Aluminium foil as a potential substrate for ATR-FTIR, transflection FTIR or Raman spectrochemical analysis of biological specimens

The substantial cost of substrates is an enormous obstacle in the successful translation of biospectroscopy (IR or Raman) into routine clinical/laboratory practice (screening or diagnosis). As a cheap and versatile substrate, we compared the performance of readily available aluminium (Al) foil with low-E, Au-coated and glass slides for cytological and histological specimen analysis by attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), transflection FTIR or Raman spectroscopy. The low and almost featureless background signal of Al foil enables the acquisition of IR or Raman spectra without substrate interference or sacrificing important fingerprint biochemical information of the specimen, even for very thin samples with thicknesses down to 2 \ensuremathμm. Al foil is shown to perform as well as, if not better than, low-E or Au-coated slide, irrespective of its relatively rough surface. Although transmission FTIR is not possible on Al foil, this work demonstrates Al foil is an inexpensive, readily available and versatile substrate suitable for ATR-FTIR, transflection FTIR or Raman spectrochemical measurements of diverse biological specimens. The features of Al foil demonstrated here could promote a transition towards accessible substrates that can be readily implemented in either research or clinical settings

Exercise therapy in adults with serious mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Individuals with serious mental illness are at a higher risk of physical ill health. Mortality rates are at least twice those of the general population with higher levels of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, diabetes, and respiratory illness. Although genetics may have a role in the physical health problems of these patients, lifestyle and environmental factors such as levels of smoking, obesity, poor diet, and low levels of physical activity also play a prominent part.<p></p> Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comparing the effect of exercise interventions on individuals with serious mental illness.<p></p> Methods: Searches were made in Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Biological Abstracts on Ovid, and The Cochrane Library (January 2009, repeated January 2013) through to February 2013.<p></p> Results: Eight RCTs were identified in the systematic search. Six compared exercise versus usual care. One study assessed the effect of a cycling programme versus muscle strengthening and toning exercises. The final study compared the effect of adding specific exercise advice and motivational skills to a simple walking programme. Exercise programmes were noted by their heterogeneity in terms of the type of exercise intervention, setting, and outcome measures. The review found that exercise improved levels of exercise activity (n=13, standard mean difference [SMD] 1.81, CI 0.44 to 3.18, p = 0.01). No beneficial effect was found on negative (n = 84, SMD = -0.54, CI -1.79 to 0.71, p = 0.40) or positive symptoms of schizophrenia (n = 84, SMD = -1.66, CI -3.78 to 0.45, p = 0.12). No change was found on body mass index compared with usual care (n= 151, SMD = -0.24, CI -0.56 to 0.08, p = 0.14), or body weight (n = 77, SMD = 0.13, CI -0.32 to 0.58, p = 0.57). No beneficial effect was found on anxiety and depressive symptoms (n = 94, SMD = -0.26, CI -0.91 to 0.39, p = 0.43), or quality of life in respect of physical and mental domains. One RCT measured the effect of exercise on exercise intensity, attendance, and persistence at a programme. No significant effect was found on these measures.<p></p> Conclusions: This systematic review showed that exercise therapies can lead to a modest increase in levels of exercise activity but overall there was no noticeable change for symptoms of mental health, body mass index, and body weight.<p></p&gt

Incidence of synchronous appendiceal neoplasm in patients with colorectal cancer and its clinical significance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aims of this study were to evaluate the incidence of synchronous appendiceal neoplasm in patients with colorectal cancer, and to determine its clinical significance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Pathological reports and medical records were reviewed of patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma who underwent oncological resection of the tumor together with appendectomy at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand between September 2000 and April 2008.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>This study included 293 patients with an average age of 62 years (range 19–95) and 51 percent were male. Of the patients studied, 228 (78 percent) had right hemicolectomy, whereas the others (22 percent) had surgery for left-sided colon cancer or rectal cancer. One patient (0.3 percent) had epithelial appendiceal neoplasm (mucinous cystadenoma) and 3 patients (1.0 percent) had metastatic colorectal cancer in the mesoappendix. However, the presence of synchronous appendiceal tumors and/or metastasis did not alter postoperative management, as these patients had received adjuvant therapy and were scheduled for surveillance program because of nodal involvement.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The incidence of synchronous primary appendiceal neoplasm and secondary (metastatic) appendiceal neoplasm in colorectal cancer patients was 0.3 and 1.0 percent, respectively. However, these findings did not change the postoperative clinical management.</p

Inner Speech during Silent Reading Reflects the Reader's Regional Accent

While reading silently, we often have the subjective experience of inner speech. However, there is currently little evidence regarding whether this inner voice resembles our own voice while we are speaking out loud. To investigate this issue, we compared reading behaviour of Northern and Southern English participants who have differing pronunciations for words like ‘glass’, in which the vowel duration is short in a Northern accent and long in a Southern accent. Participants' eye movements were monitored while they silently read limericks in which the end words of the first two lines (e.g., glass/class) would be pronounced differently by Northern and Southern participants. The final word of the limerick (e.g., mass/sparse) then either did or did not rhyme, depending on the reader's accent. Results showed disruption to eye movement behaviour when the final word did not rhyme, determined by the reader's accent, suggesting that inner speech resembles our own voice

Metal-organic framework glasses with permanent accessible porosity.

