node of PDS in the preparation of comet data and will be archiving the asteroid data from Galileo. We will be moving in several new directions as well. We will archive the PPI Node's first Earth based data with data from the International Jupiter Watch and Hubble data taken in support of Ulysses particles and field observations. We will work with the Cassini mission in archive planning efforts. For the inner planets we will begin an archive of Mars data starting with Phobos data and will support the US and Russian Mars missions in the late 1990's. We will restore the Mercury data from Mariner 10 and prepare the lunar data from Clementine in time for the lunar data analysis program in 1995. We will work with the Discovery mission teams to plan their archive and have already started with one, NEAR. Finally we will begin archiving our first heliospheric data from Voyager, Galileo, and Mars observers. We will continue to serve the science community by providing access to the data products. During the past 19 months we have filled nearly 6000 requests for on-line and CD-ROM data. The data delivered directly by the PPI Node has been - 5 x 10(exp 11) bytes. In addition to providing the data, we have provided users with software tools to manage and read the data which are computer, operating system and format independent. We have developed scalable systems so that the same software we use to manage and access the data for the entire PPI Node can be used by individual investigators to manage the data on a single CD-ROM, thereby greatly reducing the software development effort for both the PPI Node and users. We deliver this software with the disks. Recent technical advances have made it possible for us to serve a broader community than before. In the next five year period we plan to extend our outreach to the general public and in particular to increase our support for education. Since planetary plasma data are varied and require expertise in many areas the PPI Node will continue to be distributed. In addition to the primary node at UCLA, the PPI Node has three subnodes with an Outer Planets Subnode at the University of Iowa, an Inner Planets Subnode at UCLA, and a Radio Science Subnode at Stanford University. During the first two years of the renewal period there will be a Radio Astronomy Data Node at GSFC. These organizations will provide scientific expertise on the data, participate in node data selection activities and help with data restoration and mission activities.

Prediction of lymph node involvement in patients with breast tumors measuring 3-5 cm in a middle-income setting: the role of CancerMath.

PubMed

Pijnappel, E N; Bhoo-Pathy, N; Suniza, J; See, M H; Tan, G H; Yip, C H; Hartman, M; Taib, N A; Verkooijen, H M

2014-12-01

In settings with limited resources, sentinel lymph node biopsy (SNB) is only offered to breast cancer patients with small tumors and a low a priori risk of axillary metastases. We investigated whether CancerMath, a free online prediction tool for axillary lymph node involvement, is able to identify women at low risk of axillary lymph node metastases in Malaysian women with 3-5 cm tumors, with the aim to offer SNB in a targeted, cost-effective way. Women with non-metastatic breast cancers, measuring 3-5 cm were identified within the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) breast cancer registry. We compared CancerMath-predicted probabilities of lymph node involvement between women with versus without lymph node metastases. The discriminative performance of CancerMath was tested using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Out of 1,017 patients, 520 (51 %) had axillary involvement. Tumors of women with axillary involvement were more often estrogen-receptor positive, progesterone-receptor positive, and human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)-2 positive. The mean CancerMath score was higher in women with axillary involvement than in those without (53.5 vs. 51.3, p = 0.001). In terms of discrimination, CancerMath performed poorly, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.553 (95 % confidence interval CI 0.518-0.588). Attempts to optimize the CancerMath model by adding ethnicity and HER2 to the model did not improve discriminatory performance. For Malaysian women with tumors measuring 3-5 cm, CancerMath is unable to accurately predict lymph node involvement and is therefore not helpful in the identification of women at low risk of node-positive disease who could benefit from SNB.

Towards Efficient Wireless Body Area Network Using Two-Way Relay Cooperation.

PubMed

Waheed, Maham; Ahmad, Rizwan; Ahmed, Waqas; Drieberg, Micheal; Alam, Muhammad Mahtab

2018-02-13

The fabrication of lightweight, ultra-thin, low power and intelligent body-borne sensors leads to novel advances in wireless body area networks (WBANs). Depending on the placement of the nodes, it is characterized as in/on body WBAN; thus, the channel is largely affected by body posture, clothing, muscle movement, body temperature and climatic conditions. The energy resources are limited and it is not feasible to replace the sensor's battery frequently. In order to keep the sensor in working condition, the channel resources should be reserved. The lifetime of the sensor is very crucial and it highly depends on transmission among sensor nodes and energy consumption. The reliability and energy efficiency in WBAN applications play a vital role. In this paper, the analytical expressions for energy efficiency (EE) and packet error rate (PER) are formulated for two-way relay cooperative communication. The results depict better reliability and efficiency compared to direct and one-way relay communication. The effective performance range of direct vs. cooperative communication is separated by a threshold distance. Based on EE calculations, an optimal packet size is observed that provides maximum efficiency over a certain link length. A smart and energy efficient system is articulated that utilizes all three communication modes, namely direct, one-way relay and two-way relay, as the direct link performs better for a certain range, but the cooperative communication gives better results for increased distance in terms of EE. The efficacy of the proposed hybrid scheme is also demonstrated over a practical quasi-static channel. Furthermore, link length extension and diversity is achieved by joint network-channel (JNC) coding the cooperative link.

Towards Efficient Wireless Body Area Network Using Two-Way Relay Cooperation

PubMed Central

Waheed, Maham; Ahmad, Rizwan; Ahmed, Waqas

2018-01-01

The fabrication of lightweight, ultra-thin, low power and intelligent body-borne sensors leads to novel advances in wireless body area networks (WBANs). Depending on the placement of the nodes, it is characterized as in/on body WBAN; thus, the channel is largely affected by body posture, clothing, muscle movement, body temperature and climatic conditions. The energy resources are limited and it is not feasible to replace the sensor’s battery frequently. In order to keep the sensor in working condition, the channel resources should be reserved. The lifetime of the sensor is very crucial and it highly depends on transmission among sensor nodes and energy consumption. The reliability and energy efficiency in WBAN applications play a vital role. In this paper, the analytical expressions for energy efficiency (EE) and packet error rate (PER) are formulated for two-way relay cooperative communication. The results depict better reliability and efficiency compared to direct and one-way relay communication. The effective performance range of direct vs. cooperative communication is separated by a threshold distance. Based on EE calculations, an optimal packet size is observed that provides maximum efficiency over a certain link length. A smart and energy efficient system is articulated that utilizes all three communication modes, namely direct, one-way relay and two-way relay, as the direct link performs better for a certain range, but the cooperative communication gives better results for increased distance in terms of EE. The efficacy of the proposed hybrid scheme is also demonstrated over a practical quasi-static channel. Furthermore, link length extension and diversity is achieved by joint network-channel (JNC) coding the cooperative link. PMID:29438278

Free‑floating cancer cells in lymph node sinuses of hilar lymph node‑positive patients with non‑small cell lung cancer.

