Is the iPhone an accurate and useful tool for the monitoring of spinal deformity?

The progression of spinal deformity is traditionally monitored by spinal surgeons using the Cobb method on hardcopy radiographs with a protractor and pencil. The rotation of the spine and ribcage (rib hump) in scoliosis is measured with a simple hand-held inclinometer (Scoliometer). The iPhone and other smart phones have the capability to accurately sense inclination, and can therefore be used to measure Cobb angles and rib hump angulation. The purpose of this study was to quantify the performance of the iPhone compared to a standard protractor for measuring Cobb angles and the Scoliometer for measuring rib humps. The study concluded that the iPhone is a clinically equivalent measuring tool to the traditional protractor and Scoliomete

Tracking objects with point clouds from vision and touch

We present an object-tracking framework that fuses point cloud information from an RGB-D camera with tactile information from a GelSight contact sensor. GelSight can be treated as a source of dense local geometric information, which we incorporate directly into a conventional point-cloud-based articulated object tracker based on signed-distance functions. Our implementation runs at 12 Hz using an online depth reconstruction algorithm for GelSight and a modified second-order update for the tracking algorithm. We present data from hardware experiments demonstrating that the addition of contact-based geometric information significantly improves the pose accuracy during contact, and provides robustness to occlusions of small objects by the robot's end effector

Spectral domain phase microscopy for local measurements of cytoskeletal rheology in single cells

We present spectral domain phase microscopy (SDPM) as a new tool for measurements at the cellular scale. SDPM is a functional extension of spectral domain optical coherence tomography that allows for the detection of cellular motions and dynamics with nanometer-scale sensitivity in real time. Our goal was to use SDPM to investigate the mechanical properties of the cytoskeleton of MCF-7 cells. Magnetic tweezers were designed to apply a vertical force to ligand-coated magnetic beads attached to integrin receptors on the cell surfaces. SDPM was used to resolve cell surface motions induced by the applied stresses. The cytoskeletal response to an applied force is shown for both normal cells and those with compromised actin networks due to treatment with Cytochalasin D. The cell response data were fit to several models for cytoskeletal rheology, including one- and two-exponential mechanical models, as well as a power law. Finally, we correlated displacement measurements to physical characteristics of individual cells to better compare properties across many cells, reducing the coefficient of variation of extracted model parameters by up to 50%

Dissociation constants and thermodynamic properties of amino acids used in CO2 absorption from (293 to 353) K

The second dissociation constants of the amino acids βalanine, taurine, sarcosine, 6-aminohexanoic acid, DL-methionine, glycine, L-phenylalanine, and L-proline and the third dissociation constants of L-glutamic acid and L-aspartic acid have been determined from electromotive force measurements at temperatures from (293 to 353) K. Experimental results are reported and compared to literature values. Values of the standard state thermodynamic properties are derived from the experimental results and compared to the values of commercially available amines used as absorbents for CO 2 capture.

FFTF implementation of training requirments for government owned facilities

The Fst Flux Facility (FFTF) is a liquid metal cooled, fast flux reactor plant. It is owned by the Department of Energy (DOE) and is operated by the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory (HEDL) under a DOE contract with Westinghouse Hanford Company. The FFTF is presently undergoing acceptance testing of sodium systems in preparation for initial criticality in August 1979. It will be used to test fuels and materials, to develop associated components and to gain operating experience for future LMFBR's. The FFTF Training Program is a specific example of how training guidelines provided by NRC can be implemented in principle in a DOE owned reactor. The DOE requirements for government owned facilities and the NRC requirements for commercially owned facilities are compared to components of the FFTF Training program. These components will be described, actual status provided and evaluated as to meeting requirements. Cold Plant Qualification (equivalent to NRC Col Plant Licensing) is the next major milestone for FFTF Operator training. Additional requirements or constraints such as operator time utilization, recruiting and turnover, plant availbility and startup testing greatly affect the ability to meet this milestone. These constraints and requirements and the resulting compromises will be evaluated relative to meeting DOE requirements

Interaction of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) with dibenzo-substituted macrocyclic ligands incorporating both symmetrically and unsymmetrically arranged N, O and S donors

The synthesis and characterisation of four 17-membered, dibenzo-substituted macrocyclic ligands incorporating unsymmetrical arrangements of their N3S2, N3O2 and N3OS (two ligands) donor atoms are described; these rings complete the matrix of related macrocyclic systems incorporating both symmetric and unsymmetric donor sets reported previously. The X-ray structures of three of the new macrocycles are reported. In two of the Cu(II) structures only three of the possible five donor atoms present in the corresponding macrocyclic ligand bind to the Cu(II) site, whereas all five donors are coordinated in each of the remaining complexes. The interaction of Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) with the unsymmetric macrocycle series has been investigated by potentiometric (pH) titration in 95% methanol; X-ray structures of two nickel and three copper complexes of these ligands, each exhibiting 1 : 1 (M :L) ratios, have been obtained. The results are discussed in the context of previous results for these metals with the analogous 17-membered ring systems incorporating symmetrical arrangements of their donor atoms, with emphasis being given to both the influence of the donor atom set, as well as the donor atom sequence, on the nature of the resulting complexes

Variations in vertebral venous vasculature

INTRODUCTION Cadaveric studies have previously documented typical patterns of venous drainage within vertebral bodies (VBs) [1,2,3], comprised primarily of the basivertebral vein, a planar tree like structure at the mid-height of the VB. These studies, however, are limited in the number of samples available, and so have not examined any potential differences in this anatomy in conditions such as scoliosis. MRI is able to create 3D images of soft tissue structures in the spine, including the basivertebral vein without the use of contrast. As a non-invasive imaging technique this opens up the possibility of examining the venous network in multiple VBs within the same subject, in healthy controls as well as in subjects with abnormal anatomy such as adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). CONCLUSIONS High resolution MRI scans allow in vivo quantification of the vertebral venous system at multiple levels on healthy and scoliotic populations for the first time. The length of the basivertebral vein was seen to have a significant bias to the right hand side of the VB in both healthy and AIS adolescents. The spatial pattern of this vein showed large variations in branching both within and across individuals