Attributes of age-identity

Chronological age can be an unsatisfactory method of discriminating between older people. The lay concept of how old people actually feel may be more useful. The aim of the analyses reported in this paper was to investigate indicators of age-identity (or subjective age) among a national random sample of people aged 65 or more years living at home in Britain. Information was initially collected by home interview and a follow-up postal questionnaire 12-18 months later. The age that respondents felt was a more sensitive indicator than chronological age of many indicators of the respondents' health, psychological and social characteristics. Multiple regression analysis showed that baseline health and functional status, and reported changes in these at follow-up, explained 20.4 per cent of the variance in self-perceived age. Adding baseline mental health (anxiety/depression), feelings and fears about ageing at follow-up explained a further 0.8 per cent of the variance, making the total variance explained 21.2 per cent. It is concluded that measures of physical health and functional status and their interactions influenced age-identity. Mental health status and psychological perceptions made a small but significant additional contribution

Novel deep learning approach to model and predict the spread of COVID-19

SARS-CoV2, which causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is continuing to spread globally, producing new variants and has become a pandemic. People have lost their lives not only due to the virus but also because of the lack of counter measures in place. Given the increasing caseload and uncertainty of spread, there is an urgent need to develop robust artificial intelligence techniques to predict the spread of COVID-19. In this paper, we propose a deep learning technique, called Deep Sequential Prediction Model (DSPM) and machine learning based Non-parametric Regression Model (NRM) to predict the spread of COVID-19. Our proposed models are trained and tested on publicly available novel coronavirus dataset. The proposed models are evaluated by using Mean Absolute Error and compared with the existing methods for the prediction of the spread of COVID-19. Our experimental results demonstrate the superior prediction performance of the proposed models. The proposed DSPM and NRM achieve MAEs of 388.43 (error rate 1.6%) and 142.23 (0.6%), respectively compared to 6508.22 (27%) achieved by baseline SVM, 891.13 (9.2%) by Time-Series Model (TSM), 615.25 (7.4%) by LSTM-based Data-Driven Estimation Method (DDEM) and 929.72 (8.1%) by Maximum-Hasting Estimation Method (MHEM)

The Assessment Of The Effect Of Surface Roughness On Drag Coefficient And Aerodynamics Features Of Loggerhead Sea Turtle Carapace

The present investigation primarily studies the effect of surface roughness on the drag coefficient, Cd of a Loggerhead sea turtle carapace using a subsonic wind tunnel. The pressure coefficient, Cp distribution across the Loggerhead carapace was also investigated and is compared to the Cp trend of an airfoil in order to deduce the aerodynamics features of the Loggerhead carapace. One-to-five-scaled models are created based on the dimensions of a real Loggerhead turtle with simplification. Four roughness scales were employed to capture the Cd trend at increasing Reynolds numbers, Re. As expected, the Cd levelled off with Re for all four models investigated. However, the Re where constant Cd began varies with relative roughness of the carapace models. The results also show good correlation between the Cd and relative roughness. In addition, the wind tunnel results are able to capture the Cp trend of the carapace models and compared to Cp values of an airfoil. Results reveal that the upper surface of the Loggerhead carapace is streamlined but with restrictions of angle of attack

Positive predictive value of ERBB2 copy number gain by tissue or circulating tumor DNA next-generation sequencing across advanced cancers

BACKGROUND: The correlation of ERBB2 copy number gain (CNG) from tissue or circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) by next-generation sequencing (NGS) with standard HER2 tissue evaluation is not well understood. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively identified patients with ERBB2 CNG on commercial NGS. We described their clinical-pathologic features and calculated the positive predictive value (PPV) of ERBB2 CNG by NGS for HER2-positivity by IHC and FISH testing. RESULTS: 176 patients had NGS revealing an ERBB2 CNG (112 by tumor tissue and 91 by ctDNA). The cancer subtypes with the most cases with ERBB2 CNG by NGS were breast ( CONCLUSIONS: ERBB2 CNG by NGS is detected in numerous malignancies for which HER2 testing is not standard. Detection of ERBB2 CNG by tissue NGS and ctDNA has a high PPV for true HER2-positivity by standard IHC and/or FISH testing in breast cancer