PubMed

Nakamura, Yusuke; Mukai, Masaya; Hiraiwa, Shinichiro; Kishima, Kyoko; Sugiyama, Tomoko; Tajiri, Takuma; Yamada, Shunsuke; Iwazaki, Masayuki

2018-05-14

Previous studies demonstrated that free‑floating cancer cells (FFCCs) in the lymph node sinuses were of prognostic significance for colorectal and gastric cancer. The present study investigated the clinical significance of detecting FFCCs using Fast Red staining for cytokeratin in stage I/II non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and hilar lymph node positive NSCLC patients who underwent curative resection. Between 2002 and 2011, a total of 164 patients (including 22 hilar lymph node positive patients) were investigated. Resected lymph nodes were stained for cytokeratin using an anti‑cytokeratin antibody. In order to achieve a clear distinction from coal dust, an anti‑cytokeratin antibody was labeled with a secondary antibody conjugated with alkaline phosphatase, which was detected by a reaction with Fast Red/naphthol that produced a red color. Patients were considered to be positive for FFCCs (FFCCs+) if one or more than one free‑floating cytokeratin‑positive cell was detected in the lymph node sinuses, which could not be detected by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Among all 164 patients, a significant difference was observed in 5‑year relapse‑free survival (5Y‑RFS) rates, with 76.9 and 33.3% being achieved by FFCCs‑ and FFCCs+ patients, respectively (P<0.001). Similarly, the 5‑year overall survival (5Y‑OS) rate was significantly lower in FFCCs+ patients, with 86.6% being achieved by FFCCs‑ and 65.8% by FFCCs+ patients, respectively (P=0.014). Among 22 hilar lymph node‑positive patients, a significant difference was also observed in 5Y‑RFS, with 53.8 and 0.0% being achieved by FFCCs‑ and FFCCs+ patients, respectively (P=0.006). The 5Y‑OS tended to be lower in FFCCs+ patients, with 69.2 and 53.3% being achieved by FFCCs‑ and FFCCs+ patients, respectively (P=0.463). The findings of the present study suggested the presence of FFCCs in stage I/II NSCLC patients was associated with a poor prognosis. In addition, FFCCs in hilar lymph node‑positive patients may potential be a useful marker in foreseeing the recurrence of cancer.

A Statistical Framework for Microbial Source Attribution

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

Velsko, S P; Allen, J E; Cunningham, C T

2009-04-28

This report presents a general approach to inferring transmission and source relationships among microbial isolates from their genetic sequences. The outbreak transmission graph (also called the transmission tree or transmission network) is the fundamental structure which determines the statistical distributions relevant to source attribution. The nodes of this graph are infected individuals or aggregated sub-populations of individuals in which transmitted bacteria or viruses undergo clonal expansion, leading to a genetically heterogeneous population. Each edge of the graph represents a transmission event in which one or a small number of bacteria or virions infects another node thus increasing the size ofmore » the transmission network. Recombination and re-assortment events originate in nodes which are common to two distinct networks. In order to calculate the probability that one node was infected by another, given the observed genetic sequences of microbial isolates sampled from them, we require two fundamental probability distributions. The first is the probability of obtaining the observed mutational differences between two isolates given that they are separated by M steps in a transmission network. The second is the probability that two nodes sampled randomly from an outbreak transmission network are separated by M transmission events. We show how these distributions can be obtained from the genetic sequences of isolates obtained by sampling from past outbreaks combined with data from contact tracing studies. Realistic examples are drawn from the SARS outbreak of 2003, the FMDV outbreak in Great Britain in 2001, and HIV transmission cases. The likelihood estimators derived in this report, and the underlying probability distribution functions required to calculate them possess certain compelling general properties in the context of microbial forensics. These include the ability to quantify the significance of a sequence 'match' or 'mismatch' between two isolates; the ability to capture non-intuitive effects of network structure on inferential power, including the 'small world' effect; the insensitivity of inferences to uncertainties in the underlying distributions; and the concept of rescaling, i.e. ability to collapse sub-networks into single nodes and examine transmission inferences on the rescaled network.« less

Utilization of sentinel lymph node biopsy for uterine cancer.

PubMed

Wright, Jason D; Cham, Stephanie; Chen, Ling; Burke, William M; Hou, June Y; Tergas, Ana I; Desai, Vrunda; Hu, Jim C; Ananth, Cande V; Neugut, Alfred I; Hershman, Dawn L

2017-06-01

To limit the potential short and long-term morbidity of lymphadenectomy, sentinel lymph node biopsy has been proposed for endometrial cancer. The principle of sentinel lymph node biopsy relies on removal of a small number of lymph nodes that are the first drainage basins from a tumor and thus the most likely to harbor tumor cells. While the procedure may reduce morbidity, efficacy data are limited and little is known about how commonly the procedure is performed. We examined the patterns and predictors of use of sentinel lymph node biopsy and outcomes of the procedure in women with endometrial cancer who underwent hysterectomy. We used the Perspective database to identify women with uterine cancer who underwent hysterectomy from 2011 through 2015. Billing and charge codes were used to classify women as having undergone lymphadenectomy, sentinel lymph node biopsy, or no nodal assessment. Multivariable models were used to examine clinical, demographic, and hospital characteristics with use of sentinel lymph node biopsy. Length of stay and cost were compared among the different methods of nodal assessment. Among 28,362 patients, 9327 (32.9%) did not undergo nodal assessment, 17,669 (62.3%) underwent lymphadenectomy, and 1366 (4.8%) underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy. Sentinel lymph node biopsy was performed in 1.3% (95% confidence interval, 1.0-1.6%) of abdominal hysterectomies, 3.4% (95% confidence interval, 2.7-4.1%) of laparoscopic hysterectomies, and 7.5% (95% confidence interval, 7.0-8.0%) of robotic-assisted hysterectomies. In a multivariable model, more recent year of surgery was associated with performance of sentinel lymph node biopsy. Compared to abdominal hysterectomy, those undergoing laparoscopic (adjusted risk ratio, 2.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.89-3.18) and robotic-assisted (adjusted risk ratio, 2.69; 95% confidence interval, 2.19-3.30) hysterectomy were more likely to undergo sentinel lymph node biopsy. Among women who underwent minimally invasive hysterectomy, length of stay and cost were lower for sentinel lymph node biopsy compared to lymphadenectomy. The use of sentinel lymph node biopsy for endometrial cancer increased from 2011 through 2015. The increased use was most notable in women who underwent a robotic-assisted hysterectomy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Strategy of Using Intratreatment Hypoxia Imaging to Selectively and Safely Guide Radiation Dose De-escalation Concurrent With Chemotherapy for Locoregionally Advanced Human Papillomavirus–Related Oropharyngeal Carcinoma

