Tactile discrimination of material properties: application to virtual buttons for professional appliances

An experiment is described that tested the possibility to classify wooden, plastic, and metallic objects based on reproduced auditory and vibrotactile stimuli. The results show that recognition rates are considerably above chance level with either unimodal auditory or vibrotactile feedback. Supported by those findings, the possibility to render virtual buttons for professional appliances with different tactile properties was tested. To this end, a touchscreen device was provided with various types of vibrotactile feedback in response to the sensed pressing force and location of a finger. Different virtual buttons designs were tested by user panels who performed a subjective evaluation on perceived tactile properties and materials. In a first implementation, virtual buttons were designed reproducing the vibration recordings of real materials used in the classification experiment: mainly due to hardware limitations of our prototype and the consequent impossibility to render complex vibratory signals, this approach did not prove successful. A second implementation was then optimized for the device capabilities, moreover introducing surface compliance effects and button release cues: the new design led to generally high quality ratings, clear discrimination of different buttons and unambiguous material classification. The lesson learned was that various material and physical properties of virtual buttons can be successfully rendered by characteristic frequency and decay cues if correctly reproduced by the device

Kansallisaarre - kokemuksia Auria-biopankista

Suomessa toimii kahdeksan suurta biopankkia, joihin on talletettu tietoja kymmenistä tuhansista diabeetikoista. Näytteet oheistietoineen ovat kansallisaarre, josta tutkijat ja hoidon kehittäjät ammentavat. Päättäjille ne tarjoavat arvokasta tietoa siitä, mihin voimavaroja kannattaa kohdentaa</p

Hyperglycemic conditions modulate connective tissue reorganization by human vascular smooth muscle cells through stimulation of hyaluronan synthesis.

Changes in the extracellular matrix organization within vascular walls are critical events in the process of atherosclerosis including diabetic macroangiopathy. Here, we examined whether glucose can directly modulate connective tissue reorganization by human vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Using a collagen gel contraction (CGC) assay, we demonstrated that in comparison with normal glucose concentration (5 mM), high glucose concentration (25 mM) inhibits the efficacy of VSMCs to contract collagen gels. With human genome microarrays, we showed a significant increase in the expression of hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2) by VSMCs in hyperglycemic conditions. The finding was verified with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, which also revealed that the expression of the other hyaluronan synthesizing enzymes, HAS1 and HAS3, was stimulated concomitantly. A corresponding increase was observed in hyaluronan (HA) production. Treatment of VSMCs either with hyaluronidase or with 4-methylumbelliferone, an inhibitor of HA synthesis, partially restored the diminished CGC efficacy of VSMCs in hyperglycemic conditions. In conclusion, high glucose concentration stimulated HA synthesis by VSMCs and modulated their ability to reorganize collagen-rich matrix. Because HA is known to enhance the development of atherosclerosis and restenosis after percutaneous coronary interventions, our study provides a new potential mechanism whereby hyperglycemia leads to disturbed vascular remodeling in diabetic patients through stimulation of HA synthesis

Detection of keyboard vibrations and effects on perceived piano quality

Two experiments were conducted on an upright and a grand piano, both either producing string vibrations or conversely being silent after the initial keypress, while pianists were listening to the feedback from a synthesizer through insulating headphones. In a quality experiment, participants unaware of the silent mode were asked to play freely and then rate the instrument according to a set of attributes and general preference. Participants preferred the vibrating over the silent setup, and preference ratings were associated to auditory attributes of richness and naturalness in the low and middle ranges. Another experiment on the same setup measured the detection of vibrations at the keyboard, while pianists played notes and chords of varying dynamics and duration. Sensitivity to string vibrations was highest in the lowest register and gradually decreased up to note D5. After the percussive transient, the tactile stimuli exhibited spectral peaks of acceleration whose perceptibility was demonstrated by tests conducted in active touch conditions. The two experiments confirm that piano performers perceive vibratory cues of strings mediated by spectral and spatial summations occurring in the Pacinian system in their fingertips, and suggest that such cues play a role in the evaluation of quality of the musical instrument

