Isotopic dependence of predissociation linewidths in the Schumann-Runge bands of oxygen

It is demonstrated that, according to semi-classical theory, the isotopic dependence of the predissociation linewidths in the Schumann-Runge bands of oxygen cannot be removed by simple scaling of the reduced mass. This is in contrast to the isotopic dependence of the predissociated vibrational energy levels. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Social psychological aspects of ACL injury prevention and rehabilitation: An integrated model for behavioral adherence

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A phase 2 multicenter study of ublituximab, a novel glycoengineered anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, in patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis.

Background: Ublituximab, a novel monoclonal antibody (mAb) targeting a unique epitope on the CD20 antigen, is glycoengineered for enhanced B-cell targeting through antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). Greater ADCC may allow lower doses and shorter infusion times versus other anti-CD20 mAbs. Objective: The objective was to determine optimal dose, infusion time, and activity of ublituximab in relapsing multiple sclerosis. Methods: This is a phase 2, placebo-controlled study. Patients received three ublituximab infusions (150 mg over 1-4 hours on day 1 and 450-600 mg over 1-3 hours on day 15 and week 24) in six dosing cohorts. The primary endpoint was B-cell depletion. Results: In all cohorts (N = 48), median B-cell depletion was >99% by week 4, maintained at weeks 24 and 48. Most common adverse events (AEs) were infusion-related reactions (all grade 1-2), with no apparent increased incidence at shorter infusion times. There were no AE-related discontinuations. At weeks 24 and 48, no T1 gadolinium-enhancing lesions (p = 0.003) and a 10.6% decrease in T2 lesion volume (p = 0.002) were detected. The annualized relapse rate was 0.07; 93% remained relapse free on study. Overall, 74% of patients had no evidence of disease activity (NEDA). Conclusion: Ublituximab was safely infused as rapid as 1 hour, producing robust B-cell depletion and profound reductions in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) activity and relapses

Total flavonoid fraction of the Herba epimedii extract suppresses urinary calcium excretion and improves bone properties in ovariectomised mice

2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Do emotional difficulties and peer problems hew together from childhood to adolescence? The case of children with a history of developmental language disorder (DLD)

Children and adolescents with developmental language disorder (DLD) are, overall, vulnerable to difficulties in emotional adjustment and in peer relations. However, previous research has shown that different subgroups follow different trajectories in respect of quality of peer relations. Less is known of the trajectories of emotional development. We consider here the possibility that development in these two domains is interrelated: that is, the trajectories of emotional and peer problems will proceed in parallel. We conducted longitudinal joint trajectories analyses of emotional and peer relations in a sample of young people identified as having DLD at age 7 years and seen at intervals up to 16 years. Potential influences on joint trajectory group membership were examined. Findings revealed five distinct joint trajectories. Emotional and peer difficulties do hew together from childhood to adolescence for just over half of the sample, but not all. The variables most clearly associated with group membership were pragmatic language ability, prosociality and parental mental health. This is the first study to examine joint longitudinal trajectories of emotional and peer difficulties in individuals with DLD. We demonstrate that development in individuals with DLD is heterogeneous and identify three key variables associated with personal and social adjustment from childhood to adolescence. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed

Resource-efficient high-dimensional subspace teleportation with a quantum autoencoder.

Quantum autoencoders serve as efficient means for quantum data compression. Here, we propose and demonstrate their use to reduce resource costs for quantum teleportation of subspaces in high-dimensional systems. We use a quantum autoencoder in a compress-teleport-decompress manner and report the first demonstration with qutrits using an integrated photonic platform for future scalability. The key strategy is to compress the dimensionality of input states by erasing redundant information and recover the initial states after chip-to-chip teleportation. Unsupervised machine learning is applied to train the on-chip autoencoder, enabling the compression and teleportation of any state from a high-dimensional subspace. Unknown states are decompressed at a high fidelity (~0.971), obtaining a total teleportation fidelity of ~0.894. Subspace encodings hold great potential as they support enhanced noise robustness and increased coherence. Laying the groundwork for machine learning techniques in quantum systems, our scheme opens previously unidentified paths toward high-dimensional quantum computing and networking

Impact of unhealthy lifestyle on cardiorespiratory fitness and heart rate recovery of medical science students