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

Lee, Nancy, E-mail: leen2@mskcc.org; Schoder, Heiko; Beattie, Brad

Purpose: To report a small substudy of an ongoing large, multi-arm study using functional imaging to assess pre-/intratreatment hypoxia for all head and neck cancer, in which we hypothesized that pre- and early-treatment hypoxia assessment using functional positron emission tomography (PET) imaging may help select which human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive (HPV{sup +}) oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) patients can safely receive radiation de-escalation without jeopardizing treatment outcomes. Methods and Materials: Patients with HPV{sup +} oropharyngeal carcinoma were enrolled on an institutional review board–approved prospective study of which de-escalation based on imaging response was done for node(s) only. Pretreatment {sup 18}F-fluorodeoxyglucose and dynamic {sup 18}F-FMISOmore » (fluoromisonidazole) positron emission tomography (PET) scans were performed. For patients with pretreatment hypoxia on{sup 18}F-FMISO PET (defined as a >1.2 tumor to muscle standard uptake value ratio), a repeat scan was done 1 week after chemoradiation. Patients without pretreatment hypoxia or with resolution of hypoxia on repeat scan received a 10-Gy dose reduction to metastatic lymph node(s). The 2-year local, regional, distant metastasis–free, and overall survival rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier product-limit method. A subset of patients had biopsy of a hypoxic node done under image guidance. Results: Thirty-three HPV{sup +} OPC patients were enrolled in this pilot study. One hundred percent showed pretreatment hypoxia (at primary site and/or node[s]), and among these, 48% resolved (at primary site and/or node[s]); 30% met criteria and received 10-Gy reduction to the lymph node(s). At the median follow-up of 32 months (range, 21-61 months), the 2-year locoregional control rate was 100%. One patient failed distantly with persistence of hypoxia on {sup 18}F-FMISO PET. The 2-year distant metastasis–free rate was 97%. The 2-year OS rate was 100%. Hypoxia on imaging was confirmed pathologically. Conclusions: Hypoxia is present in HPV{sup +} tumors but resolves within 1 week of treatment in 48% of cases either at the primary site and/or lymph node(s). Our 100% locoregional control rate suggests that intratreatment functional imaging used to selectively de-escalate node(s) to 60 Gy was confirmed safe using our stringent imaging criteria. Intratreatment functional imaging warrants further study to determine its ultimate role in de-escalation treatment strategies.« less

Strategy of Using Intratreatment Hypoxia Imaging to Selectively and Safely Guide Radiation Dose De-escalation Concurrent With Chemotherapy for Locoregionally Advanced Human Papillomavirus-Related Oropharyngeal Carcinoma.

PubMed

Lee, Nancy; Schoder, Heiko; Beattie, Brad; Lanning, Ryan; Riaz, Nadeem; McBride, Sean; Katabi, Nora; Li, Duan; Yarusi, Brett; Chan, Susie; Mitrani, Lindsey; Zhang, Zhigang; Pfister, David G; Sherman, Eric; Baxi, Shrujal; Boyle, Jay; Morris, Luc G T; Ganly, Ian; Wong, Richard; Humm, John

2016-09-01

To report a small substudy of an ongoing large, multi-arm study using functional imaging to assess pre-/intratreatment hypoxia for all head and neck cancer, in which we hypothesized that pre- and early-treatment hypoxia assessment using functional positron emission tomography (PET) imaging may help select which human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive (HPV(+)) oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) patients can safely receive radiation de-escalation without jeopardizing treatment outcomes. Patients with HPV(+) oropharyngeal carcinoma were enrolled on an institutional review board-approved prospective study of which de-escalation based on imaging response was done for node(s) only. Pretreatment (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose and dynamic (18)F-FMISO (fluoromisonidazole) positron emission tomography (PET) scans were performed. For patients with pretreatment hypoxia on(18)F-FMISO PET (defined as a >1.2 tumor to muscle standard uptake value ratio), a repeat scan was done 1 week after chemoradiation. Patients without pretreatment hypoxia or with resolution of hypoxia on repeat scan received a 10-Gy dose reduction to metastatic lymph node(s). The 2-year local, regional, distant metastasis-free, and overall survival rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier product-limit method. A subset of patients had biopsy of a hypoxic node done under image guidance. Thirty-three HPV(+) OPC patients were enrolled in this pilot study. One hundred percent showed pretreatment hypoxia (at primary site and/or node[s]), and among these, 48% resolved (at primary site and/or node[s]); 30% met criteria and received 10-Gy reduction to the lymph node(s). At the median follow-up of 32 months (range, 21-61 months), the 2-year locoregional control rate was 100%. One patient failed distantly with persistence of hypoxia on (18)F-FMISO PET. The 2-year distant metastasis-free rate was 97%. The 2-year OS rate was 100%. Hypoxia on imaging was confirmed pathologically. Hypoxia is present in HPV(+) tumors but resolves within 1 week of treatment in 48% of cases either at the primary site and/or lymph node(s). Our 100% locoregional control rate suggests that intratreatment functional imaging used to selectively de-escalate node(s) to 60 Gy was confirmed safe using our stringent imaging criteria. Intratreatment functional imaging warrants further study to determine its ultimate role in de-escalation treatment strategies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Moving-Bank Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation and Control Applied to a Large Flexible Space Structure

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-12-01

was determined from the difference between the 24-state matrix product, HtP (t’)HT, and the six-state matrix product, HfPf (tT)HT’. For this...The true position for node 7, which represents the rigid body position of the structure, is not damped and can be interpreted as a rigid body...application, considering the same issues as explored in this research. Continue with a physical interpretation of the structure positions for determining the

Power optimization in body sensor networks: the case of an autonomous wireless EMG sensor powered by PV-cells.

