Clinical improvements following bilateral anterior capsulotomy in treatment-resistant depression

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a programme of lesion surgery carried out on patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). This was a retrospective study looking at clinical and psychometric data from 45 patients with TRD who had undergone bilateral stereotactic anterior capsulotomy surgery over a period of 15 years, with the approval of the Mental Health Act Commission (37 with unipolar depression and eight with bipolar disorder). The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) before and after surgery was used as the primary outcome measure. The Montgomery–Asberg Depression Rating Scale was administered and cognitive aspects of executive and memory functions were also examined. We carried out a paired-samples t test on the outcome measures to determine any statistically significant change in the group as a consequence of surgery. Patients improved on the clinical measure of depression after surgery by −21.20 points on the BDI with a 52% change. There were no significant cognitive changes post-surgery. Six patients were followed up in 2013 by phone interview and reported a generally positive experience. No major surgical complications occurred. With the limitations of an uncontrolled, observational study, our data suggest that capsulotomy can be an effective treatment for otherwise TRD. Performance on neuropsychological tests did not deteriorate

Upstaging nodal status in colorectal cancer using ex vivo fluorescence sentinel lymph node mapping: preliminary results

Background: Sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping using near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging is a recent technique to improve nodal staging in several tumors. The presence of colorectal cancer (CRC) micro-metastases has recently been defined as N1 disease and no longer as N1mi, determining the need for adjuvant chemotherapy. In CRC, the reported rate of SLN micro-metastases detected by ultrastaging techniques is as high as 30%. The aim of this prospective study is to report the preliminary results of the sensitivity analysis of NIRF imaging for ex vivo SLN mapping and the research of micro-metastases in CRC, in patients with node-negative disease (NND). Material and methods: On the specimen of 22 CRC patients, 1 mL of ICG (5 mg/mL) was injected submucosally around the tumor to identify SLNs. NND SLNs were further investigated with ultrastaging techniques. Results: Three-hundred and sixty-three lymph nodes were retrieved (59 SLNs; mean per case: 2.7). The detection, sensitivity and false-negative rate were 100%, 100% and 0% respectively. Ultrastaging investigations showed no micro-metastases in the NND SLNs. Conclusions: The ex vivo SLN fluorescence-based detection in CRC was confirmed to be easy to perform and reliable. In this preliminary results report of an ongoing study, the SLN assay was congruent with the nodal status, as confirmed by histological investigations

Highly efficient separation of actinides from lanthanides by a phenanthroline-derived bis-triazine ligand

The synthesis, lanthanide complexation, and solvent ex- traction of actinide(III) and lanthanide(III) radiotracers from nitric acid solutions by a phenanthroline-derived quadridentate bis-triazine ligand are described. The ligand separates Am(III) and Cm(III) from the lanthanides with remarkably high efficiency, high selectivity, and fast extraction kinetics compared to its 2,2'-bipyridine counterpart. Structures of the 1:2 bis-complexes of the ligand with Eu(III) and Yb(III) were elucidated by X-ray crystallography and force field calculations, respec-tively. The Eu(III) bis-complex is the first 1:2 bis-complex of a quadridentate bis-triazine ligand to be characterized by crystallography. The faster rates of extraction were verified by kinetics measurements using the rotating membrane cell technique in several diluents. The improved kinetics of metal ion extraction are related to the higher surface activity of the ligand at the phase interface. The improvement in the ligand's properties on replacing the bipyridine unit with a phenanthroline unit far exceeds what was anticipated based on ligand design alone

Single view silhouette fitting techniques for estimating tennis racket position

Stereo camera systems have been used to track markers attached to a racket, allowing its position to be obtained in three-dimensional (3D) space. Typically, markers are manually selected on the image plane, but this can be time-consuming. A markerless system based on one stationary camera estimating 3D racket position data is desirable for research and play. The markerless method presented in this paper relies on a set of racket silhouette views in a common reference frame captured with a calibrated camera and a silhouette of a racket captured with a camera whose relative pose is outside the common reference frame. The aim of this paper is to provide validation of these single view fitting techniques to estimate the pose of a tennis racket. This includes the development of a calibration method to provide the relative pose of a stationary camera with respect to a racket. Mean static racket position was reconstructed to within ±2 mm. Computer generated camera poses and silhouette views of a full size racket model were used to demonstrate the potential of the method to estimate 3D racket position during a simplified serve scenario. From a camera distance of 14 m, 3D racket position was estimated providing a spatial accuracy of 1.9 ± 0.14 mm, similar to recent 3D video marker tracking studies of tennis

Construct-level predictive validity of educational attainment and intellectual aptitude tests in medical student selection: meta-regression of six UK longitudinal studies

