Preterm nutritional intake and MRI phenotype at term age: a prospective observational study

Objective: To describe (1) the relationship between nutrition and the preterm-at-term infant phenotype, (2) phenotypic differences between preterm-at-term infants and healthy term born infants and (3) relationships between somatic and brain MRI outcomes. Design: Prospective observational study. Setting: UK tertiary neonatal unit. Participants: Preterm infants (<32 weeks gestation) (n=22) and healthy term infants (n=39) Main outcome measures: Preterm nutrient intake; total and regional adipose tissue (AT) depot volumes; brain volume and proximal cerebral arterial vessel tortuosity (CAVT) in preterm infants and in term infants. Results: Preterm nutrition was deficient in protein and high in carbohydrate and fat. Preterm nutrition was not related to AT volumes, brain volume or proximal CAVT score; a positive association was noted between human milk intake and proximal CAVT score (r=0.44, p=0.05). In comparison to term infants, preterm infants had increased total adiposity, comparable brain volumes and reduced proximal CAVT scores. There was a significant negative correlation between deep subcutaneous abdominal AT volume and brain volume in preterm infants (r=−0.58, p=0.01). Conclusions: Though there are significant phenotypic differences between preterm infants at term and term infants, preterm macronutrient intake does not appear to be a determinant. Our preliminary data suggest that (1) human milk may exert a beneficial effect on cerebral arterial vessel tortuosity and (2) there is a negative correlation between adiposity and brain volume in preterm infants at term. Further work is warranted to see if our findings can be replicated and to understand the causal mechanisms

Looking ahead: anticipatory gaze and motor ability in infancy

The present study asks when infants are able to selectively anticipate the goals of observed actions, and how this ability relates to infants' own abilities to produce those specific actions. Using eye-tracking technology to measure on-line anticipation, 6-, 8- and 10-month-old infants and a control group of adults were tested while observing an adult reach with a whole hand grasp, a precision grasp or a closed fist towards one of two different sized objects. The same infants were also given a comparable action production task. All infants showed proactive gaze to the whole hand grasps, with increased degrees of proactivity in the older groups. Gaze proactivity to the precision grasps, however, was present from 8 months of age. Moreover, the infants' ability in performing precision grasping strongly predicted their ability in using the actor's hand shape cues to differentially anticipate the goal of the observed action, even when age was partialled out. The results are discussed in terms of the specificity of action anticipation, and the fine-grained relationship between action production and action perception

Femtosecond carrier dynamics and saturable absorption in graphene suspensions

Nonlinear optical properties and carrier relaxation dynamics in graphene, suspended in three different solvents, are investigated using femtosecond (80 fs pulses) Z-scan and degenerate pumpprobe spectroscopy at 790 nm. The results demonstrate saturable absorption property of graphene with a nonlinear absorption coefficient, $beta$, of ~2 to 9x10^-8 cm/W. Two distinct time scales associated with the relaxation of photoexcited carriers, a fast one in the range of 130-330 fs (related to carrier-carrier scattering) followed by a slower one in 3.5-4.9 ps range (associated with carrier-phonon scattering) are observed.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

Secure and Distributed Approach for Mining Association Rules

Data mining is the process of extracting trends from data sources. Domain exerts can make use of the trends to derive business intelligence. Big organizations store data in multiple server and often data is horizontally distributed. Mining such database provides useful and actionable knowledge which can help in making well informed decisions. However, secure mining of extracting association rules can provide interesting information that can help enterprises to make expert decisions. In this paper, we propose an algorithm and have a secure mechanism in order to mine association rules for deriving knowledge. We also incorporated auditing of data in the proposed system. We built a prototype application that demonstrates the secure mining of association rules with support and confidence. The statistical measures such as support and confidence help in knowing the usefulness of the rules. The empirical results are encouraging

Detection of Sugar-Lectin Interactions by Multivalent Dendritic Sugar Functionalized Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

We show that single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) decorated with sugar functionalized poly (propyl ether imine) (PETIM) dendrimer is a very sensitive platform to quantitatively detect carbohydrate recognizing proteins, namely, lectins. The changes in electrical conductivity of SWNT in field effect transistor device due to carbohydrate - protein interactions form the basis of present study. The mannose sugar attached PETIM dendrimers undergo charge - transfer interactions with the SWNT. The changes in the conductance of the dendritic sugar functionalized SWNT after addition of lectins in varying concentrations were found to follow the Langmuir type isotherm, giving the concanavalin A (Con A) - mannose affinity constant to be 8.5 x 106 M-1. The increase in the device conductance observed after adding 10 nM of Con A is same as after adding 20 \muM of a non - specific lectin peanut agglutinin, showing the high specificity of the Con A - mannose interactions. The specificity of sugar-lectin interactions was characterized further by observing significant shifts in Raman modes of the SWNT.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure