Locating grey literature on communication disorders.

PubMed

Shpilko, Inna

2005-01-01

This article provides an overview of selected Web-based resources containing grey literature in the area of communication disorders. It is geared to practitioners, researchers, students, and consumers seeking reliable, freely available scientific information. Grey (or gray) literature has been defined as "that which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business, and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers."1 This paper reviews various general reference sources potentially containing grey literature on communication disorders. This review includes identification of the methods specialists in this field use to obtain this valuable, yet often overlooked, literature. Access points and search tools for identifying grey literature on communication disorders are recommended. Commercial databases containing grey literature are not included. Conclusions presented in this article are considered complementary to traditionally published information resources on communication disorders, such as scholarly journals, online databases, etc.

Protein complex prediction in large ontology attributed protein-protein interaction networks.

PubMed

Zhang, Yijia; Lin, Hongfei; Yang, Zhihao; Wang, Jian; Li, Yanpeng; Xu, Bo

2013-01-01

Protein complexes are important for unraveling the secrets of cellular organization and function. Many computational approaches have been developed to predict protein complexes in protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks. However, most existing approaches focus mainly on the topological structure of PPI networks, and largely ignore the gene ontology (GO) annotation information. In this paper, we constructed ontology attributed PPI networks with PPI data and GO resource. After constructing ontology attributed networks, we proposed a novel approach called CSO (clustering based on network structure and ontology attribute similarity). Structural information and GO attribute information are complementary in ontology attributed networks. CSO can effectively take advantage of the correlation between frequent GO annotation sets and the dense subgraph for protein complex prediction. Our proposed CSO approach was applied to four different yeast PPI data sets and predicted many well-known protein complexes. The experimental results showed that CSO was valuable in predicting protein complexes and achieved state-of-the-art performance.

Smoking, health, risk, and perception.

PubMed

Carbone, Jared C; Kverndokk, Snorre; Røgeberg, Ole Jørgen

2005-07-01

We provide a description of health-related incentives faced by a rational smoker by considering the role of perception in both immediate quality-of-life effects of smoking and future risk of mortality. A person who adapts psychologically to a lowered health state, smokes more early in life and shifts demands for health investments and health-complementary activities later in life. He also smokes more in total. Someone aware of the full mortality consequences of smoking, smokes less and demands less medical care than someone who believes that these effects are highly reversible. The impacts of new information on mortality risk are most valuable early in life. Lastly, someone endowed with a longer life expectancy smokes more in the first part of life but conditional on access to medical care.

Multinuclear solid film state NMR studies of metal oxide catalysts and minerals

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

Maxwell, R.S.; Stec, D.F.; Ellis, P.D.

1996-10-01

Several of our investigations of heterogeneous process by novel NMR experiments and analyses are reviewed and the utility and limitations of NMR spectroscopy for these areas discussed. Out studies have included the following: dynamics and arrangements of proton-containing adsorbates, primarily Bronsted acid sites and water, on the surface of zirconia and alumina catalysts; hydrogen dynamics and coordinates in synthetic aluminum oxyhydroxides; phase separation and crystallinity of synthetic minerals. In combination with the complementary results obtained in our laboratory via infrared spectroscopy, thermal analysis (primarily TGA and DSC), and catalytic activity measurements, these NMR data provide unique and valuable information onmore » atomic and molecular dynamics, identities, and structures without requiring pristine, single crystal specimens.« less

Reiki therapy: a nursing intervention for critical care.

PubMed

Toms, Robin

2011-01-01

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is not generally associated with the complexity and intensity of critical care. Most CAM therapies involve slow, calming techniques that seem to be in direct contrast with the fast-paced, highly technical nature of critical care. However, patients in critical care often find themselves coping with the pain and stress of their illness exacerbated by the stress of the critical care environment. Complementary and alternative medicine-related research reveals that complementary therapies, such as Reiki, relieve pain and anxiety and reduce symptoms of stress such as elevated blood pressure and pulse rates. Patients and health care professionals alike have become increasingly interested in complementary and alternative therapies that do not rely on expensive, invasive technology, and are holistic in focus. Reiki is cost-effective, noninvasive, and can easily be incorporated into patient care. The purpose of this article is to examine the science of Reiki therapy and to explore Reiki as a valuable nursing intervention.

Rural Australian community pharmacists' views on complementary and alternative medicine: a pilot study

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) are being used increasingly across the world. In Australia, community pharmacists are a major supplier of these products but knowledge of the products and interactions with other medicines is poor. Information regarding the use of CAMs by metropolitan pharmacists has been documented by the National Prescribing Service (NPS) in Australia but the views of rural/regional community pharmacists have not been explored. The aim of this pilot study was to explore the knowledge, attitudes and information seeking of a cohort of rural community pharmacists towards CAMs and to compare the findings to the larger NPS study. Methods A cross sectional self-administered postal questionnaire was mailed to all community pharmacists in one rural/regional area of Australia. Using a range of scales, data was collected regarding attitudes, knowledge, information seeking behaviour and demographics. Results Eighty eligible questionnaires were returned. Most pharmacists reported knowing that they should regularly ask consumers if they are using CAMs but many lacked the confidence to do so. Pharmacists surveyed for this study were more knowledgeable in regards to side effects and interactions of CAMs than those in the NPS survey. Over three quarters of pharmacists surveyed reported sourcing CAM information at least several times a month. The most frequently sought information was drug interactions, dose, contraindications and adverse effects. A variety of resources were used to source information, the most popular source was the internet but the most useful resource was CAM text books. Conclusions Pharmacists have varied opinions on the use of CAMs and many lack awareness of or access to good quality CAMs information. Therefore, there is a need to provide pharmacists with opportunities for further education. The data is valuable in assisting interested stakeholders with the development of initiatives to address the gaps in attitudes, knowledge and to improve effectiveness of information seeking behaviour. PMID:22035220

Complementary and integrative therapies for lower urinary tract diseases.

PubMed

Raditic, Donna M

2015-07-01

Consumer use of integrative health care is growing, but evidence-based research on its efficacy is limited. Research of veterinary lower urinary tract diseases could be translated to human medicine because veterinary patients are valuable translational models for human urinary tract infection and urolithiasis. An overview of complementary therapies for lower urinary tract disease includes cranberry supplements, mannose, oral probiotics, acupuncture, methionine, herbs, or herbal preparations. Therapies evaluated in dogs and cats, in vitro canine cells, and other relevant species, in vivo and in vitro, are presented for their potential use as integrative therapies for veterinary patients and/or translational research. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Informational analysis for compressive sampling in radar imaging.

PubMed

Zhang, Jingxiong; Yang, Ke

2015-03-24

Compressive sampling or compressed sensing (CS) works on the assumption of the sparsity or compressibility of the underlying signal, relies on the trans-informational capability of the measurement matrix employed and the resultant measurements, operates with optimization-based algorithms for signal reconstruction and is thus able to complete data compression, while acquiring data, leading to sub-Nyquist sampling strategies that promote efficiency in data acquisition, while ensuring certain accuracy criteria. Information theory provides a framework complementary to classic CS theory for analyzing information mechanisms and for determining the necessary number of measurements in a CS environment, such as CS-radar, a radar sensor conceptualized or designed with CS principles and techniques. Despite increasing awareness of information-theoretic perspectives on CS-radar, reported research has been rare. This paper seeks to bridge the gap in the interdisciplinary area of CS, radar and information theory by analyzing information flows in CS-radar from sparse scenes to measurements and determining sub-Nyquist sampling rates necessary for scene reconstruction within certain distortion thresholds, given differing scene sparsity and average per-sample signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Simulated studies were performed to complement and validate the information-theoretic analysis. The combined strategy proposed in this paper is valuable for information-theoretic orientated CS-radar system analysis and performance evaluation.

Expectations from different perspectives on future work outcome of young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

PubMed

Holwerda, Anja; Brouwer, Sandra; de Boer, Michiel R; Groothoff, Johan W; van der Klink, Jac J L

2015-03-01

Expectations strongly influence future employment outcomes and social networks seem to mediate employment success of young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The aim of this study is to examine the expectations of young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities from special needs education, their parents and their school teachers regarding future work and the extent to which these expectations predict work outcome. Data on 341 young adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities, coming from special needs education, aged 17-20 years, and with an ability to work according to the Social Security Institute were examined. The school teacher's expectation was the only perspective that significantly predicted entering competitive employment, with a complementary effect of the expectation of parents and a small additional effect of the expectation of the young adult. Expectations of school teachers and parents are valuable in predicting work outcome. Therefore, it is important for professionals working with the young adult in the transition from school to work to incorporate the knowledge of school teachers and parents regarding the abilities of the young adult to enter competitive employment as a valuable source of information.

On-line monitoring of fluid bed granulation by photometric imaging.

PubMed

Soppela, Ira; Antikainen, Osmo; Sandler, Niklas; Yliruusi, Jouko

2014-11-01

This paper introduces and discusses a photometric surface imaging approach for on-line monitoring of fluid bed granulation. Five granule batches consisting of paracetamol and varying amounts of lactose and microcrystalline cellulose were manufactured with an instrumented fluid bed granulator. Photometric images and NIR spectra were continuously captured on-line and particle size information was extracted from them. Also key process parameters were recorded. The images provided direct real-time information on the growth, attrition and packing behaviour of the batches. Moreover, decreasing image brightness in the drying phase was found to indicate granule drying. The changes observed in the image data were also linked to the moisture and temperature profiles of the processes. Combined with complementary process analytical tools, photometric imaging opens up possibilities for improved real-time evaluation fluid bed granulation. Furthermore, images can give valuable insight into the behaviour of excipients or formulations during product development. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cell and molecular biology of the spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias and little skate Leucoraja erinacea: insights from in vitro cultured cells.

PubMed

Barnes, D W

2012-04-01

Two of the most commonly used elasmobranch experimental model species are the spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias and the little skate Leucoraja erinacea. Comparative biology and genomics with these species have provided useful information in physiology, pharmacology, toxicology, immunology, evolutionary developmental biology and genetics. A wealth of information has been obtained using in vitro approaches to study isolated cells and tissues from these organisms under circumstances in which the extracellular environment can be controlled. In addition to classical work with primary cell cultures, continuously proliferating cell lines have been derived recently, representing the first cell lines from cartilaginous fishes. These lines have proved to be valuable tools with which to explore functional genomic and biological questions and to test hypotheses at the molecular level. In genomic experiments, complementary (c)DNA libraries have been constructed, and c. 8000 unique transcripts identified, with over 3000 representing previously unknown gene sequences. A sub-set of messenger (m)RNAs has been detected for which the 3' untranslated regions show elements that are remarkably well conserved evolutionarily, representing novel, potentially regulatory gene sequences. The cell culture systems provide physiologically valid tools to study functional roles of these sequences and other aspects of elasmobranch molecular cell biology and physiology. Information derived from the use of in vitro cell cultures is valuable in revealing gene diversity and information for genomic sequence assembly, as well as for identification of new genes and molecular markers, construction of gene-array probes and acquisition of full-length cDNA sequences. © 2012 The Author. Journal of Fish Biology © 2012 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Cancer and Complementary Health Approaches

MedlinePlus

... Cancer Institute's activities in research on complementary health approaches. Toll-free in the U.S.: 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) Web ... complementary health approaches. Information on complementary health approaches in cancer treatment: ...

Comparison of Prognostic and Diagnostic Approaches to Modeling Evapotranspiration in the Nile River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yilmaz, M.; Anderson, M. C.; Zaitchik, B. F.; Crow, W. T.; Hain, C.; Ozdogan, M.; Chun, J. A.

2012-12-01

Actual evapotranspiration (ET) can be estimated using both prognostic and diagnostic modeling approaches, providing independent yet complementary information for hydrologic applications. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. When provided with temporally continuous atmospheric forcing data, prognostic models offer continuous sub-daily ET information together with the full set of water and energy balance fluxes and states (i.e. soil moisture, runoff, sensible and latent heat). On the other hand, the diagnostic modeling approach provides ET estimates over regions where reliable information about available soil water is not known (e.g., due to irrigation practices or shallow ground water levels not included in the prognostic model structure, unknown soil texture or plant rooting depth, etc). Prognostic model-based ET estimates are of great interest whenever consistent and complete water budget information is required or when there is a need to project ET for climate or land use change scenarios. Diagnostic models establish a stronger link to remote sensing observations, can be applied in regions with limited or questionable atmospheric forcing data, and provide valuable observation-derived information about the current land-surface state. Analysis of independently obtained ET estimates is particularly important in data poor regions. Such comparisons can help to reduce the uncertainty in the modeled ET estimates and to exclude outliers based on physical considerations. The Nile river basin is home to tens of millions of people whose daily life depends on water extracted from the river Nile. Yet the complete basin scale water balance of the Nile has been studied only a few times, and the temporal and the spatial distribution of hydrological fluxes (particularly ET) are still a subject of active research. This is due in part to a scarcity of ground-based station data for validation. In such regions, comparison between prognostic and diagnostic model output may be a valuable model evaluation tool. Motivated by the complementary information that exists in prognostic and diagnostic energy balance modeling, as well as the need for evaluation of water consumption estimates over the Nile basin, the purpose of this study is to 1) better describe the conceptual differences between prognostic and diagnostic modeling, 2) present the potential for diagnostic models to capture important hydrologic features that are not explicitly represented in prognostic model, 3) explore the differences in these two approaches over the Nile Basin, where ground data are sparse and transnational data sharing is unreliable. More specifically, we will compare output from the Noah prognostic model and the Atmosphere-Land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) diagnostic model generated over ground truth data-poor Nile basin. Preliminary results indicate spatially, temporally, and magnitude wise consistent flux estimates for ALEXI and NOAH over irrigated Delta region, while there are differences over river-fed wetlands.

Prophetic Granger Causality to infer gene regulatory networks.

PubMed

Carlin, Daniel E; Paull, Evan O; Graim, Kiley; Wong, Christopher K; Bivol, Adrian; Ryabinin, Peter; Ellrott, Kyle; Sokolov, Artem; Stuart, Joshua M

2017-01-01

We introduce a novel method called Prophetic Granger Causality (PGC) for inferring gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from protein-level time series data. The method uses an L1-penalized regression adaptation of Granger Causality to model protein levels as a function of time, stimuli, and other perturbations. When combined with a data-independent network prior, the framework outperformed all other methods submitted to the HPN-DREAM 8 breast cancer network inference challenge. Our investigations reveal that PGC provides complementary information to other approaches, raising the performance of ensemble learners, while on its own achieves moderate performance. Thus, PGC serves as a valuable new tool in the bioinformatics toolkit for analyzing temporal datasets. We investigate the general and cell-specific interactions predicted by our method and find several novel interactions, demonstrating the utility of the approach in charting new tumor wiring.

Prophetic Granger Causality to infer gene regulatory networks

PubMed Central

Carlin, Daniel E.; Paull, Evan O.; Graim, Kiley; Wong, Christopher K.; Bivol, Adrian; Ryabinin, Peter; Ellrott, Kyle; Sokolov, Artem

2017-01-01

We introduce a novel method called Prophetic Granger Causality (PGC) for inferring gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from protein-level time series data. The method uses an L1-penalized regression adaptation of Granger Causality to model protein levels as a function of time, stimuli, and other perturbations. When combined with a data-independent network prior, the framework outperformed all other methods submitted to the HPN-DREAM 8 breast cancer network inference challenge. Our investigations reveal that PGC provides complementary information to other approaches, raising the performance of ensemble learners, while on its own achieves moderate performance. Thus, PGC serves as a valuable new tool in the bioinformatics toolkit for analyzing temporal datasets. We investigate the general and cell-specific interactions predicted by our method and find several novel interactions, demonstrating the utility of the approach in charting new tumor wiring. PMID:29211761

Role of New Functional MRI Techniques in the Diagnosis, Staging, and Followup of Gynecological Cancer: Comparison with PET-CT

PubMed Central

Alvarez Moreno, Elena; Jimenez de la Peña, Mar; Cano Alonso, Raquel

2012-01-01

Recent developments in diagnostic imaging techniques have magnified the role and potential of both MRI and PET-CT in female pelvic imaging. This article reviews the techniques and clinical applications of new functional MRI (fMRI) including diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI, comparing with PET-CT. These new emerging provide not only anatomic but also functional imaging, allowing detection of small volumes of active tumor at diagnosis and early disease relapse, which may not result in detectable morphological changes at conventional imaging. This information is useful in distinguishing between recurrent/residual tumor and post-treatment changes and assessing treatment response, with a clear impact on patient management. Both PET-CT and now fMRI have proved to be very valuable tools for evaluation of gynecologic tumors. Most papers try to compare these techniques, but in our experience both are complementary in management of these patients. Meanwhile PET-CT is superior in diagnosis of ganglionar disease; fMRI presents higher accuracy in local preoperative staging. Both techniques can be used as biomarkers of tumor response and present high accuracy in diagnosis of local recurrence and peritoneal dissemination, with complementary roles depending on histological type, anatomic location and tumoral volume. PMID:22315683

The pituitary gland under infrared light - in search of a representative spectrum for homogeneous regions.

PubMed

Banas, A; Banas, K; Furgal-Borzych, A; Kwiatek, W M; Pawlicki, B; Breese, M B H

2015-04-07

The pituitary gland is a small but vital organ in the human body. It is located at the base of the brain and is often described as the master gland due to its multiple functions. The pituitary gland secretes and stores hormones, such as the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), growth hormone (hGH), prolactin, gonadotropins, and luteinizing hormones, as well as the antidiuretic hormone (ADH). A proper diagnosis of pituitary disorders is of utmost importance as this organ participates in regulating a variety of body functions. Typical histopathological analysis provides much valuable information, but it gives no insight into the biochemical background of the changes that occur within the gland. One approach that could be used to evaluate the biochemistry of tissue sections obtained from pituitary disorders is Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectromicroscopy. In order to collect diagnostically valuable information large areas of tissue must be investigated. This work focuses on obtaining a unique and representative FTIR spectrum characteristic of one type of cell architecture within a sample. The idea presented is based on using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) for data evaluation to search for uniform patterns within samples from the perspective of FTIR spectra. The results obtained demonstrate that FTIR spectromicroscopy, combined with proper statistical evaluation, can be treated as a complementary method for histopathological analysis and ipso facto can increase the sensitivity and specificity for detecting various disorders not only for the pituitary gland, but also for other human tissues.

Complementary medicine in cancer care: adding a therapy dog to the team.

PubMed

Marcus, Dawn A

2012-08-01

Animal-assisted therapy, including visits from certified therapy dogs, offer a valuable and often underutilized resource for addressing unmet needs in cancer patients. Prospective research studies have documented symptomatic benefits for reducing pain, psychological distress, and fatigue in a variety of patient populations, including cancer patients. Utilizing consistent policies minimizes patient risk and infection control concerns associated with animal visits.

Free-Energy Profiles of Membrane Insertion of the M2 Transmembrane Peptide from Influenza A Virus

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

ABSTRACT The insertion of the M2 transmembrane peptide from influenza A virus into a membrane has been studied with molecular - dynamics simulations ...performed replica-exchange molecular - dynamics simulations with umbrella-sampling techniques to characterize the probability distribution and conformation...atomic- detailed molecular dynamics (MD) simulation techniques represent a valuable complementary methodology to inves- tigate membrane-insertion of

Challenges and solutions for the analysis of in situ , in crystallo micro-spectrophotometric data

DOE PAGES

Dworkowski, Florian S. N.; Hough, Michael A.; Pompidor, Guillaume; ...

2015-01-01

Combining macromolecular crystallography with in crystallo micro-spectrophotometry yields valuable complementary information on the sample, including the redox states of metal cofactors, the identification of bound ligands and the onset and strength of undesired photochemistry, also known as radiation damage. However, the analysis and processing of the resulting data differs significantly from the approaches used for solution spectrophotometric data. The varying size and shape of the sample, together with the suboptimal sample environment, the lack of proper reference signals and the general influence of the X-ray beam on the sample have to be considered and carefully corrected for. In the presentmore » article, we discuss how to characterize and treat these sample-dependent artefacts in a reproducible manner and we demonstrate the SLS-APE in situ, in crystallo optical spectroscopy data-analysis toolbox.« less

MR Image Based Approach for Metal Artifact Reduction in X-Ray CT

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

For decades, computed tomography (CT) images have been widely used to discover valuable anatomical information. Metallic implants such as dental fillings cause severe streaking artifacts which significantly degrade the quality of CT images. In this paper, we propose a new method for metal-artifact reduction using complementary magnetic resonance (MR) images. The method exploits the possibilities which arise from the use of emergent trimodality systems. The proposed algorithm corrects reconstructed CT images. The projected data which is affected by dental fillings is detected and the missing projections are replaced with data obtained from a corresponding MR image. A simulation study was conducted in order to compare the reconstructed images with images reconstructed through linear interpolation, which is a common metal-artifact reduction technique. The results show that the proposed method is successful in reducing severe metal artifacts without introducing significant amount of secondary artifacts. PMID:24302860

Complementary alternative medicine use in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus in Erzurum, Turkey.

PubMed

Arýkan, Duygu; Sívríkaya, Sibel Karaca; Olgun, Nermin

2009-08-01

The aims of this study were: (i) to determine the types of complementary and alternative medicine use among children with type I diabetes mellitus as reported by parents and (ii) to describe sociodemographic and medical factors associated with the use of such treatments in families residing in Eastern Turkey. Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a tremendously challenging and complex disease for children and families to manage. Therefore, the use of complementary and alternative medicines among children with type 1 diabetes is becoming increasingly popular. Survey. Parents of 100 paediatric patients (who were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at least 6 months prior to the study) who visited the participating paediatric endocrinology multidisciplinary centres and clinics for diabetes management were included in the study. Data were collected by using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results. Fifty-two per cent of the parents reported the use of one or more complementary alternative medicine therapies. Most such users (59.6%) were using oral herbal preparations; including morus alba (leaves) aloe vera and stinging nettle. Since we found that 78.6% of those using herbals were satisfied with their results and 69.2% were planning to continue use, it is important for healthcare providers to have relevant knowledge about complementary alternative medicine use and learn about its efficacy and effects (positive and adverse) of these treatments. Relevance to clinical practice. Botanical substitute for insulin seems unlikely, but complementary alternative treatments may provide valuable clues for the development of new oral hypoglycaemic agents and simple dietary agents. It is important for healthcare providers to have up-to-date knowledge about the use and effects of complementary alternative medicines in the outpatient clinical care setting.

From observational to analytical morphology of the stratum corneum: progress avoiding hazardous animal and human testings

PubMed Central

Piérard, Gérald E; Courtois, Justine; Ritacco, Caroline; Humbert, Philippe; Fanian, Ferial; Piérard-Franchimont, Claudine

2015-01-01

Background In cosmetic science, noninvasive sampling of the upper part of the stratum corneum is conveniently performed using strippings with adhesive-coated discs (SACD) and cyanoacrylate skin surface strippings (CSSSs). Methods Under controlled conditions, it is possible to scrutinize SACD and CSSS with objectivity using appropriate methods of analytical morphology. These procedures apply to a series of clinical conditions including xerosis grading, comedometry, corneodynamics, corneomelametry, corneosurfametry, corneoxenometry, and dandruff assessment. Results With any of the analytical evaluations, SACD and CSSS provide specific salient information that is useful in the field of cosmetology. In particular, both methods appear valuable and complementary in assessing the human skin compatibility of personal skincare products. Conclusion A set of quantitative analytical methods applicable to the minimally invasive and low-cost SACD and CSSS procedures allow for a sound assessment of cosmetic effects on the stratum corneum. Under regular conditions, both methods are painless and do not induce adverse events. Globally, CSSS appears more precise and informative than the regular SACD stripping. PMID:25767402

Introduction of new food textures during complementary feeding: Observations in France.

PubMed

Marduel Boulanger, A; Vernet, M

2018-01-01

Complementary feeding plays a crucial role in the development of infants and toddlers and studies suggest benefits specific to the introduction of food textures. Evaluate the recommendations given to parents, their practices, and their attitudes towards the introduction of food textures during complementary feeding in France. This was a cross-sectional pilot study conducted in 2013. One hundred and eighty-one parents with at least one child aged 6-36 months living in France completed an ad hoc questionnaire. Eighty-eight percent of the parents surveyed received oral information on complementary feeding, but only 46% received such information on the introduction of food textures. Pediatricians were the most frequently listed source of oral information on complementary feeding. More than half the parents also looked for additional information in books and on the internet. While oral recommendations matched parents' practices, they seemed to occur at a later age compared to infants' physiological ability to handle new textures. The quality of information on food texture advice available in paper and electronic formats evaluated using a 4-point scale was found to be limited. Introducing new food texture was spontaneously reported as the most common difficulty in complementary feeding (16%). Fear of choking when first introducing food pieces was reported by 54% of the parents. The parents' lack of information on the introduction of food textures, as well as their fear that their child may choke, should encourage providing new recommendations in France. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Using ClinicalTrials.gov to supplement information in ophthalmology conference abstracts about trial outcomes: a comparison study.

PubMed

Scherer, Roberta W; Huynh, Lynn; Ervin, Ann-Margret; Dickersin, Kay

2015-01-01

Including results from unpublished randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in a systematic review may ameliorate the effect of publication bias in systematic review results. Unpublished RCTs are sometimes described in abstracts presented at conferences, included in trials registers, or both. Trial results may not be available in a trials register and abstracts describing RCT results often lack study design information. Complementary information from a trials register record may be sufficient to allow reliable inclusion of an unpublished RCT only available as an abstract in a systematic review. We identified 496 abstracts describing RCTs presented at the 2007 to 2009 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meetings; 154 RCTs were registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. Two persons extracted verbatim primary and non-primary outcomes reported in the abstract and ClinicalTrials.gov record. We compared each abstract outcome with all ClinicalTrials.gov outcomes and coded matches as complete, partial, or no match. We identified 800 outcomes in 152 abstracts (95 primary [51 abstracts] and 705 [141 abstracts] non-primary outcomes). No outcomes were reported in 2 abstracts. Of 95 primary outcomes, 17 (18%) agreed completely, 53 (56%) partially, and 25 (26%) had no match with a ClinicalTrials.gov primary or non-primary outcome. Among 705 non-primary outcomes, 56 (8%) agreed completely, 205 (29%) agreed partially, and 444 (63%) had no match with a ClinicalTrials.gov primary or non-primary outcome. Among the 258 outcomes partially agreeing, we found additional information on the time when the outcome was measured more often in ClinicalTrials.gov than in the abstract (141/258 (55%) versus 55/258 (21%)). We found no association between the presence of non-matching "new" outcomes and year of registration, time to registry update, industry sponsorship, or multi-center status. Conference abstracts may be a valuable source of information about results for outcomes of unpublished RCTs that have been registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. Complementary additional descriptive information may be present for outcomes reported in both sources. However, ARVO abstract authors also present outcomes not reported in ClinicalTrials.gov and these may represent analyses not originally planned.

Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine

MedlinePlus

... Information. Outreach. The Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) was established in October 1998 to coordinate ... Institute (NCI) in the arena of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). More about us. CAM at the NCI ...

Clinical indications and perceived effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine in departments of obstetrics in Germany: a questionnaire study.

PubMed

Münstedt, Karsten; Brenken, Anja; Kalder, Matthias

2009-09-01

Our earlier study on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) methods showed that acupuncture, homeopathy, and aromatherapy are available in most obstetrics departments in Germany but it did not evaluate the clinical indications for using CAM. The present study aimed to explore further the effectiveness of CAM use in obstetrics. We sent all departments of obstetrics in North Rhine-Westphalia a questionnaire designed to delineate their use of acupuncture, homeopathy, and aromatherapy during childbirth. It sought details on who provided the CAM therapy (midwife or physician). We asked respondents to indicate on a five-point scale how reasonable or otherwise they would consider the provision of CAM in each of six common problem situations and to estimate for each the proportion of patients given the CAM treatment. Respondents were also asked about the rationale for offering CAM, quality assurance and side effects. Spearman's bivariate correlation, cross-tabulation and Pearson's chi(2) test were used for statistical analysis. About 73.4% (138/187) of the departments responded. Acupuncture and homoeopathy were most widely used. Although obstetricians are responsible for patient care, decisions to provide CAM were largely taken by midwives, and the midwives' belief in the methods' effectiveness and patient demand were the principle motivating factors. Rates of CAM use in the six problem scenarios evaluated were directly related to practitioners' perceptions of the methods' therapeutic effectiveness. CAM methods were widely offered despite the lack of evidence of effectiveness or information on adverse consequences. In Germany, including CAM in the mandatory national quality assurance measures and perinatal surveys would provide valuable information; CAM use elsewhere merits further study.

Critical Assessment of Small Molecule Identification 2016: automated methods.

PubMed

Schymanski, Emma L; Ruttkies, Christoph; Krauss, Martin; Brouard, Céline; Kind, Tobias; Dührkop, Kai; Allen, Felicity; Vaniya, Arpana; Verdegem, Dries; Böcker, Sebastian; Rousu, Juho; Shen, Huibin; Tsugawa, Hiroshi; Sajed, Tanvir; Fiehn, Oliver; Ghesquière, Bart; Neumann, Steffen

2017-03-27

The fourth round of the Critical Assessment of Small Molecule Identification (CASMI) Contest ( www.casmi-contest.org ) was held in 2016, with two new categories for automated methods. This article covers the 208 challenges in Categories 2 and 3, without and with metadata, from organization, participation, results and post-contest evaluation of CASMI 2016 through to perspectives for future contests and small molecule annotation/identification. The Input Output Kernel Regression (CSI:IOKR) machine learning approach performed best in "Category 2: Best Automatic Structural Identification-In Silico Fragmentation Only", won by Team Brouard with 41% challenge wins. The winner of "Category 3: Best Automatic Structural Identification-Full Information" was Team Kind (MS-FINDER), with 76% challenge wins. The best methods were able to achieve over 30% Top 1 ranks in Category 2, with all methods ranking the correct candidate in the Top 10 in around 50% of challenges. This success rate rose to 70% Top 1 ranks in Category 3, with candidates in the Top 10 in over 80% of the challenges. The machine learning and chemistry-based approaches are shown to perform in complementary ways. The improvement in (semi-)automated fragmentation methods for small molecule identification has been substantial. The achieved high rates of correct candidates in the Top 1 and Top 10, despite large candidate numbers, open up great possibilities for high-throughput annotation of untargeted analysis for "known unknowns". As more high quality training data becomes available, the improvements in machine learning methods will likely continue, but the alternative approaches still provide valuable complementary information. Improved integration of experimental context will also improve identification success further for "real life" annotations. The true "unknown unknowns" remain to be evaluated in future CASMI contests. Graphical abstract .

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of General Practitioners toward Complementary and Alternative Medicine: a Cross-Sectional Study.

PubMed

Barikani, Ameneh; Beheshti, Akram; Javadi, Maryam; Yasi, Marzieh

2015-08-01

Orientation of public and physicians to the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is one of the most prominent symbols of structural changes in the health service system. The aim of his study was a determination of knowledge, attitude, and practice of general practitioners in complementary and alternative medicine. This cross- sectional study was conducted in Qazvin, Iran in 2013. A self-administered questionnaire was used for collecting data including four information parts: population information, physicians' attitude and knowledge, methods of getting information and their function. A total of 228 physicians in Qazvin comprised the population of study according to the deputy of treatment's report of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. A total of 150 physicians were selected randomly, and SPSS Statistical program was used to enter questionnaires' data. Results were analyzed as descriptive statistics and statistical analysis. Sixty percent of all responders were male. About sixty (59.4) percent of participating practitioners had worked less than 10 years.96.4 percent had a positive attitude towards complementary and alternative medicine. Knowledge of practitioners about traditional medicine in 11 percent was good, 36.3% and 52.7% had average and little information, respectively. 17.9% of practitioners offered their patients complementary and alternative medicine for treatment. Although there was little knowledge among practitioners about traditional medicine and complementary approaches, a significant percentage of them had attitude higher than the lower limit.

Complementary therapy use by women's health clinic clients.

PubMed

Pettigrew, Amy C; King, Margaret O'Brien; McGee, Karen; Rudolph, Connie

2004-01-01

While it is known that more women than men use complementary and alternative therapies, it is important to look at women who are pregnant or possibly receiving hormonal therapy, as side effects and consequences of these therapies may have a significant effect on their health status. To assess women's knowledge, perceived effectiveness and use of 20 complementary and alternative therapies. Descriptive four-page questionnaire to obtain data on the use, reason for use, knowledge, perceived effectiveness, and sources of information of twenty complementary and alternative therapies. Women's Health Center at a large Midwestern hospital. A convenience sample of 250 women waiting to be seen by either a nurse midwife or obstetrician/gynecologist at an outpatient clinic. Sixty-nine percent of the participants used one or more complementary therapy. The most frequently used therapies included prayer, vitamins, massage, diet, and aromatherapy. The best predictor of use of each therapy was the participant's knowledge of the therapy. Participants generally rated the efficacy of the therapies higher than their knowledge level. Frequently cited sources of information were popular media and family. The least common information sources were nurse-midwives, drug stores, Internet, and other professional healthcare providers. Women in this setting use complementary therapies at a rate greater than the general population. The participants obtained a great deal of their information about the therapies from popular press, media, friends, and family members rather than from licensed healthcare providers.

Characterization of Complementary and Alternative Medicine-Related Consultations in an Academic Drug Information Service.

PubMed

Gregory, Philip J; Jalloh, Mohamed A; Abe, Andrew M; Hu, James; Hein, Darren J

2016-12-01

To characterize requests received through an academic drug information consultation service related to complementary and alternative medicines. A retrospective review and descriptive analysis of drug information consultations was conducted. A total of 195 consultations related to complementary and alternative medicine were evaluated. All consultation requests involved questions about dietary supplements. The most common request types were related to safety and tolerability (39%), effectiveness (38%), and therapeutic use (34%). Sixty-eight percent of the requests were from pharmacists. The most frequent consultation requests from pharmacists were questions related to drug interactions (37%), therapeutic use (37%), or stability/compatibility/storage (34%). Nearly 60% of complementary and alternative medicine-related consultation requests were able to be completely addressed using available resources. Among review sources, Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, Clinical Pharmacology, Micromedex, and Pharmacist's Letter were the most common resources used to address consultations. Utilization of a drug information service may be a viable option for health care professionals to help answer a complementary and alternative medicine-related question. Additionally, pharmacists and other health care professionals may consider acquiring resources identified to consistently answering these questions. © The Author(s) 2015.

Fundamental energy limits of SET-based Brownian NAND and half-adder circuits. Preliminary findings from a physical-information-theoretic methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ercan, İlke; Suyabatmaz, Enes

2018-06-01

The saturation in the efficiency and performance scaling of conventional electronic technologies brings about the development of novel computational paradigms. Brownian circuits are among the promising alternatives that can exploit fluctuations to increase the efficiency of information processing in nanocomputing. A Brownian cellular automaton, where signals propagate randomly and are driven by local transition rules, can be made computationally universal by embedding arbitrary asynchronous circuits on it. One of the potential realizations of such circuits is via single electron tunneling (SET) devices since SET technology enable simulation of noise and fluctuations in a fashion similar to Brownian search. In this paper, we perform a physical-information-theoretic analysis on the efficiency limitations in a Brownian NAND and half-adder circuits implemented using SET technology. The method we employed here establishes a solid ground that enables studying computational and physical features of this emerging technology on an equal footing, and yield fundamental lower bounds that provide valuable insights into how far its efficiency can be improved in principle. In order to provide a basis for comparison, we also analyze a NAND gate and half-adder circuit implemented in complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology to show how the fundamental bound of the Brownian circuit compares against a conventional paradigm.

Surface-Induced Dissociation of Protein Complexes in a Hybrid Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer.

PubMed

Yan, Jing; Zhou, Mowei; Gilbert, Joshua D; Wolff, Jeremy J; Somogyi, Árpád; Pedder, Randall E; Quintyn, Royston S; Morrison, Lindsay J; Easterling, Michael L; Paša-Tolić, Ljiljana; Wysocki, Vicki H

2017-01-03

Mass spectrometry continues to develop as a valuable tool in the analysis of proteins and protein complexes. In protein complex mass spectrometry studies, surface-induced dissociation (SID) has been successfully applied in quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) instruments. SID provides structural information on noncovalent protein complexes that is complementary to other techniques. However, the mass resolution of Q-TOF instruments can limit the information that can be obtained for protein complexes by SID. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) provides ultrahigh resolution and ultrahigh mass accuracy measurements. In this study, an SID device was designed and successfully installed in a hybrid FT-ICR instrument in place of the standard gas collision cell. The SID-FT-ICR platform has been tested with several protein complex systems (homooligomers, a heterooligomer, and a protein-ligand complex, ranging from 53 to 85 kDa), and the results are consistent with data previously acquired on Q-TOF platforms, matching predictions from known protein interface information. SID fragments with the same m/z but different charge states are well-resolved based on distinct spacing between adjacent isotope peaks, and the addition of metal cations and ligands can also be isotopically resolved with the ultrahigh mass resolution available in FT-ICR.

The utilization of ERTS-1 data for the study of the French Atlantic Littoral. [coastal water and geomorphology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Demathieu, P. G.; Verger, F. H.

1974-01-01

The French Atlantic Littoral (FRALIT) program uses ERTS-1 data to study coastal geomorphology and waters. ERTS-1 gives an overall picture of the phenomena for the first time due mainly to channel 4 data, but the other channels also contribute valuable complementary data on superficial waters. These studies have already resulted in accurate maps of the mud transported south-westwards from the mouth of the River Loire.

geneCommittee: a web-based tool for extensively testing the discriminatory power of biologically relevant gene sets in microarray data classification.

PubMed

Reboiro-Jato, Miguel; Arrais, Joel P; Oliveira, José Luis; Fdez-Riverola, Florentino

2014-01-30

The diagnosis and prognosis of several diseases can be shortened through the use of different large-scale genome experiments. In this context, microarrays can generate expression data for a huge set of genes. However, to obtain solid statistical evidence from the resulting data, it is necessary to train and to validate many classification techniques in order to find the best discriminative method. This is a time-consuming process that normally depends on intricate statistical tools. geneCommittee is a web-based interactive tool for routinely evaluating the discriminative classification power of custom hypothesis in the form of biologically relevant gene sets. While the user can work with different gene set collections and several microarray data files to configure specific classification experiments, the tool is able to run several tests in parallel. Provided with a straightforward and intuitive interface, geneCommittee is able to render valuable information for diagnostic analyses and clinical management decisions based on systematically evaluating custom hypothesis over different data sets using complementary classifiers, a key aspect in clinical research. geneCommittee allows the enrichment of microarrays raw data with gene functional annotations, producing integrated datasets that simplify the construction of better discriminative hypothesis, and allows the creation of a set of complementary classifiers. The trained committees can then be used for clinical research and diagnosis. Full documentation including common use cases and guided analysis workflows is freely available at http://sing.ei.uvigo.es/GC/.

The Kanzelhöhe Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pötzi, Werner; Temmer, Manuela; Veronig, Astrid; Hirtenfellner-Polanec, Wolfgang; Baumgartner, Dietmar

2013-04-01

Kanzelhöhe Observatory (KSO; kso.ac.at) located in the South of Austria is part of the Institute of Physics of the University of Graz. Since the early 1940s, the Sun has been observed in various layers and wavelengths. Currently, KSO provides high-cadence full-disk observations of the solar disk in three wavelengths: H-alpha line, Ca II K line, white light. Real-time images are published online. For scientific use, the data is processed, and immediately available to the scientific community after each observing day via the Kanzelhöhe Online Data Archive archive (KODA; kanzelhohe.uni-graz.at). KSO is part of the Global H-Alpha Network and is also one of the contributing stations for the international sunspot number. In the frame of ESA's Space Situational Awareness program, methods are currently under development for near-real image recognition with respect to solar flares and filaments. These data products will give valuable complementary information for the solar sources of space weather.

Somatosensory evoked potentials in the assessment of peripheral neuropathies: Commented results of a survey among French-speaking practitioners and recommendations for practice.

PubMed

Morizot-Koutlidis, R; André-Obadia, N; Antoine, J-C; Attarian, S; Ayache, S S; Azabou, E; Benaderette, S; Camdessanché, J-P; Cassereau, J; Convers, P; d'Anglejean, J; Delval, A; Durand, M-C; Etard, O; Fayet, G; Fournier, E; Franques, J; Gavaret, M; Guehl, D; Guerit, J-M; Krim, E; Kubis, N; Lacour, A; Lozeron, P; Mauguière, F; Merle, P-E; Mesrati, F; Mutschler, V; Nicolas, G; Nordine, T; Pautot, V; Péréon, Y; Petiot, P; Pouget, J; Praline, J; Salhi, H; Trébuchon, A; Tyvaert, L; Vial, C; Zola, J-M; Zyss, J; Lefaucheur, J-P

2015-05-01

Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs) are increasingly performed for the assessment of peripheral neuropathies, but no practical guidelines have yet been established in this specific application. To determine the relevant indication criteria and optimal technical parameters for SSEP recording in peripheral neuropathy investigation. A survey was conducted among the French-speaking practitioners with experience of SSEP recording in the context of peripheral neuropathies. The results of the survey were analyzed and discussed to provide recommendations for practice. SSEPs appear to be a second-line test when electroneuromyographic investigation is not sufficiently conclusive, providing complementary and valuable information on central and proximal peripheral conduction in the somatosensory pathways. Guidelines for a standardized recording protocol, including the various parameters to be measured, are proposed. We hope that these proposals will help to recognize the value of this technique in peripheral neuropathy assessment in clinical practice. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) for the Measurement of Spatial Structures and Fuel Distribution in Flames.

PubMed

Kotzagianni, Maria; Kakkava, Eirini; Couris, Stelios

2016-04-01

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is used for the mapping of local structures (i.e., reactants and products zones) and for the determination of fuel distribution by means of the local equivalence ratio ϕ in laminar, premixed air-hydrocarbon flames. The determination of laser threshold energy to induce breakdown in the different zones of flames is employed for the identification and demarcation of the local structures of a premixed laminar flame, while complementary results about fuel concentration were obtained from measurements of the cyanogen (CN) band Β(2)Σ(+)--Χ(2)Σ(+), (Δυ = 0) at 388.3 nm and the ratio of the atomic lines of hydrogen (Hα) and oxygen (O(I)), Hα/O. The combination of these LIBS-based methods provides a relatively simple to use, rapid, and accurate tool for online and in situ combustion diagnostics, providing valuable information about the fuel distribution and the spatial variations of the local structures of a flame. © The Author(s) 2016.

Probing the top-quark width using the charge identification of b jets

DOE PAGES

Giardino, Pier Paolo; Zhang, Cen

2017-07-18

We propose a new method for measuring the top-quark width based on the on-/off-shell ratio of b -charge asymmetry in pp → Wbj production at the LHC. The charge asymmetry removes virtually all backgrounds and related uncertainties, while remaining systematic and theoretical uncertainties can be taken under control by the ratio of cross sections. Limited only by statistical error, in an optimistic scenario, we find that our approach leads to good precision at high integrated luminosity, at a few hundred MeV assuming 300 – 3000 fb -1 at the LHC. The approach directly probes the total width, in such amore » way that model-dependence can be minimized. It is complementary to existing cross section measurements which always leave a degeneracy between the total rate and the branching ratio, and provides valuable information about the properties of the top quark. Here, the proposal opens up new opportunities for precision top measurements using a b-charge identification algorithm.« less

Assessing the learning needs of oncology nurses.

PubMed

Cannon, Carol A; Watson, Lisa K; Roth, Matt T; LaVergne, Shirley

2014-10-01

The Nurse Oncology Education Program (NOEP) is a nonprofit organization of the Texas Nurses Foundation that develops and provides education for nurses in all fields of practice on cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and survivorship. To meet the most current educational needs of nurses, NOEP conducts a biannual needs assessment survey to better understand its audience and inform its course development. The 2013 NOEP needs assessment survey used a convenience sample of licensed nurses throughout the United States. Nurses completed the online survey, and results revealed several priority areas for educational programs, including management of cancer symptoms and treatment side effects, complementary and alternative or integrative medicine, and screening recommendations. Time was noted as the largest barrier to educating patients and families about primary prevention practices. Results from this survey can be compared to those from previous surveys, particularly the 2009 and 2011 surveys, to determine changes in the demographics of NOEP's constituency, as well as consistencies in educational gaps. The results from the 2013 NOEP needs assessment survey offer valuable information about the learning needs of nurses across the country. The data can be used by the nurse educators and faculty who are responsible for providing cancer-specific education to nurses.

Classification of kidney and liver tissue using ultrasound backscatter data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aalamifar, Fereshteh; Rivaz, Hassan; Cerrolaza, Juan J.; Jago, James; Safdar, Nabile; Boctor, Emad M.; Linguraru, Marius G.

2015-03-01

Ultrasound (US) tissue characterization provides valuable information for the initialization of automatic segmentation algorithms, and can further provide complementary information for diagnosis of pathologies. US tissue characterization is challenging due to the presence of various types of image artifacts and dependence on the sonographer's skills. One way of overcoming this challenge is by characterizing images based on the distribution of the backscatter data derived from the interaction between US waves and tissue. The goal of this work is to classify liver versus kidney tissue in 3D volumetric US data using the distribution of backscatter US data recovered from end-user displayed Bmode image available in clinical systems. To this end, we first propose the computation of a large set of features based on the homodyned-K distribution of the speckle as well as the correlation coefficients between small patches in 3D images. We then utilize the random forests framework to select the most important features for classification. Experiments on in-vivo 3D US data from nine pediatric patients with hydronephrosis showed an average accuracy of 94% for the classification of liver and kidney tissues showing a good potential of this work to assist in the classification and segmentation of abdominal soft tissue.

15 CFR 784.1 - Complementary access: General information on the purpose of complementary access, affected...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... may be conducted, on a selective basis, to verify the absence of undeclared nuclear material and nuclear related activities at reportable uranium hard-rock mines and ore beneficiation plants (see § 783.1... OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL REGULATIONS COMPLEMENTARY ACCESS...

Probing plasmons in three dimensions by combining complementary spectroscopies in a scanning transmission electron microscope

DOE PAGES

Hachtel, Jordan A.; Marvinney, Claire; Mouti, Anas; ...

2016-03-02

The nanoscale optical response of surface plasmons in three-dimensional metallic nanostructures plays an important role in many nanotechnology applications, where precise spatial and spectral characteristics of plasmonic elements control device performance. Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and cathodoluminescence (CL) within a scanning transmission electron microscope have proven to be valuable tools for studying plasmonics at the nanoscale. Each technique has been used separately, producing three-dimensional reconstructions through tomography, often aided by simulations for complete characterization. Here we demonstrate that the complementary nature of the two techniques, namely that EELS probes beam-induced electronic excitations while CL probes radiative decay, allows usmore » to directly obtain a spatially- and spectrally-resolved picture of the plasmonic characteristics of nanostructures in three dimensions. Furthermore, the approach enables nanoparticle-by-nanoparticle plasmonic analysis in three dimensions to aid in the design of diverse nanoplasmonic applications.« less

Women's attitudes towards the use of complementary and alternative medicine products during pregnancy.

PubMed

Frawley, J; Sibbritt, D; Broom, A; Gallois, C; Steel, A; Adams, J

2016-05-01

The aim of this study was to analyse women's attitudes towards the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) products during pregnancy. The study sample was obtained via the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health or ALSWH. A response rate of 79.2% (n = 1,835) was attained. Women who use herbal medicines (34.5%, n = 588) view CAM as a preventative measure, are looking for something holistic and are concerned about evidence of clinical efficacy when considering the use of these products during pregnancy. Women who use aromatherapy (17.4%, n = 319) and homoeopathy (13.3%, n = 244) want more personal control over their body and are concerned more about their own personal experience of the efficacy of CAM than clinical evidence of efficacy. As CAM use in pregnancy appears to be increasingly commonplace, insights into women's attitudes towards CAM are valuable for maternity healthcare providers.

Using ClinicalTrials.gov to Supplement Information in Ophthalmology Conference Abstracts about Trial Outcomes: A Comparison Study

PubMed Central

Scherer, Roberta W.; Huynh, Lynn; Ervin, Ann-Margret; Dickersin, Kay

2015-01-01

Background Including results from unpublished randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in a systematic review may ameliorate the effect of publication bias in systematic review results. Unpublished RCTs are sometimes described in abstracts presented at conferences, included in trials registers, or both. Trial results may not be available in a trials register and abstracts describing RCT results often lack study design information. Complementary information from a trials register record may be sufficient to allow reliable inclusion of an unpublished RCT only available as an abstract in a systematic review. Methods We identified 496 abstracts describing RCTs presented at the 2007 to 2009 Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) meetings; 154 RCTs were registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. Two persons extracted verbatim primary and non-primary outcomes reported in the abstract and ClinicalTrials.gov record. We compared each abstract outcome with all ClinicalTrials.gov outcomes and coded matches as complete, partial, or no match. Results We identified 800 outcomes in 152 abstracts (95 primary [51 abstracts] and 705 [141 abstracts] non-primary outcomes). No outcomes were reported in 2 abstracts. Of 95 primary outcomes, 17 (18%) agreed completely, 53 (56%) partially, and 25 (26%) had no match with a ClinicalTrials.gov primary or non-primary outcome. Among 705 non-primary outcomes, 56 (8%) agreed completely, 205 (29%) agreed partially, and 444 (63%) had no match with a ClinicalTrials.gov primary or non-primary outcome. Among the 258 outcomes partially agreeing, we found additional information on the time when the outcome was measured more often in ClinicalTrials.gov than in the abstract (141/258 (55%) versus 55/258 (21%)). We found no association between the presence of non-matching “new” outcomes and year of registration, time to registry update, industry sponsorship, or multi-center status. Conclusion Conference abstracts may be a valuable source of information about results for outcomes of unpublished RCTs that have been registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. Complementary additional descriptive information may be present for outcomes reported in both sources. However, ARVO abstract authors also present outcomes not reported in ClinicalTrials.gov and these may represent analyses not originally planned. PMID:26107924

Complementary and alternative medicine in women's health. Developing a research agenda.

PubMed

Murphy, P A; Kronenberg, F; Wade, C

1999-01-01

Complementary and alternative medicine is becoming an established intervention modality within the contemporary health care system. Various forms of complementary and alternative medicine are used by patients and practitioners alike, including chiropractic, massage, botanical medicine, homeopathy, and energy therapies. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine was established within the National Institutes of Health to facilitate evaluation of these alternative therapies, establish an information clearinghouse, and promote research in the field. This article discusses several aspects of complementary and alternative medicine, relates them to women's health, and describes the need for a research agenda to evaluate the impact of the complementary and alternative medicine modalities used for important conditions affecting women.

Colloidal Silver Products

MedlinePlus

... your health care providers about any complementary health approaches you use. Give them a full picture of ... information on NCCIH and complementary and integrative health approaches, including publications and searches of Federal databases of ...

European Mistletoe

MedlinePlus

... Audio) NCCIH Clinical Digest A monthly newsletter with evidence-based information on complementary and integrative practices and a ... and gemcitabine in patients with advanced solid tumors. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2013;2013:964592. National ...

Butterbur

MedlinePlus

... Audio) NCCIH Clinical Digest A monthly newsletter with evidence-based information on complementary and integrative practices and a ... 495. Holland S, Silberstein SD, Freitag F, et al. Evidence-based guideline update: NSAIDs and other complementary treatments for ...

Acupuncture (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version

Cancer.gov

Acupuncture is a complementary therapy used by cancer patients to manage cancer and treatment-related symptoms. Get detailed information about acupuncture and its use as a complementary therapy in cancer in this summary for clinicians.

The Challenge of Educating Physicians about Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Konefal, Janet

2002-01-01

Asserts that most physicians are not prepared to respond knowledgeably about complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) modalities and suggests incorporating systematic presentation of CAM information into the curricula of medical schools. (EV)

Use of complementary and alternative medicine by patients with cancer in northern Turkey: analysis of cost and satisfaction.

PubMed

Aydin Avci, Ilknur; Koç, Zeliha; Sağlam, Zeynep

2012-03-01

The aims of this study were to determine (1) the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine use among patients with cancer, (2) the method of use of the particular therapy, (3) the reasons for using complementary and alternative medicine therapies, (4) the benefits experienced by the use of complementary and alternative medicine, (5) the source of information about complementary and alternative medicine therapies and, (6) the satisfaction and cost of complementary and alternative medicine. Complementary and alternative medicine consists of diverse medical and healthcare systems, practices and products that are not considered at present to be a part of conventional medicine. The majority of patients who use complementary and alternative medicine use more than one method. Complementary and alternative medicine use is more common in cases of advanced disease or poor prognosis. This is a descriptive study of complementary and alternative medicine. This study was conducted in the Chemotherapy Unit at Ondokuz Mayıs University, Faculty of Medicine, Samsun, Turkey, between 18 March 2008-30 June 2008. Two hundred fifty-three patients with cancer, among 281 patients who applied to the chemotherapy clinic between these dates, agreed to take part in the study with whom contact could be made were included. A questionnaire including descriptive characteristics in collecting data, characteristics about diseases and their treatments, complementary and alternative medicine information and implementation situations and a control list about complementary and alternative medicine implementations were given. The collected data were evaluated by computer using descriptive statistics, the chi-square test and Student's t-test. In this study, 94·1% of the patients were content with medical treatment, 58·9% of them used complementary and alternative medicine treatments, 41·1% did not use any complementary and alternative medicine treatments. The satisfaction level of the patients with complementary and alternative medicine methods was slightly above mediocre (2·33 SD 0·64, on a scale of 1-3). The average cost per capita spent by the patients using complementary and alternative medicine for all the different methods was US$288·26. It was determined that although patients did not have enough knowledge about complementary and alternative medicine methods, the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine and satisfaction levels are high that complementary and alternative medicine users spend substantial sums of money for these methods. To sustain medical treatment and prognosis of cancer, it is important for nurses to consult with their patients regarding the use and potential risks of some complementary and alternative medicine. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Comparative meta-analysis and experimental kinetic investigation of column and batch bottle microcosm treatability studies informing in situ groundwater remedial design.

PubMed

Driver, Erin M; Roberts, Jeff; Dollar, Peter; Charles, Maurissa; Hurst, Paul; Halden, Rolf U

2017-02-05

A systematic comparison was performed between batch bottle and continuous-flow column microcosms (BMs and CMs, respectively) commonly used for in situ groundwater remedial design. Review of recent literature (2000-2014) showed a preference for reporting batch kinetics, even when corresponding column data were available. Additionally, CMs produced higher observed rate constants, exceeding those of BMs by a factor of 6.1±1.1 standard error. In a subsequent laboratory investigation, 12 equivalent microcosm pairs were constructed from fractured bedrock and perchloroethylene (PCE) impacted groundwater. First-order PCE transformation kinetics of CMs were 8.0±4.8 times faster than BMs (rates: 1.23±0.87 vs. 0.16±0.05d -1 , respectively). Additionally, CMs transformed 16.1±8.0-times more mass than BMs owing to continuous-feed operation. CMs are concluded to yield more reliable kinetic estimates because of much higher data density stemming from long-term, steady-state conditions. Since information from BMs and CMs is valuable and complementary, treatability studies should report kinetic data from both when available. This first systematic investigation of BMs and CMs highlights the need for a more unified framework for data use and reporting in treatability studies informing decision-making for field-scale groundwater remediation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Surface-Induced Dissociation of Protein Complexes in a Hybrid Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer

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

Yan, Jing; Zhou, Mowei; Gilbert, Joshua D.

Mass spectrometry continues to develop as a valuable tool in the analysis of proteins and protein complexes. In protein complex mass spectrometry studies, surface-induced dissociation (SID) has been successfully applied in quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) instruments. SID provides structural information on noncovalent protein complexes that is complementary to other techniques. However, the mass resolution of Q-TOF instruments can limit the information that can be obtained for protein complexes by SID. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) provides ultrahigh resolution and ultrahigh mass accuracy measurements. Here in this study, an SID device was designed and successfully installed in amore » hybrid FT-ICR instrument in place of the standard gas collision cell. The SID-FT-ICR platform has been tested with several protein complex systems (homooligomers, a heterooligomer, and a protein-ligand complex, ranging from 53 to 85 kDa), and the results are consistent with data previously acquired on Q-TOF platforms, matching predictions from known protein interface information. Lastly, SID fragments with the same m/z but different charge states are well-resolved based on distinct spacing between adjacent isotope peaks, and the addition of metal cations and ligands can also be isotopically resolved with the ultrahigh mass resolution available in FT-ICR.« less

Surface-Induced Dissociation of Protein Complexes in a Hybrid Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer

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

Yan, Jing; Zhou, Mowei; Gilbert, Joshua D.

Mass spectrometry continues to develop as a valuable tool in the analysis of proteins and protein complexes. In protein complex mass spectrometry studies, surface-induced dissociation (SID) has been successfully applied in quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) instruments. SID provides structural information on non-covalent protein complexes that is complementary to other techniques. However, the mass resolution of Q-TOF instruments can limit the information that can be obtained for protein complexes by SID. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) provides ultrahigh resolution and ultrahigh mass accuracy measurements. In this study, an SID device was designed and successfully installed in a hybridmore » FT-ICR instrument in place of the standard gas collision cell. The SID-FT-ICR platform has been tested with several protein complex systems (homooligomers, a heterooligomer, and a protein-ligand complex, ranging from 53 kDa to 85 kDa), and the results are consistent with data previously acquired on Q-TOF platforms, matching predictions from known protein interface information. SID fragments with the same m/z but different charge states are well-resolved based on distinct spacing between adjacent isotope peaks, and the addition of metal cations and ligands can also be isotopically resolved with the ultrahigh mass resolution available in FT-ICR.« less

Surface-Induced Dissociation of Protein Complexes in a Hybrid Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer

DOE PAGES

Yan, Jing; Zhou, Mowei; Gilbert, Joshua D.; ...

2016-12-02

Mass spectrometry continues to develop as a valuable tool in the analysis of proteins and protein complexes. In protein complex mass spectrometry studies, surface-induced dissociation (SID) has been successfully applied in quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) instruments. SID provides structural information on noncovalent protein complexes that is complementary to other techniques. However, the mass resolution of Q-TOF instruments can limit the information that can be obtained for protein complexes by SID. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) provides ultrahigh resolution and ultrahigh mass accuracy measurements. Here in this study, an SID device was designed and successfully installed in amore » hybrid FT-ICR instrument in place of the standard gas collision cell. The SID-FT-ICR platform has been tested with several protein complex systems (homooligomers, a heterooligomer, and a protein-ligand complex, ranging from 53 to 85 kDa), and the results are consistent with data previously acquired on Q-TOF platforms, matching predictions from known protein interface information. Lastly, SID fragments with the same m/z but different charge states are well-resolved based on distinct spacing between adjacent isotope peaks, and the addition of metal cations and ligands can also be isotopically resolved with the ultrahigh mass resolution available in FT-ICR.« less

High Cholesterol and Complementary Health Practices: What the Science Says

MedlinePlus

... in flaxseed and flaxseed oil) may benefit people with heart disease. But not enough reliable data are available to ... conventional oral medications or other dietary supplements. ... complementary health researchers, and disseminating authoritative information to ...

Iron(II)-catalyzed intermolecular amino-oxygenation of olefins through the N-O bond cleavage of functionalized hydroxylamines.

PubMed

Lu, Deng-Fu; Zhu, Cheng-Liang; Jia, Zhen-Xin; Xu, Hao

2014-09-24

An iron-catalyzed diastereoselective intermolecular olefin amino-oxygenation reaction is reported, which proceeds via an iron-nitrenoid generated by the N-O bond cleavage of a functionalized hydroxylamine. In this reaction, a bench-stable hydroxylamine derivative is used as the amination reagent and oxidant. This method tolerates a range of synthetically valuable substrates that have been all incompatible with existing amino-oxygenation methods. It can also provide amino alcohol derivatives with regio- and stereochemical arrays complementary to known amino-oxygenation methods.

Anti-complementary activity of enzyme-treated traditional Korean rice wine (Makgeolli) hydrolysates.

PubMed

Bae, Song Hwan; Choi, Jang Won; Ra, Kyung Soo; Yu, Kwang-Won; Shin, Kwang-Soon; Park, Sung Sun; Suh, Hyung Joo

2012-06-01

Makgeolli brewed from rice contains about 150 g kg(-1) alcohol and has a fragrance as well as an acidic and sweet taste. During the brewing process, by-products such as rice bran and brewery cake are produced. At the end of fermentation the matured mash is transferred to a filter cloth and the Makgeolli is squeezed out from the cake, leaving the lees of the mash. These by-products have continued to increase every year, resulting in an ecological problem. It is therefore important to develop new uses for them. The objective of this study was to use the by-products from the brewing of Makgeolli as a valuable functional food or nutraceutical. The anti-complementary activities of crude polysaccharides isolated from Cytolase hydrolysates of Makgeolli lees at concentrations of 1000 and 500 µg mL(-1) were 84.15 and 78.70% respectively. The activity of polysaccharide krestin (PSK) was 60.00% at 1000 µg mL(-1). The active polysaccharide obtained with Cytolase comprised mainly glucose and mannose (molar ratio 1.00:0.62). Glucose- and mannose-rich crude polysaccharides were isolated from the Cytolase hydrolysate of Makgeolli lees. The polysaccharides retain anti-complementary activity to enhance the immune system as a functional food or nutraceutical. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry.

A review of nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and ability to communicate the risks and benefits of complementary and alternative medicine.

