Gait alterations in peripheral arterial disease are not worsened by the presence of diabetes

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a vascular disease where atherosclerotic blockages restrict blood flow to muscles in the lower extremities. Diabetes is a common co-morbid condition in PAD and has been shown to increase the risk of lower extremity amputation compared to PAD without diabetes. Although there is a clear pathological relationship between diabetes and PAD, the gait mechanics involved remain indistinct. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether the presence of diabetes in addition to PAD results in greater functional impairment during ambulation. Twenty-three subjects with PAD and twelve controls consented to participate in the research. The subjects were divided into three groups: PAD and no comorbidities (PAD-NC), PAD with diabetes (PAD-D), and healthy controls. Reflective markers were placed in anatomical locations captured with a 12-camera motion capture system (Motion Analysis Corp, Santa Rosa, CA). Kinematics (60 Hz) and kinetics (600 Hz) were captured using Cortex software (Motion Analysis Corp, Santa Rosa, CA) while subjects walked over ground in pain free and pain conditions. Subjects walked over force plates (AMTI, Watertown, MA, USA) for 5 trials in each condition. Marker position data was exported and analyzed using MATLAB (Mathworks, Inc., Natick, MA) and Visual 3D (Germantown, MD, USA). A mixed ANOVA was used to determine the main effect for group (PAD-NC and PAD-D) and condition (pain free and pain) and Bonferroni was used in the case of significant interactions. Additionally, independent t-tests were used to compare means between control and PAD groups at baseline. In the comparisons with PAD patients, an effect of condition was found for stride length, (F1, 20=4.75, p=0.041), and ankle power generation, (F1, 21=8.15, p=0.009) for PAD groups where both values decreased from the pain free to pain condition. No main effect of group or any interaction of group and condition were found. Regarding the comparisons to controls, ankle power generation was greater in controls with significant differences (M=2.59, SE=.13) from PAD-NC (M=2.04, SE=.42, p=.007) and PAD-D (M=1.96, SE=.58, p=.009). Hip flexor moment was also greater in controls (M=-0.93, SE=0.06) but was only significantly different from PAD-D (M=-0.67, SE=0.08, p=0.012). Another significant difference between controls (M=-0.45, SE=0.05) and PAD-D (M=-0.25, SE=0.06, p=0.017) was found for knee power. These results suggest that the PAD-D group has more differences than PAD-NC from healthy controls during pain-free ambulation. Lack of significant group effects between PAD-NC and PAD-D indicates that the mechanisms driving gait deficiencies in patients with PAD are larger than the addition of diabetes on biomechanical variables during locomotion

Insight into Solvent Coordination of an Iron Porphyrin Hydroxylamine Complex from Spectroscopy and DFT Calculations

The reduction of Fe(OEP)(NO) in the presence of substituted phenols leads to a three‐electron reduction to form Fe(OEP)(NH2OH), which has been characterized by visible spectroscopy and electron stoichiometry. In this work, we have further characterized this species using infrared and 1H NMR spectroscopy, along with DFT calculations. The infrared bands in the 3400–3600 cm–1 region, due to hydroxylamine, were significantly downshifted to the 2500–2700 cm–1 region when 4‐[D1]chlorophenol replaced the normal abundance acid. Using 1H NMR spectroscopy, the hydroxylamine and the meso‐protons were identified. From DFT calculations, the 1H NMR spectra were most consistent with a six‐coordinate complex, Fe(OEP)(NH2OH)(THF)

Redox and Spectroscopic Properties of Iron Porphyrin Nitroxyl in the Presence of Weak Acids

The spectroelectrochemistry and voltammetry of Fe(OEP) (NO) in the presence of substituted phenols was studied. Cyclic voltammetry showed that two closely spaced waves were observed for the reduction of Fe(OEP) (NO) in the presence of substituted phenols. The first wave was a single electron reduction under voltammetric conditions. The second wave was kinetically controlled, multielectron process. Visible spectroelectrochemistry of Fe(OEP) (NO) in the presence of substituted phenols showed that three species were present during the electrolysis. Additional spectroscopic studies indicated that the two reduction species were Fe(OEP) (HNO) and Fe(OEP)(H2NOH). The Fe(OEP) (HNO) species, which can be generated chemically, was stable over a period of hours. Additional acid did not lead to further protonation. Proton NMR spectroscopy confirmed the Fe(OEP) (HNO) species could be deprotonated under basic conditions. The third species, Fe(OEP)(H2NOH), was generated by the further reduction of the chemically generated Fe(OEP) (HNO) complex. Both the Fe(OEP) (HNO) and Fe(OEP)(H2NOH) complexes could be slowly oxidized back to Fe(OEP) (NO). At millimolar concentrations of Fe(OEP) (HNO), there was no evidence for the disproportionation of Fe(OEP) (HNO) to Fe(OEP) (NO) and H2 in the presence of substituted phenols. Nor was there evidence for the generation of N2O. The FTIR spectroelectrochemistry showed changes in the infrared spectra in the presence of substituted phenols, but no isotopic sensitive bands were observed for the reduced species between 1450 and 1200 cm–1. This may be because the νNO band shifted into a region (1500–1450 cm–1) where it would be difficult to observe

