COMPARING THE RATE OF PARASITIC INFECTION AMONG PEOPLE OF RIGORES, HONDURAS TO GUATEMALA

poster abstractHonduras is the second poorest country in Central America, and thousands of its residents are living without access to medical care. Parasites are an everyday reality there, and rates are more than double that of Guatemala. The Honduras ENLACE Project at Indiana University School of Medicine De-partment of Family Medicine sends medical brigades to Rigores, Honduras to help combat this. The Department of Family Medicine wants to know why Honduras has such high rates of parasites compared to its neighbor of Gua-temala. This research analyzes the data from the March 2011 brigade and compares it to national health data from Guatemala. Problems common to Honduras were reflected in the data and were not surprising. These included diabetes, hypertension, malnutrition, and parasitic infections. Comparisons showed people living in Guatemala have lower rates of parasites, hyperten-sion, diabetes, and are better nourished. There could be many factors affect-ing the disparity in health between Guatemala and Honduras. The data col-lected and analyzed from Rigores compared to that of Guatemala may help future brigade teams help decrease the parasitic infection rate. Many thanks go to the Life Health Sciences Internship Program for funding and making this possible

Evaluation of active control technology for short haul aircraft

An evaluation of the economics of short-haul aircraft designed with active controls technology and low wing-loading to achieve short field performance with good ride quality is presented. Results indicate that for such a system incorporating gust load alleviation and augmented stability the direct operating cost is better than for aircraft without active controls

Exploring neutrophil behaviour in a zebrafish model of inflammation through the generation of novel parameters using MatLab algorithms

Purpose/Objective: Tracking of immune cells is key to understanding their behaviour during inflammation. Current software available for tracking of immune cells is limited. The aim of this study was to develop a MatLab package of segmentation and tracking algorithms to apply in the tracking of neutrophils, fluorescently labelled in our zebrafish model [1]. The development of algorithms in MatLab allows us to explore parameters not available in other software packages such as directionality of neutrophil movement and neutrophil behaviour in- side and outside of a wound region. Materials and methods: Tail fin transection was performed on Tg(mpx:GFP) zebrafish (3 dpf) which were imaged on a spinning disk confocal from 1 h post injury (hpi) to 7 hpi. Images were exported from VolocityTM and analysed using MatLab m-files written for the tracking of immune cells. This is a fully automated analysis, after the user defines the initial thresholds based on fluorescent intensity of the images. Results: Neutrophils from injured embryos had a lower meandering ratio and a greater speed than neutrophils tracked in uninjured embryos (meandering ratio 0.24 ± 0.03 versus 0.42 ± 0.05, P = 0.003; speed 4.03 ± 0.32 versus 1.31 ± 0.21 pixels/frame, P 0.05). In injured embryos with a defined wound region, the oriented velocity towards the wound was 0.31 ± 0.24 pixels/frame. Once within the wound region, the oriented velocity of neutrophil tracks was -0.39 ± 0.32 pixels/frame; indicating that while the neutrophils travel at a similar speed, they are now travelling away from the wound. The ‘in wound ratio’ was 0.91 ± 0.04, indicating that once neutrophils enter the wound region they tend to stay, in the timeframe studied. The ‘leave wound ratio’ was 0.37 ± 0.03, a measure of the rate at which neutrophils move away from the site of injury once they have entered the wound region. Conclusions: Using these algorithms, we can analyse the behaviour of immune cells in a more detailed way. In addition to previously available parameters such as meandering ratio and speed, more complex parameters such as velocity towards or away from a wound region and a measurement of how neutrophils behave while in a wound region are available. Combining this novel tracking technology with established assays in our laboratory will enable the further dissection of neutrophil fate following an inflammatory stimulus

Tracking neutrophils in zebrafish: the use of synthetic data sets

In this work we present a series of data sets that model the behaviour of neutrophils as observed with a confocal microscope. The data sets describe important characteristics of the migration of neutrophils such as collisions and path tortuosity as well as different levels of background noise. Neutrophil trajectories were manually defined, and Gaussian shapes similar to those of real data sets were assigned to each position of a neutrophil. The availability of synthetic data sets such as the ones proposed here, together with appropriate gold standards will benefit those wanting to test the robustness and accuracy of segmentation and tracking algorithms

