Portable high-end instrument for in-vivo infrared spectroscopy using spread spectrum modulation

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can be employed to monitor noninvasively and continuously local changes in hemodynamics and oxygenation of human tissues. In particular, the technique can be particularly useful for muscular functional monitoring during unattended physical activity. A portable NIRS research-grade acquisition system, dedicated to low-noise measurements during muscular exercise, is presented. A spread-spectrum multiplexing scheme significantly enhances system performance. The resulting instrument is compact, lightweight and efficient. Preliminary tests on oxygen consumption during exercise and venous occlusion show excellent detectivity and time response

Locally triggered seismicity in the central Swiss Alps following the large rainfall event of August 2005

In 2005 August, an unusual series of 47 earthquakes occurred over a 12-hr period in central Switzerland. The earthquakes occurred at the end of 3-d period of intensive rainfall, with over 300 mm of precipitation. The highest seismicity occurred as two distinct clusters in the region of Muotatal and Riemenstalden, Switzerland, a well-known Karst area that received a particularly large amount of rainfall. The large increase in seismicity, compared to the background, and the short time delay between the onset of the intense rainfall and the seismicity strongly suggest that earthquakes were triggered by rainfall. In our preferred model, an increase in fluid pressure at the surface due to a large amount of rain leads to a local increase in pore fluid pressure at depth. The increase in pore fluid pressure will reduce the shear strength of a porous medium by counteracting normal stress and, at the end, provoke failure. The series of triggered earthquakes in central Switzerland occurred in regions that have been seismically active in the past, showing similar hypocentre locations and magnitudes. This suggests that these earthquakes occurred on existing faults that were critically stressed. We modelled the intense rainfall as a step increase in fluid pressure at the surface that migrates to greater depths following the solution of the one-dimensional diffusion equation in a homogeneous half space. This allowed us to estimate the hydraulic diffusivity by plotting triggered seismicity in a time-depth plot. We found values of hydraulic diffusivity in the range from 0.01 to 0.5 m2 s−1 for our study area. These values are in good agreement with previous studies on earthquakes that were triggered by fluids, supporting the idea that the observed earthquake series was triggered by the large amount of rainfal

Inspiratory muscle training and its effect on indices of physiological and perceived stress during incremental walking exercise in normobaric hypoxia

This study evaluated the effects of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) on inspiratory muscle fatigue (IMF) and physiological and perceptual responses during trekking-specific exercise. An 8-week IMT program was completed by 21 males (age 32.4 ± 9.61 years, VO2peak 58.8 ± 6.75 mL/kg/min) randomised within matched pairs to either the IMT group (n = 11) or the placebo group [(P), n = 9]. Twice daily, participants completed 30 (IMT) or 60 (P) inspiratory efforts using a Powerbreathe initially set at a resistance of 50% (IMT) or used at 15% (P) of maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) throughout. A loaded (12.5 kg) 39-minute incremental walking protocol (3–5 km/hour and 1–15% gradient) was completed in normobaric hypoxia (PIO2 = 110 mmHg, 3000 m) before and after training. MIP increased from 164 to 188 cmH2O (18%) and from 161 to 171 cmH2O (6%) in the IMT and P groups (P = 0.02). The 95% CI for IMT showed a significant improvement in MIP (5.21±43.33 cmH2O), but not for P. IMF during exercise (MIP) was*5%, showing no training effect for either IMT or P (P = 0.23). Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was consistently reduced (*1) throughout exercise following training for IMT, but not for P (P = 0.03). The mean blood lactate concentration during exercise was significantly reduced by 0.26 and 0.15 mmol/L in IMT and P (P = 0.00), with no differences between groups (P = 0.34). Rating of dyspnoea during exercise decreased (*0.4) following IMT but increased (*0.3) following P (P = 0.01). IMT may attenuate the increased physiological and perceived exercise stress experienced during normobaric hypoxia, which may benefit moderate altitude expedition

Bayesian imaging of the 2000 Western Tottori (Japan) earthquake through fitting of strong motion and GPS data

