Menelloides C and D, New Sesquiterpenoids from the Gorgonian Coral Menella sp

Two new metabolites, including a lindenane-type sesquiterpenoid, menelloide C (1), and a germacrane-type sesquiterpenoid, menelloide D (2), were isolated from a Formosan gorgonian coral identified as Menella sp. The structures of 1 and 2 were established by spectroscopic methods and 2 displayed a weak inhibitory effect on the release of elastase by human neutrophils

18F-FDG PET/CT-based gross tumor volume definition for radiotherapy in head and neck Cancer: a correlation study between suitable uptake value threshold and tumor parameters

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To define a suitable threshold setting for gross tumor volume (GTV) when using ¹⁸Fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography and computed tomogram (PET/CT) for radiotherapy planning in head and neck cancer (HNC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifteen HNC patients prospectively received PET/CT simulation for their radiation treatment planning. Biological target volume (BTV) was derived from PET/CT-based GTV of the primary tumor. The BTVs were defined as the isodensity volumes when adjusting different percentage of the maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax), excluding any artifact from surrounding normal tissues. CT-based primary GTV (C-pGTV) that had been previously defined by radiation oncologists was compared with the BTV. Suitable threshold level (sTL) could be determined when BTV value and its morphology using a certain threshold level was observed to be the best fitness of the C-pGTV. Suitable standardized uptake value (sSUV) was calculated as the sTL multiplied by the SUVmax.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our result demonstrated no single sTL or sSUV method could achieve an optimized volumetric match with the C-pGTV. The sTL was 13% to 27% (mean, 19%), whereas the sSUV was 1.64 to 3.98 (mean, 2.46). The sTL was inversely correlated with the SUVmax [sTL = -0.1004 Ln (SUVmax) + 0.4464; R²= 0.81]. The sSUV showed a linear correlation with the SUVmax (sSUV = 0.0842 SUVmax + 1.248; R²= 0.89). The sTL was not associated with the value of C-pGTVs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In PET/CT-based BTV for HNC, a suitable threshold or SUV level can be established by correlating with SUVmax rather than using a fixed threshold.</p

Real-Time Gait Cycle Parameter Recognition Using a Wearable Accelerometry System

This paper presents the development of a wearable accelerometry system for real-time gait cycle parameter recognition. Using a tri-axial accelerometer, the wearable motion detector is a single waist-mounted device to measure trunk accelerations during walking. Several gait cycle parameters, including cadence, step regularity, stride regularity and step symmetry can be estimated in real-time by using autocorrelation procedure. For validation purposes, five Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients and five young healthy adults were recruited in an experiment. The gait cycle parameters among the two subject groups of different mobility can be quantified and distinguished by the system. Practical considerations and limitations for implementing the autocorrelation procedure in such a real-time system are also discussed. This study can be extended to the future attempts in real-time detection of disabling gaits, such as festinating or freezing of gait in PD patients. Ambulatory rehabilitation, gait assessment and personal telecare for people with gait disorders are also possible applications

The effect of illustrations on patient comprehension of medication instruction labels

BACKGROUND: Labels with special instructions regarding how a prescription medication should be taken or its possible side effects are often applied to pill bottles. The goal of this study was to determine whether the addition of illustrations to these labels affects patient comprehension. METHODS: Study participants (N = 130) were enrolled by approaching patients at three family practice clinics in Toronto, Canada. Participants were asked to interpret two sets of medication instruction labels, the first with text only and the second with the same text accompanied by illustrations. Two investigators coded participants' responses as incorrect, partially correct, or completely correct. Health literacy levels of participants were measured using a validated instrument, the REALM test. RESULTS: All participants gave a completely correct interpretation for three out of five instruction labels, regardless of whether illustrations were present or not. For the two most complex labels, only 34–55% of interpretations of the text-only version were completely correct. The addition of illustrations was associated with improved performance in 5–7% of subjects and worsened performance in 7–9% of subjects. CONCLUSION: The commonly-used illustrations on the medication labels used in this study were of little or no use in improving patients' comprehension of the accompanying written instructions

Continuous epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor administration in primary lung adenocarcinoma patients harboring favorable mutations with controlled target lung tumors dose not hinder survival benefit despite small new lesions