New insights into RF and microwave drying of foods

This work reports a fundamental study of the science and economics of microwave and RF drying of foods, addressing current knowledge gaps and introducing new techniques to aid the development of new microwave and RF drying processes. The present study has discovered that a correlation exists between the points of inflection of the moisture dependant dielectric properties and the moisture dependant water activity. Hence the moisture dependant dielectric properties are governed by the state of the water as defined by the sorption isotherms. Water activity equations were mathematically modified in this study to successfully describe moisture dependant dielectric properties. This is a valuable contribution to science as there are currently no recognised standard equations for describing the moisture dependence of dielectric properties. These new proposed equations are of great value as they can be used in microwave drying models. This will enable engineers to optimise microwave and RF processes, leading to a reduction in the trial and error approach that currently prevails in industry. Improved optimisation may ultimately lead to more successful microwave and RF applications. It is extremely important to be able to monitor key parameters such as porosity, oil and water content, when introducing a new food processing technique. To this end, a new and novel technique for quantifying the porosity of thin irregularly shaped food has been established. This can be used as a diagnostic tool to assess and optimise processing changes such as the introduction of new microwave or RF drying processes. A good understanding of how RF/MW processes affects porosity can be used to optimise the drying process, leading to a greater probability of success. Sorption isotherm measurements carried out in this study showed that the gelatinisation of starch in potato has a negligible effect on the isosteric heat of sorption. This is important for drying applications, as the isosteric heat of sorption is very significant compared to the latent heat at low moisture contents. Dielectric properties were measured for potato crisps, biscuits, and pasta particulate at 915MHz, and were used to gain new insights into moisture levelling behaviour through analytical analysis. Contrary to common belief, it was found that moisture levelling can be more effective below the critical moisture content, at lower moisture contents. Although moisture levelling limits the variability of the final moisture content, it was found that fine control of the final moisture content can only be achieved by minimising variation in electric field exposure. Feasibility studies of microwave applications showed that finish drying microwave applications were far more practical and cost effective compared to applications that have to remove large quantities of water. Dry food is generally quite thin so that it is eatable, or for rehydration purposes. As a consequence conventional food drying processes tend to be sufficiently energy efficient so that even microwave and RF finish drying processes are comparatively expensive with respect to energy usage. Hence, microwave and RF food drying must be justified by improvements in quality

Evaluation of advanced lift concepts and fuel conservative short-haul aircraft, volume 2

For abstract, see N75-20291

Evaluation of advanced lift concepts and fuel conservative short-haul aircraft, volume 1

The performance and economics of a twin-engine augmentor wing airplane were evaluated in two phases. Design aspects of the over-the-wing/internally blown flap hybrid, augmentor wing, and mechanical flap aircraft were investigated for 910 m. field length with parametric extension to other field lengths. Fuel savings achievable by application of advanced lift concepts to short-haul aircraft were evaluated and the effect of different field lengths, cruise requirements, and noise levels on fuel consumption and airplane economics at higher fuel prices were determined. Conclusions and recommendations are presented

Perioperative outcomes and adverse events of robotic colorectal resections for inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic literature review

The purpose of this study was to assess outcome measures and cost-effectiveness of robotic colorectal resections in adult patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The Cochrane Library, PubMed/Medline and Embase databases were reviewed, using the text “robotic(s)” AND (“inflammatory bowel disease” OR “Crohn’s” OR “Ulcerative Colitis”). Two investigators screened abstracts for eligibility. All English language full-text articles were reviewed for specified outcomes. Data were pre - sented in a summarised and aggregate form, since the lack of higher-level evidence studies precluded meta-analysis. Primary outcomes included mortality and postoperative complications. Secondary outcomes included readmission rate, length of stay, conversion rate, procedure time, estimated blood loss and functional outcome. The tertiary outcome was cost-effectiveness. Eight studies (3 case-matched observational studies, 4 case series and 1 case report) met the inclusion criteria. There was no reported mortality. Overall, complications occurred in 81 patients (54%) including 30 (20%) Clavien-Dindo III–IV complica - tions. Mean length of stay was 8.6 days. Eleven cases (7.3%) were converted to open. The mean robotic operating time was 99 min out of a mean total operating time of 298.6 min. Thirty-two patients (24.7%) were readmitted. Functional outcomes were comparable among robotic, laparoscopic and open approaches. Case-matched observational studies comparing robotic to laparoscopic surgery revealed a significantly longer procedure time; however, conversion, complication, length of stay and readmission rates were similar. The case-matched observational study comparing robotic to open surgery also revealed a longer procedure time and a higher readmission rate; postoperative complication rates and length of stay were similar. No studies compared cost-effectiveness between robotic and traditional approaches. Although robotic resections for inflamma - tory bowel disease are technically feasible, outcomes must be interpreted with caution due to low-quality studies