Low-power low-noise CMOS amplifier for neural recording applications

Journal ArticleThere is a need among scientists and clinicians for low-noise low-power biosignal amplifiers capable of amplifying signals in the millihertz-to-kilohertz range while rejecting large dc offsets generated at the electrode-tissue interface. The advent of fully implantable multielectrode arrays has created the need for fully integrated micropower amplifiers. We designed and tested a novel bioamplifier that uses a MOS-bipolar pseudoresistor element to amplify low-frequency signals down to the millihertz range while rejecting large dc offsets. We derive the theoretical noise-power tradeoff limit-the noise efficiency factor-for this amplifier and demonstrate that our VLSI implementation approaches this limit by selectively operating MOS transistors in either weak or strong inversion. The resulting amplifier, built in a standard 1.5- m CMOS process, passes signals from 0.025 Hz to 7.2 kHz with an input-referred noise of 2.2 Vrms and a power dissipation of 80 W while consuming 0.16 mm2 of chip area. Our design technique was also used to develop an electroencephalogram amplifier having a bandwidth of 30 Hz and a power dissipation of 0.9 W while maintaining a similar noise-power tradeoff

Distribution of machine information using Blackboard designed component for remote monitoring of reconfigurable manufacturing systems

A blackboard-based design for a system component called the "Broadcaster" is described in this paper. It supports remote monitoring of reconfigurable manufacturing systems using a novel system architecture coupled with the Component-Based system paradigm. The design of this component has been evaluated using a case study on a web services-enabled test rig funded by the Ford Motor Company, U. K. The test rig has been implemented using a fully distributed control device called FTB, designed by the Schneider Electric Company. Evaluation of this component has been carried out using three scenario test cases which demonstrate the potentials offered when deploying this solution to a real production environment. The system component not only operates in a heterogeneous reconfigurable manufacturing environment, offering a vendor-independent solution to monitoring machines, but it also supports remote monitoring of the machines throughout their development and management lifecycles

Intraspecific Epitopic Variation in a Carbohydrate Antigen Exposed on the Surface of Trichostrongylus colubriformis Infective L3 Larvae

The carbohydrate larval antigen, CarLA, is present on the exposed surface of all strongylid nematode infective L3 larvae tested, and antibodies against CarLA can promote rapid immune rejection of incoming Trichostrongylus colubriformis larvae in sheep. A library of ovine recombinant single chain Fv (scFv) antibody fragments, displayed on phage, was prepared from B cell mRNA of field-immune sheep. Phage displaying scFvs that bind to the surface of living exsheathed T. colubriformis L3 larvae were identified, and the majority of worm-binding scFvs recognized CarLA. Characterization of greater than 500 worm surface binding phage resulted in the identification of nine different anti-CarLA scFvs that recognized three distinct T. colubriformis CarLA epitopes based on blocking and additive ELISA. All anti-CarLA scFvs were specific to the T. colubriformis species of nematode. Each of the three scFv epitope classes displayed identical Western blot recognition patterns and recognized the exposed surface of living T. colubriformis exsheathed L3 larvae. Surprisingly, each of the anti-CarLA scFvs was able to bind to only a subset of worms. Double-labelling indirect immunofluorescence revealed that the three classes of anti-CarLA scFvs recognize distinct, non-overlapping, T. colubriformis sub-populations. These results demonstrate that individual T. colubriformis L3 larvae display only one of at least three distinct antigenic forms of CarLA on their surface at any given time, and suggest that antigenic variation within CarLA is likely a mechanism of immune evasion in strongylid nematodes

Epidemiology of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) amongst individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF)

AbstractBackgroundInfection by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is often associated with significant morbidity. Limited, conflicting results are published regarding risk factors for pulmonary NTM disease. We analysed factors potentially associated with NTM in a large population of European patients with CF.MethodsWe investigated associations between presence of NTM and various factors for patients registered in the European Cystic Fibrosis Society Patient Registry.Results374 (2.75%) of 13,593 patients studied had at least one positive NTM culture within the study year. Age- and FEV1-adjusted odds of NTM infection was more than 2.5 times higher (95%CI: 1.79; 3.60) in patients infected by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia than in patients not infected (p<0.0001), 2.36 times higher (95%CI: 1.80;3.08) in patients with ABPA than without (p<0.0001), 1.79 times higher (95%CI: 1.34; 2.38) in patients who use bronchodilators than in patients who don't (p<0.0001), 1.49 times higher (95%CI: 1.18; 1.89) in patients who use inhaled antibiotics than in patients who don't (p=0.001), and 1.30 times higher (95%CI: 1.02; 1.66) in patients who use rhDNase than in patients who don't (p=0.032).ConclusionsNTM-positive cultures in individuals with CF are associated with distinct clinical variables. Improved data collection identifying risk factors for NTM infection will allow more focused screening strategies, and influence therapeutic choices and infection control measures in high-risk patients

