Morphological aspects of male and female hands

This is an electronic version of an article published in Annals of Human Biology, 1996, 23(6), 491-494. Annals of Human Biology is available online at informaworldTM http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a739339013~db=all~order=pageThis journal article discusses a series of hand radiographs from Gwynedd, North Wales, which were assessed for frequencies in digital and metacarpal formulae between the genders

Managing Requirements Change the Informal Way: When Saying 'No' is Not an Option

© 2016 IEEE. Software has always been considered as malleable. Changes to software requirements are inevitable during the development process. Despite many software engineering advances over several decades, requirements changes are a source of project risk, particularly when businesses and technologies are evolving rapidly. Although effectively managing requirements changes is a critical aspect of software engineering, conceptions of requirements change in the literature and approaches to their management in practice still seem rudimentary. The overall goal of this study is to better understand the process of requirements change management. We present findings from an exploratory case study of requirements change management in a globally distributed setting. In this context we noted a contrast with the traditional models of requirements change. In theory, change control policies and formal processes are considered as a natural strategy to deal with requirements changes. Yet we observed that "informal requirements changes" (InfRc) were pervasive and unavoidable. Our results reveal an equally 'natural' informal change management process that is required to handle InfRc in parallel. We present a novel model of requirements change which, we argue, better represents the phenomenon and more realistically incorporates both the informal and formal types of change

Product Design Education for Circular Economy

Design has continually developed new approaches to find the most appropriate solutions to the growing environmental and social problems. At the same time higher education courses have tried to adapt their curricula accordingly. The most recently proposed model is circular economy. It reinforces the idea of a paradigm shift to a system of closed loops where there is no waste. This article develops a state of the art on the integration of sustainability in product design in higher education and its evolution to embrace circular economy. This analysis includes identifying past experiences, which contents are addressed, what methodologies are used, what type of approach (focused or dispersed) and what are the needs for teaching staff. This paper tries to identify gaps in order to purpose better solution for circular economy integration.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Regulation of human CD4+ T cell differentiation

Naive CD4+ T cells differentiate into specific effector subsets—Th1, Th2, Th17, and T follicular helper (Tfh)—that provide immunity against pathogen infection. The signaling pathways involved in generating these effector cells are partially known. However, the effects of mutations underlying human primary immunodeficiencies on these processes, and how they compromise specific immune responses, remain unresolved. By studying individuals with mutations in key signaling pathways, we identified nonredundant pathways regulating human CD4+ T cell differentiation in vitro. IL12Rβ1/TYK2 and IFN-γR/STAT1 function in a feed-forward loop to induce Th1 cells, whereas IL-21/IL-21R/STAT3 signaling is required for Th17, Tfh, and IL-10–secreting cells. IL12Rβ1/TYK2 and NEMO are also required for Th17 induction. Strikingly, gain-of-function STAT1 mutations recapitulated the impact of dominant-negative STAT3 mutations on Tfh and Th17 cells, revealing a putative inhibitory effect of hypermorphic STAT1 over STAT3. These findings provide mechanistic insight into the requirements for human T cell effector function, and explain clinical manifestations of these immunodeficient conditions. Furthermore, they identify molecules that could be targeted to modulate CD4+ T cell effector function in the settings of infection, vaccination, or immune dysregulation

The Temporal Development of Fatty Infiltrates in the Neck Muscles Following Whiplash Injury: An Association with Pain and Posttraumatic Stress

Radiological findings associated with poor recovery following whiplash injury remain elusive. Muscle fatty infiltrates (MFI) in the cervical extensors on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with chronic pain have been observed. Their association with specific aspects of pain and psychological factors have yet to be explored longitudinally.44 subjects with whiplash injury were enrolled at 4 weeks post-injury and classified at 6 months using scores on the Neck Disability Index as recovered, mild and moderate/severe. A measure for MFI and patient self-report of pain, loss of cervical range of movement and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were collected at 4 weeks, 3 months and 6 months post-injury. The effects of time and group and the interaction of time by group on MFI were determined. We assessed the mediating effect of posttraumatic stress and cervical range of movement on the longitudinal relationship between initial pain intensity and MFI. There was no difference in MFI across all groups at enrollment. MFI values increased in the moderate/severe group and were significantly higher in comparison to the recovered and mild groups at 3 and 6 months. No differences in MFI values were found between the mild and recovered groups. Initial severity of PTSD symptoms mediated the relationship between pain intensity and MFI at 6 months. Initial ROM loss did not.MFI in the cervical extensors occur soon following whiplash injury and suggest the possibility for the occurrence of a more severe injury with subsequent PTSD in patients with persistent symptoms