Delta Advanced Reusable Transport (DART): An alternative manned spacecraft

Although the current U.S. Space Transportation System (STS) has proven successful in many applications, the truth remains that the space shuttle is not as reliable or economical as was once hoped. In fact, the Augustine Commission on the future of the U.S. Space Program has recommended that the space shuttle only be used on missions directly requiring human capabilities on-orbit and that the shuttle program should eventually be phased out. This poses a great dilemma since the shuttle provides the only current or planned U.S. means for human access to space at the same time that NASA is building toward a permanent manned presence. As a possible solution to this dilemma, it is proposed that the U.S. begin development of an Alternative Manned Spacecraft (AMS). This spacecraft would not only provide follow-on capability for maintaining human space flight, but would also provide redundancy and enhanced capability in the near future. Design requirements for the AMS studied include: (1) capability of launching on one of the current or planned U.S. expendable launch vehicles (baseline McDonnell Douglas Delta II model 7920 expendable booster); (2) application to a wide variety of missions including autonomous operations, space station support, and access to orbits and inclinations beyond those of the space shuttle; (3) low enough costing to fly regularly in augmentation of space shuttle capabilities; (4) production surge capabilities to replace the shuttle if events require it; (5) intact abort capability in all flight regimes since the planned launch vehicles are not man-rated; (6) technology cut-off date of 1990; and (7) initial operational capability in 1995. In addition, the design of the AMS would take advantage of scientific advances made in the 20 years since the space shuttle was first conceived. These advances are in such technologies as composite materials, propulsion systems, avionics, and hypersonics

Divergent Relationship of Depression Severity to Social Reward Responses Among Patients With Bipolar Versus Unipolar Depression

Neuroimaging studies of mood disorders demonstrate abnormalities in brain regions implicated in reward processing. However, there is a paucity of research investigating how social rewards affect reward circuit activity in these disorders. Here, we evaluated the relationship of both diagnostic category and dimensional depression severity to reward system function in bipolar and unipolar depression. In total, 86 adults were included, including 24 patients with bipolar depression, 24 patients with unipolar depression, and 38 healthy comparison subjects. Participants completed a social reward task during 3T BOLD fMRI. On average, diagnostic groups did not differ in activation to social reward. However, greater depression severity significantly correlated with reduced bilateral ventral striatum activation to social reward in the bipolar depressed group, but not the unipolar depressed group. In addition, decreased left orbitofrontal cortical activation correlated with more severe symptoms in bipolar depression, but not unipolar depression. These differential dimensional effects resulted in a significant voxelwise group by depression severity interaction. Taken together, these results provide initial evidence that deficits in social reward processing are differentially related to depression severity in the two disorders

Design of mobile band subsurface antenna for drainage infrastructure monitoring

This paper presents an underground subsurface wireless sensor for drainage infrastructure water level monitoring. It operates from 800 to 2170 MHz to cover the required GSM850/900, GSM1800/1900 and UMTS bands. The system consists of a wideband antenna, transceiver, data acquisition unit and an ultrasonic sensor. The proposed antenna is a 3-dimensional inverted double F antenna and has an envelope size of 90 × 63.5 × 32 mm^3 , which is acceptably small for a cramped subsurface passageway environment. The antenna design was developed using software simulation to optimise its key parameters of return loss and radiation pattern, these being evaluated both in free space and in the partially underground environment. The design developed was then realised in hardware and tested in a representative subsurface location: a utility manhole chamber. It was found that the location of the antenna in the chamber had a significant effect on its performance, but a location that was acceptable for operational purposes was found by experiment. The overall system, including a transceiver, was demonstrated to operate satisfactorily for utility monitoring purposes, including acceptable levels of path loss for communication with mobile communication base stations

Disrupted anatomic networks in the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

AbstractThe 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is an uncommon genetic disorder with an increased risk of psychosis. Although the neural substrates of psychosis and schizophrenia are not well understood, aberrations in cortical networks represent intriguing potential mechanisms. Investigations of anatomic networks within 22q11DS are sparse. We investigated group differences in anatomic network structure in 48 individuals with 22q11DS and 370 typically developing controls by analyzing covariance patterns in cortical thickness among 68 regions of interest using graph theoretical models. Subjects with 22q11DS had less robust geographic organization relative to the control group, particularly in the occipital and parietal lobes. Multiple global graph theoretical statistics were decreased in 22q11DS. These results are consistent with prior studies demonstrating decreased connectivity in 22q11DS using other neuroimaging methodologies

Neuromuscular disease genetics in under-represented populations: increasing data diversity