PubMed

Penders, J; Pop, V; Caballero, L; van de Molengraft, J; van Schaijk, R; Vullers, R; Van Hoof, C

2010-01-01

Recent advances in ultra-low-power circuits and energy harvesters are making self-powered body sensor nodes a reality. Power optimization at the system and application level is crucial in achieving ultra-low-power consumption for the entire system. This paper reviews system-level power optimization techniques, and illustrates their impact on the case of autonomous wireless EMG monitoring. The resulting prototype, an Autonomous wireless EMG sensor power by PV-cells, is presented.

The effect of neighboring districts on body height of Polish conscripts.

PubMed

Gomula, Aleksandra; Koziel, Slawomir; Groth, Detlef; Bielicki, Tadeusz

2017-04-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the correlation of heights of conscripts living in neighboring districts in Poland. The study used 10% of a nationally representative sample of 26,178 males 18.5-19.5 years old examined during the National survey of Polish conscripts conducted in 2001. The sample represented all regions and social strata of the country and included 354 different districts within 16 voivodships (provinces). Analyses were performed with the R statistical software. A small but significant correlation (0.24, p < 0.0001) was observed for height between 1 st order neighboring districts. Correlations decreased with increased distances between neighboring districts, but remained significant for 7 th node neighbors (0.18, p < 0.0001). Regarding voivodships (provinces), average height showed a geographical trend from the northwest (relatively tall) to the southeast (relatively short), and the correlation was stronger for first order neighboring provinces (0.796, p < 0.001). This study revealed clusters of tall people and short people, providing a support for hypothesis of the community effect in height. Small correlations between 1 st order neighbors than in another country (Switzerland) may be associated with differences in geography, since in Poland there are no natural barriers (e.g., mountains) and road infrastructure is well-developed.

Orbit Determination with Very Short Arcs: Admissible Regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gronchi, G. F.; Milani, A.; de'Michieli Vitturi, M.; Knezevic, Z.

2004-05-01

Contemporary observational surveys provide a huge number of detections of small solar system bodies, in particular of asteroids. These have to be reduced in real time in order to optimize the observational strategy and to select the targets for the follow-up and for the subsequent determination of an orbit. Typically, reported astrometry consists of few positions over a short time span, and this information is often not enough to compute a preliminary orbit and perform an identification. Classical methods for preliminary orbit determination based on three observations fail in such cases, and a new approach is necessary to cope with the problem. We introduce the concept of attributable, which is a vector composed by two angles and two angular velocities at a given time. It is then shown that the missing values (geocentric range and range rate), necessary for the computation of an orbit, can be constrained to a compact set that we call admissible region (AR). The latter is defined on the basis of requirements that the body belongs to the solar system, that it is not a satellite of the Earth, and that it is not a "shooting star" (very close and very small). A mathematical description of the AR is given, together with the proof of its topological properties: it turns out that the AR cannot have more than two connected components. A sampling of the AR can be performed by means of a Delaunay triangulation. A finite number of six-parameter sets of initial conditions are thus defined, with each node of triangulation representing a Virtual Asteroid for which it is possible to propagate the corresponding orbit and to predict ephemerides.

Nanosatellite optical downlink experiment: design, simulation, and prototyping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clements, Emily; Aniceto, Raichelle; Barnes, Derek; Caplan, David; Clark, James; Portillo, Iñigo del; Haughwout, Christian; Khatsenko, Maxim; Kingsbury, Ryan; Lee, Myron; Morgan, Rachel; Twichell, Jonathan; Riesing, Kathleen; Yoon, Hyosang; Ziegler, Caleb; Cahoy, Kerri

2016-11-01

The nanosatellite optical downlink experiment (NODE) implements a free-space optical communications (lasercom) capability on a CubeSat platform that can support low earth orbit (LEO) to ground downlink rates>10 Mbps. A primary goal of NODE is to leverage commercially available technologies to provide a scalable and cost-effective alternative to radio-frequency-based communications. The NODE transmitter uses a 200-mW 1550-nm master-oscillator power-amplifier design using power-efficient M-ary pulse position modulation. To facilitate pointing the 0.12-deg downlink beam, NODE augments spacecraft body pointing with a microelectromechanical fast steering mirror (FSM) and uses an 850-nm uplink beacon to an onboard CCD camera. The 30-cm aperture ground telescope uses an infrared camera and FSM for tracking to an avalanche photodiode detector-based receiver. Here, we describe our approach to transition prototype transmitter and receiver designs to a full end-to-end CubeSat-scale system. This includes link budget refinement, drive electronics miniaturization, packaging reduction, improvements to pointing and attitude estimation, implementation of modulation, coding, and interleaving, and ground station receiver design. We capture trades and technology development needs and outline plans for integrated system ground testing.

Wireless Fidelity Electromagnetic Field Exposure Monitoring With Wearable Body Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Lecoutere, Jeroen; Thielens, Arno; Agneessens, Sam; Rogier, Hendrik; Joseph, Wout; Puers, Robert

2016-06-01

With the breakthrough of the Internet of Things and the steady increase of wireless applications in the daily environment, the assessment of radio frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure is key in determining possible health effects of exposure to certain levels of RF-EMF. This paper presents the first experimental validation of a novel personal exposimeter system based on a distributed measurement approach to achieve higher measurement quality and lower measurement variability than the commonly used single point measurement approach of existing exposimeters. An important feature of the system is the integration of inertial sensors in order to determine activity and posture during exposure measurements. The system is designed to assess exposure to frequencies within the 389 to 464, 779 to 928 and 2400 to 2483.5 MHz bands using only two transceivers per node. In this study, the 2400 to 2483.5 MHz band is validated. Every node provides antenna diversity for the different bands in order to achieve higher sensitivity at these frequencies. Two AAA batteries power each standalone node and as such determine the node hardware size of this proof of concept (53 mm×25 mm×15 mm) , making it smaller than any other commercially available exposimeter.

ESAM: Endocrine inspired Sensor Activation Mechanism for multi-target tracking in WSNs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adil Mahdi, Omar; Wahab, Ainuddin Wahid Abdul; Idris, Mohd Yamani Idna; Znaid, Ammar Abu; Khan, Suleman; Al-Mayouf, Yusor Rafid Bahar

2016-10-01

Target tracking is a significant application of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in which deployment of self-organizing and energy efficient algorithms is required. The tracking accuracy increases as more sensor nodes are activated around the target but more energy is consumed. Thus, in this study, we focus on limiting the number of sensors by forming an ad-hoc network that operates autonomously. This will reduce the energy consumption and prolong the sensor network lifetime. In this paper, we propose a fully distributed algorithm, an Endocrine inspired Sensor Activation Mechanism for multi target-tracking (ESAM) which reflecting the properties of real life sensor activation system based on the information circulating principle in the endocrine system of the human body. Sensor nodes in our network are secreting different hormones according to certain rules. The hormone level enables the nodes to regulate an efficient sleep and wake up cycle of nodes to reduce the energy consumption. It is evident from the simulation results that the proposed ESAM in autonomous sensor network exhibits a stable performance without the need of commands from a central controller. Moreover, the proposed ESAM generates more efficient and persistent results as compared to other algorithms for tracking an invading object.