“Broadcaster”: An architectural description of a prototype supporting real-time remote data propagation in distributed manufacturing

Globalisation of manufacturing activities tend to geographically distribute manufacturing entities, resulting into each entity adopting its own mechanism, for aggregating and analysing real-time shop floor machines' information. The enterprise systems normally employ sophisticated and computationally expensive techniques to access this data, even if they operate remotely having limited network connectivity and system legacies. There is a need to propagate machine information in soft real-time basis to these entities regardless of their geographic locations and / or mechanisms. Authors are presenting an architectural description of a prototype system called the ldquoBroadcasterrdquo which efficiently distributes manufacturing machine information to a number of remotely located global engineering partners. This prototype addresses the emergent system issues like maintainability, reliability, integrity, robustness, flexibility and performance using a heterogeneous composition of ldquoBlackboardrdquo repository model with an event-driven invocation technique, implemented using interface-based strategy. The design and implementation assumes the control environment description to be engineered using the component-based system paradigm. Presently, the prototype is evaluated on a demonstration test rig provided by the Ford Motor Company, which is implemented using a fully Web services distributed control device called FTB, designed by the Schneider Electric Company. Based on the evaluation from the implementation stage, authors have justified and concluded the paper highlighting the key benefits of this approach, and described any future research that is to be carried out

Mycobacteria in Terrestrial Small Mammals on Cattle Farms in Tanzania

The control of bovine tuberculosis and atypical mycobacterioses in cattle in developing countries is important but difficult because of the existence of wildlife reservoirs. In cattle farms in Tanzania, mycobacteria were detected in 7.3% of 645 small mammals and in cow's milk. The cattle farms were divided into “reacting” and “nonreacting” farms, based on tuberculin tests, and more mycobacteria were present in insectivores collected in reacting farms as compared to nonreacting farms. More mycobacteria were also present in insectivores as compared to rodents. All mycobacteria detected by culture and PCR in the small mammals were atypical mycobacteria. Analysis of the presence of mycobacteria in relation to the reactor status of the cattle farms does not exclude transmission between small mammals and cattle but indicates that transmission to cattle from another source of infection is more likely. However, because of the high prevalence of mycobacteria in some small mammal species, these infected animals can pose a risk to humans, especially in areas with a high HIV-prevalence as is the case in Tanzania

On the Biological Foundations of Language: Recent Advances in Language Acquisition, Deterioration, and Neuroscience Begin to Converge

In this paper, experimental results on the study of language loss in pro- dromal Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in the elderly are linked to experimen- tal results from the study of language acquisition in the child, via a tran- sitional stage of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Recent brain imag- ing results from a pilot study comparing prodromal AD and normal ag- ing are reported. Both, behavioral results and their underlying neural underpinnings, identify the source of language deficits in MCI as break- down in syntax–semantics integration. These results are linked to inde- pendent discoveries regarding the ontogeny of language in the child and their neural foundations. It is suggested that these convergent results ad- vance our understanding of the true nature of maturational processes in language, allowing us to reconsider a “regression hypothesis” (e.g., Ribot 1881), wherein later acquisition predicts earliest dissolution

Genomics evolutionary history and diagnostics of the Alternaria alternata species group including apple and Asian pear pathotypes

