How Multidisciplinary is Gamification Research? : Results from a Scoping Review

Gamification has been repeatedly framed as an emerging multidisciplinary research field. However, it is unclear how multidisciplinary the field actually is. To answer this question, this paper presents initial results of a broader scoping review of gamification research published between 2010 and 2016. Close to 2,000 peer-reviewed English-language journal and conference papers were identified across 11 databases and categorized by discipline. Results indicate an explosive growth of literature peaking in 2015. Early on, Information and Computing Science dominated the field, to be overtaken by the sum of other disciplines in 2013, education, economics and tourism in specific. This indicates that gamification was initially a field within computer science and HCI and has only recently become truly multi-disciplinary

Deep learning-based algorithm for assessment of knee osteoarthritis severity in radiographs matches performance of radiologists

A fully-automated deep learning algorithm matched performance of radiologists in assessment of knee osteoarthritis severity in radiographs using the Kellgren-Lawrence grading system. To develop an automated deep learning-based algorithm that jointly uses Posterior-Anterior (PA) and Lateral (LAT) views of knee radiographs to assess knee osteoarthritis severity according to the Kellgren-Lawrence grading system. We used a dataset of 9739 exams from 2802 patients from Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study (MOST). The dataset was divided into a training set of 2040 patients, a validation set of 259 patients and a test set of 503 patients. A novel deep learning-based method was utilized for assessment of knee OA in two steps: (1) localization of knee joints in the images, (2) classification according to the KL grading system. Our method used both PA and LAT views as the input to the model. The scores generated by the algorithm were compared to the grades provided in the MOST dataset for the entire test set as well as grades provided by 5 radiologists at our institution for a subset of the test set. The model obtained a multi-class accuracy of 71.90% on the entire test set when compared to the ratings provided in the MOST dataset. The quadratic weighted Kappa coefficient for this set was 0.9066. The average quadratic weighted Kappa between all pairs of radiologists from our institution who took a part of study was 0.748. The average quadratic-weighted Kappa between the algorithm and the radiologists at our institution was 0.769. The proposed model performed demonstrated equivalency of KL classification to MSK radiologists, but clearly superior reproducibility. Our model also agreed with radiologists at our institution to the same extent as the radiologists with each other. The algorithm could be used to provide reproducible assessment of knee osteoarthritis severity

Correction: Maternal deprivation induces alterations in cognitive and cortical function in adulthood

The original version of this Article omitted the author Maureen M. Timm from the Department of Psychology, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA

Human Glial-Restricted Progenitor Transplantation into Cervical Spinal Cord of the SOD1G93A Mouse Model of ALS

Cellular abnormalities are not limited to motor neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). There are numerous observations of astrocyte dysfunction in both humans with ALS and in SOD1G93A rodents, a widely studied ALS model. The present study therapeutically targeted astrocyte replacement in this model via transplantation of human Glial-Restricted Progenitors (hGRPs), lineage-restricted progenitors derived from human fetal neural tissue. Our previous findings demonstrated that transplantation of rodent-derived GRPs into cervical spinal cord ventral gray matter (in order to target therapy to diaphragmatic function) resulted in therapeutic efficacy in the SOD1G93A rat. Those findings demonstrated the feasibility and efficacy of transplantation-based astrocyte replacement for ALS, and also show that targeted multi-segmental cell delivery to cervical spinal cord is a promising therapeutic strategy, particularly because of its relevance to addressing respiratory compromise associated with ALS. The present study investigated the safety and in vivo survival, distribution, differentiation, and potential efficacy of hGRPs in the SOD1G93A mouse. hGRP transplants robustly survived and migrated in both gray and white matter and differentiated into astrocytes in SOD1G93A mice spinal cord, despite ongoing disease progression. However, cervical spinal cord transplants did not result in motor neuron protection or any therapeutic benefits on functional outcome measures. This study provides an in vivo characterization of this glial progenitor cell and provides a foundation for understanding their capacity for survival, integration within host tissues, differentiation into glial subtypes, migration, and lack of toxicity or tumor formation

Do patients with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome who undergo hip arthroscopy display improved alpha angle (magnetic resonance imaging) and radiographic hip morphology?

AIMS To compare (a) the change in radiological bony morphology between participants with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) syndrome who underwent arthroscopic hip surgery compared to physiotherapist-led non-surgical care and (b) the change in radiological bony morphology between participants with FAI syndrome who underwent arthroscopic hip surgery involving cam resection or acetabular rim trimming or combined cam resection and acetabular rim trimming. METHODS Maximum alpha angle measurements on magnetic resonance imaging and Hip2 Norm standardized hip measurements on radiographs were recorded at baseline and at 12 months postoperatively. One-way analysis of covariance and independent T tests were conducted between participants who underwent arthroscopic hip surgery and physiotherapist-led non-surgical care. Independent T tests and analysis of variance were conducted between participants who underwent the 3 different arthroscopic hip procedures. RESULTS Arthroscopic hip surgery resulted in significant improvements to mean alpha angle measurements (decreased from 70.8° to 62.1°) (P value < .001, 95% CI -11.776, -4.772), lateral center edge angle (LCEA) (P value = .030, 95% CI -3.403, -0.180) and extrusion index (P value = 0.002, 95% CI 0.882, 3.968) compared to physiotherapist-led management. Mean maximum 1-year postoperative alpha angle was 59.0° (P value = .003, 95% CI 4.845, 18.768) for participants who underwent isolated cam resection. Measurements comparing the 3 different arthroscopic hip procedures only differed in total femoral head coverage (F[2,37] = 3.470, P = .042). CONCLUSION Arthroscopic hip surgery resulted in statistically significant improvements to LCEA, extrusion index and alpha angle as compared to physiotherapist-led management. Measured outcomes between participants who underwent cam resection and/or acetabular rim trimming only differed in total femoral head coverage

IL-10 differentially controls the infiltration of inflammatory macrophages and antigen-presenting cells during inflammation

The inflammatory activation and recruitment of defined myeloid populations is essential for controlling the bridge between innate and adaptive immunity and shaping the immune response to microbial challenge. However, these cells exhibit significant functional heterogeneity and the inflammatory signals that differentially influence their effector characteristics are poorly characterized. In this study, we defined the phenotype of discrete subsets of effective antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in the peritoneal cavity during peritonitis. When the functional properties of these cells were compared to inflammatory monocyte-derived macrophages we noted differential responses to the immune-modulatory cytokine IL-10. In contrast to the suppressive actions of IL-10 on inflammatory macrophages, the recruitment of APCs was relatively refractory and we found no evidence for selective inhibition of APC differentiation. This differential response of myeloid cell subsets to IL-10 may thus have limited impact on development of potentially tissue-damaging adaptive immune responses, whilst restricting the magnitude of the inflammatory response. These findings may have clinical relevance in the context of peritoneal dialysis patients, where recurrent infections are associated with immune-mediated membrane dysfunction, treatment failure and increased morbidity

Automated Grading of Radiographic Knee Osteoarthritis Severity Combined with Joint Space Narrowing

The assessment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) severity on knee X-rays is a central criteria for the use of total knee arthroplasty. However, this assessment suffers from imprecise standards and a remarkably high inter-reader variability. An algorithmic, automated assessment of KOA severity could improve overall outcomes of knee replacement procedures by increasing the appropriateness of its use. We propose a novel deep learning-based five-step algorithm to automatically grade KOA from posterior-anterior (PA) views of radiographs: (1) image preprocessing (2) localization of knees joints in the image using the YOLO v3-Tiny model, (3) initial assessment of the severity of osteoarthritis using a convolutional neural network-based classifier, (4) segmentation of the joints and calculation of the joint space narrowing (JSN), and (5), a combination of the JSN and the initial assessment to determine a final Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) score. Furthermore, by displaying the segmentation masks used to make the assessment, our algorithm demonstrates a higher degree of transparency compared to typical "black box" deep learning classifiers. We perform a comprehensive evaluation using two public datasets and one dataset from our institution, and show that our algorithm reaches state-of-the art performance. Moreover, we also collected ratings from multiple radiologists at our institution and showed that our algorithm performs at the radiologist level. The software has been made publicly available at https://github.com/MaciejMazurowski/osteoarthritis-classification

Immune-mediated competition in rodent malaria is most likely caused by induced changes in innate immune clearance of merozoites

Malarial infections are often genetically diverse, leading to competitive interactions between parasites. A quantitative understanding of the competition between strains is essential to understand a wide range of issues, including the evolution of virulence and drug resistance. In this study, we use dynamical-model based Bayesian inference to investigate the cause of competitive suppression of an avirulent clone of Plasmodium chabaudi (AS) by a virulent clone (AJ) in immuno-deficient and competent mice. We test whether competitive suppression is caused by clone-specific differences in one or more of the following processes: adaptive immune clearance of merozoites and parasitised red blood cells (RBCs), background loss of merozoites and parasitised RBCs, RBC age preference, RBC infection rate, burst size, and within-RBC interference. These processes were parameterised in dynamical mathematical models and fitted to experimental data. We found that just one parameter μ, the ratio of background loss rate of merozoites to invasion rate of mature RBCs, needed to be clone-specific to predict the data. Interestingly, μ was found to be the same for both clones in single-clone infections, but different between the clones in mixed infections. The size of this difference was largest in immuno-competent mice and smallest in immuno-deficient mice. This explains why competitive suppression was alleviated in immuno-deficient mice. We found that competitive suppression acts early in infection, even before the day of peak parasitaemia. These results lead us to argue that the innate immune response clearing merozoites is the most likely, but not necessarily the only, mediator of competitive interactions between virulent and avirulent clones. Moreover, in mixed infections we predict there to be an interaction between the clones and the innate immune response which induces changes in the strength of its clearance of merozoites. What this interaction is unknown, but future refinement of the model, challenged with other datasets, may lead to its discovery

CE16008

The WESPAS survey program is the consolidation of two existing survey programs carried out by FEAS. The Main Shelf herring acoustic survey has been carried out annually since 2008 and reports on the annual abundance of summer feeding aggregations of herring to the west of Scotland and north of Ireland from 54N to 59N. The boarfish survey has been carried out since 2011using a chartered fishing vessel and reports on the abundance of spawning aggregations of boarfish 47N to 57N. In 2016 both surveys were combined and carried out onboard the RV Celtic Explorer over a 42 day period providing synoptic coverage of shelf waters from 59N southwards to 47N

Real-time single-molecule observation of rolling-circle DNA replication

We present a simple technique for visualizing replication of individual DNA molecules in real time. By attaching a rolling-circle substrate to a TIRF microscope-mounted flow chamber, we are able to monitor the progression of single-DNA synthesis events and accurately measure rates and processivities of single T7 and Escherichia coli replisomes as they replicate DNA. This method allows for rapid and precise characterization of the kinetics of DNA synthesis and the effects of replication inhibitors