Comparison of machine learning methods for classifying mediastinal lymph node metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer from 18F-FDG PET/CT images.

PubMed

Wang, Hongkai; Zhou, Zongwei; Li, Yingci; Chen, Zhonghua; Lu, Peiou; Wang, Wenzhi; Liu, Wanyu; Yu, Lijuan

2017-12-01

This study aimed to compare one state-of-the-art deep learning method and four classical machine learning methods for classifying mediastinal lymph node metastasis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) from 18 F-FDG PET/CT images. Another objective was to compare the discriminative power of the recently popular PET/CT texture features with the widely used diagnostic features such as tumor size, CT value, SUV, image contrast, and intensity standard deviation. The four classical machine learning methods included random forests, support vector machines, adaptive boosting, and artificial neural network. The deep learning method was the convolutional neural networks (CNN). The five methods were evaluated using 1397 lymph nodes collected from PET/CT images of 168 patients, with corresponding pathology analysis results as gold standard. The comparison was conducted using 10 times 10-fold cross-validation based on the criterion of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy (ACC), and area under the ROC curve (AUC). For each classical method, different input features were compared to select the optimal feature set. Based on the optimal feature set, the classical methods were compared with CNN, as well as with human doctors from our institute. For the classical methods, the diagnostic features resulted in 81~85% ACC and 0.87~0.92 AUC, which were significantly higher than the results of texture features. CNN's sensitivity, specificity, ACC, and AUC were 84, 88, 86, and 0.91, respectively. There was no significant difference between the results of CNN and the best classical method. The sensitivity, specificity, and ACC of human doctors were 73, 90, and 82, respectively. All the five machine learning methods had higher sensitivities but lower specificities than human doctors. The present study shows that the performance of CNN is not significantly different from the best classical methods and human doctors for classifying mediastinal lymph node metastasis of NSCLC from PET/CT images. Because CNN does not need tumor segmentation or feature calculation, it is more convenient and more objective than the classical methods. However, CNN does not make use of the import diagnostic features, which have been proved more discriminative than the texture features for classifying small-sized lymph nodes. Therefore, incorporating the diagnostic features into CNN is a promising direction for future research.

How do I deal with the axilla in patients with a positive sentinel lymph node?

PubMed

Falkson, Conrad B

2011-12-01

Optimal management of the axilla in a patient with a positive sentinel node biopsy is not yet defined.These patients usually have Breast Conserving Surgery and receive adjuvant systemic therapy and whole breast radiation.Treatment options for the axilla include: no further surgery with or without radiation completion axillary nodal dissection with or without radiation Radiation options in addition to whole breast radiation include axillary and supraclavicular nodal irradiation regional nodal irradiationincludes supraclavicular and internal mammary nodes Completion axillary dissection has been standard practice in patients with positive sentinel nodes. the number of involved nodes provides prognostic information. theoretically improves local control, but may be obviated by systemic chemotherapy. but avoidance of dissection may not adversely affect locoregional control or survival. dissection has significant morbidity so safe avoidance is desirable. There is little worldwide concordance on the use of radiation: whole breast radiation (commonly used after breast conserving surgery) may radiate the lower axilla supraclavicular radiation is most commonly recommended for patients with four or more nodes but may confer a survival benefit on patients with lower risk disease. adding nodal irradiation reduces local recurrence with only modest toxicity. Adjuvant systemic therapy provides a survival benefit for patients with nodal disease. Most will receive cytostatic chemotherapy containing an anthracycline and a taxane. Hormone therapy is appropriate for estrogen receptor positive disease. The extent to which systemic therapy controls microscopic nodal disease is unknown. Node positive patients should generally receive adjuvant chemotherapy.A small group of patients benefit from specific nodal therapy. Further studies are needed to better identify these patients.

Postlumpectomy Focal Brachytherapy for Simultaneous Treatment of Surgical Cavity and Draining Lymph Nodes

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

Hrycushko, Brian A.; Li Shihong; Shi Chengyu

2011-03-01

Purpose: The primary objective was to investigate a novel focal brachytherapy technique using lipid nanoparticle (liposome)-carried {beta}-emitting radionuclides (rhenium-186 [{sup 186}Re]/rhenium-188 [{sup 188}Re]) to simultaneously treat the postlumpectomy surgical cavity and draining lymph nodes. Methods and Materials: Cumulative activity distributions in the lumpectomy cavity and lymph nodes were extrapolated from small animal imaging and human lymphoscintigraphy data. Absorbed dose calculations were performed for lumpectomy cavities with spherical and ellipsoidal shapes and lymph nodes within human subjects by use of the dose point kernel convolution method. Results: Dose calculations showed that therapeutic dose levels within the lumpectomy cavity wall can covermore » 2- and 5-mm depths for {sup 186}Re and {sup 188}Re liposomes, respectively. The absorbed doses at 1 cm sharply decreased to only 1.3% to 3.7% of the doses at 2 mm for {sup 186}Re liposomes and 5 mm for {sup 188}Re liposomes. Concurrently, the draining sentinel lymph nodes would receive a high focal therapeutic absorbed dose, whereas the average dose to 1 cm of surrounding tissue received less than 1% of that within the nodes. Conclusions: Focal brachytherapy by use of {sup 186}Re/{sup 188}Re liposomes was theoretically shown to be capable of simultaneously treating the lumpectomy cavity wall and draining sentinel lymph nodes with high absorbed doses while significantly lowering dose to surrounding healthy tissue. In turn, this allows for dose escalation to regions of higher probability of containing residual tumor cells after lumpectomy while reducing normal tissue complications.« less

Mobile agent location in distributed environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fountoukis, S. G.; Argyropoulos, I. P.