Antisopp aktivitet av kitosan/chitooligosakkarider alene og i kombinasjon med kjemiske fungicider mot sopp-patogener

Botrytis cinerea Pers. ex Fr. is an economically important pathogen causing gray mold in over 200 plants species worldwide, including strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa). In Norway, gray mold is economically the most important disease on strawberry and may cause 30-60% yield loss. In Bangladesh, the main constraint of chickpea production is attack by B. cinerea, which may cause up to complete yield loss. Thus farmers are highly concerned to control this disease but they are mainly dependent on commercially available chemical fungicides. In developing countries like Bangladesh, farmers use excessive amounts of chemical fungicides to control B. cinerea without having safety knowledge about chemical fungicides and this creates health, environmental and disease resistance problems. This PhD project studied chitosan and chitooligosaccharides (CHOS) as alternatives and means to reduce the use of chemical fungicides without reduced efficacy. Chitosan or CHOS alone and mixtures of chitosan or CHOS combined with reduced amounts of chemical fungicides were tested in vitro (in microtiter plates) and in vivo (strawberry flower, chickpea and bean leaf assays) against B. cinerea. Chitosan is a biopolymer obtained by partial deacetylation of chitin. The antifungal activity of chitosan depends on factors (Paper I) such as the fraction of acetylation (FA) (chitosan with low FA was more inhibitory to B. cinerea than high FA), the pH and cations present in the media (the antifungal activity of chitosan with low FA was higher at pH 6 than 3-5 and increasing Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations in the media reduced the ability of chitosan to inhibit B. cinerea). The antifungal activity of chitosan also depended on the average degree of polymerization (DPn) CHOS with DPn 23 and 40 were the most effective inhibiting germination of all tested pathogens. Mucor piriformis and B. cinerea BCBD were sensitive (in terms of germination inhibition) to a wide range of CHOS (DPn 75, 58, 48, 40, 15; DPn 40, 23, 15 and 11 respectively), but B. cinerea BC 101 was only inhibited by DPn 23-40 (Paper III). As chitosan or CHOS alone were not as effective as chemical fungicides, the combination of chitosan or CHOS with chemical fungicides were tested to control B. cinerea in vitro and in vivo (Paper II and VI). Our study showed that both chitosan and CHOS showed synergism (in terms of inhibiting B. cinerea) with chemical fungicides and CHOS were more effective than chitosan. In vitro, CHOS showed high levels of synergism with all tested fungicides, i.e. CHOS DPn 23 (5 μg mL-1), Amistar and Signum (10 μg mL-1) alone only showed 2-4% germination inhibition of B. cinerea BC 101, but the combinations of CHOS and Amistar or CHOS and Signum, in the aforementioned concentrations and DPn, showed >90% germination inhibition. Chitosan (DPn 206) only showed low levels of synergism with Teldor and Switch. In vivo bioassay of strawberry flowers and chickpea leaves showed a similar trend as in vitro where CHOS showed more synergism with chemical fungicides than chitosan (DPn 206) in inhibiting B. cinerea. However, there was no difference between chitosan and CHOS in combination with chemical fungicides to reduce bean leaf infection by B. cinerea. Our study suggested that CHOS used in combination with chemical fungicides could considerably reduce the need for chemical fungicides by enhancing their efficacy. Application of this knowledge in Integrated Pest Management programs against plant pathogens