Interaction with touchscreen smartphones in patientswith essential tremor and healthy individuals.

tremorAbstractIntroduction: Smartphone use in biomedical research is becoming more prevalent in differ-ent clinical settings. We performed a pilot study to obtain information on smartphone use bypatients with essential tremor (ET) and healthy controls, with a view to determining whetherperformance of touchscreen tasks is different between these groups and describing touchscreeninteraction factors.Method: A total of 31 patients with ET and 40 sex- and age-matched healthy controls com-pleted a descriptive questionnaire about the use of smartphones. Participants subsequentlyinteracted with an under-development Android application, and performed 4 tests evaluatingtypical touchscreen interaction gestures; each test was performed 5 times.Result: The type of smartphone use and touchscreen interaction were not significantly differ-ent between patients and controls. Age and frequency of smartphone use are key factors intouchscreen interaction.Conclusion: Our results support the use of smartphone touchscreens for research into ET,although further studies are required.pre-print1030 K

Retrospective survey for sialidase activity in Mycoplasma pneumoniae isolates from cases of community-acquired pneumonia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sialidase is a well-known virulence factor of other respiratory pathogens, but was only recently documented to occur in some species of <it>Mycoplasma</it>. The sialidase activity expressed can vary quantitatively among strains within a species of mycoplasma, from undetectable to amounts that correlate positively with strain virulence. Very few isolates of <it>Mycoplasma pneumoniae </it>had ever been examined for sialidase activity, so it was unknown whether sialidase may contribute to diseases involving this species.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>No sialidase activity was detected by spectrofluorometric assay of 15 laboratory strains and 91 clinical isolates of <it>M. pneumoniae </it>banked over many years from patients having radiologically-confirmed, uncomplicated community-acquired pneumonia.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The annotated genome of strain M129 (GenBank <ext-link ext-link-id="NC_000912" ext-link-type="gen">NC_000912</ext-link>, <ext-link ext-link-id="ATCC29342" ext-link-type="gen">ATCC 29342</ext-link>), also isolated from a patient with pneumonia, accurately represents the absence of sialidase genes from strains of <it>M. pneumoniae </it>typically associated with uncomplicated community-acquired pneumonia. A possible involvement of sialidase in neurologic or other extra-respiratory manifestations of <it>M. pneumoniae </it>mycoplasmosis remains to be investigated.</p

Using trendsetting chefs to design new culinary preparations with the "Penjar" tomato

New food products are normally marketed after research regarding consumers' preferences. As an alternative, we used trendsetting chefs to develop and evaluate products with the traditional, long shelf life,Postprint (published version

Developing Students’ Communication in Technical English with Project Based Learning Methodology

Technical communication is an extremely important soft skill for civil engineers at the workplace. Due to globalization trends this technical communication often should be performed in English. If we join the fact that undergraduate engineering programs in Spain have been taught exclusively in Spanish, with which in addition, in rare cases those programs provide intentionally placed discipline-specific technical communication experiences, this all amounts to a major problem, regarded as an obstacle that limit undergraduates’ opportunities to work abroad. Aware of this problem, some schools provide their students with a brief course on “Technical English”. However, this course does not cover all the skills that the student would need in the labour market, such as speaking and listening abilities. This paper promotes an innovative teaching methodology that allows Spanish Civil Engineering students to hone English communication skills through “Lunch&Movies” sessions. In each session a documentary about technical Civil Engineering topics is shown. After the screening, students work in small inter-cohort groups with a guiding lecturer. These groups debate on different questions related to the video, encouraging participation, and fostering their self-confidence to talk about technical English topics in public. Different surveys were developed to demonstrate the students’ interest in learning technical English, and to evaluate the benefit for the attendees and their achievements. The results show that the students are conscious of the importance of technical English for their future careers, and most of them improved their initial level as the sessions progressed and they gained confidence in the foreign language. Also, through a pilot subject in English, it was demonstrated that the participants of the “Lunch&Movies” sessions obtained better oral qualifications than those who did not participate. In fact, the overall results indicated that Lunch & Movie sessions can improve students' technical oral skills as well as their own perceptions of their abilities

Red de reservas marinas para la Región de las Grandes Islas, Golfo de California: protocolo del proyecto de planeación y reporte de los talleres del equipo de planeación [Marine reserves network for the Midriff Islands Region, Gulf of California, Mexico: planning protocol and progress report to the WWF Mexico & Carlos Slim Foundation Alliance]