PubMed

Chang, Hsiao-Yun; Chang, Huai-Lu

2015-06-01

This study reviewed existing literature to investigate how frequently nurses include complementary and alternative forms of medicine in their clinical practice. In so doing, we investigated nurses' knowledge of and attitudes towards complementary and alternative medicine as well as their ability to communicate the risks and benefits of these therapies with patients. Little information is available concerning nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards complementary and alternative medicine or how they incorporate these therapies into their practice. In addition, little is known about the ability of nurses to communicate the risks and benefits of complementary and alternative medicine to their patients. This study used a scoping review method to map and synthesise existing literature. Both electronic and manual searches were used to identify relevant studies published between January 2007 and January 2014. The review was conducted in five stages: (1) identification of research question(s), (2) locate studies, (3) selection of studies, (4) charting of data, and (5) collating, summarising, and reporting of results. Fifteen papers met the inclusion criteria for this review, among which 53·7% referenced how frequently nurses include complementary and alternative medicine in their practice. We found that 66·4% of nurses had positive attitudes towards complementary and alternative medicine; however, 77·4% did not possess a comprehensive understanding of the associated risks and benefits. In addition, nearly half of the respondents (47·3-67·7%) reported feeling uncomfortable discussing complementary and alternative medicine therapies with their patients. The lack of knowledge about complementary and alternative medicine among nurses is a cause for concern, particularly in light of its widespread application. Findings from this study suggest that health care professionals need to promote evidence informed decision-making in complementary and alternative medicine practice and be knowledgeable enough to discuss complementary and alternative medicine therapies. Without involvement of complementary and alternative medicine communication on the part of our profession, we may put our patients at risk of uninformed and without medical guidance. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Line-of-sight effects in strong lensing: putting theory into practice

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

Birrer, Simon; Welschen, Cyril; Amara, Adam

2017-04-01

We present a simple method to accurately infer line of sight (LOS) integrated lensing effects for galaxy scale strong lens systems through image reconstruction. Our approach enables us to separate weak lensing LOS effects from the main strong lens deflector. We test our method using mock data and show that strong lens systems can be accurate probes of cosmic shear with a precision on the shear terms of ± 0.003 (statistical error) for an HST-like dataset. We apply our formalism to reconstruct the lens COSMOS 0038+4133 and its LOS. In addition, we estimate the LOS properties with a halo-rendering estimatemore » based on the COSMOS field galaxies and a galaxy-halo connection. The two approaches are independent and complementary in their information content. We find that when estimating the convergence at the strong lens system, performing a joint analysis improves the measure by a factor of two compared to a halo model only analysis. Furthermore the constraints of the strong lens reconstruction lead to tighter constraints on the halo masses of the LOS galaxies. Joint constraints of multiple strong lens systems may add valuable information to the galaxy-halo connection and may allow independent weak lensing shear measurement calibrations.« less

Spatial Dependence of DNA Damage in Bacteria due to Low-Temperature Plasma Application as Assessed at the Single Cell Level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Privat-Maldonado, Angela; O'Connell, Deborah; Welch, Emma; Vann, Roddy; van der Woude, Marjan W.

2016-10-01

Low temperature plasmas (LTPs) generate a cocktail of reactive nitrogen and oxygen species (RNOS) with bactericidal activity. The RNOS however are spatially unevenly distributed in the plasma. Here we test the hypothesis that this distribution will affect the mechanisms underpinning plasma bactericidal activity focussing on the level of DNA damage in situ. For the first time, a quantitative, single cell approach was applied to assess the level of DNA damage in bacteria as a function of the radial distance from the centre of the plasma jet. Salmonella enterica on a solid, dry surface was treated with two types of LTP: an atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma jet (charged and neutral species) and a radio-frequency atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (neutral species). In both cases, there was an inverse correlation between the degree of DNA damage and the radial distance from the centre of the plasma, with the highest DNA damage occurring directly under the plasma. This trend was also observed with Staphylococcus aureus. LTP-generated UV radiation was eliminated as a contributing factor. Thus valuable mechanistic information can be obtained from assays on biological material, which can inform the development of LTP as a complementary or alternative therapy for (topical) bacterial infections.

Dual modality instrument for simultaneous optical coherence tomography imaging and fluorescence spectroscopy.

PubMed

Barton, Jennifer Kehlet; Guzman, Francisco; Tumlinson, Alexandre

2004-01-01

We develop a dual-modality device that combines the anatomical imaging capabilities of optical coherence tomography (OCT) with the functional capabilities of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy. OCT provides cross-sectional images of tissue structure to a depth of up to 2 mm with approximately 10-microm resolution. LIF spectroscopy provides histochemical information in the form of emission spectra from a given tissue location. The OCT subsystem utilizes a superluminescent diode with a center wavelength of 1300 nm, whereas a helium cadmium laser provides the LIF excitation source at wavelengths of 325 and 442 nm. Preliminary data are obtained on eight postmortem aorta samples, each 10 mm in length. OCT images and LIF spectra give complementary information from normal and atherosclerotic portions of aorta wall. OCT images show structures such as intima, media, internal elastic lamina, and fibrotic regions. Emission spectra ratios of 520/490 (325-nm excitation) and 595/635 (442-nm excitation) could be used to identify normal and plaque regions with 97 and 91% correct classification rates, respectively. With miniaturization of the delivery probe and improvements in system speed, this dual-modality device could provide a valuable tool for identification and characterization of atherosclerotic plaques. (c) 2004 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Comprehensive Modeling and Visualization of Cardiac Anatomy and Physiology from CT Imaging and Computer Simulations

PubMed Central

Sun, Peng; Zhou, Haoyin; Ha, Seongmin; Hartaigh, Bríain ó; Truong, Quynh A.; Min, James K.

2016-01-01

In clinical cardiology, both anatomy and physiology are needed to diagnose cardiac pathologies. CT imaging and computer simulations provide valuable and complementary data for this purpose. However, it remains challenging to gain useful information from the large amount of high-dimensional diverse data. The current tools are not adequately integrated to visualize anatomic and physiologic data from a complete yet focused perspective. We introduce a new computer-aided diagnosis framework, which allows for comprehensive modeling and visualization of cardiac anatomy and physiology from CT imaging data and computer simulations, with a primary focus on ischemic heart disease. The following visual information is presented: (1) Anatomy from CT imaging: geometric modeling and visualization of cardiac anatomy, including four heart chambers, left and right ventricular outflow tracts, and coronary arteries; (2) Function from CT imaging: motion modeling, strain calculation, and visualization of four heart chambers; (3) Physiology from CT imaging: quantification and visualization of myocardial perfusion and contextual integration with coronary artery anatomy; (4) Physiology from computer simulation: computation and visualization of hemodynamics (e.g., coronary blood velocity, pressure, shear stress, and fluid forces on the vessel wall). Substantially, feedback from cardiologists have confirmed the practical utility of integrating these features for the purpose of computer-aided diagnosis of ischemic heart disease. PMID:26863663

Spatial Dependence of DNA Damage in Bacteria due to Low-Temperature Plasma Application as Assessed at the Single Cell Level

PubMed Central

Privat-Maldonado, Angela; O’Connell, Deborah; Welch, Emma; Vann, Roddy; van der Woude, Marjan W.

2016-01-01

Low temperature plasmas (LTPs) generate a cocktail of reactive nitrogen and oxygen species (RNOS) with bactericidal activity. The RNOS however are spatially unevenly distributed in the plasma. Here we test the hypothesis that this distribution will affect the mechanisms underpinning plasma bactericidal activity focussing on the level of DNA damage in situ. For the first time, a quantitative, single cell approach was applied to assess the level of DNA damage in bacteria as a function of the radial distance from the centre of the plasma jet. Salmonella enterica on a solid, dry surface was treated with two types of LTP: an atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma jet (charged and neutral species) and a radio-frequency atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (neutral species). In both cases, there was an inverse correlation between the degree of DNA damage and the radial distance from the centre of the plasma, with the highest DNA damage occurring directly under the plasma. This trend was also observed with Staphylococcus aureus. LTP-generated UV radiation was eliminated as a contributing factor. Thus valuable mechanistic information can be obtained from assays on biological material, which can inform the development of LTP as a complementary or alternative therapy for (topical) bacterial infections. PMID:27759098

Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies (PDQ®)—Patient Version

Cancer.gov

Topics in Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies gives a brief description of some of these therapies used by people with cancer. Learn more about these therapies and get links to additional information in this expert-reviewed summary.

American Academy of Pediatrics. The use of complementary and alternative medicine in pediatrics.

PubMed

Kemper, Kathi J; Vohra, Sunita; Walls, Richard

2008-12-01

The American Academy of Pediatrics is dedicated to optimizing the well-being of children and advancing family-centered health care. Related to these goals, the American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes the increasing use of complementary and alternative medicine in children and, as a result, the need to provide information and support for pediatricians. From 2000 to 2002, the American Academy of Pediatrics convened and charged the Task Force on Complementary and Alternative Medicine to address issues related to the use of complementary and alternative medicine in children and to develop resources to educate physicians, patients, and families. One of these resources is this report describing complementary and alternative medicine services, current levels of utilization and financial expenditures, and associated legal and ethical considerations. The subject of complementary and alternative medicine is large and diverse, and consequently, an in-depth discussion of each method of complementary and alternative medicine is beyond the scope of this report. Instead, this report will define terms; describe epidemiology; outline common types of complementary and alternative medicine therapies; review medicolegal, ethical, and research implications; review education and training for complementary and alternative medicine providers; provide resources for learning more about complementary and alternative medicine; and suggest communication strategies to use when discussing complementary and alternative medicine with patients and families.

High volume medical web sites.

PubMed

Elliott, B; Elliott, G

2000-01-01

In 1998, 22 million individuals reported surfing the web for medical information, and this number will increase to over 30 million by 2000. Fifteen of the highest volume medical web sites are described in this paper. Sponsorship and/or ownership of the fifteen sites varied. The government sponsors one, and some are the products of well-known educational institutions. One site is supported by a consumer health organization, and the American Medical Association was in the top 15. However, the most common owners are commercial, for-profit businesses. Attributes of the ideal site were categorized, and include a robust privacy and disclosure statement with an emphasis on education and an appropriate role for advertising. The covering of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) should be in a balanced and unbiased manner. There has to be an emphasis on knowledge based evidence as opposed to testimonials, and sources should be timely and reviewed. Bibliographies of authors need to be available. Hyperlinking to other web resources is valuable, as even the largest of sites cannot come close to covering all of medicine.

Fire debris analysis for forensic fire investigation using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Soojin; Yoh, Jack J.

2017-08-01

The possibility verification of the first attempt to apply LIBS to arson investigation was performed. LIBS has capabilities for real time in-situ analysis and depth profiling. It can provide valuable information about the fire debris that are complementary to the classification of original sample components and combustion residues. In this study, fire debris was analyzed to determine the ignition source and existence of a fire accelerant using LIBS spectra and depth profiling analysis. Fire debris chemical composition and carbon layer thickness determines the possible ignition source while the carbon layer thickness of combusted samples represents the degree of sample carbonization. When a sample is combusted with fire accelerants, a thicker carbon layer is formed because the burning rate is increased. Therefore, depth profiling can confirm the existence of combustion accelerants, which is evidence of arson. Also investigation of fire debris by depth profiling is still possible when a fire is extinguished with water from fire hose. Such data analysis and in-situ detection of forensic signals via the LIBS may assist fire investigation at crime scenes.

Evaluation of T1/T2 ratios in a pilot study as a potential biomarker of biopsy: proven benign and malignant breast lesions in correlation with histopathological disease stage.

PubMed

Malikova, Marina A; Tkacz, Jaroslaw N; Slanetz, Priscilla J; Guo, Chao-Yu; Aakil, Adam; Jara, Hernan

2017-08-01

Early breast cancer detection is important for intervention and prognosis. Advances in treatment and outcome require diagnostic tools with highly positive predictive value. To study the potential role of quantitative MRI (qMRI) using T1/T2 ratios to differentiate benign from malignant breast lesions. A cross-sectional study of 69 women with 69 known or suspicious breast lesions were scanned with mixed-turbo spin echo pulse sequence. Patients were grouped according to histopathological assessment of disease stage: untreated malignant tumor, treated malignancy and benign disease. Elevated T1/T2 means were observed for biopsy-proven malignant lesions and for malignant lesions treated prior to qMRI with chemotherapy and/or radiation, as compared with benign lesions. The qMRI-obtained T1/T2 ratios correlated with histopathology. Analysis revealed correlation between elevated T1/T2 ratio and disease stage. This could provide valuable complementary information on tissue properties as an additional diagnostic tool.

Effects of TGF-β1 and VEGF-A transgenes on the osteogenic potential of bone marrow stromal cells in vitro and in vivo

PubMed Central

Sumner, Dale R; Virdi, Amarjit S

2012-01-01

An exogenous supply of growth factors and bioreplaceable scaffolds may help bone regeneration. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of TGF-β1 and VEGF-A transgenes on the osteogenic potential of bone marrow stromal cells. Rat bone marrow stromal cells were transfected with plasmids encoding mouse TGF-β1 and/or VEGF-A complementary DNAs and cultured for up to 28 days. Furthermore, collagen scaffolds carrying combinations of the plasmids-transfected cells were implanted subcutaneously in rats. The transgenes increased alkaline phosphatase activity, enhanced mineralized nodule formation, and elevated osteogenic gene expressions in vitro. In vivo, messenger RNA expression of osteogenic genes such as BMPs and Runx2 elevated higher by the transgenes. The data indicate that exogenous TGF-β1 and VEGF-A acted synergistically and could induce osteoblastic differentiation of bone marrow stromal cells in both cell culture and an animal model. The results may provide valuable information to optimize protocols for transgene-and-cell-based tissue engineering. PMID:22962632

Near Real-Time Surveillance of U.S. Norovirus Outbreaks by the Norovirus Sentinel Testing and Tracking Network - United States, August 2009-July 2015.

PubMed

Shah, Minesh P; Wikswo, Mary E; Barclay, Leslie; Kambhampati, Anita; Shioda, Kayoko; Parashar, Umesh D; Vinjé, Jan; Hall, Aron J

2017-02-24

Norovirus is the leading cause of endemic and epidemic acute gastroenteritis in the United States (1). New variant strains of norovirus GII.4 emerge every 2-4 years (2-4) and are often associated with increased disease and health care visits (5-7). Since 2009, CDC has obtained epidemiologic data on norovirus outbreaks from state health departments through the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) (8) and laboratory data through CaliciNet (9). NORS is a web-based platform for reporting waterborne, foodborne, and enteric disease outbreaks of all etiologies, including norovirus, to CDC. CaliciNet, a nationwide electronic surveillance system of local and state public health and regulatory agency laboratories, collects genetic sequences of norovirus strains associated with gastroenteritis outbreaks. Because these two independent reporting systems contain complementary data, integration of NORS and CaliciNet records could provide valuable public health information about norovirus outbreaks. However, reporting lags and inconsistent identification codes in NORS and CaliciNet records have been an obstacle to developing an integrated surveillance system.

Identification of the man-made barium copper silicate pigments among some ancient Chinese artifacts through spectroscopic analysis.

PubMed

Li, Q H; Yang, J C; Li, L; Dong, J Q; Zhao, H X; Liu, S

2015-03-05

This article describes the complementary application of non-invasive micro-Raman spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to the characterization of some ancient Chinese silicate artifacts. A total of 28 samples dated from fourth century BC to third century AD were analyzed. The results of chemical analysis showed that the vitreous PbO-BaO-SiO2 material was used to sinter these silicate artifacts. The barium copper silicate pigments including BaCuSi4O10, BaCuSi2O6 and BaCu2Si2O7 were widely identified from colorful areas of the samples by Raman spectroscopy. In addition, other crystalline phases such as Fe2O3, BaSi2O5, BaSO4, PbCO3 and quartz were also identified. The present study provides very valuable information to trace the technical evolution of man-made barium copper silicate pigments and their close relationship with the making of ancient PbO-BaO-SiO2 glaze and glass. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparison of stimulated and spontaneous laser-radar methods for the remote sensing of ocean physical properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leonard, Donald A.; Sweeney, Harold E.

1990-09-01

The physical properties of ocean water, in the top few ten meters, are of great interest in the scientific, engineering, and general oceanographic communities. Subsurface profiles of temperature, salinity, and sound speed measured by laser radar in real time on a synoptic basis over a wide area from an airborne platform would provide valuable information complementary to the data that is now readily available. The laser-radar technique specifically applicable to ocean sensing uses spectroscopic analysis of the inelastic backscattered optical signal. Two methods have received considerable attention for remote sensing and both have been demonstrated in field experiments. These are spontaneous Raman1 and spontaneous Brillouin2 scattering. A discussion of these two processes and a comparison of their properties that are useful for remote sensing was presented3 at SPIE Ocean Optics IX. This paper compares ocean remote sensing using stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) processes with better known spontaneous methods. The results of laboratory measurements of temperature using SBS and some preliminary results of SRS are presented with extensions to performance estimates of potential field systems.

Study of oxygen/tetraethoxysilane plasmas in a helicon reactor using optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aumaille, K.; Granier, A.; Schmidt, M.; Grolleau, B.; Vallée, C.; Turban, G.

2000-08-01

Oxygen/tetraethoxysilane (O2/TEOS) plasmas created in a low-pressure (2 mTorr) rf helicon reactor have been studied by optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry as a function of the rf (13.56 MHz) power injected into the plasma, which is varied from 25 to 300 W. Complementary measurements for the interpretation of the mass spectrometric data have also been carried out using the threshold ionization mass spectrometry technique. It is shown that valuable information on the parent molecules is obtained by both optical emission spectroscopy and threshold ionization mass spectrometry techniques. At low rf power TEOS molecules and organic compounds like hydrocarbons (CH4, C2H2) and alcohols (CH3CH2OH) as well as H2, H2O, CO, O2, CO2 are observed. At high rf power TEOS and O2 molecules are totally or mostly depleted, the share of hydrocarbons decreases and carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water and hydrogen become the essential parts of the gas phase.

Identification of the man-made barium copper silicate pigments among some ancient Chinese artifacts through spectroscopic analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Q. H.; Yang, J. C.; Li, L.; Dong, J. Q.; Zhao, H. X.; Liu, S.

2015-03-01

This article describes the complementary application of non-invasive micro-Raman spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry to the characterization of some ancient Chinese silicate artifacts. A total of 28 samples dated from fourth century BC to third century AD were analyzed. The results of chemical analysis showed that the vitreous PbO-BaO-SiO2 material was used to sinter these silicate artifacts. The barium copper silicate pigments including BaCuSi4O10, BaCuSi2O6 and BaCu2Si2O7 were widely identified from colorful areas of the samples by Raman spectroscopy. In addition, other crystalline phases such as Fe2O3, BaSi2O5, BaSO4, PbCO3 and quartz were also identified. The present study provides very valuable information to trace the technical evolution of man-made barium copper silicate pigments and their close relationship with the making of ancient PbO-BaO-SiO2 glaze and glass.

Exploring candidate biomarkers for lung and prostate cancers using gene expression and flux variability analysis.

PubMed

Asgari, Yazdan; Khosravi, Pegah; Zabihinpour, Zahra; Habibi, Mahnaz

2018-02-19

Genome-scale metabolic models have provided valuable resources for exploring changes in metabolism under normal and cancer conditions. However, metabolism itself is strongly linked to gene expression, so integration of gene expression data into metabolic models might improve the detection of genes involved in the control of tumor progression. Herein, we considered gene expression data as extra constraints to enhance the predictive powers of metabolic models. We reconstructed genome-scale metabolic models for lung and prostate, under normal and cancer conditions to detect the major genes associated with critical subsystems during tumor development. Furthermore, we utilized gene expression data in combination with an information theory-based approach to reconstruct co-expression networks of the human lung and prostate in both cohorts. Our results revealed 19 genes as candidate biomarkers for lung and prostate cancer cells. This study also revealed that the development of a complementary approach (integration of gene expression and metabolic profiles) could lead to proposing novel biomarkers and suggesting renovated cancer treatment strategies which have not been possible to detect using either of the methods alone.

Plant membrane proteomics.

PubMed

Ephritikhine, Geneviève; Ferro, Myriam; Rolland, Norbert

2004-12-01

Plant membrane proteins are involved in many different functions according to their location in the cell. For instance, the chloroplast has two membrane systems, thylakoids and envelope, with specialized membrane proteins for photosynthesis and metabolite and ion transporters, respectively. Although recent advances in sample preparation and analytical techniques have been achieved for the study of membrane proteins, the characterization of these proteins, especially the hydrophobic ones, is still challenging. The present review highlights recent advances in methodologies for identification of plant membrane proteins from purified subcellular structures. The interest of combining several complementary extraction procedures to take into account specific features of membrane proteins is discussed in the light of recent proteomics data, notably for chloroplast envelope, mitochondrial membranes and plasma membrane from Arabidopsis. These examples also illustrate how, on one hand, proteomics can feed bioinformatics for a better definition of prediction tools and, on the other hand, although prediction tools are not 100% reliable, they can give valuable information for biological investigations. In particular, membrane proteomics brings new insights over plant membrane systems, on both the membrane compartment where proteins are working and their putative cellular function.

Use of complementary approaches in pregnant women with a history of miscarriage.

PubMed

Huberty, Jennifer; Matthews, Jeni; Leiferman, Jenn A; Lee, Chong

2018-02-01

To describe the use of complementary approaches in pregnant women with a history of miscarriage and to investigate whether a miscarriage is associated with the use of complementary approaches during their pregnancy. A cross-sectional survey was distributed to pregnant women residing in the United States (N=890). Women who had a history of miscarriage, were Caucasian, were college educated, reported a high income, had low depression scores, and had low anxiety scores (all P<0.001) were more likely to use complementary approaches. In pregnant women with a history of miscarriage (N=193), the most frequently reported complementary approaches used were prayer (22.3%), yoga (15%), massage (14.5%), chiropractic (13%), and meditation (11.4%). Finally, after adjustment for age, race, education, and income, the odds of using a complementary approach in women with a history of miscarriage was 1.8 (95% CI: 1.3, 2.5, P<0.001) as compared with women without a history of miscarriage (model 1). Associations persisted after additional adjustment for depression, anxiety, and stress; the odds of using a complementary approach in women with a history of miscarriage was 1.7 (95% CI: 1.2, 2.4, P<0.001) (model 2), compared with women without a history of miscarriage. Findings from this study may help inform future studies for pregnant women with a history of miscarriage and may also provide information about appropriate strategies in which health care providers can refer their patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version

Cancer.gov

Topics in Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies gives a brief description of some of these therapies used by people with cancer. Links to additional information, references, and resources on the NCI website are provided in this summary for clinicians.

Age of Complementary Foods Introduction and Risk of Anemia in Children Aged 4-6 years: A Prospective Birth Cohort in China.

PubMed

Wang, Fenglei; Liu, Huijuan; Wan, Yi; Li, Jing; Chen, Yu; Zheng, Jusheng; Huang, Tao; Li, Duo

2017-03-23

Age of complementary foods introduction is associated with childhood anemia, but the ideal age for the introduction of complementary foods to infants is a continuing topic of debate. We examined the longitudinal association between complementary foods introduction age and risk of anemia in 18,446 children from the Jiaxing Birth Cohort, who had detailed complementary feeding records at 3 and 6 months of age and had hemoglobin concentrations measured at 4-6 years. Early introduction of complementary foods at 3-6 months of age was significantly associated with a higher risk of anemia (odds ratio = 1.14; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.28) and a lower hemoglobin concentration of -0.84 g/L (95% confidence interval: -1.33 to -0.35) in children aged 4-6 years, compared with those fed complementary foods starting at 6 months of age. When it comes to the specific type of complementary foods, early introduction of all plant-based foods was associated with increased anemia risks and lower hemoglobin concentrations, while early introduction of most animal-based foods was not. These findings may be informative regarding the appropriate time to introduce complementary foods in infants.

Traditional Chinese Medicine: An Introduction

MedlinePlus

... comprehensive survey on the use of complementary health approaches by Americans, an estimated 3.1 million U.S. adults had used acupuncture in the ... information on NCCIH and complementary and integrative health approaches, including ... the U.S.: 1-888-644-6226 TTY (for deaf and hard- ...

Complementary medicine for cancer patients in general practice: qualitative interviews with german general practitioners.

PubMed

Dahlhaus, Anne; Siebenhofer, Andrea; Guethlin, Corina

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate how general practitioners react when their cancer patients show interest in complementary medicine, and how their reaction is related to their knowledge in the field. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 German general practitioners. Interviewees came from 5 different federal states and varied in terms of urban/rural setting, single/joint practice, additional certifications, gender and length of professional experience. Interviews were electronically recorded, transcribed and then analysed using qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. General practitioners feel largely responsible for providing information on complementary medicine to their cancer patients. However, uncertainty and a lack of knowledge concerning CAM lead mainly to reactive responses to patients' needs, and the general practitioners base their recommendations on personal experiences and attitudes. They wish to support their cancer patients and thus, in order to keep their patients' hopes up and maintain a trusting relationship, sometimes support complementary medicine, regardless of their own convictions. Although general practitioners see themselves as an important source of information on complementary medicine for their cancer patients, they also speak of their uncertainties and lack of knowledge. General practitioners would profit from training in complementary medicine enabling them to discuss this topic with their cancer patients in a proactive, open and honest manner. © 2015 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg

Attitudes of members of the German Society for Palliative Medicine toward complementary and alternative medicine for cancer patients.

PubMed

Conrad, A C; Muenstedt, K; Micke, O; Prott, F J; Muecke, R; Huebner, J

2014-07-01

A high proportion of cancer patients use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). In oncology, risks of CAM are side effects and interactions. Our aim was to conduct a survey on professionals in palliative care regarding attitudes toward CAM. An internet-based survey with a standardized questionnaire was sent to all members of the German Society for Palliative Care. The questionnaire collected data on attitude toward CAM and experiences. Six hundred and ninety questionnaires (19 %) were returned (49 % physicians, 35 % nurses, 3 % psychologists). Acceptance of CAM is high (92 % for complementary and 54 % for alternative medicine). Most participants had already been asked on CAM by patients (95 %) and relatives (89 %). Forty-four percent already had used complementary methods and 5 % alternative methods. Only 21 % think themselves adequately informed. Seventy-four percent would use complementary methods in a patient with advanced tumor, and 62 % would use alternative therapy in patients if there was no other therapy. Even from those who are skeptical 45 % would treat a patient with alternative methods. In order to inform patients on CAM and to further patients' autonomy, evidence on benefits and harms of CAM must be provided. As awareness of risks from CAM is low and critical appraisal especially of alternative medicine missing, but interest on information on CAM is high, experts should provide evidence-based recommendations for CAM in palliative care to members of different professions. This could be done by a curriculum focusing on the most often used CAM methods.

PDQ® Cancer Information

Cancer.gov

An NCI database that contains the latest information about cancer treatment, screening, prevention, genetics, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine, plus drug information and a dictionary of cancer terms.

Synchrotron based mass spectrometry to investigate the molecular properties of mineral-organic associations

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

Liu, Suet Yi; Kleber, Markus; Takahashi, Lynelle K.

2013-04-01

Soil organic matter (OM) is important because its decay drives life processes in the biosphere. Analysis of organic compounds in geological systems is difficult because of their intimate association with mineral surfaces. To date there is no procedure capable of quantitatively separating organic from mineral phases without creating artifacts or mass loss. Therefore, analytical techniques that can (a) generate information about both organic and mineral phases simultaneously and (b) allow the examination of predetermined high-interest regions of the sample as opposed to conventional bulk analytical techniques are valuable. Laser Desorption Synchrotron Postionization (synchrotron-LDPI) mass spectrometry is introduced as a novelmore » analytical tool to characterize the molecular properties of organic compounds in mineral-organic samples from terrestrial systems, and it is demonstrated that when combined with Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), can provide complementary information on mineral composition. Mass spectrometry along a decomposition gradient in density fractions, verifies the consistency of our results with bulk analytical techniques. We further demonstrate that by changing laser and photoionization energies, variations in molecular stability of organic compounds associated with mineral surfaces can be determined. The combination of synchrotron-LDPI and SIMS shows that the energetic conditions involved in desorption and ionization of organic matter may be a greater determinant of mass spectral signatures than the inherent molecular structure of the organic compounds investigated. The latter has implications for molecular models of natural organic matter that are based on mass spectrometric information.« less

Fragmentation study of iridoid glucosides through positive and negative electrospray ionization, collision-induced dissociation and tandem mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Es-Safi, Nour-Eddine; Kerhoas, Lucien; Ducrot, Paul-Henri

2007-01-01

Mass spectrometric methodology based on the combined use of positive and negative electrospray ionization, collision-induced dissociation (CID) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) has been applied to the mass spectral study of a series of six naturally occurring iridoids through in-source fragmentation of the protonated [M+H]+, deprotonated [M--H]- and sodiated [M+Na]+ ions. This led to the unambiguous determination of the molecular masses of the studied compounds and allowed CID spectra of the molecular ions to be obtained. Valuable structural information regarding the nature of both the glycoside and the aglycone moiety was thus obtained. Glycosidic cleavage and ring cleavages of both aglycone and sugar moieties were the major fragmentation pathways observed during CID, where the losses of small molecules, the cinnamoyl and the cinnamate parts were also observed. The formation of the ionized aglycones, sugars and their product ions was thus obtained giving information on their basic skeleton. The protonated, i.e. [M+H]+ and deprotonated [M--H]-, ions were found to fragment mainly by glycosidic cleavages. MS/MS spectra of the [M+Na]+ ions gave complementary information for the structural characterization of the studied compounds. Unlike the dissociation of protonated molecular ions, that of sodiated molecules also provided sodiated sugar fragments where the C0+ fragment corresponding to the glucose ion was obtained as base peak for all the studied compounds. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Occipital Alpha and Gamma Oscillations Support Complementary Mechanisms for Processing Stimulus Value Associations.

PubMed

Marshall, Tom R; den Boer, Sebastiaan; Cools, Roshan; Jensen, Ole; Fallon, Sean James; Zumer, Johanna M

2018-01-01

Selective attention is reflected neurally in changes in the power of posterior neural oscillations in the alpha (8-12 Hz) and gamma (40-100 Hz) bands. Although a neural mechanism that allows relevant information to be selectively processed has its advantages, it may lead to lucrative or dangerous information going unnoticed. Neural systems are also in place for processing rewarding and punishing information. Here, we examine the interaction between selective attention (left vs. right) and stimulus's learned value associations (neutral, punished, or rewarded) and how they compete for control of posterior neural oscillations. We found that both attention and stimulus-value associations influenced neural oscillations. Whereas selective attention had comparable effects on alpha and gamma oscillations, value associations had dissociable effects on these neural markers of attention. Salient targets (associated with positive and negative outcomes) hijacked changes in alpha power-increasing hemispheric alpha lateralization when salient targets were attended, decreasing it when they were being ignored. In contrast, hemispheric gamma-band lateralization was specifically abolished by negative distractors. Source analysis indicated occipital generators of both attentional and value effects. Thus, posterior cortical oscillations support both the ability to selectively attend while at the same time retaining the ability to remain sensitive to valuable features in the environment. Moreover, the versatility of our attentional system to respond separately to salient from merely positively valued stimuli appears to be carried out by separate neural processes reflected in different frequency bands.

Asymmetric bioreduction of activated alkenes to industrially relevant optically active compounds

PubMed Central

Winkler, Christoph K.; Tasnádi, Gábor; Clay, Dorina; Hall, Mélanie; Faber, Kurt

2012-01-01

Ene-reductases from the ‘Old Yellow Enzyme’ family of flavoproteins catalyze the asymmetric reduction of various α,β-unsaturated compounds at the expense of a nicotinamide cofactor. They have been applied to the synthesis of valuable enantiopure products, including chiral building blocks with broad industrial applications, terpenoids, amino acid derivatives and fragrances. The combination of these highly stereoselective biocatalysts with a cofactor recycling system has allowed the development of cost-effective methods for the generation of optically active molecules, which is strengthened by the availability of stereo-complementary enzyme homologues. PMID:22498437

Tropospheric Ozone Source Attribution in Southern California during Summer 2014 Based on Lidar Measurements and Model Simulations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Granados Munoz, Maria Jose; Johnson, Matthew S.; Leblanc, Thierry

2016-01-01

In the past decades, significant efforts have been made to increase tropospheric ozone long-term monitoring. A large number of ground-based, airborne and space-borne instruments are currently providing valuable data to contribute to better understand tropospheric ozone budget and variability. Nonetheless, most of these instruments provide in-situ surface and column-integrated data, whereas vertically resolved measurements are still scarce. Besides ozonesondes and aircraft, lidar measurements have proven to be valuable tropospheric ozone profilers. Using the measurements from the tropospheric ozone differential absorption lidar (DIAL) located at the JPL Table Mountain Facility, California, and the GEOS-Chem and GEOS-5 model outputs, the impact of the North American monsoon on tropospheric ozone during summer 2014 is investigated. The influence of the Monsoon lightning-induced NOx will be evaluated against other sources (e.g. local anthropogenic emissions and the stratosphere) using also complementary data such as backward-trajectories analysis, coincident water vapor lidar measurements, and surface ozone in-situ measurements.

Evaluation of a honey-impregnated tulle dressing in primary care.

PubMed

Stephen-Haynes, Jackie

2004-06-01

Honey has been used for its healing properties for centuries and has been used to dress wounds with favourable results. The emergence of antibiotic resistance and growing interest in "natural" or "complementary" therapies has led to an interest in honey dressings. Much of the research to date has been related to honey's antibacterial properties. However, the healing properties claimed for honey also include stimulating new tissue growth, moist wound healing, fluid handling and promoting epithelialization. Until recently, honey had not been developed as a wound management product and was not a certified pharmaceutical device. Activon Tulle is a sterile, non-adherent dressing impregnated with Leptospermum scoparium hone. The claimed properties of honey dressings would make this a valuable addition to the dressing currently available in the primary care setting. An evaluation was undertaken involving 20 patients with a variety of wounds. A conclusion is drawn that while further research is needed, medical grade honey does appear to be a valuable addition to the wound management formulary.

Why Do Patients and Caregivers Seek Answers From the Internet and Online Lung Specialists? A Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Linssen, Cilia; Schramel, Franz MNH; Festen, Jan; Lammers, Ernst; Smit, Egbert F; Postmus, Pieter E; Westerman, Marjan J

2014-01-01

Background Since its launch in 2003, the Dutch Lung Cancer Information Center’s (DLIC) website has become increasingly popular. The most popular page of the website is the section “Ask the Physician”, where visitors can ask an online lung specialist questions anonymously and receive an answer quickly. Most questions were not only asked by lung cancer patients but also by their informal caregivers. Most questions concerned specific information about lung cancer. Objective Our goal was to explore the reasons why lung cancer patients and caregivers search the Internet for information and ask online lung specialists questions on the DLIC’s interactive page, “Ask the Physician”, rather than consulting with their own specialist. Methods This research consisted of a qualitative study with semistructured telephone interviews about medical information-seeking behavior (eg, information needs, reasons for querying online specialists). The sample comprised 5 lung cancer patients and 20 caregivers who posed a question on the interactive page of the DLIC website. Results Respondents used the Internet and the DLIC website to look for lung cancer–related information (general/specific to their personal situation) and to cope with cancer. They tried to achieve a better understanding of the information given by their own specialist and wanted to be prepared for the treatment trajectory and disease course. This mode of information supply helped them cope and gave them emotional support. The interactive webpage was also used as a second opinion. The absence of face-to-face contact made respondents feel freer to ask for any kind of information. By being able to pose a question instantly and receiving a relatively quick reply from the online specialist to urgent questions, respondents felt an easing of their anxiety as they did not have to wait until the next consultation with their own specialist. Conclusions The DLIC website with its interactive page is a valuable complementary mode of information supply and supportive care for lung cancer patients and caregivers. PMID:24496139

Kids These Days: Urine as a Home Remedy for Acne Vulgaris?

PubMed Central

Totri, Christine R.; Matiz, Catalina

2015-01-01

Complementary and alternative medicine therapies are gaining popularity among patients, aided by modern media outlets that facilitate easy and rapid dissemination of information. “Urine therapy” is one such complementary and alternative medicine and is described by its proponents as a wonder therapy for inflammatory conditions, such as acne vulgaris. As with other complementary and alternative medicines, healthcare providers should be mindful of the use of urine therapy and its potential implications for patients who may utilize it. PMID:26557221

Discussion of "Representation of People's Decisions in Health Information Systems: A Complementary Approach for Understanding Health Care Systems and Population Health".

PubMed

Al-Shorbaji, Najeeb; Borycki, Elizabeth M; Kimura, Michio; Lehmann, Christoph U; Lorenzi, Nancy M; Moura, Lincoln A; Winter, Alfred

2017-02-01

This article is part of a For-Discussion-Section of Methods of Information in Medicine about the paper "Representation of People's Decisions in Health Information Systems: A Complementary Approach for Understanding Health Care Systems and Population Health" written by Fernan Gonzalez Bernaldo de Quiros, Adriana Ruth Dawidowski, and Silvana Figar. It is introduced by an editorial. This article contains the combined commentaries invited to independently comment on the paper of de Quiros, Dawidowski, and Figar. In subsequent issues the discussion can continue through letters to the editor.

Use of complementary and alternative medicine in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review.

PubMed

Höfer, Juliana; Hoffmann, Falk; Bachmann, Christian

2017-05-01

Despite limited evidence, complementary and alternative medicine treatments are popular in autism spectrum disorder. The aim of this review was to summarize the available evidence on complementary and alternative medicine use frequency in autism spectrum disorder. A systematic search of three electronic databases was performed. All research studies in English or German reporting data on the frequency of complementary and alternative medicine use in individuals with autism spectrum disorder were included. Two independent reviewers searched the literature, extracted information on study design and results, and assessed study quality using an established quality assessment tool. Twenty studies with a total of 9540 participants were included. The prevalence of any complementary and alternative medicine use ranged from 28% to 95% (median: 54%). Special diets or dietary supplements (including vitamins) were the most frequent complementary and alternative medicine treatments, ranking first in 75% of studies. There was some evidence for a higher prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine use in autism spectrum disorder compared to other psychiatric disorders and the general population. Approximately half of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder use complementary and alternative medicine. Doctors should be aware of this and should discuss complementary and alternative medicine use with patients and their carers, especially as the evidence is mixed and some complementary and alternative medicine treatments are potentially harmful.

Complementary and Alternative Therapies: An Evidence-Based Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaw, Steven R.

2008-01-01

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has experienced a dramatic growth in use and acceptability over the last 20 years. CAM is a diverse collection of medical and healthcare systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered a component of conventional medicine. CAM traditionally has been practiced by informally educated…

Prevention of AIDS and living together with an HIV-infected patient.

PubMed

Fahik, F T; Reichert, M C; Gabriel, R; Marin, H F

1995-01-01

In Brazil, approximately 45 thousand cases had been reported until the end of 1993, with an estimated 50% underreport. According to the Ministry of Health, until the year 2,000 from 2 to 8 million Brazilians citizens will be infected with HIV. The basic aspect of the educational campaigns regarding AIDS does not refer only to information on forms of transmission and prevention measures, but also attempts to fight against the mystification and the enormous resistance of the public to definitely accept the fact that transmission does not occur by simple means such as having a drink from the same glass, independently of its socioeconomic and cultural level. In addition to the lack of information, prejudice and discrimination appear strongly rooted in the population to the point of a tendency of social and effective rejection of the HIV-infected patient. Fighting against prejudice, against which there is also no vaccine, is a task as gigantic as fighting against the virus. For both, investments in education of and information to the population in general, is very important. Development of a software which would fulfill the function of explaining, and providing the correct information about AIDS, would be extremely valuable for any part of the society and could also be used as a complementary element by health professionals. The objective was to develop an interactive software in order to demonstrate prevention measures and universal precaution in AIDS; to inform about the necessary care to people that are living together an HIV-infected patient. To develop this software with animation and elucidating text regarding AIDS for the general population, we are using the Storyboard live to be run in Windows environment.

Hairpin Bisulfite Sequencing: Synchronous Methylation Analysis on Complementary DNA Strands of Individual Chromosomes.

PubMed

Giehr, Pascal; Walter, Jörn

2018-01-01

The accurate and quantitative detection of 5-methylcytosine is of great importance in the field of epigenetics. The method of choice is usually bisulfite sequencing because of the high resolution and the possibility to combine it with next generation sequencing. Nevertheless, also this method has its limitations. Following the bisulfite treatment DNA strands are no longer complementary such that in a subsequent PCR amplification the DNA methylation patterns information of only one of the two DNA strand is preserved. Several years ago Hairpin Bisulfite sequencing was developed as a method to obtain the pattern information on complementary DNA strands. The method requires fragmentation (usually by enzymatic cleavage) of genomic DNA followed by a covalent linking of both DNA strands through ligation of a short DNA hairpin oligonucleotide to both strands. The ligated covalently linked dsDNA products are then subjected to a conventional bisulfite treatment during which all unmodified cytosines are converted to uracils. During the treatment the DNA is denatured forming noncomplementary ssDNA circles. These circles serve as a template for a locus specific PCR to amplify chromosomal patterns of the region of interest. As a result one ends up with a linearized product, which contains the methylation information of both complementary DNA strands.

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

Hirokawa, Takako; /U. Colorado, Boulder /SLAC

In this paper, we examine data acquisition in a high harmonic generation (HHG) lab and preliminary data analysis with the Cyclohexadiene Collaboration at the Linac Coherent Lightsource (LCLS) at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. HHG experiments have a large number of parameters that need to be monitored constantly. In particular, the pressure of the target is critical to HHG yield. However, this pressure can fluctuate wildly and without a tool to monitor it, it is difficult to analyze the correlation between HHG yield and the pressure. I used the Arduino microcontroller board and created a complementary MATLAB graphical user interface (GUI),more » thereby enhancing the ease with which users can acquire time-stamped parameter data. Using the Arduino, it is much easier to match the pressure to the corresponding HHG yield. Collecting data by using the Arduino and the GUI is flexible, user-friendly, and cost-effective. In the future, we hope to be able to control and monitor parts of the lab with the Arduino alone. While more parameter information is needed in the HHG lab, we needed to reduce the amount of data during the cyclohexadiene collaboration. This was achieved by sorting the data into bins and filtering out unnecessary details. This method was highly effective in that it minimized the amount of data without losing any valuable information. This effective preliminary data analysis technique will continue to be used to decrease the size of the collected data.« less

a Method for the Registration of Hemispherical Photographs and Tls Intensity Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, A.; Schilling, A.; Maas, H.-G.

2012-07-01

Terrestrial laser scanners generate dense and accurate 3D point clouds with minimal effort, which represent the geometry of real objects, while image data contains texture information of object surfaces. Based on the complementary characteristics of both data sets, a combination is very appealing for many applications, including forest-related tasks. In the scope of our research project, independent data sets of a plain birch stand have been taken by a full-spherical laser scanner and a hemispherical digital camera. Previously, both kinds of data sets have been considered separately: Individual trees were successfully extracted from large 3D point clouds, and so-called forest inventory parameters could be determined. Additionally, a simplified tree topology representation was retrieved. From hemispherical images, leaf area index (LAI) values, as a very relevant parameter for describing a stand, have been computed. The objective of our approach is to merge a 3D point cloud with image data in a way that RGB values are assigned to each 3D point. So far, segmentation and classification of TLS point clouds in forestry applications was mainly based on geometrical aspects of the data set. However, a 3D point cloud with colour information provides valuable cues exceeding simple statistical evaluation of geometrical object features and thus may facilitate the analysis of the scan data significantly.

Prevalence, Types and Determinants of Complementary and Alternative Medications among Health Clinic Clients

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Almousa, H.; Rabie, Faten M.; Alsamghan, Awad S.; Alsaluli, Mobarak; Albqami, Sultan; Almusa, Mona; Al-shahrani, Areej

2015-01-01

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) covers a wide range of over 100 healing approaches, philosophies and therapeutic modalities that are not provided by conventional medicine. Objectives: The study was aimed at identifying the prevalence, types and determinants of CAM use, sources of information about CAM that patients usually depend upon…

Complementary knowledge sharing: Experiences of nursing students participating in an educational exchange program between Madagascar and Norway.

PubMed

Tjoflåt, Ingrid; Razaonandrianina, Julie; Karlsen, Bjørg; Hansen, Britt Sætre

2017-02-01

To describe how Malagasy and Norwegian nursing students experience an educational exchange program in Madagascar. Previous studies show that nursing students participating in an educational exchange program enhanced their cultural knowledge and experienced personal growth. However, few studies have described two-way exchange programs, including experiences from both the hosts' and the guest students' perspectives. This study applies a descriptive qualitative design. Data were collected in 2015 by means of five semi-structured interviews with Malagasy students and two focus group interview sessions with Norwegian students. They were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The study was conducted in Madagascar. The data analyses revealed one main theme and two sub-themes related to the Malagasy and Norwegian nursing students' experiences. Main theme: complementary knowledge sharing; sub-themes: (1) learning from each other and (2) challenges of working together. The findings indicate that both the Malagasy and Norwegian nursing students experienced the exchange program as valuable and essential in exchanging knowledge. They also highlighted challenges, linked mainly to language barriers and the lack of available resources. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Discussion of “Representation of People’s Decisions in Health Information Systems: A Complementary Approach for Understanding Health Care Systems and Population Health”

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Summary This article is part of a For-Discussion-Section of Methods of Information in Medicine about the paper “Representation of People’s Decisions in Health Information Systems: A Complementary Approach for Understanding Health Care Systems and Population Health” written by Fernan Gonzalez Bernaldo de Quiros, Adriana Ruth Dawidowski, and Silvana Figar. It is introduced by an editorial. This article contains the combined commentaries invited to independently comment on the paper of de Quiros, Dawidowski, and Figar. In subsequent issues the discussion can continue through letters to the editor. PMID:28144678

Complementary and alternative medicine use in children with cystic fibrosis.

PubMed

Giangioppo, Sandra; Kalaci, Odion; Radhakrishnan, Arun; Fleischer, Erin; Itterman, Jennifer; Lyttle, Brian; Price, April; Radhakrishnan, Dhenuka

2016-11-01

To estimate the overall prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine use among children with cystic fibrosis, determine specific modalities used, predictors of use and subjective helpfulness or harm from individual modalities. Of 53 children attending the cystic fibrosis clinic in London, Ontario (100% recruitment), 79% had used complementary and alternative medicine. The most commonly used modalities were air purifiers, humidifiers, probiotics, and omega-3 fatty acids. Family complementary and alternative medicine use was the only independent predictor of overall use. The majority of patients perceived benefit from specific modalities for cystic fibrosis symptoms. Given the high frequency and number of modalities used and lack of patient and disease characteristics predicting use, we recommend that health care providers should routinely ask about complementary and alternative medicine among all pediatric cystic fibrosis patients and assist patients in understanding the potential benefits and risks to make informed decisions about its use. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Patient Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicines in an Outpatient Pediatric Neurology Clinic.

PubMed

Kenney, Daniel; Jenkins, Sarah; Youssef, Paul; Kotagal, Suresh

2016-05-01

This article describes the use of complementary and alternative medicines in an outpatient pediatric neurology clinic, and assesses family attitudes toward the efficacy of complementary and alternative medicines versus prescription medications. Complementary and alternative medicine is an important element of the modern health care landscape. There is limited information about whether, and to what extent, families perceive its utility in childhood neurological disorders. Surveys were distributed to 500 consecutive patients at a child neurology clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Questions pertained to the child's diagnoses, use of complementary and alternative medicines, and the specific complementary and alternative medicine modalities that were used. Opinions were also gathered on the perceived efficacy of complementary and alternative medicines and prescription medications. Data were compared using χ(2) or Fisher exact tests as indicated. A total of 484 surveys were returned, of which 327 were usable. Only 17.4% admitted to use of complementary and alternative medicine to treat neurological problems. However, in follow-up questioning, actually 41.6% of patients recognized that they were using one or more types of complementary and alternative medicines. Disorders associated with a statistically significant increased prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine use were headache (50.8% with headache used complementary and alternative medicine versus 35.7% without headache; P = 0.008, Fisher exact test), chronic fatigue (63.2% vs 38.8%; P = 0.005, Fisher exact test), and sleep disorders (77.1% vs 37.3%; P < 0.0001, Fisher exact test). A large proportion of pediatric neurology patients in our clinic are also using complementary and alternative medicine. Only 38.5% of these recognize themselves as using complementary and alternative medicine, underlining the need to inquire in-depth about its use. Patients who are less satisfied with their prescription medications are more likely to use complementary and alternative medicine, perhaps reflecting the less tractable nature of their disorders. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Complementary and alternative medicine in pregnancy: a survey of North Carolina certified nurse-midwives.

PubMed

Allaire, A D; Moos, M K; Wells, S R

2000-01-01

To determine the prevalence and types of complementary and alternative medicine therapies used by certified nurse-midwives in North Carolina. Surveys were sent to all 120 licensed certified nurse-midwives in North Carolina requesting information concerning their recommendations for use of complementary and alternative medicine for their pregnant or postpartum patients. Eighty-two responses were received (68.3%). Seventy-seven (93.9%) reported recommending complementary and alternative medicine to their pregnant patients in the past year. Forty-seven (57.3%) reported recommending complementary and alternative medicine to more than 10% of patients. The percentage of nurse-midwives who recommended each type of complementary and alternative medicine was as follows: herbal therapy (73.2%), massage therapy (67.1%), chiropractic (57.3%), acupressure (52.4%), mind-body interventions (48.8%), aromatherapy (32.9%), homeopathy (30.5%), spiritual healing (23.2%), acupuncture (19.5%), and bioelectric or magnetic applications (14.6%). The 60 respondents who reported prescribing herbal therapies gave them for the following indications: nausea and vomiting, labor stimulation, perineal discomfort, lactation disorders, postpartum depression, preterm labor, postpartum hemorrhage, labor analgesia, and malpresentation. Complementary and alternative medicine, especially herbal therapy, is commonly prescribed to pregnant women by nurse-midwives in North Carolina.

Quantitative EEG and LORETA: valuable tools in discerning FTD from AD?

PubMed

Caso, Francesca; Cursi, Marco; Magnani, Giuseppe; Fanelli, Giovanna; Falautano, Monica; Comi, Giancarlo; Leocani, Letizia; Minicucci, Fabio

2012-10-01

Drawing a clinical distinction between frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is tricky, particularly at the early stages of disease. This study evaluates the possibility in differentiating 39 FTD, 39 AD, and 39 controls (CTR) by means of power spectral analysis and standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) within delta, theta, alpha 1 and 2, beta 1, 2, and 3 frequency bands. Both analyses revealed in AD patients, relative to CTR, higher expression of diffuse delta/theta and lower central/posterior fast frequency (from alpha1 to beta2) bands. FTD patients showed diffuse increased theta power compared with CTR and lower delta relative to AD patients. Compared with FTD, AD patients showed diffuse higher theta power at spectral analysis and, at sLORETA, decreased alpha2 and beta1 values in central/temporal regions. Spectral analysis and sLORETA provided complementary information that might help characterizing different patterns of electroencephalogram (EEG) oscillatory activity in AD and FTD. Nevertheless, this differentiation was possible only at the group level because single patients could not be discerned with sufficient accuracy. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Characterization of Homopolymer and Polymer Blend Films by Phase Sensitive Acoustic Microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngwa, Wilfred; Wannemacher, Reinhold; Grill, Wolfgang

2003-03-01

CHARACTERIZATION OF HOMOPOLYMER AND POLYMER BLEND FILMS BY PHASE SENSITIVE ACOUSTIC MICROSCOPY W Ngwa, R Wannemacher, W Grill Institute of Experimental Physics II, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany Abstract We have used phase sensitive acoustic microscopy (PSAM) to study homopolymer thin films of polystyrene (PS) and poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), as well as PS/PMMA blend films. We show from our results that PSAM can be used as a complementary and highly valuable technique for elucidating the three-dimensional (3D) morphology and micromechanical properties of thin films. Three-dimensional image acquisition with vector contrast provides the basis for: complex V(z) analysis (per image pixel), 3D image processing, height profiling, and subsurface image analysis of the polymer films. Results show good agreement with previous studies. In addition, important new information on the three dimensional structure and properties of polymer films is obtained. Homopolymer film structure analysis reveals (pseudo-) dewetting by retraction of droplets, resulting in a morphology that can serve as a starting point for the analysis of polymer blend thin films. The outcome of confocal laser scanning microscopy studies, performed on the same samples are correlated with the obtained results. Advantages and limitations of PSAM are discussed.

Carbon Ion Irradiated Neural Injury Induced the Peripheral Immune Effects in Vitro or in Vivo

PubMed Central

Lei, Runhong; Zhao, Tuo; Li, Qiang; Wang, Xiao; Ma, Hong; Deng, Yulin

2015-01-01

Carbon ion radiation is a promising treatment for brain cancer; however, the immune system involved long-term systemic effects evoke a concern of complementary and alternative therapies in clinical treatment. To clarify radiotherapy caused fundamental changes in peripheral immune system, examinations were performed based on established models in vitro and in vivo. We found that brain-localized carbon ion radiation of neural cells induced complex changes in the peripheral blood, thymus, and spleen at one, two, and three months after its application. Atrophy, apoptosis, and abnormal T-cell distributions were observed in rats receiving a single high dose of radiation. Radiation downregulated the expression of proteins involved in T-cell development at the transcriptional level and increased the proportion of CD3+CD4−CD8+ T-cells in the thymus and the proportion of CD3+CD4+CD8− T-cells in the spleen. These data show that brain irradiation severely affects the peripheral immune system, even at relatively long times after irradiation. In addition, they provide valuable information that will implement the design of biological-based strategies that will aid brain cancer patients suffering from the long-term side effects of radiation. PMID:26633364

Trace elemental analysis of bituminuos coals using the Heidelberg proton microprobe

USGS Publications Warehouse

Chen, J.R.; Kneis, H.; Martin, B.; Nobiling, R.; Traxel, K.; Chao, E.C.T.; Minkin, J.A.

1981-01-01

Trace elements in coal can occur as components of either the organic constituents (macerals) or the inorganic constituents (minerals). Studies of the concentrations and distribution of the trace elements are vital to understanding the geochemical millieu in which the coal was formed and in evaluating the attempts to recover rare but technologically valuable metals. In addition, information on the trace element concentrations is important in predicting the environmental impact of burning particular coals, as many countries move toward greater utilization of coal reserves for energy production. Traditionally, the optical and the electron microscopes and more recently the electron microprobe have been used in studying the components of coal. The proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) microprobe offers a new complementary approach with an order of magnitude or more better minimum detection limit. We present the first measurements with a PIXE microprobe of the trace element concentrations of bituminous coal samples. Elemental analyses of the coal macerals-vitrinite, exinite, and inertinite-are discussed for three coal samples from the Eastern U.S.A., three samples from the Western U.S.A., and one sample from the Peoples Republic of China. ?? 1981.

Literacy and Informational Interviews

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Decarie, Christina

2010-01-01

Informational interviews are valuable tools for improving writing, editing, and interviewing skills, and they are also extremely valuable in improving the soft skills that are valued by employers, such as confidence, adaptability, the ability to set and keep deadlines, the ability to manage risk, and so on. These soft skills, this article argues,…

Evidence-based integrative medicine in clinical veterinary oncology.

PubMed

Raditic, Donna M; Bartges, Joseph W

2014-09-01

Integrative medicine is the combined use of complementary and alternative medicine with conventional or traditional Western medicine systems. The demand for integrative veterinary medicine is growing, but evidence-based research on its efficacy is limited. In veterinary clinical oncology, such research could be translated to human medicine, because veterinary patients with spontaneous tumors are valuable translational models for human cancers. An overview of specific herbs, botanics, dietary supplements, and acupuncture evaluated in dogs, in vitro canine cells, and other relevant species both in vivo and in vitro is presented for their potential use as integrative therapies in veterinary clinical oncology. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Nonhuman gamblers: lessons from rodents, primates, and robots

PubMed Central

Paglieri, Fabio; Addessi, Elsa; De Petrillo, Francesca; Laviola, Giovanni; Mirolli, Marco; Parisi, Domenico; Petrosino, Giancarlo; Ventricelli, Marialba; Zoratto, Francesca; Adriani, Walter

2014-01-01

The search for neuronal and psychological underpinnings of pathological gambling in humans would benefit from investigating related phenomena also outside of our species. In this paper, we present a survey of studies in three widely different populations of agents, namely rodents, non-human primates, and robots. Each of these populations offers valuable and complementary insights on the topic, as the literature demonstrates. In addition, we highlight the deep and complex connections between relevant results across these different areas of research (i.e., cognitive and computational neuroscience, neuroethology, cognitive primatology, neuropsychiatry, evolutionary robotics), to make the case for a greater degree of methodological integration in future studies on pathological gambling. PMID:24574984

Women's Health and Complementary Approaches

MedlinePlus

... Information Center Ongoing Medical Studies Find Active Medical Research Studies on Cranberry (ClinicalTrials.gov) Find Active Medical Research Studies on Menopause (ClinicalTrials.gov) Safety Information Dream Body ...

Completing the Picture: Importance of Considering Participatory Mapping for REDD+ Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV)

PubMed Central

Rafanoharana, Serge; Boissière, Manuel; Wijaya, Arief; Wardhana, Wahyu

2016-01-01

Remote sensing has been widely used for mapping land cover and is considered key to monitoring changes in forest areas in the REDD+ Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system. But Remote Sensing as a desk study cannot capture the whole picture; it also requires ground checking. Therefore, complementing remote sensing analysis using participatory mapping can help provide information for an initial forest cover assessment, gain better understanding of how local land use might affect changes, and provide a way to engage local communities in REDD+. Our study looked at the potential of participatory mapping in providing complementary information for remotely sensed maps. The research sites were located in different ecological and socio-economic contexts in the provinces of Papua, West Kalimantan and Central Java, Indonesia. Twenty-one maps of land cover and land use were drawn with local community participation during focus group discussions in seven villages. These maps, covering a total of 270,000ha, were used to add information to maps developed using remote sensing, adding 39 land covers to the eight from our initial desk assessment. They also provided additional information on drivers of land use and land cover change, resource areas, territory claims and land status, which we were able to correlate to understand changes in forest cover. Incorporating participatory mapping in the REDD+ MRV protocol would help with initial remotely sensed land classifications, stratify an area for ground checks and measurement plots, and add other valuable social data not visible at the RS scale. Ultimately, it would provide a forum for local communities to discuss REDD+ activities and develop a better understanding of REDD+. PMID:27977685

Optimal joint measurements of complementary observables by a single trapped ion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, T. P.; Yan, L. L.; Ma, Z. H.; Zhou, F.; Chen, L.; Yang, W. L.; Feng, M.; Busch, P.

2017-06-01

The uncertainty relations, pioneered by Werner Heisenberg nearly 90 years ago, set a fundamental limitation on the joint measurability of complementary observables. This limitation has long been a subject of debate, which has been reignited recently due to new proposed forms of measurement uncertainty relations. The present work is associated with a new error trade-off relation for compatible observables approximating two incompatible observables, in keeping with the spirit of Heisenberg’s original ideas of 1927. We report the first direct test and confirmation of the tight bounds prescribed by such an error trade-off relation, based on an experimental realisation of optimal joint measurements of complementary observables using a single ultracold {}40{{{Ca}}}+ ion trapped in a harmonic potential. Our work provides a prototypical determination of ultimate joint measurement error bounds with potential applications in quantum information science for high-precision measurement and information security.

Studies for improved understanding of lipid distributions in human skin by combining stimulated and spontaneous Raman microscopy.

PubMed

Klossek, A; Thierbach, S; Rancan, F; Vogt, A; Blume-Peytavi, U; Rühl, E

2017-07-01

Advanced Raman techniques, such as stimulated Raman spectroscopy (SRS), have become a valuable tool for investigations of distributions of substances in biological samples. However, these techniques lack spectral information and are therefore highly affected by cross-sensitivities, which are due to blended Raman bands. One typical example is the symmetric CH 2 stretching vibration of lipids, which is blended with the more intense Raman band of proteins. We report in this work an approach to reduce such cross-sensitivities by a factor of 8 in human skin samples. This is accomplished by careful spectral deconvolutions revealing the neat spectra of skin lipids. Extensive Raman studies combining the complementary advantages of fast mapping and scanning, i.e. SRS, as well as spectral information provided by spontaneous Raman spectroscopy, were performed on the same skin regions. In addition, an approach for correcting artifacts is reported, which are due to transmission and reflection geometries in Raman microscopy as well as scattering of radiation from rough and highly structured skin samples. As a result, these developments offer improved results obtained from label-free spectromicroscopy provided by Raman techniques. These yield substance specific information from spectral regimes in which blended bands dominate. This improvement is illustrated by studies on the asymmetric CH 2 stretching vibration of lipids, which was previously difficult to identify due to the strong background signal from proteins. The advantage of the correction procedures is demonstrated by higher spatial resolution permitting to perform more detailed investigations on lipids and their composition in skin. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Plant ecophysiology and forest response to global change.

PubMed

Buchmann, N

2002-11-01

There are many ways of studying forest responses to global change. Most current national and international programs focus on net gas exchange of the terrestrial biosphere and are typically interdisciplinary, multi-scale projects. Key objectives of these programs are surprisingly similar to those of classical plant ecophysiology studies, i.e., to explore functional relationships of plant or plant community responses to environmental change. Thus, common research questions that link plant ecophysiology to ecosystem functioning can be identified for both research communities, promising complementarity and synergism for joint research projects. Although some well-established ecophysiological relationships, such as light responses or stomatal limitations of photosynthetic gas exchange, are currently employed in many ecosystem-scale net flux studies for gap-filling or modeling, only 14% (n = 27) of all eddy covariance flux studies in forests (n = 196; published between 1992 and April 2002) include plant ecophysiological measurements (n = 24) or biomass and growth estimates (n = 8). Generally, emphasis is on CO2 exchange measurements at various scales (foliage, shoots, branches; n = 14) and water relations measurements (n = 11). These measurements do not fully support the typical parameterization of stand and regional models, which often need information on canopy architecture and nitrogen nutrition. By means of a complementary research approach, valuable information can be acquired that is unobtainable by means of a single approach. This additional information is important for the identification of underlying biotic and environmental drivers, for the regulation of net ecosystem fluxes and their partitioning, and the independent validation of measured net ecosystem fluxes. Thus, combining micrometeorology and ecophysiology at flux sites is strongly recommended for ecosystem functioning studies.

