Hypocomplementemic Urticarial Vasculitis in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Urticarial vasculitis is characterized clinically by urticarial skin lesions and histologically by leukocytoclastic vasculitis. Hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis is associated with connective tissue diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We report a case of urticarial vasculitis that preceded manifestations of SLE

Horizontal visibility graphs transformed from fractional Brownian motions: Topological properties versus Hurst index

Nonlinear time series analysis aims at understanding the dynamics of stochastic or chaotic processes. In recent years, quite a few methods have been proposed to transform a single time series to a complex network so that the dynamics of the process can be understood by investigating the topological properties of the network. We study the topological properties of horizontal visibility graphs constructed from fractional Brownian motions with different Hurst index $H\in(0,1)$. Special attention has been paid to the impact of Hurst index on the topological properties. It is found that the clustering coefficient $C$ decreases when $H$ increases. We also found that the mean length $L$ of the shortest paths increases exponentially with $H$ for fixed length $N$ of the original time series. In addition, $L$ increases linearly with respect to $N$ when $H$ is close to 1 and in a logarithmic form when $H$ is close to 0. Although the occurrence of different motifs changes with $H$, the motif rank pattern remains unchanged for different $H$. Adopting the node-covering box-counting method, the horizontal visibility graphs are found to be fractals and the fractal dimension $d_B$ decreases with $H$. Furthermore, the Pearson coefficients of the networks are positive and the degree-degree correlations increase with the degree, which indicate that the horizontal visibility graphs are assortative. With the increase of $H$, the Pearson coefficient decreases first and then increases, in which the turning point is around $H=0.6$. The presence of both fractality and assortativity in the horizontal visibility graphs converted from fractional Brownian motions is different from many cases where fractal networks are usually disassortative.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Effects of the Simultaneous Application of Nonlinear Frequency Compression and Dichotic Hearing on the Speech Recognition of Severely Hearing-Impaired Subjects: Simulation Test

ObjectivesThe clinical effects of the simultaneous application of nonlinear frequency compression and dichotic hearing on people with hearing impairments have not been evaluated previously. In this study, the clinical effects of the simultaneous application of these two techniques on the recognition of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words with fricatives were evaluated using normal-hearing subjects and a hearing loss simulator operated in the severe hearing loss setting.MethodsA total of 21 normal-hearing volunteers whose native language was English were recruited for this study, and two different hearing loss simulators, which were configured for severe hearing loss in the high-frequency range, were utilized. The subjects heard 82 English CVC words, and the word recognition score and response time were measured.ResultsThe experimental results demonstrated that the simultaneous application of these two techniques showed almost even performance compared to the sole application of nonlinear frequency compression in a severe hearing loss setting.ConclusionThough it is generally accepted that dichotic hearing can decrease the spectral masking thresholds of an hearing-impaired person, simultaneous application of the nonlinear frequency compression and dichotic hearing techniques did not significantly improve the recognition of words with fricatives compared to the sole application of nonlinear frequency compression in a severe hearing loss setting

Dynamics on Spatial Networks and the Effect of Distance Coarse Graining

Very recently, a kind of spatial network constructed with power-law distance distribution and total energy constriction is proposed. Moreover, it has been pointed out that such spatial networks have the optimal exponents $\delta$ in the power-law distance distribution for the average shortest path, traffic dynamics and navigation. Because the distance is estimated approximately in real world, we present an distance coarse graining procedure to generate the binary spatial networks in this paper. We find that the distance coarse graining procedure will result in the shifting of the optimal exponents $\delta$. Interestingly, when the network is large enough, the effect of distance coarse graining can be ignored eventually. Additionally, we also study some main dynamic processes including traffic dynamics, navigation, synchronization and percolation on this spatial networks with coarse grained distance. The results lead us to the enhancement of spatial networks' specifical functions.Comment: 6 pages,6 figure