could reduce the need for chemical fungicides, thus causing less harm for the environment and human health.Botrytis cinerea Pers. ex Fr. er en økonomisk viktig patogen som forårsaker gråskimmel på over 200 plantearter over hele verden, deriblant jordbær (Fragaria × ananassa). I Norge, er gråskimmel den økonomisk viktigste sykdommen på jordbær og kan føre til 30-60% avlingstap. I Bangladesh, er det alvorligste problemet i kikkerter produksjonen, angrep av B. cinerea, som kan føre opp til totalt tap av avlingen. Bøndene er derfor svært opptatt av å kontrollere denne sykdommen og de er avhengig av å benytte kommersielt tilgjengelige kjemiske fungicider. I utviklingslandene som Bangladesh, bruker bøndene store mengder kjemiske fungicider for kontroll av B. cinerea uten å ha nødvendig sikkerhetsopplæring og dette skaper helse, miljø og sykdomsresistens problemer. I dette PhD prosjektet ble det undersøkt om kitosan og kitooligosakkarider (CHOS) kan være et alternativ for å redusere bruken av kjemiske fungicider uten å redusere sykdomskontrollen. Chitosan eller CHOS alene eller en blanding av kitosan eller CHOS kombinert med redusert mengde kjemiske fungicider ble testet in vitro (i mikrotiter plater) og in vivo (på jordbær blomster, kikkerter blad eller bønne blad) mot B. cinerea. Kitosan er en biopolymer fremstilt ved partsiell deasetylering av kitin. Antisopp aktivitet av kitosan er avhengig av faktorer (Paper I) slik som fraksjonen av acetylering (FA) (kitosan med lav FA var mer hemmende overfor B. cinerea enn kitosan med høy FA), pH og kationer tilstede i media (den antifungal aktivitet av kitosan med lav FA var høyere ved pH 6 enn ved 3-5 og økende Ca2+ og Mg2+ konsentrasjoner i media reduserte evne kitosan hadde til å inhibere B. cinerea). Antisopp aktivitet av kitosan er også avhengig av gjennomsnittlig grad av polymerisering (DPn) av kitosan. CHOS med DPn 23 og 40 var de mest effektive hemmere av spiring av alle testede patogener. Mucor piriformis og B. cinerea BCBD var følsomme (i form av spiring inhibering) til et bredt spekter av CHOS (DPn 75, 58, 48, 40, 15; DPn 40, 23, 15 og 11 henholdsvis), mens B. cinerea BC 101 bare ble hemmet av DPn 23-40 (Paper III). Fordi kitosan eller CHOS alene ikke var så effektive som kjemiske fungicider, ble blandinger av kitosan eller CHOS med kjemiske fungicider testet mot B. cinerea in vitro og in vivo. (Papir II og VI). Vår studier viste at både kitosan og CHOS hadde evnen til å vise synergisme (i form av å hemme B. cinerea) med kjemiske soppmidler og CHOS var mer effektiv enn kitosan. In vitro viste CHOS høye nivåer av synergisme med alle testede fungicider, dvs. mens CHOS DPn 23 (5 ug ml-1), Amistar og Signum (10 μg ml-1) alene bare viste 2-4% spiring hemming av B. cinerea BC 101, viste kombinasjoner av CHOS og Amistar eller CHOS og Signum, i de nevnte konsentrasjoner og DPN, > 90% spire hemming. Kitosan (DPn 206) viste lave nivåer av synergisme med Teldor og Switch. In vivo biotester med jordbær blomster og kikertblader viste en lignende trend som in vitro hvor CHOS var mer effektivt og vise større synergisme med kjemiske soppmidler enn kitosan (DPn 206) i hemning av B. cinerea. Imidlertid var det ingen forskjell mellom kitosan og CHOS i kombinasjon med kjemiske fungicider for å redusere infeksjon av bønneblader med B. cinerea. Vår studier viser at CHOS brukt i kombinasjon med kjemiske soppmidler kan redusere behovet for kjemiske soppmidler ved å styrke deres effekt. Anvendelsen av denne kunnskapen i Integrert plantevern (IPM) mot plantesykdommer kan redusere behovet for kjemiske soppmidler og dermed forårsaker mindre skade for miljøet og menneskers helse

Data-Driven Research On Engineering Design Thinking And Behaviors In Computer-Aided Systems Design: Analysis, Modeling, And Prediction

Research on design thinking and design decision-making is vital for discovering and utilizing beneficial design patterns, strategies, and heuristics of human designers in solving engineering design problems. It is also essential for the development of new algorithms embedded with human intelligence and can facilitate human-computer interactions. However, modeling design thinking is challenging because it takes place in the designer’s mind, which is intricate, implicit, and tacit. For an in-depth understanding of design thinking, fine-grained design behavioral data are important because they are the critical link in studying the relationship between design thinking, design decisions, design actions, and design performance. Therefore, the research in my dissertation aims to develop a new research platform and new research approaches to enable fine-grained data-driven methodology that helps foundation ally understand the designers’ thinking and decision-making strategies in engineering design. To achieve this goal, my research has focused on modeling, analysis, and prediction of design thinking and designers’ sequential decision-making behaviors. In the modeling work, different design behaviors, including design action preferences, one step sequential decision behavior, contextual behavior, long short-term memory behavior, and reflective thinking behavior, are characterized and computationally modeled using statis tical and machine learning techniques. For example, to model designers’ sequential decision making, a novel approach is developed by integrating the Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) design process model into deep learning methods, e.g., the long short-term memory (LSTM) model and the gated recurrent unit (GRU) model. In the work on analysis, this dissertation focuses primarily on different clustering analysis techniques. Based on the behaviors modeled, designers showing similar behavioral patterns can be clustered, from which the common design patterns can be identified. Another analysis performed in this dissertation is on the comparative study of different sequential learning techniques, e.g., deep learning models versus Markov chain models, in modeling sequential decision-making behaviors of human designers. This study compares the prediction accuracy of different models and helps us obtain a better understanding of the performance of deep-learning models in modeling sequential design decisions. Finally, in the work related to prediction, this dissertation aims to predict sequential design decisions and actions. We first test the model that integrates the FBS model with various deep-learning models for the prediction and evaluate the performance of the model. Then, to improve the accuracy of the prediction, we develop two approaches that directly and indirectly combine designer-related attributes (static data) and designers’ action sequences (dynamic data) within the deep learning-based framework. The results show that with ap propriate configurations, the deep-learning model with both static data and dynamic data outperforms the models that only rely on the design action sequence. Finally, I developed an artificial design agent using reinforcement learning with a data-driven reward mechanism based on the Markov chain model to mimic human design behavior. The model also helps validate the hypothesis that the design knowledge learned by the agent from one design problem is transferable to new design problems. To support fine-grained design behavioral data collection and validate the proposed approaches, we develop a computer-aided design (CAD)-based research platform in the application context of renewable engineering systems design. Data are collected through three design case studies, i.e., a solarized home design problem, a solarized parking lot design problem, and a design challenge on solarizing the University of Arkansas (UARK) campus. The contribution of this dissertation can be summarized in the following aspects. First, a novel research platform is developed that can collect fine-grained design behavior data in support of design thinking research. Second, new research approaches are developed to characterize design behaviors from multiple dimensions in a latent space of design thinking. We refer to such a latent representation of design thinking as design embedding. Furthermore, using deep learning techniques, several different predictive models are developed that can successfully predict human sequential design decisions with prediction accuracy higher than traditional sequential learning models. Third, by analyzing designers’ one-step sequential design behaviors, common and beneficial design patterns are identified. These patterns are found to exist in many high-performing designers in the three respective design problems studied. Fourth, new knowledge has been obtained on the ability of deep learning-based models versus traditional sequential learning models to predict sequential design decisions of human designers. Finally, a novel research approach is developed that helps test the hypothesis of transferability of design knowledge. In general, this dissertation creates a new avenue for investigating designers’ thinking and decision-making behaviors in systems design context based on the data collected from a CAD environment and tested the capability of various deep-learning algorithms in predicting human sequential design decisions

Catalytic Reduction of Bisulfite by Myoglobin/Surfactant Films

The voltammetry of bisulfite at a film formed with myoglobin was studied in aqueous solutions. A broad wave was observed for the reduction of bisulfite. Using controlled potential electrolysis, the reduction at potentials positive of the FeII/FeIwave formed dithionite exclusively. As the potential approached the region for the FeII/FeI reduction, bisulfite was reduced primarily to HS−. Even at the negative potentials, some dithionite was still formed, which could then be electrochemically reduced to thiosulfate. Analysis of the formation of HS−, dithionite and thiosulfate during the electrolysis was consistent with the parallel formation of HS−and dithionite, the latter of which was reduced to thiosulfate. Thiosulfate was verified by chemical analysis of the products from controlled potential electrolysis of the solution, and dithionite was observed spectroscopically using spectroelectro−chemistry

FM and Web Based Solution: A Novel Approach to Monitor and Control Home Appliances using Mobile Phone

The capacity of controlling various electrical and electronics devices in a wireless and remote fashion has provided a great convenience to many people in life. Through a wireless distant control system, people can do remote operation without directly accessing the host of home appliances like fan, lamp, TV, washing machines and others. Pocket switch is one of these types of system which we can use to control home appliances smartly from anywhere. The main objective of this work is to make such a system which controls the home appliances remotely using Web service and FM technology from a mobile phone. This paper discusses two methods of controlling home appliances. The first one is web service based where server will generate a command to the controller computer and the second one is FM network based where server will synthesize the SMS in to speech

