Kentucky Highway Rating System

This study had two goals: 1. Formulate a new method for generating roadway adequacy ratings; 2. Construct an appropriate data set and then test the method by comparing it to the results of the HPMS-AP method. The recommended methodology builds on the previous methodology, the HPMS-AP. However, the recommended differs from the HPMS-AP in that it incorporates crash data into the adequacy rating and increases the relative weight given to indicators of roadway safety for the appropriate functional classification of highways. The software for the proposed highway rating system is in a format that permits what if scenarios. The comparison of the proposed method with the HPMS-AP shows tl:e former more effectively identifies the roads with inadequacies

Long-Term Maintenance Needs Planning

This research contributes to Kentucky’s knowledge base of long-term maintenance needs in two parts. Part 1 presents an estimate of the average revenue needed to maintain four categories of highway in the first fifteen years after each is built or resurfaced. Total maintenance costs per mile for four types of facilities in five AADT volume categories were estimated. The results suggest that Kentucky is not resurfacing all its roads in a timely manner. Part II presents background information on preventive maintenance programs in the states. A review of the states found two recurring themes. The first was the widespread adoption of two types of preventive measures: thin overlays and crack sealing. The second theme was the adoption of maintenance schedules to ensure timely maintenance. The report recommends the development of a routine pavement maintenance program with three elements: (1) more timely resurfacing, (2) scheduled inspections of drainage and ditching, and (3) crack sealing. It is also recommended that the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet adopt ASSHTO’s recommended performance criteria and targets for sub-drainage assets

MP-PCA denoising for diffusion MRS data: promises and pitfalls.

Diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) suffers from a lower signal to noise ratio (SNR) compared to conventional MRS owing to the addition of diffusion attenuation. This technique can therefore strongly benefit from noise reduction strategies. In the present work, Marchenko-Pastur principal component analysis (MP-PCA) denoising is tested on Monte Carlo simulations and on in vivo DW-MRS data acquired at 9.4T in rat brain and at 3T in human brain. We provide a descriptive study of the effects observed following different MP-PCA denoising strategies (denoising the entire matrix versus using a sliding window), in terms of apparent SNR, rank selection, noise correlation within and across b-values and quantification of metabolite concentrations and fitted diffusion coefficients. MP-PCA denoising yielded an increased apparent SNR, a more accurate B0 drift correction between shots, and similar estimates of metabolite concentrations and diffusivities compared to the raw data. No spectral residuals on individual shots were observed but correlations in the noise level across shells were introduced, an effect which was mitigated using a sliding window, but which should be carefully considered

Actively Contracting Bundles of Polar Filaments

We introduce a phenomenological model to study the properties of bundles of polar filaments which interact via active elements. The stability of the homogeneous state, the attractors of the dynamics in the unstable regime and the tensile stress generated in the bundle are discussed. We find that the interaction of parallel filaments can induce unstable behavior and is responsible for active contraction and tension in the bundle. Interaction between antiparallel filaments leads to filament sorting. Our model could apply to simple contractile structures in cells such as stress fibers.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTex, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Molecular Motor of Double-Walled Carbon Nanotube Driven by Temperature Variation

An elegant formula for coordinates of carbon atoms in a unit cell of a single-walled nanotube (SWNT) is presented and a new molecular motor of double-walled carbon nanotube whose inner tube is a long (8,4) SWNT and outer tube a short (14,8) SWNT is constructed. The interaction between inner an outer tubes is analytically derived by summing the Lennard-Jones potentials between atoms in inner and outer tubes. It is proved that the molecular motor in a thermal bath exhibits a directional motion with the temperature variation of the bath.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, revtex

Quantitative In Vivo Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Using Synthetic Signal Injection

Accurate conversion of magnetic resonance spectra to quantitative units of concentration generally requires compensation for differences in coil loading conditions, the gains of the various receiver amplifiers, and rescaling that occurs during post-processing manipulations. This can be efficiently achieved by injecting a precalibrated, artificial reference signal, or pseudo-signal into the data. We have previously demonstrated, using in vitro measurements, that robust pseudo-signal injection can be accomplished using a second coil, called the injector coil, properly designed and oriented so that it couples inductively with the receive coil used to acquire the data. In this work, we acquired nonlocalized phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements from resting human tibialis anterior muscles and used pseudo-signal injection to calculate the Pi, PCr, and ATP concentrations. We compared these results to parallel estimates of concentrations obtained using the more established phantom replacement method. Our results demonstrate that pseudo-signal injection using inductive coupling provides a robust calibration factor that is immune to coil loading conditions and suitable for use in human measurements. Having benefits in terms of ease of use and quantitative accuracy, this method is feasible for clinical use. The protocol we describe could be readily translated for use in patients with mitochondrial disease, where sensitive assessment of metabolite content could improve diagnosis and treatment

