Nonsense

The primary motivation for the dance, entitled "Nonsense", evolved mainly from the belief that happiness is better than sorrow. Often during periods of economic recession and political turmoil, sorrow comes to the forefront more often than the joys of life. It is the choreographer's intent to focus upon those aspects of life which bring the possibility of happiness to an audience. The goal of the choreographer is to allow the audience to have fun and escape through comedy. A secondary motivation for the dance is that comedy in itself is a challenge to produce. Attempting to keep the dancers stimulated and the movements alive, as well as simply trying to make the material comical is a task the choregrapher wished to undertake. As a way of approaching the choreographic problem, the use of audio and visual properties and the ways in which they can relate to movement was selected. The audio properties include vocal sounds, percussion instruments, and the first movement of Lou Harrison's published music, entitled "Suite for Percussion". The visual properties will include chairs, the instruments carried or worn by the dancers and printed signs. In Section I, using three dancers, the audio effects are produced by the vocal sounds of the dancers and the visual effects are produced by the dancers relationships with the chairs on stage. Section II is based primarily on rhythms and movements to those rhythms. The three dancers in this section are continuously playing one of six instruments: a bass drum, a Wigman drum, a tamborine, maracas, sticks, or finger cymbals. The audio effects are produced by the instruments and the visual effects are produced by the audience actually seeing the instruments and the dance movements. In Section III, the five dancers carry and use as properties, sandwich signs with nonsense words written on them and dance to the first movement of Lou Harrison's published music, "Suite for Percussion", and the visual effects are produced by the signs and the movement patterns

The effects of monocular paralysis and binocular eyelid suture on the electrophysiology of lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat

Single unit recording of cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of adult cats following monocular paralysis of two weeks duration has been reported to diminish the relative proportion of X-cells in this nucleus. This functional loss of LGN X-cells was detected in the LGN laminae innervated by the paralyzed eye. Limitations in the method of classifying LGN cells as X or Y in the earlier work, however, precluded acquisition of data concerning the proportion of X- and Y-cells in the laraina innervated by the normal eye. The present study used response latency to optic chiasm shock of LGN cells (OX latency) to divide cells as X or Y. Y-cells have short and X-cells long OX latencies. This measure allows analysis of the effects of monocular paralysis in the layers innervated by the paralyzed and mobile eye, respectively

Hardware implementation of a voice stress detection algorithm using empirical mode decomposition

In previous research, using EMD for voice stress analysis showed promising results. The original algorithm was developed in Matlab, utilizing many of its functions. The algorithm decodes audio into a raw format sampling at 8k samples/sec. This signal array is then filtered and centered about the x-axis and the local maxima and minima are determined. Matlab’s built-in cubic spline interpolation function was then used to create the upper and lower envelopes. The first Intrinsic Mode Function (IMF) is determined by calculating the difference between the original signal and the mean of the envelopes. The algorithm continually extracts IMFs starting with the highest frequency IMF until it extracts the last IMF. The last IMF represents the frequency of the stress induced tremor in the subjects voice. The successfulness of the algorithm was measured using a series of questions designed to invoke a stress response concatenated with irrelevant questions designed not to invoke a stress response. The difference between the tremor frequency related to the stressful and non-stressful questions determines if a person may be being untruthful

Checkpoints are blind to replication restart and recombination intermediates that result in gross chromosomal rearrangements

Replication fork inactivation can be overcome by homologous recombination, but this can cause gross chromosomal rearrangements that subsequently missegregate at mitosis, driving further chromosome instability. It is unclear when the chromosome rearrangements are generated and whether individual replication problems or the resulting recombination intermediates delay the cell cycle. Here we have investigated checkpoint activation during HR-dependent replication restart using a site-specific replication fork-arrest system. Analysis during a single cell cycle shows that HR-dependent replication intermediates arise in S phase, shortly after replication arrest, and are resolved into acentric and dicentric chromosomes in G2. Despite this, cells progress into mitosis without delay. Neither the DNA damage nor the intra-S phase checkpoints are activated in the first cell cycle, demonstrating that these checkpoints are blind to replication and recombination intermediates as well as to rearranged chromosomes. The dicentrics form anaphase bridges that subsequently break, inducing checkpoint activation in the second cell cycle

International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force Consensus Proposal: Diagnostic approach to epilepsy in dogs

