Large-scale transient peri-ictal perfusion magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities detected by quantitative image analysis.

Epileptic seizures require a rapid and safe diagnosis to minimize the time from onset to adequate treatment. Some epileptic seizures can be diagnosed clinically with the respective expertise. For more subtle seizures, imaging is mandatory to rule out treatable structural lesions and potentially life-threatening conditions. MRI perfusion abnormalities associated with epileptic seizures have been reported in CT and MRI studies. However, the interpretation of transient peri-ictal MRI abnormalities is routinely based on qualitative visual analysis and therefore reader dependent. In this retrospective study, we investigated the diagnostic yield of visual analysis of perfusion MRI during ictal and postictal states based on comparative expert ratings in 51 patients. We further propose an automated semi-quantitative method for perfusion analysis to determine perfusion abnormalities observed during ictal and postictal MRI using dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI, which we validated on a subcohort of 27 patients. The semi-quantitative method provides a parcellation of 3D T1-weighted images into 32 standardized cortical regions of interests and subcortical grey matter structures based on a recently proposed method, direct cortical thickness estimation using deep learning-based anatomy segmentation and cortex parcellation for brain anatomy segmentation. Standard perfusion maps from a Food and Drug Administration-approved image analysis tool (Olea Sphere 3.0) were co-registered and investigated for region-wise differences between ictal and postictal states. These results were compared against the visual analysis of two readers experienced in functional image analysis in epilepsy. In the ictal group, cortical hyperperfusion was present in 17/18 patients (94% sensitivity), whereas in the postictal cohort, cortical hypoperfusion was present only in 9/33 (27%) patients while 24/33 (73%) showed normal perfusion. The (semi-)quantitative dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI perfusion analysis indicated increased thalamic perfusion in the ictal cohort and hypoperfusion in the postictal cohort. Visual ratings between expert readers performed well on the patient level, but visual rating agreement was low for analysis of subregions of the brain. The asymmetry of the automated image analysis correlated significantly with the visual consensus ratings of both readers. We conclude that expert analysis of dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI effectively discriminates ictal versus postictal perfusion patterns. Automated perfusion evaluation revealed favourable interpretability and correlated well with the classification of the visual ratings. It may therefore be employed for high-throughput, large-scale perfusion analysis in extended cohorts, especially for research questions with limited expert rater capacity

A lithium–sulfur full cell with ultralong cycle life: influence of cathode structure and polysulfide additive

Lithium–sulfur batteries are highly attractive energy storage systems, but suffer from structural anode and cathode degradation, capacity fade and fast cell failure (dry out). To address these issues, a carbide-derived carbon (DUT-107) featuring a high surface area (2088 m² g⁻¹), high total pore volume (3.17 cm³ g⁻¹) and hierarchical micro-, meso- and macropore structure is applied as a rigid scaffold for sulfur infiltration. The DUT-107/S cathodes combine excellent mechanical stability and high initial capacities (1098–1208 mA h gs ⁻¹) with high sulfur content (69.7 wt% per total electrode) and loading (2.3–2.9 mgs cm⁻²). Derived from the effect of the electrolyte-to-sulfur ratio on capacity retention and cyclability, conducting salt is substituted by polysulfide additive for reduced polysulfide leakage and capacity stabilization. Moreover, in a full cell model system using a prelithiated hard carbon anode, the performance of DUT-107/S cathodes is demonstrated over 4100 cycles (final capacity of 422 mA h gs ⁻¹), with a very low capacity decay of 0.0118% per cycle. Application of PS additive further boosts the performance (final capacity of 554 mA h gs ⁻¹), although a slightly higher decay of 0.0125% per cycle is observed

Rapport concernant le projet pilote sur l'histoire des abus sexuels dans le contexte de l'Église catholique romaine en Suisse depuis le milieu du 20ème siècle

Rapport concernant le projet pilote sur l’histoire des abus sexuels dans le contexte de l’Église catholique romaine en Suiss

Bericht zum Pilotprojekt zur Geschichte sexuellen Missbrauchs im Umfeld der römisch-katholischen Kirche in der Schweiz seit Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts

Schlussbericht der Pilotstudie "Sexueller Missbrauch im Umfeld der katholischen Kirche

Disturbed eating at high altitude: influence of food preferences, acute mountain sickness and satiation hormones

