Initial validation of Chinese Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia Scale (C-PAINAD)

2007-2008 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Structural modification of TiO2 nanorod films with an influence on the photovoltaic efficiency of a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC)

TiO2 nanorod films have been deposited on ITO substrates by dc reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The structures of these nanorod films were modified by the variation of the oxygen pressure during the sputtering process. Although all these TiO2 nanorod films deposited at different oxygen pressures show an anatase structure, the orientation of the nanorod films varies with the oxygen pressure. Only a very weak (101) diffraction peak can be observed for the TiO2 nanorod film prepared at low oxygen pressure. However, as the oxygen pressure is increased, the (220) diffraction peak appears and the intensity of this diffraction peak is increased with the oxygen pressure. The results of the SEM show that these TiO2 nanorods are perpendicular to the ITO substrate. At low oxygen pressure, these sputtered TiO2 nanorods stick together and have a dense structure. As the oxygen pressure is increased, these sputtered TiO2 nanorods get separated gradually and have a porous structure. The optical transmittance of these TiO2 nanorod films has been measured and then fitted by OJL model. The porosities of the TiO2 nanorod films have been calculated. The TiO2 nanorod film prepared at high oxygen pressure shows a high porosity. The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been assembled using these TiO2 nanorod films prepared at different oxygen pressures as photoelectrode. The optimum performance was achieved for the DSSC using the TiO2 nanorod film with the highest (220) diffraction peak and the highest porosity

Sub-Sets of Cancer Stem Cells Differ Intrinsically in Their Patterns of Oxygen Metabolism

PMCID: PMC3640080This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Double quantum dot with integrated charge sensor based on Ge/Si heterostructure nanowires

Coupled electron spins in semiconductor double quantum dots hold promise as the basis for solid-state qubits. To date, most experiments have used III-V materials, in which coherence is limited by hyperfine interactions. Ge/Si heterostructure nanowires seem ideally suited to overcome this limitation: the predominance of spin-zero nuclei suppresses the hyperfine interaction and chemical synthesis creates a clean and defect-free system with highly controllable properties. Here we present a top gate-defined double quantum dot based on Ge/Si heterostructure nanowires with fully tunable coupling between the dots and to the leads. We also demonstrate a novel approach to charge sensing in a one-dimensional nanostructure by capacitively coupling the double dot to a single dot on an adjacent nanowire. The double quantum dot and integrated charge sensor serve as an essential building block required to form a solid-state spin qubit free of nuclear spin.Comment: Related work at http://marcuslab.harvard.edu and http://cmliris.harvard.ed

A feasibility study of hyoscine butylbromide (buscopan) to improve image quality of cone beam computed tomography during abdominal/pelvic Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy.

Objectives: Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) is used for image guidance of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR), but it is susceptible to bowel motion artefacts. This trial evaluated the impact of hyoscine butylbromide (buscopan) on CBCT image quality and its feasibility within a radiotherapy workflow. Methods: A single-centre feasibility trial (ISRCTN24362767) was performed in patients treated with SABR for abdominal/pelvic oligorecurrence. Buscopan was administered to separate cohorts by intramuscular (IM) or intravenous (i.v.) injection on alternate fractions, providing within-patient control data. 4-point Likert scales were used to assess overall image quality (ranging from excellent to impossible to use) and bowel motion artefact (ranging from none to severe). Feasibility was determined by patient/radiographer questionnaires and toxicity assessment. Descriptive statistics are presented. Results: 16 patients were treated (8 by IM and 8 by i.v. buscopan). The percentage of images of excellent quality with/without buscopan was 47 vs 29% for IM buscopan and 65 vs 40% for i.v. buscopan. The percentage of images with no bowel motion artefact with/without buscopan was 24.6 vs 8.9% for IM buscopan and 25.8 vs 7% for i.v. buscopan. Four patients (25%) reported dry mouth. 14 patients (93%) would accept buscopan as routine. 11 radiographers (92%) reported no delay in treatments. Conclusions: A trend towards improved image quality/reduced bowel motion artefact was observed with IM/i.v. buscopan. Buscopan was well tolerated with limited impact on workflow. Advances in knowledge: This is the first trial of buscopan within a radiotherapy workflow. It demonstrated a trend to improved image quality and feasibility of use

Linkage analysis of longitudinal data and design consideration

BACKGROUND: Statistical methods have been proposed recently to analyze longitudinal data in genetic studies. So far, little attention has been paid to examine the relationship among key factors in genetic longitudinal studies including power, the number of families or sibships, and the number of repeated measures per individual subjects. RESULTS: We proposed a variance component model that extends classic variance component models for a single quantitative trait to mapping longitudinal traits. Our model includes covariate effects and allows genetic effects to vary over time. Using our proposed model, we examined the power, pedigree structures, and sample size through simulation experiments. CONCLUSION: Our simulation results provide useful insights into the study design for genetic, longitudinal studies. For example, collecting a small number of large sibships is much more powerful than collecting a large number of small sibships or increasing the number of repeated measures, when the total number of measurements is comparable