2012-12-01

An agent is a small program acting on behalf of a user or an application which plays the role of a user. Artificial intelligence can be encapsulated in agents so that they can be capable of both behaving autonomously and showing an elementary decision ability regarding movement and some specific actions. Therefore they are often called autonomous mobile agents. In a distributed system, they can move themselves from one processing node to another through the interconnecting network infrastructure. Their purpose is to collect useful information and to carry it back to their user. Also, agents are used to start, monitor and stop processes running on the individual interconnected processing nodes of computer cluster systems. An agent has a unique id to discriminate itself from other agents and a current position. The position can be expressed as the address of the processing node which currently hosts the agent. Very often, it is necessary for a user, a processing node or another agent to know the current position of an agent in a distributed system. Several procedures and algorithms have been proposed for the purpose of position location of mobile agents. The most basic of all employs a fixed computing node, which acts as agent position repository, receiving messages from all the moving agents and keeping records of their current positions. The fixed node, responds to position queries and informs users, other nodes and other agents about the position of an agent. Herein, a model is proposed that considers pairs and triples of agents instead of single ones. A location method, which is investigated in this paper, attempts to exploit this model.

Features and heterogeneities in growing network models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferretti, Luca; Cortelezzi, Michele; Yang, Bin; Marmorini, Giacomo; Bianconi, Ginestra

2012-06-01

Many complex networks from the World Wide Web to biological networks grow taking into account the heterogeneous features of the nodes. The feature of a node might be a discrete quantity such as a classification of a URL document such as personal page, thematic website, news, blog, search engine, social network, etc., or the classification of a gene in a functional module. Moreover the feature of a node can be a continuous variable such as the position of a node in the embedding space. In order to account for these properties, in this paper we provide a generalization of growing network models with preferential attachment that includes the effect of heterogeneous features of the nodes. The main effect of heterogeneity is the emergence of an “effective fitness” for each class of nodes, determining the rate at which nodes acquire new links. The degree distribution exhibits a multiscaling behavior analogous to the the fitness model. This property is robust with respect to variations in the model, as long as links are assigned through effective preferential attachment. Beyond the degree distribution, in this paper we give a full characterization of the other relevant properties of the model. We evaluate the clustering coefficient and show that it disappears for large network size, a property shared with the Barabási-Albert model. Negative degree correlations are also present in this class of models, along with nontrivial mixing patterns among features. We therefore conclude that both small clustering coefficients and disassortative mixing are outcomes of the preferential attachment mechanism in general growing networks.

Privacy Vulnerability of Published Anonymous Mobility Traces

DOE PAGES

Ma, Chris Y. T.; Yau, David K. Y.; Yip, Nung Kwan; ...

2013-06-01

Mobility traces of people and vehicles have been collected and published to assist the design and evaluation of mobile networks, such as large-scale urban sensing networks. Although the published traces are often made anonymous in that the true identities of nodes are replaced by random identifiers, the privacy concern remains. This is because in real life, nodes are open to observations in public spaces, or they may voluntarily or inadvertently disclose partial knowledge of their whereabouts. Thus, snapshots of nodes’ location information can be learned by interested third parties, e.g., directly through chance/engineered meetings between the nodes and their observers,more » or indirectly through casual conversations or other information sources about people. In this paper, we investigate how an adversary, when equipped with a small amount of the snapshot information termed as side information, can infer an extended view of the whereabouts of a victim node appearing in an anonymous trace. Our results quantify the loss of victim nodes’ privacy as a function of the nodal mobility, the inference strategies of adversaries, and any noise that may appear in the trace or the side information. Generally, our results indicate that the privacy concern is significant in that a relatively small amount of side information is sufficient for the adversary to infer the true identity (either uniquely or with high probability) of a victim in a set of anonymous traces. For instance, an adversary is able to identify the trace of 30%-50% of the victims when she has collected 10 pieces of side information about a victim.« less

A grid-doubling finite-element technique for calculating dynamic three-dimensional spontaneous rupture on an earthquake fault

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barall, Michael

2009-01-01

We present a new finite-element technique for calculating dynamic 3-D spontaneous rupture on an earthquake fault, which can reduce the required computational resources by a factor of six or more, without loss of accuracy. The grid-doubling technique employs small cells in a thin layer surrounding the fault. The remainder of the modelling volume is filled with larger cells, typically two or four times as large as the small cells. In the resulting non-conforming mesh, an interpolation method is used to join the thin layer of smaller cells to the volume of larger cells. Grid-doubling is effective because spontaneous rupture calculations typically require higher spatial resolution on and near the fault than elsewhere in the model volume. The technique can be applied to non-planar faults by morphing, or smoothly distorting, the entire mesh to produce the desired 3-D fault geometry. Using our FaultMod finite-element software, we have tested grid-doubling with both slip-weakening and rate-and-state friction laws, by running the SCEC/USGS 3-D dynamic rupture benchmark problems. We have also applied it to a model of the Hayward fault, Northern California, which uses realistic fault geometry and rock properties. FaultMod implements fault slip using common nodes, which represent motion common to both sides of the fault, and differential nodes, which represent motion of one side of the fault relative to the other side. We describe how to modify the traction-at-split-nodes method to work with common and differential nodes, using an implicit time stepping algorithm.

[Mutations of EGFR gene and EML4-ALK fusion gene in superficial lymph node of non-small cell lung cancer].

PubMed

Wei, Lili; Li, Xingzhou; Yu, Zhonghe

2015-07-14

To explore the mutation status of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) fusion gene and microtubule associated protein like 4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK) fusion gene in superficial lymph nodes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The technique of fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FQ-PCR) was employed for detecting the mutation rate of EGFR gene and EML4-ALK fusion gene for 40 cases of superficial lymph node tissue of NSCLC inpatients at General Military Hospital of Beijing PLA Command from February 2013 to November 2014. And then the correlations were analyzed between EMIA-ALK fusion gene and EGFR gene with clinical features and the clinical efficacies of targeted therapy. The mutation rate of EGFR gene was 35% (14/40) and 50% (10/20) in non-smokers and 46.7% (14/30) in adenocarcinoma patients. The mutation distribution was as follows: exon 18 (n = 1), exon 19 (n =8) and exon 21 (n =5). The mutation rate of EML4-ALK fusion gene was 2. 5% (1/40). EGFR gene mutation was predominantly present in non-smokers (P < 0. 05) and adenocarcinoma (P <0. 01) while no significant difference existed between gender, age or stage (P >0. 05). Those on a targeted therapy had a disease control rate of 93. 3%. Both EGFR gene and EMI4-ALK fusion gene may be detected in superficial lymph nodes of NSCLC patients. The mutation rate of EGFR gene is high in adenocarcinoma and non-smokers while EML4-ALK fusion gene has a low mutation rate.

