Freshman Health Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hovde, Karen

2011-01-01

This article examines a cluster of health topics that are frequently selected by students in lower division classes. Topics address issues relating to addictive substances, including alcohol and tobacco, eating disorders, obesity, and dieting. Analysis of the topics examines their interrelationships and organization in the reference literature.…

Quark-gluon plasma (Selected Topics)

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

Zakharov, V. I., E-mail: vzakharov@itep.ru

Introductory lectures to the theory of (strongly interacting) quark-gluon plasma given at the Winter School of Physics of ITEP (Moscow, February 2010). We emphasize theoretical issues highlighted by the discovery of the low viscosity of the plasma. The topics include relativistic hydrodynamics, manifestations of chiral anomaly in hydrodynamics, superfluidity, relativistic superfluid hydrodynamics, effective stringy scalars, holographic models of Yang-Mills theories.

Exploring and Contrasting EFL Learners' Perceptions of Textbook-Assigned and Self-Selected Discussion Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolf, James P.

2013-01-01

In an attempt to explore the significance of a "willingness to communicate" (WTC) variable in second language (L2) acquisition, this article reports on a survey study that investigated 101 Japanese university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' perceptions of textbook-assigned and self-selected discussion topics. Additionally,…

Helicopter aeroelastic stability and response - Current topics and future trends

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Friedmann, Peretz P.

1990-01-01

This paper presents several current topics in rotary wing aeroelasticity and concludes by attempting to anticipate future trends and developments. These topics are: (1) the role of geometric nonlinearities; (2) structural modeling, and aeroelastic analysis of composite rotor blades; (3) aeroelastic stability and response in forward flight; (4) modeling of coupled rotor/fuselage aeromechanical problems and their active control; and (5) the coupled rotor-fuselage vibration problem and its alleviation by higher harmonic control. Selected results illustrating the fundamental aspects of these topics are presented. Future developments are briefly discussed.

Topical treatment of psoriasis.

PubMed

Laws, Philip M; Young, Helen S

2010-08-01

The majority of patients with psoriasis can be safely and effectively treated with topical therapy alone, either under the supervision of a family physician or dermatologist. For those requiring systemic agents, topical therapies can provide additional benefit. Optimal use of topical therapy requires an awareness of the range and efficacy of all products. The review covers the efficacy and role of topical therapies including emollients, corticosteroids, vitamin D analogs, calcineurin inhibitors, dithranol, coal tar, retinoids, keratolyics and combination therapy. The report was prepared following a PubMed and Embase literature search up to April 2010. The paper provides a broad review of the relevant topical therapeutic options available in routine clinical practice for the management of psoriasis and a recommendation for selection of treatment. Topical therapies used appropriately provide a safe and effective option for the management of psoriasis. An awareness of the available products and their efficacy is key to treatment selection and patient satisfaction.

The Effects of Topic Familiarity, Author Expertise, and Content Relevance on Norwegian Students' Document Selection: A Mixed Methods Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCrudden, Matthew T.; Stenseth, Tonje; Bråten, Ivar; Strømsø, Helge I.

2016-01-01

This mixed methods study investigated the extent to which author expertise and content relevance were salient to secondary Norwegian students (N = 153) when they selected documents that pertained to more familiar and less familiar topics. Quantitative results indicated that author expertise was more salient for the less familiar topic (nuclear…

Selected topics from classical bacterial genetics.

PubMed

Raleigh, Elisabeth A; Elbing, Karen; Brent, Roger

2002-08-01

Current cloning technology exploits many facts learned from classical bacterial genetics. This unit covers those that are critical to understanding the techniques described in this book. Topics include antibiotics, the LAC operon, the F factor, nonsense suppressors, genetic markers, genotype and phenotype, DNA restriction, modification and methylation and recombination.

AHRQ series paper 3: identifying, selecting, and refining topics for comparative effectiveness systematic reviews: AHRQ and the effective health-care program.

PubMed

Whitlock, Evelyn P; Lopez, Sarah A; Chang, Stephanie; Helfand, Mark; Eder, Michelle; Floyd, Nicole

2010-05-01

This article discusses the identification, selection, and refinement of topics for comparative effectiveness systematic reviews within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Effective Health Care (EHC) program. The EHC program seeks to align its research topic selection with the overall goals of the program, impartially and consistently apply predefined criteria to potential topics, involve stakeholders to identify high-priority topics, be transparent and accountable, and continually evaluate and improve processes. A topic prioritization group representing stakeholder and scientific perspectives evaluates topic nominations that fit within the EHC program (are "appropriate") to determine how "important" topics are as considered against seven criteria. The group then judges whether a new comparative effectiveness systematic review would be a duplication of existing research syntheses, and if not duplicative, if there is adequate type and volume of research to conduct a new systematic review. Finally, the group considers the "potential value and impact" of a comparative effectiveness systematic review. As the EHC program develops, ongoing challenges include ensuring the program addresses truly unmet needs for synthesized research because national and international efforts in this arena are uncoordinated, as well as engaging a range of stakeholders in program decisions while also achieving efficiency and timeliness.

Topic Model for Graph Mining.

PubMed

Xuan, Junyu; Lu, Jie; Zhang, Guangquan; Luo, Xiangfeng

2015-12-01

Graph mining has been a popular research area because of its numerous application scenarios. Many unstructured and structured data can be represented as graphs, such as, documents, chemical molecular structures, and images. However, an issue in relation to current research on graphs is that they cannot adequately discover the topics hidden in graph-structured data which can be beneficial for both the unsupervised learning and supervised learning of the graphs. Although topic models have proved to be very successful in discovering latent topics, the standard topic models cannot be directly applied to graph-structured data due to the "bag-of-word" assumption. In this paper, an innovative graph topic model (GTM) is proposed to address this issue, which uses Bernoulli distributions to model the edges between nodes in a graph. It can, therefore, make the edges in a graph contribute to latent topic discovery and further improve the accuracy of the supervised and unsupervised learning of graphs. The experimental results on two different types of graph datasets show that the proposed GTM outperforms the latent Dirichlet allocation on classification by using the unveiled topics of these two models to represent graphs.

Selected topics of fluid mechanics

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kindsvater, Carl E.

1958-01-01

the Euler, Froude, Reynolds, Weber, and Cauchy numbers are defined as essential tools for interpreting and using experimental data. The derivations of the energy and momentum equations are treated in detail. One-dimensional equations for steady nonuniform flow are developed, and the restrictions applicable to the equations are emphasized. Conditions of uniform and gradually varied flow are discussed, and the origin of the Chezy equation is examined in relation to both the energy and the momentum equations. The inadequacy of all uniform-flow equations as a means of describing gradually varied flow is explained. Thus, one of the definitive problems of river hydraulics is analyzed in the light of present knowledge. This report is the outgrowth of a series of short schools conducted during the spring and summer of 1953 for engineers of the Surface Water Branch, Water Resources Division, U. S. Geological Survey. The topics considered are essentially the same as the topics selected for inclusion in the schools. However, in order that they might serve better as a guide and outline for informal study, the arrangement of the writer's original lecture notes has been considerably altered. The purpose of the report, like the purpose of the schools which inspired it, is to build a simple but strong framework of the fundamentals of fluid mechanics. It is believed that this framework is capable of supporting a detailed analysis of most of the practical problems met by the engineers of the Geological Survey. It is hoped that the least accomplishment of this work will be to inspire the reader with the confidence and desire to read more of the recent and current technical literature of modern fluid mechanics.

PREFACE: Topics in the application of scattering methods to investigate the structure and dynamics of soft condensed matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Sow-Hsin; Baglioni, Piero

2006-09-01

This special issue of Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter gathers together a series of contributions presented at the workshop entitled `Topics in the Application of Scattering Methods to Investigate the Structure and Dynamics of Soft Condensed Matter' held at Pensione Bencista, Fiesole, Italy, a wonderful Italian jewel tucked high in the hills above Florence. This immaculate 14th century villa is a feast for the eyes with antiques and original artwork everywhere you turn, and a stunning view of Florence, overlooking numerous villas and groves of olive trees. The meeting consisted of about 40 invited talks delivered by a selected group of prominent physicists and chemists from the USA, Mexico, Europe and Asia working in the fields of complex and glassy liquids. The topics covered by the talks included: simulations on the liquid-liquid transition phenomenon dynamic crossover in deeply supercooled confined water thermodynamics and dynamics of complex fluids dynamics of interfacial water structural arrest transitions in colloidal systems structure and dynamics in complex systems structure of supramolecular assemblies The choice of topics is obviously heavily biased toward the current interests of the two organizers of the workshop, in view of the fact that one of the incentives for organizing the meeting was to celebrate Sow-Hsin Chen’s life-long scientific activities on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The 21 articles presented in this issue are a state-of-the-art description of the different aspects reported at the workshop from all points of view---experimental, theoretical and numerical. The interdisciplinary nature of the talks should make this special issue of interest to a broad community of scientists involved in the study of the properties of complex fluids, soft condensed matter and disordered glassy systems. We are grateful to the Consorzio per lo Sviluppo dei Sistemi a Grande Interfase (CSGI), Florence, Italy and to the Materials Science Program of

Influence of professional preparation and class structure on sexuality topics taught in middle and high schools.

PubMed

Rhodes, Darson L; Kirchofer, Gregg; Hammig, Bart J; Ogletree, Roberta J

2013-05-01

This study examined the impact of professional preparation and class structure on sexuality topics taught and use of practice-based instructional strategies in US middle and high school health classes. Data from the classroom-level file of the 2006 School Health Policies and Programs were used. A series of multivariable logistic regression models were employed to determine if sexuality content taught was dependent on professional preparation and /or class structure (HE only versus HE/another subject combined). Additional multivariable logistic regression models were employed to determine if use of practice-based instructional strategies was dependent upon professional preparation and/or class structure. Years of teaching health topics and size of the school district were included as covariates in the multivariable logistic regression models. Findings indicated professionally prepared health educators were significantly more likely to teach 7 of the 13 sexuality topics as compared to nonprofessionally prepared health educators. There was no statistically significant difference in the instructional strategies used by professionally prepared and nonprofessionally prepared health educators. Exclusively health education classes versus combined classes were significantly more likely to have included 6 of the 13 topics and to have incorporated practice-based instructional strategies in the curricula. This study indicated professional preparation and class structure impacted sexuality content taught. Class structure also impacted whether opportunities for students to practice skills were made available. Results support the need for continued advocacy for professionally prepared health educators and health only courses. © 2013, American School Health Association.

The Effect of Topical Structure Analysis Instruction on University Students' Writing Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liangprayoon, Somlak; Chaya, Walaiporn; Thep-ackraphong, Tipa

2013-01-01

Coherence is considered one of the characteristics of effective writing. Topical structure analysis (TSA) has been taught to students as a revision strategy to raise their awareness of importance of textual coherence and helps them clearly understand its concept. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of TSA instruction in improving…

HierarchicalTopics: visually exploring large text collections using topic hierarchies.

PubMed

Dou, Wenwen; Yu, Li; Wang, Xiaoyu; Ma, Zhiqiang; Ribarsky, William

2013-12-01

Analyzing large textual collections has become increasingly challenging given the size of the data available and the rate that more data is being generated. Topic-based text summarization methods coupled with interactive visualizations have presented promising approaches to address the challenge of analyzing large text corpora. As the text corpora and vocabulary grow larger, more topics need to be generated in order to capture the meaningful latent themes and nuances in the corpora. However, it is difficult for most of current topic-based visualizations to represent large number of topics without being cluttered or illegible. To facilitate the representation and navigation of a large number of topics, we propose a visual analytics system--HierarchicalTopic (HT). HT integrates a computational algorithm, Topic Rose Tree, with an interactive visual interface. The Topic Rose Tree constructs a topic hierarchy based on a list of topics. The interactive visual interface is designed to present the topic content as well as temporal evolution of topics in a hierarchical fashion. User interactions are provided for users to make changes to the topic hierarchy based on their mental model of the topic space. To qualitatively evaluate HT, we present a case study that showcases how HierarchicalTopics aid expert users in making sense of a large number of topics and discovering interesting patterns of topic groups. We have also conducted a user study to quantitatively evaluate the effect of hierarchical topic structure. The study results reveal that the HT leads to faster identification of large number of relevant topics. We have also solicited user feedback during the experiments and incorporated some suggestions into the current version of HierarchicalTopics.

Rheology of the lithosphere: selected topics.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kirby, S.H.; Kronenberg, A.K.

1987-01-01

Reviews recent results concerning the rheology of the lithosphere with special attention to the following topics: 1) the flexure of the oceanic lithosphere, 2) deformation of the continental lithosphere resulting from vertical surface loads and forces applied at plate margins, 3) the rheological stratification of the continents, 4) strain localization and shear zone development, and 5) strain-induced crystallographic preferred orientations and anisotropies in body-wave velocities. We conclude with a section citing the 1983-1986 rock mechanics literature by category.-Authors

Topic Sequence and Emphasis Variability of Selected Organic Chemistry Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houseknecht, Justin B.

2010-01-01

Textbook choice has a significant effect upon course success. Among the factors that influence this decision, two of the most important are material organization and emphasis. This paper examines the sequencing of 19 organic chemistry topics, 21 concepts and skills, and 7 biological topics within nine of the currently available organic textbooks.…

Strategy selection in structured populations.

PubMed

Tarnita, Corina E; Ohtsuki, Hisashi; Antal, Tibor; Fu, Feng; Nowak, Martin A

2009-08-07

Evolutionary game theory studies frequency dependent selection. The fitness of a strategy is not constant, but depends on the relative frequencies of strategies in the population. This type of evolutionary dynamics occurs in many settings of ecology, infectious disease dynamics, animal behavior and social interactions of humans. Traditionally evolutionary game dynamics are studied in well-mixed populations, where the interaction between any two individuals is equally likely. There have also been several approaches to study evolutionary games in structured populations. In this paper we present a simple result that holds for a large variety of population structures. We consider the game between two strategies, A and B, described by the payoff matrix(abcd). We study a mutation and selection process. For weak selection strategy A is favored over B if and only if sigma a+b>c+sigma d. This means the effect of population structure on strategy selection can be described by a single parameter, sigma. We present the values of sigma for various examples including the well-mixed population, games on graphs, games in phenotype space and games on sets. We give a proof for the existence of such a sigma, which holds for all population structures and update rules that have certain (natural) properties. We assume weak selection, but allow any mutation rate. We discuss the relationship between sigma and the critical benefit to cost ratio for the evolution of cooperation. The single parameter, sigma, allows us to quantify the ability of a population structure to promote the evolution of cooperation or to choose efficient equilibria in coordination games.

Selected topics from the structural acoustics program for the B-1 aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Belcher, P. M.

1979-01-01

The major elements of the structural acoustics program for the B-1 aircraft are considered. Acoustic pressures measured at 280 sites on the surface of the vehicle were used to develop pressure models for a resizing of airframe components for aircraft No. 4 (A/C4). Acoustical fatigue design data for two dynamically complex structural configurations were acquired in laboratory programs, the conceptions for and executions of which detailed significant departures from the conventional. Design requirements for mechanical fasteners for configurations other than these two made use of analytical extensions of regrettably limited available information.

Preface: Special Topic Section on Advanced Electronic Structure Methods for Solids and Surfaces.

PubMed

Michaelides, Angelos; Martinez, Todd J; Alavi, Ali; Kresse, Georg; Manby, Frederick R

2015-09-14

This Special Topic section on Advanced Electronic Structure Methods for Solids and Surfaces contains a collection of research papers that showcase recent advances in the high accuracy prediction of materials and surface properties. It provides a timely snapshot of a growing field that is of broad importance to chemistry, physics, and materials science.

Discriminative Relational Topic Models.

PubMed

Chen, Ning; Zhu, Jun; Xia, Fei; Zhang, Bo

2015-05-01

Relational topic models (RTMs) provide a probabilistic generative process to describe both the link structure and document contents for document networks, and they have shown promise on predicting network structures and discovering latent topic representations. However, existing RTMs have limitations in both the restricted model expressiveness and incapability of dealing with imbalanced network data. To expand the scope and improve the inference accuracy of RTMs, this paper presents three extensions: 1) unlike the common link likelihood with a diagonal weight matrix that allows the-same-topic interactions only, we generalize it to use a full weight matrix that captures all pairwise topic interactions and is applicable to asymmetric networks; 2) instead of doing standard Bayesian inference, we perform regularized Bayesian inference (RegBayes) with a regularization parameter to deal with the imbalanced link structure issue in real networks and improve the discriminative ability of learned latent representations; and 3) instead of doing variational approximation with strict mean-field assumptions, we present collapsed Gibbs sampling algorithms for the generalized relational topic models by exploring data augmentation without making restricting assumptions. Under the generic RegBayes framework, we carefully investigate two popular discriminative loss functions, namely, the logistic log-loss and the max-margin hinge loss. Experimental results on several real network datasets demonstrate the significance of these extensions on improving prediction performance.

Selected topics in experimental aeroelasticity at the NASA Langley Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ricketts, R. H.

1985-01-01

The results of selected studies that have been conducted by the NASA Langley Research Center in the last three years are presented. The topics presented focus primarily on the ever-important transonic flight regime and include the following: body-freedom flutter of a forward-swept-wing configuration with and without relaxed static stability; instabilities associated with a new tilt-rotor vehicle; effects of winglets, supercritical airfoils, and spanwise curvature on wing flutter; wind-tunnel investigation of a flutter-like oscillation on a high-aspect-ratio flight research wing; results of wing-tunnel demonstration of the NASA decoupler pylon concept for passive suppression of wing/store flutter; and, new flutter testing methods which include testing at cryogenic temperatures for full scale Reynolds number simulation, subcritical response techniques for predicting onset of flutter, and a two-degree-of-freedom mount system for testing side-wall-mounted models.

Selected topics in experimental aeroelasticity at the NASA Langley Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ricketts, R. H.

1985-01-01

The results of selected studies that have been conducted by the NASA Langley Research Center in the last three years are presented. The topics presented focus primarily on the ever-important transonic flight regime and include the following: body-freedom flutter of a forward-swept-wing configuration with and without relaxed static stability; instabilities associated with a new tilt-rotor vehicle; effects of winglets, supercritical airfoils, and spanwise curvature on wing flutter; wind-tunnel investigation of a flutter-like oscillation on a high-aspect-ratio flight research wing; results of wind-tunnel demonstration of the NASA decoupler pylon concept for passive suppression of wing/store flutter; and, new flutter testing methods which include testing at cryogenic temperatures for full scale Reynolds number simulation, subcritical response techniques for predicting onset of flutter, and a two-degree-of-freedom mount system for testing side-wall-mounted models.

Topical anesthesia in phacoemulsification.

PubMed

Waheeb, Saad

2010-09-01

To evaluate the efficacy of topical anesthesia; topical Benoxinate 0.4% (Oxybuprocaine) and Xylocaine (Lidocaine) gel, in selected cataract patients as an alternative to peribulbar or retrobulbar block anesthesia during cataract surgery. Prospective non-comparative evaluation of patients' and surgeon's satisfaction at the end of the procedure. Three hundred patients (300 eyes) were included in the study. The procedure was explained to patients with details regarding what will happen and what to expect during surgery. All patients received topical anesthesia with Benoxinate 0.4% eye drops and Xylocaine gel 2%. All surgeries were done by the same surgeon using the same machine (updated LEGACY phacoemulsifier, Alcon) and approach (clear corneal incision) and followed by a foldable intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. None of the patients had severe pain during the procedure; only 2% (six of 300) required use of intravenous sedation (Propofol), both the surgeon's and the patients' satisfaction were high. Eye movements and blepharospasm were not significant problems, and no serious complications occurred. Rate of vitreous loss due to posterior capsule tear/rupture was within literature reported range and not different from our previous experience. Topical anesthesia is a satisfactory and safe alternative to retrobulbar and peribulbar anesthesia for clear corneal phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation in selected cataract patients in the hands of experienced cataract surgeon.

Topical anesthesia in phacoemulsification

PubMed Central

Waheeb, Saad

2010-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of topical anesthesia; topical Benoxinate 0.4% (Oxybuprocaine) and Xylocaine (Lidocaine) gel, in selected cataract patients as an alternative to peribulbar or retrobulbar block anesthesia during cataract surgery. Materials and Methods: Prospective non-comparative evaluation of patients’ and surgeon’s satisfaction at the end of the procedure. Three hundred patients (300 eyes) were included in the study. The procedure was explained to patients with details regarding what will happen and what to expect during surgery. All patients received topical anesthesia with Benoxinate 0.4% eye drops and Xylocaine gel 2%. All surgeries were done by the same surgeon using the same machine (updated LEGACY phacoemulsifier, Alcon) and approach (clear corneal incision) and followed by a foldable intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. Results: None of the patients had severe pain during the procedure; only 2% (six of 300) required use of intravenous sedation (Propofol), both the surgeon’s and the patients’ satisfaction were high. Eye movements and blepharospasm were not significant problems, and no serious complications occurred. Rate of vitreous loss due to posterior capsule tear/rupture was within literature reported range and not different from our previous experience. Conclusion: Topical anesthesia is a satisfactory and safe alternative to retrobulbar and peribulbar anesthesia for clear corneal phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation in selected cataract patients in the hands of experienced cataract surgeon. PMID:21120050

The Structure of Scientific Arguments by Secondary Science Teachers: Comparison of experimental and historical science topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gray, Ron; Kang, Nam-Hwa

2014-01-01

Just as scientific knowledge is constructed using distinct modes of inquiry (e.g. experimental or historical), arguments constructed during science instruction may vary depending on the mode of inquiry underlying the topic. The purpose of this study was to examine whether and how secondary science teachers construct scientific arguments during instruction differently for topics that rely on experimental or historical modes of inquiry. Four experienced high-school science teachers were observed daily during instructional units for both experimental and historical science topics. The main data sources include classroom observations and teacher interviews. The arguments were analyzed using Toulmin's argumentation pattern revealing specific patterns of arguments in teaching topics relying on these 2 modes of scientific inquiry. The teachers presented arguments to their students that were rather simple in structure but relatively authentic to the 2 different modes. The teachers used far more evidence in teaching topics based on historical inquiry than topics based on experimental inquiry. However, the differences were implicit in their teaching. Furthermore, their arguments did not portray the dynamic nature of science. Very few rebuttals or qualifiers were provided as the teachers were presenting their claims as if the data led straightforward to the claim. Implications for classroom practice and research are discussed.

Topic modeling for cluster analysis of large biological and medical datasets

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The big data moniker is nowhere better deserved than to describe the ever-increasing prodigiousness and complexity of biological and medical datasets. New methods are needed to generate and test hypotheses, foster biological interpretation, and build validated predictors. Although multivariate techniques such as cluster analysis may allow researchers to identify groups, or clusters, of related variables, the accuracies and effectiveness of traditional clustering methods diminish for large and hyper dimensional datasets. Topic modeling is an active research field in machine learning and has been mainly used as an analytical tool to structure large textual corpora for data mining. Its ability to reduce high dimensionality to a small number of latent variables makes it suitable as a means for clustering or overcoming clustering difficulties in large biological and medical datasets. Results In this study, three topic model-derived clustering methods, highest probable topic assignment, feature selection and feature extraction, are proposed and tested on the cluster analysis of three large datasets: Salmonella pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) dataset, lung cancer dataset, and breast cancer dataset, which represent various types of large biological or medical datasets. All three various methods are shown to improve the efficacy/effectiveness of clustering results on the three datasets in comparison to traditional methods. A preferable cluster analysis method emerged for each of the three datasets on the basis of replicating known biological truths. Conclusion Topic modeling could be advantageously applied to the large datasets of biological or medical research. The three proposed topic model-derived clustering methods, highest probable topic assignment, feature selection and feature extraction, yield clustering improvements for the three different data types. Clusters more efficaciously represent truthful groupings and subgroupings in the data than

Topic modeling for cluster analysis of large biological and medical datasets.

PubMed

Zhao, Weizhong; Zou, Wen; Chen, James J

2014-01-01

The big data moniker is nowhere better deserved than to describe the ever-increasing prodigiousness and complexity of biological and medical datasets. New methods are needed to generate and test hypotheses, foster biological interpretation, and build validated predictors. Although multivariate techniques such as cluster analysis may allow researchers to identify groups, or clusters, of related variables, the accuracies and effectiveness of traditional clustering methods diminish for large and hyper dimensional datasets. Topic modeling is an active research field in machine learning and has been mainly used as an analytical tool to structure large textual corpora for data mining. Its ability to reduce high dimensionality to a small number of latent variables makes it suitable as a means for clustering or overcoming clustering difficulties in large biological and medical datasets. In this study, three topic model-derived clustering methods, highest probable topic assignment, feature selection and feature extraction, are proposed and tested on the cluster analysis of three large datasets: Salmonella pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) dataset, lung cancer dataset, and breast cancer dataset, which represent various types of large biological or medical datasets. All three various methods are shown to improve the efficacy/effectiveness of clustering results on the three datasets in comparison to traditional methods. A preferable cluster analysis method emerged for each of the three datasets on the basis of replicating known biological truths. Topic modeling could be advantageously applied to the large datasets of biological or medical research. The three proposed topic model-derived clustering methods, highest probable topic assignment, feature selection and feature extraction, yield clustering improvements for the three different data types. Clusters more efficaciously represent truthful groupings and subgroupings in the data than traditional methods, suggesting

Resin selection criteria for tough composite structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamis, C. C.; Smith, G. T.

1983-01-01

Resin selection criteria are derived using a structured methodology consisting of an upward integrated mechanistic theory and its inverse (top-down structured theory). These criteria are expressed in a "criteria selection space" which are used to identify resin bulk properties for improved composite "toughness". The resin selection criteria correlate with a variety of experimental data including laminate strength, elevated temperature effects and impact resistance.

Topic Prominence in Chinese EFL Learners' Interlanguage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Shaopeng; Yang, Lianrui

2014-01-01

The present study aims to investigate the general characteristics of topicprominent typological interlanguage development of Chinese learners of English in terms of acquiring subject-prominent English structures from a discourse perspective. Topic structures mainly appear in Chinese discourse in the form of topic chains (Wang, 2002; 2004). The…

Topical Research: Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynn, Karen

This lesson plan can be used in social studies, language arts, or library research. The instructional objective is for students to select a topic of study relating to Africa, write a thesis statement, collect information from media sources, and develop a conclusion. The teacher may assign the lesson for written or oral evaluation. The teacher…

Orientation selectivity based structure for texture classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Jinjian; Lin, Weisi; Shi, Guangming; Zhang, Yazhong; Lu, Liu

2014-10-01

Local structure, e.g., local binary pattern (LBP), is widely used in texture classification. However, LBP is too sensitive to disturbance. In this paper, we introduce a novel structure for texture classification. Researches on cognitive neuroscience indicate that the primary visual cortex presents remarkable orientation selectivity for visual information extraction. Inspired by this, we investigate the orientation similarities among neighbor pixels, and propose an orientation selectivity based pattern for local structure description. Experimental results on texture classification demonstrate that the proposed structure descriptor is quite robust to disturbance.

Environmental Topics for Introductory Physics Courses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodges, Laurent

1974-01-01

Presents selected environmental references with comparatively detailed descriptions for the purpose of helping high school and college physics teachers in selecting materials for their course. The topics include thermal pollution, space heating and cooling, atmospheric temperature distribution, radiation balance of the earth, sound and noises, and…

PREFACE: Selected papers from the Fourth Topical Conference on Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wong, Michael S.; Lee, Gil U.

2005-07-01

systems and tissue engineering; nanotechnology for drug delivery and imaging; bionanotechnology in cancer and cardiovascular disease; nanostructured biomaterials; nanotechnology in bioengineering; nanofabrication of biosensing devices. We are pleased to present a selection of research papers in this special issue of Nanotechnology on behalf of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum (NSEF). NSEF was established in 2001 as a new division of AIChE to promote nanotechnology efforts in chemical engineering. The chemical engineering discipline deals with the production and processing of chemicals and materials, and does so through a fundamental understanding of the core issues of transport, thermodynamics, and kinetics that exist at multiple length scales. Thus, it should come as no surprise that chemical engineers have been pursuing nanotechnology research for the last fifty years. For example, fuel production has benefited immensely from improved catalysts in which their pore structure is controlled with nanoscale precision, and polymer properties have been improved by controlling the polymer supramolecular structure at the nanometre scale. Chemical engineering will continue to make important contributions to nanotechnology, and will play a critical role in the transition from basic science and engineering research to commercial applications. We would like to thank all of the authors who contributed to this special issue; the three NSEF poster presentation award winners for their papers (Sureshkumar, Sunkara, and Rinaldi groups); Dr Nina Couzin, Publisher of Nanotechnology, for her support and enthusiasm for this project; Drs Sharon Glotzer and Dan Coy who chaired the topical conference; and Drs Meyya Meyyappan and Brett Cruden (NASA Ames Research Center) for their assistance in the initial planning stages. We also take this opportunity to thank the many people and organizations who have supported the 2004 topical conference along the way, which include all the session

Context updating during sentence comprehension: the effect of aboutness topic.

PubMed

Burmester, Juliane; Spalek, Katharina; Wartenburger, Isabell

2014-10-01

To communicate efficiently, speakers typically link their utterances to the discourse environment and adapt their utterances to the listener's discourse representation. Information structure describes how linguistic information is packaged within a discourse to optimize information transfer. The present study investigates the nature and time course of context integration (i.e., aboutness topic vs. neutral context) on the comprehension of German declarative sentences with either subject-before-object (SO) or object-before-subject (OS) word order using offline comprehensibility judgments and online event-related potentials (ERPs). Comprehensibility judgments revealed that the topic context selectively facilitated comprehension of stories containing OS (i.e., non-canonical) sentences. In the ERPs, the topic context effect was reflected in a less pronounced late positivity at the sentence-initial object. In line with the Syntax-Discourse Model, we argue that these context-induced effects are attributable to reduced processing costs for updating the current discourse model. The results support recent approaches of neurocognitive models of discourse processing. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of parental selection of healthy behavior topic during well child visit on plan to change childs eating or physical activity behavior

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Current recommendations direct pediatricians to address obesity and obesity prevention routinely during well child visits and to tailor their counseling, but clinicians may feel ineffective because of time constraints and lack of parent interest. To prompt parents to select a healthy lifestyle topic...

Identifying Topics in Microblogs Using Wikipedia.

PubMed

Yıldırım, Ahmet; Üsküdarlı, Suzan; Özgür, Arzucan

2016-01-01

Twitter is an extremely high volume platform for user generated contributions regarding any topic. The wealth of content created at real-time in massive quantities calls for automated approaches to identify the topics of the contributions. Such topics can be utilized in numerous ways, such as public opinion mining, marketing, entertainment, and disaster management. Towards this end, approaches to relate single or partial posts to knowledge base items have been proposed. However, in microblogging systems like Twitter, topics emerge from the culmination of a large number of contributions. Therefore, identifying topics based on collections of posts, where individual posts contribute to some aspect of the greater topic is necessary. Models, such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), propose algorithms for relating collections of posts to sets of keywords that represent underlying topics. In these approaches, figuring out what the specific topic(s) the keyword sets represent remains as a separate task. Another issue in topic detection is the scope, which is often limited to specific domain, such as health. This work proposes an approach for identifying domain-independent specific topics related to sets of posts. In this approach, individual posts are processed and then aggregated to identify key tokens, which are then mapped to specific topics. Wikipedia article titles are selected to represent topics, since they are up to date, user-generated, sophisticated articles that span topics of human interest. This paper describes the proposed approach, a prototype implementation, and a case study based on data gathered during the heavily contributed periods corresponding to the four US election debates in 2012. The manually evaluated results (0.96 precision) and other observations from the study are discussed in detail.

Identifying Topics in Microblogs Using Wikipedia

PubMed Central

Yıldırım, Ahmet; Üsküdarlı, Suzan; Özgür, Arzucan

2016-01-01

Twitter is an extremely high volume platform for user generated contributions regarding any topic. The wealth of content created at real-time in massive quantities calls for automated approaches to identify the topics of the contributions. Such topics can be utilized in numerous ways, such as public opinion mining, marketing, entertainment, and disaster management. Towards this end, approaches to relate single or partial posts to knowledge base items have been proposed. However, in microblogging systems like Twitter, topics emerge from the culmination of a large number of contributions. Therefore, identifying topics based on collections of posts, where individual posts contribute to some aspect of the greater topic is necessary. Models, such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), propose algorithms for relating collections of posts to sets of keywords that represent underlying topics. In these approaches, figuring out what the specific topic(s) the keyword sets represent remains as a separate task. Another issue in topic detection is the scope, which is often limited to specific domain, such as health. This work proposes an approach for identifying domain-independent specific topics related to sets of posts. In this approach, individual posts are processed and then aggregated to identify key tokens, which are then mapped to specific topics. Wikipedia article titles are selected to represent topics, since they are up to date, user-generated, sophisticated articles that span topics of human interest. This paper describes the proposed approach, a prototype implementation, and a case study based on data gathered during the heavily contributed periods corresponding to the four US election debates in 2012. The manually evaluated results (0.96 precision) and other observations from the study are discussed in detail. PMID:26991442

Topic Maps e-Learning Portal Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olsevicova, Kamila

2006-01-01

Topic Maps, ISO/IEC 13250 standard, are designed to facilitate the organization and navigation of large collections of information objects by creating meta-level perspectives of their underlying concepts and relationships. The underlying structure of concepts and relations is expressed by domain ontologies. The Topics Maps technology can become…

Students Fail to Transfer Knowledge of Chromosome Structure to Topics Pertaining to Cell Division

PubMed Central

Newman, Dina L.; Catavero, Christina M.; Wright, L. Kate

2012-01-01

Cellular processes that rely on knowledge of molecular behavior are difficult for students to comprehend. For example, thorough understanding of meiosis requires students to integrate several complex concepts related to chromosome structure and function. Using a grounded theory approach, we have unified classroom observations, assessment data, and in-depth interviews under the theory of knowledge transfer to explain student difficulties with concepts related to chromosomal behavior. In this paper, we show that students typically understand basic chromosome structure but do not activate cognitive resources that would allow them to explain macromolecular phenomena (e.g., homologous pairing during meiosis). To improve understanding of topics related to genetic information flow, we suggest that instructors use pedagogies and activities that prime students for making connections between chromosome structure and cellular processes. PMID:23222838

Hot Topics on the Web: Strategies for Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diaz, Karen R.; O'Hanlon, Nancy

2001-01-01

Presents strategies for researching topics on the Web that are controversial or current in nature. Discusses topic selection and overviews, including the use of online encyclopedias; search engines; finding laws and pending legislation; advocacy groups; proprietary databases; Web site evaluation; and the continuing usefulness of print materials.…

Determination of the Mutant Prevention Concentration and the Mutant Selection Window of Topical Antimicrobial Agents against Propionibacterium acnes.

PubMed

Nakase, Keisuke; Nakaminami, Hidemasa; Toda, Yuta; Noguchi, Norihisa

2017-01-01

Determination of the mutant prevention concentration (MPC) and the mutant selection window (MSW) of antimicrobial agents used to treat pathogenic bacteria is important in order to apply effective antimicrobial therapies. Here, we determined the MPCs of the major topical antimicrobial agents against Propionibacterium acnes and Staphylococcus aureus which cause skin infections and compared their MSWs. Among the MPCs of nadifloxacin and clindamycin, the clindamycin MPC was determined to be the lowest against P. acnes. In contrast, the nadifloxacin MPC was the lowest against S. aureus. Calculations based on the minimum inhibitory concentrations and MPCs showed that clindamycin has the lowest MSW against both P. acnes and S. aureus. Nadifloxacin MSWs were 4-fold higher against P. acnes than against S. aureus. It is more likely for P. acnes to acquire resistance to fluoroquinolones than S. aureus. Therefore, topical application of clindamycin contributes very little to the emergence of resistant P. acnes and S. aureus strains. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Revealing the Structural Complexity of Component Interactions of Topic-Specific PCK when Planning to Teach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mavhunga, Elizabeth

2018-04-01

Teaching pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) at a topic-specific level requires clarity on the content-specific nature of the components employed, as well as the specific features that bring about the desirable depth in teacher explanations. Such understanding is often hazy; yet, it influences the nature of teacher tasks and learning opportunities afforded to pre-service teachers in a teaching program. The purpose of this study was twofold: firstly, to illuminate the emerging complexity when content-specific components of PCK interact when planning to teach a chemistry topic; and secondly, to identify the kinds of teacher tasks that promote the emergence of such complexity. Data collected were content representations (CoRes) in chemical equilibrium accompanied by expanded lesson outlines from 15 pre-service teachers in their final year of study towards a first degree in teaching (B Ed). The analysis involved extraction of episodes that exhibited component interaction by using a qualitative in-depth analysis method. The results revealed the structure in which the components of PCK in a topic interact among each other to be linear, interwoven, or a combination of the two. The interwoven interactions contained multiple components that connected explanations on different aspects of a concept, all working in a complementary manner. The most sophisticated component interactions emerged from teacher tasks on descriptions of a lesson sequence and a summary of a lesson. Recommendations in this study highlight core practices for making pedagogical transformation of topic content knowledge more accessible.

Topical drug delivery systems: a patent review.

PubMed

Singh Malik, Deepinder; Mital, Neeraj; Kaur, Gurpreet

2016-01-01

Topical administration is the favored route for local delivery of therapeutic agents due to its convenience and affordability. The specific challenge of designing a therapeutic system is to achieve an optimal concentration of a certain drug at its site of action for an appropriate duration. This review summarizes innovations from the past 3 years (2012-2015) in the field of topical drug delivery for the treatment of local infections of the vagina, nose, eye and skin. The review also throws some light on the anatomy and physiology of these organs and their various defensive barriers which affect the delivery of drugs administered topically. Topical administration has been gaining attention over the last few years. However, conventional topical drug delivery systems suffer from drawbacks such as poor retention and low bioavailability. The successful formulation of topical delivery products requires the careful manipulation of defensive barriers and selection of a soluble drug carrier. Extensive research is required to develop newer topical drug delivery systems aiming either to improve the efficacy or to reduce side effects compared to current patented systems.

Lexical and Syntactic Influences on Structural Selection in Language Production

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frazer, Alexandra Kate

2016-01-01

We still know surprisingly little about how grammatical structures are selected for use in sentence production. A major debate concerns whether structural selection is competitive or noncompetitive. Competitive accounts propose that alternative structures or structural components actively suppress one another's activation until one option reaches…

Advanced aerodynamics and active controls. Selected NASA research

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

Aerodynamic and active control concepts for application to commercial transport aircraft are discussed. Selected topics include in flight direct strike lightning research, triply redundant digital fly by wire control systems, tail configurations, winglets, and the drones for aerodynamic and structural testing (DAST) program.

In vivo characterization of structural changes after topical application of glucocorticoids in healthy human skin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jung, Sora; Lademann, Jürgen; Darvin, Maxim E.; Richter, Claudia; Pedersen, Claus Bang; Richter, Heike; Schanzer, Sabine; Kottner, Jan; Blume-Peytavi, Ulrike; Røpke, Mads Almose

2017-07-01

Topical glucocorticoids (GC) are known to induce changes in human skin with the potential to develop skin atrophy. Here, atrophogenic effects and subsequent structural changes in the skin after topical application of GC were investigated in vivo. Sixteen healthy volunteers were topically treated daily on the forearms with clobetasol propionate, betamethasone dipropionate, and the petrolatum vehicle for 4 weeks. All treated skin areas and a nontreated control area were examined by ultrasound, optical coherence tomography, confocal laser scanning microscopy, multiphoton tomography (MPT), and resonance Raman spectroscopy at baseline 1 day after last application and 1 week after last application. Investigated parameters included stratum corneum thickness, epidermal, and full skin thickness, keratinocyte size and density, keratinocyte nucleus-to-cytoplasm ratio, skin surface classification, relative collagen and elastin signal intensity, second-harmonic generation-to-autofluorescence aging index of dermis (SAAID), and the antioxidant status of the skin. A reduction in epidermal and dermal skin thickness was observed in GC treated as well as in vehicle-treated and untreated skin areas on the volar forearm. MPT analysis showed an increased epidermal cell density and reduced cell size and nucleus-to-cytoplasm ratio and a significant increase of SAAID after GC treatment indicating a restructuring or compression of collagen fibers clinically being observed as atrophic changes.

Image Search Reranking With Hierarchical Topic Awareness.

PubMed

Tian, Xinmei; Yang, Linjun; Lu, Yijuan; Tian, Qi; Tao, Dacheng

2015-10-01

With much attention from both academia and industrial communities, visual search reranking has recently been proposed to refine image search results obtained from text-based image search engines. Most of the traditional reranking methods cannot capture both relevance and diversity of the search results at the same time. Or they ignore the hierarchical topic structure of search result. Each topic is treated equally and independently. However, in real applications, images returned for certain queries are naturally in hierarchical organization, rather than simple parallel relation. In this paper, a new reranking method "topic-aware reranking (TARerank)" is proposed. TARerank describes the hierarchical topic structure of search results in one model, and seamlessly captures both relevance and diversity of the image search results simultaneously. Through a structured learning framework, relevance and diversity are modeled in TARerank by a set of carefully designed features, and then the model is learned from human-labeled training samples. The learned model is expected to predict reranking results with high relevance and diversity for testing queries. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we collect an image search dataset and conduct comparison experiments on it. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed TARerank outperforms the existing relevance-based and diversified reranking methods.

Using NASA Space Imaging Technology to Teach Earth and Sun Topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verner, E.; Bruhweiler, F. C.; Long, T.

2011-12-01

We teach an experimental college-level course, directed toward elementary education majors, emphasizing "hands-on" activities that can be easily applied to the elementary classroom. This course, Physics 240: "The Sun-Earth Connection" includes various ways to study selected topics in physics, earth science, and basic astronomy. Our lesson plans and EPO materials make extensive use of NASA imagery and cover topics about magnetism, the solar photospheric, chromospheric, coronal spectra, as well as earth science and climate. In addition we are developing and will cover topics on ecosystem structure, biomass and water on Earth. We strive to free the non-science undergraduate from the "fear of science" and replace it with the excitement of science such that these future teachers will carry this excitement to their future students. Hands-on experiments, computer simulations, analysis of real NASA data, and vigorous seminar discussions are blended in an inquiry-driven curriculum to instill confident understanding of basic physical science and modern, effective methods for teaching it. The course also demonstrates ways how scientific thinking and hands-on activities could be implemented in the classroom. We have designed this course to provide the non-science student a confident basic understanding of physical science and modern, effective methods for teaching it. Most of topics were selected using National Science Standards and National Mathematics Standards that are addressed in grades K-8. The course focuses on helping education majors: 1) Build knowledge of scientific concepts and processes; 2) Understand the measurable attributes of objects and the units and methods of measurements; 3) Conduct data analysis (collecting, organizing, presenting scientific data, and to predict the result); 4) Use hands-on approaches to teach science; 5) Be familiar with Internet science teaching resources. Here we share our experiences and challenges we face while teaching this course.

Survey of selected topics relevant to bioprocess engineering. Technical note (Final)

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

Hubbard, J.B.; Clark, E.J.; Levelt Sengers, J.M.H.

1990-05-01

The following is a collection of reports on topics considered important and generic in biotechnology and bioprocess engineering: (1) Isoelectric points of proteins; (2) Solubility and mass transfer of oxygen in bioreactors; (3) Solubility and mass transfer of carbon dioxide in bioreactors. The reports arose from a survey of the past and current biotechnology literature with special effort given to a critique of data measurement quality. The format is as follows. The technological importance of a topic is briefly discussed, followed by a critical review of relevant physical properties, data presentation, and measurement techniques. A conclusions and recommendations section summarizesmore » the findings and contains specific recommendations for future research projects. The last section consists of an annotated bibliography and references pertaining to the survey.« less

Immunomodulation and safety of topical calcineurin inhibitors for the treatment of atopic dermatitis.

PubMed

Hultsch, Thomas; Kapp, Alexander; Spergel, Jonathan

2005-01-01

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic or chronically relapsing inflammatory skin condition that primarily affects children. Topical corticosteroids have been the mainstay of treatment since the late 1950s. While providing excellent short-term efficacy, topical corticosteroid usage is limited by potential adverse effects, including impairment of the function and viability of Langerhans cells/dendritic cells. The recently introduced topical calcineurin inhibitors pimecrolimus cream 1% (Elidel) and tacrolimus ointment 0.03 and 0.1% (Protopic) exhibit a more selective mechanism of action and do not affect Langerhans cells/dendritic cells. For the immune system of young children 'learning' to mount a balanced Th1/Th2 response, this selective effect has particular benefits. In clinical experience, topical calcineurin inhibitors have been shown to be a safe and effective alternative to topical corticosteroids in almost 7 million patients (>5 million on pimecrolimus; >1.7 million on tacrolimus). Topical pimecrolimus is primarily used in children with mild and moderate AD, whereas tacrolimus is used preferentially in more severe cases. None of the topical calcineurin inhibitors have been associated with systemic immunosuppression-related malignancies known to occur following long-term sustained systemic immunosuppression with oral immunosuppressants (e.g., tacrolimus, cyclosporine A, and corticosteroids) in transplant patients. Preclinical and clinical data suggest a greater skin selectivity and larger safety margin for topical pimecrolimus. (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

Considering Future Potential Regarding Structural Diversity in Selection of Forest Reserves.

PubMed

Lundström, Johanna; Öhman, Karin; Rönnqvist, Mikael; Gustafsson, Lena

2016-01-01

A rich structural diversity in forests promotes biodiversity. Forests are dynamic and therefore it is crucial to consider future structural potential when selecting reserves, to make robust conservation decisions. We analyzed forests in boreal Sweden based on 17,599 National Forest Inventory (NFI) plots with the main aim to understand how effectiveness of reserves depends on the time dimension in the selection process, specifically by considering future structural diversity. In the study both the economic value and future values of 15 structural variables were simulated during a 100 year period. To get a net present structural value (NPSV), a single value covering both current and future values, we used four discounting alternatives: (1) only considering present values, (2) giving equal importance to values in each of the 100 years within the planning horizon, (3) applying an annual discount rate considering the risk that values could be lost, and (4) only considering the values in year 100. The four alternatives were evaluated in a reserve selection model under budget-constrained and area-constrained selections. When selecting young forests higher structural richness could be reached at a quarter of the cost over almost twice the area in a budget-constrained selection compared to an area-constrained selection. Our results point to the importance of considering future structural diversity in the selection of forest reserves and not as is done currently to base the selection on existing values. Targeting future values increases structural diversity and implies a relatively lower cost. Further, our results show that a re-orientation from old to young forests would imply savings while offering a more extensive reserve network with high structural qualities in the future. However, caution must be raised against a drastic reorientation of the current old-forest strategy since remnants of ancient forests will need to be prioritized due to their role for disturbance

Topical Structure in Argumentative Essays of EFL Learners and Implications for Writing Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiliç, Mehmet; Genç, Bilal; Bada, Erdogan

2016-01-01

The literature on the topical organization of essays suggests that there are four possible types of progression from the topic of one clause to the topics of the following clauses. These are parallel, sequential, extended parallel, and extended sequential progressions. Essay writers' ability to create cohesion and coherence can be evaluated on the…

Resources for Topics in Nursing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riordan, Dale B.

This guide is intended to help the user become familiar with a selected group of reference tools and resources which are useful in nursing education and practice. It is important for students to use the correct medical or scientific terminology, understand the scope of a topic, and then utilize the tools necessary to research subjects of interest.…

Selective structural source identification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Totaro, Nicolas

2018-04-01

In the field of acoustic source reconstruction, the inverse Patch Transfer Function (iPTF) has been recently proposed and has shown satisfactory results whatever the shape of the vibrating surface and whatever the acoustic environment. These two interesting features are due to the virtual acoustic volume concept underlying the iPTF methods. The aim of the present article is to show how this concept of virtual subsystem can be used in structures to reconstruct the applied force distribution. Some virtual boundary conditions can be applied on a part of the structure, called virtual testing structure, to identify the force distribution applied in that zone regardless of the presence of other sources outside the zone under consideration. In the present article, the applicability of the method is only demonstrated on planar structures. However, the final example show how the method can be applied to a complex shape planar structure with point welded stiffeners even in the tested zone. In that case, if the virtual testing structure includes the stiffeners the identified force distribution only exhibits the positions of external applied forces. If the virtual testing structure does not include the stiffeners, the identified force distribution permits to localize the forces due to the coupling between the structure and the stiffeners through the welded points as well as the ones due to the external forces. This is why this approach is considered here as a selective structural source identification method. It is demonstrated that this approach clearly falls in the same framework as the Force Analysis Technique, the Virtual Fields Method or the 2D spatial Fourier transform. Even if this approach has a lot in common with these latters, it has some interesting particularities like its low sensitivity to measurement noise.

Physicians' Religious Topic Avoidance during Clinical Interactions.

PubMed

Villagran, Melinda M; MacArthur, Brenda L; Lee, Lauren E; Ledford, Christy J W; Canzona, Mollie R

2017-05-08

Religious and spiritual (R/S) conversations at the end-of-life function to help patients and their families find comfort in difficult circumstances. Physicians who feel uncertain about how to discuss topics related to religious beliefs may seek to avoid R/S conversations with their patients. This study utilized a two-group objective structured clinical examination with a standardized patient to explore differences in physicians' use of R/S topic avoidance tactics during a clinical interaction. Results indicated that physicians used more topic avoidance tactics in response to patients' R/S inquiries than patients' R/S disclosures; however, the use of topic avoidance tactics did not eliminate the need to engage in patient-initiated R/S interactions.

Physicians’ Religious Topic Avoidance during Clinical Interactions

PubMed Central

Villagran, Melinda M.; MacArthur, Brenda L.; Lee, Lauren E.; Ledford, Christy J. W.; Canzona, Mollie R.

2017-01-01

Religious and spiritual (R/S) conversations at the end-of-life function to help patients and their families find comfort in difficult circumstances. Physicians who feel uncertain about how to discuss topics related to religious beliefs may seek to avoid R/S conversations with their patients. This study utilized a two-group objective structured clinical examination with a standardized patient to explore differences in physicians’ use of R/S topic avoidance tactics during a clinical interaction. Results indicated that physicians used more topic avoidance tactics in response to patients’ R/S inquiries than patients’ R/S disclosures; however, the use of topic avoidance tactics did not eliminate the need to engage in patient-initiated R/S interactions. PMID:28481290

Empirical comparison study of approximate methods for structure selection in binary graphical models.

PubMed

Viallon, Vivian; Banerjee, Onureena; Jougla, Eric; Rey, Grégoire; Coste, Joel

2014-03-01

Looking for associations among multiple variables is a topical issue in statistics due to the increasing amount of data encountered in biology, medicine, and many other domains involving statistical applications. Graphical models have recently gained popularity for this purpose in the statistical literature. In the binary case, however, exact inference is generally very slow or even intractable because of the form of the so-called log-partition function. In this paper, we review various approximate methods for structure selection in binary graphical models that have recently been proposed in the literature and compare them through an extensive simulation study. We also propose a modification of one existing method, that is shown to achieve good performance and to be generally very fast. We conclude with an application in which we search for associations among causes of death recorded on French death certificates. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Incorporating Women and Crime Topics into Criminology Classes: Assignments, Exercises, and Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Richard A.

1987-01-01

Recommends a variety of books, assignments, exercises, and projects which can be incorporated into introductory criminology classes to compensate for the omission of topics on women and crime in textbooks and curricula. Includes a list of potential topics for writing assignments and a selection of films covering such topics as sexual harassment,…

Topical agents for oral cancer chemoprevention: A systematic review of the literature.

PubMed

Chau, Lucy; Jabara, Justin T; Lai, Wanda; Svider, Peter F; Warner, Blake M; Lin, Ho-Sheng; Raza, S Naweed; Fribley, Andrew M

2017-04-01

We review the use of topical chemoprevention agents in patients with oral potentially malignant disorders (PMD). A systematic review of studies on topical chemoprevention agents for oral PMD from 1946 to November 2016 was conducted using the MEDLINE database, Embase, and Cochrane Library. Data were extracted and analyzed from selected studies including study type, sample size, demographics, treatment length, response rate, follow-up time, adverse effects, and recurrence. Of 108 studies, twenty-four, representing 679 cases met the inclusion criteria. The clinical lesions evaluated included oral leukoplakia, erythroplakia (OEL), verrucous hyperplasia (OVH), oral lichen planus, larynx squamous cell carcinoma, and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The mean complete response rate for topical retinoid therapy was 32%. The mean complete response rate for 1% bleomycin therapy and 0.5% bleomycin was 40.2% and 25%, respectively. The complete response rate of OVH, OEL, and OSCC to photodynamic therapy ranged from 66.7% to 100%. There are a paucity of data examining topical treatment of oral PMDs. However, the use of topical agents among patients with oral lesions may be a viable complement or even alternative to traditional surgery, radiation, or systemic chemotherapy, with the advantage of reducing systemic side effects and sparing important anatomic structures. This study of 679 cases represents the largest pooled sample size to date, and the preliminary studies in this systematic review provide support for further inquiry. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing the Scope and Feasibility of First-Year Students' Research Paper Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rinto, Erin; Bowles-Terry, Melissa; Santos, Ariel J.

