Improving Temporal Accuracy of Human Metabolic Chambers for Dynamic Metabolic Studies

Metabolic chambers are powerful tools for assessing human energy expenditure, providing flexibility and comfort for the subjects in a near free-living environment. However, the flexibility offered by the large living room size creates challenges in the assessment of dynamic human metabolic signals—such as those generated during high-intensity interval training and short-term involuntary physical activities—with sufficient temporal accuracy. Therefore, this paper presents methods to improve the temporal accuracy of metabolic chambers. The proposed methods include 1) adopting a shortest possible step size, here one minute, to compute the finite derivative terms for the metabolic rate calculation, and 2) applying a robust noise reduction method—total variation denoising—to minimize the large noise generated by the short derivative term whilst preserving the transient edges of the dynamic metabolic signals. Validated against 24-hour gas infusion tests, the proposed method reconstructs dynamic metabolic signals with the best temporal accuracy among state-of-the-art approaches, achieving a root mean square error of 0.27 kcal/min (18.8 J/s), while maintaining a low cumulative error in 24-hour total energy expenditure of less than 45 kcal/day (188280 J/day). When applied to a human exercise session, the proposed methods also show the best performance in terms of recovering the dynamics of exercise energy expenditure. Overall, the proposed methods improve the temporal resolution of the chamber system, enabling metabolic studies involving dynamic signals such as short interval exercises to carry out the metabolic chambers

A Comparison of Reinforcement Learning Models for the Iowa Gambling Task Using Parameter Space Partitioning

The Iowa gambling task (IGT) is one of the most popular tasks used to study decisionmaking deficits in clinical populations. In order to decompose performance on the IGT in its constituent psychological processes, several cognitive models have been proposed (e.g., the Expectancy Valence (EV) and Prospect Valence Learning (PVL) models). Here we present a comparison of three models—the EV and PVL models, and a combination of these models (EV-PU)—based on the method of parameter space partitioning. This method allows us to assess the choice patterns predicted by the models across their entire parameter space. Our results show that the EV model is unable to account for a frequency-of-losses effect, whereas the PVL and EV-PU models are unable to account for a pronounced preference for the bad decks with many switches. All three models underrepresent pronounced choice patterns that are frequently seen in experiments. Overall, our results suggest that the search of an appropriate IGT model has not yet come to an end

The Need for Advanced Public Transport Information Services When Making Transfers

This paper reports on a stated choice experiment examining the determinants of travelers' need and willingness to pay for advanced public transport information services. Specific attention is given to the role of making transfers in the decision to acquire specific types of information. Intercity train travelers are asked to choose among information services that varied in type of information provided by the services, precision of provided dynamic travel time estimates, whether or not the system can provide information unasked for and price. Respondents made these choices conditional on a specified transfer context, denoting whether or not transfers had to be made during the trip, and whether these were transfers to high or low frequency train services. Modeling results indicate that as hypothesized, transferring during the trip, especially towards low frequency connections, induces a larger need for travel information, a higher preference for services that can provide advice relative to other information and a higher willingness to pay for information in general. However, the choice for information services is highly price sensitive, which suggest a low overall willingness to pay

D2.4 – Updated use case models based on ID2.11 and Advice on Configuration Management based on ID2.17

Méndez, C., Arjona, M., Lemmers, R., & Kluijfhout, E. (2009). D2.4 – Updated use case models based on ID2.11 and Advice on Configuration Management based on ID2.17. TENCompetence. [Report delivered 02-11-2009]This deliverable contains a) configuration guidelines for the implementation of the PCM for the domains of Personal Competence Management, eLearning, and Knowledge Management, and b) work done on the interaction design of the PCM from the perspective of distinct usage profiles.The work on this publication has been sponsored by the TENCompetence Integrated Project that is funded by the European Commission's 6th Framework Programme, priority IST/Technology Enhanced Learning. Contract 027087 [http://www.tencompetence.org

G protein variation in respiratory syncytial virus group A does not correlate with clinical severity

Respiratory syncytial virus group A strain variations of 28 isolates from The Netherlands collected during three consecutive seasons were studied by ana

The difference between actual and prescribed weight bearing of total hip patients with a trochanteric osteotomy: long-term vertical force measurements inside and outside the hospital

