Functional electrical stimulation (FES), the coordinated electrical activation of multiple muscles, has been used to restore arm and hand function in people with paralysis. User interfaces for such ...systems typically derive commands from mechanically unrelated parts of the body with retained volitional control, and are unnatural and unable to simultaneously command the various joints of the arm. Neural interface systems, based on spiking intracortical signals recorded from the arm area of motor cortex, have shown the ability to control computer cursors, robotic arms and individual muscles in intact non-human primates. Such neural interface systems may thus offer a more natural source of commands for restoring dexterous movements via FES. However, the ability to use decoded neural signals to control the complex mechanical dynamics of a reanimated human limb, rather than the kinematics of a computer mouse, has not been demonstrated. This study demonstrates the ability of an individual with long-standing tetraplegia to use cortical neuron recordings to command the real-time movements of a simulated dynamic arm. This virtual arm replicates the dynamics associated with arm mass and muscle contractile properties, as well as those of an FES feedback controller that converts user commands into the required muscle activation patterns. An individual with long-standing tetraplegia was thus able to control a virtual, two-joint, dynamic arm in real time using commands derived from an existing human intracortical interface technology. These results show the feasibility of combining such an intracortical interface with existing FES systems to provide a high-performance, natural system for restoring arm and hand function in individuals with extensive paralysis.
Background: The Asenze study has the long-term goal of promoting better physical, cognitive and psychosocial functioning of children in a rural area in KwaZulu-Natal, 50 km from Durban, with a view ...to planning interventions to promote growth and development for very young children. The specific objective in this paper was to provide information for the Child Health and Development project of the Valley Trust to assist with intervention planning. The broader goal was to assess developmental delays in communities ravaged by the HIV epidemic. The Asenze study was designed in two phases from 2008 and 2012. The current paper reports on 1 581 4-6-year-old children in the baseline phase (2008-2010) in the five adjacent tribal areas in the study area.
Method: The participants included all the 4-6-year-olds whose parents had consented to inclusion in the project and their caregivers. Data were derived from a brief questionnaire administered in the homes of participants, and subsequently from medical and psychological assessments of the children and their caregivers at the Asenze clinic. The association between child factors and other factors (geographic area, socioeconomic status (SES), parental level of education, the child's preschool education) on the one hand, and the child's cognitive performance (as measured by the Grover Counter and subtests of the KABC-11) were analysed. Linear regression models were employed to determine which predictor variables of interest in a model were associated with the children's cognitive scores as the dependent variables.
Results: Based on the data, the principal factors associated with children's cognitive outcomes were height-for-age z-score (HAZ), preschool education and the area of residence. Generally children who had low cognitive scores were more often stunted (as defined by the WHO anthropometric tables), had not had preschool education, and came from areas less favourable in terms of local infrastructure and access to employment opportunities and arable land.
Conclusion: The finding from this cross-sectional analysis of baseline data showed that in addition to height for age and preschool education, which are commonly thought to impact on cognition, the local authority area where the children lived was associated with their scores on cognitive tests. This has implications for intervention planning. The functioning of local government in promoting the type of community development that will protect the rights of children should be taken into account.
Pasteurella multocida is a pathogenic Gram-negative bacterium that has been classified into three subspecies, five capsular serogroups and 16 serotypes. P. multocida serogroup A isolates are bovine ...nasopharyngeal commensals, bovine pathogens and common isolates from bovine respiratory disease (BRD), both enzootic calf pneumonia of young dairy calves and shipping fever of weaned, stressed beef cattle. P. multocida A:3 is the most common serotype isolated from BRD, and these isolates have limited heterogeneity based on outer membrane protein (OMP) profiles and ribotyping. Development of P. multocida-induced pneumonia is associated with environmental and stress factors such as shipping, co-mingling, and overcrowding as well as concurrent or predisposing viral or bacterial infections. Lung lesions consist of an acute to subacute bronchopneumonia that may or may not have an associated pleuritis. Numerous virulence or potential virulence factors have been described for bovine respiratory isolates including adherence and colonization factors, iron-regulated and acquisition proteins, extracellular enzymes such as neuraminidase, lipopolysaccharide, polysaccharide capsule and a variety of OMPs. Immunity of cattle against respiratory pasteurellosis is poorly understood; however, high serum antibodies to OMPs appear to be important for enhancing resistance to the bacterium. Currently available P. multocida vaccines for use in cattle are predominately traditional bacterins and a live streptomycin-dependent mutant. The field efficacy of these vaccines is not well documented in the literature.
The shear power spectrum from the COMBO-17 survey Brown, M. L.; Taylor, A. N.; Bacon, D. J. ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
05/2003, Letnik:
341, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
We perform a statistical weak lensing or ‘cosmic shear’ analysis of the COMBO-17 survey - a unique data set with shear quality R-band imaging and accurate photometric redshift estimates (σz = 0.05) ...for ∼90 per cent of galaxies to mR ⩽ 24.0. We undertake a full maximum likelihood analysis to measure directly from the data the weak lensing power spectra, Cκκℓ, Cββℓ and Cκβℓ in five band powers from ℓ = 400 to ℓ = 104, where κ is the usual lens convergence and β is an odd-parity ‘curl’ component of the shear signal. We find a strong measurement of the convergence power over five fields. The non-gravitational β-field has a much lower significance, indicating our data are free of major systematics, while the cross-correlation of κ and β is consistent with zero. We have also calculated the shear correlation functions and variance over a range of scales between 0.5 and 20 arcmin. Our measurements of minimal star-galaxy correlations and cross-correlations between galaxy components provide further evidence that any systematics are negligible. In addition, we have used our results to measure cosmological parameters, constraining the normalization of the matter power spectrum to be σ8 = (0.72 ± 0.09)(Ωm/0.3)−0.49, where the errors quoted are 1σ due to the intrinsic dispersion in galaxy ellipticities, cosmic and sampling variance. We have significantly reduced the usual additional uncertainty in the median redshift (zm) of the source galaxies by estimating zm directly from our data using accurate photometric redshift information from the COMBO-17 multi-band wide-field survey. To demonstrate the power of accurate redshift information, we have also measured parameters from a shear analysis of only those galaxies for which accurate redshift estimates are available. In this case, we have eliminated the uncertainty in the redshift distribution of sources and we show that the uncertainties in the resulting parameter constraints are reduced by more than a factor of 2 compared with the typical uncertainties found in cosmic shear surveys to date. Finally, we combine our parameter measurements with constraints from the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey and with those from the cosmic microwave background. With these additional constraints, we measure the normalization of the matter power spectrum to be σ8 = 0.73+0.06−0.03 and the matter density of the Universe to be Ωm = 0.27+0.02−0.01.
Electrical and thermal transport measurements were performed on thin films of the electron-doped superconductor Sm2−xCexCuO4−y (x = 0.13 − 0.19) in order to study the evolving nature of the ...charge carriers from the under-doped to over-doped regime. A temperature versus cerium content (T − x) phase diagram has been constructed from the electrical transport measurements, yielding a superconducting region similar to that found for other electron-doped superconductors. Thermopower measurements show a dramatic change from the underdoped region (x < 0.15) to the overdoped region (x > 0.15). Application of the Fisher-Fisher-Huse (FFH) vortex glass scaling model to the magnetoresistance data was found to be insufficient to describe the data in the region of the vortex-solid to vortex-liquid transition. It was found instead that the modified vortex glass scaling model of Rydh, Rapp, and Anderson provided a good description of the data, indicating the importance of the applied field on the pinning landscape. A magnetic field versus temperature (H − T) phase diagram has also been constructed for the films with x 0.14, displaying the evolution of the vortex glass melting lines Hg(T) across the superconducting regime.
Previous use of this IUD was not associated with an increased risk of tubal occlusion.
Intrauterine devices (IUDs) have long been believed to cause pelvic inflammatory disease and subsequent tubal ...infertility. Many IUDs were withdrawn from the market in the United States and other countries because of concern about safety, and the use of one — the Dalkon Shield — was eventually shown to be strongly associated with pelvic inflammatory disease. Copper-containing IUDs were first approved for use in the United States in 1976 and are still being marketed. Lingering concern about the potential risks of IUDs has discouraged women — particularly those who have never been pregnant — from using even copper devices.
Research . . .
The 30 Doradus star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud is a nearby analog of large star-formation events in the distant universe. We determined the recent formation history and the initial ...mass function (IMF) of massive stars in 30 Doradus on the basis of spectroscopic observations of 247 stars more massive than 15 solar masses (Formula: see text). The main episode of massive star formation began about 8 million years (My) ago, and the star-formation rate seems to have declined in the last 1 My. The IMF is densely sampled up to 200 Formula: see text and contains 32 ± 12% more stars above 30 Formula: see text than predicted by a standard Salpeter IMF. In the mass range of 15 to 200 Formula: see text, the IMF power-law exponent is Formula: see text, shallower than the Salpeter value of 2.35.