2016-01-01

This study applied a content analysis methodology in two ways to evaluate first-year students' research topics: a rubric to examine proposed topics in terms of scope, development, and the "researchability" of the topic, as well as textual analysis, using ATLAS.ti, to provide an overview of the types of subjects students select for a…

Emergence of social structures via preferential selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lipowski, Adam; Lipowska, Dorota; Ferreira, Antonio Luis

2014-09-01

We examine a weighted-network multiagent model with preferential selection such that agents choose partners with probability p (w), where w is the number of their past selections. When p (w) increases sublinearly with the number of past selections [p(w)˜wα,α<1], agents develop a uniform preference for all other agents. At α =1, this state loses stability and more complex structures form. For a superlinear increase (α>1), strong heterogeneities emerge and agents make selections mainly within small and sometimes asymmetric clusters. Even in a few-agent case, the formation of such clusters resembles phase transitions with spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Kin groups and trait groups: population structure and epidemic disease selection.

PubMed

Fix, A G

1984-10-01

A Monte Carlo simulation based on the population structure of a small-scale human population, the Semai Senoi of Malaysia, has been developed to study the combined effects of group, kin, and individual selection. The population structure resembles D.S. Wilson's structured deme model in that local breeding populations (Semai settlements) are subdivided into trait groups (hamlets) that may be kin-structured and are not themselves demes. Additionally, settlement breeding populations are connected by two-dimensional stepping-stone migration approaching 30% per generation. Group and kin-structured group selection occur among hamlets the survivors of which then disperse to breed within the settlement population. Genetic drift is modeled by the process of hamlet formation; individual selection as a deterministic process, and stepping-stone migration as either random or kin-structured migrant groups. The mechanism for group selection is epidemics of infectious disease that can wipe out small hamlets particularly if most adults become sick and social life collapses. Genetic resistance to a disease is an individual attribute; however, hamlet groups with several resistant adults are less likely to disintegrate and experience high social mortality. A specific human gene, hemoglobin E, which confers resistance to malaria, is studied as an example of the process. The results of the simulations show that high genetic variance among hamlet groups may be generated by moderate degrees of kin-structuring. This strong microdifferentiation provides the potential for group selection. The effect of group selection in this case is rapid increase in gene frequencies among the total set of populations. In fact, group selection in concert with individual selection produced a faster rate of gene frequency increase among a set of 25 populations than the rate within a single unstructured population subject to deterministic individual selection. Such rapid evolution with plausible rates of

Exploiting the functional and taxonomic structure of genomic data by probabilistic topic modeling.

PubMed

Chen, Xin; Hu, Xiaohua; Lim, Tze Y; Shen, Xiajiong; Park, E K; Rosen, Gail L

2012-01-01

In this paper, we present a method that enable both homology-based approach and composition-based approach to further study the functional core (i.e., microbial core and gene core, correspondingly). In the proposed method, the identification of major functionality groups is achieved by generative topic modeling, which is able to extract useful information from unlabeled data. We first show that generative topic model can be used to model the taxon abundance information obtained by homology-based approach and study the microbial core. The model considers each sample as a “document,” which has a mixture of functional groups, while each functional group (also known as a “latent topic”) is a weight mixture of species. Therefore, estimating the generative topic model for taxon abundance data will uncover the distribution over latent functions (latent topic) in each sample. Second, we show that, generative topic model can also be used to study the genome-level composition of “N-mer” features (DNA subreads obtained by composition-based approaches). The model consider each genome as a mixture of latten genetic patterns (latent topics), while each functional pattern is a weighted mixture of the “N-mer” features, thus the existence of core genomes can be indicated by a set of common N-mer features. After studying the mutual information between latent topics and gene regions, we provide an explanation of the functional roles of uncovered latten genetic patterns. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method.

Direction selective structural-acoustic coupled radiator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, Hee-Seon; Kim, Yang-Hann

2005-04-01

This paper presents a method of designing a structural-acoustic coupled radiator that can emit sound in the desired direction. The structural-acoustic coupled system is consisted of acoustic spaces and wall. The wall composes two plates and an opening, and the wall separates one space that is highly reverberant and the other that is unbounded without any reflection. An equation is developed that predicts energy distribution and energy flow in the two spaces separated by the wall, and its computational examples are presented including near field acoustic characteristics. To design the directional coupled radiator, Pareto optimization method is adapted. An objective is selected to maximize radiation power on a main axis and minimize a side lobe level and a subjective is selected direction of the main axis and dimensions of the walls geometry. Pressure and intensity distribution of the designed radiator is also presented.

Combining Chemistry and Music to Engage Student Interest: Using Songs to Accompany Selected Chemical Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Last, Arthur M.

2009-01-01

The use of recorded music to add interest to a variety of lecture topics is described. Topics include the periodic table, the formation of ionic compounds, thermodynamics, carbohydrates, nuclear chemistry, and qualitative analysis. (Contains 1 note.)

[Presentation of the "physical handicap" topic in six selected children's books--a critical analysis].

PubMed

Flottmeyer, L; Fries, A

1993-05-01

Since the late 60s, reality-oriented books for children and young people have increasingly turned to subject-matters and issues involving social/societal criticism, among them the theme of "being disabled". In the discussion on the degree to which media, and books in particular, do affect children's attitudes and socialization, it has been underlined that media take effect in the development of specific attitudinal patterns and behavioural dispositions in those cases where the recipient has not already formed a "completed" opinion of the topic at hand. This in particular is true in children of primary school age, and above all relates to their view of the disabled person. Six selected children's books were reviewed critically, based on a catalogue of criteria permitting coverage of as wide as spectrum as possible of "physical disability" and allied subjects. Summarizing, it is noted that the books reviewed do give children the opportunity, and partly in an excellent manner, of gaining insights into the situation of disabled persons. The potential for didactical treatment in primary classrooms is pointed out.

Topical dobesilate eye drops for ophthalmic primary pterygium

PubMed Central

Cuevas, Pedro; Outeiriño, Luis A; Angulo, Javier; Giménez-Gallego, Guillermo

2012-01-01

Selective inhibition of fibroblast growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor signalling pathways is effective in causing regression of pterygia. Prompt regression of fibrovascular mass and conjunctival angiogenesis was documented 2 weeks after topical administration of dobesilate eye drops twice daily. At 3-month follow-up, no recurrence was seen and no ocular irritation and burning were noted. The authors believe that this is the first known successful use of topical dobesilate in primary pterygium. PMID:22605609

Overlapping meta-analyses on the same topic: survey of published studies.

PubMed

Siontis, Konstantinos C; Hernandez-Boussard, Tina; Ioannidis, John P A

2013-07-19

To assess how common it is to have multiple overlapping meta-analyses of randomized trials published on the same topic. Survey of published meta-analyses. PubMed. Meta-analyses published in 2010 were identified, and 5% of them were randomly selected. We further selected those that included randomized trials and examined effectiveness of any medical intervention. For eligible meta-analyses, we searched for other meta-analyses on the same topic (covering the same comparisons, indications/settings, and outcomes or overlapping subsets of them) published until February 2013. Of 73 eligible meta-analyses published in 2010, 49 (67%) had at least one other overlapping meta-analysis (median two meta-analyses per topic, interquartile range 1-4, maximum 13). In 17 topics at least one author was involved in at least two of the overlapping meta-analyses. No characteristics of the index meta-analyses were associated with the potential for overlapping meta-analyses. Among pairs of overlapping meta-analyses in 20 randomly selected topics, 13 of the more recent meta-analyses did not include any additional outcomes. In three of the four topics with eight or more published meta-analyses, many meta-analyses examined only a subset of the eligible interventions or indications/settings covered by the index meta-analysis. Conversely, for statins in the prevention of atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery, 11 meta-analyses were published with similar eligibility criteria for interventions and setting: there was still variability on which studies were included, but the results were always similar or even identical across meta-analyses. While some independent replication of meta-analyses by different teams is possibly useful, the overall picture suggests that there is a waste of efforts with many topics covered by multiple overlapping meta-analyses.

The Influence of Topic Status on Written and Spoken Sentence Production

PubMed Central

Cowles, H. Wind; Ferreira, Victor S.

2012-01-01

Four experiments investigate the influence of topic status and givenness on how speakers and writers structure sentences. The results of these experiments show that when a referent is previously given, it is more likely to be produced early in both sentences and word lists, confirming prior work showing that givenness increases the accessibility of given referents. When a referent is previously given and assigned topic status, it is even more likely to be produced early in a sentence, but not in a word list. Thus, there appears to be an early mention advantage for topics that is present in both written and spoken modalities, but is specific to sentence production. These results suggest that information-structure constructs like topic exert an influence that is not based only on increased accessibility, but also reflects mapping to syntactic structure during sentence production. PMID:22408281

Lecture Notes on Topics in Accelerator Physics

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

Chao, Alex W.

These are lecture notes that cover a selection of topics, some of them under current research, in accelerator physics. I try to derive the results from first principles, although the students are assumed to have an introductory knowledge of the basics. The topics covered are: (1) Panofsky-Wenzel and Planar Wake Theorems; (2) Echo Effect; (3) Crystalline Beam; (4) Fast Ion Instability; (5) Lawson-Woodward Theorem and Laser Acceleration in Free Space; (6) Spin Dynamics and Siberian Snakes; (7) Symplectic Approximation of Maps; (8) Truncated Power Series Algebra; and (9) Lie Algebra Technique for nonlinear Dynamics. The purpose of these lectures ismore » not to elaborate, but to prepare the students so that they can do their own research. Each topic can be read independently of the others.« less

Fibrous selective emitter structures from sol-gel process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, K. C.

1999-03-01

Selective emitters have the potential benefit of high efficiency due to the matching of emission spectra to the response of photovoltaic (PV) cells. Continuous uniform rare-earth oxide selective emitter fibers were successfully fabricated using a viscous solution made from metal organic precursors. Cylindrical- and planar configuration emitter structures were made by direct cross-winding or stacking of precursor fiber layers. The combustion and optical performance of the planar emitter structures were tested. The results indicates that both the designing of the fiber packing density and the thickness is critical for high photon and power output.

Animal behaviour and algal camouflage jointly structure predation and selection.

PubMed

Start, Denon

2018-05-01

Trait variation can structure interactions between individuals, thus shaping selection. Although antipredator strategies are an important component of many aquatic systems, how multiple antipredator traits interact to influence consumption and selection remains contentious. Here, I use a common larval dragonfly (Epitheca canis) and its predator (Anax junius) to test for the joint effects of activity rate and algal camouflage on predation and survival selection. I found that active and poorly camouflaged Epitheca were more likely to be consumed, and thus, survival selection favoured inactive and well-camouflaged individuals. Notably, camouflage dampened selection on activity rate, likely by reducing attack rates when Epitheca encountered a predator. Correlational selection is therefore conferred by the ecological interaction of traits, rather than by opposing selection acting on linked traits. I suggest that antipredator traits with different adaptive functions can jointly structure patterns of consumption and selection. © 2018 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2018 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

ProSelection: A Novel Algorithm to Select Proper Protein Structure Subsets for in Silico Target Identification and Drug Discovery Research.

PubMed

Wang, Nanyi; Wang, Lirong; Xie, Xiang-Qun

2017-11-27

Molecular docking is widely applied to computer-aided drug design and has become relatively mature in the recent decades. Application of docking in modeling varies from single lead compound optimization to large-scale virtual screening. The performance of molecular docking is highly dependent on the protein structures selected. It is especially challenging for large-scale target prediction research when multiple structures are available for a single target. Therefore, we have established ProSelection, a docking preferred-protein selection algorithm, in order to generate the proper structure subset(s). By the ProSelection algorithm, protein structures of "weak selectors" are filtered out whereas structures of "strong selectors" are kept. Specifically, the structure which has a good statistical performance of distinguishing active ligands from inactive ligands is defined as a strong selector. In this study, 249 protein structures of 14 autophagy-related targets are investigated. Surflex-dock was used as the docking engine to distinguish active and inactive compounds against these protein structures. Both t test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to distinguish the strong from the weak selectors based on the normality of the docking score distribution. The suggested docking score threshold for active ligands (SDA) was generated for each strong selector structure according to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The performance of ProSelection was further validated by predicting the potential off-targets of 43 U.S. Federal Drug Administration approved small molecule antineoplastic drugs. Overall, ProSelection will accelerate the computational work in protein structure selection and could be a useful tool for molecular docking, target prediction, and protein-chemical database establishment research.

Training set optimization under population structure in genomic selection.

PubMed

Isidro, Julio; Jannink, Jean-Luc; Akdemir, Deniz; Poland, Jesse; Heslot, Nicolas; Sorrells, Mark E

2015-01-01

Population structure must be evaluated before optimization of the training set population. Maximizing the phenotypic variance captured by the training set is important for optimal performance. The optimization of the training set (TRS) in genomic selection has received much interest in both animal and plant breeding, because it is critical to the accuracy of the prediction models. In this study, five different TRS sampling algorithms, stratified sampling, mean of the coefficient of determination (CDmean), mean of predictor error variance (PEVmean), stratified CDmean (StratCDmean) and random sampling, were evaluated for prediction accuracy in the presence of different levels of population structure. In the presence of population structure, the most phenotypic variation captured by a sampling method in the TRS is desirable. The wheat dataset showed mild population structure, and CDmean and stratified CDmean methods showed the highest accuracies for all the traits except for test weight and heading date. The rice dataset had strong population structure and the approach based on stratified sampling showed the highest accuracies for all traits. In general, CDmean minimized the relationship between genotypes in the TRS, maximizing the relationship between TRS and the test set. This makes it suitable as an optimization criterion for long-term selection. Our results indicated that the best selection criterion used to optimize the TRS seems to depend on the interaction of trait architecture and population structure.

Tactile friction of topical formulations.

PubMed

Skedung, L; Buraczewska-Norin, I; Dawood, N; Rutland, M W; Ringstad, L

2016-02-01

The tactile perception is essential for all types of topical formulations (cosmetic, pharmaceutical, medical device) and the possibility to predict the sensorial response by using instrumental methods instead of sensory testing would save time and cost at an early stage product development. Here, we report on an instrumental evaluation method using tactile friction measurements to estimate perceptual attributes of topical formulations. Friction was measured between an index finger and an artificial skin substrate after application of formulations using a force sensor. Both model formulations of liquid crystalline phase structures with significantly different tactile properties, as well as commercial pharmaceutical moisturizing creams being more tactile-similar, were investigated. Friction coefficients were calculated as the ratio of the friction force to the applied load. The structures of the model formulations and phase transitions as a result of water evaporation were identified using optical microscopy. The friction device could distinguish friction coefficients between the phase structures, as well as the commercial creams after spreading and absorption into the substrate. In addition, phase transitions resulting in alterations in the feel of the formulations could be detected. A correlation was established between skin hydration and friction coefficient, where hydrated skin gave rise to higher friction. Also a link between skin smoothening and finger friction was established for the commercial moisturizing creams, although further investigations are needed to analyse this and correlations with other sensorial attributes in more detail. The present investigation shows that tactile friction measurements have potential as an alternative or complement in the evaluation of perception of topical formulations. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Topic maps for exploring nosological, lexical, semantic and HL7 structures for clinical data.

PubMed

Paterson, Grace I; Grant, Andrew M; Soroka, Steven D

2008-12-01

A topic map is implemented for learning about clinical data associated with a hospital stay for patients diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, diabetes and hypertension. The question posed is: how might a topic map help bridge perspectival differences among communities of practice and help make commensurable the different classifications they use? The knowledge layer of the topic map was generated from existing ontological relationships in nosological, lexical, semantic and HL7 boundary objects. Discharge summaries, patient charts and clinical data warehouse entries rectified the clinical knowledge used in practice. These clinical data were normalized to HL7 Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) markup standard and stored in the Clinical Document Repository. Each CDA entry was given a subject identifier and linked with the topic map. The ability of topic maps to function as the infostructure ;glue' is assessed using dimensions of semantic interoperability and commensurability.

Comprehensive risk analysis for structure type selection.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-04-01

Optimization of bridge selection and design traditionally has been sought in terms of the finished structure. This study presents a : more comprehensive risk-based analysis that includes user costs and accidents during the construction phase. Costs f...

Family Structure Changes during High School and College Selectivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

An, Brian P.; Sorensen, Kia N.

2017-01-01

Research has shown that family structure changes negatively influence educational attainment, but they overlook qualitative distinctions in college choice, such as college selectivity. Yet, college choice research has largely focused on static measures of family structure, failing to account for year-to-year family structure changes that occur…

A Data-Based Approach to Discovering Multi-Topic Influential Leaders.

PubMed

Tang, Xing; Miao, Qiguang; Yu, Shangshang; Quan, Yining

2016-01-01

Recently, increasing numbers of users have adopted microblogging services as their main information source. However, most of them find themselves drowning in the millions of posts produced by other users every day. To cope with this, identifying a set of the most influential people is paramount. Moreover, finding a set of related influential users to expand the coverage of one particular topic is required in real world scenarios. Most of the existing algorithms in this area focus on topology-related methods such as PageRank. These methods mine link structures to find the expected influential rank of users. However, because they ignore the interaction data, these methods turn out to be less effective in social networks. In reality, a variety of topics exist within the information diffusing through the network. Because they have different interests, users play different roles in the diffusion of information related to different topics. As a result, distinguishing influential leaders according to different topics is also worthy of research. In this paper, we propose a multi-topic influence diffusion model (MTID) based on traces acquired from historic information. We decompose the influential scores of users into two parts: the direct influence determined by information propagation along the link structure and indirect influence that extends beyond the restrictions of direct follower relationships. To model the network from a multi-topical viewpoint, we introduce topic pools, each of which represents a particular topic information source. Then, we extract the topic distributions from the traces of tweets, determining the influence propagation probability and content generation probability. In the network, we adopt multiple ground nodes representing topic pools to connect every user through bidirectional links. Based on this multi-topical view of the network, we further introduce the topic-dependent rank (TD-Rank) algorithm to identify the multi-topic influential users

A Data-Based Approach to Discovering Multi-Topic Influential Leaders

PubMed Central

Tang, Xing; Miao, Qiguang; Yu, Shangshang; Quan, Yining

2016-01-01

Recently, increasing numbers of users have adopted microblogging services as their main information source. However, most of them find themselves drowning in the millions of posts produced by other users every day. To cope with this, identifying a set of the most influential people is paramount. Moreover, finding a set of related influential users to expand the coverage of one particular topic is required in real world scenarios. Most of the existing algorithms in this area focus on topology-related methods such as PageRank. These methods mine link structures to find the expected influential rank of users. However, because they ignore the interaction data, these methods turn out to be less effective in social networks. In reality, a variety of topics exist within the information diffusing through the network. Because they have different interests, users play different roles in the diffusion of information related to different topics. As a result, distinguishing influential leaders according to different topics is also worthy of research. In this paper, we propose a multi-topic influence diffusion model (MTID) based on traces acquired from historic information. We decompose the influential scores of users into two parts: the direct influence determined by information propagation along the link structure and indirect influence that extends beyond the restrictions of direct follower relationships. To model the network from a multi-topical viewpoint, we introduce topic pools, each of which represents a particular topic information source. Then, we extract the topic distributions from the traces of tweets, determining the influence propagation probability and content generation probability. In the network, we adopt multiple ground nodes representing topic pools to connect every user through bidirectional links. Based on this multi-topical view of the network, we further introduce the topic-dependent rank (TD-Rank) algorithm to identify the multi-topic influential users

Exploring the Framing of Animal Farming and Meat Consumption: On the Diversity of Topics Used and Qualitative Patterns in Selected Demographic Contexts.

PubMed

Nijland, Hanneke J; Aarts, Noelle; van Woerkum, Cees M J

2018-01-24

In various contexts, people talk about animal farming and meat consumption using different arguments to construct and justify their (non-)acceptability. This article presents the results of an in-depth qualitative inquiry into the content of and contextual patterns in the everyday-life framing regarding this issue, performed among consumers in various settings in two extremes in the European sphere: the Netherlands and Turkey. We describe the methodological steps of collecting, coding, and organizing the variety of encountered framing topics, as well as our search for symbolic convergence in groups of consumers from different selected demographic contexts (country, urban-rural areas, gender, age, and education level). The framing of animal farming and meat consumption in everyday-life is not a simple one-issue rational display of facts; people referred to a vast range of topics in the categories knowledge, convictions, pronounced behaviour, values, norms, interests, and feelings. Looking at framing in relation to the researched demographic contexts, most patterns were found on the level of topics; symbolic convergence in lines of reasoning and composite framing was less prominent in groups based on single demographic contexts than anticipated. An explanation for this lies in the complexity of frame construction, happening in relation with multiple interdependent contextual features.

Topic shift impairs pronoun resolution during sentence comprehension: Evidence from event-related potentials.

PubMed

Xu, Xiaodong; Zhou, Xiaolin

2016-02-01

This study investigated how topic shift and topic continuation influence pronoun interpretation in Chinese. ERPs recorded on pronouns in topic structure showed stronger and earlier late positive responses (P600) for the topic-shift than for the topic-continuation conditions. However, in nontopic structure where the subject (denoting only subjecthood), rather than the topic (denoting both topichood and subjecthood), acted as the antecedent of the pronoun, almost indistinguishable P600 responses were obtained on the pronoun regardless of whether it was referring to the subject (i.e., subject continuation) or the object (i.e., subject shift). Moreover, stronger and earlier P600 responses were elicited by pronouns in the topic-shift than in the subject-shift conditions, although there was no difference between the topic-continuation and the subject-continuation conditions. These findings suggest that topic shift results in greater difficulty in the resolution stage of referential processing, although the bonding process is not sensitive to the manipulation of topic status, and that topic has a privileged cognitive status relative to other nontopic entities (e.g., subject) in real-time language processing. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Analyzing the field of bioinformatics with the multi-faceted topic modeling technique.

PubMed

Heo, Go Eun; Kang, Keun Young; Song, Min; Lee, Jeong-Hoon

2017-05-31

Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of molecular biology and computing technology. To characterize the field as convergent domain, researchers have used bibliometrics, augmented with text-mining techniques for content analysis. In previous studies, Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was the most representative topic modeling technique for identifying topic structure of subject areas. However, as opposed to revealing the topic structure in relation to metadata such as authors, publication date, and journals, LDA only displays the simple topic structure. In this paper, we adopt the Tang et al.'s Author-Conference-Topic (ACT) model to study the field of bioinformatics from the perspective of keyphrases, authors, and journals. The ACT model is capable of incorporating the paper, author, and conference into the topic distribution simultaneously. To obtain more meaningful results, we use journals and keyphrases instead of conferences and bag-of-words.. For analysis, we use PubMed to collected forty-six bioinformatics journals from the MEDLINE database. We conducted time series topic analysis over four periods from 1996 to 2015 to further examine the interdisciplinary nature of bioinformatics. We analyze the ACT Model results in each period. Additionally, for further integrated analysis, we conduct a time series analysis among the top-ranked keyphrases, journals, and authors according to their frequency. We also examine the patterns in the top journals by simultaneously identifying the topical probability in each period, as well as the top authors and keyphrases. The results indicate that in recent years diversified topics have become more prevalent and convergent topics have become more clearly represented. The results of our analysis implies that overtime the field of bioinformatics becomes more interdisciplinary where there is a steady increase in peripheral fields such as conceptual, mathematical, and system biology. These results are

Hot topics: Signal processing in acoustics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaumond, Charles F.

2005-09-01

Signal processing in acoustics is a multidisciplinary group of people that work in many areas of acoustics. We have chosen two areas that have shown exciting new applications of signal processing to acoustics or have shown exciting and important results from the use of signal processing. In this session, two hot topics are shown: the use of noiselike acoustic fields to determine sound propagation structure and the use of localization to determine animal behaviors. The first topic shows the application of correlation on geo-acoustic fields to determine the Greens function for propagation through the Earth. These results can then be further used to solve geo-acoustic inverse problems. The first topic also shows the application of correlation using oceanic noise fields to determine the Greens function through the ocean. These results also have utility for oceanic inverse problems. The second topic shows exciting results from the detection, localization, and tracking of marine mammals by two different groups. Results from detection and localization of bullfrogs are shown, too. Each of these studies contributed to the knowledge of animal behavior. [Work supported by ONR.

Acne Treatment Based on Selective Photothermolysis of Sebaceous Follicles with Topically Delivered Light-Absorbing Gold Microparticles

PubMed Central

Paithankar, Dilip Y; Sakamoto, Fernanda H; Farinelli, William A; Kositratna, Garuna; Blomgren, Richard D; Meyer, Todd J; Faupel, Linda J; Kauvar, Arielle N B; Lloyd, Jenifer R; Cheung, Wang L; Owczarek, Witold D; Suwalska, Anna M; Kochanska, Katarzyna B; Nawrocka, Agnieszka K; Paluchowska, Elwira B; Podolec, Katarzyna M; Pirowska, Magdalena M; Wojas-Pelc, Anna B; Anderson, R Rox

2015-01-01

The pathophysiology of acne vulgaris depends on active sebaceous glands, implying that selective destruction of sebaceous glands could be an effective treatment. We hypothesized that light-absorbing microparticles could be delivered into sebaceous glands, enabling local injury by optical pulses. A suspension of topically applied gold-coated silica microparticles exhibiting plasmon resonance with strong absorption at 800 nm was delivered into human pre-auricular and swine sebaceous glands in vivo, using mechanical vibration. After exposure to 10–50 J cm−2, 30 milliseconds, 800 nm diode laser pulses, microscopy revealed preferential thermal injury to sebaceous follicles and glands, consistent with predictions from a computational model. Inflammation was mild; gold particles were not retained in swine skin 1 month after treatment, and uptake in other organs was negligible. Two independent prospective randomized controlled clinical trials were performed for treatment of moderate-to-severe facial acne, using unblinded and blinded assessments of disease severity. Each trial showed clinically and statistically significant improvement of inflammatory acne following three treatments given 1–2 weeks apart. In Trial 2, inflammatory lesions were significantly reduced at 12 weeks (P=0.015) and 16 weeks (P=0.04) compared with sham treatments. Optical microparticles enable selective photothermolysis of sebaceous glands. This appears to be a well-tolerated, effective treatment for acne vulgaris. PMID:25748556

Characterizing Twitter Discussions About HPV Vaccines Using Topic Modeling and Community Detection.

PubMed

Surian, Didi; Nguyen, Dat Quoc; Kennedy, Georgina; Johnson, Mark; Coiera, Enrico; Dunn, Adam G

2016-08-29

In public health surveillance, measuring how information enters and spreads through online communities may help us understand geographical variation in decision making associated with poor health outcomes. Our aim was to evaluate the use of community structure and topic modeling methods as a process for characterizing the clustering of opinions about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines on Twitter. The study examined Twitter posts (tweets) collected between October 2013 and October 2015 about HPV vaccines. We tested Latent Dirichlet Allocation and Dirichlet Multinomial Mixture (DMM) models for inferring topics associated with tweets, and community agglomeration (Louvain) and the encoding of random walks (Infomap) methods to detect community structure of the users from their social connections. We examined the alignment between community structure and topics using several common clustering alignment measures and introduced a statistical measure of alignment based on the concentration of specific topics within a small number of communities. Visualizations of the topics and the alignment between topics and communities are presented to support the interpretation of the results in context of public health communication and identification of communities at risk of rejecting the safety and efficacy of HPV vaccines. We analyzed 285,417 Twitter posts (tweets) about HPV vaccines from 101,519 users connected by 4,387,524 social connections. Examining the alignment between the community structure and the topics of tweets, the results indicated that the Louvain community detection algorithm together with DMM produced consistently higher alignment values and that alignments were generally higher when the number of topics was lower. After applying the Louvain method and DMM with 30 topics and grouping semantically similar topics in a hierarchy, we characterized 163,148 (57.16%) tweets as evidence and advocacy, and 6244 (2.19%) tweets describing personal experiences. Among the 4548

Characterizing Twitter Discussions About HPV Vaccines Using Topic Modeling and Community Detection

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Dat Quoc; Kennedy, Georgina; Johnson, Mark; Coiera, Enrico; Dunn, Adam G

2016-01-01

Background In public health surveillance, measuring how information enters and spreads through online communities may help us understand geographical variation in decision making associated with poor health outcomes. Objective Our aim was to evaluate the use of community structure and topic modeling methods as a process for characterizing the clustering of opinions about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines on Twitter. Methods The study examined Twitter posts (tweets) collected between October 2013 and October 2015 about HPV vaccines. We tested Latent Dirichlet Allocation and Dirichlet Multinomial Mixture (DMM) models for inferring topics associated with tweets, and community agglomeration (Louvain) and the encoding of random walks (Infomap) methods to detect community structure of the users from their social connections. We examined the alignment between community structure and topics using several common clustering alignment measures and introduced a statistical measure of alignment based on the concentration of specific topics within a small number of communities. Visualizations of the topics and the alignment between topics and communities are presented to support the interpretation of the results in context of public health communication and identification of communities at risk of rejecting the safety and efficacy of HPV vaccines. Results We analyzed 285,417 Twitter posts (tweets) about HPV vaccines from 101,519 users connected by 4,387,524 social connections. Examining the alignment between the community structure and the topics of tweets, the results indicated that the Louvain community detection algorithm together with DMM produced consistently higher alignment values and that alignments were generally higher when the number of topics was lower. After applying the Louvain method and DMM with 30 topics and grouping semantically similar topics in a hierarchy, we characterized 163,148 (57.16%) tweets as evidence and advocacy, and 6244 (2.19%) tweets describing

Selected topics from forty years of natural products research: betalains to flavonoids, antiviral proteins, and neurotoxic nonprotein amino acids.

PubMed

Mabry, T J

2001-12-01

The elucidation by NMR and chemical methods of the unique structure of betanidin, the aglycon of the red-violet beet pigment betanin, forty years ago at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, was the beginning of my plant chemistry research program. Many of the same chemical and spectral techniques developed in Zürich have been used at The University of Texas at Austin for the structure analysis of members of many other classes of natural products including especially flavonoids, terpenoids, and alkaloids. Investigations at UT-Austin have concerned many topics such as biochemical and molecular systematics, biosynthetic pathways, structure-activity relationships, and the medicinal importance of natural products and included studies of antiviral proteins in the genus Phytolacca and neurotoxic nonprotein amino acids from cycads and other sources. Following the betalain story and an account of the early development of my UT-Austin biochemical systematic program, the Phytolacca and neurotoxin investigations are discussed herein.

Structure and selectivity in bestrophin ion channels

DOE PAGES

Yang, Tingting; Liu, Qun; Kloss, Brian; ...

2014-09-25

Human bestrophin 1 (hBest1) is a calcium-activated chloride channel from the retinal pigment epithelium, where it can suffer mutations associated with vitelliform macular degeneration, or Best disease. We describe the structure of a bacterial homolog (KpBest) of hBest1 and functional characterizations of both channels. KpBest is a pentamer that forms a five-helix transmembrane pore, closed by three rings of conserved hydrophobic residues, and has a cytoplasmic cavern with a restricted exit. From electrophysiological analysis of structure-inspired mutations in KpBest and hBest1, we find a subtle control of ion selectivity in the bestrophins, including reversal of anion/cation selectivity, and dramatic activationmore » by mutations at the exit restriction. Lastly, a homology model of hBest1 shows the locations of disease-causing mutations and suggests possible roles in regulation.« less

[Incentive for Regional Risk Selection in the German Risk Structure Compensation Scheme].

PubMed

Wende, Danny

2017-10-01

The introduction of the new law GKV-FQWG strengthens the competition between statutory health insurance. If incentives for risk selection exist, they may force a battle for cheap customers. This study aims to document and discuss incentives for regional risk selection in the German risk structure compensation scheme. Identify regional autocorrelation with Moran's l on financial parameters of the risk structure compensation schema. Incentives for regional risk selection do indeed exist. The risk structure compensation schema reduces 91% of the effect and helps to reduce risk selection. Nevertheless, a connection between regional situation and competition could be shown (correlation: 69.5%). Only the integration of regional control variables into the risk compensation eliminates regional autocorrelation. The actual risk structure compensation is leading to regional inequalities and as a consequence to risk selection and distortion in competition. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Topical Treatment of Facial Seborrheic Dermatitis: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Gupta, Aditya K; Versteeg, Sarah G

2017-04-01

Facial seborrheic dermatitis (SD), a chronic inflammatory skin condition, can impact quality of life, and relapses can be frequent. Three broad categories of agents are used to treat SD: antifungal agents, keratolytics, and corticosteroids. Topical therapies are the first line of defense in treating this condition. Our objective was to critically review the published literature on topical treatments for facial SD. We searched PubMed, Scopus, Clinicaltrials.gov, MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane library databases for original clinical studies evaluating topical treatments for SD. We then conducted both a critical analysis of the selected studies by grading the evidence and a qualitative comparison of results among and within studies. A total of 32 studies were eligible for inclusion, encompassing 18 topical treatments for facial SD. Pimecrolimus, the focus of seven of the 32 eligible studies, was the most commonly studied topical treatment. Promiseb ® , desonide, mometasone furoate, and pimecrolimus were found to be effective topical treatments for facial SD, as they had the lowest recurrence rate, highest clearance rate, and the lowest severity scores (e.g., erythema, scaling, and pruritus), respectively. Ciclopirox olamine, ketoconazole, lithium (gluconate and succinate), and tacrolimus are also strongly recommended (level A recommendations) topical treatments for facial SD, as they are consistently effective across high-quality trials (randomized controlled trials).

Preparation and characterization of cyanocobalamin (vit B12) microemulsion properties and structure for topical and transdermal application.

PubMed

Salimi, Anayatollah; Sharif Makhmal Zadeh, Behzad; Moghimipour, Eskandar

2013-07-01

The objective of this study was to design a topical microemulsion of Vit B12 and to study the correlation between internal structure and physicochemical properties of the microemulsions. Microemulsions are thermodynamically stable mixtures of water, oil, surfactants and usually cosurfactants with several advantages for topical and transdermal drug delivery. The formulation of microemulsions for pharmaceutical use requires a clear understanding of the properties and microstructures of the microemulsions. In this study, phase behavior and microstructure of traditional and novel microemulsions of Vit B12 have been investigated by Small-angle X-ray (SAXS), differential scanning calorimetery (DSC) and measuring density, particle size, conductivity and surface tension. WO and bicontinuous microemulsion with different microstructures were found in novel and traditional formulations. In this study, amount of water, surfactant concentration, oil/ surfactant ratio and physicochemical properties of cosurfactants influenced the microstructures. In both formulations, water behavior was affected by the concentration of the surfactant. Water Solubilization capacity and enthalpy of exothermic peak of interfacial and free water of traditional formulations were more than novel ones. This means that the affinity of water to interfacial film is dependent on the surfactant properties.   This study showed that both microemulsions provided good solubility of Vit B12 with a wide range of internal structure. Low water solubilization capacity is a common property of microemulsions that can affect drug release and permeability through the skin.  Based on Vit B12 properties, specially, intermediate oil and water solubility, better drug partitioning into the skin may be obtained by traditional formulations with wide range of structure and high amount of free and bounded water.    

Topical antifungal agents: an update.

PubMed

Diehl, K B

1996-10-01

So many topical antifungal agents have been introduced that it has become very difficult to select the proper agent for a given infection. Nonspecific agents have been available for many years, and they are still effective in many situations. These agents include Whitfield's ointment, Castellani paint, gentian violet, potassium permanganate, undecylenic acid and selenium sulfide. Specific antifungal agents include, among others, the polyenes (nystatin, amphotericin B), the imidazoles (metronidazole, clotrimazole) and the allylamines (terbinafine, naftifine). Although the choice of an antifungal agent should be based on an accurate diagnosis, many clinicians believe that topical miconazole is a relatively effective agent for the treatment of most mycotic infections. Terbinafine and other newer drugs have primary fungicidal effects. Compared with older antifungal agents, these newer drugs can be used in lower concentrations and shorter therapeutic courses. Studies are needed to evaluate the clinical efficacies and cost advantages of both newer and traditional agents.

Multi-atlas pancreas segmentation: Atlas selection based on vessel structure.

PubMed

Karasawa, Ken'ichi; Oda, Masahiro; Kitasaka, Takayuki; Misawa, Kazunari; Fujiwara, Michitaka; Chu, Chengwen; Zheng, Guoyan; Rueckert, Daniel; Mori, Kensaku

2017-07-01

Automated organ segmentation from medical images is an indispensable component for clinical applications such as computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) and computer-assisted surgery (CAS). We utilize a multi-atlas segmentation scheme, which has recently been used in different approaches in the literature to achieve more accurate and robust segmentation of anatomical structures in computed tomography (CT) volume data. Among abdominal organs, the pancreas has large inter-patient variability in its position, size and shape. Moreover, the CT intensity of the pancreas closely resembles adjacent tissues, rendering its segmentation a challenging task. Due to this, conventional intensity-based atlas selection for pancreas segmentation often fails to select atlases that are similar in pancreas position and shape to those of the unlabeled target volume. In this paper, we propose a new atlas selection strategy based on vessel structure around the pancreatic tissue and demonstrate its application to a multi-atlas pancreas segmentation. Our method utilizes vessel structure around the pancreas to select atlases with high pancreatic resemblance to the unlabeled volume. Also, we investigate two types of applications of the vessel structure information to the atlas selection. Our segmentations were evaluated on 150 abdominal contrast-enhanced CT volumes. The experimental results showed that our approach can segment the pancreas with an average Jaccard index of 66.3% and an average Dice overlap coefficient of 78.5%. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Epidemiologic research topics in Germany: a keyword network analysis of 2014 DGEpi conference presentations.

PubMed

Peter, Raphael Simon; Brehme, Torben; Völzke, Henry; Muche, Rainer; Rothenbacher, Dietrich; Büchele, Gisela

2016-06-01

Knowledge of epidemiologic research topics as well as trends is useful for scientific societies, researchers and funding agencies. In recent years researchers recognized the usefulness of keyword network analysis for visualizing and analyzing scientific research topics. Therefore, we applied keyword network analysis to present an overview of current epidemiologic research topics in Germany. Accepted submissions to the 9th annual congress of the German Society for Epidemiology (DGEpi) in 2014 were used as data source. Submitters had to choose one of 19 subject areas, and were ask to provide a title, structured abstract, names of authors along with their affiliations, and a list of freely selectable keywords. Keywords had been provided for 262 (82 %) submissions, 1030 keywords in total. Overall the most common keywords were: "migration" (18 times), "prevention" (15 times), followed by "children", "cohort study", "physical activity", and "secondary data analysis" (11 times each). Some keywords showed a certain concentration under one specific subject area, e.g. "migration" with 8 of 18 in social epidemiology or "breast cancer" with 4 of 7 in cancer epidemiology. While others like "physical activity" were equally distributed over multiple subject areas (cardiovascular & metabolic diseases, ageing, methods, paediatrics, prevention & health service research). This keyword network analysis demonstrated the high diversity of epidemiologic research topics with a large number of distinct keywords as presented at the annual conference of the DGEpi.

The Structural Basis of Cryptosporidium-Specific IMP Dehydrogenase Inhibitor Selectivity

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

MacPherson, Iain S.; Kirubakaran, Sivapriya; Gorla, Suresh Kumar

2010-03-29

Cryptosporidium parvum is a potential biowarfare agent, an important AIDS pathogen, and a major cause of diarrhea and malnutrition. No vaccines or effective drug treatment exist to combat Cryptosporidium infection. This parasite relies on inosine 5{prime}-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) to obtain guanine nucleotides, and inhibition of this enzyme blocks parasite proliferation. Here, we report the first crystal structures of CpIMPDH. These structures reveal the structural basis of inhibitor selectivity and suggest a strategy for further optimization. Using this information, we have synthesized low-nanomolar inhibitors that display 10{sup 3} selectivity for the parasite enzyme over human IMPDH2.

Bottlenecks in the development of topical analgesics: molecule, formulation, dose-finding, and phase III design.

PubMed

Keppel Hesselink, Jan M; Kopsky, David J; Stahl, Stephen M

2017-01-01

Topical analgesics can be defined as topical formulations containing analgesics or co-analgesics. Since 2000, interest in such formulations has been on the rise. There are, however, four critical issues in the research and development phases of topical analgesics: 1) The selection of the active pharmaceutical ingredient. Analgesics and co-analgesics differ greatly in their mechanism of action, and it is required to find the most optimal fit between such mechanisms of action and the pathogenesis of the targeted (neuropathic) pain. 2) Issues concerning the optimized formulation. For relevant clinical efficacy, specific characteristics for the selected vehicle (eg, cream base or gel base) are required, depending on the physicochemical characteristics of the active pharmaceutical ingredient(s) to be delivered. 3) Well-designed phase II dose-finding studies are required, and, unfortunately, such trials are missing. In fact, we will demonstrate that underdosing is one of the major hurdles to detect meaningful and statistically relevant clinical effects of topical analgesics. 4) Selection of clinical end points and innovatively designed phase III trials. End point selection can make or break a trial. For instance, to include numbness together with tingling as a composite end point for neuropathic pain seems stretching the therapeutic impact of an analgesic too far. Given the fast onset of action of topical analgesics (usually within 30 minutes), enrichment designs might enhance the chances for success, as the placebo response might decrease. Topical analgesics may become promising inroads for the treatment of neuropathic pain, once sufficient attention is given to these four key aspects.

The structured ancestral selection graph and the many-demes limit.

PubMed

Slade, Paul F; Wakeley, John

2005-02-01

We show that the unstructured ancestral selection graph applies to part of the history of a sample from a population structured by restricted migration among subpopulations, or demes. The result holds in the limit as the number of demes tends to infinity with proportionately weak selection, and we have also made the assumptions of island-type migration and that demes are equivalent in size. After an instantaneous sample-size adjustment, this structured ancestral selection graph converges to an unstructured ancestral selection graph with a mutation parameter that depends inversely on the migration rate. In contrast, the selection parameter for the population is independent of the migration rate and is identical to the selection parameter in an unstructured population. We show analytically that estimators of the migration rate, based on pairwise sequence differences, derived under the assumption of neutrality should perform equally well in the presence of weak selection. We also modify an algorithm for simulating genealogies conditional on the frequencies of two selected alleles in a sample. This permits efficient simulation of stronger selection than was previously possible. Using this new algorithm, we simulate gene genealogies under the many-demes ancestral selection graph and identify some situations in which migration has a strong effect on the time to the most recent common ancestor of the sample. We find that a similar effect also increases the sensitivity of the genealogy to selection.

Generating Topic Headings during Reading of Screen-Based Text Facilitates Learning of Structural Knowledge and Impairs Learning of Lower-Level Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clariana, Roy B.; Marker, Anthony W.

2007-01-01

This investigation considers the effects of learner-generated headings on memory. Participants (N = 63) completed a computer-based lesson with or without learner-generated text topic headings. Posttests included a cued recall test of factual knowledge and a sorting task measure of structural knowledge. A significant disordinal interaction was…

Oral Versus Topical Diclofenac Sodium in the Treatment of Osteoarthritis.

PubMed

Tieppo Francio, Vinicius; Davani, Saeid; Towery, Chris; Brown, Tony L

2017-06-01

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common causes of joint pain in the United States and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs), such as Diclofenac sodium, which is currently available in two main routes of administration; oral and topical distribution have been established as one of the standard treatments for OA. Generally, oral NSAIDs are well tolerated; however our narrative review suggests that the topical solution had a better tolerability property than oral Diclofenac sodium, especially due to side effects of gastrointestinal bleeding with the utilization of the oral format. In addition, the topical route may be considered a reasonable selection by clinicians for management of musculoskeletal pain in those patients with a history of potential risk and adverse side effects. Most studies reviewed comparing oral versus topical solution of Diclofenac sodium revealed comparable efficacy, with minimal side effects utilizing the topical route. The key point of this narrative review is to help clinicians that currently must decide between very inexpensive diclofenac oral presentations and expensive topical presentations especially in the elderly population and the pros and cons of such decision-making process.

Topical Microbicides and HIV Prevention in the Female Genital Tract

PubMed Central

Cottrell, Mackenzie L; Kashuba, Angela D. M.

2014-01-01

Worldwide, HIV disproportionately affects women who are often unable to negotiate traditional HIV preventive strategies such as condoms. In the absence of an effective vaccine or cure, chemoprophylaxis may be a valuable self-initiated alternative. Topical microbicides have been investigated as one such option. The first generation topical microbicides were non-specific, broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents, including surfactants, polyanions, and acid buffering gels, that generally exhibited contraceptive properties. After extensive clinical study, none prevented HIV infection, and their development was abandoned. Second generation topical microbicides include agents with selective mechanisms of antiviral activity. Most are currently being used for, or have previously been explored as, drugs for treatment of HIV. The most advanced of these is tenofovir 1% gel: the first topical agent shown to significantly reduce HIV infection by 39% compared to placebo. This review summarizes the evolution of topical microbicides for HIV chemoprophylaxis, highlights important concepts learned, and offers current and future considerations for this area of research. PMID:24664786

Structural Basis of Cyclic Nucleotide Selectivity in cGMP-dependent Protein Kinase II

DOE PAGES

Campbell, James C.; Kim, Jeong Joo; Li, Kevin Y.; ...

2016-01-14

Membrane-bound cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) II is an important regulator of bone growth, renin secretion, and memory formation. Despite its crucial physiological roles, little is known about its cyclic nucleotide selectivity mechanism due to a lack of structural information. Here, we find that the C-terminal cyclic nucleotide binding (CNB-B) domain of PKGII binds cGMP with higher affinity and selectivity when compared with its N-terminal CNB (CNB-A) domain. To understand the structural basis of cGMP selectivity, we solved co-crystal structures of the CNB domains with cyclic nucleotides. Our structures combined with mutagenesis demonstrate that the guanine-specific contacts at Asp-412 and Arg-415more » of the αC-helix of CNB-B are crucial for cGMP selectivity and activation of PKG II. Structural comparison with the cGMP selective CNB domains of human PKG I and Plasmodium falciparum PKG (PfPKG) shows different contacts with the guanine moiety, revealing a unique cGMP selectivity mechanism for PKG II.« less

Structure-based prediction of subtype selectivity of histamine H3 receptor selective antagonists in clinical trials.

PubMed

Kim, Soo-Kyung; Fristrup, Peter; Abrol, Ravinder; Goddard, William A

2011-12-27

Histamine receptors (HRs) are excellent drug targets for the treatment of diseases, such as schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, migraine, allergies, asthma, ulcers, and hypertension. Among them, the human H(3) histamine receptor (hH(3)HR) antagonists have been proposed for specific therapeutic applications, including treatment of Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), epilepsy, and obesity. However, many of these drug candidates cause undesired side effects through the cross-reactivity with other histamine receptor subtypes. In order to develop improved selectivity and activity for such treatments, it would be useful to have the three-dimensional structures for all four HRs. We report here the predicted structures of four HR subtypes (H(1), H(2), H(3), and H(4)) using the GEnSeMBLE (GPCR ensemble of structures in membrane bilayer environment) Monte Carlo protocol, sampling ∼35 million combinations of helix packings to predict the 10 most stable packings for each of the four subtypes. Then we used these 10 best protein structures with the DarwinDock Monte Carlo protocol to sample ∼50 000 × 10(20) poses to predict the optimum ligand-protein structures for various agonists and antagonists. We find that E206(5.46) contributes most in binding H(3) selective agonists (5, 6, 7) in agreement with experimental mutation studies. We also find that conserved E5.46/S5.43 in both of hH(3)HR and hH(4)HR are involved in H(3)/ H(4) subtype selectivity. In addition, we find that M378(6.55) in hH(3)HR provides additional hydrophobic interactions different from hH(4)HR (the corresponding amino acid of T323(6.55) in hH(4)HR) to provide additional subtype bias. From these studies, we developed a pharmacophore model based on our predictions for known hH(3)HR selective antagonists in clinical study [ABT-239 1, GSK-189,254 2, PF-3654746 3, and BF2.649 (tiprolisant) 4] that suggests critical selectivity directing elements are: the basic proton

Topic Variability and Criteria in Interpretational History Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wansink, Bjorn; Akkerman, Sanne; Wubbels, Theo

2017-01-01

This paper studies the teacher perceived applicability of historical topics for interpretational history teaching and the criteria teachers use to evaluate this applicability. For this study, 15 expert history teachers in the Netherlands striving for interpretational history teaching were purposefully selected. Teachers were asked to mention…

Structure-based discovery of selective serotonin 5-HT(1B) receptor ligands.

PubMed

Rodríguez, David; Brea, José; Loza, María Isabel; Carlsson, Jens

2014-08-05

The development of safe and effective drugs relies on the discovery of selective ligands. Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]) G protein-coupled receptors are therapeutic targets for CNS disorders but are also associated with adverse drug effects. The determination of crystal structures for the 5-HT1B and 5-HT2B receptors provided an opportunity to identify subtype selective ligands using structure-based methods. From docking screens of 1.3 million compounds, 22 molecules were predicted to be selective for the 5-HT1B receptor over the 5-HT2B subtype, a requirement for safe serotonergic drugs. Nine compounds were experimentally verified as 5-HT1B-selective ligands, with up to 300-fold higher affinities for this subtype. Three of the ligands were agonists of the G protein pathway. Analysis of state-of-the-art homology models of the two 5-HT receptors revealed that the crystal structures were critical for predicting selective ligands. Our results demonstrate that structure-based screening can guide the discovery of ligands with specific selectivity profiles. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Topical Vasodilators in Microsurgery: What Is the Evidence?

PubMed

Rinkinen, Jacob; Halvorson, Eric G

2017-01-01

Background  Topical vasodilators are frequently used during free tissue transfer to prevent and treat vasospasm and microvascular thrombosis. A variety of agents have been studied and are available, yet most microsurgeons select an agent based on anecdotal evidence or personal training. Our aim was to review the literature on topical vasodilators so microsurgeons can make more informed decisions about which agent to use. Methods  A systemic review of the literature was performed on PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar using keywords "topical vasodilator," "antispasmodic," "vasospasm," "free flaps," and "microsurgery." Studies were included if they provided a comparative quantitative assessment of topical vasodilators and were written in English. In vitro, in vivo , and clinical studies were included. Results  A total of 15 studies were identified and included in our analysis. The three most common classes of topical vasodilator include local anesthetics, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, and calcium channel blockers (CCBs). Of the most commonly used topical vasodilators, CCBs (nifedipine and verapamil) were most effective followed by papaverine and lidocaine. Conclusion  The most effective topical vasodilators appear to be CCBs including nifedipine, nicardipine, and verapamil. Evidence suggests that these agents are more effective than papaverine and lidocaine solutions that are commonly used. Future research should directly compare individual CCBs to assess the most effective agent. Studies to date have focused on vessels other than those used by microsurgeons, and therefore further studies specific to these vessels are warranted. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Microblog sentiment analysis using social and topic context.

PubMed

Zou, Xiaomei; Yang, Jing; Zhang, Jianpei

2018-01-01

Analyzing massive user-generated microblogs is very crucial in many fields, attracting many researchers to study. However, it is very challenging to process such noisy and short microblogs. Most prior works only use texts to identify sentiment polarity and assume that microblogs are independent and identically distributed, which ignore microblogs are networked data. Therefore, their performance is not usually satisfactory. Inspired by two sociological theories (sentimental consistency and emotional contagion), in this paper, we propose a new method combining social context and topic context to analyze microblog sentiment. In particular, different from previous work using direct user relations, we introduce structure similarity context into social contexts and propose a method to measure structure similarity. In addition, we also introduce topic context to model the semantic relations between microblogs. Social context and topic context are combined by the Laplacian matrix of the graph built by these contexts and Laplacian regularization are added into the microblog sentiment analysis model. Experimental results on two real Twitter datasets demonstrate that our proposed model can outperform baseline methods consistently and significantly.

Finasteride topical delivery systems for androgenetic alopecia.

PubMed

Khan, Muhammad Zia Ullah; Khan, Shujaat Ali; Ubaid, Muhammad; Shah, Aamna; Kousar, Rozina; Murtaza, Ghulam

2018-01-23

Androgenetic alopecia, generally recognized as male pattern baldness, is a gradually developing medical and physiological change, which is manifested by continuous hair-loss from scalp. Finasteride (4-aza-3-oxosteroid) is a potent anti-baldness compound that selectively and competitively inhibits the 5α-reductase isoenzymes. Prolonged oral use of finasteride leads to the emergence of sexual disorders including decrease in libido, gynecomastia, erectile dysfunction, ejaculation disorder, orgasm disorders and mood disturbances. Since, hair follicles widely home in 5α-reductase, topical formulations of finasteride in comparison to its oral formulations are expected to potentially reduce its systemic adverse effects. The analysis of literature has revealed some delivery systems developed for the enhanced and localized penetration of finasteride into the skin. These finasteride delivery systems include polymersomes, vesicular nanocarriers, vesicular ethosomal carriers, liposomes and niosomes, liquid crystalline nanoparticles, topical solutions and gels. The aim of this review article is to briefly amass all literature on topical delivery of finasteride to elaborate best dosage form, i.e. formulation having maximum permeation rate. This study will serve as a future perspective regarding topical delivery of finasteride. The literature analysis has exhibited that most of the previous investigators have used propylene glycol in their finasteride-loaded topical formulations, while poloxamer P407, monoolein, transcutol P and choline was used in few formulations. Moreover among all drug delivery systems, finasteride liposomal gel system consisting of 2% methyl cellulose and gel system containing poloxamer P407 exhibited the highest flux with a value of 28.4 ± 1.3 µg/cm2h and 23.1 ± 1.4 µg/cm2h, respectively. Several topical drug delivery techniques such as topical microneedles, aerosol foams, nanoemulsions, microsponges, and emulsifier free formulations, fullerenes

Diel habitat selection of largemouth bass following woody structure installation in Table Rock Lake, Missouri

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harris, J.M.; Paukert, Craig P.; Bush, S.C.; Allen, M.J.; Siepker, Michael

2018-01-01

Largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides (Lacepède) use of installed habitat structure was evaluated in a large Midwestern USA reservoir to determine whether or not these structures were used in similar proportion to natural habitats. Seventy largemouth bass (>380 mm total length) were surgically implanted with radio transmitters and a subset was relocated monthly during day and night for one year. The top habitat selection models (based on Akaike's information criterion) suggest largemouth bass select 2–4 m depths during night and 4–7 m during day, whereas littoral structure selection was similar across diel periods. Largemouth bass selected boat docks at twice the rate of other structures. Installed woody structure was selected at similar rates to naturally occurring complex woody structure, whereas both were selected at a higher rate than simple woody structure. The results suggest the addition of woody structure may concentrate largemouth bass and mitigate the loss of woody habitat in a large reservoir.