Redox and Spectroscopic Properties of Protonated Species of Iron Porphyrin Nitroxlys and Their Analogues

Nitrite reduction to ammonia or nitrous oxide involves a series of electron transfer and protonation steps which are carried out by assimilatory or dissimilatory nitrite reductases. In the assimilatory process, nitrite incorporated into the biomass while in the dissimilatory process, it is excreted from the cell and the reaction is a source of energy. The complexes that will be studied in this work are models for assimilatory (siroheme) and dissimilatory (heme d1 ) nitrite reductases. Iron porphyrin nitrosyls were reduced in the presence of weak acids such as phenol and substituted phenols. Voltammetric techniques such as cyclic and rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE) voltammetry were employed to elucidate the reduction/protonation reaction mechanism and kinetics. Cyclic voltammograms showed two closely spaced waves for the reduction of Fe(OEP)(NO) (OEP= octaethylporphyrin) in the presence of substituted phenols. The first wave corresponded to a single electron reduction and the second wave was a multielectron process which was kinetically controlled. To determine the kinetics of the first protonation, RRDE voltammetry on the first wave was studied. UV-visible spectroelectrochemistry was carried out to identify the protonated species that were formed. The results indicated that the two-protonated species were present, which were identified as Fe(OEP)(HNO) and Fe(OEP)(NH2OH). The formation of these two species was suppressed by adding the conjugate base of the substituted phenol to the solution. FTIR spectroelectrochemistry was also employed to confirm those protonated species. Fe(OEP)(HNO) and Fe(OEP)(NH2OH) were generated chemically and verified by UV-visible, FTIR and NMR spectroscopy. Other models showed similar behavior with slight differences. A series of iron corrole nitrosyl complexes were also studied. Even though the one electron reduction species were stable in both the voltammetric and spectroelectrochemical timescale, the protonation of reduced species was not observed in the experimental time scale

Knowledge of, attitude toward and professional experience with emergency contraceptives among physicians in Sikkim, India

Background: Objective of current study was to assess knowledge of, attitude toward and professional experience with emergency contraceptives (EC) among doctors practicing in Sikkim, India.Methods: Between November 2012 to June 2013, a pre-designed, pretested, self-administered anonymous questionnaire was sent to the doctors practicing in different hospitals of Sikkim. The questionnaire included items on knowledge, attitude, and professional experience of doctors with EC.Results: Of the 285 doctors invited, 210 (73.7%) returned the questionnaire. Although the entire participant responded that they were aware of EC, objective assessment revealed limited knowledge on various aspects of EC. Correct time frame of EC pills use was aware by 63%, while only 45% were aware of correct dosage regime of levonorgestrel pill. Actual level of knowledge was present only in 48.6% doctors. Misconceptions about EC were common, more than half of the doctors felt that easy availability and promotion might increase sexual promiscuity and discourage use of regular contraceptives. Twenty percent doctor used EC either for themselves or for their spouses. Only 42.4% doctors ever recommended or prescribed EC to their clients. Those who never recommended or prescribed EC, the common reasons offered were their concerns that EC may discourage use of regular contraceptives (63.6%), may increase sexual promiscuity (46.3%) and their inadequate knowledge (43.8%).Conclusions: Knowledge and professional experience about emergency contraception among participant doctors was inadequate. EC should be included in continuing medical educational programmes, in workshops and seminars for doctors, which would be helpful in creating awareness and remove misconception about EC among doctors.

Assessment of quality of care provided at a tertiary hospital of Sikkim by patient's degree of responsiveness

Background: Quality of care is concerned with the interface between provider and patients, between health services and community. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the quality of provided health care and patient experiences at a tertiary hospital based on the concept of responsiveness.Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey among reproductive women of Central Referral Hospital over a period of 5 months from August 2016 to December 2016. A pre-designed, pretested, self-administered response questionnaire on rate of service utilization using the WHO health system responsiveness modulewas used.Results: A total of 450 women were approached and requested to participate during the study period of which 374 women completed the survey. According to the evaluation of in-patient care (Table 2), "able to change doctor if wanted" showed the lowest degree of responsiveness (52.7%). A significant proportion of patients experienced discrimination for different reasons: 9.6% reported feeling they had been treated worse than others because of lack of money, while a similar proportion reported they had been discriminated for the language they speak or because they were having insurance from a company.Conclusions: Health care access in terms of prolong waiting  time in the reception and before being attended by doctor, difficulty to change doctor when wanted and discriminatory experiences were identified as priority areas for actions to improve responsiveness and patient satisfaction