Cerebral and Peripheral Tissue Oxygenation in Children Supported on ECMO for Cardio-Respiratory Failure

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a rescue therapy for patients with cardio-respiratory failure. Establishing, maintaining and weaning from ECMO may increase the risk for intracranial injury. We used a dual channel near infrared system to monitor cerebral and peripheral tissue oxygenation in 3 venoarterial (VA) and 1 venovenous (VV) ECMO patients undergoing manipulations in the ECMO circuit flows. Spectral analysis was performed on the oxyhaemoglobin data collected from these patients with the aim of comparing oscillations at range of frequencies appearing in the two measurement sites

Knowing me, knowing you: the role of trust, locus of control and privacy concern in acceptance of domestic electricity demand-side response

Choosing to take part in a demand-side response (DSR) programme entails accepting external influence over one’s energy consumption patterns, such as through price or direct load control (DLC) signals. If participation is low, the programme will be ineffective. How might people’s perceptions of their relationship with the influencing entity affect the likelihood of participation? This study used a representative survey of Great Britain (N=2002) to explore the importance of trust, privacy concern and locus of control for acceptance of different approaches to influencing electricity consumption. Survey respondents were randomly shown a description of one of five DSR products (static time of use [TOU] tariff, static TOU with automated response to price changes, dynamic TOU, dynamic TOU with automated response, and DLC), framed as being offered by their electricity supplier. They then responded to a number of scales including those intended to measure trust in their supplier, privacy concern and locus of control. Controlling for demographic variables, trust in electricity supplier was significantly positively associated with acceptance of all tariffs, although the effect size was smaller for the automated TOU tariffs. The specific measure of trust in the supplier to ensure a reliable electricity supply was significantly negatively associated with acceptance of the dynamic TOU tariff. Privacy concern was significantly negatively associated with acceptance of all tariffs, with the strongest effect for the automated dynamic TOU tariff. Locus of control was a significant factor only in the case of DLC, where external locus was related to higher acceptance. These results suggest the existing low levels of trust in energy companies in the UK may present a challenge in securing uptake of DSR, and an opportunity to trusted entrants from other sectors. Automation within the home may mitigate trust concerns, but people must have confidence in the privacy of this arrangement. DLC may be viewed especially positively by people who currently perceive themselves to have little control over their energy use, but protections should be in place to ensure they are not exploited

Exploring perceived control in domestic electricity demand-side response

Research into consumer acceptance of domestic electricity demand-side response (DSR) highlights loss of personal control as a key concern. This UK focus group study explored people's perceived control in relation to home energy use and DSR. Three DSR offerings were discussed: fixed and dynamic time of use (TOU) pricing and direct load control. Participants' main motivations for control were costs, comfort, time/flexibility and autonomy. The majority viewed a fixed TOU tariff as increasing personal control, particularly over costs. Dynamic TOU pricing divided opinion, with some perceiving more control over costs, while others were concerned about ease of use, requirement for automation, predictability and flexibility. Almost everyone saw direct load control as reducing their control, although some framed this only in terms of control over appliances, while others were concerned about their overall autonomy. Implications for future research and the design, targeting and communication of DSR products are discussed

Public acceptability of domestic demand-side response in Great Britain: The role of automation and direct load control

Domestic demand-side response (DSR), if widely adopted, could help make electricity more secure, clean and affordable. However, little is known about consumer demand for different approaches to achieving DSR. This study aimed to gauge the acceptability of a range of DSR tariffs, and explore factors affecting it. An online between-subjects survey experiment was deployed to a representative sample of bill payers in Great Britain (N = 2002), testing five tariffs including static/dynamic time of use (TOU) pricing (with/without automated response to price changes) and direct load control (DLC) of heating on a below-average flat rate. The tariff permitting limited DLC of heating was significantly (p < .01) more popular than the TOU tariffs. This was surprising given evidence for concern around loss of control in DLC, and suggests that for many people DLC is acceptable in principle (within tight bounds and with override ability). The option of automated response made dynamic TOU (otherwise the least popular tariff) as acceptable as static TOU. This is important because dynamic TOU offers additional network benefits, while automation can improve duration and reliability of response. The TOU tariffs were rated highly for giving people control over spending on electricity, but other factors were more associated with overall acceptance

