1864-11-17 Samuel M. Carne inquires if Frank Bracy of Company F is still alive

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Passive Aeroelastic Tailored Wing Modal Test Using the Fixed Base Correction Method

In modal testing and finite element model correlation, analysts desire modal results using free-free or rigid boundary conditions to ease comparisons of test versus analytical data. It is often expensive both in cost and schedule to build and test with boundary conditions that replicate the free-free or rigid boundaries. Static test fixtures for load testing are often large, heavy, and unyielding, but do not provide adequate boundaries for modal tests because they are dynamically too flexible and often contain natural frequencies within the frequency range of interest of the test article. Dynamic coupling between the test article and test fixture complicates the model updating process because significant effort is required to model the test fixture and boundary conditions in addition to the test article. If there were a way to correct the modal results for fixture coupling, then setups used for other structural testing could be adequate for modal testing. In the case described in this paper, a partial static loads testing setup was used, which allowed significant schedule and cost savings by eliminating a unique setup for a modal test. A fixed base correction technique was investigated during modal testing of a flexible wing cantilevered from part of a static test fixture. The technique was successfully used to measure the wing modes de-coupled from the dynamically active test fixture. The technique is promising for future aircraft applications, but more research is needed

First cases of combined full robotic partial nephrectomy and colorectal resections: Results and new perspectives

Background: Nowadays the robotic platform is widespread in general surgery, urology, and gynecology. Combined surgery may represent an alternative to sequential procedures and it allows the treatment, at the same time, of coexisting lesions; in this perspective, full-robotic multiorgan surgery is starting to gain interest from surgeons worldwide. Methods: Between April and June 2019, two patients presenting with synchronous colorectal and kidney cancers underwent, respectively, full-robotic right colectomy with right partial nephrectomy and anterior rectal resection with left partial nephrectomy. Surgeries were performed by both the general surgery and urology team. Results: No intraoperative complications were registered and the postoperative course was uneventful in both cases. Conclusions: Combined multiple organ surgery with full robotic technique is safe and offers oncological adequate results. A multi-team surgical pre-planning is mandatory to reduce invasiveness and operative time. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first reports of full robotic partial nephrectomy combined with colorectal procedures

Quantitative Analysis of the Cervical Texture by Ultrasound and Correlation with Gestational Age

Objectives: Quantitative texture analysis has been proposed to extract robust features from the ultrasound image to detect subtle changes in the textures of the images. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of quantitative cervical texture analysis to assess cervical tissue changes throughout pregnancy. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study including singleton pregnancies between 20.0 and 41.6 weeks of gestation from women who delivered at term. Cervical length was measured, and a selected region of interest in the cervix was delineated. A model to predict gestational age based on features extracted from cervical images was developed following three steps: data splitting, feature transformation, and regression model computation. Results: Seven hundred images, 30 per gestational week, were included for analysis. There was a strong correlation between the gestational age at which the images were obtained and the estimated gestational age by quantitative analysis of the cervical texture (R = 0.88). Discussion: This study provides evidence that quantitative analysis of cervical texture can extract features from cervical ultrasound images which correlate with gestational age. Further research is needed to evaluate its applicability as a biomarker of the risk of spontaneous preterm birth, as well as its role in cervical assessment in other clinical situations in which cervical evaluation might be relevant

The prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in a random sample from the Australian population

 Objective: Vitamin B12 deficiency is common in older adults, and may increase the risk of cognitive impairment. The distribution of vitamin B12 insufficiency in younger age groups is less studied. This study aims to assess the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency (<156ρmol/L) and subclinical low-normal levels (156-250ρmol/L) in a large, random sample of the Australian population across the adult life span. Methods: We examined serum vitamin B12 levels in a random sample of 1,085 men and 1,125 women aged 20-97 years between 1994 and 2006; in the Barwon Statistical Division, a regional area in south eastern Australia that is representative of the socioeconomic status of the Australian population. Results: The age-standardised prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in this cohort of men and women was 3.6%. Subclinical low-normal vitamin B12 levels (156-250ρmol/L) were found in 26%. Serum vitamin B12 levels declined with age among men (p-value <0.001) and were lower in men than women (p-value <0.001). Vitamin B12 levels were higher among supplement users (8.0% of the cohort). Conclusions: Vitamin B12 levels decline with age, and have been associated with neurodegenerative diseases and cognitive decline. Early intervention by diet education or supplement use to address this age-associated decline in vitamin levels may be an effective strategy to prevent decline in a significant segment of the population. Such intervention may need to start in mid-life (from 50-years of age) before the onset age-related decline in vitamin B12 levels

Quantitative ultrasound texture analysis of fetal lungs to predict neonatal respiratory morbidity