Utility of registries for post-marketing evaluation of medicines. A survey of Swedish health care quality registries from a regulatory perspective.

PubMed

Feltelius, Nils; Gedeborg, Rolf; Holm, Lennart; Zethelius, Björn

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to describe content and procedures in some selected Swedish health care quality registries (QRs) of relevance to regulatory decision-making. A workshop was organized with participation of seven Swedish QRs which subsequently answered a questionnaire regarding registry content on drug treatments and outcomes. Patient populations, coverage, data handling and quality control, as well as legal and ethical aspects are presented. Scientific publications from the QRs are used as a complementary measure of quality and scientific relevance. The registries under study collect clinical data of high relevance to regulatory and health technology agencies. Five out of seven registries provide information on the drug of interest. When applying external quality criteria, we found a high degree of fulfillment, although information on medication was not sufficient to answer all questions of regulatory interest. A notable strength is the option for linkage to the Prescribed Drug Registry and to information on education and socioeconomic status. Data on drugs used during hospitalization were also collected to some extent. Outcome measures collected resemble those used in relevant clinical trials. All registries collected patient-reported outcome measures. The number of publications from the registries was substantial, with studies of appropriate design, including randomized registry trials. Quality registries may provide a valuable source of post-marketing data on drug effectiveness, safety, and cost-effectiveness. Closer collaboration between registries and regulators to improve quality and usefulness of registry data could benefit both regulatory utility and value for health care providers.

Utility of registries for post-marketing evaluation of medicines. A survey of Swedish health care quality registries from a regulatory perspective

PubMed Central

Feltelius, Nils; Gedeborg, Rolf; Holm, Lennart; Zethelius, Björn

2017-01-01

Aim The aim of this study was to describe content and procedures in some selected Swedish health care quality registries (QRs) of relevance to regulatory decision-making. Methods A workshop was organized with participation of seven Swedish QRs which subsequently answered a questionnaire regarding registry content on drug treatments and outcomes. Patient populations, coverage, data handling and quality control, as well as legal and ethical aspects are presented. Scientific publications from the QRs are used as a complementary measure of quality and scientific relevance. Results The registries under study collect clinical data of high relevance to regulatory and health technology agencies. Five out of seven registries provide information on the drug of interest. When applying external quality criteria, we found a high degree of fulfillment, although information on medication was not sufficient to answer all questions of regulatory interest. A notable strength is the option for linkage to the Prescribed Drug Registry and to information on education and socioeconomic status. Data on drugs used during hospitalization were also collected to some extent. Outcome measures collected resemble those used in relevant clinical trials. All registries collected patient-reported outcome measures. The number of publications from the registries was substantial, with studies of appropriate design, including randomized registry trials. Conclusions Quality registries may provide a valuable source of post-marketing data on drug effectiveness, safety, and cost-effectiveness. Closer collaboration between registries and regulators to improve quality and usefulness of registry data could benefit both regulatory utility and value for health care providers. PMID:28276780

Oral History and American Advertising: How the "Pepsi Generation" Came Alive.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dreyfus, Carol; Connors, Thomas

1985-01-01

Described is a project in which the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History and the George Meany Memorial Archives analyzed a collection of advertising materials of the Pepsi-Cola USA company and conducted interviews to gather historically valuable information concerning the company. Valuable social history information was…

Varying geospatial analyses to assess climate risk and adaptive capacity in a hotter, drier Southwestern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elias, E.; Reyes, J. J.; Steele, C. M.; Rango, A.

2017-12-01

Assessing vulnerability of agricultural systems to climate variability and change is vital in securing food systems and sustaining rural livelihoods. Farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners rely on science-based, decision-relevant, and localized information to maintain production, ecological viability, and economic returns. This contribution synthesizes a collection of research on the future of agricultural production in the American Southwest (SW). Research was based on a variety of geospatial methodologies and datasets to assess the vulnerability of rangelands and livestock, field crops, specialty crops, and forests in the SW to climate-risk and change. This collection emerged from the development of regional vulnerability assessments for agricultural climate-risk by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Climate Hub Network, established to deliver science-based information and technologies to enable climate-informed decision-making. Authors defined vulnerability differently based on their agricultural system of interest, although each primarily focuses on biophysical systems. We found that an inconsistent framework for vulnerability and climate risk was necessary to adequately capture the diversity, variability, and heterogeneity of SW landscapes, peoples, and agriculture. Through the diversity of research questions and methodologies, this collection of articles provides valuable information on various aspects of SW vulnerability. All articles relied on geographic information systems technology, with highly variable levels of complexity. Agricultural articles used National Agricultural Statistics Service data, either as tabular county level summaries or through the CropScape cropland raster datasets. Most relied on modeled historic and future climate information, but with differing assumptions regarding spatial resolution and temporal framework. We assert that it is essential to evaluate climate risk using a variety of complementary methodologies and perspectives. In addition, we found that spatial analysis supports informed adaptation, within and outside the SW United States. The persistence and adaptive capacity of agriculture in the water-limited Southwest serves as an instructive example and may offer solutions to reduce future climate risk.

Mapping urban geology of the city of Girona, Catalonia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vilà, Miquel; Torrades, Pau; Pi, Roser; Monleon, Ona

2016-04-01

A detailed and systematic geological characterization of the urban area of Girona has been conducted under the project '1:5000 scale Urban geological map of Catalonia' of the Catalan Geological Survey (Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya). The results of this characterization are organized into: i) a geological information system that includes all the information acquired; ii) a stratigraphic model focused on identification, characterization and correlation of the geological materials and structures present in the area and; iii) a detailed geological map that represents a synthesis of all the collected information. The mapping project integrates in a GIS environment pre-existing cartographic documentation (geological and topographical), core data from compiled boreholes, descriptions of geological outcrops within the urban network and neighbouring areas, physico-chemical characterisation of representative samples of geological materials, detailed geological mapping of Quaternary sediments, subsurface bedrock and artificial deposits and, 3D modelling of the main geological surfaces. The stratigraphic model is structured in a system of geological units that from a chronostratigrafic point of view are structured in Palaeozoic, Paleogene, Neogene, Quaternary and Anthropocene. The description of the geological units is guided by a systematic procedure. It includes the main lithological and structural features of the units that constitute the geological substratum and represents the conceptual base of the 1:5000 urban geological map of the Girona metropolitan area, which is organized into 6 map sheets. These map sheets are composed by a principal map, geological cross sections and, several complementary maps, charts and tables. Regardless of the geological map units, the principal map also represents the main artificial deposits, features related to geohistorical processes, contours of outcrop areas, information obtained in stations, borehole data, and contour lines of the top of the pre-Quaternary basement surface. The most representative complementary maps are the quaternary map, the subsurface bedrock map and the isopach map of thickness of superficial deposits (Quaternary and anthropogenic). The map sheets also include charts and tables of relevant physic-chemical parameters of the geological materials, harmonized downhole lithological columns from selected boreholes, stratigraphic columns, and, photographs and figures illustrating the geology of the mapped area and how urbanization has changed the natural environment. The development of systematic urban geological mapping projects, such as the example of Girona's case, which provides valuable resources to address targeted studies related to urban planning, geoengineering works, soil pollution and other important environmental issues that society should deal with in the future.

Application of LANDSAT data to delimitation of avalanche hazards in Montane, Colorado

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knepper, D. H. (Principal Investigator); Summer, R.

1976-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. With rare exceptions, avalanche areas cannot be identified on LANDSAT imagery. Avalanche hazard mapping on a regional scale is best conducted using LANDSAT imagery in conjunction with complementary data sources. Level of detail of such maps will be limited by the amount and completeness of the complementary information used.

Miami University Information Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miami Univ., Oxford, OH.

The 1975 information manual is designed to provide current data on policies, procedures, services, facilities, organization and governance of Miami University and, through the extensive index, quick access to this information. The manual is complementary to the university catalog and directory. Information relating to students is in the Student…

Characterisation of cytoplasmic DNA complementary to non-retroviral RNA viruses in human cells

PubMed Central

Shimizu, Akira; Nakatani, Yoko; Nakamura, Takako; Jinno-Oue, Atsushi; Ishikawa, Osamu; Boeke, Jef D.; Takeuchi, Yasuhiro; Hoshino, Hiroo

2014-01-01

The synthesis and subsequent genomic integration of DNA that is complementary to the genomes of non-retroviral RNA viruses are rarely observed. However, upon infection of various human cell lines and primary fibroblasts with the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), we detected DNA complementary to the VSV RNA. The VSV DNA was detected in the cytoplasm as single-stranded DNA fully complementary to the viral mRNA from the poly(A) region to the 7-methyl guanosine cap. The formation of this DNA was cell-dependent. Experimentally, we found that the transduction of cells that do not produce VSV DNA with the long interspersed nuclear element 1 and their infection with VSV could lead to the formation of VSV DNA. Viral DNA complementary to other RNA viruses was also detected in the respective infected human cells. Thus, the genetic information of the non-retroviral RNA virus genome can flow into the DNA of mammalian cells expressing LINE-1-like elements. PMID:24875540

Use of complementary and alternative medicine in children with autism and other developmental disabilities: associations with ethnicity, child comorbid symptoms, and parental stress.

PubMed

Valicenti-McDermott, Maria; Burrows, Bethany; Bernstein, Leora; Hottinger, Kathryn; Lawson, Katharine; Seijo, Rosa; Schechtman, Merryl; Shulman, Lisa; Shinnar, Shlomo

2014-03-01

The use of complementary and alternative medicine by children with autism and the association of its use with child comorbid symptoms and parental stress was studied in an ethnically diverse population, in a cross-sectional study with structured interviews. The sample included 50 families of children with autism and 50 families of children with other developmental disabilities, matched by age/gender. Interview included the Complementary and Alternative Medicine Questionnaire, Gastrointestinal Questionnaire, Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire, Aberrant Behavior Checklist, and Parenting Stress Index. In this ethnically diverse sample, the use of complementary and alternative medicine was significantly higher for the autism group. In the autism group, use was significantly related to child's irritability, hyperactivity, food allergies, and parental stress; in the developmental disabilities group, there was no association with child comorbid symptoms or parental stress. The results contribute information to health care providers about families of children with autism who are more likely to use complementary and alternative medicine.

Use of complementary and alternative medicine by patients with arthritis.

PubMed

Unsal, Ayla; Gözüm, Sebahat

2010-04-01

The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine use in patients with arthritis, the types of complementary and alternative medicine used, pertinent socio-demographic factors associated with complementary and alternative medicine use and its perceived efficacy. Arthritis is a major health issue, and the use of complementary and alternative medicine among patients with arthritis is common. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Data were obtained from 250 patients with arthritis at the physiotherapy and immunology clinics Atatürk University Hospital in eastern Turkey between May-July 2005 using a questionnaire developed specifically for this study. The instrument included questions on socio-demographic information, disease specifics and complementary and alternative medicine usage. Seventy-six per cent of participants reported use of at least one form of complementary and alternative medicine in the previous year. Complementary and alternative medicine users and non-users were not significantly different in most socio-demographic characteristics including age, gender, marital status and education level with the exception of economic status. We categorised treatment into six complementary and alternative medicine categories: 62.6% of patients used thermal therapies; 41.5% used oral herbal therapies; 40.5% used hot therapies; 32.6% used externally applied (skin) therapies; 28.4% used massage and 12.6% used cold therapies. All forms of complementary and alternative medicine except thermal and oral herbal therapies were perceived as very effective by more than half of study participants. Complementary and alternative medicine therapy is widely used by patients with arthritis and has perceived beneficial effects. It is important for nurses and other health care professionals to be knowledgeable about the use of complementary and alternative medicine therapies when providing care to patients with arthritis because of possible interactions with other treatments, delays in seeking care and the potential for poor quality products. It is also essential for health professionals to discuss treatment options with patients and to monitor treatment efficacy.

Perception of risk and communication among conventional and complementary health care providers involving cancer patients' use of complementary therapies: a literature review.

PubMed

Stub, Trine; Quandt, Sara A; Arcury, Thomas A; Sandberg, Joanne C; Kristoffersen, Agnete E; Musial, Frauke; Salamonsen, Anita

2016-09-08

Communication between different health care providers (conventional and complementary) and cancer patients about their use of complementary therapies affects the health and safety of the patients. The aim of this study was to examine the qualitative research literature on the perception of and communication about the risk of complementary therapies between different health care providers and cancer patients. Systematic searches in six medical databases covering literature from 2000 to 2015 were performed. The studies were accessed according to the level of evidence and summarized into different risk situations. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the text data, and the codes were defined before and during the data analysis. Twenty-nine papers were included in the primary analysis and five main themes were identified and discussed. The main risk situations identified were 1. Differences in treatment concepts and philosophical values among complementary and conventional health care providers. 2. Adverse effects from complementary products and herbs due to their contamination/toxicity and interactions with conventional cancer treatment. 3. Health care physicians and oncologists find it difficult to recommend many complementary modalities due to the lack of scientific evidence for their effect. 4. Lack of knowledge and information about complementary and conventional cancer treatments among different health care providers. The risk of consuming herbs and products containing high level of toxins is a considerable threat to patient safety (direct risk). At the same time, the lack of scientific evidence of effect for many complementary therapies and differences in treatment philosophy among complementary and conventional health care providers potentially hinder effective communication about these threats with mutual patients (indirect risk). As such, indirect risk may pose an additional risk to patients who want to combine complementary therapies with conventional treatment in cancer care. Health care providers who care for cancer patients should be aware of these risks.

Informed Consent (Clinical Trials)

MedlinePlus

... Cancer Treatment Types of Cancer Treatment Side Effects Clinical Trials Information A to Z List of Cancer ... Staging Prognosis Treatment Types of Treatment Side Effects Clinical Trials Cancer Drugs Complementary & Alternative Medicine Coping Feelings & ...

D.E.E.P. Learning: Promoting Informal STEM Learning through a Popular Gaming Platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simms, E.; Rohrlick, D.; Layman, C.; Peach, C. L.; Orcutt, J. A.

2011-12-01

The research and development of educational games, and the study of the educational value of interactive games in general, have lagged far behind efforts for games created for the purpose of entertainment. But evidence suggests that digital simulations and games have the "potential to advance multiple science learning goals, including motivation to learn science, conceptual understanding, science process skills, understanding of the nature of science, scientific discourse and argumentation, and identification with science and science learning." (NRC, 2011). It is also generally recognized that interactive digital games have the potential to promote the development of valuable learning and life skills, including data processing, decision-making, critical thinking, planning, communication and collaboration (Kirriemuir and MacFarlane, 2006). Video games are now played in 67% of American households (ESA, 2010), and across a broad range of ages, making them a potentially valuable tool for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning among the diverse audiences associated with informal science education institutions (ISEIs; e.g., aquariums, museums, science centers). We are attempting to capitalize on this potential by developing games based on the popular Microsoft Xbox360 gaming platform and the free Microsoft XNA game development kit. The games, collectively known as Deep-sea Extreme Environment Pilot (D.E.E.P.), engage ISEI visitors in the exploration and understanding of the otherwise remote deep-sea environment. Players assume the role of piloting a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) to explore ocean observing systems and hydrothermal vent environments, and are challenged to complete science-based objectives in order to earn points under timed conditions. The current games are intended to be relatively brief visitor experiences (on the order of several minutes) that support complementary exhibits and programming, and promote interactive visitor experiences. In addition to creating a unique educational product, our efforts are intended to inform the broader understanding of the key elements of a successful STEM-based game experience at an ISEI. Which characteristics of the ISEI environment (e.g., age and cultural diversity, limited time of engagement) are conducive or inhibitive to learning via digital gaming? Which aspects of game design (e.g., challenge, curiosity, fantasy, personal recognition) are most effective at maximizing both learning and enjoyment? We will share our progress and assessment results to date, and discuss the potential benefits and challenges to interactive gaming as a tool to support STEM literacy at ISEIs.

Business News as a Source of Information Literacy in Marketing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fowler, Kendra; Bridges, Eileen

2017-01-01

Among the proficiencies that marketing students should acquire, information literacy, the ability to gather and apply pertinent information to aid in decision making, is commonly overlooked. In this article, information literacy is explored along four complementary dimensions: instrumental, conceptual, reflective, and symbolic. Furthermore, the…

Queering Sex Education: Young Adult Literature with LGBT Content as Complementary Sources of Sex and Sexuality Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bittner, Robert

2012-01-01

This article explores the nature of young adult texts as complementary sources of informal queer sex and sexuality education, along with a close reading of a sample of this young adult (YA) literature. LGBT teens are often left out of discussions in sex education classrooms in the United States because of discriminatory curricula, ignorance on the…

Mapping Phenotypic Information in Heterogeneous Textual Sources to a Domain-Specific Terminological Resource

PubMed Central

Ananiadou, Sophia

2016-01-01

Biomedical literature articles and narrative content from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) both constitute rich sources of disease-phenotype information. Phenotype concepts may be mentioned in text in multiple ways, using phrases with a variety of structures. This variability stems partly from the different backgrounds of the authors, but also from the different writing styles typically used in each text type. Since EHR narrative reports and literature articles contain different but complementary types of valuable information, combining details from each text type can help to uncover new disease-phenotype associations. However, the alternative ways in which the same concept may be mentioned in each source constitutes a barrier to the automatic integration of information. Accordingly, identification of the unique concepts represented by phrases in text can help to bridge the gap between text types. We describe our development of a novel method, PhenoNorm, which integrates a number of different similarity measures to allow automatic linking of phenotype concept mentions to known concepts in the UMLS Metathesaurus, a biomedical terminological resource. PhenoNorm was developed using the PhenoCHF corpus—a collection of literature articles and narratives in EHRs, annotated for phenotypic information relating to congestive heart failure (CHF). We evaluate the performance of PhenoNorm in linking CHF-related phenotype mentions to Metathesaurus concepts, using a newly enriched version of PhenoCHF, in which each phenotype mention has an expert-verified link to a concept in the UMLS Metathesaurus. We show that PhenoNorm outperforms a number of alternative methods applied to the same task. Furthermore, we demonstrate PhenoNorm’s wider utility, by evaluating its ability to link mentions of various other types of medically-related information, occurring in texts covering wider subject areas, to concepts in different terminological resources. We show that PhenoNorm can maintain performance levels, and that its accuracy compares favourably to other methods applied to these tasks. PMID:27643689

Evaluation of a complementary cyber education program for a pathophysiology class.

PubMed

Yoo, Ji-Soo; Ryue, Sook-Hee; Lee, Jung Eun; Ahn, Jeong-Ah

2009-12-01

The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate a complementary cyber education program for a required pathophysiology class for nursing students. The cyber education program comprised electronic bulletin boards, correspondence material storage, an announcement section, a report submission section, reference sites, and statistics on learning rates. Twelve online lectures complemented five lectures in the classroom. To evaluate the course's educational effectiveness, we performed an online objective questionnaire and an open questionnaire survey anonymously, and compared the complementary cyber education program with traditional classroom education. The complementary cyber education program effected significant improvements in scores for importance with regard to major, clarity of goals and education plans for courses, professor readiness, preciseness and description of lectures, amount and efficiency of assignments, and fairness in appraisal standards compared with the traditional classroom education group. This study indicates that a complementary cyber education program provides nursing students with the flexibility of time and space, the newest information through updated lectures, efficient motivational aids through intimacy between the lecturer and students, and concrete and meaningful tasks. The complementary cyber education course also increased student effort toward studying and student satisfaction with the class.

Encoding of social signals in all three electrosensory pathways of Eigenmannia virescens.

PubMed

Stöckl, Anna; Sinz, Fabian; Benda, Jan; Grewe, Jan

2014-11-01

Extracting complementary features in parallel pathways is a widely used strategy for a robust representation of sensory signals. Weakly electric fish offer the rare opportunity to study complementary encoding of social signals in all of its electrosensory pathways. Electrosensory information is conveyed in three parallel pathways: two receptor types of the tuberous (active) system and one receptor type of the ampullary (passive) system. Modulations of the fish's own electric field are sensed by these receptors and used in navigation, prey detection, and communication. We studied the neuronal representation of electric communication signals (called chirps) in the ampullary and the two tuberous pathways of Eigenmannia virescens. We first characterized different kinds of chirps observed in behavioral experiments. Since Eigenmannia chirps simultaneously drive all three types of receptors, we studied their responses in in vivo electrophysiological recordings. Our results demonstrate that different electroreceptor types encode different aspects of the stimuli and each appears best suited to convey information about a certain chirp type. A decoding analysis of single neurons and small populations shows that this specialization leads to a complementary representation of information in the tuberous and ampullary receptors. This suggests that a potential readout mechanism should combine information provided by the parallel processing streams to improve chirp detectability. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

Funnel plots and choropleth maps in cancer risk communication: a comparison of tools for disseminating population-based incidence data to stakeholders

PubMed Central

Cusimano, Rosanna; Zarcone, Maurizio; Mazzola, Sergio; Vitale, Francesco

2017-01-01

Background Population-based cancer registries provide epidemiological cancer information, but the indicators are often too complex to be interpreted by local authorities and communities, due to numeracy and literacy limitations. The aim of this paper is to compare the commonly used visual formats to funnel plots to enable local public health authorities and communities to access valid and understandable cancer incidence data obtained at the municipal level. Methods A funnel plot representation of standardised incidence ratio (SIR) was generated for the 82 municipalities of the Palermo Province with the 2003–2011 data from the Palermo Province Cancer Registry (Sicily, Italy). The properties of the funnel plot and choropleth map methodologies were compared within the context of disseminating epidemiological data to stakeholders. Results The SIRs of all the municipalities remained within the control limits, except for Palermo city area (SIR=1.12), which was sited outside the upper control limit line of 99.8%. The Palermo Province SIRs funnel plot representation was congruent with the choropleth map generated from the same data, but the former resulted more informative as shown by the comparisons of the weaknesses and strengths of the 2 visual formats. Conclusions Funnel plot should be used as a complementary valuable tool to communicate epidemiological data of cancer registries to communities and local authorities, visually conveying an efficient and simple way to interpret cancer incidence data. PMID:28363917

Chemical Mapping of Essential Oils, Flavonoids and Carotenoids in Citrus Peels by Raman Microscopy.

PubMed

Yang, Ying; Wang, Xiaohe; Zhao, Chengying; Tian, Guifang; Zhang, Hua; Xiao, Hang; He, Lili; Zheng, Jinkai

2017-12-01

Citrus peels, by-products in large quantity, are rich in various functional and beneficial components which have wide applications. Chemical analysis of these components in citrus peels is an important step to determine the usefulness of the by-products for further applications. In this study, we explored Raman microscopy for rapid, nondestructive, and in situ chemical mapping of multiple main functional components from citrus peels. The relative amount and distribution in different locations (flavedo, albedo, and longitudinal section) of 3 main functional components (essential oils, carotenoids, and flavonoids) in citrus peels were systematically investigated. The distribution profiles of these components were heterogeneous on the peels and varied between different species of citrus peels. Essential oil was found mainly existed in the oil glands, while carotenoids were in the complementary location. Some flavonoids were observed in the oil glands. This study showed the capability of Raman microscopy for rapid and nondestructive analysis of multiple bio-components without extraction from plants. The information obtained from this study would assist the better production and application of the functional and beneficial components from citrus by products in an effective and sustainable manner. This study indicated the capability of Raman microscopy for rapid and nondestructive analysis of multiple bioactive components in plant tissues. The information obtained from the study would be valuable for developing effective and sustainable strategy of utilization of citrus peels for further applications. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

The banana code-natural blend processing in the olfactory circuitry of Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Schubert, Marco; Hansson, Bill S; Sachse, Silke

2014-01-01

Odor information is predominantly perceived as complex odor blends. For Drosophila melanogaster one of the most attractive blends is emitted by an over-ripe banana. To analyze how the fly's olfactory system processes natural blends we combined the experimental advantages of gas chromatography and functional imaging (GC-I). In this way, natural banana compounds were presented successively to the fly antenna in close to natural occurring concentrations. This technique allowed us to identify the active odor components, use these compounds as stimuli and measure odor-induced Ca(2+) signals in input and output neurons of the Drosophila antennal lobe (AL), the first olfactory neuropil. We demonstrate that mixture interactions of a natural blend are very rare and occur only at the AL output level resulting in a surprisingly linear blend representation. However, the information regarding single components is strongly modulated by the olfactory circuitry within the AL leading to a higher similarity between the representation of individual components and the banana blend. This observed modulation might tune the olfactory system in a way to distinctively categorize odor components and improve the detection of suitable food sources. Functional GC-I thus enables analysis of virtually any unknown natural odorant blend and its components in their relative occurring concentrations and allows characterization of neuronal responses of complete neural assemblies. This technique can be seen as a valuable complementary method to classical GC/electrophysiology techniques, and will be a highly useful tool in future investigations of insect-insect and insect-plant chemical interactions.

Scientific Results of Yoga for Health and Well-Being

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Complementary therapies for cancer patients: assessing information use and needs.

PubMed

Verhoef, M J; Trojan, L; Armitage, G D; Carlson, L; Hilsden, R J

2009-01-01

Many cancer patients seek complementary therapies (CTs) for cancer management; however, relatively little is known about patients' CT information seeking behaviour. Therefore, we assessed: 1) cancer patients' use of the types and sources of CT information; 2) their information preferences; and 3) their understanding of the phrase "scientific evidence or proof that a therapy works." We collected data from 404 patients attending the Tom Baker Cancer Centre (TBCC) in Calgary and 303 patients calling the Cancer Information Service (CIS) helpline. In most cases, patients wanted information on the safety of CTs, how CTs work and their potential side effects. Physicians and conventional cancer centres were the most desired sources of CT information, but relatively few patients obtained information via these sources. Although patients were aware of the meaning of scientific evidence, they often used information based on non-scientific evidence, such as patient testimonials. The creation of a supportive care environment in conventional cancer treatment centres, by providing CT information, may help address cancer patients' concerns and alleviate some of the stress that may have been caused by the cancer diagnosis.

Information Literacy and Digital Literacy: Competing or Complementary?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cordell, Rosanne Marie

2013-01-01

Digital literacy is a more recent concept than information literacy and can relate to multiple categories of library users in multiple types of libraries. Determining the relationship between information literacy and digital literacy is essential before revision of the ACRL "Standards" can proceed.

Electrets used to measure exhaust cloud effluents from Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) during demonstration model (DM-2) static test firing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Susko, M.

1978-01-01

Electrets were compared with fixed flow samplers during static test firing. The measurement of the rocket exhaust effluents by samplers and electrets indicated that the Solid Rocket Motor had no significant effect on the air quality in the area sampled. The results show that the electrets (a passive device which needs no power) can be used effectively alongside existing measuring devices (which need power). By placing electrets in areas where no power is available, measurements may be obtained. Consequently, it is a valuable complementary instrument in measuring rocket exhaust effluents in areas where other measuring devices may not be able to assess the contaminants.

[The whole world in a cup of coffee. Case reports].

PubMed

De Fiore, Luca

2009-01-01

There is a rising interest for clinical cases in medicine. Actually, they don't necessarily conflict with the evidence-based medicine approach; rather, as several authors made clear, EBM-oriented case reports and clinical trials could be complementary. Cases and case series could even represent the first line of evidence and they are extremely valuable in discovering new pathologies and monitoring unexpected drug effects. They also play a relevant role in continuing medical education. The new section of Recenti Progressi in Medicina is edited by a prominent Italian research Institute (Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica, CNR). It focuses on a single case, guiding the physicians' decision-making from differential diagnosis to the treatment options.

Fetal MRI as a complementary technique after prenatal diagnosis of persistent vitelline artery in an otherwise normal fetus.

PubMed

Bravo, Coral; De León-Luis, Juan; Gámez, Francisco; Ruiz, Yolanda; Pintado, Pilar; Pérez, Ricardo; Ortiz-Quintana, Luis

2013-10-01

Prenatal ultrasound is the standard for the diagnosis of fetal anomalies. However, fetal MRI has emerged as a valuable diagnosis tool to complete the study of fetal malformations. Type II single umbilical artery results from the absence of both umbilical arteries and persistence of the vitelline artery. It has been described only in fetuses with sirenomelia or caudal regression syndrome. We report a favorable outcome in a normal fetus in which prenatal ultrasound and MRI showed a single umbilical artery arising from the aorta. The etiology of such a finding and its possible consequences are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

ConoDictor: a tool for prediction of conopeptide superfamilies.

PubMed

Koua, Dominique; Brauer, Age; Laht, Silja; Kaplinski, Lauris; Favreau, Philippe; Remm, Maido; Lisacek, Frédérique; Stöcklin, Reto

2012-07-01

ConoDictor is a tool that enables fast and accurate classification of conopeptides into superfamilies based on their amino acid sequence. ConoDictor combines predictions from two complementary approaches-profile hidden Markov models and generalized profiles. Results appear in a browser as tables that can be downloaded in various formats. This application is particularly valuable in view of the exponentially increasing number of conopeptides that are being identified. ConoDictor was written in Perl using the common gateway interface module with a php submission page. Sequence matching is performed with hmmsearch from HMMER 3 and ps_scan.pl from the pftools 2.3 package. ConoDictor is freely accessible at http://conco.ebc.ee.

Advances in Understanding the Role of Frozen Precipitation in High Latitude Hydrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

L'Ecuyer, T. S.; Wood, N.; Smalley, M.; McIlhattan, E.; Kulie, M.

2017-12-01

Satellite-based millimeter wavelength radar observations provide a unique perspective on the global character of frozen precipitation that has been difficult to detect using conventional spaceborne precipitation sensors. This presentation will describe the methodology underpinning the ten-year CloudSat global snowfall product and discuss the results of a number of complementary approaches that have been adopted to quantify its uncertainties. These datasets are shedding new light on the distribution, character, and impacts of frozen precipitation on high latitude hydrology. Inferred regional snowfall accumulations, for example, provide valuable constraints on projected changes in precipitation and mass balance on the Antarctic ice sheet in climate models. When placed in the broader context of complementary observations from other A-Train sensors, instantaneous snowfall estimates also hint at the large-scale processes that influence snow formation including air-sea interactions associated with cold-air outbreaks, lake-effect snows, and orographic enhancement. Simultaneous CloudSat and CALIPSO observations further emphasize the important role snowfall plays in the lifetime of super-cooled liquid containing clouds in the Arctic and highlight a model deficiency with important implications for surface energy and mass balance on the Greenland ice sheet.

A Foundation for Understanding Knowledge Sharing: Organizational Culture, Informal Workplace Learning, Performance Support, and Knowledge Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caruso, Shirley J.

2017-01-01

This paper serves as an exploration into some of the ways in which organizations can promote, capture, share, and manage the valuable knowledge of their employees. The problem is that employees typically do not share valuable information, skills, or expertise with other employees or with the entire organization. The author uses research as well as…

A fully automatic approach for multimodal PET and MR image segmentation in gamma knife treatment planning.

PubMed

Rundo, Leonardo; Stefano, Alessandro; Militello, Carmelo; Russo, Giorgio; Sabini, Maria Gabriella; D'Arrigo, Corrado; Marletta, Francesco; Ippolito, Massimo; Mauri, Giancarlo; Vitabile, Salvatore; Gilardi, Maria Carla

2017-06-01

Nowadays, clinical practice in Gamma Knife treatments is generally based on MRI anatomical information alone. However, the joint use of MRI and PET images can be useful for considering both anatomical and metabolic information about the lesion to be treated. In this paper we present a co-segmentation method to integrate the segmented Biological Target Volume (BTV), using [ 11 C]-Methionine-PET (MET-PET) images, and the segmented Gross Target Volume (GTV), on the respective co-registered MR images. The resulting volume gives enhanced brain tumor information to be used in stereotactic neuro-radiosurgery treatment planning. GTV often does not match entirely with BTV, which provides metabolic information about brain lesions. For this reason, PET imaging is valuable and it could be used to provide complementary information useful for treatment planning. In this way, BTV can be used to modify GTV, enhancing Clinical Target Volume (CTV) delineation. A novel fully automatic multimodal PET/MRI segmentation method for Leksell Gamma Knife ® treatments is proposed. This approach improves and combines two computer-assisted and operator-independent single modality methods, previously developed and validated, to segment BTV and GTV from PET and MR images, respectively. In addition, the GTV is utilized to combine the superior contrast of PET images with the higher spatial resolution of MRI, obtaining a new BTV, called BTV MRI . A total of 19 brain metastatic tumors, undergone stereotactic neuro-radiosurgery, were retrospectively analyzed. A framework for the evaluation of multimodal PET/MRI segmentation is also presented. Overlap-based and spatial distance-based metrics were considered to quantify similarity concerning PET and MRI segmentation approaches. Statistics was also included to measure correlation among the different segmentation processes. Since it is not possible to define a gold-standard CTV according to both MRI and PET images without treatment response assessment, the feasibility and the clinical value of BTV integration in Gamma Knife treatment planning were considered. Therefore, a qualitative evaluation was carried out by three experienced clinicians. The achieved experimental results showed that GTV and BTV segmentations are statistically correlated (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient: 0.898) but they have low similarity degree (average Dice Similarity Coefficient: 61.87 ± 14.64). Therefore, volume measurements as well as evaluation metrics values demonstrated that MRI and PET convey different but complementary imaging information. GTV and BTV could be combined to enhance treatment planning. In more than 50% of cases the CTV was strongly or moderately conditioned by metabolic imaging. Especially, BTV MRI enhanced the CTV more accurately than BTV in 25% of cases. The proposed fully automatic multimodal PET/MRI segmentation method is a valid operator-independent methodology helping the clinicians to define a CTV that includes both metabolic and morphologic information. BTV MRI and GTV should be considered for a comprehensive treatment planning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Cardiac Surgery: Prevalence and Modality of use.

PubMed

Dalmayrac, Emilie; Quignon, Anne; Baufreton, Christophe

2016-07-01

Complementary and alternative medicines are developing at a growing rate but their use in the hospital setting is little known, ignoring risk or benefit in practice. The objectives of the study were to quantify the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicines used by patients admitted to a cardiac surgery department. Patients and staff at the Cardiac Surgery unit of Angers University Hospital (France) were surveyed regarding their modality of complementary and alternative medicines use, between April 01, 2013, and April 18, 2014, by means of an anonymous questionnaire. Of 154 patients included in the study, 58% used a complementary and alternative medicine at least once in their lifetime, 38% during the preceding year, and 14% between the consultation and surgery. In all, 71% used them as a complement to their conventional medical treatment. Of those who used a complementary and alternative medicine during the year of their surgery procedure, only 29% informed their physicians and paramedical staff about it. Complementary and alternative medicines use among patients admitted to cardiac surgery units is common. Yet there is a real lack of knowledge regarding these health practices among physicians and paramedical staff. Copyright © 2016 Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tai Chi and Qi Gong for Health and Well-Being

MedlinePlus Videos and Cool Tools

... What Is Complementary, Alternative or Integrative Health? Safety Information Know the Science For Health Care Professionals Clinical Practice Guidelines Literature Reviews All Health Information Research Research Results Results by Date Sponsored by ...

Finding and Evaluating Online Resources on Complementary Health Approaches

MedlinePlus

... it selling something? Finding Health Information on the Internet: How To Start To find accurate health information, ... thousands of mobile apps (a software program you access using your phone or other mobile device) that ...

Transcriptome analysis by strand-specific sequencing of complementary DNA

PubMed Central

Parkhomchuk, Dmitri; Borodina, Tatiana; Amstislavskiy, Vyacheslav; Banaru, Maria; Hallen, Linda; Krobitsch, Sylvia; Lehrach, Hans; Soldatov, Alexey

2009-01-01

High-throughput complementary DNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a powerful tool for whole-transcriptome analysis, supplying information about a transcript's expression level and structure. However, it is difficult to determine the polarity of transcripts, and therefore identify which strand is transcribed. Here, we present a simple cDNA sequencing protocol that preserves information about a transcript's direction. Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mouse brain transcriptomes as models, we demonstrate that knowing the transcript's orientation allows more accurate determination of the structure and expression of genes. It also helps to identify new genes and enables studying promoter-associated and antisense transcription. The transcriptional landscapes we obtained are available online. PMID:19620212

Transcriptome analysis by strand-specific sequencing of complementary DNA.

PubMed

Parkhomchuk, Dmitri; Borodina, Tatiana; Amstislavskiy, Vyacheslav; Banaru, Maria; Hallen, Linda; Krobitsch, Sylvia; Lehrach, Hans; Soldatov, Alexey

2009-10-01

High-throughput complementary DNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a powerful tool for whole-transcriptome analysis, supplying information about a transcript's expression level and structure. However, it is difficult to determine the polarity of transcripts, and therefore identify which strand is transcribed. Here, we present a simple cDNA sequencing protocol that preserves information about a transcript's direction. Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mouse brain transcriptomes as models, we demonstrate that knowing the transcript's orientation allows more accurate determination of the structure and expression of genes. It also helps to identify new genes and enables studying promoter-associated and antisense transcription. The transcriptional landscapes we obtained are available online.

The effect of traffic lights and regulatory statements on the choice between complementary and conventional medicines in Australia: results from a discrete choice experiment.

PubMed

Spinks, Jean; Mortimer, Duncan

2015-01-01

It has been suggested that complementary medicines are currently 'under-regulated' in some countries due to their potential for harm as a direct result from side-effects or interactions; from delaying more effective care; or from the economic cost of purchasing an ineffective or inappropriate treatment. The requirement of additional labelling on complementary medicine products has been suggested in Australia and may provide additional information to consumers at the point of purchase. This paper details a unique way of testing the potential effects on consumer behaviour of including either a traffic light logo or regulatory statement on labels. Using a discrete choice experiment, data were collected in 2012 in a sample of 521 Australians with either type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease. We find that additional labelling can affect consumer behaviour, but in unpredictable ways. The results of this experiment are informative to further the dialogue concerning possible regulatory mechanisms. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Informal Mentors and Education: Complementary or Compensatory Resources?*

PubMed Central

Erickson, Lance D.; McDonald, Steve; Elder, Glen H.

2011-01-01

Few studies have examined the impact that mentoring (i.e., developing a special relationship with a non-parental adult) has on educational achievement and attainment in the general population. In addition, prior research has yet to clarify the extent to which mentoring relationships reduce inequality by enabling disadvantaged youth to compensate for a lack of social resources or promote inequality by serving as a complementary resource for advantaged youth. Results from a nationally representative sample of youth show (1) a powerful net influence of mentors on the educational success of youth and (2) how social background, parental, peer, and personal resources condition the formation and effectiveness of mentoring relationships. The findings uncover an interesting paradox—that informal mentors may simultaneously represent compensatory and complementary resources. Youth with many resources are more likely than other young people to have mentors, but those with few resources are likely to benefit more from having a mentor—particularly teacher mentors—in their lives. PMID:21912440

Direct Nanoscale Conversion of Biomolecular Signals into Electronic Information

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-22

the electrode surface. In this experiment, the single free cysteine group featured in the GOx structure was exploited to demonstrate that orientation...first with GOx-ssDNA conjugates featuring a sequence complementary to the address strand, then with a non-complementary conjugate and finally with...fully-functional for an enzyme that features a free thiol group, or that can be engineered to incorporate a thiol onto its outer shell

How yield relates to ash content, Δ13C and Δ18O in maize grown under different water regimes

PubMed Central

Cabrera-Bosquet, Llorenç; Sánchez, Ciro; Araus, José Luis

2009-01-01

Background and Aims Stable isotopes have proved a valuable phenotyping tool when breeding for yield potential and drought adaptation; however, the cost and technical skills involved in isotope analysis limit its large-scale application in breeding programmes. This is particularly so for Δ18O despite the potential relevance of this trait in C4 crops. The accumulation of minerals (measured as ash content) has been proposed as an inexpensive way to evaluate drought adaptation and yield in C3 cereals, but little is known of the usefulness of this measure in C4 cereals such as maize (Zea mays). The present study investigates how yield relates to ash content, Δ13C and Δ18O, and evaluates the use of ash content as an alternative or complementary criterion to stable isotopes in assessing yield potential and drought resistance in maize. Methods A set of tropical maize hybrids developed by CIMMYT were subjected to different water availabilities, in order to induce water stress during the reproductive stages under field conditions. Ash content and Δ13C were determined in leaves and kernels. In addition, Δ18O was measured in kernels. Key Results Water regime significantly affected yield, ash content and stable isotopes. The results revealed a close relationship between ash content in leaves and the traits informing about plant water status. Ash content in kernels appeared to reflect differences in sink–source balance. Genotypic variation in grain yield was mainly explained by the combination of ash content and Δ18O, whilst Δ13C did not explain a significant percentage of such variation. Conclusions Ash content in leaves and kernels proved a useful alternative or complementary criterion to Δ18O in kernels for assessing yield performance in maize grown under drought conditions. PMID:19773272

The relation of Complementary-Alternative Medicine use with glomerular filtration rate and depression in patients with chronic kidney disease at predialysis stage.

PubMed

Esen, Bennur; Atay, Ahmet Engin; Gokmen, Emel Saglam; Karakoc, Ayten; Sari, Hakan; Sarisakal, Samprie; Kahvecioglu, Serdar; Kayabasi, Hasan; Sit, Dede

2015-05-08

Complementary and alternative medicine is a broad field of health including all health care practices and methods; and their accompanying theories and beliefs. In the present study, we aimed to examine the frequency of complementary-alternative medicine use, and its relation with glomerular filtration rate and depression in patients with chronic kidney disease at predialysis stage. A total of 1053 predialysis patients; 518 female and 535 male, that were followed up with chronic kidney disease for at least 3 months were enrolled into the study. Demographic features, biochemical parameters and findings of physical examination were recorded. Their compliance to diet, and knowledge about disease were questioned. Beck depression inventory and questionnaire regarding to complementary-alternative medicine use were performed. The overall frequency of complementary-alternative medicine use was 40.3% . Total ratio of herbal products was 46%. Complementary-alternative medicine use was significantly more frequent in female or single patients, and patients that informed about chronic kidney disease or under strict diet (p:0.007, p:0.016, p:0.02, p:0.016; respectively). When glomerular filtration rate of participants were considered, complementary-alternative medicine use was similar in different stages of kidney disease. Depression was observed in 41.9% of patients and significantly frequent in patients with alternative method use (p:0.002). Depression score was higher as creatinine increases and glomerular filtration rate decreases (p:0.002; r: 0,093). We determined that complementary-alternative medicine use gradually increases at predialysis stage as glomerular filtration rate decreases and there is a strict relation between complementary-alternative medicine use and depression or female gender. Disorder related stressors may lead to seeking of alternative methods. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Active Laplacian electrode for the data-acquisition system of EHG

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, G.; Wang, Y.; Lin, L.; Jiang, W.; Wang, L. L.; C-Y Lu, Stephen; Besio, Walter G.

2005-01-01

EHG (electrohysterogram) is the recording of uterine electromyogram with external electrodes located on the abdomen of pregnant woman. Derived from the electrical activity generated at the muscle fiber lever, it provides complementary information from the muscle, and appears to be a very promising technique for clinical or physiologic investigation of uterine activity, compared with current monitoring which can't give us complementary phase information of uterine activity. In this article we have shown the disadvantages of the conventional electrodes for EHG data-acquisition system and put forward a new type of electrode that is called active Laplacian electrode. It integrates concentric rings electrode with a bioelectricity preamplifier and is capable of acquiring localized information. We can localise the EHG signals source more easily by using this new electrode.

Nurses' beliefs, experiences and practice regarding complementary and alternative medicine in Taiwan.

PubMed

Smith, Graeme D; Wu, Shu-Chen

2012-09-01

To gain an insight into this issue, this study used a qualitative approach and aims to explore and describe nurses' beliefs, experiences and practice regarding complementary and alternative medicine in Taiwan. The integration of complementary and alternative medicine with conventional medicine has become more common worldwide in recent years. An increase in patient use and an expansion of nurses using complementary and alternative medicine has spawned further investigation. Most published studies have concentrated on the usage of complementary and alternative medicine in western societies and have focused principally on physicians' attitudes and practice patterns in this regard. Despite the large amount of time and the unique relationship that nurses share with their patients, little research has investigated the nurse's attitudes and practice regarding complementary and alternative medicine. Moreover, there has been no previous research into understanding this issue from the Taiwanese nursing perspective. A qualitative research design. By using an exploratory, descriptive, qualitative approach, data were collected from 11 registered nurses. The methods of the data collection were in-depth, semi-structured interviews, field notes and memos and the data were analysed using the constant comparative method. Three major categories emerged from the data; namely, a 'lack of clear definition', 'limited experience' and 'high interest' towards complementary and alternative medicine. These results suggest that the definition of complementary and alternative medicine is often unclear for nurses in Taiwan. Due to the organisational policies and personal knowledge base, very few nurses integrate complementary and alternative medicine into their daily practice. However, the nurses in Taiwan show a great desire to participate in complementary and alternative medicine continuing education programmes. This study is not only significant in filling the gap in the existing literature, but is also important in understanding this issue from the nurses' perspective, to offer a series of recommendations for policy, nursing education, nursing practice and suggestions for further research. This study highlights the importance of nursing attitude in the use of complementary and alternative medicine. Clinical nurses have the potential to provide appropriate information to their patients to ensure safe complementary and alternative medicine use. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

15 CFR Supplement No. 1 to Part 783 - Deadlines for Submission of Reports and Amendments

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... Information Report Forms AP-1, AP-2, and AP-15 Within 15 calendar days of receiving notification from BIS. Amended Report:—Report information —Organization and location information —Complementary access letter... were no changes to previously “reported” activities or location information. Import Confirmation Report...

15 CFR Supplement No. 1 to Part 783 - Deadlines for Submission of Reports and Amendments

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... Information Report Forms AP-1, AP-2, and AP-15 Within 15 calendar days of receiving notification from BIS. Amended Report:—Report information —Organization and location information —Complementary access letter... were no changes to previously “reported” activities or location information. Import Confirmation Report...

15 CFR Supplement No. 1 to Part 783 - Deadlines for Submission of Reports and Amendments

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... Information Report Forms AP-1, AP-2, and AP-15 Within 15 calendar days of receiving notification from BIS. Amended Report:—Report information —Organization and location information —Complementary access letter... were no changes to previously “reported” activities or location information. Import Confirmation Report...

15 CFR Supplement No. 1 to Part 783 - Deadlines for Submission of Reports and Amendments

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... Information Report Forms AP-1, AP-2, and AP-15 Within 15 calendar days of receiving notification from BIS. Amended Report:—Report information —Organization and location information —Complementary access letter... were no changes to previously “reported” activities or location information. Import Confirmation Report...

Understanding the perceived need for complementary and alternative nutraceuticals: lifestyle issues.

PubMed

Whitman, M

2001-01-01

Nutraceuticals are biological therapies used to promote wellness, prevent malignant processes, and control symptoms. The use of complementary and alternative nutraceuticals increased dramatically after passage of the Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act of 1994. Motivations for use of these products include changes in eating patterns, concerns about adequacy of consumer food supply, and interactions with conventional healthcare providers that are perceived to be insensitive, too brief, or uncaring. By becoming knowledgeable about complementary and alternative nutraceuticals and the nutritional needs of people with cancer, communicating with empathy and patience, and involving dietitians, pharmacist, and other professional providers as needed, oncology nurses can provide accurate information and support for people with cancer and their families.

Privacy-Preserving Patient-Centric Clinical Decision Support System on Naïve Bayesian Classification.

PubMed

Liu, Ximeng; Lu, Rongxing; Ma, Jianfeng; Chen, Le; Qin, Baodong

2016-03-01

Clinical decision support system, which uses advanced data mining techniques to help clinician make proper decisions, has received considerable attention recently. The advantages of clinical decision support system include not only improving diagnosis accuracy but also reducing diagnosis time. Specifically, with large amounts of clinical data generated everyday, naïve Bayesian classification can be utilized to excavate valuable information to improve a clinical decision support system. Although the clinical decision support system is quite promising, the flourish of the system still faces many challenges including information security and privacy concerns. In this paper, we propose a new privacy-preserving patient-centric clinical decision support system, which helps clinician complementary to diagnose the risk of patients' disease in a privacy-preserving way. In the proposed system, the past patients' historical data are stored in cloud and can be used to train the naïve Bayesian classifier without leaking any individual patient medical data, and then the trained classifier can be applied to compute the disease risk for new coming patients and also allow these patients to retrieve the top- k disease names according to their own preferences. Specifically, to protect the privacy of past patients' historical data, a new cryptographic tool called additive homomorphic proxy aggregation scheme is designed. Moreover, to leverage the leakage of naïve Bayesian classifier, we introduce a privacy-preserving top- k disease names retrieval protocol in our system. Detailed privacy analysis ensures that patient's information is private and will not be leaked out during the disease diagnosis phase. In addition, performance evaluation via extensive simulations also demonstrates that our system can efficiently calculate patient's disease risk with high accuracy in a privacy-preserving way.

Network analysis for science and technology management: Evidence from tuberculosis research in Fiocruz, Brazil

PubMed Central

da Silva, Marcus Vinicius Pereira; de Araújo, Kizi Mendonça; Sampaio, Ricardo Barros; Moraes, Milton Ozório

2017-01-01

Collaborative networks are of great value for science and technology (S&T) institutions as a way of sharing, generating and disseminating new knowledge that could ultimately lead to innovations. Driven by the need to assess the contribution and effectiveness of these networks in informing S&T management, we explored the evolution and dynamics of tuberculosis scientific networks involving the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the major public health S&T Institution in Brazil. Social network analysis (SNA) was used to produce a 10-year (2005–2009, 2010–2014) retrospective longitudinal mapping of Brazilian tuberculosis research networks within the country and internationally, highlighting Fiocruz collaborations. Co-authorship analysis showed a significant expansion of collaboration in Brazil and the role of Fiocruz and other leading national institutions in maintaining connectivity, facilitating knowledge exchange and reducing network vulnerability. It also identified influential researchers that can act as information leaders and support strategic decisions. When we focused on networks inside the institution, the analysis showed a clear discontinuation between the clinical and the public health research areas, which needs specific internal policies to improve collaborations since outcomes in TB are expected to provide better diagnostic tools and more effective treatments. The approach provides evidence to support S&T management by pinpointing: key central institutions maintaining network connectivity; most influential researchers that can act as advisors/experts for investment and induction policies; key Fiocruz researchers that could improve information exchange, systems integration and innovation within the institution; opportunities for synergy between internal research groups working in complementary areas. In summary, we observed that SNA parameters proved to be a valuable tool that, along with other indicators, can strengthen knowledge platforms to support S&T management efforts. PMID:28792514

Cooperative genomic alteration network reveals molecular classification across 12 major cancer types

PubMed Central

Zhang, Hongyi; Deng, Yulan; Zhang, Yong; Ping, Yanyan; Zhao, Hongying; Pang, Lin; Zhang, Xinxin; Wang, Li; Xu, Chaohan; Xiao, Yun; Li, Xia

2017-01-01

The accumulation of somatic genomic alterations that enables cells to gradually acquire growth advantage contributes to tumor development. This has the important implication of the widespread existence of cooperative genomic alterations in the accumulation process. Here, we proposed a computational method HCOC that simultaneously consider genetic context and downstream functional effects on cancer hallmarks to uncover somatic cooperative events in human cancers. Applying our method to 12 TCGA cancer types, we totally identified 1199 cooperative events with high heterogeneity across human cancers, and then constructed a pan-cancer cooperative alteration network. These cooperative events are associated with genomic alterations of some high-confident cancer drivers, and can trigger the dysfunction of hallmark associated pathways in a co-defect way rather than single alterations. We found that these cooperative events can be used to produce a prognostic classification that can provide complementary information with tissue-of-origin. In a further case study of glioblastoma, using 23 cooperative events identified, we stratified patients into molecularly relevant subtypes with a prognostic significance independent of the Glioma-CpG Island Methylator Phenotype (GCIMP). In summary, our method can be effectively used to discover cancer-driving cooperative events that can be valuable clinical markers for patient stratification. PMID:27899621

PSEA-Quant: a protein set enrichment analysis on label-free and label-based protein quantification data.

PubMed

Lavallée-Adam, Mathieu; Rauniyar, Navin; McClatchy, Daniel B; Yates, John R

2014-12-05

The majority of large-scale proteomics quantification methods yield long lists of quantified proteins that are often difficult to interpret and poorly reproduced. Computational approaches are required to analyze such intricate quantitative proteomics data sets. We propose a statistical approach to computationally identify protein sets (e.g., Gene Ontology (GO) terms) that are significantly enriched with abundant proteins with reproducible quantification measurements across a set of replicates. To this end, we developed PSEA-Quant, a protein set enrichment analysis algorithm for label-free and label-based protein quantification data sets. It offers an alternative approach to classic GO analyses, models protein annotation biases, and allows the analysis of samples originating from a single condition, unlike analogous approaches such as GSEA and PSEA. We demonstrate that PSEA-Quant produces results complementary to GO analyses. We also show that PSEA-Quant provides valuable information about the biological processes involved in cystic fibrosis using label-free protein quantification of a cell line expressing a CFTR mutant. Finally, PSEA-Quant highlights the differences in the mechanisms taking place in the human, rat, and mouse brain frontal cortices based on tandem mass tag quantification. Our approach, which is available online, will thus improve the analysis of proteomics quantification data sets by providing meaningful biological insights.

PSEA-Quant: A Protein Set Enrichment Analysis on Label-Free and Label-Based Protein Quantification Data

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

The majority of large-scale proteomics quantification methods yield long lists of quantified proteins that are often difficult to interpret and poorly reproduced. Computational approaches are required to analyze such intricate quantitative proteomics data sets. We propose a statistical approach to computationally identify protein sets (e.g., Gene Ontology (GO) terms) that are significantly enriched with abundant proteins with reproducible quantification measurements across a set of replicates. To this end, we developed PSEA-Quant, a protein set enrichment analysis algorithm for label-free and label-based protein quantification data sets. It offers an alternative approach to classic GO analyses, models protein annotation biases, and allows the analysis of samples originating from a single condition, unlike analogous approaches such as GSEA and PSEA. We demonstrate that PSEA-Quant produces results complementary to GO analyses. We also show that PSEA-Quant provides valuable information about the biological processes involved in cystic fibrosis using label-free protein quantification of a cell line expressing a CFTR mutant. Finally, PSEA-Quant highlights the differences in the mechanisms taking place in the human, rat, and mouse brain frontal cortices based on tandem mass tag quantification. Our approach, which is available online, will thus improve the analysis of proteomics quantification data sets by providing meaningful biological insights. PMID:25177766

The associations between perceived distributive, procedural, and interactional organizational justice, self-rated health and burnout.

PubMed

Liljegren, Mats; Ekberg, Kerstin

2009-01-01

The aim of the present study was to examine the cross-sectional and 2-year longitudinal associations between perceived organizational justice, self-rated health and burnout. The study used questionnaire data from 428 Swedish employment officers and the data was analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling, SEM. Two different models were tested: a global organizational justice model (with and without correlated measurement errors) and a differentiated (distributive, procedural and interactional organizational justice) justice model (with and without correlated measurement errors). The global justice model with autocorrelations had the most satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices. Global justice showed statistically significant (p < 0.01) cross-sectional (0.80 {mle 0.84) and longitudinal positive associations (0.76 mle 0.82) between organizational justice and self-rated health, and significant (p < 0.01) negative associations between organizational justice and burnout (cross-sectional: mle = -0.85, longitudinal -0.83 mle -0.84). The global justice construct showed better goodness-of-fit indices than the threefold justice construct but a differentiated organizational justice concept could give valuable information about health related risk factors: if they are structural (distributive justice), procedural (procedural justice) or inter-personal (interactional justice). The two approaches to study organizational justice should therefore be regarded as complementary rather than exclusive.

Enhancing the use of institutional ethics committees in mental health care in Israel.

PubMed

Bergman-Levy, Tal; Doron, Adiel; D Strous, Rael

2014-01-01

Institutional ethics committees were established and functioned in Israel prior to the application of the Patients Rights Act of 1996. These committees were voluntary and comprised of multidisciplinary teams in order to obtain numerous viewpoints stemming from various different fields. This intent was based on an understanding that the issue of ethics and the process of making ethical decisions inherently address moral and social considerations which are beyond the realm of medical practice. In contrast to the voluntary institutional ethics committees, the Patients Rights Act of 1996 instituted statutory ethics committees. These committees were mandated to investigate defined areas and, in contrast to the former committees that were considered to be valuable as advisory and enlightening entities, their decisions are binding. However, it appears that the utilization of these ethics committees within the domain of mental health facilities is limited in scope and their use varies greatly between institutions. The employment of these committees in mental health institutions focuses mainly around issues that relate to information management and mentally ill patients' refusal of medical treatment. Several explanations exist for this phenomenon. Suggestions as to how the situation may be remedied are addressed as well as the complementary role that these ethics committees may play in modern day clinical practice.

Rational Design of Molecular Ferroelectric Materials and Nanostructures

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

Ducharme, Stephen

2012-09-25

The purpose of this project was to gain insight into the properties of molecular ferroelectrics through the detailed study of oligomer analogs of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). By focusing on interactions at both the molecular level and the nanoscale level, we expect to gain improved understanding about the fundamental mechanism of ferroelectricity and its key properties. The research consisted of three complementary components: 1) Rational synthesis of VDF oligomers by Prof. Takacs' group; 2) Detailed structural and electrical studies of thin by Prof. Ducharme's Group; and 3) First-principles computational studies by DOE Lab Partner Dr. Serge Nakhman-son at Argonne National Laboratory.more » The main results of the work was a detailed understanding of the relationships between the molecular interactions and macroscopic phenomenology of fer-roelectricity VDF oligomers. This is valuable information supporting the development of im-proved electromechanical materials for, e.g., sonar, ultrasonic imaging, artificial muscles, and compliant actuators. Other potential applications include nonvolatile ferroelectric memories, heat-sensing imaging arrays, photovoltaic devices, and functional biomimetic materials. The pro-ject contributed to the training and professional development of undergraduate students and graduate students, post-doctoral assistants, and a high-school teacher. Project personnel took part in several outreach and education activities each year.« less

Using quantitative magnetic resonance methods to understand better the gel-layer formation on polymer-matrix tablets.

PubMed

Mikac, Urša; Kristl, Julijana; Baumgartner, Saša

2011-05-01

Magnetic resonance imaging is a powerful, non-invasive technique that can help improve our understanding of the hydrogel layer formed on swellable, polymer-matrix tablets, as well as the layer's properties and its influence on drug release. In this paper, the authors review the NMR and MRI investigations of hydrophilic, swellable polymers published since 1994. The review covers NMR studies on the properties of water and drugs within hydrated polymers. In addition, MRI studies using techniques for determining the different moving-front positions within the swollen tablets, the polymer concentration profiles across them, the influence of the incorporated drug, and so on, are presented. Some complementary methods are also briefly presented and discussed. Using MRI, the formation of a hydrogel along with simultaneous determination of the drug's position within it can be observed non-invasively. However, the MRI parameters can influence the signal's intensity and therefore they need to be considered carefully in order to prevent any misinterpretation of the results. MRI makes possible an in situ investigation of swollen-matrix tablets and provides valuable information that can lead, when combined with other techniques, to a better understanding of polymeric systems and a more effective development of optimal dosage forms.

A short-wave infrared otoscope for middle ear disease diagnostics (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carr, Jessica A.; Valdez, Tulio; Bruns, Oliver; Bawendi, Moungi

2016-02-01

Otitis media, a range of inflammatory conditions of the middle ear, is the second most common illness diagnosed in children. However, the diagnosis can be challenging, particularly in pediatric patients. Otitis media is commonly over-diagnosed and over-treated and has been identified as one of the primary factors in increased antibiotic resistance. We describe the development of a short-wave infrared (SWIR) otoscope for objective middle ear effusion diagnosis. The SWIR otoscope can unambiguously detect the presence of middle ear fluid based on its strong light absorption in the SWIR. This absorption causes a stark, visual contrast between the presence and absence of fluid behind the tympanic membrane. Additionally, when there is no middle ear fluid, the deeper tissue penetration of SWIR light allows the SWIR otoscope to better visualize middle ear anatomy through the tympanic membrane than is possible with visible light. We demonstrate that in healthy, adult human ears, SWIR otoscopy can image a range of middle ear anatomy, including landmarks of the entire ossicular chain, the promontory, the round window niche, and the chorda tympani. We suggest that SWIR otoscopy can provide valuable diagnostic information complementary to that provided by visible pneumotoscopy in the diagnosis of middle ear effusions, otitis media, and other maladies of the middle ear.

Research in Neutrino Physics and Particle Astrophysics: Final Technical Report

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

Kearns, Edward

The Boston University Neutrino Physics and Particle Astrophysics Group investigates the fundamental laws of particle physics using natural and man-made neutrinos and rare processes such as proton decay. The primary instrument for this research is the massive Super-Kamiokande (SK) water Cherenkov detector, operating since 1996 at the Kamioka Neutrino Observatory, one kilometer underground in a mine in Japan. We study atmospheric neutrinos from cosmic rays, which were first used to discover that neutrinos have mass, as recognized by the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics. Our latest measurements with atmospheric neutrinos are giving valuable information, complementary to longbaseline experiments, on themore » ordering of massive neutrino states and as to whether neutrinos violate CP symmetry. We have studied a variety of proton decay modes, including the most frequently predicted modes such as p → e +π 0 and p → ν K +, as well as more exotic baryon number violating processes such as dinucleon decay and neutronantineutron oscillation. We search for neutrinos from dark matter annihilation or decay in the universe. Our group has made significant contributions to detector operation, particularly in the area of electronics. Most recently, we have contributed to planning for an upgrade to the SK detector by the addition of gadolinium to the water, which will enable efficient neutron capture detection.« less

Ambiguities and completeness of SAS data analysis: investigations of apoferritin by SAXS/SANS EID and SEC-SAXS methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zabelskii, D. V.; Vlasov, A. V.; Ryzhykau, Yu L.; Murugova, T. N.; Brennich, M.; Soloviov, D. V.; Ivankov, O. I.; Borshchevskiy, V. I.; Mishin, A. V.; Rogachev, A. V.; Round, A.; Dencher, N. A.; Büldt, G.; Gordeliy, V. I.; Kuklin, A. I.

