848 research outputs found
A simple E-learning system based on classroom competition
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16020-2_42Proceedings of 5th European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2010, Barcelona, Spain, September 28 - October 1, 2010.We present an e-learning system based on online forms that allows teachers to easily organise competitions in a classroom. This system is used in a preliminary study to evaluate whether cooperative competition is positive or not in education, and to identify which are the characteristics this kind of activity should have to be no harmful for students, motivating and helping them in their learning process.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science
and Innovation (TIN2008-06566-C04-02), and the Community of Madrid (S2009TIC-
1542)
Informal caregivers’ judgements on sharing care with home care professionals from an intersectional perspective: the influence of personal and situational characteristics
Informal caregivers’ views on the division of responsibilities between themselves and professionals:A scoping review
The external Ballard examination does not accurately assess the gestational age of infants born at home in a rural community of The Gambia
Real-time myocardial landmark tracking for MRI-guided cardiac radio-ablation using Gaussian Processes
The high speed of cardiorespiratory motion introduces a unique challenge for
cardiac stereotactic radio-ablation (STAR) treatments with the MR-linac. Such
treatments require tracking myocardial landmarks with a maximum latency of 100
ms, which includes the acquisition of the required data. The aim of this study
is to present a new method that allows to track myocardial landmarks from few
readouts of MRI data, thereby achieving a latency sufficient for STAR
treatments. We present a tracking framework that requires only few readouts of
k-space data as input, which can be acquired at least an order of magnitude
faster than MR-images. Combined with the real-time tracking speed of a
probabilistic machine learning framework called Gaussian Processes, this allows
to track myocardial landmarks with a sufficiently low latency for cardiac STAR
guidance, including both the acquisition of required data, and the tracking
inference. The framework is demonstrated in 2D on a motion phantom, and in vivo
on volunteers and a ventricular tachycardia (arrhythmia) patient. Moreover, the
feasibility of an extension to 3D was demonstrated by in silico 3D experiments
with a digital motion phantom. The framework was compared with template
matching - a reference, image-based, method - and linear regression methods.
Results indicate an order of magnitude lower total latency (<10 ms) for the
proposed framework in comparison with alternative methods. The
root-mean-square-distances and mean end-point-distance with the reference
tracking method was less than 0.8 mm for all experiments, showing excellent
(sub-voxel) agreement. The high accuracy in combination with a total latency of
less than 10 ms - including data acquisition and processing - make the proposed
method a suitable candidate for tracking during STAR treatments
Experimental iodine-125 seed irradiation of intracerebral brain tumors in nude mice
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High-dose radiotherapy is standard treatment for patients with brain cancer. However, in preclinical research external beam radiotherapy is limited to heterotopic murine models– high-dose radiotherapy to the murine head is fatal due to radiation toxicity. Therefore, we developed a stereotactic brachytherapy mouse model for high-dose focal irradiation of experimental intracerebral (orthotopic) brain tumors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty-one nude mice received a hollow guide-screw implanted in the skull. After three weeks, 5 × 10<sup>5 </sup>U251-NG2 human glioblastoma cells were injected. Five days later, a 2 mCi iodine-125 brachytherapy seed was inserted through the guide-screw in 11 randomly selected mice; 10 mice received a sham seed. Mice were euthanized when severe neurological or physical symptoms occurred. The cumulative irradiation dose 5 mm below the active iodine-125 seeds was 23.0 Gy after 13 weeks (BED<sub>tumor </sub>= 30.6 Gy).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the sham group, 9/10 animals (90%) showed signs of lethal tumor progression within 6 weeks. In the experimental group, 2/11 mice (18%) died of tumor progression within 13 weeks. Acute side effects in terms of weight loss or neurological symptoms were not observed in the irradiated animals.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The intracerebral implantation of an iodine-125 brachytherapy seed through a stereotactic guide-screw in the skull of mice with implanted brain tumors resulted in a significantly prolonged survival, caused by high-dose irradiation of the brain tumor that is biologically comparable to high-dose fractionated radiotherapy– without fatal irradiation toxicity. This is an excellent mouse model for testing orthotopic brain tumor therapies in combination with radiation therapy.</p
On the Life History of Wireworms of the Genus Agriotes, Esch., with Some notes on that of Athous Haemorrhoidalis, F. Part II
RESP-30
GASPS observations of Herbig Ae/Be stars with PACS/Herschel. The atomic and molecular content of their protoplanetary discs
We observed a sample of 20 representative Herbig Ae/Be stars and five A-type
debris discs with PACS onboard of Herschel. The observations were done in
spectroscopic mode, and cover far-IR lines of [OI], [CII], CO, CH+, H2O and OH.
We have a [OI]63 micron detection rate of 100% for the Herbig Ae/Be and 0% for
the debris discs. [OI]145 micron is only detected in 25%, CO J=18-17 in 45%
(and less for higher J transitions) of the Herbig Ae/Be stars and for [CII] 157
micron, we often found spatially variable background contamination. We show the
first detection of water in a Herbig Ae disc, HD 163296, which has a settled
disc. Hydroxyl is detected as well in this disc. CH+, first seen in HD 100546,
is now detected for the second time in a Herbig Ae star, HD 97048. We report
fluxes for each line and use the observations as line diagnostics of the gas
properties. Furthermore, we look for correlations between the strength of the
emission lines and stellar or disc parameters, such as stellar luminosity, UV
and X-ray flux, accretion rate, PAH band strength, and flaring. We find that
the stellar UV flux is the dominant excitation mechanism of [OI]63 micron, with
the highest line fluxes found in those objects with a large amount of flaring
and greatest PAH strength. Neither the amount of accretion nor the X-ray
luminosity has an influence on the line strength. We find correlations between
the line flux of [OI]63 micron and [OI]145 micron, CO J = 18-17 and [OI]6300
\AA, and between the continuum flux at 63 micron and at 1.3 mm, while we find
weak correlations between the line flux of [OI]63 micron and the PAH
luminosity, the line flux of CO J = 3-2, the continuum flux at 63 micron, the
stellar effective temperature and the Brgamma luminosity. (Abbreviated version)Comment: 20 pages, 29 figures, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic
The relation between plasma tyrosine concentration and fatigue in primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis
BACKGROUND: In primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) fatigue is a major clinical problem. Abnormal amino acid (AA) patterns have been implicated in the development of fatigue in several non-hepatological conditions but for PBC and PSC no data are available. This study aimed to identify abnormalities in AA patterns and to define their relation with fatigue. METHODS: Plasma concentrations of tyrosine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, valine, leucine and isoleucine were determined in plasma of patients with PBC (n = 45), PSC (n = 27), chronic hepatitis C (n = 22) and healthy controls (n = 73). Fatigue and quality of life were quantified using the Fisk fatigue severity scale, a visual analogue scale and the SF-36. RESULTS: Valine, isoleucine, leucine were significantly decreased in PBC and PSC. Tyrosine and phenylalanine were increased (p < 0.0002) and tryptophan decreased (p < 0.0001) in PBC. In PBC, but not in PSC, a significant inverse relation between tyrosine concentrations and fatigue and quality of life was found. Patients without fatigue and with good quality of life had increased tyrosine concentrations compared to fatigued patients. Multivariate analysis indicated that this relation was independent from disease activity or severity or presence of cirrhosis. CONCLUSION: In patients with PBC and PSC, marked abnormalities in plasma AA patterns occur. Normal tyrosine concentrations, compared to increased concentrations, may be associated with fatigue and diminished quality of life
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