The Perceptual Experience Of Slope By Foot And By Finger

Historically, the bodily senses have often been regarded as impeccable sources of spatial information and as being the teacher of vision. Here, the authors report that the haptic perception of slope by means of the foot is greatly exaggerated. The exaggeration is present in verbal as well as proprioceptive judgments. It is shown that this misperception of pedal slope is not caused by calibration to the well-established visual misperception of slope because it is present in congenitally blind individuals as well. The pedal misperception of slope is contrasted with the perception of slope by dynamic touch with a finger in a force-feedback device. Although slopes feel slightly exaggerated even when explored by finger, they tend to show much less exaggeration than when equivalent slopes are stood on. The results are discussed in terms of a theory of coding efficiency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)(journal abstract

Torsional ultrasound mode versus combined torsional and conventional ultrasound mode phacoemulsification for eyes with hard cataract

Mohamed A Fakhry1,2, Malak I El Shazly11Department of Ophthalmology, Kasr El Aini Hospital, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt; 2Cataract and Refractive Consultant, International Eye Hospital, Cairo, EgyptPurpose: To compare torsional versus combined torsional and conventional ultrasound modes in hard cataract surgery regarding ultrasound energy and time and effect on corneal endothelium.Settings: Kasr El Aini hospital, Cairo University, and International Eye Hospital, Cairo, Egypt.Methodology: Ninety-eight eyes of 63 patients were enrolled in this prospective comparative randomized masked clinical study. All eyes had nuclear cataracts of grades III and IV using the Lens Opacities Classification System III (LOCS III). Two groups were included, each having an equal number of eyes (49). The treatment for group A was combined torsional and conventional US mode phacoemulsification, and for group B torsional US mode phacoemulsification only. Pre- and post-operative assessments included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), slit-lamp evaluation, and fundoscopic evaluation. Endothelial cell density (ECD) and central corneal thickness (CCT) were measured preoperatively, 1 day, 7 days, and 1 month postoperatively. All eyes were operated on using the Alcon Infiniti System (Alcon, Fort Worth, TX) with the quick chop technique. All eyes were implanted with AcrySof SA60AT (Alcon) intraocular lens (IOL). The main phaco outcome parameters included the mean ultrasound time (UST), the mean cumulative dissipated energy (CDE), and the percent of average torsional amplitude in position 3 (%TUSiP3).Results: Improvement in BCVA was statistically significant in both groups (P < 0.001). Comparing UST and CDE for both groups revealed results favoring the pure torsional group (P = 0.002 and P < 0.001 for UST; P = 0.058 and P = 0.009 for CDE). As for %TUSiP3, readings were higher for the pure torsional group (P = 0.03 and P = 0.01). All changes of CCT, and ECD over time were found statistically significant using one-way ANOVA testing (P < 0.001).Conclusion: Both modes are safe in hard cataract surgery, however the pure torsional mode showed less US energy used.Keywords: torsional, cumulative dissipated energy, cataract&nbsp

The Value-Sensitive Conversational Agent Co-Design Framework

Conversational agents (CAs) are gaining traction in both industry and academia, especially with the advent of generative AI and large language models. As these agents are used more broadly by members of the general public and take on a number of critical use cases and social roles, it becomes important to consider the values embedded in these systems. This consideration includes answering questions such as 'whose values get embedded in these agents?' and 'how do those values manifest in the agents being designed?' Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to present the Value-Sensitive Conversational Agent (VSCA) Framework for enabling the collaborative design (co-design) of value-sensitive CAs with relevant stakeholders. Firstly, requirements for co-designing value-sensitive CAs which were identified in previous works are summarised here. Secondly, the practical framework is presented and discussed, including its operationalisation into a design toolkit. The framework facilitates the co-design of three artefacts that elicit stakeholder values and have a technical utility to CA teams to guide CA implementation, enabling the creation of value-embodied CA prototypes. Finally, an evaluation protocol for the framework is proposed where the effects of the framework and toolkit are explored in a design workshop setting to evaluate both the process followed and the outcomes produced.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figure

IMMUNOMODULATORY ROLE OF HONEY AND PROPOLIS ON CARBON TETRACHLORIDE (CCl4) INJECTED RATS

Objective: To evaluate the role of some inflammatory cytokines in hepatic injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Also, the effects of honey bee and propolis extract to modulate the role of these cytokines.Methods: Fifty female Wister rats were divided into five groups, 10 per each group. After 6 w of all treatments, rats were sacrificed, whole blood and serum were collected to determine the number of white blood cells (WBCs), percentage of granulocytes, percentage of lymphocytes and the level of some cytokines such as gamma interferon(INF-γ), tumor necrosis factor(TNF-α) and interleukin-2(IL-2).Results: CCl4 administration resulted in significant increase in the number of WBCs and percentage of granulocytes (P<0.05 and P<0.01 respectively). After treatment with honey and propolis, the number of WBCs was decreased significantly in the case of propolis treatment (P<0.05) compared with CCl4 group. The levels of TNF-α and INF-γ cytokines were significantly decreased (P<0.05) after treatment with honey or propolis compared with CCl4 group. However, there is no significant change in the level of IL-2 after treatment of CCl4 administered rats with honey or propolis.Conclusion: The present study suggested that honey and propolis can improve the immune disorders induced by CCl4 in rats by modulating the levels of inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, and IFN-γ.Â

