763 research outputs found
Shuttle S-band communications technical concepts
Using the S-band communications system, shuttle orbiter can communicate directly with the Earth via the Ground Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (GSTDN) or via the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). The S-band frequencies provide the primary links for direct Earth and TDRSS communications during all launch and entry/landing phases of shuttle missions. On orbit, S-band links are used when TDRSS Ku-band is not available, when conditions require orbiter attitudes unfavorable to Ku-band communications, or when the payload bay doors are closed. the S-band communications functional requirements, the orbiter hardware configuration, and the NASA S-band communications network are described. The requirements and implementation concepts which resulted in techniques for shuttle S-band hardware development discussed include: (1) digital voice delta modulation; (2) convolutional coding/Viterbi decoding; (3) critical modulation index for phase modulation using a Costas loop (phase-shift keying) receiver; (4) optimum digital data modulation parameters for continuous-wave frequency modulation; (5) intermodulation effects of subcarrier ranging and time-division multiplexing data channels; (6) radiofrequency coverage; and (7) despreading techniques under poor signal-to-noise conditions. Channel performance is reviewed
TriResNet: A Deep Triple-stream Residual Network for Histopathology Grading
While microscopic analysis of histopathological slides is generally
considered as the gold standard method for performing cancer diagnosis and
grading, the current method for analysis is extremely time consuming and labour
intensive as it requires pathologists to visually inspect tissue samples in a
detailed fashion for the presence of cancer. As such, there has been
significant recent interest in computer aided diagnosis systems for analysing
histopathological slides for cancer grading to aid pathologists to perform
cancer diagnosis and grading in a more efficient, accurate, and consistent
manner. In this work, we investigate and explore a deep triple-stream residual
network (TriResNet) architecture for the purpose of tile-level histopathology
grading, which is the critical first step to computer-aided whole-slide
histopathology grading. In particular, the design mentality behind the proposed
TriResNet network architecture is to facilitate for the learning of a more
diverse set of quantitative features to better characterize the complex tissue
characteristics found in histopathology samples. Experimental results on two
widely-used computer-aided histopathology benchmark datasets (CAMELYON16
dataset and Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC) dataset) demonstrated that the
proposed TriResNet network architecture was able to achieve noticeably improved
accuracies when compared with two other state-of-the-art deep convolutional
neural network architectures. Based on these promising results, the hope is
that the proposed TriResNet network architecture could become a useful tool to
aiding pathologists increase the consistency, speed, and accuracy of the
histopathology grading process.Comment: 9 page
Use of Oxfendazole to Control Porcine Cysticercosis in a High-Endemic Area of Mozambique
A randomized controlled field trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a single oral dose of 30 mg/kg of oxfendazole (OFZ) treatment for control of porcine cysticercosis was conducted in 4 rural villages of Angónia district, north-western Mozambique. Two hundred and sixteen piglets aged 4 months were selected and assigned randomly to OFZ treatment or control groups. Fifty-four piglets were treated at 4 months of age (T1), while another 54 piglets were treated at 9 months of age (T2) and these were matched with 108 control pigs from the same litters and raised under the same conditions. Baseline data were collected on the prevalence of porcine cysticercosis using antigen ELISA (Ag-ELISA), as well as knowledge and practices related to Taenia solium transmission based on questionnaire interviews and observations. All animals were followed and re-tested for porcine cysticercosis by Ag-ELISA at 9 and 12 months of age when the study was terminated. Overall prevalence at baseline was 5.1% with no significant difference between groups. At the end of the study, 66.7% of the controls were found positive, whereas 21.4% of the T1 and 9.1% of the T2 pigs were positive, respectively. Incidence rates of porcine cysticercosis were lower in treated pigs as compared to controls. Necropsy of 30 randomly selected animals revealed that viable cysts were present in none (0/8) of T2 pigs, 12.5% (1/8) of T1 pigs and 42.8% (6/14) of control pigs. There was a significant reduction in the risk of T. solium cysticercosis if pigs were treated with OFZ either at 4 months (OR = 0.14; 95% CI: 0.05–0.36) or at 9 months of age (OR = 0.05; 95% CI: 0.02–0.16). Strategic treatment of pigs in endemic areas should be further explored as a means to control T. solium cysticercosis/taeniosis
TreeFam: 2008 Update
TreeFam (http://www.treefam.org) was developed to provide curated phylogenetic trees for all animal gene families, as well as orthologue and paralogue assignments. Release 4.0 of TreeFam contains curated trees for 1314 families and automatically generated trees for another 14 351 families. We have expanded TreeFam to include 25 fully sequenced animal genomes, as well as four genomes from plant and fungal outgroup species. We have also introduced more accurate approaches for automatically grouping genes into families, for building phylogenetic trees, and for inferring orthologues and paralogues. The user interface for viewing phylogenetic trees and family information has been improved. Furthermore, a new perl API lets users easily extract data from the TreeFam mysql database
Goal directed fluid removal with furosemide versus placebo in intensive care patients with fluid overload:A trial protocol for a randomised, blinded trial (GODIF trial)
Funding Information: SW has received a grant from Merchant Jakob Ehrenreich and wife Grete Ehrenreich's Foundation to production of trial drug for the GODIF trial. AP has received research funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Health Insurance Denmark (Sygeforsikringen Danmark), Fresenius Kabi, Denmark, and Pfizer, Denmark. MO has received research funding from Fresenius Medical Care, Baxter and Biomerieux. MHB has received research funding for the GODIF trial from Novo Nordisk Foundation, Jakob Madsen's and wife Olga Madsen's Foundation, Svend Andersen's Foundation, and Health Insurance Denmark (Sygeforsikringen Danmark). No authors received any financial gain. All other authors declared no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation.Background: Fluid overload is a risk factor for mortality in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Administration of loop diuretics is the predominant treatment of fluid overload, but evidence for its benefit is very uncertain when assessed in a systematic review of randomised clinical trials. The GODIF trial will assess the benefits and harms of goal directed fluid removal with furosemide versus placebo in ICU patients with fluid overload. Methods: An investigator-initiated, international, randomised, stratified, blinded, parallel-group trial allocating 1000 adult ICU patients with fluid overload to infusion of furosemide versus placebo. The goal is to achieve a neutral fluid balance. The primary outcome is days alive and out of hospital 90 days after randomisation. Secondary outcomes are all-cause mortality at day 90 and 1-year after randomisation; days alive at day 90 without life support; number of participants with one or more serious adverse events or reactions; health-related quality of life and cognitive function at 1-year follow-up. A sample size of 1000 participants is required to detect an improvement of 8% in days alive and out of hospital 90 days after randomisation with a power of 90% and a risk of type 1 error of 5%. The conclusion of the trial will be based on the point estimate and 95% confidence interval; dichotomisation will not be used. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04180397. Perspective: The GODIF trial will provide important evidence of possible benefits and harms of fluid removal with furosemide in adult ICU patients with fluid overload.Peer reviewe
The UCSC Genome Browser Database: 2008 update
The University of California, Santa Cruz, Genome Browser Database (GBD) provides integrated sequence and annotation data for a large collection of vertebrate and model organism genomes. Seventeen new assemblies have been added to the database in the past year, for a total coverage of 19 vertebrate and 21 invertebrate species as of September 2007. For each assembly, the GBD contains a collection of annotation data aligned to the genomic sequence. Highlights of this year's additions include a 28-species human-based vertebrate conservation annotation, an enhanced UCSC Genes set, and more human variation, MGC, and ENCODE data. The database is optimized for fast interactive performance with a set of web-based tools that may be used to view, manipulate, filter and download the annotation data. New toolset features include the Genome Graphs tool for displaying genome-wide data sets, session saving and sharing, better custom track management, expanded Genome Browser configuration options and a Genome Browser wiki site. The downloadable GBD data, the companion Genome Browser toolset and links to documentation and related information can be found at: http://genome.ucsc.edu/
Autoimmunity-Associated LYP-W620 Does Not Impair Thymic Negative Selection of Autoreactive T Cells.
