Links in the Knowledge Journey of an Idea to Innovation: A Study in the Context of Development of Customized Cartons

This paper identifies and analyses the links in the knowledge journey of an idea to innovation. It tracks the links in the development of customized cartons for packaging tomatoes. The trigger points for the innovation, the milestones crossed by the innovator, the interaction with agencies and actors in the environment, the interests and responses of the agencies and the actors, and the final outcomes were identified. Based on analysis, it conceptualises a model of knowledge journey and develops suggestions for innovators and innovation associates. The suggestions are in the areas of responding to innovation triggering points, learning and leveraging on what is possible and happening, adapting to the constraints of the innovation associates and building flexible systems and structures.

Air-Cooling and Heating Systemfor Tiger in Zoo using Earth Tube Heat Exchanger

A specially designed air-cooling (and heating) system using Earth Tube Heat Exchanger (ETHE) was installed in the dwelling of a 15-year old white tiger (Panthera tigris) named Mahesh at Kamala Nehru Zoological Garden, Ahmedabad (India) in October 2000. This was done to alleviate the stresses experienced by Mahesh in summer, which is long and hot; and in winter nights, which can be quite cold. Summer temperatures in Ahmedabad remain around 40oC for a long time and can reach as high as 45oC. Night temperatures in winter can drop to 10oC or below. The system does both--provide cooling in summer and warming in winter. In winter the system warms up the ambient (cold) air by as much as 10oC at night. In summer the system cools the ambient (hot) air also by as much as 8 - 10oC during the day.

Auras in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and mesial temporal sclerosis.

We investigated auras in patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). We also investigated the clinical differences between patients with MTS and abdominal auras and those with MTS and non-mesial temporal auras. All patients with drug-resistant TLE and unilateral MTS who underwent epilepsy surgery at Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center from 1986 through 2014 were evaluated. Patients with good postoperative seizure outcome were investigated. One hundred forty-nine patients (71 males and 78 females) were studied. Thirty-one patients (20.8%) reported no auras, while 29 patients (19.5%) reported abdominal aura, and 30 patients (20.1%) reported non-mesial temporal auras; 16 patients (10.7%) had sensory auras, 11 patients (7.4%) had auditory auras, and five patients (3.4%) reported visual auras. A history of preoperative tonic-clonic seizures was strongly associated with non-mesial temporal auras (odds ratio 3.8; 95% CI: 1.15-12.98; p=0.02). About one-fifth of patients who had MTS in their MRI and responded well to surgery reported auras that are historically associated with non-mesial temporal structures. However, the presence of presumed non-mesial temporal auras in a patient with MTS may herald a more widespread epileptogenic zone

Patient historical risk factors associated with seizure outcome after surgery for drug-resistant nonlesional temporal lobe epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the possible influence of risk factors on seizure outcome after surgery for drug-resistant nonlesional temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). METHODS: This retrospective study recruited patients with drug-resistant nonlesional TLE who underwent epilepsy surgery at Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and were followed for a minimum of one year. Patients had been prospectively registered in a database from 1991 through 2014. Postsurgical outcome was classified into two groups; seizure free or relapsed. The possible risk factors influencing long-term seizure outcome after surgery were investigated. RESULTS: Ninety-five patients (42 males and 53 females) were studied. Fifty-four (56.8%) patients were seizure free. Only a history of febrile seizure in childhood affected the risk of post-operative seizure recurrence (odds ratio 0.22; 95% CI: 0.06-0.83; p = 0.02). Gender, race, family history of epilepsy, history of status epilepticus, duration of disease before surgery, aura symptoms, intelligence quotient, and seizure type or frequency were not predictors of outcome. CONCLUSION: Many patients with drug-resistant nonlesional TLE responded favorably to surgery. The only factor predictive of seizure outcome after surgery was a history of febrile seizure in childhood. It is critical to distinguish among different types of TLE when assessing outcome after surgery

Historical Risk Factors Associated with Seizure Outcome After Surgery for Drug-Resistant Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the possible influence of risk factors on seizure outcome after surgery for drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). METHODS: This retrospective study recruited patients with drug-resistant MTS-TLE who underwent epilepsy surgery at Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and were followed for a minimum of 1 year. Patients had been prospectively registered in a database from 1986 through 2014. After surgery outcome was classified into 2 groups: seizure-free or relapsed. The possible risk factors influencing long-term outcome after surgery were investigated. RESULTS: A total of 275 patients with MTS-TLE were studied. Two thirds of the patients had Engel\u27s class 1 outcome and 48.4% of the patients had sustained seizure freedom, with no seizures since surgery. Patients with a history of tonic-clonic seizures in the year preceding surgery were more likely to experience seizure recurrence (odds ratio, 2.4; 95% confidence interval 1.19-4.80; P = 0.01). Gender, race, family history of epilepsy, history of febrile seizure, history of status epilepticus, duration of disease before surgery, intelligence quotient, and seizure frequency were not predictors of outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Many patients with drug-resistant MTS-TLE respond favorably to surgery. It is critical to distinguish among different types and etiologies of TLE when predicting outcome after surgery

Cancer Epigenomics: a review

Epigenetic inactivation of genes that are crucial for the control of normalcell growth is a hallmark of cancer cells. Epigenetic modifications of the DNA do not alter the nucleotide sequence instead they involve the regulation of gene transcription and DNA methylation. Hypermethylation or histone deacetylation, which is within the promoter of a tumor suppressor gene, leads to the silencing as well as a deletion or a mutation of thatgene. Cancer cells often show aberrant methylation and the frequency of aberrations increases is seen with the progression of disease. Hypermethylation events can occur early in tumorogenesis, involving the disruption of pathways that may predispose cells to malignant transformation. Epigenetic modification such as DNA methylation can be exploited for clinical purposes in cancer patients, first using hypermethylation as a molecular biomarker of cancer cells and second, epigenetic changes which are potentially reversible

Presurgical thalamic hubness predicts surgical outcome in temporal lobe epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the presurgical brain functional architecture presented in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) using graph theoretical measures of resting-state fMRI data and to test its association with surgical outcome. METHODS: Fifty-six unilateral patients with TLE, who subsequently underwent anterior temporal lobectomy and were classified as obtaining a seizure-free (Engel class I, n = 35) vs not seizure-free (Engel classes II-IV, n = 21) outcome at 1 year after surgery, and 28 matched healthy controls were enrolled. On the basis of their presurgical resting-state functional connectivity, network properties, including nodal hubness (importance of a node to the network; degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centralities) and integration (global efficiency), were estimated and compared across our experimental groups. Cross-validations with support vector machine (SVM) were used to examine whether selective nodal hubness exceeded standard clinical characteristics in outcome prediction. RESULTS: Compared to the seizure-free patients and healthy controls, the not seizure-free patients displayed a specific increase in nodal hubness (degree and eigenvector centralities) involving both the ipsilateral and contralateral thalami, contributed by an increase in the number of connections to regions distributed mostly in the contralateral hemisphere. Simulating removal of thalamus reduced network integration more dramatically in not seizure-free patients. Lastly, SVM models built on these thalamic hubness measures produced 76% prediction accuracy, while models built with standard clinical variables yielded only 58% accuracy (both were cross-validated). CONCLUSIONS: A thalamic network associated with seizure recurrence may already be established presurgically. Thalamic hubness can serve as a potential biomarker of surgical outcome, outperforming the clinical characteristics commonly used in epilepsy surgery centers