AbstractBackgroundIn this study, we investigated the efficacy of continuous epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) administration in lung adenocarcinoma patients harboring favorable mutations regarding the progressive disease (PD) status with appearance of indolent new lesions.MethodsFrom June 2010 to October 2012, 102 patients with lung adenocarcinoma, harboring favorable EGFR mutations and treated with EGFR-TKI were analyzed. Definite new lesions were detected during EGFR-TKI therapy, even though the primary target tumors were controlled.ResultsOf the 102 patients, 57 continued and 45 discontinued EGFR-TKI therapy. The median overall survival was 529 days for the discontinuation group and 791 days for the continuation group (p = 0.0197). Median survival time after the discontinuation of EGFR-TKI was 181 days and 115 days in the discontinuation and continuation groups, respectively (p = 0.1776), whereas median survival time after the appearance of indolent new lesions was 204 days and 262 days, respectively (p = 0.0237).ConclusionContinuous EGFR-TKI administration in favorable EGFR-mutative lung adenocarcinoma patients with controlled primary tumors did not hinder the survival benefit, despite the appearance of new lesions

Electromagnetic Wave Theory and Applications

Contains table of contents for Section 3, reports on nine research projects and a list of publications.National Aeronautics and Space Administration Contract 958461U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1616University of California/Jet Propulsion Laboratory Contract 960408U.S. Army - Corps of Engineers/Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Contract DACA89-95-K-0014Mitsubishi CorporationU.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Agreement N00014-92-J-4098Federal Aviation AdministrationDEMACOJoint Services Electronics Program Grant DAAHO4-95-1-003

Electromagnetic Wave Theory and Applications

Contains table of content for Section 3, reports on ten research projects and a list of publications.U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-92-J-4098U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Contract 94-G-007U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Contract 97-G-031California Institute of Technology Contract JPL 960408National Aeronautics and Space Administration Contract JPL 958461U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-92-J-1616National Science Foundation Grant ECS 96-15799U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-97-1-0172Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAH04-95-1-0038Mitsubishi Corporatio

Machine-Part cell formation through visual decipherable clustering of Self Organizing Map

Machine-part cell formation is used in cellular manufacturing in order to process a large variety, quality, lower work in process levels, reducing manufacturing lead-time and customer response time while retaining flexibility for new products. This paper presents a new and novel approach for obtaining machine cells and part families. In the cellular manufacturing the fundamental problem is the formation of part families and machine cells. The present paper deals with the Self Organising Map (SOM) method an unsupervised learning algorithm in Artificial Intelligence, and has been used as a visually decipherable clustering tool of machine-part cell formation. The objective of the paper is to cluster the binary machine-part matrix through visually decipherable cluster of SOM color-coding and labelling via the SOM map nodes in such a way that the part families are processed in that machine cells. The Umatrix, component plane, principal component projection, scatter plot and histogram of SOM have been reported in the present work for the successful visualization of the machine-part cell formation. Computational result with the proposed algorithm on a set of group technology problems available in the literature is also presented. The proposed SOM approach produced solutions with a grouping efficacy that is at least as good as any results earlier reported in the literature and improved the grouping efficacy for 70% of the problems and found immensely useful to both industry practitioners and researchers.Comment: 18 pages,3 table, 4 figure

Electromagnetic Wave Theory and Applications

Contains table of contents for Section 3, reports on ten research projects and a list of publications.National Aeronautics and Space Administration Contract 958461U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1616U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-89-J-1019U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-90-J-1002U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Contract PACA89-95-K-0014Mitsubishi Corporation Agreement Dated 8/31/95U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-4098U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Grant 94-G-007DEMACO Corporation Contract DEM-95-MIT-55Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAH04-95-1-003

Detection of Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein Using a Quartz Crystal Microbalance

Current methods for diagnosing early stage osteoarthritis (OA) based on the magnetic resonance imaging and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods are specific, but require specialized laboratory facilities and highly trained personal to obtain a definitive result. In this work, a user friendly and non-invasive quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) immunosensor method has been developed to detect Cartilage Oligomeric Matrix Protein (COMP) for early stage OA diagnosis. This QCM immunosensor was fabricated to immobilize COMP antibodies utilizing the self-assembled monolayer technique. The surface properties of the immunosensor were characterized by its FTIR and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS). The feasibility study was based on urine samples obtained from 41 volunteers. Experiments were carried out in a flow system and the reproducibility of the electrodes was evaluated by the impedance measured by EIS. Its potential dynamically monitored the immunoreaction processes and could increase the efficiency and sensitivity of COMP detection in laboratory-cultured preparations and clinical samples. The frequency responses of the QCM immunosensor changed from 6 kHz when testing 50 ng/mL COMP concentration. The linear regression equation of frequency shift and COMP concentration was determined as: y = 0.0872 x + 1.2138 (R2 = 0.9957). The COMP in urine was also determined by both QCM and EIS for comparison. A highly sensitive, user friendly and cost effective analytical method for the early stage OA diagnosis has thus been successfully developed