4216 Application of artificial neural networks for image analysis of organ culture preserved donor corneas: A pilot study

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers account for 1.5 million deaths worldwide. Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) is an advanced therapeutic endoscopy technique with superior clinical outcome due to the minimally invasive and en bloc removal of tumours. In the western world, ESD is seldom carried out, due to its complex and challenging nature. Various surgical systems are being developed to make this therapy accessible, however, these solutions have shown limited operational workspace, dexterity, or low force exertion capabilities. The current paper shows the ESD CYCLOPS system, a bimanual surgical robotic attachment that can be mounted at the end of any flexible endoscope. The system is able to achieve forces of up to 46N, and showed a mean error of 0.217mm during an elliptical tracing task. The workspace and instrument dexterity is shown by pre-clinical ex vivo trials, in which ESD is successfully performed by a GI surgeon. The system is currently undergoing pre-clinical in vivo validation

The Origin and Initial Rise of Pelagic Cephalopods in the Ordovician

BACKGROUND: During the Ordovician the global diversity increased dramatically at family, genus and species levels. Partially the diversification is explained by an increased nutrient, and phytoplankton availability in the open water. Cephalopods are among the top predators of today's open oceans. Their Ordovician occurrences, diversity evolution and abundance pattern potentially provides information on the evolution of the pelagic food chain. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We reconstructed the cephalopod departure from originally exclusively neritic habitats into the pelagic zone by the compilation of occurrence data in offshore paleoenvironments from the Paleobiology Database, and from own data, by evidence of the functional morphology, and the taphonomy of selected cephalopod faunas. The occurrence data show, that cephalopod associations in offshore depositional settings and black shales are characterized by a specific composition, often dominated by orthocerids and lituitids. The siphuncle and conch form of these cephalopods indicate a dominant lifestyle as pelagic, vertical migrants. The frequency distribution of conch sizes and the pattern of epibionts indicate an autochthonous origin of the majority of orthocerid and lituitid shells. The consistent concentration of these cephalopods in deep subtidal sediments, starting from the middle Tremadocian indicates the occupation of the pelagic zone early in the Early Ordovician and a subsequent diversification which peaked during the Darriwilian. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The exploitation of the pelagic realm started synchronously in several independent invertebrate clades during the latest Cambrian to Middle Ordovician. The initial rise and diversification of pelagic cephalopods during the Early and Middle Ordovician indicates the establishment of a pelagic food chain sustainable enough for the development of a diverse fauna of large predators. The earliest pelagic cephalopods were slowly swimming vertical migrants. The appearance and early diversification of pelagic cephalopods is interpreted as a consequence of the increased food availability in the open water since the latest Cambrian

The interaction of laser driven shock waves with a spherical density perturbation

Strong shock waves produced by illumination of a CH target by laser produced x-rays were driven through a copper sphere. The motion and deformation of the sphere were measured using radiographs generated by backlighting the sphere with a large area backlighter. The sphere became non-spherical after the passage of the shock, having a complicated down-stream structure. This was an instability-induced structure that was predicted by calculations. The experiment is a convenient laboratory model of the complicated interactions occurring in much larger systems such as in astrophysics in the interaction of shocks formed in the interstellar medium with various types of clouds. In particular, the experiment is a useful tool for checking the computational ability of the new generation ASCI computers, as it requires three-dimensional modeling. This experiment has shown that three dimensional calculations seem to be necessary to describe major features observed in the experiment. Any attempt to explain hydrodynamic behavior with similar instabilities must take into account these three dimensional effects

Przykłady ważnych stanowisk geologicznych w Sudetach czeskich

Artykuł daje reprezentatywny wgląd w kilka głównych geologicznych stanowisk czeskiej części Sudetów (region luzytański). Omówione zostały przykłady stanowisk o znaczeniu europejskim, reprezentujące krystaliczne kompleksy skalne, paleozoiczne osady z fauną (sylur, dewon, karbon) oraz platformowe utwory jury i kredy. Stanowiska te znajdują się już pod ochroną rzędu czeskiego, jako narodowe rezerwaty i pomniki przyrody, albo ich status ochrony jest przygotowywany

Stoppen of doorgaan: vertrekkers en switchers op de HHS/THR: wie, waarom en hoe uitval te voorkomen

De Haagse Hogeschool/ TH Rijswijk (HHS/THR) wil het rendement van de door haar verzorgde opleidingen vergroten. Om dat te bewerkstelligen zoeken we in dit onderzoek naar het antwoord op de vraag: welke patronen bestaan er in het vertrek uit opleiding en/of hogeschool en zijn er mogelijkheden voor de hogeschool om vertrek te voorkomen? Hiertoe hebben we gegevens van de IB-Groep geanalyseerd en een enquête uitgezet onder vertrekkers en switchers van de HHS/THR