1,467 research outputs found
Traffic Sign Detection and Identification
Previous studies using eye-trackers have suggested that drivers can extract information from traffic signs and markings without fixating them. The first study reported here examined the angle of gaze away from signs that enables sign detection: detection conspicuity angle. A second study examined the angle of gaze away from signs that enables identification of the signs’ messages: identification conspicuity angle. Because conspicuity is viewed as a product of the properties of objects and their surrounding environment, both studies manipulated the background of the signs. Detection conspicuity was sensitive to the background environment, particularly for regulatory signs, for which detection conspicuity was reduced with light-colored or cluttered backgrounds. Background environment had little measureable effect on sign message identification. It is recommended that sign backgrounds be considered when locating signs, and that if the background does not provide adequate contrast, conspicuity enhancement strategies should be considered
Comparative efficacy and safety of biosimilar infliximab and other biological treatments in ankylosing spondylitis: systematic literature review and meta-analysis.
OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy and safety of infliximab-biosimilar with other biological drugs for the treatment of active ankylosing spondylitis (AS). METHODS: Systematic literature review for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with adalimumab, etanercept, golimumab, infliximab and infliximab-biosimilar in AS was performed and indirect meta-analysis (Bayesian mixed treatment comparison) was carried out. The proportion of patients reaching 20 % improvement by the assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society response criteria (ASAS20) at weeks 12 and 24 was used as efficacy endpoints, and the occurrence of serious adverse events at week 24 was applied to compare the safety of the biologicals. RESULTS: Altogether, 13 RCTs, identified by the systematic literature search, were included in the analysis. Results on the ASAS20 efficacy endpoint were reported for week 12 in 12 RCTs involving 2,395 patients, and for week 24 in 5 RCTs comprising 1,337 patients. All the five biological agents proved to be significantly superior to placebo. Infliximab showed the highest odds ratio (OR) of 7.2 (95 % CI 3.68-13.19) compared to placebo, followed by infliximab-biosimilar with OR 6.25 (95 % CI 2.55-13.14), both assessed at week 24. No significant difference was found between infliximab-biosimilar and other biological treatments regarding their efficacy and safety. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study which includes a biosimilar drug in the meta-analysis of biological treatments in AS. The results have proven the similar efficacy and safety profile of infliximab-biosimilar treatment compared to other biologicals
Instances and connectors : issues for a second generation process language
This work is supported by UK EPSRC grants GR/L34433 and GR/L32699Over the past decade a variety of process languages have been defined, used and evaluated. It is now possible to consider second generation languages based on this experience. Rather than develop a second generation wish list this position paper explores two issues: instances and connectors. Instances relate to the relationship between a process model as a description and the, possibly multiple, enacting instances which are created from it. Connectors refers to the issue of concurrency control and achieving a higher level of abstraction in how parts of a model interact. We believe that these issues are key to developing systems which can effectively support business processes, and that they have not received sufficient attention within the process modelling community. Through exploring these issues we also illustrate our approach to designing a second generation process language.Postprin
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Microaspiration for high-pressure freezing: a new method for ultrastructural preservation of fragile and sparse tissues for TEM and electron tomography
High-pressure freezing is the preferred method to prepare thick biological specimens for ultrastructural studies. However, the advantages obtained by this method often prove unattainable for samples that are difficult to handle during the freezing and substitution protocols. Delicate and sparse samples are difficult to manipulate and maintain intact throughout the sequence of freezing, infiltration, embedding, and final orientation for sectioning and subsequent TEM imaging. An established approach to surmount these difficulties is the use of cellulose microdialysis tubing to transport the sample. With an inner diameter of 200 micrometers, the tubing protects small and fragile samples within the thickness constraints of high-pressure freezing, and the tube ends can be sealed to avoid loss of sample. Importantly, the transparency of the tubing allows optical study of the specimen at different steps in the process. Here, we describe the use of a micromanipulator and microinjection apparatus to handle and position delicate specimens within the tubing. We report two biologically significant examples that benefit from this approach, 3D cultures of mammary epithelial cells and cochlear outer hair cells. We illustrate the potential for correlative light and electron microscopy as well as electron tomography
Cosmological neutrino simulations at extreme scale
Constraining neutrino mass remains an elusive challenge in modern physics. Precision measurements are expected from several upcoming cosmological probes of large-scale structure. Achieving this goal relies on an equal level of precision from theoretical predictions of neutrino clustering. Numerical simulations of the non-linear evolution of cold dark matter and neutrinos play a pivotal role in this process. We incorporate neutrinos into the cosmological N-body code CUBEP3M and discuss the challenges associated with pushing to the extreme scales demanded by the neutrino problem. We highlight code optimizations made to exploit modern high performance computing architectures and present a novel method of data compression that reduces the phase-space particle footprint from 24 bytes in single precision to roughly 9 bytes. We scale the neutrino problem to the Tianhe-2 supercomputer and provide details of our production run, named TianNu, which uses 86% of the machine (13 824 compute nodes). With a total of 2.97 trillion particles, TianNu is currently the world's largest cosmological N-body simulation and improves upon previous neutrino simulations by two orders of magnitude in scale. We finish with a discussion of the unanticipated computational challenges that were encountered during the TianNu runtime
Spectral variability in high frequency in sea level and atmospheric pressure on Buenos Aires Coast, Argentina
Self-disclosure mediates the effects of gender orientation and homophobia on the relationship quality of male same-sex friendships
This study tested the degree to which self-disclosure mediates the effects of gender orientation and homophobia on relational satisfaction, closeness, and commitment in men’s same-sex friendships. Participants included 211 men from the southwest region of the US, who reported on either geographically close (n = 107) or long distance same-sex friendships (n = 104). Results indicated that self-disclosure mediates the positive effect of femininity on satisfaction, closeness, and commitment in men’s same-sex friendships. Self-disclosure also mediates the negative, indirect effects of homophobia on all three relational outcomes. Tests of structural invariance provided no evidence to suggest that the indirect effects of femininity and homophobia on all three relational outcomes vary as a function of geographic distance.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline
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Early intervention with Bifidobacterium lactis NCC2818 modulates the host-microbe interface independent of the sustained changes induced by the neonatal environment
Inflammatory and metabolic diseases can originate during early-life and have been correlated with shifts in intestinal microbial ecology. Here we demonstrate that minor environmental fluctuations during the early neonatal period had sustained effects on the developing porcine microbiota and host-microbe interface. These inter-replicate effects appear to originate during the first day of life, and are likely to reflect very early microbiota acquisition from the environment. We statistically link early systemic inflammation with later local increases in inflammatory cytokine (IL-17) production, which could have important enteric health implications. Immunity, intestinal barrier function, host metabolism and host-microbiota co-metabolism were further modified by Bifidobacterium lactis NCC2818 supplementation, although composition of the in situ microbiota remained unchanged. Finally, our robust model identified novel, strong correlations between urinary metabolites (eg malonate, phenylacetylglycine, alanine) and mucosal immunoglobulin (IgM) and cytokine (IL-10, IL-4) production, thus providing the possibility of the development of urinary ‘dipstick’ tests to assess non-accessible mucosal immune development and identify early precursors (biomarkers) of disease. These results have important implications for infants exposed to neonatal factors including caesarean delivery, antibiotic therapy and delayed discharge from hospital environments, which may predispose to the development of inflammatory and metabolic diseases in later life
The benthic copepod fauna of an organically polluted sandy area in the Western Baltic Sea
Evaluation of patients’ experiences with antidepressants reported by means of a medicine reporting system
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