Tracer measurements in the tropical tropopause layer during the AMMA/SCOUT-O3 aircraft campaign

We present airborne in situ measurements made during the AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis)/SCOUT-O3 campaign between 31 July and 17 August 2006 on board the M55 Geophysica aircraft, based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. CO2 and N2O were measured with the High Altitude Gas Analyzer (HAGAR), CO was measured with the Cryogenically Operated Laser Diode (COLD) instrument, and O3 with the Fast Ozone ANalyzer (FOZAN). We analyze the data obtained during five local flights to study the dominant transport processes controlling the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) above West-Africa: deep convection up to the level of main convective outflow, overshooting of deep convection, horizontal inmixing across the subtropical tropopause, and horizontal transport across the subtropical barrier. Except for the flight of 13 August, distinct minima in CO2 indicate convective outflow of boundary layer air in the TTL. The CO2 profiles show that the level of main convective outflow was mostly located between 350 and 360 K, and for 11 August reached up to 370 K. While the CO2 minima indicate quite significant convective influence, the O3 profiles suggest that the observed convective signatures were mostly not fresh, but of older origin. When compared with the mean O3 profile measured during a previous campaign over Darwin in November 2005, the O3 minimum at the main convective outflow level was less pronounced over Ouagadougou. Furthermore O3 mixing ratios were much higher throughout the whole TTL and, unlike over Darwin, rarely showed low values observed in the regional boundary layer. Signatures of irreversible mixing following overshooting of convective air were scarce in the tracer data. Some small signatures indicative of this process were found in CO2 profiles between 390 and 410 K during the flights of 4 and 8 August, and in CO data at 410 K on 7 August. However, the absence of expected corresponding signatures in other tracer data makes this evidence inconclusive, and overall there is little indication from the observations that overshooting convection has a profound impact on TTL composition during AMMA. We find the amount of photochemically aged air isentropically mixed into the TTL across the subtropical tropopause to be not significant. Using the N2O observations we estimate the fraction of aged extratropical stratospheric air in the TTL to be 0.0±0.1 up to 370 K during the local flights, increasing above this level to 0.2±0.15 at 390 K. The subtropical barrier, as indicated by the slope of the correlation between N2O and O3 between 415 and 490 K, does not appear as a sharp border between the tropics and extratropics, but rather as a gradual transition region between 10 and 25° N latitude where isentropic mixing between these two regions may occur

From music ontology towards ethno-music-ontology

This paper presents exploratory work investigating the suitability of the Music Ontology [33] - the most widely used formal specification of the music domain - for modelling non-Western musical traditions. Four contrasting case studies from a variety of musical cultures are analysed: Dutch folk song research, reconstructive performance of rural Russian traditions, contemporary performance and composition of Persian classical music, and recreational use of a personal world music collection. We propose semantic models describing the respective domains and examine the applications of the Music Ontology for these case studies: which concepts can be successfully reused, where they need adjustments, and which parts of the reality in these case studies are not covered by the Music Ontology. The variety of traditions, contexts and modelling goals covered by our case studies sheds light on the generality of the Music Ontology and on the limits of generalisation “for all musics” that could be aspired for on the Semantic Web

Immunomodulation by Interleukin-10 Therapy Decreases the Incidence of Relapse and Prolongs the Relapse-free Interval in Psoriasis