Objective To develop and evaluate the performance of a novel method for predicting neonatal respiratory morbidity based on quantitative analysis of the fetal lung by ultrasound. Methods More than 13¿000 non-clinical images and 900 fetal lung images were used to develop a computerized method based on texture analysis and machine learning algorithms, trained to predict neonatal respiratory morbidity risk on fetal lung ultrasound images. The method, termed ‘quantitative ultrasound fetal lung maturity analysis’ (quantusFLM™), was then validated blindly in 144 neonates, delivered at 28¿+¿0 to 39¿+¿0¿weeks' gestation. Lung ultrasound images in DICOM format were obtained within 48¿h of delivery and the ability of the software to predict neonatal respiratory morbidity, defined as either respiratory distress syndrome or transient tachypnea of the newborn, was determined. Results Mean (SD) gestational age at delivery was 36¿+¿1 (3¿+¿3) weeks. Among the 144 neonates, there were 29 (20.1%) cases of neonatal respiratory morbidity. Quantitative texture analysis predicted neonatal respiratory morbidity with a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 86.2%, 87.0%, 62.5% and 96.2%, respectively. Conclusions Quantitative ultrasound fetal lung maturity analysis predicted neonatal respiratory morbidity with an accuracy comparable to that of current tests using amniotic fluid.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Multi-centre and multi-vendor reproducibility of a standardized protocol for quantitative susceptibility Mapping of the human brain at 3T

Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) is an MRI-based technique allowing the non-invasive quantification of iron content and myelination in the brain. The RIN – Neuroimaging Network established an optimized and harmonized protocol for QSM across ten sites with 3T MRI systems from three different vendors to enable multicentric studies. The assessment of the reproducibility of this protocol is crucial to establish susceptibility as a quantitative biomarker. In this work, we evaluated cross-vendor reproducibility in a group of six traveling brains. Then, we recruited fifty-one volunteers and measured the variability of QSM values in a cohort of healthy subjects scanned at different sites, simulating a multicentric study. Both voxelwise and Region of Interest (ROI)-based analysis on cortical and subcortical gray matter were performed. The traveling brain study yielded high structural similarity (∼0.8) and excellent reproducibility comparing maps acquired on scanners from two different vendors. Depending on the ROI, we reported a quantification error ranging from 0.001 to 0.017 ppm for the traveling brains. In the cohort of fifty-one healthy subjects scanned at nine different sites, the ROI-dependent variability of susceptibility values, of the order of 0.005–0.025 ppm, was comparable to the result of the traveling brain experiment. The harmonized QSM protocol of the RIN – Neuroimaging Network provides a reliable quantification of susceptibility in both cortical and subcortical gray matter regions and it is ready for multicentric and longitudinal clinical studies in neurological and pychiatric diseases

'MRI-negative PET-positive' temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and mesial TLE differ with quantitative MRI and PET: a case control study

Background: \u27MRI negative PET positive temporal lobe epilepsy\u27 represents a substantial minority of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Clinicopathological and qualitative imaging differences from mesial temporal lobe epilepsy are reported. We aimed to compare TLE with hippocampal sclerosis (HS+ve) and non lesional TLE without HS (HS-ve) on MRI, with respect to quantitative FDG-PET and MRI measures.Methods: 30 consecutive HS-ve patients with well-lateralised EEG were compared with 30 age- and sex-matched HS+ve patients with well-lateralised EEG. Cerebral, cortical lobar and hippocampal volumetric and co-registered FDG-PET metabolic analyses were performed.Results: There was no difference in whole brain, cerebral or cerebral cortical volumes. Both groups showed marginally smaller cerebral volumes ipsilateral to epileptogenic side (HS-ve 0.99, p = 0.02, HS+ve 0.98, p &lt; 0.001). In HS+ve, the ratio of epileptogenic cerebrum to whole brain volume was less (p = 0.02); the ratio of epileptogenic cerebral cortex to whole brain in the HS+ve group approached significance (p = 0.06). Relative volume deficits were seen in HS+ve in insular and temporal lobes. Both groups showed marked ipsilateral hypometabolism (p &lt; 0.001), most marked in temporal cortex. Mean hypointensity was more marked in epileptogenic-to-contralateral hippocampus in HS+ve (ratio: 0.86 vs 0.95, p &lt; 0.001). The mean FDG-PET ratio of ipsilateral to contralateral cerebral cortex however was low in both groups (ratio: HS-ve 0.97, p &lt; 0.0001; HS+ve 0.98, p = 0.003), and more marked in HS-ve across all lobes except insula.Conclusion: Overall, HS+ve patients showed more hippocampal, but also marginally more ipsilateral cerebral and cerebrocortical atrophy, greater ipsilateral hippocampal hypometabolism but similar ipsilateral cerebral cortical hypometabolism, confirming structural and functional differences between these groups.<br /

Unbounded violation of tripartite Bell inequalities

We prove that there are tripartite quantum states (constructed from random unitaries) that can lead to arbitrarily large violations of Bell inequalities for dichotomic observables. As a consequence these states can withstand an arbitrary amount of white noise before they admit a description within a local hidden variable model. This is in sharp contrast with the bipartite case, where all violations are bounded by Grothendieck's constant. We will discuss the possibility of determining the Hilbert space dimension from the obtained violation and comment on implications for communication complexity theory. Moreover, we show that the violation obtained from generalized GHZ states is always bounded so that, in contrast to many other contexts, GHZ states do in this case not lead to extremal quantum correlations. The results are based on tools from the theories of operator spaces and tensor norms which we exploit to prove the existence of bounded but not completely bounded trilinear forms from commutative C*-algebras.Comment: Substantial changes in the presentation to make the paper more accessible for a non-specialized reade