Calibration of International Space Station (ISS) Node 1 Vibro-Acoustic Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhang, Weiguo; Raveendra, Ravi

2014-01-01

Reported here is the ability of utilizing the Energy Finite Element Method (E-FEM) to predict the vibro-acoustic sound fields within the International Space Station (ISS) Node 1 and to compare the results with actual measurements of leak sounds made by a one atmosphere to vacuum leak through a small hole in the pressure wall of the Node 1 STA module during its period of storage at Stennis Space Center (SSC). While the E-FEM method represents a reverberant sound field calculation, of importance to this application is the requirement to also handle the direct field effect of the sound generation. It was also important to be able to compute the sound fields in the ultrasonic frequency range. This report demonstrates the capability of this technology as applied to this type of application.

[Squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal vestibule - Review of literature].

PubMed

Koopmann, Mario; Rudack, Claudia; Weiss, Daniel; Stenner, Markus

2018-06-01

Squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal vestibule is a rare entity. In consequence disagreement in etiology, staging system and therapy of primary tumor with or without adjuvant treatment of regional lymph nodes are apparent. Pubmed-Recherche of relevant literature concerning: lymphatic drainage, metastases, incidence, risk factors (leather, nickel, nicotine, human papillomavirus, Staging system (UICC, AJCC, Wang's system), therapy of the primary tumor, regional lymph nodes and immunohistochemistry. Fifty-five studies were found and analyzed. Results are inconsistent. The Wang-classification is recommended. Radiation and surgery are the treatment of choice for small lesions. Larger lesions (T3-Wang) should be treated with a combined approach. In cT1-cT2cN0-situation after accurate diagnostic, an elective therapy of regional lymph nodes is not necessary. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Complex networks in the Euclidean space of communicability distances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Estrada, Ernesto

2012-06-01

We study the properties of complex networks embedded in a Euclidean space of communicability distances. The communicability distance between two nodes is defined as the difference between the weighted sum of walks self-returning to the nodes and the weighted sum of walks going from one node to the other. We give some indications that the communicability distance identifies the least crowded routes in networks where simultaneous submission of packages is taking place. We define an index Q based on communicability and shortest path distances, which allows reinterpreting the “small-world” phenomenon as the region of minimum Q in the Watts-Strogatz model. It also allows the classification and analysis of networks with different efficiency of spatial uses. Consequently, the communicability distance displays unique features for the analysis of complex networks in different scenarios.

Behaviors of susceptible-infected epidemics on scale-free networks with identical infectivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Tao; Liu, Jian-Guo; Bai, Wen-Jie; Chen, Guanrong; Wang, Bing-Hong

2006-11-01

In this paper, we propose a susceptible-infected model with identical infectivity, in which, at every time step, each node can only contact a constant number of neighbors. We implemented this model on scale-free networks, and found that the infected population grows in an exponential form with the time scale proportional to the spreading rate. Furthermore, by numerical simulation, we demonstrated that the targeted immunization of the present model is much less efficient than that of the standard susceptible-infected model. Finally, we investigate a fast spreading strategy when only local information is available. Different from the extensively studied path-finding strategy, the strategy preferring small-degree nodes is more efficient than that preferring large-degree nodes. Our results indicate the existence of an essential relationship between network traffic and network epidemic on scale-free networks.

Conformational analysis by intersection: CONAN.

PubMed

Smellie, Andrew; Stanton, Robert; Henne, Randy; Teig, Steve

2003-01-15

As high throughput techniques in chemical synthesis and screening improve, more demands are placed on computer assisted design and virtual screening. Many of these computational methods require one or more three-dimensional conformations for molecules, creating a demand for a conformational analysis tool that can rapidly and robustly cover the low-energy conformational spaces of small molecules. A new algorithm of intersection is presented here, which quickly generates (on average <0.5 seconds/stereoisomer) a complete description of the low energy conformational space of a small molecule. The molecule is first decomposed into nonoverlapping nodes N (usually rings) and overlapping paths P with conformations (N and P) generated in an offline process. In a second step the node and path data are combined to form distinct conformers of the molecule. Finally, heuristics are applied after intersection to generate a small representative collection of conformations that span the conformational space. In a study of approximately 97,000 randomly selected molecules from the MDDR, results are presented that explore these conformations and their ability to cover low-energy conformational space. Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 24: 10-20, 2003

Cooperative network clustering and task allocation for heterogeneous small satellite network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Jing

The research of small satellite has emerged as a hot topic in recent years because of its economical prospects and convenience in launching and design. Due to the size and energy constraints of small satellites, forming a small satellite network(SSN) in which all the satellites cooperate with each other to finish tasks is an efficient and effective way to utilize them. In this dissertation, I designed and evaluated a weight based dominating set clustering algorithm, which efficiently organizes the satellites into stable clusters. The traditional clustering algorithms of large monolithic satellite networks, such as formation flying and satellite swarm, are often limited on automatic formation of clusters. Therefore, a novel Distributed Weight based Dominating Set(DWDS) clustering algorithm is designed to address the clustering problems in the stochastically deployed SSNs. Considering the unique features of small satellites, this algorithm is able to form the clusters efficiently and stably. In this algorithm, satellites are separated into different groups according to their spatial characteristics. A minimum dominating set is chosen as the candidate cluster head set based on their weights, which is a weighted combination of residual energy and connection degree. Then the cluster heads admit new neighbors that accept their invitations into the cluster, until the maximum cluster size is reached. Evaluated by the simulation results, in a SSN with 200 to 800 nodes, the algorithm is able to efficiently cluster more than 90% of nodes in 3 seconds. The Deadline Based Resource Balancing (DBRB) task allocation algorithm is designed for efficient task allocations in heterogeneous LEO small satellite networks. In the task allocation process, the dispatcher needs to consider the deadlines of the tasks as well as the residue energy of different resources for best energy utilization. We assume the tasks adopt a Map-Reduce framework, in which a task can consist of multiple subtasks. The DBRB algorithm is deployed on the head node of a cluster. It gathers the status from each cluster member and calculates their Node Importance Factors (NIFs) from the carried resources, residue power and compute capacity. The algorithm calculates the number of concurrent subtasks based on the deadlines, and allocates the subtasks to the nodes according to their NIF values. The simulation results show that when cluster members carry multiple resources, resource are more balanced and rare resources serve longer in DBRB than in the Earliest Deadline First algorithm. We also show that the algorithm performs well in service isolation by serving multiple tasks with different deadlines. Moreover, the average task response time with various cluster size settings is well controlled within deadlines as well. Except non-realtime tasks, small satellites may execute realtime tasks as well. The location-dependent tasks, such as image capturing, data transmission and remote sensing tasks are realtime tasks that are required to be started / finished on specific time. The resource energy balancing algorithm for realtime and non-realtime mixed workload is developed to efficiently schedule the tasks for best system performance. It calculates the residue energy for each resource type and tries to preserve resources and node availability when distributing tasks. Non-realtime tasks can be preempted by realtime tasks to provide better QoS to realtime tasks. I compared the performance of proposed algorithm with a random-priority scheduling algorithm, with only realtime tasks, non-realtime tasks and mixed tasks. It shows the resource energy reservation algorithm outperforms the latter one with both balanced and imbalanced workloads. Although the resource energy balancing task allocation algorithm for mixed workload provides preemption mechanism for realtime tasks, realtime tasks can still fail due to resource exhaustion. For LEO small satellite flies around the earth on stable orbits, the location-dependent realtime tasks can be considered as periodical tasks. Therefore, it is possible to reserve energy for these realtime tasks. The resource energy reservation algorithm preserves energy for the realtime tasks when the execution routine of periodical realtime tasks is known. In order to reserve energy for tasks starting very early in each period that the node does not have enough energy charged, an energy wrapping mechanism is also designed to calculate the residue energy from the previous period. The simulation results show that without energy reservation, realtime task failure rate can reach more than 60% when the workload is highly imbalanced. In contrast, the resource energy reservation produces zero RT task failures and leads to equal or better aggregate system throughput than the non-reservation algorithm. The proposed algorithm also preserves more energy because it avoids task preemption. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).

