The ability to use magnets external to the body to focus therapy to deep tissue targets has remained an elusive goal in magnetic drug targeting. Researchers have hitherto been able to manipulate ...magnetic nanotherapeutics in vivo with nearby magnets but have remained unable to focus these therapies to targets deep within the body using magnets external to the body. One of the factors that has made focusing of therapy to central targets between magnets challenging is Samuel Earnshaw’s theorem as applied to Maxwell’s equations. These mathematical formulations imply that external static magnets cannot create a stable potential energy well between them. We posited that fast magnetic pulses could act on ferromagnetic rods before they could realign with the magnetic field. Mathematically, this is equivalent to reversing the sign of the potential energy term in Earnshaw’s theorem, thus enabling a quasi-static stable trap between magnets. With in vitro experiments, we demonstrated that quick, shaped magnetic pulses can be successfully used to create inward pointing magnetic forces that, on average, enable external magnets to concentrate ferromagnetic rods to a central location.
Replant disease is a worldwide phenomenon affecting various woody plant genera and species, especially within the Rosaceae. Compared to decades of intensive studies regarding replant disease of apple ...(ARD), the replant disease of roses (RRD) has hardly been investigated. The etiology of RRD is also still unclear and a remedy desperately needed. In greenhouse pot trials with seedlings of the RRD-sensitive rootstock Rosa corymbifera 'Laxa' cultured in replant disease affected soils from two different locations, early RRD symptom development was studied in fine roots. In microscopic analyses we found similarities to ARD symptoms with regards to structural damages, impairment in the root hair status, and necroses and blackening in the cortex tissue. Examinations of both whole mounts and thin sections of fine root segments revealed frequent conspicuous fungal infections in association with the cellular disorders. Particularly striking were fungal intracellular structures with pathogenic characteristics that are described for the first time. Isolated fungi from these tissue areas were identified by means of ITS primers, and many of them were members of the Nectriaceae. In a next step, 35 of these isolates were subjected to a multi-locus sequence analysis and the results revealed that several genera and species were involved in the development of RRD within a single rose plant. Inoculations with selected single isolates (Rugonectria rugulosa and Ilyonectria robusta) in a Perlite assay confirmed their pathogenic relationship to early necrotic host plant reactions, and symptoms were similar to those exhibited in ARD.
Impaired communication ability in SOX11 syndrome Smith, H.; Al‐Jawahiri, R.; Stokes, L. ...
Journal of intellectual disability research,
March 2024, 2024-Mar, 2024-03-00, 20240301, Letnik:
68, Številka:
3
Journal Article
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Background
Speech and language skills are important for social interaction and learning. This study characterised the communication abilities of verbal individuals with SOX11 syndrome using a ...standardised parent/carer questionnaire, the Children's Communication Checklist (CCC‐2).
Method
Thirteen parent/carers of verbal individuals (aged 5–19 years) diagnosed with SOX11 syndrome completed the CCC‐2. In order to contextualise findings, responses were compared to norms and to data from Noonan syndrome, a relatively well‐known genetic diagnosis associated with communication impairment.
Results
For all individuals, the CCC‐2 composite score indicated significant communication difficulties. Language structure (speech, syntax, semantics and coherence), pragmatic language (inappropriate initiation, stereotyped language use of context and non‐verbal communication) and autistic features (social relations and interests) scores were lower than typically developing norms. Subscale comparisons revealed relative difference in use of context compared to other pragmatic domains (stereotyped language and inappropriate initiation). Individual scores showed substantial variation, particularly in regard to language structure profile. Differences were more pronounced than for Noonan syndrome, specifically in domains of speech, syntax, non‐verbal communication and social relations.
Conclusions
SOX11 syndrome is associated with communication impairment. It is important to assess communication abilities as part of the management of individuals with SOX11 syndrome and understand individual strengths and difficulties in order to provide targeted support.
Knowledge on joint impedance during walking in various conditions is relevant for clinical decision-making and the development of robotic gait trainers, leg prostheses, leg orthotics and wearable ...exoskeletons. Whereas ankle impedance during walking has been experimentally assessed, knee and hip joint impedance during walking have not been identified yet. Here we developed and evaluated a lower limb perturbator to identify hip, knee and ankle joint impedance during treadmill walking. The lower limb perturbator (LOPER) consists of an actuator connected to the thigh via rods. The LOPER allows to apply force perturbations to a free-hanging leg, while standing on the contralateral leg, with a bandwidth of up to 39 Hz. While walking in minimal impedance mode, the interaction forces between LOPER and the thigh were low (<5N) and the effect on the walking pattern was smaller than the within-subject variability during normal walking. Using a non-linear multibody dynamical model of swing leg dynamics, the hip, knee and ankle joint impedance were estimated at three time points during the swing phase for nine subjects walking at a speed of 0.5 m/s. The identified model was well able to predict the experimental responses for the hip and knee, since the mean variance accounted (VAF) for was 99% and 96%, respectively. The ankle lacked a consistent response and the mean VAF of the model fit was only 77%, and therefore the estimated ankle impedance was not reliable. The averaged across-subjects stiffness varied between the three time points within 34-66 and 0-3.5 Nm/rad Nm/rad for the hip and knee joint respectively. The damping varied between 1.9-4.6 and 0.02-0.14 Nms/rad Nms/rad for hip and knee respectively. The developed LOPER has a negligible effect on the unperturbed walking pattern and allows to identify hip and knee impedance during the swing phase.
