Modeling and Decoding Motor Cortical Activity Using a Switching Kalman Filter

We present a switching Kalman filter model for the real-time inference of hand kinematics from a population of motor cortical neurons. Firing rates are modeled as a Gaussian mixture where the mean of each Gaussian component is a linear function of hand kinematics. A "hidden state" models the probability of each mixture component and evolves over time in a Markov chain. The model generalizes previous encoding and decoding methods, addresses the non-Gaussian nature of firing rates, and can cope with crudely sorted neural data common in on-line prosthetic applications.Mathematic

Electro-kinetic technology as a low-cost method for dewatering food by-product

Increasing volumes of food waste, intense environmental awareness, and stringent legislation have imposed increased demands upon conventional food waste management. Food byproducts that were once considered to be without value are now being utilized as reusable materials, fuels, and energy in order to reduce waste. One major barrier to the valorization of food by-products is their high moisture content. This has brought about the necessity of dewatering food waste for any potential re-use for certain disposal options. A laboratory system for experimentally characterizing electro-kinetic dewatering of food by-products was evaluated. The bench scale system, which is an augmented filter press, was used to investigate the dewatering at constant voltage. Five food by-products (brewer’s spent grain, cauliflower trimmings, mango peel, orange peel, and melon peel) were studied. The results indicated that electro-kinetic dewatering combined with mechanical dewatering can reduce the percentage of moisture from 78% to 71% for brewer’s spent grain, from 77% to 68% for orange peel, from 80% to 73% for mango peel, from 91% to 74% for melon peel, and from 92% to 80% for cauliflower trimmings. The total moisture reduction showed a correlation with electrical conductivity (R2¼0.89). The energy consumption of every sample was evaluated and was found to be up to 60 times more economical compared to thermal processing

On Infrared Excesses Associated With Li-Rich K Giants

Infrared (IR) excesses around K-type red giants (RGs) have previously been discovered using IRAS data, and past studies have suggested a link between RGs with overabundant Li and IR excesses, implying the ejection of circumstellar shells or disks. We revisit the question of IR excesses around RGs using higher spatial resolution IR data, primarily from WISE. Our goal was to elucidate the link between three unusual RG properties: fast rotation, enriched Li, and IR excess. We have 316 targets thought to be K giants, about 40% of which we take to be Li-rich. In 24 cases with previous detections of IR excess at low spatial resolution, we believe that source confusion is playing a role, in that either (a) the source that is bright in the optical is not responsible for the IR flux, or (b) there is more than one source responsible for the IR flux as measured in IRAS. We looked for IR excesses in the remaining sources, identifying 28 that have significant IR excesses by ~20 um (with possible excesses for 2 additional sources). There appears to be an intriguing correlation in that the largest IR excesses are all in Li-rich K giants, though very few Li-rich K giants have IR excesses (large or small). These largest IR excesses also tend to be found in the fastest rotators. There is no correlation of IR excess with the carbon isotopic ratio, 12C/13C. IR excesses by 20 um, though relatively rare, are at least twice as common among our sample of Li-rich K giants. If dust shell production is a common by-product of Li enrichment mechanisms, these observations suggest that the IR excess stage is very short-lived, which is supported by theoretical calculations. Conversely, the Li-enrichment mechanism may only occasionally produce dust, and an additional parameter (e.g., rotation) may control whether or not a shell is ejected.Comment: 73 pages, 21 figures (some of which substantially degraded to meet arXiv file size requirements), accepted to AJ. Full table 1 (and full-res figures) available upon request to the autho

Microglial inhibition of neuroprotection by antagonists of the EP1 prostaglandin E2 receptor

© 2009 Carlson et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

High-throughput testing in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma identifies agents with preferential activity in human papillomavirus-positive or negative cell lines.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common cancer diagnosis worldwide. Despite advances in treatment, HNSCC has very poor survival outcomes, emphasizing an ongoing need for development of improved therapeutic options. The distinct tumor characteristics of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive vs. HPV-negative disease necessitate development of treatment strategies tailored to tumor HPV-status. High-throughput robotic screening of 1,433 biologically and pharmacologically relevant compounds at a single dose (4 μM) was carried out against 6 HPV-positive and 20 HPV-negative HNSCC cell lines for preliminary identification of therapeutically relevant compounds. Statistical analysis was further carried out to differentiate compounds with preferential activity against cell lines stratified by the HPV-status. These analyses yielded 57 compounds with higher activity in HPV-negative cell lines, and 34 with higher-activity in HPV-positive ones. Multi-point dose-response curves were generated for six of these compounds (Ryuvidine, MK-1775, SNS-032, Flavopiridol, AZD-7762 and ARP-101), confirming Ryuvidine to have preferential potency against HPV-negative cell lines, and MK-1775 to have preferential potency against HPV-positive cell lines. These data comprise a valuable resource for further investigation of compounds with therapeutic potential in the HNSCC

Evaluation of modernisation of adult critical care services in England: time series and cost effectiveness analysis

Objective To evaluate the impact and cost effectiveness of a programme to transform adult critical care throughout England initiated in late 2000