A threshold caloric test- results in normal subjects

Threshold caloric test on normal subjects - responses to hot and cold caloric stimulatio

Measurement of the horizontal velocity of wind perturbations in the middle atmosphere by spaced MF radar systems

Two remote receiving sites have been set up at a distance of approx 40 km from the main MF radar system. This allows measurement of upper atmosphere winds from 60-120 km (3 km resolution) at the corners of an approximately equilateral triangle of side approx 20 km. Some preliminary data are compared through cross correlation and cross spectral analysis in an attempt to determine the horizontal velocity of wind perturbations and/or the horizontal wavelength and phase velocity of gravity waves

Cortical activity evoked by inoculation needle prick in infants up to one-year old

Inoculation is one of the first and most common experiences of procedural pain in infancy. However, little is known about how needle puncture pain is processed by the central nervous system in children. In this study, we describe for the first time the event-related activity in the infant brain during routine inoculation using electroencephalography. Fifteen healthy term-born infants aged 1 to 2 months (n = 12) or 12 months (n = 5) were studied in an outpatient clinic. Pain behavior was scored using the Modified Behavioral Pain Scale. A distinct inoculation event-related vertex potential, consisting of 2 late negative-positive complexes, was observable in single trials after needle contact with the skin. The amplitude of both negative-positive components was significantly greater in the 12-month group. Both inoculation event-related potential amplitude and behavioral pain scores increased with age but the 2 measures were not correlated with each other. These components are the first recordings of brain activity in response to real-life needle pain in infants up to a year old. They provide new evidence of postnatal nociceptive processing and, combined with more traditional behavioral pain scores, offer a potentially more sensitive measure for testing the efficacy of analgesic protocols in this age group

Cortical pain responses in human infants

Despite the recent increase in our understanding of the development of pain processing, it is still not known whether premature infants are capable of processing pain at a cortical level. In this study, changes in cerebral oxygenation over the somatosensory cortex were measured in response to noxious stimulation using real-time near-infrared spectroscopy in 18 infants aged between 25 and 45 weeks postmenstrual age. The noxious stimuli were heel lances performed for routine blood sampling; no blood tests were performed solely for the purpose of the study. Noxious stimulation produced a clear cortical response, measured as an increase in total hemoglobin concentration [HbT] in the contralateral somatosensory cortex, from 25 weeks (mean Delta[HbT] = 7.74 mu mol/L; SE, 1.10). Cortical responses were significantly greater in awake compared with sleeping infants, with a mean difference of 6.63 mu mol/L [95% confidence interval (CI) limits: 2.35, 10.91 mu mol/L; mean age, 35.2 weeks]. In awake infants, the response in the contralateral somatosensory cortex increased with age ( regression coefficient, 0.698 mu mol/L/week; 95% CI limits: 0.132, 1.265 mu mol/L/week) and the latency decreased with age (regression coefficient, -0.9861 mu mol/L/week; 95% CI limits: -1.5361, -0.4361 mu mol/L/week; age range, 25-38 weeks). The response was modality specific because no response was detected after non-noxious stimulation of the heel, even when accompanied by reflex withdrawal of the foot. We conclude that noxious information is transmitted to the preterm infant cortex from 25 weeks, highlighting the potential for both higher-level pain processing and pain-induced plasticity in the human brain from a very early age

Direct to consumer advertising via the Internet, a study of hip resurfacing

With increased use of the internet for health information and direct to consumer advertising from medical companies, there is a concern about the quality of the information available for patients. The aim of this study was to examine the quality of health information on the internet for hip resurfacing. An assessment tool was designed to measure quality of information. Websites were measured on credibility of source; usability; currentness of the information; content relevance; content accuracy/completeness and disclosure/bias. Each website assessed was given a total score, based on number of scores achieved from the above categories websites were further analysed on author, geographical origin and possession of an independent credibility check. There was positive correlation between the overall score for the website and the score of each website in each assessment category. Websites by implant companies, doctors and hospitals scored poorly. Websites with an independent credibility check such as Health on the Net (HoN) scored twice the total scores of websites without. Like other internet health websites, the quality of information on hip resurfacing websites is variable. This study highlights methods by which to assess the quality of health information on the internet and advocates that patients should look for a statement of an "independent credibility check" when searching for information on hip resurfacing

SPECTRAL PROCEDURES ENHANCE THE ANALYSIS OF THREE AGRICULTURAL TIME SERIES

Many agricultural and environmental variables are influenced by cyclic processes that occur naturally. Consequently their time series often have cyclic behavior. This study develops time series models for three different phenomena: (1) a 60 year-long state annual average crop yield record, (2) a four year-long daily stream flow record with values aggregated to weekly averages, and (3) a half-hour long wind speed record sampled at 10 hertz with values aggregated to 0.5 min averages. Trend tests, simple high pass filtering, and spectral analysis on original and detrended and residual data series are used to guide model development. Next, as a means to provide insight for researchers, nonlinear regression procedures are used to develop models in the time domain. The models considered may have a large scale trend, low to high frequency cycles, and, if need be, an autoregressive (AR) error structure. Selected models for all three sets included a trend component. The model for yield has a linear trend in time and includes two high frequency cycles of 2.3 and 2.5 years. The model for stream flow has a complicated trend consisting of splined polynomials in the square root of time. Cycles include an annual and approximately 8, 6, and 3 month periods. Also an AR1 error structure is added. Results suggest the wind speed can be modeled as a superposition of damped and undamped oscillations. A zero order fractional Bessel function models the trend, here a damped oscillation with a period of 10.5 min. Smaller scale regular cycles of 6.6, 3.3 and 2.2 min are added along with an AR1 error structure. The use of time series methods instead of the inverse transform on selected frequencies allows for simultaneous estimation of all components. Moreover it opens the door to the use of a much broader class of functions to model the trend, to the use of other kinds of periodic functions to model the cycles, and to the incorporation of structure in the error term. This approach may provide useful insight and a methodological approach for several ongoing and some future studies at the National Soil Tilth Laboratory

Particle-in-cell simulations of rf breakdown

Breakdown voltages of a capacitively coupled radio frequency argon discharge at 27 MHz are studied. We use a one-dimensional electrostatic PIC code to investigate the effect of changing the secondary emission properties of the electrodes on the breakdown voltage, particularly at low pd values. Simulation results are compared with the available experimental results and a satisfactory agreement is found.Comment: 12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004, Nice (France

Caraid nan Gaidheal and 'Friend of Emigration': Gaelic emigration literature of the 1840s

This study focuses on Gaelic emigration literature which was published in the aftermath of the Highland potato famine of 1836-37 and before that of 1846-50. The end of the eighteenth century had witnessed a steady flow of emigrants out of the Highlands in response to a complex mix of factors, including landlord pressure, population growth and the prospect of a more prosperous future elsewhere

Teleological Essentialism

Placeholder essentialism is the view that there is a causal essence that holds category members together, though we may not know what the essence is. Sometimes the placeholder can be filled in by scientific essences, such as when we acquire scientific knowledge that the atomic weight of gold is 79. We challenge the view that placeholders are elaborated by scientific essences. On our view, if placeholders are elaborated, they are elaborated Aristotelian essences, a telos. Utilizing the same kinds of experiments used by traditional essentialists—involving superficial change (study 1), transformation of insides (study 2), acquired traits (study 3) and inferences about offspring (study 4)—we find support for the view that essences are elaborated by a telos. And we find evidence (study 5) that teleological essences may generate category judgments