1,462 research outputs found

    Phase sensitive detection of dipole radiation in a fiber-based high numerical aperture optical system

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    We theoretically study the problem of detecting dipole radiation in an optical system of high numerical aperture in which the detector is sensitive to \textit{field amplitude}. In particular, we model the phase sensitive detector as a single-mode cylindrical optical fiber. We find that the maximum in collection efficiency of the dipole radiation does not coincide with the optimum resolution for the light gathering instrument. The calculated results are important for analyzing fiber-based confocal microscope performance in fluorescence and spectroscopic studies of single molecules and/or quantum dots.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

    Automated Diabetic Retinopathy Detection Using Horizontal and Vertical Patch Division-Based Pre-Trained DenseNET with Digital Fundus Images.

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    Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common complication of diabetes that can lead to progressive vision loss. Regular surveillance with fundal photography, early diagnosis, and prompt intervention are paramount to reducing the incidence of DR-induced vision loss. However, manual interpretation of fundal photographs is subject to human error. In this study, a new method based on horizontal and vertical patch division was proposed for the automated classification of DR images on fundal photographs. The novel sides of this study are given as follows. We proposed a new non-fixed-size patch division model to obtain high classification results and collected a new fundus image dataset. Moreover, two datasets are used to test the model: a newly collected three-class (normal, non-proliferative DR, and proliferative DR) dataset comprising 2355 DR images and the established open-access five-class Asia Pacific Tele-Ophthalmology Society (APTOS) 2019 dataset comprising 3662 images. Two analysis scenarios, Case 1 and Case 2, with three (normal, non-proliferative DR, and proliferative DR) and five classes (normal, mild DR, moderate DR, severe DR, and proliferative DR), respectively, were derived from the APTOS 2019 dataset. These datasets and these cases have been used to demonstrate the general classification performance of our proposal. By applying transfer learning, the last fully connected and global average pooling layers of the DenseNet201 architecture were used to extract deep features from input DR images and each of the eight subdivided horizontal and vertical patches. The most discriminative features are then selected using neighborhood component analysis. These were fed as input to a standard shallow cubic support vector machine for classification. Our new DR dataset obtained 94.06% and 91.55% accuracy values for three-class classification with 80:20 hold-out validation and 10-fold cross-validation, respectively. As can be seen from steps of the proposed model, a new patch-based deep-feature engineering model has been proposed. The proposed deep-feature engineering model is a cognitive model, since it uses efficient methods in each phase. Similar excellent results were seen for three-class classification with the Case 1 dataset. In addition, the model attained 87.43% and 84.90% five-class classification accuracy rates using 80:20 hold-out validation and 10-fold cross-validation, respectively, on the Case 2 dataset, which outperformed prior DR classification studies based on the five-class APTOS 2019 dataset. Our model attained about >2% classification results compared to others. These findings demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the proposed model for classification of DR images

    Методическая работа в дошкольной образовательной организации как условие повышения информационно-коммуникационной компетентности педагогов

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    Тема работы актуальна. В ВКР представлены условия, способствующие развитию компонентов ИКК педагогов. Работа имеет практическую значимост

    Transient stabbing headache from an acute thalamic hemorrhage

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    Stabbing headache can be encountered in both primary and secondary forms, but has been infrequently reported among patients with stroke, and is not known to be associated with a small well-circumscribed brain lesion. A 95-year-old woman taking warfarin presented with the sudden onset of stabbing headache strictly in the right frontal and supraorbital regions, along with gait imbalance and dysarthria. Neuroimaging revealed a small left thalamic hematoma. This association of an acute thalamic lesion with stabbing headache in the contralateral trigeminal distribution is discussed, along with a brief review of stabbing headache occurring in cerebrovascular disease

    Comprehensive detection of recurring genomic abnormalities : a targeted sequencing approach for multiple myeloma

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    Recent genomic research efforts in multiple myeloma have revealed clinically relevant molecular subgroups beyond conventional cytogenetic classifications. Implementing these advances in clinical trial design and in routine patient care requires a new generation of molecular diagnostic tools. Here, we present a custom capture next-generation sequencing (NGS) panel designed to identify rearrangements involving the IGH locus, arm level, and focal copy number aberrations, as well as frequently mutated genes in multiple myeloma in a single assay. We sequenced 154 patients with plasma cell disorders and performed a head-to-head comparison with the results from conventional clinical assays, i.e., fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray. Our custom capture NGS panel had high sensitivity (>99%) and specificity (>99%) for detection of IGH translocations and relevant chromosomal gains and losses in multiple myeloma. In addition, the assay was able to capture novel genomic markers associated with poor outcome such as bi-allelic events involving TP53. In summary, we show that a multiple myeloma designed custom capture NGS panel can detect IGH translocations and CNAs with very high concordance in relation to FISH and SNP microarrays and importantly captures the most relevant and recurrent somatic mutations in multiple myeloma rendering this approach highly suitable for clinical application in the modern era

    Personality, posttraumatic stress and trauma type: factors contributing to posttraumatic growth and its domains in a Turkish community sample

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    Background: Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is conceptualized as a positive transformation resulting from coping with and processing traumatic life events. This study examined the contributory roles of personality traits, posttraumatic stress (PTS) severity and their interactions on PTG and its domains, as assessed with the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory Turkish form (PTGI-T). The study also examined the differences in PTG domains between survivors of accidents, natural disasters and unexpected loss of a loved one. Methods: The Basic Personality Traits Inventory, Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, and PTGI-T were administered to a large stratified cluster community sample of 969 Turkish adults in their home settings. Results: The results showed that conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience significantly related to the total PTG and most of the domains. The effects of extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience were moderated by the PTS severity for some domains. PTG in relating to others and appreciation of life domains was lower for the bereaved group. Conclusion: Further research should examine the mediating role of coping between personality and PTG using a longitudinal design

    Regulation of the cd38 promoter in human airway smooth muscle cells by TNF-α and dexamethasone

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>CD38 is expressed in human airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells, regulates intracellular calcium, and its expression is augmented by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). CD38 has a role in airway hyperresponsiveness, a hallmark of asthma, since deficient mice develop attenuated airway hyperresponsiveness compared to wild-type mice following intranasal challenges with cytokines such as IL-13 and TNF-α. Regulation of CD38 expression in HASM cells involves the transcription factor NF-κB, and glucocorticoids inhibit this expression through NF-κB-dependent and -independent mechanisms. In this study, we determined whether the transcriptional regulation of CD38 expression in HASM cells involves response elements within the promoter region of this gene.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We cloned a putative 3 kb promoter fragment of the human <it>cd38 </it>gene into pGL3 basic vector in front of a luciferase reporter gene. Sequence analysis of the putative <it>cd38 </it>promoter region revealed one NF-κB and several AP-1 and glucocorticoid response element (GRE) motifs. HASM cells were transfected with the 3 kb promoter, a 1.8 kb truncated promoter that lacks the NF-κB and some of the AP-1 sites, or the promoter with mutations of the NF-κB and/or AP-1 sites. Using the electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we determined the binding of nuclear proteins to oligonucleotides encoding the putative <it>cd38 </it>NF-κB, AP-1, and GRE sites, and the specificity of this binding was confirmed by gel supershift analysis with appropriate antibodies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>TNF-α induced a two-fold activation of the 3 kb promoter following its transfection into HASM cells. In cells transfected with the 1.8 kb promoter or promoter constructs lacking NF-κB and/or AP-1 sites or in the presence of dexamethasone, there was no induction in the presence of TNF-α. The binding of nuclear proteins to oligonucleotides encoding the putative <it>cd38 </it>NF-κB site and some of the six AP-1 sites was increased by TNF-α, and to some of the putative <it>cd38 </it>GREs by dexamethasone.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The EMSA results and the cd38 promoter-reporter assays confirm the functional role of NF-κB, AP-1 and GREs in the cd38 promoter in the transcriptional regulation of CD38.</p

    Kepler White Paper: Asteroseismology of Solar-Like Oscillators in a 2-Wheel Mission

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    We comment on the potential for continuing asteroseismology of solar-type and red-giant stars in a 2-wheel Kepler Mission. Our main conclusion is that by targeting stars in the ecliptic it should be possible to perform high-quality asteroseismology, as long as favorable scenarios for 2-wheel pointing performance are met. Targeting the ecliptic would potentially facilitate unique science that was not possible in the nominal Mission, notably from the study of clusters that are significantly brighter than those in the Kepler field. Our conclusions are based on predictions of 2-wheel observations made by a space photometry simulator, with information provided by the Kepler Project used as input to describe the degraded pointing scenarios. We find that elevated levels of frequency-dependent noise, consistent with the above scenarios, would have a significant negative impact on our ability to continue asteroseismic studies of solar-like oscillators in the Kepler field. However, the situation may be much more optimistic for observations in the ecliptic, provided that pointing resets of the spacecraft during regular desaturations of the two functioning reaction wheels are accurate at the < 1 arcsec level. This would make it possible to apply a post-hoc analysis that would recover most of the lost photometric precision. Without this post-hoc correction---and the accurate re-pointing it requires---the performance would probably be as poor as in the Kepler-field case. Critical to our conclusions for both fields is the assumed level of pointing noise (in the short-term jitter and the longer-term drift). We suggest that further tests will be needed to clarify our results once more detail and data on the expected pointing performance becomes available, and we offer our assistance in this work.Comment: NASA Kepler Mission White Paper; 10 pages, 2 figure
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