The performance of a fingerprinting system, which is often measured in terms of reliability and robustness, is directly related to the features that the system uses. In this letter, we present a new ...audio-fingerprinting method based on the normalized spectral subband moments. A threshold used to reliably determine a fingerprint match is obtained by modeling the features as a stationary process. The robustness of the normalized moments was evaluated experimentally and compared with that of the spectral flatness measure. Among the considered subband features, the first-order normalized moment showed the best performance for fingerprinting.
Novel cationic amphiphiles, based on hydrophobic cholesterol linked to l-lysinamide or l-ornithinamide, were designed and tested as nonviral gene transfer vectors. Each amide form of amino acid was ...conjugated to cholesterol by a carbamate ester bond to facilitate efficient degradation in animal cells. Cytotoxicity tests were performed for some cell lines. The transfection efficiency of the amphiphiles on different cell lines was evaluated as a liposomal solution in the presence of the fusogenic helper lipid, dioleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE). The efficiency was also compared with other generally used gene carriers, such as lipofectin, 3βN-(N‘N‘-dimethylaminoethane)-carbamoyl cholesterol (DC-Chol) liposome, and polyethylenimine (PEI).
Compelling efforts to improve the critical temperature (Tc) of superconductors have been made through high-pressure application. Understanding the underlying mechanism behind such improvements is ...critically important; however, much remains unclear. Here we studied ortho-III YBa2Cu3O6.73 (YBCO) using x-ray scattering under hydrostatic pressure (HP) up to ∼6.0GPa. We found the reinforced oxygen order of YBCO under HP, revealing an oxygen rearrangement in the Cu-O layer, which evidently shows the charge-transfer phenomenon between the CuO2 plane and Cu-O layer. Concurrently, we also observed no disorder-pinned charge-density-wave signature in CuO2 plane under HP. This indicates that the oxygen rearrangement modifies the quenched disorder state in the CuO2 plane. Using these results, we appropriately explain why pressure condition can achieve higher Tc compared with the optimal Tc under ambient pressure in YBa2Cu3O6+x. As an implication of these results, finally we have discussed that the change in disorder could make it easier for YBa2Cu3O6+x to undergo a transition to the nematic order under an external magnetic field.
Background
To investigate the inter‐ and intra‐rater reliability of the Korean version of the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) for children with cerebral palsy.
Methods
After a two‐step ...forward and one‐step backward translation, the inter‐rater reliability of the Korean version of the MACS was assessed separately by parents, occupational therapists and physicians. A second assessment for intra‐rater reliability was performed 4 weeks later.
Results
Sixty‐nine children were enrolled. The intra‐class correlation coefficients were 0.956 between occupational therapists and physicians, 0.927 between parents and physicians, and 0.960 between parents and occupational therapists. Intra‐rater reliability ranged from 0.965 to 0.987.
Conclusions
The Korean version of the MACS is reliable and valid and is suitable for assessing manual ability in Korean children with cerebral palsy.
Aberrant methylation of CpG islands is an important pathway for regulation of gene expression. Recent data suggest that epigenetic abnormalities may occur very early in lung carcinogenesis. We ...studied the promoters of the four genes,
HOX A9,
p16
INK4a
(
p16),
MAGE A1 and
MAGE B2 by methylation-specific PCR in matched normal tissue, tumour, and cytological negative sputum samples obtained from 22 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We further report methylation abnormalities in sputum samples from 56 smokers with differential cytology readouts (negative, inflammatory changes, suspicious, and cancer). Our method was successfully performed on formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples, and was fit to study only few cells obtained by a convenient non-invasive sputum collection and handling. The promoters of
MAGE A1 and
MAGE B2 had abnormal methylation patterns in, respectively, 50% and 41% of the cytologically negative sputum samples from NSCLC patients, whereas methylation abnormalities of
p16 was observed in 27% of negative sputum samples. Interestingly, 95.5% (21 of 22) of the cytologically negative sputum samples from NSCLC patients had abnormal methylation in at least one of the four genes indicating a high sensitivity of this marker system. Moreover, a higher frequency of methylation abnormalities was observed in sputum samples from smokers with high cytological grade compared to low cytological grade. We conclude that the identification of abnormal gene methylation of a limited number of markers in FFPE sputum samples is feasible and may be investigated as a potential system for population-based screening of early stages of lung cancer.
•We investigated the effects of increasing levels of palm kernel meal (PKM) in diets containing β-mannanase to growing-finishing pig diets on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and pork ...quality.•Increasing inclusion level of PKM in the diet linearly decreased the BW and ADFI of pigs.•Digestibility of crude protein and crude fiber linearly decreased when dietary levels of PKM increased.•Pigs fed diets containing 18% PKM tended to have decreased carcass yield as well as increased backfat depth.