2018-03-01

The method of small angle scattering (SAS) is widely used in the field of biophysical research of proteins in aqueous solutions. Obtaining low-resolution structure of proteins is still a highly valuable method despite the advances in high-resolution methods such as X-ray diffraction, cryo-EM etc. SAS offers the unique possibility to obtain structural information under conditions close to those of functional assays, i.e. in solution, without different additives, in the mg/mL concentration range. SAS method has a long history, but there are still many uncertainties related to data treatment. We compared 1D SAS profiles of apoferritin obtained by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SAS methods. It is shown that SAS curves for X-ray diffraction crystallographic structure of apoferritin differ more significantly than it might be expected due to the resolution of the SAS instrument. Extrapolation to infinite dilution (EID) method does not sufficiently exclude dimerization and oligomerization effects and therefore could not guarantee total absence of dimers account in the final SAS curve. In this study, we show that EID SAXS, EID SANS and SEC-SAXS methods give complementary results and when they are used all together, it allows obtaining the most accurate results and high confidence from SAS data analysis of proteins.

A Robust Linear Feature-Based Procedure for Automated Registration of Point Clouds

PubMed Central

Poreba, Martyna; Goulette, François

2015-01-01

With the variety of measurement techniques available on the market today, fusing multi-source complementary information into one dataset is a matter of great interest. Target-based, point-based and feature-based methods are some of the approaches used to place data in a common reference frame by estimating its corresponding transformation parameters. This paper proposes a new linear feature-based method to perform accurate registration of point clouds, either in 2D or 3D. A two-step fast algorithm called Robust Line Matching and Registration (RLMR), which combines coarse and fine registration, was developed. The initial estimate is found from a triplet of conjugate line pairs, selected by a RANSAC algorithm. Then, this transformation is refined using an iterative optimization algorithm. Conjugates of linear features are identified with respect to a similarity metric representing a line-to-line distance. The efficiency and robustness to noise of the proposed method are evaluated and discussed. The algorithm is valid and ensures valuable results when pre-aligned point clouds with the same scale are used. The studies show that the matching accuracy is at least 99.5%. The transformation parameters are also estimated correctly. The error in rotation is better than 2.8% full scale, while the translation error is less than 12.7%. PMID:25594589

Use of Combined Biogeochemical Model Approaches and Empirical Data to Assess Critical Loads of Nitrogen

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

Fenn, Mark E.; Driscoll, Charles; Zhou, Qingtao

2015-01-01

Empirical and dynamic biogeochemical modelling are complementary approaches for determining the critical load (CL) of atmospheric nitrogen (N) or other constituent deposition that an ecosystem can tolerate without causing ecological harm. The greatest benefits are obtained when these approaches are used in combination. Confounding environmental factors can complicate the determination of empirical CLs across depositional gradients, while the experimental application of N amendments for estimating the CL does not realistically mimic the effects of chronic atmospheric N deposition. Biogeochemical and vegetation simulation models can provide CL estimates and valuable ecosystem response information, allowing for past and future scenario testing withmore » various combinations of environmental factors, pollutants, pollutant control options, land management, and ecosystem response parameters. Even so, models are fundamentally gross simplifications of the real ecosystems they attempt to simulate. Empirical approaches are vital as a check on simulations and CL estimates, to parameterize models, and to elucidate mechanisms and responses under real world conditions. In this chapter, we provide examples of empirical and modelled N CL approaches in ecosystems from three regions of the United States: mixed conifer forest, desert scrub and pinyon- juniper woodland in California; alpine catchments in the Rocky Mountains; and lakes in the Adirondack region of New York state.« less

The Eimeria Transcript DB: an integrated resource for annotated transcripts of protozoan parasites of the genus Eimeria

PubMed Central

Rangel, Luiz Thibério; Novaes, Jeniffer; Durham, Alan M.; Madeira, Alda Maria B. N.; Gruber, Arthur

2013-01-01

Parasites of the genus Eimeria infect a wide range of vertebrate hosts, including chickens. We have recently reported a comparative analysis of the transcriptomes of Eimeria acervulina, Eimeria maxima and Eimeria tenella, integrating ORESTES data produced by our group and publicly available Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs). All cDNA reads have been assembled, and the reconstructed transcripts have been submitted to a comprehensive functional annotation pipeline. Additional studies included orthology assignment across apicomplexan parasites and clustering analyses of gene expression profiles among different developmental stages of the parasites. To make all this body of information publicly available, we constructed the Eimeria Transcript Database (EimeriaTDB), a web repository that provides access to sequence data, annotation and comparative analyses. Here, we describe the web interface, available sequence data sets and query tools implemented on the site. The main goal of this work is to offer a public repository of sequence and functional annotation data of reconstructed transcripts of parasites of the genus Eimeria. We believe that EimeriaTDB will represent a valuable and complementary resource for the Eimeria scientific community and for those researchers interested in comparative genomics of apicomplexan parasites. Database URL: http://www.coccidia.icb.usp.br/eimeriatdb/ PMID:23411718

Molecular cloning and expression of the calmodulin gene from guinea pig hearts.

PubMed

Feng, Rui; Liu, Yan; Sun, Xuefei; Wang, Yan; Hu, Huiyuan; Guo, Feng; Zhao, Jinsheng; Hao, Liying

2015-06-01

The aim of the present study was to isolate and characterize a complementary DNA (cDNA) clone encoding the calmodulin (CaM; GenBank accession no. FJ012165) gene from guinea pig hearts. The CaM gene was amplified from cDNA collected from guinea pig hearts and inserted into a pGEM®-T Easy vector. Subsequently, CaM nucleotide and protein sequence similarity analysis was conducted between guinea pigs and other species. In addition, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to investigate the CaM 3 expression patterns in different guinea pig tissues. Sequence analysis revealed that the CaM gene isolated from the guinea pig heart had ∼90% sequence identity with the CaM 3 genes in humans, mice and rats. Furthermore, the deduced peptide sequences of CaM 3 in the guinea pig showed 100% homology to the CaM proteins from other species. In addition, the RT-PCR results indicated that CaM 3 was widely and differentially expressed in guinea pigs. In conclusion, the current study provided valuable information with regard to the cloning and expression of CaM 3 in guinea pig hearts. These findings may be helpful for understanding the function of CaM3 and the possible role of CaM3 in cardiovascular diseases.

New approaches for investigating paintings by ion beam techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beck, L.; de Viguerie, L.; Walter, Ph.; Pichon, L.; Gutiérrez, P. C.; Salomon, J.; Menu, M.; Sorieul, S.

2010-06-01

Up to now, among the IBA techniques, only PIXE has been used for analyzing paintings. However, quantitative PIXE analysis is sometimes difficult to interpret due to the layered structure, the presence of varnish and organic binder and, in some cases, discoloration of the pigments has been observed due to the interaction of the ion beam with the compounds. In order to improve the characterization of paintings, we propose some alternative experimental procedures. First of all, backscattering spectrometry (BS) and PIXE are simultaneously combined in order to collect complementary information such as layer thickness and organic compound quantification. The simultaneous PIXE and BS experiments also have the advantage of being able to analyze the same area in one experiment. This combination, implemented with an external beam, was directly applied on paintings and on painting cross-sections for the study of Italian Renaissance masterpieces. We have obtained valuable results not only on the pigment itself but also, for the first time, on the binder to pigment proportion which is not well documented in the ancient recipes. Moreover, in order to restrain beam damages due to the ion stopping power, we propose to analyze very thin painting cross-sections by a combination of PIXE-RBS and Scanning Transmission Ion Microscopy (STIM).

In vivo metabolic fingerprinting of neutral lipids with hyperspectral stimulated Raman scattering microscopy.

PubMed

Fu, Dan; Yu, Yong; Folick, Andrew; Currie, Erin; Farese, Robert V; Tsai, Tsung-Huang; Xie, Xiaoliang Sunney; Wang, Meng C

2014-06-18

Metabolic fingerprinting provides valuable information on the physiopathological states of cells and tissues. Traditional imaging mass spectrometry and magnetic resonance imaging are unable to probe the spatial-temporal dynamics of metabolites at the subcellular level due to either lack of spatial resolution or inability to perform live cell imaging. Here we report a complementary metabolic imaging technique that is based on hyperspectral stimulated Raman scattering (hsSRS). We demonstrated the use of hsSRS imaging in quantifying two major neutral lipids: cholesteryl ester and triacylglycerol in cells and tissues. Our imaging results revealed previously unknown changes of lipid composition associated with obesity and steatohepatitis. We further used stable-isotope labeling to trace the metabolic dynamics of fatty acids in live cells and live Caenorhabditis elegans with hsSRS imaging. We found that unsaturated fatty acid has preferential uptake into lipid storage while saturated fatty acid exhibits toxicity in hepatic cells. Simultaneous metabolic fingerprinting of deuterium-labeled saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in living C. elegans revealed that there is a lack of interaction between the two, unlike previously hypothesized. Our findings provide new approaches for metabolic tracing of neutral lipids and their precursors in living cells and organisms, and could potentially serve as a general approach for metabolic fingerprinting of other metabolites.

Resolving the Origins of Crystalline Anharmonicity Using Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy and ab Initio Simulations.

PubMed

Ruggiero, Michael T; Zeitler, J Axel

2016-11-17

Anharmonicity has been shown to be an important piece of the fundamental framework that dictates numerous observable phenomena. In particular, anharmonicity is the driving force of vibrational relaxation processes, mechanisms that are integral to the proper function of numerous chemical processes. However, elucidating its origins has proven difficult due to experimental and theoretical challenges, specifically related to separating the anharmonic contributions from other unrelated effects. While no one technique is particularly suited for providing a complete picture of anharmonicity, by combining multiple complementary methods such a characterization can be made. In this study the role of individual atomic interactions on the anharmonic properties of crystalline purine, the building block of many DNA and RNA nucleobases, is studied by experimental terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations (AIMD). In particular, the detailed vibrational information provided by the DFT calculations is used to interpret the atomic origins of anharmonic-related effects as determined by the AIMD calculations, which are in good agreement with the experimental data. The results highlight that anharmonicity is especially pronounced in the intermolecular interactions, particularly along the amine hydrogen bond coordinate, and yields valuable insight into what is similarly observed complex biosystems and crystalline solids.

Automatic identification of resting state networks: an extended version of multiple template-matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guaje, Javier; Molina, Juan; Rudas, Jorge; Demertzi, Athena; Heine, Lizette; Tshibanda, Luaba; Soddu, Andrea; Laureys, Steven; Gómez, Francisco

2015-12-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging in resting state (fMRI-RS) constitutes an informative protocol to investigate several pathological and pharmacological conditions. A common approach to study this data source is through the analysis of changes in the so called resting state networks (RSNs). These networks correspond to well-defined functional entities that have been associated to different low and high brain order functions. RSNs may be characterized by using Independent Component Analysis (ICA). ICA provides a decomposition of the fMRI-RS signal into sources of brain activity, but it lacks of information about the nature of the signal, i.e., if the source is artifactual or not. Recently, a multiple template-matching (MTM) approach was proposed to automatically recognize RSNs in a set of Independent Components (ICs). This method provides valuable information to assess subjects at individual level. Nevertheless, it lacks of a mechanism to quantify how much certainty there is about the existence/absence of each network. This information may be important for the assessment of patients with severely damaged brains, in which RSNs may be greatly affected as a result of the pathological condition. In this work we propose a set of changes to the original MTM that improves the RSNs recognition task and also extends the functionality of the method. The key points of this improvement is a standardization strategy and a modification of method's constraints that adds flexibility to the approach. Additionally, we also introduce an analysis to the trustworthiness measurement of each RSN obtained by using template-matching approach. This analysis consists of a thresholding strategy applied over the computed Goodness-of-Fit (GOF) between the set of templates and the ICs. The proposed method was validated on 2 two independent studies (Baltimore, 23 healthy subjects and Liege, 27 healthy subjects) with different configurations of MTM. Results suggest that the method will provide complementary information for characterization of RSNs at individual level.

Hybrid imaging: Instrumentation and Data Processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cal-Gonzalez, Jacobo; Rausch, Ivo; Shiyam Sundar, Lalith K.; Lassen, Martin L.; Muzik, Otto; Moser, Ewald; Papp, Laszlo; Beyer, Thomas

2018-05-01

State-of-the-art patient management frequently requires the use of non-invasive imaging methods to assess the anatomy, function or molecular-biological conditions of patients or study subjects. Such imaging methods can be singular, providing either anatomical or molecular information, or they can be combined, thus, providing "anato-metabolic" information. Hybrid imaging denotes image acquisitions on systems that physically combine complementary imaging modalities for an improved diagnostic accuracy and confidence as well as for increased patient comfort. The physical combination of formerly independent imaging modalities was driven by leading innovators in the field of clinical research and benefited from technological advances that permitted the operation of PET and MR in close physical proximity, for example. This review covers milestones of the development of various hybrid imaging systems for use in clinical practice and small-animal research. Special attention is given to technological advances that helped the adoption of hybrid imaging, as well as to introducing methodological concepts that benefit from the availability of complementary anatomical and biological information, such as new types of image reconstruction and data correction schemes. The ultimate goal of hybrid imaging is to provide useful, complementary and quantitative information during patient work-up. Hybrid imaging also opens the door to multi-parametric assessment of diseases, which will help us better understand the causes of various diseases that currently contribute to a large fraction of healthcare costs.

Complementary Hand Responses Occur in Both Peri- and Extrapersonal Space.

PubMed

Faber, Tim W; van Elk, Michiel; Jonas, Kai J

2016-01-01

Human beings have a strong tendency to imitate. Evidence from motor priming paradigms suggests that people automatically tend to imitate observed actions such as hand gestures by performing mirror-congruent movements (e.g., lifting one's right finger upon observing a left finger movement; from a mirror perspective). Many observed actions however, do not require mirror-congruent responses but afford complementary (fitting) responses instead (e.g., handing over a cup; shaking hands). Crucially, whereas mirror-congruent responses don't require physical interaction with another person, complementary actions often do. Given that most experiments studying motor priming have used stimuli devoid of contextual information, this space or interaction-dependency of complementary responses has not yet been assessed. To address this issue, we let participants perform a task in which they had to mirror or complement a hand gesture (fist or open hand) performed by an actor depicted either within or outside of reach. In three studies, we observed faster reaction times and less response errors for complementary relative to mirrored hand movements in response to open hand gestures (i.e., 'hand-shaking') irrespective of the perceived interpersonal distance of the actor. This complementary effect could not be accounted for by a low-level spatial cueing effect. These results demonstrate that humans have a strong and automatic tendency to respond by performing complementary actions. In addition, our findings underline the limitations of manipulations of space in modulating effects of motor priming and the perception of affordances.

Stages of Endometrial Cancer

MedlinePlus

... information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries come in two versions. The health professional versions ...

Nutraceutical use in late-stage cancer

PubMed Central

Morris, Jay; Brown, Vondina; Ellis, Jane; Logothetis, Britt; Weber, Rebecca

2012-01-01

Access to a wealth of information on the internet has led many cancer patients to use complementary methods as an adjunct to traditional therapy for cancer, with, and more often, without informing their primary caregiver. Of the common complementary modalities, the use of dietary supplements appears to be highly prevalent in patients in active treatment for cancer, and later in cancer survivors. Emerging research suggests that some plant-based agents may, indeed, impact late-stage cancer, influencing molecular processes corrupted by tumor cells to evade detection, expand clonally, and invade surrounding tissues. The intent of this article is to review some of the current science underpinning the use of nutraceuticals in the latter stages of cancer. PMID:20714787

High-speed multi-exposure laser speckle contrast imaging with a single-photon counting camera

PubMed Central

Dragojević, Tanja; Bronzi, Danilo; Varma, Hari M.; Valdes, Claudia P.; Castellvi, Clara; Villa, Federica; Tosi, Alberto; Justicia, Carles; Zappa, Franco; Durduran, Turgut

2015-01-01

Laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) has emerged as a valuable tool for cerebral blood flow (CBF) imaging. We present a multi-exposure laser speckle imaging (MESI) method which uses a high-frame rate acquisition with a negligible inter-frame dead time to mimic multiple exposures in a single-shot acquisition series. Our approach takes advantage of the noise-free readout and high-sensitivity of a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array to provide real-time speckle contrast measurement with high temporal resolution and accuracy. To demonstrate its feasibility, we provide comparisons between in vivo measurements with both the standard and the new approach performed on a mouse brain, in identical conditions. PMID:26309751

Chromophoric Nucleoside Analogues: Synthesis and Characterization of 6-Aminouracil-Based Nucleodyes.

PubMed

Freeman, Noam S; Moore, Curtis E; Wilhelmsson, L Marcus; Tor, Yitzhak

2016-06-03

Nucleodyes, visibly colored chromophoric nucleoside analogues, are reported. Design criteria are outlined and the syntheses of cytidine and uridine azo dye analogues derived from 6-aminouracil are described. Structural analysis shows that the nucleodyes are sound structural analogues of their native nucleoside counterparts, and photophysical studies demonstrate that the nucleodyes are sensitive to microenvironmental changes. Quantum chemical calculations are presented as a valuable complementary tool for the design of strongly absorbing nucleodyes, which overlap with the emission of known fluorophores. Förster critical distance (R0) calculations determine that the nucleodyes make good FRET pairs with both 2-aminopurine (2AP) and pyrrolocytosine (PyC). Additionally, unique tautomerization features exhibited by 5-(4-nitrophenylazo)-6-oxocytidine (8) are visualized by an extraordinary crystal structure.

Intraoperative assisting diagnosis of esophageal submucosal cancer using multiphoton microscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Yaping; Xu, Jian; Zhou, Qun; Kang, Deyong; Zhuo, Shuangmu; Zhu, Xiaoqin; Lin, Jiangbo; Chen, Jianxin

2018-07-01

Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) based on two-photon excited fluorescence and second harmonic generation can achieve high-resolution images of biological tissues at the cellular and subcellular levels. In this work, we used MPM imaging of intraoperative hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained frozen sections (FSs) of esophagus to explore whether MPM can provide complementary information to the auxiliary diagnosis of esophageal submucosal cancer during the intraoperative period. It was found that MPM has the ability not only to clearly reveal biological tissue microstructure and its morphological changes, but can reveal information not distinguishable in H&E-stained images. The complementary information of nonlinear spectral analysis, orientation and morphology changes in the collagen showed that MPM has important accessory diagnostic value for the differential diagnosis of submucosal carcinoma of the esophagus during the intraoperative period.

78 FR 5807 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-28

... employ the complementary quantitative and qualitative methods of previous research. The combination of... DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research...

Treatment Option Overview (Endometrial Cancer)

MedlinePlus

... information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries come in two versions. The health professional versions ...

Field trial of the enhanced data authentication system (EDAS)

DOE PAGES

Thomas, Maikael A.; Hymel, Ross W.; Baldwin, George; ...

2016-11-01

The Enhanced Data Authentication System (EDAS) is means to securely branch information from an existing measurement system or data stream to a secondary observer. In an international nuclear safeguards context, the EDAS connects to operator instrumentation, and provides a cryptographically secure copy of the information for a safeguards inspectorate. However, this novel capability could be a valuable complement to inspector-owned safeguards instrumentation, offering context that is valuable for anomaly resolution and contingency.

Selectively Distracted: Divided Attention and Memory for Important Information.

PubMed

Middlebrooks, Catherine D; Kerr, Tyson; Castel, Alan D

2017-08-01

Distractions and multitasking are generally detrimental to learning and memory. Nevertheless, people often study while listening to music, sitting in noisy coffee shops, or intermittently checking their e-mail. The current experiments examined how distractions and divided attention influence one's ability to selectively remember valuable information. Participants studied lists of words that ranged in value from 1 to 10 points while completing a digit-detection task, while listening to music, or without distractions. Though participants recalled fewer words following digit detection than in the other conditions, there were no significant differences between conditions in terms of selectively remembering the most valuable words. Similar results were obtained across a variety of divided-attention tasks that stressed attention and working memory to different degrees, which suggests that people may compensate for divided-attention costs by selectively attending to the most valuable items and that factors that worsen memory do not necessarily impair the ability to selectively remember important information.

Treatment Options by Stage (Endometrial Cancer)

MedlinePlus

... information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries come in two versions. The health professional versions ...

Complementary health insurance in France. Who pays? Why? Who will suffer from public disengagement?

PubMed

Saliba, Bérengère; Ventelou, Bruno

2007-05-01

The study is based on a rare database with information about health status, socioeconomic characteristics and the complementary health insurance choices of the French population. We intend to characterise a two-stage decision process: first, the decision to purchase complementary health insurance, and then the factors related to choice of policy quality. Our econometric study indicates that (i) income level has a strong and significant effect on the decision to purchase complementary insurance, whilst there is no evidence that health risk considerations affect this decision at all; (ii) the individual decision about quality is associated barely if at all with any rational explanatory variables. The population's concrete behaviour, revealed by the study, is consistent with an allocation of low-risk people to private insurance and high-risk people to public insurance. Complementary insurance is not especially relevant to patients with serious diseases, who depend much more on the public system. If the public insurance system were to disengage significantly from coverage of serious illness, a vacuum would be created that would leave people at high risk without full coverage. These results have broad implications for numerous national systems of social protection seeking a new mix between private and public insurance.

Yoga as a Complementary Therapy for Children and Adolescents

PubMed Central

Peterson, John; Fischer, Colleen; Peterson, Emily

2010-01-01

Yoga is being used by a growing number of youth and adults as a means of improving overall health and fitness. There is also a progressive trend toward use of yoga as a mind-body complementary and alternative medicine intervention to improve specific physical and mental health conditions. To provide clinicians with therapeutically useful information about yoga, the evidence evaluating yoga as an effective intervention for children and adolescents with health problems is reviewed and summarized. A brief overview of yoga and yoga therapy is presented along with yoga resources and practical strategies for clinical practitioners to use with their patients. The majority of available studies with children and adolescents suggest benefits to using yoga as a therapeutic intervention and show very few adverse effects. These results must be interpreted as preliminary findings because many of the studies have methodological limitations that prevent strong conclusions from being drawn. Yoga appears promising as a complementary therapy for children and adolescents. Further information about how to apply it most effectively and more coordinated research efforts are needed. PMID:20877530

Shape measurement of objects with large discontinuities and surface isolations using complementary grating projection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, Yudong; Zhao, Yang; Li, Dacheng

1999-11-01

Grating projection 3D profilometry has three major problems that have to be handled with great care. They are local shadows, phase discontinuities and surface isolations. Carrying no information, shadow areas give us no clue about the profile there. Phase discontinuities often baffle phase unwrappers because they may be generated for several reasons difficult to distinguish. Spatial phase unwrapping will inevitably fail if the object under teste have surface isolations. In this paper, a complementary grating projection profilometry is reported, which attempts to tackle the three aforementioned problems simultaneously. This technique involves projecting two grating patterns form both sides of the CCD camera. Phase unwrapping is carried out pixel by pixel using the two phase maps based on the excess fraction method, which is immune to phase discontinuities or surface isolations. Complementary projection makes sure that no area in the visible volume of CCD is devoid of fringe information, although in some cases a small area of the reconstructed profile is of low accuracy compared with others. The system calibration procedures and measurement results are presented in detail, and possible improvement is discussed.

A general method for targeted quantitative cross-linking mass spectrometry

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Chemical cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) provides protein structural information by identifying covalently linked proximal amino acid residues on protein surfaces. The information gained by this technique is complementary to other structural biology methods such as x-ray crystallography, NM...

Resource Interdependence, Student Interactions and Performance in Cooperative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buchs, Celine; Butera, Fabrizio; Mugny, Gabriel

2004-01-01

Two studies were carried out during university workshops, and analyzed the effects of resource interdependence on student-student interactions, and the impact of these interactions on performance. Students worked cooperatively, either on complementary information (positive resource interdependence) or on identical information (resource…

Rosacea Patient Perspectives on Homeopathic and Over-the-counter Therapies

PubMed Central

Lan, Lucy; Kuo, Sandy; Huang, Karen E.; Taylor, Sarah L.; Feldman, Steven R.

2015-01-01

Background: Rosacea patients commonly employ nonprescription therapies. The authors’ aim was to understand rosacea patients’ perceptions of over-the-counter products, complementary and alternative medicine, and homeopathic therapies. Method: A public, online discussion forum comprising 3,350 members and 27,051 posts provided a source of 346 posts on patient perceptions on alternative rosacea treatments. Results: Three major themes of nonprescription treatment were identified—motivation for use, patient-provider discussions, and experience with these treatments. Perceived medication failure, barriers to treatment, and distrust of physicians drive patients to seek nonprescription therapies. Still, patients prefer to consult a physician on incorporating nonprescription therapies into treatment. Complementary and alternative medicine natural products (19.4% of posts), complementary and alternative medicine practices (16.5%), and homeopathic medicine (3.8%) were commonly discussed. Conclusion: Physicians have an opportunity to be a trusted source of information on the strengths and weaknesses of skin care products and other complementary treatments for rosacea. PMID:26557217

The cross-sectional GRAS sample: A comprehensive phenotypical data collection of schizophrenic patients

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Schizophrenia is the collective term for an exclusively clinically diagnosed, heterogeneous group of mental disorders with still obscure biological roots. Based on the assumption that valuable information about relevant genetic and environmental disease mechanisms can be obtained by association studies on patient cohorts of ≥ 1000 patients, if performed on detailed clinical datasets and quantifiable biological readouts, we generated a new schizophrenia data base, the GRAS (Göttingen Research Association for Schizophrenia) data collection. GRAS is the necessary ground to study genetic causes of the schizophrenic phenotype in a 'phenotype-based genetic association study' (PGAS). This approach is different from and complementary to the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on schizophrenia. Methods For this purpose, 1085 patients were recruited between 2005 and 2010 by an invariable team of traveling investigators in a cross-sectional field study that comprised 23 German psychiatric hospitals. Additionally, chart records and discharge letters of all patients were collected. Results The corresponding dataset extracted and presented in form of an overview here, comprises biographic information, disease history, medication including side effects, and results of comprehensive cross-sectional psychopathological, neuropsychological, and neurological examinations. With >3000 data points per schizophrenic subject, this data base of living patients, who are also accessible for follow-up studies, provides a wide-ranging and standardized phenotype characterization of as yet unprecedented detail. Conclusions The GRAS data base will serve as prerequisite for PGAS, a novel approach to better understanding 'the schizophrenias' through exploring the contribution of genetic variation to the schizophrenic phenotypes. PMID:21067598

Real-time dynamic display of registered 4D cardiac MR and ultrasound images using a GPU

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Q.; Huang, X.; Eagleson, R.; Guiraudon, G.; Peters, T. M.

2007-03-01

In minimally invasive image-guided surgical interventions, different imaging modalities, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and real-time three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound (US), can provide complementary, multi-spectral image information. Multimodality dynamic image registration is a well-established approach that permits real-time diagnostic information to be enhanced by placing lower-quality real-time images within a high quality anatomical context. For the guidance of cardiac procedures, it would be valuable to register dynamic MRI or CT with intraoperative US. However, in practice, either the high computational cost prohibits such real-time visualization of volumetric multimodal images in a real-world medical environment, or else the resulting image quality is not satisfactory for accurate guidance during the intervention. Modern graphics processing units (GPUs) provide the programmability, parallelism and increased computational precision to begin to address this problem. In this work, we first outline our research on dynamic 3D cardiac MR and US image acquisition, real-time dual-modality registration and US tracking. Then we describe image processing and optimization techniques for 4D (3D + time) cardiac image real-time rendering. We also present our multimodality 4D medical image visualization engine, which directly runs on a GPU in real-time by exploiting the advantages of the graphics hardware. In addition, techniques such as multiple transfer functions for different imaging modalities, dynamic texture binding, advanced texture sampling and multimodality image compositing are employed to facilitate the real-time display and manipulation of the registered dual-modality dynamic 3D MR and US cardiac datasets.

Solution NMR views of dynamical ordering of biomacromolecules.

PubMed

Ikeya, Teppei; Ban, David; Lee, Donghan; Ito, Yutaka; Kato, Koichi; Griesinger, Christian

2018-02-01

To understand the mechanisms related to the 'dynamical ordering' of macromolecules and biological systems, it is crucial to monitor, in detail, molecular interactions and their dynamics across multiple timescales. Solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is an ideal tool that can investigate biophysical events at the atomic level, in near-physiological buffer solutions, or even inside cells. In the past several decades, progress in solution NMR has significantly contributed to the elucidation of three-dimensional structures, the understanding of conformational motions, and the underlying thermodynamic and kinetic properties of biomacromolecules. This review discusses recent methodological development of NMR, their applications and some of the remaining challenges. Although a major drawback of NMR is its difficulty in studying the dynamical ordering of larger biomolecular systems, current technologies have achieved considerable success in the structural analysis of substantially large proteins and biomolecular complexes over 1MDa and have characterised a wide range of timescales across which biomolecular motion exists. While NMR is well suited to obtain local structure information in detail, it contributes valuable and unique information within hybrid approaches that combine complementary methodologies, including solution scattering and microscopic techniques. For living systems, the dynamic assembly and disassembly of macromolecular complexes is of utmost importance for cellular homeostasis and, if dysregulated, implied in human disease. It is thus instructive for the advancement of the study of the dynamical ordering to discuss the potential possibilities of solution NMR spectroscopy and its applications. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Biophysical Exploration of Dynamical Ordering of Biomolecular Systems" edited by Dr. Koichi Kato. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The banana code—natural blend processing in the olfactory circuitry of Drosophila melanogaster

PubMed Central

Schubert, Marco; Hansson, Bill S.; Sachse, Silke

2014-01-01

Odor information is predominantly perceived as complex odor blends. For Drosophila melanogaster one of the most attractive blends is emitted by an over-ripe banana. To analyze how the fly's olfactory system processes natural blends we combined the experimental advantages of gas chromatography and functional imaging (GC-I). In this way, natural banana compounds were presented successively to the fly antenna in close to natural occurring concentrations. This technique allowed us to identify the active odor components, use these compounds as stimuli and measure odor-induced Ca2+ signals in input and output neurons of the Drosophila antennal lobe (AL), the first olfactory neuropil. We demonstrate that mixture interactions of a natural blend are very rare and occur only at the AL output level resulting in a surprisingly linear blend representation. However, the information regarding single components is strongly modulated by the olfactory circuitry within the AL leading to a higher similarity between the representation of individual components and the banana blend. This observed modulation might tune the olfactory system in a way to distinctively categorize odor components and improve the detection of suitable food sources. Functional GC-I thus enables analysis of virtually any unknown natural odorant blend and its components in their relative occurring concentrations and allows characterization of neuronal responses of complete neural assemblies. This technique can be seen as a valuable complementary method to classical GC/electrophysiology techniques, and will be a highly useful tool in future investigations of insect-insect and insect-plant chemical interactions. PMID:24600405

Characteristics and prescription patterns of traditional Chinese medicine in atopic dermatitis patients: ten-year experiences at a medical center in Taiwan.

PubMed

Lin, Jing-Fan; Liu, Pi-Hua; Huang, Tzu-Ping; Lien, Angela Shin-Yu; Ou, Liang-Shiou; Yu, Chin-Hui; Yang, Shu-Ling; Chang, Hen-Hong; Yen, Hung-Rong

2014-02-01

Complementary and alternative therapies in treating atopic dermatitis are not uncommon. However, substantial evidence and consensus on treating atopic dermatitis is lacking. The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristics and utilization of traditional Chinese medicine in patients with atopic dermatitis. We retrospectively collected patients with atopic dermatitis at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan between 2002 and 2011. Patients' demographic data, duration and frequency of treatment, serum total immunoglobulin E levels, and traditional Chinese medicine treatment principles and prescription were analyzed. There were 4145 patients (8.8%) received traditional Chinese medicine therapy between 2002 and 2011. Among them, 2841 (68.54%) chose TCM only and 1304 (31.46%) chose to combine TCM and WM therapies. Those who chose combination therapy were younger, and needed more times of visit and longer duration of treatment. The most frequent comorbid conditions accompany atopic dermatitis were allergic rhinitis (46.06%) and asthma (21.46%). Among the 87,573 prescriptions written for Chinese medicine, the most frequently prescribed herbal formula and single herb were Xiao-Feng-San (Eliminate Wind Powder) (16.98%) and Bai-Xian-Pi (Cortex Dictamni) (12.68%), respectively. The most commonly used therapeutic principles of herbal formulas and single herbs were releasing exterior (20.23%) and clearing heat (41.93%), respectively. Our hospital-based study characterized the utilization patterns of traditional Chinese medicine in atopic dermatitis patients. This information could be used as references for clinical application and provide valuable information for future clinical trials. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS, A VALUABLE TOOL IN COMMUNITY-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

EPA Science Inventory

A historical analysis of the ecological consequences of development can be a valuable tool in community-based environmental protection. These studies can engage the public in environmental issues and lead to informed decision making. Historical studies provide an understanding of...

Legislation should support optimal breastfeeding practices and access to low-cost, high-quality complementary foods: Indonesia provides a case study.

PubMed

Soekarjo, Damayanti; Zehner, Elizabeth

2011-10-01

It is important to support women to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months and continue breastfeeding for 24 months and beyond. It is also necessary to provide the poor with access to affordable ways to improve the quality of complementary foods. Currently, many countries do not have the legal and policy environment necessary to support exclusive and continued breastfeeding. Legislative and policy changes are also necessary for introducing complementary food supplements, allowing them to be marketed to those who need them, and ensuring that marketing remains appropriate and in full compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. This paper aims to illustrate the above with examples from Indonesia and to identify legislative requirements for supporting breastfeeding and enabling appropriate access to high-quality complementary food supplements for children 6-24 months of age. Requirements include improved information, training, monitoring and enforcement systems for the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes; implementation and monitoring of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative; establishment of a registration category for complementary food supplements to enhance availability of high-quality, low-cost fortified products to help improve young child feeding; clear identification and marketing of these products as complementary food supplements for 6-24-month-olds so as to promote proper use and not interfere with breastfeeding. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Qualitative content analysis of complementary topical therapies used to manage diabetic foot in Jordan.

PubMed

Abu-Qamar, Ma'en Zaid; Wilson, Anne

2012-01-01

In order to alleviate diabetic foot problems, patients sometimes seek complementary therapies outside the professional context. This paper describes the use of complementary remedies as a topical treatment for diabetic foot ulcers among Jordanians. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse written responses of 68 patients with diabetes who have used complementary therapies to treat diabetic foot problems. These 68 persons represented a subgroup of the study population surveyed using a questionnaire, to the effect of investigating diabetic foot treatments provided in Jordan. Informants were recruited from eight healthcare facilities established in the southern part of Jordan plus from one hospital established in the Jordanian capital. The study was approved by the Boards of Ethics of the participating healthcare facilities. Content analysis yielded the category "Complementary Therapies Used", which included a range of household items (olive oil, sesame oil, honey, and vinegar), and also some indigenous Jordanian herbs (Wormwood, Myrrh, Caper, and Henna among others). The remedies were used either as a monotherapy or as mixtures, to the common goal of treating diabetic foot problems. Other interventions like Al-cowy were also sought from traditional healers. Educational campaigns are required to increase the awareness of patients and their families on possible hazards of unwise complementary therapy use. The decisions on the use of such therapies should be made in agreement with the attending healthcare professionals.

Complementary and alternative medicine use in children with thalassaemia.

PubMed

Efe, Emine; Işler, Ayşegül; Sarvan, Süreyya; Başer, Hayriye; Yeşilipek, Akif

2013-03-01

The aims of this study were to: (1) determine the types of complementary and alternative medicine use among children with thalassaemia as reported by parents and (2) describe sociodemographic and medical factors associated with the use of such treatments in families residing in southern Turkey. Thalassaemia is one of the most common human genetic diseases. Despite the therapeutic efforts, patients will encounter a variety of physical and psychological problems. Therefore, the use of complementary and alternative medicines among children thalassaemia is becoming increasingly popular. This is a descriptive study of complementary and alternative medicine. This study was conducted in the Hematology Outpatient Clinic at Akdeniz University Hospital and in the Thalassemia Centre at Ministry of Health Antalya Education and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey, between January 2010-December 2010. Parents of 97 paediatric patients, among 125 parents who applied to the haematology outpatient clinic and thalassaemia centre between these dates, agreed to take part in the study with whom contact could be made were included. Data were collected by using a questionnaire. The proportion of parents who reported using one or more of the complementary and alternative medicine methods was 82·5%. Of these parents, 61·8% were using prayer/spiritual practice, 47·4% were using nutritional supplements and 35·1% were using animal materials. It was determined that a significant portion of the parents using complementary and alternative medicine use it to treat their children's health problems, they were informed about complementary and alternative medicine by their paediatricians and family elders, and they have discussed the use of complementary and alternative medicine with healthcare professionals. To sustain medical treatment and prognosis of thalassaemia, it is important for nurses to consult with their patients and parents regarding the use and potential risks of some complementary and alternative medicine. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Social networks lack useful content for incontinence.

PubMed

Sajadi, Kamran P; Goldman, Howard B

2011-10-01

To assess the incontinence resources readily available for patients among social networks. Social networks allow users to connect with each other and share content and are a widely popular resource on the Internet. These sites attract millions of users; however, social media are underused in the healthcare industry. A search for "incontinence" was performed on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in September 2010. The first 30 results were reviewed for each. The results were evaluated as useful or not useful and additionally catalogued as healthcare professionals, commercial products, or complementary and alternative medicine resources. On Facebook, 4 results (13%) were informative, 12 (40%) advertised commercial incontinence products, and 14 (47%) had no usable information. Of the live "tweets" reviewed on Twitter, 18 (60%) linked to incontinence-related healthcare information (none were from, or referred one to, healthcare professionals), 9 (30%) advertised for commercial incontinence products, 1 (3%) advertised complementary and alternative medicine resources, and 2 (7%) were humorous. Of 4 Twitter user results, 1 was comic, 1 provided incontinence-related health information, and 2 were incontinence medical supply companies. There were 14 (47%) informational YouTube videos, of which 9 came from healthcare professionals or professional organizations. Of the remainder, 12 (40%) were commercial, 1 (3%) advertised complementary and alternative medicine resources, and the remaining 3 (10%) were not useful. The results of our study show that social networks have insufficient useful incontinence content, especially from healthcare professionals and incontinence organizations. Medical professionals and societies should target these avenues to reach and educate patients. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Probing the intracellular fate of supramolecular nanocarriers and their cargo with FRET schemes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thapaliya, Ek Raj; Fowley, Colin; Callan, Bridgeen; Tang, Sicheng; Zhang, Yang; Callan, John F.; Raymo, Françisco M.

2017-02-01

We designed a strategy to monitor self-assembling supramolecular nanocarriers and their cargo simultaneously in the intracellular space with fluorescence measurements. It is based on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between complementary chromophores covalently integrated in the macromolecular backbone of amphiphilic polymers and/or noncovalently encapsulated in supramolecular assemblies of the amphiphilic components. Indeed, these polymers assemble into a micelles in aqueous phase to bring energy donors and acceptors in close proximity and allow energy transfer. The resulting supramolecular assemblies maintain their integrity after travelling into the intracellular space and do not lose their molecular guests in the process. Furthermore, this mechanism can also be exploited to probe the fate of complementary nanoparticles introduced within cells in consecutive incubation steps. Efficient energy transfer occurs in the intracellular space after the sequential incubation of nanocarriers incorporating donors first and then nanoparticles containing acceptors or vice versa. The two sets of nanostructured assemblies ultimately co-localize in the cell interior to bring donors and acceptors together and enable energy transfer. Thus, this protocol is particularly valuable to monitor the transport properties of supramolecular nanocarriers inside living cells and can eventually contribute to the fundamental understating of the ability of these promising vehicles to deliver contrast agents and/or drugs intracellularly in view of possible diagnostics and/or therapeutic applications.

From supersonic shear wave imaging to full-field optical coherence shear wave elastography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nahas, Amir; Tanter, Mickaël; Nguyen, Thu-Mai; Chassot, Jean-Marie; Fink, Mathias; Claude Boccara, A.

2013-12-01

Elasticity maps of tissue have proved to be particularly useful in providing complementary contrast to ultrasonic imaging, e.g., for cancer diagnosis at the millimeter scale. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) offers an endogenous contrast based on singly backscattered optical waves. Adding complementary contrast to OCT images by recording elasticity maps could also be valuable in improving OCT-based diagnosis at the microscopic scale. Static elastography has been successfully coupled with full-field OCT (FF-OCT) in order to realize both micrometer-scale sectioning and elasticity maps. Nevertheless, static elastography presents a number of drawbacks, mainly when stiffness quantification is required. Here, we describe the combination of two methods: transient elastography, based on speed measurements of shear waves induced by ultrasonic radiation forces, and FF-OCT, an en face OCT approach using an incoherent light source. The use of an ultrafast ultrasonic scanner and an ultrafast camera working at 10,000 to 30,000 images/s made it possible to follow shear wave propagation with both modalities. As expected, FF-OCT is found to be much more sensitive than ultrafast ultrasound to tiny shear vibrations (a few nanometers and micrometers, respectively). Stiffness assessed in gel phantoms and an ex vivo rat brain by FF-OCT is found to be in good agreement with ultrasound shear wave elastography.

Complementary and alternative medicine and supportive care at leading cancer centers: a systematic analysis of websites.

PubMed

Brauer, Jeremy A; El Sehamy, Adam; Metz, James M; Mao, Jun J

2010-02-01

With increasing frequency, patients with cancer and their family members are turning to the Internet to educate themselves about their disease and treatment options, including complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and supportive care. However, very little is known about how national leading cancer centers represent these therapies via their websites. Simulating the perspective of an information-seeking patient or family member, we performed a systematic analysis of the websites of 41 National Cancer Institute designated comprehensive cancer centers. Two researchers independently evaluated websites, recorded CAM information, and rated quality of the websites using a 4-item Likert scale (overall, information, presentation, and navigation) with Cronbach's alpha = 0.97. Rating was adequately correlated between the two raters (correlation coefficient 0.8). Of 41 centers, 12 (29%) did not have functional websites with regard to information related to CAM. The most common CAM approaches mentioned were: acupuncture (59%), meditation/nutrition/spiritual support/yoga (56% for each), massage therapy (54%), and music therapy (51%). Twenty-three (23; 56%) presented information on support groups, 19 (46%) on patient seminars, 18 (44%) on survivorship effort, and 17 (41%) on symptom management clinics. Twenty-nine (29) (71%) of these websites had a telephone number available, 22 (54%) mentioned at least one ongoing research opportunity, and 19 (46%) provided links to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine website. Median rating of the quality of websites was 50 of 100, with only 7 (17%) of centers receiving a composite score 80 (excellent) or better. While a growing number of leading cancer centers provide information about CAM and supportive oncology information for patients via their websites, the quality and ease of navigation of these sites remain highly variable. Effective development and redesign of many of the websites is needed to better inform and empower patients and families seeking CAM and supportive care information.

Complementarity and Correlations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maccone, Lorenzo; Bruß, Dagmar; Macchiavello, Chiara

2015-04-01

We provide an interpretation of entanglement based on classical correlations between measurement outcomes of complementary properties: States that have correlations beyond a certain threshold are entangled. The reverse is not true, however. We also show that, surprisingly, all separable nonclassical states exhibit smaller correlations for complementary observables than some strictly classical states. We use mutual information as a measure of classical correlations, but we conjecture that the first result holds also for other measures (e.g., the Pearson correlation coefficient or the sum of conditional probabilities).

iHADAMAC: A complementary tool for sequential resonance assignment of globular and highly disordered proteins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feuerstein, Sophie; Plevin, Michael J.; Willbold, Dieter; Brutscher, Bernhard

2012-01-01

An experiment, iHADAMAC, is presented that yields information on the amino-acid type of individual residues in a protein by editing the 1H- 15N correlations into seven different 2D spectra, each corresponding to a different class of amino-acid types. Amino-acid type discrimination is realized via a Hadamard encoding scheme based on four different spin manipulations as recently introduced in the context of the sequential HADAMAC experiment. Both sequential and intra-residue HADAMAC experiments yield highly complementary information that greatly facilitate resonance assignment of proteins with high frequency degeneracy, as demonstrated here for a 188-residue intrinsically disordered protein fragment of the hepatitis C virus protein NS5A.

A Management Information System Design for a General Museum. Museum Data Bank Research Report No. 12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scholtz, Sandra

A management information system (MIS) is applied to a medium sized general museum to reflect the actual curatorial/registration functions. The recordkeeping functions of loan and conservation activities are examined since they too can be effectively handled by computer and constitute a complementary data base to the accession/catalog information.…

Factors influencing first-time mothers' introduction of complementary foods: a qualitative exploration.

PubMed

Walsh, Anne; Kearney, Lauren; Dennis, Nicole

2015-09-22

Optimal infant nutrition comprises exclusive breastfeeding, with complementary foods introduced from six months of age. How parents make decisions regarding this is poorly studied. This study begins to address the dearth of research into the decision-making processes used by first-time mothers relating to the introduction of complementary foods. This qualitative explorative study was conducted using interviews (13) and focus groups (3). A semi-structured interview guide based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The TPB, a well-validated decision-making model, identifies the key determinants of a behaviour through behavioural beliefs, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control over the behaviour. It is purported that these beliefs predict behavioural intention to perform the behaviour, and performing the behaviour. A purposive, convenience, sample of 21 metropolitan parents recruited through advertising at local playgroups and childcare centres, and electronically through the University community email list self-selected to participate. Data were analysed thematically within the theoretical constructs: behavioural beliefs, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. Data relating to sources of information about the introduction of complementary foods were also collected. Overall, first-time mothers found that waiting until six months was challenging despite knowledge of the WHO recommendations and an initial desire to comply with this guideline. Beliefs that complementary foods would assist the infants' weight gain, sleeping patterns and enjoyment at meal times were identified. Barriers preventing parents complying with the recommendations included subjective and group norms, peer influences, infant cues indicating early readiness and food labelling inconsistencies. The most valued information source was from peers who had recently introduced complementary foods. First-time mothers in this study did not demonstrate a good understanding of the rationale behind the WHO recommendations, nor did they understand fully the signs of readiness of infants to commence solid foods. Factors that assisted waiting until six months were a trusting relationship with a health professional whose practice and advice was consistent with the recommendations and/or when their infant was developmentally ready for complementary foods at six months and accepted them with ease and enthusiasm. Barriers preventing parents complying with the recommendations included subjective and group norms, peer influences, infant cues indicating early readiness and food labelling inconsistencies.

Comparing hospital staff and patient perceptions of customer service: a pilot study utilizing survey and focus group data.

PubMed

Fottler, Myron D; Dickson, Duncan; Ford, Robert C; Bradley, Kenneth; Johnson, Lee

2006-02-01

The measurement of patient satisfaction is crucial to enhancing customer service and competitive advantage in the health-care industry. While there are numerous approaches to such measurement, this paper provides a case study which compares and contrasts patient and staff perceptions of customer service using both survey and focus group data. Results indicate that there is a high degree of correlation between staff and patient perceptions of customer service based on both survey and focus group data. However, the staff and patient subgroups also provided complementary information regarding patient perceptions of their service experience. Staff members tended to have more negative perceptions of service attributes than did the patients themselves. The focus group results provide complementary information to survey results in terms of greater detail and more managerially relevant information. While these results are derived from a pilot study, they suggest that diversification of data sources beyond patient surveys may enhance the utility of customer service information. If further research can affirm these findings, they create exciting possibilities for gathering valid, reliable and cost-effective customer service information.

The Role of Memory Consolidation in Generalisation of New Linguistic Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tamminen, Jakke; Davis, Matthew H.; Merkx, Marjolein; Rastle, Kathleen

2012-01-01

Accounts of memory that postulate complementary learning systems (CLS) have become increasingly influential in the field of language learning. These accounts predict that generalisation of newly learnt linguistic information to untrained contexts requires offline memory consolidation. Such generalisation should not be observed immediately after…

Teaching Multimedia Data Protection through an International Online Competition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Battisti, F.; Boato, G.; Carli, M.; Neri, A.

2011-01-01

Low-cost personal computers, wireless access technologies, the Internet, and computer-equipped classrooms allow the design of novel and complementary methodologies for teaching digital information security in electrical engineering curricula. The challenges of the current digital information era require experts who are effectively able to…

Evaluating hydrological model performance using information theory-based metrics

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The accuracy-based model performance metrics not necessarily reflect the qualitative correspondence between simulated and measured streamflow time series. The objective of this work was to use the information theory-based metrics to see whether they can be used as complementary tool for hydrologic m...

Application of oral history to contemporary history of medicine in Korea: with a focus on medical scientists.

PubMed

Kim, Ock-Joo

2013-08-01

The oral history helps researchers to fill the gap in historical documents in research on the contemporary history of medicine in Korea. More and more studies in history of contemporary medicine in Korea have come out using oral history of doctors and patients. Based upon the author's research on development of neurosurgery in late 20th century Korea, this paper discusses how to apply oral history to contemporary history of medicine, focusing on oral history of doctors in Korea. In this paper the author describes how to do and use oral history of key doctors and medical scientists in the contemporary history of medicine in Korea. The oral history can be a powerful tool to complement the written documents as following. First, from their interview, doctors and medical scientists often provide valuable information which historians cannot get from documents and written sources. As intelligent interviewees, they not only understand the purpose of research but also help actively the historianresearcher- interviewer. Second, the oral history facilitates further searches and often it leads to more findings of informants, and written and image material. More often than not, doctors and medical scientists do their own research on the topic and provide the historian with valuable historical source material from their laboratories, bedsides, family and friends. Third, interviews with medical scientists and oral material produced by doctors and medical scientists helped the researcher to understand and interpret the papers and written documents. Fourth, the subjective stories told by the medical scientists provide perspectives and historical source as narrative truth. Before a historian attempts to use the oral material as complementary historial evidence, he or she needs to cross-check the validity and of objectivity of the oral material. Oral material is produced through bidirectional intersubjective interaction between the interviewer and interviewee, and critical reflection over the relationship between the two is crucial. Especially the researcher should keep an eye on the possible bias and strive for the objectivity of the oral material with discernment and reflection, when she or he found the interviewees of doctors and medical scientists closely connected together and tied together in a web of relationship with a common interest or agenda.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in obstetrics and gynaecology: a survey of office-based obstetricians and gynaecologists regarding attitudes towards CAM, its provision and cooperation with other CAM providers in the state of Hesse, Germany.

PubMed

Münstedt, K; Maisch, M; Tinneberg, H R; Hübner, J

2014-12-01

Whereas we have some information on complementary medicine in the field of oncology, little is known about complementary medicine in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology especially outside of hospitals. All office-based obstetricians and gynaecologists in the state of Hesse, Germany, were contacted and asked to fill in an assessment form regarding cooperation in the field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), as well as the perceived efficacy of various CAM methods for a number of pathological conditions in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology. It was found that more than half of Hessian office-based obstetricians and gynaecologists had existing cooperation regarding CAM, especially with colleagues, but also midwives, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and health practitioners. The probability of cooperation was significantly inversely associated with age. It was found that the probability for advising CAM differed between various health problems. The following CAM methods were considered reasonable for the treatment of different conditions: phytotherapy for climacteric complaints and premenstrual syndrome; homoeopathy for puerperal problems; acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine for complaints during pregnancy; and dietary supplements for the side effects of cancer therapy. The analysis shows that there is much cooperation in the field of CAM. Comparison between physicians' perceived efficacy of CAM methods and objective findings shows that there is a need for the provision of valid information in the field.

Perceptions, use and attitudes of pharmacy customers on complementary medicines and pharmacy practice.

PubMed

Braun, Lesley A; Tiralongo, Evelin; Wilkinson, Jenny M; Spitzer, Ondine; Bailey, Michael; Poole, Susan; Dooley, Michael

2010-07-20

Complementary medicines (CMs) are popular amongst Australians and community pharmacy is a major supplier of these products. This study explores pharmacy customer use, attitudes and perceptions of complementary medicines, and their expectations of pharmacists as they relate to these products. Pharmacy customers randomly selected from sixty large and small, metropolitan and rural pharmacies in three Australian states completed an anonymous, self administered questionnaire that had been pre-tested and validated. 1,121 customers participated (response rate 62%). 72% had used CMs within the previous 12 months, 61% used prescription medicines daily and 43% had used both concomitantly. Multivitamins, fish oils, vitamin C, glucosamine and probiotics were the five most popular CMs. 72% of people using CMs rated their products as 'very effective' or 'effective enough'. CMs were as frequently used by customers aged 60 years or older as younger customers (69% vs. 72%) although the pattern of use shifted with older age. Most customers (92%) thought pharmacists should provide safety information about CMs, 90% thought they should routinely check for interactions, 87% thought they should recommend effective CMs, 78% thought CMs should be recorded in customer's medication profile and 58% thought pharmacies stocking CMs should also employ a complementary medicine practitioner. Of those using CMs, 93% thought it important for pharmacists to be knowledgeable about CMs and 48% felt their pharmacist provides useful information about CMs. CMs are widely used by pharmacy customers of all ages who want pharmacists to be more involved in providing advice about these products.

Cancer Information Summaries

Cancer.gov

Peer-reviewed, evidence-based summaries on topics including adult and pediatric cancer treatment, supportive and palliative care, screening, prevention, genetics, and complementary and alternative medicine. References to published literature are included.

76 FR 7121 - Privacy Act of 1974; Proposed Implementation

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-02-09

... identity of confidential sources and the nature of the information supplied by informants as well as... the information. Confidential sources and informers might refuse to provide valuable information... nature of the information they supplied. Loss of access to such sources would seriously impair the...

454-pyrosequencing: A tool for discovery and biomarker development

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Roche GS-FLX (454) sequencer has made possible what was thought impossible just a few years ago: sequence >1 million high-quality nucleotide reads (mean 400 bp) in less than 12 h. This technology provides valuable species-specific sequence information, and is a valuable tool to discover and und...

Prenatal MR imaging of a meconium pseudocyst extending to the right subphrenic space with right lung compression.

PubMed

Wong, Alex M; Toh, Cheng-Hong; Lien, Reyin; Chao, An-Shine; Wong, Ho-Fai; Ng, Koon-Kwan

2006-11-01

Meconium pseudocyst results from a loculated inflammation occurring in response to spillage of meconium into the peritoneal cavity after a bowel perforation. Certain cystic lesions, such as abscesses and dermoid and epidermoid cysts, are known to show reduced water diffusion on DWI. MRI has recently become a valuable adjunct to ultrasonography for fetal gastrointestinal anomalies. Complementary to ultrasonography, prenatal MRI can help further characterize the lesion and can clearly demonstrate the anatomical relationship between the lesion and adjacent organs. We report a case of meconium pseudocyst that was prenatally imaged with ultrasonography and MRI, postnatally complicated by pneumoperitoneum, and proved by postnatal surgery and histopathology. We emphasize the MRI of the pseudocyst, particularly T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging.

The Horse Boy--attending to the stories our patients tell us.

PubMed

Karlinsky, Harry

2013-07-01

In the summer of 2007, Rupert Isaacson and Kirsten Neff set off to Mongolia on an extraordinary journey to heal their 7-year old autistic son. Their story was captured on film by a small crew, and both the resulting documentary, The Horse Boy, and the associated book have reached a wide audience. For those involved in psychiatric education, the film represents a valuable opportunity to explore a range of relevant clinical and ethical issues with their learners, including an introduction to the world of complementary and alternative medicine and the emerging discipline of narrative medicine. Perhaps most importantly, The Horse Boy is an impetus for health professionals to consider their own responsibilities when determined patients in their care undertake such remarkable quests to heal themselves or their loved ones.

Introduction of inappropriate complementary feeding in the first year of life and associated factors in children with low socioeconomic status.

PubMed

Dallazen, Camila; Silva, Sara Araújo da; Gonçalves, Vivian Siqueira Santos; Nilson, Eduardo Augusto Fernandes; Crispim, Sandra Patricia; Lang, Regina Maria Ferreira; Moreira, Júlia Dubois; Tietzmann, Daniela Cardoso; Vítolo, Márcia Regina

2018-02-19

The study aimed to identify factors associated with the introduction of inappropriate complementary feeding in the first year of life in children living in municipalities (counties) with low socioeconomic statusl. This was a cross-sectional multicenter study in 1,567 children 12 to 59 months of age in 48 municipalities participating in the Brazil Without Poverty plan in the South of Brazil. A structured questionnaire was applied to the children's parents to obtain socio-demographic information and the age at which inappropriate complementary foods were introduced for the first time in complementary feeding. Prevalence of introduction of sugar before four months of age was 35.5% (n = 497; 95%CI: 33.1-38.0). The prevalence rates for the introduction of cookies/crackers, creamy yogurt, and jelly before six months of age were 20.4% (n = 287; 95%CI: 18.3-22.3), 24.8% (n = 349; 95%CI: 22.4-27.1), and 13.8% (n = 192; 95%CI: 12.0-15.7), respectively. Associations were identified between low maternal schooling (PR = 1.25; 95%CI: 1.03-1.51) and low monthly family income (PR = 1.22; CI95%: 1.01-1.48) and the introduction of inappropriate complementary feeding. The study identified the introduction of inappropriate complementary feeding in the first year of life among children in municipalities with high socioeconomic vulnerability in the South of Brazil, associated with low maternal schooling and low monthly family income.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine by pregnant women: a literature review.

PubMed

Hall, Helen G; Griffiths, Debra L; McKenna, Lisa G

2011-12-01

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has become increasingly prevalent in industrialised countries, with women being the most prolific users. Some women continue to consume these therapies when they become pregnant. To review the literature exploring prevalence and motivation for use of complementary and alternative medicine by pregnant women. A search for relevant literature published from 2001 was undertaken using a range of databases and by examining relevant bibliographies. Although the estimates vary widely from 1% to 87%, the general trend indicates that a significant number of pregnant women use complementary and alternative medicine. Common modalities used include massage, vitamin and mineral supplements, herbal medicine, relaxation therapies and aromatherapy. Reasons for use are varied and include the belief that these therapies offer safe alternatives to pharmaceuticals, they allow greater choice and control over the childbearing experiences, and they are congruent with their holistic health beliefs. The influence of traditional cultural practices on the use of these therapies is unclear. Most expectant women rely on advice from family and friends, and many do not disclose their use to their pregnancy care providers. Many women use complementary and alternative medicine when they are pregnant. Further research is needed to gain a greater understanding of the true prevalence and expectant women's motivation for the use of complementary and alternative medicine. Health-care professionals are encouraged to ask women about their use of these treatments and seek out relevant information. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of censoring trace-level water-quality data on trend-detection capability

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gilliom, R.J.; Hirsch, R.M.; Gilroy, E.J.

1984-01-01

Monte Carlo experiments were used to evaluate whether trace-level water-quality data that are routinely censored (not reported) contain valuable information for trend detection. Measurements are commonly censored if they fall below a level associated with some minimum acceptable level of reliability (detection limit). Trace-level organic data were simulated with best- and worst-case estimates of measurement uncertainty, various concentrations and degrees of linear trend, and different censoring rules. The resulting classes of data were subjected to a nonparametric statistical test for trend. For all classes of data evaluated, trends were most effectively detected in uncensored data as compared to censored data even when the data censored were highly unreliable. Thus, censoring data at any concentration level may eliminate valuable information. Whether or not valuable information for trend analysis is, in fact, eliminated by censoring of actual rather than simulated data depends on whether the analytical process is in statistical control and bias is predictable for a particular type of chemical analyses.

Optical remote sensing of asteroid surfaces from spacecraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mccord, T. B.

1978-01-01

Reflectance spectroscopy and multispectral mapping are the techniques likely to be most useful for determining asteroid surfaces. Several other techniques should be considered for providing complementary information.

DNA Repair Mechanism Gene, XRCC1A ( Arg194Trp) but not XRCC3 ( Thr241Met) Polymorphism Increased the Risk of Breast Cancer in Premenopausal Females: A Case-Control Study in Northeastern Region of India.

PubMed

Devi, K Rekha; Ahmed, Jishan; Narain, Kanwar; Mukherjee, Kaustab; Majumdar, Gautam; Chenkual, Saia; Zonunmawia, Jason C

2017-12-01

X-ray repair cross complementary group gene is one of the most studied candidate gene involved in different types of cancers. Studies have shown that X-ray repair cross complementary genes are significantly associated with increased risk of breast cancer in females. Moreover, studies have revealed that X-ray repair cross complementary gene polymorphism significantly varies between and within different ethnic groups globally. The present case-control study was aimed to investigate the association of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) and X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism with the risk of breast cancer in females from northeastern region of India. The present case-control study includes histopathologically confirmed and newly diagnosed 464 cases with breast cancer and 534 apparently healthy neighborhood community controls. Information on sociodemographic factors and putative risk factors were collected from each study participant by conducting face-to-face interviews. Genotyping of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) and X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) was carried out by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. For statistical analysis, both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. We also performed stratified analysis to find out the association of X-ray repair cross complementary genes with the risk of breast cancer stratified based on menstrual status. This study revealed that tryptophan allele (R/W-W/W genotype) in X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) gene significantly increased the risk of breast cancer (adjusted odds ratio = 1.44, 95% confidence interval = 1.06-1.97, P < .05 for R/W-W/W genotype). Moreover, it was found that tryptophan allele (W/W genotype) at codon 194 of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) gene significantly increased the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal females (crude odds ratio = 1.66, 95% confidence interval = 1.11-2.46, P < .05 for R/W-W/W genotype). The present study did not reveal any significant association of X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism with the risk of breast cancer. The present study has explored that X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) gene polymorphism is significantly associated with the increased risk of breast cancer in premenopausal females from northeastern region of India which may be beneficial for prognostic purposes.