Stability of shortest paths in complex networks with random edge weights

We study shortest paths and spanning trees of complex networks with random edge weights. Edges which do not belong to the spanning tree are inactive in a transport process within the network. The introduction of quenched disorder modifies the spanning tree such that some edges are activated and the network diameter is increased. With analytic random-walk mappings and numerical analysis, we find that the spanning tree is unstable to the introduction of disorder and displays a phase-transition-like behavior at zero disorder strength $\epsilon=0$. In the infinite network-size limit ($N\to \infty$), we obtain a continuous transition with the density of activated edges $\Phi$ growing like $\Phi \sim \epsilon^1$ and with the diameter-expansion coefficient $\Upsilon$ growing like $\Upsilon\sim \epsilon^2$ in the regular network, and first-order transitions with discontinuous jumps in $\Phi$ and $\Upsilon$ at $\epsilon=0$ for the small-world (SW) network and the Barab\'asi-Albert scale-free (SF) network. The asymptotic scaling behavior sets in when $N\gg N_c$, where the crossover size scales as $N_c\sim \epsilon^{-2}$ for the regular network, $N_c \sim \exp[\alpha \epsilon^{-2}]$ for the SW network, and $N_c \sim \exp[\alpha |\ln \epsilon| \epsilon^{-2}]$ for the SF network. In a transient regime with $N\ll N_c$, there is an infinite-order transition with $\Phi\sim \Upsilon \sim \exp[-\alpha / (\epsilon^2 \ln N)]$ for the SW network and $\sim \exp[ -\alpha / (\epsilon^2 \ln N/\ln\ln N)]$ for the SF network. It shows that the transport pattern is practically most stable in the SF network.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figur

A Trainable Hearing Aid Algorithm Reflecting Individual Preferences for Degree of Noise-Suppression, Input Sound Level, and Listening Situation

Objectives In an effort to improve hearing aid users’ satisfaction, recent studies on trainable hearing aids have attempted to implement one or two environmental factors into training. However, it would be more beneficial to train the device based on the owner’s personal preferences in a more expanded environmental acoustic conditions. Our study aimed at developing a trainable hearing aid algorithm that can reflect the user’s individual preferences in a more extensive environmental acoustic conditions (ambient sound level, listening situation, and degree of noise suppression) and evaluated the perceptual benefit of the proposed algorithm. Methods Ten normal hearing subjects participated in this study. Each subjects trained the algorithm to their personal preference and the trained data was used to record test sounds in three different settings to be utilized to evaluate the perceptual benefit of the proposed algorithm by performing the Comparison Mean Opinion Score test. Results Statistical analysis revealed that of the 10 subjects, four showed significant differences in amplification constant settings between the noise-only and speech-in-noise situation (P<0.05) and one subject also showed significant difference between the speech-only and speech-in-noise situation (P<0.05). Additionally, every subject preferred different β settings for beamforming in all different input sound levels. Conclusion The positive findings from this study suggested that the proposed algorithm has potential to improve hearing aid users’ personal satisfaction under various ambient situations

A study of the relationship between clinical phenotypes and plasma iduronate-2-sulfatase enzyme activities in Hunter syndrome patients

PurposeMucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II or Hunter syndrome) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder caused by iduronate-2-sulfatase (IDS) deficiency. MPS II causes a wide phenotypic spectrum of symptoms ranging from mild to severe. IDS activity, which is measured in leukocyte pellets or fibroblasts, was reported to be related to clinical phenotype by Sukegawa-Hayasaka et al. Measurement of residual plasma IDS activity using a fluorometric assay is simpler than conventional measurements using skin fibroblasts or peripheral blood mononuclear cells. This is the first study to describe the relationship between plasma IDS activity and clinical phenotype of MPS II.MethodsWe hypothesized that residual plasma IDS activity is related to clinical phenotype. We classified 43 Hunter syndrome patients as having attenuated or severe disease types based on clinical characteristics, especially intellectual and cognitive status. There were 27 patients with the severe type and 16 with the attenuated type. Plasma IDS activity was measured by a fluorometric enzyme assay using 4-methylumbelliferyl-α-iduronate 2-sulphate.ResultsPlasma IDS activity in patients with the severe type was significantly lower than that in patients with the attenuated type (P=0.006). The optimal cut-off value of plasma IDS activity for distinguishing the severe type from the attenuated type was 0.63 nmol·4 hr-1·mL-1. This value had 88.2% sensitivity, 65.4% specificity, and an area under receiver-operator characteristics (ROC) curve of 0.768 (ROC curve analysis; P=0.003).ConclusionThese results show that the mild phenotype may be related to residual lysosomal enzyme activity