Диагностика сонливости, усталости и депрессии у пациентов с миастенией гравис

Introduction. Examination of excessive daytime sleepiness, fatigue and depression in patients with myasthenia gravis is important for differential diagnosis of other disorders, and adds to a comprehensive clinical assessment.Objective. The aim is a comprehensive assessment of sleepiness, fatigue and depression and evaluation of the impact of autoimmune comorbidity on these symptoms in myasthenia gravis patients, using newly validated Russian versions of international questionnaires. The present article aims at familiarizing a wider Russian-speaking audience of specialists in the field of neuromuscular disease and sleep medicine with the main findings of our previously published work.Materials and methods. The study included 73 patients with MG and 230 control subjects. For sleepiness, fatigue and depression evaluation were used: Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS) (cognitive / physical / psychosocial subscales), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) (cognitive-affective and somatic domains), Spielberger–Khanin State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).Results. The Fatigue Severity Scale and Fatigue Impact Scale showed good psychometric properties and can be used to identify distinct aspects of fatigue in patients with myasthenia gravis. The studied patient cohort revealed clinically significant fatigue (69.9 %), excessive daytime sleepiness (15.1 %), moderate to severe depression (20.5 %), a high level of personal (64.4 %) and situational anxiety (27.4 %). Among 13 patients with myasthenia gravis and additional autoimmune comorbidity, there were no significant differences in the severity of sleepiness, fatigue and depression compared with the main group.Conclusion. The use of self-reported scale of sleepiness, fatigue and depression combined with careful clinical-neurological characterization adds to a more comprehensive view of the patient. The identification of sleepiness, fatigue and depression can guide therapeutic decisions and contributes to a better patient care. The presence of concomitant autoimmune pathology in patients with myasthenia gravis does not seem to increase the severity of sleepiness, fatigue and depression.Введение. Изучение особенностей состояния избыточной дневной сонливости, усталости и депрессии при миастении гравис важно для проведения дифференциальной диагностики с другими заболеваниями и для комплексной оценки состояния больных миастенией.Цель исследования – провести комплексную оценку сонливости, усталости, депрессии и оценить влияние аутоиммунной коморбидности на эти синдромы у пациентов с миастенией по международным опросникам с предварительной валидацией их русских версий, а также ознакомить широкую русскоязычную аудиторию специалистов в области нервно-мышечных заболеваний и медицины сна с основными выводами, опубликованными ранее в наших работах по данной теме.Материалы и методы. В исследование было включено 73 пациента с миастенией и 230 – контрольной группы. Для оценки сонливости, усталости и депрессии использовались: шкала тяжести усталости (FSS), шкала усталости (FIS) (когнитивная / физическая / психосоциальная подшкалы), шкала сонливости Эпворта (ESS), шкала депрессии Бека (BDI) (когнитивно-эмоциональная и соматическая подшкалы), шкала тревоги Спилбергера–Ханина (STAI).Результаты. Шкалы градации степени тяжести усталости и оценки влияния утомляемости на различные сферы жизни показали хорошие психометрические свойства и могут быть использованы для выявления значимых клинических аспектов усталости у пациентов с миастенией. В исследуемой выборке выявлена клинически значимая усталость (69,9 %), чрезмерная дневная сонливость (15,1 %), умеренно тяжелая депрессия (20,5 %), высокий уровень личностной (64,4 %) и ситуативной тревожности (27,4 %). Среди 13 пациентов с миастенией и дополнительной аутоиммунной коморбидностью не было выявлено достоверных различий по показателям сонливости, усталости и депрессии по сравнению с основной группой.Заключение. Использование шкал для самооценки пациентами уровня усталости и сопоставление с клинико-неврологическими данными могут дать врачу более целостное представление о больном. Выявление сонливости, усталости и депрессии может привести к изменению лечебной тактики, что способно улучшить состояние пациентов. Наличие у пациентов с миастенией сопутствующей аутоиммунной патологии не приводит к усугублению сонливости, усталости и депрессии

Endoplasmic spreading requires coalescence of vimentin intermediate filaments at force-bearing adhesions

10.1091/mbc.E12-05-0377Molecular Biology of the Cell24121-30MBCE