Personalized object-based audio for hearing impaired TV viewers

Age demographics have led to an increase in the proportion of the population suffering from some form of hearing loss. The introduction of object-based audio to television broadcast has the potential to improve the viewing experience for millions of hearing impaired people. Personalization of object-based audio can assist in overcoming difficulties in understanding speech and understanding the narrative of broadcast media. The research presented here documents a Multi-Dimensional Audio (MDA) implementation of object-based clean audio to present independent object streams based on object category elicitation. Evaluations were carried out with hearing impaired people and participants were able to personalize audio levels independently for four object-categories using an on-screen menu: speech, music, background effects and foreground effects related to on-screen events. Results show considerable preference variation across subjects but indicate that expanding object-category personalization beyond a binary speech/non-speech categorization can substantially improve the viewing experience for some hearing impaired people

Epidemiological Pattern and Management of Pediatric Asthma Review of Ain Shams Pediatric Hospital Chest Clinic Data Cairo, Egypt 1995-2004

Background: Pediatric asthma is the leading cause of chronic illness in childhood and has an impact on child's quality of life. Objective: To describe the epidemiological and clinical data of asthmatic children followed up in the Pediatric Chest Clinic Ain Shams University during a 10 year period. Methods: Files of asthmatic children attending the Clinic in the period from1995 to 2004 were selected. Relevant data were extracted and analyzed. Results: Out of 1006 recorded cases, a total of 691 (68.7%) were asthmatic. The proportion of asthmatics among all chest patients attending the clinic was lowest in 2002 being 51.6% and highest in 1995, being 78.3%. Male to female ratio was1.6:1, mean age was 5.27 yrs (SD ±3.65), mean age of onset of disease was 1.84 yrs (SD ± 2.78). Persistent asthma was significantly more prevalent in males p < 0.01. Severe asthma; using the American Thoracic Society Classification, was found in 151 (41.1%) of cases. From 2002, using GINA Guidelines Classification, severe persistent asthma accounted for 13.5%. Episodic attacks were reported by 270 (39%) of patients, nocturnal attacks by 302 of patients (43.7%) and exercise induced asthma in 97 (14%) of patients. Exacerbations occurred in 300 (43.4%) patients after respiratory infections, in 275 (39.8%) on exposure to smoke, in 139 (20%) with special food, in 91 (13.2%) following allergen exposure and 51 (7.4%) on exposure to inhaler sprays. Half of the patients were treated by combination of drugs (49.2%), corticosteroid inhalers in 32.1%, and ß agonists (short acting) in 31.4%. Conclusion & recommendations: Asthma constitutes a main problem in the Pediatric Chest Clinic. Respiratory infection and environmental factors are major exacerbating factors. Better documentation of patient's data and complete record in the files is needed.Keywords: pediatric asthma, epidemiology, pattern, chest clinic, hospital filesEgypt J Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2008; 6(2): 51-5

RP-HPLC AND CHEMOMETRIC METHODS FOR THE DETERMINATION OF TWO ANTI-DIABETIC MIXTURES; METFORMIN HYDROCHLORIDE-CANAGLIFLOZIN AND METFORMIN HYDROCHLORIDE-GLICLAZIDE IN THEIR PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION

Objective: To develop and validate novel more sensitive analytical methods for the concurrent quantification of metformin-canagliflozin and metformin-gliclazide in their bulk forms and in their pharmaceutical preparations. Methods: Two methods were developed based on several chemometric assisted spectrophotometric methods and a Reversed-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC). The first method applies different spectrophotometric chemometric assisted methods, including ratio difference, derivative ratio and extended ratio subtraction method, while the second method describes a RP-HPLC separation of metformin hydrochloride-canagliflozin and metformin hydrochloride-gliclazide binary mixtures using a C18 column with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile: potassium dihydrogen phosphate (adjusted to pH 3) with sodium lauryl sulphate as additive in the ratio of 30:70 (%v/v) in isocratic elution mode at 1 ml/min. Results: The proposed methods were able to quantify each of the studied drugs in their binary mixtures with high percentage recoveries in both methods. The spectrophotometric methods were able to quantify each of metformin, canagliflozin and gliclazide in the ranges of 2.0-20.0 μg/ml, 1.5-40.0 μg/ml and 2.0-30.0 μg/ml, respectively. The RP-HPLC method produced well-resolved peaks at a retention time of 3.92, 6.92 and 9.10 min in the concentration ranges of 50.0-300.0 μg/ml, 5.0-50.0 μg/ml and 10.0-100.0 μg/ml for metformin, canagliflozin and gliclazide, respectively. The proposed methods were optimized and validated in accordance to the International Conference of Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines in terms of linearity, LOD, LOQ, precision and accuracy. Conclusion: The developed methods were found to be sensitive and reproducible methods for the simultaneous determination of anti-diabetic binary mixtures; metformin hydrochloride-canagliflozin and metformin hydrochloride-gliclazide. And thus were successfully employed for the quality control analysis of the pharmaceutical formulations of the studied binary mixtures