To build a gaming human interface device, designed for those with limited dexterity

With the competition in the games market focus is placed on entertaining the user for the sale of their products. This brings entertainment to the safe environment of the home. To play these games the user needs to use a keyboard and mouse. For somebody without finger dexterity and limited arm movement, pressing keys on the keyboard is impossible without pressing other keys at the same time. The mouse is also impossible to use. This project involves the design of a wireless controller made for an individual who has no finger dexterity, limited arm movement and has access to an optical head tracker to move the mouse cursor. The inputs are done by buttons and joysticks. The project requires careful design and testing to ensure the inputs can be operated by this individual. The average time spent comfortably playing on the game controller was four hours. The delay coming from the controller was not noticeable for all the button presses. The processing time to do a key press by the controller was tested to be less than thirty two milliseconds. The battery that is in the controller will last for 16 hours of gameplay. The controller is mostly operated by the user so that less work is done by the carers. The only other method of playing games before the controller was to have a pointer glued into his splint. This could then be used to operate the mobile phone by using the pointer on the touch screen. The user found that computer gaming is more entertaining than playing games on a mobile phone

Expression of the zinc-finger transcription factor Snail in adrenocortical carcinoma is associated with decreased survival

In this study, we evaluate whether Snail is expressed in adrenocortical cancer (ACC) and if its expression is related to patient outcome. One of the best known functions of the zinc-finger transcription factor Snail is to induce epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Increasing evidence suggests that EMT plays a pivotal role in tumour progression and metastatic spread. Snail and E-cadherin expression were assessed by immunohistochemistry in 26 resected ACCs and real-time quantitative RT–PCR expression analysis was performed. Data were correlated with clinical outcome and in particular with overall patient survival. Seventeen of 26 (65%) ACC tumour samples expressed Snail when assessed by immunohistochemistry. Snail expression was neither detected in normal adrenocortical tissue, nor in benign adrenocortical adenomas. Expression levels were confirmed on the mRNA level by Real-Time–PCR. Survival rates were significantly decreased in Snail-positive tumours compared to Snail-negative tumours: 10 out of 16 vs one out of eight patients succumbed to disease after a median follow up of 14.5 and 28.5 months, respectively (P=0.03). Patients with Snail-expressing ACCs presented in advanced disease (11 out of 12 vs 6 out of 14, P=0.01) and tend to develop distant metastases more frequently than patients with negative staining (7 out of 11 vs two out of eight, P=0.19). In conclusion, we describe for the first time that Snail is expressed in a large subset of ACCs. Furthermore, Snail expression is associated with decreased survival, advanced disease and higher risk of developing distant metastases

Products of mitochondrial protein synthesis in neurospora crassa

SIGLEBSE B210469E / UCL - Université Catholique de LouvainBEBelgiu

Reference value of transcutaneous oxygen measurement in diabetic patients compared with nondiabetic patients

Purpose: This study evaluated the values of transcutaneous oxygen tension (TcPo2) measurement in diabetic patients compared with nondiabetic patients and assessed its reproducibility. Methods. In 60 diabetic patients (type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus) without signs of peripheral arterial disease or neuropathy, we measured TcPo2 at the chest and foot and compared these measurements with 60 age- and sex-matched nondiabetic patients in a cross-sectional fashion. The reproducibility of TcPo2 in terms of interobserver variability was also assessed. Results. Diabetic patients had a mean +/- SD TcPo2 value at the foot of 50.02 +/- 8.92 mm Hg, which was significantly lower compared with 56.04 +/- 8.80 mm Hg in nondiabetic patients (P < .001). At the chest wall, values for TcPo2 were 51.77 +/- 11.15 mm Hg, and 58.22 +/- 12.47 mm Hg for diabetic patients and nondiabetic patients, respectively (P = .003). Regression analysis showed that TcPo2 was significantly associated with diabetes mellitus (coefficient = -0.258; P = .004), and with having a first-degree relative with diabetes mellitus (coefficient = -0.265; P = .003). Furthermore, the interobserver variability showed a substantial correlation for both measurements at the chest (P < .001; r = 0.654; intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.79) and at the dorsum of the foot (P < .001; r = 0.426; ICC = 0.60). Conclusion: Diabetic patients without signs of peripheral disease or neuropathy had significantly lower TcPo2 values compared with age- and sex-matched nondiabetic patients. The influence of the examiner on the variance in TcPo2 measurements was relatively small. We advocate the use of TcPo2 measurement in diabetic patients to detect subclinical microvascular impairment as an additional tool to assess peripheral vascular disease

