A conserved residue, PomB-F22, in the transmembrane segment of the flagellar stator complex, has a critical role in conducting ions and generating torque.

PubMed

Terauchi, Takashi; Terashima, Hiroyuki; Kojima, Seiji; Homma, Michio

2011-08-01

Bacterial flagellar motors exploit the electrochemical potential gradient of a coupling ion (H(+) or Na(+)) as their energy source, and are composed of stator and rotor proteins. Sodium-driven and proton-driven motors have the stator proteins PomA and PomB or MotA and MotB, respectively, which interact with each other in their transmembrane (TM) regions to form an ion channel. The single TM region of PomB or MotB, which forms the ion-conduction pathway together with TM3 and TM4 of PomA or MotA, respectively, has a highly conserved aspartate residue that is the ion binding site and is essential for rotation. To investigate the ion conductivity and selectivity of the Na(+)-driven PomA/PomB stator complex, we replaced conserved residues predicted to be near the conserved aspartate with H(+)-type residues, PomA-N194Y, PomB-F22Y and/or PomB-S27T. Motility analysis revealed that the ion specificity was not changed by either of the PomB mutations. PomB-F22Y required a higher concentration of Na(+) to exhibit swimming, but this effect was suppressed by additional mutations, PomA-N194Y or PomB-S27T. Moreover, the motility of the PomB-F22Y mutant was resistant to phenamil, a specific inhibitor for the Na(+) channel. When PomB-F22 was changed to other amino acids and the effects on swimming ability were investigated, replacement with a hydrophilic residue decreased the maximum swimming speed and conferred strong resistance to phenamil. From these results, we speculate that the Na(+) flux is reduced by the PomB-F22Y mutation, and that PomB-F22 is important for the effective release of Na(+) from PomB-D24.

[Automatic analysis of the interference EMG of the brachioradial muscle in neuropathy of the radial nerve].

PubMed

Popelianskiĭ, Ia Iu; Bogdanov, E I; Khamidullina, V Z

1988-01-01

In 8 patients with radial neuropathy the authors studied histograms of distribution of potentials of motor units (PMU) by their duration, as well as of the number of intercrossings (T) and the mean amplitude of interference EMG of the musculus brachioradialis. The findings included a decrease in the T value and T/M ratio in the presence of an insignificant shift of the histograms and of the mean duration of PMU. With regard to the diagnosis of early neuropathies a reduction in the average value of T and T/M in the presence of ungraded voluntary tension of the muscle is diagnostically more important than changes in the duration of individual PMU.

Kick Stick Hands-on Challenge: Discover Circuits with PBS's "Design Squad Nation"[TM

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feinberg, Lauren

2011-01-01

This article describes the "Kick Stick" activity from Design Squad Nation, in which kids turn a wooden paint stirrer and circuit into a motorized, spinning arm--then use it to kick a Ping-Pong[R] ball across the floor. Teachers can enrich their students' exploration of circuits and emphasize the engineering design process with "Design Squad…

Evaluation of Retrofit Variable-Speed Furnace Fan Motors

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

Aldrich, R.; Williamson, J.

2014-01-01

In conjunction with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and Proctor Engineering Group, Ltd. (PEG), the Consortium for Advanced Residential Buildings (CARB) has evaluated the Concept 3 (tm) replacement motors for residential furnaces. These brushless, permanent magnet (BPM) motors can use much less electricity than their PSC (permanent split capacitor) predecessors. This evaluation focuses on existing homes in the heating-dominated climate of upstate New York with the goals of characterizing field performance and cost-effectiveness. The results of this study are intended to be useful to home performance contractors, HVAC contractors, and home efficiency program stakeholders. Themore » project includes eight homes in and near Syracuse, NY. Tests and monitoring was performed both before and after fan motors were replaced. Average fan power reductions were approximately 126 Watts during heating and 220 Watts during cooling operation. Over the course of entire heating and cooling seasons, these translated into average electric energy savings of 163 kWh. Average cost savings were $20 per year. Homes where the fan was used outside of heating and cooling mode saved an additional $42 per year on average. Results indicate that BPM replacement motors will be most cost-effective in HVAC systems with longer run times and relatively low duct static pressures. More dramatic savings are possible if occupants use the fan-only setting when there is no thermal load. There are millions of cold-climate, U.S. homes that meet these criteria, but the savings in most homes tested in this study were modest.« less

Countermeasures for Maintenance of Cardiovascular and Muscle Function in Space Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

In this session, Session FA2, the discussion focuses on the following topics: Effects of Repeated Long Duration +2Gz Load on Man's Cardiovascular Function; Certain Approaches to the Development of On-Board Automated Training System; Cardiac, Arterial, and Venous Adaptation to Og during 6 Month MIR-Spaceflights with and without "Thigh Cuffs" (93-95); Space Cycle(TM) Induced Physiologic Responses; Muscular Deconditioning During Long-term Spaceflight Exercise Recommendations to Optimize Crew Performance; Structure And Function of Knee Extensors After Long-Duration Spaceflight in Man, Effects of Countermeasure Exercise Training; Force and power characteristics of an exercise ergometer designed for use in space; and The simulating of overgravity conditions for astronauts' motor apparatus at the conditions of the training for orbital flights.

Molecular cloing and bioinformatics analysis of lactate dehydrogenase from Taenia multiceps.

PubMed

Guo, Cheng; Wang, Yu; Huang, Xing; Wang, Ning; Yan, Ming; He, Ran; Gu, Xiaobin; Xie, Yue; Lai, Weimin; Jing, Bo; Peng, Xuerong; Yang, Guangyou

2017-10-01

Coenurus cerebralis, the larval stage (metacestode or coenurus) of Taenia multiceps, parasitizes sheep, goats, and other ruminants and causes coenurosis. In this study, we isolated and characterized complementary DNAs that encode lactate dehydrogenase A (Tm-LDHA) and B (Tm-LDHB) from the transcriptome of T. multiceps and expressed recombinant Tm-LDHB (rTm-LDHB) in Escherichia coli. Bioinformatic analysis showed that both Tm-LDH genes (LDHA and LDHB) contain a 996-bp open reading frame and encode a protein of 331 amino acids. After determination of the immunogenicity of the recombinant Tm-LDHB, an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for preliminary evaluation of the serodiagnostic potential of rTm-LDHB in goats. However, the rTm-LDHB-based indirect ELISA developed here exhibited specificity of only 71.42% (10/14) and sensitivity of 1:3200 in detection of goats infected with T. multiceps in the field. This study is the first to describe LDHA and LDHB of T. multiceps; meanwhile, our results indicate that rTm-LDHB is not a specific antigen candidate for immunodiagnosis of T. multiceps infection in goats.

ANTHROPOMORPHIC PHANTOMS FOR ASSESSMENT OF STRAIN IMAGING METHODS INVOLVING SALINE-INFUSED SONOHYSTEROGRAPHY

PubMed Central

Hobson, Maritza A.; Madsen, Ernest L.; Frank, Gary R.; Jiang, Jingfeng; Shi, Hairong; Hall, Timothy J.; Varghese, Tomy

2008-01-01

Two anthropomorphic uterine phantoms were developed which allow assessment and comparison of strain imaging systems adapted for use with saline-infused sonohysterography (SIS). Tissue-mimicking (TM) materials consist of dispersions of safflower oil in gelatin. TM fibroids are stiffer than the TM myometrium/cervix and TM polyps are softer. The first uterine phantom has 3-mm diameter TM fibroids randomly distributed in TM myometrium. The second uterine phantom has a 5-mm and an 8-mm spherical TM fibroid in addition to a 5-mm spherical and a 12.5-mm long (medicine-capsule-shaped) TM endometrial polyp protruding into the endometrial cavity; also, a 10-mm spherical TM fibroid projects from the serosal surface. Strain images using the first phantom show the stiffer 3-mm TM fibroids in the myometrium. Results from the second uterine phantom show that, as expected, parts of inclusions projecting into the uterine cavity will appear very stiff, whether they are stiff or soft. Results from both phantoms show that even though there is a five-fold difference in the Young’s moduli values, there is not a significant difference in the strain in the transition from the TM myometrium to the TM fat. These phantoms allow for realistic comparison and evolution of SIS strain imaging techniques and can aid clinical personnel to develop skills for SIS strain imaging. PMID:18514999

Down-Regulation of TM29, a Tomato SEPALLATA Homolog, Causes Parthenocarpic Fruit Development and Floral Reversion1

PubMed Central

Ampomah-Dwamena, Charles; Morris, Bret A.; Sutherland, Paul; Veit, Bruce; Yao, Jia-Long

2002-01-01

We have characterized the tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) MADS box gene TM29 that shared a high amino acid sequence homology to the Arabidopsis SEP1, 2, and 3 (SEPALLATA1, 2, and 3) genes. TM29 showed similar expression profiles to SEP1, with accumulation of mRNA in the primordia of all four whorls of floral organs. In addition, TM29 mRNA was detected in inflorescence and vegetative meristems. To understand TM29 function, we produced transgenic tomato plants in which TM29 expression was down-regulated by either cosuppression or antisense techniques. These transgenic plants produced aberrant flowers with morphogenetic alterations in the organs of the inner three whorls. Petals and stamens were green rather than yellow, suggesting a partial conversion to a sepalloid identity. Stamens and ovaries were infertile, with the later developing into parthenocarpic fruit. Ectopic shoots with partially developed leaves and secondary flowers emerged from the fruit. These shoots resembled the primary transgenic flowers and continued to produce parthenocarpic fruit and additional ectopic shoots. Based on the temporal and spatial expression pattern and transgenic phenotypes, we propose that TM29 functions in floral organ development, fruit development, and maintenance of floral meristem identity in tomato. PMID:12376628

TM4SF5-Mediated Roles in the Development of Fibrotic Phenotypes

PubMed Central

Ryu, Jihye

2017-01-01

Transmembrane 4 L six family member 5 (TM4SF5) can form tetraspanin-enriched microdomains (TERMs) on the cell's surface. TERMs contain protein-protein complexes comprised of tetraspanins, growth factor receptors, and integrins. These complexes regulate communication between extracellular and intracellular spaces to control diverse cellular functions. TM4SF5 influences the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), aberrant multilayer cellular growth, drug resistance, enhanced migration and invasion, circulation through the bloodstream, tumor-initiation property, metastasis, and muscle development in zebrafish. Here, current data on TM4SF5's roles in the development of fibrotic phenotypes are reviewed. TM4SF5 is induced by transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) signaling via a collaboration with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation. TM4SF5, by itself or in concert with other receptors, transduces signals intracellularly. In hepatocytes, TM4SF5 expression regulates cell cycle progression, migration, and expression of extracellular matrix components. In CCl4-treated mice, TM4SF5, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and collagen I expression are observed together along the fibrotic septa regions of the liver. These fibrotic phenotypes are diminished by anti-TM4SF5 reagents, such as a specific small compound [TSAHC, 4′-(p-toluenesulfonylamido)-4-hydroxychalcone] or a chimeric antibody. This review discusses the antifibrotic strategies that target TM4SF5 and its associated protein networks that regulate the intracellular signaling necessary for fibrotic functions of hepatocytes. PMID:28458469

Differential Diagnosis in Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis and Tuberculous Mastitis

PubMed Central

Seo, Hee Ri Na; Na, Kuk Young; Yim, Hyun Ee; Kim, Tae Hee; Kang, Doo Kyoung; Oh, Ki Keun; Kang, Seok Yun; An, Young-Sil; Chun, Mison; Kim, Woojae; Park, Rae Woong; Jung, Yong Sik

2012-01-01

Purpose Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a rare chronic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology. The diagnosis of IGM requires that other granulomatous lesions in the breast be excluded. Tuberculous mastitis (TM) is also an uncommon disease that is often difficult to differentiate from IGM. The purpose of this study is to develop a new algorithm for the differential diagnosis and treatment of IGM and TM. Methods Medical records of 68 patients (58 with IGM and 10 with TM) between July 1999 and February 2009 were retrospectively reviewed. Results The mean age of the patients was 33.5 (IGM) and 40 (TM) years (p=0.018). The median follow-up was 84 months. Of the total 10 patients with TM, 5 patients had a history of pulmonary tuberculosis. The most common symptoms of the diseases were breast lump and pain. However, axillary lymphadenopathy was more seen in TM (50%) compared to IGM (20.6%) (p=0.048). TM showed more cancer-mimicking findings on radiologic study (p=0.028). In IGM, 48 patients (82.7%) underwent surgical wide excision and 21 patients (36.2%) were managed with corticosteroid therapy and antibiotics. All of the TM patients received anti-tuberculosis medications and 9 patients (90%) underwent wide excision. The mean treatment duration was 2.8 months in IGM and 8.4 months in TM. Recurrence developed in 5 patients (8.6%) in IGM and 1 patient (10%) in TM. Conclusion This study shows different characteristics between IGM and TM. The IGM patients were younger and had more mastalgia symptoms than the TM patients. Axillary lymphadenopathy was seen more often in TM patients. Half of the TM patients had pulmonary tuberculosis or tuberculosis lymphadenitis. Surgical wide excision might be both therapeutic and useful for providing an exact diagnosis. PMID:22493637

CRYO-EM STRUCTURES OF THE ACTIN:TROPOMYOSIN FILAMENT REVEAL THE MECHANISM FOR THE TRANSITION FROM C- TO M-STATE

PubMed Central

Sousa, Duncan R.; Stagg, Scott M.; Stroupe, M. Elizabeth

2013-01-01

Tropomyosin is a key factor in the molecular mechanisms that regulate the binding of myosin motors to actin filaments in most eukaryotic cells. This regulation is achieved by the azimuthal repositioning of tropomyosin along the actin:tropomyosin:troponin thin filament to block or expose myosin binding sites on actin. In striated muscle, including involuntary cardiac muscle, tropomyosin regulates muscle contraction by coupling Ca2+ binding to troponin with myosin binding to the thin filament. In smooth muscle, the switch is the post-translational modification of the myosin. Depending on the activation state of troponin and the binding state of myosin, tropomyosin can occupy the blocked, closed, or open position on actin. Using native cryogenic 3DEM, we have directly resolved and visualized cardiac and gizzard muscle tropomyosin on filamentous actin in the position that corresponds to the closed state. From the 8-Å resolution structure of the reconstituted Ac:Tm filament formed with gizzard-derived Tm we discuss two possible mechanisms for the transition from closed to open state and describe the role Tm plays in blocking myosin tight binding in the closed state position. PMID:24021812

A prospectus for Thematic Mapper research in the Earth sciences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

Earth science applications of Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery are discussed. Prospective research themes are defined in a general sense in relation to the technical measurement capabilities of the TM and the various types of Earth information that can potentially be derived from multispectral TM imagery. An overview of the system developed to acquire and reduce TM data is presented. The technical capabilities of this system are presented in detail. The orbital performance of the TM sensor is described, based upon the analysis of LANDSAT 4 and 5 TM data collected to date.

WE-G-213CD-06: Implementation of Real-Time Tumor Tracking Using Robotic Couch.

PubMed

Buzurovic, I; Yu, Y; Podder, T

2012-06-01

The purpose of this study was to present a novel method for real- time tumor tracking using a commercially available robotic treatment couch, and to evaluate tumor tracking accuracy. Commercially available robotic couches are capable of positioning patients with high level of accuracy; however, currently there is no provision for compensating tumor motion using these systems. Elekta's existing commercial couch (PreciseTM Table) was used without changing its design. To establish the real-time couch motion for tracking, a novel control system was developed and implemented. The tabletop could be moved in horizontal plane (laterally and longitudinally) using two Maxon-24V motors with gearbox combination. Vertical motion was obtained using robust 70V-Rockwell Automation motor. For vertical motor position sensing, we used Model 755A-Accu- Coder encoder. Two Baumer-ITD_01_4mm shaft encoders were used for the lateral and longitudinal motions of the couch. Motors were connected to the Advance Motion Controls (AMC) amplifiers: for the vertical motion, motor AMC-20A20-INV amplifier was used, and two AMC-Z6A8 amplifiers were applied for the lateral and longitudinal couch motions. The Galil DMC-4133 controller was connected to standard PC computer using USB port. The system had two independent power supplies: Galil PSR-12- 24-12A, 24vdc power supply with diodes for controller and 24vdc motors and amplifiers, and Galil-PS300W72 72vdc power supply for vertical motion. Control algorithms were developed for position and velocity adjustment. The system was tested for real-time tracking in the range of 50mm in all 3 directions (superior-inferior, lateral, anterior- posterior). Accuracies were 0.15, 0.20, and 0.18mm, respectively. Repeatability of the desired motion was within ± 0.2mm. Experimental results of couch tracking show feasibility of real-time tumor tracking with high level of accuracy (within sub-millimeter range). This tracking technique potentially offers a simple and effective method to minimize healthy tissues irradiation.Acknowledgement: Study supported by Elekta,Ltd. Study supported by Elekta, Ltd. © 2012 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Use of the TM tasseled cap transform for interpretation of spectral contrasts in an urban scene

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goward, S. N.; Wharton, S. W.

1984-01-01

Investigations are being conducted with the objective to develop automated numerical image analysis procedures. In this context, an examination is performed of physically-based multispectral data transforms as a means to incorporate a priori knowledge of land radiance properties in the analysis process. A physically-based transform of TM observations was developed. This transform extends the Landsat MSS Tasseled Cap transform reported by Kauth and Thomas (1976) to TM data observations. The present study has the aim to examine the utility of the TM Tasseled Cap transform as applied to TM data from an urban landscape. The analysis conducted is based on 512 x 512 subset of the Washington, DC November 2, 1982 TM scene, centered on Springfield, VA. It appears that the TM tasseled cap transformation provides a good means to explain land physical attributes of the Washington scene. This result provides a suggestion regarding a direction by which a priori knowledge of landscape spectral patterns may be incorporated into numerical image analysis.

Trabecular meshwork stiffness in glaucoma.

PubMed

Wang, Ke; Read, A Thomas; Sulchek, Todd; Ethier, C Ross

2017-05-01

Alterations in stiffness of the trabecular meshwork (TM) may play an important role in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), the second leading cause of blindness. Specifically, certain data suggest an association between elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) and increased TM stiffness; however, the underlying link between TM stiffness and IOP remains unclear and requires further study. We here first review the literature on TM stiffness measurements, encompassing various species and based on a number of measurement techniques, including direct approaches such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) and uniaxial tension tests, and indirect methods based on a beam deflection model. We also briefly review the effects of several factors that affect TM stiffness, including lysophospholipids, rho-kinase inhibitors, cytoskeletal disrupting agents, dexamethasone (DEX), transforming growth factor-β 2 (TGF-β 2 ), nitric oxide (NO) and cellular senescence. We then describe a method we have developed for determining TM stiffness measurement in mice using a cryosection/AFM-based approach, and present preliminary data on TM stiffness in C57BL/6J and CBA/J mouse strains. Finally, we investigate the relationship between TM stiffness and outflow facility between these two strains. The method we have developed shows promise for further direct measurements of mouse TM stiffness, which may be of value in understanding mechanistic relations between outflow facility and TM biomechanical properties. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CCRS proposal for evaluating LANDSAT-4 MSS and TM data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strome, W. M.; Cihlar, J.; Goodenough, D. G.; Guertin, F. E. (Principal Investigator); Guindon, B.; Murphy, J.; Butlin, J. M.; Duff, P.; Fitzgerald, A.; Grieve, G.

1984-01-01

The measurement of registration errors in LANDSAT MSS data is discussed as well as the development of a revised algorithm for the radiometric calibration of TM data and the production of a geocoded TM image.

Injection-seeded operation of a Q-switched Cr,Tm,Ho:YAG laser

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Henderson, Sammy W.; Hale, Charley P.; Magee, James R.

1991-01-01

Single-frequency Tm,Ho:YAG lasers operating near 2 microns are attractive sources for several applications including eye-safe laser radar (lidar) and pumping of AgGaSe2 parametric oscillators for efficient generation of longer wavelengths. As part of a program to develop a coherent lidar system using Tm,Ho:YAG lasers, a diode laser-pumped tunable CW single-longitudinal-mode (SLM) Cr:Tm:Ho:YAG laser and a flashlamp-pumped single-transverse-mode Q-switched Cr,Tm,Ho:YAG laser were developed. The CW laser was used to injection-seed the flashlamp-pumped laser, resulting in SLM Q-switched output. Operational characteristics of the CW and Q-switched lasers and injection-seeding results are reported.

An Approach to Prognostic Decision Making in the Aerospace Domain

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

jumps to other promising locations of the search space. The probability of continuing with the local search vs . performing a jump is influenced by an...and right, respectively. Altitude h is determined using λ, φ and a terrain map M...ωFR, ωBL, ωBR attitude (yaw, pitch, roll) α, β, γ battery temperature Tb1, Tb2, Tb3, Tb4 battery voltage Vb1, Vb2, Vb3, Vb4 motor temperature TmFL

Primary chronic daily headache and its subtypes in adolescents and adults.

PubMed

Bigal, M E; Lipton, R B; Tepper, S J; Rapoport, A M; Sheftell, F D

2004-09-14

To determine the relative frequency of chronic daily headache (CDH) subtypes in adolescents and to compare the distribution of CDH subtypes in adolescents and adults of various ages. Adolescents (13 to 17 years, n = 170) and adults (18 or older, n = 638) were recruited during the same time frame. CDH subtypes were classified according the criteria proposed by Silberstein and Lipton (1996) as transformed migraine (TM), chronic tension-type headache (CTTH), new daily persistent headache (NDPH), and hemicrania continua (HC). Among adolescents and adults there were substantial differences in the distribution of CDH subtypes. The relative frequency of TM was lower in adolescents (68.8% vs 87.4%, p < 0.001), while NDPH (21.1% vs 10.8%, p < 0.001) and CTTH (10.1% vs 0.9%, p < 0.0001) were more common. HC (0 vs 0.9%, NS) was equally rare. The lower relative frequency of TM in adolescents was accounted for by TM with medication overuse (TM+), much more common in adults (28.2% vs 62.5%, p < 0.001). In fact, TM without medication overuse (TM-) was more common in adolescents (40.5% vs 24.9%, p < 0.001). The relative frequency of TM+ increased until the age of 50 years (p < 0.001). In adolescents with CDH, TM usually develops without medication overuse. Adolescents with the early onset form of TM may develop the disorder in the absence of medication overuse because they are at increased biologic risk.

Review of Tm and Ho Materials; Spectroscopy and Lasers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walsh, Brian M.

2008-01-01

A review of Tm and Ho materials is presented, covering some fundamental aspects on the spectroscopy and laser dynamics in both single and co-doped systems. Following an introduction to 2- m lasers, applications and historical development, the physics of quasi-four level lasers, energy transfer and modeling are discussed in some detail. Recent developments in using Tm lasers to pump Ho lasers are discussed, and seen to offer some advantages over conventional Tm:Ho lasers. This article is not intended as a complete review, but as a primer for introducing concepts and a resource for further study.

Longitudinal spread of mechanical excitation through tectorial membrane traveling waves

PubMed Central

Sellon, Jonathan B.; Farrahi, Shirin; Ghaffari, Roozbeh; Freeman, Dennis M.

2015-01-01

The mammalian inner ear separates sounds by their frequency content, and this separation underlies important properties of human hearing, including our ability to understand speech in noisy environments. Studies of genetic disorders of hearing have demonstrated a link between frequency selectivity and wave properties of the tectorial membrane (TM). To understand these wave properties better, we developed chemical manipulations that systematically and reversibly alter TM stiffness and viscosity. Using microfabricated shear probes, we show that (i) reducing pH reduces TM stiffness with little change in TM viscosity and (ii) adding PEG increases TM viscosity with little change in TM stiffness. By applying these manipulations in measurements of TM waves, we show that TM wave speed is determined primarily by stiffness at low frequencies and by viscosity at high frequencies. Both TM viscosity and stiffness affect the longitudinal spread of mechanical excitation through the TM over a broad range of frequencies. Increasing TM viscosity or decreasing stiffness reduces longitudinal spread of mechanical excitation, thereby coupling a smaller range of best frequencies and sharpening tuning. In contrast, increasing viscous loss or decreasing stiffness would tend to broaden tuning in resonance-based TM models. Thus, TM wave and resonance mechanisms are fundamentally different in the way they control frequency selectivity. PMID:26438861

Unique Reactivity of Transition Metal Atoms Embedded in Graphene to CO, NO, O₂ and O Adsorption: A First-Principles Investigation.

PubMed

Chu, Minmin; Liu, Xin; Sui, Yanhui; Luo, Jie; Meng, Changgong

2015-10-27

Taking the adsorption of CO, NO, O₂ and O as probes, we investigated the electronic structure of transition metal atoms (TM, TM = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn) embedded in graphene by first-principles-based calculations. We showed that these TM atoms can be effectively stabilized on monovacancy defects on graphene by forming plausible interactions with the C atoms associated with dangling bonds. These interactions not only give rise to high energy barriers for the diffusion and aggregation of the embedded TM atoms to withstand the interference of reaction environments, but also shift the energy levels of TM-d states and regulate the reactivity of the embedded TM atoms. The adsorption of CO, NO, O₂ and O correlates well with the weight averaged energy level of TM-d states, showing the crucial role of interfacial TM-C interactions on manipulating the reactivity of embedded TM atoms. These findings pave the way for the developments of effective monodispersed atomic TM composites with high stability and desired performance for gas sensing and catalytic applications.

An Initial Analysis of LANDSAT-4 Thematic Mapper Data for the Discrimination of Agricultural, Forested Wetlands, and Urban Land Cover. [Poinsett County, Arkansas; and Reelfoot Lake and Union City, Tennessee

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quattrochi, D. A.

1985-01-01

The capabilities of TM data for discriminating land covers within three particular cultural and ecological realms was assessed. The agricultural investigation in Poinsett County, Arkansas illustrates that TM data can successfully be used to discriminate a variety of crop cover types within the study area. The single-date TM classification produced results that were significantly better than those developed from multitemporal MSS data. For the Reelfoot Lake area of Tennessee TM data, processed using unsupervised signature development techniques, produced a detailed classification of forested wetlands with excellent accuracy. Even in a small city of approximately 15,000 people (Union City, Tennessee). TM data can successfully be used to spectrally distinguish specific urban classes. Furthermore, the principal components analysis evaluation of the data shows that through photointerpretation, it is possible to distinguish individual buildings and roof responses with the TM.

Development of a data acquisition system using a RISC/UNIX TM workstation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takeuchi, Y.; Tanimori, T.; Yasu, Y.

1993-05-01

We have developed a compact data acquisition system on RISC/UNIX workstations. A SUN TM SPARCstation TM IPC was used, in which an extension bus "SBus TM" was linked to a VMEbus. The transfer rate achieved was better than 7 Mbyte/s between the VMEbus and the SUN. A device driver for CAMAC was developed in order to realize an interruptive feature in UNIX. In addition, list processing has been incorporated in order to keep the high priority of the data handling process in UNIX. The successful developments of both device driver and list processing have made it possible to realize the good real-time feature on the RISC/UNIX system. Based on this architecture, a portable and versatile data taking system has been developed, which consists of a graphical user interface, I/O handler, user analysis process, process manager and a CAMAC device driver.

Utilizing remote sensing of thematic mapper data to improve our understanding of estuarine processes and their influence on the productivity of estuarine-dependent fisheries

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Browder, Joan A.; May, L. Nelson, Jr.; Rosenthal, Alan; Baumann, Robert H.; Gosselink, James G.

1987-01-01

A stochastic spatial computer model addressing coastal resource problems in Lousiana is being refined and validated using thematic mapper (TM) imagery. The TM images of brackish marsh sites were processed and data were tabulated on spatial parameters from TM images of the salt marsh sites. The Fisheries Image Processing Systems (FIPS) was used to analyze the TM scene. Activities were concentrated on improving the structure of the model and developing a structure and methodology for calibrating the model with spatial-pattern data from the TM imagery.

The SCERTS[TM] Model: A Comprehensive Educational Approach for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prizant, Barry M.; Wetherby, Amy M.; Rubin, Emily; Laurent, Amy C.; Rydell, Patrick J.

2005-01-01

A groundbreaking synthesis of developmental, relationship-based, and skill-based approaches, The SCERTS[TM] Model provides a framework for improving communication and social-emotional abilities in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and their families. Developed by internationally recognized experts, SCERTS[TM] supports developmental…

Autonomous Formation Flying from the Ground to Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chapman, Keith B.; Dell, Gregory T.; Rosenberg, Duane L.; Bristow, John

1999-01-01

The cost of on-orbit operations remains a significant and increasingly visible concern in the support of satellite missions. Headway has been made in automating some ground operations; however, increased mission complexity and more precise orbital constraints have compelled continuing human involvement in mission design and maneuver planning operations. AI Solutions, Inc. in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has tackled these more complex problems through the development of AutoCon(TM) as a tool for an automated solution. NASA is using AutoCon(TM) to automate the maneuver planning for the Earth Orbiter-1 (EO-1) mission. AutoCon(TM) was developed originally as a ground system tool. The EO-1 mission will be using a scaled version of AutoCon(TM) on-board the EO-1 satellite to command orbit adjustment maneuvers. The flight version of AutoCon(TM) plans maneuvers based on formation flying algorithms developed by GSFC, JPL, and other industry partners. In its fully autonomous mode, an AutoCon(TM) planned maneuver will be executed on-board the satellite without intervention from the ground. This paper describes how AutoCon(TM) automates maneuver planning for the formation flying constraints of the EO-1 mission. AutoCon(TM) was modified in a number of ways to automate the maneuver planning on-board the satellite. This paper describes how the interface and functionality of AutoCon(TM) were modified to support the on-board system. A significant component of this modification was the implementation of a data smoother, based on a Kalman filter, that ensures that the spacecraft states estimated by an on-board GPS receiver are as accurate as possible for maneuver planning. This paper also presents the methodology used to scale the AutoCon(TM) functionality to fit and execute on the flight hardware. This paper also presents the modes built into the system that allow the incremental phasing in of autonomy. New technologies for autonomous operations are usually received with significant, and probably appropriate, trepidation. A number of safeguards have been designed in both AutoCon(TM) and the interfacing systems to alleviate the potential of mission-impacting anomalies from the on-board autonomous system. This paper describes the error checking, input data integrity validation, and limits set on maneuvers in AutoCon(TM) and the on-board system.

Transmembrane 4 L Six Family Member 5 (TM4SF5)-Mediated Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Liver Diseases.

PubMed

Lee, Jung Weon

2015-01-01

The membrane protein TM4SF5, a member of the transmembrane 4L six family, forms a tetraspanin-enriched microdomain (TEM) on the cell surface, where many different membrane proteins and receptors form a massive protein-protein complex to regulate cellular functions including transdifferentiation, migration, and invasion. We recently reported that TM4SF5 causes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), eventually contributing to aberrant multilayer cellular growth, drug resistance, enhanced migration, invasion, its circulation in the blood, tumor initiation for successful metastasis, and muscle development in zebrafish. In this review, I summarize the information on the role of TM4SF5 in EMT-related functions at TM4SF5-enriched microdomain (T5EM) on cell surface, where proteins such as TM4SF5, CD151, CD44, integrins, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) can form numerous protein complexes. TM4SF5-mediated EMT contributes to diverse cellular functions, leading to fibrotic phenotypes and initiating and maintaining tumors in primary and/or metastatic regions, in addition to its role in muscle development in zebrafish. Anti-TM4SF5 strategies for addressing the protein networks can lead to regulation of the fibrotic, tumorigenic, and tumor-maintaining functions of TM4SF5-positive hepatic cells. This review is for us to (re)consider the antifibrotic or antitumorigenic (i.e., anti-EMT-related diseases) strategies of dealing with protein networks that would be involved in cross-talks to regulate various cellular functions during TM4SF5-dependent progression from fibrotic to cancerous hepatic cells. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Thematic Mapper Data Quality and Performance Assessment in Renewable Resources/agriculture/remote Sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bizzell, R. M.; Prior, H. L.

1985-01-01

Analysis of the early thematic mapper (TM) data indicate the TM sensor and associated ground processing are performing equal to the high expectations and within advertised specifications. The overall TM system with improved resolution, together with additional and more optimumly placed spectral bands shows much promise for benefits in future analysis activities. By selecting man-made features of known dimensions (e.g., highways, airfields, buildings, and isolated water bodies), an assessment was made of the TM performance relative to the specified 30-meter (98-foot) resolution. The increase of spatial resolution of TM (30 m) over MSS (80 M) appears to be significant not only in resolving spectrally distinct classes that were previously undefinable but also in distinguishing within-field variability. An Important result of the early TM evaluation and pre-TM analyses was the development of an integrated system to receive LANDSAT-4 TM (as well as MSS) data and analyze the data via various approaches.

Percutaneous toxicity and decontamination of soman, VX, and paraoxon in rats using detergents.

PubMed

Misík, Jan; Pavliková, Růžena; Kuča, Kamil

2013-06-01

Highly toxic organophosphorus compounds (OPs) were originally developed for warfare or as agricultural pesticides. Today, OPs represent a serious threat to military personnel and civilians. This study investigates the in vivo decontamination of male Wistar rats percutaneously exposed to paraoxon and two potent nerve agents--soman (GD) and VX. Four commercial detergents were tested as decontaminants--Neodekont(TM), Argos(TM), Dermogel(TM), and FloraFree(TM). Decontamination performed 2 min after exposure resulted in a higher survival rate in comparison with non-decontaminated controls. The decontamination effectiveness was expressed as protective ratio (PR, median lethal dose of agent in decontaminated animals divided by the median lethal dose of agent in untreated animals). The highest decontamination effectiveness was consistently achieved with Argos(TM) (PR=2.3 to 64.8), followed by Dermogel(TM) (PR=2.4 to 46.1). Neodekont(TM) and FloraFree(TM) provided the lowest decontamination effectiveness, equivalent to distilled water (PR=1.0 to 43.2).

Magnetic ordering in TmGa.

PubMed

Cadogan, J M; Stewart, G A; Muñoz Pérez, S; Cobas, R; Hansen, B R; Avdeev, M; Hutchison, W D

2014-03-19

We have determined the magnetic structure of the intermetallic compound TmGa by high-resolution neutron powder diffraction and (169)Tm Mössbauer spectroscopy. This compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic (Cmcm) CrB-type structure and its magnetic structure is characterized by magnetic order of the Tm sublattice along the a-axis. The initial magnetic ordering occurs at 15(1) K and yields an incommensurate antiferromagnetic structure described by the propagation vector k1 = [0 0.275(2) 0]. At 12 K the dominant ferromagnetic ordering of the Tm sublattice along the a-axis develops in what appears to be a first-order transition. At 3 K the magnetic structure of TmGa is predominantly ferromagnetic but a weakened incommensurate component remains. The ferromagnetic Tm moment reaches 6.7(2) μB at 3 K and the amplitude of the remaining incommensurate component is 2.7(4) μB. The (169)Tm hyperfine magnetic field at 5 K is 631(1) T.

Genetic variants in PNPLA3 and TM6SF2 predispose to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in individuals with alcohol-related cirrhosis.

PubMed

Stickel, Felix; Buch, Stephan; Nischalke, Hans Dieter; Weiss, Karl Heinz; Gotthardt, Daniel; Fischer, Janett; Rosendahl, Jonas; Deltenre, Pierre; Marot, Astrid; Elamly, Mona; Casper, Markus; Lammert, Frank; McQuillin, Andrew; Zopf, Steffen; Spengler, Ulrich; Marhenke, Silke; Kirstein, Martha M; Vogel, Arndt; Eyer, Florian; von Felden, Johann; Wege, Henning; Buch, Thorsten; Schafmayer, Clemens; Braun, Felix; Berg, Thomas; Morgan, Marsha Y; Hampe, Jochen

2018-03-13

Variants in patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing 3 (PNPLA3; rs738409), transmembrane 6 superfamily member 2 (TM6SF2; rs58542926), and membrane bound O-acyltransferase domain containing 7 (MBOAT7; rs641738) are risk factors for the development of alcohol-related cirrhosis. Within this population, PNPLA3 rs738409 is also an established risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to explore possible risk associations of TM6SF2 rs58542926 and MBOAT7 rs641738 with HCC. Risk variants in PNPLA3, TM6SF2, and MBOAT7 were genotyped in 751 cases with alcohol-related cirrhosis and HCC and in 1165 controls with alcohol-related cirrhosis without HCC. Association with the risk of developing HCC was analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. The development of HCC was independently associated with PNPLA3 rs738409 (OR adjusted 1.84 [95% CI 1.55-2.18], p = 1.85 × 10 -12 ) and TM6SF2 rs58542926 (OR adjusted 1.66 [1.30-2.13], p = 5.13 × 10 -05 ), using an additive model, and controlling the sex, age, body mass index, and type 2 diabetes mellitus; the risk associated with carriage of MBOAT7 rs641738 (OR adjusted 1.04 [0.88-1.24], p = 0.61) was not significant. The population-attributable fractions were 43.5% for PNPLA3 rs738409, 11.5% for TM6SF2 rs58542926, and 49.9% for the carriage of both the variants combined. Carriage of TM6SF2 rs58542926 is an additional risk factor for the development of HCC in people with alcohol-related cirrhosis. Carriage of both PNPLA3 rs738409 and TM6SF2 rs58542926 accounts for half of the attributable risk for HCC in this population. Genotyping will allow for more precise HCC risk-stratification of patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis, and genotype-guided screening algorithms would optimize patient care.

Doors to Discovery[TM]. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

What Works Clearinghouse, 2007

2007-01-01

"Doors to Discovery"[TM] is an early childhood curriculum that uses thematic units to engage young children and support them as they build an understanding of their world. "Doors to Discovery"[TM] literacy activities are used to encourage children's development in a number of areas identified by research as the foundation for…

Therapeutic Misconception in Research Subjects: Development and Validation of a Measure

PubMed Central

Appelbaum, Paul S.; Anatchkova, Milena; Albert, Karen; Dunn, Laura B.; Lidz, Charles W.

2013-01-01

Background Therapeutic misconception (TM), which occurs when research subjects fail to appreciate the distinction between the imperatives of clinical research and ordinary treatment, may undercut the process of obtaining meaningful consent to clinical research participation. Previous studies have found TM is widespread, but progress in addressing TM has been stymied by the absence of a validated method for assessing its presence. Purpose The goal of this study was to develop and validate a theoretically grounded measure of TM, assess its diagnostic accuracy, and test previous findings regarding its prevalence. Methods 220 participants were recruited from clinical trials at 4 academic medical centers in the U.S. Participants completed a 28-item Likert-type questionnaire to assess the presence of beliefs associated with TM, and a semi-structured TM interview designed to elicit their perceptions of the nature of the clinical trial in which they were participating. Data from the questionnaires were subjected to factor analysis and items with poor factor loadings were excluded. This resulted in a 10-item scale, with 3 strongly correlated factors and excellent internal consistency; the fit indices of the model across 10 training sets were consistent with the original results, suggesting a stable factor solution. Results The scale was validated against the TM interview, with significantly higher scores among subjects coded as displaying evidence of TM. ROC analysis based on a 10-fold internal cross-validation yielded AUC=.682 for any evidence of TM. When sensitivity (0.72) and specificity (0.61) were both optimized, Positive Predictive Value was 0.65 and Negative Predictive Value was 0.68, with a Positive Likelihood Ratio of 1.89, and a Negative Likelihood Ratio of 0.47. 50.5% (n=101) of participants manifested evidence of TM on the TM interview, a somewhat lower rate than in most previous studies. Limitations The predictive value of the scale compared with the “gold standard” clinical interview is modest, although similar to other instruments based on self-report assessing states of mind rather than discrete symptoms. Thus, although the scale can offer evidence of which subjects are at risk for distortions in their decisions and to what degree, it will not allow researchers to conclude definitively that TM is present in a given subject. Conclusions The development of a reliable and valid TM scale, even with modest predictive power, should permit investigators in clinical trials to identify subjects with tendencies to misinterpret the nature of the situation and to provide additional information to them. It should also stimulate research on how best to decrease TM and facilitate meaningful informed consent to clinical research. PMID:22942217

Thematic Mapper Protoflight Model Line Spread Function

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schueler, C.

1984-01-01

The Thematic Mapper (TM) Protoflight Model Spatial Line Spread Function (LSF) was not measured before launch. Therefore, methodology are developed to characterize LSF with protoflight model optics and electronics measurements that were made before launch. Direct prelaunch LSF measurements that were made from the flight model TM verified the protoflight TM LSF simulation. Results for two selected protoflight TM channels are presented here. It is shown that LSF data for the other ninety-four channels could be generated in the same fashion.

Expression of TM4SF10, a Claudin/EMP/PMP22 family cell junction protein, during mouse kidney development and podocyte differentiation.

PubMed

Bruggeman, Leslie A; Martinka, Scott; Simske, Jeffrey S

2007-02-01

Cell junctions in the nephron are highly specialized to perform specific and distinct filtration and reabsorption functions. The mature kidney forms complex cell junctions including slit diaphragms that prevent the passage of serum proteins into the filtrate, and tubule cell junctions that regulate specific paracellular ion reuptake. We have investigated the expression of TM4SF10 (Trans-Membrane tetra(4)-Span Family 10) in mouse kidneys. TM4SF10 is the vertebrate orthologue of Caenorhabditis elegans VAB-9, a tetraspan adherens junction protein in the PMP22/EMP/Claudin family of proteins. We found that TM4SF10 localizes at the basal-most region of podocyte precursors before the capillary loop stage, at some tubule precursors, and at the ureteric bud junction with S-shaped bodies. Overall expression of TM4SF10 peaked at postnatal day 4 and was virtually absent in adult kidneys. The very limited expression of TM4SF10 protein that persisted into adulthood was restricted to a few tubule segments but remained localized to the basal region of lateral membranes. In undifferentiated cultured podocytes, TM4SF10 localized to the perinuclear region and translocated to the cell membrane after Cadherin appearance at cell-cell contacts. TM4SF10 colocalized with ZO1 and p120ctn in undifferentiated confluent podocytes and also colocalized with the tips of actin filaments at cell contacts. Upon differentiation of cultured podocytes, TM4SF10 protein disappeared from cell contacts and expression ceased. These results suggest that TM4SF10 functions during differentiation of podocytes and may participate in the maturation of cell junctions from simple adherens junctions to elaborate slit diaphragms. TM4SF10 may define a new class of Claudin-like proteins that function during junctional development.

Optimal dental age estimation practice in United Arab Emirates' children.

PubMed

Altalie, Salem; Thevissen, Patrick; Fieuws, Steffen; Willems, Guy

2014-03-01

The aim of the study was to detect whether the Willems model, developed on a Belgian reference sample, can be used for age estimations in United Arab Emirates (UAE) children. Furthermore, it was verified that if added third molars development information in children provided more accurate age predictions. On 1900 panoramic radiographs, the development of left mandibular permanent teeth (PT) and third molars (TM) was registered according the Demirjian and the Kohler technique, respectively. The PT data were used to verify the Willems model and to develop a UAE model and to verify it. Multiple regression models with PT, TM, and PT + TM scores as independent and age as dependent factor were developed. Comparing the verified Willems- and the UAE model revealed differences in mean error of -0.01 year, mean absolute error of 0.01 year and root mean squared error of 0.90 year. Neglectable overall decrease in RMSE was detected combining PM and TM developmental information. © 2013 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Plastic Muscles TM as lightweight, low voltage actuators and sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, Matthew; Leo, Donald; Duncan, Andrew

2008-03-01

Using proprietary technology, Discover Technologies has developed ionomeric polymer transducers that are capable of long-term operation in air. These "Plastic Muscle TM" transducers are useful as soft distributed actuators and sensors and have a wide range of applications in the aerospace, robotics, automotive, electronics, and biomedical industries. Discover Technologies is developing novel fabrication methods that allow the Plastic Muscles TM to be manufactured on a commercial scale. The Plastic Muscle TM transducers are capable of generating more than 0.5% bending strain at a peak strain rate of over 0.1 %/s with a 3 V input. Because the Plastic Muscles TM use an ionic liquid as a replacement solvent for water, they are able to operate in air for long periods of time. Also, the Plastic Muscles TM do not exhibit the characteristic "back relaxation" phenomenon that is common in water-swollen devices. The elastic modulus of the Plastic Muscle TM transducers is estimated to be 200 MPa and the maximum generated stress is estimated to be 1 MPa. Based on these values, the maximum blocked force at the tip of a 6 mm wide, 35 mm long actuator is estimated to be 19 mN. Modeling of the step response with an exponential series reveals nonlinearity in the transducers' behavior.

Thrombomodulin regulates monocye differentiation via PKCδ and ERK1/2 pathway in vitro and in atherosclerotic artery

PubMed Central

Tsai, Chien-Sung; Lin, Yi-Wen; Huang, Chun-Yao; Shih, Chun-Min; Tsai, Yi-Ting; Tsao, Nai-Wen; Lin, Chin-Sheng; Shih, Chun-Che; Jeng, Hellen; Lin, Feng-Yen

2016-01-01

Thrombomodulin (TM) modulates the activation of protein C and coagulation. Additionally, TM regulates monocyte migration and inflammation. However, its role on monocyte differentiation is still unknown. We investigated the effects of TM on monocyte differentiation. First, we found that TM was increased when THP-1 cells were treated with phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA). Overexpression of TM enhanced the macrophage markers, CD14 and CD68 expression in PMA-induced THP-1. TM siRNA depressed the PMA-induced increase of p21Cip1/WAF1 via ERK1/2-NF-kB p65 signaling. TM regulated cytoskeletal reorganization via its interaction with paxillin, cofilin, LIMK1, and PYK2. In addition, PMA-induced p21Cip1/WAF1 expression, CD14-positive cell labeling intensity and ERK1/2 phosphorylation were markedly inhibited when protein kinase C-δ (PKCδ) was knocked down. We identified that TM directly interacts with PKCδ. PKCδ was highly expressed in human atherosclerotic arteries and colocalized with TM in CD68-positive infiltrated macrophages of plaques, indicating that the coordination between TM and PKCδ in macrophages participated in atherogenesis. TM may act as a scaffold for PKCδ docking, which keeps PKCδ in the region close to the monocyte membrane to promote the activation of ERK1/2. Taken together, our findings suggest that TM-PKCδ interaction may contribute to cardiovascular disorders by affecting monocye differentiation, which may develop future therapeutic applications. PMID:27910925

Mapping chromatic pathways in the Drosophila visual system.

PubMed

Lin, Tzu-Yang; Luo, Jiangnan; Shinomiya, Kazunori; Ting, Chun-Yuan; Lu, Zhiyuan; Meinertzhagen, Ian A; Lee, Chi-Hon

2016-02-01

In Drosophila, color vision and wavelength-selective behaviors are mediated by the compound eye's narrow-spectrum photoreceptors R7 and R8 and their downstream medulla projection (Tm) neurons Tm5a, Tm5b, Tm5c, and Tm20 in the second optic neuropil or medulla. These chromatic Tm neurons project axons to a deeper optic neuropil, the lobula, which in insects has been implicated in processing and relaying color information to the central brain. The synaptic targets of the chromatic Tm neurons in the lobula are not known, however. Using a modified GFP reconstitution across synaptic partners (GRASP) method to probe connections between the chromatic Tm neurons and 28 known and novel types of lobula neurons, we identify anatomically the visual projection neurons LT11 and LC14 and the lobula intrinsic neurons Li3 and Li4 as synaptic targets of the chromatic Tm neurons. Single-cell GRASP analyses reveal that Li4 receives synaptic contacts from over 90% of all four types of chromatic Tm neurons, whereas LT11 is postsynaptic to the chromatic Tm neurons, with only modest selectivity and at a lower frequency and density. To visualize synaptic contacts at the ultrastructural level, we develop and apply a "two-tag" double-labeling method to label LT11's dendrites and the mitochondria in Tm5c's presynaptic terminals. Serial electron microscopic reconstruction confirms that LT11 receives direct contacts from Tm5c. This method would be generally applicable to map the connections of large complex neurons in Drosophila and other animals. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

O*NET[TM] Career Exploration Tools. Version 3.0.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Employment and Training Administration (DOL), Washington, DC.

Developed by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Information Network (O*NET) team, the O*NET[TM] Career Exploration Tools (Version 3.0) consist of three main parts: (1) the Interest Profiler; (2) the Work Importance Locator; and (3) the O*NET[TM] Occupations Combined List. The Interest Profiler is a self-assessment career exploration tool…

Characterization of TM8, a MADS-box gene expressed in tomato flowers.

PubMed

Daminato, Margherita; Masiero, Simona; Resentini, Francesca; Lovisetto, Alessandro; Casadoro, Giorgio

2014-11-30

The identity of flower organs is specified by various MIKC MADS-box transcription factors which act in a combinatorial manner. TM8 is a MADS-box gene that was isolated from the floral meristem of a tomato mutant more than twenty years ago, but is still poorly known from a functional point of view in spite of being present in both Angiosperms and Gymnosperms, with some species harbouring more than one copy of the gene. This study reports a characterization of TM8 that was carried out in transgenic tomato plants with altered expression of the gene. Tomato plants over-expressing either TM8 or a chimeric repressor form of the gene (TM8:SRDX) were prepared. In the TM8 up-regulated plants it was possible to observe anomalous stamens with poorly viable pollen and altered expression of several floral identity genes, among them B-, C- and E-function ones, while no apparent morphological modifications were visible in the other whorls. Oblong ovaries and fruits, that were also parthenocarpic, were obtained in the plants expressing the TM8:SRDX repressor gene. Such ovaries showed modified expression of various carpel-related genes. No apparent modifications could be seen in the other flower whorls. The latter plants had also epinastic leaves and malformed flower abscission zones. By using yeast two hybrid assays it was possible to show that TM8 was able to interact in yeast with MACROCALIX. The impact of the ectopically altered TM8 expression on the reproductive structures suggests that this gene plays some role in the development of the tomato flower. MACROCALYX, a putative A-function MADS-box gene, was expressed in all the four whorls of fully developed flowers, and showed quantitative variations that were opposite to those of TM8 in the anomalous stamens and ovaries. Since the TM8 protein interacted in vitro only with the A-function MADS-box protein MACROCALYX, it seems that for the correct differentiation of the tomato reproductive structures possible interactions between TM8 and MACROCALYX proteins might be important.

Mutational Analysis of the Control Cable That Mediates Transmembrane Signaling in the Escherichia coli Serine Chemoreceptor▿

PubMed Central

Kitanovic, Smiljka; Ames, Peter; Parkinson, John S.

2011-01-01

During transmembrane signaling by Escherichia coli Tsr, changes in ligand occupancy in the periplasmic serine-binding domain promote asymmetric motions in a four-helix transmembrane bundle. Piston displacements of the signaling TM2 helix in turn modulate the HAMP bundle on the cytoplasmic side of the membrane to control receptor output signals to the flagellar motors. A five-residue control cable joins TM2 to the HAMP AS1 helix and mediates conformational interactions between them. To explore control cable structural features important for signal transmission, we constructed and characterized all possible single amino acid replacements at the Tsr control cable residues. Only a few lesions abolished Tsr function, indicating that the chemical nature and size of the control cable side chains are not individually critical for signal control. Charged replacements at I214 mimicked the signaling consequences of attractant or repellent stimuli, most likely through aberrant structural interactions of the mutant side chains with the membrane interfacial environment. Prolines at residues 214 to 217 also caused signaling defects, suggesting that the control cable has helical character. However, proline did not disrupt function at G213, the first control cable residue, which might serve as a structural transition between the TM2 and AS1 helix registers. Hydrophobic amino acids at S217, the last control cable residue, produced attractant-mimic effects, most likely by contributing to packing interactions within the HAMP bundle. These results suggest a helix extension mechanism of Tsr transmembrane signaling in which TM2 piston motions influence HAMP stability by modulating the helicity of the control cable segment. PMID:21803986

Magneto-optic superlattice thin films: Fabrication, structural and magnetic characterization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Falco, C. M.; Engel, B. N.; Vanleeuwen, R. A.; Yu, J.

1993-01-01

During this quarter studies were extended to determine the electronic contribution to the perpendicular interface anisotropy in Co-based multilayers. Using in situ Kerr effect measurements, the influences of different transition metals (TM = Ag, Au, Cu, and Pd) on the magnetic properties of single-crystal Co films grown on Pd (111) and Au (111) surfaces are investigated. Last quarter the discovery of a large peak in the perpendicular anisotropy when approximately one monolayer of Cu or Ag is deposited on the Co surface was reported. We now have added a computer-controlled stepper-motor drive to our MBE sample transfer mechanism. The motor allows us to move the sample at a constant velocity from behind a shutter during deposition. The film, therefore, is deposited as a wedge with a linear variation of thickness across the substrate. In this way, a continuous range of coverage on a single sample is studied. The stepper motor also provides the necessary control for precisely positioning the sample in the laser beam for Kerr effect measurements at the different coverages.

Development of a strategic model for integrating complementary medicines into professional pharmacy practice.

PubMed

Ung, Carolina Oi Lam; Harnett, Joanna; Hu, Hao

2017-08-03

Traditional medicine (TM) and complementary medicine (CM) products have played an increasingly important role in the business of pharmacy for over two decades in a number of countries. With a focus on the quality use of all medicines including complementary medicines, there have been a number of initiatives to encourage the integration of TM/CM products into professional practice. Recent studies report that many of the barriers that prevent such integration remain. To explore the pharmacists' perspective regarding how barriers to the integration of TM/CM products into the professional practice of pharmacy could be resolved. Purposive sampling and snowballing were used to recruit 11 registered pharmacists who had worked in community pharmacy for a minimum of 6 months to participate in one of 3 focus groups. Focus group questions informed by previous studies, explored participants' perspectives on the actions required to support professional services related to TM/CM products. Pharmacists proposed that five key stakeholders (professional pharmacy organizations, universities, government, pharmacy owners, and pharmacists) enact 4 developments that require a collaborative effort ("education and training", "building the evidence base", "developing reliable and accessible information resources", and "workplace support for best practice"). Manufacturers of TM/CM products were not identified by pharmacists as collaborators in these developments. Collectively, the findings from this study support a strategic model to guide the integration of TM/CM products into the professional practice of pharmacy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Electric Boosting System for Light Truck/SUV Application

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

Arnold, Steve; Balis, Craig; Barthelet, Pierre

2005-06-22

Turbo diesel engine use in passenger cars in Europe has resulted in 30-50% improvement in fuel economy. Diesel engine application is particularly suitable for US because of vehicle size and duty cycle patterns. Adopting this technology for use in the US presents two issues--emissions and driveability. Emissions reduction technology is being well addressed with advanced turbocharging, fuel injection and catalytic aftertreatment systems. One way to address driveability is to eliminate turbo lag and increase low speed torque. Electrically assisted turbocharging concepts incorporated in e-TurboTM designs do both. The purpose of this project is to design and develop an electrically assistedmore » turbocharger, e-TurboTM, for diesel engine use in the US. In this report, early design and development of electrical assist technology is described together with issues and potential benefits. In this early phase a mathematical model was developed and verified. The model was used in a sensitivity study. The results of the sensitivity study together with the design and test of first generation hardware was fed into second generation designs. In order to fully realize the benefits of electrical assist technology it was necessary to expand the scope of work to include technology on the compressor side as well as electronic controls concepts. The results of the expanded scope of work are also reported here. In the first instance, designs and hardware were developed for a small engine to quantify and demonstrate benefits. The turbo size was such that it could be applied in a bi-turbo configuration to an SUV sized V engine. Mathematical simulation was used to quantify the possible benefits in an SUV application. It is shown that low speed torque can be increased to get the high performance expected in US, automatic transmission vehicles. It is also shown that e-TurboTM can be used to generate modest amounts of electrical power and supplement the alternator under most load-speed conditions. It is shown that a single (large) e-TurboTM consumes slightly less electrical power for the same steady state torque shaping than a bi-Turbo configuration. However, the transient response of a bi-Turbo configuration in slightly better. It was shown that in order to make full use of additional capabilities of e-TurboTM wide compressor flow range is required. Variable geometry compressor (VGC) technology developed under a separate project was evaluated for incorporation into e-TurboTM designs. It was shown that the combination of these two technologies enables very high torque at low engine speeds. Designs and hardware combining VGC and e-TurboTM are to be developed in a future project. There is concern about high power demands (even though momentary) of e-TurboTM. Reducing the inertia of the turbocharger can reduce power demand and increase battery life. Low inertia turbocharger technology called IBT developed under a separate project was evaluated for synergy with e-TurboTM designs. It was concluded that inertial reduction provided by IBT is very beneficial for e-TurboTM. Designs and hardware combining IBT and e-TurboTM are to be developed in a future project. e-TurboTM provides several additional flexibilities including exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) for emissions reduction with minimum fuel economy penalty and exhaust temperature control for aftertreatment. In integrated multi-parameter control system is needed to realize the full potential of e-TurboTM performance. Honeywell expertise in process control systems involving hundreds of sensors and actuators was applied to demonstrate the potential benefits of multi-parameter, model based control systems.« less

Locomotor training and virtual reality-based balance training for an individual with multiple sclerosis: a case report.

PubMed

Fulk, George D

2005-03-01

Impaired walking ability, balance, and fatigue are common problems for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The purpose of this case report is to describe the use of plan of care that included locomotor training using both a body weight support (BWS) with a treadmill (TM) and overground walking as well as a virtual reality (VR)-based balance intervention to improve walking ability, balance, and endurance for an individual with MS. The client was a 48-year-old female with a 10-year history of MS. Her main goals were to improve walking ability, balance, and endurance. She presented with impaired gait, balance, motor function, and increased fatigue. Locomotor training using a BWS/TM system and overground and VR-based balance interventions were implemented 2 days a week for 12 weeks. The client demonstrated improvements in gait speed, gait endurance, and balance postintervention and maintained the improvements at a 2-month follow up. This case report is the first to report on the use of locomotor training with BWS/TM system and overground and VR-based balance interventions for a client with MS. The plan of care was formulated based on the patient's goals and the available literature on the use of the interventions with other patients with neurologic conditions to provide an intervention that was task-oriented, skilled, and intensive.

Caring School Community[TM] (Formerly, the Child Development Project). What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

What Works Clearinghouse, 2006

2006-01-01

"Caring School Community[TM]" ("CSC") is a modified version of a program formerly known as the "Child Development Project." The program aims to promote core values, prosocial behavior, and a schoolwide feeling of community. The program consists of four elements originally developed for the "Child Development…

PNPLA3 rs738409 and TM6SF2 rs58542926 variants increase the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in alcoholic cirrhosis.

PubMed

Falleti, Edmondo; Cussigh, Annarosa; Cmet, Sara; Fabris, Carlo; Toniutto, Pierluigi

2016-01-01

PNPLA3 rs738409 polymorphism is associated with fatty liver disease, alcoholic or non-alcoholic (NAFLD) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). TM6SF2 rs58542926 is clearly associated with NAFLD, but it is not clearly associated with HCC. The relationship between TM6SF2 rs58542926 and HCC and the potential synergistic effect of TM6SF2 and PNPLA3 variants in modifying the risk of HCC are not known. This study assessed the interaction between PNPLA3 rs738409 and TM6SF2 rs58542926 variants in the conditioning of HCC development. A total of 511 cirrhotic patients (44% alcohol-related, 56% viral, 57.5% liver transplanted) were retrospectively investigated for HCC occurrence. PNPLA3 rs734809 and TM6SF2 rs58542926 were genotyped using restriction fragment length polymorphism and real-time allelic discrimination polymerase chain reaction methods. Patients with HCC were more likely to be PNPLA3 rs734809 G/G homozygotes (41/150 vs. 60/361, p=0.009) or TM6SF2 rs58542926 C/T-T/T (27/150 vs. 41/361, p=0.044). The presence of either PNPLA3 G/G or TM6SF2*/T identified high-risk genotypes for HCC, which were strongly associated with HCC (64/150 vs. 93/361, p=0.0002). This association was evident in alcohol-related (p=0.0007) but not in viral cirrhosis. TM6SF2 C/T or T/T in conjunction with PNPLA3 G/G variants may be potential genetic risk factors for developing HCC in alcohol-related cirrhosis. Copyright © 2015 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of the Xylella fastidiosa PD1311 gene mutant and its suppression of Pierce's disease on grapevines.

PubMed

Hao, Lingyun; Johnson, Kameka; Cursino, Luciana; Mowery, Patricia; Burr, Thomas J

2017-06-01

Xylella fastidiosa causes Pierce's disease (PD) on grapevines, leading to significant economic losses in grape and wine production. To further our understanding of X. fastidiosa virulence on grapevines, we examined the PD1311 gene, which encodes a putative acyl-coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) synthetase, and is highly conserved across Xylella species. It was determined that PD1311 is required for virulence, as the deletion mutant, ΔPD1311, was unable to cause disease on grapevines. The ΔPD1311 strain was impaired in behaviours known to be associated with PD development, including motility, aggregation and biofilm formation. ΔPD1311 also expressed enhanced sensitivity to H 2 O 2 and polymyxin B, and showed reduced survival in grapevine sap, when compared with wild-type X. fastidiosa Temecula 1 (TM1). Following inoculation, ΔPD1311 could not be detected in grape shoots, which may be related to its altered growth and sensitivity phenotypes. Inoculation with ΔPD1311 2 weeks prior to TM1 prevented the development of PD in a significant fraction of vines and eliminated detectable levels of TM1. In contrast, vines inoculated simultaneously with TM1 and ΔPD1311 developed disease at the same level as TM1 alone. In these vines, TM1 populations were distributed similarly to populations in TM1-only inoculated plants. These findings suggest that, through an indirect mechanism, pretreatment of vines with ΔPD1311 suppresses pathogen population and disease. © 2016 BSPP AND JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD.

Development of flashlamp-pumped Q-switched Ho:Tm:Cr:YAG lasers for mid-infrared LIDAR application

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Choi, Young S.; Kim, Kyong H.; Whitney, Donald A.; Hess, Robert V.; Barnes, Norman P.; Bair, Clayton H.; Brockman, Philip

1989-01-01

A flashlamp-pumped 2.1 micron Ho:Tm:Cr:YAG laser was studied for both normal mode and Q-switched operations under a wide variety of experimental conditions in order to optimize performance. Laser output energy, slope efficiency, threshold and pulselength were determined as a function of operating temperature, output mirror reflectivity, input electrical energy and Q-switch opening time. The measured normal-mode laser thresholds of a Ho(3+) (0.45 atomic percent):Tm(3+) (2.5 atomic percent):Cr(3+) (0.8 atomic percent):YAG crystal ranged form 26 to 50 J between 120 and 200 K with slope efficiencies up to 0.36 percent with a 60 percent reflective output mirror. Under Q-switched operation the slope efficiency was 90 percent of the normal-mode result. Development of solid state lasers with Ho(3+), Tm(3+) and/or Er(3+) doped crystals has been pursued by NASA for eye-dafe mid-infrared LIDAR (light detection and ranging) application. As a part of the project, the authors have been working on evaluating Ho(3+):Tm(3+):Cr(3+):YAG crystals for normal-mode and Q-switched 2.1 micron laser operations in order to determine an optimum Tm(3+) concentration under flashlamp pumping conditions. Lasing properties of the Ho(3+) in the mid-infrared region have been studied by many research groups since the early 1960's. However, the technology of those lasers is still premature for lidar application. In order to overcome the inefficiency related to narrow absorption bands of the Ho(3+), Tm(3+) and Er(3+), the erbium has been replaced by chromium. The improvement in flashlamp-pumped Ho(3+) laser efficiency has been demonstrated recently by several research groups by utilizing the broad absorption spectrum of Cr(3+) which covers the flashlamp's emission spectrum. Efficient energy transfer to the Tm(3+) and then the Ho(3+) occurs subsequently. It is known that high Tm(3+) concentration and low Ho(3+) concentration are preferred to achieve a quantum efficiency approaching two and to avoid large reabsorption losses. However, determination of the optimum Tm(3+) concentration required to ensure efficient energy transfer from Cr(3+) to Tm(3+) and from Tm(3+) to Ho(3+) has not been made in the Ho:Tm:CR:YAG crystal. The results obtained so far are given.

Interleukin 10 knockout frail mice develop cardiac and vascular dysfunction with increased age☆

PubMed Central

Sikka, Gautam; Miller, Karen L.; Steppan, Jochen; Pandey, Deepesh; Jung, Sung M.; Fraser, Charles D.; Ellis, Carla; Ross, Daniel; Vandegaer, Koenraad; Bedja, Djahida; Gabrielson, Kathleen; Walston, Jeremy D.; Berkowitz, Dan E.; Barouch, Lili A.

2013-01-01

Cardiovascular dysfunction is a primary independent predictor of age-related morbidity and mortality. Frailty is associated with activation of inflammatory pathways and fatigue that commonly presents and progresses with age. Interleukin 10 (IL-10), the cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor, is an anti-inflammatory cytokine produced by immune and non-immune cells. Homozygous deletion of IL-10 in mice yields a phenotype that is consistent with human frailty, including age-related increases in serum inflammatory mediators, muscular weakness, higher levels of IGF-1 at midlife, and early mortality. While emerging evidence suggests a role for IL-10 in vascular protection, a clear mechanism has not yet been elucidated. Methods In order to evaluate the role of IL-10 in maintenance of vascular function, force tension myography was utilized to access ex-vivo endothelium dependent vasorelaxation in vessels isolated from IL-10 knockout IL-10(tm/tm) and control mice. Pulse wave velocity ((PWV), index of stiffness) of vasculature was measured using ultrasound and blood pressure was measured using the tail cuff method. Echocardiography was used to elucidated structure and functional changes in the heart. Results Mean arterial pressures were significantly higher in IL-10(tm/tm) mice as compared to C57BL6/wild type (WT) controls. PWV was increased in IL-10(tm/tm) indicating stiffer vasculature. Endothelial intact aortic rings isolated from IL-10(tm/tm) mice demonstrated impaired vasodilation at low acetylcholine doses and vasoconstriction at higher doses whereas vasorelaxation responses were preserved in rings from WT mice. Cyclo-oxygenase (COX-2)/thromboxane A2 inhibitors improved endothelial dependent vasorelaxation and reversed vasoconstriction. Left ventricular end systolic diameter, left ventricular mass, isovolumic relaxation time, fractional shortening and ejection fraction were all significantly different in the aged IL-10(tm/tm) mice compared to WT mice. Conclusion Aged IL-10(tm/tm) mice have stiffer vessels and decreased vascular relaxation due to an increase in eicosanoids, specifically COX-2 activity and resultant thromboxane A2 receptor activation. Our results also suggest that aging IL-10(tm/tm) mice have an increased heart size and impaired cardiac function compared to age-matched WT mice. While further studies will be necessary to determine if this age-related phenotype develops as a result of inflammatory pathway activation or lack of IL-10, it is essential for maintaining the vascular compliance and endothelial function during the aging process. Given that a similar cardiovascular phenotype is present in frail, older adults, these findings further support the utility of the IL-10(tm/tm) mouse as a model of frailty. PMID:23159957

Analysis of the quality of image data acquired by the LANDSAT-4 Thematic Mapper and Multispectral Scanners

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colwell, R. N. (Principal Investigator)

1984-01-01

The geometric quality of TM film and digital products is evaluated by making selective photomeasurements and by measuring the coordinates of known features on both the TM products and map products. These paired observations are related using a standard linear least squares regression approach. Using regression equations and coefficients developed from 225 (TM film product) and 20 (TM digital product) control points, map coordinates of test points are predicted. The residual error vectors and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed on the east and north residual using nine image segments (blocks) as treatments. Based on the root mean square error of the 223 (TM film product) and 22 (TM digital product) test points, users of TM data expect the planimetric accuracy of mapped points to be within 91 meters and within 117 meters for the film products, and to be within 12 meters and within 14 meters for the digital products.

Finishing of display glass for mobile electronics using 3M Trizact diamond tile abrasive pads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Lianbin; Fletcher, Tim; Na, Tee Koon; Sventek, Bruce; Romero, Vince; Lugg, Paul S.; Kim, Don

2010-10-01

This paper will describe a new method being used during the finishing of glass displays for mobile electronics including mobile hand held devices and notebook computers. The new method consists of using 3M TrizactTM Diamond Tile Abrasive Pads. TrizactTM Diamond Tile is a structured fixed abrasive grinding technology developed by 3M Company. The TrizactTM Diamond Tile structured abrasive pad consists of an organic (polymeric binder) - inorganic (abrasive mineral, i.e., diamond) composite that is used with a water-based coolant. TrizactTM Diamond Tile technology can be applied in both double and single side grinding applications. A unique advantage of TrizactTM Diamond Tile technology is the combination of high stock removal and low sub-surface damage. Grinding results will be presented for both 9 micron and 20 micron grades of TrizactTM Diamond Tile abrasive pads used to finish several common display glasses including Corning GorillaTM glass and Soda Lime glass.

What's 2 Got to Do with It? Using Dynamic Geometry Environments to Find Surprising Results and Motivate Proof

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Tami; Cullen, Craig J.; Day, Roger

2011-01-01

Dynamic geometry software (DGS), such as Geometer's Sketchpad[TM], Cabri Geometry[TM], and GeoGebra[TM] has become a widely used classroom technology. The broad availability of DGS has given students the opportunity to engage in many aspects of reasoning and proof, including exploration, conjecture development, and proof, in its many roles. By…

Multiphoton gonioscopy to image the trabecular meshwork of porcine eyes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masihzadeh, Omid; Ammar, David A.; Kahook, Malik Y.; Gibson, Emily A.; Lei, Tim C.

2013-03-01

The aqueous outflow system (AOS), including the trabecular meshwork (TM), the collector channels (CC) and the Schlemm's canal (SC), regulates intraocular pressure (IOP) through the drainage of the aqueous humor (AH). Abnormal IOP elevation leads to increased pressure stress to retinal ganglion cells, resulting in cell loss that can ultimately lead to complete loss of eyesight. Therefore, development of imaging tools to detect abnormal structural and functional changes of the AOS is important in early diagnosis and prevention of glaucoma. Multiphoton microscopy (MPM), including twophoton autofluorescence (TPAF) and second harmonic generation (SHG), is a label-free microscopic technique that allows molecular specific imaging of biological tissues like the TM. Since the TM and other AOS structures are located behind the highly scattering scleral tissue, transscleral imaging of the TM does not provide enough optical resolution. In this work, a gonioscopic lens is used to allow direct optical access of the TM through the cornea for MPM imaging. Compared to transscleral imaging, the acquired MPM images show improved resolution as individual collagen fiber bundles of the TM can be observed. MPM gonioscopy may have the potential to be developed as a future clinical imaging tool for glaucoma diagnostics.

Nurse perspectives on the implementation of routine telemonitoring for high-risk diabetes patients in a primary care setting.

PubMed

Vest, Bonnie M; Hall, Victoria M; Kahn, Linda S; Heider, Arvela R; Maloney, Nancy; Singh, Ranjit

2017-01-01

Aims The purpose of this qualitative evaluation was to explore the experience of implementing routine telemonitoring (TM) in real-world primary care settings from the perspective of those delivering the intervention; namely the TM staff, and report on lessons learned that could inform future projects of this type. Routine TM for high-risk patients within primary care practices may help improve chronic disease control and reduce complications, including unnecessary hospital admissions. However, little is known about how to integrate routine TM in busy primary care practices. A TM pilot for diabetic patients was attempted in six primary care practices as part of the Beacon Community in Western New York. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of three TM agencies (n=8) participating in the pilot. Interviews were conducted over the phone or in person and lasted ~30 min. Interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. Analysis was conducted using immersion-crystallization to identify themes. Findings TM staff revealed several themes related to the experience of delivering TM in real-world primary care: (1) the nurse-patient relationship is central to a successful TM experience, (2) TM is a useful tool for understanding socio-economic context and its impact on patients' health, (3) TM staff anecdotally report important potential impacts on patient health, and (4) integrating TM into primary care practices needs to be planned carefully. This qualitative study identified challenges and unexpected benefits that might inform future efforts. Communication and integration between the TM agency and the practice, including the designation of a point person within the office to coordinate TM and help address the broader contextual needs of patients, are important considerations for future implementation. The role of the TM nurse in developing trust with patients and uncovering the social and economic context within which patients manage their diabetes was an unexpected benefit.

TIA Software User's Manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cramer, K. Elliott; Syed, Hazari I.

1995-01-01

This user's manual describes the installation and operation of TIA, the Thermal-Imaging acquisition and processing Application, developed by the Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. TIA is a user friendly graphical interface application for the Macintosh 2 and higher series computers. The software has been developed to interface with the Perceptics/Westinghouse Pixelpipe(TM) and PixelStore(TM) NuBus cards and the GW Instruments MacADIOS(TM) input-output (I/O) card for the Macintosh for imaging thermal data. The software is also capable of performing generic image-processing functions.

Tracheomalacia is associated with lower FEV1 and Pseudomonas acquisition in children with CF

PubMed Central

Fischer, Anthony J.; Singh, Sachinkumar B.; Adam, Ryan J.; Stoltz, David A.; Baranano, Christopher F.; Kao, Simon; Weinberger, Miles M.; McCray, Paul B.; Starner, Timothy D.

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND Tracheomalacia (TM) occurs in approximately 1 in 2,100 children. Because the trachea develops abnormally in animal models of cystic fibrosis (CF), we hypothesized this may also occur in children with CF, increasing their risk of TM. PURPOSE To examine the prevalence and clinical consequences of TM in children with CF. METHODS We studied children with CF born between 1995 and 2012. TM was defined as dynamic collapse of the trachea, and the severity was recorded as described in the chart. The effect of TM on patient outcomes, including FEV1, CT changes, and acquisition of CF pathogens, was assessed using a longitudinal patient dataset. RESULTS 89% of children with CF had at least one bronchoscopy (n = 97/109). 15% of these children had TM described in any bronchoscopy report (n= 15/97). Of the patients with TM, 8 had meconium ileus (p = 0.003) and all were pancreatic insufficient. Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection occurred 1.3 years earlier among children with TM (p = 0.01). Starting FEV1 values by age 8 were diminished by over 18% of predicted for patients with TM. Life-threatening episodes of airway obstruction occurred in 3 of 15 patients with CF and TM, including one leading to death. Gender, prematurity, and hepatic disease were not associated with TM. No difference was observed in the frequency of bronchiectasis. CONCLUSIONS TM is significantly more common in infants and children with CF than in the general population and is associated with airway obstruction and earlier Pseudomonas acquisition. PMID:24166775

Adolescent testicular microlithiasis: A case-based, multinational survey of clinical management practices.

PubMed

Brodie, Katie E; Saltzman, Amanda F; Cost, Nicholas G

2018-04-01

Testicular microlithiasis (TM) is a condition characterized by calcium deposits within the testis, usually detected incidentally during ultrasonography of the scrotum. TM has been associated with the presence of, and possibly the development of, testicular malignancy. Our aim was to document international clinical management practices for TM and to analyze what factors and perception of risk influence conservative versus active management and follow-up. European Society for Paediatric Urology (ESPU) and Society for Pediatric Urology (SPU) members were invited to complete an online case-based survey of clinical management practices of TM. Eight cases had a single variable changed each time (classic versus limited TM, unilateral versus bilateral, prior cryptorchidism versus no cryptorchidism) to ascertain the provider's perception of risk. The respondents completed multiple choice questions on initial management, follow-up plan, length and interval of follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine factors associated with decisions on management and follow-up. There were 265 respondents to the survey from 35 countries (Table). Median time in practice was 13 years. Factors that were significantly associated with more aggressive initial management (more than counseling on self-examination) included: not yet in independent practice, low volume TM cases per year, those practicing pediatric and adult urology, classic appearance of TM and cryptorchidism. Factors that were significantly associated with urologist follow-up and active investigation included: European practitioners, low TM case volume per year, those practicing both pediatric urology and pediatric surgery, classic TM appearance and a case history of cryptorchidism. Interval and length of follow-up was wide-ranging, with most respondents favoring annual follow-up. Management of TM varies and a mix of surgeon and case factors significantly influences management strategies. This baseline understanding of the lack of systematic management suggests the need for the development of consensus guidelines and prospective study. Copyright © 2018 Journal of Pediatric Urology Company. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of a Virtual Reality Simulator for Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) Cholecystectomy Procedure.

PubMed

Ahn, Woojin; Dargar, Saurabh; Halic, Tansel; Lee, Jason; Li, Baichun; Pan, Junjun; Sankaranarayanan, Ganesh; Roberts, Kurt; De, Suvranu

2014-01-01

The first virtual-reality-based simulator for Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) is developed called the Virtual Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery Trainer (VTEST^TM). VTEST^TM aims to simulate hybrid NOTES cholecystectomy procedure using a rigid scope inserted through the vaginal port. The hardware interface is designed for accurate motion tracking of the scope and laparoscopic instruments to reproduce the unique hand-eye coordination. The haptic-enabled multimodal interactive simulation includes exposing the Calot's triangle and detaching the gall bladder while performing electrosurgery. The developed VTEST^TM was demonstrated and validated at NOSCAR 2013.

Influence of a Locomotor Training Approach on Walking Speed and Distance in People With Chronic Spinal Cord Injury: A Randomized Clinical Trial

PubMed Central

Roach, Kathryn E.

2011-01-01

Background Impaired walking limits function after spinal cord injury (SCI), but training-related improvements are possible even in people with chronic motor incomplete SCI. Objective The objective of this study was to compare changes in walking speed and distance associated with 4 locomotor training approaches. Design This study was a single-blind, randomized clinical trial. Setting This study was conducted in a rehabilitation research laboratory. Participants Participants were people with minimal walking function due to chronic SCI. Intervention Participants (n=74) trained 5 days per week for 12 weeks with the following approaches: treadmill-based training with manual assistance (TM), treadmill-based training with stimulation (TS), overground training with stimulation (OG), and treadmill-based training with robotic assistance (LR). Measurements Overground walking speed and distance were the primary outcome measures. Results In participants who completed the training (n=64), there were overall effects for speed (effect size index [d]=0.33) and distance (d=0.35). For speed, there were no significant between-group differences; however, distance gains were greatest with OG. Effect sizes for speed and distance were largest with OG (d=0.43 and d=0.40, respectively). Effect sizes for speed were the same for TM and TS (d=0.28); there was no effect for LR. The effect size for distance was greater with TS (d=0.16) than with TM or LR, for which there was no effect. Ten participants who improved with training were retested at least 6 months after training; walking speed at this time was slower than that at the conclusion of training but remained faster than before training. Limitations It is unknown whether the training dosage and the emphasis on training speed were optimal. Robotic training that requires active participation would likely yield different results. Conclusions In people with chronic motor incomplete SCI, walking speed improved with both overground training and treadmill-based training; however, walking distance improved to a greater extent with overground training. PMID:21051593

Copper-Treated Containers Influence Root Development of Longleaf Pine Seedlings

Treesearch

James P. Barnett; John M. McGilvray

2002-01-01

Development of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) seedlings grown in CopperblockTM containers and BC/ CFC First ChoiceTM Styrofoam blocks, with applications of Spin Out® root growth regulator, were compared to control seedlings. The copper treatments significantly changed seedling morphology; at...

Doors to Discovery [TM]. WWC Intervention Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

What Works Clearinghouse, 2009

2009-01-01

Doors to Discovery[TM], an early childhood curriculum, focuses on the development of children's vocabulary and expressive and receptive language through a learning process called "shared literacy," where adults and children work together to develop literacy-related skills. Literacy activities, organized into thematic units, encourage children's…

Plasma homocysteine involved in methylation and expression of thrombomodulin in cerebral infarction.

PubMed

Yang, Zhifu; Wang, Lizhen; Zhang, Wei; Wang, Xinxin; Zhou, Shengnian

2016-05-13

Homocysteine (Hcy) regulates endothelial injury and methylation status of key genes in cerebral ischemia. Thrombomodulin (TM) may be protective against cerebral ischemia by downregulating coagulation. However, it remains unclear whether Hcy involved in methylation and expression of TM in cerebral infarction (CI). Here, we find patients with cerebral infarction had a higher TM methylation level than controls (74.2% vs 47.5%, X(2) = 14.724, P = 0.00), which are positively correlated with plasma levels of tHcy (r = 0.701, P = 0.00) and negatively related to mRNA expression of TM (r = -0.711, P = 0.00). Plasma levels of tHcy (t = 7.566, P = 0.00) and sTM (t = 17.268, P = 0.00) are significantly higher in cases than in controls. Our data indicate hyperhomocysteine leads to hypermethylation of the TM gene and further induces TM gene silencing, which may play an important role in the occurrence and development of CI. Plasma higher concentrations of sTM in cases are not caused by TM expression and may be only a result of Hcy induced endothelial injury. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dynamic Modeling and Control of Nuclear Reactors Coupled to Closed-Loop Brayton Cycle Systems using SIMULINK{sup TM}

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

Wright, Steven A.; Sanchez, Travis

2005-02-06

The operation of space reactors for both in-space and planetary operations will require unprecedented levels of autonomy and control. Development of these autonomous control systems will require dynamic system models, effective control methodologies, and autonomous control logic. This paper briefly describes the results of reactor, power-conversion, and control models that are implemented in SIMULINK{sup TM} (Simulink, 2004). SIMULINK{sup TM} is a development environment packaged with MatLab{sup TM} (MatLab, 2004) that allows the creation of dynamic state flow models. Simulation modules for liquid metal, gas cooled reactors, and electrically heated systems have been developed, as have modules for dynamic power-conversion componentsmore » such as, ducting, heat exchangers, turbines, compressors, permanent magnet alternators, and load resistors. Various control modules for the reactor and the power-conversion shaft speed have also been developed and simulated. The modules are compiled into libraries and can be easily connected in different ways to explore the operational space of a number of potential reactor, power-conversion system configurations, and control approaches. The modularity and variability of these SIMULINK{sup TM} models provides a way to simulate a variety of complete power generation systems. To date, both Liquid Metal Reactors (LMR), Gas Cooled Reactors (GCR), and electric heaters that are coupled to gas-dynamics systems and thermoelectric systems have been simulated and are used to understand the behavior of these systems. Current efforts are focused on improving the fidelity of the existing SIMULINK{sup TM} modules, extending them to include isotopic heaters, heat pipes, Stirling engines, and on developing state flow logic to provide intelligent autonomy. The simulation code is called RPC-SIM (Reactor Power and Control-Simulator)« less

Impact of Maple(TM) on the design, instruction and performance in an undergraduate physics mathematical methods course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Runge, Alan Paul

1997-10-01

A traditional undergraduate physics course on mathematical methods has been redesigned to incorporate the use of Maplesp{sc {TM}}, a computer algebra program, during all aspects of the course. Topics covered were: complex number theory; series approximations; matrix theory; partial differentiation; vector algebra; and vector calculus. Five undergraduate students were enrolled, from sophomore to senior in academic class standing. A qualitative case study methodology was used to describe the changes in the course design resulting from the incorporation of Maplesp{sc {TM}} and their impact on the instruction of the course, and to determine the effects on the students' learning and development of problem solving skills in physics using Maplesp{sc {TM}} as a problem solving tool. The impact of using Maplesp{sc {TM}} on the number and types of interactions is presented. The entire semester long course was included in this study. Each class session is described in detail. Examples of the Maplesp{sc {TM}} materials used are given. The use of the Maplesp{sc {TM}} program was allowed on all homework and exams with each student having their own computer during class. Constraints were made so that the assessment emphasis remained on the mathematics and the conceptual understanding of the problem solving methods. All of the students demonstrated some level of proficiency in using Maplesp{TM} to solve the assigned problems. Strategies for effectively using Maplesp{TM} were presented and were individualized by the students. The students reported positive and negative impacts of using Maplesp{sc {TM}}. All of the students satisfactorily completed the course requirements, receiving final course grades from B to A+. All of them continued to voluntarily use Maplesp{sc {TM}} during the following semester. Instructional methods used included various lecture techniques without Maplesp{sc {TM}} assistance, lectures and demonstrations using only Maplesp{sc {TM}}, and student tasks assigned in class worked with the aid of Maplesp{sc {TM}}. Maplesp{sc {TM}} was used in one of these aspects in all but 3, out of 45, class periods. The use of Maplesp{sc {TM}} constituted about half of the overall class time.

Wheat yield estimation at the farm level using TM Landsat and agrometeorological data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rudorff, B. F. T.; Batista, G. T.

1991-01-01

A model for estimating wheat yields on the farm level was developed, that integrates the Landsat TM data and agrometeorological information. Results obtained for a test site in southern Brasil for years of 1986 and 1987 show that the vegetation index derived from Landsat TM could account for the 60 to 40 percent wheat-yield variability observed between the two crop years. Compared to results using either the Landsat TM vegetation index or the agrometeorological data alone, the joint use of both types of data in a single model yielded a significant improvement.

Application of Thematic Mapper data to corn and soybean development stage estimation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Badhwar, G. D.; Henderson, K. E.

1985-01-01

A model, utilizing direct relationship between remotely sensed spectral data and the development stage of both corn and soybeans has been proposed and published previously (Badhwar and Henderson, 1981; and Henderson and Badhwar, 1984). This model was developed using data acquired by instruments mounted on trucks over field plots of corn and soybeans as well as satellite data from Landsat. In all cases, the data was analyzed in the spectral bands equivalent to the four bands of Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS). In this study the same model has been applied to corn and soybeans using Landsat-4 Thematic Mapper (TM) data combined with simulated TM data to provide a multitemporal data set in TM band intervals. All data (five total acquisitions) were acquired over a test site in Webster County, Iowa from June to October 1982. The use of TM data for determining development state is as accurate as with Landsat MSS and field plot data in MSS bands. The maximum deviation of 0.6 development stage for corn and 0.8 development stage for soybeans is well within the uncertainty with which a field can be estimated with procedures used by observers on the ground in 1982.

Traditional medicine: past, present and future research and development prospects and integration in the National Health System of Cameroon.

PubMed

Fokunang, C N; Ndikum, V; Tabi, O Y; Jiofack, R B; Ngameni, B; Guedje, N M; Tembe-Fokunang, E A; Tomkins, P; Barkwan, S; Kechia, F; Asongalem, E; Ngoupayou, J; Torimiro, N J; Gonsu, K H; Sielinou, V; Ngadjui, B T; Angwafor, F; Nkongmeneck, A; Abena, O M; Ngogang, J; Asonganyi, T; Colizzi, V; Lohoue, J; Kamsu-Kom

2011-01-01

Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being. In the last decade traditional medicine has become very popular in Cameroon, partly due to the long unsustainable economic situation in the country. The high cost of drugs and increase in drug resistance to common diseases like malaria, bacteria infections and other sexually transmitted diseases has caused the therapeutic approach to alternative traditional medicine as an option for concerted search for new chemical entities (NCE). The World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with the Cameroon Government has put in place a strategic platform for the practice and development of TM in Cameroon. This platform aims at harmonizing the traditional medicine practice in the country, create a synergy between TM and modern medicine and to institutionalize a more harmonized integrated TM practices by the year 2012 in Cameroon. An overview of the practice of TM past, present and future perspectives that underpins the role in sustainable poverty alleviation has been discussed. This study gives an insight into the strategic plan and road map set up by the Government of Cameroon for the organisational framework and research platform for the practice and development of TM, and the global partnership involving the management of TM in the country.

Technology Mapping: An Approach for Developing Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Angeli, Charoula; Valanides, Nicos

2013-01-01

Technology mapping[TM] is proposed as an approach for developing technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK). The study discusses in detail instructional design guidelines in relation to the enactment of TM, and reports on empirical findings from a study with 72 pre-service primary teachers within the context of teaching them how to teach…

Tomato Flower Abnormalities Induced by Low Temperatures Are Associated with Changes of Expression of MADS-Box Genes1

PubMed Central

Lozano, Rafael; Angosto, Trinidad; Gómez, Pedro; Payán, Carmen; Capel, Juan; Huijser, Peter; Salinas, Julio; Martínez-Zapater, José M.

1998-01-01

Flower and fruit development in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) were severely affected when plants were grown at low temperatures, displaying homeotic and meristic transformations and alterations in the fusion pattern of the organs. Most of these homeotic transformations modified the identity of stamens and carpels, giving rise to intermediate organs. Complete homeotic transformations were rarely found and always affected organs of the reproductive whorls. Meristic transformations were also commonly observed in the reproductive whorls, which developed with an excessive number of organs. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that meristic transformations take place very early in the development of the flower and are related to a significant increase in the floral meristem size. However, homeotic transformations should occur later during the development of the organ primordia. Steady-state levels of transcripts corresponding to tomato MADS-box genes TM4, TM5, TM6, and TAG1 were greatly increased by low temperatures and could be related to these flower abnormalities. Moreover, in situ hybridization analyses showed that low temperatures also altered the stage-specific expression of TM4. PMID:9576778

Using the time and motion method to study clinical work processes and workflow: methodological inconsistencies and a call for standardized research.

PubMed

Zheng, Kai; Guo, Michael H; Hanauer, David A

2011-01-01

To identify ways for improving the consistency of design, conduct, and results reporting of time and motion (T&M) research in health informatics. We analyzed the commonalities and divergences of empirical studies published 1990-2010 that have applied the T&M approach to examine the impact of health IT implementation on clinical work processes and workflow. The analysis led to the development of a suggested 'checklist' intended to help future T&M research produce compatible and comparable results. We call this checklist STAMP (Suggested Time And Motion Procedures). STAMP outlines a minimum set of 29 data/ information elements organized into eight key areas, plus three supplemental elements contained in an 'Ancillary Data' area, that researchers may consider collecting and reporting in their future T&M endeavors. T&M is generally regarded as the most reliable approach for assessing the impact of health IT implementation on clinical work. However, there exist considerable inconsistencies in how previous T&M studies were conducted and/or how their results were reported, many of which do not seem necessary yet can have a significant impact on quality of research and generalisability of results. Therefore, we deem it is time to call for standards that can help improve the consistency of T&M research in health informatics. This study represents an initial attempt. We developed a suggested checklist to improve the methodological and results reporting consistency of T&M research, so that meaningful insights can be derived from across-study synthesis and health informatics, as a field, will be able to accumulate knowledge from these studies.

A Taiwanese Mandarin Main Concept Analysis (TM-MCA) for quantification of aphasic oral discourse.

PubMed

Kong, Anthony Pak-Hin; Yeh, Chun-Chih

2015-01-01

Various quantitative systems have been proposed to examine aphasic oral narratives in English. A clinical tool for assessing discourse produced by Cantonese-speaking persons with aphasia (PWA), namely Main Concept Analysis (MCA), was developed recently for quantifying the presence, accuracy and completeness of a narrative. Similar tools for Mandarin speakers are currently absent. The first aim is to develop and establish the validity of the Taiwanese Mandarin Main Concept Analysis (TM-MCA) for the Mandarin-speaking population in Taiwan, given the paucity of related investigations. Another aim is to establish the influence of age and education level on Taiwanese Mandarin speakers' oral narrative abilities. The third purpose is to examine how well the TM-MCA could distinguish between native speakers with and without aphasia in Taiwan. The final aim is to examine the reliability and validity of the TM-MCA. Eight speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and eight neurologically intact participants were involved to establish the TM-MCA main concepts. Another 36 neurologically intact participants and 10 PWA participated to validate the TM-MCA by contrasting their performance. Both age and educational level affected the oral discourse performance among the neurologically intact adults. Significant differences on the TM-MCA measures were noted between the control group and the group with aphasia. Moreover, the degree of aphasia significantly affected the oral discourse of PWA. The TM-MCA is a culturally appropriate quantitative system for the Taiwanese Mandarin population. It can be used to supplement standardized aphasia tests to help SLPs make more informative decisions not only on clinical diagnosis but also on treatment planning. © 2015 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Development of LaRC (TM): IA thermoplastic polyimide coated aerospace wiring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Keating, Jack

1995-01-01

NASA Langley has invented LaRC(exp TM) IA and IAX which are thermoplastic polyimides with good melting, thermal and chemical resistance properties. It was the objective of this contract to prepare and extrude LaRC (exp TM) polyimide onto aircraft wire and evaluate the polymers performance in this critical application. Based on rheology and chemical resistance studies at Imitec, LaRC (exp TM) IAX melts readily in an extruder, facilitating the manufacture of thin wall coatings. The polyimide does not corode the extruder, develop gel particles nor advance in viscosity. The insulated wire was tested according to MiL-W-22759E test specifications. The resulting wire coated with LaRC (exp TM) IAX displayed exceptional properties: surface resistance, non blocking, non burning, hot fluid resistance, impulse dielectric, insulation resistance, low temperature flexibility, thermal aging, wire weight, dimensions, negligible high temperature shrinkage and stripability. The light weight and other properties merit its application in satellites, missiles and aircraft applications. The extruded IAX results in a polyimide aircraft insulation without seams, outstanding moisture resistance, continuous lengths and abrasion resistance.

TM4SF1 promotes the self-renewal of esophageal cancer stem-like cells and is regulated by miR-141.

PubMed

Xue, Lei; Yu, Xiying; Jiang, Xingran; Deng, Xin; Mao, Linlin; Guo, Liping; Fan, Jinhu; Fan, Qinqxia; Wang, Liuxing; Lu, Shih-Hsin

2017-03-21

Cancer stem-like cells have been identified in primary human tumors and cancer cell lines. Previously we found TM4SF1 gene was highly expressed in side population (SP) cells from esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cell lines, but the role and underlying mechanism of TM4SF1 in ESCC remain unclear. In this study, we observed TM4SF1 was up-regulated but miR-141 was down-regulated in SP cells isolated from ESCC cell lines. TM4SF1 could stimulate the self-renewal ability and carcinogenicity of esophageal cancer stem-like cells, and promote cell invasion and migration. In miR-141 overexpression cells, the expression of TM4SF1 was significantly reduced. We also found that overexpression of miR-141 could abolish the self-renewal ability and carcinogenicity of esophageal cancer stem-like cells and decrease cell invasion and migration by suppressing TM4SF1. Consequently, TM4SF1 is a direct target gene of miR-141. The regulation of TM4SF1 by miR-141 may play an important role in controlling self-renewals of esophageal cancer stem-like cells. It may also promote the development of new therapeutic strategies and efficient drugs to target ESCC stem-like cells.

Modeling and experimental characterization of Blackglas(TM) polymer pyrolysis to ceramic and thermodynamic characterization of Blackglas(TM) ceramic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Feng

2000-10-01

The transformation of Blackglas(TM) polymer to ceramic is characterized by TGA-RGA/MS, Si29 and C13 NMR. Si29 NMR reveals a dependence between the postcure temperature and the microstructure of the resin. The postcure temperature that appears to give optimal mechanical and oxidative properties of Blackglas(TM) ceramic is around 150°C. The pyrolysis processing models, which are the Lumped Parameters Model (LPM), the Mechanistic Kinetic Model (MKM) and the Redistribution Reaction Model (RRM), are developed to provide an effective window of processing parameters rather than a costly, time-consuming trial and error approach. The Lumped Parameters Model (LPM) is developed to study the effects of various parameters such as temperature, curing conditions and heating rates on mass loss during the pyrolysis of resin and green composites. It can be used for the model-predictive control of the pyrolysis process; The Mechanistic Kinetic Model (MKM) is developed on the basis of known chemistry and architecture of the polysiloxane for the transformation of Blackglas(TM) polymer to ceramic and the evolution of gases. The effects of various heating protocols on the outgassing kinetics have been studied to develop an optimum protocol for a rapid pyrolysis process which gives a composite with desirable mechanical properties; The Redistribution Reaction Model (RRM) is proposed to describe how the microcompositions of silicon oxycarbide change with respect to temperature, and to the ratio O/Si in the polymer precursor. A Thermodynamic Additivity Model (TAM) is developed to estimate the heat capacity, standard heat of formation and entropy of Blackglas(TM) ceramic by means of the Neumann Kopp rule and the available thermodynamic data of the Si-C and Si-O systems. Thermal stability of this ceramic is investigated by constructing predominance diagrams, and it is shown that the internal degradation reactions, which account for a significant loss of strength, will proceed further in the Blackglas(TM) matrix than in the Nicalon fibers. This probably will induce failure in the matrix at lower temperatures than in the fibers. The predominance diagrams also explain the high temperature oxidation, reduction and volatilization experiments on silicon and silicon carbide in high vacuum.

Wireless steganography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agaian, Sos S.; Akopian, David; D'Souza, Sunil

2006-02-01

Modern mobile devices are some of the most technologically advanced devices that people use on a daily basis and the current trends in mobile phone technology indicate that tasks achievable by mobile devices will soon exceed our imagination. This paper undertakes a case study of the development and implementation of one of the first known steganography (data hiding) applications on a mobile device. Steganography is traditionally accomplished using the high processing speeds of desktop or notebook computers. With the introduction of mobile platform operating systems, there arises an opportunity for the users to develop and embed their own applications. We take advantage of this opportunity with the introduction of wireless steganographic algorithms. Thus we demonstrates that custom applications, popular with security establishments, can be developed also on mobile systems independent of both the mobile device manufacturer and mobile service provider. For example, this might be a very important feature if the communication is to be controlled exclusively by authorized personnel. The paper begins by reviewing the technological capabilities of modern mobile devices. Then we address a suitable development platform which is based on Symbian TM/Series60 TM architecture. Finally, two data hiding applications developed for Symbian TM/Series60 TM mobile phones are presented.

Using National Instruments LabVIEW[TM] Education Edition in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butlin, Chris A.

2011-01-01

With the development of LabVIEW[TM] Education Edition schools can now provide experience of using this widely used software. Here, a few of the many applications that students aged around 11 years and over could develop are outlined in the resulting front panel screen displays and block diagrams showing the associated graphical programmes, plus a…

Supporting Moral Development: The Virtues Project[TM

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Moor, Gerrit

2011-01-01

The Virtues Project[TM] was founded in Canada in 1991 by Linda Kavelin Popov, Dan Popov, and John Kavelin who were concerned about the level of violence among families and youth. In studying sacred traditions and cultures around the world, they identified a set of common virtues. These were used to develop a pedagogical model that has applications…

Mapping permafrost in the boreal forest with Thematic Mapper satellite data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morrissey, L. A.; Strong, L. L.; Card, D. H.

1986-01-01

A geographic data base incorporating Landsat TM data was used to develop and evaluate logistic discriminant functions for predicting the distribution of permafrost in a boreal forest watershed. The data base included both satellite-derived information and ancillary map data. Five permafrost classifications were developed from a stratified random sample of the data base and evaluated by comparison with a photo-interpreted permafrost map using contingency table analysis and soil temperatures recorded at sites within the watershed. A classification using a TM thermal band and a TM-derived vegetation map as independent variables yielded the highest mapping accuracy for all permafrost categories.

Characterization and Functional Analysis of Five MADS-Box B Class Genes Related to Floral Organ Identification in Tagetes erecta.

PubMed

Ai, Ye; Zhang, Chunling; Sun, Yalin; Wang, Weining; He, Yanhong; Bao, Manzhu

2017-01-01

According to the floral organ development ABC model, B class genes specify petal and stamen identification. In order to study the function of B class genes in flower development of Tagetes erecta, five MADS-box B class genes were identified and their expression and putative functions were studied. Sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analyses indicated that there were one PI-like gene-TePI, two euAP3-like genes-TeAP3-1 and TeAP3-2, and two TM6-like genes-TeTM6-1 and TeTM6-2 in T. erecta. Strong expression levels of these genes were detected in stamens of the disk florets, but little or no expression was detected in bracts, receptacles or vegetative organs. Yeast hybrid experiments of the B class proteins showed that TePI protein could form a homodimer and heterodimers with all the other four B class proteins TeAP3-1, TeAP3-2, TeTM6-1 and TeTM6-2. No homodimer or interaction was observed between the euAP3 and TM6 clade members. Over-expression of five B class genes of T. erecta in Nicotiana rotundifolia showed that only the transgenic plants of 35S::TePI showed altered floral morphology compared with the non-transgenic line. This study could contribute to the understanding of the function of B class genes in flower development of T. erecta, and provide a theoretical basis for further research to change floral organ structures and create new materials for plant breeding.

Forest and wildlife habitat analysis using remote sensing and geographic information systems. M.S. Thesis, 26 May 1992 Abstract Only

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fiorella, Maria

1995-01-01

Forest and wildlife habitat analyses were conducted at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in the Central Cascade Mountains of Oregon using remotely sensed data and a geographic information system (GIS). Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data were used to determine forest successional stages, and to analyze the structure of both old and young conifer forests. Two successional stage maps were developed. One was developed from six TM spectral bands alone, and the second was developed from six TM spectral bands and a relative sun incidence band. Including the sun incidence band in the classification improved the mapping accuracy in the two youngest successional stages, but did not improve overall accuracy or accuracy of the two oldest successional stages. Mean spectral values for old-growth and mature stands were compared in seven TM bands and seven band transformations. Differences between mature and old-growth successional stages were greatest for the band ratio of TM 4/5 (P = 0.00005) and the multiband transformation of wetness (P = 0.00003). The age of young conifer stands had the highest correlation to TM 4/5 values (r = 0.9559) of any of the TM band or band transformations used. TM 4/5 ratio values of poorly regenerated conifer stands were significantly different from well regenerated conifer stands after age 15 (P = 0.0000). TM 4/5 was named a 'Successional Stage Index' (SSI) because of its ability to distinguish forest successional stages. The forest successional stage map was used as input into a vertebrate richness model using GIS. The three variables of (1) successional stage, (2) elevation, and (3) site moisture were used in the GIS to predict the spatial occurrence of small mammal, amphibian, and reptile species based on primary and secondary habitat requirements. These occurrence or habitat maps were overlayed to tally the predicted number of vertebrate at any given point in the study area. Overall, sixty-three and sixty-seven percent of the model predictions for vertebrate occurrence matched the vertebrates that were trapped in the field in eight forested stands. Of the three model variables, site moisture appeared to have the greatest influence on the pattern of high vertebrate richness in all vertebrate classes.

Effects of Making Sense of SCIENCE[TM] Professional Development on the Achievement of Middle School Students, Including English Language Learners. Final Report. NCEE 2012-4002

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heller, Joan I.

2012-01-01

This study evaluated an approach to professional development for middle school science teachers by closely examining one grade 8 course that embodies that approach. Using a cluster-randomized experimental design, the study tested the effectiveness of the Making Sense of SCIENCE[TM] professional development course on force and motion (Daehler,…

The Importance of Metadata in System Development and IKM

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-02-01

Defence R& D Canada The Importance of Metadata in System Development and IKM Anthony W. Isenor Technical Memorandum DRDC Atlantic TM 2003-011...Metadata in System Development and IKM Anthony W. Isenor Defence R& D Canada – Atlantic Technical Memorandum DRDC Atlantic TM 2003-011 February... it is important for searches and providing relevant information to the client. A comparison of metadata standards was conducted with emphasis on

White up-conversion emission in Ho3+/Tm3+/Yb3+ tri-doped glass ceramics embedding BaF2 nanocrystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Chenxia; Xu, Shiqing; Ye, Rengguang; Deng, Degang; Hua, Youjie; Zhao, Shilong; Zhuang, Songlin

2011-04-01

Ho3+/Tm3+/Yb3+ tri-doped glass ceramics with white light emitting have been developed and demonstrated. Pumped by 980 nm laser diode (LD), intensive red, green and blue up-conversions (UC) were obtained. The green emission is assigned to Ho3+ ion and the blue emission is assigned to Tm3+ ion, whereas the red emission is the combination contribution of the Ho3+ and Tm3+ ions. The RGB intensities could be adjusted by tuning the rare-earth ion concentration and pump power intensity. Thus, multicolor of the luminescence, including perfect white light with CIE-X=0.329 and CIE-Y=0.342 in the 1931 CIE chromaticity diagram can be obtained in 0.15 Ho3+/0.2Tm3+/3Yb3+ tri-doped glass ceramics embedding BaF2 nanocrystals pumped by a single infrared laser diode source of 980 nm at 500 mW. The up-conversion luminescence mechanism of Yb3+ sensitize Ho3+ and Tm3+ ions and the energy transfer from Ho3+ to Tm3+ in oxy-fluoride silicate glass ceramics were analyzed.

High quality TmIG films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy grown by sputtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, C. N.; Tseng, C. C.; Yeh, S. L.; Lin, K. Y.; Cheng, C. K.; Fanchiang, Y. T.; Hong, M.; Kwo, J.

Ferrimagnetic thulium iron garnet (TmIG) films grown on gadolinium gallium garnet substrates recently showed stress-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), attractive for realization of quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) of topological insulator (TI) films via the proximity effect. Moreover, current induced magnetization switching of Pt/TmIG has been demonstrated for the development of room temperature (RT) spintronic devices. In this work, high quality TmIG films (about 25nm) were grown by sputtering at RT followed by post-annealing. We showed that the film composition is tunable by varying the growth parameters. The XRD results showed excellent crystallinity of stoichiometric TmIG films with an out-of-plane lattice constant of 1.2322nm, a narrow film rocking curve of 0.017 degree, and a film roughness of 0.2 nm. The stoichiometric films exhibited PMA and the saturation magnetization at RT was 109 emu/cm3 (RT bulk value 110 emu/cm3) with a coercive field of 2.7 Oe. In contrast, TmIG films of Fe deficiency showed in-plane magnetic anisotropy. The high quality sputtered TmIG films will be applied to heterostructures with TIs or metals with strong spin-orbit coupling for novel spintronics.

Championing telemedicine adoption and utilization in healthcare organizations in New Zealand.

PubMed

Al-Qirim, Nabeel

2007-01-01

This research explored the adoption and the utilisation of telemedicine (TM) in two healthcare organizations (HCOs) in New Zealand (NZ). The research utilised the technological innovation theories, as a guiding theoretical framework, to develop a set of potential determinants which could assist in understanding the adoption and the depth of the TM phenomenon in the two HCOs. Using case studies design, the findings across the two cases revealed that TM was adopted according to its cost-benefit analysis. Although this approach was found to be important in assessing the adoption of TM, not considering the importance of other factors, highlighted in this research, such as the compatibility and the trialability aspects of the TM technology had a detrimental impact on the success of TM in both cases. This research stressed the need for the tight coupling between the roles of both the administrative and the clinical managers in HCOs in order to champion TM adoption and diffusion and to overcome many of the barriers that could hinder telemedicine success in HCOs in NZ. The research points to other implications with respect to the literature and highlights further research in this important area.

2-micron lasing in Tm:Lu2O3 ceramic: initial operation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vetrovec, John; Filgas, David M.; Smith, Carey A.; Copeland, Drew A.; Litt, Amardeep S.; Briscoe, Eldridge; Schirmer, Ernestina

2018-03-01

We report on initial lasing of Tm:Lu2O3 ceramic laser with tunable output in the vicinity of 2 μm. Tm:Lu2O3 ceramic gain materials offer a much lower saturation fluence than the traditionally used Tm:YLF and Tm:YAG materials. The gain element is pumped by 796 nm diodes via a "2-for-1" crossrelaxation energy transfer mechanism, which enables high efficiency. The high thermal conductivity of the Lu2O3 host ( 18% higher than YAG) in combination with low quantum defect of 20% supports operation at high-average power. Konoshima's ceramic fabrication process overcomes the scalability limits of single crystal sesquioxides. Tm:Lu2O3 offers wide-bandwidth amplification of ultrashort pulses in a chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) system. A laser oscillator was continuously tuned over a 230 nm range from 1890 to 2120 nm while delivering up to 43W QCW output with up to 37% efficiency. This device is intended for initial testing and later seeding of a multi-pass edge-pumped disk amplifier now being developed by Aqwest which uses composite Tm:Lu2O3 disk gain elements.

The promise of copper lowering therapy with tetrathiomolybdate in the cure of cancer and in the treatment of inflammatory disease.

PubMed

Brewer, George J

2014-10-01

Tetrathiomolybdate (TM) is a unique anticopper drug developed for the treatment of the neurologic presentation of Wilson's disease, for which it is excellent. Since it was known copper was required for angiogenesis, TM was tested on mouse cancer models to see if it would inhibit tumor growth based on an antiangiogenic effect. TM was extremely effective in these models, but all the tumors in the models started small in size - micrometastatic in size. Later, TM was tested in numerous human cancer trials, where it showed only modest effects. However, the mouse lesson of efficacy against micro disease was forgotten - all the trials were against bulky, advanced cancer. Now, the mouse evidence is coming back to life. Three groups are curing, or having major efficacy of TM, against advanced human cancers, heretofore virtually incurable, particularly if the cancer has been reduced to no evidence of disease (NED) status by conventional therapy. In that situation, where the remaining disease is micrometastatic, TM therapy appears to be curative. We have designed and initiated a study of TM in canine osteosarcoma at the micrometastatic phase to help put these findings on a firm scientific basis. TM also has major anti-inflammatory properties by inhibiting copper dependent cytokines involved in inflammation. This anti-inflammatory effect may be involved in TM's anticancer effect because cancers, as they advance, attract inflammatory cells that provide a plethora of additional proangiogenic agents. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Survey of Long-Term Technology Forecasting Methodologies

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-11-01

called for include an integrated demand information architecture, a TransAtmospheric Vehicle (TAV), and development of a space-based laser ( SBL ) system...Program,” NASA TM-1998-208400, 1998 (see http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/ bpp /TM-1998-208400.htm ). Also available in Missions to the Outer Solar System and...November 1997, Presented at Plenary Session III Views of Future STAIF, Jan. 27, 1998, Albuquerque, NM (see http://www.lerc.nasa.gov/ WWW/ bpp /TM-97-206241

Disruption of mouse Cenpj, a regulator of centriole biogenesis, phenocopies Seckel syndrome.

PubMed

McIntyre, Rebecca E; Lakshminarasimhan Chavali, Pavithra; Ismail, Ozama; Carragher, Damian M; Sanchez-Andrade, Gabriela; Forment, Josep V; Fu, Beiyuan; Del Castillo Velasco-Herrera, Martin; Edwards, Andrew; van der Weyden, Louise; Yang, Fengtang; Ramirez-Solis, Ramiro; Estabel, Jeanne; Gallagher, Ferdia A; Logan, Darren W; Arends, Mark J; Tsang, Stephen H; Mahajan, Vinit B; Scudamore, Cheryl L; White, Jacqueline K; Jackson, Stephen P; Gergely, Fanni; Adams, David J

2012-01-01

Disruption of the centromere protein J gene, CENPJ (CPAP, MCPH6, SCKL4), which is a highly conserved and ubiquitiously expressed centrosomal protein, has been associated with primary microcephaly and the microcephalic primordial dwarfism disorder Seckel syndrome. The mechanism by which disruption of CENPJ causes the proportionate, primordial growth failure that is characteristic of Seckel syndrome is unknown. By generating a hypomorphic allele of Cenpj, we have developed a mouse (Cenpj(tm/tm)) that recapitulates many of the clinical features of Seckel syndrome, including intrauterine dwarfism, microcephaly with memory impairment, ossification defects, and ocular and skeletal abnormalities, thus providing clear confirmation that specific mutations of CENPJ can cause Seckel syndrome. Immunohistochemistry revealed increased levels of DNA damage and apoptosis throughout Cenpj(tm/tm) embryos and adult mice showed an elevated frequency of micronucleus induction, suggesting that Cenpj-deficiency results in genomic instability. Notably, however, genomic instability was not the result of defective ATR-dependent DNA damage signaling, as is the case for the majority of genes associated with Seckel syndrome. Instead, Cenpj(tm/tm) embryonic fibroblasts exhibited irregular centriole and centrosome numbers and mono- and multipolar spindles, and many were near-tetraploid with numerical and structural chromosomal abnormalities when compared to passage-matched wild-type cells. Increased cell death due to mitotic failure during embryonic development is likely to contribute to the proportionate dwarfism that is associated with CENPJ-Seckel syndrome.

Freeze-thaw decellularization of the trabecular meshwork in an ex vivo eye perfusion model

PubMed Central

Dang, Yalong; Waxman, Susannah; Wang, Chao; Jensen, Adrianna; Loewen, Ralitsa T.; Bilonick, Richard A.

2017-01-01

Objective The trabecular meshwork (TM) is the primary substrate of outflow resistance in glaucomatous eyes. Repopulating diseased TM with fresh, functional TM cells might be a viable therapeutic approach. Decellularized TM scaffolds have previously been produced by ablating cells with suicide gene therapy or saponin, which risks incomplete cell removal or dissolution of the extracellular matrix, respectively. We hypothesized that improved trabecular meshwork cell ablation would result from freeze-thaw cycles compared to chemical treatment. Materials and Methods We obtained 24 porcine eyes from a local abattoir, dissected and mounted them in an anterior segment perfusion within two hours of sacrifice. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was recorded continuously by a pressure transducer system. After 72 h of IOP stabilization, eight eyes were assigned to freeze-thaw (F) ablation (−80 °C × 2), to 0.02% saponin (S) treatment, or the control group (C), respectively. The TM was transduced with an eGFP expressing feline immunodeficiency viral (FIV) vector and tracked via fluorescent microscopy to confirm ablation. Following treatment, the eyes were perfused with standard tissue culture media for 180 h. TM histology was assessed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. TM viability was evaluated by a calcein AM/propidium iodide (PI) assay. The TM extracellular matrix was stained with Picro Sirius Red. We measured IOP and modeled it with a linear mixed effects model using a B-spline function of time with five degrees of freedom. Results F and S experienced a similar IOP reduction of 30% from baseline (P = 0.64). IOP reduction of about 30% occurred in F within 24 h and in S within 48 h. Live visualization of eGFP demonstrated that F conferred a complete ablation of all TM cells and only a partial ablation in S. Histological analysis and Picro Sirius staining confirmed that no TM cells survived in F while the extracellular matrix remained. The viability assay showed very low PI and no calcein staining in F in contrast to many PI-labeled, dead TM cells and calcein-labeled viable TM cells in S. Conclusion We developed a rapid TM ablation method that uses cyclic freezing that is free of biological or chemical agents and able to produce a decellularized TM scaffold with preserved TM extracellular matrix in an organotypic perfusion culture. PMID:28828244

Cerebral vascular structure in the motor cortex of adult mice is stable and is not altered by voluntary exercise.

PubMed

Cudmore, Robert H; Dougherty, Sarah E; Linden, David J

2017-12-01

The cerebral vasculature provides blood flow throughout the brain, and local changes in blood flow are regulated to match the metabolic demands of the active brain regions. This neurovascular coupling is mediated by real-time changes in vessel diameter and depends on the underlying vascular network structure. Neurovascular structure is configured during development by genetic and activity-dependent factors. In adulthood, it can be altered by experiences such as prolonged hypoxia, sensory deprivation and seizure. Here, we have sought to determine whether exercise could alter cerebral vascular structure in the adult mouse. We performed repeated in vivo two-photon imaging in the motor cortex of adult transgenic mice expressing membrane-anchored green fluorescent protein in endothelial cells (tyrosine endothelial kinase 2 receptor (Tie2)-Cre:mTmG). This strategy allows for high-resolution imaging of the vessel walls throughout the lifespan. Vascular structure, as measured by capillary branch point number and position, segment diameter and length remained stable over a time scale of months as did pericyte number and position. Furthermore, we compared the vascular structure before, during, and after periods of voluntary wheel running and found no alterations in these same parameters. In both running and control mice, we observed a low rate of capillary segment subtraction. Interestingly, these rare subtraction events preferentially remove short vascular loops.

Rotating Cylinder Treatment System Demonstration (Presentation)

EPA Science Inventory

In August 2008, a rotating cylinder treatment system (RCTS^TM) demonstration was conducted near Gladstone, CO. The RCTS^TM is a novel technology developed to replace the aeration/oxidation and mixing components of a conventional lime precipitation treatment s...

Rotating Cylinder Treatment System Demonstration

EPA Science Inventory

In August 2008, a rotating cylinder treatment system (RCTS^TM) demonstration was conducted near Gladstone, CO. The RCTS^TM is a novel technology developed to replace the aeration/oxidation and mixing components of a conventional lime precipitation treatment s...

Isolation of the three grape sub-lineages of B-class MADS-box TM6, PISTILLATA and APETALA3 genes which are differentially expressed during flower and fruit development.

PubMed

Poupin, María Josefina; Federici, Fernán; Medina, Consuelo; Matus, José Tomás; Timmermann, Tania; Arce-Johnson, Patricio

2007-12-01

The B class of MADS-box floral homeotic genes specifies petal and stamen identity in angiosperms. While this group is one of the most studied in herbaceous plant species, it has remained largely uncharacterized in woody species such as grapevine. Although the B class PI/GLO and AP3/DEF clades have been extensively characterized in model species, the role of the TM6 subgroup within the AP3 clade is not completely understood, since it is absent in Arabidopsis thaliana. In this study, the coding regions of VvTM6 and VvAP3 and the genomic sequence of VvPI, were cloned. VvPI and AtPI were confirmed to be functional homologues by means of complementation of the pi Arabidopsis mutant. Expression analysis revealed that VvPI and VvAP3 transcripts are restricted almost exclusively to inflorescences, although VvPI was detected at low levels in leaves and roots. VvTM6 expresses throughout the plant, with higher levels in flowers and berries. A detailed chronological study of grape flower progression by light microscopy and temporal expression analysis throughout early and late developmental stages, revealed that VvPI expression increases during pollen maturation and decreases between the events of pollination and fertilization, before the cap fall. On the other hand, VvTM6 is expressed in the last stage of anther development. Specific expression of VvAP3 and VvPI was detected in petals and stamens within the flower, while VvTM6 was also expressed in carpels. Moreover, this work provides the first evidence for expression of a TM6-like gene throughout fruit growth and ripening. Even if these genes belong to the same genetic class they could act in different periods and/or tissues during reproductive organ development.

Flight Testing of a Low Cost De-Orbiting Device for Small Satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turse, Dana; Keller, Phil; Taylor, Robert; Reavis, Mark; Tupper, Mike; Koehler, Chris

2014-01-01

Use of small and very small spacecraft is rapidly becoming more common. Methods to intentionally deorbit these spacecraft at the end of useful satellite life are required. A family of mass efficient Roll-Out De- Orbiting devices (RODEO"TM") was developed by Composite Technology Development, Inc. (CTD). RODEO"TM" consists of lightweight film attached to a simple, ultra-lightweight, roll-out composite boom structure. This system is rolled to stow within a lightweight launch canister, allowing easy integration to the small satellite bus. The device is released at the end of useful lifetime and the RODEO"TM" composite boom unrolls the drag sail in a matter of seconds. This dramatically increases the deployed surface area, resulting in the higher aerodynamic drag that significantly reduces the time until reentry. A RODEO"TM" flight demonstration was recently conducted as part of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium's (COSGC) RocketSat-8 program, a program to provide students hands-on experience in developing experiments for space flight. The experiment was ultimately a success and RODEO (trademark) is now ready for future CubeSat missions.

A microarchitecture for resource-limited superscalar microprocessors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basso, Todd David

1999-11-01

Microelectronic components in space and satellite systems must be resistant to total dose radiation, single-even upset, and latchup in order to accomplish their missions. The demand for inexpensive, high-volume, radiation hardened (rad-hard) integrated circuits (ICs) is expected to increase dramatically as the communication market continues to expand. Motorola's Complementary Gallium Arsenide (CGaAsTM) technology offers superior radiation tolerance compared to traditional CMOS processes, while being more economical than dedicated rad-hard CMOS processes. The goals of this dissertation are to optimize a superscalar microarchitecture suitable for CGaAsTM microprocessors, develop circuit techniques for such applications, and evaluate the potential of CGaAsTM for the development of digital VLSI circuits. Motorola's 0.5 mum CGaAsTM process is summarized and circuit techniques applicable to digital CGaAsTM are developed. Direct coupled FET, complementary, and domino logic circuits are compared based on speed, power, area, and noise margins. These circuit techniques are employed in the design of a 600 MHz PowerPCTM arithmetic logic unit. The dissertation emphasizes CGaASTM-specific design considerations, specifically, low integration level. A baseline superscalar microarchitecture is defined and SPEC95 integer benchmark simulations are used to evaluate the applicability of advanced architectural features to microprocessors having low integration levels. The performance simulations center around the optimization of a simple superscalar core, small-scale branch prediction, instruction prefetching, and an off-chip primary data cache. The simulation results are used to develop a superscalar microarchitecture capable of outperforming a comparable sequential pipeline, while using only 500,000 transistors. The architecture, running at 200 MHz, is capable of achieving an estimated 153 MIPS, translating to a 27% performance increase over a comparable traditional pipelined microprocessor. The proposed microarchitecture is process independent and can be applied to low-cost, or transistor-limited applications. The proposed microarchitecture is implemented in the design of a 0.35 mum CMOS microprocessor, and the design of a 0.5 mum CGaAsTM micro-processor. The two technologies and designs are compared to ascertain the state of CGaAsTM for digital VLSI applications.

Design and evaluation of ondansetron liquid suppository for the treatment of emesis.

PubMed

Ban, Eunmi; Kim, Chong-Kook

2013-05-01

The thermosensitive-mucoadhesive ondansetron liquid suppository (tmOLS) was developed to enhance patient compliance and bioavailability in high-risk patients receiving highly emetogenic therapy and having difficulty in swallowing, The thermosensitive-mucoadhesive liquid suppository bases were formulated using poloxamers (P407 and P188) and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC). The physicochemical properties of the liquid suppository bases were characterized by their gelation temperature, mucoadhesive force, rheological properties, and in vitro release. Rectal mucosal damage following rectal administration of tmOLS in rats was assessed using microscopy. Pharmacokinetic analyses were performed to compare tmOLS administered via the rectal route to ondansetron solution administered orally. The liquid suppository base of tmOLS contained P407, P188, and HPMC in the ratio 18:20:0.8, was in the liquid state at room temperature, underwent gelation at body temperature. Area under the curve and half-life (t1/2) of ondansetron were significantly higher in the tmOLS-treated group, indicating that the formulation bypassed the first-pass metabolism and that it was released slowly from the tmOLS because of the formation of mucoadhesive gel state. Furthermore, the t1/2 of tmOLS was two-fold that of the oral solution. Thus, tmOLS could be administered to patients who have difficulty in swallowing; however, adjustments in dosing interval may be needed.

Genetic characterization and improved genotyping of the dysferlin-deficient mouse strain Dysf (tm1Kcam).

PubMed

Wiktorowicz, Tatiana; Kinter, Jochen; Kobuke, Kazuhiro; Campbell, Kevin P; Sinnreich, Michael

2015-01-01

Mouse models of dysferlinopathies are valuable tools with which to investigate the pathomechanisms underlying these diseases and to test novel therapeutic strategies. One such mouse model is the Dysf (tm1Kcam) strain, which was generated using a targeting vector to replace a 12-kb region of the dysferlin gene and which features a progressive muscular dystrophy. A prerequisite for successful animal studies using genetic mouse models is an accurate genotyping protocol. Unfortunately, the lack of robustness of currently available genotyping protocols for the Dysf (tm1Kcam) mouse has prevented efficient colony management. Initial attempts to improve the genotyping protocol based on the published genomic structure failed. These difficulties led us to analyze the targeted locus of the dysferlin gene of the Dysf (tm1Kcam) mouse in greater detail. In this study we resequenced and analyzed the targeted locus of the Dysf (tm1Kcam) mouse and developed a novel PCR protocol for genotyping. We found that instead of a deletion, the dysferlin locus in the Dysf (tm1Kcam) mouse carries a targeted insertion. This genetic characterization enabled us to establish a reliable method for genotyping of the Dysf (tm1Kcam) mouse, and thus has made efficient colony management possible. Our work will make the Dysf (tm1Kcam) mouse model more attractive for animal studies of dysferlinopathies.

To bend or not to bend: experimental and computational studies of structural preference in Ln(Tp(iPr)2)2 (Ln = Sm, Tm).

PubMed

Momin, Aurélien; Carter, Lee; Yang, Yi; McDonald, Robert; Essafi Labouille, Stéphanie; Nief, François; Del Rosal, Iker; Sella, Andrea; Maron, Laurent; Takats, Josef

2014-11-17

The synthesis and characterization of Ln(Tp(iPr2))2 (Ln = Sm, 3Sm; Tm, 3Tm) are reported. While the simple (1)H NMR spectra of the compounds indicate a symmetrical solution structure, with equivalent pyrazolyl groups, the solid-state structure revealed an unexpected, "bent sandwich-like" geometry. By contrast, the structure of the less sterically congested Tm(Tp(Me2,4Et))2 (4) adopts the expected symmetrical structure with a linear B-Tm-B arrangement. Computational studies to investigate the origin of the unexpected bent structure of the former compounds indicate that steric repulsion between the isopropyl groups forces the Tp ligands apart and permits the development of unusual interligand C-H···N hydrogen-bonding interactions that help stabilize the structure. These results find support in the similar geometry of the Tm(III) analogue [Tm(Tp(iPr2))2]I, 3Tm(+), and confirm that the low symmetry is not the result of a metal-ligand interaction. The relevance of these results to the general question of the coordination geometry of MX2 and M(C5R5)2 (M = heavy alkaline earth and Ln(II), X = halide, and C5R5 = bulky persubstituted cyclopentadienyl) complexes and the importance of secondary H-bonding and nonbonding interactions on the structure are highlighted.

Color Tunable and Upconversion Luminescence in Yb-Tm Co-Doped Yttrium Phosphate Inverse Opal Photonic Crystals.

PubMed

Wang, Siqin; Qiu, Jianbei; Wang, Qi; Zhou, Dacheng; Yang, Zhengwen

2016-04-01

For this paper, YPO4: Tm, Yb inverse opals with the photonic band gaps at 475 nm and 655 nm were prepared by polystyrene colloidal crystal templates. We investigated the influence of photonic band gaps on the Tm-Yb upconversion emission which was in the YPO4: Tm Yb inverse opal photonic crystals. Comparing with the reference sample, significant suppression of both the blue and red upconversion luminescence of Tm3+ ions were observed in the inverse opals. The color purity of the blue emission was improved in the inverse opal by the suppression of red upconversion emission. Additionally, mechanism of upconversion emission in the inverse opal was discussed. We believe that the present work will be valuable for not only the foundational study of upconversion emission modification but also the development of new optical devices in upconversion lighting and display.

Method of quantifying the loss of acidification activity of lactic acid starters during freezing and frozen storage.

PubMed

Fonseca, F; Béal, C; Corrieu, G

2000-02-01

We have developed a method to quantify the resistance to freezing and frozen storage of lactic acid starters, based on measuring the time necessary to reach the maximum acidification rate in milk (tm) using the Cinac system. Depending on the operating conditions, tm increased during the freezing step and storage. The loss of acidification activity during freezing was quantified by the difference (delta tm) between the tm values of the concentrated cell suspension before and after freezing. During storage at -20 degrees C, linear relationships between tm and the storage time were established. Their slope, k, allowed the quantitation of the decrease in acidification activity during 9-14 weeks of frozen storage. The method was applied to determine the resistance to freezing and frozen storage of four strains of lactic acid bacteria and to quantify the cryoprotective effect of glycerol.

An Analysis of the High Frequency Vibrations in Early Thematic Mapper Scenes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kogut, J.; Larduinat, E.

1985-01-01

The motion of the mirrors in the thematic mapper (TM) and multispectral scanner (MSS) instruments, and the motion of other devices, such as the TDRSS antenna drive, and solar array drives onboard LANDSAT-4 cause vibrations to propagate through the spacecraft. These vibrations as well as nonlinearities in the scanning motion of the TM mirror can cause the TM detectors to point away from their nominal positions. Two computer programs, JITTER and SCDFT, were developed as part of the LANDSAT-D Assessment System (LAS), Products and Procedures Analysis (PAPA) program to evaluate the potential effect of high frequency vibrations on the final TM image. The maximum overlap and underlap which were observed for early TM scenes are well within specifications for the ground processing system. The cross scan and scan high frequency vibrations are also within the specifications cited for the flight system.

Tunicamycin Prevents Cellulose Microfibril Formation in Oocystis solitaria.

PubMed

Quader, H

1984-07-01

The effect of tunicamycin (TM) on the development of the cell wall in Oocystis solitaria has been investigated. It was found that 10 micromolar TM completely stops the assembly of new microfibrils as observed at the ultrastructural level. During cell wall formation, freeze fracture replicas of the E-face of the plasma membrane reveal two major substructures: the terminal complexes (TC), paired and unpaired, and the microfibril imprints extending from unpaired TCs. In cells treated for 3 hours or longer with TM, the TCs are no longer visible, whereas microfibril imprints are still present. Because of the reported highly selective mode of action of TM, our results implicate a role for lipid-intermediates in cellulose synthesis in O. solitaria. It is assumed that TM prevents the formation of a glycoprotein which probably is a fundamental part of the TCs and may act as a primer for the assembly of the microfibrils.

Expression of therapeutic misconception amongst Egyptians: a qualitative pilot study.

PubMed

Wazaify, Mayyada; Khalil, Susan S; Silverman, Henry J

2009-06-30

Studies have shown that research participants fail to appreciate the difference between research and medical care, labeling such phenomenon as a "therapeutic misconception" (TM). Since research activity involving human participants is increasing in the Middle East, qualitative research investigating aspects of TM is warranted. Our objective was to assess for the existence of therapeutic misconception amongst Egyptians. Study Tool: We developed a semi-structured interview guide to elicit the knowledge, attitudes, and perspectives of Egyptians regarding medical research. We recruited individuals from the outpatient settings (public and private) at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt. Interviews were taped, transcribed, and translated. We analyzed the content of the transcribed text to identify the presence of a TM, defined in one of two ways: TM1 = inaccurate beliefs about how individualized care can be compromised by the procedures in the research and TM2 = inaccurate appraisal of benefit obtained from the research study. Our findings showed that a majority of participants (11/15) expressed inaccurate beliefs regarding the degree with which individualized care will be maintained in the research setting (TM1) and a smaller number of participants (5/15) manifested an unreasonable belief in the likelihood of benefits to be obtained from a research study (TM2). A total of 12 of the 15 participants were judged to have expressed a TM on either one of these bases. The presence of TM is not uncommon amongst Egyptian individuals. We recommend further qualitative studies investigating aspects of TM involving a larger sample size distinguished by different types of illnesses and socio-economic variables, as well as those who have and have not participated in clinical research.

A novel prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor protects against cell death after hypoxia.

PubMed

Kontani, Satoru; Nagata, Eiichiro; Uesugi, Tsuyoshi; Moriya, Yusuke; Fujii, Natsuko; Miyata, Toshio; Takizawa, Shunya

2013-12-01

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is regulated by the oxygen-dependent hydroxylation of proline residues by prolyl hydroxylases (PHDs). We recently developed a novel PHD inhibitor, TM6008, that suppresses the activity of PHDs, inducing continuous HIF-1α activation. In this study, we investigated how TM6008 affects cell survival after hypoxic conditions capable of inducing HIF-1α expression and how TM6008 regulates PHDs and genes downstream of HIF-1α. After SHSY-5Y cells had been subjected to hypoxia, TM6008 was added to the cell culture medium under normoxic conditions. Apoptotic cell death was significantly augmented just after the hypoxic conditions, compared with cell death under normoxic conditions. Notably, when TM6008 was added to the media after the cells had been subjected to hypoxia, the expression level of HIF-1α increased and the number of cell deaths decreased, compared with the results for cells cultured in media without TM6008 after hypoxia, during the 7-day incubation period under normoxic conditions. Moreover, the protein expression levels of heme oxygenase 1, erythropoietin, and glucose transporter-3, which were genes downstream of HIF-1α, were elevated in media to which TM6008 had been added, compared with media without TM6008, during the 7-day incubation period under normoxic conditions. However, the protein expression levels of PHD2 and p53 which suppressed cell proliferation were suppressed in the media to which TM6008 had been added. Thus, TM6008, which suppresses the protein expressions of PHD2 and p53, might play an important role in cell survival after hypoxic conditions, with possible applications as a new compound for treatment after ischemic stroke.

Near Infrared Quantum Cutting Luminescence of Er3+/Tm3+ Ion Pairs in a Telluride Glass.

PubMed

Chen, Xiaobo; Li, Song; Hu, Lili; Wang, Kezhi; Zhao, Guoying; He, Lizhu; Liu, Jinying; Yu, Chunlei; Tao, Jingfu; Lin, Wei; Yang, Guojian; Salamo, Gregory J

2017-05-16

The multiphoton near-infrared, quantum cutting luminescence in Er 3+ /Tm 3+ co-doped telluride glass was studied. We found that the near-infrared 1800-nm luminescence intensity of (A) Er 3+ (8%)Tm 3+ (0.5%):telluride glass was approximately 4.4 to 19.5 times larger than that of (B) Tm 3+ (0.5%):telluride glass, and approximately 5.0 times larger than that of (C) Er 3+ (0.5%):telluride glass. Additionally, the infrared excitation spectra of the 1800 nm luminescence, as well as the visible excitation spectra of the 522 nm and 652 nm luminescence, of (A) Er 3+ (8%)Tm 3+ (0.5%):telluride glass are very similar to those of Er 3+ ions in (C) Er 3+ (0.5%):telluride glass, with respect to the shapes of their excitation spectral waveforms and peak wavelengths. Moreover, we found that there is a strong spectral overlap and energy transfer between the infrared luminescence of Er 3+ donor ions and the infrared absorption of Tm 3+ acceptor ions. The efficiency of this energy transfer { 4 I 13/2 (Er 3+ ) →  4 I 15/2 (Er 3+ ), 3 H 6 (Tm 3+ ) →  3 F 4 (Tm 3+ )} between the Er 3+ and Tm 3+ ions is approximately 69.8%. Therefore, we can conclude that the observed behaviour is an interesting multiphoton, near-infrared, quantum cutting luminescence phenomenon that occurs in novel Er 3+ -Tm 3+ ion pairs. These findings are significant for the development of next-generation environmentally friendly germanium solar cells, and near-to-mid infrared (1.8-2.0 μm) lasers pumped by GaN light emitting diodes.

Gearing Up for the Big Game...and More

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

Bill Elkins, a member of the U.S. Space Foundation's Space Technology Hall of Fame, is using his experience in developing cooling garments for use in sports and medicine. His company, CoolSystems, has developed the Game Ready[TM] Accelerated Recovery System. Game Ready[TM] ergonomic wraps are designed to custom fit the ankle, knee, back, torso, shoulder, elbow, and wrist and provide deep tissue cooling therapy with intermittent compression to reduce pain, swelling, and tissue damage. Recharge[TM] cooling garments have been developed to lower core body temperature in people with heat-sensitive multiple sclerosis, reducing symptoms such as fatigue, decreased balance, impaired vision, and decreased endurance. The company currently is collaborating with Stanford University Medical Center's Stanford Stroke Center to investigate the effectiveness of discrete hypothermia in stroke and head trauma patients.

20 years of Tm:Ho:YLF and LuLF Laser Development for Global Winds Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, Upendra N.; Walsh, Brian M.; Yu, Jirong; Petros, Mulugeta; Kavaya, Michael J.; Barnes, Norman P.

2014-01-01

NASA Langley Research Center has a long history of developing 2 micron lasers. From fundamental spectroscopy research, theoretical prediction of new materials, laser demonstration and engineering of lidar systems, it has been a very successful program spanning around two decades. This article covers the program development from the early research to the present instrumentation. A brief historical perspective of Tm:Ho work by early researchers is also given.

Lyme Disease and YouTube TM: A Cross-Sectional Study of Video Contents.

PubMed

Basch, Corey H; Mullican, Lindsay A; Boone, Kwanza D; Yin, Jingjing; Berdnik, Alyssa; Eremeeva, Marina E; Fung, Isaac Chun-Hai

2017-08-01

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease. People seek health information on Lyme disease from YouTube TM videos. In this study, we investigated if the contents of Lyme disease-related YouTube TM videos varied by their sources. Most viewed English YouTube TM videos (n = 100) were identified and manually coded for contents and sources. Within the sample, 40 videos were consumer-generated, 31 were internet-based news, 16 were professional, and 13 were TV news. Compared with consumer-generated videos, TV news videos were more likely to mention celebrities (odds ratio [OR], 10.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.13-52.58), prevention of Lyme disease through wearing protective clothing (OR, 5.63; 95% CI, 1.23-25.76), and spraying insecticides (OR, 7.71; 95% CI, 1.52-39.05). A majority of the most popular Lyme disease-related YouTube TM videos were not created by public health professionals. Responsible reporting and creative video-making facilitate Lyme disease education. Partnership with YouTube TM celebrities to co-develop educational videos may be a future direction.

LANDSAT TM image data quality analysis for energy-related applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wukelic, G. E.; Foote, H. P.; Petrie, G. M.; Barnard, J. C.; Eliason, J. R.

1985-01-01

This project represents a no-cost agreement between National Aeronautic Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA GSFC) and the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL). PNL is a Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory operted by Battelle Memorial Institute at its Pacific Northwest Laboratories in Richland, Washington. The objective of this investigation is to evaluate LANDSAT's thematic mapper (TM) data quality and utility characteristics from an energy research and technological perspective. Of main interest is the extent to which repetitive TM data might support DOE efforts relating to siting, developing, and monitoring energy-related facilities, and to basic geoscientific research. The investigation utilizes existing staff and facility capabilities, and ongoing programmatic activities at PNL and other DOE national laboratories to cooperatively assess the potential usefulness of the improved experimental TM data. The investigation involves: (1) both LANDSAT 4 and 5 TM data, (2) qualitative and quantitative use consideration, and 3) NASA P (corrected) and A (uncorrected) CCT analysis for a variety of sites of DOE interest. Initial results were presented at the LANDSAT Investigator's Workshops and at specialized LANDSAT TM sessions at various conferences.

Insights into GABA receptor signalling in TM3 Leydig cells.

PubMed

Doepner, Richard F G; Geigerseder, Christof; Frungieri, Monica B; Gonzalez-Calvar, Silvia I; Calandra, Ricardo S; Raemsch, Romi; Fohr, Karl; Kunz, Lars; Mayerhofer, Artur

2005-01-01

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an emerging signalling molecule in endocrine organs, since it is produced by endocrine cells and acts via GABA(A) receptors in a paracrine/autocrine fashion. Testicular Leydig cells are producers and targets for GABA. These cells express GABA(A) receptor subunits and in the murine Leydig cell line TM3 pharmacological activation leads to increased proliferation. The signalling pathway of GABA in these cells is not known in this study. We therefore attempted to elucidate details of GABA(A) signalling in TM3 and adult mouse Leydig cells using several experimental approaches. TM3 cells not only express GABA(A )receptor subunits, but also bind the GABA agonist [(3)H]muscimol with a binding affinity in the range reported for other endocrine cells (K(d) = 2.740 +/- 0.721 nM). However, they exhibit a low B(max) value of 28.08 fmol/mg protein. Typical GABA(A) receptor-associated events, including Cl(-) currents, changes in resting membrane potential, intracellular Ca(2+) or cAMP, were not measurable with the methods employed in TM3 cells, or, as studied in part, in primary mouse Leydig cells. GABA or GABA(A) agonist isoguvacine treatment resulted in increased or decreased levels of several mRNAs, including transcription factors (c-fos, hsf-1, egr-1) and cell cycle-associated genes (Cdk2, cyclin D1). In an attempt to verify the cDNA array results and because egr-1 was recently implied in Leydig cell development, we further studied this factor. RT-PCR and Western blotting confirmed a time-dependent regulation of egr-1 in TM3. In the postnatal testis egr-1 was seen in cytoplasmic and nuclear locations of developing Leydig cells, which bear GABA(A) receptors and correspond well to TM3 cells. Thus, GABA acts via an atypical novel signalling pathway in TM3 cells. Further details of this pathway remain to be elucidated. Copyright (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Analysis of chemical equilibrium of silicon-substituted fluorescein and its application to develop a scaffold for red fluorescent probes.

PubMed

Hirabayashi, Kazuhisa; Hanaoka, Kenjiro; Takayanagi, Toshio; Toki, Yuko; Egawa, Takahiro; Kamiya, Mako; Komatsu, Toru; Ueno, Tasuku; Terai, Takuya; Yoshida, Kengo; Uchiyama, Masanobu; Nagano, Tetsuo; Urano, Yasuteru

2015-09-01

Fluorescein is a representative green fluorophore that has been widely used as a scaffold of practically useful green fluorescent probes. Here, we report synthesis and characterization of a silicon-substituted fluorescein, i.e., 2-COOH TokyoMagenta (2-COOH TM), which is a fluorescein analogue in which the O atom at the 10' position of the xanthene moiety of fluorescein is replaced with a Si atom. This fluorescein analogue forms a spirolactone ring via intramolecular nucleophilic attack of the carboxylic group in a pH-dependent manner. Consequently, 2-COOH TM exhibits characteristic large pH-dependent absorption and fluorescence spectral changes: (1) 2-COOH TM is colorless at acidic pH, whereas fluorescein retains observable absorption and fluorescence even at acidic pH, and the absorption maximum is also shifted; (2) the absorption spectral change occurs above pH 7.0 for 2-COOH TM and below pH 7.0 for fluorescein; (3) 2-COOH TM shows a much sharper pH response than fluorescein because of its pKa inversion, i.e., pKa1 > pKa2. These features are also different from those of a compound without the carboxylic group, 2-Me TokyoMagenta (2-Me TM). Analysis of the chemical equilibrium between pH 3.0 and 11.0 disclosed that 2-COOH TM favors the colorless and nonfluorescent lactone form, compared with fluorescein. Substitution of Cl atoms at the 4' and 5' positions of the xanthene moiety of 2-COOH TM to obtain 2-COOH DCTM shifted the equilibrium so that the new derivative exists predominantly in the strongly fluorescent open form at physiological pH (pH 7.4). To demonstrate the practical utility of 2-COOH DCTM as a novel scaffold for red fluorescent probes, we employed it to develop a probe for β-galactosidase.

Performance Analysis of and Tool Support for Transactional Memory on BG/Q

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

Schindewolf, M

2011-12-08

Martin Schindewolf worked during his internship at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) under the guidance of Martin Schulz at the Computer Science Group of the Center for Applied Scientific Computing. We studied the performance of the TM subsystem of BG/Q as well as researched the possibilities for tool support for TM. To study the performance, we run CLOMP-TM. CLOMP-TM is a benchmark designed for the purpose to quantify the overhead of OpenMP and compare different synchronization primitives. To advance CLOMP-TM, we added Message Passing Interface (MPI) routines for a hybrid parallelization. This enables to run multiple MPI tasks, eachmore » running OpenMP, on one node. With these enhancements, a beneficial MPI task to OpenMP thread ratio is determined. Further, the synchronization primitives are ranked as a function of the application characteristics. To demonstrate the usefulness of these results, we investigate a real Monte Carlo simulation called Monte Carlo Benchmark (MCB). Applying the lessons learned yields the best task to thread ratio. Further, we were able to tune the synchronization by transactifying the MCB. Further, we develop tools that capture the performance of the TM run time system and present it to the application's developer. The performance of the TM run time system relies on the built-in statistics. These tools use the Blue Gene Performance Monitoring (BGPM) interface to correlate the statistics from the TM run time system with performance counter values. This combination provides detailed insights in the run time behavior of the application and enables to track down the cause of degraded performance. Further, one tool has been implemented that separates the performance counters in three categories: Successful Speculation, Unsuccessful Speculation and No Speculation. All of the tools are crafted around IBM's xlc compiler for C and C++ and have been run and tested on a Q32 early access system.« less

Lack of P4H-TM in mice results in age-related retinal and renal alterations.

PubMed

Leinonen, Henri; Rossi, Maarit; Salo, Antti M; Tiainen, Päivi; Hyvärinen, Jaana; Pitkänen, Marja; Sormunen, Raija; Miinalainen, Ilkka; Zhang, Chi; Soininen, Raija; Kivirikko, Kari I; Koskelainen, Ari; Tanila, Heikki; Myllyharju, Johanna; Koivunen, Peppi

2016-09-01

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), affecting the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), is the leading cause of blindness in middle-aged and older people in developed countries. Genetic and environmental risk factors have been identified, but no effective cure exists. Using a mouse model we show that a transmembrane prolyl 4-hydroxylase (P4H-TM), which participates in the oxygen-dependent regulation of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), is a potential novel candidate gene for AMD. We show that P4h-tm had its highest expression levels in the mouse RPE and brain, heart, lung, skeletal muscle and kidney. P4h-tm -/- mice were fertile and had a normal life span. Lack of P4h-tm stabilized HIF-1α in cortical neurons under normoxia, while in hypoxia it increased the expression of certain HIF target genes in tissues with high endogenous P4h-tm expression levels more than in wild-type mice. Renal erythropoietin levels increased in P4h-tm -/- mice with aging, but the resulting ∼2-fold increase in erythropoietin serum levels did not lead to erythrocytosis. Instead, accumulation of lipid-containing lamellar bodies in renal tubuli was detected in P4h-tm -/- mice with aging, resulting in inflammation and fibrosis, and later glomerular sclerosis and albuminuria. Lack of P4h-tm was associated with retinal thinning, rosette-like infoldings and drusen-like structure accumulation in RPE with aging, as is characteristic of AMD. Photoreceptor recycling was compromised, and electroretinograms revealed functional impairment of the cone pathway in adult P4h-tm -/- mice and cone and rod deficiency in middle-aged mice. P4H-TM is therefore imperative for normal vision, and potentially a novel candidate for age-induced diseases, such as AMD. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Wall-to-wall Landsat TM classifications for Georgia in support of SAFIS using FIA plots for training and verification

Treesearch

William H. Cooke; Andrew J. Hartsell

2000-01-01

Wall-to-wall Landsat TM classification efforts in Georgia require field validation. Validation uslng FIA data was testing by developing a new crown modeling procedure. A methodology is under development at the Southern Research Station to model crown diameter using Forest Health monitoring data. These models are used to simulate the proportion of tree crowns that...

Tomato ring spot virus

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Tomato ringspot disease, caused by Tomato ringspot virus (TmRSV), is associated with the presence of dagger nematodes, the major vectors of Tomato ringspot virus (TmRSV). This virus is endemic and widely distributed in North America, as well as many parts of the world. Infected plants develop yello...

BOREAS RSS-15 SIR-C and Landsat TM Biomass and Landcover Maps of the NSA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Forrest G. (Editor); Nickeson, Jaime (Editor); Ranson, K. Jon

2000-01-01

As part of BOREAS, the RSS-15 team conducted an investigation using SIR-C, X-SAR, and Landsat TM data for estimating total above-ground dry biomass for the SSA and NSA modeling grids and component biomass for the SSA. Relationships of backscatter to total biomass and total biomass to foliage, branch, and bole biomass were used to estimate biomass density across the landscape. The procedure involved image classification with SAR and Landsat TM data and development of simple mapping techniques using combinations of SAR channels. For the SSA, the SIR-C data used were acquired on 06-Oct-1994, and the Landsat TM data used were acquired on 02-Sep-1995. The maps of the NSA were developed from SIR-C data acquired on 13-Apr-1994. The data files are available on a CD-ROM (see document number 20010000884), or from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC).

Effects of Trypsinization and Mineralization on Intrasynovial Tendon Allograft Healing to Bone

PubMed Central

Qu, Jin; van Alphen, Nick A.; Thoreson, Andrew R.; Chen, Qingshan; An, Kai-Nan; Amadio, Peter C.; Schmid, Thomas M.; Zhao, Chunfeng

2014-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to develop a novel technology to enhance tendon-to-bone interface healing by trypsinizing and mineralizing (TM) an intrasynovial tendon allograft in a rabbit bone tunnel model. Eight rabbit flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) tendons were used to optimize the trypsinization process. An additional 24 FDP tendons were stratified into control and TM groups; in each group, 4 tendons were used for in vitro evaluation of TM and 8 were transplanted into proximal tibial bone tunnels in rabbits. The samples were evaluated histologically and with mechanical testing at postoperative week 8. Maximum failure strength and linear stiffness were not significantly different between the control and TM tendons. A thin fibrous band of scar tissue formed at the graft-to-bone interface in the control group. However, only the TM group showed obvious new bone formation inside the tendon graft and a visible fibrocartilage layer at the bone tunnel entrance. This study is the first to explore effects of TM on the intrasynovial allograft healing to a bone tunnel. TM showed beneficial effects on chondrogenesis, osteogenesis, and integration of the intrasynovial tendon graft, but mechanical strength was the same as the control tendons in this short-term in vivo study. PMID:25611186

Chemical contrast in STM imaging of transition metal aluminides

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

Duguet, T.; Thiel, Patricia A.

2012-08-01

The present manuscript reviews recent scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) studies of transition metal (TM) aluminide surfaces. It provides a general perspective on the contrast between Al atoms and TM atoms in STM imaging. A general trend is the much stronger bias dependence of TM atoms, or TM-rich regions of the surface. This dependence can be attenuated by the local chemical arrangements and environments. Al atoms can show a stronger bias dependence when their chemical environment, such as their immediate subsurface, is populated with TM. All this is well explained in light of combined results of STM and both theoretical andmore » experimental electronic and crystallographic structure determinations. Since STM probes the Fermi surface, the electronic structure in the vicinity of the Fermi level (EF) is essential for understanding contrast and bias dependence. Hence, partial density of states provides information about the TM d band position and width, s–p–d hybridization or interactions, or charge transfer between constituent elements. In addition, recent developments in STM image simulations are very interesting for elucidating chemical contrast at Al–TM alloy surfaces, and allow direct atomic identification, when the surface does not show too much disorder. Overall, we show that chemically-specific imaging is often possible at these surfaces.« less

Landsat 4 Thematic Mapper calibration update

USGS Publications Warehouse

Helder, Dennis L.; Malla, Rimy; Mettler, Cory J.; Markham, Brian L.; Micijevic, Esad

2012-01-01

The Landsat 4 Thematic Mapper (TM) collected imagery of the Earth's surface from 1982 to 1993. Although largely overshadowed by Landsat 5 which was launched in 1984, Landsat 4 TM imagery extends the TM-based record of the Earth back to 1982 and also substantially supplements the image archive collected by Landsat 5. To provide a consistent calibration record for the TM instruments, Landsat 4 TM was cross-calibrated to Landsat 5 using nearly simultaneous overpass imagery of pseudo-invariant calibration sites (PICS) in the time period of 1988-1990. To determine if the radiometric gain of Landsat 4 had changed over its lifetime, time series from two PICS locations (a Saharan site known as Libya 4 and a site in southwest North America, commonly referred to as the Sonoran Desert site) were developed. The results indicated that Landsat 4 had been very stable over its lifetime, with no discernible degradation in sensor performance in all reflective bands except band 1. In contrast, band 1 exhibited a 12% decay in responsivity over the lifetime of the instrument. Results from this paper have been implemented at USGS EROS, which enables users of Landsat TM data sets to obtain consistently calibrated data from Landsat 4 and 5 TM as well as Landsat 7 ETM+ instruments.

Simulation-based education for transfusion medicine.

PubMed

Morgan, Shanna; Rioux-Masse, Benjamin; Oancea, Cristina; Cohn, Claudia; Harmon, James; Konia, Mojca

2015-04-01

The administration of blood products is frequently determined by physicians without subspecialty training in transfusion medicine (TM). Education in TM is necessary for appropriate utilization of resources and maintaining patient safety. Our institution developed an efficient simulation-based TM course with the goal of identifying key topics that could be individualized to learners of all levels in various environments while also allowing for practice in an environment where the patient is not placed at risk. A 2.5-hour simulation-based educational activity was designed and taught to undergraduate medical students rotating through anesthesiology and TM elective rotations and to all Clinical Anesthesia Year 1 (CA-1) residents. Content and process evaluation of the activity consisted of multiple-choice tests and course evaluations. Seventy medical students and seven CA-1 residents were enrolled in the course. There was no significant difference on pretest results between medical students and CA-1 residents. The posttest results for both medical students and CA-1 residents were significantly higher than pretest results. The results of the posttest between medical students and CA-1 residents were not significantly different. The TM knowledge gap is not a trivial problem as transfusion of blood products is associated with significant risks. Innovative educational techniques are needed to address the ongoing challenges with knowledge acquisition and retention in already full curricula. Our institution developed a feasible and effective way to integrate TM into the curriculum. Educational activities, such as this, might be a way to improve the safety of transfusions. © 2014 AABB.

Indirect gonioscopy system for imaging iridocorneal angle of eye

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perinchery, Sandeep M.; Fu, Chan Yiu; Baskaran, Mani; Aung, Tin; Murukeshan, V. M.

2017-08-01

Current clinical optical imaging systems do not provide sufficient structural information of trabecular meshwork (TM) in the iridocorneal angle (ICA) of the eye due to their low resolution. Increase in the intraocular pressure (IOP) can occur due to the abnormalities in TM, which could subsequently lead to glaucoma. Here, we present an indirect gonioscopy based imaging probe with significantly improved visualization of structures in the ICA including TM region, compared to the currently available tools. Imaging quality of the developed system was tested in porcine samples. Improved direct high quality visualization of the TM region through this system can be used for Laser trabeculoplasty, which is a primary treatment of glaucoma. This system is expected to be used complementary to angle photography and gonioscopy.

The first step in the development of text mining technology for cancer risk assessment: identifying and organizing scientific evidence in risk assessment literature

PubMed Central

Korhonen, Anna; Silins, Ilona; Sun, Lin; Stenius, Ulla

2009-01-01

Background One of the most neglected areas of biomedical Text Mining (TM) is the development of systems based on carefully assessed user needs. We have recently investigated the user needs of an important task yet to be tackled by TM -- Cancer Risk Assessment (CRA). Here we take the first step towards the development of TM technology for the task: identifying and organizing the scientific evidence required for CRA in a taxonomy which is capable of supporting extensive data gathering from biomedical literature. Results The taxonomy is based on expert annotation of 1297 abstracts downloaded from relevant PubMed journals. It classifies 1742 unique keywords found in the corpus to 48 classes which specify core evidence required for CRA. We report promising results with inter-annotator agreement tests and automatic classification of PubMed abstracts to taxonomy classes. A simple user test is also reported in a near real-world CRA scenario which demonstrates along with other evaluation that the resources we have built are well-defined, accurate, and applicable in practice. Conclusion We present our annotation guidelines and a tool which we have designed for expert annotation of PubMed abstracts. A corpus annotated for keywords and document relevance is also presented, along with the taxonomy which organizes the keywords into classes defining core evidence for CRA. As demonstrated by the evaluation, the materials we have constructed provide a good basis for classification of CRA literature along multiple dimensions. They can support current manual CRA as well as facilitate the development of an approach based on TM. We discuss extending the taxonomy further via manual and machine learning approaches and the subsequent steps required to develop TM technology for the needs of CRA. PMID:19772619

Hold the Applause!: Do Accelerated Reader (TM) and Electronic Bookshelf (TM) Send the Right Message?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, Betty

1996-01-01

Although the computerized reading management programs, Accelerated Reader and Electronic Bookshelf, increase library circulation and standardized test scores, they have drawbacks. Both programs devalue reading, diminish motivation, limit title choice, restrict materials selection and collection development, discourage independent selection of…

APPLICATION OF MULTI-DATE LANDSAT 5 TIM IMAGERY FOR WETLAND IDENTIFICATION

EPA Science Inventory

Multi-temporal Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery was evaluated for the identification and monitoring of potential jurisdictional wetlands located in the states of Maryland and Delaware. A wetland map prepared from single-date TM imagery was compared to a hybrid map develope...

Three-dimensional vibrometry of the human eardrum with stroboscopic lensless digital holography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khaleghi, Morteza; Furlong, Cosme; Ravicz, Mike; Cheng, Jeffrey Tao; Rosowski, John J.

2015-05-01

The eardrum or tympanic membrane (TM) transforms acoustic energy at the ear canal into mechanical motions of the ossicles. The acousto-mechanical transformer behavior of the TM is determined by its shape, three-dimensional (3-D) motion, and mechanical properties. We have developed an optoelectronic holographic system to measure the shape and 3-D sound-induced displacements of the TM. The shape of the TM is measured with dual-wavelength holographic contouring using a tunable near IR laser source with a central wavelength of 780 nm. 3-D components of sound-induced displacements of the TM are measured with the method of multiple sensitivity vectors using stroboscopic holographic interferometry. To accurately obtain sensitivity vectors, a new technique is developed and used in which the sensitivity vectors are obtained from the images of a specular sphere that is being illuminated from different directions. Shape and 3-D acoustically induced displacement components of cadaveric human TMs at several excitation frequencies are measured at more than one million points on its surface. A numerical rotation matrix is used to rotate the original Euclidean coordinate of the measuring system in order to obtain in-plane and out-of-plane motion components. Results show that in-plane components of motion are much smaller (<20%) than the out-of-plane motions' components.

Conceptual development of a transportable/deployable x-ray inspection system for cars and vans

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swift, Roderick D.

1997-02-01

The technology of transmission and backscatter imaging by flying-spot x-ray beams was extended to 450 kV beam energies with the installation of a prototype CargoSearchTM system at Otay Mesa, California in the summer of 1994. CargoSearchTM is a fixed-site system designed for the inspection of large over-the-road vehicles at border crossings. A self-contained, mobile implementation of the same technology has also been developed to scan objects ranging in size from a small car up to a full-scale tractor- trailer rig. MobileSearchTM is able to be moved over ordinary roadways to its intended operating site and set up easily by two or three people, but is currently limited to backscatter imaging only. It also lacks the ability to effectively image the vehicle's undercarriage, which is important for the detection of contraband concealed in the vehicle itself rather than its cargo. There is a need for a transportable, deployable scanning system that combines the self-contained mobility of MobileSearchTM and the combined transmission and backscatter imaging characteristics of CargoSearchTM, including its good geometry for backscatter imaging of the undercarriage of inspected vehicles. Concepts for two approaches that meet these needs are presented.

Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Expectation Questionnaire for Thalassaemia Major Patients

PubMed Central

Koutelekos, Ioannis G.; Kyritsi, Helen; Makis, Alexandros; Vassalos, Constantine M; Ktenas, Eftychios; Polikandrioti, Maria; Tzoumaka-Bakoula, Chryssa; Chaliasos, Nikolaos

2016-01-01

Nowadays, thalassaemia major (TM) patients are surviving into mature young adulthood; however, no published instrument exists to measure the expectations’ dimensionality among older TM patients in their thirties. This study seeks to validate a novel multidimensional expectation questionnaire suitable for TM patients (MEQ-TMP) reaching their fourth decade of life. In order to establish the psychometric properties of the instrument, data analysis was carried out. The principal component analysis revealed four components (‘Supportive social network’; ‘Raising one’s own family’; ‘Career advancement’; ‘Ability of daily activities’). Their cumulative contribution rate was 66.32%. Cronbach’s alpha for the total scale was 0.87. Each subscale had an alpha value above 0.70; three subscales were in the 0.80 range. MEQ-TMP reliability was proved to be good. The known-group method served as a strategy in examining the operationalisation of the questionnaire’s constructs. The present MEQ-TMP, developed for the aged group of TM patients, would be a useful tool for clinical personnel providing care to TM patients in understanding their outlook on life as they are growing up, to have better psychosocial adjustment to illness chronicity, live life as normally as possible, and fulfill their ambitions; thus enhancing their life satisfaction and quality of life. PMID:26383219

LANDSAT-4 TM image data quality analysis for energy-related applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wukelic, G. E.; Foote, H. P.

1983-01-01

LANDSAT-4 Thematic Mapper (TM) data performance and utility characteristics from an energy research and technology perspective is evaluated. The program focuses on evaluating applicational implications of using such data, in combination with other digital data, for current and future energy research and technology activities. Prime interest is in using TM data for siting, developing and operating federal energy facilities. Secondary interests involve the use of such data for resource exploration, environmental monitoring and basic scientific initiatives such as in support of the Continental Scientific Drilling Program.

Development Of Knowledge Systems For Trouble Shooting Complex Production Machinery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanford, Richard L.; Novak, Thomas; Meigs, James R.

1987-05-01

This paper discusses the use of knowledge base system software for microcomputers to aid repairmen in diagnosing electrical failures in complex mining machinery. The knowledge base is constructed to allow the user to input initial symptoms of the failed machine, and the most probable cause of failure is traced through the knowledge base, with the software requesting additional information such as voltage or resistance measurements as needed. Although the case study presented is for an underground mining machine, results have application to any industry using complex machinery. Two commercial expert-system development tools (M1 TM and Insight 2+TM) and an Al language (Turbo PrologTM) are discussed with emphasis on ease of application and suitability for this study.

Characterizing the scientific potential of satellite sensors. [San Francisco, California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1984-01-01

Eleven thematic mapper (TM) radiometric calibration programs were tested and evaluated in support of the task to characterize the potential of LANDSAT TM digital imagery for scientific investigations in the Earth sciences and terrestrial physics. Three software errors related to integer overflow, divide by zero, and nonexist file group were found and solved. Raw, calibrated, and corrected image groups that were created and stored on the Barker2 disk are enumerated. Black and white pixel print files were created for various subscenes of a San Francisco scene (ID 40392-18152). The development of linear regression software is discussed. The output of the software and its function are described. Future work in TM radiometric calibration, image processing, and software development is outlined.

Polyimide Composites from 'Salt-Like' Solution Precursors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cano, Roberto J.; Hou, Tan H.; Weiser, Erik S.; SaintClair, Terry L.

2001-01-01

Four NASA Langley-developed polyimide matrix resins, LaRC(TM)-IA, LaRC(TM)-IAX, LaRC(TM)-8515 and LaRC(TM)-PETI-5, were produced via a 'saltlike' process developed by Unitika Ltd. The salt-like solutions (65% solids in NMP) were prepregged onto Hexcel IM7 carbon fiber using the NASA LaRC multipurpose tape machine. Process parameters were determined and composite panels fabricated. The temperature dependent volatile depletion rates, the thermal crystallization behavior and the resin rheology were characterized. Composite molding cycles were developed which consistently yielded well consolidated, void-free laminated parts. Composite mechanical properties such as the short beam shear strength; the longitudinal and transverse flexural strength and flexural modulus; the longitudinal compression strength and modulus; and the open hole compression strength and compression after impact strength were measured at room temperature and elevated temperatures. The processing characteristics and the composite mechanical properties of the four intermediate modulus carbon fiber/polyimide matrix composites were compared to existing data on the same polyimide resin systems and IM7 carbon fiber manufactured via poly(amide acid) solutions (30-35% solids in NMP). This work studies the effects of varying the synthetic route on the processing and mechanical properties of the polyimide composites.

Effect of GutsyGum(tm), A Novel Gum, on Subjective Ratings of Gastro Esophageal Reflux Following A Refluxogenic Meal.

PubMed

Brown, Rachel; Sam, Cecilia H Y; Green, Tim; Wood, Simon

2015-06-01

Chewing gum alleviates symptoms of gastro-esophageal reflux (GER) following a refluxogenic meal. GutsyGum(tm), a chewing gum developed to alleviate the symptoms of GER contains calcium carbonate, with a proprietary blend of licorice extract, papain, and apple cider vinegar (GiGs®). The efficacy of GutsyGum(tm) was determined in alleviating the symptoms of GER after a refluxogenic meal compared to placebo gum. This double-blind, placebo-controlled-crossover trial with a one-week washout between treatments had 24 participants with a history of GER consume a refluxogenic meal and then chew GutsyGum(tm) or placebo gum. Participants completed GER symptom questionnaires, consisting of symptom based 10 cm Visual Analogue Scales, immediately following the meal and then at regular intervals out to four hours postmeal. Adjusted mean ± SEM heartburn score (15-min postmeal to 240 min) was significantly lower in GutsyGum(tm) than in placebo gum treatment (0.81 ± 0.20 vs. 1.45 ± 0.20 cm; p = 0.034). Mean acid reflux score was significantly lower in GutsyGum(tm) than in placebo treatment (0.72 ± 0.19 vs. 1.46 ± 0.19 cm; p = 0.013). There were no significant differences for any of the secondary outcomes. However, pain approached significance with less pain reported in GutsyGum(tm) versus placebo treatment (0.4 ± 0.2 vs. 0.9 ± 0.2 cm; p = 0.081). Although nausea (p = 0.114) and belching (p = 0.154) were lower following GutsyGum(tm), the difference was not statistically significant. GutsyGum(tm) is more effective than a placebo gum in alleviating primary symptoms of heartburn and acid reflux (Clinical Trial Registration: ACTRN12612000973819).

GPS PPP-derived precipitable water vapor retrieval based on Tm/Ps from multiple sources of meteorological data sets in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hongxing; Yuan, Yunbin; Li, Wei; Ou, Jikun; Li, Ying; Zhang, Baocheng

2017-04-01

Weighted mean temperature (Tm) and pressure (Ps) are two parameters of great relevance to precipitable water vapor (PWV) retrieval from global positioning system (GPS) data. However, information about the Tm and Ps cannot be available for those GPS stations that are not colocated with meteorological sensors. To investigate the optimal GPS-PWV retrieval method for China, two enhanced Tm models, GM-Tm (temperature dependent) and GH-Tm (temperature independent), are developed. Additionally, the potentials of the Ps data from the two reanalysis data sets, the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)-Department of Energy (DOE) Reanalysis II (NCEP II) and ERA-Interim, and from the empirical model GPT2w for GPS-PWV retrieval are investigated over China. To evaluate the performances of multisources Tm and Ps data for GPS-PWV retrieval, GPS data (2011-2013) collected from 22 stations of the Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) were processed by using the precise point positioning (PPP) technique, estimating the zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) so as to be subsequently converted to GPS-PWV. The retrieved GPS-PWVs are compared with their counterparts derived from NCEP II and radiosonde data over China. The results show that (1) the GM-Tm model consistently shows the highest accuracy (with root mean square error of 2.3 K), and the GH-Tm model should be selected when temperature observations are not available, and that (2) the performances of Ps from NCEP II and ERA-Interim differ marginally for GPS-PWV retrieval, and significant seasonal variations are found in the agreement between the GPS-PWVs and the PWVs derived from NCEP II and radiosonde data over China.

A TECHNIQUE FOR ASSESSING THE ACCURACY OF SUB-PIXEL IMPERVIOUS SURFACE ESTIMATES DERIVED FROM LANDSAT TM IMAGERY

EPA Science Inventory

We developed a technique for assessing the accuracy of sub-pixel derived estimates of impervious surface extracted from LANDSAT TM imagery. We utilized spatially coincident
sub-pixel derived impervious surface estimates, high-resolution planimetric GIS data, vector--to-
r...

78 FR 24714 - Notice of Funds Availability Inviting Applications for the Federal-State Marketing Improvement...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-26

... channels. Assist in the development of more efficient marketing methods, practices, and facilities to bring... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Agricultural Marketing Service [Doc. No. AMS-TM-12-0053; TM-12-03] Notice of Funds Availability Inviting Applications for the Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program...

Efficient 2-μm Tm:YAP Q-switched and CW lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hays, A. D.; Cole, Brian; King, Vernon; Goldberg, Lew

2018-02-01

Highly efficient, diode pumped Tm:YAP lasers generating emission in the 1.85-1.94 μm range are demonstrated and characterized. Laser optical efficiencies of 51% and 45%, and electrical efficiencies of 31% and 25% are achieved under CW and Q-switched operation, respectively. Laser performance was characterized for maximum average powers up to 20W with various cavity configurations, all using an intra-cavity lens to compensate for thermal lensing in the Tm:YAP crystal. Q-switched lasers incorportating a Cr:ZnS saturable absorber (SA), resonant mechanical mirror scanner, or acousto-optic modulator were characterized. To enable higher average output powers, measurements of the thermal lens were conducted for the Tm:YAP crystal as a function of pump power and were compared to values predicted by a finiteelement- analysis (FEA) thermal-optical model of the Tm:YAP crystal. A resonator model is developed to incorporate this calculated thermal lens and its effect on laser performance. This paper will address approaches for improving the performance of Tm:YAP lasers, and means for achieving increased average output powers while maintaining high optical efficiency for both SA and mechanical Q-switching.

A new voxel-based model for the determination of atmospheric weighted mean temperature in GPS atmospheric sounding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Changyong; Wu, Suqin; Wang, Xiaoming; Hu, Andong; Wang, Qianxin; Zhang, Kefei

2017-06-01

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a powerful atmospheric observing system for determining precipitable water vapour (PWV). In the detection of PWV using GPS, the atmospheric weighted mean temperature (Tm) is a crucial parameter for the conversion of zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) to PWV since the quality of PWV is affected by the accuracy of Tm. In this study, an improved voxel-based Tm model, named GWMT-D, was developed using global reanalysis data over a 4-year period from 2010 to 2013 provided by the United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The performance of GWMT-D was assessed against three existing empirical Tm models - GTm-III, GWMT-IV, and GTmN - using different data sources in 2014 - the NCEP reanalysis data, surface Tm data provided by Global Geodetic Observing System and radiosonde measurements. The results show that the new GWMT-D model outperforms all the other three models with a root-mean-square error of less than 5.0 K at different altitudes over the globe. The new GWMT-D model can provide a practical alternative Tm determination method in real-time GPS-PWV remote sensing systems.

Evaluation of corn/soybeans separability using Thematic Mapper and Thematic Mapper Simulator data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pitts, D. E.; Badhwar, G. D.; Thompson, D. R.; Henderson, K. E.; Shen, S. S.; Sorensen, C. T.; Carnes, J. G.

1984-01-01

Multitemporal Thematic Mapper, Thematic Mapper Simulator, and detailed ground truth data were collected for a 9- by 11-km sample segment in Webster County, IA, in the summer of 1982. Three dates were acquired each with Thematic Mapper Simulator (June 7, June 23, and July 31) and Thematic Mapper (August 2, September 3, and October 21). The Thematic Mapper Simulator data were converted to equivalent TM count values using TM and TMS calibration data and model based estimates of atmospheric effects. The July 31, TMS image was compared to the August 2, TM image to verify the conversion process. A quantitative measure of proportion estimation variance (Fisher information) was used to evaluate the corn/soybeans separability for each TM band as a function of time during the growing season. The additional bands in the middle infrared allowed corn and soybeans to be separated much earlier than was possible with the visible and near-infrared bands alone. Using the TM and TMS data, temporal profiles of the TM principal components were developed. The greenness and brightness exhibited behavior similar to MSS greenness and brightness for corn and soybeans.

Evaluation of Fieldbus and OPC for Advanced Life Support

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boulanger, Richard P.; Cardinale, Paul; Bradley, Matthew; Luna, Bernadette (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

FOUNDATION(Tm) Fieldbus and OP(TM) (OLE(TM)for Process Control) technologies were integrated into an existing control system for a crop growth chamber at NASA Ames Research Center. FOUNDATION(TM) Fieldbus is a digital, bi-directional, multi-drop, serial communications network which functions essentially as a LAN for sensors. FOUNDATION(TM) Fieldbus is heterarchical, with publishers and subscribers of data performing complex control functions at low levels without centralized control and its associated overhead. OPC(TM) is a set of interfaces which replace proprietary drivers with a transparent means of exchanging data between the fieldbus and applications. The objectives were: (1) to integrate FOUNDATION(TM) Fieldbus into existing ALS hardware and determine its overall effectiveness and reliability and, (2) to quantify any savings produced by using fieldbus and OPC technologies. We encountered several problems with the FOUNDATION(TM) Fieldbus hardware chosen. Our hardware exposed 100 data for each channel of the fieldbus. The fieldbus configurator software used to program the fieldbus was simply not adequate. The fieldbus was also not inherently reliable. It lost its settings twice during our tests for unknown reasons. OPC also had issues. It did not function at all as supplied, requiring substitution of some of its components with those from other vendors. It would stop working after a fixed period of time. Certain database calls eventually lock the machine. Overall, we would not recommend FOUNDATION(TM) Fieldbus: it was too difficult to implement with little overall added value. It also seems unlikely that FOUNDATION(TM) Fieldbus will gain sufficient penetration into the laboratory instrument market to ever be cost effective for the ALS community. OPC had good reliability and performance once a stable installation was achieved. It allowed a rapid change to an alternative software strategy when our first strategy failed. It is a cost effective solution to distributed control systems development.

Landsat 4 results and their implications for agricultural surveys

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erickson, J. D.; Bizzell, R. M.; Pitts, D. E.; Thompson, D. R.

1983-01-01

Progress on defining the minimum Landsat-4 data characteristics needed for agricultural information in the U.S. and assessing the value-added capability of current technology to extract that level of information is reported. Emphasis is laid on the thematic mapper (TM) data and the ground processing facilities. TM data from all 7 bands for a rural Arkansas scene were examined in terms of radiometric, spatial, and geometric fidelity characteristics. Another scene sensed over Iowa was analyzed using three two-channel data sets. Although the TM data were an improvement over MSS data, no value differential was perceived. However, the development of further analysis techniques is still necessary to determine the actual worth of the improved sensor capabilities available with the TM, which actually has an MSS within itself.

A novel method of measuring the melting point of animal fats.

PubMed

Lloyd, S S; Dawkins, S T; Dawkins, R L

2014-10-01

The melting point (TM) of fat is relevant to health, but available methods of determining TM are cumbersome. One of the standard methods of measuring TM for animal and vegetable fats is the slip point, also known as the open capillary method. This method is imprecise and not amenable to automation or mass testing. We have developed a technique for measuring TM of animal fat using the Rotor-Gene Q (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). The assay has an intra-assay SD of 0.08°C. A single operator can extract and assay up to 250 samples of animal fat in 24 h, including the time to extract the fat from the adipose tissue. This technique will improve the quality of research into genetic and environmental contributions to fat composition of meat.

Expression of transmembrane 4 superfamily (TM4SF) proteins and their role in hepatic stellate cell motility and wound healing migration.

PubMed

Mazzocca, Antonio; Carloni, Vinicio; Sciammetta, Silvia; Cordella, Claudia; Pantaleo, Pietro; Caldini, Anna; Gentilini, Paolo; Pinzani, Massimo

2002-09-01

Migration of activated hepatic stellate cells (HSC) is a key event in the progression of liver fibrosis. Little is known about transmembrane proteins involved in HSC motility. Tetraspanins (TM4SF) have been implicated in cell development, differentiation, motility and tumor cell invasion. We evaluated the expression and function of four TM4SF, namely CD9, CD81, CD63 and CD151, and their involvement in HSC migration, adhesion, and proliferation. All TM4SF investigated were highly expressed at the human HSC surface with different patterns of intracellular distribution. Monoclonal antibodies directed against the four TM4SF inhibited HSC migration induced by extracellular matrix proteins in both wound healing and haptotaxis assays. This inhibition was independent of the ECM substrates employed (collagen type I or IV, laminin), and was comparable to that obtained by incubating the cells with an anti-beta1 blocking mAb. Importantly, cell adhesion was unaffected by the incubation with the same antibodies. Co-immunoprecipitation studies revealed different patterns of association between the four TM4SF studied and beta1 integrin. Finally, anti-TM4SF antibodies did not affect HSC growth. These findings provide the first characterization of tetraspanins expression and of their role in HSC migration, a key event in liver tissue wound healing and fibrogenesis.

A specific, transmembrane interface regulates fibroblast activation protein (FAP) homodimerization, trafficking and exopeptidase activity.

PubMed

Wonganu, Benjamaporn; Berger, Bryan W

2016-08-01

Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is a cell-surface serine protease which promotes invasiveness of certain epithelial cancers and is therefore a potential target for cancer drug development and delivery. Unlike dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV), FAP exhibits prolyl endopeptidase activity and is active as a homodimer with specificity for type I collagen. The mechanism that regulates FAP homodimerization and its relation to prolyl endopeptidase activity is not completely understood. Here, we investigate key residues in the FAP TM domain that may be significant for FAP homodimerization. Mutations to predicted TM interfacial residues (G10L, S14L, and A18L) comprising a small-X3-small motif reduced FAP TM-CYTO dimerization relative to wild type as measured using the AraTM assay, whereas predicted off-interface residues showed no significant change from wild type. The results implied that the predicted small-X3-small dimer interface affect stabilization of FAP TM-CYTO homodimerization. Compared with FAPwild-type, the interfacial TM residue G10L significantly decreased FAP endopeptidase activity more than 25%, and also reduced cell-surface versus intracellular expression relative to other interfacial residues S14L and A18L. Thus, our results suggest FAP dimerization is important for both trafficking and protease activity, and is dependent on a specific TM interface. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stage-specific disruption of Stat3 demonstrates a direct requirement during both the initiation and promotion stages of mouse skin tumorigenesis.

PubMed

Kataoka, Ken; Kim, Dae Joon; Carbajal, Steve; Clifford, John L; DiGiovanni, John

2008-06-01

Constitutive activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) has been found in a variety of human malignancies and has been suggested to play an important role in carcinogenesis. Recently, our laboratory demonstrated that Stat3 is required for the development of skin tumors via two-stage carcinogenesis using skin-specific loss-of-function transgenic mice. To investigate further the role of Stat3 in each stage of chemical carcinogenesis in mouse skin, i.e. initiation and promotion stages, we generated inducible Stat3-deficient mice (K5.Cre-ER(T2) x Stat3(fl/fl)) that show epidermal-specific disruption of Stat3 following topical treatment with 4-hydroxytamoxifen (TM). The epidermis of inducible Stat3-deficient mice treated with TM showed a significant increase in apoptosis induced by 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) and reduced proliferation following exposure to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate. In two-stage skin carcinogenesis assays, inducible Stat3-deficient mice treated with TM during the promotion stage showed a significant delay of tumor development and a significantly reduced number of tumors compared with control groups. Inducible Stat3-deficient mice treated with TM before initiation with DMBA also showed a significant delay in tumor development and a significantly reduced number of tumors compared with control groups. Finally, treatment of inducible Stat3-deficient mice that had existing skin tumors generated by the two-stage carcinogenesis protocol with TM (by intraperitoneal injection) led to inhibition of tumor growth compared with tumors formed in control groups. Collectively, these results directly demonstrate that Stat3 is required for skin tumor development during both the initiation and promotion stages of skin carcinogenesis in vivo.

Service Use at the End of Life in Medicare Advantage versus Traditional Medicare

PubMed Central

Stevenson, David G.; Ayanian, John Z.; Zaslavsky, Alan M.; Newhouse, Joseph P.; Landon, Bruce E.

2013-01-01

Background Relative to traditional fee-for-service Medicare, managed care plans caring for Medicare beneficiaries may be better positioned to promote recommended services and discourage burdensome procedures with little clinical value at the end of life. Objective To compare end-of-life service use for enrollees in Medicare Advantage health maintenance organizations (MA-HMO) relative to similar individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare (TM). Research Design, Subjects, Measures For a national cohort of Medicare decedents continuously enrolled in MA-HMOs or TM in their year of death, 2003-2009, we obtained hospice enrollment information and individual-level Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) utilization measures for MA-HMO decedents for up to one year prior to death. We developed comparable claims-based measures for TM decedents matched on age, sex, race, and location. Results Hospice use in the year preceding death was higher among MA than TM decedents in 2003 (38% vs. 29%), but the gap narrowed over the study period (46% vs. 40% in 2009). Relative to TM, MA decedents had significantly lower rates of inpatient admissions (5-14% lower), inpatient days (18-29%), and emergency department visits (42-54%). MA decedents initially had lower rates of ambulatory surgery and procedures that converged with TM rates by 2009 and had modestly lower rates of physician visits initially that surpassed TM rates by 2007. Conclusions Relative to comparable TM decedents in the same local areas, MA-HMO decedents more frequently enrolled in hospice and used fewer inpatient and emergency department services, demonstrating that MA plans provide less end-of-life care in hospital settings. PMID:23969590

Anti-cancer Activity of Novel TM4SF5-Targeting Antibodies through TM4SF5 Neutralization and Immune Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity

PubMed Central

Ahn, Hye-Mi; Ryu, Jihye; Song, Jin Myeong; Lee, Yunhee; Kim, Hye-Jin; Ko, Dongjoon; Choi, Inpyo; Kim, Sang Jick; Lee, Jung Weon; Kim, Semi

2017-01-01

The transmembrane four L6 family member 5 (TM4SF5) protein is a novel molecular target for the prevention and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. TM4SF5 is highly expressed in liver, colon, esophageal, and pancreatic cancers and is implicated in tumor progression. Here, we screened monoclonal antibodies that specifically bound to the extracellular loop 2 (EC2) of TM4SF5 from a phage-displayed murine antibody (single-chain variable fragment; scFv) library. We constructed and characterized chimeric antibodies, Ab27 and Ab79, of scFv fused with Fc domain of human IgG1. The affinity (KD) of Ab27 and Ab79 for soluble EC2 was approximately 9.2 nM and 16.9 nM, respectively, as determined by surface plasmon resonance analysis. Ab27 and Ab79 efficiently bound to native TM4SF5 on the cell surface were internalized into the cancer cells, leading to a decrease in cell surface TM4SF5. Ab27 and Ab79 inhibited the proliferation and invasion of TM4SF5-positive liver and colon cancer cells and reduced FAK and c-Src phosphorylation. Ab27 and Ab79 also enhanced anoikis sensitivity and reduced survivin. Ab27 mediated antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro. Ab27 and Ab79 efficiently inhibited tumor growth in a liver cancer xenograft model. These results strongly support the further development of Ab27 as a novel anti-cancer agent in the clinic. PMID:28255353

Text mining of cancer-related information: review of current status and future directions.

PubMed

Spasić, Irena; Livsey, Jacqueline; Keane, John A; Nenadić, Goran

2014-09-01

This paper reviews the research literature on text mining (TM) with the aim to find out (1) which cancer domains have been the subject of TM efforts, (2) which knowledge resources can support TM of cancer-related information and (3) to what extent systems that rely on knowledge and computational methods can convert text data into useful clinical information. These questions were used to determine the current state of the art in this particular strand of TM and suggest future directions in TM development to support cancer research. A review of the research on TM of cancer-related information was carried out. A literature search was conducted on the Medline database as well as IEEE Xplore and ACM digital libraries to address the interdisciplinary nature of such research. The search results were supplemented with the literature identified through Google Scholar. A range of studies have proven the feasibility of TM for extracting structured information from clinical narratives such as those found in pathology or radiology reports. In this article, we provide a critical overview of the current state of the art for TM related to cancer. The review highlighted a strong bias towards symbolic methods, e.g. named entity recognition (NER) based on dictionary lookup and information extraction (IE) relying on pattern matching. The F-measure of NER ranges between 80% and 90%, while that of IE for simple tasks is in the high 90s. To further improve the performance, TM approaches need to deal effectively with idiosyncrasies of the clinical sublanguage such as non-standard abbreviations as well as a high degree of spelling and grammatical errors. This requires a shift from rule-based methods to machine learning following the success of similar trends in biological applications of TM. Machine learning approaches require large training datasets, but clinical narratives are not readily available for TM research due to privacy and confidentiality concerns. This issue remains the main bottleneck for progress in this area. In addition, there is a need for a comprehensive cancer ontology that would enable semantic representation of textual information found in narrative reports. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The severity of retinal degeneration in Rp1h gene-targeted mice is dependent on genetic background.

PubMed

Liu, Qin; Saveliev, Alexei; Pierce, Eric A

2009-04-01

The severity of disease in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) can vary significantly, even among patients with the same primary mutations. It is hypothesized that modifier genes play important roles in determining the severity of RP, including the retinitis pigmentosa 1 (RP1) form of disease. To investigate the basis of variation in disease expression for RP1 disease, the authors generated congenic mice with a gene-targeted retinitis pigmentosa 1 homolog (Rp1h) allele (Rp1h(tm1Eap)) on several different genetic backgrounds and analyzed their retinal phenotypes. The Rp1h(tm1Eap) allele was placed onto the C57BL/6J, DBA1/J, and A/J backgrounds. Retinal function of the resultant congenic mice was evaluated using electroretinographic analyses. Retinal structure and ultrastructure were evaluated using light and electron microscopy. Rp1h protein location was determined with immunofluorescence microscopy. Analysis of the retinal phenotype of incipient congenic (N6) B6.129S-Rp1h(+/tm1Eap), DBA.129S(B6)-Rp1h(+/tm1Eap), and A.129S(B6)-Rp1h(+/tm1Eap) mice at 1 year of age showed retinal degeneration only in the A.129S(B6)-Rp1h(+/tm1Eap) mice. Further analyses revealed that the photoreceptors of the fully congenic A.129S(B6)-Rp1h(+/tm1Eap) mice show evidence of degeneration at 6 months of age and are almost completely lost by 18 months of age. In contrast, the photoreceptor cells in the fully congenic B6.129S-Rp1h(+/tm1Eap) mice remain healthy up to 18 months. The severity of the retinal degeneration caused by the Rp1h(tm1Eap) allele is notably dependent on genetic background. The development and characterization of the B6.129S-Rp1h(+/tm1Eap) and A.129S(B6)-Rp1h(+/tm1Eap) congenic mouse lines will facilitate identification of sequence alterations in genes that modify the severity of RP1 disease.

Montessori(TM) Math by Colors [CD Rom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1995

Montessori(TM) Learning Software programs are purportedly built upon the core concept of the Montessori philosophy, that a major path to intellectual development is through a child's hands and senses. Math by Colors, recommended for ages 4 to 8, encourages hands-on discovery by allowing the child to choose the right color from the assembled paint…

Phase 2: Array automated assembly task low cost silicon solar array project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, G. T.

1979-01-01

Several microwave systems for use in solar cell fabrication were developed and experimentally tested. The first system used a standing wave rectangular waveguide horn applicator. Satisfactory results were achieved with this system for impedance matching and wafer surface heating uniformity. The second system utilized a resonant TM sub 011 mode cylindrical cavity but could not be employed due to its poor energy coupling efficiency. The third and fourth microwave systems utilized a circular waveguide operating in the TM sub 01 and TM sub 11 but had problems with impedance matching, efficiency, and field uniformity.

Chemical Microthruster Options

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeGroot, Wim; Oleson, Steve

1996-01-01

Chemical propulsion systems with potential application to microsatellites are classified by propellant phase, i.e. gas, liquid, or solid. Four promising concepts are selected based on performance, weight, size, cost, and reliability. The selected concepts, in varying stages of development, are advanced monopropellants, tridyne(TM), electrolysis, and solid gas generator propulsion. Tridyne(TM) and electrolysis propulsion are compared vs. existing cold gas and monopropellant systems for selected microsatellite missions. Electrolysis is shown to provide a significant weight advantage over monopropellant propulsion for an orbit transfer and plane change mission. Tridyne(TM) is shown to provide a significant advantage over cold gas thrusters for orbit trimming and spacecraft separation.

Real-time automated thickness measurement of the in vivo human tympanic membrane using optical coherence tomography

PubMed Central

Hubler, Zita; Shemonski, Nathan D.; Shelton, Ryan L.; Monroy, Guillermo L.; Nolan, Ryan M.

2015-01-01

Background Otitis media (OM), an infection in the middle ear, is extremely common in the pediatric population. Current gold-standard methods for diagnosis include otoscopy for visualizing the surface features of the tympanic membrane (TM) and making qualitative assessments to determine middle ear content. OM typically presents as an acute infection, but can progress to chronic OM, and after numerous infections and antibiotic treatments over the course of many months, this disease is often treated by surgically inserting small tubes in the TM to relieve pressure, enable drainage, and provide aeration to the middle ear. Diagnosis and monitoring of OM is critical for successful management, but remains largely qualitative. Methods We have developed an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system for high-resolution, depth-resolved, cross-sectional imaging of the TM and middle ear content, and for the quantitative assessment of in vivo TM thickness including the presence or absence of a middle ear biofilm. A novel algorithm was developed and demonstrated for automatic, real-time, and accurate measurement of TM thickness to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of OM and other middle ear conditions. The segmentation algorithm applies a Hough transform to the OCT image data to determine the boundaries of the TM to calculate thickness. Results The use of OCT and this segmentation algorithm is demonstrated first on layered phantoms and then during real-time acquisition of in vivo OCT from humans. For the layered phantoms, measured thicknesses varied by approximately 5 µm over time in the presence of large axial and rotational motion. In vivo data also demonstrated differences in thicknesses both spatially on a single TM, and across normal, acute, and chronic OM cases. Conclusions Real-time segmentation and thickness measurements of image data from both healthy subjects and those with acute and chronic OM demonstrate the use of OCT and this algorithm as a robust, quantitative, and accurate method for use during real-time in vivo human imaging. PMID:25694956

Real-time automated thickness measurement of the in vivo human tympanic membrane using optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Hubler, Zita; Shemonski, Nathan D; Shelton, Ryan L; Monroy, Guillermo L; Nolan, Ryan M; Boppart, Stephen A

2015-02-01

Otitis media (OM), an infection in the middle ear, is extremely common in the pediatric population. Current gold-standard methods for diagnosis include otoscopy for visualizing the surface features of the tympanic membrane (TM) and making qualitative assessments to determine middle ear content. OM typically presents as an acute infection, but can progress to chronic OM, and after numerous infections and antibiotic treatments over the course of many months, this disease is often treated by surgically inserting small tubes in the TM to relieve pressure, enable drainage, and provide aeration to the middle ear. Diagnosis and monitoring of OM is critical for successful management, but remains largely qualitative. We have developed an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system for high-resolution, depth-resolved, cross-sectional imaging of the TM and middle ear content, and for the quantitative assessment of in vivo TM thickness including the presence or absence of a middle ear biofilm. A novel algorithm was developed and demonstrated for automatic, real-time, and accurate measurement of TM thickness to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of OM and other middle ear conditions. The segmentation algorithm applies a Hough transform to the OCT image data to determine the boundaries of the TM to calculate thickness. The use of OCT and this segmentation algorithm is demonstrated first on layered phantoms and then during real-time acquisition of in vivo OCT from humans. For the layered phantoms, measured thicknesses varied by approximately 5 µm over time in the presence of large axial and rotational motion. In vivo data also demonstrated differences in thicknesses both spatially on a single TM, and across normal, acute, and chronic OM cases. Real-time segmentation and thickness measurements of image data from both healthy subjects and those with acute and chronic OM demonstrate the use of OCT and this algorithm as a robust, quantitative, and accurate method for use during real-time in vivo human imaging.

Impacts of river-bed aggradation and lahar activity downstream of Santiaguito Volcano, Guatemala: a Landsat Thematic Mapper perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flynn, L. P.; Harris, A. J.; Davies, M. A.; Vallence, J. W.; Rose, W. I.

2002-12-01

Lava extrusion at Santiaguito volcano, Guatemala and rainfall runoff cause lahars and river-bed aggradation downstream of the volcano. We present a method that uses vegetation indices extracted from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data to identify zones of impact. The method differentiates vegetation-free and vegetated pixels, constrains areas affected by aggradation, and generates catchment-wide aggradation maps. Application of the technique to 22 TM images acquired between 1987 and 2000 helped us to measure, map and track temporal and spatial variations in the area of lahar impact and river aggradation. To verify our TM-based analyses we carried out 3 field campaigns between 2000 and 2002, during which we focused on a segment of aggraded river beds ~8 km from Santiaguito. We then used our TM and field-based studies to document and validate changes at this location, as follows: (1) Time varying effects of aggradation. The main river to head at Santiaguito is R¡o Nima II. The TM analysis indicated development of a new channel cutting across farm land on the western edge of R¡o Nima II between 1996 and 2000. Field checking showed that development of an aggraded, convex, bed profile caused channels to flow westward away from the aggraded river-channel system. (2) Emplacement of lava flows. The TM time series indicated that a new lava flow extended into the upper reaches of the Rio Nima I during 1996 and triggered aggradation. Field checking confirmed that a new supply of volcaniclastic material had extended aggradation into this previously unaffected drainage. (3) River capture. Capture of R¡o Nima I by R¡o Samal has increased aggradation of along new sections of R¡o Samal , an effect evident in our TM mapping. Field checking showed that, although R¡o Samala does not head at Santiaguito, the new supply of material from R¡o Nima I triggered rapid aggradation of R¡o Samal after 1996.

Intense blue upconversion emission and intrinsic optical bistability in Tm3+/Yb3+/Zn2+ tridoped YVO4 phosphors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yadav, Manglesh; Mondal, Manisha; Mukhopadhyay, Lakshmi; Rai, Vineet Kumar

2018-04-01

Tm3+/Yb3+/Zn2+:yttrium metavanadate (YVO4) phosphors prepared through chemical coprecipitation and the solid state reaction method have been structurally characterized by an x-ray diffraction (XRD) study. Photoluminescence study of the developed phosphors under ultraviolet (UV) and near infrared (NIR) excitation has been performed. The excitation spectrum of the tetragonal zircon type YVO4 phosphors corresponding to the emission at ˜476 nm exhibits a broad excitation peak in the 250-350 nm region, which is due to charge distribution in the {{{{VO}}}4}3- group. Under 980 nm CW diode laser excitation, enhancements of about ˜3000 times and ˜40 times have been observed for the blue band in the tridoped Tm3+Yb3+Zn2+:YVO4 phosphors compared to those of the Tm3+:YVO4 singly and Tm3+/Yb3+:YVO4 codoped phosphors, respectively. A downconversion (DC) emission study shows an enhancement of about ˜50 times for the blue band in the tridoped phosphors compared to that of the singly doped phosphors. Optical bistability (OB) behavior of the developed phosphors has been also investigated upon 980 nm excitation. The calculated Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage (CIE) color coordinates lie in the blue region with 96.5% color purity under 980 nm excitation, having a color temperature of ˜3400 K. Our observations show that the developed phosphors may be suitably used in dual mode luminescence spectroscopy, display devices, and UV LED chips.

Intense blue upconversion emission and intrinsic optical bistability in Tm3+/Yb3+/Zn2+ tridoped YVO4 phosphors.

PubMed

Yadav, Manglesh; Mondal, Manisha; Mukhopadhyay, Lakshmi; Rai, Vineet Kumar

2018-01-22

Tm 3+ /Yb 3+ /Zn 2+ :yttrium metavanadate (YVO 4 ) phosphors prepared through chemical coprecipitation and the solid state reaction method have been structurally characterized by an x-ray diffraction (XRD) study. Photoluminescence study of the developed phosphors under ultraviolet (UV) and near infrared (NIR) excitation has been performed. The excitation spectrum of the tetragonal zircon type YVO 4 phosphors corresponding to the emission at ∼476 nm exhibits a broad excitation peak in the 250-350 nm region, which is due to charge distribution in the [Formula: see text] group. Under 980 nm CW diode laser excitation, enhancements of about ∼3000 times and ∼40 times have been observed for the blue band in the tridoped Tm 3+ Yb 3+ Zn 2+ :YVO 4 phosphors compared to those of the Tm 3+ :YVO 4 singly and Tm 3+ /Yb 3+ :YVO 4 codoped phosphors, respectively. A downconversion (DC) emission study shows an enhancement of about ∼50 times for the blue band in the tridoped phosphors compared to that of the singly doped phosphors. Optical bistability (OB) behavior of the developed phosphors has been also investigated upon 980 nm excitation. The calculated Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) color coordinates lie in the blue region with 96.5% color purity under 980 nm excitation, having a color temperature of ∼3400 K. Our observations show that the developed phosphors may be suitably used in dual mode luminescence spectroscopy, display devices, and UV LED chips.

Three-dimensional vibrometry of the human eardrum with stroboscopic lensless digital holography

PubMed Central

Khaleghi, Morteza; Furlong, Cosme; Ravicz, Mike; Cheng, Jeffrey Tao; Rosowski, John J.

2015-01-01

Abstract. The eardrum or tympanic membrane (TM) transforms acoustic energy at the ear canal into mechanical motions of the ossicles. The acousto-mechanical transformer behavior of the TM is determined by its shape, three-dimensional (3-D) motion, and mechanical properties. We have developed an optoelectronic holographic system to measure the shape and 3-D sound-induced displacements of the TM. The shape of the TM is measured with dual-wavelength holographic contouring using a tunable near IR laser source with a central wavelength of 780 nm. 3-D components of sound-induced displacements of the TM are measured with the method of multiple sensitivity vectors using stroboscopic holographic interferometry. To accurately obtain sensitivity vectors, a new technique is developed and used in which the sensitivity vectors are obtained from the images of a specular sphere that is being illuminated from different directions. Shape and 3-D acoustically induced displacement components of cadaveric human TMs at several excitation frequencies are measured at more than one million points on its surface. A numerical rotation matrix is used to rotate the original Euclidean coordinate of the measuring system in order to obtain in-plane and out-of-plane motion components. Results show that in-plane components of motion are much smaller (<20%) than the out-of-plane motions’ components. PMID:25652791

A thickness-mode piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer annular array using a PMN–PZT single crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Woojin; Jung, Joontaek; Lee, Wonjun; Ryu, Jungho; Choi, Hongsoo

2018-07-01

Micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) technologies were used to develop a thickness-mode piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (Tm-pMUT) annular array utilizing a lead magnesium niobate–lead zirconate titanate (PMN–PZT) single crystal prepared by the solid-state single-crystal-growth method. Dicing is a conventional processing method for PMN–PZT single crystals, but MEMS technology can be adopted for the development of Tm-pMUT annular arrays and has various advantages, including fabrication reliability, repeatability, and a curved element shape. An inductively coupled plasma–reactive ion etching process was used to etch a brittle PMN–PZT single crystal selectively. Using this process, eight ring-shaped elements were realized in an area of 1  ×  1 cm2. The resonance frequency and effective electromechanical coupling coefficient of the Tm-pMUT annular array were 2.66 (±0.04) MHz, 3.18 (±0.03) MHz, and 30.05%, respectively, in the air. The maximum positive acoustic pressure in water, measured at a distance of 7.27 mm, was 40 kPa from the Tm-pMUT annular array driven by a 10 Vpp sine wave at 2.66 MHz without beamforming. The proposed Tm-pMUT annular array using a PMN–PZT single crystal has the potential for various applications, such as a fingerprint sensor, and for ultrasonic cell stimulation and low-intensity tissue stimulation.

An analysis of Landsat Thematic Mapper P-Product internal geometry and conformity to earth surface geometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bryant, N. A.; Zobrist, A. L.; Walker, R. E.; Gokhman, B.

1985-01-01

Performance requirements regarding geometric accuracy have been defined in terms of end product goals, but until recently no precise details have been given concerning the conditions under which that accuracy is to be achieved. In order to achieve higher spatial and spectral resolutions, the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor was designed to image in both forward and reverse mirror sweeps in two separate focal planes. Both hardware and software have been augmented and changed during the course of the Landsat TM developments to achieve improved geometric accuracy. An investigation has been conducted to determine if the TM meets the National Map Accuracy Standards for geometric accuracy at larger scales. It was found that TM imagery, in terms of geometry, has come close to, and in some cases exceeded, its stringent specifications.

POCIT portable optical communicators: VideoBeam and EtherBeam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mecherle, G. Stephen; Holcomb, Terry L.

1999-12-01

LDSC is developing the POCITTM (Portable Optical Communication Integrated Transceiver) family of products which now includes VideoBeamTM and the latest addition, EtherBeamTM. Each is a full duplex portable laser communicator: VideoBeamTM providing near-broadcast- quality analog video and stereo audio, and EtherBeamTM providing standard Ethernet connectivity. Each POCITTM transceiver consists of a 3.5-pound unit with a binocular- type form factor, which can be manually pointed, tripod- mounted or gyro-stabilized. Both units have an operational range of over two miles (clear air) with excellent jam- resistance and low probability of interception characteristics. The transmission wavelength of 1550 nm enables Class I eyesafe operation (ANSI, IEC). The POCITTM units are ideally suited for numerous miliary scenarios, surveillance/espionage, industrial precious mineral exploration, and campus video teleconferencing applications.

IPMC paints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, Il-Seok; Tiwari, Rashi; Kim, Kwang J.

2008-03-01

In this paper we are reporting a newely developed IPMC fabrication method, "IPMC Paint", which can be directly sprayed onto any complex surface. In order to fabricate the IPMC paint, liquid Nafion TM was used for the ionic conducting polymer instead of the typical film/sheet type Nafion TM. The viscosity of liquid Nafion TM was adjusted by adding Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to perform spray painting. Modified Nafion was sprayed onto the conducting substrate, Polyfoil TM which acts as base electrode layer. After three times spraying, ionic polymer layer has 45 μm thickness and 10 μm of surface roughness. Sensing tests show that IPMC paint sensor has more sensitivity (+/- 0.06 of producing voltage) than that of the typical IPMC (+/- 0.005 of producing voltage) when dynamic bending with 10 Hz frequency and 1.3 cm of displacement is applied to.

Filling the gaps between tools and users: a tool comparator, using protein-protein interaction as an example.

PubMed

Kano, Yoshinobu; Nguyen, Ngan; Saetre, Rune; Yoshida, Kazuhiro; Miyao, Yusuke; Tsuruoka, Yoshimasa; Matsubayashi, Yuichiro; Ananiadou, Sophia; Tsujii, Jun'ichi

2008-01-01

Recently, several text mining programs have reached a near-practical level of performance. Some systems are already being used by biologists and database curators. However, it has also been recognized that current Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Text Mining (TM) technology is not easy to deploy, since research groups tend to develop systems that cater specifically to their own requirements. One of the major reasons for the difficulty of deployment of NLP/TM technology is that re-usability and interoperability of software tools are typically not considered during development. While some effort has been invested in making interoperable NLP/TM toolkits, the developers of end-to-end systems still often struggle to reuse NLP/TM tools, and often opt to develop similar programs from scratch instead. This is particularly the case in BioNLP, since the requirements of biologists are so diverse that NLP tools have to be adapted and re-organized in a much more extensive manner than was originally expected. Although generic frameworks like UIMA (Unstructured Information Management Architecture) provide promising ways to solve this problem, the solution that they provide is only partial. In order for truly interoperable toolkits to become a reality, we also need sharable type systems and a developer-friendly environment for software integration that includes functionality for systematic comparisons of available tools, a simple I/O interface, and visualization tools. In this paper, we describe such an environment that was developed based on UIMA, and we show its feasibility through our experience in developing a protein-protein interaction (PPI) extraction system.

Protocol Development for the NASA-JSC Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project (LMLSTP) Phase 3 Project: A Report on Baseline Studies at KSC for Continuous Salad Production

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goins, G. D.; Yorio, N. C.; Vivenzio, H. R.

1998-01-01

The Phase 3 Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Project (LMLSTP) was conducted in a 20-foot chamber at Johnson Space Center. The overall objective of the Phase 3 project was to conduct a 90-day regenerative life support system test involving 4 human subjects to demonstrate an integrated biological and physicochemical life support system. A secondary objective of the Phase 3 LMLSTP was to demonstrate the ability to produce salad-type vegetable by integration of a small benchtop growth chamber located within the crew habitat area. This small chamber, commercially manufactured as the Controlled Environment Research Ecosystem (CERES 2010(TM)), functioned as a means to continuously provide fresh lettuce crops for crew members. The CERES 2010(TM) growth chamber utilized hardware components developed for effective plant biomass production in spaceflight applications. These components included: (1) LED lighting; (2) Astroculture(TM) Root Trays; and (3) Zeoponic media. In planning for the LMLSTP Phase 3, a request was put forward for KSC scientists to generate a protocol for successful continuous planting, culturing, and harvesting of the salad-crop, lettuce. By conducting baseline tests with components of the CERES 2010(TM), a protocol was developed.

Sprinting performance on the Woodway Curve 3.0 is related to muscle architecture.

PubMed

Mangine, Gerald T; Fukuda, David H; Townsend, Jeremy R; Wells, Adam J; Gonzalez, Adam M; Jajtner, Adam R; Bohner, Jonathan D; LaMonica, Michael; Hoffman, Jay R; Fragala, Maren S; Stout, Jeffrey R

2015-01-01

To determine if unilateral measures of muscle architecture in the rectus femoris (RF) and vastus lateralis (VL) were related to (and predictive of) sprinting speed and unilateral (and bilateral) force (FRC) and power (POW) during a 30 s maximal sprint on the Woodway Curve 3.0 non-motorized treadmill. Twenty-eight healthy, physically active men (n = 14) and women (n = 14) (age = 22.9 ± 2.4 years; body mass = 77.1 ± 16.2 kg; height = 171.6 ± 11.2 cm; body-fa t = 19.4 ± 8.1%) completed one familiarization and one 30-s maximal sprint on the TM to obtain maximal sprinting speed, POW and FRC. Muscle thickness (MT), cross-sectional area (CSA) and echo intensity (ECHO) of the RF and VL in the dominant (DOM; determined by unilateral sprinting power) and non-dominant (ND) legs were measured via ultrasound. Pearson correlations indicated several significant (p < 0.05) relationships between sprinting performance [POW (peak, DOM and ND), FRC (peak, DOM, ND) and sprinting time] and muscle architecture. Stepwise regression indicated that POW(DOM) was predictive of ipsilateral RF (MT and CSA) and VL (CSA and ECHO), while POW(ND) was predictive of ipsilateral RF (MT and CSA) and VL (CSA); sprinting power/force asymmetry was not predictive of architecture asymmetry. Sprinting time was best predicted by peak power and peak force, though muscle quality (ECHO) and the bilateral percent difference in VL (CSA) were strong architectural predictors. Muscle architecture is related to (and predictive of) TM sprinting performance, while unilateral POW is predictive of ipsilateral architecture. However, the extent to which architecture and other factors (i.e. neuromuscular control and sprinting technique) affect TM performance remains unknown.

Local measurement of error field using naturally rotating tearing mode dynamics in EXTRAP T2R

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sweeney, R. M.; Frassinetti, L.; Brunsell, P.; Fridström, R.; Volpe, F. A.

2016-12-01

An error field (EF) detection technique using the amplitude modulation of a naturally rotating tearing mode (TM) is developed and validated in the EXTRAP T2R reversed field pinch. The technique was used to identify intrinsic EFs of m/n  =  1/-12, where m and n are the poloidal and toroidal mode numbers. The effect of the EF and of a resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) on the TM, in particular on amplitude modulation, is modeled with a first-order solution of the modified Rutherford equation. In the experiment, the TM amplitude is measured as a function of the toroidal angle as the TM rotates rapidly in the presence of an unknown EF and a known, deliberately applied RMP. The RMP amplitude is fixed while the toroidal phase is varied from one discharge to the other, completing a full toroidal scan. Using three such scans with different RMP amplitudes, the EF amplitude and phase are inferred from the phases at which the TM amplitude maximizes. The estimated EF amplitude is consistent with other estimates (e.g. based on the best EF-cancelling RMP, resulting in the fastest TM rotation). A passive variant of this technique is also presented, where no RMPs are applied, and the EF phase is deduced.

Modulated and continuous-wave operations of low-power thulium (Tm:YAP) laser in tissue welding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bilici, Temel; Tabakoğlu, Haşim Özgür; Topaloğlu, Nermin; Kalaycıoğlu, Hamit; Kurt, Adnan; Sennaroglu, Alphan; Gülsoy, Murat

2010-05-01

Our aim is to explore the welding capabilities of a thulium (Tm:YAP) laser in modulated and continuous-wave (CW) modes of operation. The Tm:YAP laser system developed for this study includes a Tm:YAP laser resonator, diode laser driver, water chiller, modulation controller unit, and acquisition/control software. Full-thickness incisions on Wistar rat skin were welded by the Tm:YAP laser system at 100 mW and 5 s in both modulated and CW modes of operation (34.66 W/cm2). The skin samples were examined during a 21-day healing period by histology and tensile tests. The results were compared with the samples closed by conventional suture technique. For the laser groups, immediate closure at the surface layers of the incisions was observed. Full closures were observed for both modulated and CW modes of operation at day 4. The tensile forces for both modulated and CW modes of operation were found to be significantly higher than the values found by conventional suture technique. The 1980-nm Tm:YAP laser system operating in both modulated and CW modes maximizes the therapeutic effect while minimizing undesired side effects of laser tissue welding. Hence, it is a potentially important alternative tool to the conventional suturing technique.

Optoelectronic holographic otoscope for measurement of nano-displacements in tympanic membranes

PubMed Central

Hernández-Montes, Maria del Socorro; Furlong, Cosme; Rosowski, John J.; Hulli, Nesim; Harrington, Ellery; Cheng, Jeffrey Tao; Ravicz, Michael E.; Santoyo, Fernando Mendoza

2009-01-01

Current methodologies for characterizing tympanic membrane (TM) motion are usually limited to either average acoustic estimates (admittance or reflectance) or single-point mobility measurements, neither of which suffices to characterize the detailed mechanical response of the TM to sound. Furthermore, while acoustic and single-point measurements may aid in diagnosing some middle-ear disorders, they are not always useful. Measurements of the motion of the entire TM surface can provide more information than these other techniques and may be superior for diagnosing pathology. This paper presents advances in our development of a new compact optoelectronic holographic otoscope (OEHO) system for full-field-of-view characterization of nanometer scale sound-induced displacements of the surface of the TM at video rates. The OEHO system consists of a fiber optic subsystem, a compact otoscope head, and a high-speed image processing computer with advanced software for recording and processing holographic images coupled to a computer-controlled sound-stimulation and recording system. A prototype OEHO system is in use in a medical-research environment to address basic-science questions regarding TM function. The prototype provides real-time observation of sound-induced TM displacement patterns over a broad-frequency range. Representative time-averaged and stroboscopic holographic interferometry results in animals and cadaveric human samples are shown, and their potential utility discussed. PMID:19566316

Optoelectronic holographic otoscope for measurement of nano-displacements in tympanic membranes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Del Socorro Hernández-Montes, Maria; Furlong, Cosme; Rosowski, John J.; Hulli, Nesim; Harrington, Ellery; Cheng, Jeffrey Tao; Ravicz, Michael E.; Santoyo, Fernando Mendoza

2009-05-01

Current methodologies for characterizing tympanic membrane (TM) motion are usually limited to either average acoustic estimates (admittance or reflectance) or single-point mobility measurements, neither of which suffices to characterize the detailed mechanical response of the TM to sound. Furthermore, while acoustic and single-point measurements may aid in diagnosing some middle-ear disorders, they are not always useful. Measurements of the motion of the entire TM surface can provide more information than these other techniques and may be superior for diagnosing pathology. We present advances in our development of a new compact optoelectronic holographic otoscope (OEHO) system for full field-of-view characterization of nanometer-scale sound-induced displacements of the TM surface at video rates. The OEHO system consists of a fiber optic subsystem, a compact otoscope head, and a high-speed image processing computer with advanced software for recording and processing holographic images coupled to a computer-controlled sound-stimulation and recording system. A prototype OEHO system is in use in a medical research environment to address basic science questions regarding TM function. The prototype provides real-time observation of sound-induced TM displacement patterns over a broad frequency range. Representative time-averaged and stroboscopic holographic interferometry results in animals and human cadaver samples are shown, and their potential utility is discussed.

Does Insulin Like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) Deficiency Have a "Protective" Role in the Development of Diabetic Retinopathy in Thalassamia Major Patients?

PubMed

De Sanctis, Vincenzo; Incorvaia, Carlo; Soliman, Ashraf T; Candini, Giancarlo; Pepe, Alessia; Kattamis, Christos; Soliman, Nada A; Elsedfy, Heba; Kholy, Mohamed El

2015-01-01

Both insulin and IGF-1 have been implicated in the control of retinal endothelial cell growth, neovascularization and diabetic retinopathy. Recent findings have established an essential role for IGF-1 in angiogenesis and demonstrated a new target for control of retinopathy that explains why diabetic retinopathy initially increases with the onset of insulin treatment. This cross-sectional study was designed to give insights into relationship between Insulin-Growth-Factor 1 (IGF-1) levels and diabetic retinopathy (DR) in a sample of thalassemia major (TM) patients with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). This relation was not previously evaluated, despite the fact that both diseases co-exist in the same patient. The study also describes the clinical and biochemical profile of the associated complications in TM patients with and without IDDM. A population-based cross-sectional study. The study includes 19 consecutive TM patients with IDDM and 31 age- and sex-matched TM patients without IDDM who visited our out-patient clinics for an endocrine assessment. An extensive medical history, with data on associated complications and current medications, was obtained. Blood samples were drawn in the morning after an overnight fast to measure the serum concentrations of IGF-1, glucose, fructosamine, free thyroxine (FT4), thyrotropin (TSH) and biochemical analysis. Serologic screening assays for hepatitis C virus seropositivity (HCVab and HCV-RNA) were also evaluated; applying routine laboratory methods. Plasma total IGF-1 was measured by a chemiluminescent immunometric assay (CLIA) method. Ophthalmology evaluation was done by the same researcher using stereoscopic fundus biomicroscopy through dilated pupils. DR was graded using the scale developed by the Global Diabetic Retinopathy Group. Iron stores were assessed by direct and indirect methods. Eighteen TM patients with IDDM (94.7 %) and ten non-diabetic patients (32.2 %) had IGF-1 levels below the 2.5(th) percentile of the normal values for the Italian population. The mean serum IGF-1 concentrations were significantly lower in the diabetic versus the non-diabetic TM groups (p < 0.001). DR was present in 4 (21 %) of 19 TM patients with IDDM and was associated with the main classical risk factors, namely inefficient glycemic control and duration of the disease but not hypertension. Using the scale developed by the Global Diabetic Retinopathy Group, the DR in our patients was classified as non proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR). Only a few numbers of microaneurysms [1-3] were detected. Our data also confirm the strong association of IDDM in TM patients with other endocrine and non-endocrine complications.

Seismic, side-scan survey, diving, and coring data analyzed by a Macintosh II sup TM computer and inexpensive software provide answers to a possible offshore extension of landslides at Palos Verdes Peninsula, California

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

Dill, R.F.; Slosson, J.E.; McEachen, D.B.

1990-05-01

A Macintosh II{sup TM} computer and commercially available software were used to analyze and depict the topography, construct an isopach sediment thickness map, plot core positions, and locate the geology of an offshore area facing an active landslide on the southern side of Palos Verdes Peninsula California. Profile data from side scan sonar, 3.5 kHz, and Boomer subbottom, high-resolution seismic, diving, echo sounder traverses, and cores - all controlled with a mini Ranger II navigation system - were placed in MacGridzo{sup TM} and WingZ{sup TM} software programs. The computer-plotted data from seven sources were used to construct maps with overlaysmore » for evaluating the possibility of a shoreside landslide extending offshore. The poster session describes the offshore survey system and demonstrates the development of the computer data base, its placement into the MacGridzo{sup TM} gridding program, and transfer of gridded navigational locations to the WingZ{sup TM} data base and graphics program. Data will be manipulated to show how sea-floor features are enhanced and how isopach data were used to interpret the possibility of landslide displacement and Holocene sea level rise. The software permits rapid assessment of data using computerized overlays and a simple, inexpensive means of constructing and evaluating information in map form and the preparation of final written reports. This system could be useful in many other areas where seismic profiles, precision navigational locations, soundings, diver observations, and core provide a great volume of information that must be compared on regional plots to develop of field maps for geological evaluation and reports.« less

Overview of the interactive task in BioCreative V

PubMed Central

Wang, Qinghua; S. Abdul, Shabbir; Almeida, Lara; Ananiadou, Sophia; Balderas-Martínez, Yalbi I.; Batista-Navarro, Riza; Campos, David; Chilton, Lucy; Chou, Hui-Jou; Contreras, Gabriela; Cooper, Laurel; Dai, Hong-Jie; Ferrell, Barbra; Fluck, Juliane; Gama-Castro, Socorro; George, Nancy; Gkoutos, Georgios; Irin, Afroza K.; Jensen, Lars J.; Jimenez, Silvia; Jue, Toni R.; Keseler, Ingrid; Madan, Sumit; Matos, Sérgio; McQuilton, Peter; Milacic, Marija; Mort, Matthew; Natarajan, Jeyakumar; Pafilis, Evangelos; Pereira, Emiliano; Rao, Shruti; Rinaldi, Fabio; Rothfels, Karen; Salgado, David; Silva, Raquel M.; Singh, Onkar; Stefancsik, Raymund; Su, Chu-Hsien; Subramani, Suresh; Tadepally, Hamsa D.; Tsaprouni, Loukia; Vasilevsky, Nicole; Wang, Xiaodong; Chatr-Aryamontri, Andrew; Laulederkind, Stanley J. F.; Matis-Mitchell, Sherri; McEntyre, Johanna; Orchard, Sandra; Pundir, Sangya; Rodriguez-Esteban, Raul; Van Auken, Kimberly; Lu, Zhiyong; Schaeffer, Mary; Wu, Cathy H.; Hirschman, Lynette; Arighi, Cecilia N.

2016-01-01

Fully automated text mining (TM) systems promote efficient literature searching, retrieval, and review but are not sufficient to produce ready-to-consume curated documents. These systems are not meant to replace biocurators, but instead to assist them in one or more literature curation steps. To do so, the user interface is an important aspect that needs to be considered for tool adoption. The BioCreative Interactive task (IAT) is a track designed for exploring user-system interactions, promoting development of useful TM tools, and providing a communication channel between the biocuration and the TM communities. In BioCreative V, the IAT track followed a format similar to previous interactive tracks, where the utility and usability of TM tools, as well as the generation of use cases, have been the focal points. The proposed curation tasks are user-centric and formally evaluated by biocurators. In BioCreative V IAT, seven TM systems and 43 biocurators participated. Two levels of user participation were offered to broaden curator involvement and obtain more feedback on usability aspects. The full level participation involved training on the system, curation of a set of documents with and without TM assistance, tracking of time-on-task, and completion of a user survey. The partial level participation was designed to focus on usability aspects of the interface and not the performance per se. In this case, biocurators navigated the system by performing pre-designed tasks and then were asked whether they were able to achieve the task and the level of difficulty in completing the task. In this manuscript, we describe the development of the interactive task, from planning to execution and discuss major findings for the systems tested. Database URL: http://www.biocreative.org PMID:27589961

Overview of the interactive task in BioCreative V

DOE PAGES

Wang, Qinghua; Abdul, Shabbir S.; Almeida, Lara; ...

2016-09-01

Fully automated text mining (TM) systems promote efficient literature searching, retrieval, and review but are not sufficient to produce ready-to-consume curated documents. These systems are not meant to replace biocurators, but instead to assist them in one or more literature curation steps. To do so, the user interface is an important aspect that needs to be considered for tool adoption. The BioCreative Interactive task (IAT) is a track designed for exploring user-system interactions, promoting development of useful TM tools, and providing a communication channel between the biocuration and the TM communities. In BioCreative V, the IAT track followed a formatmore » similar to previous interactive tracks, where the utility and usability of TM tools, as well as the generation of use cases, have been the focal points. The proposed curation tasks are user-centric and formally evaluated by biocurators. In BioCreative V IAT, seven TM systems and 43 biocurators participated. Two levels of user participation were offered to broaden curator involvement and obtain more feedback on usability aspects. The full level participation involved training on the system, curation of a set of documents with and without TM assistance, tracking of time-on-task, and completion of a user survey. Here, the partial level participation was designed to focus on usability aspects of the interface and not the performance per se. In this case, biocurators navigated the system by performing pre-designed tasks and then were asked whether they were able to achieve the task and the level of difficulty in completing the task. In this manuscript, we describe the development of the interactive task, from planning to execution and discuss major findings for the systems tested.« less

Molecular dynamics simulation study reveals potential substrate entry path into γ-secretase/presenilin-1.

PubMed

Kong, Ren; Chang, Shan; Xia, Weiming; Wong, Stephen T C

2015-08-01

Presenilin 1 (PS1) is the catalytic unit of γ-secretase which cleaves more than one hundred substrates. Among them, amyloid precursor protein (APP) and Notch are notable for their pivotal role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and certain types of cancer. The hydrolysis process occurring inside the hydrophobic lipid bilayer remains unclear. With the aim to understand the mechanism of intramembrane proteolysis by γ-secretase, we constructed a homology model of human PS1 and performed molecular dynamics simulation in explicit membrane phospholipids with different components. During the simulation, TM9 was found to exhibit a high level of flexibility that involved in "gate-open" movement of TM2 and TM6, and thus partially exposed the catalytic residues. The highly conserved PALP motif acts as an anchor to mediate the conformation changes of TM6 induced by TM9. Moreover, direct interactions were observed between 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (POPE) and the active site of γ-secretase, indicating that the lipid molecules have the potential to modulate γ-secretase by contacting with the catalytic residues, i.e., ASP 257 and ASP 385 of PS1. The intermediate states indicate a potential substrate penetration pathway through the interface of TM2 and TM6, which may be induced by changes of TM9. To our knowledge, this is the first molecular simulation study that reveals dynamic behavior of the human PS1 structure in the lipid bilayer and provides insight into the substrate entry path for subsequent intramembrane hydrolysis, which is critical information required for new strategy development of γ-secretase modulators to alleviate devastating AD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Biocompatible coupling of therapeutic fusion proteins to human erythrocytes

PubMed Central

Villa, Carlos H.; Pan, Daniel C.; Johnston, Ian H.; Greineder, Colin F.; Walsh, Landis R.; Hood, Elizabeth D.; Cines, Douglas B.; Poncz, Mortimer; Siegel, Don L.

2018-01-01

Carriage of drugs by red blood cells (RBCs) modulates pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and immunogenicity. However, optimal targets for attaching therapeutics to human RBCs and adverse effects have not been studied. We engineered nonhuman-primate single-chain antibody fragments (scFvs) directed to human RBCs and fused scFvs with human thrombomodulin (hTM) as a representative biotherapeutic cargo (hTM-scFv). Binding fusions to RBCs on band 3/glycophorin A (GPA; Wright b [Wrb] epitope) and RhCE (Rh17/Hr0 epitope) similarly endowed RBCs with hTM activity, but differed in their effects on RBC physiology. scFv and hTM-scFv targeted to band 3/GPA increased membrane rigidity and sensitized RBCs to hemolysis induced by mechanical stress, while reducing sensitivity to hypo-osmotic hemolysis. Similar properties were seen for other ligands bound to GPA and band 3 on human and murine RBCs. In contrast, binding of scFv or hTM-scFv to RhCE did not alter deformability or sensitivity to mechanical and osmotic stress at similar copy numbers bound per RBCs. Contrasting responses were also seen for immunoglobulin G antibodies against band 3, GPA, and RhCE. RBC-bound hTM-scFv generated activated protein C (APC) in the presence of thrombin, but RhCE-targeted hTM-scFv demonstrated greater APC generation per bound copy. Both Wrb- and RhCE-targeted fusion proteins inhibited fibrin deposition induced by tumor necrosis factor-α in an endothelialized microfluidic model using human whole blood. RhCE-bound hTM-scFv more effectively reduced platelet and leukocyte adhesion, whereas anti-Wrb scFv appeared to promote platelet adhesion. These data provide a translational framework for the development of engineered affinity ligands to safely couple therapeutics to human RBCs. PMID:29365311

In vitro and in vivo evaluation of novel implantation technology in hydrogel contact lenses for controlled drug delivery.

PubMed

Maulvi, Furqan A; Lakdawala, Dhara H; Shaikh, Anjum A; Desai, Ankita R; Choksi, Harsh H; Vaidya, Rutvi J; Ranch, Ketan M; Koli, Akshay R; Vyas, Bhavin A; Shah, Dinesh O

2016-03-28

Glaucoma is commonly treated using eye drops, which is highly inefficient due to rapid clearance (low residence time) from ocular surface. Contact lenses are ideally suited for controlled drug delivery to cornea, but incorporation of any drug loaded particulate system (formulation) affect the optical and physical property of contact lenses. The objective of the present work was to implant timolol maleate (TM) loaded ethyl cellulose nanoparticle-laden ring in hydrogel contact lenses that could provide controlled drug delivery at therapeutic rates without compromising critical lens properties. TM-implant lenses were developed, by dispersing TM encapsulated ethyl cellulose nanoparticles in acrylate hydrogel (fabricated as ring implant) and implanted the same in hydrogel contact lenses (sandwich system). The TM-ethyl cellulose nanoparticles were prepared by double emulsion method at different ratios of TM to ethyl cellulose. The X-ray diffraction studies revealed the transformation of TM to amorphous state. In vitro release kinetic data showed sustained drug release within the therapeutic window for 168h (NP 1:3 batch) with 150μg loading. Cytotoxicity and ocular irritation study demonstrated the safety of TM-implant contact lenses. In vivo pharmacokinetic studies in rabbit tear fluid showed significant increase in mean residence time (MRT) and area under curve (AUC), with TM-implant contact lenses in comparison to eye drop therapy. In vivo pharmacodynamic data in rabbit model showed sustained reduction in intra ocular pressure for 192h. The study demonstrated the promising potential of implantation technology to treat glaucoma using contact lenses, and could serve as a platform for other ocular diseases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Early thrombomodulin-α administration outcome for acute disseminated intravascular coagulopathy in gastrointestinal surgery.

PubMed

Konishi, Hirotaka; Okamoto, Kazuma; Shoda, Katsutoshi; Arita, Tomohiro; Kosuga, Toshiyuki; Morimura, Ryo; Komatsu, Shuhei; Murayama, Yasutoshi; Shiozaki, Atsushi; Kuriu, Yoshiaki; Ikoma, Hisashi; Nakanishi, Masayoshi; Ichikawa, Daisuke; Fujiwara, Hitoshi; Otsuji, Eigo

2017-02-07

To investigate the efficacy of thrombomodulin (TM)-α for treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC) in the field of gastrointestinal surgery. Thirty-six peri-operative DIC patients in the field of gastrointestinal surgery who were treated with TM-α were retrospectively investigated. The relationships between patient demographics and the efficacy of TM-α were examined. Analysis of survival at 28 d was also performed on some parameters by means of the Kaplan-Meier method. Relationships between the initiation of TM-α and patient demographics were also evaluated. Abscess formation or bacteremia was the most frequent cause of DIC (33%), followed by digestive tract perforation (31%). Twenty-six patients developed DIC after surgery, frequently within 1 wk (81%). TM-α was most often administered within 1 d of the DIC diagnosis (72%) and was continued for more than 3 d (64%). Although bleeding tendency was observed in 7 patients (19%), a hemostatic procedure was not needed. DIC scores, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) scores, quick-sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) scores, platelet counts, and prothrombin time ratios significantly improved after 1 wk ( P < 0.05, for all). The overall survival rate at 28 d was 71%. The duration of TM-α administration (≥ 4 , ≤ 6) and improvements in DIC-associated scores (DIC, SIRS and qSOFA) at 1 wk were significantly better prognostic factors for 28-d survival ( P < 0.05, for all). TM-α was administered significantly earlier to patients with severe clinical symptoms, such as high qSOFA scores, sepsis, shock or high lactate values ( P < 0.05, for all). Early administration of TM-α and improvements in each parameter were essential for treatment of DIC. The diagnosis of patients with mild symptoms requires further study.

The Relationship between Teachers' Perception about School Managers' Talent Management Leadership and the Level of Organizational Commitment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aytaç, Tufan

2015-01-01

Problem statement: Talent Management (TM) has been recently seen as a critical success factor in the development of educational organizations. The problem this study addresses is whether there is a relationship between teacher perceptions about school managers' TM leadership and their level of organizational commitment (OC). The level of school…

Simulation Accelerator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

Under a NASA SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) contract, (NAS5-30905), EAI Simulation Associates, Inc., developed a new digital simulation computer, Starlight(tm). With an architecture based on the analog model of computation, Starlight(tm) outperforms all other computers on a wide range of continuous system simulation. This system is used in a variety of applications, including aerospace, automotive, electric power and chemical reactors.

Landsat TM Classifications For SAFIS Using FIA Field Plots

Treesearch

William H. Cooke; Andrew J. Hartsell

2001-01-01

Wall-to-wall Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) classification efforts in Georgia require field validation. We developed a new crown modeling procedure based on Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) data to test Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data. These models simulate the proportion of tree crowns that reflect light on a FIA subplot basis. We averaged subplot crown...

Leveraging Learning Technologies for Collaborative Writing in an Online Pharmacotherapy Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pittenger, Amy L.; Olson-Kellogg, Becky

2012-01-01

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the development and delivery of a hypertext case scenario document to be used as the capstone assessment tool for doctoral-level physical therapy students. The integration of Web-based collaborative tools (PBworks[TM] and Google Sites[TM]) allowed students in this all-online course to apply their…

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION REPORT "FIELD MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR TOTAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS IN SOIL" CHEMETRICS, INC., AND AZUR ENVIRONMENTAL LTD REMEDIAID TOTAL PETROLEUM HYDROCARBON STARTER KIT

EPA Science Inventory

The RemediAidTm Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Starter Kit (RemediAidTm kit) developed by CHEMetries, Inc. (CHEMetrics), and AZUR Environmental Ltd was demonstrated under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program in June 2000 at the ...

Shape and 3D acoustically induced vibrations of the human eardrum characterized by digital holography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khaleghi, Morteza; Furlong, Cosme; Cheng, Jeffrey Tao; Rosowski, John J.

2014-07-01

The eardrum or Tympanic Membrane (TM) transfers acoustic energy from the ear canal (at the external ear) into mechanical motions of the ossicles (at the middle ear). The acousto-mechanical-transformer behavior of the TM is determined by its shape and mechanical properties. For a better understanding of hearing mysteries, full-field-of-view techniques are required to quantify shape, nanometer-scale sound-induced displacement, and mechanical properties of the TM in 3D. In this paper, full-field-of-view, three-dimensional shape and sound-induced displacement of the surface of the TM are obtained by the methods of multiple wavelengths and multiple sensitivity vectors with lensless digital holography. Using our developed digital holographic systems, unique 3D information such as, shape (with micrometer resolution), 3D acoustically-induced displacement (with nanometer resolution), full strain tensor (with nano-strain resolution), 3D phase of motion, and 3D directional cosines of the displacement vectors can be obtained in full-field-ofview with a spatial resolution of about 3 million points on the surface of the TM and a temporal resolution of 15 Hz.

Origins of tmRNA: the missing link in the birth of protein synthesis?

PubMed

Macé, Kevin; Gillet, Reynald

2016-09-30

The RNA world hypothesis refers to the early period on earth in which RNA was central in assuring both genetic continuity and catalysis. The end of this era coincided with the development of the genetic code and protein synthesis, symbolized by the apparition of the first non-random messenger RNA (mRNA). Modern transfer-messenger RNA (tmRNA) is a unique hybrid molecule which has the properties of both mRNA and transfer RNA (tRNA). It acts as a key molecule during trans-translation, a major quality control pathway of modern bacterial protein synthesis. tmRNA shares many common characteristics with ancestral RNA. Here, we present a model in which proto-tmRNAs were the first molecules on earth to support non-random protein synthesis, explaining the emergence of early genetic code. In this way, proto-tmRNA could be the missing link between the first mRNA and tRNA molecules and modern ribosome-mediated protein synthesis. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Effect of persistent high intraocular pressure on microstructure and hydraulic permeability of trabecular meshwork

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mei, Xi; Ren, Lin; Xu, Qiang; Zheng, Wei; Liu, Zhi-Cheng

2015-05-01

As the aqueous humor leaves the eye, it first passes through the trabecular meshwork (TM). Increased flow resistance in this region causes elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP), which leads to the occurrence of glaucoma. To quantitatively evaluate the effect of high IOP on the configuration and hydraulic permeability of the TM, second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy was used to image the microstructures of the TM and adjacent tissues in control (normal) and high IOP conditions. Enucleated rabbit eyes were perfused at a pressure of 60 mmHg to achieve the high IOP. Through the anterior chamber of the eye, in situ images were obtained from different depths beneath the surface of the TM. Porosity and specific surface area of the TM in control and high IOP conditions were then calculated to estimate the effect of the high pressure on the permeability of tissue in different depths. We further photographed the histological sections of the TM and compared the in situ images. The following results were obtained in the control condition, where the region of depth was less than 55 μm with crossed branching beams and large pores in the superficial TM. The deeper meshwork is a silk-like tissue with abundant fluorescence separating the small size of pores. The total thickness of pathway tissues composed of TM and juxtacanalicular (JCT) is more than 100 μm. After putting a high pressure on the inner wall of the eye, the TM region progressively collapses and decreases to be less than 40 μm. Fibers of the TM became dense, and the porosity at 34 μm in the high IOP condition is comparable to that at 105 μm in the control condition. As a consequent result, the permeability of the superficial TM decreases rapidly from 120 μm2 to 49.6 μm2 and that of deeper TM decreases from 1.66 μm2 to 0.57 μm2. Heterogeneity reflected by descent in permeability reduces from 12.4 μm of the control condition to 3.74 μm of the high IOP condition. The persistently high IOP makes the TM region collapse from its normal state, in which the collagen fibers of the TM are arranged in regular to maintain the physiological permeability of the outflow pathway. In the scope of pathologically high IOP, the microstructure of the TM is sensitive to pressure and hydraulic permeability can be significantly affected by IOP. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31070840, 10802053, and 81201123), the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing, China (Grant No. 3122010), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. S2012040006576), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee, China (Grant No. KQCX20120816155352228), and the Funding Project for Academic Human Resources Development in Institutions of Higher Learning under the Jurisdiction of Beijing Municipality, China (Grant No. PHR201110506).

Development and evaluation of novel recombinant adenovirus-based vaccine candidates for infectious bronchitis virus and Mycoplasma gallisepticum in chickens.

PubMed

Zhang, Dongchao; Long, Yuqing; Li, Meng; Gong, Jianfang; Li, Xiaohui; Lin, Jing; Meng, Jiali; Gao, Keke; Zhao, Ruili; Jin, Tianming

2018-04-01

Avian infectious bronchitis caused by the infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), and mycoplasmosis caused by Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) are two major respiratory diseases in chickens that have resulted in severe economic losses in the poultry industry. We constructed a recombinant adenovirus that simultaneously expresses the S1 spike glycoprotein of IBV and the TM-1 protein of MG (pBH-S1-TM-1-EGFP). For comparison, we constructed two recombinant adenoviruses (pBH-S1-EGFP and pBH-TM-1-EGFP) that express either the S1 spike glycoprotein or the TM-1 protein alone. The protective efficacy of these three vaccine constructs against challenge with IBV and/or MG was evaluated in specific pathogen free chickens. Groups of seven-day-old specific pathogen free chicks were immunized twice, two weeks apart, via the oculonasal route with the pBH-S1-TM-1-EGFP, pBH-S1-EGFP, or pBH-TM-1-EGFP vaccine candidates or the commercial attenuated infectious bronchitis vaccine strain H52 and MG vaccine strain F-36 (positive controls), and challenged with virulent IBV or MG two weeks later. Interestingly, by days 7 and 14 after the booster immunization, pBH-S1-TM-1-EGFP-induced antibody titre was significantly higher (P < 0.01) compared to attenuated commercial IBV vaccine; however, there was no significant difference between the pBH-S1-TM-1-EGFP and attenuated commercial MG vaccine groups (P > 0.05). The clinical signs, the gross, and histopathological lesions scores of the adenovirus vaccine constructs were not significantly different from that of the attenuated commercial IBV or MG vaccines (positive controls) (P > 0.05). These results demonstrate the potential of the bivalent pBH-S1-TM-1-EGFP adenovirus construct as a combination vaccine against IB and mycoplasmosis.

Uropathogenic E. coli Induce Different Immune Response in Testicular and Peritoneal Macrophages: Implications for Testicular Immune Privilege

PubMed Central

Bhushan, Sudhanshu; Hossain, Hamid; Lu, Yongning; Geisler, Andreas; Tchatalbachev, Svetlin; Mikulski, Zbigniew; Schuler, Gerhard; Klug, Jörg; Pilatz, Adrian; Wagenlehner, Florian; Chakraborty, Trinad; Meinhardt, Andreas

2011-01-01

Infertility affects one in seven couples and ascending bacterial infections of the male genitourinary tract by Escherichia coli are an important cause of male factor infertility. Thus understanding mechanisms by which immunocompetent cells such as testicular macrophages (TM) respond to infection and how bacterial pathogens manipulate defense pathways is of importance. Whole genome expression profiling of TM and peritoneal macrophages (PM) infected with uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) revealed major differences in regulated genes. However, a multitude of genes implicated in calcium signaling pathways was a common feature which indicated a role of calcium-dependent nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) signaling. UPEC-dependent NFAT activation was confirmed in both cultured TM and in TM in an in vivo UPEC infectious rat orchitis model. Elevated expression of NFATC2-regulated anti-inflammatory cytokines was found in TM (IL-4, IL-13) and PM (IL-3, IL-4, IL-13). NFATC2 is activated by rapid influx of calcium, an activity delineated to the pore forming toxin alpha-hemolysin by bacterial mutant analysis. Alpha-hemolysin suppressed IL-6 and TNF-α cytokine release from PM and caused differential activation of MAP kinase and AP-1 signaling pathways in TM and PM leading to reciprocal expression of key pro-inflammatory cytokines in PM (IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6 downregulated) and TM (IL-1β, IL-6 upregulated). In addition, unlike PM, LPS-treated TM were refractory to NFκB activation shown by the absence of degradation of IκBα and lack of pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion (IL-6, TNF-α). Taken together, these results suggest a mechanism to the conundrum by which TM initiate immune responses to bacteria, while maintaining testicular immune privilege with its ability to tolerate neo-autoantigens expressed on developing spermatogenic cells. PMID:22164293

Residues within the Transmembrane Domain of the Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Involved in Ligand Binding and Receptor Activation: Modelling the Ligand-Bound Receptor

PubMed Central

Coopman, K.; Wallis, R.; Robb, G.; Brown, A. J. H.; Wilkinson, G. F.; Timms, D.