Modulation of the Physicochemical Properties of Donor–Spiro–Acceptor Derivatives through Donor Unit Planarisation: Phenylacridine versus Indoloacridine. New Hosts for Green and Blue Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (PhOLEDs)

International audienceThis work reports a detailed structure–property relationship study of a series of efficient host materials based on the donor–spiro–acceptor (D-spiro-A) design for green and sky-blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs). The electronic and physical effects of the indoloacridine (IA) fragment connected through a spiro bridge to different acceptor units, namely, fluorene, dioxothioxanthene or diazafluorene moiety, have been investigated in depth. The resulting host materials have been easily synthesised through short, efficient, low-cost, and highly adaptable synthetic routes by using common intermediates. The dyes possess a very high triplet energy (ET) and tuneable HOMO/LUMO levels, depending on the strength of the donor/acceptor combination. The peculiar electrochemical and optical properties of the IA moiety have been investigated though a fine comparison with their phenylacridine counterparts to study the influence of planarisation. Finally, these molecules have been incorporated as hosts in green and sky-blue PhOLEDs. For the derivative SIA-TXO2 as a host, external quantum efficiencies as high as 23 and 14 % have been obtained for green and sky-blue PhOLEDs, respectively

Effects of Music Therapy on Mood in Stroke Patients

PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of music therapy on depressive mood and anxiety in post-stroke patients and evaluate satisfaction levels of patients and caregivers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighteen post-stroke patients, within six months of onset and mini mental status examination score of over 20, participated in this study. Patients were divided into music and control groups. The experimental group participated in the music therapy program for four weeks. Psychological status was evaluated with the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) before and after music therapy. Satisfaction with music therapy was evaluated by a questionnaire. RESULTS: BAI and BDI scores showed a greater decrease in the music group than the control group after music therapy, but only the decrease of BDI scores were statistically significant (p=0.048). Music therapy satisfaction in patients and caregivers was affirmative. CONCLUSION: Music therapy has a positive effect on mood in post-stroke patients and may be beneficial for mood improvement with stroke. These results are encouraging, but further studies are needed in this field.ope

A Role for SKN-1/Nrf in Pathogen Resistance and Immunosenescence in Caenorhabditis elegans

A proper immune response ensures survival in a hostile environment and promotes longevity. Recent evidence indicates that innate immunity, beyond antimicrobial effectors, also relies on host-defensive mechanisms. The Caenorhabditis elegans transcription factor SKN-1 regulates xenobiotic and oxidative stress responses and contributes to longevity, however, its role in immune defense is unknown. Here we show that SKN-1 is required for C. elegans pathogen resistance against both Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Gram-positive Enterococcus faecalis bacteria. Exposure to P. aeruginosa leads to SKN-1 accumulation in intestinal nuclei and transcriptional activation of two SKN-1 target genes, gcs-1 and gst-4. Both the Toll/IL-1 Receptor domain protein TIR-1 and the p38 MAPK PMK-1 are required for SKN-1 activation by PA14 exposure. We demonstrate an early onset of immunosenescence with a concomitant age-dependent decline in SKN-1-dependent target gene activation, and a requirement of SKN-1 to enhance pathogen resistance in response to longevity-promoting interventions, such as reduced insulin/IGF-like signaling and preconditioning H2O2 treatment. Finally, we find that wdr-23(RNAi)-mediated constitutive SKN-1 activation results in excessive transcription of target genes, confers oxidative stress tolerance, but impairs pathogen resistance. Our findings identify SKN-1 as a novel regulator of innate immunity, suggests its involvement in immunosenescence and provide an important crosstalk between pathogenic stress signaling and the xenobiotic/oxidative stress response