Neurophysiological correlates of the rubber hand illusion in late evoked and alpha/beta band activity

The rubber hand illusion (RHI) allows insights into how the brain resolves conflicting multisensory information regarding body position and ownership. Previous neuroimaging studies have reported a variety of neurophysiological correlates of illusory hand ownership, with conflicting results likely originating from differences in experimental parameters and control conditions. Here, we overcome these limitations by using a fully automated and precisely-timed visuo-tactile stimulation setup to record evoked responses and oscillatory responses in participants who felt the RHI. Importantly, we relied on a combination of experimental conditions to rule out confounds of attention, body-stimulus position and stimulus duration and on the combination of two control conditions to identify neurophysiological correlates of illusory hand ownership. In two separate experiments we observed a consistent illusion-related attenuation of ERPs around 330 ms over frontocentral electrodes, as well as decreases of frontal alpha and beta power during the illusion that could not be attributed to changes in attention, body-stimulus position or stimulus duration. Our results reveal neural correlates of illusory hand ownership in late and likely higher-order rather than early sensory processes, and support a role of premotor and possibly intraparietal areas in mediating illusory body ownership

Associations of plasma fibrinogen and factor VII clotting activity with coronary heart disease and stroke: prospective cohort study from the screening phase of the Thrombosis Prevention Trial.

BACKGROUND: As with 'conventional' risk factors such as cholesterol and smoking, there is a need for large, long-term prospective studies on hemostatic factors. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prospective relationship of fibrinogen and factor VII clotting activity (FVIIc) with risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke in a study with a large number of outcomes over a period of 15 years. PATIENTS/METHODS: A cohort of 22 715 men aged 45-69 years was screened for participation in the Thrombosis Prevention Trial. Men were followed up for fatal and non-fatal CHD and stroke events. There were 1515 CHD events (933 CHD deaths) and 391 strokes (180 stroke deaths). Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals are expressed per standardized increase in log fibrinogen and log FVIIc, adjusting for age, trial treatment group, conventional CHD risk factors and regression dilution bias. RESULTS: Hazard ratios for fibrinogen were 1.52 (1.37-1.70) for all CHD events, and 1.36 (1.09-1.69) for all strokes. Exclusion of events within the first 10 years showed a persistent association between CHD and fibrinogen, with an adjusted HR of 1.93 (1.42-2.64). The HRs for FVIIc, adjusting for age and trial treatment, were 1.07 (1.01-1.12) for all CHD events and 1.07 (0.97-1.20) for all strokes, and the fully adjusted HRs were, respectively, 0.97 (0.84-1.05) and 1.07 (0.85-1.33). CONCLUSIONS: The persisting association between fibrinogen and CHD beyond 10 years may imply a causal effect. There is a small effect of FVIIc on CHD, after adjustment for age and trial treatment, but no association independent of other risk factors

Multiple bottlenecks sorting criterion at initial sequence in solving permutation flow shop scheduling problem

This paper proposes a heuristic that introduces the application of bottleneck-based concept at the beginning of an initial sequence determination with the objective of makespan minimization. Earlier studies found that the scheduling activity become complicated when dealing with machine, m greater than 2, known as non-deterministic polynomial-time hardness (NP-hard). To date, the Nawaz-Enscore-Ham (NEH) algorithm is still recognized as the best heuristic in solving makespan problem in scheduling environment. Thus, this study treated the NEH heuristic as the highest ranking and most suitable heuristic for evaluation purpose since it is the best performing heuristic in makespan minimization. This study used the bottleneck-based approach to identify the critical processing machine which led to high completion time. In this study, an experiment involving machines (m =4) and n-job (n = 6, 10, 15, 20) was simulated in Microsoft Excel Simple Programming to solve the permutation flowshop scheduling problem. The overall computational results demonstrated that the bottleneck machine M4 performed the best in minimizing the makespan for all data set of problems

Rosiglitazone and Cardiovascular Risk – A Review

The thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are a class of oral drugs used for the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus and act as ligands for the transcription factor Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor gamma (PPARγ). Rosiglitazone, an example of TZD, is an anti-diabetic agent acting as a potent insulin sensitizer and is used clinically to enhance insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in tissues. However, in spite of the beneficial effects of TZDs in management of type 2 diabetes, the safety of rosiglitazone has recently been called into question. The debate about the risks associated with rosiglitazone therapy heightened in 2007, when it was reported that rosiglitazone was associated with an increase risk of myocardial infarction and death from cardiovascular causes. The cardiovascular risk associated with rosiglitazone use remains to be further elucidated, but there are several reasonable hypotheses.Keywords: Thiazolidinediones; Rosiglitazone; Type 2 Diabetes; Cardiovascular ris

Strategi Meningkatkan Kompetensi Dosen Universitas Pasir Pengaraian Melalui Pendidikan Dan Pelatihan

Target of this writing to know strategy what used by University Pasir Pengaraian to increase its lecturer interest. This Research scope is research by using descriptive approach qualitative, collected data in the form of words, picture or in the form of data citations. This research have place in University Pasir Pengaraian. As for its data source and type is primary data and data of sekunder. Tekhnik data collecting the used is observation, interview, documentation. Tekhnik analyse its data with process compilation of strategic plan three analysis phase, that is: data collecting phase (internal factor evaluation and eksternal), analysis phase (internal factor, eksternal and matrix SWOT) and decision making phase. Data analysis the used is 1) Descriptive analysis, this matter relate at education analysis and training of lecturer of UPP 2) Analysis Strategy SWOT or TOWS 3) Diagram Cartesius, diagram analysis of cartesius indicate that University Pasir Pengaraian reside in [at] development of which can improve lecturer interest 4) Matrix SWOT. Pursuant to this analysis indicate that company operational can be determined by internal factor combination and eksternal.Pursuant to result of research can know that University Pasir Pengaraian reside in on course Growth owning strength and opportunity. To reach the the position hence require to pay attention strategy stages;steps what will be used, how the strategy evaluation before taking an decision

Facilitating inter-spousal communication for birth spacing--a feasibility study of Pakistani couples for policy implications

Objective: To test three practices introduced to couples for adaptation of a non-permanent modern method of family planning and the role that each partner played during the process.SETTING: Urban and sub-urban areas of Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta.Methods: \u27Behavioral trials\u27 was conducted which is a formative research method in which researcher and participants negotiate behavior(s) that the participant agrees to try for a specific amount of time. Interviews were conducted on 72 married couples (144 men and women) living in urban and sub-urban areas of Karachi, Lahore and Quetta. Study participants were either non-users of modern methods of family panning, or using traditional methods. The three behaviors negotiated were: a) Discuss benefits of birth spacing with spouse; b) discuss specific methods of family planning and decide on the most appropriate one and c) initiate use of a modern temporary method of family planning.Results: After the introduction of first practice, of 72 couples 38 reported failure to initiate the discussion with their spouse. Where women initiated the discussion the response from spouse was not as favorable as where men initiated the discussion. After introduction of second practice 28 couples were successful in discussing about selection of a family planning method. Twenty-four couples finally selected and used a method. Traditional users were more likely to adopt a modern method than non-users, especially those with 3-5 children.CONCLUSION: Strategies to cultivate a culture of inter-spousal communication on use of family planning methods should be developed as a component of family planning programs

Trends in the Use of Wireless Fidelity on Campus among Undergraduates in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto

This study investigates the trends in the use of wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) on campus among undergraduates in Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS). Four objectives were formulated at the onset of this study. Survey research design was adopted, and simple random sampling technique was used to select three hundred and ninety-six (396) students as sample using questionnaire as instrument for data collection. It was found that undergraduate make use of wireless fidelity available to them basically for academic purposes. Amount of time students spend carrying textbooks is reducing drastically because of access to wide variety of materials on the internet through Wi-Fi. Also, abuse of the wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) for illicit purpose is low based on the findings of the study. It was also found that some students don’t have access to internet enabled devices. Usage of wireless fidelity has positively influenced the undergraduates’ academic performance. The students faced a lot of challenges such as power failure; low internet bandwidth; poor computer operating skills; unreliability of internet connection and small area coverage. Hence, the study concluded that there is a healthy usage of wireless fidelity on campus by undergraduates in the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. Thus, it was recommended among others, that management of UDUS should increase their broadband network in order to enable the students have free flow of information access on the internet

Homo- and Heteroleptic Copper(I) Complexes with Diazabutadiene Ligands: Synthesis, Solution- and Solid-State Structural Studies

The preparation of novel copper(I) complexes of diazabutadiene (DAB) ligands with aliphatic backbones is reported. [Cu(DABR)2](BF4), [Cu(DABR)(NCMe)2](BF4) and [CuCl(DABR)] are easily synthesised and air-stable. These complexes, which remain scarce in the literature, have been fully characterised, and their behaviour both in the solid state as well as in solution has been studied by means of X-ray crystallography, NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopy

Intelligent agent simulator in massive crowd

Crowd simulations have many benefits over real-life research such as in computer games, architecture and entertainment. One of the key elements in this study is to include elements of decision-making into the crowd. The aim of this simulator is to simulate the features of an intelligent agent to escape from crowded environments especially in one-way corridor, two-way corridor and four-way intersection. The addition of the graphical user interface enables intuitive and fast handling in all settings and features of the Intelligent Agent Simulator and allows convenient research in the field of intelligent behaviour in massive crowd. This paper describes the development of a simulator by using the Open Graphics Library (OpenGL), starting from the production of training data, the simulation process, until the simulation results. The Social Force Model (SFM) is used to generate the motion of agents and the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to predict the next step for intelligent agent