DNA Repair Mechanism Gene, XRCC1A (Arg194Trp) but not XRCC3 (Thr241Met) Polymorphism Increased the Risk of Breast Cancer in Premenopausal Females: A Case–Control Study in Northeastern Region of India

PubMed Central

Ahmed, Jishan; Narain, Kanwar; Mukherjee, Kaustab; Majumdar, Gautam; Chenkual, Saia; Zonunmawia, Jason C.

2017-01-01

X-ray repair cross complementary group gene is one of the most studied candidate gene involved in different types of cancers. Studies have shown that X-ray repair cross complementary genes are significantly associated with increased risk of breast cancer in females. Moreover, studies have revealed that X-ray repair cross complementary gene polymorphism significantly varies between and within different ethnic groups globally. The present case–control study was aimed to investigate the association of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) and X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism with the risk of breast cancer in females from northeastern region of India. The present case–control study includes histopathologically confirmed and newly diagnosed 464 cases with breast cancer and 534 apparently healthy neighborhood community controls. Information on sociodemographic factors and putative risk factors were collected from each study participant by conducting face-to-face interviews. Genotyping of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) and X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) was carried out by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. For statistical analysis, both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. We also performed stratified analysis to find out the association of X-ray repair cross complementary genes with the risk of breast cancer stratified based on menstrual status. This study revealed that tryptophan allele (R/W-W/W genotype) in X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) gene significantly increased the risk of breast cancer (adjusted odds ratio = 1.44, 95% confidence interval = 1.06-1.97, P < .05 for R/W-W/W genotype). Moreover, it was found that tryptophan allele (W/W genotype) at codon 194 of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) gene significantly increased the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal females (crude odds ratio = 1.66, 95% confidence interval = 1.11-2.46, P < .05 for R/W-W/W genotype). The present study did not reveal any significant association of X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism with the risk of breast cancer. The present study has explored that X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) gene polymorphism is significantly associated with the increased risk of breast cancer in premenopausal females from northeastern region of India which may be beneficial for prognostic purposes. PMID:29332455

76 FR 22364 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Survey of Income and Program Participation...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-21

... of 2012. The SIPP is a household-based survey designed as a continuous series of national panels. The... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Census Bureau Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Survey of... with questions designed to address specific needs in complementary subject areas. The 2012 SIPP- EHC...

77 FR 34338 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Survey of Income and Program Participation...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-11

... Calendar (SIPP-EHC) from January to March of 2013. The SIPP is a household-based survey designed as a... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Census Bureau Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Survey of... questions that are supplemented with questions designed to address specific needs in complementary subject...

Quantum information density scaling and qubit operation time constraints of CMOS silicon-based quantum computer architectures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rotta, Davide; Sebastiano, Fabio; Charbon, Edoardo; Prati, Enrico

2017-06-01

Even the quantum simulation of an apparently simple molecule such as Fe2S2 requires a considerable number of qubits of the order of 106, while more complex molecules such as alanine (C3H7NO2) require about a hundred times more. In order to assess such a multimillion scale of identical qubits and control lines, the silicon platform seems to be one of the most indicated routes as it naturally provides, together with qubit functionalities, the capability of nanometric, serial, and industrial-quality fabrication. The scaling trend of microelectronic devices predicting that computing power would double every 2 years, known as Moore's law, according to the new slope set after the 32-nm node of 2009, suggests that the technology roadmap will achieve the 3-nm manufacturability limit proposed by Kelly around 2020. Today, circuital quantum information processing architectures are predicted to take advantage from the scalability ensured by silicon technology. However, the maximum amount of quantum information per unit surface that can be stored in silicon-based qubits and the consequent space constraints on qubit operations have never been addressed so far. This represents one of the key parameters toward the implementation of quantum error correction for fault-tolerant quantum information processing and its dependence on the features of the technology node. The maximum quantum information per unit surface virtually storable and controllable in the compact exchange-only silicon double quantum dot qubit architecture is expressed as a function of the complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology node, so the size scale optimizing both physical qubit operation time and quantum error correction requirements is assessed by reviewing the physical and technological constraints. According to the requirements imposed by the quantum error correction method and the constraints given by the typical strength of the exchange coupling, we determine the workable operation frequency range of a silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor quantum processor to be within 1 and 100 GHz. Such constraint limits the feasibility of fault-tolerant quantum information processing with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology only to the most advanced nodes. The compatibility with classical complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor control circuitry is discussed, focusing on the cryogenic complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor operation required to bring the classical controller as close as possible to the quantum processor and to enable interfacing thousands of qubits on the same chip via time-division, frequency-division, and space-division multiplexing. The operation time range prospected for cryogenic control electronics is found to be compatible with the operation time expected for qubits. By combining the forecast of the development of scaled technology nodes with operation time and classical circuitry constraints, we derive a maximum quantum information density for logical qubits of 2.8 and 4 Mqb/cm2 for the 10 and 7-nm technology nodes, respectively, for the Steane code. The density is one and two orders of magnitude less for surface codes and for concatenated codes, respectively. Such values provide a benchmark for the development of fault-tolerant quantum algorithms by circuital quantum information based on silicon platforms and a guideline for other technologies in general.

Toward Greater Cooperation? FM 100-5 and AFDD 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-05-22

complementary with respect to technological superiority, information dominance , and asymmetric force application. Both the Army and the Air Force are...Force have the same understanding of technology superiority, information dominance and asymmetric force application. Differences in emphasis on the...for military operations while the Air Force views technology as the driving factor for military capability. Both services understand that information

Through Increasing "Information Literacy" Capital and Habitus (Agency): The Complementary Impact on Composition Skills When Appropriately Sequenced

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karas, Timothy

2017-01-01

Through a case study approach of a cohort of community college students at a single community college, the impact on success rates in composition courses was analyzed based on the sequence of completing an information literacy course. Two student cohorts were sampled based on completing an information literacy course prior to, or concurrently with…

Enhancement Strategies for Frame-To Uas Stereo Visual Odometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kersten, J.; Rodehorst, V.

2016-06-01

Autonomous navigation of indoor unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) requires accurate pose estimations usually obtained from indirect measurements. Navigation based on inertial measurement units (IMU) is known to be affected by high drift rates. The incorporation of cameras provides complementary information due to the different underlying measurement principle. The scale ambiguity problem for monocular cameras is avoided when a light-weight stereo camera setup is used. However, also frame-to-frame stereo visual odometry (VO) approaches are known to accumulate pose estimation errors over time. Several valuable real-time capable techniques for outlier detection and drift reduction in frame-to-frame VO, for example robust relative orientation estimation using random sample consensus (RANSAC) and bundle adjustment, are available. This study addresses the problem of choosing appropriate VO components. We propose a frame-to-frame stereo VO method based on carefully selected components and parameters. This method is evaluated regarding the impact and value of different outlier detection and drift-reduction strategies, for example keyframe selection and sparse bundle adjustment (SBA), using reference benchmark data as well as own real stereo data. The experimental results demonstrate that our VO method is able to estimate quite accurate trajectories. Feature bucketing and keyframe selection are simple but effective strategies which further improve the VO results. Furthermore, introducing the stereo baseline constraint in pose graph optimization (PGO) leads to significant improvements.

Non-contrast-enhanced imaging of haemodialysis fistulas using quiescent-interval single-shot (QISS) MRA: a feasibility study.

PubMed

Okur, A; Kantarci, M; Karaca, L; Yildiz, S; Sade, R; Pirimoglu, B; Keles, M; Avci, A; Çankaya, E; Schmitt, P

2016-03-01

To assess the efficiency of a novel quiescent-interval single-shot (QISS) technique for non-contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) of haemodialysis fistulas. QISS MRA and colour Doppler ultrasound (CDU) images were obtained from 22 haemodialysis patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). A radiologist with extensive experience in vascular imaging initially assessed the fistulas using CDU. Two observers analysed each QISS MRA data set in terms of image quality, using a five-point scale ranging from 0 (non-diagnostic) to 4 (excellent), and lumen diameters of all segments were measured. One hundred vascular segments were analysed for QISS MRA. Two anastomosis segments were considered non-diagnostic. None of the arterial or venous segments were evaluated as non-diagnostic. The image quality was poorer for the anastomosis level compared to the other segments (p<0.001 for arterial segments, and p<0.05 for venous segments), while no significant difference was determined for other vascular segments. QISS MRA has the potential to provide valuable complementary information to CDU regarding the imaging of haemodialysis fistulas. In addition, QISS non-enhanced MRA represents an alternative for assessment of haemodialysis fistulas, in which the administration of iodinated or gadolinium-based contrast agents is contraindicated. Copyright © 2015 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

PubMed

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

2018-03-01

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

Terrestrial photography as a complementary measurement in weather stations for snow monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pimentel, Rafael; José Pérez-Palazón, María; Herrero, Javier; José Polo, María

2015-04-01

Snow monitoring constitutes a basic key to know snow behaviour and evolution, which have particular features in semiarid regions (i.e. highly strong spatiotemporal variability, and the occurrence of several accumulation-melting cycles throughout the year). On one hand, traditional snow observation, such as snow surveys and snow pillows have the inconvenience of a limited accessibility during snow season and the impossibility to cover a vast extension. On the other hand, satellite remote sensing techniques, largely employed in medium to large scale regional studies, has the disadvantage of a fixed spatial and temporal resolutions which in some cases are not able to reproduce snow processes at small scale. An economic alternative is the use of terrestrial photography which scales are adapted to the study problem. At the microscale resolution permits the continuous monitoring of snow, adapting the resolution of the observation to the scales of the processes. Besides its use as raw observation datasets to calibrate and validate models' results, terrestrial photography constitutes valuable information to complement weather stations observations. It allows the discriminating possible mistakes in meteorological observations (i.e. overestimation on rain measurements) and a better understanding of snow behaviour against certain weather agents (i.e. blowing snow). Thus, terrestrial photography is a feasible and convenient technique to be included in weather monitoring stations in mountainous areas in semiarid regions.

Biodegradable nano-films for capture and non-invasive release of circulating tumor cells.

PubMed

Li, Wei; Reátegui, Eduardo; Park, Myoung-Hwan; Castleberry, Steven; Deng, Jason Z; Hsu, Bryan; Mayner, Sarah; Jensen, Anne E; Sequist, Lecia V; Maheswaran, Shyamala; Haber, Daniel A; Toner, Mehmet; Stott, Shannon L; Hammond, Paula T

2015-10-01

Selective isolation and purification of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from whole blood is an important capability for both clinical medicine and biological research. Current techniques to perform this task place the isolated cells under excessive stresses that reduce cell viability, and potentially induce phenotype change, therefore losing valuable information about the isolated cells. We present a biodegradable nano-film coating on the surface of a microfluidic chip, which can be used to effectively capture as well as non-invasively release cancer cell lines such as PC-3, LNCaP, DU 145, H1650 and H1975. We have applied layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly to create a library of ultrathin coatings using a broad range of materials through complementary interactions. By developing an LbL nano-film coating with an affinity-based cell-capture surface that is capable of selectively isolating cancer cells from whole blood, and that can be rapidly degraded on command, we are able to gently isolate cancer cells and recover them without compromising cell viability or proliferative potential. Our approach has the capability to overcome practical hurdles and provide viable cancer cells for downstream analyses, such as live cell imaging, single cell genomics, and in vitro cell culture of recovered cells. Furthermore, CTCs from cancer patients were also captured, identified, and successfully released using the LbL-modified microchips. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Two combinatorial optimization problems for SNP discovery using base-specific cleavage and mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Chen, Xin; Wu, Qiong; Sun, Ruimin; Zhang, Louxin

2012-01-01

The discovery of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has important implications in a variety of genetic studies on human diseases and biological functions. One valuable approach proposed for SNP discovery is based on base-specific cleavage and mass spectrometry. However, it is still very challenging to achieve the full potential of this SNP discovery approach. In this study, we formulate two new combinatorial optimization problems. While both problems are aimed at reconstructing the sample sequence that would attain the minimum number of SNPs, they search over different candidate sequence spaces. The first problem, denoted as SNP - MSP, limits its search to sequences whose in silico predicted mass spectra have all their signals contained in the measured mass spectra. In contrast, the second problem, denoted as SNP - MSQ, limits its search to sequences whose in silico predicted mass spectra instead contain all the signals of the measured mass spectra. We present an exact dynamic programming algorithm for solving the SNP - MSP problem and also show that the SNP - MSQ problem is NP-hard by a reduction from a restricted variation of the 3-partition problem. We believe that an efficient solution to either problem above could offer a seamless integration of information in four complementary base-specific cleavage reactions, thereby improving the capability of the underlying biotechnology for sensitive and accurate SNP discovery.

Qualitative and Quantitative Detection of Botulinum Neurotoxins from Complex Matrices: Results of the First International Proficiency Test

PubMed Central

Worbs, Sylvia; Fiebig, Uwe; Zeleny, Reinhard; Schimmel, Heinz; Rummel, Andreas; Luginbühl, Werner; Dorner, Brigitte G.

2015-01-01

In the framework of the EU project EQuATox, a first international proficiency test (PT) on the detection and quantification of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT) was conducted. Sample materials included BoNT serotypes A, B and E spiked into buffer, milk, meat extract and serum. Different methods were applied by the participants combining different principles of detection, identification and quantification. Based on qualitative assays, 95% of all results reported were correct. Successful strategies for BoNT detection were based on a combination of complementary immunological, MS-based and functional methods or on suitable functional in vivo/in vitro approaches (mouse bioassay, hemidiaphragm assay and Endopep-MS assay). Quantification of BoNT/A, BoNT/B and BoNT/E was performed by 48% of participating laboratories. It turned out that precise quantification of BoNT was difficult, resulting in a substantial scatter of quantitative data. This was especially true for results obtained by the mouse bioassay which is currently considered as “gold standard” for BoNT detection. The results clearly demonstrate the urgent need for certified BoNT reference materials and the development of methods replacing animal testing. In this context, the BoNT PT provided the valuable information that both the Endopep-MS assay and the hemidiaphragm assay delivered quantitative results superior to the mouse bioassay. PMID:26703724

Experimental and Numerical Observations of Hydrate Reformation during Depressurization in a Core-Scale Reactor

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

Seol, Yongkoo; Myshakin, Evgeniy

2011-01-01

Gas hydrate has been predicted to reform around a wellbore during depressurization-based gas production from gas hydrate-bearing reservoirs. This process has an adverse effect on gas production rates and it requires time and sometimes special measures to resume gas flow to producing wells. Due to lack of applicable field data, laboratory scale experiments remain a valuable source of information to study hydrate reformation. In this work, we report laboratory experiments and complementary numerical simulations executed to investigate the hydrate reformation phenomenon. Gas production from a pressure vessel filled with hydrate-bearing sand was induced by depressurization with and without heat fluxmore » through the boundaries. Hydrate decomposition was monitored with a medical X-ray CT scanner and pressure and temperature measurements. CT images of the hydrate-bearing sample were processed to provide 3-dimensional data of heterogeneous porosity and phase saturations suitable for numerical simulations. In the experiments, gas hydrate reformation was observed only in the case of no-heat supply from surroundings, a finding consistent with numerical simulation. By allowing gas production on either side of the core, numerical simulations showed that initial hydrate distribution patterns affect gas distribution and flow inside the sample. This is a direct consequence of the heterogeneous pore network resulting in varying hydraulic properties of the hydrate-bearing sediment.« less

Analysis of Antarctic glacigenic sediment provenance through geochemical and petrologic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Licht, Kathy J.; Hemming, Sidney R.

2017-05-01

The number of provenance studies of glacigenic sediments in Antarctica has increased dramatically over the past decade, providing an enhanced understanding of ice sheet history and dynamics, along with the broader geologic history. Such data have been used to assess glacial erosion patterns at the catchment scale, flow path reconstructions over a wide range of scales, and ice sheet fluctuations indicated by iceberg rafted debris in circumantarctic glacial marine sediments. It is notable that even though most of the bedrock of the continent is ice covered and inaccessible, provenance data can provide such valuable information about Antarctic ice and can even be used to infer buried rock types along with their geo- and thermochronologic history. Glacigenic sediments provide a broader array of provenance analysis opportunities than any other sediment type because of their wide range of grain sizes, and in this paper we review methods and examples from all size fractions that have been applied to the Antarctic glacigenic sedimentary record. Interpretations of these records must take careful consideration of the choice of analytical methods, uneven patterns of erosion, and spatial variability in sediment transport and rock types, which all may lead to a preferential identification of different elements of sources in the provenance analyses. Because of this, we advocate a multi-proxy approach and highlight studies that demonstrate the value of selecting complementary provenance methods.

Visual Decision Support Tool for Supporting Asset ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Abstract:Managing urban water infrastructures faces the challenge of jointly dealing with assets of diverse types, useful life, cost, ages and condition. Service quality and sustainability require sound long-term planning, well aligned with tactical and operational planning and management. In summary, the objective of an integrated approach to infrastructure asset management is to assist utilities answer the following questions:•Who are we at present?•What service do we deliver?•What do we own?•Where do we want to be in the long-term?•How do we get there?The AWARE-P approach (www.aware-p.org) offers a coherent methodological framework and a valuable portfolio of software tools. It is designed to assist water supply and wastewater utility decision-makers in their analyses and planning processes. It is based on a Plan-Do-Check-Act process and is in accordance with the key principles of the International Standards Organization (ISO) 55000 standards on asset management. It is compatible with, and complementary to WERF’s SIMPLE framework. The software assists in strategic, tactical, and operational planning, through a non-intrusive, web-based, collaborative environment where objectives and metrics drive IAM planning. It is aimed at industry professionals and managers, as well as at the consultants and technical experts that support them. It is easy to use and maximizes the value of information from multiple existing data sources, both in da

Automated tracking of animal posture and movement during exploration and sensory orientation behaviors.

PubMed

Gomez-Marin, Alex; Partoune, Nicolas; Stephens, Greg J; Louis, Matthieu; Brembs, Björn

2012-01-01

The nervous functions of an organism are primarily reflected in the behavior it is capable of. Measuring behavior quantitatively, at high-resolution and in an automated fashion provides valuable information about the underlying neural circuit computation. Accordingly, computer-vision applications for animal tracking are becoming a key complementary toolkit to genetic, molecular and electrophysiological characterization in systems neuroscience. We present Sensory Orientation Software (SOS) to measure behavior and infer sensory experience correlates. SOS is a simple and versatile system to track body posture and motion of single animals in two-dimensional environments. In the presence of a sensory landscape, tracking the trajectory of the animal's sensors and its postural evolution provides a quantitative framework to study sensorimotor integration. To illustrate the utility of SOS, we examine the orientation behavior of fruit fly larvae in response to odor, temperature and light gradients. We show that SOS is suitable to carry out high-resolution behavioral tracking for a wide range of organisms including flatworms, fishes and mice. Our work contributes to the growing repertoire of behavioral analysis tools for collecting rich and fine-grained data to draw and test hypothesis about the functioning of the nervous system. By providing open-access to our code and documenting the software design, we aim to encourage the adaptation of SOS by a wide community of non-specialists to their particular model organism and questions of interest.

Oxygen availability and spreading depolarizations provide complementary prognostic information in neuromonitoring of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage patients.

PubMed

Winkler, Maren Kl; Dengler, Nora; Hecht, Nils; Hartings, Jed A; Kang, Eun J; Major, Sebastian; Martus, Peter; Vajkoczy, Peter; Woitzik, Johannes; Dreier, Jens P

2017-05-01

Multimodal neuromonitoring in neurocritical care increasingly includes electrocorticography to measure epileptic events and spreading depolarizations. Spreading depolarization causes spreading depression of activity (=isoelectricity) in electrically active tissue. If the depression is long-lasting, further spreading depolarizations occur in still isoelectric tissue where no activity can be suppressed. Such spreading depolarizations are termed isoelectric and are assumed to indicate energy compromise. However, experimental and clinical recordings suggest that long-lasting spreading depolarization-induced depression and isoelectric spreading depolarizations are often recorded outside of the actual ischemic zones, allowing the remote diagnosis of delayed cerebral ischemia after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Here, we analyzed simultaneous electrocorticography and tissue partial pressure of oxygen recording in 33 aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage patients. Multiple regression showed that both peak total depression duration per recording day and mean baseline tissue partial pressure of oxygen were independent predictors of outcome. Moreover, tissue partial pressure of oxygen preceding spreading depolarization was similar and differences in tissue partial pressure of oxygen responses to spreading depolarization were only subtle between isoelectric spreading depolarizations and spreading depressions. This further supports that, similar to clustering of spreading depolarizations, long spreading depolarization-induced periods of isoelectricity are useful to detect energy compromise remotely, which is valuable because the exact location of future developing pathology is unknown at the time when the neurosurgeon implants recording devices.

N-terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptides in dogs and cats: A technical and clinical review

PubMed Central

de Lima, Gabriela Vieira; Ferreira, Felipp da Silveira

2017-01-01

Biomarkers are quantitative indicators of biological processes performed by an organ or system. In recent years, natriuretic peptides (NPs) have emerged as important tools in the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of heart diseases. Research has shown that serum and plasma levels of N-terminal pro brain NP (NT-proBNP) in dogs and cats are the only biomarkers that afford to diagnose and monitor congestive processes and, indirectly, the myocardial function of small animals. The present review discusses the peer-reviewed specialized literature about NT-proBNP and presents and compares the potential clinical applications of this NP in veterinary medicine of small animals, considering diagnosis, follow-up, and prognosis of myocardial or systemic diseases. The relevance of NT-proBNP is associated with sample stability, easy determination in laboratory, sensitivity, accuracy, and the possibility to analyze myocardial function. These advantages are specially important when NT-proBNP is compared with other cardiac biomarkers, mostly those that indicate the integrity of the myocardial cell. Fast NT-proBNP assays are marketed today and may be used in association with complementary tests. Together, these methods are an important source of information in differential diagnosis of heart and lung diseases as well in the early diagnosis of cardiopathy in dogs and cats, proving valuable tools in treatment and prognosis. PMID:29062197

Characterization of Doped Amorphous Silicon Thin Films through the Investigation of Dopant Elements by Glow Discharge Spectrometry. A Correlation of Conductivity and Bandgap Energy Measurements

PubMed Central

Sánchez, Pascal; Lorenzo, Olaya; Menéndez, Armando; Menéndez, Jose Luis; Gomez, David; Pereiro, Rosario; Fernández, Beatriz

2011-01-01

The determination of optical parameters, such as absorption and extinction coefficients, refractive index and the bandgap energy, is crucial to understand the behavior and final efficiency of thin film solar cells based on hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). The influence of small variations of the gas flow rates used for the preparation of the p-a-SiC:H layer on the bandgap energy, as well as on the dopant elements concentration, thickness and conductivity of the p-layer, is investigated in this work using several complementary techniques. UV-NIR spectrophotometry and ellipsometry were used for the determination of bandgap energies of four p-a-SiC:H thin films, prepared by using different B2H6 and SiH4 fluxes (B2H6 from 12 sccm to 20 sccm and SiH4 from 6 sccm to 10 sccm). Moreover, radiofrequency glow discharge optical emission spectrometry technique was used for depth profiling characterization of p-a-SiC:H thin films and valuable information about dopant elements concentration and distribution throughout the coating was found. Finally, a direct relationship between the conductivity of p-a-SiC:H thin films and the dopant elements concentration, particularly boron and carbon, was observed for the four selected samples. PMID:21731436

Immunohistochemical techniques and their applications in the histopathology of the respiratory system.

PubMed Central

Linnoila, I; Petrusz, P

1984-01-01

Subsequent to the first report in the 1940s on incubation of tissue sections with fluorescein-conjugated antibodies for localization of antigens, a great number of modifications were introduced to improve the validity of immunohistochemistry which has become a growingly popular tool. The use of immunoenzymatic techniques eliminates the need for expensive fluorescence microscopy equipment, the lack of permanency of preparations and the lack of electron density required in ultrastructural localization of antigens. Regardless of the technique, it is also important to choose a correct fixation which allows the proper preservation of antigens and morphology and the penetration of antibodies through the entire thickness of the preparation. A variety of immunohistochemical techniques have been applied to study several components of the lung, such as collagen, surface active material, lung specific antigens, and enzymes and the detection of tumor markers, immunoglobulins and infectious agents in the respiratory system which is reviewed. The large surface area and the multiplicity of cell types provided by the respiratory tract epithelium of humans for exposure to microbial as well as toxic substances in the environment make this organ system very vulnerable but a good early indicator of adverse health effects. Immunohistochemistry provides valuable information complementary to the immunochemical and biochemical characterization of this barrier. Images FIGURE 2. FIGURE 3. FIGURE 3. FIGURE 4. FIGURE 4. FIGURE 5. PMID:6090113

Elemental ratios for characterization of quantum-dots populations in complex mixtures by asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation on-line coupled to fluorescence and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Menendez-Miranda, Mario; Fernandez-Arguelles, Maria T; Costa-Fernandez, Jose M; Encinar, Jorge Ruiz; Sanz-Medel, Alfredo

2014-08-11

Separation and identification of nanoparticles of different composition, with similar particle diameter, coexisting in heterogeneous suspensions of polymer-coated CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) have been thoroughly assessed by asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) coupled on-line to fluorescence and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) detectors. Chemical characterization of any previously on-line separated nanosized species was achieved by the measurement of the elemental molar ratios of every element involved in the synthesis of the QDs, using inorganic standards and external calibration by flow injection analysis (FIA). Such elemental molar ratios, strongly limited so far to pure single nanoparticles suspensions, have been achieved with adequate accuracy by coupling for the first time an ICP-QQQ instrument to an AF4 system. This hyphenation turned out to be instrumental to assess the chemical composition of the different populations of nanoparticles coexisting in the relatively complex mixtures, due to its capabilities to detect the hardly detectable elements involved in the synthesis. Interestingly such information, complementary to that obtained by fluorescence, was very valuable to detect and identify unexpected nanosized species, present at significant level, produced during QDs synthesis and hardly detectable by standard approaches. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Arabidopsis Ensemble Reverse-Engineered Gene Regulatory Network Discloses Interconnected Transcription Factors in Oxidative Stress[W

PubMed Central

Vermeirssen, Vanessa; De Clercq, Inge; Van Parys, Thomas; Van Breusegem, Frank; Van de Peer, Yves

2014-01-01

The abiotic stress response in plants is complex and tightly controlled by gene regulation. We present an abiotic stress gene regulatory network of 200,014 interactions for 11,938 target genes by integrating four complementary reverse-engineering solutions through average rank aggregation on an Arabidopsis thaliana microarray expression compendium. This ensemble performed the most robustly in benchmarking and greatly expands upon the availability of interactions currently reported. Besides recovering 1182 known regulatory interactions, cis-regulatory motifs and coherent functionalities of target genes corresponded with the predicted transcription factors. We provide a valuable resource of 572 abiotic stress modules of coregulated genes with functional and regulatory information, from which we deduced functional relationships for 1966 uncharacterized genes and many regulators. Using gain- and loss-of-function mutants of seven transcription factors grown under control and salt stress conditions, we experimentally validated 141 out of 271 predictions (52% precision) for 102 selected genes and mapped 148 additional transcription factor-gene regulatory interactions (49% recall). We identified an intricate core oxidative stress regulatory network where NAC13, NAC053, ERF6, WRKY6, and NAC032 transcription factors interconnect and function in detoxification. Our work shows that ensemble reverse-engineering can generate robust biological hypotheses of gene regulation in a multicellular eukaryote that can be tested by medium-throughput experimental validation. PMID:25549671

Arabidopsis ensemble reverse-engineered gene regulatory network discloses interconnected transcription factors in oxidative stress.

PubMed

Vermeirssen, Vanessa; De Clercq, Inge; Van Parys, Thomas; Van Breusegem, Frank; Van de Peer, Yves

2014-12-01

The abiotic stress response in plants is complex and tightly controlled by gene regulation. We present an abiotic stress gene regulatory network of 200,014 interactions for 11,938 target genes by integrating four complementary reverse-engineering solutions through average rank aggregation on an Arabidopsis thaliana microarray expression compendium. This ensemble performed the most robustly in benchmarking and greatly expands upon the availability of interactions currently reported. Besides recovering 1182 known regulatory interactions, cis-regulatory motifs and coherent functionalities of target genes corresponded with the predicted transcription factors. We provide a valuable resource of 572 abiotic stress modules of coregulated genes with functional and regulatory information, from which we deduced functional relationships for 1966 uncharacterized genes and many regulators. Using gain- and loss-of-function mutants of seven transcription factors grown under control and salt stress conditions, we experimentally validated 141 out of 271 predictions (52% precision) for 102 selected genes and mapped 148 additional transcription factor-gene regulatory interactions (49% recall). We identified an intricate core oxidative stress regulatory network where NAC13, NAC053, ERF6, WRKY6, and NAC032 transcription factors interconnect and function in detoxification. Our work shows that ensemble reverse-engineering can generate robust biological hypotheses of gene regulation in a multicellular eukaryote that can be tested by medium-throughput experimental validation. © 2014 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.

Changes in olive oil volatile organic compounds induced by water status and light environment in canopies of Olea europaea L. trees.

PubMed

Benelli, Giovanni; Caruso, Giovanni; Giunti, Giulia; Cuzzola, Angela; Saba, Alessandro; Raffaelli, Andrea; Gucci, Riccardo

2015-09-01

Light and water are major factors in fruit development and quality. In this study, the effect of water and light in Olea europaea trees on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in olive oil was studied over 2 years. Mature fruits were harvested from three zones of the canopy with different light exposure (64%, 42% and 30% of incident light) of trees subjected to full, deficit or complementary irrigation. VOCs were determined by SPME GC-MS and analysed by principal component analysis followed by discriminant analysis to partition treatment effects. Fruit fresh weight and mesocarp oil content decreased in zones where intercepted light was less. Low light levels significantly slowed down fruit maturation, whereas conditions of water deficit accelerated the maturation process. The presence of cyclosativene and α-muurulene was associated with water deficit, nonanal, valencene with full irrigation; α-muurulene, (E)-2-hexanal were related to low light conditions, while trans-β-ocimene, α-copaene, (Z)-2-penten-1-ol, hexanal and nonanal to well exposed zones. The year strongly affected the VOC profile of olive oil. This is the first report on qualitative changes in VOCs induced by light environment and/or water status. This information is valuable to better understand the role of environmental factors on the sensory quality of virgin olive oil. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

Paying for Complementary Health Approaches

MedlinePlus

... you, not an employer, establish this kind of account. For more information, see Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Publication 969, Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans (2.1MB ...

Complementary and alternative medicine in multiple sclerosis

PubMed Central

Moawad, Heidi; Shepard, Katie M.; Satya-Murti, Saty

2015-01-01

Summary This article identifies payment policy perspectives of the American Academy of Neurology's guideline on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in multiple sclerosis (MS). The guideline is a reliable repository of information for advocating or not recommending certain CAM treatments in MS. It eases the burden of searching for information on each separate CAM treatment. It frequently emphasizes the need for patient counseling. To provide such generally undervalued, but needed, cognitive services, neurologists could use advanced practice providers and patient-friendly visual aids during or between visits. They should also rely on evaluation and management codes that recognize time spent predominantly on counseling or coordination of care. The guideline's categorization of probable effectiveness of certain therapies will not influence coverage decisions because payers do not generally cover CAM therapies. PMID:29443184

Human eye haptics-based multimedia.

PubMed

Velandia, David; Uribe-Quevedo, Alvaro; Perez-Gutierrez, Byron

2014-01-01

Immersive and interactive multimedia applications offer complementary study tools in anatomy as users can explore 3D models while obtaining information about the organ, tissue or part being explored. Haptics increases the sense of interaction with virtual objects improving user experience in a more realistic manner. Common eye studying tools are books, illustrations, assembly models, and more recently these are being complemented with mobile apps whose 3D capabilities, computing power and customers are increasing. The goal of this project is to develop a complementary eye anatomy and pathology study tool using deformable models within a multimedia application, offering the students the opportunity for exploring the eye from up close and within with relevant information. Validation of the tool provided feedback on the potential of the development, along with suggestions on improving haptic feedback and navigation.

What's cooking with garlic: is this complementary and alternative medicine for hypertension?

PubMed

Edwards, Quannetta T; Colquist, Stephanie; Maradiegue, Ann

2005-09-01

To define complementary and alternative medicine (CAM); describe one type of CAM, garlic (Allium sativum L); and discuss its effects on blood pressure as a treatment for hypertension. Literature review from professional journals, abstracts, natural therapy books, and the World Wide Web (Internet). Information from the following professional organizations and agencies: The World Health Organization, Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, National Cancer Institute, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, American Botanical Council, and Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. Garlic is widely used throughout the world as a CAM. It is one of the most popular herbal products sold in the United States. However, while some studies have shown small positive effects in reducing blood pressure, there are insufficient scientific data to draw conclusions regarding its efficacy on clinical blood pressure outcomes. Thus, healthcare providers should be cautious in recommending this herbal product as an antihypertensive CAM. CAMs may be used by clients for a variety of conditions including hypertension. Healthcare providers must be cognizant of the use, efficacy, adverse affects, and scientific evidence concerning CAM in order to provide safe and effective practice as well as appropriate and accurate information to their clients.

Artificial spatiotemporal touch inputs reveal complementary decoding in neocortical neurons.

PubMed

Oddo, Calogero M; Mazzoni, Alberto; Spanne, Anton; Enander, Jonas M D; Mogensen, Hannes; Bengtsson, Fredrik; Camboni, Domenico; Micera, Silvestro; Jörntell, Henrik

2017-04-04

Investigations of the mechanisms of touch perception and decoding has been hampered by difficulties in achieving invariant patterns of skin sensor activation. To obtain reproducible spatiotemporal patterns of activation of sensory afferents, we used an artificial fingertip equipped with an array of neuromorphic sensors. The artificial fingertip was used to transduce real-world haptic stimuli into spatiotemporal patterns of spikes. These spike patterns were delivered to the skin afferents of the second digit of rats via an array of stimulation electrodes. Combined with low-noise intra- and extracellular recordings from neocortical neurons in vivo, this approach provided a previously inaccessible high resolution analysis of the representation of tactile information in the neocortical neuronal circuitry. The results indicate high information content in individual neurons and reveal multiple novel neuronal tactile coding features such as heterogeneous and complementary spatiotemporal input selectivity also between neighboring neurons. Such neuronal heterogeneity and complementariness can potentially support a very high decoding capacity in a limited population of neurons. Our results also indicate a potential neuroprosthetic approach to communicate with the brain at a very high resolution and provide a potential novel solution for evaluating the degree or state of neurological disease in animal models.

Artificial spatiotemporal touch inputs reveal complementary decoding in neocortical neurons

PubMed Central

Oddo, Calogero M.; Mazzoni, Alberto; Spanne, Anton; Enander, Jonas M. D.; Mogensen, Hannes; Bengtsson, Fredrik; Camboni, Domenico; Micera, Silvestro; Jörntell, Henrik

2017-01-01

Investigations of the mechanisms of touch perception and decoding has been hampered by difficulties in achieving invariant patterns of skin sensor activation. To obtain reproducible spatiotemporal patterns of activation of sensory afferents, we used an artificial fingertip equipped with an array of neuromorphic sensors. The artificial fingertip was used to transduce real-world haptic stimuli into spatiotemporal patterns of spikes. These spike patterns were delivered to the skin afferents of the second digit of rats via an array of stimulation electrodes. Combined with low-noise intra- and extracellular recordings from neocortical neurons in vivo, this approach provided a previously inaccessible high resolution analysis of the representation of tactile information in the neocortical neuronal circuitry. The results indicate high information content in individual neurons and reveal multiple novel neuronal tactile coding features such as heterogeneous and complementary spatiotemporal input selectivity also between neighboring neurons. Such neuronal heterogeneity and complementariness can potentially support a very high decoding capacity in a limited population of neurons. Our results also indicate a potential neuroprosthetic approach to communicate with the brain at a very high resolution and provide a potential novel solution for evaluating the degree or state of neurological disease in animal models. PMID:28374841

Dietary patterns and the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, and neurodegenerative diseases.

PubMed

Medina-Remón, Alexander; Kirwan, Richard; Lamuela-Raventós, Rosa M; Estruch, Ramón

2018-01-22

Diet and lifestyle play a significant role in the development chronic diseases; however the full complexity of this relationship is not yet understood. Dietary pattern investigation, which reflects the complexity of dietary intake, has emerged as an alternative and complementary approach for examining the association between diet and chronic diseases. Literature on this association has largely focused on individual nutrients, with conflicting outcomes, but individuals consume a combination of foods from many groups that form dietary patterns. Our objective was to systematically review the current findings on the effects of dietary patterns on chronic diseases. In this review, we describe and discuss the relationships between dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean, the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension, Prudent, Seventh-day Adventists, and Western, with risk of obesity, type-2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, and neurodegenearive diseases. Evidence is increasing from both observational and clinical studies that plant-based dietary patterns, which are rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, are valuable in preventing various chronic diseases, whereas a diet high in red and processed meat, refined grains and added sugar seems to increase said risk. Dietary pattern analysis might be especially valuable to the development and evaluation of food-based dietary guidelines.

Reveal quantum correlation in complementary bases

PubMed Central

Wu, Shengjun; Ma, Zhihao; Chen, Zhihua; Yu, Sixia

2014-01-01

An essential feature of genuine quantum correlation is the simultaneous existence of correlation in complementary bases. We reveal this feature of quantum correlation by defining measures based on invariance under a basis change. For a bipartite quantum state, the classical correlation is the maximal correlation present in a certain optimum basis, while the quantum correlation is characterized as a series of residual correlations in the mutually unbiased bases. Compared with other approaches to quantify quantum correlation, our approach gives information-theoretical measures that directly reflect the essential feature of quantum correlation. PMID:24503595

Vitamin D toxicity of dietary origin in cats fed a natural complementary kitten food

PubMed Central

Crossley, Victoria J; Bovens, Catherine PV; Pineda, Carmen; Hibbert, Angie; Finch, Natalie C

2017-01-01

Case series summary This case series describes two young sibling cats and an additional unrelated cat, from two separate households, that developed hypercalcaemia associated with hypervitaminosis D. Excessive vitamin D concentrations were identified in a natural complementary tinned kitten food that was fed to all three cats as part of their diet. In one of the cases, there was clinical evidence of soft tissue mineralisation. The hypercalcaemia and soft tissue mineralisation resolved following withdrawal of the affected food and medical management of the hypercalcaemia. Relevance and novel information This case series demonstrates the importance of obtaining a thorough dietary history in patients presenting with hypercalcaemia and the measurement of vitamin D metabolites when investigating such cases. Complementary foods may have the potential to induce nutritional toxicity even when fed with complete, nutritionally balanced diets. PMID:29270305

Feverfew

MedlinePlus

... Audio) NCCIH Clinical Digest A monthly newsletter with evidence-based information on complementary and integrative practices and a ... migraine headaches, but results have been mixed. However, evidence-based guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology and ...

Ephedra

MedlinePlus

... Audio) NCCIH Clinical Digest A monthly newsletter with evidence-based information on complementary and integrative practices and a ... Kim EJ, Chen Y, Huang JQ, et al. Evidence-based toxicity evaluation and scheduling of Chinese herbal medicines. ...

Exploring the Microbiome of Callinectes sapidus (Maryland Blue Crab)

PubMed Central

Reed, Elizabeth; Ottesen, Andrea

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT The Maryland blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) is a treasured food, especially in areas surrounding the Chesapeake Bay. It has huge economic impact on commerce, and thus, understanding the bacterial, fungal, and viral constituents of its microbiome provides valuable information to safely manage aquaculture, handling, and cooking of this valuable commodity. PMID:29853506

The Complementary Therapies for Labour and Birth Study making sense of labour and birth - Experiences of women, partners and midwives of a complementary medicine antenatal education course.

PubMed

Levett, K M; Smith, C A; Bensoussan, A; Dahlen, H G

2016-09-01

to gain insight into the experiences of women, partners and midwives who participated in the Complementary Therapies for Labour and Birth Study, an evidence based complementary medicine (CM) antenatal education course. qualitative in-depth interviews and a focus group as part of the Complementary Therapies for Labour and Birth Study. thirteen low risk primiparous women and seven partners who had participated in the study group of a randomised controlled trial of the complementary therapies for labour and birth study, and 12 midwives caring for these women. The trial was conducted at two public hospitals, and through the Western Sydney University in Sydney, Australia. the Complementary Therapies for Labour and Birth (CTLB) protocol, based on the She Births® course and the Acupressure for labour and birth protocol, incorporated six evidence-based complementary medicine (CM) techniques; acupressure, relaxation, visualisation, breathing, massage, yoga techniques and incorporated facilitated partner support. Randomisation to the trial occurred at 24-36 weeks' gestation, and participants attended a two-day antenatal education programme, plus standard care, or standard care alone. the overarching theme identified in the qualitative data was making sense of labour and birth. Women used information about normal birth physiology from the course to make sense of labour, and to utilise the CM techniques to support normal birth and reduce interventions in labour. Women's, partners' and midwives' experience of the course and its use during birth gave rise to supporting themes such as: working for normal; having a toolkit; and finding what works. the Complementary Therapies for Labour and Birth Study provided women and their partners with knowledge to understand the physiology of normal labour and birth and enabled them to use evidence-based CM tools to support birth and reduce interventions. the Complementary Therapies for Labour and Birth Study introduces concepts of what constitutes normal birth and provides skills to support women, partners and midwives. It appears to be an effective form of antenatal education that supports normal birth, and maternity services need to consider how they can reform current antenatal education in line with this evidence. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acai

MedlinePlus

... Audio) NCCIH Clinical Digest A monthly newsletter with evidence-based information on complementary and integrative practices and a ... What Have We Learned? There’s no definitive scientific evidence based on studies in people to support the use ...

Hot flashes severity, complementary and alternative medicine use, and self-rated health in women with breast cancer.

PubMed

Chandwani, Kavita D; Heckler, Charles E; Mohile, Supriya G; Mustian, Karen M; Janelsins, Michelle; Peppone, Luke J; Bushunow, Peter; Flynn, Patrick J; Morrow, Gary R

2014-01-01

Hot flashes (HF) are a common distressing symptom in women with breast cancer (BC). Current pharmacologic options are moderately effective and are associated with bothersome side effects. Complementary and alternative medicine is commonly used by cancer patients. However, information on the association of hot flashes severity with such use and self-rated health is lacking. To examine the hot flashes severity in women with breast cancer and its association with complementary and alternative medicine use and self-rated health (SRH). Longitudinal multicenter study to assess information needs of cancer outpatients. Patients with a diagnosis of breast cancer who were scheduled to undergo chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Hot flashes severity (0 = not present and 10 = as bad as you can imagine), use of complementary and alternative medicine (yes/no), and self-rating of health (SRH) status post-treatment and six-months thereafter (1-5, higher score = better SRH). The majority of women with HF (mean age = 54.4 years) were Caucasian and married, with higher education, and 93% had received surgical treatment for BC. At the end of treatment, 79% women reported experiencing HF [mean severity = 5.87, standard deviation (SD) = 2.9]; significantly more severe HF were reported by younger women with poor SRH, poor performance status, and those reporting doing spiritual practices. At follow-up, 73% had HF (mean severity = 4.86, SD = 3.0), and more severe HF were reported by younger women with poor self-rated health who had undergone chemotherapy plus radiotherapy, used vitamins, and did not exercise. A high percentage of women experienced hot flashes at the end of treatment and at six-month follow-up. A significant association of hot flashes severity with spiritual practice, increased vitamin use, and reduced exercise emphasize the need for future studies to confirm the results. This can facilitate safe use of complementary and alternative medicine and favorable outcomes while managing cancer-related hot flashes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Loopedia, a database for loop integrals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogner, C.; Borowka, S.; Hahn, T.; Heinrich, G.; Jones, S. P.; Kerner, M.; von Manteuffel, A.; Michel, M.; Panzer, E.; Papara, V.

2018-04-01

Loopedia is a new database at loopedia.org for information on Feynman integrals, intended to provide both bibliographic information as well as results made available by the community. Its bibliometry is complementary to that of INSPIRE or arXiv in the sense that it admits searching for integrals by graph-theoretical objects, e.g. its topology.

Mapping out the Transition toward Information Societies: Social Nature, Growth, and Policies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilbert, Martin

2012-01-01

This research thesis sheds lights on different aspects of the transition toward information societies. It consists of a collection of interrelated studies that analyze in more rigorous terms three main and complementary aspects of the transition (see Figure below). After and "introductory" CHAPTER ONE, the consecutive CHAPTER TWO of this…

Mental "Space" Travel: Damage to Posterior Parietal Cortex Prevents Egocentric Navigation and Reexperiencing of Remote Spatial Memories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ciaramelli, Elisa; Rosenbaum, R. Shayna; Solcz, Stephanie; Levine, Brian; Moscovitch, Morris

2010-01-01

The ability to navigate in a familiar environment depends on both an intact mental representation of allocentric spatial information and the integrity of systems supporting complementary egocentric representations. Although the hippocampus has been implicated in learning new allocentric spatial information, converging evidence suggests that the…

Is a Partner's Competence Threatening during Dyadic Cooperative Work? It Depends on Resource Interdependence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buchs, Celine; Butera, Fabrizio

2009-01-01

Previous studies with university students have shown that resource interdependence during cooperative dyadic work on texts produces two different dynamics in student interaction and learning. Working on complementary information produces positive interactions, but a good quality of information transmission is needed to foster student learning.…

Network gatekeeping: complementary medicine information on the websites of medical institutions.

PubMed

Keshet, Yael

2012-03-01

Integrative medicine - complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practised in mainstream healthcare organizations - combines medical treatments based on incommensurable paradigms. As the Internet has been portrayed as a crucial pathway to CAM and sites administered by reputable organizations are considered to be relatively reliable sources of medical information, the research sought to explore and compare the ways in which CAM is presented on the Internet websites of diverse medical institutions. The contents of the websites of the Ministry of Health, the Israeli Medical Association and Israeli healthcare organizations were analysed, using an interdisciplinary theory of network gatekeeping. The websites were analysed not only according to the degree to which they are considered to be informative, but also with regard to the perceptions of integration that they convey. Comparison of the websites of community healthcare organizations and hospitals indicates that while the former display CAM treatments as an attractive commodity, the latter convey a message stressing the need to subject CAM to bio-medical scrutiny. Little or no information was provided concerning a number of important issues, such as research findings about efficacy and safety, risks and ethical considerations.

Perceptions, use and attitudes of pharmacy customers on complementary medicines and pharmacy practice

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Complementary medicines (CMs) are popular amongst Australians and community pharmacy is a major supplier of these products. This study explores pharmacy customer use, attitudes and perceptions of complementary medicines, and their expectations of pharmacists as they relate to these products. Methods Pharmacy customers randomly selected from sixty large and small, metropolitan and rural pharmacies in three Australian states completed an anonymous, self administered questionnaire that had been pre-tested and validated. Results 1,121 customers participated (response rate 62%). 72% had used CMs within the previous 12 months, 61% used prescription medicines daily and 43% had used both concomitantly. Multivitamins, fish oils, vitamin C, glucosamine and probiotics were the five most popular CMs. 72% of people using CMs rated their products as 'very effective' or 'effective enough'. CMs were as frequently used by customers aged 60 years or older as younger customers (69% vs. 72%) although the pattern of use shifted with older age. Most customers (92%) thought pharmacists should provide safety information about CMs, 90% thought they should routinely check for interactions, 87% thought they should recommend effective CMs, 78% thought CMs should be recorded in customer's medication profile and 58% thought pharmacies stocking CMs should also employ a complementary medicine practitioner. Of those using CMs, 93% thought it important for pharmacists to be knowledgeable about CMs and 48% felt their pharmacist provides useful information about CMs. Conclusions CMs are widely used by pharmacy customers of all ages who want pharmacists to be more involved in providing advice about these products. PMID:20646290

Evaluation of programs to improve complementary feeding in infants and young children.

PubMed

Frongillo, Edward A

2017-10-01

Evaluation of complementary feeding programs is needed to enhance knowledge on what works, to document responsible use of resources, and for advocacy. Evaluation is done during program conceptualization and design, implementation, and determination of effectiveness. This paper explains the role of evaluation in the advancement of complementary feeding programs, presenting concepts and methods and illustrating them through examples. Planning and investments for evaluations should occur from the beginning of the project life cycle. Essential to evaluation is articulation of a program theory on how change would occur and what program actions are required for change. Analysis of program impact pathways makes explicit the dynamic connections in the program theory and accounts for contextual factors that could influence program effectiveness. Evaluating implementation functioning is done through addressing questions about needs, coverage, provision, and utilization using information obtained from process evaluation, operations research, and monitoring. Evaluating effectiveness is done through assessing impact, efficiency, coverage, process, and causality. Plausibility designs ask whether the program seemed to have an effect above and beyond external influences, often using a nonrandomized control group and baseline and end line measures. Probability designs ask whether there was an effect using a randomized control group. Evaluations may not be able to use randomization, particularly for programs implemented at a large scale. Plausibility designs, innovative designs, or innovative combinations of designs sometimes are best able to provide useful information. Further work is needed to develop practical designs for evaluation of large-scale country programs on complementary feeding. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

TU-H-CAMPUS-IeP3-01: Simultaneous PET Restoration and PET/CT Co-Segmentation Using a Variational Method

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

Li, L; Tan, S; Lu, W

Purpose: PET images are usually blurred due to the finite spatial resolution, while CT images suffer from low contrast. Segment a tumor from either a single PET or CT image is thus challenging. To make full use of the complementary information between PET and CT, we propose a novel variational method for simultaneous PET image restoration and PET/CT images co-segmentation. Methods: The proposed model was constructed based on the Γ-convergence approximation of Mumford-Shah (MS) segmentation model for PET/CT co-segmentation. Moreover, a PET de-blur process was integrated into the MS model to improve the segmentation accuracy. An interaction edge constraint termmore » over the two modalities were specially designed to share the complementary information. The energy functional was iteratively optimized using an alternate minimization (AM) algorithm. The performance of the proposed method was validated on ten lung cancer cases and five esophageal cancer cases. The ground truth were manually delineated by an experienced radiation oncologist using the complementary visual features of PET and CT. The segmentation accuracy was evaluated by Dice similarity index (DSI) and volume error (VE). Results: The proposed method achieved an expected restoration result for PET image and satisfactory segmentation results for both PET and CT images. For lung cancer dataset, the average DSI (0.72) increased by 0.17 and 0.40 than single PET and CT segmentation. For esophageal cancer dataset, the average DSI (0.85) increased by 0.07 and 0.43 than single PET and CT segmentation. Conclusion: The proposed method took full advantage of the complementary information from PET and CT images. This work was supported in part by the National Cancer Institute Grants R01CA172638. Shan Tan and Laquan Li were supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, under Grant Nos. 60971112 and 61375018.« less

CAM practitioners in the Australian health workforce: an underutilized resource

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background CAM practitioners are a valuable but underutilizes resource in Australian health care. Despite increasing public support for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) little is known about the CAM workforce. Apart from the registered professions of chiropractic, osteopathy and Chinese medicine, accurate information about the number of CAM practitioners in the workforce has been difficult to obtain. It appears that many non-registered CAM practitioners, although highly qualified, are not working to their full capacity. Discussion Increasing public endorsement of CAM stands in contrast to the negative attitude toward the CAM workforce by some members of the medical and other health professions and by government policy makers. The marginalisation of the CAM workforce is evident in prejudicial attitudes held by some members of the medical and other health professions and its exclusion from government policy making. Inconsistent educational standards has meant that non-registered CAM practitioners, including highly qualified and competent ones, are frequently overlooked. Legitimising their contribution to the health workforce could alleviate workforce shortages and provide opportunities for redesigned job roles and new multidisciplinary teams. Priorities for better utilisation of the CAM workforce include establishing a guaranteed minimum education standard for more CAM occupation groups through national registration, providing interprofessional education that includes CAM practitioners, developing courses to upgrade CAM practitioners' professional skills in areas of indentified need, and increasing support for CAM research. Summary Marginalisation of the CAM workforce has disadvantaged those qualified and competent CAM practitioners who practise evidence-informed medicine on the basis of many years of university training. Legitimising and expanding the important contribution of CAM practitioners could alleviate projected health workforce shortages, particularly for the prevention and management of chronic health conditions and for health promotion. PMID:23116374

NASA's Far-IR/Submillimeter Roadmap Missions SAFIR and SPECS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leisawitz, David

2003-01-01

The far-IR is rich with information about star, disk and planet formation because protostars emit predominantly in this spectral range, and the radiation can escape from the inherently dusty stellar birth sites. Spectral lines contain particularly valuable information about the cooling, collapse, and chemistry of molecular cloud cores and protostars. However, the interpretation of line intensities and profiles is model-dependent; ultimately, high angular resolution is needed to break model degeneracy and definitively characterize the source. Processes occurring on scales smaller than 10,000 AU (72 arcsec at 140 pc, where the nearest protostellar objects are found) likely affect the stellar initial mass function and determine the product of cloud collapse (Binary star or planetary system? How many planets, and what kind will they be?) The next-generation far-IR observatories SIRTF, SOFIA, and Herschel will revolutionize star formation studies and leave the community yearning for telescopes that operate in this spectral region but provide many orders of magnitude better angular resolution. NASA's space science roadmap includes the JWST-scale Single Aperture Far-IR (SAFIR) telescope and the 1 km maximum baseline far-IR interferometer, SPECS (the Submillimeter Probe of the Evolution of Cosmic Structure). I will give the scientific motivation for these missions, describe mission concepts and telescope measurement capabilities, and compare these capabilities with those of the next-generation IR telescopes and with the complementary JWST and ALMA. I will also describe the Space Infrared Interferometric Telescope (SPIRIT), a science and technology pathfinder for SPECS, which could be ready to launch in about a decade. At 100 microns, SAFIR will provide 2.5 arcsec resolution (10 times better than SIRTF), SPIRIT will provide 0.25 arcsec resolution, and SPECS will provide 10 milli-arcsec resolution, which is comparable to that of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Simultaneous detection and quantitation of organic impurities in methamphetamine by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, a complementary technique for methamphetamine profiling.

PubMed

Li, Li; Brown, Jaclyn L; Toske, Steven G

2018-04-06

The analysis of organic impurities plays an important role in the impurity profiling of methamphetamine, which in turn provides valuable information about methamphetamine manufacturing, in particular its synthetic route, chemicals, and precursors used. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) is ideally suited for this purpose due to its excellent sensitivity, selectivity, and wide linear range in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. In this study, a dilute-and-shoot UHPLC-MS/MS method was developed for the simultaneous identification and quantitation of 23 organic manufacturing impurities in illicit methamphetamine. The developed method was validated in terms of stability, limit of detection (LOD), lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), accuracy, and precision. More than 100 illicitly prepared methamphetamine samples were analyzed. Due to its ability to detect ephedrine/pseudoephedrine and its high sensitivity for critical target markers (eg, chloro-pseudoephedrine, N-cyclohexylamphetamine, and compounds B and P), more impurities and precursor/pre-precursors were identified and quantified versus the current procedure by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Consequently, more samples could be classified by their synthetic routes. However, the UHPLC-MS/MS method has difficulty in detecting neutral and untargeted emerging manufacturing impurities and can therefore only serve as a complement to the current method. Despite this deficiency, the quantitative information acquired by the presented UHPLC-MS/MS methodology increased the sample discrimination power, thereby enhancing the capacity of methamphetamine profiling program (MPP) to conduct sample-sample comparisons. Published 2018. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Analysis of sesterterpenoids from Aspergillus terreus using ESI-QTOF and ESI-IT.

PubMed

Wu, Zhi-Jun; Fang, Dong-Mei; Han, Dan; Li, Guo-You; Chen, Xiao-Zhen; Qi, Hua-Yi; Zhang, Guo-Lin

2010-01-01

Biosynthesis of terretonin was studied due to the interesting skeleton of this series of sesterterpenoids. Very recently, López-Gresa reported two new sesterterpenoids (terretonins E and F) which are inhibitors of the mammalian mitochondrial respiratory chain. Mass spectrometry (MS), especially tandem mass spectrometry, has been one of the most important physicochemical methods for the identification of trace natural products due to it rapidity, sensitivity and low levels of sample consumption. The potential application prospect and unique skeleton prompted us to study structural characterisation using MS. To obtain sufficient information for rapid structural elucidation of this class of compounds using MS. The elemental composition of the product ions was confirmed by low-energy ESI-CID-QTOF-MS/MS analyses. The fragmentation pathways were postulated on the basis of ESI-QTOF-MS/MS/MS and ESI-IT-MS(n) spectra. Common features and major differences between ESI-QTOF-MS/MS and IT-MS(n) spectra were compared. For ESI-QTOF-MS/MS/MS experiments, capillary exit voltage was raised to induce in-source dissociation. Ammonium acetate or acetic acid were added into solutions to improve the intensity of [M + H]+. The collision energy was optimised to achieve sufficient fragmentation. Some fragmentation pathways were unambiguously proposed by the variety of abundance of fragment ions at different collision energies even without MS(n) spectra. Fragmentation pathways of five representative sesterterpenoids were elucidated using ESI-QTOF-MS/MS/MS and ESI-IT-MS(n) in both positive- and negative-ion mode. The key group of characterising fragmentation profiles was ring B, and these fragmentation patterns are helpful to identify different types of sestertepenoids. Complementary information obtained from fragmentation experiments of [M + H]+ (or [M + NH4]+ and [M-H](-) precursor ions is especially valuable for rapid identification of this kind of sesterterpenoid.

Multicolor probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy: a new world for in vivo and real-time cellular imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vercauteren, Tom; Doussoux, François; Cazaux, Matthieu; Schmid, Guillaume; Linard, Nicolas; Durin, Marie-Amélie; Gharbi, Hédi; Lacombe, François

2013-03-01

Since its inception in the field of in vivo imaging, endomicroscopy through optical fiber bundles, or probe-based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (pCLE), has extensively proven the benefit of in situ and real-time examination of living tissues at the microscopic scale. By continuously increasing image quality, reducing invasiveness and improving system ergonomics, Mauna Kea Technologies has turned pCLE not only into an irreplaceable research instrument for small animal imaging, but also into an accurate clinical decision making tool with applications as diverse as gastrointestinal endoscopy, pulmonology and urology. The current implementation of pCLE relies on a single fluorescence spectral band making different sources of in vivo information challenging to distinguish. Extending the pCLE approach to multi-color endomicroscopy therefore appears as a natural plan. Coupling simultaneous multi-laser excitation with minimally invasive, microscopic resolution, thin and flexible optics, allows the fusion of complementary and valuable biological information, thus paving the way to a combination of morphological and functional imaging. This paper will detail the architecture of a new system, Cellvizio Dual Band, capable of video rate in vivo and in situ multi-spectral fluorescence imaging with a microscopic resolution. In its standard configuration, the system simultaneously operates at 488 and 660 nm, where it automatically performs the necessary spectral, photometric and geometric calibrations to provide unambiguously co-registered images in real-time. The main hardware and software features, including calibration procedures and sub-micron registration algorithms, will be presented as well as a panorama of its current applications, illustrated with recent results in the field of pre-clinical imaging.

Pharmacological enhancement of memory or cognition in normal subjects

PubMed Central

Lynch, Gary; Cox, Conor D.; Gall, Christine M.

2014-01-01

The possibility of expanding memory or cognitive capabilities above the levels in high functioning individuals is a topic of intense discussion among scientists and in society at large. The majority of animal studies use behavioral endpoint measures; this has produced valuable information but limited predictability for human outcomes. Accordingly, several groups are pursuing a complementary strategy with treatments targeting synaptic events associated with memory encoding or forebrain network operations. Transcription and translation figure prominently in substrate work directed at enhancement. Notably, the question of why new proteins would be needed for a now-forming memory given that learning-driven synthesis presumably occurred throughout the immediate past has been largely ignored. Despite this conceptual problem, and some controversy, recent studies have reinvigorated the idea that selective gene manipulation is a plausible route to enhancement. Efforts to improve memory by facilitating synaptic encoding of information have also progressed, in part due of breakthroughs on mechanisms that stabilize learning-related, long-term potentiation (LTP). These advances point to a reductionistic hypothesis for a diversity of experimental results on enhancement, and identify under-explored possibilities. Cognitive enhancement remains an elusive goal, in part due to the difficulty of defining the target. The popular view of cognition as a collection of definable computations seems to miss the fluid, integrative process experienced by high functioning individuals. The neurobiological approach obviates these psychological issues to directly test the consequences of improving throughput in networks underlying higher order behaviors. The few relevant studies testing drugs that selectively promote excitatory transmission indicate that it is possible to expand cortical networks engaged by complex tasks and that this is accompanied by capabilities not found in normal animals. PMID:24904313

Use of sibling relationship reconstruction to complement traditional monitoring in fisheries management and conservation of brown trout.

PubMed

Ozerov, Mikhail; Jürgenstein, Tauno; Aykanat, Tutku; Vasemägi, Anti

2015-08-01

Declining trends in the abundance of many fish urgently call for more efficient and informative monitoring methods that would provide necessary demographic data for the evaluation of existing conservation, restoration, and management actions. We investigated how genetic sibship reconstruction from young-of-the-year brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) juveniles provides valuable, complementary demographic information that allowed us to disentangle the effects of habitat quality and number of breeders on juvenile density. We studied restored (n = 15) and control (n = 15) spawning and nursery habitats in 16 brown trout rivers and streams over 2 consecutive years to evaluate the effectiveness of habitat restoration activities. Similar juvenile densities both in restored and control spawning and nursery grounds were observed. Similarly, no differences in the effective number of breeders, Nb(SA) , were detected between habitats, indicating that brown trout readily used recently restored spawning grounds. Only a weak relationship between the Nb(SA) and juvenile density was observed, suggesting that multiple factors affect juvenile abundance. In some areas, very low estimates of Nb(SA) were found at sites with high juvenile density, indicating that a small number of breeders can produce a high number of progeny in favorable conditions. In other sites, high Nb(SA) estimates were associated with low juvenile density, suggesting low habitat quality or lack of suitable spawning substrate in relation to available breeders. Based on these results, we recommend the incorporation of genetic sibship reconstruction to ongoing and future fish evaluation and monitoring programs to gain novel insights into local demographic and evolutionary processes relevant for fisheries management, habitat restoration, and conservation. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Clustering P-Wave Receiver Functions To Constrain Subsurface Seismic Structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chai, C.; Larmat, C. S.; Maceira, M.; Ammon, C. J.; He, R.; Zhang, H.

