Action for Rehabilitation from Neurological Injury (ARNI): A pragmatic study of functional training for stroke survivors

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ 2013 Cherry Kilbride et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.This study evaluated the effectiveness of a twelve-week community-based functional training on measures of impairment, activity and participation in a group of stroke survivors. Isometric strength of the knee musculature, Centre-Of-Pressure (COP) based measures of balance, Berg Balance Scale (BBS), 10 m walk test, and the Subjective Index of Physical and Social Out come (SIPSO), were recorded at baseline, post-intervention, and after twelve weeks (follow-up). Exercise instructors delivered training once a week in a group format at a community centre. Significant improvement was noted in the BBS (p < 0.002), and 10 m walk speed (p = 0.03) post intervention which remained unchanged at follow-up. Total SIPSO score improved significantly post-intervention (p = 0.044). No other significant differences and no adverse effects were observed. It is possible that functional training provided more opportunity for the improvement of dynamic aspects of balance control that could be captured by the BBS but not with the traditional measures of balance using COP data. Results also suggest positive effects on the level of participation, and lack of association between measures of impairment and activity. Community based functional training could be effective and used to extend access to rehabilitation services beyond the acute and sub-acute stages after stroke.London Borough of Hillingdo

Neural network classification of questionable EGRET events

High energy gamma rays (greater than 20 MeV) pair producing in the spark chamber of the Energetic Gamma Ray Telescope Experiment (EGRET) give rise to a characteristic but highly variable 3-D locus of spark sites, which must be processed to decide whether the event is to be included in the database. A significant fraction (about 15 percent or 10(exp 4) events/day) of the candidate events cannot be categorized (accept/reject) by an automated rule-based procedure; they are therefore tagged, and must be examined and classified manually by a team of expert analysts. We describe a feedforward, back-propagation neural network approach to the classification of the questionable events. The algorithm computes a set of coefficients using representative exemplars drawn from the preclassified set of questionable events. These coefficients map a given input event into a decision vector that, ideally, describes the correct disposition of the event. The net's accuracy is then tested using a different subset of preclassified events. Preliminary results demonstrate the net's ability to correctly classify a large proportion of the events for some categories of questionables. Current work includes the use of much larger training sets to improve the accuracy of the net

Homogenization for advection-diffusion in a perforated domain

The volume of a Wiener sausage constructed from a diffusion process with periodic, mean-zero, divergence-free velocity field, in dimension 3 or more, is shown to have a non-random and positive asymptotic rate of growth. This is used to establish the existence of a homogenized limit for such a diffusion when subject to Dirichlet conditions on the boundaries of a sparse and independent array of obstacles. There is a constant effective long-time loss rate at the obstacles. The dependence of this rate on the form and intensity of the obstacles and on the velocity field is investigated. A Monte Carlo algorithm for the computation of the volume growth rate of the sausage is introduced and some numerical results are presented for the Taylor–Green velocity field

Energy shedding during nonlinear self-focusing of optical beams

Self-focusing of intense laser beams and pulses of light in real nonlinear media is in general accompanied by material losses that require corrections to the conservative Nonlinear Schrödinger equations describing their propagation. Here we examine loss mechanisms that exist even in lossless media and are caused by shedding of energy away from the self-trapping beam making it to relax to an exact solution of lower energy. Using the conservative NLS equations with absorbing boundary conditions we show that energy shedding not only occurs during the initial reshaping process but also during oscillatory propagation induced by saturation of the nonlinear effect. For pulsed input we also show that, depending on the sign and magnitude of dispersion, pulse splitting, energy shedding, collapse or stable self-focusing may result