Neuromuscular diseases (NMDs) affect ∼15 million people globally. In high income settings DNA-based diagnosis has transformed care pathways and led to gene-specific therapies. However, most affected families are in low-to-middle income countries (LMICs) with limited access to DNA-based diagnosis. Most (86%) published genetic data is derived from European ancestry. This marked genetic data inequality hampers understanding of genetic diversity and hinders accurate genetic diagnosis in all income settings. We developed a cloud-based transcontinental partnership to build diverse, deeply-phenotyped and genetically characterized cohorts to improve genetic architecture knowledge, and potentially advance diagnosis and clinical management. We connected 18 centres in Brazil, India, South Africa, Turkey, Zambia, Netherlands and the UK. We co-developed a cloud-based data solution and trained 17 international neurology fellows in clinical genomic data interpretation. Single gene and whole exome data were analysed via a bespoke bioinformatics pipeline and reviewed alongside clinical and phenotypic data in global webinars to inform genetic outcome decisions. We recruited 6001 participants in the first 43 months. Initial genetic analyses ‘solved’ or ‘possibly solved’ ∼56% probands overall. In-depth genetic data review of the four commonest clinical categories (limb girdle muscular dystrophy, inherited peripheral neuropathies, congenital myopathy/muscular dystrophies and Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy) delivered a ∼59% ‘solved’ and ∼13% ‘possibly solved’ outcome. Almost 29% of disease causing variants were novel, increasing diverse pathogenic variant knowledge. Unsolved participants represent a new discovery cohort. The dataset provides a large resource from under-represented populations for genetic and translational research. In conclusion, we established a remote transcontinental partnership to assess genetic architecture of NMDs across diverse populations. It supported DNA-based diagnosis, potentially enabling genetic counselling, care pathways and eligibility for gene-specific trials. Similar virtual partnerships could be adopted by other areas of global genomic neurological practice to reduce genetic data inequality and benefit patients globally

Diagnosis of brucellosis via BACTEC blood culture system

Background: Brucellosis is a zoonosis infectious disease and endemic in Iran. The certain diagnosis of disease is established on isolation of brucella from blood and other clinical samples. So, because of fastidious nature of this organism and problems in its isolation by conventional methods, and attending to the high prevalence of brucellosis in Kashan, Iran, the BACTEC9050 blood culture system was used in this survey for diagnosis of brucella bacteremia; advantages of this method has been discussed, too. Methods: In this descriptive research, the blood samples of 206 patients suspected to brucellosis were studied in Brain-Heart Infusion (BHI) broth and BACTEC9050 blood culture system simultaneously. Findings: In a period of 5 days, from 206 samples, totally 50 cases were positive; 32 cases were positive in both methods and 18 cases were positive only in BACTEC method. Continuing the incubation, 14 cases became positive but 4 cases were negative, even after 30 days of incubation. The average incubation period for specimens to become positive was 4 days. Conclusion: The BACTEC automatic system reduced the examination process, and economized the time and the material. In cases that this system is not available for diagnosis of brucella, it is recommended to keep the final subcultures in 37°C for 1 month to get better diagnostic results. © 2015, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All Rights Reserved

Relationship between antimicrobial resistance and class I integron in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from clinical specimens in Yazd during 2012-2013

Background: Antimicrobial resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been increasing in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between antimicrobial resistance and class I integron in P. aeruginosa isolated from clinical specimens in Yazd city.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 144 P. aeruginosa strains from April 2012 to April 2013. All clinical samples were initially identified by the biochemical method and the antibiotic resistance test was performed using the disc diffusion method according to CLSI recommendations. PCR was carried out for the detection of class I integron. Results: Seventy-nine (54.9) out of 144 patients were male with mean age of 34.9+22.7 years. Resistance rates to various antibiotics were as follows: gentamicin (63.2), imipenem (62.5), amikacin (58.3), ceftazidime (56.9), ticarcillin (55.6), tobramycin (55.6), piperacillin (54.9) and ciprofloxacin (48.6) and 75.3 of the isolates were detected as multi-drug resistant. PCR results showed that 119 (82.6) P. aeruginosa isolates carried class I integron. Conclusion: Class I integrons are commonly found in P. aeruginosa isolated from the clinical samples. Therefore, the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes is often related to these integrons and the contribution of integrons in antibiotic resistance should be evaluated

Antenna for Ultra-Wideband Applications with Non-Uniform Defected Ground Plane and Offset Aperture-Coupled Cylindrical Dielectric Resonators

A new compact Cylindrical Dielectric Resonator Antenna (CDRA) with a defected ground for ultra-wideband applications is presented. The structure is based on two cylindrical dielectric resonators asymmetrically located with respect to the center of an offset rectangular coupling aperture, with consideration of three and four Dielectric Resonators (DR). The resonant modes generated by the defected ground are studied and investigated. A parametric optimization study of the antenna design has been carried out to determine the optimal dimensions of the defected ground plane, resulting in an impedance bandwidth of over 133% that covers the frequency band from 3.6 GHz to 18.0 GHz. A power gain of about 7.9 dBi has been achieved. Design details and measured and simulated results are presented and discussed