Study of factors influencing preoperative detection of alveolar antral artery by CBCT in sinus floor elevation

This study aimed at assessing the prevalence of alveolar antral artery (AAA) detection by CBCT, its related variables, and at describing explanatory models useful in surgical planning, by retrospective evaluation of CBCT explorations. The modelling of the probability for detecting AAA was undertaken using logistic generalized additive models (GAM). The capacity for discriminating detection/no detection was assessed by receiver operating characteristic curves. A total of 466 sinuses were studied. Univariate models showed detection probability was linked to sinus width and thickness of the lateral bony wall, together with the shape and height of the osseous crest. AAA detection probability increased steadily until the thickness of the bony wall reached 6 mm. Multivariate models resulted good discriminators for AAA detection, particularly for females, showing an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.85. Models considering patients altogether, and those including only males offered slightly lower values (AUC = 0.79). The probability of AAA detection by CBCT was influenced by gender (higher in males and for narrow sinuses) and increases with the thickness of the sinus lateral bony wall and the height of the residual alveolar ridge. Besides, and particularly for women, the thickness of the ridge at the basal level seems to improve the explanatory model for AAA detection

The use of deep learning to improve player engagement in a video game through a dynamic difficulty adjustment based on skills classification

The balance between game difficulty and player skill in the evolving landscape of the video game industry is a significant factor in player engagement. This study introduces a deep learning (DL) approach to enhance gameplay by dynamically adjusting game difficulty based on a player’s skill level. Our methodology aims to prevent player disengagement, which can occur if the game difficulty significantly exceeds or falls short of the player’s skill level. Our evaluation indicates that such dynamic adjustment leads to improved gameplay and increased player involvement, with 90% of the players reporting high game enjoyment and immersion levels

On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to The United States Court of Appeals for The Eighth Circuit, Brief of Law Professors Paul F. Rothstein, et. al., Office of the President v. Office of Independent Counsel

This Court should grant review not only because this is a case of national importance and prominence, but also because the decision below is a conspicuous departure from settled principles of evidence law. The panel majority concluded that communications between government lawyers and government officials are not protected by the attorney-client privilege, at least when those communications are sought by a federal grand jury. That conclusion conflicts with the predominant common-law understanding that the attorney-client privilege applies to government entities and that where the privilege applies, it is absolute (i.e., it protects against disclosure in all types of legal and investigative proceedings). In particular, the Court of Appeals\u27 decision rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of this Court\u27s decisions in Upjohn Co. v. United States, 449 U.S. 383 (1981), and United States v. Nixon, 418 U.s. 683 (1974). Moreover, this case warrants further review because the decision below has profound implications beyond the parties to this dispute. The Court of Appeals\u27 ruling, if allowed to stand, will create widespread uncertainty among federal, state, and local officials concerning the extent to which their communications with their agency lawyers, for the purpose of seeking legal advice in the conduct of governmental affairs, are protected by the attorney-client privilege. Unless this Court grants review and resolves this uncertainty, the decision below will likely have an adverse effect on the current and future operation of not only the Office of the President of the United States, but also government at all levels. At the very least, a decision of such vast implications (as in the present case) should be made by the highest court in the land. We accordingly urge the Court to grant the petition for review

Improved charge storage performance of a layered Mo1.33C MXene/MoS2/graphene nanocomposite

The construction of nanocomposite electrodes based on 2D materials is an efficient route for property enrichment and for exploitation of constituent 2D materials. Herein, a flexible Mo1.33C i-MXene/MoS2/graphene (MOMG) composite electrode is constructed, utilizing an environment-friendly method for high-quality graphene and MoS2 synthesis. The presence of graphene and MoS2 between MXene sheets limits the commonly observed restacking, increases the interlayer spacing, and facilitates the ionic and electronic conduction. The as-prepared MOMG electrode delivers a volumetric capacitance of 1600 F cm(-3) (450 F g(-1)) at the scan rate of 2 mV s(-1) and retains 96% of the initial capacitance after 15 000 charge/discharge cycles (10 A g(-1)). The current work demonstrates that the construction of nanocomposite electrodes is a promising route towards property enhancement for energy storage applications

In vitro Study of the Survival, Reproduction and Morphology of Daphnia pulicaria irradiated with a Low Energy Laser

Daphnia is a genus of crustaceans that is representative of freshwater communities. The species exhibit a high sensitivity to a wide range of toxic compounds so that they have been used internationally as biomonitors in toxicity tests to evaluate ecosystem conditions such as water quality. It is also a model genus in genetics, epigenetics and reproductive ecology. In this work, we used Daphnia pulicaria as a model to measure the effects of low-energy laser irradiation on survival, reproduction, and morphology variables of parental organisms and their offspring. We used (1) a single clone line of organisms to eliminate interindividual genetic variability; (2) individuals from more than 50 generations after the clone line was established, and offspring from the third brood onwards to dissipate maternal and epigenetic effects, and (3) neonates, those individuals of the species that have less than 48 hours of life, because they are the most sensitive stage to optical stimuli. We analyzed number of deaths, longevity, age at first reproduction, number of offspring per week, number of total offspring during all their life cycle, body size, size of the antennules, and length of the apical spine of the 4th and 5th brood of the irradiated individuals, who were exposed to a blue laser stimulus of 405 nm for 25 minutes with a power of 40 mW at a distance of 50 cm, compared to those of the control (non-irradiated) group