2011-01-01

The C-terminal regions of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) bind to the N terminus of the GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R), facilitating interaction of the ligand N terminus with the receptor transmembrane domain. In contrast, the agonist exendin-4 relies less on the transmembrane domain, and truncated antagonist analogs (e.g. exendin 9–39) may interact solely with the receptor N terminus. Here we used mutagenesis to explore the role of residues highly conserved in the predicted transmembrane helices of mammalian GLP-1Rs and conserved in family B G protein coupled receptors in ligand binding and GLP-1R activation. By iteration using information from the mutagenesis, along with the available crystal structure of the receptor N terminus and a model of the active opsin transmembrane domain, we developed a structural receptor model with GLP-1 bound and used this to better understand consequences of mutations. Mutation at Y152 [transmembrane helix (TM) 1], R190 (TM2), Y235 (TM3), H363 (TM6), and E364 (TM6) produced similar reductions in affinity for GLP-1 and exendin 9–39. In contrast, other mutations either preferentially [K197 (TM2), Q234 (TM3), and W284 (extracellular loop 2)] or solely [D198 (TM2) and R310 (TM5)] reduced GLP-1 affinity. Reduced agonist affinity was always associated with reduced potency. However, reductions in potency exceeded reductions in agonist affinity for K197A, W284A, and R310A, while H363A was uncoupled from cAMP generation, highlighting critical roles of these residues in translating binding to activation. Data show important roles in ligand binding and receptor activation of conserved residues within the transmembrane domain of the GLP-1R. The receptor structural model provides insight into the roles of these residues. PMID:21868452

Failure Mode Classification for Life Prediction Modeling of Solid-State Lighting

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

Sakalaukus, Peter Joseph

2015-08-01

Since the passing of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the U.S. government has mandated greater energy independence which has acted as a catalyst for accelerating and facilitating research efforts toward the development and deployment of market-driven solutions for energy-saving homes, buildings and manufacturing, as well as sustainable transportation and renewable electricity generation. As part of this effort, an emphasis toward advancing solid-state lighting technology through research, development, demonstration, and commercial applications is assisting in the phase out of the common incandescent light bulb, as well as developing a more economical lighting source that is less toxic thanmore » compact fluorescent lighting. This has led lighting manufacturers to pursue SSL technologies for a wide range of consumer lighting applications. An SSL luminaire’s lifetime can be characterized in terms of lumen maintenance life. Lumen maintenance or lumen depreciation is the percentage decrease in the relative luminous flux from that of the original, pristine luminous flux value. Lumen maintenance life is the estimated operating time, in hours, when the desired failure threshold is projected to be reached at normal operating conditions. One accepted failure threshold of SSL luminaires is lumen maintenance of 70% -- a 30% reduction in the light output of the luminaire. Currently, the only approved lighting standard that puts forth a recommendation for long-term luminous flux maintenance projections towards a specified failure threshold of an SSL luminaire is the IES TM-28-14 (TM28) standard. iii TM28 was derived as a means to compare luminaires that have been tested at different facilities, research labs or companies. TM28 recommends the use of the Arrhenius equation to determine SSL device specific reaction rates from thermally driven failure mechanisms used to characterize a single failure mode – the relative change in the luminous flux output or “light power” of the SSL luminaire. The use of the Arrhenius equation necessitates two different temperature conditions, 25°C and 45°C are suggested by TM28, to determine the SSL lamp specific activation energy. One principal issue with TM28 is the lack of additional stresses or parameters needed to characterize non-temperature dependent failure mechanisms. Another principal issue with TM28 is the assumption that lumen maintenance or lumen depreciation gives an adequate comparison between SSL luminaires. Additionally, TM28 has no process for the determination of acceleration factors or lifetime estimations. Currently, a literature gap exists for established accelerated test methods for SSL devices to assess quality, reliability and durability before being introduced into the marketplace. Furthermore, there is a need for Physics-of-Failure based approaches to understand the processes and mechanisms that induce failure for the assessment of SSL reliability in order to develop generalized acceleration factors that better represent SSL product lifetime. This and the deficiencies in TM28 validate the need behind the development of acceleration techniques to quantify SSL reliability under a variety of environmental conditions. The ability to assess damage accrual and investigate reliability of SSL components and systems is essential to understanding the life time of the SSL device itself. The methodologies developed in this work increases the understanding of SSL devices iv through the investigation of component and device reliability under a variety of accelerated test conditions. The approaches for suitable lifetime predictions through the development of novel generalized acceleration factors, as well as a prognostics and health management framework, will greatly reduce the time and effort needed to produce SSL acceleration factors for the development of lifetime predictions.« less

Rapid onset of multiple concurrent squamous cell carcinomas associated with the use of an arsenic-containing traditional medicine for chronic plaque psoriasis.

PubMed

Siefring, Mark Louis; Lu, Doanh; States, J Christopher; Van Hoang, Minh

2018-03-30

We report a case of a 46-year-old Vietnamese man who developed widespread, numerous and concurrent cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) in non-sun exposed skin areas after taking a traditional medicine (TM) formulation for chronic plaque psoriasis. The SCC lesions began to develop within 12-15 months after beginning the arsenic-containing TM. The patient experienced both acute and chronic symptoms consistent with arsenic exposure. Laboratory investigation of a collected hair sample showed a significant arsenic level. The TM formulation used by the patient was tested and demonstrated an extremely high concentration of arsenic. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Thermo-selective Tm(x)Ti(1-x)O(2-x/2) nanoparticles: from Tm-doped anatase TiO2 to a rutile/pyrochlore Tm2Ti2O7 mixture. An experimental and theoretical study with a photocatalytic application.

PubMed

Navas, Javier; Sánchez-Coronilla, Antonio; Aguilar, Teresa; De los Santos, Desireé M; Hernández, Norge C; Alcántara, Rodrigo; Fernández-Lorenzo, Concha; Martín-Calleja, Joaquín

2014-11-07

This is an experimental and theoretical study of thulium doped TiO2 nanoparticles. From an experimental perspective, a method was used to synthesize thulium-doped TiO2 nanoparticles in which Tm(3+) replaces Ti(4+) in the lattice, which to our knowledge has neither been reported nor studied theoretically so far. Different proportions of anatase and rutile phases were obtained at different annealing temperatures, and XRD and Raman spectroscopy also revealed the presence of a pyrochlore phase (Tm2Ti2O7) at 1173 K. Thus, the structure of the Tm-doped nanoparticles was thermally-controlled. Furthermore, XPS showed the presence of Tm(3+) in the samples synthesized, which produces oxygen vacancies to maintain the local neutrality in the lattice. The presence of Tm(3+) in the samples led to changes in the UV-Vis absorption spectra, so they showed photoluminescence properties and new states in the band gap, which produce a new lower energy electronic transition than the main TiO2 one. Periodic DFT calculations were performed to understand the experimentally produced structures. The production of oxygen vacancies was analysed and the changes generated in the structure were fully detailed. The DOS and PDOS analyses confirmed the experimental results obtained using UV-Vis spectroscopy, and showed that the new electronic states in the band gap are due to interactions of the f state of Tm and the p state of O. Likewise, the charge study and the ELF analysis indicate that when Tm is introduced into the TiO2 structure, the Ti-O bond around the oxygen vacancy is strengthened. Finally, an example of a photocatalytic application was developed to show the high efficiency of the samples due to the heterojunction in the interfaces of the phases in the samples, which improved the charge separation and the good charge carrier mobility due to the presence of the pyrochlore phase, as was also shown theoretically.

An imaged-based inverse finite element method to determine in-vivo mechanical properties of the human trabecular meshwork.

PubMed

Pant, Anup D; Kagemann, Larry; Schuman, Joel S; Sigal, Ian A; Amini, Rouzbeh

2017-01-01

Previous studies have shown that the trabecular meshwork (TM) is mechanically stiffer in glaucomatous eyes as compared to normal eyes. It is believed that elevated TM stiffness increases resistance to the aqueous humor outflow, producing increased intraocular pressure (IOP). It would be advantageous to measure TM mechanical properties in vivo , as these properties are believed to play an important role in the pathophysiology of glaucoma and could be useful for identifying potential risk factors. The purpose of this study was to develop a method to estimate in-vivo TM mechanical properties using clinically available exams and computer simulations. Inverse finite element simulation. A finite element model of the TM was constructed from optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of a healthy volunteer before and during IOP elevation. An axisymmetric model of the TM was then constructed. Images of the TM at a baseline IOP level of 11, and elevated level of 23 mmHg were treated as the undeformed and deformed configurations, respectively. An inverse modeling technique was subsequently used to estimate the TM shear modulus ( G ). An optimization technique was used to find the shear modulus that minimized the difference between Schlemm's canal area in the in-vivo images and simulations. Upon completion of inverse finite element modeling, the simulated area of the Schlemm's canal changed from 8,889 µm 2 to 2,088 µm 2 , similar to the experimentally measured areal change of the canal (from 8,889 µm 2 to 2,100 µm 2 ). The calculated value of shear modulus was found to be 1.93 kPa, (implying an approximate Young's modulus of 5.75 kPa), which is consistent with previous ex-vivo measurements. The combined imaging and computational simulation technique provides a unique approach to calculate the mechanical properties of the TM in vivo without any surgical intervention. Quantification of such mechanical properties will help us examine the mechanistic role of TM biomechanics in the regulation of IOP in healthy and glaucomatous eyes.

Ethnic differences in trabecular meshwork height by optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Chen, Rebecca I; Barbosa, Diego T; Hsu, Chi-Hsin; Porco, Travis C; Lin, Shan C

2015-04-01

Differences in ocular anatomy may contribute to ethnic differences in glaucoma risk. Because the trabecular meshwork (TM) plays an important role in aqueous outflow, its anatomy in relation to at-risk populations may provide insight into a potential contributor to elevated intraocular pressure and thus to probability of glaucoma development. To investigate whether differences exist in TM height between ethnic groups. This prospective study took place from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2013. Adult patients who self-reported as being of white, Asian, Hispanic, or African American ethnicity were recruited from ophthalmology clinics at the University of California, San Francisco. The TM height was assessed using spectral-domain anterior segment optical coherence tomography. Trabecular meshwork height was measured from the scleral spur to the Schwalbe line. We hypothesized that ethnicities with a higher prevalence of glaucoma would tend to have shorter TM heights. We collected data from 460 eyes of 291 participants after excluding 34 optical coherence tomographic scans owing to poor image quality. The final sample was 32.2% white, 45.1% Asian, 10.5% African American, and 12.1% Hispanic. There were 64.2% women, and the mean age was 68.1 years. The mean (SD) TM height among all eyes included in the study was 836 (131) μm. The mean (SD) TM height was characterized among white (851 [131] μm), Asian (843 [126] μm), Hispanic (822 [147] μm), and African American (771 [118] μm) persons. Ethnicity was not associated with TM height overall (P = .23, linear mixed regression model). However, the TM heights of African American participants (771 μm) were shorter than those of white (851 μm; adjusted difference 95% CI, -119.8 to -8.1; P = .02) and Asian (843 μm; adjusted difference 95% CI, -117.4 to -10.8; P = .02) participants. Although TM height is not associated with ethnicity overall, African American individuals have shorter TM heights compared with Asian and white persons. Trabecular meshwork size may play a role in ethnic differences of glaucoma risk and be a new risk factor to consider in primary open-angle glaucoma.

Update on POCIT portable optical communicators: VideoBeam and EtherBeam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mecherle, G. Stephen; Holcomb, Terry L.

2000-05-01

LDSC is developing the POCITTM (Portable Optical Communication Integrated Transceiver) family of products which includes VideoBeamTM and the latest addition, EtherBeamTM. Each is a full duplex portable laser communicator: VideoBeamTM providing near-broadcast- quality analog video and stereo audio, and EtherBeamTM providing standard Ethernet connectivity. Each POCITTM transceiver consists of a 3.5-pound unit with a binocular- type form factor, which can be manually pointed, tripod- mounted or gyro-stabilized. Both units have an operational range of over two miles (clear air) with excellent jam- resistance and low probability of interception characteristics. The transmission wavelength of 1550 nm enables Class 1 eyesafe operation (ANSI, IEC). The POCITTM units are ideally suited for numerous military scenarios, surveillance/espionage, industrial precious mineral exploration, and campus video teleconferencing applications. VideoBeam will be available second quarter 2000, followed by EtherBeam in third quarter 2000.

Information theoretic comparisons of original and transformed data from Landsat MSS and TM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malila, W. A.

1985-01-01

The dispersion and concentration of signal values in transformed data from the Landsat-4 MSS and TM instruments are analyzed using a communications theory approach. The definition of entropy of Shannon was used to quantify information, and the concept of mutual information was employed to develop a measure of information contained in several subsets of variables. Several comparisons of information content are made on the basis of the information content measure, including: system design capacities; data volume occupied by agricultural data; and the information content of original bands and Tasseled Cap variables. A method for analyzing noise effects in MSS and TM data is proposed.

Landsat Thematic Mapper studies of land cover spatial variability related to hydrology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wharton, S.; Ormsby, J.; Salomonson, V.; Mulligan, P.

1984-01-01

Past accomplishments involving remote sensing based land-cover analysis for hydrologic applications are reviewed. Ongoing research in exploiting the increased spatial, radiometric, and spectral capabilities afforded by the TM on Landsats 4 and 5 is considered. Specific studies to compare MSS and TM for urbanizing watersheds, wetlands, and floodplain mapping situations show that only a modest improvement in classification accuracy is achieved via statistical per pixel multispectral classifiers. The limitations of current approaches to multispectral classification are illustrated. The objectives, background, and progress in the development of an alternative analysis approach for defining inputs to urban hydrologic models using TM are discussed.

Development of an information retrieval tool for biomedical patents.

PubMed

Alves, Tiago; Rodrigues, Rúben; Costa, Hugo; Rocha, Miguel

2018-06-01

The volume of biomedical literature has been increasing in the last years. Patent documents have also followed this trend, being important sources of biomedical knowledge, technical details and curated data, which are put together along the granting process. The field of Biomedical text mining (BioTM) has been creating solutions for the problems posed by the unstructured nature of natural language, which makes the search of information a challenging task. Several BioTM techniques can be applied to patents. From those, Information Retrieval (IR) includes processes where relevant data are obtained from collections of documents. In this work, the main goal was to build a patent pipeline addressing IR tasks over patent repositories to make these documents amenable to BioTM tasks. The pipeline was developed within @Note2, an open-source computational framework for BioTM, adding a number of modules to the core libraries, including patent metadata and full text retrieval, PDF to text conversion and optical character recognition. Also, user interfaces were developed for the main operations materialized in a new @Note2 plug-in. The integration of these tools in @Note2 opens opportunities to run BioTM tools over patent texts, including tasks from Information Extraction, such as Named Entity Recognition or Relation Extraction. We demonstrated the pipeline's main functions with a case study, using an available benchmark dataset from BioCreative challenges. Also, we show the use of the plug-in with a user query related to the production of vanillin. This work makes available all the relevant content from patents to the scientific community, decreasing drastically the time required for this task, and provides graphical interfaces to ease the use of these tools. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Terrestrial Environment (Climatic) Criteria Guidelines for use in Aerospace Vehicle Development. 2008 Revision

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, D. L. (Editor)

2008-01-01

This document provides guidelines for the terrestrial environment that are specifically applicable in the development of design requirements/specifications for NASA aerospace vehicles, payloads, and associated ground support equipment. The primary geographic areas encompassed are the John F. Kennedy Space Center, FL; Vandenberg AFB, CA; Edwards AFB, CA; Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, LA; John C. Stennis Space Center, MS; Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX; George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL; and the White Sands Missile Range, NM. This document presents the latest available information on the terrestrial environment applicable to the design and operations of aerospace vehicles and supersedes information presented in NASA-HDBK-1001 and TM X-64589, TM X-64757, TM-78118, TM-82473, and TM-4511. Information is included on winds, atmospheric thermodynamic models, radiation, humidity, precipitation, severe weather, sea state, lightning, atmospheric chemistry, seismic criteria, and a model to predict atmospheric dispersion of aerospace engine exhaust cloud rise and growth. In addition, a section has been included to provide information on the general distribution of natural environmental extremes in the conterminous United States, and world-wide, that may be needed to specify design criteria in the transportation of space vehicle subsystems and components. A section on atmospheric attenuation has been added since measurements by sensors on certain Earth orbital experiment missions are influenced by the Earth s atmosphere. There is also a section on mission analysis, prelaunch monitoring, and flight evaluation as related to the terrestrial environment inputs. The information in these guidelines is recommended for use in the development of aerospace vehicle and related equipment design and associated operational criteria, unless otherwise stated in contract work specifications. The terrestrial environmental data in these guidelines are primarily limited to information below 90 km altitude.

Parents' Perceptions of Their Children's Social Behavior: The Social Validity of Social Stories[TM] and Comic Strip Conversations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hutchins, Tiffany L.; Prelock, Patricia A.

2013-01-01

This article describes a family-centered collaborative approach to the development and socially valid assessment of Social Stories[TM] and comic strip conversations (CSCs) for supporting the social behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Seventeen children with ASD (ages 4-12 years) participated in either an immediate or a…

Learning from the Market: Integrating "The Stock Market Game" (tm) across the Curriculum. EconomicsAmerica.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Council on Economic Education, New York, NY.

This book is designed to help teachers connect "The Stock Market Game" (tm) and the school curriculum. Three key economic themes developed in the lessons include: (1) stock buyers engage in economizing behavior; (2) market economies encourage the production of wealth; and (3) market activity takes place in the context of a legal…

A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of DIR/Floortime[TM] Parent Training Intervention for Pre-School Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pajareya, Kingkaew; Nopmaneejumruslers, Kaewta

2011-01-01

This pilot study was designed to test the efficacy of adding home-based Developmental, Individual-Difference, Relationship-Based (DIR)/Floortime[TM] intervention to the routine care of preschool children with autistic spectrum disorder. Measures of functional emotional development and symptom severity were taken. It was found that after the…

Frequency Agile Tm,Ho:YLF Local Oscillator for a Scanning Doppler wind Lidar in Earth Orbit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Menzies, Robert T.; Hemmati, Hamid; Esproles, Carlos

1997-01-01

A compact cw Tm,Ho:YLF laser with single-mode tunability over +/-4 GHz has been developed into a modular unit containing an isolator and photomixer for offset tuning of the LO from a master oscillator which controls the frequency of a Doppler lidar transmitter. This and an alternative diode laser LO will be described.

Spectral transformation of ASTER and Landsat TM bands for lithological mapping of Soghan ophiolite complex, south Iran

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pournamdari, Mohsen; Hashim, Mazlan; Pour, Amin Beiranvand

2014-08-01

Spectral transformation methods, including correlation coefficient (CC) and Optimum Index Factor (OIF), band ratio (BR) and principal component analysis (PCA) were applied to ASTER and Landsat TM bands for lithological mapping of Soghan ophiolitic complex in south of Iran. The results indicated that the methods used evidently showed superior outputs for detecting lithological units in ophiolitic complexes. CC and OIF methods were used to establish enhanced Red-Green-Blue (RGB) color combination bands for discriminating lithological units. A specialized band ratio (4/1, 4/5, 4/7 in RGB) was developed using ASTER bands to differentiate lithological units in ophiolitic complexes. The band ratio effectively detected serpentinite dunite as host rock of chromite ore deposits from surrounding lithological units in the study area. Principal component images derived from first three bands of ASTER and Landsat TM produced well results for lithological mapping applications. ASTER bands contain improved spectral characteristics and higher spatial resolution for detecting serpentinite dunite in ophiolitic complexes. The developed approach used in this study offers great potential for lithological mapping using ASTER and Landsat TM bands, which contributes in economic geology for prospecting chromite ore deposits associated with ophiolitic complexes.

How I treat transfusional iron overload.

PubMed

Hoffbrand, A Victor; Taher, Ali; Cappellini, Maria Domenica

2012-11-01

Patients with β-thalassemia major (TM) and other refractory anemias requiring regular blood transfusions accumulate iron that damages the liver, endocrine system, and most importantly the heart. The prognosis in TM has improved remarkably over the past 10 years. This improvement has resulted from the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, especially T2*, to accurately measure cardiac and liver iron, and from the availability of 3 iron-chelating drugs. In this article we describe the use of MRI to determine which adult and pediatric patients need to begin iron chelation therapy and to monitor their progress. We summarize the properties of each of the 3 drugs, deferoxamine (DFO), deferiprone (DFP), and deferasirox (DFX), including their efficacy, patient acceptability, and side effects. We describe when to initiate or intensify therapy, switch to another drug, or use combined therapy. We also discuss the management of refractory anemias other than TM that may require multiple blood transfusions, including sickle cell anemia and myelodysplasia. The development of a potential fourth chelator FBS 0701 and the combined use of oral chelators may further improve the quality of life and survival in patients with TM and other transfusion-dependent patients.

Protocol for a multicentre randomiSed controlled TRial of IntraVEnous immunoglobulin versus standard therapy for the treatment of transverse myelitis in adults and children (STRIVE)

PubMed Central

Absoud, M; Gadian, J; Hellier, J; Brex, P A; Ciccarelli, O; Giovannoni, G; Kelly, J; McCrone, P; Murphy, C; Palace, J; Pickles, A; Pike, M; Robertson, N; Jacob, A; Lim, M

2015-01-01

Introduction Transverse myelitis (TM) is an immune-mediated disorder of the spinal cord which causes motor and sensory disturbance and limited recovery in 50% of patients. Standard treatment is steroids, and patients with more severe disease appear to respond to plasma exchange (PLEX). Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has also been used as an adjunct to steroids, but evidence is lacking. We propose the first randomised control trial in adults and children, to determine the benefit of additional treatment with IVIG. Methods and analysis 170 adults and children aged over 1 year with acute first episode TM or neuromyelitis optica (with myelitis) will be recruited over a 2.5-year period and followed up for 12 months. Participants randomised to the control arm will receive standard therapy of intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP). The intervention arm will receive the above standard therapy, plus additional IVIG. Primary outcome will be a 2-point improvement on the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment scale at 6 months postrandomisation by blinded assessors. Additional secondary and tertiary outcome measures will be collected: ASIA motor and sensory scales, Kurtzke expanded disability status scale, International Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Bladder/Bowel Data Set, Client Services Receipt Index, Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory, EQ-5D, SCI Pain and SCI Quality of Life Data Sets. Biological samples will be biobanked for future studies. After 6-months' follow-up of the first 52 recruited patients futility analysis will be carried out. Health economics analysis will be performed to calculate cost-effectiveness. After 6 months’ recruitment futility analysis will be performed. Ethics and dissemination Research Ethics Committee Approval was obtained: 14/SC/1329. Current protocol: v3.0 (15/01/2015). Study findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals. Trial registration numbers This study is registered with EudraCT (REF: 2014-002335-34), Clinicaltrials.gov (REF: NCT02398994) and ISRCTN (REF: 12127581). PMID:26009577

Comparison of training methods to improve walking in persons with chronic spinal cord injury: a randomized clinical trial

PubMed Central

Alexeeva, Natalia; Sames, Carol; Jacobs, Patrick L.; Hobday, Lori; DiStasio, Marcello M.; Mitchell, Sarah A.; Calancie, Blair

2011-01-01

Objective To compare two forms of device-specific training – body-weight-supported (BWS) ambulation on a fixed track (TRK) and BWS ambulation on a treadmill (TM) – to comprehensive physical therapy (PT) for improving walking speed in persons with chronic, motor-incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods Thirty-five adult subjects with a history of chronic SCI (>1 year; AIS ‘C’ or ‘D’) participated in a 13-week (1 hour/day; 3 days per week) training program. Subjects were randomized into one of the three training groups. Subjects in the two BWS groups trained without the benefit of additional input from a physical therapist or gait expert. For each training session, performance values and heart rate were monitored. Pre- and post-training maximal 10-m walking speed, balance, muscle strength, fitness, and quality of life were assessed in each subject. Results All three training groups showed significant improvement in maximal walking speed, muscle strength, and psychological well-being. A significant improvement in balance was seen for PT and TRK groups but not for subjects in the TM group. In all groups, post-training measures of fitness, functional independence, and perceived health and vitality were unchanged. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that persons with chronic, motor-incomplete SCI can improve walking ability and psychological well-being following a concentrated period of ambulation therapy, regardless of training method. Improvement in walking speed was associated with improved balance and muscle strength. In spite of the fact that we withheld any formal input of a physical therapist or gait expert from subjects in the device-specific training groups, these subjects did just as well as subjects receiving comprehensive PT for improving walking speed and strength. It is likely that further modest benefits would accrue to those subjects receiving a combination of device-specific training with input from a physical therapist or gait expert to guide that training. PMID:21903010

Impact of the Holocaust on the Rehabilitation Outcome of Older Patients Sustaining a Hip Fracture.

PubMed

Mizrahi, Eliyahu H; Lubart, Emilia; Heymann, Anthony; Leibovitz, Arthur

2017-04-01

Holocaust survivors report a much higher prevalence of osteoporosis and fracture in the hip joint compared to those who were not Holocaust survivors. To evaluate whether being a Holocaust survivor could affect the functional outcome of hip fracture in patients 64 years of age and older undergoing rehabilitation. A retrospective cohort study compromising 140 consecutive hip fracture patients was conducted in a geriatric and rehabilitation department of a university-affiliated hospital. Being a Holocaust survivor was based on registry data. Functional outcome was assessed by the Functional Independence Measure (FIM)TM at admission and discharge from the rehabilitation ward. Data were analyzed by t-test, chi-square test, and linear regression analysis. Total and motor FIM scores at admission (P = 0.004 and P = 0.006, respectively) and total and motor FIM gain scores at discharge (P = 0.008 and P = 0.004 respectively) were significantly higher in non-Holocaust survivors compared with Holocaust survivors. A linear regression analysis showed that being a Holocaust survivor was predictive of lower total FIM scores at discharge (β = -0.17, P = 0.004). Hip fracture in Holocaust survivors showed lower total, motor FIM and gain scores at discharge compared to non-Holocaust survivor patients. These results suggest that being a Holocaust survivor could adversely affect the rehabilitation outcome following fracture of the hip and internal fixation.

Validation of an enzyme-immunoassay for the non-invasive monitoring of faecal testosterone metabolites in male cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus).

PubMed

Pribbenow, Susanne; Wachter, Bettina; Ludwig, Carsten; Weigold, Annika; Dehnhard, Martin

2016-03-01

In mammals, the sex hormone testosterone is the major endocrine variable to objectify testicular activity and thus reproductive function in males. Testosterone is involved in the development and function of male reproductive physiology and sex-related behaviour. The development of a reliable androgen enzyme-immunoassay (EIA) to monitor faecal testosterone metabolites (fTM) is a powerful tool to non-invasively assess the gonadal status of males. We validated an epiandrosterone EIA for male cheetahs by performing a testosterone radiometabolism study followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses and excluding possible cross-reactivities with androgenic metabolites not derived from testosterone metabolism. The physiological and biological relevance of the epiandrosterone EIA was validated by demonstrating (1) a significant increase in fTM concentrations within one day in response to a testosterone injection, (2) a significant increase in fTM concentrations within one day in response to a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) injection, which failed following a placebo injection, and (3) significant differences in fTM concentrations between adult male and adult female cheetahs and between adult and juvenile male cheetahs of a free-ranging population. Finally, we demonstrated stability of fTM concentrations measured in faecal samples exposed to ambient temperatures up to 72h. Our results clearly demonstrate that the epiandrosterone EIA is a reliable non-invasive method to monitor testicular activity in male cheetahs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interpreting forest biome productivity and cover utilizing nested scales of image resolution and biogeographical analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Iverson, Louis R.; Cook, Elizabeth A.; Graham, Robin L.; Olson, Jerry S.; Frank, Thomas D.; Ying, KE

1988-01-01

The objective was to relate spectral imagery of varying resolution with ground-based data on forest productivity and cover, and to create models to predict regional estimates of forest productivity and cover with a quantifiable degree of accuracy. A three stage approach was outlined. In the first stage, a model was developed relating forest cover or productivity to TM surface reflectance values (TM/FOREST models). The TM/FOREST models were more accurate when biogeographic information regarding the landscape was either used to stratigy the landscape into more homogeneous units or incorporated directly into the TM/FOREST model. In the second stage, AVHRR/FOREST models that predicted forest cover and productivity on the basis of AVHRR band values were developed. The AVHRR/FOREST models had statistical properties similar to or better than those of the TM/FOREST models. In the third stage, the regional predictions were compared with the independent U.S. Forest Service (USFS) data. To do this regional forest cover and forest productivity maps were created using AVHRR scenes and the AVHRR/FOREST models. From the maps the county values of forest productivity and cover were calculated. It is apparent that the landscape has a strong influence on the success of the approach. An approach of using nested scales of imagery in conjunction with ground-based data can be successful in generating regional estimates of variables that are functionally related to some variable a sensor can detect.

Spectral characteristics and the extent of paleosols of the Palouse formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frazier, B. E.; Busacca, A.; Cheng, Y.; Wherry, D.; Hart, J.; Gill, S.

1986-01-01

Spectral relationships were investigated for several bare soil fields which were in summer fallow rotation on the date of the imagery. Printouts of each band were examined and compared to aerial photography. Bands with dissimilar reflectance patterns for known areas were then combined using ratio techniques which were proven useful in other studies (Williams, 1983). Selected ratios were Thematic Mapper (TM) 1/TM4, TM3/TM4, and TM5/TM4. Cluster analyses and Baysian and Fastclass classifier images were produced using the three ratio images. Plots of cluster analysis outputs revealed distinct groupings of reflectance data representing green crops, ripened crops, soil and green plants, and bare soil. Bare soil was represented by a line of clusters on plots of the ratios TM5/TM4 and TM3/TM4. The soil line was investigated further to determine factors involved in the distributin of clusters alone the line. The clusters representing the bare soil line were also studied by plotting the Tm5/TM4, TM1/TM4 dimension. A total of 76 soil samples were gathered and analyzed for organic carbon.

The Applicability of Proposed Object-Oriented Metrics to Developer Feedback in Time to Impact Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Neal, Ralph D.

1996-01-01

This paper looks closely at each of the software metrics generated by the McCabe object-Oriented Tool(TM) and its ability to convey timely information to developers. The metrics are examined for meaningfulness in terms of the scale assignable to the metric by the rules of measurement theory and the software dimension being measured. Recommendations are made as to the proper use of each metric and its ability to influence development at an early stage. The metrics of the McCabe Object-Oriented Tool(TM) set were selected because of the tool's use in a couple of NASA IV&V projects.

An accelerometry-based comparison of 2 robotic assistive devices for treadmill training of gait.

PubMed

Regnaux, Jean-Philippe; Saremi, Kaveh; Marehbian, Jon; Bussel, Bernard; Dobkin, Bruce H

2008-01-01

Two commercial robotic devices, the Gait Trainer (GT) and the Lokomat (LOKO), assist task-oriented practice of walking. The gait patterns induced by these motor-driven devices have not been characterized and compared. A healthy participant chose the most comfortable gait pattern on each device and for treadmill (TM) walking at 1, 2 (maximum for the GT), and 3 km/h and over ground at similar speeds. A system of accelerometers on the thighs and feet allowed the calculation of spatiotemporal features and accelerations during the gait cycle. At the 1 and 2 km/h speed settings, single-limb stance times were prolonged on the devices compared with overground walking. Differences on the LOKO were decreased by adjusting the hip and knee angles and step length. At the 3 km/h setting, the LOKO approximated the participant's overground parameters. Irregular accelerations and decelerations from toe-off to heel contact were induced by the devices, especially at slower speeds. The LOKO and GT impose mechanical constraints that may alter leg accelerations-decelerations during stance and swing phases, as well as stance duration, especially at their slower speed settings, that are not found during TM and overground walking. The potential impact of these perturbations on training to improve gait needs further study.

Quantum percolation phase transition and magnetoelectric dipole glass in hexagonal ferrites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rowley, S. E.; Vojta, T.; Jones, A. T.; Guo, W.; Oliveira, J.; Morrison, F. D.; Lindfield, N.; Baggio Saitovitch, E.; Watts, B. E.; Scott, J. F.

2017-07-01

Hexagonal ferrites not only have enormous commercial impact (£2 billion/year in sales) due to applications that include ultrahigh-density memories, credit-card stripes, magnetic bar codes, small motors, and low-loss microwave devices, they also have fascinating magnetic and ferroelectric quantum properties at low temperatures. Here we report the results of tuning the magnetic ordering temperature in PbF e12 -xG axO19 to zero by chemical substitution x . The phase transition boundary is found to vary as TN˜(1-x /xc ) 2 /3 with xc very close to the calculated spin percolation threshold, which we determine by Monte Carlo simulations, indicating that the zero-temperature phase transition is geometrically driven. We find that this produces a form of compositionally tuned, insulating, ferrimagnetic quantum criticality. Close to the zero-temperature phase transition, we observe the emergence of an electric dipole glass induced by magnetoelectric coupling. The strong frequency behavior of the glass freezing temperature Tm has a Vogel-Fulcher dependence with Tm finite, or suppressed below zero in the zero-frequency limit, depending on composition x . These quantum-mechanical properties, along with the multiplicity of low-lying modes near the zero-temperature phase transition, are likely to greatly extend applications of hexaferrites into the realm of quantum and cryogenic technologies.

Terrestrial Environment (Climatic) Criteria Guidelines for Use in Aerospace Vehicle Development, 1993 Revision

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, D. L. (Editor)

1993-01-01

Guidelines on terrestrial environment data specifically applicable in the development of design requirements/specifications for NASA aerospace vehicles and associated equipment development are provided. The primary geographic areas encompassed are the John F. Kennedy Space Center, FL; Vandenberg AFB, CA; Edwards AFB, CA; Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, LA; John C. Stennis Space Center, MS; Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX; and the White Sands Missile Range, NM. In addition, a section was included to provide information on the general distribution of natural environmental extremes in the conterminous United States that may be needed to specify design criteria in the transportation of space vehicle subsystems and components. A summary of climatic extremes for worldwide operational needs is also included. Although not considered as a specific vehicle design criterion, a section on atmospheric attenuation was added since sensors on certain Earth orbital experiment missions are influenced by the Earth's atmosphere. The latest available information on probable climatic extremes is presented and supersedes information presented in TM X-64589, TM X-64757, TM X-78118, and TM-82473. Information is included on atmospheric chemistry, seismic criteria, and on a mathematical model to predict atmospheric dispersion of aerospace engine exhaust cloud rise and growth. There is also a section on atmospheric cloud phenomena. The information is recommended for use in the development of aerospace vehicle and associated equipment design and operational criteria, unless otherwise stated in contract work specifications. The environmental data are primarily limited to information below 90 km.

Terrestrial environment (climatic) criteria guidelines for use in aerospace vehicle development, 1993 revision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, D. L.

1993-08-01

Guidelines on terrestrial environment data specifically applicable in the development of design requirements/specifications for NASA aerospace vehicles and associated equipment development are provided. The primary geographic areas encompassed are the John F. Kennedy Space Center, FL; Vandenberg AFB, CA; Edwards AFB, CA; Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, LA; John C. Stennis Space Center, MS; Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX; and the White Sands Missile Range, NM. In addition, a section was included to provide information on the general distribution of natural environmental extremes in the conterminous United States that may be needed to specify design criteria in the transportation of space vehicle subsystems and components. A summary of climatic extremes for worldwide operational needs is also included. Although not considered as a specific vehicle design criterion, a section on atmospheric attenuation was added since sensors on certain Earth orbital experiment missions are influenced by the Earth's atmosphere. The latest available information on probable climatic extremes is presented and supersedes information presented in TM X-64589, TM X-64757, TM X-78118, and TM-82473. Information is included on atmospheric chemistry, seismic criteria, and on a mathematical model to predict atmospheric dispersion of aerospace engine exhaust cloud rise and growth. There is also a section on atmospheric cloud phenomena. The information is recommended for use in the development of aerospace vehicle and associated equipment design and operational criteria, unless otherwise stated in contract work specifications. The environmental data are primarily limited to information below 90 km.

Section 9.1 new dosimeters. New dosimetry systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McLaughlin, William L.

During the past two years there have been significant advances in several forms of radiation measurement systems for radiation processing, covering dose ranges of 1-10 6 Gy. Calorimeters as reference standards for both ionizing photon and electron fields have become well-established. In addition to the older ceric-cerous dosimetry solution analyzed potentiometrically, new liquid-phase dosimeters include those analyzed by spectrophotometry, e.g., improved forms of acidic aqueous solutions of K-Ag dichromate and organic radiochromic dye solutions. It has recently been demonstrated that by using certain refined sugars, e.g., D-(-) ribose, optical rotation response in aqueous solutions can be enhanced for dosimetry at doses > 10 4 Gy. There has been expanded development, use, and formulation (rods, tablets, and thin films) of the amino acid, alanine, as a solid-phase dosimeter analyzed by either ESR spectrometry or by glutamine or alanine spectrophotometry of complexes with ferric ion in the presence of a sulfonphthalein dye (xylenol orange). New commercial types of radiochromic plastic dosimeters, e.g., GafChromic TM, Riso B3 TM, GAMMACHROME YR TM, Radix TM, and Gammex TM, have been introduced and applied in practice. Improvements and broader use of optical waveguide dosimeters, e.g., Opti-Chromic TM, have also been reported, especially in food irradiation applications. Several novel dyed plastic dosimeters are available in large quantities and they lose color due to irradiation. An example is a dyed cellulosic thin film (ATC type DY-42 TM) which can be measured spectrophotometrically or densitometrically up to doses as high as 10 6 Gy.

Trends and challenges toward integration of traditional medicine in formal health-care system: Historical perspectives and appraisal of education curricula in Sub-Sahara Africa

PubMed Central

Innocent, Ester

2016-01-01

The population residing Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) continues to suffer from communicable health problems such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and various neglected tropical as well as non-communicable diseases. The disease burden is aggravated by shortage of medical personnel and medical supplies such as medical devices and minimal access to essential medicine. For long time, human beings through observation and practical experiences learned to use different plant species that led to the emergence of traditional medicine (TM) systems. The ancient Pharaonic Egyptian TM system is one of the oldest documented forms of TM practice in Africa and the pioneer of world’s medical science. However, the medical practices diffused very fast to other continents being accelerated by advancement of technologies while leaving Africa lagging behind in the integration of the practice in formal health-care system. Challenging issues that drag back integration is the development of education curricula for training TM experts as the way of disseminating the traditional medical knowledge and practices imbedded in African culture. The few African countries such as Ghana managed to integrate TM products in the National Essential Medicine List while South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania have TM products being sold over the counters due to the availability of education training programs facilitated by research. This paper analyses the contribution of TM practice and products in modern medicine and gives recommendations that Africa should take in the integration process to safeguard the SSA population from disease burdens. PMID:27366358

TransMilenio, a Scalable Bus Rapid Transit System for Promoting Physical Activity.

PubMed

Lemoine, Pablo D; Sarmiento, Olga L; Pinzón, Jose David; Meisel, Jose D; Montes, Felipe; Hidalgo, Dario; Pratt, Michael; Zambrano, Juan Manuel; Cordovez, Juan Manuel; Zarama, Roberto

2016-04-01

Transport systems can play an important role in increasing physical activity (PA). Bogotá has been recognized for its bus rapid transit (BRT) system, TransMilenio (TM). To date, BRTs have been implemented in over 160 cities worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the association between PA and the use of TM among adults in Bogotá. The study consists of a cross-sectional study conducted from 2010 to 2011 with 1000 adults. PA was measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. In a subsample of 250 adults, PA was objectively measured using ActiGraph accelerometers. Analyses were conducted using multilevel logistic regression models. The use of TM was associated with meeting moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). TM users were more likely to complete an average of >22 min a day of MVPA (odds ratio [OR] = 3.1, confidence interval [CI] = 95 % 1.4-7.1) and to walk for transportation for ≥150 min per week (OR = 1.5; CI = 95 % 1.1-2.0). The use of TM was associated with 12 or more minutes of MVPA (95 % CI 4.5-19.4, p < 0.0001). Associations between meeting PA recommendations and use of TM did not differ by socioeconomic status (p value = 0.106) or sex (p value = 0.288). The use of TM is a promising strategy for enhancing public health efforts to reduce physical inactivity through walking for transport. Given the expansion of BRTs, these results could inform the development of transport PA programs in low- to high-income countries.

Trends and challenges toward integration of traditional medicine in formal health-care system: Historical perspectives and appraisal of education curricula in Sub-Sahara Africa.

PubMed

Innocent, Ester

2016-01-01

The population residing Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) continues to suffer from communicable health problems such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and various neglected tropical as well as non-communicable diseases. The disease burden is aggravated by shortage of medical personnel and medical supplies such as medical devices and minimal access to essential medicine. For long time, human beings through observation and practical experiences learned to use different plant species that led to the emergence of traditional medicine (TM) systems. The ancient Pharaonic Egyptian TM system is one of the oldest documented forms of TM practice in Africa and the pioneer of world's medical science. However, the medical practices diffused very fast to other continents being accelerated by advancement of technologies while leaving Africa lagging behind in the integration of the practice in formal health-care system. Challenging issues that drag back integration is the development of education curricula for training TM experts as the way of disseminating the traditional medical knowledge and practices imbedded in African culture. The few African countries such as Ghana managed to integrate TM products in the National Essential Medicine List while South Africa, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania have TM products being sold over the counters due to the availability of education training programs facilitated by research. This paper analyses the contribution of TM practice and products in modern medicine and gives recommendations that Africa should take in the integration process to safeguard the SSA population from disease burdens.

An ELISA using recombinant TmHSP70 for the diagnosis of Taenia multiceps infections in goats.

PubMed

Wang, Yu; Nie, Huaming; Gu, Xiaobin; Wang, Tao; Huang, Xing; Chen, Lin; Lai, Weimin; Peng, Xuerong; Yang, Guangyou

2015-09-15

Infections with the tapeworm Taenia multiceps are problematic for ruminant farming worldwide. Here we develop a novel and rapid method for serodiagnosis of T. multiceps infections via an indirect ELISA (iELISA) that uses a heat shock protein, namely, TmHSP70. We extracted the total RNA of T. multiceps from the protoscoleces of cysts dissected from the brains of infected goats. Subsequently, we successfully amplified, cloned and expressed the TmHSP70 gene in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). Western blot analysis showed that the recombinant protein (∼34 kDa molecular weight) was recognized by the coenurosis positive serum. Given these initial, robust immunogenic properties for recombinant TmHSP protein, we assessed the ELISA-based serodiagnostic potential of this gene. The indirect ELISA was then optimized to 2.70 μg/well dilution for antigen and 1:80 dilution for serum,while the cut-off value is 0.446. We report that our novel TmHSP ELISA detected T. multiceps sera with a sensitivity of 1:10240 and a specificity of 83.3% (5/6). In a preliminary application, this assay correctly confirmed T. multiceps infection in 30 infected goats, consistent with the clinical examination. This study has revealed that our novel iELISA, which uses the rTmHSP protein, provides a rapid test for diagnosing coenurosis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Therapeutic misconception: hope, trust and misconception in paediatric research.

PubMed

Woods, Simon; Hagger, Lynn E; McCormack, Pauline

2014-03-01

Although the therapeutic misconception (TM) has been well described over a period of approximately 20 years, there has been disagreement about its implications for informed consent to research. In this paper we review some of the history and debate over the ethical implications of TM but also bring a new perspective to those debates. Drawing upon our experience of working in the context of translational research for rare childhood diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, we consider the ethical and legal implications of the TM for parental consent to research. In this situation, it is potentially the parent who is vulnerable to TM. In our analysis we not only consider the context of informed consent for research but also the wider environment in which the value of research is promoted, more broadly through the media but also more specifically through the communication strategies of patient organizations. All dissemination about developments in research for health runs the risk of portraying an overly optimistic view of the promise of biotechnological solutions and has the potential to encourage a 'collective' TM. In this paper we consider the challenge that TM presents to parents as well as explore the ethical and legal responsibilities of researchers to ensure an appropriately informed consent: compatible with a hopeful disposition of parents who consent for the their children whilst avoiding a blind and misleading optimism.

Tropomyosin 4 defines novel filaments in skeletal muscle associated with muscle remodelling/regeneration in normal and diseased muscle.

PubMed

Vlahovich, Nicole; Schevzov, Galina; Nair-Shaliker, Visalini; Ilkovski, Biljana; Artap, Stanley T; Joya, Josephine E; Kee, Anthony J; North, Kathryn N; Gunning, Peter W; Hardeman, Edna C

2008-01-01

The organisation of structural proteins in muscle into highly ordered sarcomeres occurs during development, regeneration and focal repair of skeletal muscle fibers. The involvement of cytoskeletal proteins in this process has been documented, with nonmuscle gamma-actin found to play a role in sarcomere assembly during muscle differentiation and also shown to be up-regulated in dystrophic muscles which undergo regeneration and repair [Lloyd et al.,2004; Hanft et al.,2006]. Here, we show that a cytoskeletal tropomyosin (Tm), Tm4, defines actin filaments in two novel compartments in muscle fibers: a Z-line associated cytoskeleton (Z-LAC), similar to a structure we have reported previously [Kee et al.,2004], and longitudinal filaments that are orientated parallel to the sarcomeric apparatus, present during myofiber growth and repair/regeneration. Tm4 is upregulated in paradigms of muscle repair including induced regeneration and focal repair and in muscle diseases with repair/regeneration features, muscular dystrophy and nemaline myopathy. Longitudinal Tm4-defined filaments also are present in diseased muscle. Transition of the Tm4-defined filaments from a longitudinal to a Z-LAC orientation is observed during the course of muscle regeneration. This Tm4-defined cytoskeleton is a marker of growth and repair/regeneration in response to injury, disease state and stress in skeletal muscle.

Remote sensing research for agricultural applications. [San Joaquin County, California and Snake River Plain and Twin Falls area, Idaho

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colwell, R. N. (Principal Investigator); Wall, S. L.; Beck, L. H.; Degloria, S. D.; Ritter, P. R.; Thomas, R. W.; Travlos, A. J.; Fakhoury, E.

1984-01-01

Materials and methods used to characterize selected soil properties and agricultural crops in San Joaquin County, California are described. Results show that: (1) the location and widths of TM bands are suitable for detecting differences in selected soil properties; (2) the number of TM spectral bands allows the quantification of soil spectral curve form and magnitude; and (3) the spatial and geometric quality of TM data allows for the discrimination and quantification of within field variability of soil properties. The design of the LANDSAT based multiple crop acreage estimation experiment for the Idaho Department of Water Resources is described including the use of U.C. Berkeley's Survey Modeling Planning Model. Progress made on Peditor software development on MIDAS, and cooperative computing using local and remote systems is reported as well as development of MIDAS microcomputer systems.

Growth and optical characteristics of Tm-doped AlGaN layer grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takatsu, J.; Fuji, R.; Tatebayashi, J.; Timmerman, D.; Lesage, A.; Gregorkiewicz, T.; Fujiwara, Y.

2018-04-01

We report on the growth and optical properties of Tm-doped AlGaN layers by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE). The morphological and optical properties of Tm-doped GaN (GaN:Tm) and Tm-doped AlGaN (AlGaN:Tm) were investigated by Nomarski differential interference contrast microscopy and photoluminescence (PL) characterization. Nomarski images reveal an increase of surface roughness upon doping Tm into both GaN and AlGaN layers. The PL characterization of GaN:Tm shows emission in the near-infrared range originating from intra-4f shell transitions of Tm3+ ions. In contrast, AlGaN:Tm also exhibits blue light emission from Tm3+ ions. In that case, the wider band gap of the AlGaN host allows energy transfer to higher states of the Tm3+ ions. With time-resolved PL measurements, we could distinguish three types of luminescent sites of Tm3+ in the AlGaN:Tm layer, having different decay times. Our results confirm that Tm ions can be doped into GaN and AlGaN by OMVPE, and show potential for the fabrication of novel high-color-purity blue light emitting diodes.

Preliminary evaluation of the landsat-4 thematic mapper data for mineral exploration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Podwysocki, M.H.; Power, M.S.; Jones, O.D.

1985-01-01

Landsat-4 Thematic Mapper (TM) data recorded over an arid terrain were analyzed to determine the applicability of using of TM data for identifying and mapping hydrothermally altered, potentially mineralized rocks. Clays, micas, and other minerals bearing the OH anion in specific crystal lattice positions have absorption bands in the 2.2-??m region (TM channel 7, TM7) and commonly lack features in the 1.6-??m region (TM5). Channel ratios TM5/TM7, TM5/TM4, and TM3/TM1 were combined into a color-ratio-composite (CRC) image and used to distinguish hydrothermally altered rocks, unaltered rocks, and vegetation. These distinctions are made possible by using the TM5 and TM7, channels which are not available in the Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS). Digital masking was used to eliminate ambiguities due to water and shadows. However, some ambiguities in identification resulted between altered volcanic rocks and unaltered sedimentary deposits that contained clays, carbonates, and gypsum, and between altered volcanic rocks and volcanic tuffs diagenetically altered to zeolites. However, compared to MSS data, TM data should greatly improve the ability to map hydrothermally altered rocks in arid terrains. ?? 1985.

Spliceosome Protein (SRp) Regulation of Glucocorticoid Receptor Isoforms and Glucocorticoid Response in Human Trabecular Meshwork Cells

PubMed Central

Jain, Ankur; Wordinger, Robert J.; Yorio, Thomas; Clark, Abbot F.

2012-01-01

Purpose. Glaucoma is a leading cause of visual impairment and blindness, with elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) as a major causative risk factor. Glucocorticoid (GC) therapy causes morphologic and biochemical changes in the trabecular meshwork (TM), an ocular tissue involved in regulating IOP, which can lead to the development of glaucoma in susceptible individuals (steroid responders). Steroid responders comprise 40% of the general population and are at higher risk of developing glaucoma. In addition, a majority of glaucoma patients are steroid responders. Differential distribution of various isoforms of GC receptor (GR) may be responsible for this heterogeneity in the steroid response. The alternatively spliced GRβ isoform acts as dominant negative regulator of classical GRα transcriptional activity. mRNA splicing is mediated by spliceosomes, which include serine-arginine rich proteins (SRps). The purpose of this study was to determine whether specific SRps regulate levels of these isoforms and thereby GC response in TM cells. Methods. Quantitative RT-PCR, Western blot analysis, and immunocytochemistry were used to determine the differential expression of different SRps (SRp20, 30c, and 40) in human normal and glaucomatous TM cell strains. Bioinformatics was used to find putative binding sites for SRp20 and SRp40 on exon 9 of the GR gene. A peptide modulator of splicing (bombesin) and SRp expression vectors were used to modulate SRp levels and determine their effects on GRα/GRβ ratios as well as dexamethasone (DEX) responsiveness via GRE- luciferase reporter activity, fibronectin, and myocilin induction in TM cells. Results. SRp20, SRp30c, and SRp40 regulate GR splicing and the GC response in TM cells. Modulation of SRp levels altered the GRβ/α ratio that correlated with DEX responsiveness. Bombesin decreased SRp20; increased SRp30c, SRp40 levels, and GRβ/α ratio, and suppressed DEX response in TM cells. Conclusions. Relative levels of SRp20, SRp30c, and SRp40 in TM cells control differential expression of the two alternatively spliced isoforms of the GR and thereby regulate GC responsiveness. Different levels and/or activities of these SRps may account for differential GC sensitivity among the normal and glaucoma populations. PMID:22205602

The predicted secretome and transmembranome of the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae.

PubMed

Schicht, Sabine; Qi, Weihong; Poveda, Lucy; Strube, Christina

2013-09-11

The worldwide distributed hematophagous poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae (De Geer, 1778) is one of the most important pests of poultry. Even though 35 acaricide compounds are available, control of D. gallinae remains difficult due to acaricide resistances as well as food safety regulations. The current study was carried out to identify putative excretory/secretory (pES) proteins of D. gallinae since these proteins play an important role in the host-parasite interaction and therefore represent potential targets for the development of novel intervention strategies. Additionally, putative transmembrane proteins (pTM) of D. gallinae were analyzed as representatives of this protein group also serve as promising targets for new control strategies. D. gallinae pES and pTM protein prediction was based on putative protein sequences of whole transcriptome data which was parsed to different bioinformatical servers (SignalP, SecretomeP, TMHMM and TargetP). Subsequently, pES and pTM protein sequences were functionally annotated by different computational tools. Computational analysis of the D. gallinae proteins identified 3,091 pES (5.6%) and 7,361 pTM proteins (13.4%). A significant proportion of pES proteins are considered to be involved in blood feeding and digestion such as salivary proteins, proteases, lipases and carbohydrases. The cysteine proteases cathepsin D and L as well as legumain, enzymes that cleave hemoglobin during blood digestion of the near related ticks, represented 6 of the top-30 BLASTP matches of the poultry red mite's secretome. Identified pTM proteins may be involved in many important biological processes including cell signaling, transport of membrane-impermeable molecules and cell recognition. Ninjurin-like proteins, whose functions in mites are still unknown, represent the most frequently occurring pTM. The current study is the first providing a mite's secretome as well as transmembranome and provides valuable insights into D. gallinae pES and pTM proteins operating in different metabolic pathways. Identifying a variety of molecules putatively involved in blood feeding may significantly contribute to the development of new therapeutic targets or vaccines against this poultry pest.

The predicted secretome and transmembranome of the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The worldwide distributed hematophagous poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae (De Geer, 1778) is one of the most important pests of poultry. Even though 35 acaricide compounds are available, control of D. gallinae remains difficult due to acaricide resistances as well as food safety regulations. The current study was carried out to identify putative excretory/secretory (pES) proteins of D. gallinae since these proteins play an important role in the host-parasite interaction and therefore represent potential targets for the development of novel intervention strategies. Additionally, putative transmembrane proteins (pTM) of D. gallinae were analyzed as representatives of this protein group also serve as promising targets for new control strategies. Methods D. gallinae pES and pTM protein prediction was based on putative protein sequences of whole transcriptome data which was parsed to different bioinformatical servers (SignalP, SecretomeP, TMHMM and TargetP). Subsequently, pES and pTM protein sequences were functionally annotated by different computational tools. Results Computational analysis of the D. gallinae proteins identified 3,091 pES (5.6%) and 7,361 pTM proteins (13.4%). A significant proportion of pES proteins are considered to be involved in blood feeding and digestion such as salivary proteins, proteases, lipases and carbohydrases. The cysteine proteases cathepsin D and L as well as legumain, enzymes that cleave hemoglobin during blood digestion of the near related ticks, represented 6 of the top-30 BLASTP matches of the poultry red mite’s secretome. Identified pTM proteins may be involved in many important biological processes including cell signaling, transport of membrane-impermeable molecules and cell recognition. Ninjurin-like proteins, whose functions in mites are still unknown, represent the most frequently occurring pTM. Conclusion The current study is the first providing a mite’s secretome as well as transmembranome and provides valuable insights into D. gallinae pES and pTM proteins operating in different metabolic pathways. Identifying a variety of molecules putatively involved in blood feeding may significantly contribute to the development of new therapeutic targets or vaccines against this poultry pest. PMID:24020355

ImSyn: photonic image synthesis applied to synthetic aperture radar, microscopy, and ultrasound imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turpin, Terry M.; Lafuse, James L.

1993-02-01

ImSynTM is an image synthesis technology, developed and patented by Essex Corporation. ImSynTM can provide compact, low cost, and low power solutions to some of the most difficult image synthesis problems existing today. The inherent simplicity of ImSynTM enables the manufacture of low cost and reliable photonic systems for imaging applications ranging from airborne reconnaissance to doctor's office ultrasound. The initial application of ImSynTM technology has been to SAR processing; however, it has a wide range of applications such as: image correlation, image compression, acoustic imaging, x-ray tomographic (CAT, PET, SPECT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), microscopy, range- doppler mapping (extended TDOA/FDOA). This paper describes ImSynTM in terms of synthetic aperture microscopy and then shows how the technology can be extended to ultrasound and synthetic aperture radar. The synthetic aperture microscope (SAM) enables high resolution three dimensional microscopy with greater dynamic range than real aperture microscopes. SAM produces complex image data, enabling the use of coherent image processing techniques. Most importantly SAM produces the image data in a form that is easily manipulated by a digital image processing workstation.

Construction of pTM series plasmids for gene expression in Brucella species.

PubMed

Tian, Mingxing; Qu, Jing; Bao, Yanqing; Gao, Jianpeng; Liu, Jiameng; Wang, Shaohui; Sun, Yingjie; Ding, Chan; Yu, Shengqing

2016-04-01

Brucellosis, the most common widespread zoonotic disease, is caused by Brucella spp., which are facultative, intracellular, Gram-negative bacteria. With the development of molecular biology techniques, more and more virulence-associated factors have been identified in Brucella spp. A suitable plasmid system is an important tool to study virulence genes in Brucella. In this study, we constructed three constitutive replication plasmids (pTM1-Cm, pTM2-Amp, and pTM3-Km) using the replication origin (rep) region derived from the pBBR1-MCS vector. Also, a DNA fragment containing multiple cloning sites (MCSs) and a terminator sequence derived from the pCold vector were produced for complementation of the deleted genes. Besides pGH-6×His, a plasmid containing the groE promoter of Brucella spp. was constructed to express exogenous proteins in Brucella with high efficiency. Furthermore, we constructed the inducible expression plasmid pZT-6×His, containing the tetracycline-inducible promoter pzt1, which can induce expression by the addition of tetracycline in the Brucella culture medium. The constructed pTM series plasmids will play an important role in the functional investigation of Brucella spp. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stem Cells in the Trabecular Meshwork for Regulating Intraocular Pressure.

PubMed

Yun, Hongmin; Zhou, Yi; Wills, Andrew; Du, Yiqin

2016-06-01

Intraocular pressure (IOP) is still the main treatment target for glaucoma. Outflow resistance mainly exists at the trabecular meshwork (TM) outflow pathway, which is responsible for IOP regulation. Changes of TM cellularity and TM extracellular matrix turnover may play important roles in IOP regulation. In this article, we review basic anatomy and physiology of the outflow pathway and TM stem cell characteristics regarding the location, isolation, identification and function. TM stem cells are localized at the insert region of the TM and are label-retaining in vivo. They can be isolated by side-population cell sorting, cloning culture, or sphere culture. TM stem cells are multipotent with the ability to home to the TM region and differentiate into TM cells in vivo. Other stem cell types, such as adipose-derived stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells have been discovered for TM cell differentiation and TM regeneration. We also review glaucomatous animal models, which are suitable to study stem cell-based therapies for TM regeneration.

Stem Cells in the Trabecular Meshwork for Regulating Intraocular Pressure

PubMed Central

Yun, Hongmin; Zhou, Yi; Wills, Andrew

2016-01-01

Abstract Intraocular pressure (IOP) is still the main treatment target for glaucoma. Outflow resistance mainly exists at the trabecular meshwork (TM) outflow pathway, which is responsible for IOP regulation. Changes of TM cellularity and TM extracellular matrix turnover may play important roles in IOP regulation. In this article, we review basic anatomy and physiology of the outflow pathway and TM stem cell characteristics regarding the location, isolation, identification and function. TM stem cells are localized at the insert region of the TM and are label-retaining in vivo. They can be isolated by side-population cell sorting, cloning culture, or sphere culture. TM stem cells are multipotent with the ability to home to the TM region and differentiate into TM cells in vivo. Other stem cell types, such as adipose-derived stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells have been discovered for TM cell differentiation and TM regeneration. We also review glaucomatous animal models, which are suitable to study stem cell-based therapies for TM regeneration. PMID:27183473

Effect and mode of action of the Texel muscling QTL (TM-QTL) on carcass traits in purebred Texel lambs.

PubMed

Macfarlane, J M; Lambe, N R; Matika, O; Johnson, P L; Wolf, B T; Haresign, W; Bishop, S C; Bünger, L

2014-07-01

TM-QTL is a quantitative trait locus (QTL) on ovine chromosome 18 (OAR18) known to affect loin muscling in Texel sheep. Previous work suggested that its mode of inheritance is consistent with paternal polar overdominance, but this has yet to be formally demonstrated. This study used purebred Texel sheep segregating for TM-QTL to confirm its presence in the chromosomal region in which it was first reported and to determine its pattern of inheritance. To do so, this study used the first available data from a Texel flock, which included homozygote TM-QTL carriers (TM/TM; n=34) in addition to homozygote non-carriers (+/+; n=40 and, heterozygote TM-QTL-carriers inheriting TM-QTL from their sire (TM/+; n=53) or their dam (+/TM; n=17). Phenotypes included a wide range of loin muscling, carcass composition and tissue distribution traits. The presence of a QTL affecting ultrasound muscle depth on OAR18 was confirmed with a paternal QTL effect ranging from +0.54 to +2.82 mm UMD (s.e. 0.37 to 0.57 mm) across the sires segregating for TM-QTL. Loin muscle width, depth and area, loin muscle volume and dissected M. longissimus lumborum weight were significantly greater for TM/+ than +/+ lambs (+2.9% to +7.9%; P<0.05). There was significant evidence that the effect of TM-QTL on the various loin muscling traits measured was paternally polar overdominant (P<0.05). In contrast, there was an additive effect of TM-QTL on both live weight at 20 weeks and carcass weight; TM/TM animals were significantly (P<0.05) heavier than +/+ (+11.1% and +7.3%, respectively) and +/TM animals (+11.9% and +11.7%, respectively), with TM/+ intermediate. Weights of the leg, saddle and shoulder region (corrected for carcass weight) were similar in the genotypic groups. There was a tendency for lambs inheriting TM-QTL from their sire to be less fat with slightly more muscle than non-carriers. For example, carcass muscle weight measured by live animal CT-scanning was 2.8% higher in TM/TM than +/+ lambs (P<0.05), carcass muscle weight measured by carcass CT-scanning was 1.36% higher in TM/+ than +/+ lambs (P<0.05), and weight of fat trimmed from the carcass cuts was significantly lower for TM/+ than +/+ lambs (-11.2%; P<0.05). No negative effects of TM-QTL on carcass traits were found. Optimal commercial use of TM-QTL within the sheep industry would require some consideration, due to the apparently different mode of action of the two main effects of TM-QTL (on growth and muscling).

Cloning and characterization of an acyl-CoA-dependent diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1) gene from Tropaeolum majus, and a study of the functional motifs of the DGAT protein using site-directed mutagenesis to modify enzyme activity and oil content.

PubMed

Xu, Jingyu; Francis, Tammy; Mietkiewska, Elzbieta; Giblin, E Michael; Barton, Dennis L; Zhang, Yan; Zhang, Meng; Taylor, David C

2008-10-01

A full-length cDNA encoding a putative diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1, EC 2.3.1.20) was obtained from Tropaeolum majus (garden nasturtium). The 1557-bp open reading frame of this cDNA, designated TmDGAT1, encodes a protein of 518 amino acids showing high homology to other plant DGAT1s. The TmDGAT1 gene was expressed exclusively in developing seeds. Expression of recombinant TmDGAT1 in the yeast H1246MATalpha quadruple mutant (DGA1, LRO1, ARE1, ARE2) restored the capability of the mutant host to produce triacylglycerols (TAGs). The recombinant TmDGAT1 protein was capable of utilizing a range of (14)C-labelled fatty acyl-CoA donors and diacylglycerol acceptors, and could synthesize (14)C-trierucin. Collectively, these findings confirm that the TmDGAT1 gene encodes an acyl-CoA-dependent DGAT1. In plant transformation studies, seed-specific expression of TmDGAT1 was able to complement the low TAG/unusual fatty acid phenotype of the Arabidopsis AS11 (DGAT1) mutant. Over-expression of TmDGAT1 in wild-type Arabidopsis and high-erucic-acid rapeseed (HEAR) and canola Brassica napus resulted in an increase in oil content (3.5%-10% on a dry weight basis, or a net increase of 11%-30%). Site-directed mutagenesis was conducted on six putative functional regions/motifs of the TmDGAT1 enzyme. Mutagenesis of a serine residue in a putative SnRK1 target site resulted in a 38%-80% increase in DGAT1 activity, and over-expression of the mutated TmDGAT1 in Arabidopsis resulted in a 20%-50% increase in oil content on a per seed basis. Thus, alteration of this putative serine/threonine protein kinase site can be exploited to enhance DGAT1 activity, and expression of mutated DGAT1 can be used to enhance oil content.

Noninvasive assessment of muscle temperature during rest, exercise, and postexercise recovery in different environments.

PubMed

Flouris, Andreas D; Webb, Paul; Kenny, Glen P

2015-05-15

We introduced noninvasive and accurate techniques to estimate muscle temperature (Tm) of vastus lateralis (VL), triceps brachii (TB), and trapezius (TRAP) during rest, exercise, and postexercise recovery using the insulation disk (iDISK) technique. Thirty-six volunteers (24 men, 12 women; 73.0 ± 12.2 kg; 1.75 ± 0.07 m; 24.4 ± 5.5 yr; 49.2 ± 6.8 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1) peak oxygen uptake) underwent periods of rest, cycling exercise at 40% of peak oxygen uptake, and postexercise recovery in three environments: Normal (24°C, 56% relative humidity), Hot-Humid (30°C, 60% relative humidity), and Hot-Dry (40°C, 24% relative humidity). Participants were randomly allocated into the "model" and the "validation" groups. Results in the model group demonstrated that Tm (VL: 36.65 ± 1.27°C; TB: 35.76 ± 1.73°C; TRAP: 36.53 ± 0.96°C) was increased compared with iDISK (VL: 35.67 ± 1.71°C; TB: 34.77 ± 2.27°C; TRAP: 35.98 ± 1.34°C) across all environments (P < 0.001). Stepwise regression analysis generated models that accurately predicted Tm (predTm) of VL (R(2) = 0.73-0.91), TB (R(2) = 0.85-0.93), and TRAP (R(2) = 0.84-0.86) using iDISK and the difference between the current iDISK temperature and that recorded between 1 and 4 min before. Cross-validation analyses in the validation group demonstrated small differences (P < 0.05) of no physiological significance, small effect size of the differences, and strong associations (r = 0.85-0.97; P < 0.001) between Tm and predTm. Moreover, narrow 95% limits of agreement and low percent coefficient of variation were observed between Tm and predTm. It is concluded that the developed noninvasive, practical, and inexpensive techniques provide accurate estimations of VL, TB, and TRAP Tm during rest, cycling exercise, and postexercise recovery. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Noninvasive assessment of muscle temperature during rest, exercise, and postexercise recovery in different environments

PubMed Central

Flouris, Andreas D.; Webb, Paul

2015-01-01

We introduced noninvasive and accurate techniques to estimate muscle temperature (Tm) of vastus lateralis (VL), triceps brachii (TB), and trapezius (TRAP) during rest, exercise, and postexercise recovery using the insulation disk (iDISK) technique. Thirty-six volunteers (24 men, 12 women; 73.0 ± 12.2 kg; 1.75 ± 0.07 m; 24.4 ± 5.5 yr; 49.2 ± 6.8 ml·kg−1·min−1 peak oxygen uptake) underwent periods of rest, cycling exercise at 40% of peak oxygen uptake, and postexercise recovery in three environments: Normal (24°C, 56% relative humidity), Hot-Humid (30°C, 60% relative humidity), and Hot-Dry (40°C, 24% relative humidity). Participants were randomly allocated into the “model” and the “validation” groups. Results in the model group demonstrated that Tm (VL: 36.65 ± 1.27°C; TB: 35.76 ± 1.73°C; TRAP: 36.53 ± 0.96°C) was increased compared with iDISK (VL: 35.67 ± 1.71°C; TB: 34.77 ± 2.27°C; TRAP: 35.98 ± 1.34°C) across all environments (P < 0.001). Stepwise regression analysis generated models that accurately predicted Tm (predTm) of VL (R2 = 0.73-0.91), TB (R2 = 0.85–0.93), and TRAP (R2 = 0.84–0.86) using iDISK and the difference between the current iDISK temperature and that recorded between 1 and 4 min before. Cross-validation analyses in the validation group demonstrated small differences (P < 0.05) of no physiological significance, small effect size of the differences, and strong associations (r = 0.85–0.97; P < 0.001) between Tm and predTm. Moreover, narrow 95% limits of agreement and low percent coefficient of variation were observed between Tm and predTm. It is concluded that the developed noninvasive, practical, and inexpensive techniques provide accurate estimations of VL, TB, and TRAP Tm during rest, cycling exercise, and postexercise recovery. PMID:25814638

A global weighted mean temperature model based on empirical orthogonal function analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Qinzheng; Chen, Peng; Sun, Langlang; Ma, Xiaping

2018-03-01

A global empirical orthogonal function (EOF) model of the tropospheric weighted mean temperature called GEOFM_Tm was developed using high-precision Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) Atmosphere Tm data during the years 2008-2014. Due to the quick convergence of EOF decomposition, it is possible to use the first four EOF series, which consists base functions Uk and associated coefficients Pk, to represent 99.99% of the overall variance of the original data sets and its spatial-temporal variations. Results show that U1 displays a prominent latitude distribution profile with positive peaks located at low latitude region. U2 manifests an asymmetric pattern that positive values occurred over 30° in the Northern Hemisphere, and negative values were observed at other regions. U3 and U4 displayed significant anomalies in Tibet and North America, respectively. Annual variation is the major component of the first and second associated coefficients P1 and P2, whereas P3 and P4 mainly reflects both annual and semi-annual variation components. Furthermore, the performance of constructed GEOFM_Tm was validated by comparison with GTm_III and GTm_N with different kinds of data including GGOS Atmosphere Tm data in 2015 and radiosonde data from Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA) in 2014. Generally speaking, GEOFM_Tm can achieve the same accuracy and reliability as GTm_III and GTm_N models in a global scale, even has improved in the Antarctic and Greenland regions. The MAE and RMS of GEOFM_Tm tend to be 2.49 K and 3.14 K with respect to GGOS Tm data, respectively; and 3.38 K and 4.23 K with respect to IGRA sounding data, respectively. In addition, those three models have higher precision at low latitude than middle and high latitude regions. The magnitude of Tm remains at the range of 220-300 K, presented a high correlation with geographic latitude. In the Northern Hemisphere, there was a significant enhancement at high latitude region reaching 270 K during summer. GEOFM_Tm is capable to represent the spatiotemporal variations of Tm, with the high accuracy and reliability in a global scale, therefore, will be of great significance to the real-time GNSS water vapor inversion and climate studies.

Toxicological effects of thiomersal and ethylmercury: Inhibition of the thioredoxin system and NADP{sup +}-dependent dehydrogenases of the pentose phosphate pathway

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

Rodrigues, Juan, E-mail: juanricardorodrigues@gmail.com; Laboratory of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Central University of Venezuela; Branco, Vasco

Mercury (Hg) is a strong toxicant affecting mainly the central nervous, renal, cardiovascular and immune systems. Thiomersal (TM) is still in use in medical practice as a topical antiseptic and as a preservative in multiple dose vaccines, routinely given to young children in some developing countries, while other forms of mercury such as methylmercury represent an environmental and food hazard. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of thiomersal (TM) and its breakdown product ethylmercury (EtHg) on the thioredoxin system and NADP{sup +}-dependent dehydrogenases of the pentose phosphate pathway. Results show that TM and EtHg inhibitedmore » the thioredoxin system enzymes in purified suspensions, being EtHg comparable to methylmercury (MeHg). Also, treatment of neuroblastoma and liver cells with TM or EtHg decreased cell viability (GI{sub 50}: 1.5 to 20 μM) and caused a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in the overall activities of thioredoxin (Trx) and thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) in a concentration- and time-dependent manner in cell lysates. Compared to control, the activities of Trx and TrxR in neuroblastoma cells after EtHg incubation were reduced up to 60% and 80% respectively, whereas in hepatoma cells the reduction was almost 100%. In addition, the activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase were also significantly inhibited by all mercurials, with inhibition intensity of Hg{sup 2+} > MeHg ≈ EtHg > TM (p < 0.05). Cell incubation with sodium selenite alleviated the inhibitory effects on TrxR and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Thus, the molecular mechanism of toxicity of TM and especially of its metabolite EtHg encompasses the blockage of the electrons from NADPH via the thioredoxin system. - Highlights: • TM and EtHg inhibit Trx and TrxR both in purified suspensions and cell lysates. • TM and EtHg also inhibit the activities of G6PDH and 6PGDH in cell lysates, • Co-exposure to selenite alleviates the inhibitory effects of TM/EtHg on TrxR and G6PDH. • EtHg is more toxic than the parent compound TM.« less

Sorting of tropomyosin isoforms in synchronised NIH 3T3 fibroblasts: evidence for distinct microfilament populations.

PubMed

Percival, J M; Thomas, G; Cock, T A; Gardiner, E M; Jeffrey, P L; Lin, J J; Weinberger, R P; Gunning, P

2000-11-01

The nonmuscle actin cytoskeleton consists of multiple networks of actin microfilaments. Many of these filament systems are bound by the actin-binding protein tropomyosin (Tm). We investigated whether Tm isoforms could be cell cycle regulated during G0 and G1 phases of the cell cycle in synchronised NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. Using Tm isoform-specific antibodies, we investigated protein expression levels of specific Tms in G0 and G1 phases and whether co-expressed isoforms could be sorted into different compartments. Protein levels of Tms 1, 2, 5a, 6, from the alpha Tm(fast) and beta-Tm genes increased approximately 2-fold during mid-late G1. Tm 3 levels did not change appreciably during G1 progression. In contrast, Tm 5NM gene isoform levels (Tm 5NM-1-11) increased 2-fold at 5 h into G1 and this increase was maintained for the following 3 h. However, Tm 5NM-1 and -2 levels decreased by a factor of three during this time. Comparison of the staining of the antibodies CG3 (detects all Tm 5NM gene products), WS5/9d (detects only two Tms from the Tm 5NM gene, Tm 5NM-1 and -2) and alpha(f)9d (detects specific Tms from the alpha Tm(fast) and beta-Tm genes) antibodies revealed 3 spatially distinct microfilament systems. Tm isoforms detected by alpha(f)9d were dramatically sorted from isoforms from the Tm 5NM gene detected by CG3. Tm 5NM-1 and Tm 5NM-2 were not incorporated into stress fibres, unlike other Tm 5NM isoforms, and marked a discrete, punctate, and highly polarised compartment in NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. All microfilament systems, excluding that detected by the WS5/9d antibody, were observed to coalign into parallel stress fibres at 8 h into G1. However, Tms detected by the CG3 and alpha(f)9d antibodies were incorporated into filaments at different times indicating distinct temporal control mechanisms. Microfilaments in NIH 3T3 cells containing Tm 5NM isoforms were more resistant to cytochalasin D-mediated actin depolymerisation than filaments containing isoforms from the alpha Tm(fast) and beta-Tm genes. This suggests that Tm 5NM isoforms may be in different microfilaments to alpha Tm(fast) and beta-Tm isoforms even when present in the same stress fibre. Staining of primary mouse fibroblasts showed identical Tm sorting patterns to those seen in cultured NIH 3T3 cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate that sorting of Tms is not restricted to cultured cells and can be observed in human columnar epithelial cells in vivo. We conclude that the expression and localisation of Tm isoforms are differentially regulated in G0 and G1 phase of the cell cycle. Tms mark multiple microfilament compartments with restricted tropomyosin composition. The creation of distinct microfilament compartments by differential sorting of Tm isoforms is observable in primary fibroblasts, cultured 3T3 cells and epithelial cells in vivo. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Type II integral membrane protein, TM of J paramyxovirus promotes cell-to-cell fusion.

PubMed

Li, Zhuo; Hung, Cher; Paterson, Reay G; Michel, Frank; Fuentes, Sandra; Place, Ryan; Lin, Yuan; Hogan, Robert J; Lamb, Robert A; He, Biao

2015-10-06

Paramyxoviruses include many important animal and human pathogens. Most paramyxoviruses have two integral membrane proteins: fusion protein (F) and attachment proteins hemagglutinin, hemagglutinin-neuraminidase, or glycoprotein (G), which are critical for viral entry into cells. J paramyxovirus (JPV) encodes four integral membrane proteins: F, G, SH, and transmembrane (TM). The function of TM is not known. In this work, we have generated a viable JPV lacking TM (JPV∆TM). JPV∆TM formed opaque plaques compared with JPV. Quantitative syncytia assays showed that JPV∆TM was defective in promoting cell-to-cell fusion (i.e., syncytia formation) compared with JPV. Furthermore, cells separately expressing F, G, TM, or F plus G did not form syncytia whereas cells expressing F plus TM formed some syncytia. However, syncytia formation was much greater with coexpression of F, G, and TM. Biochemical analysis indicates that F, G, and TM interact with each other. A small hydrophobic region in the TM ectodomain from amino acid residues 118 to 132, the hydrophobic loop (HL), was important for syncytial promotion, suggesting that the TM HL region plays a critical role in cell-to-cell fusion.

A randomised controlled trial comparing TVT, Pelvicol and autologous fascial slings for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in women.

PubMed

Guerrero, K L; Emery, S J; Wareham, K; Ismail, S; Watkins, A; Lucas, M G

2010-11-01

To compare TVT(TM) , Pelvicol(TM) and autologous fascial slings (AFSs). A multicentre randomised control trial. Four units in the UK. Women requiring primary surgery for stress urinary incontinence (SUI). A total of 201 women with urodynamically proven stress incontinence were randomised into three groups and assessed at baseline, 6 weeks, 6 months and 1 year. The primary outcome was patient-reported improvement rates. Secondary outcomes included operative complications/time, intermittent self-catheterisation (ISC) and re-operation rates. The quality-of-life tools used were the Bristol Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (BFLUTS) and EuroQoL. Fifty women had a Pelvicol(TM) sling, 79 had AFSs and 72 had TVT(TM). At 6 months the Pelvicol(TM) arm had poorer improvement rates (73%) than TVT(TM) (92%)/AFS (95%); P=0.003. At 1 year only 61% of the Pelvicol(TM) slings remained as improved, versus 93% of TVTs and 90% of AFSs (P<0.001). Pelvicol(TM) has poorer dry rates (22%) than TVT(TM) (55%)/AFS (48%) (P=0.001) at 1 year; hence, the Pelvicol(TM) arm was suspended following interim analysis. There is no difference in the success rates between TVT(TM) and AFS. One in five women in the Pelvicol(TM) arm had further surgery for SUI by 1 year, but none required further surgery in the other arms. AFS took longer to do (54 minutes versus 35 minutes for TVT(TM) /36 minutes for Pelvicol(TM) ) and had higher ISC rates (9.9 versus 0% Pelvicol(TM) /TVT(TM) 1.5%). Hospital stay was shortest for TVT(TM) (2 days). Most BFLUTS domains showed improvement in all three arms. The improvement for women in the Pelvicol(TM) arm, however, was less than for women in the other arms in several key domains. Pelvicol(TM) cannot be recommended for the management of SUI. TVT(TM) does not have greater efficacy than AFS, but does utilise fewer resources. © 2010 The Authors Journal compilation © RCOG 2010 BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Gold nanotube encapsulation enhanced magnetic properties of transition metal monoatomic chains: An ab initio study.

