Potential bronchoconstrictor stimuli in acid fog.

Acid fog is complex and contains multiple stimuli that may be capable of inducing bronchoconstriction. These stimuli include sulfuric and niric acids, the principal inorganic acids present; sulfites, formed in the atmosphere as a reaction product of sulfur dioxide and water droplets; fog water itself, a hypoosmolar aerosol; the organic acid hydroxymethanesulfonate, the bisulfite adduct of formaldehyde; and gaseous pollutants, e.g., sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, ozone. Given this complexity, evaluation of the respiratory health effects of naturally occurring acid fog requires assessment of the bronchoconstrictor potency of each component stimulus and possible interactions among these stimuli. We summarize the results of three studies that involve characterization of the bronchoconstrictor potency of acid fog stimuli and/or their interaction in subjects with asthma. The results of the first study indicate that titratable acidity appears to be a more important stimulus to bronchoconstriction than is pH. The results of the second study demonstrate that sulfite species are capable of inducing bronchoconstriction, especially when inhaled at acid pH. The results of the third study suggest that acidity can potentiate hypoosmolar fog-induced bronchoconstriction

Predictive Complexity Priors

Specifying a Bayesian prior is notoriously difficult for complex models such as neural networks. Reasoning about parameters is made challenging by the high-dimensionality and over-parameterization of the space. Priors that seem benign and uninformative can have unintuitive and detrimental effects on a model's predictions. For this reason, we propose predictive complexity priors: a functional prior that is defined by comparing the model's predictions to those of a reference model. Although originally defined on the model outputs, we transfer the prior to the model parameters via a change of variables. The traditional Bayesian workflow can then proceed as usual. We apply our predictive complexity prior to high-dimensional regression, reasoning over neural network depth, and sharing of statistical strength for few-shot learning

Enhancing learning for distance students in an Undergraduate engineering course through real-time web-conferencing

On-line education in engineering has attracted a great deal of interest in recent years. One of the difficulties faced in an on-line engineering program is how to ensure effective communication between lecturers and students, and among the students themselves.Techniques common ten years ago such as email, lecture notes posted to websites, and telephone conversations, are now seen as archaic when compared with opportunities offered by more modern communication technologies, such as real-time web-conferencing.We present our efforts to use the web-conferencing software Elluminate-Live! for delivering tutorials, discussion classes, and even laboratory practicals to groups of students studying engineering off-campus, including students posted overseas. Examples are given from two disciplines. We then compare student feedback across all engineering subjects over the years 2012-2013. Our results show that students welcome web-conferencing as a very effectivemeans to deliver classes to distance students and improve their learning experience

Serum creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase activities in patients with thyroid disorders

Background and Objectives: There is the recognition of a pattern of elevations of serum enzymes in hyperthyroid and hypothyroid patients. The aims of this study were to determine the activities of serum creatine kinase (CK) and lactate deydrogenase (LDH) in thyroid disorders, and to evaluate the relationship between CK, LDH and FT4, and TSH levels.Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, thyroid function tests, serum CK and LDH activities were obtained from the medical records of newly diagnosed hyperthyroid and hypothyroid patients attending the Endocrinology Clinic at the University Hospital of the West Indies from 2005- 2009.Results: Elevation of CK activity was found in 5 patients (28%, 5/18) with overt hypothyroidism and in 12 patients (24.0%, 12/50) with subclinical hypothyroidism. The mean CK activity in subclinical hypothyroid patients was 179.80 ± 125.68 U/L compared with 389.901 ± 381.20 U/L in overt hypothyroid patients. The elevation of LDH activity was found in 6 patients (33.3%, 6/18) with overt hypothyroidism and in 37 patients (74.0%, 37/50) with subclinical hypothyroidism. In the hypothyroid patients, a positive correlation was found between CK activity and TSH (r = 0.292, P = 0.015), and a negative correlation between CK activity and FT4 (r = - 0.325, P = 0.007); and between FT4 and TSH (r = - 0.371, P = 0.002).Conclusion: The significant elevation in serum CK and LDH activities indicates that these can be used as parameters for screening hypothyroid patients but not hyperthyroid patients

Alternative Metabolic Strategies are Employed by Endurance Runners of Different Body Sizes; Implications for Human Evolution