Background: Medical science students represent valuable labour resources for better future medicine and medical technology. However, little attention was given to the health and well-being of these early career medical science professionals. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of lifestyle components on cardiorespiratory fitness and heart rate recovery measured after moderate exercise in this population. Methods: Volunteers without documented medical condition were recruited randomly and continuously from the first-year medical science students during 2011-2014 at the University of Surrey, UK. Demographics and lifestyle components (the levels of smoking, alcohol intake, exercise, weekend outdoor activity and screen-time, daily sleep period, and self-assessment of fitness) were gathered through pre-exercise questionnaire. Cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max) and heart rate recovery were determined using Åstrand–Rhyming submaximal cycle ergometry test. Data were analysed using SPSS version 25. Results: Among 614 volunteers, 124 had completed both lifestyle questionnaire and the fitness test and were included for this study. Within 124 participants (20.6±4 years), 46.8% were male and 53.2% were female, 11.3% were overweight and 8.9% were underweight, 8.9% were current smokers and 33.1% consumed alcohol beyond the UK recommendation. There were 34.7% of participants admitted to have <3 h/week of moderate physical activity assessed according to UK Government National Physical Activity Guidelines and physically not fit (feeling tiredness). Fitness test showed that VO2max distribution was inversely associated with heart rate recovery at 3 min and both values were significantly correlated with the levels of exercise, self-assessed fitness and BMI. Participants who had <3h/week exercise, or felt not fit or were overweight had significantly lower VO2max and heart rate recovery than their peers. Conclusion: One in three new medical science students were physically inactive along with compromised cardiorespiratory fitness and heart rate recovery, which put them at risk of cardiometabolic diseases. Promoting healthy lifestyle at the beginning of career is crucial in keeping medical science professionals healthy

Markers for early detection of cancer: Statistical guidelines for nested case-control studies

BACKGROUND: Recently many long-term prospective studies have involved serial collection and storage of blood or tissue specimens. This has spurred nested case-control studies that involve testing some specimens for various markers that might predict cancer. Until now there has been little guidance in statistical design and analysis of these studies. METHODS: To develop statistical guidelines, we considered the purpose, the types of biases, and the opportunities for extracting additional information. RESULTS: The following guidelines: (1) For the clearest interpretation, statistics should be based on false and true positive rates – not odds ratios or relative risks (2) To avoid overdiagnosis bias, cases should be diagnosed as a result of symptoms rather than on screening. (3) To minimize selection bias, the spectrum of control conditions should be the same in study and target screening populations. (4) To extract additional information, criteria for a positive test should be based on combinations of individual markers and changes in marker levels over time. (5) To avoid overfitting, the criteria for a positive marker combination developed in a training sample should be evaluated in a random test sample from the same study and, if possible, a validation sample from another study. (6) To identify biomarkers with true and false positive rates similar to mammography, the training, test, and validation samples should each include at least 110 randomly selected subjects without cancer and 70 subjects with cancer. CONCLUSION: These guidelines ensure good practice in the design and analysis of nested case-control studies of early detection biomarkers

Solution structure of a repeated unit of the ABA-1 nematode polyprotein allergen of ascaris reveals a novel fold and two discrete lipid-binding sites

Parasitic nematode worms cause serious health problems in humans and other animals. They can induce allergic-type immune responses, which can be harmful but may at the same time protect against the infections. Allergens are proteins that trigger allergic reactions and these parasites produce a type that is confined to nematodes, the nematode polyprotein allergens (NPAs). These are synthesized as large precursor proteins comprising repeating units of similar amino acid sequence that are subsequently cleaved into multiple copies of the allergen protein. NPAs bind small lipids such as fatty acids and retinol (Vitamin A) and probably transport these sensitive and insoluble compounds between the tissues of the worms. Nematodes cannot synthesize these lipids, so NPAs may also be crucial for extracting nutrients from their hosts. They may also be involved in altering immune responses by controlling the lipids by which the immune and inflammatory cells communicate. We describe the molecular structure of one unit of an NPA, the well-known ABA-1 allergen of Ascaris and find its structure to be of a type not previously found for lipid-binding proteins, and we describe the unusual sites where lipids bind within this structur