Short Packets over Block-Memoryless Fading Channels: Pilot-Assisted or Noncoherent Transmission?

We present nonasymptotic upper and lower bounds on the maximum coding rate achievable when transmitting short packets over a Rician memoryless block-fading channel for a given requirement on the packet error probability. We focus on the practically relevant scenario in which there is no \emph{a priori} channel state information available at the transmitter and at the receiver. An upper bound built upon the min-max converse is compared to two lower bounds: the first one relies on a noncoherent transmission strategy in which the fading channel is not estimated explicitly at the receiver; the second one employs pilot-assisted transmission (PAT) followed by maximum-likelihood channel estimation and scaled mismatched nearest-neighbor decoding at the receiver. Our bounds are tight enough to unveil the optimum number of diversity branches that a packet should span so that the energy per bit required to achieve a target packet error probability is minimized, for a given constraint on the code rate and the packet size. Furthermore, the bounds reveal that noncoherent transmission is more energy efficient than PAT, even when the number of pilot symbols and their power is optimized. For example, for the case when a coded packet of $168$ symbols is transmitted using a channel code of rate $0.48$ bits/channel use, over a block-fading channel with block size equal to $8$ symbols, PAT requires an additional $1.2$ dB of energy per information bit to achieve a packet error probability of $10^{-3}$ compared to a suitably designed noncoherent transmission scheme. Finally, we devise a PAT scheme based on punctured tail-biting quasi-cyclic codes and ordered statistics decoding, whose performance are close ($1$ dB gap at $10^{-3}$ packet error probability) to the ones predicted by our PAT lower bound. This shows that the PAT lower bound provides useful guidelines on the design of actual PAT schemes.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, journa

Indirect Reference Intervals Estimated from Hospitalized Population for Thyrotropin and Free Thyroxine

Aim To establish indirect reference intervals from patient results obtained during routine laboratory work as an alternative to laborious and expensive producing of their own reference range values according to international instructions. Methods All results for thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyroxine (T4) that were stored in our laboratory information system between 2004 and 2008 were included in this study. After a logarithmic transformation of the raw data, outliers were excluded. Non-parametric reference intervals were estimated statistically after visual observation of the distribution using stem-and-leaf plots and histograms. A standard normal deviation test was performed to test the significance of differences between sub-groups. Results There was no significant difference in serum TSH or free T4 concentrations between male and female participants. Because no differences were found within the time span of the study, combined reference intervals were calculated. Indirect reference values were 0.43-3.93 mU/L for TSH and 11.98-21.33 pmol/L for free T4. Conclusion Using patient laboratory data values is a relatively easy and cheap method of establishing laboratoryspecific reference values if skewness and kurtosis of the distribution are not too large

Enhancing Employees’ Duty Orientation and Moral Potency: Dual Mechanisms Linking Ethical Psychological Climate to Ethically‐Focused Proactive Behaviors

Based on social cognitive theory (SCT), we develop and test a model that links ethical psychological climate to ethically‐focused proactive behavior (i.e., ethical voice and ethical taking charge) via two distinct mechanisms (i.e., duty orientation and moral potency). Results from multi‐wave field studies conducted in the United States, Turkey, France, Vietnam, and India demonstrate that an ethical psychological climate indirectly influences employees’ ethical voice and ethical taking charge behaviors through the dual mechanisms of duty orientation and moral potency. Additionally, we find that individuals’ moral attentiveness strengthened these mediating processes. Together, these findings suggest that ethical psychological climate is an important antecedent of ethically‐focused proactive behavior by stimulating individuals’ sense of duty and enhancing their moral potency, particularly when employees are already highly attuned to moral issues