Topical anaesthetics for pain control during repair of dermal laceration.

PubMed

Tayeb, Baraa O; Eidelman, Anthony; Eidelman, Cristy L; McNicol, Ewan D; Carr, Daniel B

2017-02-22

Topical local anaesthetics provide effective analgesia for patients undergoing numerous superficial procedures, including repair of dermal lacerations. The need for cocaine in topical anaesthetic formulations has been questioned because of concern about adverse effects, thus novel preparations of cocaine-free anaesthetics have been developed. This review was originally published in 2011 and has been updated in 2017. To assess whether benefits of non-invasive topical anaesthetic application occur at the expense of decreased analgesic efficacy. To compare the efficacy of various single-component or multi-component topical anaesthetic agents for repair of dermal lacerations. To determine the clinical necessity for topical application of the ester anaesthetic, cocaine. For this updated review, we searched the following databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2016, Issue 11), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL; 2010 to December 2016), Embase (2010 to December 2016) and MEDLINE (2010 to December 2016). We did not limit this search by language or format of publication. We contacted manufacturers, international scientific societies and researchers in the field. Weemailed selected journalsand reviewed meta-registers of ongoing trials. For the previous version of this review, we searched these databases to November 2010. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the efficacy and safety of topical anaesthetics for repair of dermal laceration in adult and paediatric participants. Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. We contacted study authors for additional information when needed. We collected adverse event information from trial reports. We assessed methodological risk of bias for each included study and employed the GRADE approach to assess the overall quality of the evidence. The present updated review included 25 RCTs involving 3278 participants. The small

Quality and Importance of Health Policy, Reform, and Public Health Topics: A Study in Physician Assistant Education.

PubMed

Angerer-Fuenzalida, Frances M

2018-06-01

As key players in a changing US health care system, physician assistants (PAs) must be prepared to act with a clear understanding of health policy as reform changes are enacted. The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of graduating PA students about the importance of health policy, reform, and public health and their perception of their preparedness in these areas. The research question was: Do PA students identify these topic areas as important, and, for each topic area, do they feel adequately prepared with sufficient knowledge for clinical practice? Participants in the study included 352 PA students from 14 PA programs randomly selected from 4 geographic regions of the continental United States. A 20-item instrument, the Health Policy Perception Tool, was developed and validated for data collection. Physician assistant students rated content items high on the importance scale and displayed a wide range of ratings on their perceived preparedness in each content area. Health policy/reform items demonstrated the highest disparity, with students indicating that they were least prepared in content areas relating to the Affordable Care Act, such as patient-centered medical home and accountable care organizations. They also rated health system structure/function items as moderately important, but indicated that they were ill prepared on this topic. Public health topics were rated highly on both scales. Physician assistant programs appear to be addressing public health issues well; however, PA education leaders must address the low levels of preparedness in the other areas of health care, specifically those related to health structure/function and health reform.

Methodology of oral formulation selection in the pharmaceutical industry.

PubMed

Kuentz, Martin; Holm, René; Elder, David P

2016-05-25

Pharmaceutical formulations have to fulfil various requirements with respect to their intended use, either in the development phase or as a commercial product. New drug candidates with their specific properties confront the formulation scientist with industrial challenges for which a strategy is needed to cope with limited resources, stretched timelines as well as regulatory requirements. This paper aims at reviewing different methodologies to select a suitable formulation approach for oral delivery. Exclusively small-molecular drugs are considered and the review is written from an industrial perspective. Specific cases are discussed starting with an emphasis on poorly soluble compounds, then the topics of chemically labile drugs, low-dose compounds, and modified release are reviewed. Due to the broad scope of this work, a primary focus is on explaining basic concepts as well as recent trends. Different strategies are discussed to approach industrial formulation selection, which includes a structured product development. Examples for such structured development aim to provide guidance to formulators and finally, the recent topic of a manufacturing classification system is presented. It can be concluded that the field of oral formulation selection is particularly complex due to both multiple challenges as well as opportunities so that industrial scientists have to employ tailored approaches to design formulations successfully. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Image Re-Ranking Based on Topic Diversity.

PubMed

Qian, Xueming; Lu, Dan; Wang, Yaxiong; Zhu, Li; Tang, Yuan Yan; Wang, Meng

2017-08-01

Social media sharing Websites allow users to annotate images with free tags, which significantly contribute to the development of the web image retrieval. Tag-based image search is an important method to find images shared by users in social networks. However, how to make the top ranked result relevant and with diversity is challenging. In this paper, we propose a topic diverse ranking approach for tag-based image retrieval with the consideration of promoting the topic coverage performance. First, we construct a tag graph based on the similarity between each tag. Then, the community detection method is conducted to mine the topic community of each tag. After that, inter-community and intra-community ranking are introduced to obtain the final retrieved results. In the inter-community ranking process, an adaptive random walk model is employed to rank the community based on the multi-information of each topic community. Besides, we build an inverted index structure for images to accelerate the searching process. Experimental results on Flickr data set and NUS-Wide data sets show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Developing topic-specific search filters for PubMed with click-through data.

PubMed

Li, J; Lu, Z

2013-01-01

Search filters have been developed and demonstrated for better information access to the immense and ever-growing body of publications in the biomedical domain. However, to date the number of filters remains quite limited because the current filter development methods require significant human efforts in manual document review and filter term selection. In this regard, we aim to investigate automatic methods for generating search filters. We present an automated method to develop topic-specific filters on the basis of users' search logs in PubMed. Specifically, for a given topic, we first detect its relevant user queries and then include their corresponding clicked articles to serve as the topic-relevant document set accordingly. Next, we statistically identify informative terms that best represent the topic-relevant document set using a background set composed of topic irrelevant articles. Lastly, the selected representative terms are combined with Boolean operators and evaluated on benchmark datasets to derive the final filter with the best performance. We applied our method to develop filters for four clinical topics: nephrology, diabetes, pregnancy, and depression. For the nephrology filter, our method obtained performance comparable to the state of the art (sensitivity of 91.3%, specificity of 98.7%, precision of 94.6%, and accuracy of 97.2%). Similarly, high-performing results (over 90% in all measures) were obtained for the other three search filters. Based on PubMed click-through data, we successfully developed a high-performance method for generating topic-specific search filters that is significantly more efficient than existing manual methods. All data sets (topic-relevant and irrelevant document sets) used in this study and a demonstration system are publicly available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CBBresearch/Lu/downloads/CQ_filter/

Developing Topic-Specific Search Filters for PubMed with Click-Through Data

PubMed Central

Li, Jiao; Lu, Zhiyong

2013-01-01

Summary Objectives Search filters have been developed and demonstrated for better information access to the immense and ever-growing body of publications in the biomedical domain. However, to date the number of filters remains quite limited because the current filter development methods require significant human efforts in manual document review and filter term selection. In this regard, we aim to investigate automatic methods for generating search filters. Methods We present an automated method to develop topic-specific filters on the basis of users’ search logs in PubMed. Specifically, for a given topic, we first detect its relevant user queries and then include their corresponding clicked articles to serve as the topic-relevant document set accordingly. Next, we statistically identify informative terms that best represent the topic-relevant document set using a background set composed of topic irrelevant articles. Lastly, the selected representative terms are combined with Boolean operators and evaluated on benchmark datasets to derive the final filter with the best performance. Results We applied our method to develop filters for four clinical topics: nephrology, diabetes, pregnancy, and depression. For the nephrology filter, our method obtained performance comparable to the state of the art (sensitivity of 91.3%, specificity of 98.7%, precision of 94.6%, and accuracy of 97.2%). Similarly, high-performing results (over 90% in all measures) were obtained for the other three search filters. Conclusion Based on PubMed click-through data, we successfully developed a high-performance method for generating topic-specific search filters that is significantly more efficient than existing manual methods. All data sets (topic-relevant and irrelevant document sets) used in this study and a demonstration system are publicly available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CBBresearch/Lu/downloads/CQ_filter/ PMID:23666447

Sexual networks: measuring sexual selection in structured, polyandrous populations.

PubMed

McDonald, Grant C; James, Richard; Krause, Jens; Pizzari, Tommaso

2013-03-05

Sexual selection is traditionally measured at the population level, assuming that populations lack structure. However, increasing evidence undermines this approach, indicating that intrasexual competition in natural populations often displays complex patterns of spatial and temporal structure. This complexity is due in part to the degree and mechanisms of polyandry within a population, which can influence the intensity and scale of both pre- and post-copulatory sexual competition. Attempts to measure selection at the local and global scale have been made through multi-level selection approaches. However, definitions of local scale are often based on physical proximity, providing a rather coarse measure of local competition, particularly in polyandrous populations where the local scale of pre- and post-copulatory competition may differ drastically from each other. These limitations can be solved by social network analysis, which allows us to define a unique sexual environment for each member of a population: 'local scale' competition, therefore, becomes an emergent property of a sexual network. Here, we first propose a novel quantitative approach to measure pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection, which integrates multi-level selection with information on local scale competition derived as an emergent property of networks of sexual interactions. We then use simple simulations to illustrate the ways in which polyandry can impact estimates of sexual selection. We show that for intermediate levels of polyandry, the proposed network-based approach provides substantially more accurate measures of sexual selection than the more traditional population-level approach. We argue that the increasing availability of fine-grained behavioural datasets provides exciting new opportunities to develop network approaches to study sexual selection in complex societies.

Latent topic discovery of clinical concepts from hospital discharge summaries of a heterogeneous patient cohort.

PubMed

Lehman, Li-Wei; Long, William; Saeed, Mohammed; Mark, Roger

2014-01-01

Patients in critical care often exhibit complex disease patterns. A fundamental challenge in clinical research is to identify clinical features that may be characteristic of adverse patient outcomes. In this work, we propose a data-driven approach for phenotype discovery of patients in critical care. We used Hierarchical Dirichlet Process (HDP) as a non-parametric topic modeling technique to automatically discover the latent "topic" structure of diseases, symptoms, and findings documented in hospital discharge summaries. We show that the latent topic structure can be used to reveal phenotypic patterns of diseases and symptoms shared across subgroups of a patient cohort, and may contain prognostic value in stratifying patients' post hospital discharge mortality risks. Using discharge summaries of a large patient cohort from the MIMIC II database, we evaluate the clinical utility of the discovered topic structure in identifying patients who are at high risk of mortality within one year post hospital discharge. We demonstrate that the learned topic structure has statistically significant associations with mortality post hospital discharge, and may provide valuable insights in defining new feature sets for predicting patient outcomes.

Link-topic model for biomedical abbreviation disambiguation.

PubMed

Kim, Seonho; Yoon, Juntae

2015-02-01

The ambiguity of biomedical abbreviations is one of the challenges in biomedical text mining systems. In particular, the handling of term variants and abbreviations without nearby definitions is a critical issue. In this study, we adopt the concepts of topic of document and word link to disambiguate biomedical abbreviations. We newly suggest the link topic model inspired by the latent Dirichlet allocation model, in which each document is perceived as a random mixture of topics, where each topic is characterized by a distribution over words. Thus, the most probable expansions with respect to abbreviations of a given abstract are determined by word-topic, document-topic, and word-link distributions estimated from a document collection through the link topic model. The model allows two distinct modes of word generation to incorporate semantic dependencies among words, particularly long form words of abbreviations and their sentential co-occurring words; a word can be generated either dependently on the long form of the abbreviation or independently. The semantic dependency between two words is defined as a link and a new random parameter for the link is assigned to each word as well as a topic parameter. Because the link status indicates whether the word constitutes a link with a given specific long form, it has the effect of determining whether a word forms a unigram or a skipping/consecutive bigram with respect to the long form. Furthermore, we place a constraint on the model so that a word has the same topic as a specific long form if it is generated in reference to the long form. Consequently, documents are generated from the two hidden parameters, i.e. topic and link, and the most probable expansion of a specific abbreviation is estimated from the parameters. Our model relaxes the bag-of-words assumption of the standard topic model in which the word order is neglected, and it captures a richer structure of text than does the standard topic model by considering

What's on Your Mind? Conversation Topics Chosen by People With Degenerative Cognitive-Linguistic Disorders for Communication Boards

PubMed Central

Daniels, Darlene; Ettinger, Olivia; Mooney, Aimee; Noethe, Glory; Rowland, Charity

2015-01-01

Purpose Conversational topics chosen by a group of adults with degenerative cognitive-linguistic disorders for personalized communication board development were examined. The patient-generated themes commonly selected are presented to guide treatment planning and communication board development. Method Communication boards were created for 109 adults as part of a larger research project. One autobiographical topic that each participant would enjoy discussing multiple times was represented on each communication board with 16 pictures and word labels. For this review, topics were collapsed into general themes through a consensus process and examined by gender and age. Results Sixty unique conversational topics were identified from 109 participants and collapsed into 9 general themes: Hobbies, Family, Travel, Work, Home/Places I've Lived, Sports/Fitness, Religion, Animals, and World War II. Age and gender produced variations in themes chosen, though no significance in rank orders was found across groups. Conclusions Topics selected by adults with degenerative cognitive-linguistic disorders for communication boards resemble common conversational adult themes and do not center around basic needs or medical issues. Differences in gender and age for topic selection tend to be based on traditional roles. These general themes should be used when creating personalized communication boards for those who benefit from conversational aids. PMID:25835511

Identifying the Priority Topics for the Assessment of Competence in Care of the Elderly

PubMed Central

Frank, Chris C.; Allen, Tim; Lozanovska, Tatjana; Arcand, Marcel; Feldman, Sidney; Lam, Robert E.; Mehta, Pravinsagar G.; Mangal, Nadia Y.

2018-01-01

Background With Canada’s senior population increasing, there is greater demand for family physicians with enhanced skills in Care of the Elderly (COE). The College of Family Physicians Canada (CFPC) has introduced Certificates of Added Competence (CACs), one being in COE. Our objective is to summarize the process used to determine the Priority Topics for the assessment of competence in COE. Methods A modified Delphi technique was used, with online surveys and face-to-face meetings. The Working Group (WG) of six physicians acted as the nominal group, and a larger group of randomly selected practitioners from across Canada acted as the Validation Group (VG). The WG, and then the VG, completed electronic write-in surveys that asked them to identify the Priority Topics. Responses were compiled, coded, and tabulated to identify the topics and to calculate the frequencies of their selection. The WG used face-to-face meetings and iterative discussion to decide on the final topic names. Results The correlation between the initial Priority Topic list identified by the VG and that identified by the WG is 0.6793. The final list has 18 Priority Topics. Conclusion Defining the required competencies is a first step to establishing national standards in COE. PMID:29581816

Connection between Topic-Specific Teacher Knowledge and Student Performance in Lower Secondary School Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tchoshanov, Mourat; Quinones, Maria Cruz; Shakirova, Kadriya B.; Ibragimova, Elena N.; Shakirova, Liliana R.

2017-01-01

The interpretive cross-case study focused on the examination of connections between teacher and student topic-specific knowledge of lower secondary mathematics. Two teachers were selected for the study using non-probability purposive sampling technique. Teachers completed the Teacher Content Knowledge Survey before teaching a topic on division of…

Ocular delivery systems for topical application of anti-infective agents.

PubMed

Duxfield, Linda; Sultana, Rubab; Wang, Ruokai; Englebretsen, Vanessa; Deo, Samantha; Rupenthal, Ilva D; Al-Kassas, Raida

2016-01-01

For the treatment of anterior eye segment infections using anti-infective agents, topical ocular application is the most convenient route of administration. However, topical delivery of anti-infective agents is associated with a number of problems and challenges owing to the unique structure of the eye and the physicochemical properties of these compounds. Topical ocular drug delivery systems can be classified into two forms: conventional and non-conventional. The efficacy of conventional ocular formulations is limited by poor corneal retention and permeation resulting in low ocular bioavailability. Recently, attention has been focused on improving topical ocular delivery of anti-infective agents using advanced drug delivery systems. This review will focus on the challenges of efficient topical ocular delivery of anti-infective agents and will discuss the various types of delivery systems used to improve the treatment anterior segment infections.

Frequency Selective Surface for Structural Health Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norlyana Azemi, Saidatul; Mustaffa, Farzana Hazira Wan; Faizal Jamlos, Mohd; Abdullah Al-Hadi, Azremi; Soh, Ping Jack

2018-03-01

Structural health monitoring (SHM) technologies have attained attention to monitor civil structures. SHM sensor systems have been used in various civil structures such as bridges, buildings, tunnels and so on. However the previous sensor for SHM is wired and encounter with problem to cover large areas. Therefore, wireless sensor was introduced for SHM to reduce network connecting problem. Wireless sensors for Structural Health monitoring are new technology and have many advantages to overcome the drawback of conventional and wired sensor. This project proposed passive wireless SHM sensor using frequency selective surface (FSS) as an alternative to conventional sensors. The electromagnetic wave characteristic of FSS will change by geometrical changes of FSS due to mechanical strain or structural failure. The changes feature is used as a sensing function without any connecting wires. Two type of design which are circular ring and square loop along with the transmission and reflection characteristics of SHM using FSS were discussed in this project. A simulation process has shown that incident angle characteristics can be use as a data for SHM application.

Not strange but not true: self-reported interest in a topic increases false memory.

PubMed

O'Connell, Anthony; Greene, Ciara M

2017-09-01

People are more likely to recall both true and false information that is consistent with their pre-existing stereotypes, schemata and desires. In addition, experts in a particular field are more likely to experience false memory in relation to their area of expertise. Here, we investigate whether level of interest, as distinct from level of knowledge, and in the absence of self-professed expertise, is associated with increased false memory. 489 participants were asked to rank 7 topics from most to least interesting. They were then asked if they remembered the events described in four news items related to the topic they selected as the most interesting and four items related to the topic selected as least interesting. In each case, three of the events depicted had really happened and one was fictional. A high level of interest in a topic increased true memories for the topic and doubled the frequency of false memories, even after controlling for level of knowledge. We interpret the results in the context of the source-monitoring framework and suggest that false memories arise as a result of interference from existing information stored in domain-related schemata.

Topic Modeling of NASA Space System Problem Reports: Research in Practice

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Layman, Lucas; Nikora, Allen P.; Meek, Joshua; Menzies, Tim

2016-01-01

Problem reports at NASA are similar to bug reports: they capture defects found during test, post-launch operational anomalies, and document the investigation and corrective action of the issue. These artifacts are a rich source of lessons learned for NASA, but are expensive to analyze since problem reports are comprised primarily of natural language text. We apply topic modeling to a corpus of NASA problem reports to extract trends in testing and operational failures. We collected 16,669 problem reports from six NASA space flight missions and applied Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling to the document corpus. We analyze the most popular topics within and across missions, and how popular topics changed over the lifetime of a mission. We find that hardware material and flight software issues are common during the integration and testing phase, while ground station software and equipment issues are more common during the operations phase. We identify a number of challenges in topic modeling for trend analysis: 1) that the process of selecting the topic modeling parameters lacks definitive guidance, 2) defining semantically-meaningful topic labels requires nontrivial effort and domain expertise, 3) topic models derived from the combined corpus of the six missions were biased toward the larger missions, and 4) topics must be semantically distinct as well as cohesive to be useful. Nonetheless,topic modeling can identify problem themes within missions and across mission lifetimes, providing useful feedback to engineers and project managers.

The structure of XIAP BIR2: understanding the selectivity of the BIR domains

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

Lukacs, Christine, E-mail: cmlukacs230@gmail.com; Belunis, Charles; Crowther, Robert

2013-09-01

The high-resolution crystal structures of apo and peptide-bound XIAP BIR2 are presented and compared with BIR3 structures to understand their selectivity. This crystal system can be used to determine the structures of BIR2–inhibitor complexes. XIAP, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis family of proteins, is a critical regulator of apoptosis. Inhibition of the BIR domain–caspase interaction is a promising approach towards treating cancer. Previous work has been directed towards inhibiting the BIR3–caspase-9 interaction, which blocks the intrinsic apoptotic pathway; selectively inhibiting the BIR2–caspase-3 interaction would also block the extrinsic pathway. The BIR2 domain of XIAP has successfully been crystallized;more » peptides and small-molecule inhibitors can be soaked into these crystals, which diffract to high resolution. Here, the BIR2 apo crystal structure and the structures of five BIR2–tetrapeptide complexes are described. The structural flexibility observed on comparing these structures, along with a comparison with XIAP BIR3, affords an understanding of the structural elements that drive selectivity between BIR2 and BIR3 and which can be used to design BIR2-selective inhibitors.« less

Why Sexually Selected Weapons Are Not Ornaments.

PubMed

McCullough, Erin L; Miller, Christine W; Emlen, Douglas J

2016-10-01

The elaboration and diversification of sexually selected weapons remain poorly understood. We argue that progress in this topic has been hindered by a strong bias in sexual selection research, and a tendency for weapons to be conflated with ornaments used in mate choice. Here, we outline how male-male competition and female choice are distinct mechanisms of sexual selection, and why weapons and ornaments are fundamentally different types of traits. We call for research on the factors contributing to weapon divergence, the potential for male-male competition to drive speciation, and the specific use of weapons in the context of direct fights versus displays. Given that weapons are first and foremost fighting structures, biomechanical approaches are an especially promising direction for understanding weapon design. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computer program simplifies selection of structural steel columns

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vissing, G. S.

1966-01-01

Computer program rapidly selects appropriate size steel columns and base plates for construction of multistory structures. The program produces a printed record containing the size of a section required at a particular elevation, the stress produced by the loads, and the allowable stresses for that section.

PhD Topic Arrangement in "D"iscourse Communities of Engineers and Social Sciences/Humanities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hasrati, Mostafa; Street, Brian

2009-01-01

This article is the result of a grounded theory investigation into the ways PhD topics are assigned by supervisors in engineering and selected by students in the social sciences/humanities in UK universities, broadly referred to as "topic arrangement", which can be regarded as one aspect of academic socialisation into academic Discourse…

Spectral Learning for Supervised Topic Models.

PubMed

Ren, Yong; Wang, Yining; Zhu, Jun

2018-03-01

Supervised topic models simultaneously model the latent topic structure of large collections of documents and a response variable associated with each document. Existing inference methods are based on variational approximation or Monte Carlo sampling, which often suffers from the local minimum defect. Spectral methods have been applied to learn unsupervised topic models, such as latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), with provable guarantees. This paper investigates the possibility of applying spectral methods to recover the parameters of supervised LDA (sLDA). We first present a two-stage spectral method, which recovers the parameters of LDA followed by a power update method to recover the regression model parameters. Then, we further present a single-phase spectral algorithm to jointly recover the topic distribution matrix as well as the regression weights. Our spectral algorithms are provably correct and computationally efficient. We prove a sample complexity bound for each algorithm and subsequently derive a sufficient condition for the identifiability of sLDA. Thorough experiments on synthetic and real-world datasets verify the theory and demonstrate the practical effectiveness of the spectral algorithms. In fact, our results on a large-scale review rating dataset demonstrate that our single-phase spectral algorithm alone gets comparable or even better performance than state-of-the-art methods, while previous work on spectral methods has rarely reported such promising performance.

Exploring the Framing of Animal Farming and Meat Consumption: On the Diversity of Topics Used and Qualitative Patterns in Selected Demographic Contexts

PubMed Central

van Woerkum, Cees M. J.

2018-01-01

groups of consumers from different selected demographic contexts (country, urban-rural areas, gender, age, and education level). The framing of animal farming and meat consumption in everyday-life is not a simple one-issue rational display of facts; people referred to a vast range of topics in the categories knowledge, convictions, pronounced behaviour, values, norms, interests, and feelings. Looking at framing in relation to the researched demographic contexts, most patterns were found on the level of topics; symbolic convergence in lines of reasoning and composite framing was less prominent in groups based on single demographic contexts than anticipated. An explanation for this lies in the complexity of frame construction, happening in relation with multiple interdependent contextual features. PMID:29364860

Towards Interactive Construction of Topical Hierarchy: A Recursive Tensor Decomposition Approach.

PubMed

Wang, Chi; Liu, Xueqing; Song, Yanglei; Han, Jiawei

2015-08-01

Automatic construction of user-desired topical hierarchies over large volumes of text data is a highly desirable but challenging task. This study proposes to give users freedom to construct topical hierarchies via interactive operations such as expanding a branch and merging several branches. Existing hierarchical topic modeling techniques are inadequate for this purpose because (1) they cannot consistently preserve the topics when the hierarchy structure is modified; and (2) the slow inference prevents swift response to user requests. In this study, we propose a novel method, called STROD, that allows efficient and consistent modification of topic hierarchies, based on a recursive generative model and a scalable tensor decomposition inference algorithm with theoretical performance guarantee. Empirical evaluation shows that STROD reduces the runtime of construction by several orders of magnitude, while generating consistent and quality hierarchies.

Single photon emission computed tomography and oth selected computer topics

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

Frey, G.D.

1981-07-01

This book, the proceedings of a meeting in January 1980, contains 21 papers. Thirteen are devoted to aspects of emission tomography, four to nuclear cardiology, and five to other topics. The initial set of papers consists of reviews of the single photon emission tomography process. These include transverse axial tomography using scintillation cameras and other devices, longitudinal section tomography, and pin-hole and slant-hole systems. These reviews are generally well done, but as might be expected, lack any coherence from paper to paper. The papers on nuclear cardiology include several of Fourier analysis in nuclear cardiology and one on shunt quantification.more » Other clinical papers are on quantifying Tc-99m glucoheptonate uptake in the brain and on iron-59 retention studies. A general criticism of the book is the poor quality of photographic reproductions.« less

Psychology and Nuclear Weapon Issues: Topics, Concepts, and Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Linden, Comp.

The document outlines 15 topics, each with concepts and selected references, to illustrate the relevance of psychology for understanding and coping with the threat of nuclear war. Awareness of the literature is intended to encourage psychologists to become more active in applying psychological concepts to nuclear weapons issues. The articles and…

Crisaborole Topical Ointment, 2%: A Nonsteroidal, Topical, Anti-Inflammatory Phosphodiesterase 4 Inhibitor in Clinical Development for the Treatment of Atopic Dermatitis.

PubMed

Jarnagin, Kurt; Chanda, Sanjay; Coronado, Dina; Ciaravino, Vic; Zane, Lee T; Guttman-Yassky, Emma; Lebwohl, Mark G

2016-04-01

Crisaborole topical ointment, 2% (formerly known as AN2728) is a benzoxaborole, nonsteroidal, topical, anti-inflammatory phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor investigational compound that recently completed phase 3 studies for the treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis (AD). The unique configuration of boron within the crisaborole molecule enables selective targeting and inhibition of PDE4, an enzyme that converts the intracellular second messenger 3'5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) into the active metabolite adenosine monophosphate (AMP). By inhibiting PDE4 and thus increasing levels of cAMP, crisaborole controls inflammation. The use of boron chemistry enabled synthesis of a low-molecular-weight compound (251 daltons), thereby facilitating effective penetration of crisaborole through human skin. In vitro experiments showed that crisaborole inhibits cytokine production from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in a pattern similar to other PDE4 inhibitors and distinct from corticosteroids. Crisaborole also displayed topical anti-inflammatory activity in a skin inflammation model. Once crisaborole reaches systemic circulation after topical application, it is metabolized to inactive metabolites. This limits systemic exposure to crisaborole and systemic PDE4 inhibition. In phase 1 and 2 clinical studies, crisaborole ointment, 2% was generally well tolerated and improved AD disease severity scores, pruritus, and all other AD signs and symptoms. Two large, randomized, controlled, phase 3, pivotal clinical trials assessing the efficacy and safety of crisaborole topical ointment, 2% in children, adolescents, and adults with mild to moderate AD were recently completed with positive results.

A Comparative Study of Microneedling with Platelet-rich Plasma Plus Topical Minoxidil (5%) and Topical Minoxidil (5%) Alone in Androgenetic Alopecia.

PubMed

Shah, Kaksha B; Shah, Aarti N; Solanki, Rekha B; Raval, Ranjan C

2017-01-01

There are very few studies evaluating efficacy of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in hair restoration and its combination with microneedling. As far as ascertained, there is no study to evaluate efficacy of microneedling with PRP plus topical minoxidil (5%) versus topical minoxidil (5%) alone in androgenetic alopecia (AGA). This study aims (1) to compare the efficacy of (a) topical minoxidil (5%) alone and (b) topical minoxidil (5%) + microneedling with PRP in men between 18 and 50 years with AGA Grade III to V vertex (Norwood-Hamilton scale) and (2) to perform objective and subjective evaluation based on clinical improvement and photographic evidence. The study was conducted in the outpatient department of dermatology, venereology, and leprology in tertiary care hospital. It was open, prospective study. Fifty patients with AGA were selected on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. These patients were randomly divided into two groups of 25 patients each and were given following treatment: (i) Group A: topical minoxidil (5%) alone and (ii) Group B: topical minoxidil (5%) + microneedling with platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Patients were assessed before starting the treatment and at the end of 6 months on the basis of (a) Patient's self-assessment based on standardized seven-point scale compared with baseline (b) Physician's assessment based on standardized seven-point scale of hair growth compared with baseline. There was a significant improvement ( P < 0.05) in both patients' assessment and investigator's assessment in Group B as compared to Group A at the end of 6 months. Microneedling with PRP is safe, effective, and a promising tool for the management of AGA.

Space-planning and structural solutions of low-rise buildings: Optimal selection methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gusakova, Natalya; Minaev, Nikolay; Filushina, Kristina; Dobrynina, Olga; Gusakov, Alexander

2017-11-01

The present study is devoted to elaboration of methodology used to select appropriately the space-planning and structural solutions in low-rise buildings. Objective of the study is working out the system of criteria influencing the selection of space-planning and structural solutions which are most suitable for low-rise buildings and structures. Application of the defined criteria in practice aim to enhance the efficiency of capital investments, energy and resource saving, create comfortable conditions for the population considering climatic zoning of the construction site. Developments of the project can be applied while implementing investment-construction projects of low-rise housing at different kinds of territories based on the local building materials. The system of criteria influencing the optimal selection of space-planning and structural solutions of low-rise buildings has been developed. Methodological basis has been also elaborated to assess optimal selection of space-planning and structural solutions of low-rise buildings satisfying the requirements of energy-efficiency, comfort and safety, and economical efficiency. Elaborated methodology enables to intensify the processes of low-rise construction development for different types of territories taking into account climatic zoning of the construction site. Stimulation of low-rise construction processes should be based on the system of approaches which are scientifically justified; thus it allows enhancing energy efficiency, comfort, safety and economical effectiveness of low-rise buildings.

The skin health and beauty pyramid: a clinically based guide to selecting topical skincare products.

PubMed

Mayoral, Flor A; Kenner, Julie R; Draelos, Zoe Diana

2014-04-01

The use of cosmeceuticals by patients is now commonplace. Without consultation and direction from an informed clinician, marketing pressures can lead consumers to make poor product choices that can result in wasted money and unsatisfactory outcomes. Skin professionals need a scientifically based, succinct tool to guide their patients toward best topical skincare practices. The Skin Health and Beauty Pyramid is an educational framework and product guide created from extensive scientific literature and study review on ingredients, formulations and technologies affecting skin biology. This clinical tool can simplify product choices for physicians and clinicians in the process of professionally guiding patients toward the optimal use of topical products to achieve best outcomes for skin health and beauty.

Application of composites to the selective reinforcement of metallic aerospace structures. [application of structural design criteria for weight reduction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooks, W. A., Jr.; Mathauser, E. E.; Pride, R. A.

1972-01-01

The use of composite materials to selectively reinforce metallic structures provides a low-cost way to reduce weight and a means of minimizing the risks usually associated with the introduction of new materials. An overview is presented of the NASA Langley Research Center programs to identify the advantages and to develop the potential of the selective reinforcement approach to the use of composites. These programs have shown that selective reinforcement provides excellent strength and stiffness improvements to metallic structures. Significant weight savings can be obtained in a cost effective manner. Flight service programs which have been initiated to validate further the merits of selective reinforcement are described.

Selected Topics in Overset Technology Development and Applications At NASA Ames Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chan, William M.; Kwak, Dochan (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This paper presents a general overview of overset technology development and applications at NASA Ames Research Center. The topics include: 1) Overview of overset activities at NASA Ames; 2) Recent developments in Chimera Grid Tools; 3) A general framework for multiple component dynamics; 4) A general script module for automating liquid rocket sub-systems simulations; and 5) Critical future work.

Selective Epitaxy of InP on Si and Rectification in Graphene/InP/Si Hybrid Structure.

PubMed

Niu, Gang; Capellini, Giovanni; Hatami, Fariba; Di Bartolomeo, Antonio; Niermann, Tore; Hussein, Emad Hameed; Schubert, Markus Andreas; Krause, Hans-Michael; Zaumseil, Peter; Skibitzki, Oliver; Lupina, Grzegorz; Masselink, William Ted; Lehmann, Michael; Xie, Ya-Hong; Schroeder, Thomas

2016-10-12

The epitaxial integration of highly heterogeneous material systems with silicon (Si) is a central topic in (opto-)electronics owing to device applications. InP could open new avenues for the realization of novel devices such as high-mobility transistors in next-generation CMOS or efficient lasers in Si photonics circuitry. However, the InP/Si heteroepitaxy is highly challenging due to the lattice (∼8%), thermal expansion mismatch (∼84%), and the different lattice symmetries. Here, we demonstrate the growth of InP nanocrystals showing high structural quality and excellent optoelectronic properties on Si. Our CMOS-compatible innovative approach exploits the selective epitaxy of InP nanocrystals on Si nanometric seeds obtained by the opening of lattice-arranged Si nanotips embedded in a SiO 2 matrix. A graphene/InP/Si-tip heterostructure was realized on obtained materials, revealing rectifying behavior and promising photodetection. This work presents a significant advance toward the monolithic integration of graphene/III-V based hybrid devices onto the mainstream Si technology platform.

Topically administered hyaluronic acid in the upper airway: A narrative review.

PubMed

Pignataro, Lorenzo; Marchisio, Paola; Ibba, Tullio; Torretta, Sara

2018-01-01

Hyaluronic acid plays a role in controlling inflammatory airway processes and mucociliary clearance, and it is also involved in tissue healing and remodelling. Some studies have tested the effectiveness of topically administered hyaluronic acid in patients with upper airway diseases with positive preliminary results. This article describes the use of topically administered hyaluronic acid in patients with otolaryngological disorders. Pertinent studies published between January 2000 and October 2016 were selected by means of a MEDLINE search using the following terms: 'hyaluronic acid' and 'otolaryngology', 'otitis', 'pharyngitis', 'tonsillitis', 'rhinitis', 'rhinosinusitis' and 'nose'. Twelve of the 19 initially identified papers were selected, corresponding to 902 patients as a whole. There is some evidence that topically administered hyaluronic acid is effective or moderately effective in different otolaryngological conditions, as it improves the global subjective and clinical status of patients with inflammation of the nasopharyngeal and oto-tubaric complex, those with rhinitis or rhinosinusitis and those who have undergone nasal and sinonasal surgery. However, these findings should be viewed cautiously as they are based on a limited number of studies, some of which were probably under-powered because of their small patient samples.

Engineering A-kinase Anchoring Protein (AKAP)-selective Regulatory Subunits of Protein Kinase A (PKA) through Structure-based Phage Selection*

PubMed Central

Gold, Matthew G.; Fowler, Douglas M.; Means, Christopher K.; Pawson, Catherine T.; Stephany, Jason J.; Langeberg, Lorene K.; Fields, Stanley; Scott, John D.

2013-01-01

PKA is retained within distinct subcellular environments by the association of its regulatory type II (RII) subunits with A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs). Conventional reagents that universally disrupt PKA anchoring are patterned after a conserved AKAP motif. We introduce a phage selection procedure that exploits high-resolution structural information to engineer RII mutants that are selective for a particular AKAP. Selective RII (RSelect) sequences were obtained for eight AKAPs following competitive selection screening. Biochemical and cell-based experiments validated the efficacy of RSelect proteins for AKAP2 and AKAP18. These engineered proteins represent a new class of reagents that can be used to dissect the contributions of different AKAP-targeted pools of PKA. Molecular modeling and high-throughput sequencing analyses revealed the molecular basis of AKAP-selective interactions and shed new light on native RII-AKAP interactions. We propose that this structure-directed evolution strategy might be generally applicable for the investigation of other protein interaction surfaces. PMID:23625929

Evaluation and management of acquired methemoglobinemia associated with topical benzocaine use.

PubMed

Taleb, Mohammed; Ashraf, Zubair; Valavoor, Shahul; Tinkel, Jodi

2013-10-01

Benzocaine is a widely used topical oropharyngeal anesthetic and has been reported to cause methemoglobinemia. We discuss benzocaine-induced methemoglobinemia and review the causes, presentation, and management of this serious complication. Treatment with methylene blue will result in reversal of methemoglobinemia and clinical recovery in most cases but needs to be used at appropriate doses in carefully selected individuals. Physicians who perform procedures involving the application of benzocaine for topical anesthesia need to rapidly identify and treat methemoglobinemia to avoid significant associated morbidity and mortality.

Item Selection, Evaluation, and Simple Structure in Personality Data

PubMed Central

Pettersson, Erik; Turkheimer, Eric

2010-01-01

We report an investigation of the genesis and interpretation of simple structure in personality data using two very different self-reported data sets. The first consists of a set of relatively unselected lexical descriptors, whereas the second is based on responses to a carefully constructed instrument. In both data sets, we explore the degree of simple structure by comparing factor solutions to solutions from simulated data constructed to have either strong or weak simple structure. The analysis demonstrates that there is little evidence of simple structure in the unselected items, and a moderate degree among the selected items. In both instruments, however, much of the simple structure that could be observed originated in a strong dimension of positive vs. negative evaluation. PMID:20694168

Topical NSAIDs for chronic musculoskeletal pain in adults

PubMed Central

Derry, Sheena; Moore, R Andrew; Rabbie, Roy

2014-01-01

Background Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly taken orally, but they are also available in topical preparations to be applied to or rubbed onto the skin of a painful joint, typically one affected by arthritis, with the aim of relieving pain locally. Topical NSAIDs are widely used in some parts of the world for acute and chronic painful conditions, but have not been universally accepted until recently. One of the problems has been that older clinical studies were generally short, lasting four weeks or less, and short duration studies are not regarded as adequate in ongoing painful conditions. Objectives To examine the use of topical NSAIDs in chronic musculoskeletal pain, focusing on studies of high methodological quality, and examining the measured effect of the preparations according to study duration. The principal aim was to estimate treatment efficacy in longer duration studies of at least 8 weeks. Search methods A series of electronic searches, together with bibliographic searches, and searches of in-house databases were combined with electronic searches of clinical trial registers and manufacturers of topical NSAIDs, or companies known to be actively researching topical NSAIDs. There had to be at least 10 participants in each treatment arm, with application of treatment at least once daily. Selection criteria Randomised, double blind studies with placebo or active comparators, where at least one treatment was a topical NSAID product, in any topical formulation (cream, gel, patch, solution), in studies lasting at least two weeks. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed study quality and validity, and extracted data. Numbers of participants achieving each outcome were used to calculate relative risk (RR) and numbers needed to treat (NNT) or harm (NNH) compared to placebo or other active treatment. Main results Information was available from 7688 participants in 34 studies from 32 publications; 23 studies

Towards Interactive Construction of Topical Hierarchy: A Recursive Tensor Decomposition Approach

PubMed Central

Wang, Chi; Liu, Xueqing; Song, Yanglei; Han, Jiawei

2015-01-01

Automatic construction of user-desired topical hierarchies over large volumes of text data is a highly desirable but challenging task. This study proposes to give users freedom to construct topical hierarchies via interactive operations such as expanding a branch and merging several branches. Existing hierarchical topic modeling techniques are inadequate for this purpose because (1) they cannot consistently preserve the topics when the hierarchy structure is modified; and (2) the slow inference prevents swift response to user requests. In this study, we propose a novel method, called STROD, that allows efficient and consistent modification of topic hierarchies, based on a recursive generative model and a scalable tensor decomposition inference algorithm with theoretical performance guarantee. Empirical evaluation shows that STROD reduces the runtime of construction by several orders of magnitude, while generating consistent and quality hierarchies. PMID:26705505

Follicular and percutaneous penetration pathways of topically applied minoxidil foam.

PubMed

Blume-Peytavi, Ulrike; Massoudy, Lida; Patzelt, Alexa; Lademann, Jürgen; Dietz, Ekkehart; Rasulev, Utkur; Garcia Bartels, Natalie

2010-11-01

In the past, it was assumed that the intercellular route was the only relevant penetration pathway for topically applied substances. Recent results on follicular penetration emphasize that the hair follicles represent a highly relevant and efficient penetration pathway and reservoir for topically applied substances. This study investigates a selective closure technique of hair follicle orifices in vivo assessing interfollicular and follicular absorption rates of topical minoxidil foam in humans. In delimited skin area, single hair orifices or interfollicular skin were blocked with a microdrop of special varnish-wax-mixture in vivo. Minoxidil foam (5%) was topically applied, and transcutaneous absorption was measured by a new surface ionization mass spectrometry technique in serum. Different settings (open, closed or none of both) enabled to clearly distinguish between interfollicular and follicular penetration of the topically applied minoxidil foam. Five minutes after topical application, minoxidil was detected in blood samples when follicles remained open, whereas with closed follicles 30 min were needed. Highest levels were found first when both pathways were open, followed by open follicles and subsequently by closed follicles. These results demonstrate the high importance of the follicular penetration pathway. Hair follicles are surrounded by a dense network of blood capillaries and dendritic cells and have stem cells in their immediate vicinity, making them ideal targets for drug delivery. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Major research topics in combustion

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

Hussaini, M.Y.; Kumar, A.; Voigt, R.G.

1992-01-01

The Institute for Computer Applications in Science and Engineering (ICASE) and NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) hosted a workshop on October 2--4, 1989 to discuss some combustion problems of technological interest to LaRC and to foster interaction with the academic community in these research areas. The topics chosen for this purpose were flame structure, flame holding/extinction, chemical kinetics, turbulence-kinetics interaction, transition to detonation, and reacting free shear layers. This document contains the papers and edited versions of general discussions on these topics. The lead paper set the stage for the meeting by discussing the status and issues of supersonic combustionmore » relevant to the scramjet engine. Experts were then called upon to review the current knowledge in the aforementioned areas, to focus on how this knowledge can be extended and applied to high-speed combustion, and to suggest future directions of research in these areas.« less

Intermetallic structures with atomic precision for selective hydrogenation of nitroarenes

DOE PAGES

Pei, Yuchen; Qi, Zhiyuan; Goh, Tian Wei; ...

2017-11-14

It is essential to bridge the structure-properties relationship of bimetallic catalysts for the rational design of heterogeneous catalysts. Different from random alloys, intermetallic compounds (IMCs) present atomically-ordered structures, which is advantageous for catalytic mechanism studies. Here, we used Pt-based intermetallic nanoparticles (iNPs), individually encapsulated in mesoporous silica shells, as catalysts for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes to functionalized anilines. With the capping-free nature and ordered atomic structure, PtSn iNPs show >99% selectivity to hydrogenate the nitro group of 3-nitrostyrene albeit with a lower activity, in contrast to Pt 3Sn iNPs and Pt NPs. The geometric structure of PtSn iNPs in eliminatingmore » Pt threefold sites hampers the adsorption/dissociation of molecular H 2 and leads to a non-Horiuti-Polanyi hydrogenation pathway, while Pt 3Sn and Pt surfaces are saturated by atomic H. Calculations using density functional theory (DFT) suggest a preferential adsorption of the nitro group on the intermetallic PtSn surface contributing to its high selectivity.« less

TopicLens: Efficient Multi-Level Visual Topic Exploration of Large-Scale Document Collections.

PubMed

Kim, Minjeong; Kang, Kyeongpil; Park, Deokgun; Choo, Jaegul; Elmqvist, Niklas

2017-01-01

Topic modeling, which reveals underlying topics of a document corpus, has been actively adopted in visual analytics for large-scale document collections. However, due to its significant processing time and non-interactive nature, topic modeling has so far not been tightly integrated into a visual analytics workflow. Instead, most such systems are limited to utilizing a fixed, initial set of topics. Motivated by this gap in the literature, we propose a novel interaction technique called TopicLens that allows a user to dynamically explore data through a lens interface where topic modeling and the corresponding 2D embedding are efficiently computed on the fly. To support this interaction in real time while maintaining view consistency, we propose a novel efficient topic modeling method and a semi-supervised 2D embedding algorithm. Our work is based on improving state-of-the-art methods such as nonnegative matrix factorization and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding. Furthermore, we have built a web-based visual analytics system integrated with TopicLens. We use this system to measure the performance and the visualization quality of our proposed methods. We provide several scenarios showcasing the capability of TopicLens using real-world datasets.

Topical NSAIDs for acute pain in adults

PubMed Central

Massey, Thomas; Derry, Sheena; Moore, R Andrew; McQuay, Henry J

2014-01-01

Background Use of topical NSAIDs to treat acute musculoskeletal conditions is widely accepted in some parts of the world, but not in others. Their main attraction is their potential to provide pain relief without associated systemic adverse events. Objectives To review the evidence from randomised, double-blind, controlled trials on the efficacy and safety of topically applied NSAIDs in acute pain. Search methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, and our own in-house database to December 2009. We sought unpublished studies by asking personal contacts and searching on-line clinical trial registers and manufacturers web sites. Selection criteria We included randomised, double-blind, active or placebo (inert carrier)-controlled trials in which treatments were administered to adult patients with acute pain resulting from strains, sprains or sports or overuse-type injuries (twisted ankle, for instance). There had to be at least 10 participants in each treatment arm, with application of treatment at least once daily. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and validity, and extracted data. Numbers of participants achieving each outcome were used to calculate relative risk and numbers needed to treat (NNT) or harm (NNH) compared to placebo or other active treatment. Main results Forty-seven studies were included; most compared topical NSAIDs in the form of a gel, spray, or cream with a similar placebo, with 3455 participants in the overall analysis of efficacy. For all topical NSAIDs combined, compared with placebo, the number needed to treat to benefit (NNT) for clinical success, equivalent to 50% pain relief, was 4.5 (3.9 to 5.3) for treatment periods of 6 to 14 days. Topical diclofenac, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, and piroxicam were of similar efficacy, but indomethacin and benzydamine were not significantly better than placebo. Local skin reactions were generally mild and transient, and did not differ from

Membrane proteins bind lipids selectively to modulate their structure and function.

PubMed

Laganowsky, Arthur; Reading, Eamonn; Allison, Timothy M; Ulmschneider, Martin B; Degiacomi, Matteo T; Baldwin, Andrew J; Robinson, Carol V

2014-06-05

Previous studies have established that the folding, structure and function of membrane proteins are influenced by their lipid environments and that lipids can bind to specific sites, for example, in potassium channels. Fundamental questions remain however regarding the extent of membrane protein selectivity towards lipids. Here we report a mass spectrometry approach designed to determine the selectivity of lipid binding to membrane protein complexes. We investigate the mechanosensitive channel of large conductance (MscL) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis and aquaporin Z (AqpZ) and the ammonia channel (AmtB) from Escherichia coli, using ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS), which reports gas-phase collision cross-sections. We demonstrate that folded conformations of membrane protein complexes can exist in the gas phase. By resolving lipid-bound states, we then rank bound lipids on the basis of their ability to resist gas phase unfolding and thereby stabilize membrane protein structure. Lipids bind non-selectively and with high avidity to MscL, all imparting comparable stability; however, the highest-ranking lipid is phosphatidylinositol phosphate, in line with its proposed functional role in mechanosensation. AqpZ is also stabilized by many lipids, with cardiolipin imparting the most significant resistance to unfolding. Subsequently, through functional assays we show that cardiolipin modulates AqpZ function. Similar experiments identify AmtB as being highly selective for phosphatidylglycerol, prompting us to obtain an X-ray structure in this lipid membrane-like environment. The 2.3 Å resolution structure, when compared with others obtained without lipid bound, reveals distinct conformational changes that re-position AmtB residues to interact with the lipid bilayer. Our results demonstrate that resistance to unfolding correlates with specific lipid-binding events, enabling a distinction to be made between lipids that merely bind from those that modulate membrane

Structural basis for selectivity and diversity in angiotensin II receptors

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Haitao; Han, Gye Won; Batyuk, Alexander; ...

2017-04-20

The angiotensin II receptors AT 1R and AT 2R serve as key components of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system. AT 1R has a central role in the regulation of blood pressure, but the function of AT 2R is unclear and it has a variety of reported effects. To identify the mechanisms that underlie the differences in function and ligand selectivity between these receptors, here we report crystal structures of human AT 2R bound to an AT 2R-selective ligand and to an AT 1R/AT 2R dual ligand, capturing the receptor in an active-like conformation. Unexpectedly, helix VIII was found in a non-canonical position,more » stabilizing the active-like state, but at the same time preventing the recruitment of G proteins or β-arrestins, in agreement with the lack of signalling responses in standard cellular assays. Structure–activity relationship, docking and mutagenesis studies revealed the crucial interactions for ligand binding and selectivity. Finally, our results thus provide insights into the structural basis of the distinct functions of the angiotensin receptors, and may guide the design of new selective ligands.« less

Structural basis for selectivity and diversity in angiotensin II receptors

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

Zhang, Haitao; Han, Gye Won; Batyuk, Alexander

The angiotensin II receptors AT 1R and AT 2R serve as key components of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system. AT 1R has a central role in the regulation of blood pressure, but the function of AT 2R is unclear and it has a variety of reported effects. To identify the mechanisms that underlie the differences in function and ligand selectivity between these receptors, here we report crystal structures of human AT 2R bound to an AT 2R-selective ligand and to an AT 1R/AT 2R dual ligand, capturing the receptor in an active-like conformation. Unexpectedly, helix VIII was found in a non-canonical position,more » stabilizing the active-like state, but at the same time preventing the recruitment of G proteins or β-arrestins, in agreement with the lack of signalling responses in standard cellular assays. Structure–activity relationship, docking and mutagenesis studies revealed the crucial interactions for ligand binding and selectivity. Finally, our results thus provide insights into the structural basis of the distinct functions of the angiotensin receptors, and may guide the design of new selective ligands.« less

Population structure and strong divergent selection shape phenotypic diversification in maize landraces.

PubMed

Pressoir, G; Berthaud, J

2004-02-01

To conserve the long-term selection potential of maize, it is necessary to investigate past and present evolutionary processes that have shaped quantitative trait variation. Understanding the dynamics of quantitative trait evolution is crucial to future crop breeding. We characterized population differentiation of maize landraces from the State of Oaxaca, Mexico for quantitative traits and molecular markers. Qst values were much higher than Fst values obtained for molecular markers. While low values of Fst (0.011 within-village and 0.003 among-villages) suggest that considerable gene flow occurred among the studied populations, high levels of population differentiation for quantitative traits were observed (ie an among-village Qst value of 0.535 for kernel weight). Our results suggest that although quantitative traits appear to be under strong divergent selection, a considerable amount of gene flow occurs among populations. Furthermore, we characterized nonproportional changes in the G matrix structure both within and among villages that are consequences of farmer selection. As a consequence of these differences in the G matrix structure, the response to multivariate selection will be different from one population to another. Large changes in the G matrix structure could indicate that farmers select for genes of major and pleiotropic effect. Farmers' decision and selection strategies have a great impact on phenotypic diversification in maize landraces.

How can we enhance girls' interest in scientific topics?

PubMed

Kerger, Sylvie; Martin, Romain; Brunner, Martin

2011-12-01

Girls are considerably less interested in scientific subjects than boys. One reason may be that scientific subjects are considered to be genuinely masculine. Thus, being interested in science may threaten the self-perception of girls as well as the femininity of their self-image. If scientific topics that are considered to be stereotypically feminine were chosen, however, this potential threat might be overcome which, in turn, might lead to an increase in girls' interest in science. This hypothesis was empirically tested by means of two studies. Participants were 294 (Study 1) and 190 (Study 2) Grade 8 to Grade 9 students. Gender differences in students' interest in masculine and feminine topics were investigated for a range of scientific concepts (Study 1) as well as for a given scientific concept (Study 2) for four scientific subjects (i.e., biology, physics, information technology, and statistics), respectively. Both studies indicated that the mean level of girls' scientific interest was higher when scientific concepts were presented in the context of feminine topics and boys' level of scientific interests was higher when scientific concepts were presented in the context of masculine topics. Girls' interest in science could be substantially increased by presenting scientific concepts in the context of feminine topics. Gender differences as well as individual differences in the level of interest in scientific topics may be taken into account by creating learning environments in which students could select the context in which a certain scientific concept is embedded. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

Follicular penetration of topically applied caffeine via a shampoo formulation.

PubMed

Otberg, N; Teichmann, A; Rasuljev, U; Sinkgraven, R; Sterry, W; Lademann, J

2007-01-01

Follicular drug delivery is the prerequisite for an effective treatment of androgenetic alopecia or other reasons of premature hair loss. The follicular penetration of caffeine, applied topically in a shampoo formulation for 2 min, was measured with highly sensitive surface ionization in combination with mass spectroscopy, a selective method for the detection of very small quantities of transcutaneously absorbed substances in the blood. An experimental protocol, developed to selectively block the follicular pathway within the test area, was used. Based on this principle, a clear distinction between interfollicular and follicular penetration of topically applied caffeine was feasible. After 2 min, caffeine penetrated via the hair follicles and stratum corneum. It was found that the penetration via hair follicles was faster and higher compared with the interfollicular route and that hair follicles are the only pathway for fast caffeine absorption during the first 20 min after application. Copyright 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A discourse on sensitivity analysis for discretely-modeled structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adelman, Howard M.; Haftka, Raphael T.

1991-01-01

A descriptive review is presented of the most recent methods for performing sensitivity analysis of the structural behavior of discretely-modeled systems. The methods are generally but not exclusively aimed at finite element modeled structures. Topics included are: selections of finite difference step sizes; special consideration for finite difference sensitivity of iteratively-solved response problems; first and second derivatives of static structural response; sensitivity of stresses; nonlinear static response sensitivity; eigenvalue and eigenvector sensitivities for both distinct and repeated eigenvalues; and sensitivity of transient response for both linear and nonlinear structural response.

Prioritizing guideline topics: development and evaluation of a practical tool.

PubMed

Ketola, Eeva; Toropainen, Erja; Kaila, Minna; Luoto, Riitta; Mäkelä, Marjukka

2007-08-01

A clear process for selecting and adopting clinical practice guidelines in the new topic areas is needed. The aim of this study is to design and develop a practical tool to assess guideline topics that have been suggested to the organization responsible for producing guidelines. We carried out an iterative development, feasibility and validation study of a guideline topic prioritization tool. The setting included the guideline producer organization and the tax-funded health care system. In the first stage of the tool development, participants were researchers, members of the Current Care Board and experts from health care organizations. In the second stage, the evaluation was done internally within the project by three independent reviewers. The main outcome measures were responses to an evaluation questionnaire, qualitative process feedback and analysis of the performance of the instrument on a random set of guidelines. Evaluations by three independent reviewers revealed good agreement and face validity with respect to its feasibility as a planning tool at the guideline board level. Feedback from board members suggested that the instrument is useful in prioritizing guideline topics. This instrument was accepted for use by the Board. Further developments are needed to ensure feedback and acceptability of the instrument by those proposing topics.

Exploring supervised and unsupervised methods to detect topics in biomedical text

PubMed Central

Lee, Minsuk; Wang, Weiqing; Yu, Hong

2006-01-01

Background Topic detection is a task that automatically identifies topics (e.g., "biochemistry" and "protein structure") in scientific articles based on information content. Topic detection will benefit many other natural language processing tasks including information retrieval, text summarization and question answering; and is a necessary step towards the building of an information system that provides an efficient way for biologists to seek information from an ocean of literature. Results We have explored the methods of Topic Spotting, a task of text categorization that applies the supervised machine-learning technique naïve Bayes to assign automatically a document into one or more predefined topics; and Topic Clustering, which apply unsupervised hierarchical clustering algorithms to aggregate documents into clusters such that each cluster represents a topic. We have applied our methods to detect topics of more than fifteen thousand of articles that represent over sixteen thousand entries in the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database. We have explored bag of words as the features. Additionally, we have explored semantic features; namely, the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) that are assigned to the MEDLINE records, and the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) semantic types that correspond to the MeSH terms, in addition to bag of words, to facilitate the tasks of topic detection. Our results indicate that incorporating the MeSH terms and the UMLS semantic types as additional features enhances the performance of topic detection and the naïve Bayes has the highest accuracy, 66.4%, for predicting the topic of an OMIM article as one of the total twenty-five topics. Conclusion Our results indicate that the supervised topic spotting methods outperformed the unsupervised topic clustering; on the other hand, the unsupervised topic clustering methods have the advantages of being robust and applicable in real world settings. PMID:16539745

Selected Research and Development Topics on Aerospace Communications at NASA Glenn Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miranda, Felix A.; Romanofsky, Robert R.; Nessel, James A.

2014-01-01

This presentation discusses some of the efforts on communications RD that have been performed or are currently underway at NASA Glenn Research Center. The primary purpose of this presentation is to outline some RD topics to serve as talking points for a Technical Interchange Meeting with the Ohio State University. The meeting is scheduled to take place at The ElectroScience Laboratory of the Ohio State University on February 24, 2014.

Social dilemma structure hidden behind traffic flow with route selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanimoto, Jun; Nakamura, Kousuke

2016-10-01

Several traffic flows contain social dilemma structures. Herein, we explored a route-selection problem using a cellular automaton simulation dovetailed with evolutionary game theory. In our model, two classes of driver-agents coexist: D agents (defective strategy), which refer to traffic information for route selection to move fast, and C agents (cooperative strategy), which are insensitive to information and less inclined to move fast. Although no evidence suggests that the social dilemma structure in low density causes vehicles to move freely and that in high density causes traffic jams, we found a structure that corresponds to an n-person (multiplayer) Chicken (n-Chicken) game if the provided traffic information is inappropriate. If appropriate traffic information is given to the agents, the n-Chicken game can be solved. The information delivered to vehicles is crucial for easing the social dilemma due to urban traffic congestion when developing technologies to support the intelligent transportation system (ITS).

The Selective Mutism Questionnaire: Measurement Structure and Validity

PubMed Central

Letamendi, Andrea M.; Chavira, Denise A.; Hitchcock, Carla A.; Roesch, Scott C.; Shipon-Blum, Elisa; Stein, Murray B.; Roesch, Scott C.

2010-01-01

Objective To evaluate the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the 17-item Selective Mutism Questionnaire. Method Diagnostic interviews were administered via telephone to 102 parents of children identified with selective mutism (SM) and 43 parents of children without SM from varying U.S. geographic regions. Children were between the ages of 3 and 11 inclusive and comprised 58% girls and 42% boys. SM diagnoses were determined using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children - Parent Version (ADIS-C/P); SM severity was assessed using the 17-item Selective Mutism Questionnaire (SMQ); and behavioral and affective symptoms were assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to investigate the dimensionality of the SMQ and a modified parallel analysis procedure was used to confirm EFA results. Internal consistency, construct validity, and incremental validity were also examined. Results The EFA yielded a 13-item solution consisting of three factors: a) Social Situations Outside of School, b) School Situations, and c) Home and Family Situations. Internal consistency of SMQ factors and total scale ranged from moderate to high. Convergent and incremental validity were also well supported. Conclusions Measure structure findings are consistent with the 3-factor solution found in a previous psychometric evaluation of the SMQ. Results also suggest that the SMQ provides useful and unique information in the prediction of SM phenomenon beyond other child anxiety measures. PMID:18698268

Topical Conference on the Origin of the Earth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

The abstracts are presented on the topic of the origin of the Earth. The subject of planetary evolution from inner solar system plantesimals through the formation and composition of the Earth's atmosphere and the physical structure of the Earth and the Moon is explored in great variety.

Composite structures for magnetosphere imager spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chu, Tsuchin

1994-01-01

Results of a trade study addressing the issues and benefits in using carbon fiber reinforced composites for the Magnetosphere Imager (MI) spacecraft are presented. The MI mission is now part of the Sun/Earth Connection Program. To qualify for this category, new technology and innovative methods to reduce the cost and size have to be considered. Topics addressed cover: (1) what is a composite, including advantages and disadvantages of composites and carbon/graphite fibers; and (2) structural design for MI, including composite design configuration, material selection, and analysis of composite structures.

Selective Mutism Questionnaire: measurement structure and validity.

PubMed

Letamendi, Andrea M; Chavira, Denise A; Hitchcock, Carla A; Roesch, Scott C; Shipon-Blum, Elisa; Stein, Murray B

2008-10-01

To evaluate the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the 17-item Selective Mutism Questionnaire (SMQ). Diagnostic interviews were administered via telephone to 102 parents of children identified with selective mutism (SM) and 43 parents of children without SM from varying U.S. geographic regions. Children were between the ages of 3 and 11 inclusive and comprised 58% girls and 42% boys. SM diagnoses were determined using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children-Parent Version; SM severity was assessed using the 17-item SMQ; and behavioral and affective symptoms were assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to investigate the dimensionality of the SMQ and a modified parallel analysis procedure was used to confirm exploratory factor analysis results. Internal consistency, construct validity, and incremental validity were also examined. The exploratory factor analysis yielded a 13-item solution consisting of three factors: social situations outside of school, school situations, and home and family situations. Internal consistency of SMQ factors and total scale ranged from moderate to high. Convergent and incremental validity was also well supported. Measure structure findings are consistent with the three-factor solution found in a previous psychometric evaluation of the SMQ. Results also suggest that the SMQ provides useful and unique information in the prediction of SM phenomena beyond other child anxiety measures.

Structure-Based Design of Highly Selective Inhibitors of the CREB Binding Protein Bromodomain.

PubMed

Denny, R Aldrin; Flick, Andrew C; Coe, Jotham; Langille, Jonathan; Basak, Arindrajit; Liu, Shenping; Stock, Ingrid; Sahasrabudhe, Parag; Bonin, Paul; Hay, Duncan A; Brennan, Paul E; Pletcher, Mathew; Jones, Lyn H; Chekler, Eugene L Piatnitski

2017-07-13

Chemical probes are required for preclinical target validation to interrogate novel biological targets and pathways. Selective inhibitors of the CREB binding protein (CREBBP)/EP300 bromodomains are required to facilitate the elucidation of biology associated with these important epigenetic targets. Medicinal chemistry optimization that paid particular attention to physiochemical properties delivered chemical probes with desirable potency, selectivity, and permeability attributes. An important feature of the optimization process was the successful application of rational structure-based drug design to address bromodomain selectivity issues (particularly against the structurally related BRD4 protein).

Identifying biological concepts from a protein-related corpus with a probabilistic topic model

PubMed Central

Zheng, Bin; McLean, David C; Lu, Xinghua

2006-01-01

Background Biomedical literature, e.g., MEDLINE, contains a wealth of knowledge regarding functions of proteins. Major recurring biological concepts within such text corpora represent the domains of this body of knowledge. The goal of this research is to identify the major biological topics/concepts from a corpus of protein-related MEDLINE© titles and abstracts by applying a probabilistic topic model. Results The latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model was applied to the corpus. Based on the Bayesian model selection, 300 major topics were extracted from the corpus. The majority of identified topics/concepts was found to be semantically coherent and most represented biological objects or concepts. The identified topics/concepts were further mapped to the controlled vocabulary of the Gene Ontology (GO) terms based on mutual information. Conclusion The major and recurring biological concepts within a collection of MEDLINE documents can be extracted by the LDA model. The identified topics/concepts provide parsimonious and semantically-enriched representation of the texts in a semantic space with reduced dimensionality and can be used to index text. PMID:16466569

Women: A Select Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kusnerz, Peggy A., Comp.; Pollack, Ann M., Comp.

This select bibliography lists books, monographs, journals and newsletters which relate to feminism, women's studies, and other perspectives on women. Selections are organized by topic: general, bibliographies, art and literature, biography/autobiography, economics, education, family and marriage, history, politics and sex roles. Also included is…

IP Internal Movement and Topicalization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuo, Pei-Jung

2009-01-01

In this dissertation, I investigate the phenomenon of internal topicalization cross-linguistically, using Chinese as a starting point. Internal topicalization refers to constructions in which a topic phrase is placed between the subject and the verb (in contrast to external topicalization, which involves a topic in the CP domain). I argue that…

Structure of a black chrome solar selective surface

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

Lampert, C.M.

1978-07-01

The structure of ''CHROM-ONYX'' type of black chrome/metal selective absorber was studied to gain a better understanding of its influence upon the mechanism of wavelength selectivity. Spectral reflectance measurements were performed on seven samples. The best selectivity was found by these measurements to be 0.7 micron of black chrome on nickel and 1.0 micron of black chrome on copper. Both scanning and transmission electron microscopy were employed to study microstructure and chemical composition. As a result of the combined studies, some effects of black chrome thickness and the metallic substrate were determined. It was found that black chrome consisted ofmore » a very fine metallic distribution of particles of chromium, possibly suspended within a matrix of an oxide of chromium. This combination was, in turn, agglomerated into larger particles within the 0.05 to 0.3 micron size range. These larger particles formed a network which constituted the surface coating.« less

Topical preparations for pain relief: efficacy and patient adherence

PubMed Central

Jorge, Liliana L; Feres, Caroline C; Teles, Vitor EP

2011-01-01

There has been an increasing focus on development of new routes of drug administration to provide tailored treatments for patients, without decreasing efficacy of analgesia, in proportion to the progression of the knowledge of pain mechanisms. While acute pain acts as an alarm, chronic pain is a syndrome requiring meticulous selection of analgesic drugs of high bioavailability for long-term use. Such criteria are challenges that topical medications aim to overcome, allowing progressive delivery of active component, maintaining stable plasma levels, with a good safety profile. This review presents recent findings regarding topical formulations of the most widely used drugs for pain treatment, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents, anesthetics, and capsaicin, and the role of physical agents as delivery enhancers (phonophoresis and iontophoresis). Although the number of topical agents is limited for use in peripheral conditions, increasing evidence supports the efficacy of these preparations in blocking nociceptive and neuropathic pain. Patient adherence to medical treatment is also a challenge, especially in chronic painful conditions. It is known that reduction of treatment complexity and pill burden are good strategies to increase patient compliance, as discussed here. However, the role of topical presentations, when compared to traditional routes, has not yet been fully explored and thus remains unclear. PMID:21386951

Beef Cattle: Selection and Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clemson Univ., SC. Vocational Education Media Center.

Designed for secondary vocational agriculture students, this text provides an overview of selecting and evaluating beef cattle in Future Farmers of America livestock judging events. The first of four major sections addresses topics such as the ideal beef animal, selecting steers, selecting breeding animals, studying the animal systematically, and…

Sentence processing selectivity in Broca's area: evident for structure but not syntactic movement.

PubMed

Rogalsky, Corianne; Almeida, Diogo; Sprouse, Jon; Hickok, Gregory

The role of Broca's area in sentence processing is hotly debated. Prominent hypotheses include that Broca's area supports sentence comprehension via syntax-specific processes ("syntactic movement" in particular), hierarchical structure building or working memory. In the present fMRI study we adopt a within subject, across task approach using targeted sentence-level contrasts and non-sentential comparison tasks to address these hypotheses regarding the role of Broca's area in sentence processing. For clarity, we have presented findings as three experiments: (i) Experiment 1 examines selectivity for a particular type of sentence construction, namely those containing syntactic movement. Standard syntactic movement distance effects in Broca's area were replicated but no difference was found between movement and non-movement sentences in Broca's area at the group level or consistently in individual subjects. (ii) Experiment 2 examines selectivity for sentences versus non-sentences, to assess claims regarding the role of Broca's area in hierarchical structure building. Group and individual results differ, but both identify subregions of Broca's area that are selective for sentence structure. (iii) Experiment 3 assesses whether activations in Broca's area are selective for sentences when contrasted with simple subvocal articulation. Group results suggest shared resources for sentence processing and articulation in Broca's area, but individual subject analyses contradict this finding. We conclude that Broca's area is not selectively involved in processing syntactic movement, but that subregions are selectively responsive to sentence structure. Our findings also reinforce Fedorenko & Kanwishser's call for the use of more individual subject analyses in functional imaging studies of sentence processing in Broca's area, as group findings can obscure selective response patterns.

NASA/DOD Control/Structures Interaction Technology, 1986

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wright, Robert L. (Compiler)

1987-01-01

Papers presented at the CSI Technology Conference are given. The conference was jointly sponsored by the NASA Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology and the Department of Defense. The conference is the beginning of a series of annual conferences whose purpose is to report to industry, academia, and government agencies the current status of Control/Structures Interaction technology. The conference program was divided into five sessions: (1) Future spacecraft requirements; Technology issues and impact; (2) DOD special topics; (3) Large space systems technology; (4) Control of flexible structures, and (5) Selected NASA research in control structures interaction.

An in vitro approach to investigate ocular metabolism of a topical, selective β1-adrenergic blocking agent, betaxolol.

PubMed

Bushee, Jennifer L; Dunne, Christine E; Argikar, Upendra A

2015-05-01

1. Topical glaucoma treatments have often been limited by poor absorption and bioavailability. Betaxolol, a selective β1-blocker, has been well studied for its pharmacokinetics and disposition. Limited ocular, betaxolol metabolism data is available despite a growing number of novel ocular treatments. 2. In vitro ocular fractions indicated the formation of an active metabolite, across rat, rabbit and human, which was only observed historically in the liver. 3. Ocular metabolic profiles of preclinical toxicology species, rat and rabbit, were not predictive of human in vitro ocular data. M1 was specific to human and only captured by the liver data. 4. Liver S9 over predicted the extent of ocular metabolism compared to ocular fractions. Rabbit liver S9 fractions demonstrated extensive glucuronidation and higher parent turn-over in 1 h as compared to other matrices. 5. This research assesses in vitro species and organ differences across preclinical species and human. The complex data set highlights the need for an in vitro ocular system to explore poorly documented ocular metabolism.

Coevolution of cooperation and network structure under natural selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, D.-P.; Lin, H.; Shuai, J. W.

2011-02-01

A coevolution model by coupling mortality and fertility selection is introduced to investigate the evolution of cooperation and network structure in the prisoner's dilemma game. The cooperation level goes through a continuous phase transition vs. defection temptation b for low mortality selection intensity β and through a discontinuous one for infinite β. The cooperation level is enhanced most at β≈1 for any b. The local and global properties of the network structure, such as cluster and cooperating k-core, are investigated for the understanding of cooperation evolution. Cooperation is promoted by forming a tight cooperating k-core at moderate β, but too large β will destroy the cooperating k-core rapidly resulting in a rapid drop of the cooperation level. Importantly, the infinite β changes the normalized sucker's payoff S from 0 to 1-b and its dynamics of the cooperation level undergoes a very slow power-law decay, which leads the evolution into the regime of neutral evolution.

Structural characterization of nonactive site, TrkA-selective kinase inhibitors

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

Su, Hua-Poo; Rickert, Keith; Burlein, Christine

Current therapies for chronic pain can have insufficient efficacy and lead to side effects, necessitating research of novel targets against pain. Although originally identified as an oncogene, Tropomyosin-related kinase A (TrkA) is linked to pain and elevated levels of NGF (the ligand for TrkA) are associated with chronic pain. Antibodies that block TrkA interaction with its ligand, NGF, are in clinical trials for pain relief. Here, we describe the identification of TrkA-specific inhibitors and the structural basis for their selectivity over other Trk family kinases. The X-ray structures reveal a binding site outside the kinase active site that uses residuesmore » from the kinase domain and the juxtamembrane region. Three modes of binding with the juxtamembrane region are characterized through a series of ligand-bound complexes. The structures indicate a critical pharmacophore on the compounds that leads to the distinct binding modes. The mode of interaction can allow TrkA selectivity over TrkB and TrkC or promiscuous, pan-Trk inhibition. This finding highlights the difficulty in characterizing the structure-activity relationship of a chemical series in the absence of structural information because of substantial differences in the interacting residues. These structures illustrate the flexibility of binding to sequences outside of—but adjacent to—the kinase domain of TrkA. This knowledge allows development of compounds with specificity for TrkA or the family of Trk proteins.« less

Group Discussion Topics. Revised Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Area Education Agency 7, Cedar Falls, IA.

A collection of group disussion topics, developed and field-tested by a group of Iowa teachers, is presented in this guide. Twenty-eight topics for K-6 students, 24 topics for K-12 students, and 7 topics for students in grades 7-12 are included. Warm-up activities are given for introducing some of the topics, and lists of questions to provoke…

Predicting inpatient clinical order patterns with probabilistic topic models vs conventional order sets.

PubMed

Chen, Jonathan H; Goldstein, Mary K; Asch, Steven M; Mackey, Lester; Altman, Russ B

2017-05-01

Build probabilistic topic model representations of hospital admissions processes and compare the ability of such models to predict clinical order patterns as compared to preconstructed order sets. The authors evaluated the first 24 hours of structured electronic health record data for > 10 K inpatients. Drawing an analogy between structured items (e.g., clinical orders) to words in a text document, the authors performed latent Dirichlet allocation probabilistic topic modeling. These topic models use initial clinical information to predict clinical orders for a separate validation set of > 4 K patients. The authors evaluated these topic model-based predictions vs existing human-authored order sets by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, precision, and recall for subsequent clinical orders. Existing order sets predict clinical orders used within 24 hours with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.81, precision 16%, and recall 35%. This can be improved to 0.90, 24%, and 47% ( P  < 10 -20 ) by using probabilistic topic models to summarize clinical data into up to 32 topics. Many of these latent topics yield natural clinical interpretations (e.g., "critical care," "pneumonia," "neurologic evaluation"). Existing order sets tend to provide nonspecific, process-oriented aid, with usability limitations impairing more precise, patient-focused support. Algorithmic summarization has the potential to breach this usability barrier by automatically inferring patient context, but with potential tradeoffs in interpretability. Probabilistic topic modeling provides an automated approach to detect thematic trends in patient care and generate decision support content. A potential use case finds related clinical orders for decision support. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association.

Predicting inpatient clinical order patterns with probabilistic topic models vs conventional order sets

PubMed Central

Goldstein, Mary K; Asch, Steven M; Mackey, Lester; Altman, Russ B

2017-01-01

Objective: Build probabilistic topic model representations of hospital admissions processes and compare the ability of such models to predict clinical order patterns as compared to preconstructed order sets. Materials and Methods: The authors evaluated the first 24 hours of structured electronic health record data for > 10 K inpatients. Drawing an analogy between structured items (e.g., clinical orders) to words in a text document, the authors performed latent Dirichlet allocation probabilistic topic modeling. These topic models use initial clinical information to predict clinical orders for a separate validation set of > 4 K patients. The authors evaluated these topic model-based predictions vs existing human-authored order sets by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, precision, and recall for subsequent clinical orders. Results: Existing order sets predict clinical orders used within 24 hours with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.81, precision 16%, and recall 35%. This can be improved to 0.90, 24%, and 47% (P < 10−20) by using probabilistic topic models to summarize clinical data into up to 32 topics. Many of these latent topics yield natural clinical interpretations (e.g., “critical care,” “pneumonia,” “neurologic evaluation”). Discussion: Existing order sets tend to provide nonspecific, process-oriented aid, with usability limitations impairing more precise, patient-focused support. Algorithmic summarization has the potential to breach this usability barrier by automatically inferring patient context, but with potential tradeoffs in interpretability. Conclusion: Probabilistic topic modeling provides an automated approach to detect thematic trends in patient care and generate decision support content. A potential use case finds related clinical orders for decision support. PMID:27655861

Design and Synthesis of a Pan-Janus Kinase Inhibitor Clinical Candidate (PF-06263276) Suitable for Inhaled and Topical Delivery for the Treatment of Inflammatory Diseases of the Lungs and Skin

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

Jones, Peter; Storer, R. Ian; Sabnis, Yogesh A.

By use of a structure-based computational method for identification of structurally novel Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors predicted to bind beyond the ATP binding site, a potent series of indazoles was identified as selective pan-JAK inhibitors with a type 1.5 binding mode. Optimization of the series for potency and increased duration of action commensurate with inhaled or topical delivery resulted in potent pan-JAK inhibitor 2 (PF-06263276), which was advanced into clinical studies.

Sexual selection predicts brain structure in dragon lizards.

PubMed

Hoops, D; Ullmann, J F P; Janke, A L; Vidal-Garcia, M; Stait-Gardner, T; Dwihapsari, Y; Merkling, T; Price, W S; Endler, J A; Whiting, M J; Keogh, J S

2017-02-01

Phenotypic traits such as ornaments and armaments are generally shaped by sexual selection, which often favours larger and more elaborate males compared to females. But can sexual selection also influence the brain? Previous studies in vertebrates report contradictory results with no consistent pattern between variation in brain structure and the strength of sexual selection. We hypothesize that sexual selection will act in a consistent way on two vertebrate brain regions that directly regulate sexual behaviour: the medial preoptic nucleus (MPON) and the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN). The MPON regulates male reproductive behaviour whereas the VMN regulates female reproductive behaviour and is also involved in male aggression. To test our hypothesis, we used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging combined with traditional histology of brains in 14 dragon lizard species of the genus Ctenophorus that vary in the strength of precopulatory sexual selection. Males belonging to species that experience greater sexual selection had a larger MPON and a smaller VMN. Conversely, females did not show any patterns of variation in these brain regions. As the volumes of both these regions also correlated with brain volume (BV) in our models, we tested whether they show the same pattern of evolution in response to changes in BV and found that the do. Therefore, we show that the primary brain nuclei underlying reproductive behaviour in vertebrates can evolve in a mosaic fashion, differently between males and females, likely in response to sexual selection, and that these same regions are simultaneously evolving in concert in relation to overall brain size. © 2016 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2016 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Antimicrobial Properties of Topical Anesthetic Liquids Containing Lidocaine or Benzocaine

PubMed Central

Morrow, Mark E.; Berry, Charles W.

1988-01-01

Six species of microorganisms commonly found within the oral cavity were exposed for either one minute or two hours to 5% lidocaine liquid topical anesthetic and benzocaine liquid topical anesthetic. Mixtures of microorganisms and anesthetics were diluted and plated onto a brain heart infusion medium. Reduction in cell viability was 73-100% after exposure to the anesthetic agents when compared with the saline/buffer controls. A significant reduction (p < .005) in cell growth by Streptococcus mutans, S. sanguis, S. mitis, S. salivarius, Actinomyces viscosus, and Candida albicans was associated with a one-minute and two-hour exposure to lidocaine, benzocaine, 5% lidocaine, and the benzocaine vehicle control. Five percent lidocaine reduced growth of the test orgainisms more than benzocaine in one-minute exposures to S. mutans, A. viscosus and S. salivarius and with a two-hour exposure to S. salivarius. Five percent lidocaine was bacteriocidal or fungicidal to all microorganisms for both time periods whereas, benzocaine liquid topical anesthetic was predominately bacteriostatic or fungistatic after one-minute exposures and bacteriocidal or fungicidal after two hours. The results indicated that two dental liquid topical anesthetics containing lidocaine or benzocaine possessed considerable antimicrobial activity to selected oral microorganisms. The exclusive use of a topical liquid anesthetic may be an adequate means to render the oral mucosa aseptic before injection of a local anesthetic. PMID:3278655

Strategies of persuasion in offers to participate in cancer clinical trials I: Topic placement and topic framing.

PubMed

Barton, Ellen; Eggly, Susan; Winckles, Andrew; Albrecht, Terrance L

2014-01-01

Clinical trials are the gold standard in medical research evaluating new treatments in cancer care; however, in the United States, too few patients enroll in trials, especially patients from minority groups. Offering patients the option of a clinical trial is an ethically-charged communicative event for oncologists. One particularly vexed ethical issue is the use of persuasion in trial offers. Based on a corpus of 22 oncology encounters with Caucasian-American (n = 11) and African-American (n = 11) patients, this discourse analysis describes oncologists' use of two persuasive strategies related to the linguistic structure of trial offers: topic placement and topic framing. Findings are presented in total and by patient race, and discussed in terms of whether these strategies may constitute ethical or unethical persuasion, particularly with respect to the ethical issue of undue influence and the social issue of underrepresentation of minorities in cancer clinical trials.

Orbital selective pairing and gap structures of iron-based superconductors

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

Kreisel, Andreas; Andersen, Brian M.; Sprau, P. O.

We discuss the in uence on spin-fluctuation pairing theory of orbital selective strong correlation effects in Fe-based superconductors, particularly Fe chalcogenide systems. We propose that a key ingredient for an improved itinerant pairing theory is orbital selectivity, i.e., incorporating the reduced coherence of quasiparticles occupying specific orbital states. This modifies the usual spin-fluctuation via suppression of pair scattering processes involving those less coherent states and results in orbital selective Cooper pairing of electrons in the remaining states. We show that this paradigm yields remarkably good agreement with the experimentally observed anisotropic gap structures in both bulk and monolayer FeSe, asmore » well as LiFeAs, indicating that orbital selective Cooper pairing plays a key role in the more strongly correlated iron-based superconductors.« less

Orbital selective pairing and gap structures of iron-based superconductors

DOE PAGES

Kreisel, Andreas; Andersen, Brian M.; Sprau, P. O.; ...

2017-05-08

We discuss the in uence on spin-fluctuation pairing theory of orbital selective strong correlation effects in Fe-based superconductors, particularly Fe chalcogenide systems. We propose that a key ingredient for an improved itinerant pairing theory is orbital selectivity, i.e., incorporating the reduced coherence of quasiparticles occupying specific orbital states. This modifies the usual spin-fluctuation via suppression of pair scattering processes involving those less coherent states and results in orbital selective Cooper pairing of electrons in the remaining states. We show that this paradigm yields remarkably good agreement with the experimentally observed anisotropic gap structures in both bulk and monolayer FeSe, asmore » well as LiFeAs, indicating that orbital selective Cooper pairing plays a key role in the more strongly correlated iron-based superconductors.« less

The Topical Evolution: Free Ions, Orthomolecular Agents, Phytochemicals, and Insect-Produced Substances

PubMed Central

Conner-Kerr, Teresa

2014-01-01

Significance: A variety of topical antiseptic substances have been used historically to treat open wounds with suspected tissue infection or that are slow to heal. However, the effectiveness of these substances in treating infected or recalcitrant wounds remains controversial. Recent Advances: Newly formulated topical antiseptics delivered through differing dressing technologies, such as ionic substances, hold the potential to limit the development of and treat antibiotic-resistant microbes in open wounds. Other topically delivered substances, such as insect-derived substances, orthomolecular agents, and phytochemicals, also present opportunities to optimize wound healing by decreasing tissue bioburden and facilitating the wound healing process. Critical Issues: Limited systemic perfusion of open wounds in individuals with certain diagnoses, such as peripheral arterial disease or necrotizing infection and the increasing number of antibiotic-resistant wound pathogens, suggests a continued role for topically applied antiseptic agents. Likewise, the failure of wounds to heal when treated with standard of care therapy opens the door to innovative treatment approaches that include the natural substances described in this article. Future Directions: Evidence for the use of select topical antiseptic agents from each of the aforementioned categories will be discussed in this article. Additional well-controlled clinical studies are needed to provide definitive recommendations for many of these topical agents. PMID:25126473

Research, development and application of noncombustible Beta fiber structures. [for Apollo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dillon, J. J.; Cobb, E. S.

1975-01-01

Beta fiber was selected as the primary material for flexible fibrous structures used in spacecraft and crew systems applications in the Apollo program because it was noncombustible in a 100 percent oxygen atmosphere up to 16.5 psia. It met NASA criteria for outgassing, toxicity, odor, and crew comfort, and possessed sufficient durability to last through the mission. Topics discussed include: study of spacecraft applications; design of Beta fiber textile structures to meet the requirements; selection of surface treatments (finishes, coatings, and printing systems) to impart the required durability and special functional use to the textile structures; development of sewing and fabrication techniques; and testing and evaluation programs, and development of production sources.

Selective decontamination of the digestive tract.

PubMed

Krueger, Wolfgang A; Unertl, Klaus E

2002-04-01

Ventilator-associated pneumonia usually originates from the patient's oropharyngeal microflora. In selective digestive decontamination, topical antibiotics are applied to the oropharynx and stomach for prevention of pneumonia and other infections, possibly reducing infection-related mortality. Selective digestive decontamination is also used for the prevention of gut-derived infections in acute necrotizing pancreatitis and liver transplantation. Despite numerous clinical trials, selective digestive decontamination remains controversial. Reduction of the incidence of pneumonia is accepted, but the extent of reduction is debated. Mortality was not reduced in most individual trials, but this finding was calculated in meta-analyses, especially for combined use of topical and systemic antibiotics in surgical ICU patients. Some investigators reported increased resistance and a shift to Gram-positive pathogens. Today, it appears that selective means not only selective suppression of pathogenic bacteria but also selection of appropriate groups of patients for underlying diseases and severity of illness, and selection of ICUs, where the endemic resistance patterns might allow the use of selective digestive decontamination at a relatively low risk for increased selection pressure.

SHAPE Selection (SHAPES) enrich for RNA structure signal in SHAPE sequencing-based probing data

PubMed Central

Poulsen, Line Dahl; Kielpinski, Lukasz Jan; Salama, Sofie R.; Krogh, Anders; Vinther, Jeppe

2015-01-01

Selective 2′ Hydroxyl Acylation analyzed by Primer Extension (SHAPE) is an accurate method for probing of RNA secondary structure. In existing SHAPE methods, the SHAPE probing signal is normalized to a no-reagent control to correct for the background caused by premature termination of the reverse transcriptase. Here, we introduce a SHAPE Selection (SHAPES) reagent, N-propanone isatoic anhydride (NPIA), which retains the ability of SHAPE reagents to accurately probe RNA structure, but also allows covalent coupling between the SHAPES reagent and a biotin molecule. We demonstrate that SHAPES-based selection of cDNA–RNA hybrids on streptavidin beads effectively removes the large majority of background signal present in SHAPE probing data and that sequencing-based SHAPES data contain the same amount of RNA structure data as regular sequencing-based SHAPE data obtained through normalization to a no-reagent control. Moreover, the selection efficiently enriches for probed RNAs, suggesting that the SHAPES strategy will be useful for applications with high-background and low-probing signal such as in vivo RNA structure probing. PMID:25805860

Artificial selection for structural color on butterfly wings and comparison with natural evolution

PubMed Central

Wasik, Bethany R.; Liew, Seng Fatt; Lilien, David A.; Dinwiddie, April J.; Noh, Heeso; Cao, Hui; Monteiro, Antónia

2014-01-01

Brilliant animal colors often are produced from light interacting with intricate nano-morphologies present in biological materials such as butterfly wing scales. Surveys across widely divergent butterfly species have identified multiple mechanisms of structural color production; however, little is known about how these colors evolved. Here, we examine how closely related species and populations of Bicyclus butterflies have evolved violet structural color from brown-pigmented ancestors with UV structural color. We used artificial selection on a laboratory model butterfly, B. anynana, to evolve violet scales from UV brown scales and compared the mechanism of violet color production with that of two other Bicyclus species, Bicyclus sambulos and Bicyclus medontias, which have evolved violet/blue scales independently via natural selection. The UV reflectance peak of B. anynana brown scales shifted to violet over six generations of artificial selection (i.e., in less than 1 y) as the result of an increase in the thickness of the lower lamina in ground scales. Similar scale structures and the same mechanism for producing violet/blue structural colors were found in the other Bicyclus species. This work shows that populations harbor large amounts of standing genetic variation that can lead to rapid evolution of scales’ structural color via slight modifications to the scales’ physical dimensions. PMID:25092295

Artificial selection for structural color on butterfly wings and comparison with natural evolution.

PubMed

Wasik, Bethany R; Liew, Seng Fatt; Lilien, David A; Dinwiddie, April J; Noh, Heeso; Cao, Hui; Monteiro, Antónia

2014-08-19

Brilliant animal colors often are produced from light interacting with intricate nano-morphologies present in biological materials such as butterfly wing scales. Surveys across widely divergent butterfly species have identified multiple mechanisms of structural color production; however, little is known about how these colors evolved. Here, we examine how closely related species and populations of Bicyclus butterflies have evolved violet structural color from brown-pigmented ancestors with UV structural color. We used artificial selection on a laboratory model butterfly, B. anynana, to evolve violet scales from UV brown scales and compared the mechanism of violet color production with that of two other Bicyclus species, Bicyclus sambulos and Bicyclus medontias, which have evolved violet/blue scales independently via natural selection. The UV reflectance peak of B. anynana brown scales shifted to violet over six generations of artificial selection (i.e., in less than 1 y) as the result of an increase in the thickness of the lower lamina in ground scales. Similar scale structures and the same mechanism for producing violet/blue structural colors were found in the other Bicyclus species. This work shows that populations harbor large amounts of standing genetic variation that can lead to rapid evolution of scales' structural color via slight modifications to the scales' physical dimensions.

Bibliographic analysis of scientific research on selected topics in public health nutrition in West Africa: Review of articles published from 1998 to 2008.

PubMed

Aaron, Grant J; Wilson, Shelby E; Brown, Kenneth H

2010-01-01

Few countries in West Africa have the capacity for carrying out advanced training in nutrition and public health. To provide additional information on current regional applied nutrition research capacity and productivity, we analysed peer-reviewed articles on key public health nutrition topics that were published from 1998 to 2008. Using MEDLINE/PubMed, the following terms were searched: 'breast feeding', 'infant nutrition physiology' (comprising complementary feeding and weaning), 'protein energy malnutrition', 'nutrition and infection', 'vitamin A', 'iodine', 'zinc' and 'overweight', each linked with the term 'Western Africa'. In total, 412 unique articles (37±6 articles per year) were identified. Most research focused on infant and young child feeding practices, selected micronutrient deficiencies, and the emerging problem of overweight and obesity. The primary author of nearly half (46%) the publications was located in an institution outside of West Africa. Most articles were published in English (90%), and nearly half of all articles (41%) were cross-sectional studies. Our findings indicate that few peer-reviewed research studies are being published on key public health topics in the West African region, considering the magnitude of nutrition problems in this region. New approaches are needed to encourage and support research capacity and output in West Africa.

Topical ocular anesthetic abuse among Iranian welders: time for action.

PubMed

Sharifi, Ali; Sharifi, Hamid; Karamouzian, Mohammad; Mokhtari, Mahmoud; Esmaeili, Hamidreza Hosein; Nejad, Afshin Sarafi; Rahmatian, Mohammad

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of topical ocular anesthetic abuse among welders in Iran and suggest public health solutions for this issue. In this cross-sectional study, 390 welders were randomly recruited and queried on the use of anesthetic drops. A questionnaire was administered through structured one-on-one interviews conducted by the first author. A total of 314 welders (80.5%) declared that they had used topical anesthetics at least once during their working lives. Almost 90% of them stated a preference for self-treatment over seeking help from a physician due to cultural and financial reasons. The most commonly used topical anesthetic was tetracaine. Most of the subjects (97.4%) had obtained the drugs from pharmacies without a prescription. The prevalence of topical ocular anesthetic abuse among welders in Iran is alarmingly high and may partially be due to cultural issues. Although most physicians are aware that topical anesthetics should only be used as a diagnostic tool, there is a crucial need to re-emphasize the ocular risks associated with chronic use of these medications. Educational programs for both physicians and the public are necessary to address the problem.

Teaching foundational topics and scientific skills in biochemistry within the conceptual framework of HIV protease.

PubMed

Johnson, R Jeremy

2014-01-01

HIV protease has served as a model protein for understanding protein structure, enzyme kinetics, structure-based drug design, and protein evolution. Inhibitors of HIV protease are also an essential part of effective HIV/AIDS treatment and have provided great societal benefits. The broad applications for HIV protease and its inhibitors make it a perfect framework for integrating foundational topics in biochemistry around a big picture scientific and societal issue. Herein, I describe a series of classroom exercises that integrate foundational topics in biochemistry around the structure, biology, and therapeutic inhibition of HIV protease. These exercises center on foundational topics in biochemistry including thermodynamics, acid/base properties, protein structure, ligand binding, and enzymatic catalysis. The exercises also incorporate regular student practice of scientific skills including analysis of primary literature, evaluation of scientific data, and presentation of technical scientific arguments. Through the exercises, students also gain experience accessing computational biochemical resources such as the protein data bank, Proteopedia, and protein visualization software. As these HIV centered exercises cover foundational topics common to all first semester biochemistry courses, these exercises should appeal to a broad audience of undergraduate students and should be readily integrated into a variety of teaching styles and classroom sizes. © 2014 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Structure coefficients and strategy selection in multiplayer games.

PubMed

McAvoy, Alex; Hauert, Christoph

2016-01-01

Evolutionary processes based on two-player games such as the Prisoner's Dilemma or Snowdrift Game are abundant in evolutionary game theory. These processes, including those based on games with more than two strategies, have been studied extensively under the assumption that selection is weak. However, games involving more than two players have not received the same level of attention. To address this issue, and to relate two-player games to multiplayer games, we introduce a notion of reducibility for multiplayer games that captures what it means to break down a multiplayer game into a sequence of interactions with fewer players. We discuss the role of reducibility in structured populations, and we give examples of games that are irreducible in any population structure. Since the known conditions for strategy selection, otherwise known as [Formula: see text]-rules, have been established only for two-player games with multiple strategies and for multiplayer games with two strategies, we extend these rules to multiplayer games with many strategies to account for irreducible games that cannot be reduced to those simpler types of games. In particular, we show that the number of structure coefficients required for a symmetric game with [Formula: see text]-player interactions and [Formula: see text] strategies grows in [Formula: see text] like [Formula: see text]. Our results also cover a type of ecologically asymmetric game based on payoff values that are derived not only from the strategies of the players, but also from their spatial positions within the population.

Feature Selection Using Information Gain for Improved Structural-Based Alert Correlation

PubMed Central

Siraj, Maheyzah Md; Zainal, Anazida; Elshoush, Huwaida Tagelsir; Elhaj, Fatin

2016-01-01

Grouping and clustering alerts for intrusion detection based on the similarity of features is referred to as structurally base alert correlation and can discover a list of attack steps. Previous researchers selected different features and data sources manually based on their knowledge and experience, which lead to the less accurate identification of attack steps and inconsistent performance of clustering accuracy. Furthermore, the existing alert correlation systems deal with a huge amount of data that contains null values, incomplete information, and irrelevant features causing the analysis of the alerts to be tedious, time-consuming and error-prone. Therefore, this paper focuses on selecting accurate and significant features of alerts that are appropriate to represent the attack steps, thus, enhancing the structural-based alert correlation model. A two-tier feature selection method is proposed to obtain the significant features. The first tier aims at ranking the subset of features based on high information gain entropy in decreasing order. The‏ second tier extends additional features with a better discriminative ability than the initially ranked features. Performance analysis results show the significance of the selected features in terms of the clustering accuracy using 2000 DARPA intrusion detection scenario-specific dataset. PMID:27893821

Innovations in Teaching: How Novice Teaching Assistants Include LGBTQ Topics in the Writing Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jaekel, Kathryn S.

2016-01-01

This article examines how three novice graduate teaching assistants included lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer topics in their first-year writing classrooms. Findings suggest that inclusion of these topics can be successfully done through attention to identity in the classroom, including current-day events, and structuring classroom…

Salicylic Acid Topical

MedlinePlus

... stinging in the area where you applied topical salicylic acid Some side effects can be serious. If you experience any of ... of the eyes, face, lips, or tongue Topical salicylic acid may cause other side effects. Call your doctor if you have any unusual ...

The News about High School Journalism: Focused Access to Selected Topics (FAST) Bibliography No. 4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowles, Margaret Haining

This annotated bibliography contains 33 items from the ERIC database on high school journalism topics of interest to student writers and editors, journalism instructors, publications advisers, and school administrators. The first section contains overviews. Ensuing sections address how journalism benefits students; legal issues in high school…

GeneTopics - interpretation of gene sets via literature-driven topic models

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Annotation of a set of genes is often accomplished through comparison to a library of labelled gene sets such as biological processes or canonical pathways. However, this approach might fail if the employed libraries are not up to date with the latest research, don't capture relevant biological themes or are curated at a different level of granularity than is required to appropriately analyze the input gene set. At the same time, the vast biomedical literature offers an unstructured repository of the latest research findings that can be tapped to provide thematic sub-groupings for any input gene set. Methods Our proposed method relies on a gene-specific text corpus and extracts commonalities between documents in an unsupervised manner using a topic model approach. We automatically determine the number of topics summarizing the corpus and calculate a gene relevancy score for each topic allowing us to eliminate non-specific topics. As a result we obtain a set of literature topics in which each topic is associated with a subset of the input genes providing directly interpretable keywords and corresponding documents for literature research. Results We validate our method based on labelled gene sets from the KEGG metabolic pathway collection and the genetic association database (GAD) and show that the approach is able to detect topics consistent with the labelled annotation. Furthermore, we discuss the results on three different types of experimentally derived gene sets, (1) differentially expressed genes from a cardiac hypertrophy experiment in mice, (2) altered transcript abundance in human pancreatic beta cells, and (3) genes implicated by GWA studies to be associated with metabolite levels in a healthy population. In all three cases, we are able to replicate findings from the original papers in a quick and semi-automated manner. Conclusions Our approach provides a novel way of automatically generating meaningful annotations for gene sets that are directly

Genetic structure and signatures of selection in grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos).

PubMed

Momigliano, P; Harcourt, R; Robbins, W D; Jaiteh, V; Mahardika, G N; Sembiring, A; Stow, A

2017-09-01

With overfishing reducing the abundance of marine predators in multiple marine ecosystems, knowledge of genetic structure and local adaptation may provide valuable information to assist sustainable management. Despite recent technological advances, most studies on sharks have used small sets of neutral markers to describe their genetic structure. We used 5517 nuclear single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) gene to characterize patterns of genetic structure and detect signatures of selection in grey reef sharks (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos). Using samples from Australia, Indonesia and oceanic reefs in the Indian Ocean, we established that large oceanic distances represent barriers to gene flow, whereas genetic differentiation on continental shelves follows an isolation by distance model. In Australia and Indonesia differentiation at nuclear SNPs was weak, with coral reefs acting as stepping stones maintaining connectivity across large distances. Differentiation of mtDNA was stronger, and more pronounced in females, suggesting sex-biased dispersal. Four independent tests identified a set of loci putatively under selection, indicating that grey reef sharks in eastern Australia are likely under different selective pressures to those in western Australia and Indonesia. Genetic distances averaged across all loci were uncorrelated with genetic distances calculated from outlier loci, supporting the conclusion that different processes underpin genetic divergence in these two data sets. This pattern of heterogeneous genomic differentiation, suggestive of local adaptation, has implications for the conservation of grey reef sharks; furthermore, it highlights that marine species showing little genetic differentiation at neutral loci may exhibit patterns of cryptic genetic structure driven by local selection.

Comprehensive review on additives of topical dosage forms for drug delivery.

PubMed

Garg, Tarun; Rath, Goutam; Goyal, Amit K

2015-12-01

Skin is the largest organ of the human body and plays the most important role in protecting against pathogen and foreign matter. Three important modes such as topical, regional and transdermal are widely used for delivery of various dosage forms. Among these modes, the topical dosage forms are preferred because it provides local therapeutic activity when applied to the skin or mucous membranes. Additives or pharmaceutical excipients (non-drug component of dosage form) are used as inactive ingredients in dosage form or tools for structuring dosage forms. The main use of topical dosage form additives are controling the extent of absorption, maintaining the viscosity, improving the stability as well as organoleptic property and increasing the bulk of the formulation. The overall goal of this article is to provide the clinician with information related to the topical dosage form additives and their current major applications against various diseases.

Do topical applications of bisphosphonates improve bone formation in oral implantology? A systematic review

PubMed Central

Lozano-Carrascal, Naroa; Hernández-Alfaro, Federico; Gehrke, Sergio-Alexandre; Gargallo-Albiol, Jordi; Calvo-Guirado, José-Luis

2017-01-01

Background The aim of this systematic literature review was to evaluate the feasibility of topical bisphosphonate application for preserving/enhancing alveolar bone in oral implantology. Material and Methods An electronic search was conducted in the PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of knowledge, and Google-Scholar databases for articles dated from January 2000 to December 2016. Two reviewers assessed the quality of the studies independently. Results A total of 154 abstracts were identified, of which 18 potentially relevant articles were selected; a final total of nine papers were included for analysis. Comparison of the findings of the selected studies was made difficult by the heterogeneity of the articles, all of them animal research papers that showed heterogeneity in the methodologies used and a high or moderate risk of bias. Conclusions The topical application of bisphosphonate solution would appear to favor new bone formation in alveolar defects, and boosts the regenerative capacities of biomaterials resulting in increased bone density. Key words:Alveolar bone, bone regeneration, topical application, biomaterial, bisphosphonates. PMID:28624840

Formulation design for topical drug and nanoparticle treatment of skin disease.

PubMed

Raphael, Anthony P; Garrastazu, Gabriela; Sonvico, Fabio; Prow, Tarl W

2015-02-01

The skin has evolved to resist the penetration of foreign substances and particles. Topical therapeutic and cosmeceutical delivery is a growing field founded on selectively overcoming this barrier. Both the biology of the skin and the nature of the formulation/active ingredient must be aligned for efficient transcutaneous delivery. This review discusses the biological changes in the skin barrier that occur with common dermatological conditions. This context is the foundation for the discussion of formulation strategies to improve penetration profiles of common active ingredients in dermatology. Finally, we compare and contrast those approaches to recent advances described in the research literature with an eye toward the future of topical formulation design.

Topic segmentation via community detection in complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Arruda, Henrique F.; Costa, Luciano da F.; Amancio, Diego R.

2016-06-01

Many real systems have been modeled in terms of network concepts, and written texts are a particular example of information networks. In recent years, the use of network methods to analyze language has allowed the discovery of several interesting effects, including the proposition of novel models to explain the emergence of fundamental universal patterns. While syntactical networks, one of the most prevalent networked models of written texts, display both scale-free and small-world properties, such a representation fails in capturing other textual features, such as the organization in topics or subjects. We propose a novel network representation whose main purpose is to capture the semantical relationships of words in a simple way. To do so, we link all words co-occurring in the same semantic context, which is defined in a threefold way. We show that the proposed representations favor the emergence of communities of semantically related words, and this feature may be used to identify relevant topics. The proposed methodology to detect topics was applied to segment selected Wikipedia articles. We found that, in general, our methods outperform traditional bag-of-words representations, which suggests that a high-level textual representation may be useful to study the semantical features of texts.

Topic segmentation via community detection in complex networks.

PubMed

de Arruda, Henrique F; Costa, Luciano da F; Amancio, Diego R

2016-06-01

Many real systems have been modeled in terms of network concepts, and written texts are a particular example of information networks. In recent years, the use of network methods to analyze language has allowed the discovery of several interesting effects, including the proposition of novel models to explain the emergence of fundamental universal patterns. While syntactical networks, one of the most prevalent networked models of written texts, display both scale-free and small-world properties, such a representation fails in capturing other textual features, such as the organization in topics or subjects. We propose a novel network representation whose main purpose is to capture the semantical relationships of words in a simple way. To do so, we link all words co-occurring in the same semantic context, which is defined in a threefold way. We show that the proposed representations favor the emergence of communities of semantically related words, and this feature may be used to identify relevant topics. The proposed methodology to detect topics was applied to segment selected Wikipedia articles. We found that, in general, our methods outperform traditional bag-of-words representations, which suggests that a high-level textual representation may be useful to study the semantical features of texts.

Topical treatment of melasma.

PubMed

Bandyopadhyay, Debabrata

2009-01-01

Melasma is a common hypermelanotic disorder affecting the face that is associated with considerable psychological impacts. The management of melasma is challenging and requires a long-term treatment plan. In addition to avoidance of aggravating factors like oral pills and ultraviolet exposure, topical therapy has remained the mainstay of treatment. Multiple options for topical treatment are available, of which hydroquinone (HQ) is the most commonly prescribed agent. Besides HQ, other topical agents for which varying degrees of evidence for clinical efficacy exist include azelaic acid, kojic acid, retinoids, topical steroids, glycolic acid, mequinol, and arbutin. Topical medications modify various stages of melanogenesis, the most common mode of action being inhibition of the enzyme, tyrosinase. Combination therapy is the preferred mode of treatment for the synergism and reduction of untoward effects. The most popular combination consists of HQ, a topical steroid, and retinoic acid. Prolonged HQ usage may lead to untoward effects like depigmentation and exogenous ochronosis. The search for safer alternatives has given rise to the development of many newer agents, several of them from natural sources. Well-designed controlled clinical trials are needed to clarify their role in the routine management of melasma.

TOPICAL TREATMENT OF MELASMA

PubMed Central

Bandyopadhyay, Debabrata

2009-01-01

Melasma is a common hypermelanotic disorder affecting the face that is associated with considerable psychological impacts. The management of melasma is challenging and requires a long-term treatment plan. In addition to avoidance of aggravating factors like oral pills and ultraviolet exposure, topical therapy has remained the mainstay of treatment. Multiple options for topical treatment are available, of which hydroquinone (HQ) is the most commonly prescribed agent. Besides HQ, other topical agents for which varying degrees of evidence for clinical efficacy exist include azelaic acid, kojic acid, retinoids, topical steroids, glycolic acid, mequinol, and arbutin. Topical medications modify various stages of melanogenesis, the most common mode of action being inhibition of the enzyme, tyrosinase. Combination therapy is the preferred mode of treatment for the synergism and reduction of untoward effects. The most popular combination consists of HQ, a topical steroid, and retinoic acid. Prolonged HQ usage may lead to untoward effects like depigmentation and exogenous ochronosis. The search for safer alternatives has given rise to the development of many newer agents, several of them from natural sources. Well-designed controlled clinical trials are needed to clarify their role in the routine management of melasma. PMID:20101327

The Acceptance of Universalism: The Importance of Selected Aspects of School Structure.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Robert A.

