"Charlie,"development of a light-weight, virtual reality trainer for the LSO community: time to make the leap toward immersive VR

Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) are the backbone of tailhook naval aviation. Currently, once a junior officer is selected from a squadron to become an LSO, that person typically will go through an entire workup cycle before going to the Initial Formal Ground Training (IFGT) course. This means that an LSO will undergo months of on-the-job training at sea and assume different roles needed to recover aircraft before that individual receives his/her first formal training during IFGT. At the center of IFGT is the LSO Trainer, Device 2H111, in which the LSO receives a series of six one-hour long sessions. For many LSOs, this will be the only interaction will this training simulator. The aim of this thesis was to develop and evaluate whether major training objectives for the 2H111 could be supported using a proof of concept, light-weight, portable VR trainer with a VR HMD as its display solution. Thesis work included feasibility testing of a Graphical User Interface and voice recognition integration into a simulation to facilitate both an individual and a team training environment. The result of the study is that technology has come far enough to support a commercial-off-the-shelf technology solution.http://archive.org/details/charliedevelopme1094547267Outstanding ThesisLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Mass spectrometry imaging identifies metabolic patterns associated with malignant potential in pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma.

OBJECTIVE: Within the past decade, important genetic drivers of pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGLs) development have been identified. The pathophysiological mechanism that translate these alterations into functional autonomy and potentially malignant behavior have not been elucidated in detail. Here we used MALDI-mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue specimens to comprehensively characterize the metabolic profiles of PPGLs. DESIGN AND METHODS: MALDI-MSI was conducted in 344 PPGLs and results correlated with genetic and phenotypic information. We experimentally silenced genetic drivers by siRNA in PC12 cells to confirm their metabolic impact in vitro. RESULTS: Tissue abundance of kynurenine pathway metabolites such as xanthurenic acid was significantly lower (P = 5.06E-11) in the pseudohypoxia pathway cluster 1 compared to PPGLs of the kinase-driven PPGLs cluster 2. Lower abundance of xanthurenic acid was associated with shorter metastasis-free survival (log-rank tests P = 7.96E-06) and identified as a risk factor for metastasis independent of the genetic status (hazard ratio, 32.6, P = 0.002). Knock-down of Sdhb and Vhl in an in vitro model demonstrated that inositol metabolism and sialic acids were similarly modulated as in tumors of the respective cluster. CONCLUSIONS: The present study has identified distinct tissue metabolomic profiles of PPGLs in relation to tumor genotypes. In addition, we revealed significantly altered metabolites in the kynurenine pathway in metastatic PPGLs, which can aid in the prediction of its malignant potential. However, further validation studies will be required to confirm our findings