Classification of Stabilometric Time-Series Using an Adaptive Fuzzy Inference Neural Network System

Stabilometry is a branch of medicine that studies balance-related human functions. The analysis of stabilometric-generated time series can be very useful to the diagnosis and treatment balance-related dysfunctions such as dizziness. In stabilometry, the key nuggets of information in a time series signal are concentrated within definite time periods known as events. In this study, a feature extraction scheme has been developed to identify and characterise the events. The proposed scheme utilises a statistical method that goes through the whole time series from the start to the end, looking for the conditions that define events, according to the experts¿ criteria. Based on these extracted features, an Adaptive Fuzzy Inference Neural Network (AFINN) has been applied for the classification of stabilometric signals. The experimental results validated the proposed methodology

Valoración clínico-radiológica de la articulación femoropatelar en prótesis que conservan los ligamentos cruzados

Se realizó un estudio retrospectivo en 104 pacientes con 116 prótesis tricompartimentales de rodilla que conservan los dos ligamentos cruzados. Se analizó la situación radiológica de la rótula, su relación con el implante protésico y los efectos de estos factores sobre la movilidad de la rodilla. Se realizaron proyecciones radiográficas AP, lateral y axial a 30° y se obtuvieron las siguientes variables: espesor residual rotuliano, posición del componente metálico respecto a la rótula, ángulo de Laurin, y grado de subluxación rotuliana. Se comparó la relación existente entre las diferentes variables, y éstas con respecto a los grados de flexión. Un 52,2% de las patelas presentaban una alineación central. Se obtuvo una relación significativa entre el ángulo de inclinación y el grado de subluxación patelar, sin embargo las variables a estudio no han presentado influencia en el grado de movilidad protésica, dentro de los rangos expuestos.A retrospective study was performed in 104 patients with 116 tricompartimental non-constrained knee prostheses. The radiological possition of the patella, its relationwith the prosthetic implant and the effect of these factors in the final range of movement of the knee were analyzed. AP, lateral and 30° axial radiological views were taken and the following variables were studied: residual patellar thickness, position of the metallic component with respect to the patella, Laurin''s angle and subluxation of the patella.The relation between these findings and also respect to postoperative maximum flexion were investigated. Overall, 52% of the patella tracked centrally. A statystical significant relation between the inclination angle and the patellar subluxation degree was obtained. However, within the exposed ranges, the studied variables have not demonstrated influence in the prosthetic range of movement

Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p<0·0001) and independently associated with COVID-19 status (odds ratio [OR] 2·9 [95% CI 1·5–5·8]; padjusted=0·0023) after adjusting for relevant confounders. Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have MRI evidence of lung abnormalities (p=0·0001; parenchymal abnormalities), brain abnormalities (p<0·0001; more white matter hyperintensities and regional brain volume reduction), and kidney abnormalities (p=0·014; lower medullary T1 and loss of corticomedullary differentiation), whereas cardiac and liver MRI abnormalities were similar between patients and controls. Patients with multiorgan abnormalities were older (difference in mean age 7 years [95% CI 4–10]; mean age of 59·8 years [SD 11·7] with multiorgan abnormalities vs mean age of 52·8 years [11·9] without multiorgan abnormalities; p<0·0001), more likely to have three or more comorbidities (OR 2·47 [1·32–4·82]; padjusted=0·0059), and more likely to have a more severe acute infection (acute CRP >5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification

Arsenic Formation on GaAs during Etching in HF Solutions: Relevance for the Epitaxial Lift-Off Process

The d-f emission from Ce3+ and Pr3+ in garnets is attracting considerable attention, especially in relation to application in white light LEDs and scintillators. An important aspect is the luminescence quenching temperature TQ. It is not trivial to determine TQ and to unravel the quenching mechanism. In this paper the TQ of d-f emission for Ce3+ and Pr3+ are determined by temperature dependent lifetime measurements. The results show a TQ for Pr3+ of 340 K for Y3Al5O12:Pr3+ (YAG:Pr) and 680 K for Lu3Al5O12:Pr3+ (LuAG:Pr). For Ce3+ the TQ is too high to measure. An onset of quenching above 600 K (YAG:Ce) or 700 K (LuAG:Ce) is observed. The differences in TQ between YAG and LuAG are explained by a smaller Stokes shift for the d-f emission in LuAG (∼2300 cm−1) compared to YAG (∼2750 cm−1) derived from low temperature luminescence spectra. The large difference in TQ between Ce3+ and Pr3+ is related to the smaller energy difference between the lowest energetic fd state of Pr3+ and the next lower 4f2 state (3P2) compared to the 5d – 4f1(2F7/2) energy difference for Ce3+. Both observations are consistent with luminescence temperature quenching by non-radiative relaxation from the 5d state to the 4f state described by a configurational coordinate diagram and not by thermally induced photoionization

Arsenic Formation on GaAs during Etching in HF Solutions: Relevance for the Epitaxial Lift-Off Process