This report describes a study that investigated empirically the relationships between selected aspects of the organizational structure of elementary schools and the extent to which students endorsed the norm of universalism. Four aspects of structure were studied: degree of departmentalization, school enrollment, student-teacher ratio, and extent…

Colloquium on Selected Topics in Behavioral Science Basic Research. (Alexandria, Virginia, April 23-25, 1980).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nogami, Glenda Y., Ed.; And Others

The 21 summaries of research programs, funded by the United States Army Research Institute (ARI) for the Behavioral and Social Sciences which are presented are grouped in five broad topic areas: computer-based systems; information processing; learning, memory and transfer; human relations; and related issues and trends. Papers presented include:…

A determinant-based criterion for working correlation structure selection in generalized estimating equations.

PubMed

Jaman, Ajmery; Latif, Mahbub A H M; Bari, Wasimul; Wahed, Abdus S

2016-05-20

In generalized estimating equations (GEE), the correlation between the repeated observations on a subject is specified with a working correlation matrix. Correct specification of the working correlation structure ensures efficient estimators of the regression coefficients. Among the criteria used, in practice, for selecting working correlation structure, Rotnitzky-Jewell, Quasi Information Criterion (QIC) and Correlation Information Criterion (CIC) are based on the fact that if the assumed working correlation structure is correct then the model-based (naive) and the sandwich (robust) covariance estimators of the regression coefficient estimators should be close to each other. The sandwich covariance estimator, used in defining the Rotnitzky-Jewell, QIC and CIC criteria, is biased downward and has a larger variability than the corresponding model-based covariance estimator. Motivated by this fact, a new criterion is proposed in this paper based on the bias-corrected sandwich covariance estimator for selecting an appropriate working correlation structure in GEE. A comparison of the proposed and the competing criteria is shown using simulation studies with correlated binary responses. The results revealed that the proposed criterion generally performs better than the competing criteria. An example of selecting the appropriate working correlation structure has also been shown using the data from Madras Schizophrenia Study. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Drugs and driving : a selected bibliography.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1977-01-01

This report presents a selected bibliography on drugs (other than : alcohol alone) and driving. Appendices contain a Topical Index; a : Title Index, an Author Index, and Abstracts of over 600 articles. : Scientific, technical and selected general lit...

A Topical Overview of Cumulative Risk Assessment Concepts ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Cumulative risk assessments (CRAs) address combined risks from exposures to multiple chemical and nonchemical stressors and may focus on vulnerable communities or populations. Significant contributions have been made to the development of concepts, methods, and applications for CRA over the past decade. Work in both human health and ecological cumulative risk has advanced in two different contexts. First, in assessing the effects of chemical mixtures that share common modes of action, or that cause common adverse outcomes. In this context two primary models are used for predicting mixture effects, dose addition or response addition. The second context is evaluating the combined effects of chemical and nonchemical (e.g., radiation, biological, nutritional, economic, psychological, habitat alteration, land-use change, global climate change, and natural disasters) stressors. CRA can be adapted to address risk in many contexts, and this adaptability is reflected in the range in disciplinary perspectives in the published literature. This article presents the results of a literature search by presenting a range of selected work with the intention to give a broad overview of relevant topics and provide a starting point for researchers interested in CRA applications. This is a select literature review of topics in CRA. As a published article it will allow the citation of an analysis conducted on a rich and diverse set of CRA publications relevant to assessment methods

Incorporating Topic Assignment Constraint and Topic Correlation Limitation into Clinical Goal Discovering for Clinical Pathway Mining.

PubMed

Xu, Xiao; Jin, Tao; Wei, Zhijie; Wang, Jianmin

2017-01-01

Clinical pathways are widely used around the world for providing quality medical treatment and controlling healthcare cost. However, the expert-designed clinical pathways can hardly deal with the variances among hospitals and patients. It calls for more dynamic and adaptive process, which is derived from various clinical data. Topic-based clinical pathway mining is an effective approach to discover a concise process model. Through this approach, the latent topics found by latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) represent the clinical goals. And process mining methods are used to extract the temporal relations between these topics. However, the topic quality is usually not desirable due to the low performance of the LDA in clinical data. In this paper, we incorporate topic assignment constraint and topic correlation limitation into the LDA to enhance the ability of discovering high-quality topics. Two real-world datasets are used to evaluate the proposed method. The results show that the topics discovered by our method are with higher coherence, informativeness, and coverage than the original LDA. These quality topics are suitable to represent the clinical goals. Also, we illustrate that our method is effective in generating a comprehensive topic-based clinical pathway model.

Incorporating Topic Assignment Constraint and Topic Correlation Limitation into Clinical Goal Discovering for Clinical Pathway Mining

PubMed Central

Xu, Xiao; Wei, Zhijie

2017-01-01

Clinical pathways are widely used around the world for providing quality medical treatment and controlling healthcare cost. However, the expert-designed clinical pathways can hardly deal with the variances among hospitals and patients. It calls for more dynamic and adaptive process, which is derived from various clinical data. Topic-based clinical pathway mining is an effective approach to discover a concise process model. Through this approach, the latent topics found by latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) represent the clinical goals. And process mining methods are used to extract the temporal relations between these topics. However, the topic quality is usually not desirable due to the low performance of the LDA in clinical data. In this paper, we incorporate topic assignment constraint and topic correlation limitation into the LDA to enhance the ability of discovering high-quality topics. Two real-world datasets are used to evaluate the proposed method. The results show that the topics discovered by our method are with higher coherence, informativeness, and coverage than the original LDA. These quality topics are suitable to represent the clinical goals. Also, we illustrate that our method is effective in generating a comprehensive topic-based clinical pathway model. PMID:29065617

Satisfaction level with topical versus peribulbar anesthesia experienced by same patient for phacoemulsification.

PubMed

Ahmad, Nauman; Zahoor, Abdul; Motowa, Saeed A; Jastaneiah, Saba; Riad, Waleed

2012-01-01

Various studies have assessed patient satisfaction with topical versus peribulbar anesthesia with conflicting results. Aim of study was to determine satisfaction level in same patient who gets topical anesthesia in one eye and peribulbar block in another eye. We propose that evaluation of various indicators of patient satisfaction will enable better selection of cases for topical anesthesia in the future. Eighty patients scheduled for phacoemulsification were enrolled in prospective, randomized, double-blind study. Each patient scheduled twice for one eye under topical anesthesia and other in peribulbar block. Pain, discomfort and pressure during application of local anesthetic, during phacoemulsification and at 2 hours after procedure were assessed on standard scales. Before discharge patient satisfaction level was checked with Iowa satisfaction with anesthesia scale (ISAS). The Student's t-test was used to determine the significance of IOWA score in both groups. P<0.05 was considered significant. Feeling of pain, pressure and discomfort scores during administration of topical anesthesia were all significantly lower compared to peribulbar anesthesia (P=0.004, 0.000, 0.002, respectively). In contrast, intraoperative scores were significantly higher in the topical anesthesia group compared to peribulbar anesthesia (P=0.022, 0.000, 0.000, respectively). Patient satisfaction measured with ISAS shows that peribulbar anesthesia with P=0.000 is strongly significant. Peribulbar anesthesia provided significantly better patient satisfaction in comparison with topical anesthesia when used for cataract surgery.

Uneven-aged management of old-growth spruce-fir forests: Cutting methods and stand structure goals for the initial entry

Treesearch

Robert R. Alexander; Carleton B. Edminster

1977-01-01

Topics discussed include: (1) cutting methods, (2) stand structure goals, which involve choosing a residual stocking level, selecting a maximum tree size, and establishing a diameter distribution using the "q" technique, and (3) harvesting and removal of trees. Examples illustrate how to determine realistic stand structures for the initial entry for...

Conversation Thread Extraction and Topic Detection in Text-Based Chat

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-01

conversation extraction task. Multiple conversations in a session are interleaved. The goal in extraction is to select only those posts that belong...others. Our first-phase experiments quite clearly show the value of using time-distance as a feature in conversation thread extraction . In this set of... EXTRACTION AND TOPIC DETECTION IN TEXT-BASED CHAT by Paige Holland Adams September 2008 Thesis Advisor

Topical management of striae distensae (stretch marks): prevention and therapy of striae rubrae and albae.

PubMed

Ud-Din, S; McGeorge, D; Bayat, A

2016-02-01

Striae distensae (SD) are common dermal lesions, with significant physical and psychological impact. Many therapeutic modalities are available but none can completely eradicate SD. The most common therapy is the application of topicals used both therapeutically and prophylactically. Even though there are many commercially available topical products, not all have sufficient level of evidence to support their continued use in SD. The aim here was to assess the evidence for the use of topicals in SD and to propose a structured approach in managing SD. A systematic search of published literature and manufacturer website information for topicals in SD was carried out. The results showed that there are few studies (n = 11) which investigate the efficacy of topicals in management of SD. Trofolastin and Alphastria creams demonstrated level-2 evidence of positive results for their prophylactic use in SD. Additionally, tretinoin used therapeutically showed varying results whilst cocoa butter and olive oil did not demonstrate any effect. Overall, there is a distinct lack of evidence for each topical formulation. The majority of topicals failed to mention their effect on early vs. later stages of SD (striae rubrae compared to striae albae) and their role in both prevention and treatment. In conclusion, there is no topical formulation, which is shown to be most effective in eradicating or improving SD. A structured approach in identification and targeted management of symptoms and signs with the appropriate topical is required. Randomized controlled trials are necessary to assess the efficacy of topical products for treatment and prevention of different stages of SD. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

Selected Topics from LVCSR Research for Asian Languages at Tokyo Tech

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furui, Sadaoki

This paper presents our recent work in regard to building Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition (LVCSR) systems for the Thai, Indonesian, and Chinese languages. For Thai, since there is no word boundary in the written form, we have proposed a new method for automatically creating word-like units from a text corpus, and applied topic and speaking style adaptation to the language model to recognize spoken-style utterances. For Indonesian, we have applied proper noun-specific adaptation to acoustic modeling, and rule-based English-to-Indonesian phoneme mapping to solve the problem of large variation in proper noun and English word pronunciation in a spoken-query information retrieval system. In spoken Chinese, long organization names are frequently abbreviated, and abbreviated utterances cannot be recognized if the abbreviations are not included in the dictionary. We have proposed a new method for automatically generating Chinese abbreviations, and by expanding the vocabulary using the generated abbreviations, we have significantly improved the performance of spoken query-based search.

Topical Ocular Anesthetic Abuse Among Iranian Welders: Time for Action

PubMed Central

Sharifi, Ali; Sharifi, Hamid; Karamouzian, Mohammad; Mokhtari, Mahmoud; Esmaeili, Hamidreza Hosein; Nejad, Afshin Sarafi; Rahmatian, Mohammad

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of topical ocular anesthetic abuse among welders in Iran and suggest public health solutions for this issue. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 390 welders were randomly recruited and queried on the use of anesthetic drops. A questionnaire was administered through structured one-on-one interviews conducted by the first author. Results: A total of 314 welders (80.5%) declared that they had used topical anesthetics at least once during their working lives. Almost 90% of them stated a preference for self-treatment over seeking help from a physician due to cultural and financial reasons. The most commonly used topical anesthetic was tetracaine. Most of the subjects (97.4%) had obtained the drugs from pharmacies without a prescription. Conclusions: The prevalence of topical ocular anesthetic abuse among welders in Iran is alarmingly high and may partially be due to cultural issues. Although most physicians are aware that topical anesthetics should only be used as a diagnostic tool, there is a crucial need to re-emphasize the ocular risks associated with chronic use of these medications. Educational programs for both physicians and the public are necessary to address the problem. PMID:24339685

Discovering functional modules by topic modeling RNA-Seq based toxicogenomic data.

PubMed

Yu, Ke; Gong, Binsheng; Lee, Mikyung; Liu, Zhichao; Xu, Joshua; Perkins, Roger; Tong, Weida

2014-09-15

Toxicogenomics (TGx) endeavors to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms through exploring gene expression profiles in response to toxic substances. Recently, RNA-Seq is increasingly regarded as a more powerful alternative to microarrays in TGx studies. However, realizing RNA-Seq's full potential requires novel approaches to extracting information from the complex TGx data. Considering read counts as the number of times a word occurs in a document, gene expression profiles from RNA-Seq are analogous to a word by document matrix used in text mining. Topic modeling aiming at to discover the latent structures in text corpora would be helpful to explore RNA-Seq based TGx data. In this study, topic modeling was applied on a typical RNA-Seq based TGx data set to discover hidden functional modules. The RNA-Seq based gene expression profiles were transformed into "documents", on which latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) was used to build a topic model. We found samples treated by the compounds with the same modes of actions (MoAs) could be clustered based on topic similarities. The topic most relevant to each cluster was identified as a "marker" topic, which was interpreted by gene enrichment analysis with MoAs then confirmed by compound and pathways associations mined from literature. To further validate the "marker" topics, we tested topic transferability from RNA-Seq to microarrays. The RNA-Seq based gene expression profile of a topic specifically associated with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR) signaling pathway was used to query samples with similar expression profiles in two different microarray data sets, yielding accuracy of about 85%. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the applicability of topic modeling to discover functional modules in RNA-Seq data and suggests a valuable computational tool for leveraging information within TGx data in RNA-Seq era.

Special topics in infrared interferometry. [Michelson interferometer development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hanel, R. A.

1985-01-01

Topics in IR interferometry related to the development of a Michelson interferometer are treated. The selection and reading of the signal from the detector to the analog to digital converter is explained. The requirements for the Michelson interferometer advance speed are deduced. The effects of intensity modulation on the interferogram are discussed. Wavelength and intensity calibration of the interferometer are explained. Noise sources (Nyquist or Johnson noise, phonon noise), definitions of measuring methods of noise, and noise measurements are presented.

Evidence-based recommendations for the use of topical oxygen therapy in the treatment of lower extremity wounds.

PubMed

Gordillo, Gayle M; Sen, Chandan K

2009-06-01

Topical oxygen therapy provides another tool in the armamentarium of clinicians treating refractory lower extremity wounds. Devices suitable for providing topical oxygen therapy in a clinical setting have recently become available. This article reviews the evidence to justify the use of this treatment modality, including in vitro, preclinical data, and clinical data. It also provides a protocol for how to administer topical oxygen therapy as well as guidance on patient selection and management to optimize outcomes. Randomized controlled trials are not yet reported and clearly necessary. The current body of evidence suggests that topical oxygen therapy may be considered as a second line of therapy for refractory wounds.

Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathematics Teaching, 1972

1972-01-01

Topics discussed in this column include patterns of inverse multipliers in modular arithmetic; diagrams for product sets, set intersection, and set union; function notation; patterns in the number of partitions of positive integers; and tessellations. (DT)

Stability of local secondary structure determines selectivity of viral RNA chaperones.

PubMed

Bravo, Jack P K; Borodavka, Alexander; Barth, Anders; Calabrese, Antonio N; Mojzes, Peter; Cockburn, Joseph J B; Lamb, Don C; Tuma, Roman

2018-05-18

To maintain genome integrity, segmented double-stranded RNA viruses of the Reoviridae family must accurately select and package a complete set of up to a dozen distinct genomic RNAs. It is thought that the high fidelity segmented genome assembly involves multiple sequence-specific RNA-RNA interactions between single-stranded RNA segment precursors. These are mediated by virus-encoded non-structural proteins with RNA chaperone-like activities, such as rotavirus (RV) NSP2 and avian reovirus σNS. Here, we compared the abilities of NSP2 and σNS to mediate sequence-specific interactions between RV genomic segment precursors. Despite their similar activities, NSP2 successfully promotes inter-segment association, while σNS fails to do so. To understand the mechanisms underlying such selectivity in promoting inter-molecular duplex formation, we compared RNA-binding and helix-unwinding activities of both proteins. We demonstrate that octameric NSP2 binds structured RNAs with high affinity, resulting in efficient intramolecular RNA helix disruption. Hexameric σNS oligomerizes into an octamer that binds two RNAs, yet it exhibits only limited RNA-unwinding activity compared to NSP2. Thus, the formation of intersegment RNA-RNA interactions is governed by both helix-unwinding capacity of the chaperones and stability of RNA structure. We propose that this protein-mediated RNA selection mechanism may underpin the high fidelity assembly of multi-segmented RNA genomes in Reoviridae.

Structure guided design of a series of selective pyrrolopyrimidinone MARK inhibitors

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

Katz, Jason D.; Haidle, Andrew; Childers, Kaleen K.

2017-01-01

The initial structure activity relationships around an isoindoline uHTS hit will be described. Information gleaned from ligand co-crystal structures allowed for rapid refinements in both MARK potency and kinase selectivity. These efforts allowed for the identification of a compound with properties suitable for use as an in vitro tool compound for validation studies on MARK as a viable target for Alzheimer’s disease.

Positive selection sites in tertiary structure of Leguminosae chalcone isomerase 1.

PubMed

Wang, R K; Zhan, S F; Zhao, T J; Zhou, X L; Wang, C E

2015-03-20

Isoflavonoids and the related synthesis enzyme, chalcone isomerase 1 (CHI1), are unique in the Leguminosae, with diverse biological functions. Among the Leguminosae, the soybean is an important oil, protein crop, and model plant. In this study, we aimed to detect the generation pattern of Leguminosae CHI1. Genome-wide sequence analysis of CHI in 3 Leguminosae and 3 other closely related model plants was performed; the expression levels of soybean chalcone isomerases were also analyzed. By comparing positively selected sites and their protein structures, we retrieved the evolution patterns for Leguminosae CHI1. A total of 28 CHI and 7 FAP3 (CHI4) genes were identified and separated into 4 clades: CHI1, CHI2, CHI3, and FAP3. Soybean genes belonging to the same chalcone isomerase subfamily had similar expression patterns. CHI1, the unique chalcone isomerase subfamily in Leguminosae, showed signs of significant positive selection as well as special expression characteristics, indicating an accelerated evolution throughout its divergence. Eight sites were identified as undergoing positive selection with high confidence. When mapped onto the tertiary structure of CHI1, these 8 sites were observed surrounding the enzyme substrate only; some of them connected to the catalytic core of CHI. Thus, we inferred that the generation of Leguminosae CHI1 is dependent on the positively selected amino acids surrounding its catalytic substrate. In other words, the evolution of CHI1 was driven by specific selection or processing conditions within the substrate.

Quantification of Structural Isomers via Mode-Selective Irmpd

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polfer, Nicolas C.

2016-06-01

Mixtures of structural isomers can pose a challenge for vibrational ion spectroscopy. In cases where particular structures display diagnostic vibrations, these structures can be selectively "burned away". In ion traps, the ion population can be subjected to multiple laser shots, in order to fully deplete a particular structure, in effect allowing a quantification of this structure. Protonated para-amino benzoic acid (PABA) serves as an illustrative example. PABA is known to preferentially exist in the N-protonated (N-prot) form in solution, but in the gas phase it is energetically favorable in the O-protonated (O-prot) form. As shown in Figure 1, the N-prot structure can be kinetically trapped in the gas phase when sprayed from non-protic solvent, whereas the O-prot structure is obtained when sprayed from protic solvents, analogous to results by others [1,2]. y parking the light source on the diagnostic 3440 wn mode, the percentage of the O-prot structure can be determined, and by default the remainder is assumed to adopt the N-prot structure. It will be shown that the relative percentages of O-prot vs N-prot are highly dependent on the solvent mixture, going from close to 0% O-prot in non-protic solvents, to 99% in protic solvents. Surprisingly, water behaves much more like a non-protic solvent than methanol. It is observed that the capillary temperature, which aids droplet desolvation by black-body radiation in the ESI source, is critical to promote the appearance of O-prot structures. These results are consistent with the picture that a protic bridge mechanism is at play to facilitate proton transfer, and thus allow conversion from N-prot to O-prot, but that this mechanism is subject to appreciable kinetic barriers on the timescale of solvent evaporation. 1. J. Phys. Chem. A 2011, 115, 7625. 2. Anal. Chem. 2012, 84, 7857.

Use of Topical Tacrolimus and Topical Pimecrolimus in Four European Countries: A Multicentre Database Cohort Study.

PubMed

Kuiper, Josephina G; van Herk-Sukel, Myrthe P P; Castellsague, Jordi; Pottegård, Anton; Berglind, Ingegärd Anveden; Dedman, Daniel; Gutierrez, Lia; Calingaert, Brian; Hallas, Jesper; Sundström, Anders; Gallagher, Arlene M; Kaye, James A; Pardo, Carolina; Rothman, Kenneth J; Perez-Gutthann, Susana

2018-05-07

Despite the concerns about a potential increased risk of skin cancer and lymphoma with the use of topical tacrolimus and pimecrolimus, no population-based studies have given an overview of the use of these drugs in Europe. To assess the use of topical tacrolimus and pimecrolimus in children and adults in Europe. Multicentre database cohort study comprising data from the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and the UK. We analysed users of topical tacrolimus and pimecrolimus starting from the date of first availability (between 2002 and 2003) or start establishment of the prescription database in Sweden (2006) through 2011. Use was assessed separately for children (≤ 18 years) and adults. 32,052 children and 104,902 adults were treated with topical tacrolimus, and 32,125 children and 58,280 adults were treated with topical pimecrolimus. The number of users increased rapidly after first availability, especially for topical tacrolimus. Topical tacrolimus was more frequently used in all countries except Denmark. For both drugs, there was a decrease in users after 2004 in the Netherlands and Denmark and after 2005 in the UK, especially among children. This decrease was largest in Denmark. The decrease in the number of users was temporary for topical tacrolimus, while use remained relatively low for topical pimecrolimus. The number of topical tacrolimus and pimecrolimus users increased rapidly after regulatory approval. A transient reduction in topical tacrolimus use and a persistent reduction in topical pimecrolimus use was seen after 2004 in the Netherlands and Denmark and after 2005 in the UK.

Topical Treatment of Dermatophytic Lesion on Mice (Mus musculus) Model.

PubMed

Sharma, Bindu; Kumar, Padma; Joshi, Suresh Chandra

2011-06-01

Antidermatophytic potential of three weed plants viz. Tridax procumbens L., Capparis decidua (forsk) Edgew and Lantana camara L. were explored and experimentally induced dermatophytic lesion was topically treated in mice. Microbroth dilution method was carried out for determination of MIC and MFC of different extracts of selected plants. In animal studies, mice were experimentally inoculated with Trichophyton mentagrophytes and infected animals were topically treated with 5 mg/g terbinafine and two concentrations, i.e., 5 and 10 mg/g of test extract ointment. Complete recovery from the infection was observed on 12th day of treatment for reference drug terbinafine (5 mg/g) and 10 mg/g concentration of test extract ointment whereas 5 mg/g concentration of test extract ointment showed complete cure on 16th day of treatment. Fungal burden was also calculated by culturing skin scrapings from infected animals of different groups. Test extract ointment successfully treated induced dermatophytosis in mice without any disease recurrence incidences, thereby indicating efficacy of test extract as an excellent topical antifungal agent for the cure of dermatophytosis.

No-patch 23-gauge vitrectomy under topical anesthesia: A pilot study

PubMed Central

Deka, Satyen; Bhattacharjee, Harsha; Barman, M J; Kalita, Kruto; Singh, Sunil Kumar

2011-01-01

A pilot study was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of 23-gauge vitrectomy under topical anesthesia. Five eyes of five patients underwent 23-gauge sutureless vitrectomy under topical anesthesia with a pledget soaked in 0.5% proparacaine hydrochloride anesthetic, for vitreous hemorrhage (four eyes), epiretinal membrane (one eye). Subjective pain and discomfort were graded using a visual analogue chart from 0 (no pain or discomfort) to 4 (severe pain and discomfort). At the end of surgery no patch was applied and patients were given dark glasses. Patients underwent an immediate postoperative assessment, followed by next day and one week postoperative evaluation. Four patients had Grade 0 pain during the surgery. One patient had Grade 1 pain during the placement and withdrawal of the micro cannulas. The surgical outcomes were favorable. 23-gauge vitrectomy under topical anesthesia is safe and effective in selected cases. Further study is recommended to validate the outcome of this study. PMID:21350284

No-patch 23-gauge vitrectomy under topical anesthesia: a pilot study.

PubMed

Deka, Satyen; Bhattacharjee, Harsha; Barman, M J; Kalita, Kruto; Singh, Sunil Kumar

2011-01-01

A pilot study was designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of 23-gauge vitrectomy under topical anesthesia. Five eyes of five patients underwent 23-gauge sutureless vitrectomy under topical anesthesia with a pledget soaked in 0.5% proparacaine hydrochloride anesthetic, for vitreous hemorrhage (four eyes), epiretinal membrane (one eye). Subjective pain and discomfort were graded using a visual analogue chart from 0 (no pain or discomfort) to 4 (severe pain and discomfort). At the end of surgery no patch was applied and patients were given dark glasses. Patients underwent an immediate postoperative assessment, followed by next day and one week postoperative evaluation. Four patients had Grade 0 pain during the surgery. One patient had Grade 1 pain during the placement and withdrawal of the micro cannulas. The surgical outcomes were favorable. 23-gauge vitrectomy under topical anesthesia is safe and effective in selected cases. Further study is recommended to validate the outcome of this study.

A selective review of selective attention research from the past century.

PubMed

Driver, Jon

2001-02-01

Research on attention is concerned with selective processing of incoming sensory information. To some extent, our awareness of the world depends on what we choose to attend, not merely on the stimulation entering our senses. British psychologists have made substantial contributions to this topic in the past century. Celebrated examples include Donald Broadbent's filter theory of attention, which set the agenda for most subsequent work; and Anne Treisman's revisions of this account, and her later feature-integration theory. More recent contributions include Alan Allport's prescient emphasis on the relevance of neuroscience data, and John Duncan's integration of such data with psychological theory. An idiosyncratic but roughly chronological review of developments is presented, some practical and clinical implications are briefly sketched, and future directions suggested. One of the biggest changes in the field has been the increasing interplay between psychology and neuroscience, which promises much for the future. A related change has been the realization that selection attention is best thought of as a broad topic, encompassing a range of selective issues, rather than as a single explanatory process.

A heuristic approach to determine an appropriate number of topics in topic modeling

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Background Topic modelling is an active research field in machine learning. While mainly used to build models from unstructured textual data, it offers an effective means of data mining where samples represent documents, and different biological endpoints or omics data represent words. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) is the most commonly used topic modelling method across a wide number of technical fields. However, model development can be arduous and tedious, and requires burdensome and systematic sensitivity studies in order to find the best set of model parameters. Often, time-consuming subjective evaluations are needed to compare models. Currently, research has yielded no easy way to choose the proper number of topics in a model beyond a major iterative approach. Methods and results Based on analysis of variation of statistical perplexity during topic modelling, a heuristic approach is proposed in this study to estimate the most appropriate number of topics. Specifically, the rate of perplexity change (RPC) as a function of numbers of topics is proposed as a suitable selector. We test the stability and effectiveness of the proposed method for three markedly different types of grounded-truth datasets: Salmonella next generation sequencing, pharmacological side effects, and textual abstracts on computational biology and bioinformatics (TCBB) from PubMed. Conclusion The proposed RPC-based method is demonstrated to choose the best number of topics in three numerical experiments of widely different data types, and for databases of very different sizes. The work required was markedly less arduous than if full systematic sensitivity studies had been carried out with number of topics as a parameter. We understand that additional investigation is needed to substantiate the method's theoretical basis, and to establish its generalizability in terms of dataset characteristics. PMID:26424364

Preliminary stop of the TOPical Imiquimod treatment of high-grade Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (TOPIC) trial.

PubMed

Koeneman, M M; Kruse, A J; Kooreman, L F S; Zur Hausen, A; Hopman, A H N; Sep, S J S; Van Gorp, T; Slangen, B F M; van Beekhuizen, H J; van de Sande, A J M; Gerestein, C G; Nijman, H W; Kruitwagen, R F P M

2017-02-07

The "TOPical Imiquimod treatment of high-grade Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia" (TOPIC) trial was stopped preliminary, due to lagging inclusions. This study aimed to evaluate the treatment efficacy and clinical applicability of imiquimod 5% cream in high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The lagging inclusions were mainly due to a strong patient preference for either of the two treatment modalities. This prompted us to initiate a new study on the same subject, with a non-randomized, open-label design: the 'TOPical Imiquimod treatment of high-grade Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (TOPIC)-3' study. Original TOPIC-trial: Medical Ethics Committee approval number METC13231; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02329171, 22 December 2014. TOPIC-3 study: Medical Ethics Committee approval number METC162025; ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02917746, 16 September 2016.

Topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs versus oil of evening primrose in the treatment of mastalgia.

PubMed

Qureshi, S; Sultan, N

2005-02-01

To compare oil of evening primrose (OEP) and topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) with respect to safety, effectiveness, rapidity of response, cost effectiveness and acceptability in the treatment of breast pain. An open, non-randomised, comparative study of topical (NSAI) gel versus OEP was carried out, over a period of one year. Fifty female patients attending the outpatient department with moderate to severe breast pain were given one of the two agents alternatively, after selection. Results showed that out of 25 patients treated with OEP, 64% had a clinically significant response after three months of treatment, compared with 92% with topical NSAIDs. Only one patient (4%) had side effects with OEP, while no patient had side effects with topical NSAIDs. Twenty per cent and seventy per cent showed acceptability as far as costs were concerned and mode of administration respectively, with OEP. The acceptability rate was 68% and 96% respectively, with topical NSAIDs. This study has shown topical NSAIDs to be safe, effective, rapid and acceptable mode of treatment for cyclical and non-cyclical mastalgia.

Topical phenytoin for treating pressure ulcers.

PubMed

Hao, Xiang Yong; Li, Hong Ling; Su, He; Cai, Hui; Guo, Tian Kang; Liu, Ruifeng; Jiang, Lei; Shen, Yan Fei

2017-02-22

Pressure ulcers are common in clinical practice and pose a significant health problem worldwide. Apart from causing suffering to patients, they also result in longer hospital stays and increase the cost of health care. A variety of methods are used for treating pressure ulcers, including pressure relief, patient repositioning, biophysical strategies, nutritional supplementation, debridement, topical negative pressure, and local treatments including dressings, ointments and creams such as bacitracin, silver sulphadiazine, neomycin, and phenytoin. Phenytoin is a drug more commonly used in the treatment of epilepsy, but may play an important role in accelerating ulcer healing. To assess the effects of topical phenytoin on the rate of healing of pressure ulcers of any grade, in any care setting. In September 2016, we searched the following electronic databases to identify relevant randomized clinical trials: the Cochrane Wounds Specialised Register; the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; the Cochrane Library); Ovid MEDLINE; Ovid Embase; and EBSCO CINAHL Plus. We handsearched conference proceedings from the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, European Wound Management Association and the Tissue Viability Society for all available years. We searched the references of the retrieved trials to identify further relevant trials. We also searched clinical trials registries to identify ongoing and unpublished studies. There were no restrictions with respect to language, date of publication or study setting. We included all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) addressing the effects (both benefits and harms) of topical phenytoin on the healing of pressure ulcers of any grade compared with placebo or alternative treatments or no therapy, irrespective of blinding, language, and publication status. Two review authors independently selected studies, extracted information on participants, interventions, methods and results and assessed risk of bias using

Structure-guided development of selective TbcatB inhibitors

PubMed Central

Mallari, Jeremy P.; Shelat, Anang A.; Kosinski, Aaron; Caffrey, Conor R.; Connelly, Michele; Zhu, Fangyi; McKerrow, James H.; Guy, R. Kiplin

2009-01-01

The trypanosomal cathepsin TbcatB is essential for parasite survival and is an attractive therapeutic target. Herein we report the structure-guided development of TbcatB inhibitors with specificity relative to rhodesain and human cathepsins B and L. Inhibitors were tested for enzymatic activity, trypanocidal activity, and general cytotoxicity. These data chemically validate TbcatB as a drug target, and demonstrate that it is possible to potently and selectively inhibit TbcatB relative to trypanosomal and human homologues. PMID:19769357

Composite Payload Fairing Structural Architecture Assessment and Selection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krivanek, Thomas M.; Yount, Bryan C.

2012-01-01

This paper provides a summary of the structural architecture assessments conducted and a recommendation for an affordable high performance composite structural concept to use on the next generation heavy-lift launch vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS). The Structural Concepts Element of the Advanced Composites Technology (ACT) project and its follow on the Lightweight Spacecraft Structures and Materials (LSSM) project was tasked with evaluating a number of composite construction technologies for specific Ares V components: the Payload Shroud, the Interstage, and the Core Stage Intertank. Team studies strived to address the structural challenges, risks and needs for each of these vehicle components. Leveraging off of this work, the subsequent Composites for Exploration (CoEx) effort is focused on providing a composite structural concept to support the Payload Fairing for SLS. This paper documents the evaluation and down selection of composite construction technologies and evolution to the SLS Payload Fairing. Development of the evaluation criteria (also referred to as Figures of Merit or FOMs), their relative importance, and association to vehicle requirements are presented. A summary of the evaluation results, and a recommendation of the composite concept to baseline in the Composites for Exploration (CoEx) project is presented. The recommendation for the SLS Fairing is a Honeycomb Sandwich architecture based primarily on affordability and performance with two promising alternatives, Hat stiffened and Fiber Reinforced Foam (FRF) identified for eventual program block upgrade.

Selected Occupational Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Business Education Forum, 1973

1973-01-01

Research studies are classified in this regular section as marketing and distribution, typewriting, basic business and economics, shorthand and transcription, data processing, and the beginning teacher. (MU)

Gynecology: select topics.

PubMed

Sidani, Mohamad; Campbell, James

2002-06-01

Menopause, premenstrual syndrome, dysmenorrhea, female fertility, and mastalgia are common problems not easily treated by conventional medicine. Women often seek alternative therapies to help address these conditions. Some evidence points to the efficacy of black cohosh, exercise, and possibly Kava and St. John's wort, in the treatment of menopausal symptoms. Clinical trials indicate that symptoms of premenstrual syndrome may be alleviated with calcium, magnesium, vitamin E. Thiamine, omega-3 fatty acids, the Japanese herbal concoction, TSS, and calcium have proved useful in treating women with dysmenorrhea. Symptoms of mastalgia may be attenuated by evening primrose oil, chaste tree and flaxseed oil may be helpful.

Pharmacy Student Performance on Constructed-Response Versus Selected-Response Calculations Questions

PubMed Central

Addo, Richard T.

2013-01-01

Objective. To introduce PharmD students to changes in calculations question types (constructed-response versus selected-response questions); measure and compare student performance on constructed-response and selected-response questions in a pharmaceutics course; and collect student feedback on the use of differing question types. Methods A pharmaceutics/pharmaceutical calculations examination was administered that included 15 pairs of questions; each pair consisted of a constructed-response question and a similar selected-response question. An online questionnaire was conducted to collect student feedback. Results. Of the 15 topics, the class scored higher on the constructed-response question for 4 topics and higher on the selected-response question for 10 topics. Eighty percent of the class preferred selected-response questions, although 47.8% felt constructed-response questions better prepared them for a career in healthcare. Conclusions. Students correctly answered more selected-response questions than constructed-response questions and felt more confident in doing so. Additional constructed-response teaching and testing methods should be incorporated into pharmacy education. PMID:23459503

Regulatory Information By Topic

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA develops and enforces regulations that span many environmental topics, from acid rain reduction to wetlands restoration. Each topic listed below may include related laws and regulations, compliance enforcement information, policies guidance

Functional assessment and treatment of perseverative speech about restricted topics in an adolescent with Asperger syndrome.

PubMed

Fisher, Wayne W; Rodriguez, Nicole M; Owen, Todd M

2013-01-01

A functional analysis showed that a 14-year-old boy with Asperger syndrome displayed perseverative speech (or "restricted interests") reinforced by attention. To promote appropriate speech in a turn-taking format, we implemented differential reinforcement (DR) of nonperseverative speech and DR of on-topic speech within a multiple schedule with stimuli that signaled the contingencies in effect and who was to select the topic. Both treatments reduced perseverative speech, but only DR of on-topic speech increased appropriate turn taking during conversation. Treatment effects were maintained when implemented by family members and novel therapists. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Diverse Actions and Target-Site Selectivity of Neonicotinoids: Structural Insights

PubMed Central

Matsuda, Kazuhiko; Kanaoka, Satoshi; Akamatsu, Miki; Sattelle, David B.

2009-01-01

The nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are targets for human and veterinary medicines as well as insecticides. Subtype-selectivity among the diverse nAChR family members is important for medicines targeting particular disorders, and pest-insect selectivity is essential for the development of safer, environmentally acceptable insecticides. Neonicotinoid insecticides selectively targeting insect nAChRs have important applications in crop protection and animal health. Members of this class exhibit strikingly diverse actions on their nAChR targets. Here we review the chemistry and diverse actions of neonicotinoids on insect and mammalian nAChRs. Electrophysiological studies on native nAChRs and on wild-type and mutagenized recombinant nAChRs have shown that basic residues particular to loop D of insect nAChRs are likely to interact electrostatically with the nitro group of neonicotinoids. In 2008, the crystal structures were published showing neonicotinoids docking into the acetylcholine binding site of molluscan acetylcholine binding proteins with homology to the ligand binding domain (LBD) of nAChRs. The crystal structures showed that 1) glutamine in loop D, corresponding to the basic residues of insect nAChRs, hydrogen bonds with the NO2 group of imidacloprid and 2) neonicotinoid-unique stacking and CH-π bonds at the LBD. A neonicotinoid-resistant strain obtained by laboratory-screening has been found to result from target site mutations, and possible reasons for this are also suggested by the crystal structures. The prospects of designing neonicotinoids that are safe not only for mammals but also for beneficial insects such as honey bees (Apis mellifera) are discussed in terms of interactions with non-α nAChR subunits. PMID:19321668

Minor malformations characteristic of the retinoic acid embryopathy and other birth outcomes in children of women exposed to topical tretinoin during early pregnancy.

PubMed

Loureiro, Kirsten D; Kao, Kelly K; Jones, Kenneth Lyons; Alvarado, Sonia; Chavez, Carmen; Dick, Lyn; Felix, Robert; Johnson, Diana; Chambers, Christina D

2005-07-15

Topical tretinoin (Retin-A) is used to treat acne and photodamaged skin. Its teratogenic potential is of concern due to its similarity to isotretinoin (Accutane), a recognized human teratogen. Through the California Teratogen Information Service and Clinical Research Program, between 1983 and 2003, 106 pregnant women with first-trimester exposure to topical tretinoin were prospectively ascertained and followed. Birth outcomes, including pregnancy loss, major structural defects, and pre- and postnatal growth were compared to 389 similarly and prospectively ascertained women with no topical tretinoin exposure during pregnancy. Because a distinct pattern of malformation had already been described for isotretinoin, we also compared exposed (n = 62) and unexposed (n = 191) infants on the prevalence of a specific subset of minor malformations selected to represent the spectrum of defects comprising the retinoic acid embyopathy. There were no significant differences between groups in the proportion of pregnancies ending in spontaneous abortion (6.6% in exposed vs. 8.5% in unexposed; P = 0.53), or infants with major structural defects (2.2% in exposed vs. 1.2% in unexposed; P = 0.62). In addition, the groups were similar in birth weight, length and head circumference, and there were no significant differences between groups in length of gestation. Furthermore, the prevalence of one or more retinoic acid-specific minor malformations did not differ significantly between groups (12.9% in exposed vs. 9.9% in unexposed; P = 0.51). First-trimester topical tretinoin exposure in this study was not associated with an increased risk of any adverse pregnancy outcome evaluated. Specifically, there was no indication that topical tretinoin is associated with an increased risk for minor malformations that are consistent with the retinoic acid embryopathy. Although it is impossible to exclude the possibility that some women/infants may be uniquely susceptible to topical tretinoin exposure

Anticipatory guidance topics: are more better?

PubMed

Barkin, Shari L; Scheindlin, Benjamin; Brown, Caroline; Ip, Edward; Finch, Stacia; Wasserman, Richard C

2005-01-01

Anticipatory guidance is a cornerstone of primary care pediatrics. Despite the fact that retention of information is essential for later action, data are lacking on what parents recall immediately after the visit and 1 month later and how the total number of topics discussed affects this outcome. Parents and practitioners completed postvisit surveys of anticipatory guidance topics discussed during health-maintenance visits for children ages 2-11. Postvisit and 1 month later, parental recall was compared with provider report of topics discussed. We examined the relationship between parental recall and the total number of topics discussed. Families with children ages 2-11 years from across the United States participated in this study (N = 861). Providers reported discussing the topics of nutrition, car restraints, dental care, and reading aloud most often (72%- 93%). Concordance between parent and provider was high for all topics (72%-90%). Immediately postvisit, parents reported 6.33 (SD 2.9) as the mean number of topics discussed while providers reported 6.9 (SD 2.7) as the mean number of topics discussed. However, parental recall decreased significantly with more topics (> or =9) discussed. The same trend existed 1 month later. Providers and parents have good agreement about topics discussed or not discussed during a well-child visit; however, parental recall dwindles with increasing numbers of topics discussed. Rethinking well-child care to limit the total number of topics discussed is warranted.

Structural insights into ligand recognition and selectivity for class A, B, and C GPCRs

PubMed Central

Lee, Sang-Min; Booe, Jason M.; Pioszak, Augen A.

2015-01-01

The G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily constitutes the largest collection of cell surface signaling proteins with approximately 800 members in the human genome. GPCRs regulate virtually all aspects of physiology and they are an important class of drug targets with ~30% of drugs on the market targeting a GPCR. Breakthroughs in GPCR structural biology in recent years have significantly expanded our understanding of GPCR structure and function and ushered in a new era of structure-based drug design for GPCRs. Crystal structures for nearly thirty distinct GPCRs are now available including receptors from each of the major classes, A, B, C, and F. These structures provide a foundation for understanding the molecular basis of GPCR pharmacology. Here, we review structural mechanisms of ligand recognition and selectivity of GPCRs with a focus on selected examples from classes A, B, and C, and we highlight major unresolved questions for future structural studies. PMID:25981303

Does prior domain-specific content knowledge influence students' recall of arguments surrounding interdisciplinary topics?

PubMed

Schmidt, Hiemke K; Rothgangel, Martin; Grube, Dietmar

2017-12-01

Awareness of various arguments can help interactants present opinions, stress points, and build counterarguments during discussions. At school, some topics are taught in a way that students learn to accumulate knowledge and gather arguments, and later employ them during debates. Prior knowledge may facilitate recalling information on well structured, fact-based topics, but does it facilitate recalling arguments during discussions on complex, interdisciplinary topics? We assessed the prior knowledge in domains related to a bioethical topic of 277 students from Germany (approximately 15 years old), their interest in the topic, and their general knowledge. The students read a text with arguments for and against prenatal diagnostics and tried to recall the arguments one week later and again six weeks later. Prior knowledge in various domains related to the topic individually and separately helped students recall the arguments. These relationships were independent of students' interest in the topic and their general knowledge. Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Differential Topic Models.

PubMed

Chen, Changyou; Buntine, Wray; Ding, Nan; Xie, Lexing; Du, Lan

2015-02-01

In applications we may want to compare different document collections: they could have shared content but also different and unique aspects in particular collections. This task has been called comparative text mining or cross-collection modeling. We present a differential topic model for this application that models both topic differences and similarities. For this we use hierarchical Bayesian nonparametric models. Moreover, we found it was important to properly model power-law phenomena in topic-word distributions and thus we used the full Pitman-Yor process rather than just a Dirichlet process. Furthermore, we propose the transformed Pitman-Yor process (TPYP) to incorporate prior knowledge such as vocabulary variations in different collections into the model. To deal with the non-conjugate issue between model prior and likelihood in the TPYP, we thus propose an efficient sampling algorithm using a data augmentation technique based on the multinomial theorem. Experimental results show the model discovers interesting aspects of different collections. We also show the proposed MCMC based algorithm achieves a dramatically reduced test perplexity compared to some existing topic models. Finally, we show our model outperforms the state-of-the-art for document classification/ideology prediction on a number of text collections.

Older partner selection promotes the prevalence of cooperation in evolutionary games.

PubMed

Yang, Guoli; Huang, Jincai; Zhang, Weiming

2014-10-21

Evolutionary games typically come with the interplays between evolution of individual strategy and adaptation to network structure. How these dynamics in the co-evolution promote (or obstruct) the cooperation is regarded as an important topic in social, economic, and biological fields. Combining spatial selection with partner choice, the focus of this paper is to identify which neighbour should be selected as a role to imitate during the process of co-evolution. Age, an internal attribute and kind of local piece of information regarding the survivability of the agent, is a significant consideration for the selection strategy. The analysis and simulations presented, demonstrate that older partner selection for strategy imitation could foster the evolution of cooperation. The younger partner selection, however, may decrease the level of cooperation. Our model highlights the importance of agent׳s age on the promotion of cooperation in evolutionary games, both efficiently and effectively. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Radiology curriculum topics for medical students: students' perspectives.

PubMed

Subramaniam, Rathan M; Beckley, Vaughan; Chan, Michael; Chou, Tina; Scally, Peter

2006-07-01

We sought to establish medical students' perspectives of a set of curriculum topics for radiology teaching. A multicenter study was conducted in New Zealand. A modified Delphi method was adopted. Students enrolled in two New Zealand Universities received a questionnaire. Each learning topic was graded on a scale of 1 (very strongly disagree) to 6 (very strongly agree). Students could also put forward and grade suggestions that were not on the questionnaire. Of 200 questionnaires, 107 were returned. Fifty male and 57 female students participated, with an average age of 23.7 years. The five highest ranking curriculum topics in order of importance were developing a system for viewing chest radiographs (5.77, SD 0.7), developing a system for viewing abdominal radiographs (5.66, SD 0.8), developing a system for viewing bone and joint radiographs (5.56, SD 0.8), distinguishing normal structures from abnormal in chest and abdominal radiographs (5.38, SD 0.9), and identifying gross bone or joint abnormalities in skeletal radiographs (5.29, SD 0.9). Medical students want to know how to look at radiographs, how to distinguish normal from abnormal, and how to identify gross abnormalities.

Both Epistasis and Diversifying Selection Drive the Structural Evolution of the Ebola Virus Glycoprotein Mucin-Like Domain.

PubMed

Ibeh, Neke; Nshogozabahizi, Jean Claude; Aris-Brosou, Stéphane

2016-06-01

Throughout the last 3 decades, Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreaks have been confined to isolated areas within Central Africa; however, the 2014 variant reached unprecedented transmission and mortality rates. While the outbreak was still under way, it was reported that the variant leading up to this outbreak evolved faster than previous EBOV variants, but evidence for diversifying selection was undetermined. Here, we test this selection hypothesis and show that while previous EBOV outbreaks were preceded by bursts of diversification, evidence for site-specific diversifying selection during the emergence of the 2014 EBOV clade is weak. However, we show strong evidence supporting an interplay between selection and correlated evolution (epistasis), particularly in the mucin-like domain (MLD) of the EBOV glycoprotein. By reconstructing ancestral structures of the MLD, we further propose a structural mechanism explaining how the substitutions that accumulated between 1918 and 1969 distorted the MLD, while more recent epistatic substitutions restored part of the structure, with the most recent substitution being adaptive. We suggest that it is this complex interplay between weak selection, epistasis, and structural constraints that has shaped the evolution of the 2014 EBOV variant. The role that selection plays in the emergence of viral epidemics remains debated, particularly in the context of the 2014 EBOV outbreak. Most critically, should such evidence exist, it is generally unclear how this relates to function and increased virulence. Here, we show that the viral lineage leading up to the 2014 outbreak underwent a complex interplay between selection and correlated evolution (epistasis) in a protein region that is critical for immune evasion. We then reconstructed the three-dimensional structure of this domain and showed that the initial mutations in this lineage deformed the structure, while subsequent mutations restored part of the structure. Along this mutational path, the

Novel Dual-Band Miniaturized Frequency Selective Surface based on Fractal Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Tao; Zhang, Hou; Wu, Rui; Min, Xueliang

2017-01-01

A novel single-layer dual-band miniaturized frequency selective surface (FSS) based on fractal structures is proposed and analyzed in this paper. A prototype with enough dimensions is fabricated and measured in anechoic chamber, and the measured results provide good agreement with the simulated. The simulations and measurements indicate that the dual-band FSS with bandstop selectivity center at 3.95 GHz and 7.10 GHz, and the whole dimension of the proposed FSS cell is only 7×7 mm2, amount to 0.092λ0×0.092λ0, that λ0 is free space wavelength at first resonant frequency. In addition, the center frequencies have scarcely any changes for different polarizations and incidences. What's more, dual-band mechanism is analyzed clearly and it provides a new way to design novel miniaturized FSS structures.

Making Advanced Computer Science Topics More Accessible through Interactive Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shao, Kun; Maher, Peter

2012-01-01

Purpose: Teaching advanced technical concepts in a computer science program to students of different technical backgrounds presents many challenges. The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed experimental pedagogy in teaching advanced computer science topics, such as computer networking, telecommunications and data structures using…

Structural health monitoring and remote sensing of transportation infrastructure using embedded frequency selective surfaces.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-07-01

The objective of this project was to investigate the use of Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSS) for structural health monitoring applications. Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSS) have long been used in the RF/microwave community to control scattering f...

Long-Term Safety of Topical Bacteriophage Application to the Frontal Sinus Region

PubMed Central

Drilling, Amanda J.; Ooi, Mian L.; Miljkovic, Dijana; James, Craig; Speck, Peter; Vreugde, Sarah; Clark, Jason; Wormald, Peter-John

2017-01-01

Background: Staphylococcus aureus biofilms contribute negatively to a number of chronic conditions, including chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). With the inherent tolerance of biofilm-bound bacteria to antibiotics and the global problem of bacterial antibiotic resistance, the need to develop novel therapeutics is paramount. Phage therapy has previously shown promise in treating sinonasal S. aureus biofilms. Methods: This study investigates the long term (20 days) safety of topical sinonasal flushes with bacteriophage suspensions. The bacteriophage cocktail NOV012 against S. aureus selected for this work contains two highly characterized and different phages, P68 and K710. Host range was assessed against S. aureus strains isolated from CRS patients using agar spot tests. NOV012 was applied topically to the frontal sinus region of sheep, twice daily for 20 days. General sheep wellbeing, mucosal structural changes and inflammatory load were assessed to determine safety of NOV012 application. Results: NOV012 could lyse 52/61 (85%) of a panel of locally derived CRS clinical isolates. Application of NOV012 to the frontal sinuses of sheep for 20 days was found to be safe, with no observed inflammatory infiltration or tissue damage within the sinus mucosa. Conclusion: NOV012 cocktail appears safe to apply for extended periods to sheep sinuses and it could infect and lyse a wide range of S. aureus CRS clinical isolates. This indicates that phage therapy has strong potential as a treatment for chronic bacterial rhinosinusitis. PMID:28286740

Topical Therapies in Psoriasis

PubMed Central

Torsekar, R.; Gautam, Manjyot M.

2017-01-01

Topical therapy as monotherapy is useful in psoriasis patients with mild disease. Topical agents are also used as adjuvant for moderate-to-severe disease who are being concurrently treated with either ultraviolet light or systemic medications. Emollients are useful adjuncts to the treatment of psoriasis. Use of older topical agents such as anthralin and coal tar has declined over the years. However, they are cheaper and can still be used for the treatment of difficult psoriasis refractory to conventional treatment. Salicylic acid can be used in combination with other topical therapies such as topical corticosteroids (TCS) and calcineurin inhibitors for the treatment of thick limited plaques to increase the absorption of the latter into the psoriatic plaques. Low- to mid-potent TCS are used in facial/flexural psoriasis and high potent over palmoplantar/thick psoriasis lesions. The addition of noncorticosteroid treatment can also facilitate the avoidance of long-term daily TCS. Tacrolimus and pimecrolimus can be used for the treatment of facial and intertriginous psoriasis. Tazarotene is indicated for stable plaque psoriasis usually in combination with other therapies such as TCS. Vitamin D analogs alone in combination with TCS are useful in stable plaques over limbs and palmoplantar psoriasis. Topical therapies for scalp psoriasis include TCS, Vitamin D analogs, salicylic acid, coal tar, and anthralin in various formulations such as solutions, foams, and shampoos. TCS, vitamin D analogs, and tazarotene can be used in the treatment of nail psoriasis. PMID:28761838

Men and Sexuality: Bibliography of Selected Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., New York, NY. Education Dept.

This selective, annotated bibliography covers a range of topics associated with male sexuality, reproductive health, and sexism. The books listed in this document are organized in five categories which are not strictly exclusive, as most of the entries overlap topic areas. Part I, Men in Society, contains 10 entries dealing with masculinity,…

'Hot Topics' in Astrophysics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maran, Stephen P.

2000-01-01

Three current topics in astrophysics are described here on the occasion of the joint meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Astronomical Society (Jan. 7-11, 2001, San Diego, Calif.). Many equally exciting topics--ranging from the dozens of newly discovered planets of sunlike stars to evidence suggesting that the expansion of the universe is accelerating--could have been chosen. The topics discussed are: (1) the habitability of Mars, (2) black holes, galaxy bulges, and the X-ray background, and (3) the greatest explosions since the Big Bang.

