A Pilot Study of Continuous Limited-Channel aEEG in Term Infants with Encephalopathy

ObjectiveTo evaluate the accuracy, feasibility, and impact of limited-channel amplitude integrated electroencephalogram (aEEG) monitoring in encephalopathic infants. Study design Encephalopathic infants were placed on limited-channel aEEG with a software-based seizure event detector for 72 hours. A 12-hour epoch of conventional EEG-video (cEEG) was simultaneously collected. Infants were randomly assigned to monitoring that was blinded or visible to the clinical team. If a seizure detection event occurred in the visible group, the clinical team interpreted whether the event was a seizure, based on review of the limited-channel aEEG. EEG data were reviewed independently offline. Results In more than 68 hours per infant of limited-channel aEEG monitoring, 1116 seizures occurred (>90% clinically silent), with 615 detected by the seizure event detector (55%). Detection improved with increasing duration of seizures (73% >30 seconds, 87% >60 seconds). Bedside physicians were able to accurately use this algorithm to differentiate true seizures from false-positives. The visible group had a 52% reduction in seizure burden (P = .114) compared with the blinded group. Conclusions Monitoring for seizures with limited-channel aEEG can be accurately interpreted, compares favorably with cEEG, and is associated with a trend toward reduced seizure burden

From white elephant to Nobel Prize: Dennis Gabor’s wavefront reconstruction

Dennis Gabor devised a new concept for optical imaging in 1947 that went by a variety of names over the following decade: holoscopy, wavefront reconstruction, interference microscopy, diffraction microscopy and Gaboroscopy. A well-connected and creative research engineer, Gabor worked actively to publicize and exploit his concept, but the scheme failed to capture the interest of many researchers. Gabor’s theory was repeatedly deemed unintuitive and baffling; the technique was appraised by his contemporaries to be of dubious practicality and, at best, constrained to a narrow branch of science. By the late 1950s, Gabor’s subject had been assessed by its handful of practitioners to be a white elephant. Nevertheless, the concept was later rehabilitated by the research of Emmett Leith and Juris Upatnieks at the University of Michigan, and Yury Denisyuk at the Vavilov Institute in Leningrad. What had been judged a failure was recast as a success: evaluations of Gabor’s work were transformed during the 1960s, when it was represented as the foundation on which to construct the new and distinctly different subject of holography, a re-evaluation that gained the Nobel Prize for Physics for Gabor alone in 1971. This paper focuses on the difficulties experienced in constructing a meaningful subject, a practical application and a viable technical community from Gabor’s ideas during the decade 1947-1957

Effects of injection marination with various calcium sources and molar concentrations on display color life, tenderness, and microbial inhibition of beef loin steaks

Beef strip loins were assigned to one of 11 treatments that included injection marination (10% by weight) with three calcium salts at three molar concentrations, a distilled water control, and a non-marinated control. The effects of calcium salt and concentration were tested for retail display color life, tenderness and sensory traits, and microbial growth. Calcium lactate marinated steaks had longer color life and less microbial growth than those treated with calcium chloride or calcium ascorbate. Increasing molar concentration (.1M to .2M to .3M) caused faster color deterioration, and did not significantly improve microbial inhibition. All calcium treatments improved tenderness; however, calcium chloride treatments induced off-flavors. Considering a whole system approach that accounts for color life, microbial inhibition, shear force, and sensory traits, we recommend injecting beef longissimus with 10% of a .1M solution of calcium lactate, and do not recommend other calcium salts or concentrations

Space-Time Distribution of G-Band and Ca II H-Line Intensity Oscillations in Hinode/SOT-FG Observations

We study the space-time distributions of intensity fluctuations in 2 - 3 hour sequences of multi-spectral, high-resolution, high-cadence broad-band filtergram images (BFI) made by the SOT-FG system aboard the Hinode spacecraft. In the frequency range 5.5 < f < 8.0 mHz both G-band and Ca II H-line oscillations are suppressed in the presence of magnetic fields, but the suppression disappears for f > 10 mHz. By looking at G-band frequencies above 10 mHz we find that the oscillatory power, both at these frequencies and at lower frequencies too, lies in a mesh pattern with cell scale 2 - 3 Mm, clearly larger than normal granulation, and with correlation times on the order of hours. The mesh pattern lies in the dark lanes between stable cells found in time-integrated G-band intensity images. It also underlies part of the bright pattern in time-integrated H-line emission. This discovery may reflect dynamical constraints on the sizes of rising granular convection cells together with the turbulence created in strong intercellular downflows.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figure

Measurement of process-induced strains in composite materials using embedded fiber optic sensors

