Technology in neurology

Promising developments in clinical neurophysiology over the last 10 years have been largely eclipsed by the dramatic evolution of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). One exception has been encephalography (video EEG) monitoring and, of course, research in clinical neurophysiology knows no bounds. Neurosurgery has had major developments and some of these areas have involved neurophysiological co-operation such as neurophysiological sampling and stimulation in extrapyramidal movement disorders, especially Parkinson's disease. Overall, as in the rest of medical technology, digitisation and computerisation have gradually replaced all analogue systems and as the industry matured, many proprietary systems have migrated to commercial standards, particularly versions of the Windows operating systems. This development in technology has had tangible benefits in overlap with office software, ease of handling large amounts of data and increasing confidence in improved reliability and manipulation of signals. However, this technological benefit is a double-edged sword and apart from the more familiar problems common to many small computer systems, digital systems are capable of distorting or hiding signals without the unwary operator being aware of this. An example would be suspicious looking 'sharp waves' (potentially epileptogenic) on the EEG, which are the result of a noisy (bad) signal unwittingly being filtered by innocuous sounding switches ('muscle filters'). Despite the advanced technology, basic principles of a clean source of signal are still essential. Neurophysiological studies have not been exclusive to neurology and with important developments in cardiology and anaesthetics, there is greater overlap in some of the technology underlying these fields. At the same time, there has been a move to train clinical technologists who are capable of moving between even more disparate fields such as renal (dialysis) to respiratory (lung functions) to neurology. Unfortunately, the numbers of clinical technologists' posts, and hence members, have dropped significantly and such developments may be more necessary than originally planned.The training centres for clinical technology have also been drastically reduced, further hampering new recruits

Dry matter and nitrogen accumulation by standard height and semi-dwarf barley isotypes

Para avaliar o movimento do nitrogênio do solo para a planta e dentro desta, estudos de acúmulo de matéria seca e de N são necessários. O objetivo deste trabalho foi o de estudar o efeito de 30, 60, 90 e 120 kg/ha de N no acúmulo de matéria seca e N em oito genótipos de cevada cervejeira (quatro com altura normal e quatro com altura reduzida, mutantes de cada um dos normais), e duas testemunhas. Verificou-se variabilidade entre os genótipos no acúmulo de matéria seca até a antese e na transferência desta para o grão. Foram observadas diferenças entre os genótipos no acúmulo de N até a antese (de 36,6 a 52,9 mg N/planta), após a antese (de -2,3 a 10,8 mg N/planta) e no total de N acumulado na planta (de 69 a 149,2 mg N/planta em 1987 e 41,3 a 56,5 mg N/planta em 1989). Diferenças consistentes foram observadas, entre os isótipos pares, no N acumulado após antese e no N total, ambos maiores nos isótipos de altura normal. Verificou-se, também, variabilidade entre os genótipos na remobilização do N para o grão. Discutem-se as relações entre distribuição de matéria seca e N na planta.To assess nitrogen movement from the soil into the plant and within the plant, studies of dry matter and N accumulation are necessary. The objective of this experiment was to study the effect of 30, 60, 90 and 120 kg of N/ha on dry matter and N accumulation by four standard height-semi-dwarf normal mutant malting barley isotype pairs (Morex, Hazen, Norbert, Andre) and two check cultivars: Steptoe and Klages. Considerable differences among genotypes on dry matter accumulation until anthesis and dry matter lost during grain filling period were observed. Genotypic differences for pre-anthesis (range: 36.6 to 52.9 mg N/plant) and post-anthesis (range: -2.3 to 10.8 mg N/plant) N accumulation and in total N accumulation (range: 69 to 149.2 mg N/plant in 1987 and 41.3 to 56.5 mg N/ha in 1989) were observed. Within the isotype pairs, consistent differences were detected for post-anthesis and total N accumulation both favoring the standard isotypes. These differences were not affected by fertilizer N levels. Genotypic differences in N remobilization into the grain were also observed. Relationship between N and dry matter partitioning are discussed