La Región de las Grandes Islas (RGI), localizada en el acuario del mundo, el Golfo de California, es reconocida a nivel mundial por su espectacular belleza, diversidad y productividad; en ocasiones se le ha denominada como "las Galápagos del Hemisferio Norte" (Figura 1). En sus 45 islas, incluyendo las dos más grandes de México, Tiburón e Isla Ángel de la Guarda, se han registrado más de 400 especies de plantas, anfibios, reptiles y mamíferos terrestres, algunas de ellas endémicas a una o varias de las islas. En algunas de estas islas, como Rasa y San Pedro Mártir, llegan a anidar cientos de miles de aves marinas. Alrededor de este gran archipiélago, se pueden observar hasta 23 especies de mamíferos marinos, incluyendo la súper agregación de cachalotes en la cuenca San Pedro Mártir. Así como también es un sitio usado por cinco especies de tortugas marinas para hibernar y alimentarse. [English] In collaboration with researchers, agencies and NGOs, we aim to guide the design and implementation of a network of marine reserves for Midriff Islands, Gulf of California, a marine conservation hotspot. The area is one of the most important fishing regions in Mexico and livelihoods of coastal communities are threatened by depletion of fish stocks and climate change. The project aims to develop a practical approach to design networks of marine reserves that consider ecological connectivity and the effects of climate change. The project is an example of interdisciplinary and collaborative applied research, including over 25 researchers and managers from NGOs (COBI, Pronatura), universities (James Cook University, The University of Queensland, Arizona State University, SCRIPPS, The University of Arizona), and national (Mexico’s Commissions for Protected Areas and Biodiversity) and international agencies (NOAA)

Hadron Energy Reconstruction for the ATLAS Calorimetry in the Framework of the Non-parametrical Method

This paper discusses hadron energy reconstruction for the ATLAS barrel prototype combined calorimeter (consisting of a lead-liquid argon electromagnetic part and an iron-scintillator hadronic part) in the framework of the non-parametrical method. The non-parametrical method utilizes only the known $e/h$ ratios and the electron calibration constants and does not require the determination of any parameters by a minimization technique. Thus, this technique lends itself to an easy use in a first level trigger. The reconstructed mean values of the hadron energies are within $\pm 1$ of the true values and the fractional energy resolution is $[(58\pm3)/\sqrt{E}+(2.5\pm0.3)$. The value of the $e/h$ ratio obtained for the electromagnetic compartment of the combined calorimeter is $1.74\pm0.04$ and agrees with the prediction that $e/h > 1.7$ for this electromagnetic calorimeter. Results of a study of the longitudinal hadronic shower development are also presented. The data have been taken in the H8 beam line of the CERN SPS using pions of energies from 10 to 300 GeV.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, Will be published in NIM

Differential branching fraction and angular analysis of the decay B0→K∗0μ+μ−

The angular distribution and differential branching fraction of the decay B 0→ K ∗0 μ + μ − are studied using a data sample, collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1. Several angular observables are measured in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared, q 2. A first measurement of the zero-crossing point of the forward-backward asymmetry of the dimuon system is also presented. The zero-crossing point is measured to be q20=4.9±0.9GeV2/c4 , where the uncertainty is the sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions

Study of DJ meson decays to D+π−, D0π+ and D∗+π− final states in pp collisions

A study of D+π−, D0π+ and D∗+π− final states is performed using pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1, collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the LHCb detector. The D1(2420)0 resonance is observed in the D∗+π− final state and the D∗2(2460) resonance is observed in the D+π−, D0π+ and D∗+π− final states. For both resonances, their properties and spin-parity assignments are obtained. In addition, two natural parity and two unnatural parity resonances are observed in the mass region between 2500 and 2800 MeV. Further structures in the region around 3000 MeV are observed in all the D∗+π−, D+π− and D0π+ final states

Study of B0(s)→K0Sh+h′− decays with first observation of B0s→K0SK±π∓ and B0s→K0Sπ+π−

A search for charmless three-body decays of B 0 and B0s mesons with a K0S meson in the final state is performed using the pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1, collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV recorded by the LHCb experiment. Branching fractions of the B0(s)→K0Sh+h′− decay modes (h (′) = π, K), relative to the well measured B0→K0Sπ+π− decay, are obtained. First observation of the decay modes B0s→K0SK±π∓ and B0s→K0Sπ+π− and confirmation of the decay B0→K0SK±π∓ are reported. The following relative branching fraction measurements or limits are obtained B(B0→K0SK±π∓)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=0.128±0.017(stat.)±0.009(syst.), B(B0→K0SK+K−)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=0.385±0.031(stat.)±0.023(syst.), B(B0s→K0Sπ+π−)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=0.29±0.06(stat.)±0.03(syst.)±0.02(fs/fd), B(B0s→K0SK±π∓)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=1.48±0.12(stat.)±0.08(syst.)±0.12(fs/fd)B(B0s→K0SK+K−)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)∈[0.004;0.068]at90%CL