The influence of the endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) on the host response to Escherichia coli was studied. Animals were treated with 4 separate protocols for survival studies and analysis of ...physiologic and biochemical parameters: (1) monoclonal antibody (mAb) that blocks protein C/activated protein C binding to EPCR plus sublethal numbers of E coli (SLEC) (n = 4); (2) mAb to EPCR that does not block binding plus SLEC (n = 3); (3) SLEC alone (n = 4); and (4) blocking mAB alone (n = 1). Those animals receiving blocking mAb to EPCR plus sublethal E coli died 7 to 54 hours after challenge, whereas all animals treated with the other protocols were permanent survivors. Histopathologic studies of tissues from animals receiving blocking mAb plus SLEC removed at postmortem were compared with those animals receiving SLEC alone killed at T+24 hours. The animals receiving the blocking mAb exhibited consumption of fibrinogen, microvascular thrombosis with hemorrhage of both the adrenal and renal cortex, and an intense influx of neutrophils into the adrenal, renal, and hepatic microvasculature, whereas the tissues from animals receiving only sublethal E coli exhibited none of these abnormal histopathologic changes. Compared with the control animals, the animals receiving the blocking mAb exhibited significantly elevated serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, anion gap, thrombin-antithrombin complex, IL-6, IL-8, and soluble thrombomodulin. The levels of circulating activated protein C varied too widely to allow a clear determination of whether the extent of protein C activation was altered in vivo by blocking protein C binding to EPCR. We conclude that protein C/activated protein C binding to EPCR contributes to the negative regulation of the coagulopathic and inflammatory response to E coli and that EPCR provides an additional critical step in the host defense against E coli.
Background
Medial Unicompartmental Knee Replacement (UKR) has well-documented benefits over Total Knee Replacement in the treatment of anteromedial osteoarthritis of the knee. There has been an ...increasing move from cemented to cementless UKR over the last decade. This non-design centre study assesses the initial experience using the cementless Oxford medial partial knee replacement and provides medium term revision data, as well as Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs).
Methods
A cohort of 200 consecutive patients undergoing medial UKR using the cementless Oxford were identified from our knee groups prospectively collected database. Cases were performed in a single centre under the care of one of four surgeons. All patients were beyond the 5-year minimum timepoint following UKR surgery in order to produce medium term results, at a mean of 7.9 years. Eligible patients completed a postal questionnaire to collect PROMs: Oxford Knee Score, WOMAC and modified American Knee Society Score questionnaires in January 2020 and had their clinical records reviewed.
Results
The survivorship in our cohort was 94.5% at a mean follow up of 7.9 years following surgery. There were 11 re-operations in total with a three percent risk of re-operation within the first 18 months following surgery. There was a sustained improvement in Oxford Knee Score with a near 20 points improvement on pre-operative scores.
Conclusions
Our results provide further evidence that partial knee replacements using the cementless Oxford produce good clinical outcomes. Revision rates are similar to those published in the National Joint Registry.
Level of Evidence
: III.
Predictors of panic attacks in adolescents Hayward, C; Killen, J D; Kraemer, H C ...
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
02/2000, Letnik:
39, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
To identify risk factors for onset of panic attacks in adolescents, a prospective cohort design was used to evaluate the following risk factors: negative affectivity, female sex, anxiety sensitivity, ...and childhood separation anxiety disorder. These risk factors were also evaluated for predicting onset of major depression to test their specificity.
The sample consisted of 2,365 high school students assessed over a 4-year period. Assessments included self-report questionnaires and structured clinical interviews. Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate risk.
Consistent with previous studies, prior major depression predicted onset of panic attacks and a history of panic attacks predicted onset of major depression. After adjusting for the effects of prior major depression, negative affectivity and anxiety sensitivity, but not female sex or childhood separation anxiety disorder, predicted onset of 4-symptom panic attacks. However, female sex and negative affectivity but not anxiety sensitivity or childhood separation anxiety disorder predicted onset of major depression after adjustment for the effects of prior panic attacks.
Negative affectivity appears to be a nonspecific risk factor for panic attacks and major depression, whereas anxiety sensitivity appears to be a specific factor that increases the risk for 4-symptom panic attacks in adolescents.
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