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in muscle-invasive bladder cancer was introduced several years ago.&nbsp;Despite the evidence supporting its use in clinical practice, only a minority of patients who undergo&nbsp;radical cystectomy receive preoperative chemotherapy. In addition, recommendations and methods&nbsp;to detect patients who would benefit the most from NAC are still unclear. The European Association of&nbsp;Urology (EAU) guidelines panel on muscle-invasive and metastatic bladder cancer recommends the use&nbsp;of cisplatin-based NAC for T2-T4a, cN0 M0 bladder cancer if the patient has a performance status &ge;2 and if the renal function is not impaired, but the American Urological Association, for example, does not&nbsp;have any guideline recommendations on this topic at all. In this review we describe the current literature&nbsp;supporting NAC in association with radical cystectomy in muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the&nbsp;bladder. Evidence acquisition was made searching the Medline database for original articles published&nbsp;before 1st February 2014, with search terms: &ldquo;neoadjuvant chemotherapy&rdquo;, &ldquo;radical cystectomy&rdquo;, and&nbsp;&ldquo;invasive bladder cancer&rdquo;.</p

Localization of decorin gene expression in normal human breast tissue and in benign and malignant tumors of the human breast.

The small extracellular matrix proteoglycan decorin which possesses a potent antitumor activity has been shown to be present in various amounts in the stroma of several tumors including those of the breast. Regarding decorin in breast malignancies the published data are conflicting, i.e., whether breast cancer cells express it or not. Here, we first compared decorin gene expression levels between healthy human breast tissue and selected types of human breast cancer using GeneSapiens databank. Next, we localized decorin mRNA in tissue specimen of normal human breast, intraductal breast papillomas and various histologic types of human breast cancer using in situ hybridization (ISH) with digoxigenin-labeled RNA probes for decorin. We also examined the effect of decorin transduction on the behavior of cultured human breast cancer MCF7 cells. Analysis of GeneSapiens databank revealed that in various human breast cancers decorin expression is significant. However, ISH results clearly demonstrated that human breast cancer cells independently of the type of the cancer do not express decorin mRNA. This was also true for papilloma-forming cells of the human breast. Indeed, decorin gene expression in healthy human breast tissue as well as in benign and malignant tumors of human breast was shown to take place solely in cells of the original stroma. Decorin transduction using decorin adenoviral vector in decorin-negative MCF7 cells resulted in a significant decrease in the proliferation of these cells and changed cell cohesion. Decorin-transduced MCF7 cells also exhibited increased apoptosis. In conclusion, our study shows that in human breast tissue only cells of the original stroma are capable of decorin gene expression. Our study also shows that transduction of decorin in decorin-negative human breast cancer cells markedly modulates the growth pattern of these cells

Human Metaplastic Breast Carcinoma and Decorin

Metaplastic breast carcinoma (MBC) is a rare subtype of invasive breast cancer and has poor prognosis. In general, cancers are heterogeneous cellular masses comprised of different cell types and their extracellular matrix (ECM). However, little is known about the composition of the ECM and its constituents in MBC. Decorin is a ubiquitous ECM macromolecule known of its oncosuppressive activity. As such, it provides an intriguing molecule in the development of novel therapeutics for different malignancies such as MBC. In this study, decorin immunoreactivity and the effect of adenoviral decorin cDNA (Ad-DCN) transduction were examined in MBC. Multiple immunohistochemical stainings were used to characterize a massive breast tumour derived from an old woman. Furthermore, three-dimensional (3D) explant cultures derived from the tumour were transduced with Ad-DCN to study the effect of the transduction on the explants. The MBC tumour was shown to be completely negative for decorin immunoreactivity demonstrating that the malignant cells were not able to synthesize decorin. Ad-DCN transduction resulted in a markedly altered cytological phenotype of MBC explants by decreasing the amount of atypical cells and by inhibiting cell proliferation. The results of this study support approaches to develop new, decorin-based adjuvant therapies for MBC.</p

Haploinsufficiency of the NF1 gene is associated with protection against diabetes