2017-12-01

The acquisition of high-quality data from permanent and temporary dense seismic networks provides the opportunity to apply statistical and machine learning techniques to a broad range of geophysical observations. Lekic and Romanowicz (2011) used clustering analysis on tomographic velocity models of the western United States to perform tectonic regionalization and the velocity-profile clusters agree well with known geomorphic provinces. A complementary and somewhat less restrictive approach is to apply cluster analysis directly to geophysical observations. In this presentation, we apply clustering analysis to teleseismic P-wave receiver functions (RFs) continuing efforts of Larmat et al. (2015) and Maceira et al. (2015). These earlier studies validated the approach with surface waves and stacked EARS RFs from the USArray stations. In this study, we experiment with both the K-means and hierarchical clustering algorithms. We also test different distance metrics defined in the vector space of RFs following Lekic and Romanowicz (2011). We cluster data from two distinct data sets. The first, corresponding to the western US, was by smoothing/interpolation of receiver-function wavefield (Chai et al. 2015). Spatial coherence and agreement with geologic region increase with this simpler, spatially smoothed set of observations. The second data set is composed of RFs for more than 800 stations of the China Digital Seismic Network (CSN). Preliminary results show a first order agreement between clusters and tectonic region and each region cluster includes a distinct Ps arrival, which probably reflects differences in crustal thickness. Regionalization remains an important step to characterize a model prior to application of full waveform and/or stochastic imaging techniques because of the computational expense of these types of studies. Machine learning techniques can provide valuable information that can be used to design and characterize formal geophysical inversion, providing information on spatial variability in the subsurface geology.

SXR measurement and W transport survey using GEM tomographic system on WEST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazon, D.; Jardin, A.; Malard, P.; Chernyshova, M.; Coston, C.; Malard, P.; O'Mullane, M.; Czarski, T.; Malinowski, K.; Faisse, F.; Ferlay, F.; Verger, J. M.; Bec, A.; Larroque, S.; Kasprowicz, G.; Wojenski, A.; Pozniak, K.

2017-11-01

Measuring Soft X-Ray (SXR) radiation (0.1-20 keV) of fusion plasmas is a standard way of accessing valuable information on particle transport. Since heavy impurities like tungsten (W) could degrade plasma core performances and cause radiative collapses, it is necessary to develop new diagnostics to be able to monitor the impurity distribution in harsh fusion environments like ITER. A gaseous detector with energy discrimination would be a very good candidate for this purpose. The design and implementation of a new SXR diagnostic developed for the WEST project, based on a triple Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector is presented. This detector works in photon counting mode and presents energy discrimination capabilities. The SXR system is composed of two 1D cameras (vertical and horizontal views respectively), located in the same poloidal cross-section to allow for tomographic reconstruction. An array (20 cm × 2 cm) consists of up to 128 detectors in front of a beryllium pinhole (equipped with a 1 mm diameter diaphragm) inserted at about 50 cm depth inside a cooled thimble in order to retrieve a wide plasma view. Acquisition of low energy spectrum is insured by a helium buffer installed between the pinhole and the detector. Complementary cooling systems (water) are used to maintain a constant temperature (25oC) inside the thimble. Finally a real-time automatic extraction system has been developed to protect the diagnostic during baking phases or any overheating unwanted events. Preliminary simulations of plasma emissivity and W distribution have been performed for WEST using a recently developed synthetic diagnostic coupled to a tomographic algorithm based on the minimum Fisher information (MFI) inversion method. First GEM acquisitions are presented as well as estimation of transport effect in presence of ICRH on W density reconstruction capabilities of the GEM.

CAM practitioners in the Australian health workforce: an underutilized resource.

PubMed

Grace, Sandra

2012-11-02

CAM practitioners are a valuable but underutilizes resource in Australian health care. Despite increasing public support for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) little is known about the CAM workforce. Apart from the registered professions of chiropractic, osteopathy and Chinese medicine, accurate information about the number of CAM practitioners in the workforce has been difficult to obtain. It appears that many non-registered CAM practitioners, although highly qualified, are not working to their full capacity. Increasing public endorsement of CAM stands in contrast to the negative attitude toward the CAM workforce by some members of the medical and other health professions and by government policy makers. The marginalisation of the CAM workforce is evident in prejudicial attitudes held by some members of the medical and other health professions and its exclusion from government policy making. Inconsistent educational standards has meant that non-registered CAM practitioners, including highly qualified and competent ones, are frequently overlooked. Legitimising their contribution to the health workforce could alleviate workforce shortages and provide opportunities for redesigned job roles and new multidisciplinary teams. Priorities for better utilisation of the CAM workforce include establishing a guaranteed minimum education standard for more CAM occupation groups through national registration, providing interprofessional education that includes CAM practitioners, developing courses to upgrade CAM practitioners' professional skills in areas of indentified need, and increasing support for CAM research. Marginalisation of the CAM workforce has disadvantaged those qualified and competent CAM practitioners who practise evidence-informed medicine on the basis of many years of university training. Legitimising and expanding the important contribution of CAM practitioners could alleviate projected health workforce shortages, particularly for the prevention and management of chronic health conditions and for health promotion.

Science and Faith: Discussing Astronomy Research with Religious Audiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koekemoer, Anton M.

2006-12-01

An important component of our outreach as research astronomers involves interaction with the religious community. From my personal perspective, being an active research astronomer who is also a practicing Christian, I am sometimes invited to present the latest astronomical research to church audiences and other religious groups; belonging to both communities thereby provides a valuable means of contributing to the dialogue between science and religion. These opportunities can be used to explain that science and religion are not necessarily in conflict but can be considered to be quite complementary. For instance, an important aspect of religion deals with the purpose of our existence, while science is more focussed on providing physical explanations for what we observe in the world, using a well-defined scientific process. Hence, religious believers need not necessarily abandon their faith in order to accept mainstream scientific research; these address very different and complementary aspects of our existence. Recent ideas such as Intelligent Design attempt to address the scientific method, but do not address the ultimate religious question of purpose and do not contribute towards reconciling science and religion in this sense. Ultimately, every individual arrives at their own understanding of this rather complex interplay; I will present some personal reflections on general approaches for discussing mainstream astronomical research with religious audiences, aimed at helping to advance the dialogue between religion and science in general.

Metabolomic Fingerprinting in the Comprehensive Study of Liver Changes Associated with Onion Supplementation in Hypercholesterolemic Wistar Rats

PubMed Central

González-Peña, Diana; Dudzik, Danuta; García, Antonia; de Ancos, Begoña; Barbas, Coral; Sánchez-Moreno, Concepción

2017-01-01

The consumption of functional ingredients has been suggested to be a complementary tool for the prevention and management of liver disease. In this light, processed onion can be considered as a source of multiple bioactive compounds with hepatoprotective properties. The liver fingerprint of male Wistar rats (n = 24) fed with three experimental diets (control (C), high-cholesterol (HC), and high-cholesterol enriched with onion (HCO) diets) was obtained through a non-targeted, multiplatform metabolomics approach to produce broad metabolite coverage. LC-MS, CE-MS and GC-MS results were subjected to univariate and multivariate analyses, providing a list of significant metabolites. All data were merged in order to figure out the most relevant metabolites that were modified by the onion ingredient. Several relevant metabolic changes and related metabolic pathways were found to be impacted by both HC and HCO diet. The model highlighted several metabolites (such as hydroxybutyryl carnitine and palmitoyl carnitine) modified by the HCO diet. These findings could suggest potential impairments in the energy−lipid metabolism, perturbations in the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) cycle and β-oxidation modulated by the onion supplementation in the core of hepatic dysfunction. Metabolomics shows to be a valuable tool to evaluate the effects of complementary dietetic approaches directed to hepatic damage amelioration or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) prevention. PMID:28134852

Transcriptomes Reveal Genetic Signatures Underlying Physiological Variations Imposed by Different Fermentation Conditions in Lactobacillus plantarum

PubMed Central

Bongers, Roger S.; van Bokhorst-van de Veen, Hermien; Wiersma, Anne; Overmars, Lex; Marco, Maria L.; Kleerebezem, Michiel

2012-01-01

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are utilized widely for the fermentation of foods. In the current post-genomic era, tools have been developed that explore genetic diversity among LAB strains aiming to link these variations to differential phenotypes observed in the strains investigated. However, these genotype-phenotype matching approaches fail to assess the role of conserved genes in the determination of physiological characteristics of cultures by environmental conditions. This manuscript describes a complementary approach in which Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 was fermented under a variety of conditions that differ in temperature, pH, as well as NaCl, amino acid, and O2 levels. Samples derived from these fermentations were analyzed by full-genome transcriptomics, paralleled by the assessment of physiological characteristics, e.g., maximum growth rate, yield, and organic acid profiles. A data-storage and -mining suite designated FermDB was constructed and exploited to identify correlations between fermentation conditions and industrially relevant physiological characteristics of L. plantarum, as well as the associated transcriptome signatures. Finally, integration of the specific fermentation variables with the transcriptomes enabled the reconstruction of the gene-regulatory networks involved. The fermentation-genomics platform presented here is a valuable complementary approach to earlier described genotype-phenotype matching strategies which allows the identification of transcriptome signatures underlying physiological variations imposed by different fermentation conditions. PMID:22802930

Use of complementary and alternative medicine by patients with hematological diseases experience at a university hospital in northeast Mexico.

PubMed

Jaime-Pérez, José Carlos; Chapa-Rodríguez, Adrián; Rodríguez-Martínez, Marisol; Colunga-Pedraza, Perla Rocío; Marfil-Rivera, Luis Javier; Gómez-Almaguer, David

2012-01-01

Complementary and alternative medicine includes a diverse group of medical and healthcare systems, practices and products not considered part of conventional medicine. Although there is information on unconventional practices in oncological diseases, specific data regarding the use of complementary and alternative medicine by hematology patients is scarce. The aim of this study is to document the prevalence of this modality of unconventional therapy in patients with malignant and benign hematological diseases, particularly children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. An observational study of adult patients and guardians of children with malignant or benign hematological diseases was carried out by applying a structured questionnaire detailing the use and results of the most prevalent complementary and alternative medicine practices. One hundred and twenty patients were included; 104 had malignant and 16 had benign hematological diseases. The use of complementary and alternative medicine was greater in benign diseases but the difference was not statistically significant (64.7% versus 41.7%; p-value = 0.08). Patients and guardians with high school or college educations used these alternative practices more than patients with less schooling (60.7% versus 54.7%; p-value = 0.032). The use of folk remedies was most prevalent followed by herbal preparations and spiritual healing. Sixty-four percent of patients that used these unconventional practices reported improvement in their symptoms and increased capacity to perform daily activities. No significant difference was documented between patients with malignant or benign hematological diseases using these alternative practices. The majority of complementary and alternative medicine users reported improvement of the disease or chemotherapy-related symptoms.

Hydraulic description of a flood event with optical remote sensors: a constructive constraint on modelling uncertainties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battiston, Stéphanie; Allenbach, Bernard

2010-05-01

The exceptional characteristics of the December 2003 Rhône flood event (particularly high water flows, extent of the affected area, important damages especially in the region of Arles) make it be considered as a reference flood episode of this French river and a very well-known event. During the crisis, the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters" was triggered by the French Civil Protection for the rapid mapping of the flooding using Earth Observation imagery in order to facilitate crisis operations. As a result, more than 60 satellite images covering the flood were acquired over a 10 days period following the peak flow. Using the opportunity provided by this incomparable data coverage, the French Ministry of the Environment ordered a study on the evaluation of remote sensing's potential benefits for flood management. One of the questions asked by the risk managers was: what type of flood information can be provided by the different remote sensing platforms? Elements of response were delivered mainly in the form of a comprehensive compilation of maps and illustrations, displaying the main hydraulic elements (static ones as well as dynamic ones), initially listed and requested by hydrologists (more precisely, by a regional engineering society specialised in hydraulics and hydrology and in charge of a field campaign during the event), observed on different optical images of the flood event having affected the plain between Tarascon (upstream) and Arles (downstream). It is seen that a careful mapping of all flood traces visible on remote sensing event imagery - apparent water, moisture traces, breaches, overflows, stream directions, impermeable boundaries … - delivers a valuable vision of the flood's occurrence combining accuracy and comprehensiveness. In fact, optical imagery offers a detailed vision of the event : moisture traces complete flood traces extent; the observation of draw-off directions through waterproof barriers reveals hydraulic compartments; high resolution optical imagery allow the exhaustive inventory of breaches and overflows; turbidity variations and draw-off give information on stream directions. These facts are of primary interest to help in deriving a firm understanding of the flooding processes, but also comprise a powerful source for the necessary parameterization and/or calibration of hydraulic models. Thus the accuracy of flood extents derived from remote sensing data could, on the one hand, be valuable inputs to historical flood info-bases within overall risk-linked databases, and on the other hand, test the validity of hydrological modelling, while helping to lift equifinality uncertainties. These first investigations highlight that space imagery of events constitutes an unrivalled tool for flood disaster observation. This 2D record is complementary to all field measurements and the integration of "space derived flood products" is valuable for all stages of risk management. This potential of EO optical sensors for flood monitoring is also confirmed in a detailed analysis making a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the results, confronting ten optical and radar remote sensing platforms with field observations.

Methodological Issues in Trials of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Interventions

PubMed Central

Sikorskii, Alla; Wyatt, Gwen; Victorson, David; Faulkner, Gwen; Rahbar, Mohammad Hossein

2010-01-01

Background Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is widespread among cancer patients. Information on safety and efficacy of CAM therapies is needed for both patients and health care providers. Well-designed randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of CAM therapy interventions can inform both clinical research and practice. Objectives To review important issues that affect the design of RCTs for CAM interventions. Methods Using the methods component of the Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials (CONSORT) as a guiding framework, and a National Cancer Institute-funded reflexology study as an exemplar, methodological issues related to participants, intervention, objectives, outcomes, sample size, randomization, blinding, and statistical methods were reviewed. Discussion Trials of CAM interventions designed and implemented according to appropriate methodological standards will facilitate the needed scientific rigor in CAM research. Interventions in CAM can be tested using proposed methodology, and the results of testing will inform nursing practice in providing safe and effective supportive care and improving the well-being of patients. PMID:19918155

Tools for Visualizing HIV in Cure Research.

PubMed

Niessl, Julia; Baxter, Amy E; Kaufmann, Daniel E

2018-02-01

The long-lived HIV reservoir remains a major obstacle for an HIV cure. Current techniques to analyze this reservoir are generally population-based. We highlight recent developments in methods visualizing HIV, which offer a different, complementary view, and provide indispensable information for cure strategy development. Recent advances in fluorescence in situ hybridization techniques enabled key developments in reservoir visualization. Flow cytometric detection of HIV mRNAs, concurrently with proteins, provides a high-throughput approach to study the reservoir on a single-cell level. On a tissue level, key spatial information can be obtained detecting viral RNA and DNA in situ by fluorescence microscopy. At total-body level, advancements in non-invasive immuno-positron emission tomography (PET) detection of HIV proteins may allow an encompassing view of HIV reservoir sites. HIV imaging approaches provide important, complementary information regarding the size, phenotype, and localization of the HIV reservoir. Visualizing the reservoir may contribute to the design, assessment, and monitoring of HIV cure strategies in vitro and in vivo.

The Current Studies of Education for a Traditional and Complementary Medicine in Malaysia

PubMed Central

Kim, Yun Jin

2017-01-01

The aim of this study is to understand the current tradition and complementary medicine (T&CM) education in Malaysia. We referred to literature regarding to traditional medicine education in Malaysia, and collected the information via website or interview with faculty of T&CM in universities/colleges and Division of T&CM, Ministry of Health, Malaysia. T&CM education in Malaysia has been following China’s T&CM systems for 50 years. Currently, Division of T&CM, Ministry of Health; and Ministry of Higher Education has approved 11 institutions to offer T&CM education. Students may major in Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, or other T&CM subjects. Generally, clinical training programs in China, Taiwan, or Australia include substantial proportion of clinical training. We report on the general information of T&CM education in Malaysia. This result would be the first-stage information for the establishment of a strategy regarding the enhancement of T&CM education in Malaysia. PMID:28853309

NGSI student activities in open source information analysis in support of the training program of the U.S. DOE laboratories for the entry into force of the additional protocol

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

Sandoval, M Analisa; Uribe, Eva C; Sandoval, Marisa N

2009-01-01

In 2008 a joint team from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) consisting of specialists in training of IAEA inspectors in the use of complementary access activities formulated a training program to prepare the U.S. Doe laboratories for the entry into force of the Additional Protocol. As a major part of the support of the activity, LANL summer interns provided open source information analysis to the LANL-BNL mock inspection team. They were a part of the Next Generation Safeguards Initiative's (NGSI) summer intern program aimed at producing the next generation of safeguards specialists. This paper describesmore » how they used open source information to 'backstop' the LANL-BNL team's effort to construct meaningful Additional Protocol Complementary Access training scenarios for each of the three DOE laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.« less

The impact of real-time and predictive traffic information on travelers' behavior on the I-4 corridor. Final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-07-01

Real time and predicted traffic information plays a key role in the successful implementation of advanced traveler information systems (ATIS) and advance traffic management systems (ATMS). Traffic information is essentially valuable to both transport...

Integration of complementary and alternative medicine information and advice in chronic disease management guidelines.

PubMed

Team, Victoria; Canaway, Rachel; Manderson, Lenore

2011-01-01

The growing evidence on the benefits and risks of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and its high rate of use (69% of Australians) - particularly for chronic or recurrent conditions - means increasing attention on CAM. However, few people disclose CAM use to their GP, and health professionals tend to inadequately discuss CAM-related issues with their patients, partly due to insufficient knowledge. As clinical and non-clinical chronic condition management guidelines are a means to educate primary health care practitioners, we undertook a content analysis of guidelines relevant to two common chronic conditions - cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) - to assess their provision of CAM-related information. Ten current Australian guidelines were reviewed, revealing scant CAM content. When available, the CAM-relevant information was brief, in some cases unclear, inconclusive and lacking in direction to the GP or health care provider. Although we focus on CVD and T2DM, we argue the value of all chronic condition management guidelines integrating relevant evidence-informed information and advice on CAM risks, benefits and referrals, to increase GP awareness and knowledge of appropriate CAM therapies, and potentially to facilitate doctor-client discussion about CAM.

A Source-based Measurement Database for Occupational Exposure Assessment of Electromagnetic Fields in the INTEROCC Study: A Literature Review Approach

PubMed Central

Vila, Javier; Bowman, Joseph D.; Richardson, Lesley; Kincl, Laurel; Conover, Dave L.; McLean, Dave; Mann, Simon; Vecchia, Paolo; van Tongeren, Martie; Cardis, Elisabeth

2016-01-01

Introduction: To date, occupational exposure assessment of electromagnetic fields (EMF) has relied on occupation-based measurements and exposure estimates. However, misclassification due to between-worker variability remains an unsolved challenge. A source-based approach, supported by detailed subject data on determinants of exposure, may allow for a more individualized exposure assessment. Detailed information on the use of occupational sources of exposure to EMF was collected as part of the INTERPHONE-INTEROCC study. To support a source-based exposure assessment effort within this study, this work aimed to construct a measurement database for the occupational sources of EMF exposure identified, assembling available measurements from the scientific literature. Methods: First, a comprehensive literature search was performed for published and unpublished documents containing exposure measurements for the EMF sources identified, a priori as well as from answers of study subjects. Then, the measurements identified were assessed for quality and relevance to the study objectives. Finally, the measurements selected and complementary information were compiled into an Occupational Exposure Measurement Database (OEMD). Results: Currently, the OEMD contains 1624 sets of measurements (>3000 entries) for 285 sources of EMF exposure, organized by frequency band (0 Hz to 300 GHz) and dosimetry type. Ninety-five documents were selected from the literature (almost 35% of them are unpublished technical reports), containing measurements which were considered informative and valid for our purpose. Measurement data and complementary information collected from these documents came from 16 different countries and cover the time period between 1974 and 2013. Conclusion: We have constructed a database with measurements and complementary information for the most common sources of exposure to EMF in the workplace, based on the responses to the INTERPHONE-INTEROCC study questionnaire. This database covers the entire EMF frequency range and represents the most comprehensive resource of information on occupational EMF exposure. It is available at www.crealradiation.com/index.php/en/databases. PMID:26493616

Preliminary Study of Bioinformatics Patents and Their Classifications Registered in the KIPRIS Database.

PubMed

Park, Hyun-Seok

2012-12-01

Whereas a vast amount of new information on bioinformatics is made available to the public through patents, only a small set of patents are cited in academic papers. A detailed analysis of registered bioinformatics patents, using the existing patent search system, can provide valuable information links between science and technology. However, it is extremely difficult to select keywords to capture bioinformatics patents, reflecting the convergence of several underlying technologies. No single word or even several words are sufficient to identify such patents. The analysis of patent subclasses can provide valuable information. In this paper, I did a preliminary study of the current status of bioinformatics patents and their International Patent Classification (IPC) groups registered in the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS) database.

Willingness to Pay for Complementary Health Care Insurance in Iran.

PubMed

Nosratnejad, Shirin; Rashidian, Arash; Akbari Sari, Ali; Moradi, Najme

2017-09-01

Complementary health insurance is increasingly used to remedy the limitations and shortcomings of the basic health insurance benefit packages. Hence, it is essential to gather reliable information about the amount of Willingness to Pay (WTP) for health insurance. We assessed the WTP for health insurance in Iran in order to suggest an affordable complementary health insurance. The study sample consisted of 300 household heads all over provinces of Iran in 2013. The method applied was double bounded dichotomous choice and open-ended question approach of contingent valuation. The average WTP for complementary health insurance per person per month by double bounded dichotomous choice and open-ended question method respectively was 199000 and 115300 Rials (8 and 4.6 USD, respectively). Household's heads with higher levels of income and those who worked had more WTP for the health insurance. Besides, the WTP increased in direct proportion to the number of insured members of each household and in inverse proportion to the family size. The WTP value can be used as a premium in a society. As an important finding, the study indicated that the households were willing to pay higher premiums than currently collected for the complementary health insurance coverage in Iran. This offers the policy makers the opportunity to increase the premium and provide good benefits package for insured people of country then better risk pooling.

Advanced traveler information service (ATIS) : "Who are ATIS customers?

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-01-01

This paper offers answers to "Who are ATIS Customers?" using different, complementary research and evaluation approaches. The first section, entitled External Factors Influencing Customer Demand, offers an empirical assessment of external conditions ...

Risks of Liver (Hepatocellular) Cancer Screening

MedlinePlus

... rare, but serious, side effects : Hemorrhage . Trouble breathing. Leakage of bile , which can cause an infection of ... of the latest published information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative ...

Older Adults and Food Safety

MedlinePlus

... bodies are less able to combat bacteria. For example, there is a decrease in stomach acid secretion, ... Civil Rights | No FEAR | Information Quality Complementary Content ${title} ${loading} ${title} ${loading} ibmCfg.controllers.navigation true true ...

Cat's Claw

MedlinePlus

... Audio) NCCIH Clinical Digest A monthly newsletter with evidence-based information on complementary and integrative practices and a ... What Have We Learned? There’s no conclusive scientific evidence based on studies in people that supports using cat’s ...

The Grassmannian Atlas: A General Framework for Exploring Linear Projections of High-Dimensional Data

DOE PAGES

Liu, S.; Bremer, P. -T; Jayaraman, J. J.; ...

2016-06-04

Linear projections are one of the most common approaches to visualize high-dimensional data. Since the space of possible projections is large, existing systems usually select a small set of interesting projections by ranking a large set of candidate projections based on a chosen quality measure. However, while highly ranked projections can be informative, some lower ranked ones could offer important complementary information. Therefore, selection based on ranking may miss projections that are important to provide a global picture of the data. Here, the proposed work fills this gap by presenting the Grassmannian Atlas, a framework that captures the global structuresmore » of quality measures in the space of all projections, which enables a systematic exploration of many complementary projections and provides new insights into the properties of existing quality measures.« less

Upgrade of the Surface Spectrometer at NEPOMUC for PAES, XPS and STM Investigations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimnik, S.; Lippert, F.; Hugenschmidt, C.

2014-04-01

The characterization of the elemental composition of surfaces is of great importance for the understanding of many surface processes, such as surface segregation or oxidation. Positron-annihilation-induced Auger Electron Spectroscopy (PAES) is a powerful technique for gathering information about the elemental composition of only the topmost atomic layer of a sample. The upgraded surface spectrometer at NEPOMUC (NEtron induced POsitron source MUniCh) enables a comprehensive surface analysis with the complementary techniques STM, XPS and PAES. A new X-ray source for X-ray induced photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was installed to gather additional information on oxidation states. A new scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is used as a complementary method to investigate with atomic resolution the surface electron density. The combination of PAES, XPS and STM allows the characterization of both the elemental composition, and the surface topology.

Advanced Pharmacotherapy Evidenced by Pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Lee, Yeon Jung; Oh, Soo Hyun; Park, Chanmin; Hong, Minha; Lee, Ah Rah; Yoo, Hee Jeong; Shin, Chan Young; Cheon, Keun-Ah

2014-01-01

In clinical practice, pharmacological treatment is mostly focused on behavioral symptoms in everyday life. Nevertheless, persistent effort continues to develop medication for causal treatment. Recent changes in diagnostic criteria from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR) to DSM-5 would affect not only diagnosing approaches, but also therapeutic approaches. Because previous pervasive developmental disorders have been integrated into a single entity, the autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we have to prepare for what medications are valuable for the ASD. In this article, we reviewed the following etiological treatment: acetylcholine and glutamate related medicine; amino acid medicine such as secretin, endogenous opioid, and oxytocin; complementary and alternative medicine such as chelating agents, vitamins, and omega-3; promising drugs related to the scope of pharmacogenetics currently under study. PMID:24851117

A new approach for cloning hLIF cDNA from genomic DNA isolated from the oral mucous membrane.

PubMed

Cui, Y H; Zhu, G Q; Chen, Q J; Wang, Y F; Yang, M M; Song, Y X; Wang, J G; Cao, B Y

2011-11-25

Complementary DNA (cDNA) is valuable for investigating protein structure and function in the study of life science, but it is difficult to obtain by traditional reverse transcription. We employed a novel strategy to clone human leukemia inhibitory factor (hLIF) gene cDNA from genomic DNA, which was directly isolated from the mucous membrane of mouth. The hLIF sequence, which is 609 bp long and is composed of three exons, can be acquired within a few hours by amplifying each exon and splicing all of them using overlap-PCR. This new approach developed is simple, time- and cost-effective, without RNA preparation or cDNA synthesis, and is not limited to the specific tissues for a particular gene and the expression level of the gene.

Inferring field-scale properties of a fractured aquifer from ground surface deformation during a well test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuite, Jonathan; Longuevergne, Laurent; Bour, Olivier; Boudin, Frédérick; Durand, Stéphane; Lavenant, Nicolas

2015-12-01

Fractured aquifers which bear valuable water resources are often difficult to characterize with classical hydrogeological tools due to their intrinsic heterogeneities. Here we implement ground surface deformation tools (tiltmetry and optical leveling) to monitor groundwater pressure changes induced by a classical hydraulic test at the Ploemeur observatory. By jointly analyzing complementary time constraining data (tilt) and spatially constraining data (vertical displacement), our results strongly suggest that the use of these surface deformation observations allows for estimating storativity and structural properties (dip, root depth, and lateral extension) of a large hydraulically active fracture, in good agreement with previous studies. Hence, we demonstrate that ground surface deformation is a useful addition to traditional hydrogeological techniques and opens possibilities for characterizing important large-scale properties of fractured aquifers with short-term well tests as a controlled forcing.

Separating astrophysical sources from indirect dark matter signals

PubMed Central

Siegal-Gaskins, Jennifer M.

2015-01-01

Indirect searches for products of dark matter annihilation and decay face the challenge of identifying an uncertain and subdominant signal in the presence of uncertain backgrounds. Two valuable approaches to this problem are (i) using analysis methods which take advantage of different features in the energy spectrum and angular distribution of the signal and backgrounds and (ii) more accurately characterizing backgrounds, which allows for more robust identification of possible signals. These two approaches are complementary and can be significantly strengthened when used together. I review the status of indirect searches with gamma rays using two promising targets, the Inner Galaxy and the isotropic gamma-ray background. For both targets, uncertainties in the properties of backgrounds are a major limitation to the sensitivity of indirect searches. I then highlight approaches which can enhance the sensitivity of indirect searches using these targets. PMID:25304638

76 FR 23540 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Annual Survey of Manufactures

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-27

... provides valuable information to private companies, research organizations, and trade associations... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Census Bureau Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Annual... information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506...

Transcriptome analysis of the desert locust central nervous system: production and annotation of a Schistocerca gregaria EST database.

PubMed

Badisco, Liesbeth; Huybrechts, Jurgen; Simonet, Gert; Verlinden, Heleen; Marchal, Elisabeth; Huybrechts, Roger; Schoofs, Liliane; De Loof, Arnold; Vanden Broeck, Jozef

2011-03-21

The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) displays a fascinating type of phenotypic plasticity, designated as 'phase polyphenism'. Depending on environmental conditions, one genome can be translated into two highly divergent phenotypes, termed the solitarious and gregarious (swarming) phase. Although many of the underlying molecular events remain elusive, the central nervous system (CNS) is expected to play a crucial role in the phase transition process. Locusts have also proven to be interesting model organisms in a physiological and neurobiological research context. However, molecular studies in locusts are hampered by the fact that genome/transcriptome sequence information available for this branch of insects is still limited. We have generated 34,672 raw expressed sequence tags (EST) from the CNS of desert locusts in both phases. These ESTs were assembled in 12,709 unique transcript sequences and nearly 4,000 sequences were functionally annotated. Moreover, the obtained S. gregaria EST information is highly complementary to the existing orthopteran transcriptomic data. Since many novel transcripts encode neuronal signaling and signal transduction components, this paper includes an overview of these sequences. Furthermore, several transcripts being differentially represented in solitarious and gregarious locusts were retrieved from this EST database. The findings highlight the involvement of the CNS in the phase transition process and indicate that this novel annotated database may also add to the emerging knowledge of concomitant neuronal signaling and neuroplasticity events. In summary, we met the need for novel sequence data from desert locust CNS. To our knowledge, we hereby also present the first insect EST database that is derived from the complete CNS. The obtained S. gregaria EST data constitute an important new source of information that will be instrumental in further unraveling the molecular principles of phase polyphenism, in further establishing locusts as valuable research model organisms and in molecular evolutionary and comparative entomology.

The Electronic Encyclopedia of Earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benthien, M.; Marquis, J.; Jordan, T.

2003-12-01

The Electronic Encyclopedia of Earthquakes is a collaborative project of the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), the Consortia of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREE) and the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). This digital library organizes earthquake information online as a partner with the NSF-funded National Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Digital Library (NSDL) and the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE). When complete, information and resources for over 500 Earth science and engineering topics will be included, with connections to curricular materials useful for teaching Earth Science, engineering, physics and mathematics. Although conceived primarily as an educational resource, the Encyclopedia is also a valuable portal to anyone seeking up-to-date earthquake information and authoritative technical sources. "E3" is a unique collaboration among earthquake scientists and engineers to articulate and document a common knowledge base with a shared terminology and conceptual framework. It is a platform for cross-training scientists and engineers in these complementary fields and will provide a basis for sustained communication and resource-building between major education and outreach activities. For example, the E3 collaborating organizations have leadership roles in the two largest earthquake engineering and earth science projects ever sponsored by NSF: the George E. Brown Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (CUREE) and the EarthScope Project (IRIS and SCEC). The E3 vocabulary and definitions are also being connected to a formal ontology under development by the SCEC/ITR project for knowledge management within the SCEC Collaboratory. The E3 development system is now fully operational, 165 entries are in the pipeline, and the development teams are capable of producing 20 new, fully reviewed encyclopedia entries each month. Over the next two years teams will complete 450 entries, which will populate the E3 collection to a level that fully spans earthquake science and engineering. Scientists, engineers, and educators who have suggestions for content to be included in the Encyclopedia can visit www.earthquake.info now to complete the "Suggest a Web Page" form.

Capsule endoscope localization based on computer vision technique.

PubMed

Liu, Li; Hu, Chao; Cai, Wentao; Meng, Max Q H

2009-01-01

To build a new type of wireless capsule endoscope with interactive gastrointestinal tract examination, a localization and orientation system is needed for tracking 3D location and 3D orientation of the capsule movement. The magnetic localization and orientation method produces only 5 DOF, but misses the information of rotation angle along capsule's main axis. In this paper, we presented a complementary orientation approach for the capsule endoscope, and the 3D rotation can be determined by applying computer vision technique on the captured endoscopic images. The experimental results show that the complementary orientation method has good accuracy and high feasibility.

Test Expectancy and Memory for Important Information

PubMed Central

Middlebrooks, Catherine D.; Murayama, Kou; Castel, Alan D.

2016-01-01

Prior research suggests that learners study and remember information differently depending upon the type of test they expect to later receive. The current experiments investigate how testing expectations impact the study of and memory for valuable information. Participants studied lists of words ranging in value from 1–10 points with the goal being to maximize their score on a later memory test. Half of the participants were told to expect a recognition test after each list, while the other half were told to expect a recall test. After several lists of receiving tests congruent with expectations, participants studying for a recognition test instead received an unexpected recall test. In Experiment 1, participants who had studied for a recognition test recalled less of the valuable information than participants anticipating the recall format. These participants continued to attend less to item value on future (expected) recall tests than participants who had only ever experienced recall testing. When the recognition tests were made more demanding in Experiment 2, value-based recall improved relative to Experiment 1: though memory for the valuable information remained superior when participants studied with the expectation of having to recall the information, there were no longer significant differences after accounting for recall testing experience. Thus, recall-based testing encouraged strategic, value-based encoding and enhanced retrieval of important information, while recognition testing in some cases limited value-based study and memory. These results extend prior work concerning the impact of testing expectations on memory, offering further insight into how people study important information. PMID:28095010

Invited Reaction: Influences of Formal Learning, Personal Learning Orientation, and Supportive Learning Environment on Informal Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cseh, Maria; Manikoth, Nisha N.

2011-01-01

As the authors of the preceding article (Choi and Jacobs, 2011) have noted, the workplace learning literature shows evidence of the complementary and integrated nature of formal and informal learning in the development of employee competencies. The importance of supportive learning environments in the workplace and of employees' personal learning…

The Influence of Informal Science Education Experiences on the Development of Two Beginning Teachers' Science Classroom Teaching Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katz, Phyllis; McGinnis, J. Randy; Riedinger, Kelly; Marbach-Ad, Gili; Dai, Amy

2013-01-01

In case studies of two first-year elementary classroom teachers, we explored the influence of informal science education (ISE) they experienced in their teacher education program. Our theoretical lens was identity development, delimited to classroom science teaching. We used complementary data collection methods and analysis, including interviews,…

Foundations of Full Text Electronic Information Delivery Systems. Implications for Information Professionals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kibirige, Harry M.

Information has become an increasingly valuable commodity. Access to full-text information, containing text, images, and in some cases, sound, is becoming vital to decision-making for organizations as well as individuals. The book covers the following topics: (1) the information marketplace in a cyberculture; (2) the telecommunications foundation…

Evaluating Complementary and Alternative Therapies

MedlinePlus

... t Work Drug Information Resources Side Effects Dating, Sex, and Reproduction Advanced Cancer For Children For Teens For Young Adults For Older Adults Prevention and Healthy Living Cancer.Net Videos Coping With Cancer Research and Advocacy Survivorship Blog ...

Analyzing jobs for redesign decisions.

PubMed

Conn, V S; Davis, N K; Occena, L G

1996-01-01

Job analysis, the collection and interpretation of information that describes job behaviors and activities performed by occupants of jobs, can provide nurse administrators with valuable information for redesigning effective and efficient systems of care.

Association of Frontline Worker-Provided Services with Change in Block-Level Complementary Feeding Indicators: An Ecological Analysis from Bihar, India

PubMed Central

Das, Aritra; Mahapatra, Sanchita; Sai Mala, Guntur; Chaudhuri, Indrajit; Mahapatra, Tanmay

2016-01-01

Background Insufficiencies in complementary feeding put infants and young children at increased risk of undernutrition. Till now, most Indian studies have looked at the individual level determinants of complementary feeding practices. We aimed to evaluate the association of frontline worker (FLW) provided nutritional counselling services, with change in community level indicators of complementary feeding practices among 9–11 month old children over time. Methods The study data was obtained from five rounds of ‘Lot Quality Assurance Sampling’ survey in eight districts of Bihar, an impoverished Indian state. The surveys were conducted as evaluation exercises for the ‘Integrated Family Health Initiative (IFHI)’–a multi-faceted program aimed at improving the maternal and child health outcomes in Bihar. The main outcome indicators were—current breastfeeding, age-appropriate minimum frequency of semi-solid food, age-appropriate minimum quantity of semi-solid food, initiation of complementary feeding at the right age, and dietary diversity. Repeated measures analysis was performed to determine the association of changes in the outcome indicators with coverage of FLW-provided counselling services. Results Visits by FLW, advices on age-appropriate frequency and handwashing were significant predictors of receiving age-appropriate frequency of feeding. The determinants of receiving age-appropriate quantity were—advices on age appropriate frequency and advices on handwashing. Receiving food support from AWC and FLW visits were significantly associated with initiating complementary feeding at the right age. Conclusions The present study identified the critical elements among the different types of FLW-provided services. The study findings, from an economically and socially underdeveloped region of India, would inform the relevant programs about the nutritional counselling services that need to be emphasized upon for reducing the burden of childhood malnutrition. PMID:27832211

Use of complementary and alternative medicine by patients with hematological diseases experience at a university hospital in northeast Mexico

PubMed Central

Jaime-Pérez, José Carlos; Chapa-Rodríguez, Adrián; Rodríguez-Martínez, Marisol; Colunga-Pedraza, Perla Rocío; Marfil-Rivera, Luis Javier; Gómez-Almaguer, David

2012-01-01

Background Complementary and alternative medicine includes a diverse group of medical and healthcare systems, practices and products not considered part of conventional medicine. Although there is information on unconventional practices in oncological diseases, specific data regarding the use of complementary and alternative medicine by hematology patients is scarce. Objective The aim of this study is to document the prevalence of this modality of unconventional therapy in patients with malignant and benign hematological diseases, particularly children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Methods An observational study of adult patients and guardians of children with malignant or benign hematological diseases was carried out by applying a structured questionnaire detailing the use and results of the most prevalent complementary and alternative medicine practices. Results One hundred and twenty patients were included; 104 had malignant and 16 had benign hematological diseases. The use of complementary and alternative medicine was greater in benign diseases but the difference was not statistically significant (64.7% versus 41.7%; p-value = 0.08). Patients and guardians with high school or college educations used these alternative practices more than patients with less schooling (60.7% versus 54.7%; p-value = 0.032). The use of folk remedies was most prevalent followed by herbal preparations and spiritual healing. Sixty-four percent of patients that used these unconventional practices reported improvement in their symptoms and increased capacity to perform daily activities. Conclusion No significant difference was documented between patients with malignant or benign hematological diseases using these alternative practices. The majority of complementary and alternative medicine users reported improvement of the disease or chemotherapy-related symptoms. PMID:23049401

A Content Analysis of Infant and Toddler Food Advertisements in Taiwanese Popular Pregnancy and Early Parenting Magazines.

PubMed

Chen, Yi-Chun; Chang, Jung-Su; Gong, Yu-Tang

2015-08-01

Mothers who are exposed to formula advertisements (ads) are less likely to initiate breastfeeding and more likely to breastfeed for a shorter duration than other mothers. The purpose of this study was to examine infant and toddler food ads in pregnancy and early parenting magazines. A content analysis of infant and toddler food ads printed in 12 issues of 4 magazines published in 2011 was performed. Coding categories of ads included product category, advertisement category, marketing information, and advertising appeal. The target age and health-related message of each product were coded. The researchers identified 756 infant and toddler food ads in the magazines. Compared with complementary food ads, formula product ads used more marketing strategies such as antenatal classes and baby contests to influence consumers and promote products. Nutritional quality and child health benefits were the two most frequently used advertising appeals. In addition, this study identified 794 formula products and 400 complementary food products; 42.8% of the complementary food products were intended for 4-month-old infants. Furthermore, 91.9% of the ads for formula products and 81% of the ads for complementary food products contained claims concerning health function or nutrient content. Taiwanese pregnancy and early parenting magazines contain numerous infant and toddler food ads. These ads generally use health-related claims regarding specific nutrient content and health functions to promote infant and toddler foods. Health professionals should provide more information to parents on the differences between breast milk and formula milk, and they should be aware of the potential effect of infant and toddler food ads on parents' infant feeding decisions. © The Author(s) 2015.

Lightning Forecasts and Data Assimilation into Numerical Weather Prediction Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacGorman, D. R.; Mansell, E. R.; Fierro, A.; Ziegler, C.

2012-12-01

This presentation reviews two aspects of lightning in numerical weather prediction (NWP) models: forecasting lightning and assimilating lightning data into NWP models to improve weather forecasts. One of the earliest routine forecasts of lightning was developed for fire weather operations. This approach used a multi-parameter regression analysis of archived cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning data and archived NWP data to optimize the combination of model state variables to use in forecast equations for various CG rates. Since then, understanding of how storms produce lightning has improved greatly. As the treatment of ice in microphysics packages used by NWP models has improved and the horizontal resolution of models has begun approaching convection-permitting scales (with convection-resolving scales on the horizon), it is becoming possible to use this improved understanding in NWP models to predict lightning more directly. An important role for data assimilation in NWP models is to depict the location, timing, and spatial extent of thunderstorms during model spin-up so that the effects of prior convection that can strongly influence future thunderstorm activity, such as updrafts and outflow boundaries, can be included in the initial state of a NWP model run. Radar data have traditionally been used, but systems that map lightning activity with varying degrees of coverage, detail, and detection efficiency are now available routinely over large regions and reveal information about storms that is complementary to the information provided by radar. Because data from lightning mapping systems are compact, easily handled, and reliably indicate the location and timing of thunderstorms, even in regions with little or no radar coverage, several groups have investigated techniques for assimilating these data into NWP models. This application will become even more valuable with the launch of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on the GOES-R satellite, which will extend routine coverage even farther into remote regions and provides the most promising means for routine thunderstorm detection over oceans. On-going research is continually expanding the methods used to assimilate lightning data, which began with simple techniques for assimilating CG data and now are being extended to assimilate total lightning data. Most approaches either have used the lightning data simply to indicate where the subgrid scale convective parameterization of a model should produce deep convection or have used the lightning data to indicate how to modify a model variable related to thunderstorms, such as rainfall rate or water vapor mixing ratio. The developing methods for explicitly predicting lightning activity provide another, more direct means for assimilating total lightning data, besides providing information valuable to the general public and to many governmental and commercial enterprises. Such a direct approach could be particularly useful for ensemble techniques used to produce probabilistic thunderstorm forecasts.

Visualizing Antimicrobials in Bacterial Biofilms: Three-Dimensional Biochemical Imaging Using TOF-SIMS.

PubMed

Davies, Sarah K; Fearn, Sarah; Allsopp, Luke P; Harrison, Freya; Ware, Ecaterina; Diggle, Stephen P; Filloux, Alain; McPhail, David S; Bundy, Jacob G

2017-01-01

Bacterial biofilms are groups of bacteria that exist within a self-produced extracellular matrix, adhering to each other and usually to a surface. They grow on medical equipment and inserts such as catheters and are responsible for many persistent infections throughout the body, as they can have high resistance to many antimicrobials. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause both acute and chronic infections and is used as a model for research into biofilms. Direct biochemical methods of imaging of molecules in bacterial biofilms are of high value in gaining a better understanding of the fundamental biology of biofilms and biochemical gradients within them. Time of flight-secondary-ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) is one approach, which combines relatively high spatial resolution and sensitivity and can perform depth profiling analysis. It has been used to analyze bacterial biofilms but has not yet been used to study the distribution of antimicrobials (including antibiotics and the antimicrobial metal gallium) within biofilms. Here we compared two methods of imaging of the interior structure of P. aeruginosa in biological samples using TOF-SIMS, looking at both antimicrobials and endogenous biochemicals: cryosectioning of tissue samples and depth profiling to give pseudo-three-dimensional (pseudo-3D) images. The sample types included both simple biofilms grown on glass slides and bacteria growing in tissues in an ex vivo pig lung model. The two techniques for the 3D imaging of biofilms are potentially valuable complementary tools for analyzing bacterial infection. IMPORTANCE Modern analytical techniques are becoming increasingly important in the life sciences; imaging mass spectrometry offers the opportunity to gain unprecedented amounts of information on the distribution of chemicals in samples-both xenobiotics and endogenous compounds. In particular, simultaneous imaging of antibiotics (and other antimicrobial compounds) and bacterium-derived metabolites in complex biological samples could be very important in the future for helping to understand how sample matrices impact the survival of bacteria under antibiotic challenge. We have shown that an imaging mass spectrometric technique, TOF-SIMS, will be potentially extremely valuable for this kind of research in the future.

Building up knowledge on resilience of fragile lands in subarctic climate - a metadatabase for land degradation and restoration in southern Iceland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finger, David C.; de Lavenne, Alban; Þórsson, Jóhann

2016-04-01

Resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or disturbance by resisting perturbations and recovering quickly. Natural catastrophes, such as floods, droughts, landslides, storms and volcanic eruptions can have devastating impacts on natural and build environment. Nevertheless, researchers worldwide have identified anthropogenic impacts to be the cause for enhanced consequences of natural catastrophes. Iceland, the small island on the mid Atlantic ridge is an ideal location to investigate anthropogenic impacts on the resilience of natural ecosystems. The dramatic deforestation after the arrival of the first settlers ~1100 years ago, the subsequent year round livestock grazing along with devastating ash emissions during volcanic eruptions and a harsh sub-polar oceanic climate have led to severe degradation of large areas of Icelandic soils. Since the beginning of the 20th century diverse restoration measures have been implemented at a large-scale on lowland areas of Iceland making them an ideal case study to investigate the effects of restoration on the resilience of water resources. Since over 100 years the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland (SCSI) has been restoring and investigating degraded landscapes, collecting valuable information and data on restoration research in Iceland. In a joint effort to provide an overview of terminated and ongoing research project, the SCSI and Reykjavik University have established a metadatabase summarizing all relevant restoration projects in the Rangárvellir area, a representative study site in southern Iceland. The SCSI and other governmental agencies have conducted numerous research and restoration projects in the area, including land restoration, land management, reforestation, hydrometeorological monitoring, vegetation mapping, to name just a few. The combination of these projects provides a valuable set of observational data and knowledge regarding the history of land restoration in Rangárvellir. Simultaneously, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) has been monitoring weather patterns and discharge of Ytri- and Eystri-Rangá, the two main rivers in Rangárvellir. The collected data have been categorized in a metadatabase providing an overview for complementary research projects. The presentation will conclude by demonstrating various topics for research collaborations.

Appendix C demand elasticities for highway travel.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-04-12

An elasticity summarizes a large amount of information in a single number. Levels and : distribution of incomes, price levels of the specific good and of substitute and complementary : goods, preferences and tastes, transaction costs, etc., can, cete...

Safe Use of Complementary Health Products and Practices

MedlinePlus

... Mind and Body Practices for Children and Teens Dietary Supplement Safety Information Using Dietary Supplements Wisely Dietary Supplement ... Homeopathic Drugs Dietary Supplements—Adverse Event Reporting ( FDA ) Dietary Supplement Alerts and Advisories Alerts and Advisories Clinical Practice ...

Doing quantum theory at a liberal arts college

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schumacher, Benjamin

2012-02-01

An academic career at a liberal arts college poses some challenges for a researcher in quantum information and quantum foundations, most notably the lack of local collaborators and graduate students. Are there also complementary advantages and opportunities?

Menopausal Symptoms and Complementary Health Practices

MedlinePlus

... symptoms of liver trouble, such as abdominal pain, dark urine, or jaundice, while taking black cohosh should stop using it and consult a health care provider. See NCCIH’s Web site on black cohosh for more information. DHEA ...

Complementary stable carbon isotope ratio and amount of substance measurements in sports anti-doping.

PubMed

Cawley, Adam T; George, Adrian V

2012-12-01

The detection of steroids originating from synthetic precursors against a background of their chemically identical natural analogues has proven to be a significant challenge for doping control laboratories accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The complementary application of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-C-IRMS) has been demonstrated to provide specific detection of endogenous steroid misuse for improved anti-doping analysis. Markers of synthetically derived steroids are reviewed on the basis of abnormal urinary excretions and low (13)C content. A combinatorial approach is presented for the interpretation of GC-MS and GC-C-IRMS data in the anti-doping context. This methodology can allow all relevant information concerning an individual's metabolism to be assessed in order to make an informed decision with respect to a doping violation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The risks associated with consumer magazines giving advice on complementary therapies.

PubMed

Mantle, Fiona

The increased popularity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has led to increased demand for information on it, giving rise to the concept of "new experts". However, there is concern about the quality and accuracy of this information, much of which is published in popular magazines and written by contributors with no medical qualifications. To examine the extent of CAM product advice in women's and health magazines, and the potential for adverse drug/herbal interaction. Fifteen women's magazines were examined over one month. A total of 150 articles were identified, of which 131 were written by non-medically qualified contributors, mainly journalists. Out of the 150, 95 discussed ingested herbs which had the potential for adverse interactions and are contraindicated for certain groups. The findings have legal and ethical implications. The re-evaluation of the journalists' code of conduct to reflect this development in journalism should be considered.

A Proprietary Information Dissemination and Education System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rollins, Timothy J.; Golden, Kerry

1994-01-01

In focus group interviews, 14 Pennsylvania Crop Management Association technicians identified their primary role as information providers and consultants, felt the need for better communication skills and training as nonformal adult educators, considered human resources the most valuable information sources, and believed farmers participated only…

Understanding cancer survivors' information needs and information-seeking behaviors for complementary and alternative medicine from short- to long-term survival: a mixed-methods study.

PubMed

Scarton, Lou Ann; Del Fiol, Guilherme; Oakley-Girvan, Ingrid; Gibson, Bryan; Logan, Robert; Workman, T Elizabeth

2018-01-01

The research examined complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) information-seeking behaviors and preferences from short- to long-term cancer survival, including goals, motivations, and information sources. A mixed-methods approach was used with cancer survivors from the "Assessment of Patients' Experience with Cancer Care" 2004 cohort. Data collection included a mail survey and phone interviews using the critical incident technique (CIT). Seventy survivors from the 2004 study responded to the survey, and eight participated in the CIT interviews. Quantitative results showed that CAM usage did not change significantly between 2004 and 2015. The following themes emerged from the CIT: families' and friends' provision of the initial introduction to a CAM, use of CAM to manage the emotional and psychological impact of cancer, utilization of trained CAM practitioners, and online resources as a prominent source for CAM information. The majority of participants expressed an interest in an online information-sharing portal for CAM. Patients continue to use CAM well into long-term cancer survivorship. Finding trustworthy sources for information on CAM presents many challenges such as reliability of source, conflicting information on efficacy, and unknown interactions with conventional medications. Study participants expressed interest in an online portal to meet these needs through patient testimonials and linkage of claims to the scientific literature. Such a portal could also aid medical librarians and clinicians in locating and evaluating CAM information on behalf of patients.

Understanding cancer survivors’ information needs and information-seeking behaviors for complementary and alternative medicine from short- to long-term survival: a mixed-methods study

PubMed Central

Scarton, Lou Ann; Del Fiol, Guilherme; Oakley-Girvan, Ingrid; Gibson, Bryan; Logan, Robert; Workman, T. Elizabeth

2018-01-01

Objective The research examined complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) information-seeking behaviors and preferences from short- to long-term cancer survival, including goals, motivations, and information sources. Methods A mixed-methods approach was used with cancer survivors from the “Assessment of Patients’ Experience with Cancer Care” 2004 cohort. Data collection included a mail survey and phone interviews using the critical incident technique (CIT). Results Seventy survivors from the 2004 study responded to the survey, and eight participated in the CIT interviews. Quantitative results showed that CAM usage did not change significantly between 2004 and 2015. The following themes emerged from the CIT: families’ and friends’ provision of the initial introduction to a CAM, use of CAM to manage the emotional and psychological impact of cancer, utilization of trained CAM practitioners, and online resources as a prominent source for CAM information. The majority of participants expressed an interest in an online information-sharing portal for CAM. Conclusion Patients continue to use CAM well into long-term cancer survivorship. Finding trustworthy sources for information on CAM presents many challenges such as reliability of source, conflicting information on efficacy, and unknown interactions with conventional medications. Study participants expressed interest in an online portal to meet these needs through patient testimonials and linkage of claims to the scientific literature. Such a portal could also aid medical librarians and clinicians in locating and evaluating CAM information on behalf of patients. PMID:29339938

Educational interventions for improving primary caregiver complementary feeding practices for children aged 24 months and under.

PubMed

Arikpo, Dachi; Edet, Ededet Sewanu; Chibuzor, Moriam T; Odey, Friday; Caldwell, Deborah M

2018-05-18

Although complementary feeding is a universal practice, the methods and manner in which it is practiced vary between cultures, individuals and socioeconomic classes. The period of complementary feeding is a critical time of transition in the life of an infant, and inappropriate complementary feeding practices, with their associated adverse health consequences, remain a significant global public health problem. Educational interventions are widely acknowledged as effective in promoting public health strategy, and those aimed at improving complementary feeding practices provide information about proper complementary feeding practices to caregivers of infants/children. It is therefore important to summarise evidence on the effectiveness of educational interventions to improve the complementary feeding practices of caregivers of infants. To assess the effectiveness of educational interventions for improving the complementary feeding (weaning) practices of primary caregivers of children of complementary feeding age, and related health and growth outcomes in infants. In November 2017, we searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, 10 other databases and two trials registers. We also searched the reference lists of relevant studies and reviews to identify any additional studies. We did not limit the searches by date, language or publication status. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs), comparing educational interventions to no intervention, usual practice, or educational interventions provided in conjunction with another intervention, so long as the educational intervention was only available in the experimental group and the adjunctive intervention was available to the control group. Study participants included caregivers of infants aged 4 to 24 months undergoing complementary feeding. Pregnant women who were expected to give birth and commence complementary feeding during the period of the study were also included. Two review authors independently extracted data on participants, settings, interventions, methodology and outcomes using a specifically-developed and piloted data extraction form. We calculated risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for dichotomous data, and mean differences (MD) and 95% CIs for continuous data. Where data permitted, we conducted a meta-analysis using a random-effects model. We assessed the included studies for risk of bias and also assessed the quality of evidence using the GRADE approach. We included 23 studies (from 35 reports) with a total of 11,170 caregiver-infant pairs who were randomly assigned to receive an educational intervention delivered to the caregiver or usual care. Nineteen of the included studies were community-based studies while four were facility-based studies. In addition, 13 of the included studies were cluster-randomised while the others were individually randomised. Generally, the interventions were focused on the introduction of complementary feeding at the appropriate time, the types and amount of complementary foods to be fed to infants, and hygiene. Using the GRADE criteria, we assessed the quality of the evidence as moderate, mostly due to inadequate allocation concealment and insufficient blinding.Educational interventions led to improvements in complementary feeding practices for age at introduction of complementary foods (average RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.83 to 0.94; 4 studies, 1738 children; moderate-quality evidence) and hygiene practices (average RR 1.38, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.55; 4 studies, 2029 participants; moderate-quality evidence). For duration of exclusive breastfeeding, pooled results were compatible with both a reduction and an increase in the outcome (average RR 1.58, 95% CI 0.77 to 3.22; 3 studies, 1544 children; very low-quality evidence). There was limited (low to very low-quality) evidence of an effect for all growth outcomes.Quality of evidenceThere is moderate to very low-quality evidence that educational interventions can improve complementary feeding practices but insufficient evidence to conclude that it impacts growth outcomes. Overall, we found evidence that education improves complementary feeding practices.

HIV-AIDS Patients' Evaluation of Health Information on the Internet: The Digital Divide and Vulnerability to Fraudulent Claims

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benotsch, Eric G.; Kalichman, Seth; Weinhardt, Lance S.

2004-01-01

Access to health information on the Internet has revolutionized how medical patients learn about their illnesses. Valuable information can be found online; however, many health Web sites contain inaccurate or misleading information. The authors surveyed 324 adults with HIV concerning their Internet use for obtaining health information. Health…

Development of a prototype geotechnical report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-12-01

Archive geotechnical reports in the department contain valuable information such as site maps, : photographs, borehole data, laboratory and field test data, and design analyses. A proper use of the : information may bring significant cost saving for ...

Studying Epigenetic DNA Modifications in Undergraduate Laboratories Using Complementary Bioinformatic and Molecular Approaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Militello, Kevin T.

2013-01-01

Epigenetic inheritance is the inheritance of genetic information that is not based on DNA sequence alone. One type of epigenetic information that has come to the forefront in the last few years is modified DNA bases. The most common modified DNA base in nature is 5-methylcytosine. Herein, we describe a laboratory experiment that combines…

Efficient transfer of information from hexitol nucleic acids to RNA during nonenzymatic oligomerization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kozlov, I. A.; De Bouvere, B.; Van Aerschot, A.; Herdewijn, P.; Orgel, L. E.

1999-01-01

Hexitol nucleic acids (HNAs) are DNA analogues that contain the standard nucleoside bases attached to a phosphorylated 1,5-anhydrohexitol backbone. We find that HNAs support efficient information transfer in nonensymatic template-directed reactions. HNA heterosequences appeared to be superior to the corresponding DNA heterosequences in facilitating synthesis of complementary oligonucleotides from nucleoside-5'-phosphoro-2-methyl imidazolides.

Science project

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-08-23

Once tethered in place in Gulf Coast waters, a DRIFTER sensor device is able to transmit valuable information about water temperature and conductivity. The Applied Science and Technology Project Office at Stennis Space Center designed the DRIFTER as an inexpensive device that can be used for science projects in local schools. Two of the devices, deployed in coastal waters, survived Hurricane Isaac, continuing to transmit valuable data regarding the storm.

Temporal reasoning for decision support in medicine.

PubMed

Augusto, Juan Carlos

2005-01-01

Handling time-related concepts is essential in medicine. During diagnosis it can make a substantial difference to know the temporal order in which some symptoms occurred or for how long they lasted. During prognosis the potential evolutions of a disease are conceived as a description of events unfolding in time. In therapy planning the different steps of treatment must be applied in a precise order, with a given frequency and for a certain span of time in order to be effective. This article offers a survey on the use of temporal reasoning for decision support-related tasks in medicine. Key publications of the area, mainly circumscribed to the latest two decades, are reviewed and classified according to three important stages of patient treatment requiring decision support: diagnosis, prognosis and therapy planning/management. Other complementary publications, like those on time-centered information storage and retrieval, are also considered as they provide valuable support to the above mentioned three stages. Key areas are highlighted and used to organize the latest contributions. The survey of previous research is followed by an analysis of what can still be improved and what is needed to make the next generation of decision support systems for medicine more effective. It can be observed that although the area has been considerably developed, there are still areas where more research is needed to make time-based systems of widespread use in decision support-related areas of medicine. Several suggestions for further exploration are proposed as a result of the survey.

The next generation of galaxy evolution models: A symbiosis of stellar populations and chemical abundances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotulla, Ralf

2012-10-01

Over its lifespan Hubble has invested significant effort into detailed observations of galaxies both in the local and distant universe. To extract the physical information from the observed {spectro-}photometry requires detailed and accurate models. Stellar population synthesis models are frequently used to obtain stellar masses, star formation rate, galaxy ages and star formation histories. Chemical evolution models offer another valuable and complementary approach to gain insight into many of the same aspects, yet these two methods have rarely been used in combination.Our proposed next generation of galaxy evolution models will help us improve our understanding of how galaxies form and evolve. Building on GALEV evolutionary synthesis models we incorporate state-of-the-art input physics for stellar evolution of binaries and rotating stars as well as new spectral libraries well matched to the modern observational capabilities. Our improved chemical evolution model allows us to self-consistently trace abundances of individual elements, fully accounting for the increasing initial abundances of successive stellar generations. GALEV will support variable Initial Mass Functions {IMF}, enabling us to test recent observational findings of a non-universal IMF by predicting chemical properties and integrated spectra in an integrated and consistent manner.HST is the perfect instrument for testing this approach. Its wide wavelength coverage from UV to NIR enables precise SED fitting, and with its spatial resolution we can compare the inferred chemical evolution to studies of star clusters and resolved stellar populations in nearby galaxies.

Use of fluorescence in situ hybridization as a tool for introgression analysis and chromosome identification in coffee (Coffea arabica L.).

PubMed

Herrera, Juan Carlos; D'Hont, Angelique; Lashermes, Philippe

2007-07-01

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to study the presence of alien chromatin in interspecific hybrids and one introgressed line (S.288) derived from crosses between the cultivated species Coffea arabica and the diploid relatives C. canephora and C. liberica. In situ hybridization using genomic DNA from C. canephora and C. arabica as probes showed elevated cross hybridization along the hybrid genome, confirming the weak differentiation between parental genomes. According to our genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) data, the observed genomic resemblance between the modern C. canephora genome (C) and the C. canephora-derived subgenome of C. arabica (Ca) appears rather considerable. Poor discrimination between C and Ca chromosomes supports the idea of low structural modifications of both genomes since the C. arabica speciation, at least in the frequency and distribution of repetitive sequences. GISH was also used to identify alien chromatin segments on chromosome spreads of a C. liberica-introgressed line of C. arabica. Further, use of GISH together with BAC-FISH analysis gave us additional valuable information about the physical localization of the C. liberica fragments carrying the SH3 factor involved in resistance to the coffee leaf rust. Overall, our results illustrate that FISH analysis is a complementary tool for molecular cytogenetic studies in coffee, providing rapid localization of either specific chromosomes or alien chromatin in introgressed genotypes derived from diploid species displaying substantial genomic differentiation from C. arabica.