Comparison of Human Adult Stem Cells from Adipose Tissue and Bone Marrow in the Treatment of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Introduction. While administration of ex vitro culture-expanded stem cells has been used to study immunosuppressive mechanisms in multiple models of autoimmune diseases, less is known about the uncultured, nonexpanded stromal vascular fraction (SVF)-based therapy. The SVF is composed of a heterogeneous population of cells and has been used clinically to treat acute and chronic diseases, alleviating symptoms in a range of tissues and organs. Methods. In this study, the ability of human SVF cells was compared with culture-expanded adipose stem cells (ASCs) and bone-derived marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) as a treatment of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (35-55)-induced experimental autoimmune encephalitis in C57Bl/6J mice, a well-studied multiple sclerosis model (MS). A total of 1 x 106 BMSCs, ASCs, or SVF cells were administered intraperitoneally concomitantly with the induction of disease. Mice were monitored daily for clinical signs of disease by three independent, blinded investigators and rated on a scale of 0 to 5. Spinal cords were obtained after euthanasia at day 30 and processed for histological staining using luxol fast blue, toluidine blue, and hematoxylin and eosin to measure myelin and infiltrating immune cells. Blood was collected from mice at day 30 and analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure serum levels of inflammatory cytokines. Results: The data indicate that intraperitoneal administration of all cell types significantly ameliorates the severity of disease. Furthermore, the data also demonstrate, for the first time, that the SVF was as effective as the more commonly cultured BMSCs and ASCs in an MS model. All cell therapies also demonstrated a similar reduction in tissue damage, inflammatory infiltrates, and sera levels of IFNγ and IL-12. While IFNγ levels were reduced to comparable levels between treatment groups, levels of IL-12 were significantly lower in SVF-treated than BMSC-treated or ASC-treated mice. Conclusions: Based on these data, it is evident that SVF cells have relevant therapeutic potential in an animal model of chronic MS and might represent a valuable tool for stem cell-based therapy in chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. SVF offers advantages of direct and rapid isolation procedure in a xenobiotic-free environment

A surface-patterned chip as a strong source of ultracold atoms for quantum technologies

Laser-cooled atoms are central to modern precision measurements. They are also increasingly important as an enabling technology for experimental cavity quantum electrodynamics, quantum information processing and matter–wave interferometry. Although significant progress has been made in miniaturizing atomic metrological devices, these are limited in accuracy by their use of hot atomic ensembles and buffer gases. Advances have also been made in producing portable apparatus that benefits from the advantages of atoms in the microkelvin regime. However, simplifying atomic cooling and loading using microfabrication technology has proved difficult. In this Letter we address this problem, realizing an atom chip that enables the integration of laser cooling and trapping into a compact apparatus. Our source delivers ten thousand times more atoms than previous magneto-optical traps with microfabricated optics and, for the first time, can reach sub-Doppler temperatures. Moreover, the same chip design offers a simple way to form stable optical lattices. These features, combined with simplicity of fabrication and ease of operation, make these new traps a key advance in the development of cold-atom technology for high-accuracy, portable measurement devices

Waist-to-hip ratio and mortality in heart failure

Aims: A higher body mass index (BMI) is associated with better survival in heart failure (HF) patients, also known as the obesity paradox. However, BMI does not account for body composition. We therefore analysed the association between abdominal fat, measured via waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR), BMI and all‐cause mortality in patients with HF. Methods and results: For this analysis, 1738 patients from the Scottish BIOlogy Study to TAilored Treatment in Chronic Heart Failure (BIOSTAT‐CHF) validation study were included. Patients without waist and hip measurements were excluded. WHR was defined as waist circumference/hip circumference, divided into tertiles and split for sex. A linear regression of principal components from an extensive panel of biomarkers was performed to provide insight in the pathophysiology behind a higher WHR. In total, 1479 patients were included, of which 33% were female and mean age was 75 ±11 years. A higher WHR was independently associated with a higher BMI, a higher prevalence of diabetes and higher New York Heart Association functional class. There was a significant interaction between sex and WHR on its association with mortality (P <0.001). In women, a higher WHR was associated with a higher mortality risk [hazard ratio (HR) 2.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.37–3.63; P =0.001], whereas no significant association was found in men (HR 0.87, 95% CI 0.63–1.20; P = 0.409). We found a strong association between a higher WHR and elevated markers of inflammation and MAPK cascade in women, while these associations were less profound in men. Conclusions: A higher WHR was associated with a higher risk of death in female but not in male HF patients. These findings challenge the obesity paradox, and suggest that fat deposition is pathophysiologically harmful and may be a target for therapy in female patients with HF

Neural crest derivatives in ocular development: Discerning the eye of the storm

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111961/1/bdrc21095.pd

High gain/bandwidth off‑chip antenna loaded with metamaterial unit‑cell impedance matching circuit for sub‑terahertz near‑field electronic systems

An innovative off-chip antenna (OCA) is presented that exhibits high gain and efficiency performance at the terahertz (THz) band and has a wide operational bandwidth. The proposed OCA is implemented on stacked silicon layers and consists of an open circuit meandering line. It is shown that by loading the antenna with an array of subwavelength circular dielectric slots and terminating it with a metamaterial unit cell, its impedance bandwidth is enhanced by a factor of two and its gain on average by about 4 dB. Unlike conventional antennas, where the energy is dissipated in a resistive load, the technique proposed here significantly reduces losses. The antenna is excited from underneath the antenna by coupling RF energy from an open-circuited feedline through a slot in the ground-plane of the middle substrate layer. The feedline is shielded with another substrate layer which has a ground-plane on its opposite surface to mitigate the influence of the structure on which the antenna is mounted. The antenna has the dimensions 12.3 × 4.5 × 0.905 mm3 and operates across the 0.137–0.158 THz band corresponding to a fractional bandwidth of 14.23%. Over this frequency range the average measured gain and efficiency are 8.6 dBi and 77%, respectively. These characteristics makes the proposed antenna suitable for integration in sub-terahertz near-field electronic systems such as radio frequency identification (RFID) devices with high spatial resolution