Prophets and profits: the financing of Wesleyan Methodism c.1740-1800

This thesis attempts a comprehensive account of the financing of eighteenth century Wesleyan Methodism, based mainly on primary sources such as Methodist account books. In the late 1730s John and Charles Wesley launched a movement to reform the Church of England, preaching throughout the British Isles, and creating a network of supporters who met in local societies. In time this ‘Connexion’ deployed full-time preachers, paying them stipends and allowances, funded by regular contributions from members. Chapels were built to house preaching services, partially financed by debt underwritten by John Wesley and other preachers. By 1766 25,000 members employed some 100 preachers, and occupied 100 chapels; a commercial publishing operation produced 60,000 books and pamphlets a year, distributed by the preachers; and the Connexion ran a boarding school and various local welfare activities. As its chapel debts became unsustainable, the leadership launched an intensive fund-raising campaign, and decentralised financial responsibility for them to the local preaching ‘circuits’, though with continuing central oversight of chapel debt. Now the costs of supporting preachers put pressure on local society funds, especially because more preachers acquired families. By 1780 the Connexion’s finances were again stretched; a complex system of cross-subsidies developed, for example from richer areas to poorer, and the movement became increasingly dependent on the financial commitment of its wealthier supporters. New educational, welfare and missionary initiatives emerged, often funded independently of the Connexion. On John Wesley’s 1791 death, neither burgeoning Book Room profits nor increasing revenue from voluntary collections could prevent renewed resource pressures, which fuelled a series of disputes over governance and practice, leading in the mid 1790s to the emergence of the Wesleyan Methodist denomination, outside the established Church. While Wesleyans viewed their movement as inspired by Heaven, they worked with the market to ensure that their ambitions were financially achievable on Earth

Efficacy of long-lasting insecticidal nets in use in Macha, Zambia, against the local Anopheles arabiensis population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The mosquito <it>Anopheles arabiensis </it>is the primary vector of <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>in Macha, Zambia. A major portion of Zambia's current malaria control programme relies on long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) with insecticides. Currently, the efficacy of these measures against <it>An. arabiensis </it>in Macha is unknown, and previous data has shown that <it>An. arabiensis </it>has continued to feed on human hosts, despite high ITN coverage. It is possible that this could be due to either decreased efficacy of ITNs in used in Macha, or pyrethroid resistance in the vector.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>F1 offspring of field-collected adult <it>An. arabiensis </it>were tested for insecticide resistance, using CDC bottle bioassays and deltamethrin ITN susceptibility assays. The mosquitoes were characterized for the knock-down resistance (<it>kdr</it>) allele by PCR. LLINs that had been in use for two years in nearby villages were collected and tested for residual deltamethrin concentration and net quality, and were used in bioassays against susceptible colonized <it>Anopheles gambiae </it>s.s. Keele. Additionally, a survey on ITN use and care was conducted among LLIN owners.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the F1 <it>An</it>. arabiensis field population, low levels of resistance to DDT and deltamethrin-treated net material were detected by bioassay, although the knock-down resistance (<it>kdr</it>) allele not present in the population. ITN evaluations revealed high variability in residual deltamethrin concentration, quality of the nets, and mosquito mortality in bioassays. Mortality against <it>An. gambiae </it>s.s. in bioassays was correlated with residual deltamethrin concentration, which was dependent upon the number of washes each net had received.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Proper LLIN care was a strong determinant of LLIN efficacy, indicating that education on the importance of LLIN use and care is key when distributing nets. As there is little insecticide resistance in the local vector population, degradation of LLINs most likely allowed for continued human feeding by <it>An. arabiensis</it>. Continued monitoring and assessment of both the vector population and the efficacy of LLINs in use is necessary in order to appropriately modify vector control operations and prevent the development of pyrethroid resistance.</p

Lunar nitrogen: Secular variation or mixing?

The two current models to explain the nearly 40% variation of the lunar nitrogen isotopic composition are: (1) secular variation of solar wind nitrogen; and (2) a two component mixing model having a constant, heavy solar wind admixed with varying amounts of indigenous light lunar N (LLN). Both models are needed to explain the step pyrolysis extraction profile. The secular variation model proposes that the low temperature release is modern day solar wind implanted into grain surfaces, the 900 C to 1100 C release is from grain surfaces which were once exposed to the ancient solar wind but which are now trapped inside agglutinates, and the >1100 C release as spallogenic N produced by cosmic rays. The mixing model ascribes the components to solar wind, indigenous lunar N and spallogenic N respectively. An extension of either interpretation is that the light N seen in lunar breccias or deep drill cores represent conditions when more N-14 was available to the lunar surface