Automated Tracking of Animal Posture and Movement during Exploration and Sensory Orientation Behaviors

PubMed Central

Gomez-Marin, Alex; Partoune, Nicolas; Stephens, Greg J.; Louis, Matthieu

2012-01-01

Background The nervous functions of an organism are primarily reflected in the behavior it is capable of. Measuring behavior quantitatively, at high-resolution and in an automated fashion provides valuable information about the underlying neural circuit computation. Accordingly, computer-vision applications for animal tracking are becoming a key complementary toolkit to genetic, molecular and electrophysiological characterization in systems neuroscience. Methodology/Principal Findings We present Sensory Orientation Software (SOS) to measure behavior and infer sensory experience correlates. SOS is a simple and versatile system to track body posture and motion of single animals in two-dimensional environments. In the presence of a sensory landscape, tracking the trajectory of the animal's sensors and its postural evolution provides a quantitative framework to study sensorimotor integration. To illustrate the utility of SOS, we examine the orientation behavior of fruit fly larvae in response to odor, temperature and light gradients. We show that SOS is suitable to carry out high-resolution behavioral tracking for a wide range of organisms including flatworms, fishes and mice. Conclusions/Significance Our work contributes to the growing repertoire of behavioral analysis tools for collecting rich and fine-grained data to draw and test hypothesis about the functioning of the nervous system. By providing open-access to our code and documenting the software design, we aim to encourage the adaptation of SOS by a wide community of non-specialists to their particular model organism and questions of interest. PMID:22912674

Applying the Neurodynamics of Emotional Circular Causalities in Psychosocial and Cognitive Therapy using Multi-Sensory Environments: An ORBDE Case Study Analysis.

PubMed

Ryan, Janice

2017-10-01

This exploratory, evidence-based practice research study focuses on presenting a plausible mesoscopic brain dynamics hypothesis for the benefits of treating clients with psychosocial and cognitive challenges using a mindful therapeutic approach and multi-sensory environments. After an extensive neuroscientific review of the therapeutic benefits of mindfulness, a multi-sensory environment is presented as a window of therapeutic opportunity to more quickly and efficiently facilitate the neurobiological experience of becoming more mindful or conscious of self and environment. The complementary relationship between the default mode network and the executive attention network is offered as a neurobiological hypothesis that could explain positive occupational engagement pattern shifts in a case study video of a hospice client with advanced dementia during multi-sensory environment treatment. Orbital Decomposition is used for a video analysis that shows a significant behavioral pattern shift consistent with dampening of the perceptual system attractors that contribute to negative emotional circular causalities in a variety of client populations. This treatment approach may also prove to be valuable for any person who has developed circular causalities due to feelings of isolation, victimization, or abuse. A case is made for broader applications of this intervention that may positively influence perception during the information transfer and processing of hippocampal learning. Future research is called for to determine if positive affective, interpersonal, and occupational engagement pattern shifts during treatment are related to the improved default mode network-executive attention network synchrony characteristic of increased mindfulness.

Complementary medicine use among cancer patients receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy: methods, sources of information and the need for counselling.

PubMed

Pihlak, R; Liivand, R; Trelin, O; Neissar, H; Peterson, I; Kivistik, S; Lilo, K; Jaal, J

2014-03-01

Complementary medicine (CM) use is common among cancer patients. However, little is known about CM products that are utilised during radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Out of 62 cancer patients who completed a specialised survey, 35 (56%) consumed some type of CM during active anti-cancer therapy. Cancer patients reported the use of herbal teas (52%), vitamins and other dietary supplements (45%), vegetables and juices (39%), special diets (19%), herbal medicines, including Chinese medicines (19%) and 'immunomodulators' (3%). Most of patients (86%) consumed CM products every day. However, nearly 47% of CM users did not admit this to their oncologists. Majority of CM users (85%) were convinced that supplementary products increase the efficacy of standard anti-cancer therapy and prolong their survival. Information about CM was mainly obtained through internet sources (36%), books and brochures (25%). Although most CM users (82%) trusted the received information, 73% of them admitted that additional information about CM methods would be necessary. Patients would like to receive additional information through a specialised consultation (60%), but also from brochures (44%) and the internet (20%). Adequate counselling of patients is of paramount importance since some CM methods may cause significant side effects and decrease the efficacy of radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effective communication about the use of complementary and integrative medicine in cancer care.

PubMed

Frenkel, Moshe; Cohen, Lorenzo

2014-01-01

Complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) is becoming an increasingly popular and visible component of oncology care. Many patients affected by cancer and their family members are looking for informed advice and desire communication with their physicians about CIM use. Patients affected by cancer come to discuss CIM use with intense emotions and are experiencing an existential crisis that cannot be ignored. Effective communication is crucial in establishing trust with these patients and their families. Communication is now recognized as a core clinical skill in medicine, including cancer care, and is important to the delivery of high-quality care. The quality of communication affects patient satisfaction, decision-making, patient distress and well-being, compliance, and even malpractice litigation. The communication process about CIM use requires a very sensitive approach that depends on effective communication skills, such as experience in listening, encouraging hope, and ability to convey empathy and compassion. This process can be divided into two parts: the "how" and the "what". The "how" relates to the change in clinician attitude, the process of gathering information, addressing patients' unmet needs and emotions, and dealing with uncertainty. The "what" relates to the process of information exchange while assisting patients in decisions about CIM use by using reliable information sources, leading to informed decision-making.

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies: Open Data Policy--Managing Information as an Asset

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-05-09

Information is a valuable national resource and a strategic asset to the Federal Government, its partners, and the public. In order to ensure that the Federal Government is taking full advantage of its information resources, executive departments and...

Student Technology Use for Powerful Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heidenrich, Carol

2013-01-01

Technology has evolved as a valuable information and communication tool. In our knowledge and information society, students with information and communication technology (ICT) competence will be prepared for success. Teacher pedagogy and student learning have to change to fully integrate technology into the curriculum. Students may not have…

DSCOVR EPIC L2 Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) Data Release Announcement

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2018-06-22

... several atmospheric quantities including cloud mask and aerosol optical depth (AOD) required for atmospheric correction. The parameters ... is a useful complementary dataset to MODIS and VIIRS global aerosol products.   Information about the DSCOVR EPIC Atmospheric ...

SSMap: a new UniProt-PDB mapping resource for the curation of structural-related information in the UniProt/Swiss-Prot Knowledgebase.

PubMed

David, Fabrice P A; Yip, Yum L

2008-09-23

Sequences and structures provide valuable complementary information on protein features and functions. However, it is not always straightforward for users to gather information concurrently from the sequence and structure levels. The UniProt knowledgebase (UniProtKB) strives to help users on this undertaking by providing complete cross-references to Protein Data Bank (PDB) as well as coherent feature annotation using available structural information. In this study, SSMap - a new UniProt-PDB residue-residue level mapping - was generated. The primary objective of this mapping is not only to facilitate the two tasks mentioned above, but also to palliate a number of shortcomings of existent mappings. SSMap is the first isoform sequence-specific mapping resource and is up-to-date for UniProtKB annotation tasks. The method employed by SSMap differs from the other mapping resources in that it stresses on the correct reconstruction of the PDB sequence from structures, and on the correct attribution of a UniProtKB entry to each PDB chain by using a series of post-processing steps. SSMap was compared to other existing mapping resources in terms of the correctness of the attribution of PDB chains to UniProtKB entries, and of the quality of the pairwise alignments supporting the residue-residue mapping. It was found that SSMap shared about 80% of the mappings with other mapping sources. New and alternative mappings proposed by SSMap were mostly good as assessed by manual verification of data subsets. As for local pairwise alignments, it was shown that major discrepancies (both in terms of alignment lengths and boundaries), when present, were often due to differences in methodologies used for the mappings. SSMap provides an independent, good quality UniProt-PDB mapping. The systematic comparison conducted in this study allows the further identification of general problems in UniProt-PDB mappings so that both the coverage and the quality of the mappings can be systematically improved for the benefit of the scientific community. SSMap mapping is currently used to provide PDB cross-references in UniProtKB.

Why Current Statistics of Complementary Alternative Medicine Clinical Trials is Invalid.

PubMed

Pandolfi, Maurizio; Carreras, Giulia

2018-06-07

It is not sufficiently known that frequentist statistics cannot provide direct information on the probability that the research hypothesis tested is correct. The error resulting from this misunderstanding is compounded when the hypotheses under scrutiny have precarious scientific bases, which, generally, those of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) are. In such cases, it is mandatory to use inferential statistics, considering the prior probability that the hypothesis tested is true, such as the Bayesian statistics. The authors show that, under such circumstances, no real statistical significance can be achieved in CAM clinical trials. In this respect, CAM trials involving human material are also hardly defensible from an ethical viewpoint.

Integrating multiple molecular sources into a clinical risk prediction signature by extracting complementary information.

PubMed

Hieke, Stefanie; Benner, Axel; Schlenl, Richard F; Schumacher, Martin; Bullinger, Lars; Binder, Harald

2016-08-30

High-throughput technology allows for genome-wide measurements at different molecular levels for the same patient, e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gene expression. Correspondingly, it might be beneficial to also integrate complementary information from different molecular levels when building multivariable risk prediction models for a clinical endpoint, such as treatment response or survival. Unfortunately, such a high-dimensional modeling task will often be complicated by a limited overlap of molecular measurements at different levels between patients, i.e. measurements from all molecular levels are available only for a smaller proportion of patients. We propose a sequential strategy for building clinical risk prediction models that integrate genome-wide measurements from two molecular levels in a complementary way. To deal with partial overlap, we develop an imputation approach that allows us to use all available data. This approach is investigated in two acute myeloid leukemia applications combining gene expression with either SNP or DNA methylation data. After obtaining a sparse risk prediction signature e.g. from SNP data, an automatically selected set of prognostic SNPs, by componentwise likelihood-based boosting, imputation is performed for the corresponding linear predictor by a linking model that incorporates e.g. gene expression measurements. The imputed linear predictor is then used for adjustment when building a prognostic signature from the gene expression data. For evaluation, we consider stability, as quantified by inclusion frequencies across resampling data sets. Despite an extremely small overlap in the application example with gene expression and SNPs, several genes are seen to be more stably identified when taking the (imputed) linear predictor from the SNP data into account. In the application with gene expression and DNA methylation, prediction performance with respect to survival also indicates that the proposed approach might work well. We consider imputation of linear predictor values to be a feasible and sensible approach for dealing with partial overlap in complementary integrative analysis of molecular measurements at different levels. More generally, these results indicate that a complementary strategy for integrating different molecular levels can result in more stable risk prediction signatures, potentially providing a more reliable insight into the underlying biology.

What do evaluation instruments tell us about the quality of complementary medicine information on the internet?

PubMed

Breckons, Matthew; Jones, Ray; Morris, Jenny; Richardson, Janet

2008-01-22

Developers of health information websites aimed at consumers need methods to assess whether their website is of "high quality." Due to the nature of complementary medicine, website information is diverse and may be of poor quality. Various methods have been used to assess the quality of websites, the two main approaches being (1) to compare the content against some gold standard, and (2) to rate various aspects of the site using an assessment tool. We aimed to review available evaluation instruments to assess their performance when used by a researcher to evaluate websites containing information on complementary medicine and breast cancer. In particular, we wanted to see if instruments used the same criteria, agreed on the ranking of websites, were easy to use by a researcher, and if use of a single tool was sufficient to assess website quality. Bibliographic databases, search engines, and citation searches were used to identify evaluation instruments. Instruments were included that enabled users with no subject knowledge to make an objective assessment of a website containing health information. The elements of each instrument were compared to nine main criteria defined by a previous study. Google was used to search for complementary medicine and breast cancer sites. The first six results and a purposive six from different origins (charities, sponsored, commercial) were chosen. Each website was assessed using each tool, and the percentage of criteria successfully met was recorded. The ranking of the websites by each tool was compared. The use of the instruments by others was estimated by citation analysis and Google searching. A total of 39 instruments were identified, 12 of which met the inclusion criteria; the instruments contained between 4 and 43 questions. When applied to 12 websites, there was agreement of the rank order of the sites with 10 of the instruments. Instruments varied in the range of criteria they assessed and in their ease of use. Comparing the content of websites against a gold standard is time consuming and only feasible for very specific advice. Evaluation instruments offer gateway providers a method to assess websites. The checklist approach has face validity when results are compared to the actual content of "good" and "bad" websites. Although instruments differed in the range of items assessed, there was fair agreement between most available instruments. Some were easier to use than others, but these were not necessarily the instruments most widely used to date. Combining some of the better features of instruments to provide fewer, easy-to-use methods would be beneficial to gateway providers.

Bioinspired construction of multi-enzyme catalytic systems.

PubMed

Shi, Jiafu; Wu, Yizhou; Zhang, Shaohua; Tian, Yu; Yang, Dong; Jiang, Zhongyi

2018-06-18

Enzyme catalysis, as a green, efficient process, displays exceptional functionality, adaptivity and sustainability. Multi-enzyme catalysis, which can accomplish the tandem synthesis of valuable materials/chemicals from renewable feedstocks, establishes a bridge between single-enzyme catalysis and whole-cell catalysis. Multi-enzyme catalysis occupies a unique and indispensable position in the realm of biological reactions for energy and environmental applications. Two complementary strategies, i.e., compartmentalization and substrate channeling, have been evolved by living organisms for implementing the complex in vivo multi-enzyme reactions (MERs), which have been applied to construct multi-enzyme catalytic systems (MECSs) with superior catalytic activity and stabilities in practical biocatalysis. This tutorial review aims to present the recent advances and future prospects in this burgeoning research area, stressing the features and applications of the two strategies for constructing MECSs and implementing in vitro MERs. The concluding remarks are presented with a perspective on the construction of MECSs through rational combination of compartmentalization and substrate channeling.

Multifunctional-layered materials for creating membrane-restricted nanodomains and nanoscale imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivasan, P.

2016-01-01

Experimental platform that allows precise spatial positioning of biomolecules with an exquisite control at nanometer length scales is a valuable tool to study the molecular mechanisms of membrane bound signaling. Using micromachined thin film gold (Au) in layered architecture, it is possible to add both optical and biochemical functionalities in in vitro. Towards this goal, here, I show that docking of complementary DNA tethered giant phospholiposomes on Au surface can create membrane-restricted nanodomains. These nanodomains are critical features to dissect molecular choreography of membrane signaling complexes. The excited surface plasmon resonance modes of Au allow label-free imaging at diffraction-limited resolution of stably docked DNA tethered phospholiposomes, and lipid-detergent bicelle structures. Such multifunctional building block enables realizing rigorously controlled in vitro set-up to model membrane anchored biological signaling, besides serving as an optical tool for nanoscale imaging.

Success of Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Education & Public Outreach (E/PO) in Montana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freed, M. S.; Lowder, S. C.; McKenzie, D. E.

2013-03-01

The Space Public Outreach Team (SPOT) program at Montana State University (MSU) is the main component of SDO E/PO efforts in Montana. SPOT brings energetic presentations of recent science & NASA missions to students in primary & secondary schools. Presenters are university undergraduates that visit a diverse group of K-12 students from both rural & urban areas of Montana. This program is extremely cost effective, a valuable service-learning experience for undergraduates at MSU and has repeatedly received praise from both teachers and students. A complementary effort for training schoolteachers entitled NASA Education Activity Training (NEAT) is also employed. NEAT illustrates to teachers inexpensive and highly effective methods for demonstrating difficult science concepts to their students. We will highlight the successes and lessons learned from SPOT & NEAT, so that other E/PO programs can use it as a template to further science literacy in our nation's schools.

The materials processing research base of the Materials Processing Center. Report for FY 1982

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Flemings, M. C.

1983-01-01

The work described, while involving research in the broad field of materials processing, has two common features: the problems are closed related to space precessing of materials and have both practical and fundamental significance. An interesting and important feature of many of the projects is that the interdisciplinary nature of the problem mandates complementary analytical modeling/experimental approaches. An other important aspect of many of the projects is the increasing use of mathematical modeling techniques as one of the research tools. The predictive capability of these models, when tested against measurements, plays a very important role in both the planning of experimental programs and in the rational interpretation of the results. Many of the projects described have a space experiment as their ultimate objective. Mathematical models are proving to be extremely valuable in projecting the findings of ground - based experiments to microgravity conditions.

Health and healing: spiritual, pharmaceutical, and mechanical medicine.

PubMed

Hutch, Richard A

2013-09-01

Modern medical practice is identified as a relatively recent way of approaching human ill health in the wide scope of how people have addressed sickness throughout history and across a wide range of cultures. The ideological biases of medical or "allopathic" (disease as "other" or "outsider") practice are identified and grafted onto other perspectives on how people not engaged in modern medicine have achieved healing and health. Alternative forms of healing and health open a consideration of ethnomedicine, many forms of which are unknown and, hence, untested by modern medical research. Ethnomedicine the world over and throughout human history has displayed unique spiritual (vitalism), pharmaceutical (herbs/drugs), and mechanical (manipulation/surgery) approaches to treating illness. The argument is that modern allopathic medicine would do well to consider such "world medicine" as having valuable alternative and complementary therapies, the use of which could enhance contemporary medical advice and practice.

Rapid NMR method for the quantification of organic compounds in thin stillage.

PubMed

Ratanapariyanuch, Kornsulee; Shen, Jianheng; Jia, Yunhua; Tyler, Robert T; Shim, Youn Young; Reaney, Martin J T

2011-10-12

Thin stillage contains organic and inorganic compounds, some of which may be valuable fermentation coproducts. This study describes a thorough analysis of the major solutes present in thin stillage as revealed by NMR and HPLC. The concentration of charged and neutral organic compounds in thin stillage was determined by excitation sculpting NMR methods (double pulse field gradient spin echo). Compounds identified by NMR included isopropanol, ethanol, lactic acid, 1,3-propanediol, acetic acid, succinic acid, glycerophosphorylcholine, betaine, glycerol, and 2-phenylethanol. The concentrations of lactic and acetic acid determined with NMR were comparable to those determined using HPLC. HPLC and NMR were complementary, as more compounds were identified using both methods. NMR analysis revealed that stillage contained the nitrogenous organic compounds betaine and glycerophosphorylcholine, which contributed as much as 24% of the nitrogen present in the stillage. These compounds were not observed by HPLC analysis.

Anticancer activity of rhamnoallosan against DU-145 cells is kinetically complementary to coexisting Polyphenolics in Psidium guajava budding leaves.

PubMed

Chen, Kuan-Chou; Hsieh, Chiu-Lan; Huang, Kuan-Dar; Ker, Yaw-Bee; Chyau, Charng-Cherng; Peng, Robert Y

2009-07-22

Psidium guajava L. is a valuable farm fruit plant having many medicinal uses. Previously its budding leaves (PE) were shown to contain huge amounts of soluble polyphenolics (SP) including (in mg/g) gallic acid (348), catechin (102), epicatechin (60), rutin (100), quercetin (102), and rutin (100) and to exhibit potent anticancer activity. However, reconstitution of these polyphenolics recovered only 40% of the original bioactivity, and the soluble carbohydrate (SC) portion in PE was suspected to contribute the remaining. PE contained a novel rhamnoallosan, which had a carbohydrate/protein (w/w) ratio = 29.06%/10.27% (=2.83, average molecular mass of 5029 kDa), characteristically evidencing a peptidoglycan, consisting of a composition (mole % ratio) of rhamnose/allose/arabinose/tallose/xylose/fucose/glucose/mannose/galactose = 36.05:24.24:8.76:7.95:7.37:5.90:3.69:3.19:2.85 and of amino acid (in wt %) glycine/leucine/proline/alanine/methionine/isoleucine/valine/histidine/tyrosine/phenylalanine/cysteine/aspartic acid/lysine/glutamic acid = 37.12:12.68:10.05:8.97:5.99:4.89:4.83:4.25:4.05:2.78:1.86:1.10:0.73:0.70. Kinetic analysis showed comparable apparent cell-killing rate coefficients (k(app)) to be 4.03 x 10(3) and 2.92 x 10(3) cells mg(-1) h(-1), respectively, by SP and SC, evidencing the complementary anti-DU-145 bioactivity in nature.

A Study of Personal Information Management Strategies for Online Faculty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kearns, Lorna R.; Frey, Barbara A.; Tomer, Christinger; Alman, Susan

2014-01-01

The literature suggests that personal information management is a serious challenge for many computer users. Online faculty are especially challenged because of the large number of electronic files necessitated by teaching online. Those who have experience in this environment may offer valuable insights regarding information management challenges…

Mathematics Framework for the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Assessment Governing Board, 2012

2012-01-01

Since 1973, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has gathered information about student achievement in mathematics. Results of these periodic assessments, produced in print and web-based formats, provide valuable information to a wide variety of audiences. They inform citizens about the nature of students' comprehension of the…

48 CFR 915.207-70 - Handling proposals and information during evaluation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... information (data) before decision as to the award of a contract, or the transfer of valuable and sensitive information between competing offerors during the competitive phase of the acquisition process, would seriously disrupt the Government's decision-making process and undermine the integrity of the competitive...

77 FR 50711 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment: Pre-Purchase Homeownership...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-22

... Information Collection for Public Comment: Pre-Purchase Homeownership Counseling Demonstration and Impact... homeownership counseling. The evaluation will produce valuable information about the impact of pre- purchase homeownership counseling on a range of outcomes for low- to moderate-income, first-time home buyers. This is the...

Complementary and alternative medicine in pulmonology.

PubMed

Mark, John D; Chung, Youngran

2015-06-01

To provide a comprehensive review of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies for the treatment of pulmonary disorders in children. The use of complementary medicine (CAM) is commonly used by both children and adults with breathing problems, and especially in chronic pulmonary disorders such as asthma and cystic fibrosis. Many clinics and hospitals now offer CAM, even though most of the conventionally trained health practitioners have little knowledge or education regarding CAM therapies. Research in CAM that demonstrates overall benefit is lacking, especially in children. Often parents do not report CAM use to their child's healthcare provider and this could compromise their overall quality of care. Although many research studies evaluating CAM therapies have methodological flaws, data exist to support CAM therapies in treating children with pulmonary disorders. This review examines the latest evidence of CAM use and effectiveness in children with pulmonary disorders. Physicians should be aware of the many CAM therapy options and the research surrounding them in order to provide their patients with the most current and accurate information available.

Patterns and determinants of breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices in urban informal settlements, Nairobi Kenya

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life for optimal growth, development and health. Breastfeeding should continue up to two years or more and nutritionally adequate, safe, and appropriately-fed complementary foods should be introduced at the age of six months to meet the evolving needs of the growing infant. Little evidence exists on breastfeeding and infant feeding practices in urban slums in sub-Saharan Africa. Our aim was to assess breastfeeding and infant feeding practices in Nairobi slums with reference to WHO recommendations. Methods Data from a longitudinal study conducted in two Nairobi slums are used. The study used information on the first year of life of 4299 children born between September 2006 and January 2010. All women who gave birth during this period were interviewed on breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices at recruitment and this information was updated twice, at four-monthly intervals. Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to determine factors associated with cessation of breastfeeding in infancy and early introduction of complementary foods. Results There was universal breastfeeding with almost all children (99%) having ever been breastfed. However, more than a third (37%) were not breastfed in the first hour following delivery, and 40% were given something to drink other than the mothers' breast milk within 3 days after delivery. About 85% of infants were still breastfeeding by the end of the 11th month. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months was rare as only about 2% of infants were exclusively breastfed for six months. Factors associated with sub-optimal infant breastfeeding and feeding practices in these settings include child's sex; perceived size at birth; mother's marital status, ethnicity; education level; family planning (pregnancy desirability); health seeking behaviour (place of delivery) and; neighbourhood (slum of residence). Conclusions The study indicates poor adherence to WHO recommendations for breastfeeding and infant feeding practices. Interventions and further research should pay attention to factors such as cultural practices, access to and utilization of health care facilities, child feeding education, and family planning. PMID:21615957

Patterns and determinants of breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices in urban informal settlements, Nairobi Kenya.

PubMed

Kimani-Murage, Elizabeth W; Madise, Nyovani J; Fotso, Jean-Christophe; Kyobutungi, Catherine; Mutua, Martin K; Gitau, Tabither M; Yatich, Nelly

2011-05-26

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life for optimal growth, development and health. Breastfeeding should continue up to two years or more and nutritionally adequate, safe, and appropriately-fed complementary foods should be introduced at the age of six months to meet the evolving needs of the growing infant. Little evidence exists on breastfeeding and infant feeding practices in urban slums in sub-Saharan Africa. Our aim was to assess breastfeeding and infant feeding practices in Nairobi slums with reference to WHO recommendations. Data from a longitudinal study conducted in two Nairobi slums are used. The study used information on the first year of life of 4299 children born between September 2006 and January 2010. All women who gave birth during this period were interviewed on breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices at recruitment and this information was updated twice, at four-monthly intervals. Cox proportional hazard analysis was used to determine factors associated with cessation of breastfeeding in infancy and early introduction of complementary foods. There was universal breastfeeding with almost all children (99%) having ever been breastfed. However, more than a third (37%) were not breastfed in the first hour following delivery, and 40% were given something to drink other than the mothers' breast milk within 3 days after delivery. About 85% of infants were still breastfeeding by the end of the 11th month. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months was rare as only about 2% of infants were exclusively breastfed for six months. Factors associated with sub-optimal infant breastfeeding and feeding practices in these settings include child's sex; perceived size at birth; mother's marital status, ethnicity; education level; family planning (pregnancy desirability); health seeking behaviour (place of delivery) and; neighbourhood (slum of residence). The study indicates poor adherence to WHO recommendations for breastfeeding and infant feeding practices. Interventions and further research should pay attention to factors such as cultural practices, access to and utilization of health care facilities, child feeding education, and family planning.

Undergraduate Students' Use of Online Information in World Geography: Source Types and Selection Criteria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hong, Jung Eun; Jo, Injeong

2017-01-01

Offering up-to-date information and diverse perspectives on issues, online information can be a valuable resource that supplements traditional course materials like textbooks. In this paper, the source types that students' use for a course assignment and the criteria they apply to determine usefulness of the online information are examined.…

Mineral content of complementary foods.

PubMed

Jani, Rati; Udipi, S A; Ghugre, P S

2009-01-01

To document mineral contents iron, zinc, calcium, energy contents and nutrient densities in complementary foods commonly given to young urban slum children. Information on dietary intake was collected from 892 mothers of children aged 13-24 months, using 24 hour dietary recall and standardized measures. Three variations of 27 most commonly prepared recipes were analyzed and their energy (Kcal/g) and nutrient densities (mg/100 Kcal) were calculated. Considerable variations were observed in preparation of all items fed to the children. Cereal-based items predominated their diets with only small amount of vegetables/fruits. Fenugreek was the only leafy vegetable included, but was given to only 1-2% of children. Iron, calcium, zinc contents of staple complementary foods ranged from: 0.33 mg to 3.73 mg, 4 mg to 64 mg, and 0.35 mg to 2.99 mg/100 respectively. Recipes diluted with less water and containing vegetables, spices had higher mineral content. Minerals densities were higher for dals, fenugreek vegetable, khichdi and chapatti. Using the median amounts of the various recipes fed to children, intakes of all nutrients examined especially calcium and iron was low. There is an urgent need to educate mothers about consistency, dilution, quantity, frequency, method of preparation, inclusion of micronutrient-rich foods, energy-dense complementary foods and gender equality.

Systematic reviews of complementary therapies – an annotated bibliography. Part 3: Homeopathy

PubMed Central

Linde, Klaus; Hondras, Maria; Vickers, Andrew; Riet, Gerben ter; Melchart, Dieter

2001-01-01

Background Complementary therapies are widespread but controversial. We aim to provide a comprehensive collection and a summary of systematic reviews of clinical trials in three major complementary therapies (acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy). This article is dealing with homeopathy. Potentially relevant reviews were searched through the register of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, the Cochrane Library, Medline, and bibliographies of articles and books. To be included articles had to review prospective clinical trials of homeopathy; had to describe review methods explicitly; had to be published; and had to focus on treatment effects. Information on conditions, interventions, methods, results and conclusions was extracted using a pretested form and summarized descriptively. Results Eighteen out of 22 potentially relevant reviews preselected in the screening process met the inclusion criteria. Six reviews addressed the question whether homeopathy is effective across conditions and interventions. The majority of available trials seem to report positive results but the evidence is not convincing. For isopathic nosodes for allergic conditions, oscillococcinum for influenza-like syndromes and galphimia for pollinosis the evidence is promising while in other areas reviewed the results are equivocal. Interpretation Reviews on homeopathy often address general questions. While the evidence is promising for some topics the findings of the available reviews are unlikely to end the controversy on this therapy. PMID:11527508

METABOLOMIC STUDIES OF ENDOCRINE DISRUPTION IN SMALL FISH MODELS

EPA Science Inventory

Metabolomics is now being widely used to obtain complementary information to genomic and proteomic studies. To better understand temporal, compensatory and dose responses to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) within the hypothalamic-pituitary¬gonadal (HPG) axis, we have carrie...

Levels of Evidence: Integrative Therapies Human Studies (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version

Cancer.gov

Levels of Evidence for Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies is about how to weigh the strength of the evidence obtained in cited research studies. Get detailed information this formal ranking system in this summary for clinicians.

Evaluation of Recent Technologies of Nonvolatile RAM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nuns, Thierry; Duzellier, Sophie; Bertrand, Jean; Hubert, Guillaume; Pouget, Vincent; Darracq, FrÉdÉric; David, Jean-Pierre; Soonckindt, Sabine

2008-08-01

Two types of recent nonvolatile random access memories (NVRAM) were evaluated for radiation effects: total dose and single event upset and latch-up under heavy ions and protons. Complementary irradiation with a laser beam provides information on sensitive areas of the devices.

Comparison of prognostic and diagnostic approached to modeling evapotranspiration in the Nile river basin

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Actual evapotranspiration (ET) can be estimated using both prognostic and diagnostic modeling approaches, providing independent yet complementary information for hydrologic applications. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages. When provided with temporally continuous atmospheric forcing d...

Teaching Evidence-Based Medicine at Complementary and Alternative Medicine Institutions: Strategies, Competencies, and Evaluation

PubMed Central

Schiffke, Heather; Fleishman, Susan; Haas, Mitch; Cruser, des Anges; LeFebvre, Ron; Sullivan, Barbara; Taylor, Barry; Gaster, Barak

2014-01-01

Abstract Background: As evidence-based medicine (EBM) becomes a standard in health care, it is essential that practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) become experts in searching and evaluating the research literature. In support of this goal, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) provided R25 funding to nine CAM colleges to develop individual programs focused on teaching EBM. An overarching goal of these research education grants has been to provide CAM faculty and students with the skills they need to apply a rigorous evidence-based perspective to their training and practice. Methods/Results: This paper reviews the competencies and teaching strategies developed and implemented to enhance research literacy at all nine R25-funded institutions. While each institution designed approaches suitable for its research culture, the guiding principles were similar: to develop evidence-informed skills and knowledge, thereby helping students and faculty to critically appraise evidence and then use that evidence to guide their clinical practice. Curriculum development and assessment included faculty-driven learning activities and longitudinal curricular initiatives to encourage skill reinforcement and evaluate progress. Conclusion: As the field of integrative medicine matures, the NIH-NCCAM research education grants provide essential training for future clinicians and clinician-researchers. Building this workforce will facilitate multidisciplinary collaborations that address the unique needs for research that informs integrative clinical practice. PMID:25380144

Summary Report Panel 4: Communication and Interpretation: Presenting Information to the General Public.

PubMed

Scowcroft, Gail

2016-01-01

Complex scientific information is often difficult to communicate to nonscience audiences who may not have the foundational knowledge to understand the content. Scientists are called on with increasing frequency to share the results of their research for the purposes of education, outreach, and popular media stories. These three spheres of activity, represented in Fig. 1, are geared toward different but complementary goals.

Informing Mechanistic Toxicology with Computational Molecular Models

EPA Science Inventory

Computational molecular models of chemicals interacting with biomolecular targets provides toxicologists a valuable, affordable, and sustainable source of in silico molecular level information that augments, enriches, and complements in vitro and in vivo effo...

Recoverable information and emergent conservation laws in fracton stabilizer codes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmitz, A. T.; Ma, Han; Nandkishore, Rahul M.; Parameswaran, S. A.

2018-04-01

We introduce a new quantity that we term recoverable information, defined for stabilizer Hamiltonians. For such models, the recoverable information provides a measure of the topological information as well as a physical interpretation, which is complementary to topological entanglement entropy. We discuss three different ways to calculate the recoverable information and prove their equivalence. To demonstrate its utility, we compute recoverable information for fracton models using all three methods where appropriate. From the recoverable information, we deduce the existence of emergent Z2 Gauss-law-type constraints, which in turn imply emergent Z2 conservation laws for pointlike quasiparticle excitations of an underlying topologically ordered phase.

Cost and results of information systems for health and poverty indicators in the United Republic of Tanzania.

PubMed Central

Rommelmann, Vanessa; Setel, Philip W.; Hemed, Yusuf; Angeles, Gustavo; Mponezya, Hamisi; Whiting, David; Boerma, Ties

2005-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To examine the costs of complementary information generation activities in a resource-constrained setting and compare the costs and outputs of information subsystems that generate the statistics on poverty, health and survival required for monitoring, evaluation and reporting on health programmes in the United Republic of Tanzania. METHODS: Nine systems used by four government agencies or ministries were assessed. Costs were calculated from budgets and expenditure data made available by information system managers. System coverage, quality assurance and information production were reviewed using questionnaires and interviews. Information production was characterized in terms of 38 key sociodemographic indicators required for national programme monitoring. FINDINGS: In 2002-03 approximately US$ 0.53 was spent per Tanzanian citizen on the nine information subsystems that generated information on 37 of the 38 selected indicators. The census and reporting system for routine health service statistics had the largest participating populations and highest total costs. Nationally representative household surveys and demographic surveillance systems (which are not based on nationally representative samples) produced more than half the indicators and used the most rigorous quality assurance. Five systems produced fewer than 13 indicators and had comparatively high costs per participant. CONCLUSION: Policy-makers and programme planners should be aware of the many trade-offs with respect to system costs, coverage, production, representativeness and quality control when making investment choices for monitoring and evaluation. In future, formal cost-effectiveness studies of complementary information systems would help guide investments in the monitoring, evaluation and planning needed to demonstrate the impact of poverty-reduction and health programmes. PMID:16184275

Information management and complementary alternative medicine: the anatomy of information about CAMs through PubMed.

PubMed

Corrao, Salvatore; Argano, Christiano; Colomba, Daniela; Ippolito, Calogero; Gargano, Vincenzo; Arcoraci, Vincenzo; Licata, Giuseppe

2013-10-01

In recent years, there has been a growing interest about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and the use of CAM interventions has become more common among people. For these reasons, health professionals must be able to effectively manage information in this field of knowledge according to an evidence-based point of view. This study assessed the anatomy of the available information about CAMs using PubMed, to give practical instructions to manage information in this field. We also analyzed the anatomy of information according to each alternative medicine branch, narrow and broad search methods, subset filters for indexed-for-Medline and non-indexed citations, and different publication types including randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses. Our results demonstrated that the use of CAMs subset (supplied by PubMed search engine) leads to a great number of citations determining an information overload. Our data reveal that it would be more useful to search for the CAM separately, identifying specific items and study design. Moreover, we found the largest number of randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses related to herbal medicine and acupuncture, neither RCTs nor meta-analyses were available for bach and flower remedies, auriculoacupuncture, iridology, and pranotherapy. For the first time, our study gives a comprehensive view of the anatomy of information regarding CAMs and each branch of them. We suggest a methodological approach to face with searching information about this emerging issue from an evidence-based point of view. Finally, our data pointed out some "grey zones" since neither RCTs nor meta-analyses were available for some CAMs.

Soil moisture mapping for aquarius

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Aquarius is the first satellite to provide both passive and active L-band observations of the Earth. In addition, the instruments on Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-D (SAC-D) provide complementary information for analysis and retrieval algorithms. Our research focuses on the retrieval of soil m...

Quality of Information Assurance - Assessment, Management and Use (QIAAMU)

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-01

106 4.7.3.1 University authentication infrastructure ...Authentication infrastructure ..................................................................................... 107 Figure 49: Complementary...X X X X Architecture & Infrastructure Quality AIQ X X X X X X Deviation from Configuration (Services) SERV STAT X X X X X Deviation from

Time To Talk with Your Health Care Providers: 4 Tips to Start the Conversation

MedlinePlus

... Y Z 4 Tips: Start Talking With Your Health Care Providers About Complementary Health Approaches Share: When patients ... fully informed and can help patients make wise health care decisions. Here are 4 tips to help you ...

Test Expectancy and Memory for Important Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Middlebrooks, Catherine D.; Murayama, Kou; Castel, Alan D.

2017-01-01

Prior research suggests that learners study and remember information differently depending upon the type of test they expect to later receive. The current experiments investigate how testing expectations impact the study of and memory for valuable information. Participants studied lists of words ranging in value from 1 to 10 points with the goal…

System Analysis and Design of a Low-Cost Micromechanical Seeker System

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-06-01

reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching...who devoted a valuable amount of time to advising me with academic coursework as well as thesis research. Dan, your attention to detail and ability...never have come to be. Many thanks to Sean George, who sacrificed his valuable time to guide me through constructing the projectile flight simulation

Exploring barriers and enablers for scaling up a community-based grain bank intervention for improved infant and young child feeding in Ethiopia: A qualitative process evaluation.

PubMed

Sako, Binta; Leerlooijer, Joanne N; Lelisa, Azeb; Hailemariam, Abebe; Brouwer, Inge D; Tucker Brown, Amal; Osendarp, Saskia J M

2018-04-01

Child malnutrition remains high in Ethiopia, and inadequate complementary feeding is a contributing factor. In this context, a community-based intervention was designed to provide locally made complementary food for children 6-23 months, using a bartering system, in four Ethiopian regions. After a pilot phase, the intervention was scaled up from 8 to 180 localities. We conducted a process evaluation to determine enablers and barriers for the scaling up of this intervention. Eight study sites were selected to perform 52 key informant interviews and 31 focus group discussions with purposely selected informants. For analysis, we used a framework describing six elements of successful scaling up: socio-political context, attributes of the intervention, attributes of the implementers, appropriate delivery strategy, the adopting community, and use of research to inform the scale-up process. A strong political will, alignment of the intervention with national priorities, and integration with the health care system were instrumental in the scaling up. The participatory approach in decision-making reinforced ownership at community level, and training about complementary feeding motivated mothers and women's groups to participate. However, the management of the complex intervention, limited human resources, and lack of incentives for female volunteers proved challenging. In the bartering model, the barter rate was accepted, but the bartering was hindered by unavailability of cereals and limited financial and material resources to contribute, threatening the project's sustainability. Scaling up strategies for nutrition interventions require sufficient time, thorough planning, and assessment of the community's capacity to contribute human, financial, and material resources. © 2017 The Authors. Maternal and Child Nutrition Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Exploring barriers and enablers for scaling up a community‐based grain bank intervention for improved infant and young child feeding in Ethiopia: A qualitative process evaluation

PubMed Central

Sako, Binta; Leerlooijer, Joanne N.; Lelisa, Azeb; Hailemariam, Abebe; Brouwer, Inge D.; Tucker Brown, Amal

2017-01-01

Abstract Child malnutrition remains high in Ethiopia, and inadequate complementary feeding is a contributing factor. In this context, a community‐based intervention was designed to provide locally made complementary food for children 6–23 months, using a bartering system, in four Ethiopian regions. After a pilot phase, the intervention was scaled up from 8 to 180 localities. We conducted a process evaluation to determine enablers and barriers for the scaling up of this intervention. Eight study sites were selected to perform 52 key informant interviews and 31 focus group discussions with purposely selected informants. For analysis, we used a framework describing six elements of successful scaling up: socio‐political context, attributes of the intervention, attributes of the implementers, appropriate delivery strategy, the adopting community, and use of research to inform the scale‐up process. A strong political will, alignment of the intervention with national priorities, and integration with the health care system were instrumental in the scaling up. The participatory approach in decision‐making reinforced ownership at community level, and training about complementary feeding motivated mothers and women's groups to participate. However, the management of the complex intervention, limited human resources, and lack of incentives for female volunteers proved challenging. In the bartering model, the barter rate was accepted, but the bartering was hindered by unavailability of cereals and limited financial and material resources to contribute, threatening the project's sustainability. Scaling up strategies for nutrition interventions require sufficient time, thorough planning, and assessment of the community's capacity to contribute human, financial, and material resources. PMID:29063698

[The patient's right to information: influence of socio-professional factors in primary care].

PubMed

Pérez-Cárceles, M D; Pereñíguez-Barranco, J E; Osuna-Carrillo de Albornoz, E; Luna-Maldonado, A

2006-02-15

To describe the information provided by primary care doctors to their patients in different phases of the care provision process and to analyse any relationships with socio-professional factors. Descriptive, cross-sectional study based on postal questionnaire. Primary care centres in Murcia, Spain. 227 family physicians. Distribution of a questionnaire which includes: a) socio-professional variables (age, sex, marital status, years in practice, years in present post, work environment, previous training, number of patients on list, number of patients seen daily); b) an evaluation of job satisfaction (Likert scale) related to salary, career choice, immediate superiors and daily surgery; and c) the frequency with which information is provided to patients concerning diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, complementary examinations and personal, professional and family impact. The reply rate was 59%. The percentages of doctors who always provided information concerning diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, complementary examinations and person, professional and family impact was, 23.3%, 7%, 64.3%, 40.5%, and 9.7%, respectively. There was a direct and statistically significant relationship between job satisfaction and the information provided to patients, the doctors feeling most satisfaction providing the most information on the different phases of the care process. On the other hand, there was an inverse and statistically significant relationship between the number of patients on the doctors' lists and the information provided. The degree of fulfillment of the patient's right to information is low. Doctors should realise the practical importance of clinical information in their work. There is a general feeling of discontent amongst family doctors, which has a negative impact on their professional activity. A lighter workload would significantly improve the extent to which doctors provide patients with information and mechanisms should be put in place to improve working conditions to avoid the non-fulfillment of the patient's right to information.

Assessing the role of evidence in patients' evaluation of complementary therapies: a quality study.

PubMed

Verhoef, Marja J; Mulkins, Andrea; Carlson, Linda E; Hilsden, Robert J; Kania, Anna

2007-12-01

Making the decision to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for cancer treatment is difficult in light of the limited available evidence for these treatments. It is unclear how patients use evidence to make these decisions. (1) Describe the type of information about CAM that cancer patients use in their decision making; (2) understand why certain types of information about CAM are accepted as evidence by cancer patients; and (3) explore the role of scientific evidence in treatment decision making. A qualitative study design using in-depth semistructured interviews with cancer patients attending 4 conventional and integrative health care institutions in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, was used. Twenty-seven patients were interviewed. Patients sought CAM information from a range of sources, including the Internet, health care providers, friends, relatives, and newspapers. Many expressed frustration about the overwhelming amount of available information and found it difficult to identify reliable information. Information was described as reliable if it supported them in arriving at a decision about CAM. Types of information participants identified included anecdotes, expert opinion, gut feeling, popular literature, scientific evidence, testimonials, advertising and trial and error. Profound differences were found between new CAM users, experienced CAM users, and users with late-stage cancer in type of information sought, the role of scientific evidence in decision making, and overall information needs. Although this was a relatively small qualitative study, the results suggest that (1) many patients do not value scientific evidence as highly as conventional providers and (2) it is important for clinicians and other information providers to be aware of the different types of information that patients seek out and access when making choices and decisions regarding CAM treatments and why they seek out these sources.

Artificial Informational Polymers and Nanomaterials from Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

James, Carrie Rae

Inspired by naturally occurring polymers (DNA, polypeptides, polysaccharides, etc.) that can self-assemble on the nanoscale into complex, information-rich architectures, we have synthesized nucleic acid based polymers using ROMP. These polymers were synthesized using a graft-through strategy, whereby nucleic acids bearing a strained cyclic olefin were directly polymerized. This is the first example of the graft-through polymerization of nucleic acids. Our approach takes advantage of non-charged peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) as elements to incorporate into ROMP polymer backbones. PNA is a synthetic nucleic acid analogue known for its increased affinity and specificity for complementary DNA or RNA. To accomplish the graft-through polymerization of PNA, we conjugated PNA to strained cyclic olefins using solid phase peptide conjugation chemistry. These PNA monomers were then directly polymerized into homo and block copolymers forming brushes, or comb-like arrangements, of information. Block copolymer amphiphiles of these materials, where the PNA brush served as the hydrophilic portion, were capable of self-assembly into spherical nanoparticles (PNA NPs). These PNA NPs were then studied with respect to their ability to hybridize complementary DNA sequences, as well as their ability to undergo cellular internalization. PNA NPs consisting of densely packed brushes of nucleic acids possessed increased thermal stability when mixed with their complementary DNA sequence, indicating a greater DNA binding affinity over their unpolymerized PNA counterparts. In addition, by arranging the PNA into dense brushes at the surface of the nanoparticle, Cy5.5 labeled PNA NPs were able to undergo cellular internalization into HeLa cells without the need for an additional cellular delivery device. Importantly, cellular internalization of PNA has remained a significant challenge in the literature due to the neutrally charged amino-ethyl glycine backbone of PNA. Therefore, this represents a novel way of facilitating cellular uptake of PNA. This materials strategy represents the first direct polymerization of nucleic acids, and presents a novel method for arranging biological information on the nanoscale at high density in order to confer novel attributes.

The use of Local Ecological Knowledge as a complementary approach to understand the temporal and spatial patterns of fishery resources distribution.

PubMed

Lima, Mauro Sergio Pinheiro; Oliveira, Jorge Eduardo Lins; de Nóbrega, Marcelo Francisco; Lopes, Priscila Fabiana Macedo

2017-06-01

Acquiring fast and accurate information on ecological patterns of fishery resources is a basic first step for their management. However, some countries may lack the technical and/or the financial means to undergo traditional scientific samplings to get such information; therefore affordable and reliable alternatives need to be sought. We compared two different approaches to identify occurrence patterns and catch for three main fish species caught with bottom-set gillnets used by artisanal fishers from northeast Brazil: (1) scientific on-board record data of small-scale fleet (n = 72 trips), and (2) interviews with small-scale fishers on Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) (n = 32 interviews). We correlated (Pearson correlations) the months cited by fishers (LEK) as belonging to the rainy or to the dry season with observed periods of higher and lower precipitation (SK). The presence of the three main fish species at different depths was compared between LEK and SK by Spearman correlations. Spearman correlations were also used to compare the depths of greatest abundance (with the highest Capture per Unit Effort - CPUE) of these species; the CPUEs were descendly ordered. Both methods provided similar and complementary bathymetric patterns of species occurrence and catch. The largest catches occured in deeper areas, which also happened to be less intensively fished. The preference for fishing in shallower and less productive areas was mostly due to environmental factors, such as weaker currents and less drifting algae at such depths. Both on-board and interview methods were accurate and brought complementary information, even though fishers provided faster data when compared to scientific on-board observations. When time and funding are not limited, integrative approaches such as the one presented here are likely the best option to obtain information, otherwise fishers' LEK could be a better choice for when a compromise between speed, reliability and cost needs to be reached.

NASA directives master list and index

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This Handbook sets forth in two parts the information for the guidance of users of the NASA Management Directives System. Complementary to this Handbook is the NASA Online Directives Information System (NODIS), an electronic computer text retrieval system. The first part contains the Master List of Management Directives in force as of 30 Sep. 1993. The second part contains an Index to NASA Management Directives in force as of 30 Sep. 1993.

Complementary and alternative medicine: a survey of its use in pediatric cardiology.

PubMed

Adams, Denise; Whidden, Ashley; Honkanen, Meeri; Dagenais, Simon; Clifford, Tammy; Baydala, Lola; King, W James; Vohra, Sunita

2014-10-01

The use of complementary and alternative medicine is high among children and youth with chronic illnesses, including patients with cardiac conditions. Our goal was to assess the prevalence and patterns of such use among patients presenting to academic pediatric cardiology clinics in Canada. A survey instrument was developed to inquire about current or previous use of complementary and alternative medicine products and practices, including indications, beliefs, sources of information and whether this use was discussed with physicians. Between February and July 2007, the survey was administered to patients (or their parents/guardians) presenting to 2 hospital-based cardiology clinics: the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, and the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, Ontario. At the Stollery Children's Hospital, 64.1% of the 145 respondents had used complementary and alternative medicine compared with 35.5% of the 31 respondents at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (p = 0.003). Overall, the most common products in current use were multivitamins (70.6%), vitamin C (22.1%), calcium (13.2%), unspecified "cold remedies" (11.8%) and fish oil or omega-3 fatty acids (11.8%). The most common practices in current use were massage (37.5%), faith healing (25.0%), chiropractic (20.0%), aromatherapy (15.0%) and Aboriginal healing (7.5%). Many patients (44.9%) used complementary and alternative medicine products at the same time as conventional prescription drugs. Concurrent use was discussed with physicians or pharmacists by 64.3% and 31.3% of respondents, respectively. Use of complementary and alternative medicine products and practices was high among patients seen in the pediatric cardiology clinics in our study. Most respondents believed that the use of these products and practices was helpful; few reported harms and many did not discuss this use with their physicians, increasing the potential for interactions with prescribed medications.

Complementary and alternative medicine: a survey of its use in pediatric cardiology

PubMed Central

Adams, Denise; Whidden, Ashley; Honkanen, Meeri; Dagenais, Simon; Clifford, Tammy; Baydala, Lola; King, W. James

2014-01-01

Background The use of complementary and alternative medicine is high among children and youth with chronic illnesses, including patients with cardiac conditions. Our goal was to assess the prevalence and patterns of such use among patients presenting to academic pediatric cardiology clinics in Canada. Methods A survey instrument was developed to inquire about current or previous use of complementary and alternative medicine products and practices, including indications, beliefs, sources of information and whether this use was discussed with physicians. Between February and July 2007, the survey was administered to patients (or their parents/guardians) presenting to 2 hospital-based cardiology clinics: the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, Ontario. Results At the Stollery Children’s Hospital, 64.1% of the 145 respondents had used complementary and alternative medicine compared with 35.5% of the 31 respondents at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (p = 0.003). Overall, the most common products in current use were multivitamins (70.6%), vitamin C (22.1%), calcium (13.2%), unspecified “cold remedies” (11.8%) and fish oil or omega-3 fatty acids (11.8%). The most common practices in current use were massage (37.5%), faith healing (25.0%), chiropractic (20.0%), aromatherapy (15.0%) and Aboriginal healing (7.5%). Many patients (44.9%) used complementary and alternative medicine products at the same time as conventional prescription drugs. Concurrent use was discussed with physicians or pharmacists by 64.3% and 31.3% of respondents, respectively. Interpretation Use of complementary and alternative medicine products and practices was high among patients seen in the pediatric cardiology clinics in our study. Most respondents believed that the use of these products and practices was helpful; few reported harms and many did not discuss this use with their physicians, increasing the potential for interactions with prescribed medications. PMID:25485246

Preventing Terrorism Using Information Sharing Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-01

in fusing information and providing valuable intelligence that thwarted a terrorist attack at Disneyland . A videotape was received that contained a...creditable threat of a Sarin gas attack at Disneyland . The LA TEW conducted the initial analysis of the tape and the initial investigation that

Can Computers Create?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hausman, Carl R.

1985-01-01

To be creative, an act must have as its outcome something new in the way it is intelligible and valuable. Computers have restricted contexts of information and have no ability to weigh bits of information. Computer optimists presuppose either determinism or indeterminism, either of which abandons creativity. (MT)

NMR-BASED METABOLOMIC STUDIES OF ENDOCRINE DISRUPTION IN SMALL FISH MODELS

EPA Science Inventory

Metabolomics is now being widely used to obtain complementary information to genomic and proteomic studies. Among the various approaches used in metabolomics, NMR spectroscopy is particularly powerful, in part because it is relatively non-selective, and is amenable to the study o...

About CIB | Division of Cancer Prevention

Cancer.gov

The Consortium was created to improve cancer screening, early detection of aggressive cancer, assessment of cancer risk and cancer diagnosis aimed at integrating multi-modality imaging strategies and multiplexed biomarker methodologies into a singular complementary approach. Investigator perform collaborative studies, exchange information, share knowledge and leverage common

GIS and crop simulation modelling applications in climate change research

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The challenges that climate change presents humanity require an unprecedented ability to predict the responses of crops to environment and management. Geographic information systems (GIS) and crop simulation models are two powerful and highly complementary tools that are increasingly used for such p...

Multiple Gauges Best for Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sawchuk, Stephen

2013-01-01

Student feedback, test-score growth calculations, and observations of practice appear to pick up different but complementary information that, combined, can provide a balanced and accurate picture of teacher performance, according to research recently released from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A composite measure on teacher effectiveness…

15 CFR 784.3 - Scope and conduct of complementary access.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

..., safety, and security regulations (e.g., regulations for protection of controlled environments within the... (Continued) BUREAU OF INDUSTRY AND SECURITY, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL REGULATIONS... presence of a U.S. Government Host Team. No information of direct national security significance shall be...

Spatio-temporal cluster detection of chickenpox in Valencia, Spain in the period 2008-2012.

PubMed

Iftimi, Adina; Martínez-Ruiz, Francisco; Míguez Santiyán, Ana; Montes, Francisco

2015-05-18

Chickenpox is a highly contagious airborne disease caused by Varicella zoster, which affects nearly all non-immune children worldwide with an annual incidence estimated at 80-90 million cases. To analyze the spatiotemporal pattern of the chickenpox incidence in the city of Valencia, Spain two complementary statistical approaches were used. First, we evaluated the existence of clusters and spatio-temporal interaction; secondly, we used this information to find the locations of the spatio-temporal clusters via the space-time permutation model. The first method used detects any aggregation in our data but does not provide the spatial and temporal information. The second method gives the locations, areas and time-frame for the spatio-temporal clusters. An overall decreasing time trend, a pronounced 12-monthly periodicity and two complementary periods were observed. Several areas with high incidence, surrounding the center of the city were identified. The existence of aggregation in time and space was observed, and a number of spatio-temporal clusters were located.

Atomic characterization of Si nanoclusters embedded in SiO2 by atom probe tomography

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Silicon nanoclusters are of prime interest for new generation of optoelectronic and microelectronics components. Physical properties (light emission, carrier storage...) of systems using such nanoclusters are strongly dependent on nanostructural characteristics. These characteristics (size, composition, distribution, and interface nature) are until now obtained using conventional high-resolution analytic methods, such as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, EFTEM, or EELS. In this article, a complementary technique, the atom probe tomography, was used for studying a multilayer (ML) system containing silicon clusters. Such a technique and its analysis give information on the structure at the atomic level and allow obtaining complementary information with respect to other techniques. A description of the different steps for such analysis: sample preparation, atom probe analysis, and data treatment are detailed. An atomic scale description of the Si nanoclusters/SiO2 ML will be fully described. This system is composed of 3.8-nm-thick SiO layers and 4-nm-thick SiO2 layers annealed 1 h at 900°C. PMID:21711666

Multimodal imaging of human cerebellum - merging X-ray phase microtomography, magnetic resonance microscopy and histology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schulz, Georg; Waschkies, Conny; Pfeiffer, Franz; Zanette, Irene; Weitkamp, Timm; David, Christian; Müller, Bert

2012-11-01

Imaging modalities including magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray computed tomography are established methods in daily clinical diagnosis of human brain. Clinical equipment does not provide sufficient spatial resolution to obtain morphological information on the cellular level, essential for applying minimally or non-invasive surgical interventions. Therefore, generic data with lateral sub-micrometer resolution have been generated from histological slices post mortem. Sub-cellular spatial resolution, lost in the third dimension as a result of sectioning, is obtained using magnetic resonance microscopy and micro computed tomography. We demonstrate that for human cerebellum grating-based X-ray phase tomography shows complementary contrast to magnetic resonance microscopy and histology. In this study, the contrast-to-noise values of magnetic resonance microscopy and phase tomography were comparable whereas the spatial resolution in phase tomography is an order of magnitude better. The registered data with their complementary information permit the distinct segmentation of tissues within the human cerebellum.

Concordance between macrophytes and macroinvertebrates in a Mediterranean river of central Apennine region.

PubMed

Traversetti, Lorenzo; Scalici, Massimiliano; Ginepri, Valeria; Manfrin, Alessandro; Ceschin, Simona

2014-05-01

The main aim of this study was to improve the knowledge about the concordance among macrophytes and macroinvertebrates to provide complementary information and facilitate the procedures for quality assessment of river ecosystems. Macrophytes and macroinvertebrates were collected in 11 sampling sites along a central Apennine calcareous river in October 2008 and June 2009. The concordance between the two biomonitoring groups was tested according to several environmental parameters. The comparison of data matrix similarities by Mantel test showed differences in the assemblage of macrophytes and macroinvertebrates along the river since correlation values were 0.04, p > 0.05 in October 2008 and 0.39, p > 0.05 in June 2009. The study revealed lack of concordance between the two groups, emphasizing that the information provided by macrophytes and macroinvertebrates does not overlap in terms of response to environmental parameters. Indeed, the two different biological groups resulted useful descriptors of different parameters. Together, they could represent a complementary tool to reflect the river environmental quality.

Active Microwave Remote Sensing Observations of Weddell Sea Ice

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drinkwater, Mark R.

1997-01-01

Since July 1991, the European Space Agency's ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellites have acquired radar data of the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. The Active Microwave Instrument on board ERS has two modes; SAR and Scatterometer. Two receiving stations enable direct downlink and recording of high bit-rate, high resolution SAR image data of this region. When not in an imaging mode, when direct SAR downlink is not possible, or when a receiving station is inoperable, the latter mode allows normalized radar cross-section data to be acquired. These low bit-rate ERS scatterometer data are tape recorded, downlinked and processed off-line. Recent advances in image generation from Scatterometer backscatter measurements enable complementary medium-scale resolution images to be made during periods when SAR images cannot be acquired. Together, these combined C-band microwave image data have for the first time enabled uninterrupted night and day coverage of the Weddell Sea region at both high (25 m) and medium-scale (-20 km) resolutions. C-band ERS-1 radar data are analyzed in conjunction with field data from two simultaneous field experiments in 1992. Satellite radar signature data are compared with shipborne radar data to extract a regional and seasonal signature database for recognition of ice types in the images. Performance of automated sea-ice tracking algorithms is tested on Antarctic data to evaluate their success. Examples demonstrate that both winter and summer ice can be effectively tracked. The kinematics of the main ice zones within the Weddell Sea are illustrated, together with the complementary time-dependencies in their radar signatures. Time-series of satellite images are used to illustrate the development of the Weddell Sea ice cover from its austral summer minimum (February) to its winter maximum (September). The combination of time-dependent microwave signatures and ice dynamics tracking enable various drift regimes to be defined which relate closely to the circulation of the sea ice in response to current and wind forcing and iceberg barriers. These are closely related to continental-shelf or central basin regimes, in which tidal forcing or barotropic circulation patterns appear to influence the sea-ice motion, respectively. These regimes provide valuable information about the regions of most prolific ice growth and influence of ice conditions upon air-sea-ice exchange processes in the Weddell Sea.

SEM morphological studies of carbonates and the search for ancient life on Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Elia, M.; Blanco, A.; Galiano, A.; Orofino, V.; Fonti, S.; Mancarella, F.; Guido, A.; Russo, F.; Mastandrea, A.

2017-04-01

Next space missions will investigate the possibility of extinct or extant life on Mars. Studying the infrared spectral modifications, induced by thermal processing on different carbonate samples (recent shells and fossils of different ages), we developed a method able to discriminate biogenic carbonates from their abiogenic counterparts. The method has been successfully applied to microbialites, i.e. bio-induced carbonates deposits, and particularly to stromatolites, the laminated fabric of microbialites, some of which can be ascribed to among the oldest traces of biological activity known on Earth. These results are of valuable importance since such carbonates are linked to primitive living organisms that can be considered as good analogues for putative Martian life forms. Considering that the microstructures of biogenic carbonate are different from those of abiogenic origin, we investigated the micromorphology of shells, skeletal grains and microbialites at different scale with a scanning electron microscope. The results show that this line of research may provide an alternative and complementary approach to other techniques developed in the past by our group to distinguish biotic from abiotic carbonates. In this paper, we present some results that can be of valuable interest since they demonstrate the utility for a database of images concerning the structures and textures of relevant carbonate minerals. Such data may be useful for the analysis of Martian samples, coming from sample return missions or investigated by future in situ explorations, aimed to characterize the near-subsurface of Mars in search for past or present life.

Using Scaled Visual Texture for Autonomous Rock Clustering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, R. C.; Castano, R.; Stough, T.; Gor, V.; Mjolsness, E.

2001-01-01

To maximize the return on future planetary missions, it will be critical that rovers have the capability to analyze information onboard and select and return data that is most likely to yield valuable scientific discoveries. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Competitive Intelligence on the Internet-Going for the Gold.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kassler, Helene

2000-01-01

Discussion of competitive intelligence (CI) focuses on recent Web sties and several search techniques that provide valuable CI information. Highlights include links that display business relationships; information from vendors; general business sites; search engine strategies; local business newspapers; job postings; patent and trademark…

A Thermal-based Two-Source Energy Balance Model for Estimating Evapotranspiration over Complex Canopies

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Land surface temperature (LST) provides valuable information for quantifying root-zone water availability, evapotranspiration (ET) and crop condition as well as providing useful information for constraining prognostic land surface models. This presentation describes a robust but relatively simple LS...