The influence of mechanical bowel preparation on long-term survival in patients surgically treated for colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: In this study, we evaluated long-term survival in patients treated with and without mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) before colorectal surgery for cancer. METHODS: Long-term outcome of patients of 2 main participating hospitals in a prior multicenter randomized trial comparing clinical outcome of MBP versus no MBP was reviewed. Primary endpoint was cancer-related mortality and secondary endpoint was all-cause mortality. RESULTS: A total of 382 patients underwent potentially curative surgery for colorectal cancer. One hundred seventy-seven (46%) patients were treated with MBP and 205 (54%) were not before surgery. Median follow-up was 7.6 years (mean 6.6, range .01 to 12.73). There was no significant difference in both cancer-related mortality and all-cause mortality in patients treated with MBP and without MBP (P = .76 and P = .36, respectively). Multivariate analysis, taking account of age, sex, AJCC cancer stage, and ASA classification, also showed no survival difference. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that MBP does not seem to influence long-term survival in patients surgically treated for colorectal cancer. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Bowel Preparation Prior to Laparoscopic Colorectal Resection: What Is the Current Practice?

Cervix cance

No effect on n-3 fatty acids supplementation on NT-proBNP after myocardial infaction: THe Alpha Omega Trial

BACKGROUND: heart failure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular mortality, for which n-3 fatty acids may have beneficial effects. We examined the effect of marine eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and plant-derived alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) on N-Terminal-pro Brain Natriuretic Peptide (NT-proBNP), a biomarker of heart failure. METHODS: we randomly assigned 4837 post-myocardial infarction patients, aged 60-80 years (82% men), to margarines supplemented with a targeted additional intake of 400¿mg/day EPA and DHA, 2¿g/day ALA, EPA-DHA plus ALA, or placebo for 40 months. In a random selection of 639 patients, NT-proBNP was determined both at baseline and at the end of follow-up. NT-proBNP was loge-transformed and analysed by type of treatment using analysis of covariance adjusting for baseline NT-proNBP. RESULTS: patients consumed on average 19.8¿g margarine/day, providing an additional amount of 238¿mg/day EPA with 158¿mg/day DHA, 1.98¿g/day ALA, or both, in the active-treatment groups. In the placebo group, the geometric mean level NT-proBNP increased from 245¿ng/l (95%-confidence interval [CI]: 207-290) to 294¿ng/l (95%-CI: 244-352) after 40 months (p¿=¿0.001). NT-proBNP levels were not affected by ALA (+8% versus placebo; 95%-CI: -8% to +25%; p¿=¿0.34), EPA-DHA (+2% versus placebo; 95%-CI: -14% to +18%; p¿=¿0.78), nor EPA-DHA plus ALA (+9% versus placebo; 95%-CI: -8% to +25%; p¿=¿0.31) treatment. CONCLUSIONS: supplementation with modest amounts of EPA-DHA, with or without ALA, did not have a significant effect on NT-proBNP levels in patients with a history of myocardial infarction

In vivo 5-ethynyluridine (EU) labelling detects reduced transcription in Purkinje cell degeneration mouse mutants, but can itself induce neurodegeneration

Fluorescent staining of newly transcribed RNA via metabolic labelling with 5-ethynyluridine (EU) and click chemistry enables visualisation of changes in transcription, such as in conditions of cellular stress. Here, we tested whether EU labelling can be used to examine transcription in vivo in mouse models of nervous system disorders. We show that injection of EU directly into the cerebellum results in reproducible labelling of newly transcribed RNA in cerebellar neurons and glia, with cell type-specific differences in relative labelling intensities, such as Purkinje cells exhibiting the highest levels. We also observed EU-labelling accumulating into cytoplasmic inclusions, indicating that EU, like other modified uridines, may introduce non-physiological properties in labelled RNAs. Additionally, we found that EU induces Purkinje cell degeneration nine days after EU injection, suggesting that EU incorporation not only results in abnormal RNA transcripts, but also eventually becomes neurotoxic in highly transcriptionally-active neurons. However, short post-injection intervals of EU labelling in both a Purkinje cell-specific DNA repair-deficient mouse model and a mouse model of spinocerebellar ataxia 1 revealed reduced transcription in Purkinje cells compared to controls. We combined EU labelling with immunohistology to correlate altered EU staining with pathological markers, such as genotoxic signalling factors. These data indicate that the EU-labelling method provided here can be used to identify changes in transcription in vivo in nervous system disease models