Purpose: Hypoxia has been shown to reduce energy intake and lead to weight loss, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. The aim was therefore to assess changes in eating after rapid ascent to 4,559m and to investigate to what extent hypoxia, acute mountain sickness (AMS), food preferences and satiation hormones influence eating behavior. Methods: Participants (n=23) were studied at near sea level (Zurich (ZH), 446m) and on two days after rapid ascent to Capanna Margherita (MG) at 4,559m (MG2 and MG4). Changes in appetite, food preferences and energy intake in an ad libitum meal were assessed. Plasma concentrations of cholecystokinin, peptide tyrosine-tyrosine, gastrin, glucagon and amylin were measured. Peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) was monitored, and AMS assessed using the Lake Louis score. Results: Energy intake from the ad libitum meal was reduced on MG2 compared to ZH (643±308 vs. 952±458kcal, p=0.001), but was similar to ZH on MG4 (890±298kcal). Energy intake on all test days was correlated with hunger/satiety scores prior to the meal and AMS scores on MG2 but not with SpO2 on any of the 3days. Liking for high-fat foods before a meal predicted subsequent energy intake on all days. None of the satiation hormones showed significant differences between the 3days. Conclusion: Reduced energy intake after rapid ascent to high altitude is associated with AMS severity. This effect was not directly associated with hypoxia or changes in gastrointestinal hormones. Other peripheral and central factors appear to reduce food intake at high altitud

The Impact II, a Very High-Resolution Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Instrument (QTOF) for Deep Shotgun Proteomics

Hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF) mass spectrometry is one of the two major principles used in proteomics. Although based on simple fundamentals, it has over the last decades greatly evolved in terms of achievable resolution, mass accuracy, and dynamic range. The Bruker impact platform of QTOF instruments takes advantage of these developments and here we develop and evaluate the impact II for shotgun proteomics applications. Adaption of our heated liquid chromatography system achieved very narrow peptide elution peaks. The impact II is equipped with a new collision cell with both axial and radial ion ejection, more than doubling ion extraction at high tandem MS frequencies. The new reflectron and detector improve resolving power compared with the previous model up to 80%, i.e. to 40,000 at m/z 1222. We analyzed the ion current from the inlet capillary and found very high transmission (>80%) up to the collision cell. Simulation and measurement indicated 60% transfer into the flight tube. We adapted MaxQuant for QTOF data, improving absolute average mass deviations to better than 1.45 ppm. More than 4800 proteins can be identified in a single run of HeLa digest in a 90 min gradient. The workflow achieved high technical reproducibility (R2 > 0.99) and accurate fold change determination in spike-in experiments in complex mixtures. Using label-free quantification we rapidly quantified haploid against diploid yeast and characterized overall proteome differences in mouse cell lines originating from different tissues. Finally, after high pH reversed-phase fractionation we identified 9515 proteins in a triplicate measurement of HeLa peptide mixture and 11,257 proteins in single measurements of cerebellum-the highest proteome coverage reported with a QTOF instrument so far

iCLAP: Shape Recognition by Combining Proprioception and Touch Sensing

The work presented in this paper was partially supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Council (EPSRC) Grant (Ref: EP/N020421/1) and the King’s-China Scholarship Council Ph.D. scholarship

Remember hard but think softly: Metaphorical effects of hardness/softness on cognitive functions

Previous studies have found that bodily stimulation, such as hardness biases social judgment and evaluation via metaphorical association; however, it remains unclear whether bodily stimulation also affects cognitive functions, such as memory and creativity. The current study used metaphorical associations between “hard” and “rigid” and between “soft” and “flexible” in Chinese, to investigate whether the experience of hardness affects cognitive functions whose performance depends prospectively on rigidity (memory) and flexibility (creativity). In Experiment 1, we found that Chinese-speaking participants performed better at recalling previously memorized words while sitting on a hard-surface stool (the hard condition) than a cushioned one (the soft condition). In Experiment 2, participants sitting on a cushioned stool outperformed those sitting on a hard-surface stool on a Chinese riddle task, which required creative/flexible thinking, but not on an analogical reasoning task, which required both rigid and flexible thinking. The results suggest the hardness experience affects cognitive functions that are metaphorically associated with rigidity or flexibility. They support the embodiment proposition that cognitive functions and representations can be grounded in bodily states via metaphorical associations

Wild boar and infectious diseases: evaluation of the current risk to human and domestic animal health in Switzerland: A review.

INTRODUCTION The Eurasian wild boar is widely distributed in Europe and hunting bags reveal a massive increase in the population. Since wild boar and domestic pigs are susceptible to the same pathogens and can infect each other, free-ranging wild boar populations are increasingly considered to be a threat to the pig industry. Switzerland has an outstanding veterinary health situation due to its official free-of-disease status for many diseases, and the role that wildlife could play as a source of infection for domestic animals is of particular concern. This article provides an overview of the current knowledge on wild boar health in Switzerland and discusses the health risk to domestic animals and humans currently posed by wild boar. It places the data in the context of the situation in neighbouring countries. The risk currently posed by wild boar within Switzerland is largely limited to swine brucellosis. The major threat coming from abroad originates from the expansion of African swine fever. To prevent pathogen introduction and transmission between wild boar and domestic pigs, it is essential to pursue efforts in 4 areas: disease surveillance in domestic pigs, biosecurity on pig farms, disease surveillance in wild boar, and sustainable wild boar management