Molecular markers for cervical cancer screening

This review gives an overview of current screening practices for cervical cancer. In the introduction, we will cover approaches of population screening focusing on high-risk Human Papilloma Virus (hrHPV) and the need for a better triage assay. We will further assess the impact of current vaccination programs on screening. Subsequently, the review will cover various technological aspects of nucleic acid- and protein-based biomarker assays. We will then detail different molecular markers in view of their use in triage assays, emphasizing epigenetic and protein markers. Finally, we will place this in the context of cost-effectiveness considerations in view of their implementation in high- as well as in low- to middle-income countries. Introduction: Cervical cancer remains a significant healthcare problem, notably in low- to middle-income countries. While a negative test for hrHPV has a predictive value of more than 99.5%, its positive predictive value is less than 10% for CIN2+ stages. This makes the use of a so-called triage test indispensable for population-based screening to avoid referring women, that are ultimately at low risk of developing cervical cancer, to a gynecologist. This review will give an overview of tests that are based on epigenetic marker panels and protein markers. Areas covered: There is a medical need for molecular markers with a better predictive value to discriminate hrHPV-positive women that are at risk of developing cervical cancer from those that are not. Areas covered are epigenetic and protein markers as well as health economic considerations in view of the fact that most cases of cervical cancer arise in low-to-middle-income countries. Expert opinion: While there are biomarker assays based on changes at the nucleic acid (DNA methylation patterns, miRNAs) and at the protein level, they are not widely used in population screening. Combining nucleic acid-based and protein-based tests could improve the overall specificity for discriminating CIN2+ lesions that carry a low risk of progressing to cervical cancer within the screening interval from those that carry an elevated risk. The challenge is to reduce unnecessary referrals without an undesired increase in false-negative diagnoses resulting in cases of cervical cancer that could have been prevented. A further challenge is to develop tests for low-and middle-income countries, which is critical to reduce the worldwide burden of cervical cancer

PKU dietary handbook to accompany PKU guidelines

Background: Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an autosomal recessive inborn error of phenylalanine metabolism caused by deficiency in the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase that converts phenylalanine into tyrosine. Main body: In 2017 the first European PKU Guidelines were published. These guidelines contained evidence based and/or expert opinion recommendations regarding diagnosis, treatment and care for patients with PKU of all ages. This manuscript is a supplement containing the practical application of the dietary treatment. Conclusion: This handbook can support dietitians, nutritionists and physicians in starting, adjusting and maintaining dietary treatment

Proteomic alterations in early stage cervical cancer

Laser capture microdissection (LCM) allows the capture of cell types or welldefined structures in tissue. We compared in a semi-quantitative way the proteomes from an equivalent of 8,000 tumor cells from patients with squamous cell cervical cancer (SCC, n = 22) with healthy epithelial and stromal cells obtained from normal cervical tissue (n = 13). Proteins were enzymatically digested into peptides which were measured by high-resolution mass spectrometry and analyzed by "all-ornothing" analysis, Bonferroni, and Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple testing. By comparing LCM cell type preparations, 31 proteins were exclusively found in early stage cervical cancer (n = 11) when compared with healthy epithelium and stroma, based on criteria that address specificity in a restrictive "all-or-nothing" way. By Bonferroni correction for multiple testing, 30 proteins were significantly up-regulated between early stage cervical cancer and healthy control, including six members of the MCM protein family. MCM proteins are involved in DNA repair and expected to be participating in the early stage of cancer. After a less stringent Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple testing, we found that the abundances of 319 proteins were significantly different between early stage cervical cancer and healthy controls. Four proteins were confirmed in digests of whole tissue lysates by Parallel Reaction

Spontaneous recovery of post-traumatic cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea following meningitis: A case report

The aim of the present report was to present the patient with an anterior cranial base fracture who developed post-traumatic cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, which recovered after onset of meningitis complication. A 26-year-old male patient who had a traffic accident one week ago was sent to our clinic because of his rhinorrhea persisting for 4 days. On cranial computed tomography, fracture of the left frontal skull base and sinus walls, a fracture line on temporal bone, parenchymal bleeding in the vicinity of the frontal sinus, subarachnoidal bleeding and left temporal extradural hematoma were detected. Then he underwent sinus wall repair and extradural hematoma was drained through bifrontal craniotomy. However, rhinorrhea persisted which resulted a deterioration in consciousness and he entered into a deep somnolent state. When his symptoms of meningitis became apparent, rhinorrhea of the patient disappeared. The patient transferred in intensive care unit and re-connected to a lumbar drainage system. On cerebral magnetic resonance imaging, regression of contrast-enhanced lesions localized in the left anterotemporal and frontal and in the regions lateral to the right trigon and medial to the right thalamus and in the right posteroparietal regions was observed. Despite repair of the anterior cranial fracture and lumbar drainage, rhinorrhea may persist. Herein, development of meningitis caused disappearing of rhinorrhea symptoms without any need for surgical intervention

Cerebrospinal Fluid of Preeclamptic and Normotensive Pregnant Women Compared to Nonpregnant Women Analyzed with Mass Spectrometry

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific multiorgan disorder in which impaired placental functioning and excessive oxidative stress play an important role. We previously showed distinct differences between cerebrospinal fluid proteins in patients with preeclampsia and normotensive pregnant women. An additional group of nonpregnant women was included to study the presence of pregnancy-related proteins in normotensive and preeclamptic pregnancies and whether pregnancy-related proteins were associated with preeclampsia. Cerebrospinal fluid samples were tryptically digested and subsequently measured with a nano-LC-tribrid Orbitrap mass spectrometry system. Proteins were identified by shotgun proteomic analysis based on a data-dependent acquisition method. Proteins identified in preeclampsia, normotensive pregnant controls, and nonpregnant groups were compared to the Progenesis method according to the criteria as previously described and with a secondary analysis using a Scaffold method including Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple testing. For preeclampsia, the Progenesis and the Scaffold method together identified 15 (eight proteins for both analyses with one overlap) proteins that were significantly different compared to normotensive control pregnancies. Three of these 15 proteins, which were elevated in cerebrospinal fluid of preeclamptic women, were described to be pregnancy proteins with a calcium-binding function. Using two analysis methods (Progenesis and Scaffold), four out of 15 differential proteins were associated with pregnancy, as described in the literature. Three out of the four pregnancy-related proteins were elevated in preeclampsia. Furthermore, the contribution of elevated (n = 4/15) and downregulated (n = 2/15) calcium-binding proteins in preeclampsia is remarkably high (40%) and needs to be elucidated further

Conspiracy theory as spatial practice: the case of the Sivas arson attack, Turkey

This article discusses the relationship between conspiratorial thinking and physical space by focusing on the ways conspiracy theories regarding political violence shape and are shaped by the environments in which it is commemorated. Conspiratorial thinking features space as a significant element, but is taken to do so mainly figuratively. In blaming external powers and foreign actors for social ills, conspiracy theorists employ the spatial metaphor of inside versus outside. In perceiving discourses of transparency as the concealment rather than revelation of mechanisms of governance, conspiracy theorists engage the trope of a façade separating the space of power’s formulations from that of its operations. Studying the case of an arson attack dating from 1990s Turkey and its recent commemorations, this article argues that space mediates conspiracy theory not just figuratively but also physically and as such serves to catalyze two of its deadliest characteristics: anonymity and non-linear causality. Attending to this mediation requires a shift of focus from what conspiracy theory is to what it does as a spatial practice

Final report of EURAMET.M.G-K3 regional comparison of absolute gravimeters

The regional key comparison of absolute gravimeters, EURAMET.M.G-K3 and the simultaneously organized additional comparison, was held in Germany at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell of the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy in the spring of 2018.Here we present the list of the participants who actually performed measurements during the comparison, the data submitted by the operators as well as the results of the determination of the gravity as a function of height at the comparison sites. The measurement strategy is briefly discussed and the results of the data harmonization is documented. Finally, the results of the constrained least squares adjustment are presented including the degrees of equivalence of each gravimeter and the key comparison reference values.Main textTo reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/.The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCM, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).Export citation and abstract BibTeX RIS