Background: Measures used for medical student selection should predict future performance during training. A problem for any selection study is that predictor-outcome correlations are known only in those who have been selected, whereas selectors need to know how measures would predict in the entire pool of applicants. That problem of interpretation can be solved by calculating construct-level predictive validity, an estimate of true predictor-outcome correlation across the range of applicant abilities. Methods: Construct-level predictive validities were calculated in six cohort studies of medical student selection and training (student entry, 1972 to 2009) for a range of predictors, including A-levels, General Certificates of Secondary Education (GCSEs)/O-levels, and aptitude tests (AH5 and UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT)). Outcomes included undergraduate basic medical science and finals assessments, as well as postgraduate measures of Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom (MRCP(UK)) performance and entry in the Specialist Register. Construct-level predictive validity was calculated with the method of Hunter, Schmidt and Le (2006), adapted to correct for right-censorship of examination results due to grade inflation. Results: Meta-regression analyzed 57 separate predictor-outcome correlations (POCs) and construct-level predictive validities (CLPVs). Mean CLPVs are substantially higher (.450) than mean POCs (.171). Mean CLPVs for first-year examinations, were high for A-levels (.809; CI: .501 to .935), and lower for GCSEs/O-levels (.332; CI: .024 to .583) and UKCAT (mean = .245; CI: .207 to .276). A-levels had higher CLPVs for all undergraduate and postgraduate assessments than did GCSEs/O-levels and intellectual aptitude tests. CLPVs of educational attainment measures decline somewhat during training, but continue to predict postgraduate performance. Intellectual aptitude tests have lower CLPVs than A-levels or GCSEs/O-levels. Conclusions: Educational attainment has strong CLPVs for undergraduate and postgraduate performance, accounting for perhaps 65% of true variance in first year performance. Such CLPVs justify the use of educational attainment measure in selection, but also raise a key theoretical question concerning the remaining 35% of variance (and measurement error, range restriction and right-censorship have been taken into account). Just as in astrophysics, ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’ are posited to balance various theoretical equations, so medical student selection must also have its ‘dark variance’, whose nature is not yet properly characterized, but explains a third of the variation in performance during training. Some variance probably relates to factors which are unpredictable at selection, such as illness or other life events, but some is probably also associated with factors such as personality, motivation or study skills

Separation of the minor actinides americium(III) and curium(III) by hydrophobic and hydrophilic BTPhen ligands: exploiting differences in their rates of extraction and effective separations at equilibrium

The complexation and extraction of the adjacent minor actinides Am(III) and Cm(III) by both hydrophobic and hydrophilic pre-organized 2,9-bis(1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)-1,10-phenanthroline (BTPhen) ligands has been studied in detail. It has been shown that Am(III) is extracted more rapidly than Cm(III) by the hydrophobic CyMe4-BTPhen ligand into different organic diluents under non-equilibrium extraction conditions, leading to separation factors for Am over Cm (SFAm/Cm) as high as 7.9. Furthermore, the separation of Am(III) from Cm(III) can be tuned through careful choice of the extraction conditions (organic diluent, contact time, mixing speed, ligand concentration). This ‘kinetic’ effect is attributed to the higher presumed kinetic lability of the Am(III) aqua complex towards ligand substitution. A dependence of the Am(III)/Cm(III) selectivity on the structure of the alkyl groups attached to the triazine rings is also observed, and BTPhens bearing linear alkyl groups are less able to separate Am(III) from Cm(III) than CyMe4-BTPhen. Under equilibrium extraction conditions, hydrophilic tetrasulfonated BTPhen ligands complex selectively Am(III) over Cm(III) and prevent the extraction of Am(III) from nitric acid by the hydrophobic O-donor ligand N,N,N’,N’-tetraoctyldiglycolamide (TODGA), giving separation factors for Cm(III) over Am(III) (SFCm/Am) of up to 4.6. These results further underline the utility of the BTPhen ligands for the extremely challenging separation of the chemically similar minor actinides Am(III) and Cm(III) in future processes to close the nuclear fuel cycle

Conceptualising computerized adaptive testing for measurement of latent variables associated with physical objects

The notion of that more or less of a physical feature affects in different degrees the users' impression with regard to an underlying attribute of a product has frequently been applied in affective engineering. However, those attributes exist only as a premise that cannot directly be measured and, therefore, inferences based on their assessment are error-prone. To establish and improve measurement of latent attributes it is presented in this paper the concept of a stochastic framework using the Rasch model for a wide range of independent variables referred to as an item bank. Based on an item bank, computerized adaptive testing (CAT) can be developed. A CAT system can converge into a sequence of items bracketing to convey information at a user's particular endorsement level. It is through item banking and CAT that the financial benefits of using the Rasch model in affective engineering can be realised

Creating drag and lift curves from soccer trajectories

Trajectory analysis is an alternative to using wind tunnels to measure a soccer balls aerodynamic properties. It has advantages over wind tunnel testing such as being more representative of game play. However, previous work has not presented a method that produces complete, speed -dependent drag and lift coefficients. Four high-speed cameras in stereo-calibrated pairs were used to measure the spatial co-ordinates for 29 separate soccer trajectories. Those trajectories span a range of launch speeds from 9.3 m/s to 29.9 m/s. That range encompasses low-speed laminar flow of air over a soccer ball, through the drag crises where air flow is both laminar and turbulent, and up to high-speed turbulent air flow. Results from trajectory analysis were combined to give speed-dependent drag and lift coefficient curves for the entire range of speeds found in the 29 trajectories. Average root mean square error between measured and modelled trajectory was 0.028 m horizontally and 0.034 m vertically. The drag and lift crises can be observed in the plots of drag and lift coefficients respectively