Mouse genome-wide association studies and systems genetics uncover the genetic architecture associated with hepatic pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of a constrained ethyl antisense oligonucleotide targeting Malat1

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) have demonstrated variation of efficacy in patient populations. This has prompted our investigation into the contribution of genetic architecture to ASO pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD). Genome wide association (GWA) and transcriptomic analysis in a hybrid mouse diversity panel (HMDP) were used to identify and validate novel genes involved in the uptake and efficacy of a single dose of a Malat1 constrained ethyl (cEt) modified ASO. The GWA of the HMDP identified two significant associations on chromosomes 4 and 10 with hepatic Malat1 ASO concentrations. Stabilin 2 (Stab2) and vesicle associated membrane protein 3 (Vamp3) were identified by ciseQTL analysis. HMDP strains with lower Stab2 expression and Stab2 KO mice displayed significantly lower PK than strains with higher Stab2 expression and the wild type (WT) animals respectively, confirming the role of Stab2 in regulating hepatic Malat1 ASO uptake. GWA examining ASO efficacy uncovered three loci associated with Malat1 potency: Small Subunit Processome Component (Utp11l) on chromosome 4, Rho associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase 2 (Rock2) and Aci-reductone dioxygenase (Adi1) on chromosome 12. Our results demonstrate the utility of mouse GWAS using the HMDP in detecting genes capable of impacting the uptake of ASOs, and identifies genes critical for the activity of ASOs in vivo

Household food security is associated with infant feeding practices in rural Bangladesh.

Although household food security (HHFS) has been shown to affect diet, nutrition, and health of adults and also learning in children, no study has examined associations with infant feeding practices (IFP). We studied 1343 infants born between May 2002 and December 2003 in the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Intervention in Matlab study to investigate the effect of HHFS on IFP in rural Bangladesh. We measured HHFS using a previously developed 11-item scale. Cumulative and current infant feeding scales were created from monthly infant feeding data for the age groups of 1-3, 1-6, 1-9, and 1-12 mo based on comparison to infant feeding recommendations. We used lagged, dynamic, and difference longitudinal regression models adjusting for various infant and maternal variables to examine the association between HHFS and changes in IFP, and Cox proportional hazards models to examine the influence of HHFS on the duration of breast-feeding and the time of introduction of complementary foods. Better HHFS status was associated with poor IFP during 3-6 mo but was associated with better IFP during 6-9 and 9-12 mo of age. Although better HHFS was not associated with the time of introduction of complementary foods, it was associated with the type of complementary foods given to the infants. Intervention programs to support proper IFP should target mothers in food-secure households when their babies are 3-6 mo old and also mothers in food-insecure households during the 2nd half of infancy. Our results provide strong evidence that HHFS influences IFP in rural Bangladesh

The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high metallicity stars.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Supplements, in press (minor updates from submitted version

The Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median z=0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z=2.32), and 90,897 new stellar spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009 December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in temperature estimates for stars with T_eff<5000 K and in metallicity estimates for stars with [Fe/H]>-0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed as part of the SDSS-III Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration-2 (SEGUE-2). The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) along with another year of data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in December 2014.Comment: 9 figures; 2 tables. Submitted to ApJS. DR9 is available at http://www.sdss3.org/dr

Molecular and supramolecular chemistry of mono- and di-selenium analogues of metal dithiocarbamates

This bibliographic review summarises the coordination chemistry of mono- and diselenium analogues of metal dithiocarbamate ligands, [RRꞌNCS2]-, as revealed by X-ray crystallography and spectroscopy (77Se NMR and infrared). The Se-ligands are usually chelating but, bridging modes, up to 4, are known. Reflecting the larger size, greater polarisability and presence of a polar-cap (-hole), selenium atoms are more likely to be involved in secondary-bonding (chalcogen-bonding) than sulphur when a competition exists. Isostructural relationships are established across the series in about one-third of the structures

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected