The bony manifestation of Rickets. A case report

This paper describes a case of the bony manifestation of Rickets. Although vitamin D deficiency has become less common, Rickets still is seen among the Eritrean pediatric population. Rickets is an entity in which mineralization is decreased at the level of the growth plates, resulting in growth retardation and delayed skeletal development. The patient was referred to our Out patient Department for deformities of the legs and growth disturbance, with his height far below the normal range. Bowing of long bones of the legs and cupping of the wrist metaphyseal region were the radiographic changes most evident. Although the primary management of rickets is conservative, the orthopedist’s role can be crucial. The orthopedist’s responsibilities include establishing a diagnosis and treating osseous complications, such as fractures, slipped capital femoral epiphysis, and bowing of the extremities. Furthermore, the orchestration of care between the pediatrician and orthopedist is highlighted here. Key words: Bony deformity, rickets, vitamin D deficiency, renal osteodystroph

Exploring user motor behaviour in bimanual interactive video games

Video games have proved very valuable in rehabilitation technologies. They guide therapy and keep patients engaged and motivated. However, in order to realize their full potential, a good understanding is required of the players' motor control. In particular, little is known regarding player behaviour in tasks demanding bimanual interaction. In this work, an experiment was designed to improve the understanding of such tasks. A driving game was developed in which players were asked to guide a differential wheeled robot (depicted as a rocket) along a trajectory. The rocket could be manipulated by using an Xbox controller's triggers, each supplying torque to the corresponding side of the robot. Such a task is redundant, i.e. there exists an infinite number of input combinations to yield a given outcome. This allows the player to strategize according to their own preference. 10 participants were recruited to play this game and their input data was logged for subsequent analysis. Two different motor strategies were identified: an "intermittent" input pattern versus a "continuous" one. It is hypothesized that the choice of behaviour depends on motor skill and minimization of effort and error. Further testing is necessary to determine the exact relationship between these aspects

Comparative study of Selva and Camarosa strawberries for the commercial market

Selva and Camarosa strawberry varieties were characterized chemically and physically. The importance of keeping the stem until processing, the influence of different transport periods under refrigerated conditions, the effects of freezing and exposure to air of damaged surfaces were evaluated. During freezing, losses of ascorbic acid, sucrose, fructose and glucose were reported for both varieties. However, keeping the stem intact minimizes the losses of ascorbic acid in frozen fruits. The exposure to air of cut surfaces affects ascorbic acid content of fresh fruits, with the highest losses reported in Camarosa. Selva showed properties important for commercial use, as compared to Camarosa, with regard to a higher resistance to thawing and higher contents of total phenolics, total protein, and ascorbic acid

Tightening slip knots in raw and degummed silk to increase toughness without losing strength

NMP is supported by the European Research Council (ERC StG Ideas 2011 BIHSNAM n. 279985 on “Bio-Inspired hierarchical super-nanomaterials”, ERC PoC 2013-1 REPLICA2 n. 619448 on “Large-area replication of biological anti-adhesive nanosurfaces”, ERC PoC 2013-2 KNOTOUGH n. 632277 on “Super-tough knotted fibres”), by the European Commission under the Graphene Flagship (WP10 “Nanocomposites”, n. 604391) and by the Provincia Autonoma di Trento (“Graphene Nanocomposites”, n. S116/2012-242637 and reg.delib. n. 2266)

Physical and immunological aspects of exercise in chronic diseases.

Physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles are believed to be independent risk factors for the occurrence of numerous diseases, including, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, cancer and mental health, all leading to substantial morbidity and/or premature death. It has been found that regular exercise, is associated with better quality of life and health outcomes, and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Here, we review the effects regular exercise has on mental health and well-being, on the immune system and in cancer, cardiovascular disease, autoimmunity and metabolic syndrome. Is exercise the new immunotherapy to treat diseases

Phase II trial of tamoxifen and goserelin in recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer

Endocrine therapy is a recognised option in the treatment of chemo-resistant ovarian cancer. We conducted a nonrandomised phase II evaluation of combination endocrine therapy with tamoxifen and goserelin in patients with advanced ovarian cancer that had recurred following chemotherapy. In total, 26 patients entered the study, of which 17 had platinum-resistant disease. The median age was 63 years and enrolled patients had received a median of three chemotherapy regimens prior to trial entry. Patients were given oral tamoxifen 20 mg twice daily on a continuous basis and subcutaneous goserelin 3.6 mg once a month until disease progression. Using the definition of endocrine response that included patients with stable disease (SD) of 6 months or greater, the overall response rate (clinical benefit rate) was 50%. This included one complete response (CR) (3.8%), two partial responses (PR) (7.7%) and 10 patients with SD (38.5%). The median progression-free interval (PFI) was 4 months (95% CI 2.4–9.6) while the median overall survival (OS) was 13.6 months (95% CI 5.5–30.6). Four patients received treatment for more than 2 years (range 1–31) and one of them is still on treatment. In none of the four patients was there any evidence of recurrent or cumulative treatment related toxicity. Treatment-limiting toxicity was not seen in any of the study population. Endocrine data demonstrated a marked suppression of luteinising hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) to less than 4% of baseline values. No consistent correlation could be established between LH/FSH suppression and tumour response. Likewise no relationship was observed between Inhibin A/B and pro-alpha C levels and tumour response. Inhibin is unlikely to be a useful surrogate marker for response in locally advanced or metastatic ovarian cancer. Combination endocrine therapy with tamoxifen and goserelin is an active regimen in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patients. Hormonal therapy is advantageous in its relative lack of toxicity, ease of administration and tolerability, thus making it suitable for patients with heavily pretreated disease, compromised bone marrow function and other comorbid conditions that contraindicate cytotoxic therapy as well as in patients with indolent disease

Is my hand connected to my body? The impact of body continuity and arm alignment on the virtual hand illusion

When a rubber hand is placed on a table top in a plausible position as if part of a person"s body, and is stroked synchronously with the person"s corresponding hidden real hand, an illusion of ownership over the rubber hand can occur (Botvinick and Cohen 1998). A similar result has been found with respect to a virtual hand portrayed in a virtual environment, a virtual hand illusion (Slater et al. 2008). The conditions under which these illusions occur have been the subject of considerable study. Here we exploited the flexibility of virtual reality to examine four contributory factors: visuo-tactile synchrony while stroking the virtual and the real arms, body continuity, alignment between the real and virtual arms, and the distance between them. We carried out three experiments on a total of 32 participants where these factors were varied. The results show that the subjective illusion of ownership over the virtual arm and the time to evoke this illusion are highly dependent on synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation and on connectivity of the virtual arm with the rest of the virtual body. The alignment between the real and virtual arms and the distance between these were less important. It was found that proprioceptive drift was not a sensitive measure of the illusion, but was only related to the distance between the real and virtual arms

The VANDELS survey: Global properties of CIII]lambda 1908 angstrom emitting star-forming galaxies at z similar to 3

Context. Strong nebular emission is ubiquitous in galaxies that contribute to cosmic reionization at redshift za a 6. High-ionization UV metal lines, such as CIII]λ1908 A, show high equivalent widths (EW) in these early galaxies, suggesting harder radiation fields at low metallicity than low-z galaxies of similar stellar mass. Understanding the physical properties driving the observed UV nebular line emission at high-z requires large and very deep spectroscopic surveys, which are now only accessible out to za a a 4. Aims. We study the mean properties of a large representative sample of 217 galaxies showing CIII] emission at 2a <a za <a 4, selected from a parent sample of a 750 main-sequence star-forming galaxies in the VANDELS survey. These CIII] emitters have a broad range of UV luminosities, allowing for a detailed stacking analysis to characterize their stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR), and metallicity as a function of the UV emission line ratios, EWs, and the carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) abundance ratio. Methods. Stacking provides unprecedented high signal-to-noise (S/N) spectra for CIII] emitters over more than three decades in luminosity, stellar mass, and SFR. This enables a full spectral fitting to derive stellar metallicities for each stack. Moreover, we use diagnostics based on photoionization models and UV line ratios to constrain the ionization sources of the galaxies and derive the C/O abundance. Results. Reliable CIII] detections (S/Na a ¥a 3) represent a 30% of the parent sample. However, stacked spectra of non-detections (S/Na <a 3) show weak (EW a 2 A) CIII] emission, suggesting that this line is common in normal star-forming galaxies at za a a 3. On the other hand, extreme CIII] emitters (EW(CIII]) a 8 A) are exceedingly rare (a 3%) in VANDELS. The UV line ratios of the sample suggest no ionization source other than massive stars. Stacks with larger EW(CIII]) show larger EW(Lyα) and lower metallicity, but not all CIII] emitters are Lyα emitters. The stellar metallicities of CIII] emitters are not significantly different from that of the parent sample, increasing from a 10% to a 40% solar for stellar masses log(Ma/Ma) a 9a? 10.5. The stellar mass-metallicity relation of the CIII] emitters is consistent with previous works, exhibiting a strong evolution from za =a 0 to za a a 3. The C/O abundances of the sample range between 35%a? 150% solar, with a noticeable increase with FUV luminosity and a smooth decrease with the CIII] EW. Here, we discuss the CIII] emitters in the C/Oa Fe/H and the C/Oa O/H planes and we find that they follow stellar and nebular abundance trends consistent with those of Milky Way halo and thick-disk stars and local HII galaxies, respectively. A qualitative agreement is also found with chemical evolution models, which suggests that CIII] emitters at za a a 3 are experiencing an active phase of chemical enrichment. Conclusions. Our results provide new insights into the nature of UV line emitters at za a a 2a 4, paving the way for future studies at higher z using the James Webb Space Telescope

Persistence of anticancer activity in berry extracts after simulated gastrointestinal digestion and colonic fermentation

Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated at the population level with a protective effect against colorectal cancer. Phenolic compounds, especially abundant in berries, are of interest due to their putative anticancer activity. After consumption, however, phenolic compounds are subject to digestive conditions within the gastrointestinal tract that alter their structures and potentially their function. However, the majority of phenolic compounds are not efficiently absorbed in the small intestine and a substantial portion pass into the colon. We characterized berry extracts (raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants) produced by in vitro-simulated upper intestinal tract digestion and subsequent fecal fermentation. These extracts and selected individual colonic metabolites were then evaluated for their putative anticancer activities using in vitro models of colorectal cancer, representing the key stages of initiation, promotion and invasion. Over a physiologically-relevant dose range (0–50 µg/ml gallic acid equivalents), the digested and fermented extracts demonstrated significant anti-genotoxic, anti-mutagenic and anti-invasive activity on colonocytes. This work indicates that phenolic compounds from berries undergo considerable structural modifications during their passage through the gastrointestinal tract but their breakdown products and metabolites retain biological activity and can modulate cellular processes associated with colon cancer

SEIS: Insight's Seismic Experiment for Internal Structure of Mars.

By the end of 2018, 42 years after the landing of the two Viking seismometers on Mars, InSight will deploy onto Mars' surface the SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Internal Structure) instrument; a six-axes seismometer equipped with both a long-period three-axes Very Broad Band (VBB) instrument and a three-axes short-period (SP) instrument. These six sensors will cover a broad range of the seismic bandwidth, from 0.01&nbsp;Hz to 50&nbsp;Hz, with possible extension to longer periods. Data will be transmitted in the form of three continuous VBB components at 2 sample per second (sps), an estimation of the short period energy content from the SP at 1&nbsp;sps and a continuous compound VBB/SP vertical axis at 10&nbsp;sps. The continuous streams will be augmented by requested event data with sample rates from 20 to 100 sps. SEIS will improve upon the existing resolution of Viking's Mars seismic monitoring by a factor of ∼ 2500 at 1&nbsp;Hz and ∼ 200 000 at 0.1&nbsp;Hz. An additional major improvement is that, contrary to Viking, the seismometers will be deployed via a robotic arm directly onto Mars' surface and will be protected against temperature and wind by highly efficient thermal and wind shielding. Based on existing knowledge of Mars, it is reasonable to infer a moment magnitude detection threshold of M w ∼ 3 at 40 ∘ epicentral distance and a potential to detect several tens of quakes and about five impacts per year. In this paper, we first describe the science goals of the experiment and the rationale used to define its requirements. We then provide a detailed description of the hardware, from the sensors to the deployment system and associated performance, including transfer functions of the seismic sensors and temperature sensors. We conclude by describing the experiment ground segment, including data processing services, outreach and education networks and provide a description of the format to be used for future data distribution.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s11214-018-0574-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users