The d-f emission from Ce3+ and Pr3+ in garnets is attracting considerable attention, especially in relation to application in white light LEDs and scintillators. An important aspect is the luminescence quenching temperature TQ. It is not trivial to determine TQ and to unravel the quenching mechanism. In this paper the TQ of d-f emission for Ce3+ and Pr3+ are determined by temperature dependent lifetime measurements. The results show a TQ for Pr3+ of 340 K for Y3Al5O12:Pr3+ (YAG:Pr) and 680 K for Lu3Al5O12:Pr3+ (LuAG:Pr). For Ce3+ the TQ is too high to measure. An onset of quenching above 600 K (YAG:Ce) or 700 K (LuAG:Ce) is observed. The differences in TQ between YAG and LuAG are explained by a smaller Stokes shift for the d-f emission in LuAG (∼2300 cm−1) compared to YAG (∼2750 cm−1) derived from low temperature luminescence spectra. The large difference in TQ between Ce3+ and Pr3+ is related to the smaller energy difference between the lowest energetic fd state of Pr3+ and the next lower 4f2 state (3P2) compared to the 5d – 4f1(2F7/2) energy difference for Ce3+. Both observations are consistent with luminescence temperature quenching by non-radiative relaxation from the 5d state to the 4f state described by a configurational coordinate diagram and not by thermally induced photoionization

Luminescence and energy transfer in Lu3Al5O12 scintillators co-doped with Ce3+ and Pr3+

Lu3Al5O12:Ce3+ (LuAG:Ce) is a scintillator with a fast response time. The light yield is lower than theoretically expected and to increase the light yield co-doping with Pr3+ is investigated. To better understand the energy flow to the Ce3+ ion, first low temperature emission and excitation spectra of Pr3+ doped LuAG were investigated, allowing the accurate determination of the zero-phonon lines for the 5d states of Pr3+ in LuAG and the temperature dependent energy transfer from the Self Trapped Exciton to Pr3+. In addition VUV excitation and soft X-ray excited emission spectra of the co-doped LuAG:Ce,Pr were studied. The results show that energy transfer from Pr3+ to Ce3+ occurs but it is followed by back transfer to the 4f states of Pr3+

Self-reported drowsiness and safety outcomes while driving after an extended duration work shift in trainee physicians

Study Objectives: Extended duration (�24 hours) work shifts (EDWSs) are associated with increased risk of motor vehicle crashes, and awareness of any impairment has important implications on legal accountability for any adverse driving outcome. The extent to which adverse driving events were preceded by predrive self-reported sleepiness was evaluated in medical residents after an EDWS. Methods: Sixteen resident physicians (10 females; 29.2 ± 2.0 years) working EDWS were monitored when driving on their commute to and from the hospital (438 drives). Sleep and work hours were obtained from daily logs, and adverse driving outcomes were captured from a driving log completed at the end of each drive. Self-reported sleepiness (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale; KSS) and objective drowsiness were captured using a time-stamped, hand-held device and infra-red reflectance oculography. Results: Self-reported sleepiness and objective indices of drowsiness were positively correlated, and both were elevated following EDWSs. Compared with the commute to work, EDWSs were associated with more than double the self-reported adverse outcomes when driving home, significantly higher than drives to or from the day shift at comparable times of day. EDWSs more than tripled the odds of reporting sleep-related, inattentive, hazardous, or violation-driving events. The number and type of adverse event was predicted by the predrive KSS level and in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions: Driving after an EDWS puts resident physicians/drivers and other road users at avoidable and unnecessary risk. Demonstrating self-reported sleepiness at the beginning of the drive is associated with adverse outcomes has serious implications on the legal accountability for driving when drowsy. © Sleep Research Society 2017

Analysis of the shift of zero-phonon lines for f-d luminescence of lanthanides in relation to the Dorenbos model

The Dorenbos relation is an empirical model that relates the position of the lowest fd level of any lanthanide ion with that of Ce3+ in the same host lattice. The relation is widely used to estimate the energy of fd levels of trivalent lanthanide ions in a given host lattice based on the peak position of the lowest fd level of at least one of the lanthanide ions in that host. The energy of fd levels is determined from peak maxima in excitation and emission spectra. In this work we use the position of zero-phonon lines (ZPLs) as input to investigate the accuracy of the Dorenbos relation. To this end, the ZPL positions of the fd bands for trivalent lanthanide ions in four different host lattices (CaF2, Y3Al5O12, LiYF4, and YPO4) were obtained and used as input in the Dorenbos relation. The results are compared to those obtained through the standard procedure using band maxima. The data indicate that the ZPL approach gives more accurate estimates for the position of the lowest fd level with standard deviations that are 2–3 times smaller than those obtained for band maxima. The results confirm the concept of the Dorenbos model (constant energy difference between the fd levels of lanthanides) and show that the accuracy is even better than previously reported. The main cause for the larger deviation from positions of band maxima is related to a larger inaccuracy in determining band maxima compared to ZPLs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luminescence and Luminescence Quenching in Gd3(Ga,Al)5O12 Scintillators Doped with Ce3+

The optical properties of gadolinium gallium aluminum garnet, Gd3(Ga,Al)5O12, doped with Ce3+ are investigated as a function of the Ga/Al ratio, aimed at an improved understanding of the energy flow and luminescence quenching in these materials. A decrease of both the crystal field strength and band gap with increasing content of Ga3+ is observed and explained by the geometrical influence of Ga3+ on the crystal field splitting of the 5d level in line with theoretical work of Muñoz-García et al. (Muñoz-García, A. B.; Seijo, L. Phys. Rev. B 2010, 82, 184118). Thermal quenching results in shorter decay times as well as reduced emission intensities for all samples in the temperature range from 100 to 500 K. An activation energy for emission quenching is calculated from the data. The band gap of the host is measured upon Ga substitution and the decrease in band gap is related to Ga3+ substitution into tetrahedral sites after all octahedral sites are occupied in the garnet material. Based on the change in band gap and crystal field splitting, band diagrams can be constructed explaining the low thermal quenching temperatures in the samples with high Ga content. The highest luminescence intensity is found for Gd3(Ga,Al)5O12 with 40% of Al3+ replaced by Ga3+