This paper presents the results of experiments to measure the internal strains and temperatures that are generated in graphite/epoxy composite specimens during processing using embedded fiber optic strain sensors and thermocouples. Measurements of strain and temperature, combined with a computational model, offer the potential for non-destructive, real-time determination of residual stress in composites, and may be useful for process monitoring and control. Extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer, Bragg grating strain sensors, and thermocouples were embedded in graphite/epoxy composite laminates prior to cure. The specimens were cured in a press, and the internal strains and temperatures developed during processing were monitored and recorded. The results are compared with expected values, and limitations of the experimental technique are discussed

History of clinical transplantation

How transplantation came to be a clinical discipline can be pieced together by perusing two volumes of reminiscences collected by Paul I. Terasaki in 1991-1992 from many of the persons who were directly involved. One volume was devoted to the discovery of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), with particular reference to the human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) that are widely used today for tissue matching.1 The other focused on milestones in the development of clinical transplantation.2 All the contributions described in both volumes can be traced back in one way or other to the demonstration in the mid-1940s by Peter Brian Medawar that the rejection of allografts is an immunological phenomenon.3,4 © 2008 Springer New York

Observed Effect of Magnetic Fields on the Propagation of Magnetoacoustic Waves in the Lower Solar Atmosphere

We study Hinode/SOT-FG observations of intensity fluctuations in Ca II H-line and G-band image sequences and their relation to simultaneous and co-spatial magnetic field measurements. We explore the G-band and H-line intensity oscillation spectra both separately and comparatively via their relative phase differences, time delays and cross-coherences. In the non-magnetic situations, both sets of fluctuations show strong oscillatory power in the 3 - 7 mHz band centered at 4.5 mHz, but this is suppressed as magnetic field increases. A relative phase analysis gives a time delay of H-line after G-band of 20\pm1 s in non-magnetic situations implying a mean effective height difference of 140 km. The maximum coherence is at 4 - 7 mHz. Under strong magnetic influence the measured delay time shrinks to 11 s with the peak coherence near 4 mHz. A second coherence maximum appears between 7.5 - 10 mHz. Investigation of the locations of this doubled-frequency coherence locates it in diffuse rings outside photospheric magnetic structures. Some possible interpretations of these results are offered.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

Supplementing feedlot steers and heifers with Zilmax increases proportions of strip loin, chuck clod, and top sirloin steaks exceeding Warner-Bratzler shear force thresholds, whereas aging moderates this effect

Ractopamine hydrochloride (Elanco, Greenfield, IN) and Zilmax (zilpaterol hydrochloride; Intervet/Schering-Plough, Millsboro, DE) are β-adrenergic agonists approved in the United States and several other countries to increase growth rate, improve efficiency of feed utilization, and increase carcass meat yield. Zilmax has been shown to improve feed efficiency by 26% and increase hot carcass weight, longissimus muscle area, and meat yield. However, a few studies have shown that Zilmax significantly increased Warner-Bratzler shear force values (decreased tenderness). The objectives of our research were to determine the effects of supplementing feedlot diets of steers and heifers with Zilmax for 0, 20, 30, or 40 days before harvest and the subsequent effects of 7, 14, and 21 days of aging on tenderness of steer and heifer Longissimus lumborum (from strip loins) and heifer Triceps brachii (from chuck clods) and Gluteus medius (from top sirloin butts) muscles

Parameters of the Magnetic Flux inside Coronal Holes

Parameters of magnetic flux distribution inside low-latitude coronal holes (CHs) were analyzed. A statistical study of 44 CHs based on Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)/MDI full disk magnetograms and SOHO/EIT 284\AA images showed that the density of the net magnetic flux, $B_{{\rm net}}$, does not correlate with the associated solar wind speeds, $V_x$. Both the area and net flux of CHs correlate with the solar wind speed and the corresponding spatial Pearson correlation coefficients are 0.75 and 0.71, respectively. A possible explanation for the low correlation between $B_{{\rm net}}$ and $V_x$ is proposed. The observed non-correlation might be rooted in the structural complexity of the magnetic field. As a measure of complexity of the magnetic field, the filling factor, $f(r)$, was calculated as a function of spatial scales. In CHs, $f(r)$ was found to be nearly constant at scales above 2 Mm, which indicates a monofractal structural organization and smooth temporal evolution. The magnitude of the filling factor is 0.04 from the Hinode SOT/SP data and 0.07 from the MDI/HR data. The Hinode data show that at scales smaller than 2 Mm, the filling factor decreases rapidly, which means a mutlifractal structure and highly intermittent, burst-like energy release regime. The absence of necessary complexity in CH magnetic fields at scales above 2 Mm seems to be the most plausible reason why the net magnetic flux density does not seem to be related to the solar wind speed: the energy release dynamics, needed for solar wind acceleration, appears to occur at small scales below 1 Mm.Comment: 6 figures, approximately 23 pages. Accepted in Solar Physic