Moly: a prototype handheld three-dimensional digitizer with diffraction optics

A working handheld 3-D diffraction range finder, nicknamed Moly, is demonstrated. This prototype is distinguished by a far-field magnification feature that is made possible by use of chirped frequency diffraction grating optics that reverse the perspective foreshortening typical of conventional triangulation range finders. This new type of 3-D profilometer illuminates its target with a collimated laser projector that produces a rectangle-shaped sheet of light of uniform width at all working distances. Moly also employs dual magnetic wave detectors to facilitate freedom of movement for both the digitizing instrument and the subject. The instrument was designed primarily to digitize human faces and figures for applications in art and medicine

Chronobiology of Epilepsy

A fine balance between neuronal excitation and inhibition governs the physiological state of the brain. It has been hypothesized that when this balance is lost as a result of excessive excitation or reduced inhibition, pathological states such as epilepsy emerge. Decades of investigation have shown this to be true in vitro. However, in vivo evidence of the emerging imbalance during the "latent period" between the initiation of injury and the expression of the first spontaneous behavioral seizure has not been demonstrated. Here, we provide the first demonstration of this emerging imbalance between excitation and inhibition in vivo by employing long term, high temporal resolution, and continuous local field recordings from microelectrode arrays implanted in an animal model of limbic epilepsy. We were able to track both the inhibitory and excitatory postsynaptic field activity during the entire latent period, from the time of injury to the occurrence of the first spontaneous epileptic seizure. During this latent period we observe a sustained increase in the firing rate of the excitatory postsynaptic field activity, paired with a subsequent decrease in the firing rate of the inhibitory postsynaptic field activity within the CA1 region of the hippocampus. Firing rates of both excitatory and inhibitory CA1 field activities followed a circadian- like rhythm, which is locked near in-phase in controls and near anti-phase during the latent period. We think that these observed changes are implicated in the occurrence of spontaneous seizure onset following injury

Moly, a prototype hand-held 3D digitizer with diffraction optics

A working hand-held 3-D digitizer, Moly, is demonstrated. It is distinguished by a magnification feature which is made possible by special diffraction optics that minimize the perspective effects typical of conventional triangulation. As a result, this innovative device illuminates its target with a collimated laser projector that produces a sheet of light of uniform height at all working distances. The diffraction optics afford improved depth-of-field compared to triangulation scanners of equivalent resolution. This prototype also employs dual magnetic wave detectors to facilitate freedom of movement for both the digitizer and the subject. The instrument was designed primarily to digitize human faces and figures for applications in art and medicine

Understanding gender differences in older people's attitudes towards life-prolonging medical technologies

The power of medical technologies to extend the final stages of life has heightened the need to understand what factors influence older people's wish to use such medical technologies. We analyse gender differences in such views, based on audio-recorded interviews with 33 men and 36 women (aged 65–93) in south-east England. Older women were twice as likely as men to oppose using medical technologies to extend life. More older women voiced ‘other-oriented’ reasons for their opposition, particularly not wanting to be a burden on others. Older men's attitudes were primarily ‘self-oriented’, reflecting a concern to stay alive for as long as possible, with fewer expressing concern about consequences for others. Women's greater life course involvement in caring and empathising with the wishes and concerns of others underlay these gender differences. Thus, women were ‘performing gender’ by putting others before themselves, even at this critical juncture in their lives. Keywords Gender; Life-prolonging medical technologies; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; Older peopl