PubMed

Zhu, Liyan; Wang, Jinlan; Ding, Feng

2009-02-14

The magnetic properties of gold nanotubes encapsulated transition metal (TM, TM=Co and Mn) and monoatomic chains (TM@Au) are studied using first-principles density functional calculations. The TM chains are significantly stabilized by the gold nanotube coating. TM-TM distance-dependent ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic phase transition in TM@Au is observed and can be understood by Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) model. The magnetocrystalline anisotropy energies of the TM@Au tubes are dramatically enhanced by one order of magnitude compared to those of free TM chains. Furthermore, the stronger interaction between Mn chain and gold nanotube even switches the easy magnetization axis along the tube.

Gold nanotube encapsulation enhanced magnetic properties of transition metal monoatomic chains: An ab initio study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Liyan; Wang, Jinlan; Ding, Feng

2009-02-01

The magnetic properties of gold nanotubes encapsulated transition metal (TM, TM=Co and Mn) and monoatomic chains (TM@Au) are studied using first-principles density functional calculations. The TM chains are significantly stabilized by the gold nanotube coating. TM-TM distance-dependent ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic phase transition in TM@Au is observed and can be understood by Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) model. The magnetocrystalline anisotropy energies of the TM@Au tubes are dramatically enhanced by one order of magnitude compared to those of free TM chains. Furthermore, the stronger interaction between Mn chain and gold nanotube even switches the easy magnetization axis along the tube.

Lipid-protein nanodiscs for cell-free production of integral membrane proteins in a soluble and folded state: comparison with detergent micelles, bicelles and liposomes.

PubMed

Lyukmanova, E N; Shenkarev, Z O; Khabibullina, N F; Kopeina, G S; Shulepko, M A; Paramonov, A S; Mineev, K S; Tikhonov, R V; Shingarova, L N; Petrovskaya, L E; Dolgikh, D A; Arseniev, A S; Kirpichnikov, M P

2012-03-01

Production of integral membrane proteins (IMPs) in a folded state is a key prerequisite for their functional and structural studies. In cell-free (CF) expression systems membrane mimicking components could be added to the reaction mixture that promotes IMP production in a soluble form. Here lipid-protein nanodiscs (LPNs) of different lipid compositions (DMPC, DMPG, POPC, POPC/DOPG) have been compared with classical membrane mimicking media such as detergent micelles, lipid/detergent bicelles and liposomes by their ability to support CF synthesis of IMPs in a folded and soluble state. Three model membrane proteins of different topology were used: homodimeric transmembrane (TM) domain of human receptor tyrosine kinase ErbB3 (TM-ErbB3, 1TM); voltage-sensing domain of K(+) channel KvAP (VSD, 4TM); and bacteriorhodopsin from Exiguobacterium sibiricum (ESR, 7TM). Structural and/or functional properties of the synthesized proteins were analyzed. LPNs significantly enhanced synthesis of the IMPs in a soluble form regardless of the lipid composition. A partial disintegration of LPNs composed of unsaturated lipids was observed upon co-translational IMP incorporation. Contrary to detergents the nanodiscs resulted in the synthesis of ~80% active ESR and promoted correct folding of the TM-ErbB3. None of the tested membrane mimetics supported CF synthesis of correctly folded VSD, and the protocol of the domain refolding was developed. The use of LPNs appears to be the most promising approach to CF production of IMPs in a folded state. NMR analysis of (15)N-Ile-TM-ErbB3 co-translationally incorporated into LPNs shows the great prospects of this membrane mimetics for structural studies of IMPs produced by CF systems. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Acute Demyelinating Events Following Vaccines: A Case-Centered Analysis.

PubMed

Baxter, Roger; Lewis, Edwin; Goddard, Kristin; Fireman, Bruce; Bakshi, Nandini; DeStefano, Frank; Gee, Julianne; Tseng, Hung Fu; Naleway, Allison L; Klein, Nicola P

2016-12-01

 Case reports have suggested that vaccines may trigger transverse myelitis (TM) or acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), but the evidence for a causal association is inconclusive. We analyzed the association of immunization and subsequent development of TM or ADEM.  We identified all cases of TM and ADEM in the Vaccine Safety Datalink population. Using a case-centered method, we compared vaccination of each case to vaccination of all matched persons in the study population, who received the same type of vaccine, with respect to whether or not their vaccination occurred during a predetermined exposure interval. We calculated a risk difference (excess risk) of TM and ADEM for each vaccine.  Following nearly 64 million vaccine doses, only 7 cases of TM and 8 cases of ADEM were vaccinated during the primary exposure window 5-28 days prior to onset. For TM, there was no statistically significant increased risk of immunization. For ADEM, there was no statistically significant increased risk following any vaccine except for Tdap (adolescent and adult tetanus, reduced diphtheria, acellular pertussis) vaccine. Based on 2 exposed cases, the odds ratio for Tdap exposure 5-28 days prior to ADEM onset was 15.8 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2-471.6; P = .04), and the estimated excess risk was 0.385 (95% CI, -.04 to 1.16) cases per million doses.  We found no association between TM and prior immunization. There was a possible association of ADEM with Tdap vaccine, but the excess risk is not likely to be more than 1.16 cases of ADEM per million vaccines administered. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

ER Stress Induced by Tunicamycin Triggers α-Synuclein Oligomerization, Dopaminergic Neurons Death and Locomotor Impairment: a New Model of Parkinson's Disease.

PubMed

Cóppola-Segovia, Valentín; Cavarsan, Clarissa; Maia, Flavia G; Ferraz, Anete C; Nakao, Lia S; Lima, Marcelo Ms; Zanata, Silvio M

2017-10-01

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive death of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), leading to the major clinical abnormalities that characterize this disease. Although PD's etiology is unknown, α-synuclein aggregation plays a pivotal role in PD pathogenesis, which could be associated to some pathological processes such as oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, impaired protein degradation, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Increasing experimental evidence indicates that ER stress is involved in PD, however most of the described results employed cultured cell lines and genetically modified animal models. In this study, we developed a new ER stress rat model employing the well-known ER stressor tunicamycin (Tm). To evaluate if ER stress was able to induce PD features, we performed an intranigral injection of Tm (0.1 μg/cerebral hemisphere) and animals (male Wistar rats) were analyzed 7 days post injection. The classical 6-OHDA neurotoxin model (1 μg/cerebral hemisphere) was used as an established positive control for PD. We show that Tm injection induced locomotor impairment, dopaminergic neurons death, and activation of astroglia. In addition, we observed an extensive α-synuclein oligomerization in SNpc of Tm-injected animals when compared with DMSO-injected controls. Finally, both Tm and 6-OHDA treated animals presented increased levels of ER stress markers. Taken together, these findings show for the first time that the ER stressor Tm recapitulates some of the phenotypic characteristics observed in rodent models of PD, reinforcing the concept that ER stress could be an important contributor to the pathophysiology of PD. Therefore, we propose the intranigral Tm injection as a new ER stress-based model for the study of PD in vivo.

Dynamic Properties of Human Tympanic Membrane Based on Frequency-Temperature Superposition

PubMed Central

Zhang, Xiangming; Gan, Rong Z.

2012-01-01

The human tympanic membrane (TM) transfers sound in the ear canal into the mechanical vibration of the ossicles in the middle ear. The dynamic properties of TM directly affect the middle ear transfer function. The static or quasi-static mechanical properties of TM were reported in the literature, but the dynamic properties of TM over the auditory frequency range are very limited. In this paper, a new method was developed to measure the dynamic properties of human TM using the Dynamic-Mechanical Analyzer (DMA). The test was conducted at the frequency range of 1 to 40 Hz at three different temperatures: 5°, 25° and 37°C. The frequency-temperature superposition was applied to extend the testing frequency range to a much higher level (at least 3800 Hz). The generalized linear solid model was employed to describe the constitutive relation of the TM. The storage modulus E’ and the loss modulus E” were obtained from 11 specimens. The mean storage modulus was 15.1 MPa at 1 Hz and 27.6 MPa at 3800 Hz. The mean loss modulus was 0.28 MPa at 1 Hz and 4.1 MPa at 3800 Hz. The results show that the frequency-temperature superposition is a feasible approach to study the dynamic properties of the ear soft tissues. The dynamic properties of human TM obtained in this study provide a better description of the damping behavior of ear tissues. The properties can be transferred into the finite element (FE) model of the human ear to replace the Rayleigh type damping. The data reported here contribute to the biomechanics of the middle ear and improve the accuracy of the FE model for the human ear. PMID:22820983

Front Instabilities and Invasiveness of Simulated Avascular Tumors

PubMed Central

Popławski, Nikodem J.; Agero, Ubirajara; Gens, J. Scott; Swat, Maciej; Glazier, James A.; Anderson, Alexander R. A.

2009-01-01

We study the interface morphology of a 2D simulation of an avascular tumor composed of identical cells growing in an homogeneous healthy tissue matrix (TM), in order to understand the origin of the morphological changes often observed during real tumor growth. We use the GlazierGraner-Hogeweg model, which treats tumor cells as extended, deformable objects, to study the effects of two parameters: a dimensionless diffusion-limitation parameter defined as the ratio of the tumor consumption rate to the substrate transport rate, and the tumor-TM surface tension. We model TM as a nondiffusing field, neglecting the TM pressure and haptotactic repulsion acting on a real growing tumor; thus our model is appropriate for studying tumors with highly motile cells, e.g., gliomas. We show that the diffusion-limitation parameter determines whether the growing tumor develops a smooth (noninvasive) or fingered (invasive) interface, and that the sensitivity of tumor morphology to tumor-TM surface tension increases with the size of the dimensionless diffusion-limitation parameter. For large diffusion-limitation parameters we find a transition (missed in previous work) between dendritic structures, produced when tumor-TM surface tension is high, and seaweed-like structures, produced when tumor-TM surface tension is low. This observation leads to a direct analogy between the mathematics and dynamics of tumors and those observed in nonbiological directional solidification. Our results are also consistent with biological observation that hypoxia promotes invasive growth of tumor cells by inducing higher levels of receptors for scatter factors that weaken cell-cell adhesion and increase cell motility. These findings suggest that tumor morphology may have value in predicting the efficiency of antiangiogenic therapy in individual patients. PMID:19234746

Experiences from Participants in Large-Scale Group Practice of the Maharishi Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programs and Parallel Principles of Quantum Theory, Astrophysics, Quantum Cosmology, and String Theory: Interdisciplinary Qualitative Correspondences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Svenson, Eric Johan

Participants on the Invincible America Assembly in Fairfield, Iowa, and neighboring Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa, practicing Maharishi Transcendental Meditation(TM) (TM) and the TM-Sidhi(TM) programs in large groups, submitted written experiences that they had had during, and in some cases shortly after, their daily practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi programs. Participants were instructed to include in their written experiences only what they observed and to leave out interpretation and analysis. These experiences were then read by the author and compared with principles and phenomena of modern physics, particularly with quantum theory, astrophysics, quantum cosmology, and string theory as well as defining characteristics of higher states of consciousness as described by Maharishi Vedic Science. In all cases, particular principles or phenomena of physics and qualities of higher states of consciousness appeared qualitatively quite similar to the content of the given experience. These experiences are presented in an Appendix, in which the corresponding principles and phenomena of physics are also presented. These physics "commentaries" on the experiences were written largely in layman's terms, without equations, and, in nearly every case, with clear reference to the corresponding sections of the experiences to which a given principle appears to relate. An abundance of similarities were apparent between the subjective experiences during meditation and principles of modern physics. A theoretic framework for understanding these rich similarities may begin with Maharishi's theory of higher states of consciousness provided herein. We conclude that the consistency and richness of detail found in these abundant similarities warrants the further pursuit and development of such a framework.

The transmembrane domain of the p75 neurotrophin receptor stimulates phosphorylation of the TrkB tyrosine kinase receptor.

PubMed

Saadipour, Khalil; MacLean, Michael; Pirkle, Sean; Ali, Solav; Lopez-Redondo, Maria-Luisa; Stokes, David L; Chao, Moses V

2017-10-06

The function of protein products generated from intramembraneous cleavage by the γ-secretase complex is not well defined. The γ-secretase complex is responsible for the cleavage of several transmembrane proteins, most notably the amyloid precursor protein that results in Aβ, a transmembrane (TM) peptide. Another protein that undergoes very similar γ-secretase cleavage is the p75 neurotrophin receptor. However, the fate of the cleaved p75 TM domain is unknown. p75 neurotrophin receptor is highly expressed during early neuronal development and regulates survival and process formation of neurons. Here, we report that the p75 TM can stimulate the phosphorylation of TrkB (tyrosine kinase receptor B). In vitro phosphorylation experiments indicated that a peptide representing p75 TM increases TrkB phosphorylation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Moreover, mutagenesis analyses revealed that a valine residue at position 264 in the rat p75 neurotrophin receptor is necessary for the ability of p75 TM to induce TrkB phosphorylation. Because this residue is just before the γ-secretase cleavage site, we then investigated whether the p75(αγ) peptide, which is a product of both α- and γ-cleavage events, could also induce TrkB phosphorylation. Experiments using TM domains from other receptors, EGFR and FGFR1, failed to stimulate TrkB phosphorylation. Co-immunoprecipitation and biochemical fractionation data suggested that p75 TM stimulates TrkB phosphorylation at the cell membrane. Altogether, our results suggest that TrkB activation by p75(αγ) peptide may be enhanced in situations where the levels of the p75 receptor are increased, such as during brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, and epilepsy. © 2017 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin in severe sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Yamakawa, K; Aihara, M; Ogura, H; Yuhara, H; Hamasaki, T; Shimazu, T

2015-04-01

Although recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin (rhTM) is a widely used novel anticoagulant agent for disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in Japan, its clinical efficacy in sepsis-induced DIC has not been demonstrated convincingly. To assess the benefits and harms of rhTM in sepsis-induced DIC patients. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of rhTM therapy for sepsis-induced DIC for both randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies (retrospective case-control studies and/or prospective cohort studies) separately. All-cause mortality (28-30 days) as efficacy and serious bleeding complications as adverse effect were measured as primary outcomes. We assessed body of evidence quality at the outcome level by using the Grading of Evidence, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. We analyzed 12 studies (838 patients/3 RCTs; 571 patients/9 observational studies). Pooled relative risk was 0.81 (95% CI, 0.62-1.06) in the RCTs, indicating non-significant reduction in mortality, and 0.59 (95% CI, 0.45-0.77) in the observational studies. Meta-regression analysis revealed a significant negative slope between effect size of rhTM therapy and baseline mortality rate in individual studies (P = 0.012), suggesting that probability of a beneficial effect with rhTM therapy increases with increasing baseline risk. Risk of serious bleeding complications was not significantly different between rhTM and control groups. We judged the quality of evidence as moderate for mortality and serious bleeding. The rhTM was associated with a trend in reduction of mortality at 28-30 days in sepsis-induced DIC patients. Further large rigorous trials are needed to confirm or refute these findings before implications for practice are clear. © 2015 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Reverse actin sliding triggers strong myosin binding that moves tropomyosin

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

Bekyarova, T.I.; Reedy, M.C.; Baumann, B.A.J.

2008-09-03

Actin/myosin interactions in vertebrate striated muscles are believed to be regulated by the 'steric blocking' mechanism whereby the binding of calcium to the troponin complex allows tropomyosin (TM) to change position on actin, acting as a molecular switch that blocks or allows myosin heads to interact with actin. Movement of TM during activation is initiated by interaction of Ca{sup 2+} with troponin, then completed by further displacement by strong binding cross-bridges. We report x-ray evidence that TM in insect flight muscle (IFM) moves in a manner consistent with the steric blocking mechanism. We find that both isometric contraction, at highmore » [Ca{sup 2+}], and stretch activation, at lower [Ca{sup 2+}], develop similarly high x-ray intensities on the IFM fourth actin layer line because of TM movement, coinciding with x-ray signals of strong-binding cross-bridge attachment to helically favored 'actin target zones.' Vanadate (Vi), a phosphate analog that inhibits active cross-bridge cycling, abolishes all active force in IFM, allowing high [Ca{sup 2+}] to elicit initial TM movement without cross-bridge attachment or other changes from relaxed structure. However, when stretched in high [Ca{sup 2+}], Vi-'paralyzed' fibers produce force substantially above passive response at pCa {approx} 9, concurrent with full conversion from resting to active x-ray pattern, including x-ray signals of cross-bridge strong-binding and TM movement. This argues that myosin heads can be recruited as strong-binding 'brakes' by backward-sliding, calcium-activated thin filaments, and are as effective in moving TM as actively force-producing cross-bridges. Such recruitment of myosin as brakes may be the major mechanism resisting extension during lengthening contractions.« less

Cytoskeletal tropomyosin Tm5NM1 is required for normal excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle.

PubMed

Vlahovich, Nicole; Kee, Anthony J; Van der Poel, Chris; Kettle, Emma; Hernandez-Deviez, Delia; Lucas, Christine; Lynch, Gordon S; Parton, Robert G; Gunning, Peter W; Hardeman, Edna C

2009-01-01

The functional diversity of the actin microfilaments relies in part on the actin binding protein tropomyosin (Tm). The muscle-specific Tms regulate actin-myosin interactions and hence contraction. However, there is less known about the roles of the numerous cytoskeletal isoforms. We have shown previously that a cytoskeletal Tm, Tm5NM1, defines a Z-line adjacent cytoskeleton in skeletal muscle. Recently, we identified a second cytoskeletal Tm in this region, Tm4. Here we show that Tm4 and Tm5NM1 define separate actin filaments; the former associated with the terminal sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and other tubulovesicular structures. In skeletal muscles of Tm5NM1 knockout (KO) mice, Tm4 localization was unchanged, demonstrating the specificity of the membrane association. Tm5NM1 KO muscles exhibit potentiation of T-system depolarization and decreased force rundown with repeated T-tubule depolarizations consistent with altered T-tubule function. These results indicate that a Tm5NM1-defined actin cytoskeleton is required for the normal excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle.

Cytoskeletal Tropomyosin Tm5NM1 Is Required for Normal Excitation–Contraction Coupling in Skeletal Muscle

PubMed Central

Vlahovich, Nicole; Kee, Anthony J.; Van der Poel, Chris; Kettle, Emma; Hernandez-Deviez, Delia; Lucas, Christine; Lynch, Gordon S.; Parton, Robert G.; Gunning, Peter W.

2009-01-01

The functional diversity of the actin microfilaments relies in part on the actin binding protein tropomyosin (Tm). The muscle-specific Tms regulate actin-myosin interactions and hence contraction. However, there is less known about the roles of the numerous cytoskeletal isoforms. We have shown previously that a cytoskeletal Tm, Tm5NM1, defines a Z-line adjacent cytoskeleton in skeletal muscle. Recently, we identified a second cytoskeletal Tm in this region, Tm4. Here we show that Tm4 and Tm5NM1 define separate actin filaments; the former associated with the terminal sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and other tubulovesicular structures. In skeletal muscles of Tm5NM1 knockout (KO) mice, Tm4 localization was unchanged, demonstrating the specificity of the membrane association. Tm5NM1 KO muscles exhibit potentiation of T-system depolarization and decreased force rundown with repeated T-tubule depolarizations consistent with altered T-tubule function. These results indicate that a Tm5NM1-defined actin cytoskeleton is required for the normal excitation–contraction coupling in skeletal muscle. PMID:19005216

Hypolipidemic activity of Taraxacum mongolicum associated with the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase in human HepG2 cells.

PubMed

Liu, Yan-Jin; Shieh, Po-Chuen; Lee, Jang-Chang; Chen, Fu-An; Lee, Chih-Hung; Kuo, Sheng-Chu; Ho, Chi-Tang; Kuo, Daih-Huang; Huang, Li-Jiau; Way, Tzong-Der

2014-08-01

This study investigated the hypolipidemic effect and potential mechanisms of T. mongolicum extracts. T. mongolicum was extracted by refluxing three times with water (TM-1), 50% ethanol (TM-2) and 95% ethanol (TM-3). TM-2 contained components with the most effective hypolipidemic potentials in HepG2 cells. Extended administration of TM-2 stimulated a significant reduction in body weight and levels of serum triglyceride LDL-C and total cholesterol in rats. To evaluate the bioactive compounds, we successively fractionated TM-2 with n-hexane (TM-4), dichloromethane (TM-5), ethyl acetate (TM-6), and water (TM-7). TM-4 fraction had the most effective hypolipidemic potential in HepG2 cells, and it decreased the expression of fatty acid synthase (FASN) and inhibited the activity of acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC) through the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). Linoleic acid, phytol and tetracosanol are bioactive compounds identified from TM-4. These results suggest that T. mongolicum is expected to be useful for hypolipidemic effects.

Loss of the BMP Antagonist, SMOC-1, Causes Ophthalmo-Acromelic (Waardenburg Anophthalmia) Syndrome in Humans and Mice

PubMed Central

Rainger, Joe; van Beusekom, Ellen; Ramsay, Jacqueline K.; McKie, Lisa; Al-Gazali, Lihadh; Pallotta, Rosanna; Saponari, Anita; Branney, Peter; Fisher, Malcolm; Morrison, Harris; Bicknell, Louise; Gautier, Philippe; Perry, Paul; Sokhi, Kishan; Sexton, David; Bardakjian, Tanya M.; Schneider, Adele S.; Elcioglu, Nursel; Ozkinay, Ferda; Koenig, Rainer; Mégarbané, Andre; Semerci, C. Nur; Khan, Ayesha; Zafar, Saemah; Hennekam, Raoul; Sousa, Sérgio B.; Ramos, Lina; Garavelli, Livia; Furga, Andrea Superti; Wischmeijer, Anita; Jackson, Ian J.; Gillessen-Kaesbach, Gabriele; Brunner, Han G.; Wieczorek, Dagmar; van Bokhoven, Hans; FitzPatrick, David R.

2011-01-01

Ophthalmo-acromelic syndrome (OAS), also known as Waardenburg Anophthalmia syndrome, is defined by the combination of eye malformations, most commonly bilateral anophthalmia, with post-axial oligosyndactyly. Homozygosity mapping and subsequent targeted mutation analysis of a locus on 14q24.2 identified homozygous mutations in SMOC1 (SPARC-related modular calcium binding 1) in eight unrelated families. Four of these mutations are nonsense, two frame-shift, and two missense. The missense mutations are both in the second Thyroglobulin Type-1 (Tg1) domain of the protein. The orthologous gene in the mouse, Smoc1, shows site- and stage-specific expression during eye, limb, craniofacial, and somite development. We also report a targeted pre-conditional gene-trap mutation of Smoc1 (Smoc1tm1a) that reduces mRNA to ∼10% of wild-type levels. This gene-trap results in highly penetrant hindlimb post-axial oligosyndactyly in homozygous mutant animals (Smoc1tm1a/tm1a). Eye malformations, most commonly coloboma, and cleft palate occur in a significant proportion of Smoc1tm1a/tm1a embryos and pups. Thus partial loss of Smoc-1 results in a convincing phenocopy of the human disease. SMOC-1 is one of the two mammalian paralogs of Drosophila Pentagone, an inhibitor of decapentaplegic. The orthologous gene in Xenopus laevis, Smoc-1, also functions as a Bone Morphogenic Protein (BMP) antagonist in early embryogenesis. Loss of BMP antagonism during mammalian development provides a plausible explanation for both the limb and eye phenotype in humans and mice. PMID:21750680

Loss of the BMP antagonist, SMOC-1, causes Ophthalmo-acromelic (Waardenburg Anophthalmia) syndrome in humans and mice.

PubMed

Rainger, Joe; van Beusekom, Ellen; Ramsay, Jacqueline K; McKie, Lisa; Al-Gazali, Lihadh; Pallotta, Rosanna; Saponari, Anita; Branney, Peter; Fisher, Malcolm; Morrison, Harris; Bicknell, Louise; Gautier, Philippe; Perry, Paul; Sokhi, Kishan; Sexton, David; Bardakjian, Tanya M; Schneider, Adele S; Elcioglu, Nursel; Ozkinay, Ferda; Koenig, Rainer; Mégarbané, Andre; Semerci, C Nur; Khan, Ayesha; Zafar, Saemah; Hennekam, Raoul; Sousa, Sérgio B; Ramos, Lina; Garavelli, Livia; Furga, Andrea Superti; Wischmeijer, Anita; Jackson, Ian J; Gillessen-Kaesbach, Gabriele; Brunner, Han G; Wieczorek, Dagmar; van Bokhoven, Hans; Fitzpatrick, David R

2011-07-01

Ophthalmo-acromelic syndrome (OAS), also known as Waardenburg Anophthalmia syndrome, is defined by the combination of eye malformations, most commonly bilateral anophthalmia, with post-axial oligosyndactyly. Homozygosity mapping and subsequent targeted mutation analysis of a locus on 14q24.2 identified homozygous mutations in SMOC1 (SPARC-related modular calcium binding 1) in eight unrelated families. Four of these mutations are nonsense, two frame-shift, and two missense. The missense mutations are both in the second Thyroglobulin Type-1 (Tg1) domain of the protein. The orthologous gene in the mouse, Smoc1, shows site- and stage-specific expression during eye, limb, craniofacial, and somite development. We also report a targeted pre-conditional gene-trap mutation of Smoc1 (Smoc1(tm1a)) that reduces mRNA to ∼10% of wild-type levels. This gene-trap results in highly penetrant hindlimb post-axial oligosyndactyly in homozygous mutant animals (Smoc1(tm1a/tm1a)). Eye malformations, most commonly coloboma, and cleft palate occur in a significant proportion of Smoc1(tm1a/tm1a) embryos and pups. Thus partial loss of Smoc-1 results in a convincing phenocopy of the human disease. SMOC-1 is one of the two mammalian paralogs of Drosophila Pentagone, an inhibitor of decapentaplegic. The orthologous gene in Xenopus laevis, Smoc-1, also functions as a Bone Morphogenic Protein (BMP) antagonist in early embryogenesis. Loss of BMP antagonism during mammalian development provides a plausible explanation for both the limb and eye phenotype in humans and mice.

Structure of a Double Transmembrane Fragment of a G-Protein-Coupled Receptor in Micelles

PubMed Central

Neumoin, Alexey; Cohen, Leah S.; Arshava, Boris; Tantry, Subramanyam; Becker, Jeffrey M.; Zerbe, Oliver; Naider, Fred

2009-01-01

Abstract The structure and dynamic properties of an 80-residue fragment of Ste2p, the G-protein-coupled receptor for α-factor of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was studied in LPPG micelles with the use of solution NMR spectroscopy. The fragment Ste2p(G31-T110) (TM1-TM2) consisted of 19 residues from the N-terminal domain, the first TM helix (TM1), the first cytoplasmic loop, the second TM helix (TM2), and seven residues from the first extracellular loop. Multidimensional NMR experiments on [15N], [15N, 13C], [15N, 13C, 2H]-labeled TM1-TM2 and on protein fragments selectively labeled at specific amino acid residues or protonated at selected methyl groups resulted in >95% assignment of backbone and side-chain nuclei. The NMR investigation revealed the secondary structure of specific residues of TM1-TM2. TALOS constraints and NOE connectivities were used to calculate a structure for TM1-TM2 that was highlighted by the presence of three α-helices encompassing residues 39–47, 49–72, and 80–103, with higher flexibility around the internal Arg58 site of TM1. RMSD values of individually superimposed helical segments 39–47, 49–72, and 80–103 were 0.25 ± 0.10 Å, 0.40 ± 0.13 Å, and 0.57 ± 0.19 Å, respectively. Several long-range interhelical connectivities supported the folding of TM1-TM2 into a tertiary structure typified by a crossed helix that splays apart toward the extracellular regions and contains considerable flexibility in the G56VRSG60 region. 15N-relaxation and hydrogen-deuterium exchange data support a stable fold for the TM parts of TM1-TM2, whereas the solvent-exposed segments are more flexible. The NMR structure is consistent with the results of biochemical experiments that identified the ligand-binding site within this region of the receptor. PMID:19383463

NMR Investigation of Structures of G-protein Coupled Receptor Folding Intermediates*

PubMed Central

Poms, Martin; Ansorge, Philipp; Martinez-Gil, Luis; Jurt, Simon; Gottstein, Daniel; Fracchiolla, Katrina E.; Cohen, Leah S.; Güntert, Peter; Mingarro, Ismael; Naider, Fred; Zerbe, Oliver

2016-01-01

Folding of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) according to the two-stage model (Popot, J. L., and Engelman, D. M. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 4031–4037) is postulated to proceed in 2 steps: partitioning of the polypeptide into the membrane followed by diffusion until native contacts are formed. Herein we investigate conformational preferences of fragments of the yeast Ste2p receptor using NMR. Constructs comprising the first, the first two, and the first three transmembrane (TM) segments, as well as a construct comprising TM1–TM2 covalently linked to TM7 were examined. We observed that the isolated TM1 does not form a stable helix nor does it integrate well into the micelle. TM1 is significantly stabilized upon interaction with TM2, forming a helical hairpin reported previously (Neumoin, A., Cohen, L. S., Arshava, B., Tantry, S., Becker, J. M., Zerbe, O., and Naider, F. (2009) Biophys. J. 96, 3187–3196), and in this case the protein integrates into the hydrophobic interior of the micelle. TM123 displays a strong tendency to oligomerize, but hydrogen exchange data reveal that the center of TM3 is solvent exposed. In all GPCRs so-far structurally characterized TM7 forms many contacts with TM1 and TM2. In our study TM127 integrates well into the hydrophobic environment, but TM7 does not stably pack against the remaining helices. Topology mapping in microsomal membranes also indicates that TM1 does not integrate in a membrane-spanning fashion, but that TM12, TM123, and TM127 adopt predominantly native-like topologies. The data from our study would be consistent with the retention of individual helices of incompletely synthesized GPCRs in the vicinity of the translocon until the complete receptor is released into the membrane interior. PMID:27864365

Overview of the interactive task in BioCreative V.

PubMed

Wang, Qinghua; S Abdul, Shabbir; Almeida, Lara; Ananiadou, Sophia; Balderas-Martínez, Yalbi I; Batista-Navarro, Riza; Campos, David; Chilton, Lucy; Chou, Hui-Jou; Contreras, Gabriela; Cooper, Laurel; Dai, Hong-Jie; Ferrell, Barbra; Fluck, Juliane; Gama-Castro, Socorro; George, Nancy; Gkoutos, Georgios; Irin, Afroza K; Jensen, Lars J; Jimenez, Silvia; Jue, Toni R; Keseler, Ingrid; Madan, Sumit; Matos, Sérgio; McQuilton, Peter; Milacic, Marija; Mort, Matthew; Natarajan, Jeyakumar; Pafilis, Evangelos; Pereira, Emiliano; Rao, Shruti; Rinaldi, Fabio; Rothfels, Karen; Salgado, David; Silva, Raquel M; Singh, Onkar; Stefancsik, Raymund; Su, Chu-Hsien; Subramani, Suresh; Tadepally, Hamsa D; Tsaprouni, Loukia; Vasilevsky, Nicole; Wang, Xiaodong; Chatr-Aryamontri, Andrew; Laulederkind, Stanley J F; Matis-Mitchell, Sherri; McEntyre, Johanna; Orchard, Sandra; Pundir, Sangya; Rodriguez-Esteban, Raul; Van Auken, Kimberly; Lu, Zhiyong; Schaeffer, Mary; Wu, Cathy H; Hirschman, Lynette; Arighi, Cecilia N

2016-01-01

Fully automated text mining (TM) systems promote efficient literature searching, retrieval, and review but are not sufficient to produce ready-to-consume curated documents. These systems are not meant to replace biocurators, but instead to assist them in one or more literature curation steps. To do so, the user interface is an important aspect that needs to be considered for tool adoption. The BioCreative Interactive task (IAT) is a track designed for exploring user-system interactions, promoting development of useful TM tools, and providing a communication channel between the biocuration and the TM communities. In BioCreative V, the IAT track followed a format similar to previous interactive tracks, where the utility and usability of TM tools, as well as the generation of use cases, have been the focal points. The proposed curation tasks are user-centric and formally evaluated by biocurators. In BioCreative V IAT, seven TM systems and 43 biocurators participated. Two levels of user participation were offered to broaden curator involvement and obtain more feedback on usability aspects. The full level participation involved training on the system, curation of a set of documents with and without TM assistance, tracking of time-on-task, and completion of a user survey. The partial level participation was designed to focus on usability aspects of the interface and not the performance per se In this case, biocurators navigated the system by performing pre-designed tasks and then were asked whether they were able to achieve the task and the level of difficulty in completing the task. In this manuscript, we describe the development of the interactive task, from planning to execution and discuss major findings for the systems tested.Database URL: http://www.biocreative.org. Published by Oxford University Press 2016. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the US.

Room temperature operation of 2.67 mJ pulse LD end pumped Q-switched Tm:YAG laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Xuedi; Wu, Chunting; Chen, Xinyu; Yu, Kai; Jin, Guangyong

2014-12-01

Due to 2 μm band in the absorption of water and CO2, the diode pumped solid state lasers with wavelength around 2 μm have important applications in laser medicine and remote sensing, such as it can be used as a scalpe or a light source of Coherent Doppler Wind Lidar and Differential Absorption Lidar. In the recently years, scientists have done much work on the development of such lasers. There're many reports on continuous Tm:YAG laser. However, the study on Q-switched Tm:YAG laser, which is more useful in applications, was very rare. As the light source of Coherent Doppler Wind Lidar, large energy and wide pulse width is desired. Current reports mostly adopted CW pumped source, but it would make a mount of heat. Pulse pumping method could reduce the heat accumulation and improve the heat stability of the laser. How to improve the single pulse energy was the focus of current study. In this paper, a single end bonding Tm:YAG crystal with Tm3+ doping concentration of 3.5at.% was used. Acousto-optic (AO) Q-switched (GOOCH and HOUSEGO QS041-10M-HI8) operation was adopted in our experiment. In the repetition frequency of 100Hz, a maximum single energy of 2.67 mJ (measured by Ophir 30A-BB) and the narrowest pulse width of 149 ns (measured by Vigo PCI-3TE-12 detector) were achieved at room temperature. The M2x was 1.31 and the M2y was 1.35 (measured by Spiricon Pyrocam-III). Tm:YAG laser was developed by using a pulse diode pumped L shape resonant cavity. The transmittance of the curve output mirror was 4% and the curvature radius of which was 300 mm. The output center wavelength of the laser was measured to be 2013.5 nm (measured by YOKOGAWA AQ6375).

Cloning, expression analysis, and RNA interference study of a HORMA domain containing autophagy-related gene 13 (ATG13) from the coleopteran beetle, Tenebrio molitor

PubMed Central

Lee, Jung Hee; Jo, Yong Hun; Patnaik, Bharat Bhusan; Park, Ki Beom; Tindwa, Hamisi; Seo, Gi Won; Chandrasekar, Raman; Lee, Yong Seok; Han, Yeon Soo

2015-01-01

Autophagy is a process that is necessary during starvation, as it replenishes metabolic precursors by eliminating damaged organelles. Autophagy is mediated by more than 35 autophagy-related (Atg) proteins that participate in the nucleation, elongation, and curving of the autophagosome membrane. In a pursuit to address the role of autophagy during development and immune resistance of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, we screened ATG gene sequences from the whole-larva transcriptome database. We identified a homolog of ATG13 gene in T. molitor (designated as TmATG13) that comprises a cDNA of 1176 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a protein of 391 amino acids. Analyses of the structure-specific features of TmAtg13 showed an intrinsically disordered middle and C-terminal region that was rich in regulatory phosphorylation sites. The N-terminal Atg13 domain had a HORMA (Hop1, Rev7, and Mad2) fold containing amino acid residues conserved across the Atg13 insect orthologs. A quantitative reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that TmATG13 was expressed ubiquitously during all developmental stages of the insect. TmATG13 mRNA expression was high in the fat body and gut of the larval and adult stages of the insect. The TmATG13 transcripts were expressed at a high level until 6 days of ovarian development, followed by a significant decline. Silencing of ATG13 transcripts in T. molitor larvae showed a reduced survivability of 39 and 38% in response to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus infection. Furthermore, the role of TmAtg13 in initiating autophagy as a part of the host cell autophagic complex of the host cells against the intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is currently under study and will be critical to unfold the structure-function relationships. PMID:26136688

Interplay of structure and magnetism in ruthenocuprates: a Raman scattering and dilatometry study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fainstein, A.; Ramos, C. A.; Pregliasco, R. G.; Butera, A.; Trodahl, H. J.; Williams, G. V. M.; Tallon, J. L.

2002-07-01

We present a Raman scattering and dilatometry study of polycrystalline samples of the magnetic superconducting ruthenocuprates RuSr 2Gd 2- xCe xCu 2O 10+ δ (RuGd 1222) and RuSr 2GdCu 2O 8 (RuGd 1212). In the Raman spectra a high-temperature diffusive-like laser-tail develops below the magnetic ordering temperature ( TM) into an underdamped peak which shifts up to ˜130 cm-1. A line assigned to O(Ru) phonons hardens, narrows and strengthens strongly below TM. Finally, a phonon peak appears below TM at ˜590 cm-1. These three magnetic-order-dependent features are observed for RuGd 1212 and for RuGd 1222 with x=1.0, but do not appear for x=0.5. Dilatometry measurements, on the other hand, evidence a change of the expansion coefficient at TM. These results point to a structural effect accompanying the magnetic order, and suggest a complex interplay of spin and lattice degrees of freedom in these ruthenocuprates.

Analysis of the quality of image data acquired by the LANDSAT-4 thematic mapper and multispectral scanners. [Plumas County, California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colwell, R. N. (Principal Investigator)

1984-01-01

A seven step procedure developed for evaluating the geometric properties of MSS and TM film produces is being implemented. Some 476 control points were selected of which 238 are being tested and edited for digitization and scaling errors. Tables show statistics established for assessing the spectral characteristics and variability, as well as the spatial resolution and radiometric sensitivity of TM data for a forest environment in an effort to determine the extent to which major forest cover type can be detected and identified on TM digital and image products. Results thus far show that the high quality obtained are more than sufficient for meeting most of the inventory objectives of the renewable resource specialist. The TM data should be extremely valuable for: (1) estimating forest cover types; (2) updating land use survey maps; and (3) determining the size and shape and location of individual forest clearings and water resources.

Development of the T+M coupled flow–geomechanical simulator to describe fracture propagation and coupled flow–thermal–geomechanical processes in tight/shale gas systems

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

Kim, Jihoon; Moridis, George J.

2013-10-01

We developed a hydraulic fracturing simulator by coupling a flow simulator to a geomechanics code, namely T+M simulator. Modeling of the vertical fracture development involves continuous updating of the boundary conditions and of the data connectivity, based on the finite element method for geomechanics. The T+M simulator can model the initial fracture development during the hydraulic fracturing operations, after which the domain description changes from single continuum to double or multiple continua in order to rigorously model both flow and geomechanics for fracture-rock matrix systems. The T+H simulator provides two-way coupling between fluid-heat flow and geomechanics, accounting for thermoporomechanics, treatsmore » nonlinear permeability and geomechanical moduli explicitly, and dynamically tracks changes in the fracture(s) and in the pore volume. We also fully accounts for leak-off in all directions during hydraulic fracturing. We first validate the T+M simulator, matching numerical solutions with the analytical solutions for poromechanical effects, static fractures, and fracture propagations. Then, from numerical simulation of various cases of the planar fracture propagation, shear failure can limit the vertical fracture propagation of tensile failure, because of leak-off into the reservoirs. Slow injection causes more leak-off, compared with fast injection, when the same amount of fluid is injected. Changes in initial total stress and contributions of shear effective stress to tensile failure can also affect formation of the fractured areas, and the geomechanical responses are still well-posed.« less

Experiments and theory for a Tm:Ho:YAG laser end pumped by a Cr:GSAG laser

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, Kyong H.; Choi, Young S.; Hess, Robert V.; Blair, Clayton H.; Brockman, Philip; Barnes, Norman P.

1991-01-01

A Cr:GSAG-laser-pumped Tm:Ho:YAG laser has been fabricated and tested. A maximum output energy of 14 mJ with a slope efficiency of 33.6 percent was obtained using a 98-percent reflective output coupler. A comprehensive rate equation model has been developed to describe laser performance. Details of the experimental measurements and model are presented.

Virtual targeting in three-dimensional space with sound and light interference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chua, Florence B.; DeMarco, Robert M.; Bergen, Michael T.; Short, Kenneth R.; Servatius, Richard J.

2006-05-01

Law enforcement and the military are critically concerned with the targeting and firing accuracy of opponents. Stimuli which impede opponent targeting and firing accuracy can be incorporated into defense systems. An automated virtual firing range was developed to assess human targeting accuracy under conditions of sound and light interference, while avoiding dangers associated with live fire. This system has the ability to quantify sound and light interference effects on targeting and firing accuracy in three dimensions. This was achieved by development of a hardware and software system that presents the subject with a sound or light target, preceded by a sound or light interference. SonyXplod. TM 4-way speakers present sound interference and sound targeting. The Martin ® MiniMAC TM Profile operates as a source of light interference, while a red laser light serves as a target. A tracking system was created to monitor toy gun movement and firing in three-dimensional space. Data are collected via the Ascension ® Flock of Birds TM tracking system and a custom National Instrument ® LabVIEW TM 7.0 program to monitor gun movement and firing. A test protocol examined system parameters. Results confirm that the system enables tracking of virtual shots from a fired simulation gun to determine shot accuracy and location in three dimensions.

mTM-align: a server for fast protein structure database search and multiple protein structure alignment.

PubMed

Dong, Runze; Pan, Shuo; Peng, Zhenling; Zhang, Yang; Yang, Jianyi

2018-05-21

With the rapid increase of the number of protein structures in the Protein Data Bank, it becomes urgent to develop algorithms for efficient protein structure comparisons. In this article, we present the mTM-align server, which consists of two closely related modules: one for structure database search and the other for multiple structure alignment. The database search is speeded up based on a heuristic algorithm and a hierarchical organization of the structures in the database. The multiple structure alignment is performed using the recently developed algorithm mTM-align. Benchmark tests demonstrate that our algorithms outperform other peering methods for both modules, in terms of speed and accuracy. One of the unique features for the server is the interplay between database search and multiple structure alignment. The server provides service not only for performing fast database search, but also for making accurate multiple structure alignment with the structures found by the search. For the database search, it takes about 2-5 min for a structure of a medium size (∼300 residues). For the multiple structure alignment, it takes a few seconds for ∼10 structures of medium sizes. The server is freely available at: http://yanglab.nankai.edu.cn/mTM-align/.

Improvement of blood compatibility on polysulfone-polyvinylpyrrolidone blend films as a model membrane of dialyzer by physical adsorption of recombinant soluble human thrombomodulin (ART-123).

PubMed

Omichi, Masaaki; Matsusaki, Michiya; Maruyama, Ikuro; Akashi, Mitsuru

2012-01-01

ART-123 is a recombinant soluble human thrombomodulin (hTM) with potent anticoagulant activity, and is available for developing antithrombogenic surfaces by immobilization. We focused on improving blood compatibility on the dialyzer surface by the physical adsorption of ART-123 as a safe yet simple method without using chemical reagents. The physical adsorption mechanism and anticoagulant activities of adsorbed hTM on the surface of a polysulfone (PSF) membrane containing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a model dialyzer were investigated in detail. The PVP content of the PSF-PVP films was saturated at 20 wt% after immersion in Tris-HCl buffer, even with the addition of over 20 wt% PVP. The surface morphology of the PSF-PVP films was strongly influenced by the PVP content, because PVP covered the outermost surface of the PSF-PVP films. The adsorption speed of hTM slowed dramatically with increasing PVP content up to 10 wt%, but the maximum adsorption amount of hTM onto the PSF-PVP film surface was almost the same, regardless of the PVP content. The PSF-PVP film with the physically adsorbed hTM showed higher protein C activity as compared to the PSF film, it showed excellent blood compatibility due to the protein C activity and the inhibition properties of platelet adhesion. The physical adsorption of hTM can be useful as a safe yet simple method to improve the blood compatibility of a dialyzer surface.

Laparoscopic lens fogging: solving a common surgical problem in standard and robotic laparoscopes via a scientific model.

PubMed

Manning, Todd G; Papa, Nathan; Perera, Marlon; McGrath, Shannon; Christidis, Daniel; Khan, Munad; O'Beirne, Richard; Campbell, Nicholas; Bolton, Damien; Lawrentschuk, Nathan

2018-03-01

Laparoscopic lens fogging (LLF) hampers vision and impedes operative efficiency. Attempts to reduce LLF have led to the development of various anti-fogging fluids and warming devices. Limited literature exists directly comparing these techniques. We constructed a model peritoneum to simulate LLF and to compare the efficacy of various anti-fogging techniques. Intraperitoneal space was simulated using a suction bag suspended within an 8 L container of water. LLF was induced by varying the temperature and humidity within the model peritoneum. Various anti-fogging techniques were assessed including scope warmers, FRED TM , Resoclear TM , chlorhexidine, betadine and immersion in heated saline. These products were trialled with and without the use of a disposable scope warmer. Vision scores were evaluated by the same investigator for all tests and rated according to a predetermined scale. Fogging was assessed for each product or technique 30 times and a mean vision rating was recorded. All products tested imparted some benefit, but FRED TM performed better than all other techniques. Betadine and Resoclear TM performed no better than the use of a scope warmer alone. Immersion in saline prior to insertion resulted in decreased vision ratings. The robotic scope did not result in LLF within the model. In standard laparoscopes, the most superior preventative measure was FRED TM utilised on a pre-warmed scope. Despite improvements in LLF with other products FRED TM was better than all other techniques. The robotic laparoscope performed superiorly regarding LLF compared to standard laparoscope.

A user interface framework for the Square Kilometre Array: concepts and responsibilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marassi, Alessandro; Brajnik, Giorgio; Nicol, Mark; Alberti, Valentina; Le Roux, Gerhard

2016-07-01

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is responsible for developing the SKA Observatory, the world's largest radio telescope, with eventually over a square kilometre of collecting area and including a general headquarters as well as two radio telescopes: SKA1-Mid in South Africa and SKA1-Low in Australia. The SKA project consists of a number of subsystems (elements) among which the Telescope Manager (TM) is the one involved in controlling and monitoring the SKA telescopes. The TM element has three primary responsibilities: management of astronomical observations, management of telescope hardware and software subsystems, management of data to support system operations and all stakeholders (operators, maintainers, engineers and science users) in achieving operational, maintenance and engineering goals. Operators, maintainers, engineers and science users will interact with TM via appropriate user interfaces (UI). The TM UI framework envisaged is a complete set of general technical solutions (components, technologies and design information) for implementing a generic computing system (UI platform). Such a system will enable UI components to be instantiated to allow for human interaction via screens, keyboards, mouse and to implement the necessary logic for acquiring or deriving the information needed for interaction. It will provide libraries and specific Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to implement operator and engineer interactive interfaces. This paper will provide a status update of the TM UI framework, UI platform and UI components design effort, including the technology choices, and discuss key challenges in the TM UI architecture, as well as our approaches to addressing them.

Evaluation of Petrifilms(TM) as a diagnostic test to detect bovine mastitis organisms in Kenya.

PubMed

Gitau, George K; Bundi, Royford M; Vanleeuwen, John; Mulei, Charles M

2013-03-01

The study purpose was to validate Petrifilms(TM) (3M Microbiology, 2005) against standard culture methods in the diagnosis of bovine mastitis organisms in Kenya. On 128 smallholder dairy cattle farms in Kenya, between June 21, 2010 and August 31, 2010, milk samples from 269 cows that were positive on California Mastitis Test (CMT) were cultured using standard laboratory culture methods and Petrifilms(TM) (Aerobic Count and Coliform Count -3M Microbiology, 2005), and results were compared. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common bacterium isolated (73 % of samples). Clinical mastitis was found in only three cows, and there were only two Gram-negative isolates, making it impossible to examine the agreement between the two tests for Gram-negative- or clinical mastitis samples. The observed agreement between the standard culture and Petrifilm(TM) (3M Microbiology, 2005) results for Gram-positive isolates was 85 %, and there was fair agreement beyond that expected due to chance alone, with a kappa (κ) of 0.38. Using culture results as a gold standard, the Petrifilms(TM) had a sensitivity of 90 % for Gram-positive samples and specificity of 51 %. With 87 % of CMT-positive samples resulting in Gram-positive pathogens cultured, there was a positive predictive value of 93 % and a negative predictive value of 43 %. Petrifilms(TM) should be considered for culture of mastitis organisms in developing countries, especially when Gram-positive bacteria are expected.

Thermal manipulations during broiler incubation alter performance of broilers to 70 days of age.

PubMed

Piestun, Y; Druyan, S; Brake, J; Yahav, S

2013-05-01

Recent decades have seen significant progress in the genetic selection of fast-growing broiler chickens. Whereas in many countries the average marketing age is 5 to 6 wk, the US, French, and other markets demand heavier broilers (~4 kg) that require a longer posthatching growing period. With greater age and greater BW, the ability to cope with hot weather conditions deteriorates, which can result in increased economic losses during periods of hot weather. Recent studies have demonstrated a long-lasting effect of intermittent thermal manipulation (TM) during embryogenesis, when it was applied for 12 h/d between embryonic (E) days E7 and E16, which was shown by improved thermotolerance during acute posthatching heat stress as well as improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) and breast muscle yield. The present study was designed to elucidate the effect of TM during embryogenesis on Cobb 500 broiler performance up to 70 d of age. Hatchability and male BW were not affected by TM, but TM females demonstrated a lower (P = 0.024) BW during the entire 70-d posthatching study. However, following embryonic TM, both sexes exhibited lower (P = 0.028 and P = 0.018 for males and females, respectively) feed intake and body temperature accompanied by improved FCR and greater breast muscle weight. In light of the present and previous studies, it was concluded that intermittent TM during broiler embryonic development had a long-lasting effect on energy balance that led to improved FCR and breast muscle yield.

PeTMbase: A Database of Plant Endogenous Target Mimics (eTMs).

PubMed

Karakülah, Gökhan; Yücebilgili Kurtoğlu, Kuaybe; Unver, Turgay

2016-01-01

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small endogenous RNA molecules, which regulate target gene expression at post-transcriptional level. Besides, miRNA activity can be controlled by a newly discovered regulatory mechanism called endogenous target mimicry (eTM). In target mimicry, eTMs bind to the corresponding miRNAs to block the binding of specific transcript leading to increase mRNA expression. Thus, miRNA-eTM-target-mRNA regulation modules involving a wide range of biological processes; an increasing need for a comprehensive eTM database arose. Except miRSponge with limited number of Arabidopsis eTM data no available database and/or repository was developed and released for plant eTMs yet. Here, we present an online plant eTM database, called PeTMbase (http://petmbase.org), with a highly efficient search tool. To establish the repository a number of identified eTMs was obtained utilizing from high-throughput RNA-sequencing data of 11 plant species. Each transcriptome libraries is first mapped to corresponding plant genome, then long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) transcripts are characterized. Furthermore, additional lncRNAs retrieved from GREENC and PNRD were incorporated into the lncRNA catalog. Then, utilizing the lncRNA and miRNA sources a total of 2,728 eTMs were successfully predicted. Our regularly updated database, PeTMbase, provides high quality information regarding miRNA:eTM modules and will aid functional genomics studies particularly, on miRNA regulatory networks.

Evaluation of Thematic Mapper data for mapping forest, agricultural and soil resources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Degloria, S.; Benson, A.; Dummer, K.; Fakhoury, E.

1985-01-01

Color composite TM film products which include TM5, TM4, and a visible band (TM1, TM2, or TM3) are superior to composites which exclude TM4 for discriminating most forest and agricultural cover types and estimating area proportions for inventory and sampling purposes. Clustering a subset of TM data results in a spectral class map which groups diverse forest cover types into spectrally and ecologically similar areas suitable for use as a stratification base in traditional forest inventory practices. Analysis of simulated Thematic Mapper data indicate that the location and number of TM spectral bands are suitable for detecting differences in major soil properties and characterizing soil spectral curve form and magnitude.

Development of a coupled FLEXPART-TM5 CO2 inverse modeling system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monteil, Guillaume; Scholze, Marko

2017-04-01

Inverse modeling techniques are used to derive information on surface CO2 fluxes from measurements of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The principle is to use an atmospheric transport model to compute the CO2 concentrations corresponding to a prior estimate of the surface CO2 fluxes. From the mismatches between observed and modeled concentrations, a correction of the flux estimate is computed, that represents the best statistical compromise between the prior knowledge and the new information brought in by the observations. Such "top-down" CO2 flux estimates are useful for a number of applications, such as the verification of CO2 emission inventories reported by countries in the framework of international greenhouse gas emission reduction treaties (Paris agreement), or for the validation and improvement of the bottom-up models used in future climate predictions. Inverse modeling CO2 flux estimates are limited in resolution (spatial and temporal) by the lack of observational constraints and by the very heavy computational cost of high-resolution inversions. The observational limitation is however being lifted, with the expansion of regional surface networks such as ICOS in Europe, and with the launch of new satellite instruments to measure tropospheric CO2 concentrations. To make an efficient use of these new observations, it is necessary to step up the resolution of atmospheric inversions. We have developed an inverse modeling system, based on a coupling between the TM5 and the FLEXPART transport models. The coupling follows the approach described in Rodenbeck et al., 2009: a first global, coarse resolution, inversion is performed using TM5-4DVAR, and is used to provide background constraints to a second, regional, fine resolution inversion, using FLEXPART as a transport model. The inversion algorithm is adapted from the 4DVAR algorithm used by TM5, but has been developed to be model-agnostic: it would be straightforward to replace TM5 and/or FLEXPART by other transport models, thus making it well suited to study transport model uncertainties. We will present preliminary European CO2 inversions using ICOS observations, and comparisons with TM5-4DVAR and TM3-STILT inversions. Reference: Rödenbeck, C., Gerbig, C., Trusilova, K., & Heimann, M. (2009). A two-step scheme for high-resolution regional atmospheric trace gas inversions based on independent models. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, 9(1), 1727-1756. http://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-9-1727-2009

Development of CO2 inversion system based on the adjoint of the global coupled transport model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belikov, Dmitry; Maksyutov, Shamil; Chevallier, Frederic; Kaminski, Thomas; Ganshin, Alexander; Blessing, Simon

2014-05-01

We present the development of an inverse modeling system employing an adjoint of the global coupled transport model consisting of the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) Eulerian transport model (TM) and the Lagrangian plume diffusion model (LPDM) FLEXPART. NIES TM is a three-dimensional atmospheric transport model, which solves the continuity equation for a number of atmospheric tracers on a grid spanning the entire globe. Spatial discretization is based on a reduced latitude-longitude grid and a hybrid sigma-isentropic coordinate in the vertical. NIES TM uses a horizontal resolution of 2.5°×2.5°. However, to resolve synoptic-scale tracer distributions and to have the ability to optimize fluxes at resolutions of 0.5° and higher we coupled NIES TM with the Lagrangian model FLEXPART. The Lagrangian component of the forward and adjoint models uses precalculated responses of the observed concentration to the surface fluxes and 3-D concentrations field simulated with the FLEXPART model. NIES TM and FLEXPART are driven by JRA-25/JCDAS reanalysis dataset. Construction of the adjoint of the Lagrangian part is less complicated, as LPDMs calculate the sensitivity of measurements to the surrounding emissions field by tracking a large number of "particles" backwards in time. Developing of the adjoint to Eulerian part was performed with automatic differentiation tool the Transformation of Algorithms in Fortran (TAF) software (http://www.FastOpt.com). This method leads to the discrete adjoint of NIES TM. The main advantage of the discrete adjoint is that the resulting gradients of the numerical cost function are exact, even for nonlinear algorithms. The overall advantages of our method are that: 1. No code modification of Lagrangian model is required, making it applicable to combination of global NIES TM and any Lagrangian model; 2. Once run, the Lagrangian output can be applied to any chemically neutral gas; 3. High-resolution results can be obtained over limited regions close to the monitoring sites (using the LPDM part), and at coarse resolution for the rest of the globe (using the Eulerian part), minimizing aggregation errors and computation cost. The adjoint of the coupled high-resolution Eulerian-Lagrangian model will be incorporated into the PYVAR CO2 variational inverse system (Chevallier et al., 2005). Chevallier, F., Fisher, M., Peylin, P., Serrar, S., Bousquet, P., Bréon, F.-M., Chédin, A., and Ciais, P.: Inferring CO2 sources and sinks from satellite observations: method and application to TOVS data, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D24309, doi:10.1029/2005JD006390, 2005.

Structural-Thermal-Optical-Performance (STOP) Model Development and Analysis of a Field-widened Michelson Interferometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scola, Salvatore J.; Osmundsen, James F.; Murchison, Luke S.; Davis, Warren T.; Fody, Joshua M.; Boyer, Charles M.; Cook, Anthony L.; Hostetler, Chris A.; Seaman, Shane T.; Miller, Ian J.;

TM4SF5 promotes metastatic behavior of cells in 3D extracellular matrix gels by reducing dependency on environmental cues

PubMed Central

Nam, Seo Hee; Cheong, Jin-Gyu; Jeong, Doyoung; Lee, Seo-Jin; Pan, Cheol-Ho; Jung, Jae Woo; Kim, Hye-Jin; Ryu, Jihye; Kim, Ji Eon; Kim, Somi; Cho, Chang Yun; Kang, Min-Kyung; Lee, Kyung-Min; Lee, Jung Weon

2017-01-01

Transmembrane 4 L six family member 5 (TM4SF5) is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and enhances migration in two-dimensional environments. Here, we investigated how TM4SF5 is involved in diverse pro-metastatic phenotypes in in vivo-like three-dimensional (3D) extracellular matrix gels. TM4SF5-positive cells aggressively formed invasive foci in 3D Matrigel, depending on TM4SF5-mediated signaling activity, cytoskeletal organization, and matrix metallopeptidase (MMP) 2-mediated extracellular remodeling, whereas TM4SF5-null cells did not. The TM4SF5-null cells did, however, form invasive foci in 3D Matrigel following inhibition of Rho-associated protein kinase or addition of collagen I, suggesting that collagen I compensated for TM4SF5 expression. Similarly, TM4SF5-positive cells expressing vascular endothelial-cadherin formed network-like vasculogenic mimicry in 3D Matrigel and collagen I mixture gels, whereas TM4SF5-negative cells in the mixture gels displayed the network structures only upon further treatment with epidermal growth factor. The foci formation also required MMP2-mediated remodeling of the extracellular matrix. Co-cultures exhibited TM4SF5-positive or cancer-associated fibroblasts at the outward edges of TM4SF5-null cell clusters. Compared with TM4SF5-null cells, TM4SF5-positive cells in 3D collagen gels showed a more invasive outgrowth with dramatic invadopodia. These observations suggest that TM4SF5 plays roles in the promotion of diverse metastatic properties with fewer environmental requirements than TM4SF5-negative cells. PMID:29137358

Depletion of autophagy-related genes ATG3 and ATG5 in Tenebrio molitor leads to decreased survivability against an intracellular pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes.

PubMed

Tindwa, Hamisi; Jo, Yong Hun; Patnaik, Bharat Bhusan; Noh, Mi Young; Kim, Dong Hyun; Kim, Iksoo; Han, Yeon Soo; Lee, Yong Seok; Lee, Bok Luel; Kim, Nam Jung

2015-01-01

Macroautophagy (autophagy) is an evolutionarily conserved catabolic process involved in physiological and developmental processes including cell survival, death, and innate immunity. Homologues of most of 36 originally discovered autophagy-related (ATG) genes in yeast have been characterized in higher eukaryotes including insects. In this study, the homologues of ATG3 (TmATG3) and ATG5 (TmATG5) were isolated from the coleopteran beetle, Tenebrio molitor by expressed sequence tag and RNAseq approaches. The cDNA of TmATG3 and TmATG5 comprise open-reading frame sizes of 963 and 792 bp encoding polypeptides of 320 and 263 amino acid residues, respectively. TmATG3 and TmATG5 mRNA are expressed in all developmental stages, and mainly in fat body and hemocytes of larvae. TmATG3 and TmATG5 showed an overall sequence identity of 58-95% to other insect Atg proteins. There exist clear one-to-one orthologs of TmATG3 and TmATG5 in Tribolium and that they clustered together in the gene tree. Depletion of TmATG3 and TmATG5 by RNA interference led to a significant reduction in survival ability of T. molitor larvae against an intracellular pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes. Six days post-Listeria challenge, the survival rate in the dsEGFP-injected (where EGFP is enhanced green fluorescent protein) control larvae was significantly higher (55%) compared to 4 and 3% for TmATG3 and TmATG5 double-stranded RNA injected larvae, respectively. These data suggested that TmATG3 and TmATG5 may play putative role in mediating autophagy-based clearance of Listeria in T. molitor model. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Modeling Cr-to-Tm and Cr-to-Tm-to-Ho energy transfer in YAG crystals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Swetits, John J.

1991-01-01

A systematic analysis of energy transfer processes in crystals of YAG doped with varying concentrations of Cr and Tm is described. Both spectral measurements and measurements of the temporal response to pulsed excitation are used to give independent determinations of the microscopic interaction parameter for Cr to Tm transfer. The different factors in influencing the temperature dependence of the Cr to Tm transfer are discussed. The dependence of the Tm cross-relaxation rate on Tm concentration is determined.

Operating Policies for Non- stationary Two-Echelon Inventory Systems for Reparable Items.

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-05-01

resupply policy. Even under an HCP, we might want to change the resupply policy at management igtervention times to reflect what we predict will happen...management is concerned with the worst performance predicted during the horizon. Regardless of the average performance over the horizon, management may not...locations in DCi(tm-ll tm ) and INi(tm-l tm) . Case 3 a: ASi(tm I ) > ASi(tm); INi(tm- lstm ) empty. Disposals must be made to lover the asset positions

Experimental and computational prediction of glass transition temperature of drugs.

PubMed

Alzghoul, Ahmad; Alhalaweh, Amjad; Mahlin, Denny; Bergström, Christel A S

2014-12-22

Glass transition temperature (Tg) is an important inherent property of an amorphous solid material which is usually determined experimentally. In this study, the relation between Tg and melting temperature (Tm) was evaluated using a data set of 71 structurally diverse druglike compounds. Further, in silico models for prediction of Tg were developed based on calculated molecular descriptors and linear (multilinear regression, partial least-squares, principal component regression) and nonlinear (neural network, support vector regression) modeling techniques. The models based on Tm predicted Tg with an RMSE of 19.5 K for the test set. Among the five computational models developed herein the support vector regression gave the best result with RMSE of 18.7 K for the test set using only four chemical descriptors. Hence, two different models that predict Tg of drug-like molecules with high accuracy were developed. If Tm is available, a simple linear regression can be used to predict Tg. However, the results also suggest that support vector regression and calculated molecular descriptors can predict Tg with equal accuracy, already before compound synthesis.

Chemomechanical Caries Removal: A Review & Study of an Indigen-ously Developed Agent (Carie Care (TM) Gel) In Children.

PubMed

Venkataraghavan, Karthik; Kush, Anil; Lakshminarayana, Cs; Diwakar, Latha; Ravikumar, Puja; Patil, Shankargouda; Karthik, Sandhya

2013-08-01

The invention and application of engine driven or rotary instruments in operative treatment of carious lesions has resulted in removal of considerable toothe structure. However, with the introduction of adhesive materials for restorations, and the advent of minimal cavity design this principle has been challenged and is now considered to be too destructive to the tooth structure during caries removal. A number of techniques are available for cutting tooth tissue. The chemo mechanical method of caries removal/treatment is considered to be less painful when compared to the traditional treatment method (use of drill). The present study was carried to study the effect of an indigenously developed caries removal agent viz. Carie Care (TM) & its effectiveness as a chemo mechanical caries removal agent. How to cite this article: Venkataraghavan K, Kush A, Lakshminarayana CS, Diwakar L, Ravikumar P, Patil S, Karthik S. Chemomechanical Caries Removal: A Review & Study of an Indigenously Developed Agent (Carie Care (TM) Gel) In Children. J Int Oral Health 2013; 5(4):84-90.

The Effect of Transcendental Meditation on Language Learning and GPA.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dodds, Dinah; And Others

An experiment was carried out at Lewis and Clark College to measure the effect of Transcendental Meditation (TM) on learning German. Three sections of first-year German were formed into a TM group, a TM-like group, and a control group. The TM group received training in TM given by two trained, experienced teachers. The TM-like section received…

Probing structure, thermochemistry, electron affinity, and magnetic moment of thulium-doped silicon clusters TmSi n (n = 3-10) and their anions with density functional theory.

PubMed

Huang, Xintao; Yang, Jucai

2017-12-26

The most stable structures and electronic properties of TmSi n (n = 3-10) clusters and their anions have been probed by using the ABCluster global search technique combined with the PBE, TPSSh, and B3LYP density functional methods. The results revealed that the most stable structures of neutral TmSi n and their anions can be regarded as substituting a Si atom of the ground state structure of Si n + 1 with a Tm atom. The reliable AEAs, VDEs and simulated PES of TmSi n (n = 3-10) are presented. Calculations of HOMO-LUMO gap revealed that introducing Tm atom to Si cluster can improve photochemical reactivity of the cluster. The NPA analyses indicated that the 4f electron of Tm atom in TmSi n (n = 3-10) and their anions do not participate in bonding. The total magnetic moments of TmSi n are mainly provided by the 4f electrons of Tm atom. The dissociation energy of Tm atom from the most stable structure of TmSi n and their anions has been calculated to examine relative stability.

Comparative study of high power Tm:YLF and Tm:LLF slab lasers in continuous wave regime.

PubMed

Berrou, Antoine; Collett, Oliver J P; Morris, Daniel; Esser, M J Daniel

2018-04-16

We report on Tm:YLF and Tm:LLF slab lasers (1.5 x 11 x 20 mm 3 ) end pumped from one end with a high-brightness 792 nm laser diode stack. These two lasers are compared under identical pump conditions in continuous-wave regime. A stronger negative thermal lens in Tm:LLF than in Tm:YLF is highlighted, making it more difficult to operate the Tm:LLF laser under stable lasing conditions. In a configuration where the high reflectivity cavity mirror has a radius of curvature of r = 150 mm, the Tm:YLF (Tm:LLF) laser produces a maximum output power of 150 W (143 W) for 428 W of incident pump power (respectively). For a second cavity configuration where the high reflectivity cavity mirror has a radius of curvature of r = 500 mm, the Tm:YLF laser produces a maximum output power of 164 W for 412 W of incident pump power and a 57% slope efficiency with respect to the absorbed pump power. The emitted wavelength of these two lasers are measured as a function of the output coupler reflectivity and it shows that Tm:LLF laser emits at a longer wavelength than Tm:YLF.

Molecular characterization of novel mucosotropic papillomaviruses from a Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris).

PubMed

2015-12-01

We isolated two new manatee papillomavirus (PV) types, TmPV3 and TmPV4, from a Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris). Two PV types were previously isolated from this species. TmPV1 is widely dispersed amongst manatees and a close-to-root PV; not much is known about TmPV2. The genomes of TmPV3 and TmPV4 were 7622 and 7771 bp in size, respectively. Both PVs had a genomic organization characteristic of all PVs, with one non-coding region and seven ORFs, including the E7 ORF that is absent in other cetacean PVs. Although these PVs were isolated from separate genital lesions of the same manatee, an enlarged E2/E4 ORF was found only in the TmPV4 genome. The full genome and L1 sequence similarities between TmPV3 and TmPV4 were 63.2 and 70.3 %, respectively. These genomes shared only 49.1 and 50.2 % similarity with TmPV1. The pairwise alignment of L1 nucleotide sequences indicated that the two new PVs nested in a monophyletic group of the genus Rhopapillomavirus, together with the cutaneotropic TmPV1 and TmPV2.

Comparative study of optical and scintillation properties of Tm3+:YAG, and Tm3+:LuAG single crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujimoto, Yutaka; Sugiyama, Makoto; Yanagida, Takayuki; Wakahara, Shingo; Suzuki, Shotaro; Kurosawa, Shunsuke; Chani, Valery; Yoshikawa, Akira

2013-09-01

The optical and scintillation properties of Tm3+-doped yttrium aluminum garnet Y3Al5O12 (YAG) and Tm3+-doped lutetium aluminum garnet Lu3Al5O12 (LuAG) are compared. The Tm3+-doped single crystals were grown by the micro-pulling down (μ-PD) technique. Both crystals demonstrated some emission peaks originated from 4f-4f forbidden transition of Tm3+ under 241Am alpha-ray excitation. The scintillation decay time of Tm3+-doped YAG was similar to that of LuAG. When irradiated by the gamma-rays from a 137Cs source, the relative scintillation light yields of Tm:YAG was 90% greater than that of Tm:LuAG.

Effect of leaf variables on visible, near-infrared and mid-infrared reflectance of excised leaves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bell, R.; Labovitz, M. L.; Ludwig, R. W.

1983-01-01

Effects of an imposed (excised) leaf orientation, differing species and differing venation patterns on reflectance measurements in the LANDSAT-4 thematic mapper (TM) channels TM3 (0.63 to 0.69 microns), TM4 (0.76 to 0.90 microns), and TM5 (1.55 to 1.75 microns) were investigated. Orientation of leaves (random vs. systematic placement) was found to affect measurements in the TM4 channel, but not the TM3 and TM5 measurements. Venation caused no significant changes for any band. Azimuth of incident radiation was not a significant main effect, but in conjunction with changes in orientation, angle did have a significant effect on reflectance values in TM3, TM4 and TM5. Specific differences were highly significant (P f or = 0.006) in all but one borderline (P F or = 0.0222) case for TM5. For spectral examination of excised leaves, the sampling arrangement of the leaves should as closely approximate in situ positioning as possible (with respect to remote sensing instrumentation). This dictates a random rather than aligned arrangement.

Software for Automated Reading of STEP Files by I-DEAS(trademark)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinedo, John

2003-01-01

A program called "readstep" enables the I-DEAS(tm) computer-aided-design (CAD) software to automatically read Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP) files. (The STEP format is one of several used to transfer data between dissimilar CAD programs.) Prior to the development of "readstep," it was necessary to read STEP files into I-DEAS(tm) one at a time in a slow process that required repeated intervention by the user. In operation, "readstep" prompts the user for the location of the desired STEP files and the names of the I-DEAS(tm) project and model file, then generates an I-DEAS(tm) program file called "readstep.prg" and two Unix shell programs called "runner" and "controller." The program "runner" runs I-DEAS(tm) sessions that execute readstep.prg, while "controller" controls the execution of "runner" and edits readstep.prg if necessary. The user sets "runner" and "controller" into execution simultaneously, and then no further intervention by the user is required. When "runner" has finished, the user should see only parts from successfully read STEP files present in the model file. STEP files that could not be read successfully (e.g., because of format errors) should be regenerated before attempting to read them again.

The free-fall mode experiment on LISA Pathfinder: first results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giusteri, Roberta; LPF Collaboration

2017-05-01

The LISA Pathfinder space mission is testing the critical experimental challenge for LISA by measuring the differential acceleration between two free-falling test masses inside a single co-orbiting spacecraft at a level of sub-femto-g for frequencies down to 0.1mHz. In LPF it is necessary that one test mass (TM) is electrostatically forced to follow the orbit of the other TM. This force represents a noise source in differential acceleration at frequencies below 1mHz. The free-fall mode experiment has been performed in order to reduce this source of noise: the actuation is limited to short impulses on one TM, so that it is in free fall between two successive kicks, while the other TM is drag-free. The free-fall mode thus provides a different technique for measuring the differential TM acceleration without the added force noise and calibration issues introduced by the actuator. Data analysis challenge is related to the presence of the kicks: they represent a high-noise contribution and need to be removed, thus leaving short gaps in data. This article presents preliminary data of the LPF free-fall measurement campaign and describes the three data analysis techniques developed to mitigate the presence of gaps.

Ammonium tetrathiomolybdate treatment targets the copper transporter ATP7A and enhances sensitivity of breast cancer to cisplatin

PubMed Central

Wong, Ada Hang-Heng; Vazquez-Ortiz, Guelaguetza; Chen, Weiping; Xu, Xiaoling; Deng, Chu-Xia

2016-01-01

Cisplatin is an effective breast cancer drug but resistance often develops over prolonged chemotherapy. Therefore, we performed a candidate approach RNAi screen in combination with cisplatin treatment to identify molecular pathways conferring survival advantages. The screen identified ATP7A as a therapeutic target. ATP7A is a copper ATPase transporter responsible for intercellular movement and sequestering of cisplatin. Pharmaceutical replacement for ATP7A by ammonium tetrathiomolybdate (TM) enhanced cisplatin treatment in breast cancer cells. Allograft and xenograft models in athymic nude mice treated with cisplatin/TM exhibited retarded tumor growth, reduced accumulation of cancer stem cells and decreased cell proliferation as compared to mono-treatment with cisplatin or TM. Cisplatin/TM treatment of cisplatin-resistant tumors reduced ATP7A protein levels, attenuated cisplatin sequestering by ATP7A, increased nuclear availability of cisplatin, and subsequently enhanced DNA damage and apoptosis. Microarray analysis of gene ontology pathways that responded uniquely to cisplatin/TM double treatment depicted changes in cell cycle regulation, specifically in the G1/S transition. These findings offer the potential to combat platinum-resistant tumors and sensitize patients to conventional breast cancer treatment by identifying and targeting the resistant tumors' unique molecular adaptations. PMID:27806319

Yellow mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor) inclusion in diets for male broiler chickens: effects on growth performance, gut morphology, and histological findings.

PubMed

Biasato, I; Gasco, L; De Marco, M; Renna, M; Rotolo, L; Dabbou, S; Capucchio, M T; Biasibetti, E; Tarantola, M; Sterpone, L; Cavallarin, L; Gai, F; Pozzo, L; Bergagna, S; Dezzutto, D; Zoccarato, I; Schiavone, A

2018-02-01

This study evaluated the effects of Tenebrio molitor (TM) larvae meal inclusion in diets for broilers. A total of 160 male broiler chicks (Ross 708) at one-day of age were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments: a control (C) group and three TM groups, in which TM meal was included at 50 (TM5), 100 (TM10), and 150 (TM15) g/kg, respectively. The experimental diets were isonitrogenous and isoenergetic. Each group consisted of five pens as replicates (8 chicks/pen). After the evaluation of growth performance and haematochemical parameters, the animals were slaughtered at 53 days and carcass traits were recorded. Morphometric investigations were performed on duodenum, jejunum, and ileum and histopathological alterations were assessed for liver, spleen, thymus, bursa of Fabricius, kidney, and heart. The live weight (LW) showed a linear (12 and 25 days, P < 0.001 and P < 0.05, maximum with TM15 and TM10) and quadratic (53 days, P < 0.05, maximum with TM5) response to dietary TM meal inclusion. A linear (1 to 12 and 12 to 25 days, P < 0.001, maximum with TM15) and quadratic (12 to 25 days, P = 0.001, maximum with TM15) effect was also observed for the daily feed intake (DFI). The feed conversion ratio (FCR) showed a linear response (25 to 53 and 1 to 53 days, P = 0.001 and P < 0.05, maximum with TM15). Haematological and serum biochemical traits, carcass traits and histopathological findings were not affected by dietary TM meal inclusion (P > 0.05). TM15 birds showed lower villus height (P < 0.05), higher crypt depth (P < 0.05), and lower villus height to crypt depth ratio (P = 0.001) compared with C and TM5. In conclusion, increasing levels of dietary TM meal inclusion in male broiler chickens may improve body weight and feed intake, but negatively affect feed efficiency and intestinal morphology, thus suggesting that low levels may be more suitable. However, no effect on haematochemical parameters, carcass traits, and histological findings were observed in relation to TM meal utilization. © 2017 Poultry Science Association Inc.

Characterizing differences between MSCs and TM cells: Toward autologous stem cell therapies for the glaucomatous trabecular meshwork.

PubMed

Snider, Eric J; Vannatta, R Taylor; Schildmeyer, Lisa; Stamer, W Daniel; Ethier, C Ross

2018-03-01

Glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness, is characterized by an increase in intraocular pressure, which is largely determined by resistance to aqueous humour outflow through the trabecular meshwork (TM). In glaucoma, the cellularity of the TM is decreased, and, as a result, stem cell therapies for the TM represent a potential therapeutic option for restoring TM function and treating glaucoma patients. We here focus on adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a potential autologous cell source for TM regenerative medicine applications and describe characterization techniques at the messenger (reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction), protein (western blotting, flow cytometry), and functional (contractility, phagocytosis) levels to distinguish MSCs from TM cells. We present a panel of 12 transcripts to allow: (a) suitable normalization of reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction results across cell types and after exposure to potential differentiation stimuli; (b) distinguishing MSCs from TM cells; (c) distinguishing subtypes of TM cells; and (d) distinguishing TM cells from those in neighbouring tissue. At the protein level, dexamethasone induction of myocilin was a robust discriminating factor between MSCs and TM cells and was complemented by other protein markers. Finally, we show that contractility and phagocytosis differ between MSCs and TM cells. These methods are recommended for use in future differentiation studies to fully define if a functional TM-like phenotype is being achieved. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The path of a click stimulus from ear canal to umbo.

PubMed

Milazzo, Mario; Fallah, Elika; Carapezza, Michael; Kumar, Nina S; Lei, Jason H; Olson, Elizabeth S

2017-03-01

The tympanic membrane (TM) has a key role in transmitting sounds to the inner ear, but a concise description of how the TM performs this function remains elusive. This paper probes TM operation by applying a free field click stimulus to the gerbil ear and exploring the consequent motions of the TM and umbo. Motions of the TM were measured both on radial tracks starting close to the umbo and on a grid distal and adjacent to the umbo. The experimental results confirmed the high fidelity of sound transmission from the ear canal to the umbo. A delay of 5-15 μs was seen in the onset of TM motion between points just adjacent to the umbo and mid-radial points. The TM responded with a ringing motion, with different locations possessing different primary ringing frequencies. A simple analytic model from the literature, treating the TM as a string, was used to explore the experimental results. The click-based experiments and analysis led to the following description of TM operation: A transient sound pressure on the TM causes a transient initial TM motion that is maximal ∼ at the TM's radial midpoints. Mechanical forces generated by this initial prominent TM distortion then pull the umbo inward, leading to a delayed umbo response. The initial TM deformation also gives rise to prolonged mechanical ringing on the TM that does not result in significant umbo motion, likely due to destructive interference from the range of ringing frequencies. Thus, the umbo's response is a high-fidelity representation of the transient stimulus. Because any sound can be considered as a consecutive series of clicks, this description is applicable to any sound stimulus. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Text Mining the History of Medicine.