The ability of interleukin-10 therapy to reduce the severity of exacerbated psoriasis has been demonstrated recently. Considering the immunobiologic properties of this cytokine we investigated the effects of long-term interleukin-10 application on the immune system and duration of psoriasis remission. We performed a placebo-controlled, double-blind, phase II trial using interleukin-10 in patients with chronic plaque psoriasis in remission. Patients received subcutaneous injections with either interleukin-10 (10 µg per kg body weight; n = 7) or placebo (n = 10) three times per week until relapse or study termination after 4 months. The treatment was well tolerated. In the placebo group almost all patients (90%) showed a relapse during the observation period. In contrast to this, only two of seven patients (28.6%) relapsed in the interleukin-10-treated group. Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed a significantly lower relapse incidence in the interleukin-10 than in the placebo group (p = 0.02). The mean relapse-free interval time was 101.6 ± 12.6 d in the interleukin-10 group in comparison with 66.4 ± 10.4 d in the placebo group. Immunologic activity of interleukin-10 application was indicated by an increase in soluble interleukin-2 receptor plasma levels and higher ex vivo interleukin-4 secretion capacities. Remarkably, a significant negative correlation was demonstrated between the interleukin-4 secretion capacity and Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score (r = -0.36, p < 0.01). Our data suggest that interleukin-10 therapy is immunologic effective, decreases the incidence of relapse and prolongs the disease-free interval in psoriasis. Its value should be further determined in larger trials and for the prevention of re-exacerbation of other inflammatory disorders with a similar immunologic profile

Developing and Evaluating a Musical Attention Control Training Game Application

Musical attention control training (MACT) is a Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) technique to strengthen attention skills for people who may have attention defi-cits, for instance related to ADHD or Parkinson Disease (PD), activating different parts of the brain and stimulating neural connectivity. While multiple interventions per week would enhance the effect of MACT, attending sev-eral sessions a week with a therapist can be challenging. Applied game interventions implementing MACT, which can be played at home, could offer complementary training to the limited number of therapy sessions. While applied games have been shown to facilitate successful interventions for cognitive impairments, to date no game exists based on MACT. We propose a novel approach to research the plausibility of applied games to support NMT, conclude game requirements for the specific needs of People with PD (PwPD), and introduce a game that emulates a MACT session. We carried out a pilot experiment to gauge how users interact with the game and its efficacy in attention control training with non-PD participants, letting them play 10 game intervention sessions within two weeks. Although no significant short-term attention effects were observed in this timeframe, user evaluations and metrics of game performance suggest that gamified MACT could be a promising supplement to conventional MACT for improving attention skills to optimize quality of life of PwPD

Distinct housing conditions reveal a major impact of adaptive immunity on the course of obesity-induced type 2 diabetes

Obesity is associated with adipose tissue inflammation, insulin resistance, and the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, our knowledge is mostly based on conventional murine models and promising preclinical studies rarely translated into successful therapies. There is a growing awareness of the limitations of studies in laboratory mice, housed in abnormally hygienic specific pathogen-free (SPF) conditions, as relevant aspects of the human immune system remain unappreciated. Here, we assessed the impact of housing conditions on adaptive immunity and metabolic disease processes during high-fat diet (HFD). We therefore compared diet-induced obesity in SPF mice with those housed in non-SPF, so-called "antigen exposed" (AE) conditions. Surprisingly, AE mice fed a HFD maintained increased insulin levels to compensate for insulin resistance, which was reflected in islet hyperplasia and improved glucose tolerance compared to SPF mice. By contrast, we observed higher proportions of effector/memory T cell subsets in blood and liver of HFD AE mice accompanied by the development of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis-like liver pathology. Thus, our data demonstrate the impact of housing conditions on metabolic alterations. Studies in AE mice, in which physiological microbial exposure was restored, could provide a tool for revealing therapeutic targets for immune-based interventions for T2D patients

Validation of novel multiplex technologies

The parallel analysis of multiple factors, such as cytokines, from small sample size is an interesting approach for assessment of in vivo activation signatures and functionality after ex vivo stimulation. One interesting application is for therapy monitoring, such as safety data, pharmacodynamics, evidences for mode-of-action and side effects, particularly useful for accompanying early phase clinical trials. There are different platforms for Multiplex analysis of ligands available. We compared in this study the performance of three different platforms (Luminex Bio-Plex® 200, MesoScale Discovery®, Ella®) which use different ways of achieving parallel measurements of biomarkers from small liquid sample size. We show examples of in house assessment of intra- and inter-assay variations, determination of range and recovery for classical immunological serum markers and discuss advantages and disadvantages for these three platforms in relation to the question addressed

Music, computing and health: A roadmap for the current and future roles of music technology for health care and well-being.

Health and self-regulatio