Small Tympanic Membrane Perforations in the Inferior Quadrants Do Not Impact the Manubrium Vibration in Guinea Pigs

BACKGROUND: It has been believed that location of the perforation has a significant impact on hearing loss. However, recent studies have demonstrated that the perforation sites had no impact on hearing loss. We measured the velocity and pattern of the manubrium vibration in guinea pigs with intact and perforated eardrum using a laser Doppler vibrometer in order to determine the effects of different location perforations on the middle ear transfer functions. METHODS: Two bullas from 2 guinea pigs were used to determine stability of the umbo velocities, and 12 bullas from six guinea pigs to determine the effects of different location perforations on sound transmission. The manubrium velocity was measured at three points on the manubrium in the frequencies of 0.5-8 kHz before and after a perforation was made. The sites of perforations were in anterior-inferior (AI) quadrants of left ears and posterior-inferior (PI) quadrants of right ears. RESULTS: The manubrium vibration velocity losses were noticed in the perforated ears only below 1.5 kHz. The maximum velocity loss was about 7 dB at 500 Hz with the PI perforation. No significant difference in the velocity loss was found between AI and PI perforations. The average ratio of short process velocity to the umbo velocity was approximately 0.5 at all frequencies. No significant differences were found before and after perforation at all frequencies (p>0.05) except 7 kHz (p = 0.004) for both AI and PI perforations. CONCLUSIONS: The manubrium vibration velocity losses from eardrum perforation were frequency-dependent and the largest losses occur at low frequencies. Manubrium velocity losses caused by small acute inferior perforations in guinea pigs have no significant impact on middle ear sound transmission at any frequency tested. The manubrium vibration axis may be perpendicular to the manubrium below 8 kHz in guinea pigs

Dynamics of conflicts in Wikipedia

In this work we study the dynamical features of editorial wars in Wikipedia (WP). Based on our previously established algorithm, we build up samples of controversial and peaceful articles and analyze the temporal characteristics of the activity in these samples. On short time scales, we show that there is a clear correspondence between conflict and burstiness of activity patterns, and that memory effects play an important role in controversies. On long time scales, we identify three distinct developmental patterns for the overall behavior of the articles. We are able to distinguish cases eventually leading to consensus from those cases where a compromise is far from achievable. Finally, we analyze discussion networks and conclude that edit wars are mainly fought by few editors only.Comment: Supporting information adde

Design of Experiments for Screening

The aim of this paper is to review methods of designing screening experiments, ranging from designs originally developed for physical experiments to those especially tailored to experiments on numerical models. The strengths and weaknesses of the various designs for screening variables in numerical models are discussed. First, classes of factorial designs for experiments to estimate main effects and interactions through a linear statistical model are described, specifically regular and nonregular fractional factorial designs, supersaturated designs and systematic fractional replicate designs. Generic issues of aliasing, bias and cancellation of factorial effects are discussed. Second, group screening experiments are considered including factorial group screening and sequential bifurcation. Third, random sampling plans are discussed including Latin hypercube sampling and sampling plans to estimate elementary effects. Fourth, a variety of modelling methods commonly employed with screening designs are briefly described. Finally, a novel study demonstrates six screening methods on two frequently-used exemplars, and their performances are compared

Tetraspanin CD151 is a novel prognostic marker in poor outcome endometrial cancer

BACKGROUND: Type II cancers account for 10% of endometrial cancers but 50% of recurrence. Response rates to chemotherapy at recurrence are poor and better prognostic markers are needed to guide therapy. CD151 is a small transmembrane protein that regulates cell migration and facilitates cancer metastasis. High CD151 expression confers poor prognosis in breast, pancreatic and colorectal cancer. The prognostic significance of tetraspanin CD151 expression in poor outcome endometrial cancers was evaluated, along with oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), p53, human epidermal growth factor receptor -2 (HER-2), and CD 151 staining compared with α6β1, α3β1 integrins, and E-cadherin. METHODS: Tissue microarray constructed from 156 poor outcome endometrial cancers, tested with immunohistochemistry and staining correlated with clinicopathological data were used. A total of 131 data sets were complete for analysis. RESULTS: Expression of CD151 was significantly higher in uterine papillary serous and clear cell carcinoma than in grade 3 endometrioid carcinoma, sarcoma or carcinosarcoma (P<0.001). In univariate analysis, age, stage, histology type and CD151 were significant for both recurrence free (RFS) and disease specific survival (DSS). In multivariate analyses, CD151 was significant for RFS and DSS (P=0.036 and 0.033, respectively) in triple negative (ER, PR and HER-2 negative) tumours (88/131). The HER-2, p53, ER and PR were not prognostic for survival. There was strong concordance of CD151 with E-cadherin (98%), but not with α6β1 (35%), α3β1 staining (60%). CONCLUSION: The CD151 is a novel marker in type 2 cancers that can guide therapeutic decisions. CD151 may have an important role in tumourigenesis in some histology types

Aging brain from a network science perspective: Something to be positive about?