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether patients load the operated leg at a prescribed weight-bearing target load during postoperative recovery. DESIGN: A descriptive prospective study. SETTING: Orthopedic clinic and patients' homes. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty patients who had undergone total hip arthroplasty (THA) with trochanteric osteotomy. INTERVENTION: Patients were verbally instructed by a physical therapist to perform partial weight bearing at a 10% body weight (BW) target load (n=33) or at a 50% BW target load (n=17). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mean peak load (%BW) and percentage of patients and mean percentage of steps below, equal to, and above the target load. Weight bearing was measured when patients walked with (condition 1) and without (condition 2) a physical therapist in the hospital and walked at home (condition 3). RESULTS: The mean peak load was significantly higher than the target in the 10% BW group for all 3 conditions (condition 1, 19.2% BW; condition 2, 20.0% BW; condition 3, 26.8% BW). In the 50% BW group, the mean peak load was significantly lower than the target in conditions 1 (28.1% BW) and 2 (32.5% BW). No significant difference in weight bearing was found when walking with or without a physical therapist (change in 10% BW, -0.1% BW; change in 50% BW, -3.17% BW). At home, the mean peak load was significantly larger compared with walking without a physical therapist in the hospital (change in 10% BW, -7.0% BW; change in 50% BW, -11.5% BW). CONCLUSIONS: Partial weight bearing at a specific target load was not achieved by patients with a THA when given verbal instructions. Especially when using a low target load and when walking at home with no supervision of a physical therapist, patients loaded the operated leg higher and more frequently above the target load. Other training methods (eg, biofeedback) have to be evaluated to use as training tools for partial weight bearing at specific target loads

Explaining Personalized Activity Limitations in Patients With Hand and Wrist Disorders:Insights from Sociodemographic, Clinical, and Mindset Characteristics

Objectives: To investigate the association of sociodemographic, clinical, and mindset characteristics on outcomes measured with a patient-specific patient-reported outcome measure (PROM); the Patient Specific Functional Scale (PSFS). Secondly, we examined whether these factors differ when a fixed-item PROM, the Michigan Hand Outcome Questionnaire (MHQ), is used as an outcome. Design:Cohort study, using the aforementioned groups of factors in a hierarchical linear regression. Setting: Twenty-six clinics for hand and wrist conditions in the Netherlands. Participants: Two samples of patients with various hand and wrist conditions and treatments: n=7111 (PSFS) and n=5872 (MHQ). Interventions: NA. Main Outcome Measures:The PSFS and MHQ at 3 months. Results:The PSFS exhibited greater between-subject variability in baseline, follow-up, and change scores than the MHQ. Better PSFS outcomes were associated with: no involvement in litigation (β[95% confidence interval=-0.40[-0.54;-0.25]), better treatment expectations (0.09[0.06;0.13]), light workload (0.08[0.03;0.14]), not smoking (-0.07[-0.13;-0.01]), men sex (0.07[0.02;0.12]), better quality of life (0.07[0.05;0.10]), moderate workload (0.06[0.00;0.13]), better hand satisfaction (0.05[0.02; 0.07]), less concern (-0.05[-0.08;-0.02]), less pain at rest (-0.04[-0.08;-0.00]), younger age (-0.04[-0.07;-0.01]), better comprehensibility (0.03[0.01;0.06]), better timeline perception (-0.03[-0.06;-0.01]), and better control (-0.02[-0.04;-0.00]). The MHQ model was highly similar but showed a higher R2 than the PSFS model (0.41 vs 0.15), largely due to the R2 of the baseline scores (0.23 for MHQ vs 0.01 for PSFS). Conclusions:Health care professionals can improve personalized activity limitations by addressing treatment expectations and illness perceptions, which affect PSFS outcomes. Similar factors affect the MHQ, but the baseline MHQ score has a stronger association with the outcome score than the PSFS. While the PSFS is better for individual patient evaluation, we found that it is difficult to explain PSFS outcomes based on baseline characteristics compared with the MHQ. Using both patient-specific and fixed-item instruments helps health care professionals develop personalized treatment plans that meet individual needs and goals.</p

Relativistically rotating dust

Dust configurations play an important role in astrophysics and are the simplest models for rotating bodies. The physical properties of the general--relativistic global solution for the rigidly rotating disk of dust, which has been found recently as the solution of a boundary value problem, are discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figure

Oncogene <i>EVI1 </i>drives acute myeloid leukemia via a targetable interaction with CTBP2

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) driven by the activation of EVI1 due to chromosome 3q26/MECOM rearrangements is incurable. Because transcription factors such as EVI1 are notoriously hard to target, insight into the mechanism by which EVI1 drives myeloid transformation could provide alternative avenues for therapy. Applying protein folding predictions combined with proteomics technologies, we demonstrate that interaction of EVI1 with CTBP1 and CTBP2 via a single PLDLS motif is indispensable for leukemic transformation. A 4× PLDLS repeat construct outcompetes binding of EVI1 to CTBP1 and CTBP2 and inhibits proliferation of 3q26/MECOM rearranged AML in vitro and in xenotransplant models. This proof-of-concept study opens the possibility to target one of the most incurable forms of AML with specific EVI1-CTBP inhibitors. This has important implications for other tumor types with aberrant expression of EVI1 and for cancers transformed by different CTBP-dependent oncogenic transcription factors.</p