Higher Height, Higher Ability: Judgment Confidence as a Function of Spatial Height Perception

Based on grounded cognition theories, the current study showed that judgments about ability were regulated by the subjects' perceptions of their spatial height. In Experiment 1, we found that after seeing the ground from a higher rather than lower floor, people had higher expectations about their performance on a knowledge test and assigned themselves higher rank positions in a peer comparison evaluation. In Experiment 2, we examined the boundary conditions of the spatial height effects and showed that it could still occur even if we employed photos rather than actual building floors to manipulate the perceptions of spatial heights. In addition, Experiment 2 excluded processing style as an explanation for these observations. In Experiment 3, we investigated a potential mechanism for the spatial height effect by manipulating the scale direction in the questionnaire. Consequently, consistent with our representational dependence account, the effect of spatial heights on ability judgments was eliminated when the mental representation of ability was disturbed by a reverse physical representation. These results suggest that people's judgments about their ability are correlated with their spatial perception

Linkage Mapping of Stem Saccharification Digestibility in Rice

Rice is the staple food of almost half of the world population, and in excess 90% of it is grown and consumed in Asia, but the disposal of rice straw poses a problem for farmers, who often burn it in the fields, causing health and environmental problems. However, with increased focus on the development of sustainable biofuel production, rice straw has been recognized as a potential feedstock for non-food derived biofuel production. Currently, the commercial realization of rice as a biofuel feedstock is constrained by the high cost of industrial saccharification processes needed to release sugar for fermentation. This study is focused on the alteration of lignin content, and cell wall chemotypes and structures, and their effects on the saccharification potential of rice lignocellulosic biomass. A recombinant inbred lines (RILs) population derived from a cross between the lowland rice variety IR1552 and the upland rice variety Azucena with 271 molecular markers for quantitative trait SNP (QTS) analyses was used. After association analysis of 271 markers for saccharification potential, 1 locus and 4 pairs of epistatic loci were found to contribute to the enzymatic digestibility phenotype, and an inverse relationship between reducing sugar and lignin content in these recombinant inbred lines was identified. As a result of QTS analyses, several cell-wall associated candidate genes are proposed that may be useful for marker-assisted breeding and may aid breeders to produce potential high saccharification rice varieties

Divergent Effects of Beliefs in Heaven and Hell on National Crime Rates

Though religion has been shown to have generally positive effects on normative ‘prosocial’ behavior, recent laboratory research suggests that these effects may be driven primarily by supernatural punishment. Supernatural benevolence, on the other hand, may actually be associated with less prosocial behavior. Here, we investigate these effects at the societal level, showing that the proportion of people who believe in hell negatively predicts national crime rates whereas belief in heaven predicts higher crime rates. These effects remain after accounting for a host of covariates, and ultimately prove stronger predictors of national crime rates than economic variables such as GDP and income inequality. Expanding on laboratory research on religious prosociality, this is the first study to tie religious beliefs to large-scale cross-national trends in pro- and anti-social behavior

Identification of an autoantibody panel to separate lung cancer from smokers and nonsmokers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sera from lung cancer patients contain autoantibodies that react with tumor associated antigens (TAAs) that reflect genetic over-expression, mutation, or other anomalies of cell cycle, growth, signaling, and metabolism pathways.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed immunoassays to detect autoantibodies to ten tumor associated antigens (TAAs) selected on the basis of previous studies showing that they had preferential specificity for certain cancers. Sera examined were from lung cancer patients (22); smokers with ground-glass opacities (GGOs) (46), benign solid nodules (55), or normal CTs (35); and normal non-smokers (36). Logistic regression models based on the antibody biomarker levels among the high risk and lung cancer groups were developed to identify the combinations of biomarkers that predict lung cancer in these cohorts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Statistically significant differences in the distributions of each of the biomarkers were identified among all five groups. Using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves based on age, c-myc, Cyclin A, Cyclin B1, Cyclin D1, CDK2, and survivin, we obtained a sensitivity = 81% and specificity = 97% for the classification of cancer vs smokers(no nodules, solid nodules, or GGO) and correctly predicted 31/36 healthy controls as noncancer.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A pattern of autoantibody reactivity to TAAs may distinguish patients with lung cancer versus smokers with normal CTs, stable solid nodules, ground glass opacities, or normal healthy never smokers.</p