No evidence of benefit from class-II compression stockings in the prevention of lower-limb lymphedema after inguinal lymph node dissection: results of a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Stuiver, M M; de Rooij, J D; Lucas, C; Nieweg, O E; Horenblas, S; van Geel, A N; van Beurden, M; Aaronson, N K

2013-09-01

Graduated compression stockings have been advocated for prevention of lymphedema after inguinal lymph node dissection (ILND) although scientific evidence of their efficacy in preventing lymphedema is lacking. The primary objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of class II compression stockings for the prevention of lymphedema in cancer patients following ILND. Secondary objectives were to investigate the influence of stockings on the occurrence of wound complications and genital edema, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and body image. Eighty patients (45 with melanoma, 35 with urogenital tumors) who underwent ILND at two specialized cancer centers were randomly allocated to class II compression stocking use for six months or to a usual care control group. Lymphedema of the leg and genital area, wound complications, HRQoL, and body image were assessed at regular intervals prior to and up to 12 months after ILND. No significant differences were observed between groups in the incidence of edema, median time to the occurrence of edema, incidence of genital edema, frequency of complications, HRQoL, or body image. Based on the results of the current study, routine prescription of class II graduated compression stockings after ILND should be questioned and alternative prevention strategies should be considered.

An Examination of Not-For-Profit Stakeholder Networks for Relationship Management: A Small-Scale Analysis on Social Media.

PubMed

Wyllie, Jessica; Lucas, Benjamin; Carlson, Jamie; Kitchens, Brent; Kozary, Ben; Zaki, Mohamed

2016-01-01

Using a small-scale descriptive network analysis approach, this study highlights the importance of stakeholder networks for identifying valuable stakeholders and the management of existing stakeholders in the context of mental health not-for-profit services. We extract network data from the social media brand pages of three health service organizations from the U.S., U.K., and Australia, to visually map networks of 579 social media brand pages (represented by nodes), connected by 5,600 edges. This network data is analyzed using a collection of popular graph analysis techniques to assess the differences in the way each of the service organizations manage stakeholder networks. We also compare node meta-information against basic topology measures to emphasize the importance of effectively managing relationships with stakeholders who have large external audiences. Implications and future research directions are also discussed.

Limits on relief through constrained exchange on random graphs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LaViolette, Randall A.; Ellebracht, Lory A.; Gieseler, Charles J.

2007-09-01

Agents are represented by nodes on a random graph (e.g., “small world”). Each agent is endowed with a zero-mean random value that may be either positive or negative. All agents attempt to find relief, i.e., to reduce the magnitude of that initial value, to zero if possible, through exchanges. The exchange occurs only between the agents that are linked, a constraint that turns out to dominate the results. The exchange process continues until Pareto equilibrium is achieved. Only 40-90% of the agents achieved relief on small-world graphs with mean degree between 2 and 40. Even fewer agents achieved relief on scale-free-like graphs with a truncated power-law degree distribution. The rate at which relief grew with increasing degree was slow, only at most logarithmic for all of the graphs considered; viewed in reverse, the fraction of nodes that achieve relief is resilient to the removal of links.

An Examination of Not-For-Profit Stakeholder Networks for Relationship Management: A Small-Scale Analysis on Social Media

PubMed Central

Carlson, Jamie; Kitchens, Brent; Kozary, Ben; Zaki, Mohamed

2016-01-01

Using a small-scale descriptive network analysis approach, this study highlights the importance of stakeholder networks for identifying valuable stakeholders and the management of existing stakeholders in the context of mental health not-for-profit services. We extract network data from the social media brand pages of three health service organizations from the U.S., U.K., and Australia, to visually map networks of 579 social media brand pages (represented by nodes), connected by 5,600 edges. This network data is analyzed using a collection of popular graph analysis techniques to assess the differences in the way each of the service organizations manage stakeholder networks. We also compare node meta-information against basic topology measures to emphasize the importance of effectively managing relationships with stakeholders who have large external audiences. Implications and future research directions are also discussed. PMID:27711236

Surname complex network for Brazil and Portugal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, G. D.; Viswanathan, G. M.; da Silva, L. R.; Herrmann, H. J.

2018-06-01

We present a study of social networks based on the analysis of Brazilian and Portuguese family names (surnames). We construct networks whose nodes are names of families and whose edges represent parental relations between two families. From these networks we extract the connectivity distribution, clustering coefficient, shortest path and centrality. We find that the connectivity distribution follows an approximate power law. We associate the number of hubs, centrality and entropy to the degree of miscegenation in the societies in both countries. Our results show that Portuguese society has a higher miscegenation degree than Brazilian society. All networks analyzed lead to approximate inverse square power laws in the degree distribution. We conclude that the thermodynamic limit is reached for small networks (3 or 4 thousand nodes). The assortative mixing of all networks is negative, showing that the more connected vertices are connected to vertices with lower connectivity. Finally, the network of surnames presents some small world characteristics.