PubMed

Thompson, Paul; Batista-Navarro, Riza Theresa; Kontonatsios, Georgios; Carter, Jacob; Toon, Elizabeth; McNaught, John; Timmermann, Carsten; Worboys, Michael; Ananiadou, Sophia

2016-01-01

Historical text archives constitute a rich and diverse source of information, which is becoming increasingly readily accessible, due to large-scale digitisation efforts. However, it can be difficult for researchers to explore and search such large volumes of data in an efficient manner. Text mining (TM) methods can help, through their ability to recognise various types of semantic information automatically, e.g., instances of concepts (places, medical conditions, drugs, etc.), synonyms/variant forms of concepts, and relationships holding between concepts (which drugs are used to treat which medical conditions, etc.). TM analysis allows search systems to incorporate functionality such as automatic suggestions of synonyms of user-entered query terms, exploration of different concepts mentioned within search results or isolation of documents in which concepts are related in specific ways. However, applying TM methods to historical text can be challenging, according to differences and evolutions in vocabulary, terminology, language structure and style, compared to more modern text. In this article, we present our efforts to overcome the various challenges faced in the semantic analysis of published historical medical text dating back to the mid 19th century. Firstly, we used evidence from diverse historical medical documents from different periods to develop new resources that provide accounts of the multiple, evolving ways in which concepts, their variants and relationships amongst them may be expressed. These resources were employed to support the development of a modular processing pipeline of TM tools for the robust detection of semantic information in historical medical documents with varying characteristics. We applied the pipeline to two large-scale medical document archives covering wide temporal ranges as the basis for the development of a publicly accessible semantically-oriented search system. The novel resources are available for research purposes, while the processing pipeline and its modules may be used and configured within the Argo TM platform.

Text Mining the History of Medicine

PubMed Central

Thompson, Paul; Batista-Navarro, Riza Theresa; Kontonatsios, Georgios; Carter, Jacob; Toon, Elizabeth; McNaught, John; Timmermann, Carsten; Worboys, Michael; Ananiadou, Sophia

2016-01-01

Historical text archives constitute a rich and diverse source of information, which is becoming increasingly readily accessible, due to large-scale digitisation efforts. However, it can be difficult for researchers to explore and search such large volumes of data in an efficient manner. Text mining (TM) methods can help, through their ability to recognise various types of semantic information automatically, e.g., instances of concepts (places, medical conditions, drugs, etc.), synonyms/variant forms of concepts, and relationships holding between concepts (which drugs are used to treat which medical conditions, etc.). TM analysis allows search systems to incorporate functionality such as automatic suggestions of synonyms of user-entered query terms, exploration of different concepts mentioned within search results or isolation of documents in which concepts are related in specific ways. However, applying TM methods to historical text can be challenging, according to differences and evolutions in vocabulary, terminology, language structure and style, compared to more modern text. In this article, we present our efforts to overcome the various challenges faced in the semantic analysis of published historical medical text dating back to the mid 19th century. Firstly, we used evidence from diverse historical medical documents from different periods to develop new resources that provide accounts of the multiple, evolving ways in which concepts, their variants and relationships amongst them may be expressed. These resources were employed to support the development of a modular processing pipeline of TM tools for the robust detection of semantic information in historical medical documents with varying characteristics. We applied the pipeline to two large-scale medical document archives covering wide temporal ranges as the basis for the development of a publicly accessible semantically-oriented search system. The novel resources are available for research purposes, while the processing pipeline and its modules may be used and configured within the Argo TM platform. PMID:26734936

Lessons from "A Really Useful Engine"[TM]: Using Thomas the Tank Engine[TM] to Examine the Relationship between Play as a Leading Activity, Imagination and Reality in Children's Contemporary Play Worlds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards, Susan

2011-01-01

This paper examines Vygotsky's conception of play as a leading activity in the contexts of children's contemporary play worlds. Commencing with an examination of the relationship between leading activities and the development of psychological functions, the paper moves into a consideration of the relationship between imagination and reality as a…

Diagnostic evaluations of microwave generated helium and nitrogen plasma mixtures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haraburda, Scott S.; Hawley, Martin C.; Dinkel, Duane W.

1990-01-01

The goal of this work is to continue the development to fundamentally understand the plasma processes as applied to spacecraft propulsion. The diagnostic experiments used are calorimetric, dimensional, and spectroscopic measurements using the TM 011 and TM 012 modes in the resonance cavity. These experimental techniques are highly important in furthering the understanding of plasma phenomena and of designing rocket thrusters. Several experimental results are included using nitrogen and helium gas mixtures.

Discrete mathematical model of wave diffraction on pre-fractal impedance strips. TM mode case

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nesvit, K. V.

2013-10-01

In this paper a transverse magnetic (TM) wave diffraction problem on pre-fractal impedance strips is considered. The overall aim of this work is to develop a discrete mathematical model of the boundary integral equations (IEs) with the help of special quadrature formulas with the nodes in the zeros of Chebyshev polynomials and to perform a numerical experiments with the help of an efficient discrete singularities method (DSM).

Development of a Nanotechnology Platform for Prostate Cancer Gene Therapy

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

NUMBER OF PAGES 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON USAMRMC a. REPORT U b . ABSTRACT U c. THIS PAGE U UU 19b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (include...condense pDNA into nano-size particles (nanocarriers), b ) a PC-3 specific targeting motif (TM) to target prostate cancer cells, c) an endosome...particles (nanocarriers), b ) a PC-3 specific targeting motif (TM) to target prostate cancer cells, c) an endosome disrupting motif (EDM) to disrupt

Detecting biotic and hydrogeochemical processes in large peat basins with Landsat TM imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glaser, Paul H.

1989-01-01

A survey was made of three large peat basins in boreal North America with Landsat TM imagery and field sampling. False-color composites composed of Bands 2, 3, and 4 are particularly effective in discriminating the major vegetation types and the important hydrogeochemical processes in these peatlands. This imagery indicates that the discharge of alkaline groundwater provides one of the most important regional and local controls on peatland development.

Comparison of telemedicine with in-person care for follow-up after elective neurosurgery: results of a cost-effectiveness analysis of 1200 patients using patient-perceived utility scores.

PubMed

Thakar, Sumit; Rajagopal, Niranjana; Mani, Subramaniyan; Shyam, Maya; Aryan, Saritha; Rao, Arun S; Srinivasa, Rakshith; Mohan, Dilip; Hegde, Alangar S

2018-05-01

OBJECTIVE The utility of telemedicine (TM) in neurosurgery is underexplored, with most of the studies relating to teletrauma or telestroke programs. In this study, the authors evaluate the cost-effectiveness of TM consultations for follow-up care of a large population of patients who underwent neurosurgical procedures. METHODS A decision-analytical model was used to assess the cost-effectiveness of TM for elective post-neurosurgical care patients from a predominantly nonurban cohort in West Bengal, India. The model compared TM care via a nodal center in West Bengal to routine, in-person, per-episode care at the provider site in Bangalore, India. Cost and effectiveness data relating to 1200 patients were collected for a 52-month period. The effectiveness of TM care was calculated using efficiency in terms of the percentage of successful TM consultations, as well as patient-perceived utility values for overall experience of the type of health care access that they received. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) analysis was done using the 4-quadrant charting of the cost-effectiveness plane. One-way sensitivity and tornado analyses were performed to identify thresholds where the care strategy would change. RESULTS The overall utility for the 3 TM scenarios was found to be higher (89%) than for the utility of routine care (80%). TM was found to be more cost-effective (Indian rupee [INR] 2630 per patient) compared to routine care (INR 6848 per patient). The TM strategy "dominates" that of routine care by being more effective and less expensive (ICER value of -39,400 INR/unit of effectiveness). Sensitivity analysis revealed that cost-effectiveness of TM was most sensitive to changes in the number of TM patients, utility and success rate of TM, and travel distance to the TM center. CONCLUSIONS TM care dominates the in-person care strategy by providing more effective and less expensive follow-up care for a remote post-neurosurgical care population in India. In the authors' setting, this benefit of TM is sustainable even if half the TM consultations turn out to be unsuccessful. The viability of TM as a cost-effective care protocol is attributed to a combination of factors, like an adequate patient volume utilizing TM, patient utility, success rate of TM, and the patient travel distance.

Development and characterization of a microheater array device for real-time DNA mutation detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Layne; Okandan, Murat; Chagovetz, Alex; Blair, Steve

2008-04-01

DNA analysis, specifically single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection, is becoming increasingly important in rapid diagnostics and disease detection. Temperature is often controlled to help speed reaction rates and perform melting of hybridized oligonucleotides. The difference in melting temperatures, Tm, between wild-type and SNP sequences, respectively, to a given probe oligonucleotide, is indicative of the specificity of the reaction. We have characterized Tm's in solution and on a solid substrate of three sequences from known mutations associated with Cystic Fibrosis. Taking advantage of Tm differences, a microheater array device was designed to enable individual temperature control of up to 18 specific hybridization events. The device was fabricated at Sandia National Laboratories using surface micromachining techniques. The microheaters have been characterized using an IR camera at Sandia and show individual temperature control with minimal thermal cross talk. Development of the device as a real-time DNA detection platform, including surface chemistry and associated microfluidics, is described.

Development and characterization of a microheater array device for real-time DNA mutation detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Layne; Okandan, Murat; Chagovetz, Alex; Blair, Steve

2008-02-01

DNA analysis, specifically single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection, is becoming increasingly important in rapid diagnostics and disease detection. Temperature is often controlled to help speed reaction rates and perform melting of hybridized oligonucleotides. The difference in melting temperatures, Tm, between wild-type and SNP sequences, respectively, to a given probe oligonucleotide, is indicative of the specificity of the reaction. We have characterized Tm's in solution and on a solid substrate of three sequences from known mutations associated with Cystic Fibrosis. Taking advantage of Tm differences, a microheater array device was designed to enable individual temperature control of up to 18 specific hybridization events. The device was fabricated at Sandia National Laboratories using surface micromachining techniques. The microheaters have been characterized using an IR camera at Sandia and show individual temperature control with minimal thermal cross talk. Development of the device as a real-time DNA detection platform, including surface chemistry and associated microfluidics, is described.

Affordable Earth Observatories for Developing Countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meurer, R. H.

Traditionally high cost has been the principal impediment to developing nations desiring to pursue space programs. More particularly, the benefits derivable from a space system have been less than adequate to justify the investment required. Chief among the causes has been the inability of the system to produce results with sufficient direct economic value to the peoples of their countries. Over the past 15 years, however, "the Microspace Revolution" has resulted in dramatic reductions in the cost of space systems, while at the same time technology has improved to provide greater capabilities in the smallest micro- and nano-class1 satellites. Because of these advances, it behooves developing nations to reevaluate space as an option for their national development. This paper summarizes two new micro-satellite concepts - NanoObservatoryTM and MicroObservatoryTM that offer the prom- ise of a dedicated Earth remote sensing capability at costs comparable to or less than simply buying data from the best known large systems, Landsat and SPOT. Each system is defined both by its observation capabilities and technical parameters of the system's design. Moreover, the systems are characterized in terms of the other potential benefits to developing economies, i.e., education of a technical workforce or applications of Earth imagery in solving national needs. Comparisons are provided with more traditional Earth observing satellites. NanoObservatoryTM is principally intended to serve as a developmental system to build general technical expertise space technology and Earth observation. MicroObservatoryTM takes the next step by focusing on a more sophisticated optical imag- ing camera while keeping the spacecraft systems simple and affordable. For both programs, AeroAstro is working with non- profit institutions to develop a corresponding program of technical participation with the nations that elect to pursue such programs. Dependent upon current capabilities, this might include the actual manufacture of selected components with the system. The status and development plans of both Observatories are discussed along with the established partnerships. 1

A Mosaicking Approach for In Vivo Thickness Mapping of the Human Tympanic Membrane Using Low Coherence Interferometry.

PubMed

Pande, Paritosh; Shelton, Ryan L; Monroy, Guillermo L; Nolan, Ryan M; Boppart, Stephen A

2016-10-01

The thickness of the human tympanic membrane (TM) is known to vary considerably across different regions of the TM. Quantitative determination of the thickness distribution and mapping of the TM is of significant importance in hearing research, particularly in mathematical modeling of middle-ear dynamics. Change in TM thickness is also associated with several middle-ear pathologies. Determination of the TM thickness distribution could therefore also enable a more comprehensive diagnosis of various otologic diseases. Despite its importance, very limited data on human TM thickness distribution, obtained almost exclusively from ex vivo samples, are available in the literature. In this study, the thickness distribution for the in vivo human TM is reported for the first time. A hand-held imaging system, which combines a low coherence interferometry (LCI) technique for single-point thickness measurement, with video-otoscopy for recording the image of the TM, was used to collect the data used in this study. Data were acquired by pointing the imaging probe over different regions of the TM, while simultaneously recording the LCI and concomitant TM surface video image data from an average of 500 locations on the TM. TM thickness distribution maps were obtained by mapping the LCI imaging sites onto an anatomically accurate wide-field image of the TM, which was generated by mosaicking the sequence of multiple small field-of-view video-otoscopy images. Descriptive statistics of the thickness measurements obtained from the different regions of the TM are presented, and the general thickness distribution trends are discussed.

Development of a Convergent Spray Technologies(tm) Spray Process for a Solventless Sprayable Coating, MCC-1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patel, Anil K.; Meeks, C.

1998-01-01

This paper discusses the application of Convergent Spray Technologies (TM) Spray Process to the development and successful implementation of Marshall Convergent Coating (MCC-1) as a primary Thermal Protection System (TPS) for the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). This paper discusses the environmental and process benefits of the MCC-1 technology, shows the systematic steps taken in developing the technology, including statistical sensitivity studies of about 35 variables. Based on the process and post-flight successes on the SRB, it will be seen that the technology is "field-proven". Application of this technology to other aerospace and commercial programs is summarized to illustrate the wide range of possibilities.

Can Natural Language Processing Improve the Efficiency of Vaccine Adverse Event Report Review?

PubMed

Baer, B; Nguyen, M; Woo, E J; Winiecki, S; Scott, J; Martin, D; Botsis, T; Ball, R

2016-01-01

Individual case review of spontaneous adverse event (AE) reports remains a cornerstone of medical product safety surveillance for industry and regulators. Previously we developed the Vaccine Adverse Event Text Miner (VaeTM) to offer automated information extraction and potentially accelerate the evaluation of large volumes of unstructured data and facilitate signal detection. To assess how the information extraction performed by VaeTM impacts the accuracy of a medical expert's review of the vaccine adverse event report. The "outcome of interest" (diagnosis, cause of death, second level diagnosis), "onset time," and "alternative explanations" (drug, medical and family history) for the adverse event were extracted from 1000 reports from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) using the VaeTM system. We compared the human interpretation, by medical experts, of the VaeTM extracted data with their interpretation of the traditional full text reports for these three variables. Two experienced clinicians alternately reviewed text miner output and full text. A third clinician scored the match rate using a predefined algorithm; the proportion of matches and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Review time per report was analyzed. Proportion of matches between the interpretation of the VaeTM extracted data, compared to the interpretation of the full text: 93% for outcome of interest (95% CI: 91-94%) and 78% for alternative explanation (95% CI: 75-81%). Extracted data on the time to onset was used in 14% of cases and was a match in 54% (95% CI: 46-63%) of those cases. When supported by structured time data from reports, the match for time to onset was 79% (95% CI: 76-81%). The extracted text averaged 136 (74%) fewer words, resulting in a mean reduction in review time of 50 (58%) seconds per report. Despite a 74% reduction in words, the clinical conclusion from VaeTM extracted data agreed with the full text in 93% and 78% of reports for the outcome of interest and alternative explanation, respectively. The limited amount of extracted time interval data indicates the need for further development of this feature. VaeTM may improve review efficiency, but further study is needed to determine if this level of agreement is sufficient for routine use.

Secondary Forest Age and Tropical Forest Biomass Estimation Using TM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nelson, R. F.; Kimes, D. S.; Salas, W. A.; Routhier, M.

1999-01-01

The age of secondary forests in the Amazon will become more critical with respect to the estimation of biomass and carbon budgets as tropical forest conversion continues. Multitemporal Thematic Mapper data were used to develop land cover histories for a 33,000 Square kM area near Ariquemes, Rondonia over a 7 year period from 1989-1995. The age of the secondary forest, a surrogate for the amount of biomass (or carbon) stored above-ground, was found to be unimportant in terms of biomass budget error rates in a forested TM scene which had undergone a 20% conversion to nonforest/agricultural cover types. In such a situation, the 80% of the scene still covered by primary forest accounted for over 98% of the scene biomass. The difference between secondary forest biomass estimates developed with and without age information were inconsequential relative to the estimate of biomass for the entire scene. However, in futuristic scenarios where all of the primary forest has been converted to agriculture and secondary forest (55% and 42% respectively), the ability to age secondary forest becomes critical. Depending on biomass accumulation rate assumptions, scene biomass budget errors on the order of -10% to +30% are likely if the age of the secondary forests are not taken into account. Single-date TM imagery cannot be used to accurately age secondary forests into single-year classes. A neural network utilizing TM band 2 and three TM spectral-texture measures (bands 3 and 5) predicted secondary forest age over a range of 0-7 years with an RMSE of 1.59 years and an R(Squared) (sub actual vs predicted) = 0.37. A proposal is made, based on a literature review, to use satellite imagery to identify general secondary forest age groups which, within group, exhibit relatively constant biomass accumulation rates.

Phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography characterization of pulse-induced trabecular meshwork displacement in ex vivo non-human primate eyes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Peng; Reif, Roberto; Zhi, Zhongwei; An, Lin; Martin, Elizabeth; Shen, Tueng T.; Johnstone, Murray; Wang, Ruikang K.

2013-03-01

Purpose. It is suspected that the abnormalities of aqueous outflow pump composed of trabecular meshwork (TM) and Schlemm's canal (SC) results in the increased outflow resistance and then elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in initial glaucoma. In order to explore the casual mechanism and the early diagnosis of glaucoma, the dynamic characterizations of aqueous outflow pump were explored. Methods. As a functional extension of optical coherence tomography (OCT), tissue Doppler OCT (tissue-DOCT) method capable of measuring the slow tissue movement was developed. The tissue-DOCT imaging was conducted on the corneo-scleral limbus of 4 monkey eyes. The eye was mounted in an anterior segment holder, together with a perfusion system to control the mean IOP and to induce the cyclic IOP transients with amplitude 3 mm Hg at frequency 1 pulse/second. IOP was monitored on-line by a pressure transducer. Tissue-DOCT data and pressure data were recorded simultaneously. The IOP-transient induced Doppler velocity, displacement and strain rate of TM and the normalized area of SC were quantified at 7 different mean IOPs (5, 8, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 mm Hg). Results. The outflow system, including TM, SC and CCs, was visualized in the micro-structural imaging. The IOP-transient induced pulsatile TM movement and SC deformation were detected and quantified by tissue-DOCT. The TM movement was depth-dependent and the largest movement was located in the area closest to SC endothelium (SCE). Both the pulsations of TM and SC were found to be synchronous with the IOP pulse wave. At 8 mm Hg IOP, the global TM movement was around 0.65μm during one IOP transient. As IOP elevated, a gradual attenuation of TM movement and SC deformation was observed. Conclusions. The observed pulsation of TM and SC induced by the pulsatile IOP transients was in good agreement with the predicated role of TM and SC acting as a biomechanical pump (pumping aqueous from anterior chamber into SC and from SC into CCs) in the aqueous outflow system. As the IOP elevated, the attenuated pulsation amplitude of the aqueous outflow pump indicated the failure of the mechanical pump and the increase of aqueous outflow resistance. The promising results revealed the potential of using the proposed tissue-DOCT for diagnosis and associated therapeutic guidance of the initial and progressive glaucoma process by monitoring the pulsation of the outflow pump.

Temperature dependence of LRE-HRE-TM thin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zuoyi; Cheng, Xiaomin; Lin, Gengqi; Li, Zhen; Huang, Zhixin; Jin, Fang; Wang, Xianran; Yang, Xiaofei

2003-04-01

Temperature dependence of the properties of RE-TM thin films is very important for MO recording. In this paper, we studied the temperature dependence of the magnetic and magneto-optical properties of the amorphous LRE-HRE-TM single layer thin films and LRE-HRE-TM/HRE-TM couple-bilayered thin films. For LRE-HRE-TM single layer thin films, the temperature dependence of the magnetization was investigated by using the mean field theory. The experimental and theoretical results matched very well. With the LRE substitution in HRE-TM thin film, the compensation temperature Tcomp decreased and the curie temperature Tc remained unchanged. Kerr rotation angle became larger and the saturation magnetization Ms at room temperature increased. For LRE-HRE-TM/HRE-TM couple-bilayered thin films, comparisons of the temperature dependences of the coercivities and Kerr rotation angles were made between isolated sublayers and couple-bilayered thin film.

Measurement of the 169Tm(n,3n) 167Tm cross section and the associated branching ratios in the decay of 167Tm [Measurement of the 169Tm(n,3n) 167Tm cross section and the branching ratios in the decay of 167Tm

DOE PAGES

Champine, B.; Gooden, M. E.; Krishichayan, .; ...

2016-01-14

The cross section for the 169Tm(n,3n) 167Tm reaction was measured from 17 to 22 MeV using quasimonoenergetic neutrons produced by the 2H(d,n) 3He reaction. This energy range was studied to resolve the discrepancy between previous (n,3n) cross-section measurements. In addition, the absolute γ-ray branching ratios following the electron-capture decay of 167Tm were measured. Furthermore, these results provide more reliable nuclear data for an important diagnostic that is used at the National Ignition Facility to estimate the yield of reaction-in-flight neutrons produced via the inertial-confinement-fusion plasma in deuterium-tritium capsules.

Human plasminogen kringle 1-5 inhibits angiogenesis and induces thrombomodulin degradation in a protein kinase A-dependent manner.

PubMed

Cho, Chia-Fong; Chen, Po-Ku; Chang, Po-Chiao; Wu, Hau-Lin; Shi, Guey-Yueh

2013-10-01

Kringle 1-5 (K1-5), an endogenous proteolytic fragment of human plasminogen (Plg), is an angiostatin-related protein that inhibits angiogenesis. Many angiostatin-related proteins have been identified, but the detailed molecular mechanisms underlying their antiangiogenic effects remain unclear. Thrombomodulin (TM) is a transmembrane glycoprotein that plays a major role in the anticoagulation process in endothelial cells. Previously, we demonstrated that recombinant TM could interact with Plg to enhance Plg activation. In the present study, we investigated the interaction between TM and K1-5, and their functions in endothelial cells. We found that K1-5 colocalized with TM and directly interacted with TM through the TM lectin-like domain. After K1-5 interacted with TM, it induced TM internalization and degradation. In addition, the K1-5-induced TM internalization and degradation in proteasomes after ubiquitin modification were dependent on protein kinase A (PKA). Moreover, a PKA-specific inhibitor reversed the effects of K1-5 on cell migration and tube formation. Consistent with these findings, TM overexpression resulted in increased cell migration; moreover, K1-5 inhibited the increase of TM-mediated cell migration in a PKA-dependent manner. We determined that TM acts as a K1-5 receptor and that K1-5 induces TM internalization, ubiquitination, and degradation through the PKA pathway, by which K1-5 may inhibit endothelial cell migration and tube formation. © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ligand-induced conformational changes in the Bacillus subtilis chemoreceptor McpB determined by disulfide crosslinking in vivo.

PubMed

Szurmant, Hendrik; Bunn, Michael W; Cho, Stephen H; Ordal, George W

2004-12-03

Previously, we characterized the organization of the transmembrane (TM) domain of the Bacillus subtilis chemoreceptor McpB using disulfide crosslinking. Cysteine residues were engineered into serial positions along the two helices through the membrane, TM1 and TM2, as well as double mutants in TM1 and TM2, and the extent of crosslinking determined to characterize the organization of the TM domain. In this study, the organization of the TM domain was studied in the presence and absence of ligand to address what ligand-induced structural changes occur. We found that asparagine caused changes in crosslinking rate on all residues along the TM1-TM1' helical interface, whereas the crosslinking rate for almost all residues along the TM2-TM2' interface did not change. These results indicated that helix TM1 rotated counterclockwise and that TM2 did not move in respect to TM2' in the dimer on binding asparagine. Interestingly, intramolecular crosslinking of paired substitutions in 34/280 and 38/273 were unaffected by asparagine, demonstrating that attractant binding to McpB did not induce a "piston-like" vertical displacement of TM2 as seen for Trg and Tar in Escherichia coli. However, these paired substitutions produced oligomeric forms of receptor in response to ligand. This must be due to a shift of the interface between different receptor dimers, within previously suggested trimers of dimers, or even higher order complexes. Furthermore, the extent of disulfide bond formation in the presence of asparagine was unaffected by the presence of the methyl-modification enzymes, CheB and CheR, or the coupling proteins, CheW and CheV, demonstrating that these proteins must have local structural effects on the cytoplasmic domain that is not translated to the entire receptor. Finally, disulfide bond formation was also unaffected by binding proline to McpC. We conclude that ligand-binding induced a conformational change in the TM domain of McpB dimers as an excitation signal that is likely propagated within the cytoplasmic region of receptors and that subsequent adaptational events do not affect this new TM domain conformation.

Cysteine Substitution of Transmembrane Domain Amino Acids Alters the Ethanol Inhibition of GluN1/GluN2A N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptors

PubMed Central

Xu, Minfu; Smothers, C. Thetford

2015-01-01

N-Methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are inhibited by behaviorally relevant concentrations of ethanol, and residues within transmembrane (TM) domains of NMDARs, including TM3 GluN1 phenylalanine 639 (F639), regulate this sensitivity. In the present study, we used cysteine (C) mutagenesis to determine whether there are additional residues within nearby TM domains that regulate ethanol inhibition on NMDARs. GluN1(F639C)/GluN2A receptors were less inhibited by ethanol than wild-type receptors, and inhibition was restored to wild-type levels following treatment with ethanol-like methanethiosulfonate reagents. Molecular modeling identified six residues in the GluN1 TM1 domain (valine V566; serine S569) and the GluN2A TM4 domain (methionine, M817; V820, F821, and leucine, L824) that were in close vicinity to the TM3 F639 residue, and these were individually mutated to cysteine and tested for ethanol inhibition and receptor function. The F639C-induced decrease in ethanol inhibition was blunted by coexpression of GluN1 TM1 mutants V566C and S569C, and statistically significant interactions were observed for ethanol inhibition among V566C, F639C, and GluN2A TM4 mutants V820C and F821C and S569C, F639C, and GluN2A TM4 mutants F821C and L824C. Ethanol inhibition was also reduced when either GluN1 TM1 mutant V566C or S569C was combined with GluN2A V820C, suggesting a novel TM1:TM4 intrasubunit site of action for ethanol. Cysteines substituted at TM3 and TM4 sites previously suggested to interact with ethanol had less dramatic effects on ethanol inhibition. Overall, the results from these studies suggest that interactions among TM1, TM3, and TM4 amino acids in NMDARs are important determinants of ethanol action at these receptors. PMID:25635140

Indicators of inappropriate tumour marker use through the mining of electronic health records.

PubMed

Gion, Massimo; Cardinali, Giulia; Trevisiol, Chiara; Zappa, Marco; Rainato, Giulia; Fabricio, Aline S C

2017-08-01

Although the issue of monitoring appropriateness of tumour markers (TMs) request in outpatients remains crucial, proper indicators are still demanding. The present study developed and explored indicators of inappropriate TM ordering in outpatients through the data mining of electronic health records (EHRs). Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alfa-fetoprotein (AFP), carbohydrate antigen (CA)125, CA15.3, CA19.9, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ordered in outpatients during a year were examined by mining EHRs of a Local Health Authority in Italy. Evidence-based criteria were used to develop performance indicators. Demographic and clinical information associated with TM orders were examined. A total of 80 813 TMs were ordered in 52 536 outpatients (1.54 markers/patient). Indicators related to disease codes, gender, age, and TM repetitions were developed, and their application showed that (1) CA15.3 and CEA are prevalently requested in patients with cancer (79.2% and 65.6%) whereas the other TMs are largely requested also in patients without cancer; (2) requests of PSA in women and of CA125 or CA15.3 in men are negligible; (3) although requests in people older than 80 years are relevant (16.4% of total), the highest rate of request of all markers occurs in patients aged 40 to 79 years; (4) CA15.3 and CEA are mainly requested in cancer cases between 50 and 79 years and AFP, CA19.9, and CA125 in those between 60 and 69 years; (5) <50% of PSA orders are associated with cancer code for all age intervals; and (6) multiple repetitions of AFP, CA125, CA15.3, CA19.9, and CEA are prevalent in cancer patients or benign diseases to which TMs are appropriate, whereas PSA repetitions occur mainly in patients without cancer. The developed indicators resulted suitable to monitor TM overordering in outpatients through the mining of EHRs. The present study is a first approach towards the use of big-data mining for TM appropriateness evaluation purposes. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[Transverse myelitis associated with toxocariasis and the importance of locally produced antibodies for diagnosis].

PubMed

Ural, Serap; Özer, Behiye; Gelal, Fazıl; Dirim Erdoğan, Derya; Sezak, Nurbanu; Balık, Recep; Demirdal, Tuna; Korkmaz, Metin

2016-07-01

Toxocariasis caused by Toxocara canis or less frequently by T.catis is a common parasitic infection worldwide. Clinical spectrum in humans can vary from asymptomatic infection to serious organ disfunction depending on the load of parasite, migration target of the larva and the inflammatory response of the host. Transverse myelitis (TM) due to toxocariasis is an uncommon illness identified mainly as case reports in literature. In this report, a case of TM who was diagnosed as neurotoxocariasis by serological findings has been presented. A 44-year-old male patient complained with backache was diagnosed as TM in a medical center in which he has admitted two years ago, and treated with pregabalin and nonsteroidal drugs for six months. Because of the progression of the lesions he readmitted to another center and treated with high dose steroid therapy for three months. After six months of follow up, improvement has been achieved, however, since his symptoms reccurred in the following year he was admitted to our hospital. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination revealed a TM in a lower segment of spinal cord. He was suffering with weakness and numbness in the left lower extremity. There was no history of rural life or contact with cats or dogs in his anamnesis. Physical examination revealed normal cranial nerve functions, sensory and motor functions. There has been no pathological reflexes, and deep tendon reflexes were also normal. Laboratory findings yielded normal hemogram and biochemical tests, negative PPD and parasitological examination of stool were negative for cysts and ova. Viral hepatitis markers, anti-HIV, toxoplasma-IgM, CMV-IgM, rubella-IgM, EBV-VCA-IgM, VDRL, Brucella tube agglutination, echinococcus antibody, autoantibody tests and neuromyelitis optica test were negative. Examination of CSF showed 20 cells/mm3 (mononuclear cells), 45 mg/dl protein and normal levels of glucose and chlorine. In both serum and CSF samples of the patient Toxocara-IgG antibodies were detected by Western blot (WB) assay. Low molecular weight bands (30-40 kDa) were detected in both of the samples by repeated WB testing. CSF revealed more intense bands suggesting local antibody production. Therefore the patient was diagnosed as neurotoxocariasis, and treated with steroid and mebendazole for six weeks. Clinical improvement was detected in the case and thoracic MRI revealed significant improvement in myelitis signs two months after treatment. In conclusion, toxocariasis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of TM although the involvement of central nervous system is rare and serological testing should be performed properly in the serum and CSF samples for the diagnosis.

Algogenic substances and metabolic status in work-related Trapezius Myalgia: a multivariate explorative study.

PubMed

Gerdle, Björn; Kristiansen, Jesper; Larsson, Britt; Saltin, Bengt; Søgaard, Karen; Sjøgaard, Gisela

2014-10-28

This study compares the levels of algesic substances between subjects with trapezius myalgia (TM) and healthy controls (CON) and explores the multivariate correlation pattern between these substances, pain, and metabolic status together with relative blood flow changes reported in our previous paper (Eur J Appl Physiol 108:657-669, 2010). 43 female workers with (TM) and 19 females without (CON) trapezius myalgia were - using microdialysis - compared for differences in interstitial concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6), bradykinin (BKN), serotonin (5-HT), lactate dehydrogenas (LDH), substance P, and N-terminal propeptide of procollagen type I (PINP) in the trapezius muscle at rest and during repetitive/stressful work. These data were also used in multivariate analyses together with previously presented data (Eur J Appl Physiol 108:657-669, 2010): trapezius muscle blood flow, metabolite accumulation, oxygenation, and pain development and sensitivity. Substance P was significantly elevated in TM (p=0.0068). No significant differences were found in the classical algesic substances (p: 0.432-0.926). The multivariate analysis showed that blood flow related variables, interstitial concentrations of metabolic (pyruvate), and algesic (BKN and K+) substances were important for the discrimination of the subjects to one of the two groups (R2: 0.19-0.31, p<0.05). Pain intensity was positively associated with levels of 5-HT and K+ and negatively associated with oxygenation indicators and IL-6 in TM (R2: 0.24, p<0.05). A negative correlation existed in TM between mechanical pain sensitivity of trapezius and BKN and IL-6 (R2: 0.26-0.39, p<0.05). The present study increased understanding alterations in the myalgic muscle. When considering the system-wide aspects, increased concentrations of lactate, pyruvate and K+ and decreased oxygenation characterized TM compared to CON. There are three major possible explanations for this finding: the workers with pain had relatively low severity of myalgia, metabolic alterations preceded detectable alterations in levels of algesics, or peripheral sensitization and other muscle alterations existed in TM. Only SP of the investigated algesic substances was elevated in TM. Several of the algesics were of importance for the levels of pain intensity and mechanical pain sensitivity in TM. These results indicate peripheral contribution to maintenance of central nociceptive and pain mechanisms and may be important to consider when designing treatments.

Vaccine adverse event text mining system for extracting features from vaccine safety reports.

PubMed

Botsis, Taxiarchis; Buttolph, Thomas; Nguyen, Michael D; Winiecki, Scott; Woo, Emily Jane; Ball, Robert

2012-01-01

To develop and evaluate a text mining system for extracting key clinical features from vaccine adverse event reporting system (VAERS) narratives to aid in the automated review of adverse event reports. Based upon clinical significance to VAERS reviewing physicians, we defined the primary (diagnosis and cause of death) and secondary features (eg, symptoms) for extraction. We built a novel vaccine adverse event text mining (VaeTM) system based on a semantic text mining strategy. The performance of VaeTM was evaluated using a total of 300 VAERS reports in three sequential evaluations of 100 reports each. Moreover, we evaluated the VaeTM contribution to case classification; an information retrieval-based approach was used for the identification of anaphylaxis cases in a set of reports and was compared with two other methods: a dedicated text classifier and an online tool. The performance metrics of VaeTM were text mining metrics: recall, precision and F-measure. We also conducted a qualitative difference analysis and calculated sensitivity and specificity for classification of anaphylaxis cases based on the above three approaches. VaeTM performed best in extracting diagnosis, second level diagnosis, drug, vaccine, and lot number features (lenient F-measure in the third evaluation: 0.897, 0.817, 0.858, 0.874, and 0.914, respectively). In terms of case classification, high sensitivity was achieved (83.1%); this was equal and better compared to the text classifier (83.1%) and the online tool (40.7%), respectively. Our VaeTM implementation of a semantic text mining strategy shows promise in providing accurate and efficient extraction of key features from VAERS narratives.

High-speed holographic system for full-field transient vibrometry of the human tympanic membrane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dobrev, I.; Harrington, E. J.; Cheng, T.; Furlong, C.; Rosowski, J. J.

2014-07-01

Understanding of the human hearing process requires the quantification of the transient response of the human ear and the human tympanic membrane (TM or eardrum) in particular. Current state-of-the-art medical methods to quantify the transient acousto-mechanical response of the TM provide only averaged acoustic or local information at a few points. This may be insufficient to fully describe the complex patterns unfolding across the full surface of the TM. Existing engineering systems for full-field nanometer measurements of transient events, typically based on holographic methods, constrain the maximum sampling speed and/or require complex experimental setups. We have developed and implemented of a new high-speed (i.e., > 40 Kfps) holographic system (HHS) with a hybrid spatio-temporal local correlation phase sampling method that allows quantification of the full-field nanometer transient (i.e., > 10 kHz) displacement of the human TM. The HHS temporal accuracy and resolution is validated versus a LDV on both artificial membranes and human TMs. The high temporal (i.e., < 24 μs) and spatial (i.e., >100k data points) resolution of our HHS enables simultaneous measurement of the time waveform of the full surface of the TM. These capabilities allow for quantification of spatially-dependent motion parameters such as energy propagation delays surface wave speeds, which can be used to infer local material properties across the surface of the TM. The HHS could provide a new tool for the investigation of the auditory system with applications in medical research, in-vivo clinical diagnosis as well as hearing aids design.

Miniature fiber Bragg grating sensor interrogator (FBG-Transceiver) system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mendoza, Edgar A.; Kempen, Cornelia; Lopatin, Craig

2007-04-01

This paper describes recent progress conducted towards the development of a miniature fiber Bragg grating sensor interrogator (FBG-Transceiver TM) system based on multi-channel integrated optic sensor (InOSense TM) microchip technology. The hybrid InOSense TM microchip technology enables the integration of all of the functionalities, both passive and active, of conventional bench top FBG sensor interrogator systems, packaged in a miniaturized, low power operation, 2-cm x 5-cm package suitable for the long-term structural health monitoring in applications where size, weight, and power are critical for operation. The FBG-Transceiver system uses active optoelectronic components monolithically integrated to the InOSense TM microchip, a microprocessor controlled signal processing electronics board capable of processing the FBG sensors signals related to stress-strain and temperature as well as vibration and acoustics. The FBG-Transceiver TM system represents a new, reliable, highly robust technology that can be used to accurately monitor the status of an array of distributed fiber optic Bragg grating sensors installed in critical infrastructures. Its miniature package, low power operation, and state-of-the-art data communications architecture, all at a very affordable price makes it a very attractive solution for a large number of SHM/NDI applications in aerospace, naval and maritime industry, civil structures like bridges, buildings and dams, the oil and chemical industry, and for homeland security applications. The miniature, cost-efficient FBG-Transceiver TM system is poised to revolutionize the field of structural health monitoring and nondestructive inspection market. The sponsor of this program is NAVAIR under a DOD SBIR contract.

Cross-cultural analysis of the motor development of Brazilian, Greek and Canadian infants assessed with the Alberta Infant Motor Scale

PubMed Central

Saccani, Raquel; Valentini, Nadia Cristina

2013-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To compare the motor development of infants from three population samples (Brazil, Canada and Greece), to investigate differences in the percentile curves of motor development in these samples, and to investigate the prevalence of motor delays in Brazilian children. METHODS: Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study with 795 Brazilian infants from zero to 18 months of age, assessed by the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) at day care centers, nurseries, basic health units and at home. The Brazilian infants' motor scores were compared to the results of two population samples from Greece (424 infants) and Canada (2,400 infants). Descriptive statistics was used, with one-sample t-test and binomial tests, being significant p≤0.05. RESULTS: 65.4% of Brazilian children showed typical motor development, although with lower mean scores. In the beginning of the second year of life, the differences in the motor development among Brazilian, Canadian and Greek infants were milder; at 15 months of age, the motor development became similar in the three groups. A non-linear motor development trend was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The lowest motor percentiles of the Brazilian sample emphasized the need for national norms in order to correctly categorize the infant motor development. The different ways of motor development may be a consequence of cultural differences in infant care. PMID:24142318

Cross-cultural analysis of the motor development of Brazilian, Greek and Canadian infants assessed with the Alberta Infant Motor Scale.

PubMed

Saccani, Raquel; Valentini, Nadia Cristina

2013-09-01

To compare the motor development of infants from three population samples (Brazil, Canada and Greece), to investigate differences in the percentile curves of motor development in these samples, and to investigate the prevalence of motor delays in Brazilian children. Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study with 795 Brazilian infants from zero to 18 months of age, assessed by the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) at day care centers, nurseries, basic health units and at home. The Brazilian infants' motor scores were compared to the results of two population samples from Greece (424 infants) and Canada (2,400 infants). Descriptive statistics was used, with one-sample t-test and binomial tests, being significant p ≤ 0.05. 65.4% of Brazilian children showed typical motor development, although with lower mean scores. In the beginning of the second year of life, the differences in the motor development among Brazilian, Canadian and Greek infants were milder; at 15 months of age, the motor development became similar in the three groups. A non-linear motor development trend was observed. The lowest motor percentiles of the Brazilian sample emphasized the need for national norms in order to correctly categorize the infant motor development. The different ways of motor development may be a consequence of cultural differences in infant care.

Direct-Acting Antiviral Therapy Outcomes in Canadian Chronic Hepatitis C Telemedicine Patients.

PubMed

Cooper, Curtis L; Hatashita, Holly; Corsi, Daniel J; Parmar, Parmvir; Corrin, Raymond; Garber, Gary

Many of the 300,000 HCV-infected Canadians live in under-served and remote areas without access to HCV healthcare specialists. Telemedicine (TM) and advances in HCV management can facilitate linkage of these marginalized patients to healthcare. A cohort database analysis was performed on patients followed at The Ottawa Hospital and Regional Viral Hepatitis Program between January 2012 and August 2016. We compared patient characteristics, fibrosis work-up and antiviral treatment outcomes in TM (n = 157) and non-TM (n = 1,130) patients (The Ottawa Hospital Viral Hepatitis Outpatient Clinic) residing in Eastern Ontario. TM patients were more often infected with genotype 3 (25.9% vs. 16.4%), were more commonly Indigenous (7.0% vs. 2.2%) had a history of injection drug use (70.1% vs. 54.9%) and incarceration (46.5% vs 35.5%). Groups were comparable in age (48.9 years), gender (63.7% male) and cirrhotic stage (24.0%). 59.2% of TM patients underwent transient elastography during regional outreach blitzes compared to 61.8% of non-TM patients (p = 0.54). Overall, half as many TM patients initiated antiviral therapy as non-TM patients (27.4% vs. 53.8%, p < 0.001). The introduction of DAA regimens is bridging this gap (22.2% of TM patients vs. 34.3% of non-TM patients). SVR rates with interferon-free, DAA regimens were 94.7% and 94.8% in TM and non-TM groups (p = 0.99). Our TM program engages and retains a population that faces many barriers to effective HCV treatment. TM patients initiated HCV therapy and achieved High SVR rates comparable to those obtained using traditional models of care.

Effect of silica surface coating on the luminescence lifetime and upconversion temperature sensing properties of semiconductor zinc oxide doped with gallium(III) and sensitized with rare earth ions Yb(III) and Tm(III).

PubMed

Li, Yuemei; Li, Yongmei; Wang, Rui; Zheng, Wei

2018-02-26

Optical sensing of temperature by measurement of the ratio of the intensities of the 700 nm emission and the 800 nm emission of Ga(III)-doped ZnO (GZO) nanoparticles (NPs) and of GZO NPs coated with a silica shell are demonstrated at 980 nm excitation. It is found that the relative sensitivity of SiO 2 @Yb/Tm/GZO is 6.2% K -1 at a temperature of 693 K. This is ~3.4 times higher than that of Yb/Tm/GZO NPs. Obviously, the SiO 2 shell structure decreases the rate of the nonradiative decay. The decay time of the 800 nm emission of the Yb/Tm/GZO NPs (15 mol% Ga; 7 mol% Yb; 0.5 mol% Tm) displays a biexponential decay with a dominant decay time of 148 μs and a second decay time of ~412 μs. The lifetime of the Yb/Tm/GZO NPs at 293 K, and of the SiO 2 @Yb/Tm/GZO NPs are ~412 μs. Both the Yb/Tm/GZO and SiO 2 @Yb/Tm/GZO can be used up to 693 K. These results indicate that the SiO 2 shell on the Yb/Tm/GZO is beneficial in terms of sensitivity and resolution. Graphical abstract The enhancement the decay time and thermal sensitivity in the SiO 2 @Yb/Tm/GZO shell@core structure have been studied compared to the Ga(III)-doped Yb/Tm-doped ZnO (Yb/Tm/GZO). The SiO 2 @Yb/Tm/GZO have good thermal accuracy up to 693 °C.

The path of a click stimulus from earcanal to umbo

PubMed Central

Milazzo, Mario; Fallah, Elika; Carapezza, Michael; Kumar, Nina S.; Lei, Jason H.; Olson, Elizabeth S.

2017-01-01

The tympanic membrane (TM) has a key role in transmitting sounds to the inner ear, but a concise description of how the TM performs this function remains elusive. This paper probes TM operation by applying a free field click stimulus to the gerbil ear and exploring the consequent motions of the TM and umbo. Motions of the TM were measured both on radial tracks starting close to the umbo and on a grid distal and adjacent to the umbo. The experimental results confirmed the high fidelity of sound transmission from the ear canal to the umbo. A delay of 5 – 15 μs was seen in the onset of TM motion between points just adjacent to the umbo and mid-radial points. The TM responded with a ringing motion, with different locations possessing different primary ringing frequencies. A simple analytic model from the literature, treating the TM as a string, was used to explore the experimental results. The click-based experiments and analysis led to the following description of TM operation: A transient sound pressure on the TM causes a transient initial TM motion that is maximal ~ at the TM’s radial midpoints. Mechanical forces generated by this initial prominent TM distortion then pull the umbo inward, leading to a delayed umbo response. The initial TM deformation also gives rise to prolonged mechanical ringing on the TM that does not result in significant umbo motion, likely due to destructive interference from the range of ringing frequencies. Thus, the umbo’s response is a high-fidelity representation of the transient stimulus. Because any sound can be considered as a consecutive series of clicks, this description is applicable to any sound stimulus. PMID:28087416

Inhibition of allergic bronchial asthma by thrombomodulin is mediated by dendritic cells.

PubMed

Takagi, Takehiro; Taguchi, Osamu; Toda, Masaaki; Ruiz, Daniel Boveda; Bernabe, Paloma Gil; D'Alessandro-Gabazza, Corina N; Miyake, Yasushi; Kobayashi, Tetsu; Aoki, Shinya; Chiba, Fumiko; Yano, Yutaka; Conway, Edward M; Munesue, Seiichi; Yamamoto, Yasuhiko; Yamamoto, Hiroshi; Suzuki, Koji; Takei, Yoshiyuki; Morser, John; Gabazza, Esteban C

2011-01-01

bronchial asthma is caused by inappropriate acquired immune responses to environmental allergens. It is a major health problem, with a prevalence that is rapidly increasing. Curative therapy is not currently available. to test the hypothesis that thrombomodulin (TM) inhibits allergic bronchial asthma by inducing tolerogenic dendritic cells (DCs). the protective effect of TM was evaluated using a murine asthma model. Asthma was induced in mice by exposure to chicken egg ovalbumin, and the effects of inhaled TM or TM-treated DCs were assessed by administering before ovalbumin exposure. treatment with TM protects against bronchial asthma measured as improved lung function and reduced IgE and cells in alveolar lavage fluid by inducing tolerogenic dendritic dells. These are characterized by high expression of surface TM (CD141/TM(+)) and low expression of maturation markers and possess reduced T-cell costimulatory activity. The CD141/TM(+) DCs migrate less toward chemokines, and after TM treatment there are fewer DCs in the draining lymph node and more in the lungs. The TM effect is independent of its role in coagulation. Rather, it is mediated via the TM lectin domain directly interacting with the DCs. the results of this study show that TM is a modulator of DC immunostimulatory properties and a novel candidate drug for the prevention of bronchial asthma in atopic patients.

Thrombomodulin-mediated cell adhesion: involvement of its lectin-like domain.

PubMed

Huang, Huey-Chun; Shi, Guey-Yueh; Jiang, Shinn-Jong; Shi, Chung-Sheng; Wu, Chun-Mei; Yang, Hsi-Yuan; Wu, Hua-Lin

2003-11-21

Thrombomodulin (TM) is an integral membrane glycoprotein that is a potent anticoagulant factor. TM may also possess functions distinct from its anticoagulant activity. Here the influence of TM on cell adhesion was studied in TM-negative melanoma A2058 cells transfected with green fluorescent protein-tagged TM (TMG) or lectin domain-deleted TM (TMG(DeltaL)). Confocal microscopy demonstrated that both TMG and TMG(DeltaL) were distributed in the plasma membrane. TMG-expressed cells grew as closely clustered colonies, with TM localized prominently in the intercellular boundaries. TMG(DeltaL)-expressed cells grew singly. Overexpression of TMG, but not TMG(DeltaL), decreased monolayer permeability in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. The cell-to-cell adhesion in TMG-expressed cells was Ca2+-dependent and was inhibited by monoclonal antibody against the lectin-like domain of TM. The effects of TM-mediated cell adhesion were abolished by the addition of mannose, chondroitin sulfate A, or chondroitin sulfate C. In addition, anti-lectin-like domain antibody disrupted the close clustering of the endogenous TM-expressed keratinocyte HaCaT cell line derived from normal human epidermis. Double-labeling immunofluorescence staining revealed similar distributions of TM and actin filament in the cortex region of the TMG-expressed cells. Thus, TM can function as a Ca2+-dependent cell-to-cell adhesion molecule. Binding of specific carbohydrates to the lectin-like domain is essential for this specific function.

Self-renewal and circulating capacities of metastatic hepatocarcinoma cells required for collaboration between TM4SF5 and CD44

PubMed Central

Lee, Doohyung; Lee, Jung Weon

2015-01-01

Tumor metastasis involves circulating and tumor-initiating capacities of metastatic cancer cells. Hepatic TM4SF5 promotes EMT for malignant growth and migration. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) biomarkers remain unexplored for metastatic potential throughout metastasis. Here, novel TM4SF5/CD44 interaction-mediated self-renewal and circulating tumor cell (CTC) capacities were mechanistically explored. TM4SF5-dependent sphere growth was correlated with CD133+, CD24-, ALDH activity, and a physical association between CD44 and TM4SF5. The TM4SF5/CD44 interaction activated c-Src/STAT3/ Twist1/ B mi1 signaling for spheroid formation, while disturbing the interaction, expression, or activity of any component in this signaling pathway inhibited spheroid formation. In serial xenografts of less than 5,000 cells/injection, TM4SF5-positive tumors exhibited locally-increased CD44 expression, suggesting tumor cell differentiation. TM4SF5-positive cells were identified circulating in blood 4 to 6 weeks after orthotopic liver-injection. Anti-TM4SF reagents blocked their metastasis to distal intestinal organs. Altogether, our results provide evidence that TM4SF5 promotes self-renewal and CTC properties supported by CD133+/TM4SF5+/CD44+(TM4SF5-bound)/ALDH+/ CD24- markers during HCC metastasis. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(3): 127-128] PMID:25772760

Association between arsenic exposure and soluble thrombomodulin: A cross sectional study in Bangladesh

PubMed Central

Islam, Md. Shofikul; Rahman, Atiqur; Anjum, Adiba; Hossain, Faruk; Mohanto, Nayan Chandra; Karim, Md. Rezaul; Hoque, Md. Mominul; Saud, Zahangir Alam; Miyataka, Hideki; Himeno, Seiichiro; Hossain, Khaled

2017-01-01

Chronic exposure to arsenic is associated with increased morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, plausible biomarker for early prediction and the underlying mechanism of arsenic-related CVD have not yet been clearly understood. Endothelial dysfunction plays a central role in the development of CVD. We hypothesized that endothelial damage or dysfunction is an important aspect and may be an early event of arsenic-related CVD. Soluble thrombomodulin (sTM) in serum is thought to be a specific and stable marker for endothelial damage or dysfunction. This study was designed to evaluate the association between chronic exposure to arsenic and sTM among human subjects in arsenic-endemic and non-endemic rural areas in Bangladesh. A total of 321 study subjects (217 from arsenic-endemic areas and 104 from a non-endemic area) were recruited. Subjects’ arsenic exposure levels (i.e., drinking water, hair and nail arsenic concentrations) were measured by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy. The subjects’ serum sTM levels were quantified by immunoassay kit. The average sTM levels of the subjects in arsenic-endemic and non-endemic areas were 4.58 ± 2.20 and 2.84 ± 1.29 (ng mL-1) respectively, and the difference was significant (p<0.001). Arsenic exposure levels showed a significant (water arsenic: rs = 0.339, p<0.001, hair arsenic: rs = 0.352, p<0.001 and nail arsenic: rs = 0.308, p<0.001) positive associations with sTM levels. Soluble TM levels were higher in the higher exposure gradients if we stratified the subjects into tertile groups (low, medium and high) based on the arsenic concentrations of the subjects’ drinking water, hair and nails. Finally, increased levels of sTM were negatively correlated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and positively correlated with intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1). Results of this study show that chronic exposure to arsenic has mild to moderate association with sTM levels. PMID:28399171

The Severity of Retinal Degeneration in Rp1h Gene-Targeted Mice Is Dependent on Genetic Background

PubMed Central

Liu, Qin; Saveliev, Alexei; Pierce, Eric A.

2009-01-01

Purpose The severity of disease in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) can vary significantly, even among patients with the same primary mutations. It is hypothesized that modifier genes play important roles in determining the severity of RP, including the retinitis pigmentosa 1 (RP1) form of disease. To investigate the basis of variation in disease expression for RP1 disease, the authors generated congenic mice with a gene-targeted retinitis pigmentosa 1 homolog (Rp1h) allele (Rp1htm1Eap) on several different genetic backgrounds and analyzed their retinal phenotypes. Methods The Rp1htm1Eap allele was placed onto the C57BL/6J, DBA1/J, and A/J backgrounds. Retinal function of the resultant congenic mice was evaluated using electroretino-graphic analyses. Retinal structure and ultrastructure were evaluated using light and electron microscopy. Rp1h protein location was determined with immunofluorescence microscopy. Results Analysis of the retinal phenotype of incipient congenic (N6) B6.129S-Rp1h+/tm1Eap, DBA.129S(B6)-Rp1h+/tm1Eap, and A.129S(B6)-Rp1h+/tm1Eap mice at 1 year of age showed retinal degeneration only in the A.129S(B6)-Rp1h+/tm1Eap mice. Further analyses revealed that the photoreceptors of the fully congenic A.129S(B6)-Rp1h+/tm1Eap mice show evidence of degeneration at 6 months of age and are almost completely lost by 18 months of age. In contrast, the photoreceptor cells in the fully congenic B6.129S-Rp1h+/tm1Eap mice remain healthy up to 18 months. Conclusions The severity of the retinal degeneration caused by the Rp1htm1Eap allele is notably dependent on genetic background. The development and characterization of the B6.129S-Rp1h+/tm1Eap and A.129S(B6)-Rp1h+/tm1Eap congenic mouse lines will facilitate identification of sequence alterations in genes that modify the severity of RP1 disease. PMID:19060274

[Abdominal traumatic evisceration: reconstruction abdominal wall with biologic mesh and negative pressure therapy].

PubMed

Jiménez Gómez, M; Betancor Rivera, N; Lima Sánchez, J; Hernández Hernández, J R

2016-04-10

Abdominal traumatic evisceration as a result of high energy trauma is uncommon. Once repaired the possible internal damage, an abdominal wall defect of high complexity may exist, whose reconstruction represents a surgical challenge. Politraumatized male with important abdominal muculocutaneous avulsion and evisceration. After initial repair, the patient developed a big eventration in which we use a porcine dermis-derived mesh (Permacol TM ), a safe and effective alternative in abdominal wall repair, thanks to its seamless integration with other tissues, even when exposed. Negative pressure therapy has been used for the management of wound complications after surgical implantation of PermacolTM mesh. We describe our experience with the use of PermacolTM mesh and negative pressure therapy to aid the wound closure after skin necrosis and exposed mesh.

Use of Thematic Mapper for water quality assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horn, E. M.; Morrissey, L. A.

1984-01-01

The evaluation of simulated TM data obtained on an ER-2 aircraft at twenty-five predesignated sample sites for mapping water quality factors such as conductivity, pH, suspended solids, turbidity, temperature, and depth, is discussed. Using a multiple regression for the seven TM bands, an equation is developed for the suspended solids. TM bands 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 are used with logarithm conductivity in a multiple regression. The assessment of regression equations for a high coefficient of determination (R-squared) and statistical significance is considered. Confidence intervals about the mean regression point are calculated in order to assess the robustness of the regressions used for mapping conductivity, turbidity, and suspended solids, and by regressing random subsamples of sites and comparing the resultant range of R-squared, cross validation is conducted.

Landsat TM memory effect characterization and correction

USGS Publications Warehouse

Helder, D.; Boncyk, W.; Morfitt, R.

1997-01-01

Before radiometric calibration of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data can be done accurately, it is necessary to minimize the effects of artifacts present in the data that originate in the instrument's signal processing path. These artifacts have been observed in downlinked image data since shortly after launch of Landsat 4 and 5. However, no comprehensive work has been done to characterize all the artifacts and develop methods for their correction. In this paper, the most problematic artifact is discussed: memory effect (ME). Characterization of this artifact is presented, including the parameters necessary for its correction. In addition, a correction algorithm is described that removes the artifact from TM imagery. It will be shown that this artifact causes significant radiometry errors, but the effect can be removed in a straightforward manner.

Growth and spectral-luminescent study of SrMoO4 crystals doped with Tm3+ ions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunaeva, E. E.; Zverev, P. G.; Doroshenko, M. E.; Nekhoroshikh, A. V.; Ivleva, L. I.; Osiko, V. V.

2016-03-01

SrMoO4 crystals doped with Tm3+ ions have been produced from a melt using the Czochralski method; their spectral-luminescent characteristics have been studied, and laser radiation has been generated at the wavelength of 1.94 μm using laser-diode excitation. The high absorption section at the wavelength of 795 nm, the fairly high luminescence section, the long lifetime at the upper laser level 3F4 of 1.5 ms, and a wide luminescence band allow one to hope for developing efficient tunable Tm3+: SrMoO4 crystal lasers with diode pumping in the range of 1.7-2.0 μm, which are capable of implementing SRS self-transformation of radiation into the middle IR band.

Theoretical nozzle performance of a microwave electrothermal thruster using experimental data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haraburda, Scott S.; Hawley, Martin C.

1992-01-01

Research aimed at developing a fundamental understanding of the plasma processes as applied to spacecraft propulsion is presented. Calorimetric, photographic, and spectrophotometric measurements based on the TM011 and TM012 modes in the resonance cavity have been performed. The efficiency of a thruster has been calculated using a theoretical model for predicting temperature, velocity, and species density within the propellant. It is concluded that the microwave electrothermal thruster is a viable alternative to electrode thrusters.

VideoBeam portable laser communicator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mecherle, G. Stephen; Holcomb, Terry L.

1999-01-01

A VideoBeamTM portable laser communicator has been developed which provides full duplex communication links consisting of high quality analog video and stereo audio. The 3.2-pound unit resembles a binocular-type form factor and has an operational range of over two miles (clear air) with excellent jam-resistance and low probability of interception characteristics. The VideoBeamTM unit is ideally suited for numerous military scenarios, surveillance/espionage, industrial precious mineral exploration, and campus video teleconferencing applications.

Impact of Trace Minerals on Wound Healing of Footpad Dermatitis in Broilers.

PubMed

Chen, Juxing; Tellez, Guillermo; Escobar, Jeffery; Vazquez-Anon, Mercedes

2017-05-15

Footpad dermatitis (FPD) is used in the poultry industry as an animal welfare criterion to determine stocking density. Trace minerals (TM) play a role in skin integrity and wound healing. This study evaluated the impact of TM on FPD and consisted of 3 treatments supplemented with 0 (NTM), low (LTM) and high (HTM) TM levels in the same basal diet. On d21, 71% birds in all treatments developed mild FPD and pens were top-dressed with dry litter to promote FPD healing. Compared to NTM, LTM reduced area under the curve (AUC) of FPD lesion scores during d21-42, HTM reduced the AUC of FPD lesion scores during d7-21 and d21-42. LTM improved growth performance on d14, HTM improved growth performance on d14 and d28. LTM and/or HTM increased gene expression of VEGF, TIMP3, TIMP4, MMP13, ITGA2, ITGA3 and CD40, which promoted collagen synthesis, deposition and organization; cell migration, matrix remodeling, and angiogenesis. LTM and/or HTM increased inflammation by upregulating TNFα and IL-1β during the early wound healing phase and reduced inflammation by downregulating IL-1β during the late wound healing phase. Our findings showed that TM not only improved growth performance but also reduced FPD development by promoting FPD wound healing.

Performance evaluation and geologic utility of LANDSAT 4 TM and MSS scanners

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paley, H. N.

1983-01-01

Experiments using artificial targets (polyethylene sheets) to help calibrate and evaluate atmospheric effects as well as the radiometric precision and spatial characteristics of the NS-001 and TM sensor systems were attempted and show the technical feasibility of using plastic targets for such studies, although weather precluded successful TM data acquisition. Tapes for six LANDSAT 4 TM scenes were acquired and data processing began. Computer enhanced TM simulator and LANDSAT 4 TM data were compared for a porphyry copper deposit in Southern Arizona. Preliminary analyses performed on two TM scenes acquired in the CCT-PT format, show the TM data appear to contain a marked increase in geologically useful information; however, a number of instrumental processing artifacts may well limit the ability of the geologist to fully extract this information.

Hunting for the function of orphan GPCRs – beyond the search for the endogenous ligand

PubMed Central

Ahmad, Raise; Wojciech, Stefanie; Jockers, Ralf

2015-01-01

Seven transmembrane-spanning proteins (7TM), also called GPCRs, are among the most versatile and evolutionary successful protein families. Out of the 400 non-odourant members identified in the human genome, approximately 100 remain orphans that have not been matched with an endogenous ligand. Apart from the classical deorphanization strategies, several alternative strategies provided recent new insights into the function of these proteins, which hold promise for high therapeutic potential. These alternative strategies consist of the phenotypical characterization of organisms silenced or overexpressing orphan 7TM proteins, the search for constitutive receptor activity and formation of protein complexes including 7TM proteins as well as the development of synthetic, surrogate ligands. Taken together, a variety of ligand-independent functions can be attributed to orphan 7TM proteins that range from constitutive activity to complex formation with other proteins and include ‘true’ orphans for which no ligand exist and ‘conditional’ orphans that behave like orphans in the absence of ligand and as non-orphans in the presence of ligand. PMID:25231237

Altered intestinal bile salt biotransformation in a cystic fibrosis (Cftr-/-) mouse model with hepato-biliary pathology.

PubMed

Bodewes, Frank A J A; van der Wulp, Mariëtte Y M; Beharry, Satti; Doktorova, Marcela; Havinga, Rick; Boverhof, Renze; James Phillips, M; Durie, Peter R; Verkade, Henkjan J

2015-07-01

Cftr(-/-tm1Unc) mice develop progressive hepato-biliary pathology. We hypothesize that this liver pathology is related to alterations in biliary bile hydrophobicity and bile salt metabolism in Cftr(-/-tm1Unc) mice. We determined bile production, biliary and fecal bile salt- and lipid compositions and fecal bacterial composition of C57BL/6J Cftr(-/-tm1Unc) and control mice. We found no differences between the total biliary bile salt or lipid concentrations of Cftr(-/-) and controls. Compared to controls, Cftr(-/-) mice had a ~30% higher bile production and a low bile hydrophobicity, related to a ~7 fold higher concentration of the choleretic and hydrophilic bile salt ursocholate. These findings coexisted with a significantly smaller quantity of fecal Bacteroides bacteria. Liver pathology in Cftr(-/-tm1Unc) is not related to increased bile hydrophobicity. Cftr(-/-) mice do however display a biliary phenotype characterized by increased bile production and decreased biliary hydrophobicity. Our findings suggest Cftr dependent, alterations in intestinal bacterial biotransformation of bile salts. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Finite element modeling of sound transmission with perforations of tympanic membrane

PubMed Central

Gan, Rong Z.; Cheng, Tao; Dai, Chenkai; Yang, Fan; Wood, Mark W.

2009-01-01

A three-dimensional finite element (FE) model of human ear with structures of the external ear canal, middle ear, and cochlea has been developed recently. In this paper, the FE model was used to predict the effect of tympanic membrane (TM) perforations on sound transmission through the middle ear. Two perforations were made in the posterior-inferior quadrant and inferior site of the TM in the model with areas of 1.33 and 0.82 mm2, respectively. These perforations were also created in human temporal bones with the same size and location. The vibrations of the TM (umbo) and stapes footplate were calculated from the model and measured from the temporal bones using laser Doppler vibrometers. The sound pressure in the middle ear cavity was derived from the model and measured from the bones. The results demonstrate that the TM perforations can be simulated in the FE model with geometrical visualization. The FE model provides reasonable predictions on effects of perforation size and location on middle ear transfer function. The middle ear structure-function relationship can be revealed with multi-field coupled FE analysis. PMID:19603881

A new cable-tie based sternal closure system: description of the device, technique of implantation and first clinical evaluation

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Wire closure still remains the preferred technique despite reasonable disadvantages. Associated complications, such as infection and sternal instability, cause time- and cost-consuming therapies. We present a new tool for sternal closure with its first clinical experience and results. Methods The sternal ZipFixTM System is based on the cable-tie principle. It primarily consists of biocompatible Poly-Ether-Ether-Ketone implants and is predominantly used peristernally through the intercostal space. The system provides a large implant-to-bone contact for better force distribution and for avoiding bone cut through. Results 50 patients were closed with the ZipFixTM system. No sternal instability was observed at 30 days. Two patients developed a mediastinitis that necessitated the removal of the device; however, the ZipFixTM were intact and the sternum remained stable. Conclusions In our initial evaluation, the short-term results have shown that the sternal ZipFixTM can be used safely and effectively. It is fast, easy to use and serves as a potential alternative for traditional wire closure. PMID:22731778

Retrieval of land cover information under thin fog in Landsat TM image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Yuchun

2008-04-01

Thin fog, which often appears in remote sensing image of subtropical climate region, has resulted in the low image quantity and bad image mapping. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the image processing method to retrieve land cover information under thin fog. In this paper, the Landsat TM image near the Taihu Lake that is in the subtropical climate zone of China was used as an example, and the workflow and method used to retrieve the land cover information under thin fog have been built based on ENVI software and a single TM image. The basic step covers three parts: 1) isolating the thin fog area in image according to the spectral difference of different bands; 2) retrieving the visible band information of different land cover types under thin fog from the near-infrared bands according to the relationships between near-infrared bands and visible bands of different land cover types in the area without fog; 3) image post-process. The result showed that the method in the paper is easy and suitable, and can be used to improve the quantity of TM image mapping more effectively.

GrayQb TM Single-Faced Version 2 (SF2) Hanford Plutonium Reclamation Facility (PRF) deployment report

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

Plummer, J. R.; Immel, D. M.; Serrato, M. G.

2015-11-18

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) in partnership with CH2M Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) deployed the GrayQb TM SF2 radiation imaging device at the Hanford Plutonium Reclamation Facility (PRF) to assist in the radiological characterization of the canyon. The deployment goal was to locate radiological contamination hot spots in the PRF canyon, where pencil tanks were removed and decontamination/debris removal operations are on-going, to support the CHPRC facility decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) effort. The PRF canyon D&D effort supports completion of the CHPRC Plutonium Finishing Plant Decommissioning Project. The GrayQb TM SF2 (Single Faced Version 2) is a non-destructive examinationmore » device developed by SRNL to generate radiation contour maps showing source locations and relative radiological levels present in the area under examination. The Hanford PRF GrayQbTM Deployment was sponsored by CH2M Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) through the DOE Richland Operations Office, Inter-Entity Work Order (IEWO), DOE-RL IEWO- M0SR900210.« less

Trimeric transmembrane domain interactions in paramyxovirus fusion proteins: roles in protein folding, stability, and function.

PubMed

Smith, Everett Clinton; Smith, Stacy E; Carter, James R; Webb, Stacy R; Gibson, Kathleen M; Hellman, Lance M; Fried, Michael G; Dutch, Rebecca Ellis

2013-12-13

Paramyxovirus fusion (F) proteins promote membrane fusion between the viral envelope and host cell membranes, a critical early step in viral infection. Although mutational analyses have indicated that transmembrane (TM) domain residues can affect folding or function of viral fusion proteins, direct analysis of TM-TM interactions has proved challenging. To directly assess TM interactions, the oligomeric state of purified chimeric proteins containing the Staphylococcal nuclease (SN) protein linked to the TM segments from three paramyxovirus F proteins was analyzed by sedimentation equilibrium analysis in detergent and buffer conditions that allowed density matching. A monomer-trimer equilibrium best fit was found for all three SN-TM constructs tested, and similar fits were obtained with peptides corresponding to just the TM region of two different paramyxovirus F proteins. These findings demonstrate for the first time that class I viral fusion protein TM domains can self-associate as trimeric complexes in the absence of the rest of the protein. Glycine residues have been implicated in TM helix interactions, so the effect of mutations at Hendra F Gly-508 was assessed in the context of the whole F protein. Mutations G508I or G508L resulted in decreased cell surface expression of the fusogenic form, consistent with decreased stability of the prefusion form of the protein. Sedimentation equilibrium analysis of TM domains containing these mutations gave higher relative association constants, suggesting altered TM-TM interactions. Overall, these results suggest that trimeric TM interactions are important driving forces for protein folding, stability and membrane fusion promotion.

Trimeric Transmembrane Domain Interactions in Paramyxovirus Fusion Proteins

PubMed Central

Smith, Everett Clinton; Smith, Stacy E.; Carter, James R.; Webb, Stacy R.; Gibson, Kathleen M.; Hellman, Lance M.; Fried, Michael G.; Dutch, Rebecca Ellis

2013-01-01

Paramyxovirus fusion (F) proteins promote membrane fusion between the viral envelope and host cell membranes, a critical early step in viral infection. Although mutational analyses have indicated that transmembrane (TM) domain residues can affect folding or function of viral fusion proteins, direct analysis of TM-TM interactions has proved challenging. To directly assess TM interactions, the oligomeric state of purified chimeric proteins containing the Staphylococcal nuclease (SN) protein linked to the TM segments from three paramyxovirus F proteins was analyzed by sedimentation equilibrium analysis in detergent and buffer conditions that allowed density matching. A monomer-trimer equilibrium best fit was found for all three SN-TM constructs tested, and similar fits were obtained with peptides corresponding to just the TM region of two different paramyxovirus F proteins. These findings demonstrate for the first time that class I viral fusion protein TM domains can self-associate as trimeric complexes in the absence of the rest of the protein. Glycine residues have been implicated in TM helix interactions, so the effect of mutations at Hendra F Gly-508 was assessed in the context of the whole F protein. Mutations G508I or G508L resulted in decreased cell surface expression of the fusogenic form, consistent with decreased stability of the prefusion form of the protein. Sedimentation equilibrium analysis of TM domains containing these mutations gave higher relative association constants, suggesting altered TM-TM interactions. Overall, these results suggest that trimeric TM interactions are important driving forces for protein folding, stability and membrane fusion promotion. PMID:24178297

LibQUAL+[TM]: A Methodological Suite; Reliability and Structure of LibQUAL+[TM] Scores: Measuring Perceived Library Service Quality; Score Norms for Improving Library Service Quality: A LibQUAL+[TM] Study; ARL Index and Other Validity Correlates of LibQUAL+[TM] Scores.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heath, Fred M.; Thompson, Bruce; Cook, Colleen; Thompson, Russel L.; Kyrillidou, Martha

2002-01-01

Includes four articles that discuss LibQUAL+[TM], a collaborative effort of the Association of Research Libraries and Texas A&M University responding to the need for greater accountability in measuring the delivery of library services to research library users. Discusses the reliability of LibQUAL+[TM] scores in measuring perceived library…

Response of the human tympanic membrane to transient acoustic and mechanical stimuli: Preliminary results.

PubMed

Razavi, Payam; Ravicz, Michael E; Dobrev, Ivo; Cheng, Jeffrey Tao; Furlong, Cosme; Rosowski, John J

2016-10-01

The response of the tympanic membrane (TM) to transient environmental sounds and the contributions of different parts of the TM to middle-ear sound transmission were investigated by measuring the TM response to global transients (acoustic clicks) and to local transients (mechanical impulses) applied to the umbo and various locations on the TM. A lightly-fixed human temporal bone was prepared by removing the ear canal, inner ear, and stapes, leaving the incus, malleus, and TM intact. Motion of nearly the entire TM was measured by a digital holography system with a high speed camera at a rate of 42 000 frames per second, giving a temporal resolution of <24 μs for the duration of the TM response. The entire TM responded nearly instantaneously to acoustic transient stimuli, though the peak displacement and decay time constant varied with location. With local mechanical transients, the TM responded first locally at the site of stimulation, and the response spread approximately symmetrically and circumferentially around the umbo and manubrium. Acoustic and mechanical transients provide distinct and complementary stimuli for the study of TM response. Spatial variations in decay and rate of spread of response imply local variations in TM stiffness, mass, and damping. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Localizome: a server for identifying transmembrane topologies and TM helices of eukaryotic proteins utilizing domain information

PubMed Central

Lee, Sunghoon; Lee, Byungwook; Jang, Insoo; Kim, Sangsoo; Bhak, Jong

2006-01-01

The Localizome server predicts the transmembrane (TM) helix number and TM topology of a user-supplied eukaryotic protein and presents the result as an intuitive graphic representation. It utilizes hmmpfam to detect the presence of Pfam domains and a prediction algorithm, Phobius, to predict the TM helices. The results are combined and checked against the TM topology rules stored in a protein domain database called LocaloDom. LocaloDom is a curated database that contains TM topologies and TM helix numbers of known protein domains. It was constructed from Pfam domains combined with Swiss-Prot annotations and Phobius predictions. The Localizome server corrects the combined results of the user sequence to conform to the rules stored in LocaloDom. Compared with other programs, this server showed the highest accuracy for TM topology prediction: for soluble proteins, the accuracy and coverage were 99 and 75%, respectively, while for TM protein domain regions, they were 96 and 68%, respectively. With a graphical representation of TM topology and TM helix positions with the domain units, the Localizome server is a highly accurate and comprehensive information source for subcellular localization for soluble proteins as well as membrane proteins. The Localizome server can be found at . PMID:16845118

Response of the human tympanic membrane to transient acoustic and mechanical stimuli: Preliminary results

PubMed Central

Razavi, Payam; Ravicz, Michael E.; Dobrev, Ivo; Cheng, Jeffrey Tao; Furlong, Cosme; Rosowski, John J.

2016-01-01

The response of the tympanic membrane (TM) to transient environmental sounds and the contributions of different parts of the TM to middle-ear sound transmission were investigated by measuring the TM response to global transients (acoustic clicks) and to local transients (mechanical impulses) applied to the umbo and various locations on the TM. A lightly-fixed human temporal bone was prepared by removing the ear canal, inner ear, and stapes, leaving the incus, malleus, and TM intact. Motion of nearly the entire TM was measured by a digital holography system with a high speed camera at a rate of 42 000 frames per second, giving a temporal resolution of <24 μs for the duration of the TM response. The entire TM responded nearly instantaneously to acoustic transient stimuli, though the peak displacement and decay time constant varied with location. With local mechanical transients, the TM responded first locally at the site of stimulation, and the response spread approximately symmetrically and circumferentially around the umbo and manubrium. Acoustic and mechanical transients provide distinct and complementary stimuli for the study of TM response. Spatial variations in decay and rate of spread of response imply local variations in TM stiffness, mass, and damping. PMID:26880098

Directory of Organizational Technical Report Acronym Codes (DOTRAC)

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-07-01

TM - Technical memo report........................................................... TMR- Technical news bulletin...BETHESDA 418182 MD DTRC- TM -12 DAVID TAYLOR RESEARCH CENTER BETHESDA 418631 MD SHIP SYSTEMS INTEGRATION DEPT DTRC- TM -14 DAVID TAYLOR RESEARCH CENTER...BETHESDA 419277 MD SHIP ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNATURES DEPT DTRC- TM -15 DAVID TAYLOR RESEARCH CENTER BETHESDA 418173 MD SHIP HYDROMECHANICS DEPT DTRC- TM -16 DAVID

Strong and multi-antigen specific immunity by hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg)-based vaccines in a murine model of chronic hepatitis B: HBcAg is a candidate for a therapeutic vaccine against hepatitis B virus.

PubMed

Akbar, Sheikh Mohammad Fazle; Chen, Shiyi; Al-Mahtab, Mamun; Abe, Masanori; Hiasa, Yoichi; Onji, Morikazu

2012-10-01

Experimental evidence suggests that hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg)-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are essential for the control of hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication and prevention of liver damage in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). However, most immune therapeutic approaches in CHB patients have been accomplished with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-based prophylactic vaccines with unsatisfactory clinical outcomes. In this study, we prepared HBsAg-pulsed dendritic cells (DC) and HBcAg-pulsed DC by culturing spleen DC from HBV transgenic mice (HBV TM) and evaluated the immunomodulatory capabilities of these antigens, which may serve as a better therapy for CHB. The kinetics of HBsAg, antibody levels against HBsAg (anti-HBs), proliferation of HBsAg- and HBcAg-specific lymphocytes, production of antigen-specific CTL, and activation of endogenous DC were compared between HBV TM vaccinated with either HBsAg- or HBcAg-pulsed DC. Vaccination with HBsAg-pulsed DC induced HBsAg-specific immunity, but failed to induce HBcAg-specific immunity in HBV TM. However, immunization of HBV TM with HBcAg-pulsed DC resulted in: (1) HBsAg negativity, (2) production of anti-HBs, and (3) development of HBsAg- and HBcAg-specific T cells and CTL in the spleen and the liver. Additionally, significantly higher levels of activated endogenous DC were detected in HBV TM immunized with HBcAg-pulsed DC compared to HBsAg-pulsed DC (p<0.05). The capacity of HBcAg to modulate both HBsAg- and HBcAg-specific immunity in HBV TM, and activation of endogenous DC in HBV TM without inducing liver damage suggests that HBcAg should be an integral component of the therapeutic vaccine against CHB. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Major morbidity after video-assisted thoracic surgery lung resections: a comparison between the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons definition and the Thoracic Morbidity and Mortality system.

PubMed

Sandri, Alberto; Papagiannopoulos, Kostas; Milton, Richard; Kefaloyannis, Emmanuel; Chaudhuri, Nilanjan; Poyser, Emily; Spencer, Nicholas; Brunelli, Alessandro

2015-07-01

The thoracic morbidity and mortality (TM&M) classification system univocally encodes the postoperative adverse events by their management complexity. This study aims to compare the distribution of the severity of complications according to the TM&M system versus the distribution according to the classification proposed by European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) Database in a population of patients submitted to video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lung resection. A total of 227 consecutive patients submitted to VATS lobectomy for lung cancer were analyzed. Any complication developed postoperatively was graded from I to V according to the TM&M system, reflecting the increasing severity of its management. We verified the distribution of the different grades of complications and analyzed their frequency among those defined as "major cardiopulmonary complications" by the ESTS Database. Following the ESTS definitions, 20 were the major cardiopulmonary complications [atrial fibrillation (AF): 10, 50%; adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS): 1, 5%; pulmonary embolism: 2, 10%; mechanical ventilation >24 h: 1, 5%; pneumonia: 3, 15%; myocardial infarct: 1, 5%; atelectasis requiring bronchoscopy: 2, 10%] of which 9 (45%) were reclassified as minor complications (grade II) by the TM&M classification system. According to the TM&M system, 10/34 (29.4%) of all complications were considered minor (grade I or II) while 21/34 (71.4%) as major (IIIa: 8, 23.5%; IIIb: 4, 11.7%; IVa: 8, 23.5%; IVb: 1, 2.9%; V: 3, 8.8%). Other 14 surgical complications occurred and were classified as major complications according to the TM&M system. The distribution of postoperative complications differs between the two classification systems. The TM&M grading system questions the traditional classification of major complications following VATS lung resection and may be used as an additional endpoint for outcome analyses.