A C1858T (R620W) variation in the PTPN22 gene encoding the tyrosine phosphatase LYP is a major risk factor for human autoimmunity. LYP is a known negative regulator of signaling through the T cell receptor (TCR), and murine Ptpn22 plays a role in thymic selection. However, the mechanism of action of the R620W variant in autoimmunity remains unclear. One model holds that LYP-W620 is a gain-of-function phosphatase that causes alterations in thymic negative selection and/or thymic output of regulatory T cells (Treg) through inhibition of thymic TCR signaling. To test this model, we generated mice in which the human LYP-W620 variant or its phosphatase-inactive mutant are expressed in developing thymocytes under control of the proximal Lck promoter. We found that LYP-W620 expression results in diminished thymocyte TCR signaling, thus modeling a "gain-of-function" of LYP at the signaling level. However, LYP-W620 transgenic mice display no alterations of thymic negative selection and no anomalies in thymic output of CD4(+)Foxp3(+) Treg were detected in these mice. Lck promoter-directed expression of the human transgene also causes no alteration in thymic repertoire or increase in disease severity in a model of rheumatoid arthritis, which depends on skewed thymic selection of CD4(+) T cells. Our data suggest that a gain-of-function of LYP is unlikely to increase risk of autoimmunity through alterations of thymic selection and that LYP likely acts in the periphery perhaps selectively in regulatory T cells or in another cell type to increase risk of autoimmunity
Forest-linked livelihoods in a globalized world.
Forests have re-taken centre stage in global conversations about sustainability, climate and biodiversity. Here, we use a horizon scanning approach to identify five large-scale trends that are likely to have substantial medium- and long-term effects on forests and forest livelihoods: forest megadisturbances; changing rural demographics; the rise of the middle-class in low- and middle-income countries; increased availability, access and use of digital technologies; and large-scale infrastructure development. These trends represent human and environmental processes that are exceptionally large in geographical extent and magnitude, and difficult to reverse. They are creating new agricultural and urban frontiers, changing existing rural landscapes and practices, opening spaces for novel conservation priorities and facilitating an unprecedented development of monitoring and evaluation platforms that can be used by local communities, civil society organizations, governments and international donors. Understanding these larger-scale dynamics is key to support not only the critical role of forests in meeting livelihood aspirations locally, but also a range of other sustainability challenges more globally. We argue that a better understanding of these trends and the identification of levers for change requires that the research community not only continue to build on case studies that have dominated research efforts so far, but place a greater emphasis on causality and causal mechanisms, and generate a deeper understanding of how local, national and international geographical scales interact.This work was funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (grant number 203516-102) and governed by the University of Michigan’s Institutional Review Board (HUM00092191). JAO acknowledges the 520 support of a European Union FP7 Marie Curie international outgoing fellowship (FORCONEPAL). LVR was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Grant agreement No. 853222 FORESTDIET). AJB acknowledges the support of an Australian Research Council Australia Laureate Fellowship (grant number 525 FL160100072). LBF acknowledges support from the European Union Marie Curie global fellowship (CONRICONF). PM was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No 677140 MIDLAND)
First experience with a new negative pressure incision management system on surgical incisions after cardiac surgery in high risk patients
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sternal wound infection remains a serious potential complication after cardiac surgery. A recent development for preventing wound complications after surgery is the adjunctive treatment of closed incisions with negative pressure wound therapy. Suggested mechanisms of preventive action are improving the local blood flow, removing fluids and components in these fluids, helping keep the incision edges together, protecting the wound from external contamination and promoting incision healing. This work reports on our initial evaluation and clinical experience with the Prevena™Incision Management System, a recently introduced new negative pressure wound therapy system specifically developed for treating closed surgical incisions and helping prevent potential complications. We evaluated the new treatment on sternal surgical incisions in patients with multiple co-morbidities and consequently a high risk for wound complications.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Prevena™incision management system was used in 10 patients with a mean Fowler risk score of 15.1 [Range 8-30]. The negative pressure dressing was applied immediately after surgery and left in place for 5 days with a continuous application of -125 mmHg negative pressure. Wounds and surrounding skin were inspected immediately after removal of the Prevena™ incision management system and at day 30 after surgery.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Wounds and surrounding skin showed complete wound healing with the absence of skin lesions due to the negative pressure after removal of the Prevena™ dressing. No device-related complications were observed. No wound complications occurred in this high risk group of patients until at least 30 days after surgery.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The Prevena™system appears to be safe, easy to use and may help achieve uncomplicated wound healing in patients at risk of developing wound complications after cardiothoracic surgery.</p
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