In this study, we investigated the effects of increasing levels of palm kernel meal (PKM) in diets containing β-mannanase on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and pork quality in growing-finishing pigs. One hundred twenty pigs (Yorkshire × Landrace) × Duroc with 29.68 ± 0.17 kg BW were allotted to 5 dietary treatments with 4 pigs per pen and 6 replicates per treatment on the basis of sex and BW. These dietary treatments were: NC (negative control; corn-soybean meal-based diet), PC (positive control; basal diet + 0.10% β-mannanase), PKM6 (diet containing 6% PKM + 0.10% β-mannanase), PKM12 (diet containing 12% PKM + 0.10% β-mannanase), and PKM18 (diet containing 18% PKM + 0.10% β-mannanase). The BW was linearly decreased as the dietary inclusion level of PKM increased in early finishing phase (linear, P < 0.05) and late finishing phase (linear, P < 0.01). Similarly, ADFI was linearly decreased as the dietary inclusion level of PKM increased in late finishing phase (linear, P < 0.03), and during the entire experimental period (linear, P < 0.01). However, no PKM effect was observed on the G/F ratio. Digestibility of crude protein and crude fiber were linearly decreased when dietary levels of PKM increased (linear, P < 0.05). Moreover, increasing level of PKM in the diet linearly increased fecal nitrogen levels (linear, P < 0.03). Dietary treatment had no adverse effects on plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) levels. Pigs fed diets containing 18% PKM tended to have decreased carcass yield (P < 0.08) as well as increased backfat depth (P < 0.10). Consequently, growing-finishing pigs fed increasing levels of PKM had a linear reduction on growth performance and digestibility. Overall, PKM can be added up to 12% in corn-soybean meal diets supplemented with 0.10% β-mannanase without detrimental effects on growth performance and pork quality of growing-finishing pigs.
Egg production, egg viability and fecal pellet production were determined for individual Acartia omorii, which were fed diets of two species of diatoms (Skeletonema costatum and Phaeodactylum ...tricornutum) and three species of dinoflagellates (Scrippsiella trochoidea, Heterocapsa triquetra and Cochlodinium polykrikoides). Diets were analyzed for fatty acid content as an indicator of food quality. Depending on the diet, egg production of A. omorii varied over time, diminishing with some diets (S. trochoidea, C. polykrikoides, P. tricornutum). This rate of reduction was much more rapid for a diet of C. polykrikoides, which caused egg production to decrease to ca. 2.4 eggs f super(-1) d super(-1) in only four days. As for all diets, egg viability was high at the beginning but with the C. polykrikoides and P. tricornutum diets, it rapidly decreased with time. Fecal pellet production also varied with time, depending on the diet. Egg production rate was closely correlated with fecal pellet production. There was no direct relationship between egg viability and egg production rate, but both egg production and viability were affected by the nutritional quality of food. Egg viability was also highly dependent on the composition of fatty acids in the eggs. Egg viability showed positive correlation with the ratio of omega 3: omega 6 groups among egg fatty acids, and negative correlation with the ratio of 20:5 (n-3) : 22:6 (n-3). While comparing several diets, egg production rate was higher on diets (H. triquetra and S. trochoidea) containing ample amounts of essential fatty acids such as 18:4 (n-3) and 22:6 (n-3). The results suggest that fertility of A. omorii was dependent upon the quality of the food, and dinoflagellate diets, with the exception of C. polykrikoides, were preferable to diatom diets.
The outstanding strength-to-weight performance of 7075 aluminum alloy (AA 7075) has prompted its wide-scale application to light-weight sport equipment, automobile bodies, and airframe design. ...However, the fatigue performance of AA 7075 cannot match that of steel. In this study, we used direct current sputtering to coat AA 7075 substrates with (Zr53Cu30Ni9Al8)99.5Si0.5 (Zr-based) metallic glass thin film (MGTF) coupled to a 50-nm titanium thin-film buffer layer. The Zr-based MGTF coating was applied at thicknesses of 200, 300, 400, and 500 nm. The fatigue characteristics of as-polished and coated AA 7075 samples were then tested in accordance with ASTM-C1161-02c specifications. The 200-nm-thick Zr-based MGTF coating was shown to extend the fatigue life of the AA 7075 by 26 times at a stress level of 250 MPa. The application of 200-nm-thick Zr-based MGTF coating also extended the fatigue limit from 150 MPa (as-polished sample) to 235 MPa, which represents an improvement of 56.7%.
Transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that the Zr-based MGTF coating restricted the formation of offsets and cracks beneath the surface of specimen. This can be attributed to the high strength, good flexibility, and strong adhesion of the Zr-based MGTF coating, which provided sufficient compressive stress to suppress slip band protrusions. The increases in fatigue life and fatigue limit were proportional to the thickness of the MGTF coating, due to changes in surface roughness and adhesion capability. A coating thickness of 200 nm was found to provide the best resistance to fatigue, due to its superior flexibility. These results demonstrate the outstanding potential of Zr-based MGTF coatings to improve the fatigue resistance of AA 7075.
•Direct current magnetron sputtered Zr-based metallic glass thin film (MGTF) coatings.•Zr-based MGTF coupled with Ti buffer layer applied on 7075 aluminum alloy (AA7075).•26 time longer AA 7075 fatigue life with 200 nm Zr-based MGTF coating at 250 MPa.•Fatigue limit of AA 7075 improved 56.7% by coating with 200 nm of Zr-based MGTF.•The sample coated with 200-nm-thick Zr-based MGTF is the optimal one.
Adiponectin, an adipocyte-derived peptide with antiinflammatory and antiatherogenic effects, is known to protect against the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. In this study, we ...investigate whether hypoadiponectinemia is present in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease (CVD).
In this case-control study, plasma adiponectin concentration was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in type 2 diabetic and nondiabetic subjects with or without ischemic CVD. A total of 534 subjects were studied. The mean plasma level of adiponectin of the 228 patients with ischemic CVD was significantly lower than that of 306 subjects without CVD. When the analysis was stratified according to diabetes status, plasma levels of adiponectin in CVD subjects with or without type 2 diabetes were significantly lower than those of their counterparts. Decreasing concentrations of adiponectin were independently and significantly associated with a higher risk of CVD when concentrations were analyzed by quartile and as a continuous variable. When patients with CVD were subgrouped according to the comorbidity with or without type 2 diabetes, the same trend of association between plasma adiponectin and risk of CVD was observed in each group.
These data show that there are significantly lower levels of plasma adiponectin in patients with ischemic CVD.
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