We image the rupture process of the 2000 Western Tottori earthquake (Mw = 6.6) through fitting of strong motion and GPS data. We consider an observational network consisting of 18 strong motion and 16 GPS stations, located within three fault lengths from the epicentre. We assume a planar fault and compute Green's functions for a 1-D velocity model. The earthquake rupture is described as a shear dislocation parameterized in terms of peak slip velocity, rake angle, rupture time and rise time, defined on a regular grid of nodes on the fault surface and derived at inner points through bilinear interpolation. Our inversion procedure is based on a Bayesian approach. The solution of the inverse problem is stated in terms of a posterior probability density function (pdf), representing the conjunction of prior information with information contained in the data and in the physical law relating model parameters with data. Inferences on model parameters are thus expressed in terms of posterior marginal pdfs. Due to the non-linearity of the problem, we use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method, based on the Metropolis algorithm, to compute posterior marginals. Except for a few cases posterior marginals do not show a Gaussian-like distribution. This prevents us from providing a mean model and from characterizing uncertainties in terms of standard deviations only. Resolution on each single parameter is analysed by looking at the difference between prior and posterior marginal pdfs. Posterior marginals indicate that the best resolved feature is a major slip patch (peak value of 311 ± 140 cm), located between the hypocentre and the top edge of the fault, centered at a depth of 4.5 km. This shallow slip patch is triggered about 3 s after the earthquake nucleated and required about 4 s to reach its final slip value. The presence of this shallow slip patch is common to all previous studies. In contrast to some previous studies, we do not identify any significant slip (>1 m) at the bottom of the fault. We also compare inferences from both strong motion and GPS data with inferences derived from strong motion data only. In both cases the shallow slip patch is identified. At other locations, the main effect of the GPS data is in reducing the probability associated with high values of slip. GPS data reduce the presence of spurious fault slip and therefore strongly influence the resulting final seismic momen

A smoothed stochastic earthquake rate model considering seismicity and fault moment release for Europe

We present a time-independent gridded earthquake rate forecast for the European region including Turkey. The spatial component of our model is based on kernel density estimation techniques, which we applied to both past earthquake locations and fault moment release on mapped crustal faults and subduction zone interfaces with assigned slip rates. Our forecast relies on the assumption that the locations of past seismicity is a good guide to future seismicity, and that future large-magnitude events occur more likely in the vicinity of known faults. We show that the optimal weighted sum of the corresponding two spatial densities depends on the magnitude range considered. The kernel bandwidths and density weighting function are optimized using retrospective likelihood-based forecast experiments. We computed earthquake activity rates (a- and b-value) of the truncated Gutenberg-Richter distribution separately for crustal and subduction seismicity based on a maximum likelihood approach that considers the spatial and temporal completeness history of the catalogue. The final annual rate of our forecast is purely driven by the maximum likelihood fit of activity rates to the catalogue data, whereas its spatial component incorporates contributions from both earthquake and fault moment-rate densities. Our model constitutes one branch of the earthquake source model logic tree of the 2013 European seismic hazard model released by the EU-FP7 project ‘Seismic HAzard haRmonization in Europe' (SHARE) and contributes to the assessment of epistemic uncertainties in earthquake activity rates. We performed retrospective and pseudo-prospective likelihood consistency tests to underline the reliability of our model and SHARE's area source model (ASM) using the testing algorithms applied in the collaboratory for the study of earthquake predictability (CSEP). We comparatively tested our model's forecasting skill against the ASM and find a statistically significant better performance for testing periods of 10-20yr. The testing results suggest that our model is a viable candidate model to serve for long-term forecasting on timescales of years to decades for the European regio

Earthquake detection capability of the Swiss Seismic Network

A reliable estimate of completeness magnitudes is vital for many seismicity- and hazard-related studies. Here we adopted and further developed the Probability-based Magnitude of Completeness (PMC) method. This method determines network detection completeness (MP) using only empirical data: earthquake catalogue, phase picks and station information. To evaluate the applicability to low- or moderate-seismicity regions, we performed a case study in Switzerland. The Swiss Seismic Network (SSN) at present is recording seismicity with one of the densest networks of broad-band sensors in Europe. Based on data from 1983 January 1 to 2008 March 31, we found strong spatio-temporal variability of network completeness: the highest value of MP in Switzerland at present is 2.5 in the far southwest, close to the national boundary, whereas MP is lower than 1.6 in high-seismicity areas. Thus, events of magnitude 2.5 can be detected in all of Switzerland. We evaluated the temporal evolution of MP for the last 20 yr, showing the successful improvement of the SSN. We next introduced the calculation of uncertainties to the probabilistic method using a bootstrap approach. The results show that the uncertainties in completeness magnitudes are generally less than 0.1 magnitude units, implying that the method generates stable estimates of completeness magnitudes. We explored the possible use of PMC: (1) as a tool to estimate the number of missing earthquakes in moderate-seismicity regions and (2) as a network planning tool with simulation computations of installations of one or more virtual stations to assess the completeness and identify appropriate locations for new station installations. We compared our results with an existing study of the completeness based on detecting the point of deviation from a power law in the earthquake-size distribution. In general, the new approach provides higher estimates of the completeness magnitude than the traditional one. We associate this observation with the difference in the sensitivity of the two approaches in periods where the event detectability of the seismic networks is low. Our results allow us to move towards a full description of completeness as a function of space and time, which can be used for hazard-model development and forecast-model testing, showing an illustrative example of the applicability of the PMC method to regions with low to moderate seismicit