To date, only several microporous, and even fewer nanoporous, glasses have been produced, always via post synthesis acid treatment of phase separated dense materials, e.g. Vycor glass. In contrast, high internal surface areas are readily achieved in crystalline materials, such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). It has recently been discovered that a new family of melt quenched glasses can be produced from MOFs, though they have thus far lacked the accessible and intrinsic porosity of their crystalline precursors. Here, we report the first glasses that are permanently and reversibly porous toward incoming gases, without post-synthetic treatment. We characterize the structure of these glasses using a range of experimental techniques, and demonstrate pores in the range of 4 - 8 Å. The discovery of MOF glasses with permanent accessible porosity reveals a new category of porous glass materials that are elevated beyond conventional inorganic and organic porous glasses by their diversity and tunability

Modelling Energy Demand Response Using Long-Short Term Memory Neural Networks

We propose a method for detecting and forecasting events of high energy demand, which are managed at the national level in demand side response programmes, such as the UK Triads. The methodology consists of two stages: load forecasting with long short-term memory neural network and dynamic filtering of the potential highest electricity demand peaks by using the exponential moving average. The methodology is validated on real data of a UK building management system case study. We demonstrate successful forecasts of Triad events with RRMSE ≈ 2.2% and MAPE ≈ 1.6% and general applicability of the methodology for demand side response programme management, with reduction of energy consumption and indirect carbon emissions

When Correction Turns Positive:Processing Corrective Prosody in Dutch

Current research on spoken language does not provide a consistent picture as to whether prosody, the melody and rhythm of speech, conveys a specific meaning. Perception studies show that English listeners assign meaning to prosodic patterns, and, for instance, associate some accents with contrast, whereas Dutch listeners behave more controversially. In two ERP studies we tested how Dutch listeners process words carrying two types of accents, which either provided new information (new information accents) or corrected information (corrective accents), both in single sentences (experiment 1) and after corrective and new information questions (experiment 2). In both experiments corrective accents elicited a sustained positivity as compared to new information accents, which started earlier in context than in single sentences. The positivity was not modulated by the nature of the preceding question, suggesting that the underlying neural mechanism likely reflects the construction of an interpretation to the accented word, either by identifying an alternative in context or by inferring it when no context is present. Our experimental results provide strong evidence for inferential processes related to prosodic contours in Dutch

Clinical and laboratory features of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis

Background: Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis (SBP) is a complication of cirrhosis. The mortality rate is approximately 30-50%. SBP is defined as an ascitic fluid infection in the absence of any obvious intraabdominal infectious foci. While earlier reports of SBP emphasized high mortality rates, recently lower mortality rates have been reported. Objective: To evaluate the clinical and laboratory features and prognostic indicators of SBP. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Hacettepe University Hospitals. Subjects: A total of 281 SBP episodes of 214 patients between 3rd march 1981 and 3rd August 1999, in Hacettepe University Hospital were evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed in the group of patients having chronic liver diseases. Results: One hundred and forty nine of the patients 214 (69.6%) were males and 65(30.4%) were females. The mean age of all patients were 49.91±15.01 years (17 to 90 years). All spontaneous ascites infection episodes were symptomatic. In all of the episodes, most common clinical features were as follows: icterus (54.5%), abdominal tenderness (54.5%), hepatic encephalopathy (50.7%), fatigue (46.7%), abdominal pain (44.4%) and fever (38.8%). The culture of the ascitic fluid resulted in isolation of a bacteria in 25.4% of all episodes. The most frequently isolated microorganisms turned out to be gram negative enteric bacterias (76.2%). Sixty seven patients in 179 cases with liver disease passed away (37.4%). The use of cefotaxime and newer cephalosporins seemed to have less mortality (31.7%) as compared with that (42.2%) observed in patients treated with other antibiotic regimens. Conclusions: Of all the factors analysed in patients with chronic liver diseases, being Child-Pugh class C, having fatigue, hepatic encephalopathy, hypotension, higher peripheral blood leukocyte count (³12000/mm3), renal dysfunction (serum creatinine level ³ 2mg/dl), longer prothrombin time (INR ³2.5), lower ascites protein level