Abstract Background The hereditary predisposition to diabetes is only partially explained by genes identified so far. Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a rare monogenic dominant syndrome caused by aberrations of the NF1 gene. Here, we used a cohort of 1410 patients with NF1 to study the association of the NF1 gene with type 1 (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods A total of 1410 patients were confirmed to fulfil the National Institutes of Health diagnostic criteria for NF1 by individually reviewing their medical records. The patients with NF1 were compared with 14 017 controls matched for age, sex and area of residence as well as 1881 non-­NF1 siblings of the patients with NF1. Register-based information on purchases of antidiabetic medication and hospital encounters related to diabetes were retrieved. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to calculate the relative risk for diabetes in NF1. Results Patients with NF1 showed a lower rate of T2D when compared with a 10-fold control cohort (HR 0.27, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.43) or with their siblings without NF1 (HR 0.28, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.47). The estimates remained practically unchanged after adjusting the analyses for history of obesity and dyslipidaemias. The rate of T1D in NF1 was decreased although statistically nonsignificantly (HR 0.58, 95% CI 0.27 to 1.25). Conclusion Haploinsufficiency of the NF1 gene may protect against T2D and probably T1D. Since NF1 negatively regulates the Ras signalling pathway, the results suggest that the Ras pathway may be involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes.</p

A digital waveguide-based approach for Clavinet modeling and synthesis

The Clavinet is an electromechanical musical instrument produced in the mid-twentieth century. As is the case for other vintage instruments, it is subject to aging and requires great effort to be maintained or restored. This paper reports analyses conducted on a Hohner Clavinet D6 and proposes a computational model to faithfully reproduce the Clavinet sound in real time, from tone generation to the emulation of the electronic components. The string excitation signal model is physically inspired and represents a cheap solution in terms of both computational resources and especially memory requirements (compared, e.g., to sample playback systems). Pickups and amplifier models have been implemented which enhance the natural character of the sound with respect to previous work. A model has been implemented on a real-time software platform, Pure Data, capable of a 10-voice polyphony with low latency on an embedded device. Finally, subjective listening tests conducted using the current model are compared to previous tests showing slightly improved results

BMP2 gene transfer induces pericardial effusion and inflammatory response in the ischemic porcine myocardium

Pro-angiogenic gene therapy is being developed to treat coronary artery disease (CAD). We recently showed that bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) and vascular endothelial growth factor-A synergistically regulate endothelial cell sprouting in vitro. BMP2 was also shown to induce endocardial angiogenesis in neonatal mice post-myocardial infarction. In this study, we investigated the potential of BMP2 gene transfer to improve cardiomyocyte function and neovessel formation in a pig chronic myocardial infarction model. Ischemia was induced in domestic pigs by placing a bottleneck stent in the proximal part of the left anterior descending artery 14 days before gene transfer. Intramyocardial gene transfers with adenovirus vectors (1 × 1012 viral particles/pig) containing either human BMP2 (AdBMP2) or beta-galactosidase (AdLacZ) control gene were performed using a needle injection catheter. BMP2 transgene expression in the myocardium was detected with immunofluorescence staining in the gene transfer area 6 days after AdBMP2 administration. BMP2 gene transfer did not induce angiogenesis or cardiomyocyte proliferation in the ischemic pig myocardium as determined by the quantitations of CD31 or Ki-67 stainings, respectively. Accordingly, no changes in heart contractility were detected in left ventricular ejection fraction and strain measurements. However, BMP2 gene transfer induced pericardial effusion (AdBMP2: 9.41 ± 3.17 mm; AdLacZ: 3.07 ± 1.33 mm) that was measured by echocardiography. Furthermore, an increase in the number of immune cells and CD3+ T cells was found in the BMP2 gene transfer area. No changes were detected in the clinical chemistry analysis of pig serum or histology of the major organs, implicating that the gene transfer did not induce general toxicity, myocardial injury, or off-target effects. Finally, the levels of fibrosis and cardiomyocyte apoptosis detected by Sirius red or caspase 3 stainings, respectively, remained unaltered between the groups. Our results demonstrate that BMP2 gene transfer causes inflammatory changes and pericardial effusion in the adult ischemic myocardium, which thus does not support its therapeutic use in chronic CAD