Promoting Behaviour Change in Long term Conditions using a Self-Management Platform

Physical rehabilitation of brain injuries and strokes is a time consuming and costly process. Over the past decade several studies have emerged looking at the use of highly sophisticated technologies, such as robotics and virtual reality to tap into the needs of clinicians and patients. While such technologies can be a valuable tool to facilitate intensive movement practice in a motivating and engaging environment, success of therapy also depends on self-administered therapy beyond hospital stay. With the emergence of low-cost gaming consoles such as the Nintendo Wii, new opportunities arise for home-therapy paradigms centred on social interactions and values, which could reduce the sense of isolation and other depression related complications. In this paper we examine the potential, user acceptance and usability of an unmodified Nintendo Wii gaming console as a low-cost treatment alternative to complement current rehabilitation programmes

Learning and Matching Multi-View Descriptors for Registration of Point Clouds

Critical to the registration of point clouds is the establishment of a set of accurate correspondences between points in 3D space. The correspondence problem is generally addressed by the design of discriminative 3D local descriptors on the one hand, and the development of robust matching strategies on the other hand. In this work, we first propose a multi-view local descriptor, which is learned from the images of multiple views, for the description of 3D keypoints. Then, we develop a robust matching approach, aiming at rejecting outlier matches based on the efficient inference via belief propagation on the defined graphical model. We have demonstrated the boost of our approaches to registration on the public scanning and multi-view stereo datasets. The superior performance has been verified by the intensive comparisons against a variety of descriptors and matching methods

Holocentric Chromosomes of Luzula elegans Are Characterized by a Longitudinal Centromere Groove, Chromosome Bending, and a Terminal Nucleolus Organizer Region

The structure of holocentric chromosomes was analyzed in mitotic cells of Luzula elegans. Light and scanning electron microscopy observations provided evidence for the existence of a longitudinal groove along each sister chromatid. The centromere-specific histone H3 variant, CENH3, colocalized with this groove and with microtubule attachment sites. The terminal chromosomal regions were CENH3-negative. During metaphase to anaphase transition, L. elegans chromosomes typically curved to a sickle-like shape, a process that is likely to be influenced by the pulling forces of microtubules along the holocentric axis towards the corresponding microtubule organizing regions. A single pair of 45S rDNA sites, situated distal to Arabidopsis-telomere repeats, was observed at the terminal region of one chromosome pair. We suggest that the 45S rDNA position in distal centromere-free regions could be required to ensure chromosome stability. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base

What makes an operational Farm Soil Carbon Code? Insights from a global comparison of existing soil carbon codes using a structured analytical framework

Soils have the potential to sequester and store significant amounts of carbon, contributing towards climate change mitigation. Soil carbon markets are now emerging to pay farmers for changes in land use or management that absorb carbon from the atmosphere, governed by codes that ensure additionality, permanence and non-leakage whilst protecting against unintentional reversals. This paper represents the first global comparative analysis of agricultural soil carbon codes, providing new insights into the wide range of approaches currently used to govern these emerging markets internationally. To do this, the paper first develops an analytical framework for the systematic comparison of codes, which could be applied to the analysis of codes in other land uses and habitats. This framework was then used to identify commonalities and differences in methods, projects, administration and commercialisation and associated code documents for 12 publicly available codes from the UK, France, Australia, USA and international bodies. Codes used a range of mechanisms to manage: additionality (including legal, adoption, financial viability and investment tests); uncertainty and risks around soil carbon sequestration (including minimum permanence periods, carbon buffers, contractual arrangements and/or insurance policies); leakage (including restriction of eligible practices and monitoring to subtract leakage from verified sequestration); baselines (including multi-year and variable buffers based on empirical data or models); measurement, reporting and verification methods (stipulating time intervals, methods, data sources and assessments of uncertainty); auditing; resale of carbon units; stakeholder engagement; and approaches to ensure market integrity (such as buyer checks). The paper concludes by discussing existing MRV methods and codes that could be adapted for use in the UK and evaluates the need for an over-arching standard for soil carbon codes in the UK, to which existing codes and other schemes already generating soil carbon credits could be assessed and benchmarked

Caregiver Recognition of Childhood Diarrhea, Care Seeking Behaviors and Home Treatment Practices in Rural Burkina Faso: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Introduction: To design effective national diarrhea control programs, including oral rehydration solution (ORS) and therapeutic zinc supplementation, information is needed on local perceptions of illness, external care seeking behaviors, and home treatment practices. Methods: A cross-sectional, community-based household survey was conducted in the Orodara Health District, Burkina Faso. Caregivers of 10,490 children,27 months were interviewed to assess child diarrhea prevalence and related car

Elevated urinary excretion of free pyridinoline in Friesian horses suggests a breed-specific increase in collagen degradation

Background: Friesian horses are known for their high inbreeding rate resulting in several genetic diseases such as hydrocephaly and dwarfism. This last decade, several studies focused on two other presumed hereditary traits in Friesian horses: megaoesophagus and aortic rupture. The pathogenesis of these diseases remains obscure but an important role of collagen has been hypothesized. The purpose of this study was to examine possible breed-related differences in collagen catabolism. Urinary specimens from Friesian (n = 17, median age 10 years old) and Warmblood horses (n = 17, median age 10 years old) were assessed for mature collagen cross-links, i.e. pyridinoline (PYD) (=hydroxylysylpyridinoline/HP) and deoxypyridinoline (DPD) (lysylpyridinoline /LP). Solid-phase extraction was performed, followed by reversed-phase ion-paired liquid chromatography prior to tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) detection. Results: Mean urinary concentrations of free PYD, expressed as fPYD/creatinine ratio, were significantly higher in Friesian horses compared to Warmblood horses (28.5 ± 5.2 versus 22.2 ± 9.6 nmol/mmol, p = 0.02) while mean fDPD/creatinine ratios were similar in both horse breeds (3.0 ± 0.7 versus 4.6 ± 3.7 nmol/mmol, p = 0.09). Conclusions: Since DPD is considered a specific bone degradation marker and PYD is more widely distributed in connective tissues, the significant elevation in the mean PYD/DPD ratio in Friesian versus Warmblood horses (9.6 ± 1.6 versus 5.7 ± 1.8, p < 0.0001) suggests a soft tissue origin for the increased fPYD levels. Considering that a previous study found no differences in total collagen content between Friesian and Warmblood horses for tendon and aortic tissue, this indicates a higher rate of collagen degradation. The latter might, at least in part, explain the predisposition of Friesians to connective tissue disorders