Mental Mechanisms for Topics Identification

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Topics identification (TI) is the process that consists in determining the main themes present in natural language documents. The current TI modeling paradigm aims at acquiring semantic information from statistic properties of large text datasets. We investigate the mental mechanisms responsible for the identification of topics in a single document given existing knowledge. Our main hypothesis is that topics are the result of accumulated neural activation of loosely organized information stored in long-term memory (LTM). We experimentally tested our hypothesis with a computational model that simulates LTM activation. The model assumes activation decay as an unavoidable phenomenon originating from the bioelectric nature of neural systems. Since decay should negatively affect the quality of topics, the model predicts the presence of short-term memory (STM) to keep the focus of attention on a few words, with the expected outcome of restoring quality to a baseline level. Our experiments measured topics quality of over 300 documents with various decay rates and STM capacity. Our results showed that accumulated activation of loosely organized information was an effective mental computational commodity to identify topics. It was furthermore confirmed that rapid decay is detrimental to topics quality but that limited capacity STM restores quality to a baseline level, even exceeding it slightly. PMID:24744775

Safety of topical corticosteroids in pregnancy.

PubMed

Chi, Ching-Chi; Wang, Shu-Hui; Wojnarowska, Fenella; Kirtschig, Gudula; Davies, Emily; Bennett, Cathy

2015-10-26

Topical corticosteroids are the most frequently prescribed dermatological treatment and are often used by pregnant women with skin conditions. However, little is known about their safety in pregnancy. To assess the effects of topical corticosteroids on pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women. This is an update of a review previously published in 2009. We updated our searches of the following databases to July 2015: the Cochrane Skin Group Specialised Register, the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group Specialised Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (2015, Issue 6), MEDLINE, EMBASE, and LILACS. We also searched five trials registers and checked the reference lists of included studies, published reviews, articles that had cited the included studies, and one author's literature collection, for further references to relevant RCTs. Randomised controlled trials and cohort studies of topical corticosteroids in pregnant women, as well as case-control studies comparing maternal exposure to topical corticosteroids between cases and controls when studies reported pre-specified outcomes. The primary outcomes included mode of delivery, major congenital abnormality, birth weight, and preterm delivery (delivery before 37 completed weeks gestation); the secondary outcomes included foetal death, minor congenital abnormality, and low Apgar score (less than seven at 5 min). We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. Two authors independently applied selection criteria, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the included studies. A third author was available for resolving differences of opinion. A further author independently extracted data from included studies that were conducted by authors of this systematic review. We included 7 new observational studies in this update, bringing the total number to 14, including 5 cohort and 9 case-control studies, with 1,601,515 study subjects.Most studies found no causal associations

Evaluation of thermal stability in spectrally selective few-layer metallo-dielectric structures for solar thermophotovoltaics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimizu, Makoto; Kohiyama, Asaka; Yugami, Hiroo

2018-06-01

The thermal stability of spectrally selective few-layer metallo-dielectric structures is evaluated to analyze their potential as absorber and emitter materials in solar thermophotovoltaic (STPV) systems. High-efficiency (e.g., STPV) systems require materials with spectrally selective properties, especially at high temperatures (>1273 K). Aiming to develop such materials for high-temperature applications, we propose a few-layer structure composed of a refractory metal (i.e., Mo) nanometric film sandwiched between the layers of a dielectric material (i.e., hafnium oxide, HfO2) deposited on a Mo bulk substrate. In vacuum conditions (<5 × 10-2 Pa), the few-layer structure shows thermal stability at 1423 K for at least 1 h. At 1473 K, the spectral selectivity was degraded. This could have been caused by the oxidation of the Mo thin film by the residual oxygen through the grain boundaries of the upper HfO2 layer. This experiment showed the potential stability of few-layer structures for applications working at temperatures greater than 1273 K as well as the degradation mechanism of the few-layer structure. This characteristic is expected to help improve the thermal stability in few-layer structures further.

The Complex Action Recognition via the Correlated Topic Model

PubMed Central

Tu, Hong-bin; Xia, Li-min; Wang, Zheng-wu

2014-01-01

Human complex action recognition is an important research area of the action recognition. Among various obstacles to human complex action recognition, one of the most challenging is to deal with self-occlusion, where one body part occludes another one. This paper presents a new method of human complex action recognition, which is based on optical flow and correlated topic model (CTM). Firstly, the Markov random field was used to represent the occlusion relationship between human body parts in terms of an occlusion state variable. Secondly, the structure from motion (SFM) is used for reconstructing the missing data of point trajectories. Then, we can extract the key frame based on motion feature from optical flow and the ratios of the width and height are extracted by the human silhouette. Finally, we use the topic model of correlated topic model (CTM) to classify action. Experiments were performed on the KTH, Weizmann, and UIUC action dataset to test and evaluate the proposed method. The compared experiment results showed that the proposed method was more effective than compared methods. PMID:24574920

Satellite DNA: An Evolving Topic

PubMed Central

Garrido-Ramos, Manuel A.

2017-01-01

Satellite DNA represents one of the most fascinating parts of the repetitive fraction of the eukaryotic genome. Since the discovery of highly repetitive tandem DNA in the 1960s, a lot of literature has extensively covered various topics related to the structure, organization, function, and evolution of such sequences. Today, with the advent of genomic tools, the study of satellite DNA has regained a great interest. Thus, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), together with high-throughput in silico analysis of the information contained in NGS reads, has revolutionized the analysis of the repetitive fraction of the eukaryotic genomes. The whole of the historical and current approaches to the topic gives us a broad view of the function and evolution of satellite DNA and its role in chromosomal evolution. Currently, we have extensive information on the molecular, chromosomal, biological, and population factors that affect the evolutionary fate of satellite DNA, knowledge that gives rise to a series of hypotheses that get on well with each other about the origin, spreading, and evolution of satellite DNA. In this paper, I review these hypotheses from a methodological, conceptual, and historical perspective and frame them in the context of chromosomal organization and evolution. PMID:28926993

Effects of Individual Health Topic Familiarity on Activity Patterns During Health Information Searches

PubMed Central

Moriyama, Koichi; Fukui, Ken–ichi; Numao, Masayuki

2015-01-01

Background Non-medical professionals (consumers) are increasingly using the Internet to support their health information needs. However, the cognitive effort required to perform health information searches is affected by the consumer’s familiarity with health topics. Consumers may have different levels of familiarity with individual health topics. This variation in familiarity may cause misunderstandings because the information presented by search engines may not be understood correctly by the consumers. Objective As a first step toward the improvement of the health information search process, we aimed to examine the effects of health topic familiarity on health information search behaviors by identifying the common search activity patterns exhibited by groups of consumers with different levels of familiarity. Methods Each participant completed a health terminology familiarity questionnaire and health information search tasks. The responses to the familiarity questionnaire were used to grade the familiarity of participants with predefined health topics. The search task data were transcribed into a sequence of search activities using a coding scheme. A computational model was constructed from the sequence data using a Markov chain model to identify the common search patterns in each familiarity group. Results Forty participants were classified into L1 (not familiar), L2 (somewhat familiar), and L3 (familiar) groups based on their questionnaire responses. They had different levels of familiarity with four health topics. The video data obtained from all of the participants were transcribed into 4595 search activities (mean 28.7, SD 23.27 per session). The most frequent search activities and transitions in all the familiarity groups were related to evaluations of the relevancy of selected web pages in the retrieval results. However, the next most frequent transitions differed in each group and a chi-squared test confirmed this finding (P<.001). Next, according to the

Topic model-based mass spectrometric data analysis in cancer biomarker discovery studies.

PubMed

Wang, Minkun; Tsai, Tsung-Heng; Di Poto, Cristina; Ferrarini, Alessia; Yu, Guoqiang; Ressom, Habtom W

2016-08-18

A fundamental challenge in quantitation of biomolecules for cancer biomarker discovery is owing to the heterogeneous nature of human biospecimens. Although this issue has been a subject of discussion in cancer genomic studies, it has not yet been rigorously investigated in mass spectrometry based proteomic and metabolomic studies. Purification of mass spectometric data is highly desired prior to subsequent analysis, e.g., quantitative comparison of the abundance of biomolecules in biological samples. We investigated topic models to computationally analyze mass spectrometric data considering both integrated peak intensities and scan-level features, i.e., extracted ion chromatograms (EICs). Probabilistic generative models enable flexible representation in data structure and infer sample-specific pure resources. Scan-level modeling helps alleviate information loss during data preprocessing. We evaluated the capability of the proposed models in capturing mixture proportions of contaminants and cancer profiles on LC-MS based serum proteomic and GC-MS based tissue metabolomic datasets acquired from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver cirrhosis as well as synthetic data we generated based on the serum proteomic data. The results we obtained by analysis of the synthetic data demonstrated that both intensity-level and scan-level purification models can accurately infer the mixture proportions and the underlying true cancerous sources with small average error ratios (<7 %) between estimation and ground truth. By applying the topic model-based purification to mass spectrometric data, we found more proteins and metabolites with significant changes between HCC cases and cirrhotic controls. Candidate biomarkers selected after purification yielded biologically meaningful pathway analysis results and improved disease discrimination power in terms of the area under ROC curve compared to the results found prior to purification. We investigated topic model

Detection of selective sweeps in structured populations: a comparison of recent methods.

PubMed

Vatsiou, Alexandra I; Bazin, Eric; Gaggiotti, Oscar E

2016-01-01

Identifying genomic regions targeted by positive selection has been a long-standing interest of evolutionary biologists. This objective was difficult to achieve until the recent emergence of next-generation sequencing, which is fostering the development of large-scale catalogues of genetic variation for increasing number of species. Several statistical methods have been recently developed to analyse these rich data sets, but there is still a poor understanding of the conditions under which these methods produce reliable results. This study aims at filling this gap by assessing the performance of genome-scan methods that consider explicitly the physical linkage among SNPs surrounding a selected variant. Our study compares the performance of seven recent methods for the detection of selective sweeps (iHS, nSL, EHHST, xp-EHH, XP-EHHST, XPCLR and hapFLK). We use an individual-based simulation approach to investigate the power and accuracy of these methods under a wide range of population models under both hard and soft sweeps. Our results indicate that XPCLR and hapFLK perform best and can detect soft sweeps under simple population structure scenarios if migration rate is low. All methods perform poorly with moderate-to-high migration rates, or with weak selection and very poorly under a hierarchical population structure. Finally, no single method is able to detect both starting and nearly completed selective sweeps. However, combining several methods (XPCLR or hapFLK with iHS or nSL) can greatly increase the power to pinpoint the selected region. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

What Can Crystal Structures of Aminergic Receptors Tell Us about Designing Subtype-Selective Ligands?

PubMed Central

Michino, Mayako; Beuming, Thijs; Donthamsetti, Prashant; Newman, Amy Hauck; Javitch, Jonathan A.

2015-01-01

G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) are integral membrane proteins that represent an important class of drug targets. In particular, aminergic GPCRs interact with a significant portion of drugs currently on the market. However, most drugs that target these receptors are associated with undesirable side effects, which are due in part to promiscuous interactions with close homologs of the intended target receptors. Here, based on a systematic analysis of all 37 of the currently available high-resolution crystal structures of aminergic GPCRs, we review structural elements that contribute to and can be exploited for designing subtype-selective compounds. We describe the roles of secondary binding pockets (SBPs), as well as differences in ligand entry pathways to the orthosteric binding site, in determining selectivity. In addition, using the available crystal structures, we have identified conformational changes in the SBPs that are associated with receptor activation and explore the implications of these changes for the rational development of selective ligands with tailored efficacy. PMID:25527701

Correlated Topic Vector for Scene Classification.

PubMed

Wei, Pengxu; Qin, Fei; Wan, Fang; Zhu, Yi; Jiao, Jianbin; Ye, Qixiang

2017-07-01

Scene images usually involve semantic correlations, particularly when considering large-scale image data sets. This paper proposes a novel generative image representation, correlated topic vector, to model such semantic correlations. Oriented from the correlated topic model, correlated topic vector intends to naturally utilize the correlations among topics, which are seldom considered in the conventional feature encoding, e.g., Fisher vector, but do exist in scene images. It is expected that the involvement of correlations can increase the discriminative capability of the learned generative model and consequently improve the recognition accuracy. Incorporated with the Fisher kernel method, correlated topic vector inherits the advantages of Fisher vector. The contributions to the topics of visual words have been further employed by incorporating the Fisher kernel framework to indicate the differences among scenes. Combined with the deep convolutional neural network (CNN) features and Gibbs sampling solution, correlated topic vector shows great potential when processing large-scale and complex scene image data sets. Experiments on two scene image data sets demonstrate that correlated topic vector improves significantly the deep CNN features, and outperforms existing Fisher kernel-based features.

Topical Treatment of Degenerative Knee Osteoarthritis.

PubMed

Meng, Zengdong; Huang, Rongzhong

2018-01-01

This article reviews topical management strategies for degenerative osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. A search of Pubmed, Embase and the Cochrane library using MeSH terms including "topical," "treatment," "knee" and "osteoarthritis" was carried out. Original research and review articles on the effectiveness and safety, recommendations from international published guidelines and acceptability studies of topical preparations were included. Current topical treatments included for the management of knee OA include topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, capsaicin, salicylates and physical treatments such as hot or cold therapy. Current treatment guidelines recommend topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as an alternative and even first-line therapy for OA management, especially among elderly patients. Guidelines on other topical treatments vary, from recommendations against their use, to in favor as alternative or simultaneous therapy, especially for patients with contraindications to other analgesics. Although often well-tolerated and preferred by many patients, clinical care still lags in the adoption of topical treatments. Aspects of efficacy, safety and patient quality of life data require further research. Copyright © 2018 Southern Society for Clinical Investigation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Topical anesthesia: possible risk factor for endophthalmitis after cataract extraction.

PubMed

Garcia-Arumi, Jose; Fonollosa, Alex; Sararols, Laura; Fina, Francesc; Martínez-Castillo, Vicente; Boixadera, Ana; Zapata, Miguel A; Campins, Magda

2007-06-01

To assess the relationship between the risk for acute endophthalmitis after cataract extraction and whether certain factors, such as surgeon qualification, numerical order, duration of surgery, operating theater, and type of anesthesia (topical or retrobulbar), could be modified to decrease the risk. Single-center academic practice. Two epidemiological studies were performed: a case-control study and a retrospective cohort study. The surgical records of all patients with clinically diagnosed endophthalmitis within 30 days after cataract surgery performed between February 2002 and September 2003 were reviewed. The endophthalmitis cases were compared with 108 randomly selected controls (4 controls per case). The global incidence of endophthalmitis and the incidence according to type of anesthesia were calculated. Of 5011 cataract extractions performed, 27 cases of endophthalmitis occurred. The incidence was 5.39 per 1000 procedures. An independent statistically significant relationship was found between endophthalmitis and the use of topical anesthesia (odds ratio [OR], 11.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.4-58.7) and surgery longer than 45 minutes (OR, 7.2; 95% CI, 1.7-29.7) but not between the other variables. The incidence of endophthalmitis was 1.8 per 1000 cataract extractions with retrobulbar anesthesia and 6.76 per 1000 with topical anesthesia (relative risk [RR], 3.76; 95% CI, 0.89-15.85). After the start of the study period was extended to May 2001, the incidence of endophthalmitis was 1.3 per 1000 cataract extractions with retrobulbar anesthesia and 8.7 per 1000 with topical anesthesia (RR, 6.72; 95% CI, 1.63-27.63). Results suggest that there may be an association between topical anesthesia and endophthalmitis after cataract extraction.

Survey of social health insurance structure in selected countries; providing framework for basic health insurance in Iran

PubMed Central

Mohammadi, Effat; Raissi, Ahmad Reza; Barooni, Mohsen; Ferdoosi, Massoud; Nuhi, Mojtaba

2014-01-01

Introduction and Objectives: Health system reforms are the most strategic issue that has been seriously considered in healthcare systems in order to reduce costs and increase efficiency and effectiveness. The costs of health system finance in our country, lack of universal coverage in health insurance, and related issues necessitate reforms in our health system financing. The aim of this research was to prepare a structure of framework for social health insurance in Iran and conducting a comparative study in selected countries with social health insurance. Materials and Methods: This comparative descriptive study was conducted in three phases. The first phase of the study examined the structure of health social insurance in four countries – Germany, South Korea, Egypt, and Australia. The second phase was to develop an initial model, which was designed to determine the shared and distinguishing points of the investigated structures, for health insurance in Iran. The third phase was to validate the final research model. The developed model by the Delphi method was given to 20 professionals in financing of the health system, health economics and management of healthcare services. Their comments were collected in two stages and its validity was confirmed. Findings: The study of the structure of health insurance in the selected countries shows that health social insurance in different countries have different structures. Based on the findings of the present study, the current situation of the health system, and the conducted surveys, the following framework is suitable for the health social insurance system in Iran. The Health Social Insurance Organization has a unique service by having five funds of governmental employees, companies and NGOs, self-insured, villagers, and others, which serves as a nongovernmental organization under the supervision of public law and by decision- and policy-making of the Health Insurance Supreme Council. Membership in this organization

Survey of social health insurance structure in selected countries; providing framework for basic health insurance in Iran.

PubMed

Mohammadi, Effat; Raissi, Ahmad Reza; Barooni, Mohsen; Ferdoosi, Massoud; Nuhi, Mojtaba

2014-01-01

Health system reforms are the most strategic issue that has been seriously considered in healthcare systems in order to reduce costs and increase efficiency and effectiveness. The costs of health system finance in our country, lack of universal coverage in health insurance, and related issues necessitate reforms in our health system financing. The aim of this research was to prepare a structure of framework for social health insurance in Iran and conducting a comparative study in selected countries with social health insurance. This comparative descriptive study was conducted in three phases. The first phase of the study examined the structure of health social insurance in four countries - Germany, South Korea, Egypt, and Australia. The second phase was to develop an initial model, which was designed to determine the shared and distinguishing points of the investigated structures, for health insurance in Iran. The third phase was to validate the final research model. The developed model by the Delphi method was given to 20 professionals in financing of the health system, health economics and management of healthcare services. Their comments were collected in two stages and its validity was confirmed. The study of the structure of health insurance in the selected countries shows that health social insurance in different countries have different structures. Based on the findings of the present study, the current situation of the health system, and the conducted surveys, the following framework is suitable for the health social insurance system in Iran. The Health Social Insurance Organization has a unique service by having five funds of governmental employees, companies and NGOs, self-insured, villagers, and others, which serves as a nongovernmental organization under the supervision of public law and by decision- and policy-making of the Health Insurance Supreme Council. Membership in this organization is based on the nationality or residence, which the insured by

Preface to Special Topic: Selected Papers from the 5th International Conference on Optofluidics.

PubMed

Fan, Shih-Kang; Yang, Zhenchuan

2016-01-01

The 5th International Conference on Optofluidics (Optofluidics 2015) was held in Taipei, Taiwan, July 26-29, 2015. The aim of this conference was to provide a forum to promote scientific exchange and to foster closer networks and collaborative ties between leading international researchers in optics and micro/nanofluidics across various disciplines. The scope of Optofluidics 2015 was deliberately broad and interdisciplinary, encompassing the latest advances and the most innovative developments in micro/nanoscale science and technology. Topics ranged from fundamental research to its applications in chemistry, physics, biology, materials, and medicine.

Sickle Cell: A Selected Resource Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health, Washington, DC.

This annotated, selective bibliography lists the following types of educational and informational material on both sickle cell disease and trait: (1) professional education materials; (2) fact sheets, pamphlets, and brochures; and (3) audiovisual material. A selected list of references is provided for the following topic areas: (1) genetic…

Plant Phenotyping using Probabilistic Topic Models: Uncovering the Hyperspectral Language of Plants

PubMed Central

Wahabzada, Mirwaes; Mahlein, Anne-Katrin; Bauckhage, Christian; Steiner, Ulrike; Oerke, Erich-Christian; Kersting, Kristian

2016-01-01

Modern phenotyping and plant disease detection methods, based on optical sensors and information technology, provide promising approaches to plant research and precision farming. In particular, hyperspectral imaging have been found to reveal physiological and structural characteristics in plants and to allow for tracking physiological dynamics due to environmental effects. In this work, we present an approach to plant phenotyping that integrates non-invasive sensors, computer vision, as well as data mining techniques and allows for monitoring how plants respond to stress. To uncover latent hyperspectral characteristics of diseased plants reliably and in an easy-to-understand way, we “wordify” the hyperspectral images, i.e., we turn the images into a corpus of text documents. Then, we apply probabilistic topic models, a well-established natural language processing technique that identifies content and topics of documents. Based on recent regularized topic models, we demonstrate that one can track automatically the development of three foliar diseases of barley. We also present a visualization of the topics that provides plant scientists an intuitive tool for hyperspectral imaging. In short, our analysis and visualization of characteristic topics found during symptom development and disease progress reveal the hyperspectral language of plant diseases. PMID:26957018

Topical botulinum toxin.

PubMed

Collins, Ashley; Nasir, Adnan

2010-03-01

Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing discipline that capitalizes on the unique properties of matter engineered on the nanoscale. Vehicles incorporating nanotechnology have led to great strides in drug delivery, allowing for increased active ingredient stability, bioavailability, and site-specific targeting. Botulinum toxin has historically been used for the correction of neurological and neuromuscular disorders, such as torticollis, blepharospasm, and strabismus. Recent dermatological indications have been for the management of axillary hyperhydrosis and facial rhytides. Traditional methods of botulinum toxin delivery have been needle-based. These have been associated with increased pain and cost. Newer methods of botulinum toxin formulation have yielded topical preparations that are bioactive in small pilot clinical studies. While there are some risks associated with topical delivery, the refinement and standardization of delivery systems and techniques for the topical administration of botulinum toxin using nanotechnology is anticipated in the near future.

Topical methotrexate pretreatment enhances the therapeutic effect of topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy on hamster buccal pouch precancers.

PubMed

Yang, Deng-Fu; Lee, Jeng-Woei; Chen, Hsin-Ming; Hsu, Yih-Chih

2014-09-01

Topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) is effective for treatment of human oral precancerous lesions. This animal study aimed to assess whether topical methotrexate (MTX) pretreatment could enhance the therapeutic effect of topical ALA-PDT on hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions. Twenty hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions were treated with either topical ALA-PDT with topical MTX pretreatment (topical MTX-ALA-PDT group, n = 10) or topical ALA-PDT alone (topical ALA-PDT group, n = 10). The intracellular protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) level in another 12 precancerous lesions (n = 6 for either the topical MTX-ALA or topical ALA group) was monitored by fluorescence spectroscopy. The intracellular PpIX reached its peak level in precancerous lesions 6.5 hours and 2.5 hours after topical ALA application for the topical MTX-ALA group (5.63-fold higher in the lesion than in the normal mucosa) and topical ALA group (2.42-fold higher in the lesion than in the normal mucosa), respectively. The complete response rate of precancerous lesions was 80% for the topical MTX-ALA-PDT group and 70% for the topical ALA-PDT group. In addition, the topical MTX-ALA-PDT group required a significantly lower mean treatment number (2.1 ± 0.6) to achieve complete response than the topical ALA-PDT group (4.4 ± 1.3, p < 0.001)). Moreover, the topical MTX-ALA-PDT group had a lower recurrence rate (12.5%) than the topical ALA-PDT group (28.6%). We conclude that topical MTX-pretreatment can increase intracellular PpIX production in hamster buccal pouch precancerous lesions and significantly improves the outcomes of the precancerous lesions treated with topical ALA-PDT. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Topical treatment of psoriasis: questionnaire results on topical therapy accessibility and influence of body surface area on usage.

PubMed

Iversen, L; Lange, M M; Bissonette, R; Carvalho, A V E; van de Kerkhof, P C; Kirby, B; Kleyn, C E; Lynde, C W; van der Walt, J M; Wu, J J

2017-07-01

Topical treatment of mild to moderate psoriasis is first-line treatment and exhibits varying degrees of success across patient groups. Key factors influencing treatment success are physician topical treatment choice (high efficacy, low adverse events) and strict patient adherence. Currently, no formalized, international consensus guidelines exist to direct optimal topical treatment, although many countries have national guidelines. To describe and analyse cross-regional variations in the use and access of psoriasis topical therapies. The study was conducted as an observational cross-sectional study. A survey was distributed to dermatologists from the International Psoriasis Council (IPC) to assess topical therapy accessibility in 26 countries and to understand how body surface area (BSA) categories guide clinical decisions on topical use. Variation in the availability of tars, topical retinoids, dithranol and balneotherapy was reported. The vast majority of respondents (100% and 88.4%) used topical therapy as first-line monotherapy in situations with BSA < 3% and BSA between 3% and 10%, respectively. However, with disease severity increasing to BSA > 10%, the number of respondents who prescribe topical therapy decreased considerably. In addition, combination therapy of a topical drug and a systemic drug was frequently reported when BSA measured >10%. This physician survey provides new evidence on topical access and the influence of disease severity on topical usage in an effort to improve treatment strategies on a global level. © 2017 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

Comparison of the stability of topical isotretinoin and topical tretinoin and their efficacy in acne.

PubMed

Elbaum, D J

1988-09-01

After 4 hours of exposure to incandescent light, 80% of 0.05% topical isotretinoin and 60% of 0.05% topical tretinoin preparations remained in their original form. In contrast, after 2 hours of exposure to fluorescent light only 25% of topical tretinoin and possibly 60% of topical isotretinoin remained in their original forms. Longer exposure to fluorescent light did not result in further breakdown, and the final breakdown of both preparations was similar. A 12-week, double-blind clinical trial comparing isotretinoin (0.05%) with tretinoin (0.05%) applied topically to patients with moderate acne was carried out. Both preparations caused significant reductions in papules and pustules. However, neither treatment was significantly superior to the other in the reduction of acne lesions. This may be because both preparations are rapidly broken down to similar products when exposed to fluorescent light.

Photonic-structured fibers assembled from cellulose nanocrystals with tunable polarized selective reflection.

PubMed

Meng, Xin; Pan, Hui; Lu, Tao; Chen, Zhixin; Chen, Yanru; Zhang, Di; Zhu, Shenmin

2018-08-10

Fibers with self-assembled photonic structures are of special interest due to their unique photonic properties and potential applications in the smart textile industry. Inspired by nature, the photonic-structured fibers were fabricated through the self-assembly of chiral nematic cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and the fibers showed tunably brilliant and selectively reflected colors under crossed-polarization. A simple wet-spinning method was applied to prepare composite fibers of the mixed CNC matrix and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) additions. During the processing, a cholesteric CNC phase formed photonic fibers through a self-assembly process. The selective color reflection of the composite fibers in the polarized condition showed a typical red-shift tendency with an increase in the PVA content, which was attributed to the increased helical pitch of the CNC. Furthermore, the polarized angle could also alter the reflected colors. Owing to their excellent selective reflection properties under the polarized condition, CNC-based photonic fibers are promising as the next-generation of smart fibers, applied in the fields of specific display and sensing.

Composite structural materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loewy, R. G.; Wiberley, S. E.

1985-01-01

Various topics relating to composite structural materials for use in aircraft structures are discussed. The mechanical properties of high performance carbon fibers, carbon fiber-epoxy interface bonds, composite fractures, residual stress in high modulus and high strength carbon fibers, fatigue in composite materials, and the mechanical properties of polymeric matrix composite laminates are among the topics discussed.

Topical anesthesia in strabismus surgery: a review of 101 cases.

PubMed

Seijas, Olga; Gómez de Liaño, Pilar; Merino, Pilar; Roberts, Clare J; Gómez de Liaño, Rosario

2009-01-01

To analyze the results over a 10-year period with a different type of strabismus surgery performed with topical anesthesia, to describe the differences in technique compared with surgery performed with general anesthesia, and to detail current indications and technical changes made according to the experience accrued during these years. A total of 101 patients undergoing strabismus surgery with topical anesthesia in a single hospital were analyzed. These patients were randomly selected from a total of 567 patients who had undergone extra-ocular muscle surgery in the past 10 years. A good result was obtained (squint angle < 10 prism diopters and absence of diplopia) in 95% of patients immediately after surgery and in 85% at final follow-up (mean follow-up: 3.1 years). The mean operating time for each muscle was 29 minutes. Surgery was well tolerated in every patient. Conversion to general anesthesia was not necessary in any case. Atropine was used in three patients (3%) because of induction of the vagal reflex. Topical anesthesia in strabismus surgery is a useful technique in the treatment of extraocular muscle pathology, with few limitations. Appropriate monitoring by an anesthetist is vital to ensure adequate control of pain and possible side effects and to enable conversion to general anesthesia. The oculocardiac reflex is infrequent. For experienced strabismus surgeons, the total surgical time is comparable with topical and general anesthesia. Copyright 2009, SLACK Incorporated.

Plasticity of the Binding Site of Renin: Optimized Selection of Protein Structures for Ensemble Docking.

PubMed

Strecker, Claas; Meyer, Bernd

2018-05-29

Protein flexibility poses a major challenge to docking of potential ligands in that the binding site can adopt different shapes. Docking algorithms usually keep the protein rigid and only allow the ligand to be treated as flexible. However, a wrong assessment of the shape of the binding pocket can prevent a ligand from adapting a correct pose. Ensemble docking is a simple yet promising method to solve this problem: Ligands are docked into multiple structures, and the results are subsequently merged. Selection of protein structures is a significant factor for this approach. In this work we perform a comprehensive and comparative study evaluating the impact of structure selection on ensemble docking. We perform ensemble docking with several crystal structures and with structures derived from molecular dynamics simulations of renin, an attractive target for antihypertensive drugs. Here, 500 ns of MD simulations revealed binding site shapes not found in any available crystal structure. We evaluate the importance of structure selection for ensemble docking by comparing binding pose prediction, ability to rank actives above nonactives (screening utility), and scoring accuracy. As a result, for ensemble definition k-means clustering appears to be better suited than hierarchical clustering with average linkage. The best performing ensemble consists of four crystal structures and is able to reproduce the native ligand poses better than any individual crystal structure. Moreover this ensemble outperforms 88% of all individual crystal structures in terms of screening utility as well as scoring accuracy. Similarly, ensembles of MD-derived structures perform on average better than 75% of any individual crystal structure in terms of scoring accuracy at all inspected ensembles sizes.

[Non adherence and topical steroids].

PubMed

Aubert, H; Barbarot, S

2012-01-01

Compliance raises very specific questions in dermatology related to the frequent use of local treatments: creams or ointments, including topical corticosteroids. The adherence in dermatology is a complex issue. It is difficult to quantify objectively because of the patient subjectivity, the constant adaptation to changes in the course of the disease, and due to the lack of adapted device. Moreover poor compliance may be related to topical corticosteroid phobia, defined as a fear vis-à-vis the topical corticosteroids, rational or not. The topical corticosteroid phobia is very common in the management of chronic inflammatory skin diseases especially in atopic dermatitis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Decision-making in irrigation networks: Selecting appropriate canal structures using multi-attribute decision analysis.

PubMed

Hosseinzade, Zeinab; Pagsuyoin, Sheree A; Ponnambalam, Kumaraswamy; Monem, Mohammad J

2017-12-01

The stiff competition for water between agriculture and non-agricultural production sectors makes it necessary to have effective management of irrigation networks in farms. However, the process of selecting flow control structures in irrigation networks is highly complex and involves different levels of decision makers. In this paper, we apply multi-attribute decision making (MADM) methodology to develop a decision analysis (DA) framework for evaluating, ranking and selecting check and intake structures for irrigation canals. The DA framework consists of identifying relevant attributes for canal structures, developing a robust scoring system for alternatives, identifying a procedure for data quality control, and identifying a MADM model for the decision analysis. An application is illustrated through an analysis for automation purposes of the Qazvin irrigation network, one of the oldest and most complex irrigation networks in Iran. A survey questionnaire designed based on the decision framework was distributed to experts, managers, and operators of the Qazvin network and to experts from the Ministry of Power in Iran. Five check structures and four intake structures were evaluated. A decision matrix was generated from the average scores collected from the survey, and was subsequently solved using TOPSIS (Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method. To identify the most critical structure attributes for the selection process, optimal attribute weights were calculated using Entropy method. For check structures, results show that the duckbill weir is the preferred structure while the pivot weir is the least preferred. Use of the duckbill weir can potentially address the problem with existing Amil gates where manual intervention is required to regulate water levels during periods of flow extremes. For intake structures, the Neyrpic® gate and constant head orifice are the most and least preferred alternatives, respectively. Some advantages

IT vendor selection model by using structural equation model & analytical hierarchy process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maitra, Sarit; Dominic, P. D. D.

2012-11-01

Selecting and evaluating the right vendors is imperative for an organization's global marketplace competitiveness. Improper selection and evaluation of potential vendors can dwarf an organization's supply chain performance. Numerous studies have demonstrated that firms consider multiple criteria when selecting key vendors. This research intends to develop a new hybrid model for vendor selection process with better decision making. The new proposed model provides a suitable tool for assisting decision makers and managers to make the right decisions and select the most suitable vendor. This paper proposes a Hybrid model based on Structural Equation Model (SEM) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) for long-term strategic vendor selection problems. The five steps framework of the model has been designed after the thorough literature study. The proposed hybrid model will be applied using a real life case study to assess its effectiveness. In addition, What-if analysis technique will be used for model validation purpose.

A study on the application of topic models to motif finding algorithms.

PubMed

Basha Gutierrez, Josep; Nakai, Kenta

2016-12-22

Topic models are statistical algorithms which try to discover the structure of a set of documents according to the abstract topics contained in them. Here we try to apply this approach to the discovery of the structure of the transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) contained in a set of biological sequences, which is a fundamental problem in molecular biology research for the understanding of transcriptional regulation. Here we present two methods that make use of topic models for motif finding. First, we developed an algorithm in which first a set of biological sequences are treated as text documents, and the k-mers contained in them as words, to then build a correlated topic model (CTM) and iteratively reduce its perplexity. We also used the perplexity measurement of CTMs to improve our previous algorithm based on a genetic algorithm and several statistical coefficients. The algorithms were tested with 56 data sets from four different species and compared to 14 other methods by the use of several coefficients both at nucleotide and site level. The results of our first approach showed a performance comparable to the other methods studied, especially at site level and in sensitivity scores, in which it scored better than any of the 14 existing tools. In the case of our previous algorithm, the new approach with the addition of the perplexity measurement clearly outperformed all of the other methods in sensitivity, both at nucleotide and site level, and in overall performance at site level. The statistics obtained show that the performance of a motif finding method based on the use of a CTM is satisfying enough to conclude that the application of topic models is a valid method for developing motif finding algorithms. Moreover, the addition of topic models to a previously developed method dramatically increased its performance, suggesting that this combined algorithm can be a useful tool to successfully predict motifs in different kinds of sets of DNA sequences.

Index to Positions: A Selective List, 1969-1982.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Staniford, Edward; Conn, Edith

Positions taken by the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) on selected topics are traced over the years 1969 through 1982. Chronological listings of ASCCC positions are provided for the following topics as compiled in 1980: academic standards, accreditation, credit and noncredit course policy, general education, grade policy,…

Performance of structured lipids incorporating selected phenolic and ascorbic acids.

PubMed

Gruczynska, Eliza; Przybylski, Roman; Aladedunye, Felix

2015-04-15

Conditions applied during frying require antioxidant which is stable at these conditions and provides protection for frying oil and fried food. Novel structured lipids containing nutraceuticals and antioxidants were formed by enzymatic transesterification, exploring canola oil and naturally occurring antioxidants such as ascorbic and selected phenolic acids as substrates. Lipozyme RM IM lipase from Rhizomucor miehei was used as biocatalyst. Frying performance and oxidative stability of the final transesterification products were evaluated. The novel lipids showed significantly improved frying performance compared to canola oil. Oxidative stability assessment of the structured lipids showed significant improvement in resistance to oxidative deterioration compared to original canola oil. Interestingly, the presence of ascorbic acid in an acylglycerol structure protected α-tocopherol against thermal degradation, which was not observed for the phenolic acids. Developed structured lipids containing nutraceuticals and antioxidants may directly affect nutritional properties of lipids also offering nutraceutical ingredients for food formulation. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recent advances in topical anesthesia

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Topical anesthetics act on the peripheral nerves and reduce the sensation of pain at the site of application. In dentistry, they are used to control local pain caused by needling, placement of orthodontic bands, the vomiting reflex, oral mucositis, and rubber-dam clamp placement. Traditional topical anesthetics contain lidocaine or benzocaine as active ingredients and are used in the form of solutions, creams, gels, and sprays. Eutectic mixtures of local anesthesia cream, a mixture of various topical anesthetics, has been reported to be more potent than other anesthetics. Recently, new products with modified ingredients and application methods have been introduced into the market. These products may be used for mild pain during periodontal treatment, such as scaling. Dentists should be aware that topical anesthetics, although rare, might induce allergic reactions or side effects as a result of an overdose. Topical anesthetics are useful aids during dental treatment, as they reduce dental phobia, especially in children, by mitigating discomfort and pain. PMID:28879311

Structural optimization and structure-functional selectivity relationship studies of G protein-biased EP2 receptor agonists.

PubMed

Ogawa, Seiji; Watanabe, Toshihide; Moriyuki, Kazumi; Goto, Yoshikazu; Yamane, Shinsaku; Watanabe, Akio; Tsuboi, Kazuma; Kinoshita, Atsushi; Okada, Takuya; Takeda, Hiroyuki; Tani, Kousuke; Maruyama, Toru

2016-05-15

The modification of the novel G protein-biased EP2 agonist 1 has been investigated to improve its G protein activity and develop a better understanding of its structure-functional selectivity relationship (SFSR). The optimization of the substituents on the phenyl ring of 1, followed by the inversion of the hydroxyl group on the cyclopentane moiety led to compound 9, which showed a 100-fold increase in its G protein activity compared with 1 without any increase in β-arrestin recruitment. Furthermore, SFSR studies revealed that the combination of meta and para substituents on the phenyl moiety was crucial to the functional selectivity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selective logging: does the imprint remain on tree structure and composition after 45 years?

PubMed

Osazuwa-Peters, Oyomoare L; Chapman, Colin A; Zanne, Amy E

2015-01-01

Selective logging of tropical forests is increasing in extent and intensity. The duration over which impacts of selective logging persist, however, remains an unresolved question, particularly for African forests. Here, we investigate the extent to which a past selective logging event continues to leave its imprint on different components of an East African forest 45 years later. We inventoried 2358 stems ≥10 cm in diameter in 26 plots (200 m × 10 m) within a 5.2 ha area in Kibale National Park, Uganda, in logged and unlogged forest. In these surveys, we characterized the forest light environment, taxonomic composition, functional trait composition using three traits (wood density, maximum height and maximum diameter) and forest structure based on three measures (stem density, total basal area and total above-ground biomass). In comparison to unlogged forests, selectively logged forest plots in Kibale National Park on average had higher light levels, different structure characterized by lower stem density, lower total basal area and lower above-ground biomass, and a distinct taxonomic composition driven primarily by changes in the relative abundance of species. Conversely, selectively logged forest plots were like unlogged plots in functional composition, having similar community-weighted mean values for wood density, maximum height and maximum diameter. This similarity in functional composition irrespective of logging history may be due to functional recovery of logged forest or background changes in functional attributes of unlogged forest. Despite the passage of 45 years, the legacy of selective logging on the tree community in Kibale National Park is still evident, as indicated by distinct taxonomic and structural composition and reduced carbon storage in logged forest compared with unlogged forest. The effects of selective logging are exerted via influences on tree demography rather than functional trait composition.

Selective logging: does the imprint remain on tree structure and composition after 45 years?

PubMed Central

Osazuwa-Peters, Oyomoare L.; Chapman, Colin A.; Zanne, Amy E.

2015-01-01

Selective logging of tropical forests is increasing in extent and intensity. The duration over which impacts of selective logging persist, however, remains an unresolved question, particularly for African forests. Here, we investigate the extent to which a past selective logging event continues to leave its imprint on different components of an East African forest 45 years later. We inventoried 2358 stems ≥10 cm in diameter in 26 plots (200 m × 10 m) within a 5.2 ha area in Kibale National Park, Uganda, in logged and unlogged forest. In these surveys, we characterized the forest light environment, taxonomic composition, functional trait composition using three traits (wood density, maximum height and maximum diameter) and forest structure based on three measures (stem density, total basal area and total above-ground biomass). In comparison to unlogged forests, selectively logged forest plots in Kibale National Park on average had higher light levels, different structure characterized by lower stem density, lower total basal area and lower above-ground biomass, and a distinct taxonomic composition driven primarily by changes in the relative abundance of species. Conversely, selectively logged forest plots were like unlogged plots in functional composition, having similar community-weighted mean values for wood density, maximum height and maximum diameter. This similarity in functional composition irrespective of logging history may be due to functional recovery of logged forest or background changes in functional attributes of unlogged forest. Despite the passage of 45 years, the legacy of selective logging on the tree community in Kibale National Park is still evident, as indicated by distinct taxonomic and structural composition and reduced carbon storage in logged forest compared with unlogged forest. The effects of selective logging are exerted via influences on tree demography rather than functional trait composition. PMID:27293697

A Method for Selecting Structure-switching Aptamers Applied to a Colorimetric Gold Nanoparticle Assay

PubMed Central

Martin, Jennifer A.; Smith, Joshua E.; Warren, Mercedes; Chávez, Jorge L.; Hagen, Joshua A.; Kelley-Loughnane, Nancy

2015-01-01

Small molecules provide rich targets for biosensing applications due to their physiological implications as biomarkers of various aspects of human health and performance. Nucleic acid aptamers have been increasingly applied as recognition elements on biosensor platforms, but selecting aptamers toward small molecule targets requires special design considerations. This work describes modification and critical steps of a method designed to select structure-switching aptamers to small molecule targets. Binding sequences from a DNA library hybridized to complementary DNA capture probes on magnetic beads are separated from nonbinders via a target-induced change in conformation. This method is advantageous because sequences binding the support matrix (beads) will not be further amplified, and it does not require immobilization of the target molecule. However, the melting temperature of the capture probe and library is kept at or slightly above RT, such that sequences that dehybridize based on thermodynamics will also be present in the supernatant solution. This effectively limits the partitioning efficiency (ability to separate target binding sequences from nonbinders), and therefore many selection rounds will be required to remove background sequences. The reported method differs from previous structure-switching aptamer selections due to implementation of negative selection steps, simplified enrichment monitoring, and extension of the length of the capture probe following selection enrichment to provide enhanced stringency. The selected structure-switching aptamers are advantageous in a gold nanoparticle assay platform that reports the presence of a target molecule by the conformational change of the aptamer. The gold nanoparticle assay was applied because it provides a simple, rapid colorimetric readout that is beneficial in a clinical or deployed environment. Design and optimization considerations are presented for the assay as proof-of-principle work in buffer to

Structure-Based Design and Synthesis of Potent and Selective Matrix Metalloproteinase 13 Inhibitors.

PubMed

Choi, Jun Yong; Fuerst, Rita; Knapinska, Anna M; Taylor, Alexander B; Smith, Lyndsay; Cao, Xiaohang; Hart, P John; Fields, Gregg B; Roush, William R

2017-07-13

We describe the use of comparative structural analysis and structure-guided molecular design to develop potent and selective inhibitors (10d and (S)-17b) of matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP-13). We applied a three-step process, starting with a comparative analysis of the X-ray crystallographic structure of compound 5 in complex with MMP-13 with published structures of known MMP-13·inhibitor complexes followed by molecular design and synthesis of potent but nonselective zinc-chelating MMP inhibitors (e.g., 10a and 10b). After demonstrating that the pharmacophores of the chelating inhibitors (S)-10a, (R)-10a, and 10b were binding within the MMP-13 active site, the Zn 2+ chelating unit was replaced with nonchelating polar residues that bridged over the Zn 2+ binding site and reached into a solvent accessible area. After two rounds of structural optimization, these design approaches led to small molecule MMP-13 inhibitors 10d and (S)-17b, which bind within the substrate-binding site of MMP-13 and surround the catalytically active Zn 2+ ion without chelating to the metal. These compounds exhibit at least 500-fold selectivity versus other MMPs.

NegGOA: negative GO annotations selection using ontology structure.

PubMed

Fu, Guangyuan; Wang, Jun; Yang, Bo; Yu, Guoxian

2016-10-01

Predicting the biological functions of proteins is one of the key challenges in the post-genomic era. Computational models have demonstrated the utility of applying machine learning methods to predict protein function. Most prediction methods explicitly require a set of negative examples-proteins that are known not carrying out a particular function. However, Gene Ontology (GO) almost always only provides the knowledge that proteins carry out a particular function, and functional annotations of proteins are incomplete. GO structurally organizes more than tens of thousands GO terms and a protein is annotated with several (or dozens) of these terms. For these reasons, the negative examples of a protein can greatly help distinguishing true positive examples of the protein from such a large candidate GO space. In this paper, we present a novel approach (called NegGOA) to select negative examples. Specifically, NegGOA takes advantage of the ontology structure, available annotations and potentiality of additional annotations of a protein to choose negative examples of the protein. We compare NegGOA with other negative examples selection algorithms and find that NegGOA produces much fewer false negatives than them. We incorporate the selected negative examples into an efficient function prediction model to predict the functions of proteins in Yeast, Human, Mouse and Fly. NegGOA also demonstrates improved accuracy than these comparing algorithms across various evaluation metrics. In addition, NegGOA is less suffered from incomplete annotations of proteins than these comparing methods. The Matlab and R codes are available at https://sites.google.com/site/guoxian85/neggoa gxyu@swu.edu.cn Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Topical nutraceutical Optixcare EH ameliorates experimental ocular oxidative stress in rats.

PubMed

Kador, Peter F; Guo, Changmei; Kawada, Hiroyoshi; Randazzo, James; Blessing, Karen

2014-09-01

Based on the hypothesis that oral nutraceuticals do not adequately reach all ocular tissues in the anterior segment, we evaluated the ability of a 3% concentration of the ingredients in a topical nutraceutical antioxidant formulation called Optixcare Eye Health (Optixcare EH) to ameliorate oxidative stress in rat models of age-related ocular diseases. Diabetes was induced by tail-vein injection of streptozotocin, and the development of cataracts was monitored by slit lamp. Young rats were exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light, and the reduction in lens glutathione (GSH) levels and increase in 4-hydroxynonenol (4-HNE) were measured. Oxidative stress in the neural retina was generated by exposure of dark-adapted rats to 1,000 lx of light, and oxidative stress markers were measured. Dry eye was induced in rats by twice daily (b.i.d.) subcutaneous scopolamine injections. Topical Optixcare EH was administered b.i.d. and compared in select experiments to the multifunctional antioxidant JHX-4, the topical aldose reductase inhibitor (ARI) Kinostat™, oral Ocu-GLO™, and the topical ocular comfort agents Optixcare Eye Lube, Optixcare Eye Lube + Hyaluron, and Idrop Vet Plus hyaluronic acid. In diabetic rats, topical ARI treatment prevented cataract formation while the nutraceuticals delayed their development with Optixcare EH>Ocu-GLO. In UV-exposed rats, the reduction of GSH and increase in 4-HNE in the lens were normalized in order JHX-4>Optixcare EH>Ocu-GLO. In the retina, oxidative stress markers were reduced better by oral JHX-4 compared with topical Optixcare EH. In the scopolamine-induced dry-eye rats, tear flow was maintained by Optixcare EH treatment, while none of the comfort agents examined altered tear flow. Topical administration of a 3% concentration of the ingredients in Optixcare EH reduces experimentally induced reactive oxygen species in rats exposed to several sources of ocular oxidative stress. In addition, Optixcare EH maintains tear volume in scopolamine

Selected Topics in the Teaching of Mathematics. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Yearbook 3 [1928].

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, John R., Ed.; Reeve, W. D., Ed.

This yearbook is a collection of 14 articles covering a wide range of topics. The first argues that arithmetic is "a general mode of thinking," not a "tool subject." The need and use of mathematics for the average citizen is the basis for the second chapter, and the following chapter continues in this vein by attempting to show…

Structural insights into human heme oxygenase-1 inhibition by potent and selective azole-based compounds

PubMed Central

Rahman, Mona N.; Vukomanovic, Dragic; Vlahakis, Jason Z.; Szarek, Walter A.; Nakatsu, Kanji; Jia, Zongchao

2013-01-01

The development of heme oxygenase (HO) inhibitors, especially those that are isozyme-selective, promises powerful pharmacological tools to elucidate the regulatory characteristics of the HO system. It is already known that HO has cytoprotective properties and may play a role in several disease states, making it an enticing therapeutic target. Traditionally, the metalloporphyrins have been used as competitive HO inhibitors owing to their structural similarity with the substrate, heme. However, given heme's important role in several other proteins (e.g. cytochromes P450, nitric oxide synthase), non-selectivity is an unfortunate side-effect. Reports that azalanstat and other non-porphyrin molecules inhibited HO led to a multi-faceted effort to develop novel compounds as potent, selective inhibitors of HO. This resulted in the creation of non-competitive inhibitors with selectivity for HO, including a subset with isozyme selectivity for HO-1. Using X-ray crystallography, the structures of several complexes of HO-1 with novel inhibitors have been elucidated, which provided insightful information regarding the salient features required for inhibitor binding. This included the structural basis for non-competitive inhibition, flexibility and adaptability of the inhibitor binding pocket, and multiple, potential interaction subsites, all of which can be exploited in future drug-design strategies. PMID:23097500

Nanomaterial Case Studies: Nanoscale Titanium Dioxide in Water Treatment and in Topical Sunscreen (Final)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the availability of the final report, Nanomaterial Case Studies: Nanoscale Titanium Dioxide in Water Treatment and in Topical Sunscreen. This report is a starting point to determine what is known and what needs to be known about selected nanomaterials as par...

Assessment of metal ion concentration in water with structured feature selection.

PubMed

Naula, Pekka; Airola, Antti; Pihlasalo, Sari; Montoya Perez, Ileana; Salakoski, Tapio; Pahikkala, Tapio

2017-10-01

We propose a cost-effective system for the determination of metal ion concentration in water, addressing a central issue in water resources management. The system combines novel luminometric label array technology with a machine learning algorithm that selects a minimal number of array reagents (modulators) and liquid sample dilutions, such that enable accurate quantification. The algorithm is able to identify the optimal modulators and sample dilutions leading to cost reductions since less manual labour and resources are needed. Inferring the ion detector involves a unique type of a structured feature selection problem, which we formalize in this paper. We propose a novel Cartesian greedy forward feature selection algorithm for solving the problem. The novel algorithm was evaluated in the concentration assessment of five metal ions and the performance was compared to two known feature selection approaches. The results demonstrate that the proposed system can assist in lowering the costs with minimal loss in accuracy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

No-anesthesia clear corneal phacoemulsification versus topical and topical plus intracameral anesthesia. Randomized clinical trial.

PubMed

Pandey, S K; Werner, L; Apple, D J; Agarwal, A; Agarwal, A; Agarwal, S

2001-10-01

To compare the intraoperative pain scores during clear corneal phacoemulsification under no anesthesia, topical anesthesia, and topical plus intracameral anesthesia. Dr. Agarwal's Eye Hospital and Eye Research Center, Chennai, India. Seventy-five patients were randomized to have phacoemulsification under no anesthesia, topical anesthesia, or topical plus intracameral anesthesia. Uncooperative or illiterate patients and those with hard cataract, a shallow anterior chamber, or small pupils were excluded. A protocol was established for supplemental anesthesia in case of breakthrough pain during the surgery. Each patient was asked to grade the overall severity of intraoperative pain immediately after surgery on a 10-point visual analog scale. Also evaluated were the general discomfort during surgery, discomfort from the microscope lights, surgeon stress during surgery, and total surgical time. Comparison among the 3 groups was performed using an analysis of variance. No supplemental anesthesia was required in any group. No significant difference was noted in the mean scores of the subjective sensation of pain with or without topical anesthesia (P =.610). The mean scores of patient discomfort from the microscope lights and surgical time were also statistically insignificant. Patient discomfort and surgeon stress during surgery were significantly greater in the no-anesthesia group than in the topical and topical plus intracameral groups (P =.0235 and P = 0.0206, respectively). No-anesthesia clear corneal phacoemulsification was performed by a highly experienced, skilled surgeon without causing an unacceptable level of pain. However, this technique is not suitable for every cataract surgeon or patient.

Problematic topic transitions in dysarthric conversation.

PubMed

Bloch, Steven; Saldert, Charlotta; Ferm, Ulrika

2015-01-01

This study examined the nature of topic transition problems associated with acquired progressive dysarthric speech in the everyday conversation of people with motor neurone disease. Using conversation analytic methods, a video collection of five naturally occurring problematic topic transitions was identified, transcribed and analysed. These were extracted from a main collection of over 200 other-initiated repair sequences and a sub-set of 15 problematic topic transition sequences. The sequences were analysed with reference to how the participants both identified and resolved the problems. Analysis revealed that topic transition by people with dysarthria can prove problematic. Conversation partners may find transitions problematic not only because of speech intelligibility but also because of a sequential disjuncture between the dysarthric speech turn and whatever topic has come prior. In addition the treatment of problematic topic transition as a complaint reveals the potential vulnerability of people with dysarthria to judgements of competence. These findings have implications for how dysarthria is conceptualized and how specific actions in conversation, such as topic transition, might be suitable targets for clinical intervention.

How selection structures species abundance distributions

PubMed Central

Magurran, Anne E.; Henderson, Peter A.

