Audio-tactile stimuli to improve health and well-being : a preliminary position paper

From literature and through common experience it is known that stimulation of the tactile (touch) sense or auditory (hearing) sense can be used to improve people's health and well-being. For example, to make people relax, feel better, sleep better or feel comforted. In this position paper we propose the concept of combined auditory-tactile stimulation and argue that it potentially has positive effects on human health and well-being through influencing a user's body and mental state. Such effects have, to date, not yet been fully explored in scientific research. The current relevant state of the art is briefly addressed and its limitations are indicated. Based on this, a vision is presented of how auditory-tactile stimulation could be used in healthcare and various other application domains. Three interesting research challenges in this field are identified: 1) identifying relevant mechanisms of human perception of combined auditory-tactile stimuli; 2) finding methods for automatic conversions between audio and tactile content; 3) using measurement and analysis of human bio-signals and behavior to adapt the stimulation in an optimal way to the user. Ideas and possible routes to address these challenges are presented

Gene Expression Profiling of Histiocytic Sarcomas in a Canine Model: The Predisposed Flatcoated Retriever Dog

Background:The determination of altered expression of genes in specific tumor types and their effect upon cellular processes may create insight in tumorigenesis and help to design better treatments. The Flatcoated retriever is a dog breed with an exceptionally high incidence of histiocytic sarcomas. The breed develops two distinct entities of histiocytic neoplasia, a soft tissue form and a visceral form. Gene expression studies of these tumors have value for comparable human diseases such as histiocytic/dendritic cell sarcoma for which knowledge is difficult to accrue due to their rare occurrence. In addition, such studies may help in the search for genetic aberrations underlying the genetic predisposition in this dog breed.Methods:Microarray analysis and pathway analyses were performed on fresh-frozen tissues obtained from Flatcoated retrievers with localized, soft tissue histiocytic sarcomas (STHS) and disseminated, visceral histiocytic sarcomas (VHS) and on normal canine spleens from various breeds. Expression differences of nine genes were validated with quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analyses.Results:QPCR analyses identified the significantly altered expression of nine genes; PPBP, SpiC, VCAM1, ENPEP, ITGAD (down-regulated), and GTSF1, Col3a1, CD90 and LUM (up-regulated) in the comparison of both the soft tissue and the visceral form with healthy spleen. DAVID pathway analyses revealed 24 pathways that were significantly involved in the development of HS in general, most of which were involved in the DNA repair and replication process.Conclusions:This study identified altered expression of nine genes not yet implicated in histiocytic sarcoma manifestations in the dog nor in comparable human histiocytic/dendritic sarcomas. Exploration of the downside effect of canine inbreeding strategies for the study of similar sarcomas in humans might also lead to the identification of genes related to these rare malignancies in the human

Achieving dialogue with children with severe autism in an adaptive multisensory interaction: the MEDIATE project

This paper presents an adaptive physical environment that allows children with severe autism to successfully interact with/nmultimodal stimuli, giving them a sense of control of the interaction and, hence, providing them with a sense of agency. This has been/nan extremely important effort for two main reasons: 1) This user group cannot be typified, hence making the design of an interactive/nsystem to fit all the spectrum of individuals a very complex task; 2) each individual PAS (Person on the Autistic Spectrum) user must be/nable to develop himself within the environment according to his own capacities and potentiality. Qualitative evaluation by psychologists/nshows very good results and sketches an encouraging future for research on these environments

Audio-tactile stimulation: a tool to improve health and well-being?

Stimulation of the tactile sense or the hearing sense can be used to improve a person’s health and well-being. For example, to make someone relax, feel better, or sleep better. In this position paper we present the concept of auditory-tactile stimulation for health and well-being. Through carefully selected audio-tactile stimuli a person's bodily, mental and emotional state may be influenced. The state of the art is described and its limitations are indicated. Then, a vision is presented on how auditory-tactile stimulation could be beneficial in several application domains. Three specific research areas are identified: identifying mechanisms of perception of auditory-tactile stimuli; methods for automatic conversions between audio and tactile domains; and automated analysis of human bio-signals and behaviour for adapting the stimulation optimally to the user

Gene expression profiling of histiocytic sarcomas in a canine model: the predisposed flatcoated retriever dog.

BACKGROUND: The determination of altered expression of genes in specific tumor types and their effect upon cellular processes may create insight in tumorigenesis and help to design better treatments. The Flatcoated retriever is a dog breed with an exceptionally high incidence of histiocytic sarcomas. The breed develops two distinct entities of histiocytic neoplasia, a soft tissue form and a visceral form. Gene expression studies of these tumors have value for comparable human diseases such as histiocytic/dendritic cell sarcoma for which knowledge is difficult to accrue due to their rare occurrence. In addition, such studies may help in the search for genetic aberrations underlying the genetic predisposition in this dog breed. METHODS: Microarray analysis and pathway analyses were performed on fresh-frozen tissues obtained from Flatcoated retrievers with localized, soft tissue histiocytic sarcomas (STHS) and disseminated, visceral histiocytic sarcomas (VHS) and on normal canine spleens from various breeds. Expression differences of nine genes were validated with quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analyses. RESULTS: QPCR analyses identified the significantly altered expression of nine genes; PPBP, SpiC, VCAM1, ENPEP, ITGAD (down-regulated), and GTSF1, Col3a1, CD90 and LUM (up-regulated) in the comparison of both the soft tissue and the visceral form with healthy spleen. DAVID pathway analyses revealed 24 pathways that were significantly involved in the development of HS in general, most of which were involved in the DNA repair and replication process. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified altered expression of nine genes not yet implicated in histiocytic sarcoma manifestations in the dog nor in comparable human histiocytic/dendritic sarcomas. Exploration of the downside effect of canine inbreeding strategies for the study of similar sarcomas in humans might also lead to the identification of genes related to these rare malignancies in the human

Ten of the most significant pathways that resulted from the pathway analyses in DAVID.

<p>Ten of the most significant pathways that resulted from the pathway analyses in DAVID.</p

Patient details.

<p><i>AO: Age of onset, M: male, MN: male neutered, F: female, FN: female neutered, STHS: soft tissue (localized) histiocytic sarcoma, VHS: visceral (disseminated) histiocytic sarcoma, lnn abd: abdominal lymphnodes, lnn mediast: mediastinal lymph nodes Note: For cases with VHS the site sampled for gene expressionis indicated in bold letters.</i></p

Microarray-based heatmap of the ten genes chosen for qPCR.

<p>PPBP: Pro-platelet basic protein (chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 7), GTSF1: Gametocyte specific factor 1, SPIC: Spi-C transcription factor, VCAM1: Vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, ENPEP: Glutamyl aminopeptidase (aminopeptidase A), LUM: Lumican, ITGAD: Integrin, alpha D, Col3A1: Collagen, type III, alpha 1, MYH11: Myosin, heavy chain 11, smooth muscle, Thy-1 (CD90): Thy-1 cell surface antigen.</p

Gene stability by Genorm for all nine reference genes.

<p>Horizontal axis: Least stable genes (left) and most stable genes (right) Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), β-2-Microglobulin (B2MG), Ribosomal protein S5 (RPS5), Ribosomal protein S19 (RPS19), Hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT), Ribosomalprotein L8 (RPL8), B-Glucuronidase (GUSB), Signal recognition particle receptor (SRPR), and Ribosomal protein L13 (RPL13).</p