The Alternaria section alternaria (Alternaria alternata species group) represents a diverse group of saprotrophs, human allergens, and plant pathogens. Alternaria taxonomy has benefited from recent phylogenetic revision but the basis of differentiation between major phylogenetic clades within the group is not yet understood. Furthermore, genomic resources have been limited for the study of host-specific pathotypes. We report near complete genomes of the apple and Asian pear pathotypes as well as draft assemblies for a further 10 isolates representing Alternaria tenuissima and Alternaria arborescens lineages. These assemblies provide the first insights into differentiation of these taxa as well as allowing the description of effector and non-effector profiles of apple and pear conditionally dispensable chromosomes (CDCs). We define the phylogenetic relationship between the isolates sequenced in this study and a further 23 Alternaria spp. based on available genomes. We determine which of these genomes represent MAT1- 1-1 or MAT1-2-1 idiomorphs and designate host-specific pathotypes. We show for the first time that the apple pathotype is polyphyletic, present in both the A. arborescens and A. tenuissima lineages. Furthermore, we profile a wider set of 89 isolates for both mating type idiomorphs and toxin gene markers. Mating-type distribution indicated that gene flow has occurred since the formation of A. tenuissima and A. arborescens lineages. We also developed primers designed to AMT14, a gene from the apple pathotype toxin gene cluster with homologs in all tested pathotypes. These primers allow identification and differentiation of apple, pear, and strawberry pathotypes, providing new tools for pathogen diagnostics

Identification and characterisation of the high-risk surgical population in the United Kingdom

INTRODUCTION: Little is known about mortality rates following general surgical procedures in the United Kingdom. Deaths are most common in the 'high-risk' surgical population consisting mainly of older patients, with coexisting medical disease, who undergo major surgery. Only limited data are presently available to describe this population. The aim of the present study was to estimate the size of the high-risk general surgical population and to describe the outcome and intensive care unit (ICU) resource use. METHODS: Data on inpatient general surgical procedures and ICU admissions in 94 National Health Service hospitals between January 1999 and October 2004 were extracted from the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre database and the CHKS database. High-risk surgical procedures were defined prospectively as those for which the mortality rate was 5% or greater. RESULTS: There were 4,117,727 surgical procedures; 2,893,432 were elective (12,704 deaths; 0.44%) and 1,224,295 were emergencies (65,674 deaths; 5.4%). A high-risk population of 513,924 patients was identified (63,340 deaths; 12.3%), which accounted for 83.8% of deaths but for only 12.5% of procedures. This population had a prolonged hospital stay (median, 16 days; interquartile range, 9–29 days). There were 59,424 ICU admissions (11,398 deaths; 19%). Among admissions directly to the ICU following surgery, there were 31,633 elective admissions with 3,199 deaths (10.1%) and 24,764 emergency admissions with 7,084 deaths (28.6%). The ICU stays were short (median, 1.6 days; interquartile range, 0.8–3.7 days) but hospital admissions for those admitted to the ICU were prolonged (median, 16 days; interquartile range, 10–30 days). Among the ICU population, 40.8% of deaths occurred after the initial discharge from the ICU. The highest mortality rate (39%) occurred in the population admitted to the ICU following initial postoperative care on a standard ward. CONCLUSION: A large high-risk surgical population accounts for 12.5% of surgical procedures but for more than 80% of deaths. Despite high mortality rates, fewer than 15% of these patients are admitted to the ICU

Spatially Resolving a Starburst Galaxy at Hard X-ray Energies: NuSTAR, Chandra, AND VLBA Observations of NGC 253

Prior to the launch of NuSTAR, it was not feasible to spatially resolve the hard (E > 10 keV) emission from galaxies beyond the Local Group. The combined NuSTAR dataset, comprised of three ~165 ks observations, allows spatial characterization of the hard X-ray emission in the galaxy NGC 253 for the first time. As a follow up to our initial study of its nuclear region, we present the first results concerning the full galaxy from simultaneous NuSTAR, Chandra, and VLBA monitoring of the local starburst galaxy NGC 253. Above ~10 keV, nearly all the emission is concentrated within 100" of the galactic center, produced almost exclusively by three nuclear sources, an off-nuclear ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX), and a pulsar candidate that we identify for the first time in these observations. We detect 21 distinct sources in energy bands up to 25 keV, mostly consisting of intermediate state black hole X-ray binaries. The global X-ray emission of the galaxy - dominated by the off-nuclear ULX and nuclear sources, which are also likely ULXs - falls steeply (photon index >~ 3) above 10 keV, consistent with other NuSTAR-observed ULXs, and no significant excess above the background is detected at E > 40 keV. We report upper limits on diffuse inverse Compton emission for a range of spatial models. For the most extended morphologies considered, these hard X-ray constraints disfavor a dominant inverse Compton component to explain the {\gamma}-ray emission detected with Fermi and H.E.S.S. If NGC 253 is typical of starburst galaxies at higher redshift, their contribution to the E > 10 keV cosmic X-ray background is < 1%.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Ap