OBJECTIVE: A suite of adaptations facilitating endurance running (ER) evolved within the hominin lineage. This may have improved our ability to reach scavenging sites before competitors, or to hunt prey over long distances. Running economy (RE) is a key determinant of endurance running performance, and depends largely on the magnitude of force required to support body mass. However, numerous environmental factors influence body mass, thereby significantly affecting RE. This study tested the hypothesis that alternative metabolic strategies may have emerged to enable ER in individuals with larger body mass and poor RE. METHODS: A cohort of male (n = 25) and female (n = 19) ultra-endurance runners completed submaximal and exhaustive treadmill protocols to determine RE, and V̇O2Max. RESULTS: Body mass was positively associated with sub-maximal oxygen consumption at both LT1 (male r=0.66, p<0.001; female LT1 r=0.23, p=0.177) and LT2 (male r=0.59, p=0.001; female r=0.23, p=0.183) and also with V̇O2Max (male r=0.60, p=0.001; female r=0.41, p=0.046). Additionally, sub-maximal oxygen consumption varied positively with V̇O2Max in both male (LT1 r=0.54, p=0.003; LT2 r=0.77, p<0.001) and female athletes (LT1 r=0.88, p<0.001; LT2 r=0.92, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that, while individuals with low mass and good RE can glide economically as they run, larger individuals can compensate for the negative effects their mass has on RE by increasing their capacity to consume oxygen. The elevated energy expenditure of this low-economy high-energy turnover approach to ER may bring costs associated with energy diversion away from other physiological processes, however

High Resolution Image Reconstruction of Polymer Composite Materials Using Neural Networks

A neural network is an artificial intelligence technique inspired by a simplistic model of biological neurons and their connectivity. A neural network has the ability to learn an input-output function without a priori knowledge of the relationship between them. Typically a neural network consists of layers of neurons, whereby each neuron in a given layer is fully connected to neurons in adjacent layers. Figure 1 shows such an arrangement with three layers, called the input, hidden and output layers. The connection strengths between neurons, often referred to as weights, are modified by a training phase. The training phase used here utilizes an error back propagation algorithm [1]. During training the neural network is presented with input which propagates through the network producing a corresponding output. A comparison of the actual output with the desired or target output generates an error which is used to adjust the neural network’s weights according to an error gradient descent technique [2]. This procedure is repeated for many different input and desired output pairs allowing the neural network to learn the input-output function

Pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide immunity in the elderly.

Immunity against pneumococcal infections is impaired in older people, and current vaccines are poorly protective against pneumococcal disease in this population. Naturally-acquired immunity against pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides develops during childhood and is robust in young adults, but deteriorates with advanced age. In particular, antibody levels and function are reduced in older people. Pneumococcal vaccines are recommended for people over 65 years of age. However, the benefits of polysaccharide and protein-conjugated vaccines in this population are small, due to both serotype replacement and incomplete protection against vaccine-serotype pneumococcal disease. In this review we overview the immune mechanisms by which naturally-acquired and vaccine-induced pneumococcal capsular polysaccharide immunity declines with age, including altered colonization dynamics, reduced opsonic activity of antibodies (particularly IgM) and impaired mucosal immunity

Resource use data by patient report or hospital records: Do they agree?

Background: Economic evaluations alongside clinical trials are becoming increasingly common. Cost data are often collected through the use of postal questionnaires; however, the accuracy of this method is uncertain. We compared postal questionnaires with hospital records for collecting data on physiotherapy service use. Methods: As part of a randomised trial of orthopaedic medicine compared with orthopaedic surgery we collected physiotherapy use data on a group of patients from retrospective postal questionnaires and from hospital records. Results: 315 patients were referred for physiotherapy. Hospital data on attendances was available for 30% (n = 96), compared with 48% (n = 150) of patients completing questionnaire data (95% Cl for difference = 10% to 24%); 19% (n = 59) had data available from both sources. The two methods produced an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.54 (95% Cl 0.31 to 0.70). However, the two methods produced significantly different estimates of resource use with patient self report recalling a mean of 1.3 extra visits (95% Cl 0.4 to 2.2) compared with hospital records. Conclusions: Using questionnaires in this study produced data on a greater number of patients compared with examination of hospital records. However, the two data sources did differ in the quantity of physiotherapy used and this should be taken into account in any analysi

Quantum resource estimates for computing elliptic curve discrete logarithms

We give precise quantum resource estimates for Shor's algorithm to compute discrete logarithms on elliptic curves over prime fields. The estimates are derived from a simulation of a Toffoli gate network for controlled elliptic curve point addition, implemented within the framework of the quantum computing software tool suite LIQ$Ui|\rangle$. We determine circuit implementations for reversible modular arithmetic, including modular addition, multiplication and inversion, as well as reversible elliptic curve point addition. We conclude that elliptic curve discrete logarithms on an elliptic curve defined over an $n$-bit prime field can be computed on a quantum computer with at most $9n + 2\lceil\log_2(n)\rceil+10$ qubits using a quantum circuit of at most $448 n^3 \log_2(n) + 4090 n^3$ Toffoli gates. We are able to classically simulate the Toffoli networks corresponding to the controlled elliptic curve point addition as the core piece of Shor's algorithm for the NIST standard curves P-192, P-224, P-256, P-384 and P-521. Our approach allows gate-level comparisons to recent resource estimates for Shor's factoring algorithm. The results also support estimates given earlier by Proos and Zalka and indicate that, for current parameters at comparable classical security levels, the number of qubits required to tackle elliptic curves is less than for attacking RSA, suggesting that indeed ECC is an easier target than RSA.Comment: 24 pages, 2 tables, 11 figures. v2: typos fixed and reference added. ASIACRYPT 201