Arterial input function estimation compensating for inflow and partial voluming in dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI

Both inflow and the partial volume effect (PVE) are sources of error when measuring the arterial input function (AIF) in dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI. This is relevant, as errors in the AIF can propagate into pharmacokinetic parameter estimations from the DCE data. A method was introduced for flow correction by estimating and compensating the number of the perceived pulse of spins during inflow. We hypothesized that the PVE has an impact on concentration–time curves similar to inflow. Therefore, we aimed to study the efficiency of this method to compensate for both effects simultaneously. We first simulated an AIF with different levels of inflow and PVE contamination. The peak, full width at half-maximum (FWHM), and area under curve (AUC) of the reconstructed AIFs were compared with the true (simulated) AIF. In clinical data, the PVE was included in AIFs artificially by averaging the signal in voxels surrounding a manually selected point in an artery. Subsequently, the artificial partial volume AIFs were corrected and compared with the AIF from the selected point. Additionally, corrected AIFs from the internal carotid artery (ICA), the middle cerebral artery (MCA), and the venous output function (VOF) estimated from the superior sagittal sinus (SSS) were compared. As such, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the correction method with different levels of inflow and PVE in clinical data. The simulation data demonstrated that the corrected AIFs had only marginal bias in peak value, FWHM, and AUC. Also, the algorithm yielded highly correlated reconstructed curves over increasingly larger neighbourhoods surrounding selected arterial points in clinical data. Furthermore, AIFs measured from the ICA and MCA produced similar peak height and FWHM, whereas a significantly larger peak and lower FWHM was found compared with the VOF. Our findings indicate that the proposed method has high potential to compensate for PVE and inflow simultaneously. The corrected AIFs could thereby provide a stable input source for DCE analysis.</p

Discovery of the Optical Transient of the Gamma Ray Burst 990308

The optical transient of the faint Gamma Ray Burst 990308 was detected by the QUEST camera on the Venezuelan 1-m Schmidt telescope starting 3.28 hours after the burst. Our photometry gives $V = 18.32 \pm 0.07$, $R = 18.14 \pm 0.06$, $B = 18.65 \pm 0.23$, and $R = 18.22 \pm 0.05$ for times ranging from 3.28 to 3.47 hours after the burst. The colors correspond to a spectral slope of close to $f_{\nu} \propto \nu^{1/3}$. Within the standard synchrotron fireball model, this requires that the external medium be less dense than $10^{4} cm^{-3}$, the electrons contain $> 20$ of the shock energy, and the magnetic field energy must be less than 24% of the energy in the electrons for normal interstellar or circumstellar densities. We also report upper limits of $V > 12.0$ at 132 s (with LOTIS), $V > 13.4$ from 132-1029s (with LOTIS), $V > 15.3$ at 28.2 min (with Super-LOTIS), and a 8.5 GHz flux of $< 114 \mu Jy$ at 110 days (with the Very Large Array). WIYN 3.5-m and Keck 10-m telescopes reveal this location to be empty of any host galaxy to $R > 25.7$ and $K > 23.3$. The lack of a host galaxy likely implies that it is either substantially subluminous or more distant than a red shift of $\sim 1.2$.Comment: ApJ Lett submitted, 5 pages, 2 figures, no space for 12 coauthor

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Height and timing of growth spurt during puberty in young people living with vertically acquired HIV in Europe and Thailand.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe growth during puberty in young people with vertically acquired HIV. DESIGN: Pooled data from 12 paediatric HIV cohorts in Europe and Thailand. METHODS: One thousand and ninety-four children initiating a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor or boosted protease inhibitor based regimen aged 1-10 years were included. Super Imposition by Translation And Rotation (SITAR) models described growth from age 8 years using three parameters (average height, timing and shape of the growth spurt), dependent on age and height-for-age z-score (HAZ) (WHO references) at antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation. Multivariate regression explored characteristics associated with these three parameters. RESULTS: At ART initiation, median age and HAZ was 6.4 [interquartile range (IQR): 2.8, 9.0] years and -1.2 (IQR: -2.3 to -0.2), respectively. Median follow-up was 9.1 (IQR: 6.9, 11.4) years. In girls, older age and lower HAZ at ART initiation were independently associated with a growth spurt which occurred 0.41 (95% confidence interval 0.20-0.62) years later in children starting ART age 6 to 10 years compared with 1 to 2 years and 1.50 (1.21-1.78) years later in those starting with HAZ less than -3 compared with HAZ at least -1. Later growth spurts in girls resulted in continued height growth into later adolescence. In boys starting ART with HAZ less than -1, growth spurts were later in children starting ART in the oldest age group, but for HAZ at least -1, there was no association with age. Girls and boys who initiated ART with HAZ at least -1 maintained a similar height to the WHO reference mean. CONCLUSION: Stunting at ART initiation was associated with later growth spurts in girls. Children with HAZ at least -1 at ART initiation grew in height at the level expected in HIV negative children of a comparable age