A new weighted mean temperature model in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jinghong; Yao, Yibin; Sang, Jizhang

2018-01-01

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has been applied in meteorology to monitor the change of Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) in atmosphere, transformed from Zenith Wet Delay (ZWD). A key factor in converting the ZWD into the PWV is the weighted mean temperature (Tm), which has a direct impact on the accuracy of the transformation. A number of Bevis-type models, like Tm -Ts and Tm -Ts,Ps type models, have been developed by statistics approaches, and are not able to clearly depict the relationship between Tm and the surface temperature, Ts . A new model for Tm , called weighted mean temperature norm model (abbreviated as norm model), is derived as a function of Ts , the lapse rate of temperature, δ, the tropopause height, htrop , and the radiosonde station height, hs . It is found that Tm is better related to Ts through an intermediate temperature. The small effects of lapse rate can be ignored and the tropopause height be obtained from an empirical model. Then the norm model is reduced to a simplified form, which causes fewer loss of accuracy and needs two inputs, Ts and hs . In site-specific fittings, the norm model performs much better, with RMS values reduced averagely by 0.45 K and the Mean of Absolute Differences (MAD) values by 0.2 K. The norm model is also found more appropriate than the linear models to fit Tm in a large area, not only with the RMS value reduced from 4.3 K to 3.80 K, correlation coefficient R2 increased from 0.84 to 0.88, and MAD decreased from 3.24 K to 2.90 K, but also with the distribution of simplified model values to be more reasonable. The RMS and MAD values of the differences between reference and computed PWVs are reduced by on average 16.3% and 14.27%, respectively, when using the new norm models instead of the linear model.

The determination of the most applicable PWV model for Turkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deniz, Ilke; Gurbuz, Gokhan; Mekik, Cetin

2016-07-01

Water vapor is a key component for modelling atmosphere and climate studies. Moreover, long-term water vapor changes can be an independent source for detecting climate changes. Since Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) use microwaves passing through the atmosphere, atmospheric effects are modeled with high accuracy. Tropospheric effects on GNSS signals are estimated with total zenith delay parameter (ZTD) which is the sum of hydrostatic (ZHD) and wet zenith delay (ZWD). The first component can be obtained from meteorological observations with high accuracy; the second component, however, can be computed by subtracting ZHD from ZTD (ZWD=ZTD-ZHD). Afterwards, the weighted mean temperature (Tm) or the conversion factor (Q) is used for the conversion between the precipitable water vapor (PWV) and ZWD. The parameters Tm and Q are derived from the analysis of radiosonde stations' profile observations. Numerous Q and Tm models have been developed for each radiosonde station, radiosonde station group, countries and global fields such as Bevis Tm model and Emardson and Derks' Q models. So, PWV models (Tm and Q models) applied for Turkey have been developed using a year of radiosonde data (2011) from 8 radiosonde stations. In this study the models developed are tested by comparing PWVGNSS computed applying Tm and Q models to the ZTD estimates derived by Bernese and GAMIT/GLOBK software at GNSS stations established at Istanbul and Ankara with those from the collocated radiosonde stations (PWVRS) from October 2013 to December 2014 with the data obtained from a project (no 112Y350) supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). The comparison results show that PWVGNSS and PWVRS are in high correlation (86 % for Ankara and 90% for Istanbul). Thus, the most applicable model for Turkey and the accuracy of GNSS meteorology are investigated. In addition, Tm model was applied to the ZTD estimates of 20 TUSAGA-Active (CORS-TR) stations in the 38.0°-42.0° northern latitudes and 28.0°-34.0° eastern longitudes of Turkey and PWV were computed. ZTD estimates of these stations were computed using Bernese GNSS Software v5.0 during the period from June 2013 to June 2014. Preceding the PWV estimation, meteorological parameters for these stations (temperature, pressure and humidity) are derived by applying spherical harmonics modelling and interpolation to the above-mentioned meteorological parameters measured by meteorological stations surrounding TUSAGA-Active stations. Results of spherical harmonics modelling and interpolation yield the precision of ±1.74 K in temperature, ±0.95 hPa in pressure and ±14.88 % in humidity. Also, the PWV of TUSAGA-Active stations selected were estimated.

Laser Trabeculoplasty Induces Changes in the Trabecular Meshwork Glycoproteome: A pilot study

PubMed Central

Amelinckx, Adriana; Castello, Maria; Arrieta-Quintero, Esdras; Lee, Tinthu; Salas, Nelson; Hernandez, Eleut; Lee, Richard K.; Bhattacharya, Sanjoy K.; Parel, Jean-Marie A

2009-01-01

Laser trabeculoplasty (LT) is a commonly used modality of treatment for glaucoma. The mechanism by which LT lowers the intraocular pressure (IOP) is unknown. Using cat eyes, selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) with a Q-switched frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser was used to treat the trabecular meshwork (TM). Laser treated TM was then subjected to proteomic analysis for detection of molecular changes and histological analysis for the detection of structural and protein expression patterns. In addition, the protein glycosylation patterns of laser treated and non-treated TM was assessed and differentially glycosylated proteins were proteomically identified. SLT laser treatment to the TM resulted in elevated glycosylation levels compared to non-lasered TM. TM laser treatment also resulted in protein expression levels changes of several proteins. Elevated levels of biglycan, keratocan and prolargin were detected in laser treated TM compared to non-lasered controls. Further investigation is anticipated to provide insight into how glycosylation changes affect TM proteins and TM regulation of aqueous outflow in response to laser trabeculoplasty. PMID:19432485

Laser trabeculoplasty induces changes in the trabecular meshwork glycoproteome: a pilot study.

PubMed

Amelinckx, Adriana; Castello, Maria; Arrieta-Quintero, Esdras; Lee, Tinthu; Salas, Nelson; Hernandez, Eleut; Lee, Richard K; Bhattacharya, Sanjoy K; Parel, Jean-Marie A

2009-07-01

Laser trabeculoplasty (LT) is a commonly used modality of treatment for glaucoma. The mechanism by which LT lowers the intraocular pressure (IOP) is unknown. With the use of cat eyes, selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) with a Q-switched frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser was used to treat the trabecular meshwork (TM). Laser treated TM was then subjected to proteomic analysis for detection of molecular changes and histological analysis for the detection of structural and protein expression patterns. In addition, the protein glycosylation patterns of laser treated and nontreated TM was assessed and differentially glycosylated proteins were proteomically identified. SLT laser treatment to the TM resulted in elevated glycosylation levels compared to nonlasered TM. TM laser treatment also resulted in protein expression levels changes of several proteins. Elevated levels of biglycan, keratocan and prolargin were detected in laser treated TM compared to nonlasered controls. Further investigation is anticipated to provide insight into how glycosylation changes affect TM proteins and TM regulation of aqueous outflow in response to laser trabeculoplasty.

Assessment of wetland productive capacity from a remote-sensing-based model - A NASA/NMFS joint research project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Butera, M. K.; Frick, A. L.; Browder, J.

1983-01-01

NASA and the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service have undertaken the development of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) technology for the evaluation of the usefulness of wetlands to estuarine fish and shellfish production. Toward this end, a remote sensing-based Productive Capacity model has been developed which characterizes the biological and hydrographic features of a Gulf Coast Marsh to predict detrital export. Regression analyses of TM simulator data for wetland plant production estimation are noted to more accurately estimate the percent of total vegetative cover than biomass, indicating that a nonlinear relationship may be involved.

The Fundamentals of Using the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD(TM)) for Projection Display

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yoder, Lars A.

1995-01-01

Developed by Texas Instruments (TI) the digital micromirror device (DMD(tm)) is a quickly emerging and highly useful micro-electro-mechanical structures (MEMS) device. Using standard semiconductor fabrication technology, the DMD's simplicity in concept and design will provide advantageous solutions for many different applications. At the rudimentary level, the DMD is a precision, semiconductor light switch. In the initial commercial development of DMD technology, TI has concentrated on projection display and hardcopy. This paper will focus on how the DMD is used for projection display. Other application areas are being explored and evaluated to find appropriate and beneficial uses for the DMD.

Design of a Channel Error Simulator using Virtual Instrument Techniques for the Initial Testing of TCP/IP and SCPS Protocols

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horan, Stephen; Wang, Ru-Hai

1999-01-01

There exists a need for designers and developers to have a method to conveniently test a variety of communications parameters for an overall system design. This is no different when testing network protocols as when testing modulation formats. In this report, we discuss a means of providing a networking test device specifically designed to be used for space communications. This test device is a PC-based Virtual Instrument (VI) programmed using the LabVIEW(TM) version 5 software suite developed by National Instruments(TM)TM. This instrument was designed to be portable and usable by others without special, additional equipment. The programming was designed to replicate a VME-based hardware module developed earlier at New Mexico State University (NMSU) and to provide expanded capabilities exceeding the baseline configuration existing in that module. This report describes the design goals for the VI module in the next section and follows that with a description of the design of the VI instrument. This is followed with a description of the validation tests run on the VI. An application of the error-generating VI to networking protocols is then given.

Industrial Partnership Prosperity Game{trademark}

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

Boyak, K.; Berman, M.; Beck, D.

1998-02-01

Prosperity Games TM are an outgrowth and adaptation move/countermove and seminar War Games. Prosperity Games TM are simulations that explore complex issues in a variety of areas including economics, politics, sociology, environment, education, and research. These issues can be examined from a variety of perspectives ranging from a global, macroeconomic and geopolitical viewpoint down to the details of customer/supplier/market interactions in specific industries. All Prosperity Games TM are unique in that both the game format and the player contributions vary from game to game. This report documents the Industry Partnership Prosperity Game sponsored by the Technology Partnerships and Commercialization Centermore » at Sandia National Laboratories. Players came from the Sandia line organizations, the Sandia business development and technology partnerships organizations, the US Department of Energy, academia, and industry The primary objectives of this game were to: explore ways to increase industry partnerships to meet long-term Sandia goals; improve Sandia business development and marketing strategies and tactics; improve the process by which Sandia develops long-term strategic alliances. The game actions and recommendations of these players provided valuable insights as to what Sandia can do to meet these objectives.« less

F-200(TM): The new solution for fire protection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thornton, Alfred J.; Walter, Gerald J.

1995-01-01

For more than two decades, halon 1301 has been protecting personnel and valuable aircraft and aerospace equipment from the hazards of fire. Only halon 1301 offered the advantages of being clean, odorless, colorless, electrically non-conductive and safe for occupied areas. However, concerns about the depletion of stratospheric ozone and the resulting Montreal Protocol mandated the production phase-out of halon 1301 on December 31, 1993. Prior to this phase-out, Great Lakes Chemical Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer of halon, directed substantial research efforts toward the rapid development of a safe, clean, and effective halon replacement. Some of the criteria for the development of a clean agent included: that it be an effective fire extinguisher; that it be safe for personnel; that it be safe for the environment; that it be safe for valuable assets; that it be cost effective; and that it be able to withstand the rigors of independent approvals. As the result of this research, Great Lakes developed FM-200(TM) is 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 3-hepta-fluoropropane. This paper discusses the physical properties of FM-200(TM) and its efficiency as an extinguishant.

@Note: a workbench for biomedical text mining.

PubMed

Lourenço, Anália; Carreira, Rafael; Carneiro, Sónia; Maia, Paulo; Glez-Peña, Daniel; Fdez-Riverola, Florentino; Ferreira, Eugénio C; Rocha, Isabel; Rocha, Miguel

2009-08-01

Biomedical Text Mining (BioTM) is providing valuable approaches to the automated curation of scientific literature. However, most efforts have addressed the benchmarking of new algorithms rather than user operational needs. Bridging the gap between BioTM researchers and biologists' needs is crucial to solve real-world problems and promote further research. We present @Note, a platform for BioTM that aims at the effective translation of the advances between three distinct classes of users: biologists, text miners and software developers. Its main functional contributions are the ability to process abstracts and full-texts; an information retrieval module enabling PubMed search and journal crawling; a pre-processing module with PDF-to-text conversion, tokenisation and stopword removal; a semantic annotation schema; a lexicon-based annotator; a user-friendly annotation view that allows to correct annotations and a Text Mining Module supporting dataset preparation and algorithm evaluation. @Note improves the interoperability, modularity and flexibility when integrating in-home and open-source third-party components. Its component-based architecture allows the rapid development of new applications, emphasizing the principles of transparency and simplicity of use. Although it is still on-going, it has already allowed the development of applications that are currently being used.

Studies of tin-transition metal-carbon and tin-cobalt-transition metal-carbon negative electrode materials prepared by mechanical attrition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferguson, P. P.; Martine, M. L.; George, A. E.; Dahn, J. R.

Samples of Sn 30TM 30C 40 and of Sn 30Co 15TM 15C 40, with TM = 3d transition metals, were prepared by vertical-axis attritor milling. The structure and performance of these samples were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and by electrochemical testing. The XRD patterns of Sn 30TM 30C 40 show an amorphous-like diffraction pattern only for the sample with TM = Co. The other prepared samples show broadened Bragg peaks of their main starting material, along with an amorphous-like background, even after 32 h of milling. Samples with TM = Co and TM = Ni show stable differential capacity versus potential plots and stable cycling for at least 100 cycles with reversible capacities of 425 and 250 mAh g -1, respectively. All samples prepared with 15 at.% Co show good capacity retention for at least 100 cycles ranging from 270 mAh g -1 for samples with TM = Ni to 500 mAh g -1 for samples with TM = Ti. The differential capacity versus potential plots for all the prepared Sn 30Co 15TM 15C 40 samples show similar structure to that of Sn 30Co 30C 40 except when TM = Cu. This shows the possibility of preparing tin-based negative electrode materials using a combination of cobalt and TM, especially if one looks to reduce the cobalt content.

Development of mid-infrared solid state lasers for spaceborne lidar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitney, Donald A.; Kim, Kyong H.

1989-01-01

Laser performance of Ho(3+):Tm(3+):Cr(3+):YAG crystals was investigated under both Cr:GSAG laser and flashlamp pumping. A flashlamp pumped Cr:GSAG laser was built to simulate high power quasi-CW laser diode pumping of a 2.1 micrometer holmium laser. The 2.1 micrometer output laser energy exceeded more than 14 mJ, the highest value reported to date under laser pumping near 785 nm. This was obtained in a pulse length of nearly 650 microsec from a 3 x 3 mm Ho:Tm:Cr:YAG rod by using the flashlamp-pumped Cr:CSAG laser as a pumping source at the diode laser wavelength, 785 micrometers. In addition, Ho:Tm:Cr:YAG crystals with various Tm(3+) concentrations were evaluated for flashlamp-pumped normal mode and Q-switched 2.1 micrometer laser operations under a wide variety of experimental conditions in order to understand internal dynamic processes among the ions and to determine an optimum lasing condition. An increase of the laser slope efficiency was observed with the increase of the Tm(3+) concentration from 2.5 to 4.5 atomic percent. The thermal dependence of the laser performance was also investigated. Q-switched laser output energies corresponding to nearly 100 percent of the normal-mode laser energies were obtained in a strong single spike of 200 ns pulse length by optimizing the opening time of a lithium niobate Q-switch.

Development of landsat-5 thematic mapper internal calibrator gain and offset table

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barsi, J.A.; Chander, G.; Micijevic, E.; Markham, B.L.; Haque, Md. O.

2008-01-01

The National Landsat Archive Production System (NLAPS) has been the primary processing system for Landsat data since U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science Center (EROS) started archiving Landsat data. NLAPS converts raw satellite data into radiometrically and geometrically calibrated products. NLAPS has historically used the Internal Calibrator (IC) to calibrate the reflective bands of the Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM), even though the lamps in the IC were less stable than the TM detectors, as evidenced by vicarious calibration results. In 2003, a major effort was made to model the actual TM gain change and to update NLAPS to use this model rather than the unstable IC data for radiometric calibration. The model coefficients were revised in 2007 to reflect greater understanding of the changes in the TM responsivity. While the calibration updates are important to users with recently processed data, the processing system no longer calculates the original IC gain or offset. For specific applications, it is useful to have a record of the gain and offset actually applied to the older data. Thus, the NLAPS calibration database was used to generate estimated daily values for the radiometric gain and offset that might have been applied to TM data. This paper discusses the need for and generation of the NLAPSIC gain and offset tables. A companion paper covers the application of and errors associated with using these tables.

Chemical and physical analyses of wax ester properties

PubMed Central

Patel, Sejal; Nelson, Dennis R.; Gibbs, Allen G.

2001-01-01

Wax esters are major constituents of the surface lipids in many terrestrial arthropods, but their study is complicated by their diversity. We developed a procedure for quantifying isomers in mixtures of straight-chain saturated and unsaturated wax esters having the same molecular weights, using single-ion monitoring of the total ion current data from gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We examined the biological consequences of structural differences by measuring the melting temperatures, Tm, of >60 synthetic wax esters, containing 26–48 carbon atoms. Compounds containing saturated alcohol and acid moieties melted at 38–73°C. The main factor affecting Tm was the total chain length of the wax ester, but the placement of the ester bond also affected Tm. Insertion of a double bond into either the alcohol or acid moiety decreased Tm by ∼30°C. Simple mixtures of wax esters with n-alkanes melted several °C lower than predicted from the melting points of the component lipids. Our results indicate that the wax esters of primary alcohols that are most typically found on the cuticle of terrestrial arthropods occur in a solid state under physiological conditions, thereby conferring greater waterproofing. Wax esters of secondary alcohols, which occur on melanopline grasshoppers, melted >60°C below primary esters of the same molecular weight and reduced Tm of the total surface lipids to environmental values. PMID:15455064

Computational Thermodynamic Modeling of Hot Corrosion of Alloys Haynes 242 and Hastelloy TM N for Molten Salt Service in Advanced High Temperature Reactors

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

V. Glazoff, Michael; Charit, Indrajt; Sabharwall, Piyush

An evaluation of thermodynamic aspects of hot corrosion of the superalloys Haynes 242 and HastelloyTM N in the eutectic mixtures of KF and ZrF4 is carried out for development of Advanced High Temperature Reactor (AHTR). This work models the behavior of several superalloys, potential candidates for the AHTR, using computational thermodynamics tool (ThermoCalc), leading to the development of thermodynamic description of the molten salt eutectic mixtures, and on that basis, mechanistic prediction of hot corrosion. The results from these studies indicated that the principal mechanism of hot corrosion was associated with chromium leaching for all of the superalloys described above.more » However, HastelloyTM N displayed the best hot corrosion performance. This was not surprising given it was developed originally to withstand the harsh conditions of molten salt environment. However, the results obtained in this study provided confidence in the employed methods of computational thermodynamics and could be further used for future alloy design efforts. Finally, several potential solutions to mitigate hot corrosion were proposed for further exploration, including coating development and controlled scaling of intermediate compounds in the KF-ZrF4 system.« less

New high energetic composite propellants for space applications: refrigerated solid propellant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franson, C.; Orlandi, O.; Perut, C.; Fouin, G.; Chauveau, C.; Gökalp, I.; Calabro, M.

2009-09-01

Cryogenic solid propellants (CSP) are a new kind of chemical propellants that use frozen products to ensure the mechanical resistance of the grain. The objective is to combine the high performances of liquid propulsion and the simplicity of solid propulsion. The CSP concept has few disadvantages. Storability is limited by the need of permanent cooling between motor loading and firing. It needs insulations that increase the dry mass. It is possible to limit significantly these drawbacks by using a cooling temperature near the ambient one. It will permit not to change the motor materials and to minimize the supplementary dry mass due to insulator. The designation "Refrigerated Solid Propellant" (RPS) is in that case more appropriate as "Cryogenic Solid Propellant." SNPE Matériaux Energétiques is developing new concept of composition e e with cooling temperature as near the ambient temperature as possible. They are homogeneous and the main ingredients are hydrogen peroxide, polymer and metal or metal hydride, they are called "HydroxalaneTM." This concept allows reaching a high energy level. The expected specific impulse is between 355 and 375 s against 315 s for hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) / ammonium perchlorate (AP) / Al composition. However, the density is lower than for current propellants, between 1377 and 1462 kg/m3 compared to around 1800 kg/m3 . This is an handicap only for volume-limited application. Works have been carried out at laboratory scale to define the quality of the raw materials and the manufacturing process to realize sample and small grain in a safer manner. To assess the process, a small grain with an internal bore had been realized with a composition based on aluminum and water. This grain had shown very good quality, without any defect, and good bonding properties on the insulator.

Reliability and Validity of the Zephyr[TM] BioHarness[TM] to Measure Respiratory Responses to Exercise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hailstone, Jono; Kilding, Andrew E.

2011-01-01

The Zephyr[TM] BioHarness[TM] (Zephyr Technology, Auckland, New Zealand) is a wireless physiological monitoring system that has the ability to measure respiratory rate unobtrusively. However, the ability of the BioHarness[TM] to accurately and reproducibly determine respiratory rate across a range of intensities is currently unknown. The aim of…

Medical student appraisal: searching on smartphones.

PubMed

Khalifian, S; Markman, T; Sampognaro, P; Mitchell, S; Weeks, S; Dattilo, J

2013-01-01

The rapidly growing industry for mobile medical applications provides numerous smartphone resources designed for healthcare professionals. However, not all applications are equally useful in addressing the questions of early medical trainees. Three popular, free, mobile healthcare applications were evaluated along with a Google(TM) web search on both Apple(TM) and Android(TM) devices. Six medical students at a large academic hospital evaluated each application for a one-week period while on various clinical rotations. Google(TM) was the most frequently used search method and presented multimedia resources but was inefficient for obtaining clinical management information. Epocrates(TM) Pill ID feature was praised for its clinical utility. Medscape(TM) had the highest satisfaction of search and excelled through interactive educational features. Micromedex(TM) offered both FDA and off-label dosing for drugs. Google(TM) was the preferred search method for questions related to basic disease processes and multimedia resources, but was inadequate for clinical management. Caution should also be exercised when using Google(TM) in front of patients. Medscape(TM) was the most appealing application due to a broad scope of content and educational features relevant to medical trainees. Students should also be cognizant of how mobile technology may be perceived by their evaluators to avoid false impressions.

Spectroscopic and laser characterization of Yb,Tm:KLu(WO4)2 crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loiko, P. A.; Serres, J. M.; Mateos, X.; Demesh, M. P.; Yasukevich, A. S.; Yumashev, K. V.; Petrov, V.; Griebner, U.; Aguiló, M.; Díaz, F.

2016-01-01

We report on a comprehensive spectroscopic and laser characterization of monoclinic Yb,Tm:KLu(WO4)2 crystals. Stimulated-emission cross-section spectra corresponding to the 3F4 → 3H6 transition of Tm3+ ions are determined. The radiative lifetime of the 3F4 state of Tm3+ ions is 0.82 ms. The maximum Yb3+ → Tm3+ energy transfer efficiency is 83.9% for 5 at.% Yb - 8 at.% Tm doping. The fractional heat loading for Yb,Tm:KLu(WO4)2 is 0.45 ± 0.05. Using a hemispherical cavity and 5 at.% Yb - 6 at.% Tm doped crystal, a maximum CW power of 227 mW is achieved at 1.983-2.011 μm with a maximum slope efficiency η = 14%. In the microchip laser set-up, the highest slope efficiency is 20% for a 5 at.% Yb- 8 at.% Tm doped crystal with a maximum output power of 201 mW at 1.99-2.007 μm. Operation of Yb,Tm:KLu(WO4)2 as a vibronic laser emitting at 2.081-2.093 μm is also demonstrated.

Anaysis of the quality of image data required by the LANDSAT-4 Thematic Mapper and Multispectral Scanner. [agricultural and forest cover types in California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colwell, R. N. (Principal Investigator)

1984-01-01

The spatial, geometric, and radiometric qualities of LANDSAT 4 thematic mapper (TM) and multispectral scanner (MSS) data were evaluated by interpreting, through visual and computer means, film and digital products for selected agricultural and forest cover types in California. Multispectral analyses employing Bayesian maximum likelihood, discrete relaxation, and unsupervised clustering algorithms were used to compare the usefulness of TM and MSS data for discriminating individual cover types. Some of the significant results are as follows: (1) for maximizing the interpretability of agricultural and forest resources, TM color composites should contain spectral bands in the visible, near-reflectance infrared, and middle-reflectance infrared regions, namely TM 4 and TM % and must contain TM 4 in all cases even at the expense of excluding TM 5; (2) using enlarged TM film products, planimetric accuracy of mapped poins was within 91 meters (RMSE east) and 117 meters (RMSE north); (3) using TM digital products, planimetric accuracy of mapped points was within 12.0 meters (RMSE east) and 13.7 meters (RMSE north); and (4) applying a contextual classification algorithm to TM data provided classification accuracies competitive with Bayesian maximum likelihood.

Estimating Human Trabecular Meshwork Stiffness by Numerical Modeling and Advanced OCT Imaging.

PubMed

Wang, Ke; Johnstone, Murray A; Xin, Chen; Song, Shaozhen; Padilla, Steven; Vranka, Janice A; Acott, Ted S; Zhou, Kai; Schwaner, Stephen A; Wang, Ruikang K; Sulchek, Todd; Ethier, C Ross

2017-09-01

The purpose of this study was to estimate human trabecular meshwork (hTM) stiffness, thought to be elevated in glaucoma, using a novel indirect approach, and to compare results with direct en face atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. Postmortem human eyes were perfused to measure outflow facility and identify high- and low-flow regions (HF, LF) by tracer. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) images were obtained as Schlemm's canal luminal pressure was directly manipulated. TM stiffness was deduced by an inverse finite element modeling (FEM) approach. A series of AFM forcemaps was acquired along a line traversing the anterior angle on a radially cut flat-mount corneoscleral wedge with TM facing upward. The elastic modulus of normal hTM estimated by inverse FEM was 70 ± 20 kPa (mean ± SD), whereas glaucomatous hTM was slightly stiffer (98 ± 19 kPa). This trend was consistent with TM stiffnesses measured by AFM: normal hTM stiffness = 1.37 ± 0.56 kPa, which was lower than glaucomatous hTM stiffness (2.75 ± 1.19 kPa). None of these differences were statistically significant. TM in HF wedges was softer than that in LF wedges for both normal and glaucomatous eyes based on the inverse FEM approach but not by AFM. Outflow facility was significantly correlated with TM stiffness estimated by FEM in six human eyes (P = 0.018). TM stiffness is higher, but only modestly so, in glaucomatous patients. Outflow facility in both normal and glaucomatous human eyes appears to associate with TM stiffness. This evidence motivates further studies to investigate factors underlying TM biomechanical property regulation.

Cross talk between the TM4SF5/focal adhesion kinase and the interleukin-6/STAT3 pathways promotes immune escape of human liver cancer cells.

PubMed

Ryu, Jihye; Kang, Minkyung; Lee, Mi-Sook; Kim, Hye-Jin; Nam, Seo Hee; Song, Haeng Eun; Lee, Doohyung; Lee, Jung Weon

2014-08-01

TM4SF5 overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma activates focal adhesion kinase (FAK) during tumor cell migration. However, it remains unknown how TM4SF5 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells compromises with immune actions initiated by extracellular cytokines. Normal and cancerous hepatocytes with or without TM4SF5 expression were analyzed for the effects of cytokine signaling activity on TM4SF5/FAK signaling and metastatic potential. We found that interleukin-6 (IL-6) was differentially expressed in hepatocytes depending on cancerous malignancy and TM4SF5 expression. IL-6 treatment activated FAK and STAT3 and enhanced focal adhesion (FA) formation in TM4SF5-null cells, but it decreased TM4SF5-dependent FAK activity and FA formation in SNU761-TM4SF5 cells. STAT3 suppression abolished the IL-6-mediated effects in normal Chang cells, but it did not recover the TM4SF5-dependent FAK activity that was inhibited by IL-6 treatment in cancerous SNU761-TM4SF5 cells. In addition, modulation of FAK activity did not change the IL-6-mediated STAT3 activity in either the Chang or SNU761 cell system. TM4SF5 expression in SNU761 cells caused invasive extracellular matrix degradation negatively depending on IL-6/IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) signaling. Thus, it is likely that hepatic cancer cells adopt TM4SF5-dependent FAK activation and metastatic potential by lowering IL-6 expression and avoiding its immunological action through the IL-6-STAT3 pathway. Copyright © 2014, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Location of the β4 transmembrane helices in the BK potassium channel

PubMed Central

Wu, Roland S.; Chudasama, Neelesh; Zakharov, Sergey I.; Doshi, Darshan; Motoike, Howard; Liu, Guoxia; Yao, Yongneng; Niu, Xiaowei; Deng, Shi-Xian; Landry, Donald W.; Karlin, Arthur; Marx, Steven O.

2009-01-01

Large-conductance, voltage- and Ca2+-gated potassium (BK) channels control excitability in a number of cell types. BK channels are composed of α subunits, which contain the voltage-sensor domains and the Ca2+- sensor domains, and form the pore, and often one of four types of β subunits, which modulate the channel in a cell-specific manner. β4 is expressed in neurons throughout the brain. Deletion of β4 in mice causes temporal lobe epilepsy. Compared to channels composed of α alone, channels composed of α and β4 activate and deactivate more slowly. We inferred the locations of the two β4 transmembrane (TM) helices, TM1 and TM2, relative to the seven αTM helices, S0-S6, from the extent of disulfide bond formation between cysteines substituted in the extracellular flanks of these TM helices. We found that β4 TM2 is close to α S0 and that β4 TM1 is close to both α S1 and S2. At least at their extracellular ends, TM1 and TM2 are not close to S3 through S6. In six of eight of the most highly crosslinked cysteine pairs, four crosslinks from TM2 to S0 and one each from TM1 to S1 and S2 had small effects on the V50 and on the rates of activation and deactivation. That disulfide crosslinking caused only small functional perturbations is consistent with the proximity of the extracellular ends of TM2 to S0 and of TM1 to S1 and to S2, in both the open and closed states. PMID:19571123

Ameliorer les performances environnementales des centrales a charbon pulverise via la co-combustion de combustible derive de dechets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vekemans, Odile Geraldine

Coal supplies around 28% of the world's energy needs and produces some 40% of the world's electricity. In the United States, close to 650 coal power plants currently produce electricity from coal, the majority of witch are equipped with pulverized coal boilers build in the 80's. Due to coal's intrinsic content in nitrogen and sulfur, its combustion is associated with high levels of NOx and SO2 emissions, that are responsible, among other thing, for acid rains. In order to help reduce SO2 emissions of coal power plant, this thesis focuses on the behaviour of a novel feedstock called ReEF(TM) or ReEngineered Feedstock(TM), developed by the company Accordant Energy LLCRTM, that combines non recyclable waste and alkaline sorbent. Since waste have a high calorific value and do not contain sulfur, and since alkaline sorbents (such as limestone) are able to react with SO2 and capture it in solid state, co-combustion of ReEF(TM) and coal could reduce SO2 emissions inside the furnace chamber itself. This technology easy to implement, as it requires a limited initial investment and limited additional space, could help avoid the construction of costly flue gas treatment unit downstream from the furnace. However, careless combustion of this engineered fuel could have disastrous consequences for the coal power plant owners. This thesis, then, deliver one among the first experimental study of co-combustion of coal and ReEF(TM) in conditions characteristic of pulverized coal boilers. As a first step, in order to get familiarize with the feedstock under study, the thermal degradation of a ReEF(TM) without sorbent and of its components is analyzed by thermogravimetry. With the analysis of more than 70 samples at heating rates ranging from 5°C/min to 400°C/min we are able to conclude that ReEF(TM) thermal degradation can be seen as the independent thermal degradation of its components, as long as heat transfer limitations are taken into account. Thus, no substantial chemical interactions between ReEF(TM) components take place during its devolatilization. During the second step of this study, performances of the co-firing of coal and sorbent are compared to that of co-combustion of coal and ReEF(TM) without sorbent. This is carried out in a reactor specially build for this study, capable of reproducing the contact mode between gas and particles, the concentrations, the temperature gradient and the pressure typical of pulverized coal boiler. SO2 emissions reduction around 20% are observed in presence of CaCO3 and of Ca(OH)2 compared to the coal baseline, reduction that generally increased with the increase of sorbent molar ratio compared to sulfur (also called stoic). As for the co-combustion of 20%th of ReEF(TM) and coal, a SO2 emission reduction around 20% is also measured, with no clear effect of ReEF(TM) composition (fiber to plastic ratio). On the other hand, the HCl level that is negligible during coal combustion with and without sorbent, reaches around 20ppm in presence of ReEF(TM), and increases proportionally with the ReEF(TM) plastic content. The first step of this work consists in the study of the co-combustion of coal and ReEF(TM) containing limestone (CaCO3), a mix of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and limestone, as well as a mix of trona (Na2CO3.NaHCO3.H2O) and limestone. The amount of sorbent in the ReEF(TM) as well as the feeding parameters are adjusted to reach a 20%th feeding of ReEF(TM) compared to coal, to inject sorbents at a stoic of 1, 2 and 2.5 and to obtain Na/Ca molar ratios of 0, 0.1 with trona and NaHCO3, and 0.5 with NaHCO 3 only. Globally, as in the case of sorbent alone, the increase of the total stoic of the feed leads to increased SO2 capture. For a given stoic, to combine waste and limestone in the ReEF(TM), compared to using limestone alone, allows to reach higher levels of SO2 emissions reduction. The combination of sodium-based and calcium-based sorbent even leads to record SO2 emissions reduction of more than 50% with trona, and more than 40% with NaHCO3, at gas residence time in the reactor four time smaller than typical residence time of PCB. Furthermore, the lower fuel-N content of the ReEF(TM), compared to coal, also leads to lower NOx emissions. Combustion of ReEF(TM) with trona is even associated with NOx emissions reduction of more than 50%, possibly due to sodium induced NO reduction. Finally, regarding HCl emissions, chlorine capture by the sorbents leads to HCl levels comparable to that of coal alone. Even if, from the point of view of pollutant emissions, the results are promising, co-feeding ReEF(TM) with sorbent was nonetheless associated with heavy formation of melted ash deposits in the reactor. Deposition probes are used to compare the magnitude of the deposition in function of the ReEF(TM) sorbent composition. With those probes, we are able to figure out that slag formation is quite severe in presence of NaHCO3, and all the more that the Na/Ca ratio is high, but is less severe in presence of limestone alone, and isn't at all problematic in presence of trona. Those results all seem to indicate that co-combustion of coal and 20%th ReEF(TM) containing limestone and trona at a Na/Ca ratio of 0.1 and at a total stoic of 2 is the most adequate composition for application in existing PCB. In all those experiments a single measure of the emissions at the exit of the reactor is conducted, the emissions being associated with a federate of gas and solid and a temperature profile along the reactor. In order to gain insight regarding the behaviour of the gas and the particles inside the reactor, a phenomenological model combining more than 30 reaction kinetics is developed. This model allows us, without any fitting parameter, to predict the CO2, SO2 and NOx emissions measured at the outlet of the reactor. This model is easily adapted to the different ReEF(TM) compositions and was able to take into account the various particle sizes. The model is then used to evaluate potential SO2 emissions reduction that could be obtain with ReEF(TM) co-combustion for a residence time and a temperature profile measured in an existing pulverized coal boiler. Those simulations indicate that SO2 emissions reduction up to 85% could be obtain at the exit of the furnace chamber with a 20%th coal feed substitution by ReEF(TM) containing limestone and trona. Co-combustion of ReEF(TM) in pulverized coal boiler is therefore sensible from the point of view of pulverized coal boiler environmental performances, as long as the ReEF(TM) composition is chosen wisely and is tested beforehand in conditions similar to that of PCB. Furthermore, since ReEF(TM) co-combustion allows electricity production at high efficiency from waste, it is also sensible in terms of waste energetic valorization.

Actively mode-locked Tm-Ho:LiYF4 and Tm-Ho:BaY2F8 lasers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gatti, D.; Galzerano, G.; Toncelli, A.; Tonelli, M.; Laporta, P.

2007-01-01

We report on the generation of mode-locking pulse trains with high average output powers from diode-pumped Tm-Ho:LiYF4 and Tm-Ho:BaY2F8 lasers emitting at around 2 μm. The highest output power of 365 mW was obtained with the Tm-Ho:YLF4 laser, whereas the shortest pulse duration of 120 ps and the widest tunability range of 59 nm was achieved with the Tm-Ho:BaY2F8 laser.

Analysis of the quality of image data acquired by the LANDSAT-4 thematic mapper and multispectral scanners

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colwell, R. N. (Principal Investigator)

1983-01-01

The three types of LANDSAT 4 film products generally accessible to the user community were analyzed and attempts were made to acquire a data set consisting of a variety of TM and MSS image products for the Sacramento and San Francisco Bay Area test sites. On request, the EDC developed an interim TM analytical film by using a leaser beam recorder to produce black and white masters from which natural and false color composites were created.

Investigations of microwave plasmas - Applications in electrothermal thruster systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haraburda, Scott S.; Hawley, Martin C.

1989-01-01

Experimental studies which have been conducted to develop understanding of plasma processes used for spacecraft propulsion are reviewed. The techniques discussed are calorimetry and volume measurements using the TM 011 and TM 012 modes in the microwave cavity system. The use of plasmas in electrical propulsion and microwave induction is reviewed. Plasma containment, microwave power production, energy distribution, and the pressure and flow dependence of the energy distribution are addressed. The plasma dimensions and their dependence on pressure, flow, and power are considered.

Investigations of microwave plasmas - Applications in electrothermal thruster systems

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

Haraburda, S.S.; Hawley, M.C.

1989-01-01

Experimental studies which have been conducted to develop understanding of plasma processes used for spacecraft propulsion are reviewed. The techniques discussed are calorimetry and volume measurements using the TM 011 and TM 012 modes in the microwave cavity system. The use of plasmas in electrical propulsion and microwave induction is reviewed. Plasma containment, microwave power production, energy distribution, and the pressure and flow dependence of the energy distribution are addressed. The plasma dimensions and their dependence on pressure, flow, and power are considered. 10 refs.

Development and Evaluation of an Uncoupled, Incremental Constitutive Model for Elastic-Plastic-Creep Behavior at Elevated Temperatures.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-05-01

Pugh, C. E., "Creep Studies on Type 304 Stainless Steel (Heat 8043813) Under Constant and Varying Loads," ORNL -TM- 4427 , June 1974, Oak Ridge National...34 hysteria loop predictions show. Oak Ridge ( ORNL ) [30) and combined hardening rules predict overall * 21 Stes Stress...Analysis of FFTF Components," ORNL TM-3602, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn., Sept. 1972. 31. Dafalias, Y. F., and Popov, E. P., "Plastic

A Critical Review of the Development of Several Viscoplastic Constitutive Theories.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-15

20, 1241 -1251 (1949). [14] E. Krempl and P. Hewelt, "The Constant Volume Hypothesis for the Inelastic Deformation of Metals in the Small Strain Range...Analytical Representation of the Creep Strain-Time Behavior of Commercially Heat Treated Alloy 718," ORNL /TM-6232, 1978. 71 .r w *~ *U* ~ ~ V.WJW -9...Analytical Representation of the Creep Strain-Time Behavior of Commercially Heat Treated Alloy 718," ORNL /TM 6232, 1978. (67 M.A. Eisenberg and C.F

A Two-Step Approach for Producing an Ultrafine-Grain Structure in Cu-30Zn Brass (Postprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-08-13

crystallization anneal at 400 °C (0.55Tm, where Tm is the melting point ) for times ranging from 1 min to 10 hours, followed by water quenching; an additional...200 words) A two-step approach involving cryogenic rolling and subsequent recrystallization annealing was developed to produce an ultrafine-grain...b s t r a c t A two-step approach involving cryogenic rolling and subsequent recrystallization annealing was devel- oped to produce an ultrafine

Temperature-dependence of isometric tension and cross-bridge kinetics of cardiac muscle fibers reconstituted with a tropomyosin internal deletion mutant.

PubMed

Lu, Xiaoying; Tobacman, Larry S; Kawai, Masataka

2006-12-01

The effect of temperature on isometric tension and cross-bridge kinetics was studied with a tropomyosin (Tm) internal deletion mutant AS-Delta23Tm (Ala-Ser-Tm Delta(47-123)) in bovine cardiac muscle fibers by using the thin filament extraction and reconstitution technique. The results are compared with those from actin reconstituted alone, cardiac muscle-derived control acetyl-Tm, and recombinant control AS-Tm. In all four reconstituted muscle groups, isometric tension and stiffness increased linearly with temperature in the range 5-40 degrees C for fibers activated in the presence of saturating ATP and Ca(2+). The slopes of the temperature-tension plots of the two controls were very similar, whereas the slope derived from fibers with actin alone had approximately 40% the control value, and the slope from mutant Tm had approximately 36% the control value. Sinusoidal analysis was performed to study the temperature dependence of cross-bridge kinetics. All three exponential processes A, B, and C were identified in the high temperature range (30-40 degrees C); only processes B and C were identified in the mid-temperature range (15-25 degrees C), and only process C was identified in the low temperature range (5-10 degrees C). At a given temperature, similar apparent rate constants (2pia, 2pib, 2pic) were observed in all four muscle groups, whereas their magnitudes were markedly less in the order of AS-Delta23Tm < Actin < AS-Tm approximately Acetyl-Tm groups. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that Tm enhances hydrophobic and stereospecific interactions (positive allosteric effect) between actin and myosin, but Delta23Tm decreases these interactions (negative allosteric effect). Our observations further indicate that tension/cross-bridge is increased by Tm, but is diminished by Delta23Tm. We conclude that Tm affects the conformation of actin so as to increase the area of hydrophobic interaction between actin and myosin molecules.

Conserved Asp-137 is important for both structure and regulatory functions of cardiac α-tropomyosin (α-TM) in a novel transgenic mouse model expressing α-TM-D137L.

PubMed

Yar, Sumeyye; Chowdhury, Shamim A K; Davis, Robert T; Kobayashi, Minae; Monasky, Michelle M; Rajan, Sudarsan; Wolska, Beata M; Gaponenko, Vadim; Kobayashi, Tomoyoshi; Wieczorek, David F; Solaro, R John

2013-06-07

α-Tropomyosin (α-TM) has a conserved, charged Asp-137 residue located in the hydrophobic core of its coiled-coil structure, which is unusual in that the residue is found at a position typically occupied by a hydrophobic residue. Asp-137 is thought to destabilize the coiled-coil and so impart structural flexibility to the molecule, which is believed to be crucial for its function in the heart. A previous in vitro study indicated that the conversion of Asp-137 to a more typical canonical Leu alters flexibility of TM and affects its in vitro regulatory functions. However, the physiological importance of the residue Asp-137 and altered TM flexibility is unknown. In this study, we further analyzed structural properties of the α-TM-D137L variant and addressed the physiological importance of TM flexibility in cardiac function in studies with a novel transgenic mouse model expressing α-TM-D137L in the heart. Our NMR spectroscopy data indicated that the presence of D137L introduced long range rearrangements in TM structure. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements demonstrated that α-TM-D137L has higher thermal stability compared with α-TM, which correlated with decreased flexibility. Hearts of transgenic mice expressing α-TM-D137L showed systolic and diastolic dysfunction with decreased myofilament Ca(2+) sensitivity and cardiomyocyte contractility without changes in intracellular Ca(2+) transients or post-translational modifications of major myofilament proteins. We conclude that conversion of the highly conserved Asp-137 to Leu results in loss of flexibility of TM that is important for its regulatory functions in mouse hearts. Thus, our results provide insight into the link between flexibility of TM and its function in ejecting hearts.

Conserved Asp-137 Is Important for both Structure and Regulatory Functions of Cardiac α-Tropomyosin (α-TM) in a Novel Transgenic Mouse Model Expressing α-TM-D137L*

PubMed Central

Yar, Sumeyye; Chowdhury, Shamim A. K.; Davis, Robert T.; Kobayashi, Minae; Monasky, Michelle M.; Rajan, Sudarsan; Wolska, Beata M.; Gaponenko, Vadim; Kobayashi, Tomoyoshi; Wieczorek, David F.; Solaro, R. John

2013-01-01

α-Tropomyosin (α-TM) has a conserved, charged Asp-137 residue located in the hydrophobic core of its coiled-coil structure, which is unusual in that the residue is found at a position typically occupied by a hydrophobic residue. Asp-137 is thought to destabilize the coiled-coil and so impart structural flexibility to the molecule, which is believed to be crucial for its function in the heart. A previous in vitro study indicated that the conversion of Asp-137 to a more typical canonical Leu alters flexibility of TM and affects its in vitro regulatory functions. However, the physiological importance of the residue Asp-137 and altered TM flexibility is unknown. In this study, we further analyzed structural properties of the α-TM-D137L variant and addressed the physiological importance of TM flexibility in cardiac function in studies with a novel transgenic mouse model expressing α-TM-D137L in the heart. Our NMR spectroscopy data indicated that the presence of D137L introduced long range rearrangements in TM structure. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements demonstrated that α-TM-D137L has higher thermal stability compared with α-TM, which correlated with decreased flexibility. Hearts of transgenic mice expressing α-TM-D137L showed systolic and diastolic dysfunction with decreased myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity and cardiomyocyte contractility without changes in intracellular Ca2+ transients or post-translational modifications of major myofilament proteins. We conclude that conversion of the highly conserved Asp-137 to Leu results in loss of flexibility of TM that is important for its regulatory functions in mouse hearts. Thus, our results provide insight into the link between flexibility of TM and its function in ejecting hearts. PMID:23609439

Cultivation of a human-associated TM7 phylotype reveals a reduced genome and epibiotic parasitic lifestyle.

PubMed

He, Xuesong; McLean, Jeffrey S; Edlund, Anna; Yooseph, Shibu; Hall, Adam P; Liu, Su-Yang; Dorrestein, Pieter C; Esquenazi, Eduardo; Hunter, Ryan C; Cheng, Genhong; Nelson, Karen E; Lux, Renate; Shi, Wenyuan

2015-01-06

The candidate phylum TM7 is globally distributed and often associated with human inflammatory mucosal diseases. Despite its prevalence, the TM7 phylum remains recalcitrant to cultivation, making it one of the most enigmatic phyla known. In this study, we cultivated a TM7 phylotype (TM7x) from the human oral cavity. This extremely small coccus (200-300 nm) has a distinctive lifestyle not previously observed in human-associated microbes. It is an obligate epibiont of an Actinomyces odontolyticus strain (XH001) yet also has a parasitic phase, thereby killing its host. This first completed genome (705 kb) for a human-associated TM7 phylotype revealed a complete lack of amino acid biosynthetic capacity. Comparative genomics analyses with uncultivated environmental TM7 assemblies show remarkable conserved gene synteny and only minimal gene loss/gain that may have occurred as TM7x adapted to conditions within the human host. Transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles provided the first indications, to our knowledge, that there is signaling interaction between TM7x and XH001. Furthermore, the induction of TNF-α production in macrophages by XH001 was repressed in the presence of TM7x, suggesting its potential immune suppression ability. Overall, our data provide intriguing insights into the uncultivability, pathogenicity, and unique lifestyle of this previously uncharacterized oral TM7 phylotype.

Cultivation of a human-associated TM7 phylotype reveals a reduced genome and epibiotic parasitic lifestyle

PubMed Central

He, Xuesong; McLean, Jeffrey S.; Edlund, Anna; Yooseph, Shibu; Hall, Adam P.; Liu, Su-Yang; Dorrestein, Pieter C.; Esquenazi, Eduardo; Hunter, Ryan C.; Cheng, Genhong; Nelson, Karen E.; Lux, Renate; Shi, Wenyuan

2015-01-01

The candidate phylum TM7 is globally distributed and often associated with human inflammatory mucosal diseases. Despite its prevalence, the TM7 phylum remains recalcitrant to cultivation, making it one of the most enigmatic phyla known. In this study, we cultivated a TM7 phylotype (TM7x) from the human oral cavity. This extremely small coccus (200–300 nm) has a distinctive lifestyle not previously observed in human-associated microbes. It is an obligate epibiont of an Actinomyces odontolyticus strain (XH001) yet also has a parasitic phase, thereby killing its host. This first completed genome (705 kb) for a human-associated TM7 phylotype revealed a complete lack of amino acid biosynthetic capacity. Comparative genomics analyses with uncultivated environmental TM7 assemblies show remarkable conserved gene synteny and only minimal gene loss/gain that may have occurred as TM7x adapted to conditions within the human host. Transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles provided the first indications, to our knowledge, that there is signaling interaction between TM7x and XH001. Furthermore, the induction of TNF-α production in macrophages by XH001 was repressed in the presence of TM7x, suggesting its potential immune suppression ability. Overall, our data provide intriguing insights into the uncultivability, pathogenicity, and unique lifestyle of this previously uncharacterized oral TM7 phylotype. PMID:25535390

Thrombomodulin reduces tumorigenic and metastatic potential of lung cancer cells by up-regulation of E-cadherin and down-regulation of N-cadherin expression.

PubMed

Zheng, Nana; Huo, Zihe; Zhang, Bin; Meng, Mei; Cao, Zhifei; Wang, Zhiwei; Zhou, Quansheng

2016-08-05

Thrombomodulin (TM) is an endothelial cell membrane protein and plays critical roles in anti-thrombosis, anti-inflammation, vascular endothelial protection, and is traditionally regarded as a "vascular protection god". In recent years, although TM has been reported to be down-regulated in a variety of malignant tumors including lung cancer, the role and mechanism of TM in lung cancer are enigmatic. In this study, we found that induction of TM overexpression by cholesterol-reducing drug atorvastatin significantly diminished the tumorigenic capability of the lung cancer cells. Moreover, we demonstrated that TM overexpression caused G0/G1 phase arrest and markedly reduced the colony forming capability of the cells. Furthermore, overexpression of TM inhibited cell migration and invasion. Consistently, depletion of TM promoted cell growth, reduced the cell population at the G0/G1 phase, and enhanced cell migratory ability. Mechanistic study revealed that TM up-regulated E-cadherin but down-regulated N-cadherin expression, resulting in reversal of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the lung cancer cells. Moreover, silencing TM expression led to decreased E-cadherin and increased N-cadherin. Taken together, our study suggests that TM functions as a tumor suppressive protein, providing a conceptual framework for inducing TM overexpression as a sensible strategy and approach for novel anti-lung cancer drug discovery. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tropomyosin inhibits ADF/cofilin-dependent actin filament dynamics.

PubMed

Ono, Shoichiro; Ono, Kanako

2002-03-18

Tropomyosin binds to actin filaments and is implicated in stabilization of actin cytoskeleton. We examined biochemical and cell biological properties of Caenorhabditis elegans tropomyosin (CeTM) and obtained evidence that CeTM is antagonistic to ADF/cofilin-dependent actin filament dynamics. We purified CeTM, actin, and UNC-60B (a muscle-specific ADF/cofilin isoform), all of which are derived from C. elegans, and showed that CeTM and UNC-60B bound to F-actin in a mutually exclusive manner. CeTM inhibited UNC-60B-induced actin depolymerization and enhancement of actin polymerization. Within isolated native thin filaments, actin and CeTM were detected as major components, whereas UNC-60B was present at a trace amount. Purified UNC-60B was unable to interact with the native thin filaments unless CeTM and other associated proteins were removed by high-salt extraction. Purified CeTM was sufficient to restore the resistance of the salt-extracted filaments from UNC-60B. In muscle cells, CeTM and UNC-60B were localized in different patterns. Suppression of CeTM by RNA interference resulted in disorganized actin filaments and paralyzed worms in wild-type background. However, in an ADF/cofilin mutant background, suppression of CeTM did not worsen actin organization and worm motility. These results suggest that tropomyosin is a physiological inhibitor of ADF/cofilin-dependent actin dynamics.

Gross Motor Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida Learning Resources System/CROWN, Jacksonville.

The document is designed to help teachers identify and remediate gross motor development deficits in elementary school students. A definition of gross motor development and a checklist of gross motor skills are provided. Sections cover the following topics: successful teaching techniques; activities for perceptual-motor training; activities for…

Luminescent properties of Tm3-xLuxAl5O12:Ce single crystalline films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zorenko, Yu.; Gorbenko, V.; Zorenko, T.; Suchocki, A.; Zhydachevskyy, Ya.; Fabisiak, K.; Paprocki, K.; Bilski, P.; Twardak, A.; Fedorov, A.

2017-07-01

The work devoted to the investigation of a new luminescent and scintillation material based on the single crystalline films (SCFs) of Tm3-xLuxAG:Ce garnet; x = 0-1.5, grown by LPE method from PbO based flux. The best scintillation properties are achieved for SCFs of Tm1.5Lu1.5Al5O12:Ce composition. We have found that direct Tm → Ce and backside Ce → Tm energy transfer processes are observed in Tm1.5Lu1.5Al5O12:Ce. Due to elimination of traps in the 300-450 °C range, the relatively fast scintillation decay is realized in highly doped Tm1.5Lu1.5Al5O12:Ce SCFs. For this reason, Tm doping can be considered as a suitable way for improvement of the scintillation efficiency in other Ce3+ doped garnet compounds.

Latent progenitor cells as potential regulators for tympanic membrane regeneration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Seung Won; Kim, Jangho; Seonwoo, Hoon; Jang, Kyung-Jin; Kim, Yeon Ju; Lim, Hye Jin; Lim, Ki-Taek; Tian, Chunjie; Chung, Jong Hoon; Choung, Yun-Hoon

2015-06-01

Tympanic membrane (TM) perforation, in particular chronic otitis media, is one of the most common clinical problems in the world and can present with sensorineural healing loss. Here, we explored an approach for TM regeneration where the latent progenitor or stem cells within TM epithelial layers may play an important regulatory role. We showed that potential TM stem cells present highly positive staining for epithelial stem cell markers in all areas of normal TM tissue. Additionally, they are present at high levels in perforated TMs, especially in proximity to the holes, regardless of acute or chronic status, suggesting that TM stem cells may be a potential factor for TM regeneration. Our study suggests that latent TM stem cells could be potential regulators of regeneration, which provides a new insight into this clinically important process and a potential target for new therapies for chronic otitis media and other eardrum injuries.

GFPT1 deficiency in muscle leads to myasthenia and myopathy in mice.

PubMed

Issop, Yasmin; Hathazi, Denisa; Khan, Muzamil Majid; Rudolf, Rüdiger; Weis, Joachim; Spendiff, Sally; Slater, Clarke R; Roos, Andreas; Lochmüller, Hanns

2018-06-14

Glutamine-fructose-6-phosphate transaminase 1 (GFPT1) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway which yields precursors required for protein and lipid glycosylation. Mutations in GFPT1 and other genes downstream of this pathway cause congenital myasthenic syndrome (CMS) characterised by fatigable muscle weakness due to impaired neurotransmission. The precise pathomechanisms at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) due to a deficiency in GFPT1 is yet to be discovered. One of the challenges we face is the viability of Gfpt1 -/- knockout mice. In this study, we use Cre/LoxP technology to generate a muscle-specific GFPT1 knockout mouse model, Gfpt1tm1d/tm1d, characteristic of the human CMS phenotype. Our data suggests a critical role for muscle derived GFPT1 in the development of the NMJ, neurotransmission, skeletal muscle integrity, and highlights that a deficiency in skeletal muscle alone is sufficient to cause morphological postsynaptic NMJ changes that are accompanied by presynaptic alterations despite the conservation of neuronal GFPT1 expression. In addition to the conventional morphological NMJ changes and fatigable muscle weakness, Gfpt1tm1d/tm1d mice display a progressive myopathic phenotype with the presence of tubular aggregates in muscle, characteristic of the GFPT1-CMS phenotype. We further identify an upregulation of skeletal muscle proteins glypican-1, farnesyltransferase/geranylgeranyltransferase type-1 subunit alpha and Muscle-specific kinase which are known to be involved in the differentiation and maintenance of the NMJ. The Gfpt1tm1d/tm1d model allows for further investigation of pathophysiological consequences on genes and pathways downstream of GFPT1 likely to involve misglycosylation or hypoglycosylation of NMJs and muscle targets.

Optical imaging for the diagnosis of oral cancer and oral potentially malignant disorders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshida, K.

2016-03-01

Optical Imaging is being conducted as a therapeutic non-invasive. Many kinds of the light source are selected for this purpose. Recently the oral cancer screening is conducted by using light-induced tissue autofluorescence examination such as several kinds of handheld devices. However, the mechanism of its action is still not clear. Therefore basic experimental research was conducted. One of auto fluorescence Imaging (AFI) device, VELscopeTM and near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging using ICG-labeled antibody as a probe were compared using oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) mouse models. The experiments revealed that intracutaneous tumor was successfully visualized as low density image by VELscopeTM and high density image by NIR image. In addition, VELscopeTM showed higher sensitivity and lower specificity than that of NIR fluorescence imaging and the sensitivity of identification of carcinoma areas with the VELscopeTM was good results. However, further more studies were needed to enhance the screening and diagnostic uses, sensitivity and specificity for detecting malignant lesions and differentiation from premalignant or benign lesions. Therefore, additional studies were conducted using a new developed near infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging method targeting podoplanine (PDPN) which consists of indocyanine green (ICG)-labeled anti-human podoplanin antibody as a probe and IVIS imaging system or a handy realtime ICG imaging device that is overexpressed in oral malignant neoplasm to improve imaging for detection of early oral malignant neoplasm. Then evaluated for its sensitivity and specificity for detection of oral malignant neoplasm in xenografted mice model and compared with VELscopeTM. The results revealed that ICG fluorescence imaging method and VELscopeTM had the almost the same sensitivity for detection of oral malignant neoplasm. The current topics of optical imaging about oral malignant neoplasm were reviewed.

Stability of endoglucanases from mesophilic fungus and thermophilic bacterium in acidified polyols.

PubMed

Chong, Barrie Fong; Harrison, Mark D; O'Hara, Ian M

2014-01-01

Recent developments in chemical pretreatments of lignocellulosic biomass using polyols as co-solvents (e.g., glycerol and ethylene glycol) at temperatures less than 100°C may allow the effective use of thermostable and non-thermostable cellulases in situ during the saccharification process. The potential of biomass saccharifying enzymes, endoglucanases (EG) from a thermophilic bacterium (Thermotoga maritima) and a mesophilic fungus (Trichoderma longibrachiatum), to retain their activity in aqueous buffer, acidified glycerol, and acidified ethylene glycol used as co-solvents at pretreatment temperatures at or below 100°C were examined. The results show that despite its origin, T. longibrachiatum EG (Tl-EG) retained 75% of its activity after exposure to 100°C for 5 min in aqueous buffer while T. maritima EG (Tm-EG) retained only 5% activity. However, at 90°C both enzymes retained over 87% of their activity. In acidified (0.1% (w/w) H2SO4) glycerol, Tl-EG retained similar activity (80%) to that obtained in glycerol alone, while Tm-EG retained only 35%. With acidified ethylene glycol under these conditions, both Tl-EG and Tm-EG retained 36% of their activity. The results therefore show that Tl-EG is more stable in both acidified glycerol and ethylene glycol than Tm-EG. A preliminary kinetic study showed that pure glycerol improved the thermal stability of Tl-EG but destabilized Tm-EG, relative to the buffer solution. The half-lives of both Tl-EG and Tm-EG are 4.5 min in acidified glycerol, indicating that the effectiveness of these enzymes under typical pretreatment times of greater than 15 min will be considerably diminished. Attempts have been made to explain the differences in the results obtained between the two enzymes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Distinct Neurobehavioural Effects of Cannabidiol in Transmembrane Domain Neuregulin 1 Mutant Mice

PubMed Central

Long, Leonora E.; Chesworth, Rose; Huang, Xu-Feng; Wong, Alexander; Spiro, Adena; McGregor, Iain S.; Arnold, Jonathon C.; Karl, Tim

2012-01-01

The cannabis constituent cannabidiol (CBD) possesses anxiolytic and antipsychotic properties. We have previously shown that transmembrane domain neuregulin 1 mutant (Nrg1 TM HET) mice display altered neurobehavioural responses to the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Here we investigated whether Nrg1 TM HET mice respond differently to CBD and whether CBD reverses schizophrenia-related phenotypes expressed by these mice. Adult male Nrg1 TM HET and wild type-like littermates (WT) received vehicle or CBD (1, 50 or 100 mg/kg i.p.) for 21 days. During treatment and 48 h after withdrawal we measured behaviour, whole blood CBD concentrations and autoradiographic receptor binding. Nrg1 HET mice displayed locomotor hyperactivity, PPI deficits and reduced 5-HT2A receptor binding density in the substantia nigra, but these phenotypes were not reversed by CBD. However, long-term CBD (50 and 100 mg/kg) selectively enhanced social interaction in Nrg1 TM HET mice. Furthermore, acute CBD (100 mg/kg) selectively increased PPI in Nrg1 TM HET mice, although tolerance to this effect was manifest upon repeated CBD administration. Long-term CBD (50 mg/kg) also selectively increased GABAA receptor binding in the granular retrosplenial cortex in Nrg1 TM HET mice and reduced 5-HT2A binding in the substantia nigra in WT mice. Nrg1 appears necessary for CBD-induced anxiolysis since only WT mice developed decreased anxiety-related behaviour with repeated CBD treatment. Altered pharmacokinetics in mutant mice could not explain our findings since no genotype differences existed in CBD blood concentrations. Here we demonstrate that Nrg1 modulates acute and long-term neurobehavioural effects of CBD, which does not reverse the schizophrenia-relevant phenotypes. PMID:22509273

Distinct neurobehavioural effects of cannabidiol in transmembrane domain neuregulin 1 mutant mice.

PubMed

Long, Leonora E; Chesworth, Rose; Huang, Xu-Feng; Wong, Alexander; Spiro, Adena; McGregor, Iain S; Arnold, Jonathon C; Karl, Tim

2012-01-01

The cannabis constituent cannabidiol (CBD) possesses anxiolytic and antipsychotic properties. We have previously shown that transmembrane domain neuregulin 1 mutant (Nrg1 TM HET) mice display altered neurobehavioural responses to the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis, Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol. Here we investigated whether Nrg1 TM HET mice respond differently to CBD and whether CBD reverses schizophrenia-related phenotypes expressed by these mice. Adult male Nrg1 TM HET and wild type-like littermates (WT) received vehicle or CBD (1, 50 or 100 mg/kg i.p.) for 21 days. During treatment and 48 h after withdrawal we measured behaviour, whole blood CBD concentrations and autoradiographic receptor binding. Nrg1 HET mice displayed locomotor hyperactivity, PPI deficits and reduced 5-HT(2A) receptor binding density in the substantia nigra, but these phenotypes were not reversed by CBD. However, long-term CBD (50 and 100 mg/kg) selectively enhanced social interaction in Nrg1 TM HET mice. Furthermore, acute CBD (100 mg/kg) selectively increased PPI in Nrg1 TM HET mice, although tolerance to this effect was manifest upon repeated CBD administration. Long-term CBD (50 mg/kg) also selectively increased GABA(A) receptor binding in the granular retrosplenial cortex in Nrg1 TM HET mice and reduced 5-HT(2A) binding in the substantia nigra in WT mice. Nrg1 appears necessary for CBD-induced anxiolysis since only WT mice developed decreased anxiety-related behaviour with repeated CBD treatment. Altered pharmacokinetics in mutant mice could not explain our findings since no genotype differences existed in CBD blood concentrations. Here we demonstrate that Nrg1 modulates acute and long-term neurobehavioural effects of CBD, which does not reverse the schizophrenia-relevant phenotypes.

Position of pelvis in the 3rd month of life predicts further motor development.

PubMed

Gajewska, Ewa; Sobieska, Magdalena; Moczko, Jerzy

2018-06-01

The aim of the study is to select elements of motor skills assessed at 3 months that provide the best predictive properties for motor development at 9 months. In all children a physiotherapeutic assessment of the quantitative and qualitative development at the age of 3 months was performed in the prone and supine positions, which was presented in previous papers as the quantitative and qualitative assessment sheet of motor development. The neurological examination at the age of 9 months was based on the Denver Development Screening Test II and the evaluation of reflexes, muscle tone (hypotony and hypertony), and symmetry. The particular elements of motor performance assessment were shown to have distinct predictive value for further motor development (as assessed at 9 months), and the pelvis position was the strongest predictive element. Irrespective of the symptomatic and anamnestic factors the inappropriate motor performance may already be detected in the 3rd month of life and is predictive for further motor development. The assessment of the motor performance should be performed in both supine and prone positions. The proper position of pelvis summarizes the proper positioning of the whole spine and ensures proper further motor development. To our knowledge, the presented motor development assessment sheet allows the earliest prediction of motor disturbances. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Motion of the Tympanic Membrane after Cartilage Tympanoplasty Determined by Stroboscopic Holography

PubMed Central

Aarnisalo, Antti A.; Cheng, Jeffrey T.; Ravicz, Michael E.; Furlong, Cosme; Merchant, Saumil N.; Rosowski, John J.

2009-01-01

Stroboscopic holography was used to quantify dynamic deformations of the tympanic membrane (TM) of the entire surface of the TM before and after cartilage tympanoplasty of the posterior or posterior-superior part of the TM. Cartilage is widely used in tympanoplasties to provide mechanical stability for the TM. Three human cadaveric temporal bones were used. A 6 mm × 3 mm oval cartilage graft was placed through the widely opened facial recess onto the medial surface of the posterior or posterior-superior part of the TM. The graft was either in contact with the bony tympanic rim and manubrium or not. Graft thickness was either 0.5 or 1.0 mm. Stroboscopic holography produced displacement amplitude and phase maps of the TM surface in response to stimulus sound. Sound stimuli were 0.5, 1, 4 and 7 (or 8) kHz tones. Middle ear impedance was measured from the motion of the entire TM. Cartilage placement generally produced reductions in the motion of the TM apposed to the cartilage, especially at 4 kHz and 7 or 8 kHz. Some parts of the TM showed altered motion compared to the control in all three cases. In general, middle ear impedance was either unchanged or increased somewhat after cartilage reconstruction both at low (0.5 and 1 kHz) and high (4 and 7 kHz) frequencies. At 4 kHz, with the 1.0 mm thick graft that was in contact with the bony tympanic rim, the impedance slightly decreased. While our earlier work with time-averaged holography allowed us to observe differences in the pattern of TM motion caused by application of cartilage to the TM, stroboscopic holography is more sensitive to TM motions and allowed us to quantify the magnitude and phase of motion of each point on the TM surface. Nonetheless, our results are similar to those of our earlier work: The placement of cartilage on the medial surface of TM reduces the motion of the TM that apposes the cartilage. These obvious local changes occur even though the cartilage had little effect on the sound-induced motion of the stapes. PMID:19909803

Perceptual and Motor Development in Infants and Children. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cratty, Bryant J.

Motor behavior, motor performance, and motor learning are discussed at length within the context of infant and child development. Individual chapters focus on the following: the sensory-motor behavior of infants; analysis of selected perceptual-motor programs; beginnings of movement in infants; gross motor attributes in early childhood; visual…

Tryptophan Scanning Reveals Dense Packing of Connexin Transmembrane Domains in Gap Junction Channels Composed of Connexin32.

PubMed

Brennan, Matthew J; Karcz, Jennifer; Vaughn, Nicholas R; Woolwine-Cunningham, Yvonne; DePriest, Adam D; Escalona, Yerko; Perez-Acle, Tomas; Skerrett, I Martha

2015-07-10

Tryptophan was substituted for residues in all four transmembrane domains of connexin32. Function was assayed using dual cell two-electrode voltage clamp after expression in Xenopus oocytes. Tryptophan substitution was poorly tolerated in all domains, with the greatest impact in TM1 and TM4. For instance, in TM1, 15 substitutions were made, six abolished coupling and five others significantly reduced function. Only TM2 and TM3 included a distinct helical face that lacked sensitivity to tryptophan substitution. Results were visualized on a comparative model of Cx32 hemichannel. In this model, a region midway through the membrane appears highly sensitive to tryptophan substitution and includes residues Arg-32, Ile-33, Met-34, and Val-35. In the modeled channel, pore-facing regions of TM1 and TM2 were highly sensitive to tryptophan substitution, whereas the lipid-facing regions of TM3 and TM4 were variably tolerant. Residues facing a putative intracellular water pocket (the IC pocket) were also highly sensitive to tryptophan substitution. Although future studies will be required to separate trafficking-defective mutants from those that alter channel function, a subset of interactions important for voltage gating was identified. Interactions important for voltage gating occurred mainly in the mid-region of the channel and focused on TM1. To determine whether results could be extrapolated to other connexins, TM1 of Cx43 was scanned revealing similar but not identical sensitivity to TM1 of Cx32. © 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

A review of translational medicine. The future paradigm: how can we connect the orthopedic dots better?

PubMed

Mediouni, Mohamed; R Schlatterer, Daniel; Madry, Henning; Cucchiarini, Magali; Rai, Balwant

2017-11-01

Patients with complex medical and surgical problems often travel great distances to prestigious university medical centers in search of solutions and in some cases for nothing more than a diagnosis of their condition. Translational medicine (TM) is an emerging method and process of facilitating medical advances efficiently from the scientist to the clinician. Most established clinicians and those in training know very little about this new discipline. The purpose of this article is to illustrate TM in varied scientific, medical and surgical fields. Anecdotal events in medicine and orthopaedics based upon a practicing orthopaedic surgeon's training and clinical experience are presented. TM is rapidly assuming a greater presence in the medical community. The National Institute of Health (NIH) recognizes this discipline and has funded TM projects. Numerous institutions in Europe and the USA offer advanced degrees in TM. Finally there is a European Society for Translational Medicine (EUTMS), an International Society for Translational Medicine, and an Academy of Translational Medical Professionals (ATMP). The examples of TM presented in this article support the argument for the formation of more TM networks on the local and regional levels. The need for increased participation of researchers and clinicians requires further study to identify the economic and social impact of TM. The examples of TM presented in this article support the argument for the formation of more TM networks on the local and regional levels. Financial constraints for TM can be overcome by pooling government, academic, private, and industry resources in an organized fashion with oversight by a lead TM researcher.

Cross-Section Measurement of the 169Tm(n,3n)167Tm Reaction and Constraining the Branching Ratio of 167Tm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Champine, Brian; Gooden, Matthew; Thomas, Keenan; Krishichayan, F.; Norman, Eric; Scielzo, Nick; Tonchev, Anton; Tornow, Werner

2015-10-01

The cross section of the 169Tm(n,3n)167Tm reaction has been measured from 17.5 to 21.5 MeV using activation technique. This energy region was chosen to resolve the two different trends of the previous (n,3n) cross section measurements on 169Tm. In addition, the branching ratio of the 207.8 keV γ-ray line stemming from electron capture of 167Tm was measured to be 0.419(16). The result of these measurements provide more accurate diagnostic estimation of the so called reaction-in-flight neutrons produced via the internal confinement fusion plasma in deuterium-tritium capsules at the National Ignition Facility.

Feasibility study on a short-pulsed IR wavelength for effective calculus fragmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Hyun Wook

2015-05-01

Laser-induced lithotripsy has been used for a minimally-invasive surgery to treat kidney-stone disease associated with urinary obstruction. A short-pulsed Tm:YAG laser (λ = 2.01 µm) was developed to improve fragmentation efficiency and was evaluated with a Ho:YAG laser (λ = 2.12 μm) as to its ablation feature and mass removal rate. Application of a train of sub-microsecond pulses with a lower energy at a frequency of 500 Hz created multiple events of cavitation that accompanied strong acoustic transients. During Tm:YAG irradiation, both high light absorption and secondary photomechanical impacts readily fragmented the calculus into small pieces (< 3 mm) and removed them 130 times faster than photothermal Ho:YAG lithotripsy. The proposed short-pulsed Tm:YAG approach may be an effective lithotripter for treating calculus disease.

Dissecting biological “dark matter” with single-cell genetic analysis of rare and uncultivated TM7 microbes from the human mouth

PubMed Central

Marcy, Yann; Ouverney, Cleber; Bik, Elisabeth M.; Lösekann, Tina; Ivanova, Natalia; Martin, Hector Garcia; Szeto, Ernest; Platt, Darren; Hugenholtz, Philip; Relman, David A.; Quake, Stephen R.

2007-01-01

We have developed a microfluidic device that allows the isolation and genome amplification of individual microbial cells, thereby enabling organism-level genomic analysis of complex microbial ecosystems without the need for culture. This device was used to perform a directed survey of the human subgingival crevice and to isolate bacteria having rod-like morphology. Several isolated microbes had a 16S rRNA sequence that placed them in candidate phylum TM7, which has no cultivated or sequenced members. Genome amplification from individual TM7 cells allowed us to sequence and assemble >1,000 genes, providing insight into the physiology of members of this phylum. This approach enables single-cell genetic analysis of any uncultivated minority member of a microbial community. PMID:17620602

The 2 Degrees of Freedom facility in Firenze for the study of weak forces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marconi, L.; Stanga, R.; Lorenzini, M.; Grimani, C.; Bassan, M.; Pucacco, G.; Di Fiore, L.; De Rosa, R.; Garufi, F.; Milano, L.

2010-05-01

The LISA test-mass (TM) is sensitive to weak forces along all 6 Degrees of Freedom (DoFs). Extensi ve ground test ing is required in order to evaluate the influence of cross-talks of read-outs and actuators operating on different DoFs. To best represent the flight conditions, we developed in Firenze a facility with 2 soft DoFs. Using this facility we measure the forces and stiffnesses acting simultaneously along the 2 soft DoFs, and, more specifically, we will be able to de b ug residual couplings between the TM and the capacitive position sensor that reads the TM position, and to measure actuation cross talks with closed feedback loop. The facility is now ready, and here we report on the co mmi ssioning test s, and on the first measurements.

Classification of corn and soybeans using multitemporal Thematic Mapper data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Badhwar, G. D.

1984-01-01

The multitemporal classification approach based on the greenness profile derived from Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) spectral bands has proved successful in effectively separating and identifying corn, soybean, and other ground cover classes. Features derived from these profiles have been shown to carry virtually all the information contained in the original data and, in addition, have been shown to be stable over a large geographic area of the United States. The objective of this investigation was to determine if the same features derived from multitemporal Thematic Mapper (TM) data would also prove effective in separating these two crop types, and, in fact, if algorithms developed for MSS could be directly applied to TM. It is shown that this is indeed the case. In addition, because of greater spatial and spectral resolution, the accuracy of TM classifications is better than in MSS.

Functional reconstitution of the human serotonin receptor 5-HT(6) using synthetic transmembrane peptides.

PubMed

Lee, Won-Kyu; Han, Jason J; Jin, Bong-Suk; Boo, Doo Wan; Yu, Yeon Gyu

2009-12-18

Seven transmembrane (7TM) synthetic peptides mimicking the alpha-helical TM domains of the human serotonin receptor subtype-6 (5-HT(6)) were autonomously reconstituted in detergent micelle and liposome environments. The degree of assembly of the 7TM peptides was characterized by monitoring the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between donor and acceptor probes labeled at the amino termini of the second and fourth TM-peptides, respectively. The FRET efficiency of these peptides significantly increased when the 7TM peptides were reconstituted in liposome compare to detergent micelles. Furthermore, the 7TM peptides reconstituted in liposomes selectively bound to free serotonin and serotonin-conjugated magnetic beads, yielding a dissociation constant of 0.84 microM. These results show that the seven individual TM domains of 5-HT(6) can spontaneously assemble into liposomes in a conformation that mimics a native structure, and further demonstrate that specific interactions between TM helices play a critical role in the folding and stabilizing of GPCRs. The autonomous assembly of 7TM-peptides can be applied to the screening of agonists for GPCRs that are difficult to manipulate.

Preliminary Study of Information Extraction of LANDSAT TM Data for a Suburban/regional Test Site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Toll, D. L.

1985-01-01

A substantial amount of spectral information is available from TM (as compared to MSS) data for a 14.25 square km area between Beltsville and Laurel, Maryland. Large buildings and street patterns were resolved in the TM imagery. While there was added information content in TM data for discriminating surburban/regional land cover, characteristics of MSS can improve land cover discrimination over TM when conventional classification procedures are used on digital data. The improved qualitization of TM is likely valuable in situations where there are spectral similarities between classes. The spatial resolution in TM decreased land cover discrimination as a result of increased within class variability. For many general digital evaluations, inclusion of four bands representing the four spectral regions can provide much useful land cover discrimination. Inclusion of TM 6 indicates an improvement in spectral class discrimination. Of primary spectral importance is the discrimination between water, vegetative surfaces, and impervious surfaces due to differences in thermal properties. Results from the principle component transformed data clearly indicates additional information content in TM over MSS.

Early motor development and later language and reading skills in children at risk of familial dyslexia.

PubMed

Viholainen, Helena; Ahonen, Timo; Lyytinen, Paula; Cantell, Marja; Tolvanen, Asko; Lyytinen, Heikki

2006-05-01

Relationships between early motor development and language and reading skills were studied in 154 children, of whom 75 had familial risk of dyslexia (37 females, 38 males; at-risk group) and 79 constituted a control group (32 females, 47 males). Motor development was assessed by a structured parental questionnaire during the child's first year of life. Vocabulary and inflectional morphology skills were used as early indicators of language skills at 3 years 6 months and 5 years or 5 years 6 months of age, and reading speed was used as a later indicator of reading skills at 7 years of age. The same subgroups as in our earlier study (in which the cluster analysis was described) were used in this study. The three subgroups of the control group were 'fast motor development', 'slow fine motor development', and 'slow gross motor development', and the two subgroups of the at-risk group were 'slow motor development' and 'fast motor development'. A significant difference was found between the development of expressive language skills. Children with familial risk of dyslexia and slow motor development had a smaller vocabulary with poorer inflectional skills than the other children. They were also slower in their reading speed at the end of the first grade at the age of 7 years. Two different associations are discussed, namely the connection between early motor development and language development, and the connection between early motor development and reading speed.

[Sensory oral motor and global motor development of preterm infants].

PubMed

de Castro, Adriana Guerra; Lima, Marilia de Carvalho; de Aquino, Rebeca Raposo; Eickmann, Sophie Helena

2007-01-01

development assessment of preterm infants. to evaluate the association between the gestational ages (GA) of premature infants with the global motor development as well as with early signs of sensory oral motor development delay, and to verify a possible association between them. an exploratory study that assessed the development of 55 infants with corrected chronological ages between four to five months, born preterm at the Instituto Materno Infantil Professor Fernando Figueira (IMIP) and who were followed at the Kangaroo Mother Program Clinic between March and August of 2004. The assessment of the sensory oral motor development was performed through pre-selected indicators and of the global motor development through the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS). infants with lower GA (29 to 34 weeks) presented a higher median of risk signs in the sensory oral motor development assessment when compared to those with higher GA (35 to 36 weeks). Regarding the global motor development, infants born with lower GA presented a higher number of scores in the AIMS below percentile 10 (26%) when compared to those with a higher GA (4%) (p=0.009). The median index of the risk signs for the sensory oral motor development were significantly higher among infants with total AIMS scores below percentile 25 when compared to those with scores equal to or above percentile 25. the gestational age of infants at birth influenced the sensory oral motor and global motor development - infants with lower gestational ages presented worse performances. These findings suggest a possible association between both aspects of infant development.

The role of charge transfer in the oxidation state change of Ce atoms in the TM13-CeO2(111) systems (TM = Pd, Ag, Pt, Au): a DFT + U investigation.

PubMed

Tereshchuk, Polina; Freire, Rafael L H; Ungureanu, Crina G; Seminovski, Yohanna; Kiejna, Adam; Da Silva, Juarez L F

2015-05-28

Despite extensive studies of transition metal (TM) clusters supported on ceria (CeO2), fundamental issues such as the role of the TM atoms in the change in the oxidation state of Ce atoms are still not well understood. In this work, we report a theoretical investigation based on static and ab initio molecular dynamics density functional theory calculations of the interaction of 13-atom TM clusters (TM = Pd, Ag, Pt, Au) with the unreduced CeO2(111) surface represented by a large surface unit cell and employing Hubbard corrections for the strong on-site Coulomb correlation in the Ce f-electrons. We found that the TM13 clusters form pyramidal-like structures on CeO2(111) in the lowest energy configurations with the following stacking sequence, TM/TM4/TM8/CeO2(111), while TM13 adopts two-dimensional structures at high energy structures. TM13 induces a change in the oxidation state of few Ce atoms (3 of 16) located in the topmost Ce layer from Ce(IV) (itinerant Ce f-states) to Ce(III) (localized Ce f-states). There is a charge flow from the TM atoms to the CeO2(111) surface, which can be explained by the electronegativity difference between the TM (Pd, Ag, Pt, Au) and O atoms, however, the charge is not uniformly distributed on the topmost O layer due to the pressure induced by the TM13 clusters on the underlying O ions, which yields a decrease in the ionic charge of the O ions located below the cluster and an increase in the remaining O ions. Due to the charge flow mainly from the TM8-layer to the topmost O-layer, the charge cannot flow from the Ce(IV) atoms to the O atoms with the same magnitude as in the clean CeO2(111) surface. Consequently, the effective cationic charge decreases mainly for the Ce atoms that have a bond with the O atoms not located below the cluster, and hence, those Ce atoms change their oxidation state from IV to III. This increases the size of the Ce(III) compared with the Ce(IV) cations, which builds-in a strain within the topmost Ce layer, and hence, also affecting the location of the Ce(III) cations and the structure of the TM13 clusters.

Influence of the Yukon River on the Bering Sea

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dean, K.; Mcroy, C. P.

1986-01-01

The relationships between the discharge of the Yukon River to the currents and biological productivity in the northern Bering Sea were studied. Specific objectives were: to develop thermal, sediment, and chlorophyll surface maps using Thematic Mapper (TM) data of the discharge of the Yukon River and the Alaskan Coastal Current during the ice free season; to develop a historical model of the distribution of the Yukon River discharge and the Alaskan Coastal Current using LANDSAT Multispectral band scanner (MSS) and NOAA satellite imagery; and to use high resolution TM data to define the surface dynamics of the front between the Alaskan Coastal Current and the Bering Shelf/Anadyr Current. LANDSAT MSS, TM, and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data were recorded during the 1985 ice free period. The data coincided with shipboard measurements acquired by Inner Shelf Transfer and Recycling (ISTAR) project scientists. An integrated model of the distribution of turbid water discharged from the Yukon River was compiled. A similar model is also being compiled for the Alaskan Coastal and Bering Shelf/Anadyr water masses based on their thermal expressions seen on AVHRR imagery.

Overview of Conceptual Design of Early VentureStar(TM) Configurations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lockwood, M. K.

2000-01-01

One of NASA's goals is to enable commercial access to space at a cost of $1000/lb (an order of magnitude less than today's cost) by approximately 2010. Based on results from the 1994 Congressionally mandated, NASA led, Access-to-Space Study, an all rocket-powered single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicle was, selected as the best option for meeting the goal. To address the technology development issues and the follow-on development of an operational vehicle, NASA initiated the X-33 program. The focus of this paper is on the contributions made by the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), from 1997-1998, to the conceptual design of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Work's (LMSW) operational reusable single-stage-to-orbit VentureStar(sup TM) vehicle. The LaRC effort has been in direct support of LMSW and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The primary objectives have been to reduce vehicle dry weight and improve flyability of the VentureStar(sup TM) concepts. This paper will briefly describe the analysis methods used and will present several of the concepts analyzed and design trades completed.

A road map to Translational Medicine in Qatar and a model for the world

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Translational Medicine (TM) in Qatar is part of a concerted effort of the Qatari medical and scientific leadership supported by a strong political will by Qatari authorities to deliver world-class health care to Qatari residents while participating in the worldwide quest to bridge the gap between bench-to-bedside-to-community. TM programs should embrace the Qatar National vision for research to become an international hub of excellence in research and development, based on intellectual merit, contributing to global knowledge and adhering to international standards, to innovate by translating new and original ideas into useful applications, to be inclusive at the national and international level, to build and maintain a competitive and diversified economy and ultimately improve the health and well-being of the Qatar’s population. Although this writing focuses on Qatar, we hope that the thoughts expressed here may be of broader use for the development of any TM program particularly in regions where an established academic community surrounded by a rich research infrastructure and/or a vibrant biotechnology enterprise is not already present. PMID:22929646

Colour emission tunability in Ho3+-Tm3+-Yb3+ co-doped Y2O3 upconverted phosphor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandey, Anurag; Rai, Vineet Kumar

2012-12-01

The frequency upconversion (UC) emission throughout the visible region from the Y2O3:Ho3+-Tm3+-Yb3+ co-doped phosphors synthesized by using low temperature combustion process upon excitation with a diode laser operating at 980 nm have been presented. The colour emission tunability in co-doped phosphor has been observed on increasing the pump power and seen by the naked eyes. The tunability in colour emission has also been visualized by CIE chromaticity diagram. The variation in UC emission intensity of the 1G4 → 3H6 (Tm3+) and 5F3 → 5I8 (Ho3+) transitions lying in the blue region has been monitored with increase in the pump power and marked that their ratio can be used to determine the temperature. The developed phosphor has been used to record fingerprints. The observed most intense visible colour emission from the developed material may be used for photodynamic therapy and as an alternative of traditional fluorescent biolabels.

Influence of the Yukon River on the Bering Sea

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dean, K.; Mcroy, C. P.

1986-01-01

The purpose is to use satellite data to study relationships between discharge of the Yukon River to currents and biologic productivity in the northern Bering Sea. Amended specific objectives are: to develop thermal, sediment and chlorophyll surface maps using thematic mapping (TM) data of the discharge of the Yukon River and the Alaska Coastal Current during the ice free season; to develop a historical model of the distribution of the Yukon River discharge and the Alaska Coastal Current using LANDSAT multispectral scanner (MMS) and NOAA satellite imagery; and to use high resolution TM data to define the surface dynamics of the front between the Alaska Coastal Current and the Bering Shelf/Anadyr Current. LANDSAT MSS and TM, and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data were recorded during the 1985 ice-free period. The satellite data coincided with shipboard measurements acquired by Inner Self Transfer and Recycling scientists. Circumstances were such, that on July 5 and July 22, all three sensors recorded data that has been registered to a common map projection and map base, then contrast stretched, color composited, and density sliced.

Review of Motor Development, Perceptual-Motor and Physical Fitness Testing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bundschuh, Ernest; And Others

Tests of motor development, perceptual-motor coordination, and physical fitness, for the retarded and non-retarded, are reviewed regarding their usage and administration. The tests reviewed are the: Denver Developmental Screening Test, Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Dayton Sensory Motor Awareness Survey, Minnetonka Physical Performance…

Blue upconversion with excitation into Tm ions at 780 nm in Yb- and Tm-codoped fluoride crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, X. X.; Hong, P.; Bass, M.; Chai, B. H. T.

1995-04-01

Strong blue emissions have been observed in fluoride crystals, such as LiYF4, BaY2F8, and KYF4, codoped with Tm3+ and Yb3+ when excited into the Tm3+ 3F4 state at ~780 nm. Energy transfer from Tm3+ to Yb3+ ions followed by the transfer from Yb3+ to Tm3+ was demonstrated to be responsible for the upconversion process. A pumping scheme is proposed based on this upconversion mechanism for blue-laser applications using these materials.

Expression, tissue localization and serodiagnostic potential of Taenia multiceps acidic ribosomal protein P2.

PubMed

Huang, Xing; Chen, Lin; Yang, Yingdong; Gu, Xiaobin; Wang, Yu; Lai, Weimin; Peng, Xuerong; Yang, Guangyou

2015-12-01

The larval stage of Taenia multiceps, also known as coenurus, is the causative agent of coenurosis, which results in severe health problems in sheep, goats, cattle and other animals that negatively impact on animal husbandry. There is no reliable method to identify coenurus infected goats in the early period of infection. We identified a full-length cDNA that encodes acidic ribosomal protein P2 from the transcriptome of T. multiceps (TmP2). Following cloning, sequencing and structural analyses were performed using bioinformatics tools. Recombinant TmP2 (rTmP2) was prokaryotically expressed and then used to test immunoreactivity and immunogenicity in immunoblotting assays. The native proteins in adult stage and coenurus were located via immunofluorescence assays, while the potential of rTmP2 for indirect ELISA-based serodiagnostics was assessed using native goat sera. In addition, 20 goats were randomly divided into a drug treatment group and a control group. Each goat was orally given mature, viable T. multiceps eggs. The drug treatment group was given 10% praziquantel by intramuscular injection 45 days post-infection (p.i), and all goats were screened for anti-TmP2 antibodies with the indirect ELISA method established here, once a week for 17 weeks p.i. The open reading frame (366 bp) of the target gene encodes a 12.62 kDa protein, which showed high homology to that from Taenia solium (93% identity) and lacked a signal peptide. Immunofluorescence staining showed that TmP2 was highly localized to the parenchymatous zone of both the adult parasite and the coenurus; besides, it was widely distributed in cystic wall of coenurus. Building on good immunogenic properties, rTmP2-based ELISA exhibited a sensitivity of 95.0% (19/20) and a specificity of 96.3% (26/27) in detecting anti-P2 antibodies in the sera of naturally infected goats and sheep. In goats experimentally infected with T. multiceps, anti-TmP2 antibody was detectable in the control group from 3 to 10 weeks and 15 to 17 weeks p.i. In the drug-treated group, the anti-TmP2 antibody dropped below the cut-off value about 2 weeks after treatment with praziquantel and remained below this critical value until the end of the experiment. The indirect ELISA method developed in this study has the potential for detection of T. multiceps infections in hosts.

Feasibility, safety, acceptability, and functional outcomes of playing Nintendo Wii Fit Plus™ for frail elderly: study protocol for a feasibility trial.

PubMed

Gomes, Gisele Cristine Vieira; Bacha, Jéssica Maria Ribeiro; do Socorro Simões, Maria; Lin, Sumika Mori; Viveiro, Larissa Alamino Pereira; Varise, Eliana Maria; Filho, Wilson Jacob; Pompeu, José Eduardo

2017-01-01

Frailty can be defined as a medical syndrome with multiple causes and contributors, characterized by diminished strength and endurance and reduced physiological function that increases the vulnerability to develop functional dependency and/or death. Studies have shown that the most commonly studied exercise protocol for frail older adults is the multimodal training. Interactive video games (IVGs) involve tasks in virtual environments that combine physical and cognitive demands in an attractive and challenging way. The aim of this study will be to evaluate the feasibility, safety, acceptability, and functional outcomes of playing Nintendo Wii Fit Plus TM (NWFP) for frail older adults. The study is a randomized controlled, parallel group, feasibility trial. Participants will be randomly assigned to the experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). The EG will participate in 14 training sessions, each lasting 50 min, twice a week. In each training session, the participants will play five games, with three attempts at each game. The first attempt will be performed with the assistance of a physical therapist to correct the movements and posture of the patients and subsequent attempts will be performed independently. Scores achieved in the games will be recorded. The participants will be evaluated by a blinded physical therapist at three moments: before and after intervention and 30 days after the end of the intervention (follow-up). We will assess the feasibility, acceptability, safety, and clinical outcomes (postural control, gait, cognition, quality of life, mood, and fear of falling). Due to the deficiencies in multiple systems, studies have shown that multimodal interventions including motor-cognitive stimulation can improve the mobility of frail elderly adults. IVGs, among them the NWFP, are considered as a multimodal motor-cognitive intervention that can potentially improve motor and cognitive functions in the frail elderly. However, there is still no evidence in the literature that proves the feasibility, safety, acceptability, and functional outcomes of this intervention in frail elderly individuals. Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials (RBR-823rst). World Health Organization Trial Registration Data Set (Additional file 1).

Motor development curve from 0 to 12 months in infants born preterm.

PubMed

Kayenne Martins Roberto Formiga, Cibelle; Linhares, Maria Beatriz Martins

2011-03-01

To trace a reference curve for motor development from birth up to 12 months of corrected chronological age in infants born preterm and low birth weight. This is a cross-sectional study with a sample of 308 preterm infants (53% boys) weighing < 2500 g at birth. The Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) was used for motor development assessment. Comparing the motor performance of preterm infants with infants from a standardized sample on the AIMS, it was found that, except for the age group of the newborn, preterm infants showed lower motor development scores in comparison with the AIMS normative sample in all age groups between 1 and 12 months. The curve of motor development showed a continuous increase in the number of motor skills of preterm infants during their first 12 months of age. However, the average of motor acquisitions of preterm infants showed a nonlinear pattern with a standard indicator of stabilization between 8 and 10 months of age. Preterm infants, 1-12 months of age, showed motor development AIMS scores lower than the standards established in the normative sample. The findings may contribute as norm-reference for assessing the motor development of preterm infants in follow-up programmes in developing countries. © 2010 The Author(s)/Acta Paediatrica © 2010 Foundation Acta Paediatrica.

Divergence of fine and gross motor skills in prelingually deaf children: implications for cochlear implantation.

PubMed

Horn, David L; Pisoni, David B; Miyamoto, Richard T

2006-08-01

The objective of this study was to assess relations between fine and gross motor development and spoken language processing skills in pediatric cochlear implant users. The authors conducted a retrospective analysis of longitudinal data. Prelingually deaf children who received a cochlear implant before age 5 and had no known developmental delay or cognitive impairment were included in the study. Fine and gross motor development were assessed before implantation using the Vineland Adaptive Behavioral Scales, a standardized parental report of adaptive behavior. Fine and gross motor scores reflected a given child's motor functioning with respect to a normative sample of typically developing, normal-hearing children. Relations between these preimplant scores and postimplant spoken language outcomes were assessed. In general, gross motor scores were found to be positively related to chronologic age, whereas the opposite trend was observed for fine motor scores. Fine motor scores were more strongly correlated with postimplant expressive and receptive language scores than gross motor scores. Our findings suggest a disassociation between fine and gross motor development in prelingually deaf children: fine motor skills, in contrast to gross motor skills, tend to be delayed as the prelingually deaf children get older. These findings provide new knowledge about the links between motor and spoken language development and suggest that auditory deprivation may lead to atypical development of certain motor and language skills that share common cortical processing resources.

A novel method for quantifying the amount of trabecular meshwork pigment in glaucomatous and nonglaucomatous eyes.

PubMed

Kinori, Michael; Hostovsky, Avner; Skaat, Alon; Schwartsman, Jonathan; Melamed, Shlomo

2014-01-01

To assess the use of a computerized program for evaluating the amount of trabecular meshwork (TM) pigmentation in normal (control), primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma/pigmentary dispersion glaucoma (PXFG/PDG) patients. All included patients were from the Goldschleger Eye Institute glaucoma clinic. After signing an informed consent, each patient's anterior chamber angle was photographed using a single photo-slit under the same conditions. Only one eye per patient was photographed. The superior TM and the inferior TM were documented. Then, the degree of "blackness" (representing melanin pigment) was assessed using the ImageJ program. Of the 43 eyes photographed, 8 were excluded because of low-quality images. Of the remaining 35 patients, 14 were normal, 10 had POAG, and 11 had PXFG/PDG. The amount of pigment was the same in the control and the POAG patients whether the inferior TM (P=0.24), superior TM (P=0.58), or the sum inferior TM+superior TM (P=0.85) was measured. The pigment level was significantly higher in the PXFG/PDG group than in the control group (inferior TM, P<0.01; superior TM, P=0.047; sum, P<0.01). The difference between the inferior and the superior TM pigment levels was found to be statistically insignificant in all the groups (normal, P=0.86; POAG, P=0.10; PXFG/PDG, P=0.22). The use of ImageJ software might play a role in the quantification of pigment evaluation of the TM.

Early life events and motor development in childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal study.

PubMed

Grace, Tegan; Bulsara, Max; Robinson, Monique; Hands, Beth

2016-05-01

Few studies have reported on early life risk factors for motor development outcomes past childhood. Antenatal, perinatal and neonatal factors affecting motor development from late childhood to adolescence were explored. As sex differences in motor development have been previously reported, males and females were examined separately. Participants (n = 2868) were from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort Study. Obstetric and neonatal data were examined to determine factors related to motor development at 10 (n = 1622), 14 (n = 1584) and 17 (n = 1221) years. The Neuromuscular Development Index (NDI) of the McCarron Assessment of Motor Development determined offspring motor proficiency. Linear mixed models were developed to allow for changes in motor development over time. Maternal pre-eclampsia, Caesarean section and low income were negatively related to male and female motor outcomes. Lower percentage of optimal birthweight was related to a lower male NDI. Younger maternal age, smoking during early pregnancy and stress during later pregnancy were related to lower female NDIs. Events experienced during pregnancy were related to motor development into late adolescence. Males and females were influenced differently by antenatal and perinatal risk factors; this may be due to sex-specific developmental pathways. ©2015 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Motor "dexterity"?: Evidence that left hemisphere lateralization of motor circuit connectivity is associated with better motor performance in children.

PubMed

Barber, Anita D; Srinivasan, Priti; Joel, Suresh E; Caffo, Brian S; Pekar, James J; Mostofsky, Stewart H

2012-01-01

Motor control relies on well-established motor circuits, which are critical for typical child development. Although many imaging studies have examined task activation during motor performance, none have examined the relationship between functional intrinsic connectivity and motor ability. The current study investigated the relationship between resting state functional connectivity within the motor network and motor performance assessment outside of the scanner in 40 typically developing right-handed children. Better motor performance correlated with greater left-lateralized (mean left hemisphere-mean right hemisphere) motor circuit connectivity. Speed, rhythmicity, and control of movements were associated with connectivity within different individual region pairs: faster speed was associated with more left-lateralized putamen-thalamus connectivity, less overflow with more left-lateralized supplementary motor-primary motor connectivity, and less dysrhythmia with more left-lateralized supplementary motor-anterior cerebellar connectivity. These findings suggest that for right-handed children, superior motor development depends on the establishment of left-hemisphere dominance in intrinsic motor network connectivity.

OncoLogicTM

EPA Science Inventory

OncoLogic^TM - A Computer System to Evaluate the Carcinogenic Potential of Chemicals
OncoLogic^TM is a software program that evaluates the likelihood that a chemical may cause cancer. OncoLogic^TM has been peer reviewed and is being rele...

Advanced ESPI-based medical instruments for otolaryngology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castracane, James; Conerty, M.; Cacace, Anthony T.; Gardner, Glendon M.; Miller, Mitchell B.; Parnes, Steven M.

1993-05-01

Optical fibers have long been used for visual inspection inside the human body for medical diagnoses and treatment. By making use of sophisticated optical interferometric and ultra- small imaging techniques, combined with automated image processing, it is possible to extract significantly increased information for more accurate medical diagnoses. With support from NIH under the SBIR program, we have been developing a range of such instruments. One of these supported by the NIDCD is capable of providing detailed spatial information on the vibratory response of the tympanic membrane (TM). This instrument involves the examination of the TM by means of high speed electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI). This provides a real time view of the vibration patterns of the TM for clinical diagnosis. This Interferometric Otoscope consists of mode conserving fiber optics, miniature diode lasers and high speed solid state detector arrays. We present the current status of the research including holography and ESPI of TM models and excised temporal bone preparations. A second instrument, also developed with support from NIDCD, is for application to the larynx. This system is also ESPI based but will incorporate features for direct vocal cord (VC) examination. By careful examination of the vibratory response of the VC during phonation, the characteristics of the mucosal wave may be examined. Adynamic regions of the cords can signal the start of lesions or cysts. Results of surgery can be evaluated in a quantitative manner. The design of a clinical prototype and preliminary electro-optic experiments on excised larynges and VC models will be presented.

Pilot Study of Sublethal Effects on Fish of Pesticides Currently Used and Proposed for Use on Maine Blueberries

USGS Publications Warehouse

Elskus, Adria A.

2007-01-01

Blueberry pesticides have been detected consistently in some Down East Maine rivers, yet little is known about the sublethal effects of these pesticides on fish early life stages. The Maine blueberry industry is proposing to replace the insecticide ImidanTM (active ingredient phosmet) and the herbicide VelparTM (active ingredient hexazinone), two of the pesticides found in these rivers, with candidate alternatives SpinTor TM (active ingredient spinosad) and Callistso TM (active ingredient mesotrione). Our objective is to evaluate potential sublethal effects of these four formulations before the industry adopts the two candidate alternatives. We exposed zebrafish (Danio rerio) early life stages, from fertilization through larval swim-up, to a range of pesticide concentrations and evaluated their response relative to untreated controls. In this report we provide preliminary data on immune function as well as on parameters in addition to those originally proposed: development and performance fitness. We also provide information on our progress towards optimizing chemical protocols for analyzing the concentration of active ingredient in each of our formulation dosing solutions, another new parameter we added to those originally proposed. Preliminary results indicate that at environmentally realistic concentrations, these pesticides may have no significant effect on innate immunity, development rate or behavior (spontaneous swimming), however further replication is needed to confirm these initial findings. We have also observed some degree of developmental abnormalities in both pesticide-treated and control zebrafish embryos; however, additional replication is underway to determine if these groups differ significantly.

Modeling, validation and analysis of a Whegs robot in the USARSim environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Brian K.; Balakirsky, Stephen; Messina, Elena; Quinn, Roger D.

2008-04-01

Simulation of robots in a virtual domain has multiple benefits. End users can use the simulation as a training tool to increase their skill with the vehicle without risking damage to the robot or surrounding environment. Simulation allows researchers and developers to benchmark robot performance in a range of scenarios without having the physical robot or environment present. The simulation can also help guide and generate new design concepts. USARSim (Unified System for Automation and Robot Simulation) is a tool that is being used to accomplish these goals, particularly within the realm of search and rescue. It is based on the Unreal Tournament 2004 gaming engine, which approximates the physics of how a robot interacts with its environment. A family of vehicles that can benefit from simulation in USARSim are Whegs TM robots. Developed in the Biorobotics Laboratory at Case Western Reserve University, Whegs TM robots are highly mobile ground vehicles that use abstracted biological principles to achieve a robust level of locomotion, including passive gait adaptation and enhanced climbing abilities. This paper describes a Whegs TM robot model that was constructed in USARSim. The model was configured with the same kinds of behavioral characteristics found in real Whegs TM vehicles. Once these traits were implemented, a validation study was performed using identical performance metrics measured on both the virtual and real vehicles to quantify vehicle performance and to ensure that the virtual robot's performance matched that of the real robot.

Discovery and Annotation of Plant Endogenous Target Mimicry Sequences from Public Transcriptome Libraries: A Case Study of Prunus persica.

PubMed

Karakülah, Gökhan

2017-06-28

Novel transcript discovery through RNA sequencing has substantially improved our understanding of the transcriptome dynamics of biological systems. Endogenous target mimicry (eTM) transcripts, a novel class of regulatory molecules, bind to their target microRNAs (miRNAs) by base pairing and block their biological activity. The objective of this study was to provide a computational analysis framework for the prediction of putative eTM sequences in plants, and as an example, to discover previously un-annotated eTMs in Prunus persica (peach) transcriptome. Therefore, two public peach transcriptome libraries downloaded from Sequence Read Archive (SRA) and a previously published set of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) were investigated with multi-step analysis pipeline, and 44 putative eTMs were found. Additionally, an eTM-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network module associated with peach fruit organ development was built via integration of the miRNA target information and predicted eTM-miRNA interactions. My findings suggest that one of the most widely expressed miRNA families among diverse plant species, miR156, might be potentially sponged by seven putative eTMs. Besides, the study indicates eTMs potentially play roles in the regulation of development processes in peach fruit via targeting specific miRNAs. In conclusion, by following the step-by step instructions provided in this study, novel eTMs can be identified and annotated effectively in public plant transcriptome libraries.

Changes in vegetation spectra with deterioration of leaves under two methods of preservation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Labovitz, M. L.; Masuoka, E. J.; Feldmann, S. G.

1981-01-01

An experiment to measure changes in leaf spectra under different methods of preservation over time was conducted. The spectral measurements were made by a three band hand held radiometer which simulated three Thematic Mapper (TM) bands: TM3, TM4, and TM5. Daily spectral measurements of white oak leaves under three preservation treatments were made. The spectral readings over three treatments (fresh, bottled, and bagged vegetation) were indistinguishable in bands TM3 and TM5 for up to 4 days after collection. After that time bagged and bottled samples showed significant increases in reflected energy caused by loss of chlorophyll from and dehydration of the vegetation. No significant variation in the reflectance values from TM4 over preservation type for the experimental period was observed.

Neutralizing Epitopes in the Membrane-Proximal External Region of HIV-1 gp41 Are Influenced by the Transmembrane Domain and the Plasma Membrane

PubMed Central

Montero, Marinieve; Klaric, Kristina-Ana; Donald, Jason E.; Lepik, Christa; Wu, Sampson; Tsai, Sue; Julien, Jean-Philippe; Hessell, Ann J.; Wang, Shixia; Lu, Shan; Burton, Dennis R.; Pai, Emil F.; DeGrado, William F.

2012-01-01

Failure to elicit broadly neutralizing (bNt) antibodies (Abs) against the membrane-proximal external region of HIV-1 gp41 (MPER) reflects the difficulty of mimicking its neutralization-competent structure (NCS). Here, we analyzed MPER antigenicity in the context of the plasma membrane and identified a role for the gp41 transmembrane domain (TM) in exposing the epitopes of three bNt monoclonal Abs (MAbs) (2F5, 4E10, and Z13e1). We transiently expressed DNA constructs encoding gp41 ectodomain fragments fused to either the TM of the platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) or the gp41 TM and cytoplasmic tail domain (CT). Constructs encoding the MPER tethered to the gp41 TM followed by a 27-residue CT fragment (MPER-TM1) produced optimal MAb binding. Critical binding residues for the three Nt MAbs were identified using a panel of 24 MPER-TM1 mutants bearing single amino acid substitutions in the MPER; many were previously shown to affect MAb-mediated viral neutralization. Moreover, non-Nt mutants of MAbs 2F5 and 4E10 exhibited a reduction in binding to MPER-TM1 and yet maintained binding to synthetic MPER peptides, indicating that MPER-TM1 better approximates the MPER NCS than peptides. Replacement of the gp41 TM and CT of MPER-TM1 with the PDGFR TM reduced binding by MAb 4E10, but not 2F5, indicating that the gp41 TM plays a pivotal role in orienting the 4E10 epitope, and more globally, in affecting MPER exposure. PMID:22238313

Thrombomodulin Contributes to Gamma Tocotrienol-Mediated Lethality Protection and Hematopoietic Cell Recovery in Irradiated Mice

PubMed Central

Pathak, Rupak; Shao, Lijian; Ghosh, Sanchita P.; Zhou, Daohong; Boerma, Marjan; Weiler, Hartmut; Hauer-Jensen, Martin

2015-01-01

Systemic administration of recombinant thrombomodulin (TM) confers radiation protection partly by accelerating hematopoietic recovery. The uniquely potent radioprotector gamma tocotrienol (GT3), in addition to being a strong antioxidant, inhibits the enzyme hydroxy-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) and thereby likely modulates the expression of TM. We hypothesized that the mechanism underlying the exceptional radioprotective properties of GT3 partly depends on the presence of endothelial TM. In vitro studies confirmed that ionizing radiation suppresses endothelial TM (about 40% at 4 hr after 5 Gy γ-irradiation) and that GT3 induces TM expression (about 2 fold at the mRNA level after 5 μM GT3 treatment for 4 hr). In vivo survival studies showed that GT3 was significantly more effective as a radioprotector in TM wild type (TM+/+) mice than in mice with low TM function (TMPro/-). After exposure to 9 Gy TBI, GT3 pre-treatment conferred 85% survival in TM+/+ mice compared to only 50% in TMPro/-. Thus, GT3-mediated radiation lethality protection is partly dependent on endothelial TM. Significant post-TBI recovery of hematopoietic cells, particularly leukocytes, was observed in TM+/+ mice (p = 0.003), but not in TMPro/- mice, despite the fact that GT3 induced higher levels of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) in TMPro/- mice (p = 0.0001). These data demonstrate a critical, G-CSF-independent, role for endothelial TM in GT3-mediated lethality protection and hematopoietic recovery after exposure to TBI and may point to new strategies to enhance the efficacy of current medical countermeasures in radiological/nuclear emergencies. PMID:25860286

Short-Term Safety and Efficacy of Femoral Vascular Closure after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Combination of the Boomerang(TM) Device and Intravenous Protamine Sulfate.

PubMed

Chen, Ching-Pei; Huang, Huang-Kai; Hsia, Chien-Hsun; Chang, Yung-Ming; Lin, Lee-Shin; Lee, Cheng-Liang

2013-11-01

The Cardiva Boomerang(TM) is a device used to perform femoral vascular closure. It facilitates passive hemostasis at the arteriotomy site, leaving no residual foreign body. We performed a controlled, randomized study of 60 patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients were randomized into two groups (30 per group) to undergo vascular closure with the Boomerang(TM) or the Perclose(TM) suture-based device after the intravenous administration of protamine sulfate. We compared overall success rates, patient-reported pain, length of time to achieve hemostasis and mobilization of the patient, and the frequency of complications in the two groups. Overall success rates using the Boomerang(TM) and Perclose(TM) devices were similarly high, at 93% and 97%, respectively. The Boomerang(TM) was significantly quicker to deploy than the PercloseTM, device deployment time, median (Q1-Q3), [2.00 (1.33-2.75) vs. 3.84 (2.75-4.38) mins, p < 0.001)]. The pain score was significantly lower in the Boomerang(TM) group (1.1 ± 1.7 vs. 6.4 ± 2.9, p < 0.001). The time the device remained in the artery and manual compression time were significantly longer with the Boomerang(TM) (p < 0.001), as well as the time taken to achieve hemostasis and time to ambulation. There were no major complications in either group and no significant differences between the groups in the frequency of minor complications. We conclude that when used in combination with intravenous protamine sulfate, the Boomerang(TM) device is as safe and effective as the Perclose(TM) device for femoral vascular closure, but quicker to deploy and less painful to patients. Boomerang; Percutaneous intervention; Vascular closure device.

[Study of serum thrombomodulin(TM) levels in patients with hyper- or hypo- thyroidism].

PubMed

Soma, M; Maeda, Y; Matsuura, R; Sasaki, I; Kasakura, S; Saeki, Y; Ikekubo, K; Ishihara, T; Kurahachi, H; Sasaki, S; Tagami, T; Nakao, K

1997-01-01

We studies a relationship between the serum levels of thrombomodulin(TM) and the thyroid functions. Serum TM levels were measured in 48 patients with Graves' disease, 17 patients with primary hypothyroidism, 7 patients with subacute thyroiditis, 5 patients with painless thyroiditis and 2 patients with systematic Refetoff syndrome. These patients did not have malignant tumor, kidney failure, or blood vessel injury. Control sera were obtained from 42 healthy subjects. Serum levels of TM in patients with untreated Graves' disease were significantly higher(p < 0.001) compared with those in controls. Serum levels of TM in patients with hypothyroidism were not significantly changed as compared with those of controls. There were a positive correlation between the serum levels of TM and FT3 as well as FT4. Serial determinations of the serum levels of TM and thyroid function(FT3, FT4 and TH) in patients with Graves' disease during treatment showed that both the serum levels of TM and thyroid hormones (FT3 and FT4) lowered progressively during treatment. After normalization of serum FT3 and FT4, the serum TM levels returned to normal. However, the serum levels of TM in patients with destructive thyroiditis and Refetoff syndrome were normal in spite of high serum levels of thyroid hormones. These data suggest that an increase in serum levels of TM is not the direct result of thyroid hormones themselves but is the result of the prolonged hypermetabolic state induced by their peripheral activities. Thyroid hormones may stimulate the synthesis or metabolism of TM on the surface of vascular endothelial cells in the patients with Graves' disease.

Evidence-based guideline: clinical evaluation and treatment of transverse myelitis: report of the Therapeutics and Technology Assessment Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology.

PubMed

Scott, T F; Frohman, E M; De Seze, J; Gronseth, G S; Weinshenker, B G

2011-12-13

To assess the evidence for diagnostic tests and therapies for transverse myelitis (TM) and make evidence-based recommendations. A review of the published literature from 1966 to March 2009 was performed, with evidence-based classification of relevant articles. Level B recommendations: neuromyelitis optica (NMO)-immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies should be considered useful to determine TM cause in patients presenting with clinical acute complete transverse myelitis (ACTM) features. The presence of NMO-IgG antibodies (aquaporin-4-specific antibodies) should be considered useful in determining increased TM recurrence risk. Level C recommendations: in suspected TM, distinction between ACTM or acute partial transverse myelitis may be considered useful to determine TM etiology and risk for relapse (more common with APTM). Age and gender may be considered useful to determine etiology in patients presenting with TM syndrome, with spinal infarcts seen more often in older patients and more female than male patients having TM due to multiple sclerosis (MS). Brain MRI characteristics consistent with those of MS may be considered useful to predict conversion to MS after a first partial TM episode. Longer spinal lesions extending over >3 vertebral segments may be considered useful in determining NMO vs MS. CSF examination for cells and oligoclonal bands may be considered useful to determine the cause of the TM syndrome. Plasma exchange may be considered in patients with TM who fail to improve after corticosteroid treatment. Rituximab may be considered in patients with TM due to NMO to decrease the number of relapses. Level U recommendations: there is insufficient evidence to support or refute the efficacy of other TM therapies or the usefulness of ethnicity to determine the cause of a subacute myelopathy.

Correlations between Transmembrane 4 L6 Family Member 5 (TM4SF5), CD151, and CD63 in Liver Fibrotic Phenotypes and Hepatic Migration and Invasive Capacities

PubMed Central

Kang, Minkyung; Ryu, Jihye; Lee, Doohyung; Lee, Mi-Sook; Kim, Hye-Jin; Nam, Seo Hee; Song, Haeng Eun; Choi, Jungeun; Lee, Gyu-Ho; Kim, Tai Young; Lee, Hansoo; Kim, Sang Jick; Ye, Sang-Kyu; Kim, Semi; Lee, Jung Weon

2014-01-01

Transmembrane 4 L6 family member 5 (TM4SF5) is overexpressed during CCl4-mediated murine liver fibrosis and in human hepatocellular carcinomas. The tetraspanins form tetraspanin-enriched microdomains (TEMs) consisting of large membrane protein complexes on the cell surface. Thus, TM4SF5 may be involved in the signal coordination that controls liver malignancy. We investigated the relationship between TM4SF5-positive TEMs with liver fibrosis and tumorigenesis, using normal Chang hepatocytes that lack TM4SF5 expression and chronically TGFβ1-treated Chang cells that express TM4SF5. TM4SF5 expression is positively correlated with tumorigenic CD151 expression, but is negatively correlated with tumor-suppressive CD63 expression in mouse fibrotic and human hepatic carcinoma tissues, indicating cooperative roles of the tetraspanins in liver malignancies. Although CD151 did not control the expression of TM4SF5, TM4SF5 appeared to control the expression levels of CD151 and CD63. TM4SF5 interacted with CD151, and caused the internalization of CD63 from the cell surface into late lysosomal membranes, presumably leading to terminating the tumor-suppressive functions of CD63. TM4SF5 could overcome the tumorigenic effects of CD151, especially cell migration and extracellular matrix (ECM)-degradation. Taken together, TM4SF5 appears to play a role in liver malignancy by controlling the levels of tetraspanins on the cell surface, and could provide a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of liver malignancies. PMID:25033048

The Effects of ISM1 Medium on Embryo Quality and Outcomes of IVF/ICSI Cycles.

PubMed

Hassani, Fatemeh; Eftekhari-Yazdi, Poopak; Karimian, Leila; Rezazadeh Valojerdi, Mojtaba; Movaghar, Bahar; Fazel, Mohammad; Fouladi, Hamid Reza; Shabani, Fatemeh; Johansson, Lars

2013-07-01

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of ISM1 culture medium on embryo development, quality and outcomes of in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) cycles. This study compares culture medium commonly used in the laboratory setting for oocyte recovery and embryo development with a medium from MediCult. We have assessed the effects of these media on embryo development and newborn characteristics. In this prospective randomized study, fertilized oocytes from patients were randomly assigned to culture in ISM1 (MediCult, cycles: n=293) or routine lab culture medium (G-1TM v5; Vitrolife, cycles: n=290) according to the daily media schedule for oocyte retrieval. IVF or ICSI and embryo transfer were performed with either MediCult media or routine lab media. Embryo quality on days 2/3, cleavage, pregnancy and implantation rates, baby take home rate (BTHR), in addition to the weight and length of newborns were compared between groups. There were similar cleavage rates for ISM1 (86%) vs. G-1TM v5 (88%). We observed a significantly higher percentage of excellent embryos in ISM1 (42.7%) compared to G-1TM v5 (39%, p<0.05). Babies born after culture in ISM1 had both higher birth weight (3.03 kg) and length (48.8 cm) compared to G-1TM v5 babies that had a birth weight of 2.66 kg and a length of 46.0 cm (p<0.001 for both). This study suggests that ISM1 is a more effective culture medium in generating higher quality embryos, which may be reflected in the characteristics of babies at birth.

The Effects of ISM1 Medium on Embryo Quality and Outcomes of IVF/ICSI Cycles

PubMed Central

Hassani, Fatemeh; Eftekhari-Yazdi, Poopak; Karimian, Leila; Rezazadeh Valojerdi, Mojtaba; Movaghar, Bahar; Fazel, Mohammad; Fouladi, Hamid Reza; Shabani, Fatemeh; Johansson, Lars

2013-01-01

Background: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of ISM1 culture medium on embryo development, quality and outcomes of in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) cycles. This study compares culture medium commonly used in the laboratory setting for oocyte recovery and embryo development with a medium from MediCult. We have assessed the effects of these media on embryo development and newborn characteristics. Materials and Methods: In this prospective randomized study, fertilized oocytes from patients were randomly assigned to culture in ISM1 (MediCult, cycles: n=293) or routine lab culture medium (G-1TM v5; Vitrolife, cycles: n=290) according to the daily media schedule for oocyte retrieval. IVF or ICSI and embryo transfer were performed with either MediCult media or routine lab media. Embryo quality on days 2/3, cleavage, pregnancy and implantation rates, baby take home rate (BTHR), in addition to the weight and length of newborns were compared between groups. Results: There were similar cleavage rates for ISM1 (86%) vs. G-1TM v5 (88%). We observed a significantly higher percentage of excellent embryos in ISM1 (42.7%) compared to G-1TM v5 (39%, p<0.05). Babies born after culture in ISM1 had both higher birth weight (3.03 kg) and length (48.8 cm) compared to G-1TM v5 babies that had a birth weight of 2.66 kg and a length of 46.0 cm (p<0.001 for both). Conclusion: This study suggests that ISM1 is a more effective culture medium in generating higher quality embryos, which may be reflected in the characteristics of babies at birth. PMID:24520472

Development of the digital design environment ProjectWise(TM) - phase 1.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-04-28

The goal of this research was to develop a project document management system capable of managing : Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) Capital Road and Bridge Program. Primary targets of : research and development included the system, c...

Spectroscopy and microchip laser operation of Tm, Ho:KYW crystals with different Ho concentrations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gusakova, N. V.; Kurilchik, S. V.; Yasukevich, A. S.; Kisel, V. E.; Dashkevich, V. I.; Orlovich, V. A.; Pavlyuk, A. A.; Vatnik, S. M.; Bagaev, S. N.; Kuleshov, N. V.

2018-02-01

The spectroscopic properties of Tm, Ho:KYW crystals with different Ho concentrations were investigated. The diode-pumped microchip laser operation of Tm (5 at.%), Ho (0.5 at.%):KYW and Tm (5 at.%), Ho (1 at.%):KYW was demonstrated. The highest, to our knowledge, output power of 480 mW with slope efficiency of 31% for CW Tm (5 at.%), Ho (0.5 at.%):KYW microchip laser was obtained.

Community pharmacist's responsibilities with regards to traditional medicine/complementary medicine products: A systematic literature review.

PubMed

Ung, Carolina Oi Lam; Harnett, Joanna; Hu, Hao

The use of Traditional Medicine/Complementary Medicine (TM/CM) products has gained popularity in many countries. There is a growing body of evidence to support that concomitant use of TM/CM products with certain pharmaceutical medicines may adversely affect treatment outcomes. There is a general consensus that pharmacists have a role to play in the safe and appropriate use of these products. However, the extent of their involvement and responsibilities are not yet defined. Clear guidelines that inform their duty of care are essential for pharmacists to establish their role in the management of TM/CM product use. The purpose of this study was to determine pharmacist's responsibilities with regards to TM/CM products that have been discussed in the literature since 2000. A literature search in 3 electronic databases (Web of Science, Science Direct and PubMed) was used to extract publications from 2000 to 2015 that related pharmacist to TM/CM products. Out of the 2859 publications extracted for abstract review, 171 documents were selected for full text assessment. 41 publications which reported findings from exploratory studies or discussed pharmacists' responsibilities towards TM/CM products were selected for inclusion in this study. Seven major responsibilities were frequently discussed in the literature: (1) to acknowledge the use; (2) to be knowledgeable about the TM/CM products; (3) to ensure safe use of TM/CM products; (4) to document the use of TM/CM products; (5) to report ADRs related to TM/CM products; (6) to educate about TM/CM products; and (7) to collaborate with other health care professionals. Various forms and levels of pharmacists' responsibilities with TM/CM products have been mentioned in the literature. Subsequent work towards a common consensus must take into account three influential factors strategically: the scope of TM/CM products, objectives of pharmacists' involvement and the perspectives of key stakeholders. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tauroursodeoxycholic acid enhances the pre-implantation embryo development by reducing apoptosis in pigs.

PubMed

Kim, J-S; Song, B-S; Lee, K-S; Kim, D-H; Kim, S-U; Choo, Y-K; Chang, K-T; Koo, D-B

2012-10-01

Apoptosis is an important determinant of the normal development of pre-implantation embryos in vitro. Recently, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-mediated apoptosis has been extensively investigated in a wide variety of diseases. Efficient functioning of the ER is essential for most cellular activities and survival. Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), an endogenous bile acid, has been reported to attenuate ER stress-mediated cell death by interrupting the classic pathways of apoptosis. Therefore, in this study, the anti-apoptotic effect of TUDCA on ER stress-induced apoptosis was examined in pre-implantation pig embryos. Also, tunicamycin was used to investigate the effects of ER stress on pig embryo development. After in vitro maturation and fertilization, presumptive pig embryos were cultured in NCSU-23 medium supplemented with TUDCA or TM for 6 days at 39 °C, 5% CO(2) in air. All data were analysed using one-way anova and Duncan's multiple range test in the statistical analysis system (SAS). In addition, we also determined the optimal TM and TUDCA concentrations. Samples were treated with TM at concentrations of 0, 1, 2 or 5 μm and with TUDCA at concentrations of 0, 100, 200 or 300 μm. When TM was used during in vitro culture, only 8.2% (8/97) of the embryos developed to the blastocyst stage when the treatment concentration was 1 μm compared with 27.4% (28/102) of the embryos in the control group (p < 0.05). In contrast, the frequency of blastocyst formation and the number of cells were higher when treated with 200 μm TUDCA compared with the control group (32.8% and 39.5 vs 22.2% and 35.6, p < 0.05). Moreover, the developmental rate to the blastocyst stage embryo in the group treated with TM and TUDCA was not significantly different from that of the control group (17.8%, 26/142 vs 24.9%, 36/145). Furthermore, the blastocyst cell number was enhanced (31.9 vs 36.9) and apoptosis reduced (TUNEL-positive nuclei number, 6.0 vs 3.2) by TUDCA treatment in pig embryos. In the real-time quantitative RT-PCR analysis, the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-XL gene was shown to be increased in the blastocyst stage because of TUDCA treatment, whereas expression of pro-apoptotic Bax was decreased. In addition, we also found that TUDCA decreased the rate of TM-induced apoptosis in the pre-implantation stage. Taken together, our results indicate that TUDCA improves the developmental competence of pig embryos by modulating ER stress-induced apoptosis during the pre-implantation stage. © 2011 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Modified LaRC(TM)-IA Polyimides

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

St. Clair, Terry L.; Chang, Alice C.; Hou, Tan H.; Working, Dennis C.

1994-01-01

Modified versions of thermoplastic polyimide LaRC(TM)-IA incorporate various amounts of additional, rigid moieties into backbones of LaRC(TM)-IA molecules. Modified versions more resistant to solvents and exhibit higher glass-transition temperatures, yet retain melt-flow processability of unmodified LaRC(TM)-IA.

The tearing mode locking-unlocking mechanism to an external resonant field in EXTRAP T2R

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frassinetti, L.; Fridström, R.; Menmuir, S.; Brunsell, P. R.

2014-10-01

The tearing mode (TM) locking and unlocking process due to an external resonant magnetic perturbation (RMP) is experimentally studied in EXTRAP T2R. The RMP produces a reduction of the natural TM velocity and ultimately the TM locking if a threshold in the RMP amplitude is exceeded. During the braking process, the TM slows down via a mechanism composed of deceleration and acceleration phases. During the acceleration phases, the TM can reach velocities higher than the natural velocity. Once the TM locking occurs, the RMP must be reduced to a small amplitude to obtain the TM unlocking, showing that the unlocking threshold is significantly smaller than the locking threshold and that the process is characterized by hysteresis. Experimental results are in qualitative agreement with a model that describes the locking-unlocking process via the balance of the electromagnetic torque produced by the RMP that acts to brake the TM and the viscous torque that tends to re-establish the unperturbed velocity.

History of HTS motor development at Reliance Electric

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

Schiferl, R.

1994-07-29

A review of the High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) motor development program at Reliance Electric is presented. The project was initiated in 1987 by EPRI to investigate the use of high temperature superconducting materials in electric motors. Liquid nitrogen was proposed as the HTS winding coolant. The ultimate goal, motivation, motor type and HTS wire requirements as well as the program milestones are outlined. It was concluded that the HTS motor development has paralleled wire development; progress continues toward the goal of large horsepower HTS motors for commercial applications; the team is well on the way toward completing the design ofmore » a 125 hp, 1800 rpm motor with HTS coils cooled to 20 to 40 K; and the program is a vital step in the development of HTS motors.« less

A technique for the reduction of banding in Landsat Thematic Mapper Images

USGS Publications Warehouse

Helder, Dennis L.; Quirk, Bruce K.; Hood, Joy J.

1992-01-01

The radiometric difference between forward and reverse scans in Landsat thematic mapper (TM) images, referred to as "banding," can create problems when enhancing the image for interpretation or when performing quantitative studies. Recent research has led to the development of a method that reduces the banding in Landsat TM data sets. It involves passing a one-dimensional spatial kernel over the data set. This kernel is developed from the statistics of the banding pattern and is based on the Wiener filter. It has been implemented on both a DOS-based microcomputer and several UNIX-based computer systems. The algorithm has successfully reduced the banding in several test data sets.

The use of radiation-induced graft polymerization for modification of polymer track membranes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shtanko, N. I.; Kabanov, V. Ya.; Apel, P. Yu.; Yoshida, M.

1999-05-01

Track membranes (TM) made of poly(ethylene terephtalate) (PET) and polypropylene (PP) films have a number of peculiarities as compared with other ones. They have high mechanical strength at a low thickness, narrow pore size distribution, low content of extractables. However, TM have some disadvantages such as low chemical resistance in alkaline media (PET TM), the low water flow rate due to the hydrophobic nature of their surface. The use of radiation-induced graft polymerization makes it possible to improve the basic characteristics of TM. In this communication our results on the modification of PET and PP TM are presented. The modified membranes were prepared by radiation-induced graft polymerization from the liquid phase. Three methods of grafting were used: (a) the direct method in argon atmosphere; (b) the pre-irradiation of TM in air followed by grafting in argon atmosphere; (c) pre-irradiation in vacuum followed by grafting in vacuum without contacting oxygen. The aim of the work was to investigate some properties of TM modified by grafted poly(methylvinyl pyridine) (PMVP) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAM). It was shown that the modification of TM with hydrophilic polymer results in the growth of the water flow rate. In the past few years many works have been devoted to the synthesis of new polymers - the so-called "intelligent" materials - such as PNIPAAM. However, it is very difficult to make thin membranes of this polymer. Recently, it has been proposed to manufacture composite membranes by grafting stimulus-responsive polymers onto TM. Following this principle, we prepared thermosensitive membranes by the radiation-induced graft polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAM) onto PET TM. PET TM with the pore size of about 1 μm and pore density of 10 6 cm -2 were first inserted into a solution of NIPAAM containing inhibitor of homopolymerization (CuCl 2) and then exposed to the γ-rays from a 60Co source. The transport properties of the grafted TM were investigated. The permeation of water through the TM was controlled by temperature. The grafted TM exhibited almost the same transition temperature (about 33°C) as that of PNIPAAM.

tmBioC: improving interoperability of text-mining tools with BioC.

PubMed

Khare, Ritu; Wei, Chih-Hsuan; Mao, Yuqing; Leaman, Robert; Lu, Zhiyong

2014-01-01

The lack of interoperability among biomedical text-mining tools is a major bottleneck in creating more complex applications. Despite the availability of numerous methods and techniques for various text-mining tasks, combining different tools requires substantial efforts and time owing to heterogeneity and variety in data formats. In response, BioC is a recent proposal that offers a minimalistic approach to tool interoperability by stipulating minimal changes to existing tools and applications. BioC is a family of XML formats that define how to present text documents and annotations, and also provides easy-to-use functions to read/write documents in the BioC format. In this study, we introduce our text-mining toolkit, which is designed to perform several challenging and significant tasks in the biomedical domain, and repackage the toolkit into BioC to enhance its interoperability. Our toolkit consists of six state-of-the-art tools for named-entity recognition, normalization and annotation (PubTator) of genes (GenNorm), diseases (DNorm), mutations (tmVar), species (SR4GN) and chemicals (tmChem). Although developed within the same group, each tool is designed to process input articles and output annotations in a different format. We modify these tools and enable them to read/write data in the proposed BioC format. We find that, using the BioC family of formats and functions, only minimal changes were required to build the newer versions of the tools. The resulting BioC wrapped toolkit, which we have named tmBioC, consists of our tools in BioC, an annotated full-text corpus in BioC, and a format detection and conversion tool. Furthermore, through participation in the 2013 BioCreative IV Interoperability Track, we empirically demonstrate that the tools in tmBioC can be more efficiently integrated with each other as well as with external tools: Our experimental results show that using BioC reduces >60% in lines of code for text-mining tool integration. The tmBioC toolkit is publicly available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CBBresearch/Lu/Demo/tmTools/. Database URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/CBBresearch/Lu/Demo/tmTools/. Published by Oxford University Press 2014. This work is written by US Government employees and is in the public domain in the US.

Effect of supplementing different concentrations of organic trace minerals on performance, antioxidant activity, and bone mineralization in Vanaraja chickens developed for free range farming.

PubMed

Rao, Savaram Venkata Rama; Prakash, Bhukya; Kumari, Kanya; Raju, Mantena Venkata Laxmi Narasimha; Panda, Arun Kumar

2013-08-01

An experiment was conducted to determine the performance, antioxidation activity, and bone mineral content in Vanaraja chickens fed diet supplemented with organic trace minerals (oTM) at reduced levels. A total of 360 day-old chicks were selected and distributed randomly into 60 battery brooder pens. A maize-soybean meal-based control diet was supplemented with inorganic trace minerals (iTM), i.e., Mn, Zn, Fe, and Cu at 50, 45, 40, and 7.5 mg/kg, respectively, and varying concentration of oTM, i.e., Zn, Mn, Cu, Fe, I, Se, and Cr at 45, 50, 7.5, 40, 2, 0.30, and 0.25 mg/kg (diet II); 33.75, 37.50, 5.63, 30.0, 1.50, 0.23, and 0.19 mg/kg (diet III); 22.5, 25.0, 3.75, 20.0, 1.0, 0.15, and 0.13 mg/kg (diet IV); 18.0, 20.0, 3.0, 16.0, 0.80, 0.12, and 0.10 mg/kg (diet V); and 13.5, 15.0, 2.25, 12.0, 0.60, 0.09, and 0.08 mg/kg (diet VI), respectively. Each diet was allotted randomly to ten replicates and fed ad libitum from 1 to 42 days of age. The body weight at 14, 28, and 42 days was not affected by reducing the supplementation of oTM concentration in the diets. Similarly, feed intake at 14 days of age was not affected but reduced significantly (P < 0.05) in the group fed diet IV (50% oTM) compared to that in the other groups. The higher feed conversion ratio and increased concentration of Ca, P, and trace minerals in tibia were evident in the group fed oTM-supplemented diets compared to the diet containing iTM. Activities of glutathione peroxidase and ferric reducing ability in plasma did not differ in the groups fed on lower concentration of oTM compared to those fed on diet I (control diet). Therefore, it is concluded that the dietary supplementation of trace minerals can be reduced greatly when supplemented as organic form without affecting growth and antioxidant status in Vanaraja chickens.

Temperature measurement and control system for transtibial prostheses: Functional evaluation.

PubMed

Ghoseiri, Kamiar; Zheng, Yong Ping; Leung, Aaron K L; Rahgozar, Mehdi; Aminian, Gholamreza; Lee, Tat Hing; Safari, Mohammad Reza

2018-01-01

The accumulation of heat inside the prosthetic socket increases skin temperature and fosters perspiration, which consequently leads to high tissue stress, friction blister, discomfort, unpleasant odor, and decreased prosthesis suspension and use. In the present study, the prototype of a temperature measurement and control (TM&C) system was designed, fabricated, and functionally evaluated in a phantom model of the transtibial prosthetic socket. The TM&C system was comprised of 12 thermistors divided equally into two groups that arranged internal and external to a prosthetic silicone liner. Its control system was programmed to select the required heating or cooling function of a thermal pump to provide thermal equilibrium based on the amount of temperature difference from a defined set temperature, or the amount of difference between the mean temperature recorded by inside and outside thermistors. A thin layer of aluminum was used for thermal conduction between the thermal pump and different sites around the silicone liner. The results showed functionality of the TM&C system for thermoregulation inside the prosthetic socket. However, enhancing the structure of this TM&C system, increasing its thermal power, and decreasing its weight and cost are main priorities before further development.

Kinetic comparison of walking on a treadmill versus over ground in children with cerebral palsy.

PubMed

van der Krogt, Marjolein M; Sloot, Lizeth H; Buizer, Annemieke I; Harlaar, Jaap

2015-10-15

Kinetic outcomes are an essential part of clinical gait analysis, and can be collected for many consecutive strides using instrumented treadmills. However, the validity of treadmill kinetic outcomes has not been demonstrated for children with cerebral palsy (CP). In this study we compared ground reaction forces (GRF), center of pressure, and hip, knee and ankle moments, powers and work, between overground (OG) and self-paced treadmill (TM) walking for 11 typically developing (TD) children and 9 children with spastic CP. Considerable differences were found in several outcome parameters. In TM, subjects demonstrated lower ankle power generation and more absorption, and increased hip moments and work. This shift from ankle to hip strategy was likely due to a more backward positioning of the hip and a slightly more forward trunk lean. In mediolateral direction, GRF and hip and knee joint moments were increased in TM due to wider step width. These findings indicate that kinetic data collected on a TM cannot be readily compared with OG data in TD children and children with CP, and that treadmill-specific normative data sets should be used when performing kinetic gait analysis on a treadmill. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Landsat-5 bumper-mode geometric correction

USGS Publications Warehouse

Storey, James C.; Choate, Michael J.

2004-01-01

The Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) scan mirror was switched from its primary operating mode to a backup mode in early 2002 in order to overcome internal synchronization problems arising from long-term wear of the scan mirror mechanism. The backup bumper mode of operation removes the constraints on scan start and stop angles enforced in the primary scan angle monitor operating mode, requiring additional geometric calibration effort to monitor the active scan angles. It also eliminates scan timing telemetry used to correct the TM scan geometry. These differences require changes to the geometric correction algorithms used to process TM data. A mathematical model of the scan mirror's behavior when operating in bumper mode was developed. This model includes a set of key timing parameters that characterize the time-varying behavior of the scan mirror bumpers. To simplify the implementation of the bumper-mode model, the bumper timing parameters were recast in terms of the calibration and telemetry data items used to process normal TM imagery. The resulting geometric performance, evaluated over 18 months of bumper-mode operations, though slightly reduced from that achievable in the primary operating mode, is still within the Landsat specifications when the data are processed with the most up-to-date calibration parameters.

Measurements of the temperature dependence of radiation induced conductivity in polymeric dielectrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gillespie, Jodie

This study measures Radiation Induced Conductivity (RIC) in five insulating polymeric materials over temperatures ranging from ~110 K to ~350 K: polyimide (PI or Kapton HN(TM) and Kapton E(TM)), polytetraflouroethylene (PTFE or Teflon(TM)), ethylene-tetraflouroethylene (ETFE or Tefzel(TM)), and Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE). RIC occurs when incident ionizing radiation deposits energy and excites electrons into the conduction band of insulators. Conductivity was measured when a voltage was applied across vacuum-baked, thin film polymer samples in a parallel plate geometry. RIC was calculated as the difference in sample conductivity under no incident radiation and under an incident ~4 MeV electron beam at low incident dose rates of 0.01 rad/sec to 10 rad/sec. The steady-state RIC was found to agree well with the standard power law relation, sigmaRIC(D˙) = kRIC(T) D˙Delta(T) between conductivity, sigmaRIC and adsorbed dose rate, D˙. Both the proportionality constant, kRIC, and the power, Delta, were found to be temperature-dependent above ~250 K, with behavior consistent with photoconductivity models developed for localized trap states in disordered semiconductors. Below ~250 K, kRIC and Delta exhibited little change in any of the materials.

Role of the Lipid Environment in the Dimerization of Transmembrane Domains of Glycophorin A

PubMed Central

Kuznetsov, A. S.; Volynsky, P. E.; Efremov, R. G.

2015-01-01

An efficient computational approach is developed to quantify the free energy of a spontaneous association of the α-helices of proteins in the membrane environment. The approach is based on the numerical decomposition of the free energy profiles of the transmembrane (TM) helices into components corresponding to protein-protein, protein-lipid, and protein-water interactions. The method was tested for the TM segments of human glycophorin A (GpA) and two mutant forms, Gly83Ala and Thr87Val. It was shown that lipids make a significant negative contribution to the free energy of dimerization, while amino acid residues forming the interface of the helix-helix contact may be unfavorable in terms of free energy. The detailed balance between different energy contributions is highly dependent on the amino acid sequence of the TM protein segment. The results show the dominant role of the environment in the interaction of membrane proteins that is changing our notion of the driving force behind the spontaneous association of TM α-helices. Adequate estimation of the contribution of the water-lipid environment thus becomes an extremely urgent task for a rational design of new molecules targeting bitopic membrane proteins, including receptor tyrosine kinases. PMID:26798499

Characterization of Renal Glucose Reabsorption in Response to Dapagliflozin in Healthy Subjects and Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes

PubMed Central

DeFronzo, Ralph A.; Hompesch, Marcus; Kasichayanula, Sreeneeranj; Liu, Xiaoni; Hong, Ying; Pfister, Marc; Morrow, Linda A.; Leslie, Bruce R.; Boulton, David W.; Ching, Agatha; LaCreta, Frank P.; Griffen, Steven C.

2013-01-01

OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, on the major components of renal glucose reabsorption (decreased maximum renal glucose reabsorptive capacity [TmG], increased splay, and reduced threshold), using the pancreatic/stepped hyperglycemic clamp (SHC) technique. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Subjects with type 2 diabetes (n = 12) and matched healthy subjects (n = 12) underwent pancreatic/SHC (plasma glucose range 5.5–30.5 mmol/L) at baseline and after 7 days of dapagliflozin treatment. A pharmacodynamic model was developed to describe the major components of renal glucose reabsorption for both groups and then used to estimate these parameters from individual glucose titration curves. RESULTS At baseline, type 2 diabetic subjects had elevated TmG, splay, and threshold compared with controls. Dapagliflozin treatment reduced the TmG and splay in both groups. However, the most significant effect of dapagliflozin was a reduction of the renal threshold for glucose excretion in type 2 diabetic and control subjects. CONCLUSIONS The SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin improves glycemic control in diabetic patients by reducing the TmG and threshold at which glucose is excreted in the urine. PMID:23735727

Detecting chlorophyll, Secchi disk depth and surface temperature in a sub-alpine lake using Landsat imagery.

PubMed

Giardino, C; Pepe, M; Brivio, P A; Ghezzi, P; Zilioli, E

2001-03-14

Some bio-physical parameters, such as chlorophyll a concentration, Secchi disk depth and water surface temperature were mapped in the sub-alpine Lake Iseo (Italy) using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data acquired on the 7 March 1997. In order to adequately investigate the water-leaving radiance, TM data were atmospherically corrected using a partially image-based method, and the atmospheric transmittance was measured in synchrony with the satellite passage. An empirical approach of relating atmospherically corrected TM spectral reflectance values to in situ measurements, collected during the satellite data acquisition, was used. The models developed were used to map the chlorophyll concentration and Secchi disk depth throughout the lake. Both models gave high determination coefficients (R2 = 0.99 for chlorophyll and R2 = 0.85 for the Secchi disk) and the spatial distribution of chlorophyll concentration and Secchi disk depth was mapped with contour intervals of 1 mg/m3 and 1 m, respectively. A scene-independent procedure was used to derive the surface temperature of the lake from the TM data with a root mean square error of 0.3 degrees C.

Individual Differences in Language Development: Relationship with Motor Skill at 21 Months

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alcock, Katherine J.; Krawczyk, Kirsty

2010-01-01

Language development has long been associated with motor development, particularly manual gesture. We examined a variety of motor abilities--manual gesture including symbolic, meaningless and sequential memory, oral motor control, gross and fine motor control--in 129 children aged 21 months. Language abilities were assessed and cognitive and…

Development of Traction Drive Motors for the Toyota Hybrid System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamiya, Munehiro

Toyota Motor Corporation developed in 2005 a new hybrid system for a large SUV. This system included the new development of a high-speed traction drive motor achieving a significant increase in power weight ratio. This paper provides an overview of the hybrid system, discusses the characteristics required of a traction drive motor, and presents the technologies employed in the developed motor.

Spectroscopic, luminescent and laser properties of nanostructured CaF2:Tm materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyapin, A. A.; Fedorov, P. P.; Garibin, E. A.; Malov, A. V.; Osiko, V. V.; Ryabochkina, P. A.; Ushakov, S. N.

2013-08-01

The laser quality transparent СаF2:Tm fluoride ceramics has been prepared by hot forming. Comparative study of absorption and emission spectra of СаF2:Tm (4 mol.% TmF3) ceramic and single crystal samples demonstrated that these materials possess almost identical spectroscopic properties. Laser oscillations of СаF2:Tm ceramics were obtained at 1898 nm under diode pumping, with the slope efficiency of 5.5%. Also, the continuous-wave (CW) laser have been obtained for СаF2:Tm single crystal at 1890 nm pumped by a diode laser was demonstrated.

Investigations of LRE-HRE-TM thin films for hybrid recording

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zuoyi; Cheng, Xiaomin; Jin, Fang; Li, Zhen; Lin, Gengqi; Yang, Xiaofei

2005-09-01

Light rare earth-heavy rare earth-transition metal (LRE-HRE-TM) thin films are a kind of important recording media. A lot of researches have been carried out on the LRE-HRE-TM thin films to improve its properties for data storage application and fruitful results have been achieved. This report gives a glance on the evolution of the research on LRE-HRE-TM recording media. At the same time, combined with the hybrid recording technology, some experimental results obtained on LRE-HRE-TM recording media are discussed, which suggest the promising prospect of the LRE-HRE-TM media in hybrid recording application.

LANDSAT-4/5 image data quality analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malaret, E.; Bartolucci, L. A.; Lozano, D. F.; Anuta, P. E.; Mcgillem, C. D.

1984-01-01

A LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM) quality evaluation study was conducted to identify geometric and radiometric sensor errors in the post-launch environment. The study began with the launch of LANDSAT-4. Several error conditions were found, including band-to-band misregistration and detector-to detector radiometric calibration errors. Similar analysis was made for the LANDSAT-5 Thematic Mapper and compared with results for LANDSAT-4. Remaining band-to-band misregistration was found to be within tolerances and detector-to-detector calibration errors were not severe. More coherent noise signals were observed in TM-5 than in TM-4, although the amplitude was generally less. The scan direction differences observed in TM-4 were still evident in TM-5. The largest effect was in Band 4 where nearly a one digital count difference was observed. Resolution estimation was carried out using roads in TM-5 for the primary focal plane bands rather than field edges as in TM-4. Estimates using roads gave better resolution. Thermal IR band calibration studies were conducted and new nonlinear calibration procedures were defined for TM-5. The overall conclusion is that there are no first order errors in TM-5 and any remaining problems are second or third order.

Pharmacological Differentiation of Thrombomodulin Alfa and Activated Protein C on Coagulation and Fibrinolysis In Vitro.

PubMed

Tanaka, Kosuke; Tawara, Shunsuke; Tsuruta, Kazuhisa; Hoppensteadt, Debra; Fareed, Jawed

2018-01-01

Although thrombomodulin alfa (TM alfa), recombinant human soluble thrombomodulin, exerts antithrombogenic effects through activated protein C (APC), clinical trials suggested that TM alfa has a lower bleeding risk than does recombinant human APC. To address the mechanism explaining this difference, effects of TM alfa and APC on thrombogenic, coagulation, and fibrinolytic processes were compared in vitro. TM alfa and APC inhibited generation of thrombogenic markers, thrombin, and prothrombin fragment F1+2 and prolonged coagulation parameters, activated clotting time (ACT), and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). Concentrations of TM alfa effective for thrombin and F1+2 generation inhibition were comparable to those of APC. However, effects of TM alfa on ACT and APTT were clearly weaker than those of APC. TM alfa significantly prolonged clot lysis time (CLT) and decreased LY30, a parameter of degree of fibrinolysis in thromboelastography, whereas APC significantly shortened CLT and increased LY30. These results suggested that while the antithrombogenic effects of TM alfa were similar to those of APC, its anticoagulant effects were lower. In addition, effects of TM alfa were antifibrinolytic, while those of APC were profibrinolytic.

Optical image modulation above the submarine bottom topography: a case study on the Taiwan Banks, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yan; Hu, Jianyu; Li, Jing; Fu, Bin; Ma, Liming

2003-05-01

A possible mechanism to explain the correlation between submarine topography and the direct sunlight specially reflected from the sea surface with variable roughness caused by the bottom-current effect was suggested fifteen years ago by Henning et al. in International Journal of Remote Sensing, 9, 45-67, after comparing radar satellite image and Skylab satellite photograph of the North American east coast (Nantucket Shoals) with submarine relief features. A case study is carried out in the famous sand waves field located at the Taiwan banks of Taiwan Strait in August 1998. The TM images, either visible bands (TM1, TM2, TM3) or near infrared bands (TM4, TM5, TM7), shows submarine relief features for sand waves, with wavelength of 300 to 2000 meters, riding on the lager scale sand ridges and channel system. Sea truth data including 660 nm beam attenuation coefficient profiles were conducted in the same period. We compare signals of TM images, attenuation coefficient profiles, and sounding maps of the Taiwan Bands. The subsurface upwelling signals with contributions of the water column and the bottom, either estimated by single or quasi-single-scattering theory or revealed by the TM images after removing the contribution of direct sunlight reflected signals from sea surface, were too weak to distinguish the ridges and troughs of bedforms especially for red and near infrared bands. However, the direct sunlight specially reflected signals from the sea surface, approximately at same level in water-leaving reflectance not only for visible bands (TM1, TM2, TM3) but also for near infrared bands (TM4, TM5, TM7), was the major submarine bottom topography signals especially for those pixels towards the direction of the sun azimuth. Following a physical description for the lee waves appeared on free surface when the current flows round an underwater obstacle, the direct sunlight reflected signals related wave face slope, is dominated by the height and depth of sand waves and sand ridges, and current speed of the flows over those bedforms. The direct sunlight reflected signals from the sea surface could be regarded as a powerful tool to detect bedforms and other underwater obstacles.

Development of mid-infrared solid state lasers for spaceborne lidar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitney, Donald A.

1990-01-01

Researchers investigated laser performance of Ho(3+):Tm(3+):Cr(3+):YAG crystals under both Cr:GSAG laser and flashlamp pumping. A flashlamp pumped Cr:GSAG laser was built to simulate high power quasi-CW laser diode pumping of a 2.1 micron holmium laser. The 2.1 micron output laser energy exceeded more than 14 mJ, the highest value reported to date under laser pumping near 785 nm. This was obtained in a pulse length of nearly 650 microns from a 3 x 3 mm Ho:Tm:Cr:YAG rod by using the flashlamp-pumped Cr:GSAG laser as a pumping source at the diode laser wavelength, 785 microns. In addition, Ho:Tm:Cr:YAG crystals with various Tm(3+) concentrations have been evaluated for flashlamp-pumped normal mode and Q-switched 2.1 micron laser operations under a wide variety of experimental conditions in order to understand internal dynamic processes among the ions and to determine an optimum lasing condition. An increase of the laser slope efficiency was observed with the increase of the Tm(3+) concentration from 2.5 atomic percent to 4.5 atomic percent. The thermal dependence of the laser performance was also investigated. Q-switched laser output energies corresponding to nearly 100 percent of the normal-mode laser energies were obtained in a strong single spike of 200 ns pulse length by optimizing the opening time of a lithium niobate Q-switch.

Transfusional iron burden and liver toxicity after bone marrow transplantation for acute myelogenous leukemia and hemoglobinopathies.

PubMed

Jastaniah, Wasil; Harmatz, Paul; Pakbaz, Zahra; Fischer, Roland; Vichinsky, Elliott; Walters, Mark C

2008-02-01

While it is appropriate to treat transfusional iron overload to limit end-organ injury after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for beta-thalassemia major (TM), this approach after BMT for sickle cell disease (SCD) and hematological malignancies has not been studied. Fifteen children with SCD (n = 4), TM (n = 6), or acute myelogenous leukemia (AML, n = 5) underwent HLA-identical sibling BMT between 2000 and 2003. Prospective evaluations of iron biomarkers were performed and the three groups were compared. The pre-BMT duration and volume of RBC transfusions varied among the three groups, but baseline ferritin and liver iron concentration (LIC) were similar. In contrast, liver histology differed. Liver inflammation was present in four TM patients and portal fibrosis was observed in five TM and one SCD patient. Hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD) developed in 5 of 15 patients. VOD was not associated with age, ferritin, ALT, or transfusions, but an association with liver inflammation and elevated LIC was suggested. Phlebotomy was performed in five patients after BMT. Changes in LIC were minimal in non-phlebotomized patients (P = 0.02). Iron biomarkers demonstrated significant iron overload before BMT in patients with malignant and non-malignant disorders. However, iron overload was associated with liver inflammation and VOD primarily in TM patients. The clinical significance of iron overload in patients after BMT remains uncertain, but this is the first study to suggest that VOD may be associated with transfusional iron burden. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

A strategy for screening and identifying mycotoxins in herbal medicine using ultra-performance liquid chromatography with tandem quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Fang, Lian-xiang; Xiong, Ai-zhen; Wang, Rui; Ji, Shen; Yang, Li; Wang, Zheng-tao

2013-09-01

The objective of this study was to develop an effective strategy for screening and identifying mycotoxins in herbal medicine (HM). Here, Imperatae Rhizoma, a commonly used Chinese herb, was selected as a model HM. A crude drug contaminated with fungi was analyzed by comparing with uncontaminated ones. Ultra-performance LC coupled to tandem quadrupole TOF-MS (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS) with collision energy function was applied to analyze different samples from Imperatae Rhizoma. Then, MarkerLynx(TM) software was employed to screen the excess components in analytes, compared with control samples, and those selected markers were likely to be the metabolites of fungi. Furthermore, each of the accurate masses of the markers obtained from MarkerLynx(TM) was then searched in a mycotoxins/fungal metabolites database established in advance. The molecular formulas with relative mass error between the measured and theoretical mass within 5 ppm were chosen and then applied to MassFragment(TM) analysis for further confirmation of their structures. With the use of this approach, five mycotoxins that have never been reported in HM were identified in contaminated Imperatae Rhizoma. The results demonstrate the potential of UPLC-Q-TOF-MS coupled with the MarkerLynx(TM) software and MassFragment(TM) tool as an efficient and convenient method to screen and identify mycotoxins in herbal materials and aid in the quality control of HM. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Optimization of a lensless digital holographic otoscope system for transient measurements of the human tympanic membrane

PubMed Central

Dobrev, I.; Furlong, C.; Cheng, J. T.; Rosowski, J. J.

2014-01-01

In this paper, we propose a multi-pulsed double exposure (MPDE) acquisition method to quantify in full-field-of-view the transient (i.e., >10 kHz) acoustically induced nanometer scale displacements of the human tympanic membrane (TM or eardrum). The method takes advantage of the geometrical linearity and repeatability of the TM displacements to enable high-speed measurements with a conventional camera (i.e., <20 fps). The MPDE is implemented on a previously developed digital holographic system (DHS) to enhance its measurement capabilities, at a minimum cost, while avoiding constraints imposed by the spatial resolutions and dimensions of high-speed (i.e., >50 kfps) cameras. To our knowledge, there is currently no existing system to provide such capabilities for the study of the human TM. The combination of high temporal (i.e., >50 kHz) and spatial (i.e., >500k data points) resolutions enables measurements of the temporal and frequency response of all points across the surface of the TM simultaneously. The repeatability and accuracy of the MPDE method are verified against a Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) on both artificial membranes and ex-vivo human TMs that are acoustically excited with a sharp (i.e., <100 μs duration) click. The measuring capabilities of the DHS, enhanced by the MPDE acquisition method, allow for quantification of spatially dependent motion parameters of the TM, such as modal frequencies, time constants, as well as inferring local material properties. PMID:25780271

Naive T cells are dispensable for memory CD4+ T cell homeostasis in progressive simian immunodeficiency virus infection

PubMed Central

Okoye, Afam A.; Rohankhedkar, Mukta; Abana, Chike; Pattenn, Audrie; Reyes, Matthew; Pexton, Christopher; Lum, Richard; Sylwester, Andrew; Planer, Shannon L.; Legasse, Alfred; Park, Byung S.; Piatak, Michael; Lifson, Jeffrey D.; Axthelm, Michael K.

2012-01-01

The development of AIDS in chronic HIV/simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection has been closely linked to progressive failure of CD4+ memory T cell (TM) homeostasis. CD4+ naive T cells (TN) also decline in these infections, but their contribution to disease progression is less clear. We assessed the role of CD4+ TN in SIV pathogenesis using rhesus macaques (RMs) selectively and permanently depleted of CD4+ TN before SIV infection. CD4+ TN-depleted and CD4+ TN-repleted RMs were created by subjecting juvenile RMs to thymectomy versus sham surgery, respectively, followed by total CD4+ T cell depletion and recovery from this depletion. Although thymectomized and sham-treated RMs manifested comparable CD4+ TM recovery, only sham-treated RMs reconstituted CD4+ TN. CD4+ TN-depleted RMs responded to SIVmac239 infection with markedly attenuated SIV-specific CD4+ T cell responses, delayed SIVenv-specific Ab responses, and reduced SIV-specific CD8+ T cell responses. However, CD4+ TN-depleted and -repleted groups showed similar levels of SIV replication. Moreover, CD4+ TN deficiency had no significant effect on CD4+ TM homeostasis (either on or off anti-retroviral therapy) or disease progression. These data demonstrate that the CD4+ TN compartment is dispensable for CD4+ TM homeostasis in progressive SIV infection, and they confirm that CD4+ TM comprise a homeostatically independent compartment that is intrinsically capable of self-renewal. PMID:22451717

Motor development and motor resonance difficulties in autism: relevance to early intervention for language and communication skills

PubMed Central

McCleery, Joseph P.; Elliott, Natasha A.; Sampanis, Dimitrios S.; Stefanidou, Chrysi A.

2013-01-01

Research suggests that a sub-set of children with autism experience notable difficulties and delays in motor skills development, and that a large percentage of children with autism experience deficits in motor resonance. These motor-related deficiencies, which evidence suggests are present from a very early age, are likely to negatively affect social-communicative and language development in this population. Here, we review evidence for delayed, impaired, and atypical motor development in infants and children with autism. We then carefully review and examine the current language and communication-based intervention research that is relevant to motor and motor resonance (i.e., neural “mirroring” mechanisms activated when we observe the actions of others) deficits in children with autism. Finally, we describe research needs and future directions and developments for early interventions aimed at addressing the speech/language and social-communication development difficulties in autism from a motor-related perspective. PMID:23630476

Longitudinal motor development of "apparently normal" high-risk infants at 18 months, 3 and 5 years.

PubMed

Goyen, Traci Anne; Lui, Kei

2002-12-01

Motor development appears to be more affected by premature birth than other developmental domains, however few studies have specifically investigated the development of gross and fine motor skills in this population. To examine longitudinal motor development in a group of "apparently normal" high-risk infants. Developmental follow-up clinic in a perinatal centre. Longitudinal observational cohort study. Fifty-eight infants born less than 29 weeks gestation and/or 1000 g and without disabilities detected at 12 months. Longitudinal gross and fine motor skills at 18 months, 3 and 5 years using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales. The HOME scale provided information of the home environment as a stimulus for development. A large proportion (54% at 18 months, 47% at 3 years and 64% at 5 years) of children continued to have fine motor deficits from 18 months to 5 years. The proportion of infants with gross motor deficits significantly increased over this period (14%, 33% and 81%, p<0.001), particularly for the 'micropreemies' (born <750 g). In multivariate analyses, gross motor development was positively influenced by the quality of the home environment. A large proportion of high-risk infants continued to have fine motor deficits, reflecting an underlying problem with fine motor skills. The proportion of infants with gross motor deficits significantly increased, as test demands became more challenging. In addition, the development of gross and fine motor skills appears to be influenced differently by the home environment.