2012-01-01

How do species divide resources to produce the characteristic species abundance distributions seen in nature? One way to resolve this problem is to examine how the biomass (or capacity) of the spatial guilds that combine to produce an abundance distribution is allocated among species. Here we argue that selection on body size varies across guilds occupying spatially distinct habitats. Using an exceptionally well-characterized estuarine fish community, we show that biomass is concentrated in large bodied species in guilds where habitat structure provides protection from predators, but not in those guilds associated with open habitats and where safety in numbers is a mechanism for reducing predation risk. We further demonstrate that while there is temporal turnover in the abundances and identities of species that comprise these guilds, guild rank order is conserved across our 30-year time series. These results demonstrate that ecological communities are not randomly assembled but can be decomposed into guilds where capacity is predictably allocated among species. PMID:22787020

Chemoprevention of Oral Cancer by Topical Application of Black Raspberries on High At-Risk Mucosa

PubMed Central

Warner, Blake M.; Casto, Bruce C.; Knobloch, Thomas J.; Accurso, Brent T.; Weghorst, Christopher M.

2014-01-01

Objective To evaluate the preclinical efficacy of topical administration of freeze-dried black raspberries (BRBs) to inhibit the progression of premalignant oral lesions and modulate biomarkers of cancer development in high at-risk mucosa (HARM). Study Design Hamster cheek pouches (HCPs) were treated with carcinogen for six weeks to initiate a HARM microenvironment. Subsequently, right HCPs were topically administered a BRB suspension in short-term or long-term studies. After 12 weeks, SCC multiplicity, SCC incidence, and cell proliferation rates were evaluated. mRNA expression was measured in short-term treated pouches for selected oral cancer biomarkers. Results SCC multiplicity (−41.3%), tumor incidence (−37.1%), and proliferation rate (−6.9%) were reduced in HCPs receiving BRBs. Topical BRBs correlated with an increase in Rb1 expression in developing oral lesions. Conclusion Topical BRBs inhibit SCC development when targeted to HARM tissues. These results support the translational role of BRBs to prevent oral cancer development in humans. PMID:25457886

Ensuring relevance for Cochrane reviews: evaluating processes and methods for prioritizing topics for Cochrane reviews.

PubMed

Nasser, Mona; Welch, Vivian; Tugwell, Peter; Ueffing, Erin; Doyle, Jodie; Waters, Elizabeth

2013-05-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the presence and effectiveness of existing systems of prioritization for Cochrane review topics and to explore methods of improving those systems. We surveyed groups of Cochrane review authors and recorded any evidence of their use of priority-setting processes or policies. To evaluate the effectiveness of the policies we encountered, we assessed them using two frameworks from the literature: "Accountability for Reasonableness" (1) and Sibbald's 2009 framework (2) for successful priority setting. We then held two workshops with the subject groups to discuss our findings and their implications. Of the 66 groups surveyed, 29 had a system in place to inform the selection or prioritization of topics for Cochrane reviews. Fifteen groups used a more comprehensive structured approach that eventually resulted in a list of ranked priority titles for authoring, updating, or disseminating Cochrane reviews. Most groups involved researchers, practitioners, and patients in their prioritization processes. Groups within The Cochrane Collaboration currently use a range of different priority-setting systems, some of which are more detailed than others. These differences often reflect the nature of The Cochrane Collaboration itself: given the topic breadth, history, and variety of international contexts present in the organization, a single unified system would not always be appropriate. All Cochrane entities, however, should have or develop strategic plans to improve the inclusiveness and transparency of their own prioritization processes, increase the number of finished prioritized reviews, and make more effective use of feedback from end users to increase the likelihood of producing reviews that have positive effects on health outcomes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Current Topics in Epilepsy Surgery.

PubMed

Usui, Naotaka

2016-05-15

This article reviews the current topics in the field of epilepsy surgery. Each type of epilepsy is associated with a different set of questions and goals. In mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) with hippocampal sclerosis (HS), postoperative seizure outcome is satisfactory. A recent meta-analysis revealed superior seizure outcome after anterior temporal lobectomy compared with selective amygdalohippocampectomy; in terms of cognitive outcome; however, amygdalohippocampectomy may be beneficial. In temporal lobe epilepsy with normal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), postoperative seizure outcome is not as favorable as it is in MTLE with HS; further improvement of seizure outcome in these cases is necessary. Focal cortical dysplasia is the most common substrate in intractable neocortical epilepsy, especially in children, as well as in MRI-invisible neocortical epilepsy. Postoperative seizure-free outcome is approximately 60-70%; further diagnostic and therapeutic improvement is required. Regarding diagnostic methodology, an important topic currently under discussion is wideband electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis. Although high-frequency oscillations and ictal direct current shifts are considered important markers of epileptogenic zones, the clinical significance of these findings should be clarified further. Regarding alternatives to surgery, neuromodulation therapy can be an option for patients who are not amenable to resective surgery. In addition to vagus nerve stimulation, intracranial stimulation such as responsive neurostimulation or anterior thalamic stimulation is reported to have a modest seizure suppression effect. Postoperative management such as rehabilitation and antiepileptic drug (AED) management is important. It has been reported that postoperative rehabilitation improves postoperative employment status. Pre- and post-operative comprehensive care is mandatory for postoperative improvement of quality of life.

Structured Post-IQ Domain Governs Selectivity of Myosin X for Fascin-Actin Bundles*

PubMed Central

Nagy, Stanislav; Rock, Ronald S.

2010-01-01

Without guidance cues, cytoskeletal motors would traffic components to the wrong destination with disastrous consequences for the cell. Recently, we identified a motor protein, myosin X, that identifies bundled actin filaments for transport. These bundles direct myosin X to a unique destination, the tips of cellular filopodia. Because the structural and kinetic features that drive bundle selection are unknown, we employed a domain-swapping approach with the nonselective myosin V to identify the selectivity module of myosin X. We found a surprising role of the myosin X tail region (post-IQ) in supporting long runs on bundles. Moreover, the myosin X head is adapted for initiating processive runs on bundles. We found that the tail is structured and biases the orientation of the two myosin X heads because a targeted insertion that introduces flexibility in the tail abolishes selectivity. Together, these results suggest how myosin motors may manage to read cellular addresses. PMID:20538587

IVIG Versus PLEX in the Treatment of Worsening Myasthenia Gravis: What is the Evidence?: A Critically Appraised Topic.

PubMed

Dhawan, Priya S; Goodman, Brent P; Harper, Charles M; Bosch, Peter E; Hoffman-Snyder, Charlene R; Wellik, Kay E; Wingerchuk, Dean M; Demaerschalk, Bart M

2015-05-01

Immune therapies such as intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and plasma exchange (PLEX) are first line in the treatment of worsening myasthenia gravis. Although PLEX is favored in myasthenic crisis, IVIG is increasingly used in exacerbations due to cost and ease of administration. To review and critically assess current evidence on the effects of IVIG and PLEX on functional outcomes in patients with worsening myasthenia gravis. A structured critical appraisal was conducted on the objective topic. This included a creation of a structured question based on a clinical scenario, comprehensive literature search, selection of evidence for review, and critical appraisal of selected evidence. Evidence was summarized and commentary provided. Participants included consultant and resident neurologists, a medical librarian, clinical epidemiologists, and content experts in the field of neuromuscular neurology. A single-blinded, randomized-controlled trial that compared IVIG and PLEX in 84 patients with worsening myasthenia gravis was selected for review. Primary outcome measure was functional status at 14 days after treatment, as assessed by the Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis Score. Change in Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis Score at day 14 for all subjects was 4.0, without statistically significant differences between IVIG and PLEX groups. IVIG and PLEX are equally effective in worsening myasthenia gravis. Treatment decisions may depend on several variables, including presence of respiratory distress, medical comorbidities, access to medication, and cost. PLEX will likely remain the treatment of choice in true myasthenic crisis.

Structural inheritance and selective reactivation in the central Andes: Cenozoic deformation guided by pre-Andean structures in southern Peru

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez, Nicholas D.; Horton, Brian K.; Carlotto, Victor

2016-03-01

Structural, stratigraphic, and geochronologic constraints from the Eastern Cordillera in the central Andean plateau of southern Peru (14-15°S) demonstrate the existence and position of major pre-Andean structures that controlled the accumulation of Triassic synrift fill and guided subsequent Cenozoic deformation. The timing of initial clastic deposition of the Triassic Mitu Group is here constrained to ~ 242-233 Ma on the basis of detrital and volcanic zircon U-Pb geochronology. Regionally distinct provenance variations, as provided by U-Pb age populations from localized synrift accumulations, demonstrate Triassic erosion of multiple diagnostic sources from diverse rift-flank uplifts. Stratigraphic correlations suggest synchronous initiation of extensional basins containing the Mitu Group, in contrast with previous interpretations of southward rift propagation. Triassic motion along the NE-dipping San Anton normal fault accommodated up to 7 km of throw and hanging-wall deposition of a synrift Mitu succession > 2.5 km thick. The contrasting orientation of a non-reactivated Triassic normal fault suggests selective inversion of individual structures in the Eastern Cordillera was dependent on fault dip and strike. Selective preservation of a ~ 4 km thick succession of Carboniferous-Permian strata in the down-dropped San Anton hanging wall, beneath the synrift Mitu Group, suggests large-scale erosional removal in the uplifted footwall. Field and map observations identify additional pre-Andean thrust faults and folds attributed to poorly understood Paleozoic orogenic events preserved in the San Anton hanging wall. Selective thrust reactivation of normal and reverse faults during later compression largely guided Cenozoic deformation in the Eastern Cordillera. The resulting structural compartmentalization and across-strike variations in kinematics and deformation style highlight the influence of inherited Paleozoic structures and Triassic normal faults on the long

Intelligent topical sentiment analysis for the classification of e-learners and their topics of interest.

PubMed

Ravichandran, M; Kulanthaivel, G; Chellatamilan, T

2015-01-01

Every day, huge numbers of instant tweets (messages) are published on Twitter as it is one of the massive social media for e-learners interactions. The options regarding various interesting topics to be studied are discussed among the learners and teachers through the capture of ideal sources in Twitter. The common sentiment behavior towards these topics is received through the massive number of instant messages about them. In this paper, rather than using the opinion polarity of each message relevant to the topic, authors focus on sentence level opinion classification upon using the unsupervised algorithm named bigram item response theory (BIRT). It differs from the traditional classification and document level classification algorithm. The investigation illustrated in this paper is of threefold which are listed as follows: (1) lexicon based sentiment polarity of tweet messages; (2) the bigram cooccurrence relationship using naïve Bayesian; (3) the bigram item response theory (BIRT) on various topics. It has been proposed that a model using item response theory is constructed for topical classification inference. The performance has been improved remarkably using this bigram item response theory when compared with other supervised algorithms. The experiment has been conducted on a real life dataset containing different set of tweets and topics.

Adherence to oral and topical medication in 445 patients with tinea pedis as assessed by the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8.

PubMed

Tsunemi, Yuichiro; Abe, Shinya; Kobayashi, Miwa; Kitami, Yuki; Onozuka, Daisuke; Hagihara, Akihito; Takeuchi, Satoshi; Murota, Hiroyuki; Sugaya, Makoto; Masuda, Koji; Hiragun, Takaaki; Kaneko, Sakae; Saeki, Hidehisa; Shintani, Yoichi; Tanioka, Miki; Imafuku, Shinichi; Abe, Masatoshi; Inomata, Naoko; Morisky, Donald E; Furue, Masutaka; Katoh, Norito

2015-01-01

Adherence is defined as the extent to which a person's behavior corresponds with recommendations from health care providers. Adherence to treatment is an important factor for a good therapeutic outcome. This study aimed to examine the adherence of patients with tinea pedis and to clarify the factors related to it. We assessed medication adherence for oral and topical drugs using a translated version of the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 (MMAS-8) together with other background factors in 445 Japanese patients with tinea pedis, using a questionnaire in a web-based monitoring system. Overall, high, medium and low adherence rates as assessed by MMAS-8 were 8.7%, 31.7% and 59.6% for oral medication, and 8.6%, 17.4% and 74.0% for topical medication, respectively. The adherence level was significantly higher for oral medication than for topical medication. Subgroup analyses showed that the adherence level for topical medication was significantly higher when topical and oral medications were used in combination than when topical medication was used alone. A low adherence level was shown in employed patients, those for whom their oral medication had not been effective and those with topical medication who had visited their hospital less often than once every six months. Patient adherence to therapy can be effectively improved by selecting highly effective medication while considering the prescription of topical and oral antifungal medications concomitantly, by carefully selecting a therapy plan for employed patients and by encouraging patients to visit their doctor regularly.

Strategic Selection of Children's and Young Adult Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jiménez, Laura M.; McIlhagga, Kristen K. A.

2013-01-01

The authors discuss strategic selection of literature for children and young adults based on the characteristics of written text and images as teachers and parents choose books for classroom and home settings. The topic is approached from two stances/lenses: (1) the cognitive processes used while reading and the ways different genres, topics, and…

Novel microemulsion-based gels for topical delivery of indomethacin: Formulation, physicochemical properties and in vitro drug release studies.

PubMed

Froelich, Anna; Osmałek, Tomasz; Snela, Agnieszka; Kunstman, Paweł; Jadach, Barbara; Olejniczak, Marta; Roszak, Grzegorz; Białas, Wojciech

2017-12-01

Microemulsion-based semisolid systems may be considered as an interesting alternative to the traditional dosage forms applied in topical drug delivery. Mechanical properties of topical products are important both in terms of application and dosage form effectiveness. In this study we designed and evaluated novel microemulsion-based gels with indomethacin and analyzed the factors affecting their mechanical characteristics and drug release. The impact of the microemulsion composition on the extent of isotropic region was investigated with the use of pseudoternary phase diagrams. Selected microemulsions were analyzed in terms of electrical conductivity and surface tension in order to determine the microemulsion type. Microemulsions were transformed into polymer-based gels and subjected to rheological and textural studies. Finally, the indomethacin release from the analyzed gels was studied and compared to commercially available product. The extent of isotropic domain in pseudoternary phase diagrams seems to be dependent on the polarity of the oil phase. The surface tension and conductivity monitored as a function of water content in microemulsion systems revealed possible structural transformations from w/o through bicontinuous systems into o/w. The mechanical properties of semisolid microemulsion-based systems depended on the composition of surface active agents and the drug presence. The drug release profiles observed in the case of the investigated gels differed from those recorded for the commercially available product which was most probably caused by the different structure of both systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Knowledge, Attitude and Advice-Giving Behaviour of Community Pharmacists Regarding Topical Corticosteroids

PubMed Central

Lau, Wing Man

2017-01-01

This study examines the relationship between community pharmacists’ knowledge, attitudes to information provision and self-reported counselling behaviours in relation to topical corticosteroids and adjunct therapy in atopic eczema. A mixed-methods approach was used whereby data from interviews with community pharmacists were used to design a structured questionnaire that a larger sample of community pharmacists completed anonymously. The questionnaire was completed and returned by 105 pharmacists (36% response rate). Pharmacists showed gaps in their knowledge on the use of topical corticosteroids in atopic eczema but had good understanding on the use of emollients. There was a significant correlation between pharmacists’ attitudes to information provision and their self-reported counselling behaviour for most themes except in relation to corticosteroid safety where less advice was given. Improving attitudes to information provision should correlate with increased counselling behaviour. However, for the theme of corticosteroid safety, further studies are needed to examine why in practice pharmacists are not providing patient counselling on this topic even though most agreed this is a topic patients should know about. PMID:28970453

Knowledge, Attitude and Advice-Giving Behaviour of Community Pharmacists Regarding Topical Corticosteroids.

PubMed

Lau, Wing Man; Donyai, Parastou

2017-07-25

This study examines the relationship between community pharmacists' knowledge, attitudes to information provision and self-reported counselling behaviours in relation to topical corticosteroids and adjunct therapy in atopic eczema. A mixed-methods approach was used whereby data from interviews with community pharmacists were used to design a structured questionnaire that a larger sample of community pharmacists completed anonymously. The questionnaire was completed and returned by 105 pharmacists (36% response rate). Pharmacists showed gaps in their knowledge on the use of topical corticosteroids in atopic eczema but had good understanding on the use of emollients. There was a significant correlation between pharmacists' attitudes to information provision and their self-reported counselling behaviour for most themes except in relation to corticosteroid safety where less advice was given. Improving attitudes to information provision should correlate with increased counselling behaviour. However, for the theme of corticosteroid safety, further studies are needed to examine why in practice pharmacists are not providing patient counselling on this topic even though most agreed this is a topic patients should know about.

The Evolution of Genome Structure by Natural and Sexual Selection.

PubMed

Kirkpatrick, Mark

2017-01-01

Progress on understanding how genome structure evolves is accelerating with the arrival of new genomic, comparative, and theoretical approaches. This article reviews progress in understanding how chromosome inversions and sex chromosomes evolve, and how their evolution affects species' ecology. Analyses of clines in inversion frequencies in flies and mosquitoes imply strong local adaptation, and roles for both over- and under dominant selection. Those results are consistent with the hypothesis that inversions become established when they capture locally adapted alleles. Inversions can carry alleles that are beneficial to closely related species, causing them to introgress following hybridization. Models show that this "adaptive cassette" scenario can trigger large range expansions, as recently happened in malaria mosquitoes. Sex chromosomes are the most rapidly evolving genome regions of some taxa. Sexually antagonistic selection may be the key force driving transitions of sex determination between different pairs of chromosomes and between XY and ZW systems. Fusions between sex-chromosomes and autosomes most often involve the Y chromosome, a pattern that can be explained if fusions are mildly deleterious and fix by drift. Sexually antagonistic selection is one of several hypotheses to explain the recent discovery that the sex determination system has strong effects on the adult sex ratios of tetrapods. The emerging view of how genome structure evolves invokes a much richer constellation of forces than was envisioned during the Golden Age of research on Drosophila karyotypes. © The American Genetic Association 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Ciclopirox Topical

MedlinePlus

... Use the applicator brush attached to the bottle cap to apply ciclopirox topical solution evenly to all ... can reach these areas. Wipe off the bottle cap and neck and replace the cap tightly on ...

Fluorouracil Topical

MedlinePlus

... caused by years of too much exposure to sunlight). Fluorouracil cream and topical solution are also used ... plan to avoid unnecessary or prolonged exposure to sunlight and UV light (such as tanning booths) and ...

Topic Congruence and Topic Interest: How Do They Affect Second Language Reading Comprehension?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Sang-Ki

2009-01-01

Because human memory is largely reconstructive, people tend to reorganize and reevaluate an event in a way that is coherent to the truth values held in their belief system. This study investigated the role of topic congruence (defined as whether the reading content corresponds with readers' prior beliefs towards a contentious topic) in second…

Topical medication instillation techniques for glaucoma

PubMed Central

Xu, Li; Wang, Xuemei; Wu, Meijing

2017-01-01

Background Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide and the second most common cause of blindness after cataracts. The primary treatment for glaucoma aims to lower intraocular pressure (IOP) with the use of topical medicines. Topical medication instillation techniques, such as eyelid closure and nasolacrimal occlusion when instilling drops, have been proposed as potential methods to increase ocular absorption and decrease systemic absorption of the drops. Objectives To investigate the effectiveness of topical medication instillation techniques compared with usual care or another method of instillation of topical medication in the management of glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Search methods We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Trials Register) (2016, Issue 12), MEDLINE Ovid (1946 to 8 December 2016), Embase Ovid (1947 to 8 December 2016), PubMed (1948 to 8 December 2016), LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature Database) (1982 to 8 December 2016), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts Database (1970 to 8 December 2016), the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT) (www.controlled-trials.com) (last searched 13 May 2013), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) (searched 8 December 2016) and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/ictrp/search/en) (searched 8 December 2016). We did not use any date or language restrictions in the electronic searches for trials. Selection criteria We included randomized controlled trials which had compared any topical medication instillation technique with usual care or a different method of instillation of topical medication. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently screened records from the searches for eligibility, assessed the risk of bias, and extracted data. We followed methods recommended by Cochrane. Main results We identified two trials

A novel lidocaine hydrochloride ophthalmic gel for topical ocular anesthesia

PubMed Central

Shah, HR; Reichel, E; Busbee, BG

2010-01-01

Topical anesthetics play an important role in the practice of ophthalmology, both for procedures in the office and in the operating room. The need for safe, long-acting topical ocular anesthetic agents is ongoing, and has been highlighted by the increase of intravitreal administration of pharmacologic agents. Current practices for ocular anesthesia include subconjunctival injection of 2% aqueous lidocaine, topical 2% lidocaine drops and topical 0.5% tetracaine. Tetracaine is not yet FDA approved, and is associated with corneal epithelial toxicity and delayed epithelial healing after multiple administrations. Lidocaine jelly (2%) preparations have been reported to be beneficial in several systemic procedures, including those of the upper airway, dental, urogenital, and gastrointestinal. It has been theorized, and recent studies support the idea, that gel formulations of lidocaine may enhance anesthetic effect, and therefore be superior to anesthetic solutions for topical cataract surgery. The viscous nature of gel formulations is thought to lengthen contact time, resulting in better anesthesia at lower drug concentrations. Furthermore, several studies suggest that lidocaine is bactericidal and bacteriostatic, and may have a supplementary role in preventing and treating surgical site infections. Akten™, lidocaine 3.5% gel (Akorn, Buffalo Grove, IIlinois) was FDA approved for all ophthalmic procedures in October 2008. This gel is a preservative-free, lidocaine-based anesthetic gel consisting of 35 mg/mL of lidocaine hydrochloride. We describe the properties, including chemical structure, indications, evidence of support, use, adverse effects, and precautions, which we believe enable Akten to provide superior anesthesia, while minimizing side effects. PMID:22915870

Host population structure and treatment frequency maintain balancing selection on drug resistance

PubMed Central

Baskerville, Edward B.; Colijn, Caroline; Hanage, William; Fraser, Christophe; Lipsitch, Marc

2017-01-01

It is a truism that antimicrobial drugs select for resistance, but explaining pathogen- and population-specific variation in patterns of resistance remains an open problem. Like other common commensals, Streptococcus pneumoniae has demonstrated persistent coexistence of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant strains. Theoretically, this outcome is unlikely. We modelled the dynamics of competing strains of S. pneumoniae to investigate the impact of transmission dynamics and treatment-induced selective pressures on the probability of stable coexistence. We find that the outcome of competition is extremely sensitive to structure in the host population, although coexistence can arise from age-assortative transmission models with age-varying rates of antibiotic use. Moreover, we find that the selective pressure from antibiotics arises not so much from the rate of antibiotic use per se but from the frequency of treatment: frequent antibiotic therapy disproportionately impacts the fitness of sensitive strains. This same phenomenon explains why serotypes with longer durations of carriage tend to be more resistant. These dynamics may apply to other potentially pathogenic, microbial commensals and highlight how population structure, which is often omitted from models, can have a large impact. PMID:28835542

Metastability of the atomic structures of size-selected gold nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wells, Dawn M.; Rossi, Giulia; Ferrando, Riccardo; Palmer, Richard E.

2015-04-01

All nanostructures are metastable - but some are more metastable than others. Here we employ aberration-corrected electron microscopy and atomistic computer simulations to demonstrate the hierarchy of metastability in deposited, size-selected gold nanoparticles (clusters), an archetypal class of nanomaterials well known for the catalytic activity which only appears on the nanometer-scale. We show that the atomic structures presented by ``magic number'' Au561, Au742 and Au923 clusters are ``locked''. They are in fact determined by the solidification which occurs from the liquid state early in their growth (by assembly from atoms in the gas phase) followed by template growth. It is quite likely that transitions from a locked, metastable configuration to a more stable (but still metastable) structure, as observed here under the electron beam, will occur during catalytic reactions, for example.All nanostructures are metastable - but some are more metastable than others. Here we employ aberration-corrected electron microscopy and atomistic computer simulations to demonstrate the hierarchy of metastability in deposited, size-selected gold nanoparticles (clusters), an archetypal class of nanomaterials well known for the catalytic activity which only appears on the nanometer-scale. We show that the atomic structures presented by ``magic number'' Au561, Au742 and Au923 clusters are ``locked''. They are in fact determined by the solidification which occurs from the liquid state early in their growth (by assembly from atoms in the gas phase) followed by template growth. It is quite likely that transitions from a locked, metastable configuration to a more stable (but still metastable) structure, as observed here under the electron beam, will occur during catalytic reactions, for example. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4nr05811a

High-Reproducibility and High-Accuracy Method for Automated Topic Classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lancichinetti, Andrea; Sirer, M. Irmak; Wang, Jane X.; Acuna, Daniel; Körding, Konrad; Amaral, Luís A. Nunes

2015-01-01

Much of human knowledge sits in large databases of unstructured text. Leveraging this knowledge requires algorithms that extract and record metadata on unstructured text documents. Assigning topics to documents will enable intelligent searching, statistical characterization, and meaningful classification. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) is the state of the art in topic modeling. Here, we perform a systematic theoretical and numerical analysis that demonstrates that current optimization techniques for LDA often yield results that are not accurate in inferring the most suitable model parameters. Adapting approaches from community detection in networks, we propose a new algorithm that displays high reproducibility and high accuracy and also has high computational efficiency. We apply it to a large set of documents in the English Wikipedia and reveal its hierarchical structure.

Children's colour choices for completing drawings of affectively characterised topics.

PubMed

Burkitt, Esther; Barrett, Martyn; Davis, Alyson

2003-03-01

This study was designed to explore whether or not children systematically use particular colours when completing drawings of affectively characterised topics. Three hundred and thirty 4-11-year-old children were subdivided into three conditions, colouring in a drawing of a man, a dog, or a tree, respectively. The children completed two test sessions in counterbalanced order. In one session, children rated and ranked ten colours in order of preference. In the other session, children completed three colouring tasks in which they had to colour in three identical figures but which had been given different affective characterisations: a neutrally characterised figure, a figure characterised as nasty, and a figure characterised as nice. It was found that, in all age groups and for all topics, the children used their more preferred colours for the nice figures, their least preferred colours for the nasty figures, and colours rated intermediately for the neutral figures. It was also found that, in all age groups and for all topics, black tended to be the most frequently chosen colour for colouring in the drawings of the negatively characterised figures. By contrast, primary colours were predominantly selected for the neutral figure, while a wide range of mainly primary and secondary colours were chosen for colouring in the nice figure. These results suggest that children are able to alter systematically their use of colour during picture completion tasks in response to differential affective topic characterisations, and that even very young children are able to use colours symbolically.

The topical treatment of psoriasis.

PubMed

van de Kerkhof, P C M; Vissers, W H P M

2003-01-01

According to the patients, improvement of efficacy, long-term safety and improvement of compliance are needed. The topical treatment has been innovated during the last decade. Most important are the introduction of two new classes of treatments: topical vitamin D(3) analogues and the retinoid tazarotene. To what extent, however, have we achieved developments which are in line with the needs as expressed by the patients? Improved efficacy has been realized by successful combinations of topical treatments. In particular, the combinations of dithranol, vitamin D(3) and tazarotene with a topical corticosteroid proved to be very effective with a reduced profile of side-effects. The efficacy of vitamin D(3) analogues and tazarotene is such that the efficacy of a potent corticosteroid (betamethasone-17-valerate) is approached; calcipotriol even showed an efficacy which is at least as good as this corticosteroid. The long-term safety of new compounds has been evaluated for at least 12 months in large studies. Remarkably for corticosteroids such information is available for only 12 weeks. However, intermittent applications of a topical corticosteroid in combination with another topical treatment provide an effective and safe long-term control of psoriasis. Compliance is a conditio sine qua non for an effective topical treatment. Important progress has been made to increase compliance. Short-contact dithranol has been popularized as an ambulatory treatment which is a highly effective approach as a care instruction programme. Formulations which are better from a cosmetical point of view have been developed for various topical treatments. Reduction of the frequency of applications proved to be possible for most treatments. Once daily applications for corticosteroids, vitamin D(3) analogues and retinoids have been developed, and intermittent applications, a few times per week, are possible for corticosteroids, which proved to be very effective with a reduced profile of side

Alternative Framework in "Body Coordination" Topic: A Progress Report for Interior of Malaysia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seligin, Davy; Ishak, Mohd. Zaki; Goropos, Jominin

2015-01-01

This preliminary study was conducted in interior of Malaysia. The study employed the Body Coordination Two Tier Concept Test to assess students' understandings of body coordination topic. The test consisted of 14 questions as two tier question style. The students needed to select the answer and write down the justifications of each answer.…

Using Conversation Topics for Predicting Therapy Outcomes in Schizophrenia

PubMed Central

Howes, Christine; Purver, Matthew; McCabe, Rose

2013-01-01

Previous research shows that aspects of doctor-patient communication in therapy can predict patient symptoms, satisfaction and future adherence to treatment (a significant problem with conditions such as schizophrenia). However, automatic prediction has so far shown success only when based on low-level lexical features, and it is unclear how well these can generalize to new data, or whether their effectiveness is due to their capturing aspects of style, structure or content. Here, we examine the use of topic as a higher-level measure of content, more likely to generalize and to have more explanatory power. Investigations show that while topics predict some important factors such as patient satisfaction and ratings of therapy quality, they lack the full predictive power of lower-level features. For some factors, unsupervised methods produce models comparable to manual annotation. PMID:23943658

Quantitative structure-activity relationships of selective antagonists of glucagon receptor using QuaSAR descriptors.

PubMed

Manoj Kumar, Palanivelu; Karthikeyan, Chandrabose; Hari Narayana Moorthy, Narayana Subbiah; Trivedi, Piyush

2006-11-01

In the present paper, quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) approach was applied to understand the affinity and selectivity of a novel series of triaryl imidazole derivatives towards glucagon receptor. Statistically significant and highly predictive QSARs were derived for glucagon receptor inhibition by triaryl imidazoles using QuaSAR descriptors of molecular operating environment (MOE) employing computer-assisted multiple regression procedure. The generated QSAR models revealed that factors related to hydrophobicity, molecular shape and geometry predominantly influences glucagon receptor binding affinity of the triaryl imidazoles indicating the relevance of shape specific steric interactions between the molecule and the receptor. Further, QSAR models formulated for selective inhibition of glucagon receptor over p38 mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinase of the compounds in the series highlights that the same structural features, which influence the glucagon receptor affinity, also contribute to their selective inhibition.

Exploring representations of protein structure for automated remote homology detection and mapping of protein structure space

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Due to rapid sequencing of genomes, there are now millions of deposited protein sequences with no known function. Fast sequence-based comparisons allow detecting close homologs for a protein of interest to transfer functional information from the homologs to the given protein. Sequence-based comparison cannot detect remote homologs, in which evolution has adjusted the sequence while largely preserving structure. Structure-based comparisons can detect remote homologs but most methods for doing so are too expensive to apply at a large scale over structural databases of proteins. Recently, fragment-based structural representations have been proposed that allow fast detection of remote homologs with reasonable accuracy. These representations have also been used to obtain linearly-reducible maps of protein structure space. It has been shown, as additionally supported from analysis in this paper that such maps preserve functional co-localization of the protein structure space. Methods Inspired by a recent application of the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model for conducting structural comparisons of proteins, we propose higher-order LDA-obtained topic-based representations of protein structures to provide an alternative route for remote homology detection and organization of the protein structure space in few dimensions. Various techniques based on natural language processing are proposed and employed to aid the analysis of topics in the protein structure domain. Results We show that a topic-based representation is just as effective as a fragment-based one at automated detection of remote homologs and organization of protein structure space. We conduct a detailed analysis of the information content in the topic-based representation, showing that topics have semantic meaning. The fragment-based and topic-based representations are also shown to allow prediction of superfamily membership. Conclusions This work opens exciting venues in designing novel

Topics in electronic structure and spectroscopy of cuprates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Hsin

I have applied first-principles calculations to investigate several interrelated problems concerned with the electronic structure and spectroscopy of cuprates. The specific topics addressed in this thesis are as follows. 1. By properly including doping effects beyond rigid band filling, a longstanding problem of the missing Bi-O pocket in the electronic structure of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (Bi2212) is solved. The doping effect is explained in terms of Coulombic effect between layers and is a generic property of all cuprates. 2. A systematic study for Pb/O and rare-earth doping in Bi2212 is carried out to explain the experimental phase diagrams, and a possible new electron doped Bi2212 is predicted. 3. To investigate how the Mott insulators evolve into superconductors with the addition of holes, an analysis of angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) data of La2-xSr xCuO4 is carried out over a wide doping range of x = 0.03 - 0.30. The spectrum displays the presence of the van Hove singularity (VHS) whose location in energy and three-dimensionality are in accord with the band theory predictions. A nascent metallic state is found in the lightly doped Mott insulator and develops spectral weight as doping increases. This metallic spectrum is 'universal' in the sense that its dispersion depends weakly on doping, in sharp contrast to the common expectation that dispersion is renormalized to zero at half-filling. This finding challenges existing theoretical scenarios for cuprates. 4. Self-consistent mean-field three- and four-band Hubbard models are used to study the Mott gap in electron-doped cuprates. The Hubbard terms are decomposed into a Mott-like term which describes the lifting of Cu bands due to energy cost U and a Slater-like term which describes an additional splitting of Cu bands due to antiferromagnetic (AFM) order. While no set of doping-independent parameters can explain the observed gaps for the entire doping range, the experimental results are consistent with a weakly

A comparison of stand structure and composition following selective-harvest at Byrne-Milliron Forest

Treesearch

Amy K. Petersen; Will Russell

2017-01-01

The effects of selective-harvest on forest composition and structure in the southern range of the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) forest have not been well documented. This case study focused on the Byrne-Milliron Forest in Santa Cruz County, California where selective-harvest is currently the primary method of timber extraction...

Topical Acne Treatments and Pregnancy

MedlinePlus

... are benzoyl peroxide, azelaic acid, glycolic acid, and salicylic acid. Prescription acne medications include tretinoin, adapalene, dapsone, and ... ACOG) recommends topical benzoyl peroxide, azelaic acid, topical salicylic acid and glycolic acid for treatment of acne in ...

Symbiosis: Rich, Exciting, Neglected Topic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowland, Jane Thomas

1974-01-01

Argues that the topic of symbiosis has been greatly neglected and underemphasized in general-biology textbooks. Discusses many types and examples of symbiosis, and provides an extensive bibliography of the literature related to this topic. (JR)

The Interplay between Topic Shift and Focus in the Dynamic Construction of Discourse Representations.

PubMed

Yang, Xiaohong; Zhang, Xiuping; Wang, Cheng; Chang, Ruohan; Li, Weijun

2017-01-01

Previous studies have suggested that focusing an element can enhance the activation of the focused element and bring about a number of processing benefits. However, whether and how this local prominence of information interacts with global discourse organization remains unclear. In the present study, we addressed this issue in two experiments. Readers were presented with four-sentence discourses. The first sentence of each discourse contained a critical word that was either focused or unfocused in relation to a wh-question preceding the discourse. The second sentence either maintained or shifted the topic of the first sentence. Participants were told to read for comprehension and for a probe recognition task in which the memory of the critical words was tested. In Experiment 1, when the probe words were tested immediately after the point of topic shift, we found shorter response times for the focused critical words than the unfocused ones regardless of topic manipulation. However, in Experiment 2, when the probe words were tested two sentences away from the point of topic shift, we found the facilitation effect of focus only in the topic-maintained discourses, but not in the topic-shifted discourses. This suggests that the facilitation effect of focus was not immediately suppressed at the point of topic shifting, but when additional information was added to the new topic. Our findings provide evidence for the dynamic interplay between global topic structure and local salience of information and have important implications on how activation of information fluctuates in mental representation.

The Interplay between Topic Shift and Focus in the Dynamic Construction of Discourse Representations

PubMed Central

Yang, Xiaohong; Zhang, Xiuping; Wang, Cheng; Chang, Ruohan; Li, Weijun

2017-01-01

Previous studies have suggested that focusing an element can enhance the activation of the focused element and bring about a number of processing benefits. However, whether and how this local prominence of information interacts with global discourse organization remains unclear. In the present study, we addressed this issue in two experiments. Readers were presented with four-sentence discourses. The first sentence of each discourse contained a critical word that was either focused or unfocused in relation to a wh-question preceding the discourse. The second sentence either maintained or shifted the topic of the first sentence. Participants were told to read for comprehension and for a probe recognition task in which the memory of the critical words was tested. In Experiment 1, when the probe words were tested immediately after the point of topic shift, we found shorter response times for the focused critical words than the unfocused ones regardless of topic manipulation. However, in Experiment 2, when the probe words were tested two sentences away from the point of topic shift, we found the facilitation effect of focus only in the topic-maintained discourses, but not in the topic-shifted discourses. This suggests that the facilitation effect of focus was not immediately suppressed at the point of topic shifting, but when additional information was added to the new topic. Our findings provide evidence for the dynamic interplay between global topic structure and local salience of information and have important implications on how activation of information fluctuates in mental representation. PMID:29276496

Structural Deterministic Safety Factors Selection Criteria and Verification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Verderaime, V.

1992-01-01

Though current deterministic safety factors are arbitrarily and unaccountably specified, its ratio is rooted in resistive and applied stress probability distributions. This study approached the deterministic method from a probabilistic concept leading to a more systematic and coherent philosophy and criterion for designing more uniform and reliable high-performance structures. The deterministic method was noted to consist of three safety factors: a standard deviation multiplier of the applied stress distribution; a K-factor for the A- or B-basis material ultimate stress; and the conventional safety factor to ensure that the applied stress does not operate in the inelastic zone of metallic materials. The conventional safety factor is specifically defined as the ratio of ultimate-to-yield stresses. A deterministic safety index of the combined safety factors was derived from which the corresponding reliability proved the deterministic method is not reliability sensitive. The bases for selecting safety factors are presented and verification requirements are discussed. The suggested deterministic approach is applicable to all NASA, DOD, and commercial high-performance structures under static stresses.

Research on Estrogen and Behavior Is a "Hot Topic" at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience Meeting

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

Biegon, Anat

The Society for Neuroscience has selected recent research on estrogen and its effect on behavior conducted at BNL for its "hot topics" book distributed to reporters attending the society's 2011 meeting in Washington, D.C., November 12-16.

Research on Estrogen and Behavior Is a "Hot Topic" at the 2011 Society for Neuroscience Meeting

ScienceCinema

Biegon, Anat

2018-05-30

The Society for Neuroscience has selected recent research on estrogen and its effect on behavior conducted at BNL for its "hot topics" book distributed to reporters attending the society's 2011 meeting in Washington, D.C., November 12-16.

Effects of Sample Selection Bias on the Accuracy of Population Structure and Ancestry Inference

PubMed Central

Shringarpure, Suyash; Xing, Eric P.

2014-01-01

Population stratification is an important task in genetic analyses. It provides information about the ancestry of individuals and can be an important confounder in genome-wide association studies. Public genotyping projects have made a large number of datasets available for study. However, practical constraints dictate that of a geographical/ethnic population, only a small number of individuals are genotyped. The resulting data are a sample from the entire population. If the distribution of sample sizes is not representative of the populations being sampled, the accuracy of population stratification analyses of the data could be affected. We attempt to understand the effect of biased sampling on the accuracy of population structure analysis and individual ancestry recovery. We examined two commonly used methods for analyses of such datasets, ADMIXTURE and EIGENSOFT, and found that the accuracy of recovery of population structure is affected to a large extent by the sample used for analysis and how representative it is of the underlying populations. Using simulated data and real genotype data from cattle, we show that sample selection bias can affect the results of population structure analyses. We develop a mathematical framework for sample selection bias in models for population structure and also proposed a correction for sample selection bias using auxiliary information about the sample. We demonstrate that such a correction is effective in practice using simulated and real data. PMID:24637351

Topical therapy for psoriasis: a promising future. Focus on JAK and phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors.

PubMed

Rafael, Adilia; Torres, Tiago

2016-01-01

Psoriasis is a common, chronic and disabling skin disorder affecting approximately 2% of the population, associated with significant negative impact on the patient's quality of life. Approximately 80% of those affected with psoriasis have mild-to-moderate forms and are usually treated with topical therapy, whereas phototherapy and systemic therapies are used for those with severe disease. In the past three decades, the major advances in psoriasis therapy have been in systemic agents for the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis, particularly new immunomodulatory and biological molecules, while topical therapies have remained relatively unchanged over the past decades. Indeed, topical corticosteroids and vitamin D3 analogs are still the gold standard of therapy for mild-to-moderate psoriasis. Thus, there is a need to develop new and more effective topical agents in the short and long term, with a better efficacy and safety profile than corticosteroids and vitamin D3 analogs. Over the past five years, investigation into topical therapy has expanded, with exciting new drugs being developed. Preliminary results of these emerging agents that selectively target disease-defining pathogenic pathways seem to be promising, although long-term and large-scale studies assessing safety and efficacy are still lacking. The aim of this article was to review the clinical and research data of some emerging topical agents, focusing on Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription and phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitors, which are currently being investigated.

Model selection and parameter estimation in structural dynamics using approximate Bayesian computation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ben Abdessalem, Anis; Dervilis, Nikolaos; Wagg, David; Worden, Keith

2018-01-01

This paper will introduce the use of the approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) algorithm for model selection and parameter estimation in structural dynamics. ABC is a likelihood-free method typically used when the likelihood function is either intractable or cannot be approached in a closed form. To circumvent the evaluation of the likelihood function, simulation from a forward model is at the core of the ABC algorithm. The algorithm offers the possibility to use different metrics and summary statistics representative of the data to carry out Bayesian inference. The efficacy of the algorithm in structural dynamics is demonstrated through three different illustrative examples of nonlinear system identification: cubic and cubic-quintic models, the Bouc-Wen model and the Duffing oscillator. The obtained results suggest that ABC is a promising alternative to deal with model selection and parameter estimation issues, specifically for systems with complex behaviours.

Chitosan microparticles for sustaining the topical delivery of minoxidil sulphate.

PubMed

Gelfuso, Guilherme Martins; Gratieri, Taís; Simão, Patrícia Sper; de Freitas, Luís Alexandre Pedro; Lopez, Renata Fonseca Vianna

2011-01-01

Given the hypothesis that microparticles can penetrate the skin barrier along the transfollicular route, this work aimed to obtain and characterise chitosan microparticles loaded with minoxidil sulphate (MXS) and to study their ability to sustain the release of the drug, attempting a further application utilising them in a targeted delivery system for the topical treatment of alopecia. Chitosan microparticles, containing different proportions of MXS/polymer, were prepared by spray drying and were characterised by yield, encapsulation efficiency, size and morphology. Microparticles selected for further studies showed high encapsulation efficiency (∼82%), a mean diameter of 3.0 µm and a spherical morphology without porosities. When suspended in an ethanol/water solution, chitosan microparticles underwent instantaneous swelling, increasing their mean diameter by 90%. Release studies revealed that the chitosan microparticles were able to sustain about three times the release rate of MXS. This feature, combined with suitable size, confers to these microparticles the potential to target and improve topical therapy of alopecia with minoxidil.

Selecting candidate structures for lithium treatment : what to provide the petrographer along with concrete specimens : tech brief.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-02-01

The process of selecting candidate structures (and : appropriate components of structures) for lithium treatment : invariably involves sampling one or several components : of the structures for laboratory investigations, particularly : petrographic e...

Selective electroless plating of 3D-printed plastic structures for three-dimensional microwave metamaterials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishikawa, Atsushi; Kato, Taiki; Takeyasu, Nobuyuki; Fujimori, Kazuhiro; Tsuruta, Kenji

2017-10-01

A technique of selective electroless plating onto PLA-ABS (Polylactic Acid-Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) composite structures fabricated by three-dimensional (3D) printing is demonstrated to construct 3D microwave metamaterials. The reducing activity of the PLA surface is selectively enhanced by the chemical modification involving Sn2+ in a simple wet process, thereby forming a highly conductive Ag-plated membrane only onto the PLA surface. The fabricated metamaterial composed of Ag-plated PLA and non-plated ABS parts is characterized experimentally and numerically to demonstrate the important bi-anisotropic microwave responses arising from the 3D nature of metallodielectric structures. Our approach based on a simple wet chemical process allows for the creation of highly complex 3D metal-insulator structures, thus paving the way toward the sophisticated microwave applications of the 3D printing technology.

A PROCESS OF PRIORITIZING TOPICS FOR HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN KAZAKHSTAN.

PubMed

Kosherbayeva, Lyazzat; Hailey, David; Kurakbaev, Kural; Tabarov, Adlet; Kumar, Ainur; Gutzskaya, Gulnara; Stepkina, Elena

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to develop criteria for the prioritization of topics for health technology assessment (HTA) in the healthcare system of Kazakhstan. Initial proposals for criteria were suggested through consultation with Ministry of Health (MoH) policy areas. These were refined through a workshop attended by HTA department staff, persons from medical universities and research institutes, and MoH policy makers. The workshop included discussion on methods used in international HTA practice. Opinions of participants on selection of criteria from those specified in a review of prioritization processes were used to define a list for inclusion in an instrument for routine use. A scoring system was established in later discussion. Selected criteria for HTA prioritization were burden of disease, availability of alternative technology, clinical effectiveness, economic efficiency, budget impact, and ethical, legal, and/or psychosocial aspects. For each criterion, a health technology under consideration is given a score from 3 (High) to 1 (Low). The total score determines whether the technology is of high to medium priority or of low priority. Determination of priorities for assessment, using the instrument, should be carried out by an expert group appointed by the MoH. The process was applied in 2014 to a selection of topics, and three health technologies were chosen for full assessments. Criteria for prioritization have evolved with development of the HTA program in Kazakhstan. A method for HTA prioritization has been developed that is easy to apply, requires comparatively few resources, and is compatible with processes required by the MoH.

Animacy matters: ERP evidence for the multi-dimensionality of topic-worthiness in Chinese.

PubMed

Hung, Yu-Chen; Schumacher, Petra B

2014-03-25

An event-related potential (ERP) study was conducted to investigate how animacy interacts with givenness during topic processing. Both animacy and givenness have been considered as within-discourse factors that contribute to an element׳s potential to form an optimal topic (i.e., topic-worthiness). ERPs were recorded while participants read question-answer pairs, of which the target sentence induced either a continuation or an alternation of a previously introduced topic (i.e., given vs. new). Depending on the context, a potential topic further differed in its animacy from the preceding one (i.e., animate vs. inanimate). The data revealed a robust givenness effect with an N400 reduction for given over new information across all conditions, substantiating the assumption that the N400 amplitude varies with the degree of context-based expectation. The resulting N400 effect was found independently of animacy. More strikingly, we also observed that givenness interacts with animacy in modulating the subsequent Late Positivity effect, which has been suggested to reflect internal discourse structuring effort and updating. A more pronounced Late Positivity was consistently elicited when a less prominent entity competed for topichood. Most crucially, the present research provides first electrophysiological evidence indicating that animacy outweighs givenness as a heuristic cue in determining the degree of topic-worthiness. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tunable structural color in organisms and photonic materials for design of bioinspired materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fudouzi, Hiroshi

2011-12-01

In this paper, the key topics of tunable structural color in biology and material science are overviewed. Color in biology is considered for selected groups of tropical fish, octopus, squid and beetle. It is caused by nanoplates in iridophores and varies with their spacing, tilting angle and refractive index. These examples may provide valuable hints for the bioinspired design of photonic materials. 1D multilayer films and 3D colloidal crystals with tunable structural color are overviewed from the viewpoint of advanced materials. The tunability of structural color by swelling and strain is demonstrated on an example of opal composites.

Tunable structural color in organisms and photonic materials for design of bioinspired materials

PubMed Central

Fudouzi, Hiroshi

2011-01-01

In this paper, the key topics of tunable structural color in biology and material science are overviewed. Color in biology is considered for selected groups of tropical fish, octopus, squid and beetle. It is caused by nanoplates in iridophores and varies with their spacing, tilting angle and refractive index. These examples may provide valuable hints for the bioinspired design of photonic materials. 1D multilayer films and 3D colloidal crystals with tunable structural color are overviewed from the viewpoint of advanced materials. The tunability of structural color by swelling and strain is demonstrated on an example of opal composites. PMID:27877454

Preface: Special Topic: From Quantum Mechanics to Force Fields.

PubMed

Piquemal, Jean-Philip; Jordan, Kenneth D

2017-10-28

This Special Topic issue entitled "From Quantum Mechanics to Force Fields" is dedicated to the ongoing efforts of the theoretical chemistry community to develop a new generation of accurate force fields based on data from high-level electronic structure calculations and to develop faster electronic structure methods for testing and designing force fields as well as for carrying out simulations. This issue includes a collection of 35 original research articles that illustrate recent theoretical advances in the field. It provides a timely snapshot of recent developments in the generation of approaches to enable more accurate molecular simulations of processes important in chemistry, physics, biophysics, and materials science.

Preface: Special Topic: From Quantum Mechanics to Force Fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piquemal, Jean-Philip; Jordan, Kenneth D.

2017-10-01

This Special Topic issue entitled "From Quantum Mechanics to Force Fields" is dedicated to the ongoing efforts of the theoretical chemistry community to develop a new generation of accurate force fields based on data from high-level electronic structure calculations and to develop faster electronic structure methods for testing and designing force fields as well as for carrying out simulations. This issue includes a collection of 35 original research articles that illustrate recent theoretical advances in the field. It provides a timely snapshot of recent developments in the generation of approaches to enable more accurate molecular simulations of processes important in chemistry, physics, biophysics, and materials science.

Algorithm for selection of optimized EPR distance restraints for de novo protein structure determination

PubMed Central

Kazmier, Kelli; Alexander, Nathan S.; Meiler, Jens; Mchaourab, Hassane S.

2010-01-01

A hybrid protein structure determination approach combining sparse Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) distance restraints and Rosetta de novo protein folding has been previously demonstrated to yield high quality models (Alexander et al., 2008). However, widespread application of this methodology to proteins of unknown structures is hindered by the lack of a general strategy to place spin label pairs in the primary sequence. In this work, we report the development of an algorithm that optimally selects spin labeling positions for the purpose of distance measurements by EPR. For the α-helical subdomain of T4 lysozyme (T4L), simulated restraints that maximize sequence separation between the two spin labels while simultaneously ensuring pairwise connectivity of secondary structure elements yielded vastly improved models by Rosetta folding. 50% of all these models have the correct fold compared to only 21% and 8% correctly folded models when randomly placed restraints or no restraints are used, respectively. Moreover, the improvements in model quality require a limited number of optimized restraints, the number of which is determined by the pairwise connectivities of T4L α-helices. The predicted improvement in Rosetta model quality was verified by experimental determination of distances between spin labels pairs selected by the algorithm. Overall, our results reinforce the rationale for the combined use of sparse EPR distance restraints and de novo folding. By alleviating the experimental bottleneck associated with restraint selection, this algorithm sets the stage for extending computational structure determination to larger, traditionally elusive protein topologies of critical structural and biochemical importance. PMID:21074624

Advanced turbine systems program conceptual design and product development. Task 3 -- System selection; Topical report

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

White, D.J.

1994-07-01

Solar Turbines Incorporated has elected to pursue an intercooled and recuperated (ICR) gas turbine system to exceed the goals of the DOE Advanced Turbine Systems (ATS) program, which are to develop and commercialize an industrial gas turbine system that operates at thermal efficiencies at least 15% higher than 1991 products, and with emissions not exceeding eight ppmv NOx and 20 ppmv CO and UHC. Solar`s goal is to develop a commercially viable industrial system (3--20 MW) driven by a gas turbine engine with a thermal efficiency of 50% (ATS50), with the flexibility to meet the differing operational requirements of variousmore » markets. Dispersed power generation is currently considered to be the primary future target market for the ICR in the 5--15 MW size class. The ICR integrated system approach provides an ideal candidate for the assumed dispersed power market, with its small footprint, easy transportability, and environmental friendliness. In comparison with other systems that use water or toxic chemicals such as ammonia for NOx control, the ICR has no consumables other than fuel and air. The low pressure ratio of the gas turbine engine also is favorable in that less parasitic power is needed to pump the natural gas into the combustor than for simple-cycle machines. Solar has narrowed the ICR configuration to two basic approaches, a 1-spool, and a 2-spool version of the ATS50. The 1-spool engine will have a lower first-cost but lower part-power efficiencies. The 2-spool ATS may not only have better part-power efficiency, its efficiency will also be less sensitive to reduced turbine rotor inlet temperature levels. Thus hot-end parts life can be increased with only small sacrifices in efficiency. The flexibility of the 2-spool arrangement in meeting customer needs is its major advantage over the 1-spool. This Task 3 Topical Report is intended to present Solar`s preliminary system selection based upon the initial trade-off studies performed to date.« less

Research in structures, structural dynamics and materials, 1989

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hunter, William F. (Compiler); Noor, Ahmed K. (Compiler)

1989-01-01

Topics addressed include: composite plates; buckling predictions; missile launch tube modeling; structural/control systems design; optimization of nonlinear R/C frames; error analysis for semi-analytic displacement; crack acoustic emission; and structural dynamics.

What's all the talk about? Topic modelling in a mental health Internet support group.