This article outlines the consensus proposal on diagnosis of epilepsy in dogs by the International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force. The aim of this consensus proposal is to improve consistency in the diagnosis of epilepsy in the clinical and research settings. The diagnostic approach to the patient presenting with a history of suspected epileptic seizures incorporates two fundamental steps: to establish if the events the animal is demonstrating truly represent epileptic seizures and if so, to identify their underlying cause. Differentiation of epileptic seizures from other non-epileptic episodic paroxysmal events can be challenging. Criteria that can be used to make this differentiation are presented in detail and discussed. Criteria for the diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy (IE) are described in a three-tier system. Tier I confidence level for the diagnosis of IE is based on a history of two or more unprovoked epileptic seizures occurring at least 24 h apart, age at epileptic seizure onset of between six months and six years, unremarkable inter-ictal physical and neurological examination, and no significant abnormalities on minimum data base blood tests and urinalysis. Tier II confidence level for the diagnosis of IE is based on the factors listed in tier I and unremarkable fasting and post-prandial bile acids, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain (based on an epilepsy-specific brain MRI protocol) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis. Tier III confidence level for the diagnosis of IE is based on the factors listed in tier I and II and identification of electroencephalographic abnormalities characteristic for seizure disorders. The authors recommend performing MRI of the brain and routine CSF analysis, after exclusion of reactive seizures, in dogs with age at epileptic seizure onset 6 years, inter-ictal neurological abnormalities consistent with intracranial neurolocalisation, status epilepticus or cluster seizure at epileptic seizure onset, or a previous presumptive diagnosis of IE and drug-resistance with a single antiepileptic drug titrated to the highest tolerable dose

Protocol for the saMS trial (supportive adjustment for multiple sclerosis): a randomized controlled trial comparing cognitive behavioral therapy to supportive listening for adjustment to multiple sclerosis

BackgroundMultiple Sclerosis (MS) is an incurable, chronic, potentially progressive and unpredictable disease of the central nervous system. The disease produces a range of unpleasant and debilitating symptoms, which can have a profound impact including disrupting activities of daily living, employment, income, relationships, social and leisure activities, and life goals. Adjusting to the illness is therefore particularly challenging. This trial tests the effectiveness of a cognitive behavioural intervention compared to supportive listening to assist adjustment in the early stages of MS.MethodsThis is a two arm randomized multi-centre parallel group controlled trial. 122 consenting participants who meet eligibility criteria will be randomly allocated to receive either Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Supportive Listening. Eight one hour sessions of therapy (delivered over a period of 10 weeks) will be delivered by general nurses trained in both treatments. Self-report questionnaire data will be collected at baseline (0 weeks), mid-therapy (week 5 of therapy), post-therapy (15 weeks) and at six months (26 weeks) and twelve months (52 weeks) follow-up. Primary outcomes are distress and MS-related social and role impairment at twelve month follow-up. Analysis will also consider predictors and mechanisms of change during therapy. In-depth interviews to examine participants’ experiences of the interventions will be conducted with a purposively sampled sub-set of the trial participants. An economic analysis will also take place. DiscussionThis trial is distinctive in its aims in that it aids adjustment to MS in a broad sense. It is not a treatment specifically for depression. Use of nurses as therapists makes the interventions potentially viable in terms of being rolled out in the NHS. The trial benefits from incorporating patient input in the development and evaluation stages. The trial will provide important information about the efficacy, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of the interventions as well as mechanisms of psychosocial adjustment.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN91377356<br/

Migraine aura: retracting particle-like waves in weakly susceptible cortex

Cortical spreading depression (SD) has been suggested to underlie migraine aura. Despite a precise match in speed, the spatio-temporal patterns of SD and aura symptoms on the cortical surface ordinarily differ in aspects of size and shape. We show that this mismatch is reconciled by utilizing that both pattern types bifurcate from an instability point of generic reaction-diffusion models. To classify these spatio-temporal pattern we suggest a susceptibility scale having the value [sigma]=1 at the instability point. We predict that human cortex is only weakly susceptible to SD ([sigma]&#x3c;1), and support this prediction by directly matching visual aura symptoms with anatomical landmarks using fMRI retinotopic mapping. We discuss the increased dynamical repertoire of cortical tissue close to [sigma]=1, in particular, the resulting implications on migraine pharmacology that is hitherto tested in the regime ([sigma]&#x3e;&#x3e;1), and potentially silent aura occurring below a second bifurcation point at [sigma]=0 on the susceptible scale