•FibreLux was compared to the OFDA2000 for the determination of mean fiber diameter.•The FibreLux performed within the manufactures specifications of ±0.8 μm.•Number of fibers load on the FibreLux ...slide had little effect on the performance.•Variation between staples from a sample was 4 times greater than FibreLux error.•FibreLux should be useful for on farm testing of wool mean fiber diameter.
Objective measurements of wool, specifically mean fiber diameter (MFD), plays an important role in the selection of replacement animals and the marketing of greasy wool. The FibreLux (FL) was designed for field use and will be a cost-effective instrument for producers if it compares favorably to the OFDA2000 on U.S. wool samples. The aim of this study was to compare accuracy and precision of the FL to the OFDA2000 for measurement of mean fiber diameter of U.S. wool. We hypothesized that MFD accuracy of the FL vs. OFDA2000 would be within manufacturer recommended 0.8 μm specifications in U.S. wool samples. Wool from animals originating from two distinct regions was used in this study. Side samples from Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota (n = 998; 21 flocks) and Texas (n = 883; 11 flocks) were measured on the FL and OFDA2000 at the Montana State University Wool Lab (MSU) and the Texas A&M AgriLife Bill Simms Wool and Mohair Research Lab (AgriLife), respectively. The FL and OFDA2000 were strongly correlated (P < 0.001) at both MSU (r = 0.89) and AgriLife (r = 0.93), yet differed (P < 0.001) between the two laboratories. At MSU the FL measurements were 0.25 μm greater (P < 0.001) than the OFDA2000. The opposite was found at AgriLife, where the FL measurements were 0.21 μm less (P < 0.001) than the OFDA2000. At MSU, the slope of the geometric mean regression coefficient did not differ (P = 0.111) from unity. In contrast, AgriLife underestimated MFD by 0.9 μm for 15 μm fibers and overestimated MFD by 0.7 μm at 25 μm (P < 0.001). Samples coarser than 25 μm indicated that the FL can provide useful measurements above the specified range. Standard error of predictions were 0.94 and 0.67 μm for MSU and AgriLife, respectively. The FL variance components were greater than the OFDA2000, with the greatest source of variation was from multiple staples within the same fleece, and reload error was greater for FL than OFDA2000. We believe the FibreLux will be a useful tool for on farm measuring of MFD in U.S. wools.
We present a measurement of the asymmetry ACP between same-sign inclusive dilepton samples scriptl+scriptl+ and scriptl-scriptl- (scriptl=e, mu ) from semileptonic B decays in Y(4S) arrow right BB- ...events, using the complete data set recorded by the BABAR experiment near the Y(4S) resonance, corresponding to 471x106 BB- pairs. The asymmetry ACP allows comparison between the mixing probabilities P(B-0 arrow right B0) and P(B0 arrow right B-0), and therefore probes CP and T violation. The result, ACP=-3.9+ or -3.5(stat) + or -1.9(syst)x10-3, is consistent with the standard model expectation.
An angular analysis of the decay $\bar{B}$ → D*ℓ ¯$\bar{ν}_ℓ$, ℓϵ {e,μ}, is reported using the full e+e- collision data set collected by the BABAR experiment at the Υ(4S) resonance. One B meson from ...the Υ(4S) → $B\bar{B}$ decay is fully reconstructed in a hadronic decay mode, which constrains the kinematics and provides a determination of the neutrino momentum vector. The kinematics of the semileptonic decay is described by the dilepton mass squared, q2, and three angles. The first unbinned fit to the full four-dimensional decay rate in the standard model is performed in the so-called Boyd-Grinstein-Lebed approach, which employs a generic q2 parametrization of the underlying form factors based on crossing symmetry, analyticity, and QCD dispersion relations for the amplitudes. A fit using the more model-dependent Caprini-Lellouch-Neubert (CLN) approach is performed as well. Our form factor shapes show deviations from previous fits based on the CLN parametrization. The latest form factors also provide an updated prediction for the branching fraction ratio $\mathscr{R}$(D*) ≡ $\mathscr{B}$($\bar{B}$ → D* τ¯ $\bar{ν}_τ$)/$\mathscr{B}$($\bar{B}$ → D*ℓ¯ $\bar{ν}_ℓ$) = 0.253 ± 0.005 . Finally, using the well-measured branching fraction for the $\bar{B}$ → D*ℓ¯ $\bar{ν}_ℓ$ decay, a value of |Vcb| = (38.36 ± 0.90) × 10⁻3 is obtained that is consistent with the current world average for exclusive $\bar{B}$ → D (*)ℓ⁻$\bar{ν}_ℓ$ decays and remains in tension with the determination from inclusive semileptonic B decays to final states with charm.
Helicobacter pylori has been classified as a human carcinogen contributing to the pathogenesis of gastric cancer. Extensive sero-epidemiological studies and recently animal experiments have ...established a close link between H. pylori infection and the development of gastric cancer. However, the molecular changes induced by H. pylori directly or the concomitant chronic inflammation of the gastric mucosa, and the impact of these changes on the subsequent development of gastric cancer, remain largely unknown. This review will highlight the present knowledge on the molecular pathogenesis of gastric cancer with an emphasis on molecular and genetic alterations which develop due to chronic infection of the gastric mucosa by H. pylori.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether disruption of early social attachment alters the activity of brain biogenic amine systems in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Male rhesus monkey ...infants were deprived of maternal interaction, peer interaction, or both, during the first 22 months of life. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was collected under rigorously controlled conditions approximately every month and assayed for levels of norepinephrine (NE), its major metabolite, and the metabolites of dopamine and serotonin. Mother-Deprived infants had lower levels of CSF NE than Mother-Reared infants. Mother-Deprived infants also failed to develop the same pattern of intercorrelations between compounds and month-to-month stability in levels of neurotransmitter and metabolites in CSF as the Mother-Reared infants. Finally, there were changes in CSF NE levels associated with social separation and social group formation. The brain NE system appears to be sensitive to changes in the social environment. Its level of activity, as reflected in levels of NE in CSF, appears to depend on both the prevailing social environment and the prior rearing environment.
An ontology-driven, diagnostic modeling system Haug, Peter J; Ferraro, Jeffrey P; Holmen, John ...
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA,
06/2013, Letnik:
20, Številka:
e1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
To present a system that uses knowledge stored in a medical ontology to automate the development of diagnostic decision support systems. To illustrate its function through an example focused on the ...development of a tool for diagnosing pneumonia.
We developed a system that automates the creation of diagnostic decision-support applications. It relies on a medical ontology to direct the acquisition of clinic data from a clinical data warehouse and uses an automated analytic system to apply a sequence of machine learning algorithms that create applications for diagnostic screening. We refer to this system as the ontology-driven diagnostic modeling system (ODMS). We tested this system using samples of patient data collected in Salt Lake City emergency rooms and stored in Intermountain Healthcare's enterprise data warehouse.
The system was used in the preliminary development steps of a tool to identify patients with pneumonia in the emergency department. This tool was compared with a manually created diagnostic tool derived from a curated dataset. The manually created tool is currently in clinical use. The automatically created tool had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.920 (95% CI 0.916 to 0.924), compared with 0.944 (95% CI 0.942 to 0.947) for the manually created tool.
Initial testing of the ODMS demonstrates promising accuracy for the highly automated results and illustrates the route to model improvement.
The use of medical knowledge, embedded in ontologies, to direct the initial development of diagnostic computing systems appears feasible.
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