Enantioselective HF loss promoted by resonant two photon ionization of supersonically expanded (R)-1-phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol clusters.

(R)-1-Phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol and its hydrogen bonded adducts with achiral (water, tetrahydrofuran) and chiral solvent mols. ((R)- and (S)-butan-2-ol, (R)- and (S)-3-hydroxy-tetrahydrofuran) have been ionized by resonant two-photon absorption. The presence of photofragments, attributable to the occurrence of a hydrogen fluoride loss reaction, has been interpreted with the aid of theor. predictions at the DFT level of theory with the inclusion of dispersive terms. The HF elimination process takes place by a mechanism involving the preliminary C.alpha.-H hydrogen transfer to an hydroxyl oxygen assisted by the solvent mol. which is followed by extrusion of the HF mol. The calcd. energy barriers depend on the type of solvent as well as on its configuration and are consistent with the obsd. fragmentation ratios

Pregnant and Poor in the Suburb: The Experiences of Economically Disadvantaged Women of Color with Prenatal Services in a Wealthy Suburban County

This study explores the perinatal care experiences of disadvantaged women of color in a wealthy U.S. suburb. The women were asked to discuss the availability of health and social services during pregnancy, continuity of provider and/or treatment, communication issues with their providers, and the amount and type ofsupport and resources available. Many of the questions covered in literature on urban poverty emerged as well in this suburban sample, including economic and psychosocial barriers, and continuity and communication issues between low-income/minority women and providers of health and social services. Additional barriers in the suburbs were also discussed, including problems of access to care and services, with health insurance/reimbursement or financial accessibility, transportation and housing, and getting needed information. Overall findings support the argument that suburban poverty is an overlooked issue contributing to health disparities in infant mortality

Tools for in vitro propagation/synchronization of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha and application of a validated HPLC-ESI-MS-MS method for glutathione and phytochelatin analysis

Bryophytes, due to their poikilohydric nature and peculiar traits, are useful and versatile organisms for studies on metal accumulation and detoxification in plants. Among bryophytes, the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha is an excellent candidate as a model organism, having a key role in plant evolutionary history. In particular, M. polymorpha axenic cultivation of gametophytes offers several advantages, such as fast growth, easy propagation and high efficiency of crossing. Thus, the main purpose of this work was to promote and validate experimental procedures useful in the establishment of a standardized set-up of M. polymorpha gametophytes, as well as to study cadmium detoxification processes in terms of thiol-peptide production, detection and characterisation by HPLC-mass spectrometry. The results show how variations in the composition of the Murashige and Skoog medium impact the growth rate or development of this liverwort, and what levels of glutathione and phytochelatins are produced by gametophytes to counteract cadmium stress

Contribution of 3H-thymidine labelling index and flow cytometric S-phase in predicting survival of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The 3H-thymidine labelling index (3H-dT LI) of cell suspensions from fresh material and the flow cytometric S-phase (FCM-S) of nuclei recovered from paraffin blocks were determined on the same pathologic lymph node specimen for 190 non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs). FCM-S was defined by a planimetric method and by an optimization procedure. Poor correlation coefficients were observed among the three cell kinetic variables. All three cell kinetic variables were significant indicators of 8-year survival and median survival time. The life-regression procedure evidenced a significant relative contribution of 3H-dT LI and FCM-S, thus suggesting a different biologic meaning of the two cell kinetic variables. This finding was further supported by evidence that simultaneous use of 3H-dT LI and FCM-S can identify groups of patients with different survival better than when either modality is used alone. Multivariate analysis indicated that the risk groups as defined by cell kinetic variables are predictors of survival even in the presence of established factors such as histology and stage