Student attitudes towards clinical teaching resources in complementary medicine: a focus group examination of Australian naturopathic medicine students.

PubMed

Wardle, Jonathan Lee; Sarris, Jerome

2014-06-01

Complementary medicine is forming an increasingly large part of health care in developed countries and is increasingly being formally taught in tertiary academic settings. An exploratory study of naturopathic student perceptions of, use of and attitudes towards teaching resources in naturopathic clinical training and education. Focus groups were conducted with current and recent students of 4-year naturopathic degree programmes in Brisbane and Sydney to ascertain how they interact with clinical teaching materials, and their perceptions and attitudes towards teaching materials in naturopathic education. Naturopathic students have a complex and critical relationship with their learning materials. Although naturopathic practice is often defined by traditional evidence, students want information that both supports and is critical of traditional naturopathic practices, and focuses heavily on evidence-based medicine. Students remain largely ambivalent about new teaching technologies and would prefer that these develop organically as an evolution from printed materials, rather than depart from dramatically and radically from these previously established materials. Findings from this study will assist publishers, librarians and academics develop clinical information sources that appropriately meet student expectations and support their learning requirements. © 2014 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2014 Health Libraries Group.

Herbal and nutrient complementary medicines for weight loss: community pharmacists' practices, attitudes, recommendations, information and education needs.

PubMed

Taing, Meng-Wong; Tan, Eunice Tze Xin; Williams, Gail M; Clavarino, Alexandra M; McGuire, Treasure M

2016-05-01

To investigate pharmacists' herbal/nutrient weight loss complementary medicine (WLCM) practices in the context of other pharmacist weight management support practices (provision of lifestyle advice, orlistat and meal replacement treatments); and gain insight into their attitudes, recommendations, information and education needs. Pharmacists from a randomly selected sample of 214 community pharmacies from different socioeconomic areas in the Greater Brisbane region, Australia, were invited to complete a survey to explore their weight management practices, with a specific focus on herbal/nutrient WLCM practices. Data collected from the sample group represented pharmacist practices within the metropolitan Greater Brisbane region. This survey achieved a 51% response rate. During weight management consultations, a high proportion of customers (37%) sought advice from community pharmacists relating to WLCMs relative to other weight management practices; however, only a small proportion (10%) of pharmacists recommended them. Most were also found to be using resources that may not be evidence-based or do not provide sufficient WLCMs' information. Study results highlight the need for pharmacy professional bodies to develop evidence-based continuing education programmes to assist consumers with popular and widely available WLCMs products. © 2015 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Assessing Website Quality in Context: Retrieving Information about Genetically Modified Food on the Web

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McInerney, Claire R.; Bird, Nora J.

2005-01-01

Introduction: Knowing the credibility of information about genetically modified food on the Internet is critical to the everyday life information seeking of consumers as they form opinions about this nascent agricultural technology. The Website Quality Evaluation Tool (WQET) is a valuable instrument that can be used to determine the credibility of…

The Use of Information from Wrong Responses in Measuring Students' Achievement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birenbaum, Menucha; Tatsuoka, Kikumi K.

Much valuable information can be gained by analyzing the students' wrong responses. When a student answers a free response item she/he gives the response which she/he considers to be the correct one. Therefore, diagnosing the algorithm that led the student to his/her answer provides an important source of information for assessing his/her…

Propagation of Valuable North Sumatera Benzoin Trees (Styrax Sp) Using Macrocutting Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Susilowati, A.; Hartini, K. S.; Rachmat, H. H.; Alvaroby, M.

2017-03-01

Kemenyan known as Sumatran benzoin is North Sumatera local species that produce high valuable rosin and prospective export comodities. However, sustainability of Sumatran benzoin production has many constraints such as instability of resin production, lack information of propagation technique and traditional management system. Until now, comprehensive information for Sumatran benzoin propagation system still not determined yet. The objectives of this research were (1) to get information about propagation technique of Sumatran benzoin and its suitable growing medium and 2) to get information on adventitious root formation in Sumatran benzoin cuttings. Cutting materials (Toba benzoin and Durame benzoin) were originated from 1 year old seedling propagated by seed. Media used were combination of sand : rice husk (1:0 v/v; 1/1 v/v). Results showed that interaction between media and benzoin species significantly affected primer and secondary root lenght. While planting medium significantly improved secondary root length and number. Benzoin species significantly affected primary and secondary root lenght, and secondary root number.

The use of non-prescription medicines during lactation: A qualitative study of community pharmacists' attitudes and perspectives.

PubMed

Sim, Tin Fei; Hattingh, H Laetitia; Sherriff, Jillian; Tee, Lisa B G

2018-05-01

Community pharmacists play a significant role in the provision of non-prescription medicines. There is evidence that women self-medicate and use non-prescription medicines whilst breastfeeding. Studies have demonstrated that breastfeeding women are likely to seek advice from pharmacists, presenting a unique opportunity for pharmacists to provide on-going support of these women especially in relation to the appropriate use of non-prescription medicines. This study aimed to explore community pharmacists' attitudes and perspectives towards the use of non-prescription medicines during breastfeeding. This exploratory study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 30 community pharmacists in Western Australia, between July and September 2013. Transcribed data were analysed using descriptive and qualitative approaches. NVivo ® Version 10.0 was used to organise qualitative data and quotations to facilitate thematic analysis. Four major themes emerged. Despite the positive attitudes and favourable perceived knowledge level, participants often found themselves in a dilemma when required to make clinical recommendations especially in situations where there was a therapeutic need for treatment but clear guidelines or evidence to suggest safety of the medicines or treatment in lactation was absent. Despite the popularity of complementary medicines, participants felt more confident in providing advice in relation to conventional over complementary medicines. Whilst medication safety is within the field of expertise of pharmacists, the absence of information and safety data was seen as a major challenge and barrier to enable pharmacists to confidently provide evidence-based recommendations. This study has enhanced our understanding of the attitudes and perspectives of community pharmacists towards the use of non-prescription, including complementary medicines, during breastfeeding. Future studies are warranted to confirm the safety of commonly used or requested medicines in breastfeeding. University training and continuing education for pharmacists should include the latest information available regarding the use of both conventional and complementary medicines throughout lactation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of a standardized international questionnaire on use of alternative and complementary medicine (I-CAM - Q) for Argentina.

PubMed

Esteban, Santiago; Vázquez Peña, Fernando; Terrasa, Sergio

2016-03-31

The widespread and growing use of alternative and complementary medicine (CAM) worldwide has been thoroughly described. In Argentina the limited information on the use of CAM has been reported between 40 and 55 %. However, the rate of use is extremely variable worldwide. For this purpose the international questionnaire on the use of complementary and alternative medicines (I-CAM - Q), was developed. The implementation of a translated and cross-culturally adapted version of the questionnaire would allow for a reliable and standardized evaluation of the rate of use of CAM in Argentina. It would be a great step towards improving what we know about the healing habits of our population. The forward and back-translation method was used. Four translators were involved. A committee was commissioned to reconcile the different versions. The process of cross-cultural adaptation was made by consulting 17 alternative and complementary medicine experts using the DELPHI method. The retrieved questionnaire was evaluated in 18 patients sampled by convenience (9 men, different educational and self-reported health levels). The interviews consisted of three parts: an initial demographics questionnaire; the administration of the I-CAM-Q and finally the cognitive interview, which included reviewing the questionnaire and reexamining questions that generated doubts during the interview. The comprehension of the questions was also evaluated. As a last step, using the information obtained from the interviews, the final version of the questionnaire was drafted. The questionnaire seems to have been accepted by most patients during the interviews. Conflictive elements that emerged did not seem to have an impact on its administration. The flexibility of the questionnaire allowed to add professionals and practices which contributed to a more accurate local adaptation. Further research should focus on assessing the questionnaire's psychometric performance and validity, which so far has not been done.

The right to traditional, complementary, and alternative health care

PubMed Central

Stuttaford, Maria; Al Makhamreh, Sahar; Coomans, Fons; Harrington, John; Himonga, Chuma; Hundt, Gillian Lewando

2014-01-01

Background State parties to human rights conventions and declarations are often faced with the seemingly contradictory problem of having an obligation to protect people from harmful practices while also having an obligation to enable access to culturally appropriate effective healing. As people increasingly migrate across the globe, previous distinctions between ‘traditional’ and ‘complementary and alternative medicine’ practices are being transcended. There are connections across transnational healing pathways that link local, national, and global movements of people and knowledge. Objective This paper contributes to the development of the concept and practice of the right to health in all its forms, exploring the right to traditional, complementary, and alternative health (R2TCAH) across different contexts. Design The paper draws on four settings – England, South Africa, Kenya, and Jordan – and is based on key informant interviews and a literature review undertaken in 2010, and updated in 2013. The paper begins by reviewing the international legal context for the right to health. It then considers legal and professional regulations from the global north and south. Results Additional research is needed to establish the legal basis, compare regulatory frameworks, and explore patient and provider perspectives of regulation. This leads to being able to make recommendations on how to balance protection from harm and the obligation to ensure culturally appropriate services. Such an exploration must also challenge Western theories of human rights. Key concepts, such as individual harm, consent, and respect of the autonomy of the individual already established and recognised in international health law, could be adopted in the development of a template for future comparative research. Conclusions Exploration of the normative content of the right to health in all its forms will contribute to supporting traditional, complementary, and alternative health service users and providers in terms of access to information, non-discrimination, clarification of state obligations, and accountability. PMID:24767601

U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine Laboratory Sampling and Analysis Guide

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-11-15

valuable information during the environmental health risk assessment.  EPA Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). IRIS is a human health assessment...information for more than 550 chemical substances containing information on human health effects that may result from exposure to various substances in the...Crystalyn E. Brown November 2016 Air Force Research Laboratory 711th Human Performance Wing School of Aerospace Medicine

The Economics of Information: A Guide to Economic and Cost-Benefit Analysis for Information Professionals. Library and Information Science Text Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kingma, Bruce R.

This book provides readers with an introduction to economics and cost-benefit analysis and will be particularly valuable to individuals who are, or plan to be, managers of information services in academic, public, or special libraries. Part 1 provides a rational for economic studies in librarianship, specifically, gaining understanding of consumer…

Systematic reviews of complementary therapies – an annotated bibliography. Part 2: Herbal medicine

PubMed Central

Linde, Klaus; ter Riet, Gerben; Hondras, Maria; Vickers, Andrew; Saller, Reinhard; Melchart, Dieter

2001-01-01

Background Complementary therapies are widespread but controversial. We aim to provide a comprehensive collection and a summary of systematic reviews of clinical trials in three major complementary therapies (acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy). This article is dealing with herbal medicine. Potentially relevant reviews were searched through the register of the Cochrane Complementary Medicine Field, the Cochrane Library, Medline, and bibliographies of articles and books. To be included articles had to review prospective clinical trials of herbal medicines; had to describe review methods explicitly; had to be published; and had to focus on treatment effects. Information on conditions, interventions, methods, results and conclusions was extracted using a pre-tested form and summarized descriptively. Results From a total of 79 potentially relevant reviews pre-selected in the screening process 58 met the inclusion criteria. Thirty of the reports reviewed ginkgo (for dementia, intermittent claudication, tinnitus, and macular degeneration), hypericum (for depression) or garlic preparations (for cardiovascular risk factors and lower limb atherosclerosis). The quality of primary studies was criticized in the majority of the reviews. Most reviews judged the available evidence as promising but definitive conclusions were rarely possible. Conclusions Systematic reviews are available on a broad range of herbal preparations prescribed for defined conditions. There is very little evidence on the effectiveness of herbalism as practised by specialist herbalists who combine herbs and use unconventional diagnosis. PMID:11518548

76 FR 2640 - Fisheries of the Northeastern United States; Atlantic Bluefish Fishery; 2011 Atlantic Bluefish...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-14

... may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise sensitive or... during the annual specification process to adopt complementary measures. The Council's recommendations must include supporting documentation concerning the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the...

Excursions in fluvial (dis)continuity

Treesearch

Gordon E. Grant; Jim E. O' Connor; Elizabeth Safran

2017-01-01

Lurking below the twin concepts of connectivity and disconnectivity are their first, and in someways, richer cousins: continuity and discontinuity. In this paper we explore how continuity and discontinuity represent fundamental and complementary perspectives in fluvial geomorphology, and how these perspectives inform and underlie our conceptions of connectivity in...

Citation Analysis and Discourse Analysis Revisited

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Howard D.

2004-01-01

John Swales's 1986 article "Citation analysis and discourse analysis" was written by a discourse analyst to introduce citation research from other fields, mainly sociology of science, to his own discipline. Here, I introduce applied linguists and discourse analysts to citation studies from information science, a complementary tradition not…

Blended Learning Innovations: Leadership and Change in One Australian Institution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mirriahi, Negin; Alonzo, Dennis; McIntyre, Simon; Kligyte, Giedre; Fox, Bob

2015-01-01

This paper reports on the current experience of one higher education institution in Australia embarking on the path towards mainstreaming online learning opportunities by providing three complementary academic development initiatives that can inform strategies undertaken by other institutions internationally. First, an academic development program…

Radiation Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

James, W. G. G.

1970-01-01

Discusses the historical development of both the wave and the corpuscular photon model of light. Suggests that students should be informed that the two models are complementary and that each model successfully describes a wide range of radiation phenomena. Cites 19 references which might be of interest to physics teachers and students. (LC)

Sediment tracers in water erosion studies: Current approaches and challenges

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The interest in the use of sediment tracers as a complementary tool to traditional water soil erosion or deposition measurements or assessment has increased due to the additional information they may provide such as sediment source identification and tracking of sediment movement over the landscape ...

Two complementary personal medication management applications developed on a common platform: case report.

PubMed

Ross, Stephen E; Johnson, Kevin B; Siek, Katie A; Gordon, Jeffry S; Khan, Danish U; Haverhals, Leah M

2011-07-12

Adverse drug events are a major safety issue in ambulatory care. Improving medication self-management could reduce these adverse events. Researchers have developed medication applications for tethered personal health records (PHRs), but little has been reported about medication applications for interoperable PHRs. Our objective was to develop two complementary personal health applications on a common PHR platform: one to assist children with complex health needs (MyMediHealth), and one to assist older adults in care transitions (Colorado Care Tablet). The applications were developed using a user-centered design approach. The two applications shared a common PHR platform based on a service-oriented architecture. MyMediHealth employed Web and mobile phone user interfaces. Colorado Care Tablet employed a Web interface customized for a tablet PC. We created complementary medication management applications tailored to the needs of distinctly different user groups using common components. Challenges were addressed in multiple areas, including how to encode medication identities, how to incorporate knowledge bases for medication images and consumer health information, how to include supplementary dosing information, how to simplify user interfaces for older adults, and how to support mobile devices for children. These prototypes demonstrate the utility of abstracting PHR data and services (the PHR platform) from applications that can be tailored to meet the needs of diverse patients. Based on the challenges we faced, we provide recommendations on the structure of publicly available knowledge resources and the use of mobile messaging systems for PHR applications.

Comparison of the complementary feeding practices between mothers with twins and mothers with singletons.

PubMed

Bentil, Helena Joycelyn; Steiner-Asiedu, Matilda; Lartey, Anna

2016-01-01

Several studies have been done on infant feeding practices but few have focused on twins. The aim of this study was to compare the complementary feeding practices between mothers with twins and mothers with singletons. Mother-infant pairs (50 mother-twin pairs and 50 mother-singleton pairs) with children aged 6 to 23 months were recruited from two public health clinics and communities in Tema and Ashaiman. Information was collected on the background characteristics of the mothers. Recumbent length and weight of the children were measured. Dietary information on the infants was collected using 24 hour recall. The differences between two groups were tested using independent t-student test for continuous variables and chi-square test for categorical variables. The minimum dietary diversity (4+ food groups) was met by only 32% of the twins and 40% of the singletons, and 28% of the twins and 38% of the singletons met the requirement for minimum acceptable diet (minimum dietary diversity and the minimum meal frequency). Minimum meal frequency was met by 78% of the twins and 76% of the singletons. There were no significant differences between the two groups of infants. Prevalence of undernutrition was not significantly different among the two groups (twins versus singletons: underweight-26% versus 24%, stunting-20% versus 24% and wasting-14% versus 10%. Complementary feeding practices were suboptimal in both groups of mothers requiring interventions to improve infant feeding practices.

Use of complementary and alternative medicines by a sample of Turkish women for infertility enhancement: a descriptive study

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Infertility patients are a vulnerable group that often seeks a non-medical solution for their failure to conceive. World-wide, women use CAM for productive health, but only a limited number of studies report on CAM use to enhance fertility. Little is known about traditional and religious forms of therapies that are used in relation to conventional medicine in Turkey. We investigated the prevalence and types of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) used by infertile Turkish women for fertility enhancement. Methods A face-to-face questionnaire inquiring demographic information and types of CAM used for fertility enhancement were completed by hundred infertility patients admitted to a primary care family planning centre in Van, Turkey between January and July 2009. Results The vast majority of infertile women had used CAM at least once for infertility. CAM use included religious interventions, herbal products and recommendations of traditional "hodja's" (faith healers). Of these women, 87.8% were abused in the last 12 months, 36.6% felt not being supported by her partner and 80.5% had never spoken with a physician about CAM. Conclusions Infertile Turkish women use complementary medicine frequently for fertility enhancement and are in need of information about CAM. Religious and traditional therapies are used as an adjunct to, rather than a substitute for, conventional medical therapy. Physicians need to approach fertility patients with sensitivity and should be able to council their patients about CAM accordingly. PMID:20307291

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.

Early Amyloidogenic Oligomerization Studied through Fluorescence Lifetime Correlation Spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Paredes, Jose M.; Casares, Salvador; Ruedas-Rama, Maria J.; Fernandez, Elena; Castello, Fabio; Varela, Lorena; Orte, Angel

2012-01-01

Amyloidogenic protein aggregation is a persistent biomedical problem. Despite active research in disease-related aggregation, the need for multidisciplinary approaches to the problem is evident. Recent advances in single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy are valuable for examining heterogenic biomolecular systems. In this work, we have explored the initial stages of amyloidogenic aggregation by employing fluorescence lifetime correlation spectroscopy (FLCS), an advanced modification of conventional fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) that utilizes time-resolved information. FLCS provides size distributions and kinetics for the oligomer growth of the SH3 domain of α-spectrin, whose N47A mutant forms amyloid fibrils at pH 3.2 and 37 °C in the presence of salt. The combination of FCS with additional fluorescence lifetime information provides an exciting approach to focus on the initial aggregation stages, allowing a better understanding of the fibrillization process, by providing multidimensional information, valuable in combination with other conventional methodologies. PMID:22949804

Electro-triggering and electrochemical monitoring of dopamine exocytosis from a single cell by using ultrathin electrodes based on Au nanowires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Mijeong; Yoo, Seung Min; Gwak, Raekeun; Eom, Gayoung; Kim, Jihwan; Lee, Sang Yup; Kim, Bongsoo

2015-12-01

A sophisticated set of an Au nanowire (NW) stimulator-Au NW detector system is developed for electrical cell stimulation and electrochemical analysis of subsequent exocytosis with very high spatial resolution. Dopamine release from a rat pheochromocytoma cell is more stimulated by a more negative voltage pulse. This system could help to improve the therapeutic efficacy of electrotherapies by providing valuable information on their healing mechanism.A sophisticated set of an Au nanowire (NW) stimulator-Au NW detector system is developed for electrical cell stimulation and electrochemical analysis of subsequent exocytosis with very high spatial resolution. Dopamine release from a rat pheochromocytoma cell is more stimulated by a more negative voltage pulse. This system could help to improve the therapeutic efficacy of electrotherapies by providing valuable information on their healing mechanism. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr06021d

Drivers behind widespread informal payments in the Romanian public health care system: From tolerance to corruption to socio-economic and spatial patterns.

PubMed

Horodnic, Adrian V; Mazilu, Sorin; Oprea, Liviu

2018-03-15

In order to explain informal payments in public health care services in Romania, this paper evaluates the relationship between extra payments or valuable gifts (apart from official fees) and the level of tolerance to corruption, as well as the socio-economic and spatial patterns across those individuals offering informal payments. To evaluate this, a survey undertaken in 2013 is reported. Using logistic regression analysis, the findings are that patients with a high tolerance to corruption, high socio-economic risk (those divorced, separated, or with other form of marital status, and those not working), and located in rural or less affluent areas are more likely to offer (apart from official fees) extra payments or valuable gifts for health care services. The paper concludes by discussing the health policy implications. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What should students learn about complementary and alternative medicine?

PubMed

Gaster, Barak; Unterborn, John N; Scott, Richard B; Schneeweiss, Ronald

2007-10-01

With thousands of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments currently being used in the United States today, it is challenging to design a concise body of CAM content which will fit into already overly full curricula for health care students. The purpose of this article is to outline key principles which 15 National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine-funded education programs found useful when developing CAM course-work and selecting CAM content. Three key guiding principles are discussed: teach foundational CAM competencies to give students a framework for learning about CAM; choose specific content on the basis of evidence, demographics and condition (what conditions are most appropriate for CAM therapies?); and finally, provide students with skills for future learning, including where to find reliable information about CAM and how to search the scientific literature and assess the results of CAM research. Most of the programs developed evidence-based guides to help students find reliable CAM resources. The cumulative experiences of the 15 programs have been compiled, and an annotated table outlining the most highly recommended resources about CAM is presented.

A holographic model for black hole complementarity

DOE PAGES

Lowe, David A.; Thorlacius, Larus

2016-12-07

Here, we explore a version of black hole complementarity, where an approximate semiclassical effective field theory for interior infalling degrees of freedom emerges holo-graphically from an exact evolution of exterior degrees of freedom. The infalling degrees of freedom have a complementary description in terms of outgoing Hawking radiation and must eventually decohere with respect to the exterior Hamiltonian, leading to a breakdown of the semiclassical description for an infaller. Trace distance is used to quantify the difference between the complementary time evolutions, and to define a decoherence time. We propose a dictionary where the evolution with respect to the bulkmore » effective Hamiltonian corresponds to mean field evolution in the holographic theory. In a particular model for the holographic theory, which exhibits fast scrambling, the decoherence time coincides with the scrambling time. The results support the hypothesis that decoherence of the infalling holographic state and disruptive bulk effects near the curvature singularity are comple-mentary descriptions of the same physics, which is an important step toward resolving the black hole information paradox.« less

A cis-antisense RNA acts in trans in Staphylococcus aureus to control translation of a human cytolytic peptide.

PubMed

Sayed, Nour; Jousselin, Ambre; Felden, Brice

2011-12-25

Antisense RNAs (asRNAs) pair to RNAs expressed from the complementary strand, and their functions are thought to depend on nucleotide overlap with genes on the opposite strand. There is little information on the roles and mechanisms of asRNAs. We show that a cis asRNA acts in trans, using a domain outside its target complementary sequence. SprA1 small regulatory RNA (sRNA) and SprA1(AS) asRNA are concomitantly expressed in S. aureus. SprA1(AS) forms a complex with SprA1, preventing translation of the SprA1-encoded open reading frame by occluding translation initiation signals through pairing interactions. The SprA1 peptide sequence is within two RNA pseudoknots. SprA1(AS) represses production of the SprA1-encoded cytolytic peptide in trans, as its overlapping region is dispensable for regulation. These findings demonstrate that sometimes asRNA functional domains are not their gene-target complementary sequences, suggesting there is a need for mechanistic re-evaluation of asRNAs expressed in prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

A thermal-based remote sensing modeling system for estimating daily evapotranspiration from field to global scales

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Thermal-infrared (TIR) remote sensing of land surface temperature (LST) provides valuable information for quantifying root-zone water availability, evapotranspiration (ET) and crop condition as well as providing useful information for constraining prognostic land surface models. This presentation d...

Six Wishes of a Public Service Librarian.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fescemyer, Kathy

2001-01-01

Suggests concepts related to information that would be valuable to library users, including the expenses related to information; unique qualities and characteristics of databases; limits of the Web; understanding differences between magazines and scholarly journals; search engine differences; and an appreciation for the amount and variety of…

Lessons from Personal Photography: The Digital Disruption of Selectivity and Reflection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fawns, Tim

2015-01-01

Recent technological, cultural and economic factors have shifted the balance between recalling and reconstructing internalised information and accessing externalised information. While digital artefacts constitute an enormous and valuable set of resources, human engagement and reflection are important to the meaningful synthesis and application of…

Technical summary : Travtek operational test evaluation : final reports

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-01-01

This guide is packed with useful information. It focuses on some of the less well-known safety messages the road offers you. It is designed to be kept in your glove compartment after it has been read so that you will have its valuable information at ...

Impact of animal-assisted therapy for outpatients with fibromyalgia.

PubMed

Marcus, Dawn A; Bernstein, Cheryl D; Constantin, Janet M; Kunkel, Frank A; Breuer, Paula; Hanlon, Raymond B

2013-01-01

Animal-assisted therapy using dogs trained to be calm and provide comfort to strangers has been used as a complementary therapy for a range of medical conditions. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of brief therapy dog visits for fibromyalgia patients attending a tertiary outpatient pain management facility compared with time spent in a waiting room. Open label with waiting room control. Tertiary care, university-based, outpatient pain management clinic. A convenience sample of fibromyalgia patients was obtained through advertisements posted in the clinic. Participants were able to spend clinic waiting time with a certified therapy dog instead of waiting in the outpatient waiting area. When the therapy dog was not available, individuals remained in the waiting area. OUTCOME MEASURES.: Self-reported pain, fatigue, and emotional distress were recorded using 11-point numeric rating scales before and after the therapy dog visit or waiting room time. Data were evaluated from 106 therapy dog visits and 49 waiting room controls, with no significant between-group demographic differences in participants. Average intervention duration was 12 minutes for the therapy dog visit and 17 minutes for the waiting room control. Significant improvements were reported for pain, mood, and other measures of distress among patients after the therapy dog visit, but not the waiting room control. Clinically meaningful pain relief (≥2 points pain severity reduction) occurred in 34% after the therapy dog visit and 4% in the waiting room control. Outcome was not affected by the presence of comorbid anxiety or depression. Brief therapy dog visits may provide a valuable complementary therapy for fibromyalgia outpatients. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Morphological and ultrastructural characterization of ionoregulatory cells in the teleost Oreochromis niloticus following salinity challenge combining complementary confocal scanning laser microscopy and transmission electron microscopy using a novel prefixation immunogold labeling technique.

PubMed

Fridman, Sophie; Rana, Krishen J; Bron, James E

2013-10-01

Aspects of ionoregulatory or mitochondria-rich cell (MRC) differentiation and adaptation in Nile tilapia yolk-sac larvae following transfer from freshwater to elevated salinities, that is, 12.5 and 20 ppt are described. Investigations using immunohistochemistry on whole-mount Nile tilapia larvae using anti- Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase as a primary antibody and Fluoronanogold™ (Nanoprobes) as a secondary immunoprobe allowed fluorescent labeling with the high resolution of confocal scanning laser microscopy combined with the detection of immunolabeled target molecules at an ultrastructural level using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It reports, for the first time, various developmental stages of MRCs within the epithelial layer of the tail of yolk-sac larvae, corresponding to immature, developing, and mature MRCs, identifiable by their own characteristic ultrastructure and form. Following transfer to hyperosmotic salinities the density of immunogold particles and well as the intricacy of the tubular system appeared to increase. In addition, complementary confocal scanning laser microscopy allowed identification of immunopositive ramifying extensions that appeared to emanate from the basolateral portion of the cell that appeared to be correlated with the localization of subsurface tubular areas displaying immunogold labeled Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase. This integrated approach describes a reliable and repeatable prefixation immunogold labeling technique allowing precise visualization of NaK within target cells combined with a 3D imaging that offers valuable insights into MRC dynamics at an ultrastructural level. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Conditional Entropy and Location Error in Indoor Localization Using Probabilistic Wi-Fi Fingerprinting.

PubMed

Berkvens, Rafael; Peremans, Herbert; Weyn, Maarten

2016-10-02

Localization systems are increasingly valuable, but their location estimates are only useful when the uncertainty of the estimate is known. This uncertainty is currently calculated as the location error given a ground truth, which is then used as a static measure in sometimes very different environments. In contrast, we propose the use of the conditional entropy of a posterior probability distribution as a complementary measure of uncertainty. This measure has the advantage of being dynamic, i.e., it can be calculated during localization based on individual sensor measurements, does not require a ground truth, and can be applied to discrete localization algorithms. Furthermore, for every consistent location estimation algorithm, both the location error and the conditional entropy measures must be related, i.e., a low entropy should always correspond with a small location error, while a high entropy can correspond with either a small or large location error. We validate this relationship experimentally by calculating both measures of uncertainty in three publicly available datasets using probabilistic Wi-Fi fingerprinting with eight different implementations of the sensor model. We show that the discrepancy between these measures, i.e., many location estimates having a high location error while simultaneously having a low conditional entropy, is largest for the least realistic implementations of the probabilistic sensor model. Based on the results presented in this paper, we conclude that conditional entropy, being dynamic, complementary to location error, and applicable to both continuous and discrete localization, provides an important extra means of characterizing a localization method.

Conditional Entropy and Location Error in Indoor Localization Using Probabilistic Wi-Fi Fingerprinting

PubMed Central

Berkvens, Rafael; Peremans, Herbert; Weyn, Maarten

2016-01-01

Localization systems are increasingly valuable, but their location estimates are only useful when the uncertainty of the estimate is known. This uncertainty is currently calculated as the location error given a ground truth, which is then used as a static measure in sometimes very different environments. In contrast, we propose the use of the conditional entropy of a posterior probability distribution as a complementary measure of uncertainty. This measure has the advantage of being dynamic, i.e., it can be calculated during localization based on individual sensor measurements, does not require a ground truth, and can be applied to discrete localization algorithms. Furthermore, for every consistent location estimation algorithm, both the location error and the conditional entropy measures must be related, i.e., a low entropy should always correspond with a small location error, while a high entropy can correspond with either a small or large location error. We validate this relationship experimentally by calculating both measures of uncertainty in three publicly available datasets using probabilistic Wi-Fi fingerprinting with eight different implementations of the sensor model. We show that the discrepancy between these measures, i.e., many location estimates having a high location error while simultaneously having a low conditional entropy, is largest for the least realistic implementations of the probabilistic sensor model. Based on the results presented in this paper, we conclude that conditional entropy, being dynamic, complementary to location error, and applicable to both continuous and discrete localization, provides an important extra means of characterizing a localization method. PMID:27706099

Spatiotemporal Fractionation Schemes for Irradiating Large Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations

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

Unkelbach, Jan, E-mail: junkelbach@mgh.harvard.edu; Bussière, Marc R.; Chapman, Paul H.

2016-07-01

Purpose: To optimally exploit fractionation effects in the context of radiosurgery treatments of large cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). In current practice, fractionated treatments divide the dose evenly into several fractions, which generally leads to low obliteration rates. In this work, we investigate the potential benefit of delivering distinct dose distributions in different fractions. Methods and Materials: Five patients with large cerebral AVMs were reviewed and replanned for intensity modulated arc therapy delivered with conventional photon beams. Treatment plans allowing for different dose distributions in all fractions were obtained by performing treatment plan optimization based on the cumulative biologically effective dosemore » delivered at the end of treatment. Results: We show that distinct treatment plans can be designed for different fractions, such that high single-fraction doses are delivered to complementary parts of the AVM. All plans create a similar dose bath in the surrounding normal brain and thereby exploit the fractionation effect. This partial hypofractionation in the AVM along with fractionation in normal brain achieves a net improvement of the therapeutic ratio. We show that a biological dose reduction of approximately 10% in the healthy brain can be achieved compared with reference treatment schedules that deliver the same dose distribution in all fractions. Conclusions: Boosting complementary parts of the target volume in different fractions may provide a therapeutic advantage in fractionated radiosurgery treatments of large cerebral AVMs. The strategy allows for a mean dose reduction in normal brain that may be valuable for a patient population with an otherwise normal life expectancy.« less

A Comparison of Patient Characteristics and Outcomes in Selected European and U.S. Rheumatoid Arthritis Registries

PubMed Central

Curtis, Jeffrey R; Jain, Archana; Askling, Johan; Bridges, Lou; Carmona, Loreto; Dixon, William; Finckh, Axel; Hyrich, Kimme; Greenberg, Jeffrey; Kremer, Joel; Listing, Joachim; Michaud, Kaleb; Mikuls, Ted; Shadick, Nancy; Solomon, Daniel H; Wolfe, Fred; Zink, Angela

2010-01-01

Purpose To provide a qualitative comparison of selected US and European rheumatoid arthritis (RA) biologics registries and cohorts including ARTIS, BIOBADASER, BSRBR, BRASS, CLEAR, CORRONA, NDB, RABBIT, SCQM, and VARA. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have demonstrated the efficacy of biologic agents in treatment of rheumatic diseases. However, results from RCTs may not be generalizable to clinical practice because of their strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. Assessment of safety using RCT data also is limited by short duration of follow-up and relatively small sample sizes which generally preclude analysis of longer-term outcomes and rare adverse events. In rheumatology, various observational cohorts and registries have been created to complement information obtained from RCTs, some with the primary purpose of monitoring effectiveness and safety of biologic agents. Most registries are either drug based or disease based. These registries include patients with a variety of rheumatic diseases including RA. A careful comparison of these registries, as provided in this article, can provide a basis for understanding the many similarities and differences inherent in their design, as well as societal context and content, all of which can significantly impact their results and comparisons across registers. Summary The increasing use of biologic agents for treatment of rheumatic diseases has raised important questions about cost, safety and effectiveness of these agents. The unique and variable features of patient populations and registry designs in Europe and the U.S. provide valuable and complementary data on comparative effectiveness and safety of biologic agents to what can be derived from RCTs. PMID:20674669

Isotopically nonstationary 13C flux analysis of changes in Arabidopsis thaliana leaf metabolism due to high light acclimation

PubMed Central

Ma, Fangfang; Jazmin, Lara J.; Young, Jamey D.; Allen, Doug K.

2014-01-01

Improving plant productivity is an important aim for metabolic engineering. There are few comprehensive methods that quantitatively describe leaf metabolism, although such information would be valuable for increasing photosynthetic capacity, enhancing biomass production, and rerouting carbon flux toward desirable end products. Isotopically nonstationary metabolic flux analysis (INST-MFA) has been previously applied to map carbon fluxes in photoautotrophic bacteria, which involves model-based regression of transient 13C-labeling patterns of intracellular metabolites. However, experimental and computational difficulties have hindered its application to terrestrial plant systems. We performed in vivo isotopic labeling of Arabidopsis thaliana rosettes with 13CO2 and estimated fluxes throughout leaf photosynthetic metabolism by INST-MFA. Plants grown at 200 µmol m-2s−1 light were compared with plants acclimated for 9 d at an irradiance of 500 µmol⋅m−2⋅s−1. Approximately 1,400 independent mass isotopomer measurements obtained from analysis of 37 metabolite fragment ions were regressed to estimate 136 total fluxes (54 free fluxes) under each condition. The results provide a comprehensive description of changes in carbon partitioning and overall photosynthetic flux after long-term developmental acclimation of leaves to high light. Despite a doubling in the carboxylation rate, the photorespiratory flux increased from 17 to 28% of net CO2 assimilation with high-light acclimation (Vc/Vo: 3.5:1 vs. 2.3:1, respectively). This study highlights the potential of 13C INST-MFA to describe emergent flux phenotypes that respond to environmental conditions or plant physiology and cannot be obtained by other complementary approaches. PMID:25368168

Herbal Remedies for Functional Dyspepsia and Traditional Iranian Medicine Perspective

PubMed Central

Babaeian, Mahmoud; Naseri, Mohsen; Kamalinejad, Mohammad; Ghaffari, Farzaneh; Emadi, Fatemeh; Feizi, Awat; Hosseini Yekta, Nafiseh; Adibi, Peyman

2015-01-01

Context: Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a functional gastro-intestinal disorder with high prevalence. Among various treatment options, treatment by complementary and alternative medicines especially herbal remedies also practiced. Traditional Iranian medicine (TIM), a valuable resource of valid applied studies of ancient Iranian scholars, recommends numerous medicinal plants to treat dyspepsia symptoms. In this study, through investigation of TIM references, we aimed to identify medicinal plants for treatment of digestion insufficiency. Evidence Acquisition: In this qualitative study, dyspepsia symptoms including fullness, early satiety, bloating, nausea, and belching were checked under reliable sources of traditional medicine. Then medicinal plants recommended for the treatment of the symptoms were extracted from the books. Likewise, for investigating the pharmacological properties of medicinal plants used for the relieving of dyspepsia symptoms, electronic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and some Iranian databases like SID and IranMedex were employed. Results: The study yielded 105 plants from 37 families which could treat various dyspepsia symptoms; fifty-seven plants, mainly from Apiaceae, Lamiaceae, Amaryllidaceae and Zingiberaceae had digestive effects. In this research, based on the information in TIM reference texts, we obtained 58 plants effective for bloating, 40 for nausea, 37 for appetite loss and 7 for belching. In human clinical trials conducted on medicinal plants effective for FD symptoms, 7 single plants were used. Conclusions: Finding the medicinal plants effective on digestion insufficiency based on TIM could suggest a better strategy for the relieving of dyspepsia symptoms. Traditional Iranian medicine prescribes medicinal plants based on each patient’s personal characteristics and practices multiple target therapies. PMID:26734483

Herbal Remedies for Functional Dyspepsia and Traditional Iranian Medicine Perspective.

PubMed

Babaeian, Mahmoud; Naseri, Mohsen; Kamalinejad, Mohammad; Ghaffari, Farzaneh; Emadi, Fatemeh; Feizi, Awat; Hosseini Yekta, Nafiseh; Adibi, Peyman

2015-11-01

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a functional gastro-intestinal disorder with high prevalence. Among various treatment options, treatment by complementary and alternative medicines especially herbal remedies also practiced. Traditional Iranian medicine (TIM), a valuable resource of valid applied studies of ancient Iranian scholars, recommends numerous medicinal plants to treat dyspepsia symptoms. In this study, through investigation of TIM references, we aimed to identify medicinal plants for treatment of digestion insufficiency. In this qualitative study, dyspepsia symptoms including fullness, early satiety, bloating, nausea, and belching were checked under reliable sources of traditional medicine. Then medicinal plants recommended for the treatment of the symptoms were extracted from the books. Likewise, for investigating the pharmacological properties of medicinal plants used for the relieving of dyspepsia symptoms, electronic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and some Iranian databases like SID and IranMedex were employed. The study yielded 105 plants from 37 families which could treat various dyspepsia symptoms; fifty-seven plants, mainly from Apiaceae, Lamiaceae, Amaryllidaceae and Zingiberaceae had digestive effects. In this research, based on the information in TIM reference texts, we obtained 58 plants effective for bloating, 40 for nausea, 37 for appetite loss and 7 for belching. In human clinical trials conducted on medicinal plants effective for FD symptoms, 7 single plants were used. Finding the medicinal plants effective on digestion insufficiency based on TIM could suggest a better strategy for the relieving of dyspepsia symptoms. Traditional Iranian medicine prescribes medicinal plants based on each patient's personal characteristics and practices multiple target therapies.

Empirical Mode Decomposition and k-Nearest Embedding Vectors for Timely Analyses of Antibiotic Resistance Trends

PubMed Central

Teodoro, Douglas; Lovis, Christian

2013-01-01

Background Antibiotic resistance is a major worldwide public health concern. In clinical settings, timely antibiotic resistance information is key for care providers as it allows appropriate targeted treatment or improved empirical treatment when the specific results of the patient are not yet available. Objective To improve antibiotic resistance trend analysis algorithms by building a novel, fully data-driven forecasting method from the combination of trend extraction and machine learning models for enhanced biosurveillance systems. Methods We investigate a robust model for extraction and forecasting of antibiotic resistance trends using a decade of microbiology data. Our method consists of breaking down the resistance time series into independent oscillatory components via the empirical mode decomposition technique. The resulting waveforms describing intrinsic resistance trends serve as the input for the forecasting algorithm. The algorithm applies the delay coordinate embedding theorem together with the k-nearest neighbor framework to project mappings from past events into the future dimension and estimate the resistance levels. Results The algorithms that decompose the resistance time series and filter out high frequency components showed statistically significant performance improvements in comparison with a benchmark random walk model. We present further qualitative use-cases of antibiotic resistance trend extraction, where empirical mode decomposition was applied to highlight the specificities of the resistance trends. Conclusion The decomposition of the raw signal was found not only to yield valuable insight into the resistance evolution, but also to produce novel models of resistance forecasters with boosted prediction performance, which could be utilized as a complementary method in the analysis of antibiotic resistance trends. PMID:23637796

Real-time functional mapping: potential tool for improving language outcome in pediatric epilepsy surgery

PubMed Central

Korostenskaja, Milena; Chen, Po-Ching; Salinas, Christine M.; Westerveld, Michael; Brunner, Peter; Schalk, Gerwin; Cook, Jane C.; Baumgartner, James; Lee, Ki H.

2015-01-01

Accurate language localization expands surgical treatment options for epilepsy patients and reduces the risk of postsurgery language deficits. Electrical cortical stimulation mapping (ESM) is considered to be the clinical gold standard for language localization. While ESM affords clinically valuable results, it can be poorly tolerated by children, requires active participation and compliance, carries a risk of inducing seizures, is highly time consuming, and is labor intensive. Given these limitations, alternative and/or complementary functional localization methods such as analysis of electrocorticographic (ECoG) activity in high gamma frequency band in real time are needed to precisely identify eloquent cortex in children. In this case report, the authors examined 1) the use of real-time functional mapping (RTFM) for language localization in a high gamma frequency band derived from ECoG to guide surgery in an epileptic pediatric patient and 2) the relationship of RTFM mapping results to postsurgical language outcomes. The authors found that RTFM demonstrated relatively high sensitivity (75%) and high specificity (90%) when compared with ESM in a “next-neighbor” analysis. While overlapping with ESM in the superior temporal region, RTFM showed a few other areas of activation related to expressive language function, areas that were eventually resected during the surgery. The authors speculate that this resection may be associated with observed postsurgical expressive language deficits. With additional validation in more subjects, this finding would suggest that surgical planning and associated assessment of the risk/benefit ratio would benefit from information provided by RTFM mapping. PMID:24995815

Perceptions of clinical utility of an Augmented Reality musical software among health care professionals.

PubMed

Corrêa, Ana Grasielle Dionísio; de Assis, Gilda Aparecida; do Nascimento, Marilena; de Deus Lopes, Roseli

2017-04-01

Augmented Reality musical software (GenVirtual) is a technology, which primarily allows users to develop music activities for rehabilitation. This study aimed to analyse the perceptions of health care professionals regarding the clinical utility of GenVirtual. A second objective was to identify improvements to GenVirtual software and similar technologies. Music therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech and language therapist who assist people with physical and cognitive disabilities were enrolled in three focus groups. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected through inductive thematic analysis. Three main themes were identified: the use of GenVirtual in health care areas; opportunities for realistic application of GenVirtual; and limitations in the use of GenVirtual. The registration units identified were: motor stimulation, cognitive stimulation, verbal learning, recreation activity, musicality, accessibility, motivation, sonic accuracy, interference of lighting, poor sound, children and adults. This research suggested that the GenVirtual is a complementary tool to conventional clinical practice and has great potential to motor and cognitive rehabilitation of children and adults. Implications for Rehabilitation Gaining health professional' perceptions of the Augmented Reality musical game (GenVirtual) give valuable information as to the clinical utility of the software. GenVirtual was perceived as a tool that could be used as enhancing the motor and cognitive rehabilitation process. GenVirtual was viewed as a tool that could enhance clinical practice and communication among various agencies, but it was suggested that it should be used with caution to avoid confusion and replacement of important services.

MSPocket: an orientation-independent algorithm for the detection of ligand binding pockets.

PubMed

Zhu, Hongbo; Pisabarro, M Teresa

2011-02-01

Identification of ligand binding pockets on proteins is crucial for the characterization of protein functions. It provides valuable information for protein-ligand docking and rational engineering of small molecules that regulate protein functions. A major number of current prediction algorithms of ligand binding pockets are based on cubic grid representation of proteins and, thus, the results are often protein orientation dependent. We present the MSPocket program for detecting pockets on the solvent excluded surface of proteins. The core algorithm of the MSPocket approach does not use any cubic grid system to represent proteins and is therefore independent of protein orientations. We demonstrate that MSPocket is able to achieve an accuracy of 75% in predicting ligand binding pockets on a test dataset used for evaluating several existing methods. The accuracy is 92% if the top three predictions are considered. Comparison to one of the recently published best performing methods shows that MSPocket reaches similar performance with the additional feature of being protein orientation independent. Interestingly, some of the predictions are different, meaning that the two methods can be considered complementary and combined to achieve better prediction accuracy. MSPocket also provides a graphical user interface for interactive investigation of the predicted ligand binding pockets. In addition, we show that overlap criterion is a better strategy for the evaluation of predicted ligand binding pockets than the single point distance criterion. The MSPocket source code can be downloaded from http://appserver.biotec.tu-dresden.de/MSPocket/. MSPocket is also available as a PyMOL plugin with a graphical user interface.

Periodic array-based substrates for surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayerhöfer, Thomas G.; Popp, Jürgen

2018-01-01

At the beginning of the 1980s, the first reports of surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy (SEIRS) surfaced. Probably due to signal-enhancement factors of only 101 to 103, which are modest compared to those of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), SEIRS did not reach the same significance up to date. However, taking the compared to Raman scattering much larger cross-sections of infrared absorptions and the enhancement factors together, SEIRS reaches about the same sensitivity for molecular species on a surface in terms of the cross-sections as SERS and, due to the complementary nature of both techniques, can valuably augment information gained by SERS. For the first 20 years since its discovery, SEIRS relied completely on metal island films, fabricated by either vapor or electrochemical deposition. The resulting films showed a strong variance concerning their structure, which was essentially random. Therefore, the increase in the corresponding signal-enhancement factors of these structures stagnated in the last years. In the very same years, however, the development of periodic array-based substrates helped SEIRS to gather momentum. This development was supported by technological progress concerning electromagnetic field solvers, which help to understand plasmonic properties and allow targeted design. In addition, the strong progress concerning modern fabrication methods allowed to implement these designs into practice. The aim of this contribution is to critically review the development of these engineered surfaces for SEIRS, to compare the different approaches with regard to their performance where possible, and report further gain of knowledge around and in relation to these structures.

Using the shortwave infrared to image middle ear pathologies

PubMed Central

Valdez, Tulio A.; Bruns, Oliver T.; Bawendi, Moungi G.

2016-01-01

Visualizing structures deep inside opaque biological tissues is one of the central challenges in biomedical imaging. Optical imaging with visible light provides high resolution and sensitivity; however, scattering and absorption of light by tissue limits the imaging depth to superficial features. Imaging with shortwave infrared light (SWIR, 1–2 μm) shares many advantages of visible imaging, but light scattering in tissue is reduced, providing sufficient optical penetration depth to noninvasively interrogate subsurface tissue features. However, the clinical potential of this approach has been largely unexplored because suitable detectors, until recently, have been either unavailable or cost prohibitive. Here, taking advantage of newly available detector technology, we demonstrate the potential of SWIR light to improve diagnostics through the development of a medical otoscope for determining middle ear pathologies. We show that SWIR otoscopy has the potential to provide valuable diagnostic information complementary to that provided by visible pneumotoscopy. We show that in healthy adult human ears, deeper tissue penetration of SWIR light allows better visualization of middle ear structures through the tympanic membrane, including the ossicular chain, promontory, round window niche, and chorda tympani. In addition, we investigate the potential for detection of middle ear fluid, which has significant implications for diagnosing otitis media, the overdiagnosis of which is a primary factor in increased antibiotic resistance. Middle ear fluid shows strong light absorption between 1,400 and 1,550 nm, enabling straightforward fluid detection in a model using the SWIR otoscope. Moreover, our device is easily translatable to the clinic, as the ergonomics, visual output, and operation are similar to a conventional otoscope. PMID:27551085

Islands within an island: Population genetic structure of the endemic Sardinian newt, Euproctus platycephalus.

PubMed

Ball, Sarah E; Bovero, Stefano; Sotgiu, Giuseppe; Tessa, Giulia; Angelini, Claudio; Bielby, Jon; Durrant, Christopher; Favelli, Marco; Gazzaniga, Enrico; Garner, Trenton W J

2017-02-01

The identification of historic and contemporary barriers to dispersal is central to the conservation of endangered amphibians, but may be hindered by their complex life history and elusive nature. The complementary information generated by mitochondrial (mtDNA) and microsatellite markers generates a valuable tool in elucidating population structure and the impact of habitat fragmentation. We applied this approach to the study of an endangered montane newt, Euproctus platycephalus . Endemic to the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, it is threatened by anthropogenic activity, disease, and climate change. We have demonstrated a clear hierarchy of structure across genetically divergent and spatially distinct subpopulations. Divergence between three main mountain regions dominated genetic partitioning with both markers. Mitochondrial phylogeography revealed a deep division dating to ca. 1 million years ago (Mya), isolating the northern region, and further differentiation between the central and southern regions ca. 0.5 Mya, suggesting an association with Pleistocene severe glacial oscillations. Our findings are consistent with a model of southward range expansion during glacial periods, with postglacial range retraction to montane habitat and subsequent genetic isolation. Microsatellite markers revealed further strong population structure, demonstrating significant divergence within the central region, and partial differentiation within the south. The northern population showed reduced genetic diversity. Discordance between mitochondrial and microsatellite markers at this scale indicated a further complexity of population structure, in keeping with male-biased dispersal and female philopatry. Our study underscores the need to elucidate cryptic population structure in the ecology and conservation strategies for endangered island-restricted amphibians, especially in the context of disease and climate change.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Management of Premature Ejaculation: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Cooper, Katy; Martyn-St James, Marrissa; Kaltenthaler, Eva; Dickinson, Kath; Cantrell, Anna; Ren, Shijie; Wylie, Kevan; Frodsham, Leila; Hood, Catherine

2017-03-01

Premature ejaculation (PE) is defined as ejaculation within 1 minute (lifelong PE) or 3 minutes (acquired PE), inability to delay ejaculation, and negative personal consequences. Management includes behavioral and pharmacologic approaches. To systematically review effectiveness, safety, and robustness of evidence for complementary and alternative medicine in managing PE. Nine databases including Medline were searched through September 2015. Randomized controlled trials evaluating complementary and alternative medicine for PE were included. Studies were included if they reported on intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (IELT) and/or another validated PE measurement. Adverse effects were summarized. Ten randomized controlled trials were included. Two assessed acupuncture, five assessed Chinese herbal medicine, one assessed Ayurvedic herbal medicine, and two assessed topical "severance secret" cream. Risk of bias was unclear in all studies because of unclear allocation concealment or blinding, and only five studies reported stopwatch-measured IELT. Acupuncture slightly increased IELT over placebo in one study (mean difference [MD] = 0.55 minute, P = .001). In another study, Ayurvedic herbal medicine slightly increased IELT over placebo (MD = 0.80 minute, P = .001). Topical severance secret cream increased IELT over placebo in two studies (MD = 8.60 minutes, P < .001), although inclusion criteria were broad (IELT < 3 minutes). Three studies comparing Chinese herbal medicine with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) favored SSRIs (MD = 1.01 minutes, P = .02). However, combination treatment with Chinese medicine plus SSRIs improved IELT over SSRIs alone (two studies; MD = 1.92 minutes, P < .00001) and over Chinese medicine alone (two studies; MD = 2.52 minutes, P < .00001). Adverse effects were not consistently assessed but where reported were generally mild. There is preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, Ayurvedic herbal medicine, and topical severance secret cream in improving IELT and other outcomes. However, results are based on clinically heterogeneous studies of unclear quality. There are sparse data on adverse effects or potential for drug interactions. Further well-conducted randomized controlled trials would be valuable. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Architecture and data processing alternatives for the TSE computer. Volume 2: Extraction of topological information from an image by the Tse computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, J. R.; Bodenheimer, R. E.

1976-01-01

A simple programmable Tse processor organization and arithmetic operations necessary for extraction of the desired topological information are described. Hardware additions to this organization are discussed along with trade-offs peculiar to the tse computing concept. An improved organization is presented along with the complementary software for the various arithmetic operations. The performance of the two organizations is compared in terms of speed, power, and cost. Software routines developed to extract the desired information from an image are included.

Multi-Channel Optical Coherence Elastography Using Relative and Absolute Shear-Wave Time of Flight

PubMed Central

Elyas, Eli; Grimwood, Alex; Erler, Janine T.; Robinson, Simon P.; Cox, Thomas R.; Woods, Daniel; Clowes, Peter; De Luca, Ramona; Marinozzi, Franco; Fromageau, Jérémie; Bamber, Jeffrey C.

2017-01-01

Elastography, the imaging of elastic properties of soft tissues, is well developed for macroscopic clinical imaging of soft tissues and can provide useful information about various pathological processes which is complementary to that provided by the original modality. Scaling down of this technique should ply the field of cellular biology with valuable information with regard to elastic properties of cells and their environment. This paper evaluates the potential to develop such a tool by modifying a commercial optical coherence tomography (OCT) device to measure the speed of shear waves propagating in a three-dimensional (3D) medium. A needle, embedded in the gel, was excited to vibrate along its long axis and the displacement as a function of time and distance from the needle associated with the resulting shear waves was detected using four M-mode images acquired simultaneously using a commercial four-channel swept-source OCT system. Shear-wave time of arrival (TOA) was detected by tracking the axial OCT-speckle motion using cross-correlation methods. Shear-wave speed was then calculated from inter-channel differences of TOA for a single burst (the relative TOA method) and compared with the shear-wave speed determined from positional differences of TOA for a single channel over multiple bursts (the absolute TOA method). For homogeneous gels the relative method provided shear-wave speed with acceptable precision and accuracy when judged against the expected linear dependence of shear modulus on gelatine concentration (R2 = 0.95) and ultimate resolution capabilities limited by 184μm inter-channel distance. This overall approach shows promise for its eventual provision as a research tool in cancer cell biology. Further work is required to optimize parameters such as vibration frequency, burst length and amplitude, and to assess the lateral and axial resolutions of this type of device as well as to create 3D elastograms. PMID:28107368

Visualization of arrestin recruitment by a G Protein-Coupled Receptor

PubMed Central

Reis, Rosana I.; Huang, Li-Yin; Tripathi-Shukla, Prachi; Qian, Jiang; Li, Sheng; Blanc, Adi; Oleskie, Austin N.; Dosey, Anne M.; Su, Min; Liang, Cui-Rong; Gu, Ling-Ling; Shan, Jin-Ming; Chen, Xin; Hanna, Rachel; Choi, Minjung; Yao, Xiao Jie; Klink, Bjoern U.; Kahsai, Alem W.; Sidhu, Sachdev S.; Koide, Shohei; Penczek, Pawel A.; Kossiakoff, Anthony A.; Jr, Virgil L. Woods; Kobilka, Brian K.; Skiniotis, Georgios; Lefkowitz, Robert J.

2014-01-01

G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) are critically regulated by β-arrestins (βarrs), which not only desensitize G protein signaling but also initiate a G protein independent wave of signaling1-5. A recent surge of structural data on a number of GPCRs, including the β2 adrenergic receptor (β2AR)-G protein complex, has provided novel insights into the structural basis of receptor activation6-11. Lacking however has been complementary information on recruitment of βarrs to activated GPCRs primarily due to challenges in obtaining stable receptor-βarr complexes for structural studies. Here, we devised a strategy for forming and purifying a functional β2AR-βarr1 complex that allowed us to visualize its architecture by single particle negative stain electron microscopy (EM) and to characterize the interactions between β2AR and βarr1 using hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDXMS) and chemical cross-linking. EM 2D averages and 3D reconstructions reveal bimodal binding of βarr1 to the β2AR, involving two separate sets of interactions, one with the phosphorylated carboxy-terminus of the receptor and the other with its seven-transmembrane core. Areas of reduced HDX together with identification of cross-linked residues suggest engagement of the finger loop of βarr1 with the seven-transmembrane core of the receptor. In contrast, focal areas of increased HDX indicate regions of increased dynamics in both N and C domains of βarr1 when coupled to the β2AR. A molecular model of the β2AR-βarr signaling complex was made by docking activated βarr1 and β2AR crystal structures into the EM map densities with constraints provided by HDXMS and cross-linking, allowing us to obtain valuable insights into the overall architecture of a receptor-arrestin complex. The dynamic and structural information presented herein provides a framework for better understanding the basis of GPCR regulation by arrestins. PMID:25043026

New Tool Quantitatively Maps Minority-Carrier Lifetime of Multicrystalline Silicon Bricks (Fact Sheet)

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

Not Available

2011-11-01

NREL's new imaging tool could provide manufacturers with insight on their processes. Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have used capabilities within the Process Development and Integration Laboratory (PDIL) to generate quantitative minority-carrier lifetime maps of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) bricks. This feat has been accomplished by using the PDIL's photoluminescence (PL) imaging system in conjunction with transient lifetime measurements obtained using a custom NREL-designed resonance-coupled photoconductive decay (RCPCD) system. PL imaging can obtain rapid high-resolution images that provide a qualitative assessment of the material lifetime-with the lifetime proportional to the pixel intensity. In contrast, the RCPCD technique providesmore » a fast quantitative measure of the lifetime with a lower resolution and penetrates millimeters into the mc-Si brick, providing information on bulk lifetimes and material quality. This technique contrasts with commercially available minority-carrier lifetime mapping systems that use microwave conductivity measurements. Such measurements are dominated by surface recombination and lack information on the material quality within the bulk of the brick. By combining these two complementary techniques, we obtain high-resolution lifetime maps at very fast data acquisition times-attributes necessary for a production-based diagnostic tool. These bulk lifetime measurements provide manufacturers with invaluable feedback on their silicon ingot casting processes. NREL has been applying the PL images of lifetime in mc-Si bricks in collaboration with a U.S. photovoltaic industry partner through Recovery Act Funded Project ARRA T24. NREL developed a new tool to quantitatively map minority-carrier lifetime of multicrystalline silicon bricks by using photoluminescence imaging in conjunction with resonance-coupled photoconductive decay measurements. Researchers are not hindered by surface recombination and can look deeper into the material to map bulk lifetimes. The tool is being applied to silicon bricks in a project collaborating with a U.S. photovoltaic industry partner. Photovoltaic manufacturers can use the NREL tool to obtain valuable feedback on their silicon ingot casting processes.« less

Genome-wide identification of microRNA targets in the neglected disease pathogens of the genus Echinococcus.

PubMed

Macchiaroli, Natalia; Maldonado, Lucas L; Zarowiecki, Magdalena; Cucher, Marcela; Gismondi, María Inés; Kamenetzky, Laura; Rosenzvit, Mara Cecilia

2017-06-01

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of small non-coding RNAs, are key regulators of gene expression at post-transcriptional level and play essential roles in biological processes such as development. MiRNAs silence target mRNAs by binding to complementary sequences in the 3'untranslated regions (3'UTRs). The parasitic helminths of the genus Echinococcus are the causative agents of echinococcosis, a zoonotic neglected disease. In previous work, we performed a comprehensive identification and characterization of Echinococcus miRNAs. However, current knowledge about their targets is limited. Since target prediction algorithms rely on complementarity between 3'UTRs and miRNA sequences, a major limitation is the lack of accurate sequence information of 3'UTR for most species including parasitic helminths. We performed RNA-seq and developed a pipeline that integrates the transcriptomic data with available genomic data of this parasite in order to identify 3'UTRs of Echinococcus canadensis. The high confidence set of 3'UTRs obtained allowed the prediction of miRNA targets in Echinococcus through a bioinformatic approach. We performed for the first time a comparative analysis of miRNA targets in Echinococcus and Taenia. We found that many evolutionarily conserved target sites in Echinococcus and Taenia may be functional and under selective pressure. Signaling pathways such as MAPK and Wnt were among the most represented pathways indicating miRNA roles in parasite growth and development. Genome-wide identification and characterization of miRNA target genes in Echinococcus provide valuable information to guide experimental studies in order to understand miRNA functions in the parasites biology. miRNAs involved in essential functions, especially those being absent in the host or showing sequence divergence with respect to host orthologs, might be considered as novel therapeutic targets for echinococcosis control. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Developing Modular and Adaptable Courseware Using TeachML.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wehner, Frank; Lorz, Alexander

This paper presents the use of an XML grammar for two complementary projects--CHAMELEON (Cooperative Hypermedia Adaptive MultimEdia Learning Objects) and EIT (Enabling Informal Teamwork). Areas of applications are modular courseware documents and the collaborative authoring process of didactical units. A number of requirements for a suitable…

Education, Markets and the Pedagogy of Personalisation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartley, David

2008-01-01

The marketisation of education in England began in the 1980s. It was facilitated by national testing (which gave objective and comparable information to parents), and by the New Public Management (which introduced a posteriori funding and competition among providers). Now a new complementary phase of marketisation is being introduced:…

Teletext--Prestel's Big Brother.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hughes, Geoffrey

Prestel, Oracle, and Ceefax are telephone based video text systems currently in use in Great Britain. Rather than being considered as competitors, they should be viewed as complementary media with separate functions based on their differences. All use home television sets to receive information in print, and all broadcast on spare TV lines in the…

Dual parallel mass apectrometry (LC1/MS2 and LC2/MS2) for lipid and vitamin D analysis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) mass spectrometry (MS) and electrospray ionization (ESI) MS are complementary techniques that provide different types of information for lipids such as triacylglycerols, phospholipids, and fat-soluble vitamins. Since no one technique is by itself idea...

Dual Parallel Mass Spectrometry (LC1/MS2 and LC2/MS2) for Lipid and Vitamin D Analysis

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) mass spectrometry (MS) and electrospray ionization (ESI) MS are complementary techniques that provide different types of information for lipids such as triacylglycerols (TAGs), phospholipids, and fat-soluble vitamins. Since no one technique is by itsel...