Optical topography to measure variations in regional cerebral oxygenation in an infant supported on veno-arterial extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a rescue therapy for patients with cardio-respiratory failure which exposes the patient to the risk for in-tracranial injury. We used a 12-channel optical topography system to monitor ce-rebral oxygenation in a venoarterial (VA) ECMO patient during alterations in the ECMO flows. Changes in oxy-(HbO2), deoxy-(HHb) and total-(HbT) haemoglo-bin concentrations were measured simultaneously with systemic and ECMO cir-cuit parameters. Decreasing the flows resulted in a decrease in venous (SvO2) and arterial (SpO2) saturations. These were reflected in the haemoglobin data by a sig-nificant increase in HHb of varying magnitude across the 12 channels and mod-erate changes in HbO2 suggestive of cerebral arterial dilation to compensate for the lack of oxygen delivery. In the patient studied here ECMO flows appear to present a significant haemodynamic challenge to cerebral circulation

Using fNIRS to study working memory of infants in rural Africa

A pilot study was conducted to assess the feasibility of using fNIRS as an alternative to behavioral assessments of cognitive development with infants in rural Africa. We report preliminary results of a study looking at working memory in 12–16-month-olds and discuss the benefits and shortcomings for the potential future use of fNIRS to investigate the effects of nutritional insults and interventions in global health studies

Measuring player’s behaviour change over time in public goods game

An important issue in public goods game is whether player's behaviour changes over time, and if so, how significant it is. In this game players can be classified into different groups according to the level of their participation in the public good. This problem can be considered as a concept drift problem by asking the amount of change that happens to the clusters of players over a sequence of game rounds. In this study we present a method for measuring changes in clusters with the same items over discrete time points using external clustering validation indices and area under the curve. External clustering indices were originally used to measure the difference between suggested clusters in terms of clustering algorithms and ground truth labels for items provided by experts. Instead of different cluster label comparison, we use these indices to compare between clusters of any two consecutive time points or between the first time point and the remaining time points to measure the difference between clusters through time points. In theory, any external clustering indices can be used to measure changes for any traditional (non-temporal) clustering algorithm, due to the fact that any time point alone is not carrying any temporal information. For the public goods game, our results indicate that the players are changing over time but the change is smooth and relatively constant between any two time points

A Bacterial Cytotoxin Identifies the RhoA Exchange Factor Net1 as a Key Effector in the Response to DNA Damage

Background: Exposure of adherent cells to DNA damaging agents, such as the bacterial cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) or ionizing radiations (IR), activates the small GTPase RhoA, which promotes the formation of actin stress fibers and delays cell death. The signalling intermediates that regulate RhoA activation and promote cell survival are unknown. Principal Findings: We demonstrate that the nuclear RhoA-specific Guanine nucleotide Exchange Factor (GEF) Net1 becomes dephosphorylated at a critical inhibitory site in cells exposed to CDT or IR. Expression of a dominant negative Net1 or Net1 knock down by iRNA prevented RhoA activation, inhibited the formation of stress fibers, and enhanced cell death, indicating that Net1 activation is required for this RhoA-mediated responses to genotoxic stress. The Net1 and RhoAdependent signals involved activation of the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase p38 and its downstream target MAPKactivated protein kinase 2. Significance: Our data highlight the importance of Net1 in controlling RhoA and p38 MAPK mediated cell survival in cells exposed to DNA damaging agents and illustrate a molecular pathway whereby chronic exposure to a bacterial toxin ma

Integrating Functional and Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Analysis of Structure-Function Relationship in the Human Language Network

The capabilities of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure structural and functional connectivity in the human brain have motivated growing interest in characterizing the relationship between these measures in the distributed neural networks of the brain. In this study, we attempted an integration of structural and functional analyses of the human language circuits, including Wernicke's (WA), Broca's (BA) and supplementary motor area (SMA), using a combination of blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) and diffusion tensor MRI.Functional connectivity was measured by low frequency inter-regional correlations of BOLD MRI signals acquired in a resting steady-state, and structural connectivity was measured by using adaptive fiber tracking with diffusion tensor MRI data. The results showed that different language pathways exhibited different structural and functional connectivity, indicating varying levels of inter-dependence in processing across regions. Along the path between BA and SMA, the fibers tracked generally formed a single bundle and the mean radius of the bundle was positively correlated with functional connectivity. However, fractional anisotropy was found not to be correlated with functional connectivity along paths connecting either BA and SMA or BA and WA. for use in diagnosing and determining disease progression and recovery