Neurological Analysis Based on the Terminal End of the Spinal Cord and the Narrowest Level of Injured Spine in Thoracolumbar Spinal Injuries

This study aimed to clarify neurological differences among the epiconus, conus medullaris, and cauda equina syndromes. Eighty-seven patients who underwent surgery for acute thoracolumbar spinal injuries were assessed. We defined the epiconus as the region from the terminal end of the spinal cord to the proximal 1.0 to 2.25 vertebral bodies, the conus medullaris as the region proximal to < 1.0 vertebral bodies, and the cauda equina as the distal part of the nerve roots originating from the spinal cord. On the basis of the distance from the terminal end of the spinal cord to the narrowest level of the spinal canal, the narrowest levels were ordered as follows: the epiconus followed by the conus medullaris and cauda equina. The narrowest levels were the epiconus in 22 patients, conus medullaris in 37 patients, and cauda equina in 25 patients. On admission, significantly more patients had a narrowed epiconus of Frankel grades A-C than a narrowed cauda equina. At the final follow-up, there were no significant differences in neurological recovery among those with epiconus, conus medullaris, or cauda equina syndrome. Anatomically classifying the narrowest lesion is useful for clarifying the differences and similarities among these three syndromes

The temperature dependence of gamma-ray responses of YAG:Ce ceramic scintillators

The temperature dependence (from -20 to +20 degrees C) of gamma-ray irradiated light outputs, energy resolutions, and decay time profiles of three YAG:Ce poly-ceramic scintillators are studied. The Ce concentrations are 0.5, 0.05, and 0.005 mol%.0 The relative light yield of the YAG:Ce with 0.5 mol% with a 2 μs shaping time was measured as 1 : 1.08 : 1.14 at +20, 0, and -20 degrees C, respectively, including the temperature dependence of the phototube (-0.2% /degree). The energy resolution stays almost constant at 7.2-1.984238or 662 keV gamma-rays. The ceramic with 0.05 mol??к_?ۿ?Sڟ?hows the almost same properties, while the light yield of that with 0.005 mol-1230736516s 2-4 times lower (hence the energy resolution becomes 14-19%). All the scintillators exhibit good linearities within ∼ 1 % between the light output and the irradiated gamma-ray energy from 59.5 keV to 662 keV. The decay time constants of the dominant decay components are about 80 ns and 300 ns at +20 degrees C. As the temperature increases from -20 to +20 degrees C, the effective decay of all the ceramics becomes faster, because the decay time constants and fractions of the slower components shorten and decrease, respectively. This result suggests that carriers which are captured in shallow traps before transferring excitation to Ce ions can escape the traps more easily at higher temperatures. Considering the decrease of the total light yield toward higher temperatures, it is thought that thermal quenching starts to dominate the temperature dependence of the ceramic YAG:Ce around the room temperature. The 0.5 mol?ڿ?R?@ʿ???S?cintillator shows a lower quenching energy than the 0.05 mol1001122502ne. This can be explained in terms of self absorption of Ce emission

Mcp7, a meiosis-specific coiled-coil protein of fission yeast, associates with Meu13 and is required for meiotic recombination

We previously showed that Meu13 of Schizosaccharomyces pombe functions in homologous pairing and recombination at meiosis I. Here we show that a meiosis-specific gene encodes a coiled-coil protein that complexes with Meu13 during meiosis in vivo. This gene denoted as mcp7(+) (after meiotic coiled-coil protein) is an ortholog of Mnd1 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mcp7 proteins are detected on meiotic chromatin. The phenotypes of mcp7Δ cells are similar to those of meu13Δ cells as they show reduced recombination rates and spore viability and produce spores with abnormal morphology. However, a delay in initiation of meiosis I chromosome segregation of mcp7Δ cells is not so conspicuous as meu13Δ cells, and no meiotic delay is observed in mcp7Δmeu13Δ cells. Mcp7 and Meu13 proteins depend on each other differently; Mcp7 becomes more stable in meu13Δ cells, whereas Meu13 becomes less stable in mcp7Δ cells. Genetic analysis shows that Mcp7 acts in the downstream of Dmc1, homologs of Escherichia coli RecA protein, for both recombination and subsequent sporulation. Taken together, we conclude that Mcp7 associates with Meu13 and together they play a key role in meiotic recombination

Spo5/Mug12, a Putative Meiosis-Specific RNA-Binding Protein, Is Essential for Meiotic Progression and Forms Mei2 Dot-Like Nuclear Foci

We report here a functional analysis of spo5(+)(mug12(+)) of Schizosaccharomyces pombe, which encodes a putative RNA-binding protein. The disruption of spo5(+) caused abnormal sporulation, generating inviable spores due to failed forespore membrane formation and the absence of a spore wall, as determined by electron microscopy. Spo5 regulates the progression of meiosis I because spo5 mutant cells display normal premeiotic DNA synthesis and the timely initiation of meiosis I but they show a delay in the peaking of cells with two nuclei, abnormal tyrosine 15 dephosphorylation of Cdc2, incomplete degradation of Cdc13, retarded formation and repair of double strand breaks, and a reduced frequency of intragenic recombination. Immunostaining showed that Spo5-green fluorescent protein (GFP) appeared in the cytoplasm at the horsetail phase, peaked around the metaphase I to anaphase I transition, and suddenly disappeared after anaphase II. Images of Spo5-GFP in living cells revealed that Spo5 forms a dot in the nucleus at prophase I that colocalized with the Mei2 dot. Unlike the Mei2 dot, however, the Spo5 dot was observed even in sme2Δ cells. Taken together, we conclude that Spo5 is a novel regulator of meiosis I and that it may function in the vicinity of the Mei2 dot

User compliance and remediation success after IoT malware notifications

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are getting involved in remediating Internet of Things (IoT) infections of end users. This endeavor runs into serious usability problems. Given that it is usually unknown what kind of device is infected, they can only provide users with very generic cleanup advice, trying to cover all device types and remediation paths. Does this advice work? To what extent do users comply with the instructions? And does more compliance lead to higher cleanup rates? This study is the first to shed light on these questions. In partnership with an ISP, we designed a randomized control experiment followed up by a user survey. We randomly assigned 177 consumers affected by malware from the Mirai family to three different groups: (i) notified via a walled garden (quarantine network), (ii) notified via email, and (iii) no immediate notification, i.e. a control group. The notification asks the user to take five steps to remediate the infection. We conducted a phone survey with 95 of these customers based on communication-human information processing theory. We model the impact of the treatment, comprehension, and motivation on the compliance rate of each customer, while controlling for differences in demographics and infected device types. We also estimate the extent to which compliance leads to successful cleanup of the infected IoT devices. While only 24% of notified users perform all five remediation steps, 92% of notified users perform at least one action. Compliance increases the probability of successful cleanup by 32%, while the presence of competing malware reduces it by 54%. We provide an empirical basis to shape ISP best practices in the fight against IoT malware.Organisation and Governanc