55 research outputs found
Adeno-tonsillectomy and rapid maxillary distraction in pre-pubertal children: a pilot study
Introduction When both narrow maxilla and moderately
enlarged tonsils are present in children with obstructive
sleep apnea, the decision of which treatment to do first is
unclear. A preliminary randomized study was done to
perform a power analysis and determine the number of
subjects necessary to have an appropriate response. Thirtyone
children, 14 boys, diagnosed with OSA based on
clinical symptoms and polysomnography (PSG) findings
had presence of both narrow maxillary complex and
enlarged tonsils. They were scheduled to have both
adeno-tonsillectomy and RME for which the order of
treatment was randomized: group 1 received surgery
followed by orthodontics, while group 2 received
orthodontics followed by surgery. Each child was seen
by an ENT, an orthodontist, and a sleep medicine
specialist. The validated pediatric sleep questionnaire
and PSG were done at entry and after each treatment
phase at time of PSG. Statistical analyses were ANOVA
repeated measures and t tests.
Results The mean age of the children at entry was 6.5±
0.2 years (mean ± SEM). Overall, even if children
presented improvement of both clinical symptoms and
PSG findings, none of the children presented normal
results after treatment 1, at the exception of one case.
There was no significant difference in the amount of
improvement noted independently of the first treatment
approach. Thirty children underwent treatment 2, with an
overall significant improvement shown for PSG findings
compared to baseline and compared to treatment 1,
without any group differences.
Conclusion This preliminary study emphasizes the need to
have more than subjective clinical scales for determination
of sequence of treatments
Entangled two atoms through different couplings and the thermal noise
The entanglement of two atoms is studied when the two atoms are coupled to a
single-mode thermal field with different couplings. The different couplings of
two atoms are in favor of entanglement preparation: it not only makes the case
of absence entanglement with same coupling appear entanglement, but also
enhances the entanglement with the increasing of the relative difference of two
couplings. We also show that the diversity of coupling can improved the
critical temperature. If the optical cavity is leaky during the time evolution,
the dissipative thermal environment is benefit to produce the entanglement.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Phase transitions and entanglement properties in spin-1 Heisenberg clusters with single-ion anisotropy
The incipient quantum phase transitions of relevance to nonzero fluctuations
and entanglement in Heisenberg clusters are studied in this paper by exploiting
negativity as a measure in bipartite and frustrated spin-1 anisotropic
Heisenberg clusters with bilinear-biquadratic exchange, single-ion anisotropy
and magnetic field. Using the exact diagonalization technique, it is shown that
quantum critical points signaled by qualitative changes in behavior of
magnetization and particle number are ultimately related to microscopic
entanglement and collective excitations. The plateaus and peaks in spin and
particle susceptibilities define the conditions for a high/low-density quantum
entanglement and various ordered phases with different spin (particle)
concentrations
Paradigms in multiple sclerosis: time for a change, time for a unifying concept
It has recently been suggested that, rather than being an autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) is an example of a neurocristopathy, a pathological process resulting from a faulty development of the neural crest. Whilst several characteristics of the disease suggest a neurocristopathy, other aetiological factors require consideration, including hygiene-related factors that alter the immune responses to common pathogens resulting in an eclipse of immune reactivity that could protect against MS, the possible role of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) in pathogenesis and autoimmune phenomena, HLA polymorphism, vitamin D levels before and after birth and immune repair mechanisms. A postulated aetiological factor in MS, associated with altered vitamin D metabolism and abnormal HERV expression, is a long-lasting disturbed redox regulation in the biosynthesis of a melanoma-like melanin pigment. Although intensive further studies on melanin pigments in nerve tissue in MS are required, the known properties of a pathological form of such pigments in melanoma could explain a number of observations in MS, including the impact of light, UV-light, and vitamin D, and could explain the clinical manifestations of MS on the basis of an oscillating process of oxidative charge and discharge of the pigments and a threshold phenomenon with a change of the quasi-catalytic function of the pigment from destroying reactive oxygen radicals or species to transforming them to more harmful long-persisting highly reactive species. Taken together with the consequences of an adaptive process in partly demyelinated neurons, resulting in an increase in number of mitochondria, and the impact of stressful life events, these conditions are necessary and sufficient to explain the disease process of MS with its spatial (plaques) and temporal (attacks and remissions) characteristics. This suggested unifying concept of the pathogenesis of MS may open perspectives for prevention, diagnosis and therapy. In particular, prevention may be achieved by vaccinating against Epstein-Barr virus in early childhood
LabKey Server: An open source platform for scientific data integration, analysis and collaboration
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Broad-based collaborations are becoming increasingly common among disease researchers. For example, the Global HIV Enterprise has united cross-disciplinary consortia to speed progress towards HIV vaccines through coordinated research across the boundaries of institutions, continents and specialties. New, end-to-end software tools for data and specimen management are necessary to achieve the ambitious goals of such alliances. These tools must enable researchers to organize and integrate heterogeneous data early in the discovery process, standardize processes, gain new insights into pooled data and collaborate securely.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To meet these needs, we enhanced the LabKey Server platform, formerly known as CPAS. This freely available, open source software is maintained by professional engineers who use commercially proven practices for software development and maintenance. Recent enhancements support: (i) Submitting specimens requests across collaborating organizations (ii) Graphically defining new experimental data types, metadata and wizards for data collection (iii) Transitioning experimental results from a multiplicity of spreadsheets to custom tables in a shared database (iv) Securely organizing, integrating, analyzing, visualizing and sharing diverse data types, from clinical records to specimens to complex assays (v) Interacting dynamically with external data sources (vi) Tracking study participants and cohorts over time (vii) Developing custom interfaces using client libraries (viii) Authoring custom visualizations in a built-in R scripting environment.</p> <p>Diverse research organizations have adopted and adapted LabKey Server, including consortia within the Global HIV Enterprise. Atlas is an installation of LabKey Server that has been tailored to serve these consortia. It is in production use and demonstrates the core capabilities of LabKey Server. Atlas now has over 2,800 active user accounts originating from approximately 36 countries and 350 organizations. It tracks roughly 27,000 assay runs, 860,000 specimen vials and 1,300,000 vial transfers.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Sharing data, analysis tools and infrastructure can speed the efforts of large research consortia by enhancing efficiency and enabling new insights. The Atlas installation of LabKey Server demonstrates the utility of the LabKey platform for collaborative research. Stable, supported builds of LabKey Server are freely available for download at <url>http://www.labkey.org</url>. Documentation and source code are available under the Apache License 2.0.</p
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