PubMed

Carron-Arthur, Bradley; Reynolds, Julia; Bennett, Kylie; Bennett, Anthony; Griffiths, Kathleen M

2016-10-28

The majority of content in an Internet Support Group (ISG) is contributed by 1 % of the users ('super users'). Computational methods, such as topic modelling, can provide a large-scale quantitative objective description of this content. Such methods may provide a new perspective on the nature of engagement on ISGs including the role of super users and their possible effect on other users. A topic model was computed for all posts (N = 131,004) in the ISG BlueBoard using Latent Dirichlet Allocation. A model containing 25 topics was selected on the basis of intelligibility as determined by diagnostic metrics and qualitative investigation. This model yielded 21 substantive topics for further analysis. Two chi-square tests were conducted separately for each topic to ascertain: (i) if the odds of super users' and other users' posting differed for each topic; and (ii) if for super users the odds of posting differed depending on whether the response was to a super user or to another user. The 21 substantive topics covered a range of issues related to mental health and peer-support. There were significantly higher odds that super users wrote content on 13 topics, with the greatest effects being for Parenting Role (OR [95%CI] = 7.97 [7.85-8.10]), Co-created Fiction (4.22 [4.17-4.27]), Mental Illness (3.13 [3.11-3.16]) and Positive Change (2.82 [2.79-2.84]). There were significantly lower odds for super users on 7 topics, with the greatest effects being for the topics Depression (OR = 0.27 [0.27-0.28]), Medication (0.36 [0.36-0.37]), Therapy (0.55 [0.54-0.55]) and Anxiety (0.55 [0.55-0.55]). However, super users were significantly more likely to write content on 5 out of these 7 topics when responding to other users than when responding to fellow super users. The findings suggest that super users serve the role of emotionally supportive companions with a focus on topics broadly resembling the consumer/carer model of recovery. Other users engage in topics with a

Anti-trypanosomal activities and structural chemical properties of selected compound classes.

PubMed

Ponte-Sucre, Alicia; Bruhn, Heike; Schirmeister, Tanja; Cecil, Alexander; Albert, Christian R; Buechold, Christian; Tischer, Maximilian; Schlesinger, Susanne; Goebel, Tim; Fuß, Antje; Mathein, Daniela; Merget, Benjamin; Sotriffer, Christoph A; Stich, August; Krohne, Georg; Engstler, Markus; Bringmann, Gerhard; Holzgrabe, Ulrike

2015-02-01

Potent compounds do not necessarily make the best drugs in the market. Consequently, with the aim to describe tools that may be fundamental for refining the screening of candidates for animal and preclinical studies and further development, molecules of different structural classes synthesized within the frame of a broad screening platform were evaluated for their trypanocidal activities, cytotoxicities against murine macrophages J774.1 and selectivity indices, as well as for their ligand efficiencies and structural chemical properties. To advance into their modes of action, we also describe the morphological and ultrastructural changes exerted by selected members of each compound class on the parasite Trypanosoma brucei. Our data suggest that the potential organelles targeted are either the flagellar pocket (compound 77, N-Arylpyridinium salt; 15, amino acid derivative with piperazine moieties), the endoplasmic reticulum membrane systems (37, bisquaternary bisnaphthalimide; 77, N-Arylpyridinium salt; 68, piperidine derivative), or mitochondria and kinetoplasts (88, N-Arylpyridinium salt; 68, piperidine derivative). Amino acid derivatives with fumaric acid and piperazine moieties (4, 15) weakly inhibiting cysteine proteases seem to preferentially target acidic compartments. Our results suggest that ligand efficiency indices may be helpful to learn about the relationship between potency and chemical characteristics of the compounds. Interestingly, the correlations found between the physico-chemical parameters of the selected compounds and those of commercial molecules that target specific organelles indicate that our rationale might be helpful to drive compound design toward high activities and acceptable pharmacokinetic properties for all compound families.

Mechanisms of topical analgesics in relieving pain in an animal model of muscular inflammation.

PubMed

Duan, Wan-Ru; Lu, Jie; Xie, Yi-Kuan

2013-09-01

To investigate the possible mechanisms of topical analgesics in relieving pain in an animal model of muscular inflammation. Adult Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes were injected with complete Freund's adjuvant to induce inflammation in the anterior tibialis muscle of left hindlimb. One of two types of topical analgesics: Xiaotong Tiegao (XTT), a Tibetan herb compound, or Capzasin (CAP), a cream containing 0.1% capsaicin, was applied to the skin over the inflamed anterior tibialis muscle. The following experiments were performed: pain behavioral tests, evaluation of plasma extravasation in the affected limb, and electrophysiological recordings of afferent nerve fibers. The behavioral experiments demonstrated that applications of either type of topical analgesic to the skin over the inflamed muscle significantly reduced muscular inflammatory pain, as indicated by the increased weight bearing capacity on the affected hindlimb (with latencies of 10 minutes for XTT and 1-2 hours for CAP). Meanwhile, both analgesics caused plasma extravasation in the affected skin. Electrophysiological recordings from the afferent fibers in the related cutaneous nerve indicated that topical analgesics selectively activated C-fibers, but not A-fibers innervating the same region of receptive field. The latency and duration of C-fiber activation was similar to those of the reduction of muscular inflammatory pain. On the contrary, topical analgesics substantially decreased C-fiber afferent spontaneous firing in the nerve innervating the inflamed muscle. Moreover, denervation of the affected skin blocked the analgesic effects of both topical analgesics in muscular inflammatory pain. This study suggests that topical analgesics may reduce the nociceptive input from inflamed muscles via a reflex mechanism by activating the cutaneous nociceptive afferents. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Delphi survey to identify topics to be addressed at the initial follow-up consultation after oesophageal cancer surgery.

PubMed

Jacobs, M; Henselmans, I; Macefield, R C; Blencowe, N S; Smets, E M A; de Haes, J C J M; Sprangers, M A G; Blazeby, J M; van Berge Henegouwen, M I

2014-12-01

There is no consensus among patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs) on the topics that need to be addressed after oesophageal cancer surgery. The aim of this study was to identify these topics, using a two-round Delphi survey. In round 1, patients and HCPs (surgeons, dieticians, nurses) were invited to rate the importance of 49 topics. The proportion of panellists that considered a topic to be of low, moderate or high importance was then calculated for each of these two groups. Based on these proportions and the i.q.r., topics were categorized as: 'consensus to be included', 'consensus to be excluded' and 'no consensus'. Only topics in the first category were included in the second round. In round 2, panellists were provided with individual and group feedback. To be included in the final list, topics had to meet criteria for consensus and stability. There were 108 patients and 77 HCPs in the round 2 analyses. In general, patients and HCPs considered the same topics important. The final list included 23 topics and revealed that it was most important to address: cancer removed/lymph nodes, the new oesophagus, eating and drinking, surgery, alarming new complaints and the recovery period. The study provides surgeons with a list of topics selected by patients and HCPs that may be addressed systematically at the initial follow-up consultation after oesophageal cancer surgery. © 2014 BJS Society Ltd. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

C- and N-Metalated Nitriles: The Relationship between Structure and Selectivity.

PubMed

Yang, Xun; Fleming, Fraser F

2017-10-17

Metalated nitriles are exceptional nucleophiles capable of forging highly hindered stereocenters in cases where enolates are unreactive. The excellent nucleophilicity emanates from the powerful inductive stabilization of adjacent negative charge by the nitrile, which has a miniscule steric demand. Inductive stabilization is the key to understanding the reactivity of metalated nitriles because this permits a continuum of structures that range from N-metalated ketenimines to nitrile anions. Solution and solid-state analyses reveal two different metal coordination sites, the formally anionic carbon and the nitrile nitrogen, with the site of metalation depending intimately on the solvent, counterion, temperature, and ligands. The most commonly encountered structures, C- and N-metalated nitriles, have either sp 3 or sp 2 hybridization at the nucleophilic carbon, which essentially translates into two distinct organometallic species with similar but nonidentical stereoselectivity, regioselectivity, and reactivity preferences. The hybridization differences are particularly important in S N i displacements of cyclic nitriles because the orbital orientations create very precise trajectories that control the cyclization selectivity. Harnessing the orbital differences between C- and N-metalated nitriles allows selective cyclization to afford nitrile-containing cis- or trans-hydrindanes, decalins, or bicyclo[5.4.0]undecanes. Similar orbital constraints favor preferential S N i displacements with allylic electrophiles on sp 3 centers over sp 2 centers. The strategy permits stereoselective displacements on secondary centers to set contiguous tertiary and quaternary stereocenters or even contiguous vicinal quaternary centers. Stereoselective alkylations of acyclic nitriles are inherently more challenging because of the difficulty in creating steric differentiation in a dynamic system with rotatable bonds. However, judicious substituent placement of vicinal dimethyl groups and a

A Pilot Study of Core Topics in Introductory Social Psychology and Developmental Psychology Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitehead, George I., III; Smith, Stephanie H.; Losonczy-Marshall, Marta

2014-01-01

This study examined the similarities and differences in the topics and references in selected chapters of eight introductory social psychology textbooks and six developmental psychology textbooks. We wanted to determine the extent to which there were core concepts and references presented in these chapters. We found a relatively small set of core…

Urinary profile of methylprednisolone and its metabolites after oral and topical administrations.

PubMed

Matabosch, Xavier; Pozo, Oscar J; Monfort, Núria; Pérez-Mañá, Clara; Farré, Magi; Marcos, Josep; Segura, Jordi; Ventura, Rosa

2013-11-01

Methylprednisolone (MP) is prohibited in sports competitions when administered by systemic routes; however its use by topical administration is allowed. Therefore, analytical approaches to distinguish between these different administration pathways are required. A reporting level of 30ng/mL was established for this purpose. However, the suitability of that reporting level for MP is not known. In the present work, excretion profiles of MP and different metabolites after oral and topical administrations have been compared. A method for the quantification of MP and the qualitative detection of fifteen previously reported metabolites has been validated. The method involved an enzymatic hydrolysis, liquid-liquid extraction and analysis by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. The method was found to be linear, selective, precise and accurate. The high sensitivity (limit of detection 0.1ng/mL) and linear range (0.1-250ng/mL) achieved allowed for the quantification of MP at both the low concentrations present after topical administration and the high concentrations detected after oral intake. The method was applied to samples collected after oral (4 or 40mg) and topical administration (10mg of MP aceponate/day for 5 consecutive days) to healthy volunteers. After oral administration, MP and all metabolites were detected in urines collected up to at least 36h. Only MP and five metabolites were detected in samples obtained after topical treatment. As expected, concentrations of MP after topical administration were well below current reporting level (30ng/mL), however 3 out of 4 samples in range 8-24h after the low oral dose (4mg) were also below that concentration. Taking into account metabolites detected after both administration routes, metabolites 16β,17α,21-trihydroxy-6α-methylpregna-1,4-diene-3,11,20-trione (M8) and 17α,20α,21-trihydroxy-6α-methylpregna-1,4-diene-3,11-dione (M11) are best markers to differentiate between topical and oral

Structural Basis for the Potent and Selective Inhibition of Casein Kinase 1 Epsilon

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

Long, Alexander M.; Zhao, Huilin; Huang, Xin

2012-10-29

Casein kinase 1 epsilon (CK1ε) and its closest homologue CK1δ are key regulators of diverse cellular processes. We report two crystal structures of PF4800567, a potent and selective inhibitor of CK1ε, bound to the kinase domains of human CK1ε and CK1δ as well as one apo CK1ε crystal structure. These structures provide a molecular basis for the strong and specific inhibitor interactions with CK1ε and suggest clues for further development of CK1δ inhibitors.

Deep Unfolding for Topic Models.

PubMed

Chien, Jen-Tzung; Lee, Chao-Hsi

2018-02-01

Deep unfolding provides an approach to integrate the probabilistic generative models and the deterministic neural networks. Such an approach is benefited by deep representation, easy interpretation, flexible learning and stochastic modeling. This study develops the unsupervised and supervised learning of deep unfolded topic models for document representation and classification. Conventionally, the unsupervised and supervised topic models are inferred via the variational inference algorithm where the model parameters are estimated by maximizing the lower bound of logarithm of marginal likelihood using input documents without and with class labels, respectively. The representation capability or classification accuracy is constrained by the variational lower bound and the tied model parameters across inference procedure. This paper aims to relax these constraints by directly maximizing the end performance criterion and continuously untying the parameters in learning process via deep unfolding inference (DUI). The inference procedure is treated as the layer-wise learning in a deep neural network. The end performance is iteratively improved by using the estimated topic parameters according to the exponentiated updates. Deep learning of topic models is therefore implemented through a back-propagation procedure. Experimental results show the merits of DUI with increasing number of layers compared with variational inference in unsupervised as well as supervised topic models.

Selectivity on-target of bromodomain chemical probes by structure-guided medicinal chemistry and chemical biology

PubMed Central

Galdeano, Carles; Ciulli, Alessio

2017-01-01

Targeting epigenetic proteins is a rapidly growing area for medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in developing small molecules binding to bromodomains, the readers of acetyl-lysine modifications. A plethora of co-crystal structures has motivated focused fragment-based design and optimization programs within both industry and academia. These efforts have yielded several compounds entering the clinic, and many more are increasingly being used as chemical probes to interrogate bromodomain biology. High selectivity of chemical probes is necessary to ensure biological activity is due to an on-target effect. Here, we review the state-of-the-art of bromodomain-targeting compounds, focusing on the structural basis for their on-target selectivity or lack thereof. We also highlight chemical biology approaches to enhance on-target selectivity. PMID:27193077

Structural Basis for Binding and Selectivity of Antimalarial and Anticancer Ethylenediamine Inhibitors to Protein Farnesyltransferase

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

Hast, Michael A.; Fletcher, Steven; Cummings, Christopher G.

Protein farnesyltransferase (FTase) catalyzes an essential posttranslational lipid modification of more than 60 proteins involved in intracellular signal transduction networks. FTase inhibitors have emerged as a significant target for development of anticancer therapeutics and, more recently, for the treatment of parasitic diseases caused by protozoan pathogens, including malaria (Plasmodium falciparum). We present the X-ray crystallographic structures of complexes of mammalian FTase with five inhibitors based on an ethylenediamine scaffold, two of which exhibit over 1000-fold selective inhibition of P. falciparum FTase. These structures reveal the dominant determinants in both the inhibitor and enzyme that control binding and selectivity. Comparison tomore » a homology model constructed for the P. falciparum FTase suggests opportunities for further improving selectivity of a new generation of antimalarial inhibitors.« less

Passion and Preparation in the Basic Course: The Influence of Students' Ego-Involvement with Speech Topics and Preparation Time on Public-Speaking Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mazer, Joseph P.; Titsworth, Scott

2012-01-01

Authors of basic public-speaking course textbooks frequently encourage students to select speech topics in which they have vested interest, care deeply about, and hold strong opinions and beliefs. This study explores students' level of ego-involvement with informative and persuasive speech topics, examines possible ego-involvement predictors of…

Selected Topics on the Synthesis, Properties and Applications of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

PubMed Central

Stoner, B.R.; Brown, B.; Glass, J.T.

2014-01-01

Summary In summary, MWCNTs have been examined for a variety of electronic applications due to their unique structure and chemistry. Electrodes for field emission, energy and sensor applications hold particular interest. MWCNTs provide a very high surface area, relatively easy methods of surface modification, controllable and high concentration of reactive surface sites, and high specific capacitance. Combining MWCNTs with graphene structures, oxide and metal nanoparticles and certain polymers extends their performance and functionality. Such hybrid structures have been produced in situ during CNT growth and in two-step processes. Excellent progress on understanding the mechanisms of CNT growth has enabled numerous growth methods to all yield MWCNT structures in a variety of morphologies. PMID:24910503

Selected Bibliography of Egyptian Educational Materials, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1976.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Ahram Center for Scientific Translations, Cairo (Egypt).

The selective annotated bibliography of Egyptian educational publications contains 109 entries on 42 topics. Included are journal articles, books, and government documents published during 1976. Content includes the following topics: adult education, art education, audiovisual aids, care for distinguished students, educational planning,…

Adaptive and active materials: selected papers from the ASME 2013 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems (SMASIS 13) (Snowbird, UT, USA, 16-18 September 2013)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Nancy; Naguib, Hani; Turner, Travis; Anderson, Iain; Bassiri-Gharb, Nazanin; Daqaq, Mohammed; Baba Sundaresan, Vishnu; Sarles, Andy

2014-10-01

The sixth annual meeting of the ASME Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems Conference (SMASIS) was held in the beautiful mountain encircled Snowbird Resort and Conference Center in Little Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the conference's objective to provide an up-to-date overview of research trends in the entire field of smart materials systems in a friendly casual forum conducive to the exchange of ideas and latest results. As each year we strive to grow and offer new experiences, this year we included special focused topic tracks on nanoscale multiferroic materials and origami engineering. The cross-disciplinary emphasis was reflected in keynote speeches by Professor Kaushik Bhattacharya (California Institute of Technology) on 'Cyclic Deformation and the Interplay between Phase Transformation and Plasticity in Shape Memory Alloys', by Professor Alison Flatau (University of Maryland at College Park) on 'Structural Magnetostrictive Alloys: The Other Smart Material', and by Dr Leslie Momoda (Director of the Sensors and Materials Laboratories, HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, CA) on 'Architecturing New Functional Materials: An Industrial Perspective'. SMASIS 2013 was divided into seven symposia which span basic research, applied technological design and development, and industrial and governmental integrated system and application demonstrations. SYMP 1. Development and Characterization of Multifunctional Materials. SYMP 2. Mechanics and Behavior of Active Materials. SYMP 3. Modeling, Simulation and Control of Adaptive Systems. SYMP 4. Integrated System Design and Implementation. SYMP 5. Structural Health Monitoring. SYMP 6. Bioinspired Smart Materials and Systems. SYMP 7. Energy Harvesting. Authors of selected papers in the materials areas (symposia 1, 2, and 6) as well as energy harvesting (symposium 7) were invited to write a full journal article on their presentation topic for publication in this special issue of Smart

NASA Workshop on Computational Structural Mechanics 1987, part 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sykes, Nancy P. (Editor)

1989-01-01

Advanced methods and testbed/simulator development topics are discussed. Computational Structural Mechanics (CSM) testbed architecture, engine structures simulation, applications to laminate structures, and a generic element processor are among the topics covered.

Cation Selectivity in Biological Cation Channels Using Experimental Structural Information and Statistical Mechanical Simulation.

PubMed

Finnerty, Justin John; Peyser, Alexander; Carloni, Paolo

2015-01-01

Cation selective channels constitute the gate for ion currents through the cell membrane. Here we present an improved statistical mechanical model based on atomistic structural information, cation hydration state and without tuned parameters that reproduces the selectivity of biological Na+ and Ca2+ ion channels. The importance of the inclusion of step-wise cation hydration in these results confirms the essential role partial dehydration plays in the bacterial Na+ channels. The model, proven reliable against experimental data, could be straightforwardly used for designing Na+ and Ca2+ selective nanopores.

Cation Selectivity in Biological Cation Channels Using Experimental Structural Information and Statistical Mechanical Simulation

PubMed Central

Finnerty, Justin John

2015-01-01

Cation selective channels constitute the gate for ion currents through the cell membrane. Here we present an improved statistical mechanical model based on atomistic structural information, cation hydration state and without tuned parameters that reproduces the selectivity of biological Na+ and Ca2+ ion channels. The importance of the inclusion of step-wise cation hydration in these results confirms the essential role partial dehydration plays in the bacterial Na+ channels. The model, proven reliable against experimental data, could be straightforwardly used for designing Na+ and Ca2+ selective nanopores. PMID:26460827

UHMS position statement: topical oxygen for chronic wounds.

PubMed

Feldmeier, J J; Hopf, H W; Warriner, R A; Fife, C E; Gesell, L B; Bennett, M

2005-01-01

A small body of literature has been published reporting the application of topical oxygen for chronic non-healing wounds . Frequently, and erroneously, this form of oxygen administration has been referred to as "topical hyperbaric oxygen therapy" or even more erroneously "hyperbaric oxygen therapy." The advocates of topical oxygen claim several advantages over systemic hyperbaric oxygen including decreased cost, increased safety, decreased complications and putative physiologic effects including decreased free radical formation and more efficient delivery of oxygen to the wound surface. With topical oxygen an airtight chamber or polyethylene bag is sealed around a limb or the trunk by either a constriction/tourniquet device or by tape and high flow (usually 10 liters per minute) oxygen is introduced into the bag and over the wound. Pressures just over 1.0 atmospheres absolute (atm abs) (typically 1.004 to 1.013 atm abs) are recommended because higher pressures could decrease arterial/capillary inflow. The premise for topical oxygen, the diffusion of oxygen into the wound adequate to enhance healing, is attractive (though not proven) and its delivery is certainly less complex and expensive than hyperbaric oxygen. When discussing the physiology of topical oxygen, its proponents frequently reference studies of systemic hyperbaric oxygen suggesting that mechanisms are equally applicable to both topical and systemic high pressure oxygen delivery. In fact, however, the two are very different. To date, mechanisms of action whereby topical oxygen might be effective have not been defined or substantiated. Conversely, cellular toxicities due to extended courses of topical oxygen have been reported, although, again these data are not conclusive, and no mechanism for toxicity has been examined scientifically. Generally, collagen production and fibroblast proliferation are considered evidence of improved healing, and these are both enhanced by hyperbaric oxygen therapy

Role of topical tranexamic acid in the management of idiopathic anterior epistaxis in adult patients in the emergency department.

PubMed

Logan, Jill K; Pantle, Hardin

2016-11-01

The role of topical tranexamic acid in the management of anterior epistaxis in adult patients in the emergency department (ED) is examined. The use of alternative agents for the treatment of epistaxis before the use of nasal packing may be reasonable due to patient discomfort, potential complications, and the need for follow-up with a healthcare provider for packing removal. One such agent is tranexamic acid. Two published studies evaluated the off-label use of topical tranexamic acid for the treatment of epistaxis. The first trial compared the efficacy of a topical gel containing 10% tranexamic acid with a placebo gel containing glycerin for the treatment of epistaxis. The percentage of patients whose bleeding ceased within 30 minutes of the intervention did not significantly differ between the tranexamic acid and placebo groups (p = 0.16). The second trial compared the efficacy of cotton pledgets soaked in the i.v. formulation of tranexamic acid inserted into the bleeding naris with standard nasal packing therapy. Bleeding cessation occurred within 10 minutes in 71% of the tranexamic acid group versus 31.2% of the standard treatment group (odds ratio, 2.28; 95% confidence interval, 1.68-3.09; p < 0.001). Additional information is necessary to fully evaluate the role of topical tranexamic acid in treatment algorithms; however, the use of topical tranexamic acid may be beneficial in select populations. Topical tranexamic acid may have a role in the treatment of anterior epistaxis in select ED patients, though additional studies are needed to confirm its role in treatment algorithms. Copyright © 2016 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved.

Structural Complexity in Linguistic Systems Research Topic 3: Mathematical Sciences

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-01

understanding of structure (pattern, correlation, memory , semantics , ...) observed in linguistic systems and process? On this score we believe the...on our understanding of structure (pattern, correlation, memory , semantics , ...) observed in linguistic systems and process? On this score we believe...promised to overcome these difficulties, since it gives a clear and constructive view of structure in memoryful stochastic processes. In principle, this

Learning topic models by belief propagation.

PubMed

Zeng, Jia; Cheung, William K; Liu, Jiming

2013-05-01

Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) is an important hierarchical Bayesian model for probabilistic topic modeling, which attracts worldwide interest and touches on many important applications in text mining, computer vision and computational biology. This paper represents the collapsed LDA as a factor graph, which enables the classic loopy belief propagation (BP) algorithm for approximate inference and parameter estimation. Although two commonly used approximate inference methods, such as variational Bayes (VB) and collapsed Gibbs sampling (GS), have gained great success in learning LDA, the proposed BP is competitive in both speed and accuracy, as validated by encouraging experimental results on four large-scale document datasets. Furthermore, the BP algorithm has the potential to become a generic scheme for learning variants of LDA-based topic models in the collapsed space. To this end, we show how to learn two typical variants of LDA-based topic models, such as author-topic models (ATM) and relational topic models (RTM), using BP based on the factor graph representations.

Microemulsions as vehicles for topical administration of voriconazole: formulation and in vitro evaluation.

PubMed

El-Hadidy, Gladious Naguib; Ibrahim, Howida Kamal; Mohamed, Magdi Ibrahim; El-Milligi, Mohamed Farid

2012-01-01

This work was undertaken to investigate microemulsion (ME) as a topical delivery system for the poorly water-soluble voriconazole. Different ME components were selected for the preparation of plain ME systems with suitable rheological properties for topical use. Two permeation enhancers were incorporated, namely sodium deoxycholate or oleic acid. Drug-loaded MEs were evaluated for their physical appearance, pH, rheological properties and in vitro permeation studies using guinea pig skin. MEs based on polyoxyethylene(10)oleyl ether (Brij 97) as the surfactant showed pseudoplastic flow with thixotropic behavior and were loaded with voriconazole. Jojoba oil-based MEs successfully prolonged voriconazole release up to 4 h. No significant changes in physical or rheological properties were recorded on storage for 12 months at ambient conditions. The presence of permeation enhancers favored transdermal rather than dermal delivery. Sodium deoxycholate was more effective than oleic acid for enhancing the voriconazole permeation. Voriconazole-loaded MEs, with and without enhancers, showed significantly better antifungal activity against Candida albicans than voriconazole supersaturated solution. In conclusion, the studied ME formulae could be promising vehicles for topical delivery of voriconazole.

Analysis of multiple instructional techniques on the understanding and retention of select mechanical topics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fetsco, Sara Elizabeth

There are several topics that introductory physics students typically have difficulty understanding. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate if multiple instructional techniques will help students to better understand and retain the material. The three units analyzed in this study are graphing motion, projectile motion, and conservation of momentum. For each unit students were taught using new or altered instructional methods including online laboratory simulations, inquiry labs, and interactive demonstrations. Additionally, traditional instructional methods such as lecture and problem sets were retained. Effectiveness was measured through pre- and post-tests and student opinion surveys. Results suggest that incorporating multiple instructional techniques into teaching will improve student understanding and retention. Students stated that they learned well from all of the instructional methods used except the online simulations.

Selected Bibliography of Egyptian Educational Materials, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1976.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Ahram Center for Scientific Translations, Cairo (Egypt).

This selective annotated bibliography of Egyptian publications on education contains 126 entries on 55 topics. Publications include journal articles, books, and government documents published during 1976 or late 1975. Among the 55 topics are the following: adult education, agricultural schools, art education, child upbringing, compulsory…

Selected Bibliography of Egyptian Educational Materials, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1976.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Ahram Center for Scientific Translations, Cairo (Egypt).

One hundred fourteen entries on 58 topics are contained in the selective annotated bibliography of Egyptian publications on education. Included are journal articles, books, and government documents published during 1976. Content includes the following topics: adult education, Arabic language, audiovisual aids, child upbringing, civics, economics…

Selected Bibliography of Egyptian Educational Materials, Vol. 2, No. 4, 1976.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Al-Ahram Center for Scientific Translations, Cairo (Egypt).

One hundred seventy entries on 69 topics are contained in the selective annotated bibliography of Egyptian publications on education. Included are journal articles, books, and government documents published during 1976. Content includes the following topics: Arabic language, art education, civics, commercial schools, comparative education,…

Miscellaneous Topics in Computer-Aided Drug Design: Synthetic Accessibility and GPU Computing, and Other Topics.

PubMed

Fukunishi, Yoshifumi; Mashimo, Tadaaki; Misoo, Kiyotaka; Wakabayashi, Yoshinori; Miyaki, Toshiaki; Ohta, Seiji; Nakamura, Mayu; Ikeda, Kazuyoshi

2016-01-01

Computer-aided drug design is still a state-of-the-art process in medicinal chemistry, and the main topics in this field have been extensively studied and well reviewed. These topics include compound databases, ligand-binding pocket prediction, protein-compound docking, virtual screening, target/off-target prediction, physical property prediction, molecular simulation and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) prediction. Message and Conclusion: However, there are also a number of secondary or miscellaneous topics that have been less well covered. For example, methods for synthesizing and predicting the synthetic accessibility (SA) of designed compounds are important in practical drug development, and hardware/software resources for performing the computations in computer-aided drug design are crucial. Cloud computing and general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) computing have been used in virtual screening and molecular dynamics simulations. Not surprisingly, there is a growing demand for computer systems which combine these resources. In the present review, we summarize and discuss these various topics of drug design.

Miscellaneous Topics in Computer-Aided Drug Design: Synthetic Accessibility and GPU Computing, and Other Topics

PubMed Central

Fukunishi, Yoshifumi; Mashimo, Tadaaki; Misoo, Kiyotaka; Wakabayashi, Yoshinori; Miyaki, Toshiaki; Ohta, Seiji; Nakamura, Mayu; Ikeda, Kazuyoshi

2016-01-01

Abstract: Background Computer-aided drug design is still a state-of-the-art process in medicinal chemistry, and the main topics in this field have been extensively studied and well reviewed. These topics include compound databases, ligand-binding pocket prediction, protein-compound docking, virtual screening, target/off-target prediction, physical property prediction, molecular simulation and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) prediction. Message and Conclusion: However, there are also a number of secondary or miscellaneous topics that have been less well covered. For example, methods for synthesizing and predicting the synthetic accessibility (SA) of designed compounds are important in practical drug development, and hardware/software resources for performing the computations in computer-aided drug design are crucial. Cloud computing and general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) computing have been used in virtual screening and molecular dynamics simulations. Not surprisingly, there is a growing demand for computer systems which combine these resources. In the present review, we summarize and discuss these various topics of drug design. PMID:27075578

Resources for Topics in Architecture.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Noate, Judith, Comp.

This guide for conducting library research on topics in architecture or on the work of a particular architect presents suggestions for utilizing four categories of resources: books, dictionaries and encyclopedias, indexes, and a periodicals and series list (PASL). Two topics are researched as examples: the contemporary architect Richard Meier, and…

Linguistic Extensions of Topic Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyd-Graber, Jordan

2010-01-01

Topic models like latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) provide a framework for analyzing large datasets where observations are collected into groups. Although topic modeling has been fruitfully applied to problems social science, biology, and computer vision, it has been most widely used to model datasets where documents are modeled as exchangeable…

A Feature and Algorithm Selection Method for Improving the Prediction of Protein Structural Class.

PubMed

Ni, Qianwu; Chen, Lei

2017-01-01

Correct prediction of protein structural class is beneficial to investigation on protein functions, regulations and interactions. In recent years, several computational methods have been proposed in this regard. However, based on various features, it is still a great challenge to select proper classification algorithm and extract essential features to participate in classification. In this study, a feature and algorithm selection method was presented for improving the accuracy of protein structural class prediction. The amino acid compositions and physiochemical features were adopted to represent features and thirty-eight machine learning algorithms collected in Weka were employed. All features were first analyzed by a feature selection method, minimum redundancy maximum relevance (mRMR), producing a feature list. Then, several feature sets were constructed by adding features in the list one by one. For each feature set, thirtyeight algorithms were executed on a dataset, in which proteins were represented by features in the set. The predicted classes yielded by these algorithms and true class of each protein were collected to construct a dataset, which were analyzed by mRMR method, yielding an algorithm list. From the algorithm list, the algorithm was taken one by one to build an ensemble prediction model. Finally, we selected the ensemble prediction model with the best performance as the optimal ensemble prediction model. Experimental results indicate that the constructed model is much superior to models using single algorithm and other models that only adopt feature selection procedure or algorithm selection procedure. The feature selection procedure or algorithm selection procedure are really helpful for building an ensemble prediction model that can yield a better performance. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Voltage-Gated Potassium Channels: A Structural Examination of Selectivity and Gating

PubMed Central

Kim, Dorothy M.; Nimigean, Crina M.

2016-01-01

Voltage-gated potassium channels play a fundamental role in the generation and propagation of the action potential. The discovery of these channels began with predictions made by early pioneers, and has culminated in their extensive functional and structural characterization by electrophysiological, spectroscopic, and crystallographic studies. With the aid of a variety of crystal structures of these channels, a highly detailed picture emerges of how the voltage-sensing domain reports changes in the membrane electric field and couples this to conformational changes in the activation gate. In addition, high-resolution structural and functional studies of K+ channel pores, such as KcsA and MthK, offer a comprehensive picture on how selectivity is achieved in K+ channels. Here, we illustrate the remarkable features of voltage-gated potassium channels and explain the mechanisms used by these machines with experimental data. PMID:27141052

Knowledge based system and decision making methodologies in materials selection for aircraft cabin metallic structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adhikari, Pashupati Raj

Materials selection processes have been the most important aspects in product design and development. Knowledge-based system (KBS) and some of the methodologies used in the materials selection for the design of aircraft cabin metallic structures are discussed. Overall aircraft weight reduction means substantially less fuel consumption. Part of the solution to this problem is to find a way to reduce overall weight of metallic structures inside the cabin. Among various methodologies of materials selection using Multi Criterion Decision Making (MCDM) techniques, a few of them are demonstrated with examples and the results are compared with those obtained using Ashby's approach in materials selection. Pre-defined constraint values, mainly mechanical properties, are employed as relevant attributes in the process. Aluminum alloys with high strength-to-weight ratio have been second-to-none in most of the aircraft parts manufacturing. Magnesium alloys that are much lighter in weight as alternatives to the Al-alloys currently in use in the structures are tested using the methodologies and ranked results are compared. Each material attribute considered in the design are categorized as benefit and non-benefit attribute. Using Ashby's approach, material indices that are required to be maximized for an optimum performance are determined, and materials are ranked based on the average of consolidated indices ranking. Ranking results are compared for any disparity among the methodologies.

The objective structured interview for medical student selection

PubMed Central

Powis, D A; Neame, R L B; Bristow, T; Murphy, L B

1988-01-01

An objective structured interview is an integral part of the process of selecting and admitting applicants to study medicine at this university. During the nine years (to the end of 1986) that the interview has been used 1600 candidates were interviewed out of roughly 13 000 applicants, and from these, 584 students were admitted to the course. Analysis of the interview data was carried out based on two aspects of student progress: graduation with honours and failure to complete the course of study. The interview as a whole, and especially some of the subscales, appears to identify students who may fail to complete the course: it may also help to predict which students are likely to graduate with honours. PMID:3126966

Structural hierarchy as a key to complex phase selection in Al-Sm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Z.; Zhang, F.; Sun, Y.; Nguyen, M. C.; Zhou, S. H.; Zhou, L.; Meng, F.; Ott, R. T.; Park, E.; Besser, M. F.; Kramer, M. J.; Ding, Z. J.; Mendelev, M. I.; Wang, C. Z.; Napolitano, R. E.; Ho, K. M.

2017-10-01

Investigating the unknown structure of the complex cubic phase, previously observed to crystallize from melt-spun amorphous Al-10 at.% Sm alloy, we determine the structure in full site-occupancy detail, highlighting several critical structural features that govern the far-from-equilibrium phase selection pathway. Using an efficient genetic algorithm combining molecular dynamics, density functional theory, and x-ray diffraction, the structure is clearly identified as body-centered cubic I m 3 ¯m (No. 229) with ˜140 atoms per cubic unit cell and a lattice parameter of 1.4 nm. The complex structure is further refined to elucidate the detailed site occupancy, revealing full Sm occupancy on 6b sites and split Sm/Al occupancy on 16f sites. Based on the refined site occupancy associated with the experimentally observed phase, we term this phase ɛ -A l60S m11 (bcc), corresponding to the limiting situation when all 16f sites are occupied by Sm. However, it should be recognized that the range of solubility enabled by split occupancy at Sm sites is an important feature in phase selection under experimental conditions, permitting an avenue for transition with little or no chemical partitioning. Our analysis shows that the ɛ -A l60S m11 (bcc) exhibits a "3-6-6-1" first-shell packing around Sm centers on 16f sites, the same dominant motif exhibited by the undercooled liquid. The coincident motif supports the notion that liquid/glass ordering at high undercooling may give rise to topological invariants between the noncrystalline and crystalline states that provide kinetic pathways to metastable phases that are not accessible during near-equilibrium processing.

Structural hierarchy as a key to complex phase selection in Al-Sm

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

Ye, Z.; Zhang, F.; Sun, Y.

Investigating the unknown structure of the complex cubic phase, previously observed to crystallize from melt-spun amorphous Al–10 at.% Sm alloy, we determine the structure in full site-occupancy detail, highlighting several critical structural features that govern the far-from-equilibrium phase selection pathway. Using an efficient genetic algorithm combining molecular dynamics, density functional theory, and x-ray diffraction, the structure is clearly identified as body-centered cubic Im¯3m (No. 229) with ~140 atoms per cubic unit cell and a lattice parameter of 1.4 nm. The complex structure is further refined to elucidate the detailed site occupancy, revealing full Sm occupancy on 6b sites and splitmore » Sm/Al occupancy on 16f sites. Based on the refined site occupancy associated with the experimentally observed phase, we term this phase ε–Al 60Sm 11(bcc), corresponding to the limiting situation when all 16f sites are occupied by Sm. However, it should be recognized that the range of solubility enabled by split occupancy at Sm sites is an important feature in phase selection under experimental conditions, permitting an avenue for transition with little or no chemical partitioning. Our analysis shows that the ε–Al 60Sm 11(bcc) exhibits a “3-6-6-1” first-shell packing around Sm centers on 16f sites, the same dominant motif exhibited by the undercooled liquid. Here, the coincident motif supports the notion that liquid/glass ordering at high undercooling may give rise to topological invariants between the noncrystalline and crystalline states that provide kinetic pathways to metastable phases that are not accessible during near-equilibrium processing.« less

Structural hierarchy as a key to complex phase selection in Al-Sm

DOE PAGES

Ye, Z.; Zhang, F.; Sun, Y.; ...

2017-10-12

Investigating the unknown structure of the complex cubic phase, previously observed to crystallize from melt-spun amorphous Al–10 at.% Sm alloy, we determine the structure in full site-occupancy detail, highlighting several critical structural features that govern the far-from-equilibrium phase selection pathway. Using an efficient genetic algorithm combining molecular dynamics, density functional theory, and x-ray diffraction, the structure is clearly identified as body-centered cubic Im¯3m (No. 229) with ~140 atoms per cubic unit cell and a lattice parameter of 1.4 nm. The complex structure is further refined to elucidate the detailed site occupancy, revealing full Sm occupancy on 6b sites and splitmore » Sm/Al occupancy on 16f sites. Based on the refined site occupancy associated with the experimentally observed phase, we term this phase ε–Al 60Sm 11(bcc), corresponding to the limiting situation when all 16f sites are occupied by Sm. However, it should be recognized that the range of solubility enabled by split occupancy at Sm sites is an important feature in phase selection under experimental conditions, permitting an avenue for transition with little or no chemical partitioning. Our analysis shows that the ε–Al 60Sm 11(bcc) exhibits a “3-6-6-1” first-shell packing around Sm centers on 16f sites, the same dominant motif exhibited by the undercooled liquid. Here, the coincident motif supports the notion that liquid/glass ordering at high undercooling may give rise to topological invariants between the noncrystalline and crystalline states that provide kinetic pathways to metastable phases that are not accessible during near-equilibrium processing.« less

Topical cyclosporine for atopic keratoconjunctivitis.

PubMed

González-López, Julio J; López-Alcalde, Jesús; Morcillo Laiz, Rafael; Fernández Buenaga, Roberto; Rebolleda Fernández, Gema

2012-09-12

Atopic keratoconjunctivitis (AKC) is a chronic ocular surface non-infectious inflammatory condition that atopic dermatitis patients may suffer at any time point in the course of their dermatologic disease and is independent of its degree of severity. AKC is usually not self resolving and it poses a higher risk of corneal injuries and severe sequelae. Management of AKC should prevent or treat corneal damage. Although topical corticosteroids remain the standard treatment for patients with AKC, prolonged use may lead to complications. Topical cyclosporine A (CsA) may improve AKC signs and symptoms, and be used as a corticosteroid sparing agent. To determine the efficacy and gather evidence on safety from randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of topical CsA in patients with AKC. We searched CENTRAL (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Group Trials Register) (The Cochrane Library 2012, Issue 6), MEDLINE (January 1946 to July 2012), EMBASE (January 1980 to July 2012), Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS) (January 1982 to July 2012), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (January 1937 to July 2012), OpenGrey (System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe) (www.opengrey.eu/), the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT) (www.controlled-trials.com), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov), the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/ictrp/search/en), the IFPMA Clinical Trials Portal (http://clinicaltrials.ifpma.org/no_cache/en/myportal/index.htm) and Web of Science Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science (CPCI-S). We did not use any date or language restrictions in the electronic searches for trials. The electronic databases were last searched on 9 July 2012. We also handsearched the following conference proceedings: American Academy of Ophthalmology, Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, International Council of Opthalmology and Societas

21 CFR 868.5170 - Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator. 868... topical anesthesia applicator. (a) Identification. A laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator is a device used to apply topical anesthetics to a patient's laryngotracheal area. (b) Classification. Class...

21 CFR 868.5170 - Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator. 868... topical anesthesia applicator. (a) Identification. A laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator is a device used to apply topical anesthetics to a patient's laryngotracheal area. (b) Classification. Class...

21 CFR 868.5170 - Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator. 868... topical anesthesia applicator. (a) Identification. A laryngotracheal topical anesthesia applicator is a device used to apply topical anesthetics to a patient's laryngotracheal area. (b) Classification. Class...

The effect of temperature on the discomfort caused by topical local anaesthesia.

PubMed Central

Callear, A B

1995-01-01

The warming of local anaesthetic solutions to reduce the pain felt on injection is common practice in a number of medical sub-specialties. A study was undertaken to assess the effect of temperature on the discomfort caused by local anaesthetic eye drops. Tropical anaesthetics amethocaine 1%, oxybuprocaine 0.4% and lignocaine 4% were studied, and after the application of strict exclusion criteria 60 patients were selected, 20 patients for each anaesthetic. Each patient group received a topical anaesthetic at 42 degrees C in one eye and at room temperature in the other. A 10 point visual analogue scale was used to assess the discomfort experienced. No statistically significant difference was found between the discomfort caused by drops at each temperature for any of the three anaesthetics studied. There appears no benefit in warming topical anaesthetic agents prior to their use. PMID:8786596

Women's health: selected topics.

PubMed

Zoorob, Roger J; Sidani, Mohamad; Williams, Jamila; Grief, Samuel N

2010-06-01

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies have become increasingly popular for the treatment of a variety of conditions. The World Health Organization has recognized the value of traditional healing techniques, which are classified as CAM, for 30 years. In the United States nearly 50% of women use CAM for common medical conditions, significantly more than men. This pattern is frequently seen in the treatment of women's health conditions such as infertility, premenstrual syndrome, and menopause. This article provides an integrative approach for conditions commonly encountered in the primary care setting among women, discusses alternative therapies used to treat these health conditions, and provides an evidence-based summary of recommendations based on a review of the literature. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Violence Prevention: A Topical Newsletter.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bourland, Eric

1995-01-01

This newsletter theme issue addresses the issue of violence prevention in American schools and is based on presentations and discussions at the Workgroup To Improve the Quality of Technical Assistance around the Topic of Violence Prevention held in Washington, D.C. on June 12-14, 1995. The newsletter reports on the following presentation topics:…

Swine: Selection and Evaluation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clemson Univ., SC. Vocational Education Media Center.

Designed for secondary vocational agriculture students, this text provides an overview of selecting and evaluating swine in Future Farmers of America livestock judging events. The first of four major sections addresses topics such as the main points in evaluating market hogs and breeding swine and provides an example class of swine. Section 2,…

Knowledge based identification of MAO-B selective inhibitors using pharmacophore and structure based virtual screening models.

PubMed

Boppana, Kiran; Dubey, P K; Jagarlapudi, Sarma A R P; Vadivelan, S; Rambabu, G

2009-09-01

Monoamine Oxidase B interaction with known ligands was investigated using combined pharmacophore and structure based modeling approach. The docking results suggested that the pharmacophore and docking models are in good agreement and are used to identify the selective MAO-B inhibitors. The best model, Hypo2 consists of three pharmacophore features, i.e., one hydrogen bond acceptor, one hydrogen bond donor and one ring aromatic. The Hypo2 model was used to screen an in-house database of 80,000 molecules and have resulted in 5500 compounds. Docking studies were performed, subsequently, on the cluster representatives of 530 hits from 5500 compounds. Based on the structural novelty and selectivity index, we have suggested 15 selective MAO-B inhibitors for further synthesis and pharmacological screening.

Selected Materials on the Chicano.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gomez-Q., Juan, Comp.

Over 200 selected materials on the Chicano are listed in this bibliography. These materials include bibliographies, statistical materials, books, articles, journals, films, and newspapers which pertain to the Mexican American population. The materials consist of such topics as the Mexican American community; their culture, history, heritage,…

ELA-max: A new topical lidocaine formulation.

PubMed

Goldman, Ran D

2004-05-01

To evaluate the role of a new formulation of lidocaine (ELA-max) in local anesthesia in children and compare it with the eutectic mixture of local anesthetics (EMLA). Relevant literature was identified by a MEDLINE search (1966-November 2003) using the search terms ELA-max and EMLA. Bibliographies of selected articles were also examined to include all relevant investigations. The product manufacturer was contacted for inclusion of the most recent data available. Topical anesthesia in children is clinically challenging. ELA-max has been shown to be as effective as EMLA for venipuncture in children, but with faster onset. Adverse effects, such as transient blanching with redness and erythema, have been reported. Further investigation is needed to determine the effectiveness of ELA-max on other painful procedures in children, as well as its safety.

Task-Driven Comparison of Topic Models.

PubMed

Alexander, Eric; Gleicher, Michael

2016-01-01

Topic modeling, a method of statistically extracting thematic content from a large collection of texts, is used for a wide variety of tasks within text analysis. Though there are a growing number of tools and techniques for exploring single models, comparisons between models are generally reduced to a small set of numerical metrics. These metrics may or may not reflect a model's performance on the analyst's intended task, and can therefore be insufficient to diagnose what causes differences between models. In this paper, we explore task-centric topic model comparison, considering how we can both provide detail for a more nuanced understanding of differences and address the wealth of tasks for which topic models are used. We derive comparison tasks from single-model uses of topic models, which predominantly fall into the categories of understanding topics, understanding similarity, and understanding change. Finally, we provide several visualization techniques that facilitate these tasks, including buddy plots, which combine color and position encodings to allow analysts to readily view changes in document similarity.

Topical anesthesia for penetrating trabeculectomy.

PubMed

Sauder, Gangolf; Jonas, Jost B

2002-09-01

To evaluate the efficacy and clinical practicability of topical anesthesia in comparison with retrobulbar anesthesia for penetrating trabeculectomy. The prospective single-surgeon clinical interventional trial included 20 consecutive patients, who were randomly distributed into a topical anesthesia group ( n=10) and a retrobulbar anesthesia group ( n=10). In the topical anesthesia group, patients received preoperatively oxybuprocaine 0.4% eye drops and cocaine hydrochloride eye drops 10%. The patients of the retrobulbar group received 5 ml mepivacaine 2% injected into the retrobulbar space. To assess intraoperative pain, each patient was asked immediately after surgery to quantitate his/her pain using a 10-point pain rating scale. The topical anesthesia group and the retrobulbar anesthesia study group did not vary significantly in duration of surgery (21.5+/-3.37 min vs 20.2+/-4.46 min, P=0.31), preoperative intraocular pressure (32.2+/-14.62 mmHg vs 30.6+/-12.33 mmHg, P=0.22), postoperative intraocular pressure (8.0+/-4.47 mmHg vs 9.12+/-3.13 mmHg, P=0.64), subjective pain score by the patient (2.25+/-1.23 relative units vs 2.33+/-1.08 relative units ( P= 0.71), and practicability score by the surgeon (2.24+/-1.76 vs 2.56+/-1.58, P=0.82). In view of its clinical feasibility and its minimally invasive character, topical anesthesia may be an option for penetrating trabeculectomy.

Identifying Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) Research in Selected Journals Published from 2003 to 2012: A Content Analysis of Research Topics and Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zheng, Lanqin; Huang, Ronghuai; Yu, Junhui

2014-01-01

This study aims to identity the emerging research trends in the field of computed-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) so as to provide insights for researchers and educators into research topics and issues for further exploration. This paper analyzed the research topics, methods and technology adoption of CSCL from 2003 to 2012. A total of 706…

Structural adaptations to diverse fighting styles in sexually selected weapons

PubMed Central

McCullough, Erin L.; Tobalske, Bret W.; Emlen, Douglas J.

2014-01-01

The shapes of sexually selected weapons differ widely among species, but the drivers of this diversity remain poorly understood. Existing explanations suggest weapon shapes reflect structural adaptations to different fighting styles, yet explicit tests of this hypothesis are lacking. We constructed finite element models of the horns of different rhinoceros beetle species to test whether functional specializations for increased performance under species-specific fighting styles could have contributed to the diversification of weapon form. We find that horns are both stronger and stiffer in response to species-typical fighting loads and that they perform more poorly under atypical fighting loads, which suggests weapons are structurally adapted to meet the functional demands of fighting. Our research establishes a critical link between weapon form and function, revealing one way male–male competition can drive the diversification of animal weapons. PMID:25201949

Structural adaptations to diverse fighting styles in sexually selected weapons.

PubMed

McCullough, Erin L; Tobalske, Bret W; Emlen, Douglas J

2014-10-07

The shapes of sexually selected weapons differ widely among species, but the drivers of this diversity remain poorly understood. Existing explanations suggest weapon shapes reflect structural adaptations to different fighting styles, yet explicit tests of this hypothesis are lacking. We constructed finite element models of the horns of different rhinoceros beetle species to test whether functional specializations for increased performance under species-specific fighting styles could have contributed to the diversification of weapon form. We find that horns are both stronger and stiffer in response to species-typical fighting loads and that they perform more poorly under atypical fighting loads, which suggests weapons are structurally adapted to meet the functional demands of fighting. Our research establishes a critical link between weapon form and function, revealing one way male-male competition can drive the diversification of animal weapons.

Femtosecond laser fabricated spike structures for selective control of cellular behavior.

PubMed

Schlie, Sabrina; Fadeeva, Elena; Koch, Jürgen; Ngezahayo, Anaclet; Chichkov, Boris N

2010-09-01

In this study we investigate the potential of femtosecond laser generated micrometer sized spike structures as functional surfaces for selective cell controlling. The spike dimensions as well as the average spike to spike distance can be easily tuned by varying the process parameters. Moreover, negative replications in soft materials such as silicone elastomer can be produced. This allows tailoring of wetting properties of the spike structures and their negative replicas representing a reduced surface contact area. Furthermore, we investigated material effects on cellular behavior. By comparing human fibroblasts and SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells we found that the influence of the material was cell specific. The cells not only changed their morphology, but also the cell growth was affected. Whereas, neuroblastoma cells proliferated at the same rate on the spike structures as on the control surfaces, the proliferation of fibroblasts was reduced by the spike structures. These effects can result from the cell specific adhesion patterns as shown in this work. These findings show a possibility to design defined surface microstructures, which could control cellular behavior in a cell specific manner.

A computational proposal for designing structured RNA pools for in vitro selection of RNAs.

PubMed

Kim, Namhee; Gan, Hin Hark; Schlick, Tamar

2007-04-01

Although in vitro selection technology is a versatile experimental tool for discovering novel synthetic RNA molecules, finding complex RNA molecules is difficult because most RNAs identified from random sequence pools are simple motifs, consistent with recent computational analysis of such sequence pools. Thus, enriching in vitro selection pools with complex structures could increase the probability of discovering novel RNAs. Here we develop an approach for engineering sequence pools that links RNA sequence space regions with corresponding structural distributions via a "mixing matrix" approach combined with a graph theory analysis. We define five classes of mixing matrices motivated by covariance mutations in RNA; these constructs define nucleotide transition rates and are applied to chosen starting sequences to yield specific nonrandom pools. We examine the coverage of sequence space as a function of the mixing matrix and starting sequence via clustering analysis. We show that, in contrast to random sequences, which are associated only with a local region of sequence space, our designed pools, including a structured pool for GTP aptamers, can target specific motifs. It follows that experimental synthesis of designed pools can benefit from using optimized starting sequences, mixing matrices, and pool fractions associated with each of our constructed pools as a guide. Automation of our approach could provide practical tools for pool design applications for in vitro selection of RNAs and related problems.

Document Delivery: An Annotated Selective Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khalil, Mounir A.; Katz, Suzanne R.

1992-01-01

Presents a selective annotated bibliography of 61 items that deal with topics related to document delivery, including networks; hypertext; interlibrary loan; computer security; electronic publishing; copyright; online catalogs; resource sharing; electronic mail; electronic libraries; optical character recognition; microcomputers; liability issues;…

Selection for territory acquisition is modulated by social network structure in a wild songbird

PubMed Central

Farine, D R; Sheldon, B C

2015-01-01

The social environment may be a key mediator of selection that operates on animals. In many cases, individuals may experience selection not only as a function of their phenotype, but also as a function of the interaction between their phenotype and the phenotypes of the conspecifics they associate with. For example, when animals settle after dispersal, individuals may benefit from arriving early, but, in many cases, these benefits will be affected by the arrival times of other individuals in their local environment. We integrated a recently described method for calculating assortativity on weighted networks, which is the correlation between an individual's phenotype and that of its associates, into an existing framework for measuring the magnitude of social selection operating on phenotypes. We applied this approach to large-scale data on social network structure and the timing of arrival into the breeding area over three years. We found that late-arriving individuals had a reduced probability of breeding. However, the probability of breeding was also influenced by individuals’ social networks. Associating with late-arriving conspecifics increased the probability of successfully acquiring a breeding territory. Hence, social selection could offset the effects of nonsocial selection. Given parallel theoretical developments of the importance of local network structure on population processes, and increasing data being collected on social networks in free-living populations, the integration of these concepts could yield significant insights into social evolution. PMID:25611344

Eosinophilic Esophagitis: MedlinePlus Health Topic