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•The MPM provides stable, reproducible data processing in NMR relaxometry.•The MPM offers fast analysis, improved resolution, and minimal error.•Useful in the low SNR regime and ...complex mixtures with possible exchange.
The matrix pencil method (MPM) is explored for stable, reproducible data processing in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry. Data from one-dimensional and two-dimensional relaxometry experiments designed to measure transverse relaxation T2, longitudinal relaxation T1, diffusion coefficient D values, and their correlations in a standard olive oil/water mixture serve as a platform available to any NMR spectroscopist to compare the performance of the MPM to the benchmark inverse Laplace transform (ILT). The data from two practical examples, including the drying of a solvent polymer system and the enzymatic digestion of polysialic acid, were also explored with the MPM and ILT. In the cases considered here, the MPM appears to outperform the ILT in terms of resolution and stability in the determination of fundamental constants for complex materials and mixtures.
Roadmap on holography Sheridan, John T; Kostuk, Raymond K; Gil, Antonio Fimia ...
Journal of optics (2010),
12/2020, Letnik:
22, Številka:
12
Journal Article
Due to economical and environmental requirements there is a strong need both to increase the efficiency and to monitor the actual status of gas turbines, rocket engines and deep drilling systems. For ...these applications a micromachined pressure sensor based on a sapphire body and a platinum thin film metallization is presented to withstand harsh environments such as high temperature levels, aggressive media and/or high pressure loads. For pre-evaluation purposes, a reusable packing is used enabling the device characterization in a very efficient way up to temperatures of 440°C and pressures of 30bar, respectively. As expected, the output signals of the Wheatstone bridge increase with higher pressures, but decrease with enhanced temperature levels. Furthermore, these characteristics show a sensitivity of about 10μV/(Vbar) in this temperature range and a negative drift in the offset when no pressure load is applied with increasing temperature. This effect is predominantly caused by the mismatch of the temperature coefficients of expansion associated with the device and the housing leading to a pre-stressed membrane.
In clinical practice, therapists choose the amount of assistance for robot-assisted training. This can result in outcomes that are influenced by subjective decisions and tuning of training parameters ...can be time-consuming. Therefore, various algorithms to automatically tune the assistance have been developed. However, the assistance applied by these algorithms has not been directly compared to manually-tuned assistance yet. In this study, we focused on subtask-based assistance and compared automatically-tuned (AT) robotic assistance with manually-tuned (MT) robotic assistance.
Ten people with neurological disorders (six stroke, four spinal cord injury) walked in the LOPES II gait trainer with AT and MT assistance. In both cases, assistance was adjusted separately for various subtasks of walking (in this study defined as control of: weight shift, lateral foot placement, trailing and leading limb angle, prepositioning, stability during stance, foot clearance). For the MT approach, robotic assistance was tuned by an experienced therapist and for the AT approach an algorithm that adjusted the assistance based on performances for the different subtasks was used. Time needed to tune the assistance, assistance levels and deviations from reference trajectories were compared between both approaches. In addition, participants evaluated safety, comfort, effect and amount of assistance for the AT and MT approach.
For the AT algorithm, stable assistance levels were reached quicker than for the MT approach. Considerable differences in the assistance per subtask provided by the two approaches were found. The amount of assistance was more often higher for the MT approach than for the AT approach. Despite this, the largest deviations from the reference trajectories were found for the MT algorithm. Participants did not clearly prefer one approach over the other regarding safety, comfort, effect and amount of assistance.
Automatic tuning had the following advantages compared to manual tuning: quicker tuning of the assistance, lower assistance levels, separate tuning of each subtask and good performance for all subtasks. Future clinical trials need to show whether these apparent advantages result in better clinical outcomes.
Objective: A significant number of patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) fail to benefit sufficiently from treatments. This study aimed to evaluate whether certain OCD symptom dimensions ...were associated with cognitive‐behavioral therapy (CBT) outcome.
Method: Symptoms of 104 CBT‐treated in‐patients with OCD were assessed with the clinician‐rated Yale‐Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale symptom checklist. Logistic regression analyses examined outcome predictors.
Results: The most frequent OCD symptoms were aggressive and contamination obsessions, and compulsive checking and cleaning. Patients with hoarding symptoms at baseline (n = 19) were significantly less likely to become treatment responders as compared to patients without these symptoms. Patients with sexual and religious obsessions tended to respond less frequently, although this failed to reach statistical significance (P = 0.07). Regression analyses revealed that higher scores on the hoarding dimension were predictive of non‐response, even after controlling for possible confounding variables.
Conclusion: Our results strongly indicate that in‐patients with obsessive–compulsive hoarding respond poorly to CBT.
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