Localized modes of the Hirota equation: Nth order rogue wave and a separation of variable technique

The Hirota equation is a special extension of the intensively studied nonlinear Schrödinger equation, by incorporating third order dispersion and one form of the self-steepening effect. Higher order rogue waves of the Hirota equation can be calculated theoretically through a Darboux-dressing transformation by a separation of variable approach. A Taylor expansion is used and no derivative calculation is invoked. Furthermore, stability of these rogue waves is studied computationally. By tracing the evolution of an exact solution perturbed by random noise, it is found that second order rogue waves are generally less stable than first order ones.postprin

Analysis of the question–answer service of the Emma Children’s Hospital information centre

The information centre of the Emma Children’s Hospital AMC (EKZ AMC) is a specialised information centre where paediatric patients and persons involved with the patient can ask questions about all aspects of disease and its social implications. The aim of the study was to evaluate the question–answer service of this information centre in order to determine the role of a specialised information centre in an academic children’s hospital, identify the appropriate resources for the service and potential positive effects. For this purpose, a case management system was developed in MS ACCESS. The characteristics of the requester and the question, the time it took to answer questions, the information sources used and the extent to which we were able to answer the questions were registered. The costs of the service were determined. We analysed all questions that were asked in the year 2007. Fourteen hundred thirty-four questions were asked. Most questions were asked by parents (23.3%), healthcare workers (other than nurses; 16.5%) and nurses (15.3%). The scope of the most frequently asked questions include disease (20.2%) and treatment (13.0%). Information on paper was the main information source used. Most questions could be solved within 15 min. Twelve percent to 28% of total working hours are used for the question–answer service. Total costs including staff salary are rather large. In conclusions, taking over the task of providing additional medical information and by providing readily available, good quality information that healthcare professionals can use to inform their patients will lead to less time investment of these more expensive staff members. A specialised information service can anticipate on the information need of parents and persons involved with the paediatric patient. It improves information by providing with relatively simple resources that has the potential to improve patient and parent satisfaction, coping and medical results. A specialised information centre is therefore a valuable and affordable asset to an academic children’s hospital

Myringoplastie par la technique des boutonnières

Introduction : La réparation des lésions tympaniques et ossiculaires au cours de l’otite chronique fait appel à plusieurs procédés bien codifiés par leurs utilisateurs.Le but de ce travail est de rapporter nos résultatsde myringoplastie par la technique des boutonnières, chez des patients porteurs de séquelles d’otite moyenne chronique non cholestéatomateuse.Patients et méthode : Etude rétrospective concernant 49 patients opérés consécutivement de tympanoplastie pour otite moyenne chronique non cholestéatomateuse, entre janvier 2003 et décembre 2009, sélectionnés parmi 140 autres opérés de tympanoplasties selon d’autres procédés. Le temps de réparation de la membrane tympanique (Myringoplastie) a été effectué par la technique d’amarrage antérieur du greffon, technique dite des boutonnières. Les critères d’évaluationétaient l’état du tympan à la dernière consultation, le rinne moyen post opératoire ou rinne résiduel et le gain moyen auditif. Le gain auditif était représenté par la différence entre le rinne pré-opératoire et le rinne post opératoire et tous les paramètres fonctionnels appréciés sur les fréquences 500, 1000 et 2000 hertz.Résultats : L’âge moyen était de 29 ans avec des extrêmes de 8 et 64 ans. La perforation tympanique était importante, centrale ou subtotale dans 32 cas (65,30%), avec une ancienneté remontant à l’enfance dans 19 cas (38,77%). L’oreille controlatérale était porteuse d’une pathologie dans 23 cas (47%). Le rinne moyen pré-opératoire était de 37,04 dB. Avec un recul moyen de 26 mois, la restauration anatomique du tympan en position normale était notée dans 35 cas (71,42 %). Le taux de reperforation a été estimé à 20,4% (10 cas), tandisque la médialisation a été observée dans 2 cas (4,08%), la latéralisation dans 1 cas (2,04%), le blunting ou comblement de l’angle antérieur tympano-méatal dans 1 cas (2,04%). Nous avons noté un rinne moyen post opératoire de 20,38 dB avec un gain moyen post opératoire de 14dB.Conclusion : Les résultats obtenus dans cette première série de myringoplastiepar la technique des boutonnières ont été modestes, mais améliorés dans le temps avec la maitrise de la technique opératoire et des facteurs de risque d’échec représentés ici par l’ancienneté, l’importance et l’évolutivité des lésions.Mots clés : Otite chronique, Myringoplastie, Technique des boutonnières.Objective : Several methods well codified by their users had been described for the repairing of tympanic and ossicular damage during chronic otitis media. The aim of this study was to report our results of myringoplasties by the technic of buttonholes procedure, in patients with sequelae of non chlesteatoma chronic otitis media.Patients and methods : A retrospective study on 49 patients, with sequalea of non cholesteatoma chronic otitis media, operated consecutively of myringoplasty by the technic of buttonholes, between january 2003 and december 2009, was caried out. The patients had been selected among 140 others operated throught others procedures. The criteria of evaluation were the ear drum’s aspect at the last clinical examination, the average air bone gap and the average hearing gain established as the difference between pre opérative and post operative air bone gap. The parameters for the post operative functional outcome had been assessed on the frequencies 500, 1000 and 2000 kHz.Results: The average age was 29 years and ranged from 8 to 64. The tympanic membrane’s perforation was important, central or subtotal in 32 cases (65,30%), with a long term évolution dating back to childhood in 19 cases (38,77%). Pathological disease was noticed in the controlateral ear in 23 cases (47%). The average pre operative air bone gap was 37.04 dB. After a mean follow up of 26 month, the succeful rate of closure of the tymapanic membrane, in the normal position, was 71,42%. The recidive of perforation (reperforation) was estimated at 20,4% (10 cases), whereverthe medialization was observed in 2 cases (4,08), lateralization and the blunting or filling the anterior tympano-méatal angle in respectively 1 case (2,04%). We noted an average post oprative air bone gap of 20,38 dB with an average hearing gain of 14 dB.Conclusion: The results obtained in this first round of myringoplasty with buttonhole procedure were modest, but improved over time withthe mastery of the surgery technic and risks factors of failure represented here by the age, size and scalabillity of the lesions.Keyswords : Chronic otitis media, Myringoplasty, Technic of buttonhole

Service Oriented Big Data Management for Transport

International audienceThe increasing power of computer hardware and the sophistication of computer software have brought many new possibilities to information world. On one side the possibility to analyse massive data sets has brought new insight, knowledge and information. On the other, it has enabled to massively distribute computing and has opened to a new programming paradigm called Service Oriented Computing particularly well adapted to cloud computing. Applying these new technologies to the transport industry can bring new understanding to town transport infrastructures. The objective of our work is to manage and aggregate cloud services for managing big data and assist decision making for transport systems. Thus this paper presents our approach to propose a service oriented architecture for big data analytics for transport systems based on the cloud. Proposing big data management strategies for data produced by transport infra‐ structures, whilst maintaining cost effective systems deployed on the cloud, is a promising approach. We present the advancement for developing the Data acquisition service and Information extraction and cleaning service as well as the analysis for choosing a sharding strategy

Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Evaluation of Human Retinol Binding Protein 4 and Related Variants

Background: Retinol Binding Protein 4 (RBP4) is an exciting new biomarker for the determination of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. It is known that circulating RBP4 resides in multiple variants which may provide enhanced clinical utility, but conventional immunoassay methods are blind to such differences. A Mass Spectrometric immunoassay (MSIA) technology that can quantitate total RBP4 as well as individual isoforms may provide an enhanced analysis for this biomarker. Methods: RBP4 was isolated and detected from 0.5 uL of human plasma using MSIA technology, for the simultaneous quantification and differentiation of endogenous human RBP4 and its variants. Results: The linear range of the assay was 7.81–500 ug/mL, and the limit of detection and limit of quantification were 3.36 ug/mL and 6.52 ug/mL, respectively. The intra-assay CVs were determined to be 5.1 % and the inter-assay CVs were 9.6%. The percent recovery of the RBP4-MSIA ranged from 95 – 105%. Method comparison of the RBP4 MSIA vs the Immun Diagnostik ELISA yielded a Passing & Bablok fit of MSIA = 1.056 ELISA – 3.09, while the Cusum linearity p-value was.0.1 and the mean bias determined by the Altman Bland test was 1.2%. Conclusion: The novel RBP4 MSIA provided a fast, accurate and precise quantitative protein measurement as compared to the standard commercially available ELISA. Moreover, this method also allowed for the detection of RBP4 variants that are present in each sample, which may in the future provide a new dimension in the clinical utility of this biomarker

Simple excision and closure of a distal limb of loop colostomy prolapse by stapler device

Stomal prolapse is one of the common complications in transverse colostomy and can be managed conservatively in most cases; however, laparotomy and reconstruction of the stoma may sometimes be required, especially in case of irreducible colostomy prolapse. We have reported a simple local repair with reconstruction of the loop colostomy. We herein report a new more simple technique to avoid laparotomy and allow excision of the irreducible colostomy prolapse and complete closure of the distal limb of loop colostomy when no decompression is required in the distal limb of the stoma. In this procedure, the number of stapler and the time with blood loss for the operation can be saved

Deletion of L-Selectin Increases Atherosclerosis Development in ApoE−/− Mice

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease characterized by accumulation of leukocytes in the arterial intima. Members of the selectin family of adhesion molecules are important mediators of leukocyte extravasation. However, it is unclear whether L-selectin (L-sel) is involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. In the present study, mice deficient in L-selectin (L-sel−/−) animals were crossed with mice lacking Apolipoprotein E (ApoE−/−). The development of atherosclerosis was analyzed in double-knockout ApoE/L-sel (ApoE−/− L-sel−/−) mice and the corresponding ApoE−/− controls fed either a normal or a high cholesterol diet (HCD). After 6 weeks of HCD, aortic lesions were increased two-fold in ApoE−/− L-sel−/− mice as compared to ApoE−/− controls (2.46%±0.54% vs 1.28%±0.24% of total aortic area; p<0.05). Formation of atherosclerotic lesions was also enhanced in 6-month-old ApoE−/− L-sel−/− animals fed a normal diet (10.45%±2.58% vs 1.87%±0.37%; p<0.05). In contrast, after 12 weeks of HCD, there was no difference in atheroma formation between ApoE−/− L-sel−/− and ApoE−/− mice. Serum cholesterol levels remained unchanged by L-sel deletion. Atherosclerotic plaques did not exhibit any differences in cellular composition assessed by immunohistochemistry for CD68, CD3, CD4, and CD8 in ApoE−/− L-sel−/− as compared to ApoE−/− mice. Leukocyte rolling on lesions in the aorta was similar in ApoE−/− L-sel−/− and ApoE−/− animals. ApoE−/− L-sel−/− mice exhibited reduced size and cellularity of peripheral lymph nodes, increased size of spleen, and increased number of peripheral lymphocytes as compared to ApoE−/− controls. These data indicate that L-sel does not promote atherosclerotic lesion formation and suggest that it rather protects from early atherosclerosis

Chiropractic and children: Is more research enough?

Many health science research and review articles end with the words: "More research is needed". However, when it comes to research, it is not as much a question of quantity as of quality. There are a number of important prerequisites before research should be initiated. The three pillars, relevance, quality and ethics should be respected but for a project to be meaningful, it must also be based on plausible rationale

The role of parental achievement goals in predicting autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting

Although autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting are linked to numerous positive and negative child outcomes respectively, fewer studies have focused on their determinants. Drawing on achievement goal theory and self-determination theory, we propose that parental achievement goals (i.e., achievement goals that parents have for their children) can be mastery, performance-approach or performance-avoidance oriented and that types of goals predict mothers' tendency to adopt autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviors. A total of 67 mothers (aged 30-53 years) reported their goals for their adolescent (aged 13-16 years; 19.4 % girls), while their adolescent evaluated their mothers' behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that parental performance-approach goals predict more controlling parenting and prevent acknowledgement of feelings, one autonomy-supportive behavior. In addition, mothers who have mastery goals and who endorse performance-avoidance goals are less likely to use guilt-inducing criticisms. These findings were observed while controlling for the effect of maternal anxiety