To better understand age differences in brain function and behavior, the current study applied network science to model functional interactions between brain regions. We observed a shift in network topology whereby for older adults subcortical and cerebellar structures overlapping with the Salience network had more connectivity to the rest of the brain, coupled with fragmentation of large-scale cortical networks such as the Default and Fronto-Parietal networks. Additionally, greater integration of the dorsal medial thalamus and red nucleus in the Salience network was associated with greater satisfaction with life for older adults, which is consistent with theoretical predictions of age-related increases in emotion regulation that are thought to help maintain well-being and life satisfaction in late adulthood. In regard to cognitive abilities, greater ventral medial prefrontal cortex coherence with its topological neighbors in the Default Network was associated with faster processing speed. Results suggest that large-scale organizing properties of the brain differ with normal aging, and this perspective may offer novel insight into understanding age-related differences in cognitive function and well-being. © 2013 Voss et al

A Measurement of Rb using a Double Tagging Method

The fraction of Z to bbbar events in hadronic Z decays has been measured by the OPAL experiment using the data collected at LEP between 1992 and 1995. The Z to bbbar decays were tagged using displaced secondary vertices, and high momentum electrons and muons. Systematic uncertainties were reduced by measuring the b-tagging efficiency using a double tagging technique. Efficiency correlations between opposite hemispheres of an event are small, and are well understood through comparisons between real and simulated data samples. A value of Rb = 0.2178 +- 0.0011 +- 0.0013 was obtained, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. The uncertainty on Rc, the fraction of Z to ccbar events in hadronic Z decays, is not included in the errors. The dependence on Rc is Delta(Rb)/Rb = -0.056*Delta(Rc)/Rc where Delta(Rc) is the deviation of Rc from the value 0.172 predicted by the Standard Model. The result for Rb agrees with the value of 0.2155 +- 0.0003 predicted by the Standard Model.Comment: 42 pages, LaTeX, 14 eps figures included, submitted to European Physical Journal

In vitro assessment of the combined effect of eicosapentaenoic acid, green tea extract and curcumin C3 on protein loss in C2C12 myotubes

EPA has been clinically shown to reduce muscle wasting during cancer cachexia. This study investigates whether curcumin or green tea extract (GTE) enhances the ability of low doses of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) to reduce loss of muscle protein in an in vitro model. A low dose of EPA with minimal anti-cachectic activity was chosen to evaluate any potential synergistic effect with curcumin or GTE. Depression of protein synthesis and increase in degradation was determined in C2C12 myotubes in response to tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and proteolysis-inducing factor (PIF). EPA (50 μM) or curcumin (10 μg ml−1) alone had little effect on protein degradation caused by PIF but the combination produced complete inhibition, as did the combination with GTE (10 μg ml−1). In response to TNF-α (25 ng ml−1)-induced protein degradation, EPA had a small, but not significant effect on protein degradation; however, when curcumin and GTE were combined with EPA, the effect was enhanced. EPA completely attenuated the depression of protein synthesis caused by TNF-α, but not that caused by PIF. The combination of EPA with curcumin produced a significant increase in protein synthesis to both agents. GTE alone or in combination with EPA had no effect on the depression of protein synthesis by TNF-α, but did significantly increase protein synthesis in PIF-treated cells. Both TNF-α and PIF significantly reduced myotube diameter from 17 to 13 μm for TNF-α (23.5%) and 15 μm (11.8%) for PIF However the triple combination of EPA, curcumin and GTE returned diameters to values not significantly different from the control. These results suggest that either curcumin or GTE or the combination could enhance the anti-catabolic effect of EPA on lean body mass

Measurement of the B+ and B-0 lifetimes and search for CP(T) violation using reconstructed secondary vertices

The lifetimes of the B+ and B-0 mesons, and their ratio, have been measured in the OPAL experiment using 2.4 million hadronic Z(0) decays recorded at LEP. Z(0) --> b (b) over bar decays were tagged using displaced secondary vertices and high momentum electrons and muons. The lifetimes were then measured using well-reconstructed charged and neutral secondary vertices selected in this tagged data sample. The results aretau(B+) = 1.643 +/- 0.037 +/- 0.025 pstau(Bo) = 1.523 +/- 0.057 +/- 0.053 pstau(B+)/tau(Bo) = 1.079 +/- 0.064 +/- 0.041,where in each case the first error is statistical and the second systematic.A larger data sample of 3.1 million hadronic Z(o) decays has been used to search for CP and CPT violating effects by comparison of inclusive b and (b) over bar hadron decays, No evidence fur such effects is seen. The CP violation parameter Re(epsilon(B)) is measured to be Re(epsilon(B)) = 0.001 +/- 0.014 +/- 0.003and the fractional difference between b and (b) over bar hadron lifetimes is measured to(Delta tau/tau)(b) = tau(b hadron) - tau((b) over bar hadron)/tau(average) = -0.001 +/- 0.012 +/- 0.008

Phono-spectrographic analysis of heart murmur in children

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens