Does stress test correlate with return to work?

Abstract no. 01published_or_final_versio

Intrusion detection routers: Design, implementation and evaluation using an experimental testbed

In this paper, we present the design, the implementation details, and the evaluation results of an intrusion detection and defense system for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. The evaluation is conducted using an experimental testbed. The system, known as intrusion detection router (IDR), is deployed on network routers to perform online detection on any DDoS attack event, and then react with defense mechanisms to mitigate the attack. The testbed is built up by a cluster of sufficient number of Linux machines to mimic a portion of the Internet. Using the testbed, we conduct real experiments to evaluate the IDR system and demonstrate that IDR is effective in protecting the network from various DDoS attacks. © 2006 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Thermal Image Scanning for Influenza Border Screening: Results of an Airport Screening Study

Background: Infrared thermal image scanners (ITIS) appear an attractive option for the mass screening of travellers for influenza, but there are no published data on their performance in airports. Methods: ITIS was used to measure cutaneous temperature in 1275 airline travellers who had agreed to tympanic temperature measurement and respiratory sampling. The prediction by ITIS of tympanic temperature (37.8uC and 37.5uC) and of influenza infection was assessed using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves and estimated sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value (PPV). Findings: Using front of face ITIS for prediction of tympanic temperature $37.8uC, the area under the ROC curve was 0.86 (95$37.8uC at screening (95%CI 0 % to 12%); three had no influenza symptoms. Conclusion: ITIS performed moderately well in detecting fever but in this study, during a seasonal epidemic of predominantly influenza type B, the proportion of influenza-infected travellers who were febrile was low and ITIS were no

Genes and pathways affected by CAG-repeat RNA-based toxicity in Drosophila

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 is one of the polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases, which are caused by a CAG-repeat expansion within the coding region of the associated genes. The CAG repeat specifies glutamine, and the expanded polyQ domain mutation confers dominant toxicity on the protein. Traditionally, studies have focused on protein toxicity in polyQ disease mechanisms. Recent findings, however, demonstrate that the CAG-repeat RNA, which encodes the toxic polyQ protein, also contributes to the disease in Drosophila. To provide insights into the nature of the RNA toxicity, we extracted brain-enriched RNA from flies expressing a toxic CAG-repeat mRNA (CAG100) and a non-toxic interrupted CAA/G mRNA repeat (CAA/G105) for microarray analysis. This approach identified 160 genes that are differentially expressed specifically in CAG100 flies. Functional annotation clustering analysis revealed several broad ontologies enriched in the CAG100 gene list, including iron ion binding and nucleotide binding. Intriguingly, transcripts for the Hsp70 genes, a powerful suppressor of polyQ and other human neurodegenerative diseases, were also upregulated. We therefore tested and showed that upregulation of heat shock protein 70 mitigates CAG-repeat RNA toxicity. We then assessed whether other modifiers of the pathogenic, expanded Ataxin-3 polyQ protein could also modify the CAG-repeat RNA toxicity. This approach identified the co-chaperone Tpr2, the transcriptional regulator Dpld, and the RNA-binding protein Orb2 as modifiers of both polyQ protein toxicity and CAG-repeat RNA-based toxicity. These findings suggest an overlap in the mechanisms of RNA and protein-based toxicity, providing insights into the pathogenicity of the RNA in polyQ disease

Recommendations for the Generation, Quantification, Storage, and Handling of Peptides Used for Mass Spectrometry-Based Assays

BACKGROUND: For many years, basic and clinical researchers have taken advantage of the analytical sensitivity and specificity afforded by mass spectrometry in the measurement of proteins. Clinical laboratories are now beginning to deploy these work flows as well. For assays that use proteolysis to generate peptides for protein quantification and characterization, synthetic stable isotope-labeled internal standard peptides are of central importance. No general recommendations are currently available surrounding the use of peptides in protein mass spectrometric assays. CONTENT: The Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium of the National Cancer Institute has collaborated with clinical laboratorians, peptide manufacturers, metrologists, representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, and other professionals to develop a consensus set of recommendations for peptide procurement, characterization, storage, and handling, as well as approaches to the interpretation of the data generated by mass spectrometric protein assays. Additionally, the importance of carefully characterized reference materials-in particular, peptide standards for the improved concordance of amino acid analysis methods across the industry-is highlighted. The alignment of practices around the use of peptides and the transparency of sample preparation protocols should allow for the harmonization of peptide and protein quantification in research and clinical care

Vocal characteristics associated with Cantonese and English produced by proficient Cantonese-English bilingual speakers: a long-term average spectral analysis

Board no. 2

Differences in vocal characteristics between Cantonese and English produced by proficient Cantonese-English bilingual speakers - A long-term average spectral analysis

Objectives: The present study objectively examined the possible difference in vocal characteristics associated with English and Cantonese produced by proficient Cantonese-English bilingual speakers. Subjects and Methods: Forty native speakers of Cantonese (20 males and 20 females) who were proficient in Cantonese and English participated in the study. An array of acoustical parameters, including fundamental frequency (F0) values and first spectral peak (FSP), mean spectral energy (MSE), and spectral tilt (ST) extracted from long-term average speech spectra were obtained from connected speech samples produced in Cantonese and English by the bilingual speakers. Acoustical parameters were measured using Praat (P. Boersma & D. Weenink, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and used to objectively describe the voice quality. Results: Results indicated that female bilingual speakers had significantly higher F0 values in speaking English than Cantonese. Although exhibiting comparable FSP values, the bilingual speakers showed significantly higher MSE and lower ST values when speaking Cantonese compared with English. Conclusions: The present findings imply that, even with the same phonatory apparatus, language being spoken can have an effect on the speakers' voice quality. © 2012 The Voice Foundation.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

On the coverage of program code by specification-based tests

Generating test cases from the specification can be done early in the software development life cycle. A test suite systematically generated from the software specification can be comprehensive in ensuring the intended functions to be exercised. Such a test suite is also instrumental in facilitating early discovery of software defects. On the other hand, an adequate level of code coverage is required to inspire confidence of the testing and quality assurance process. To examine the effectiveness of a specification-based test suite in covering program code, we conducted an exploratory case study which involved many different versions of programs that implemented the same specification. On the basis of the case study, this paper identifies the types of path in the programs, suggests enhancements to the existing test generation methods, and discusses several issues on how the code coverage can be improved

Using three objective criteria to examine pedometer guidelines for free-living individuals

The purpose was to examine in free-living individuals from a high-density city (1) the objectively determined physical activity levels across quartiles derived from pedometer step counts, (2) the pedometer steps day -1 required to meet health-enhancing guidelines of accruing 30 min day -1 of moderate physical activity and (3) the agreement between three objective criteria for the pedometer guidelines. Over 7 days 49 Hong Kong Chinese aged 15-55 years (n = 30 males) wore a polar heart rate monitor (HRM), an MTI and Tritrac accelerometer, plus a Yamax pedometer for ≥600 min day -1. Participants averaged 9,839 ± 3,088 steps day -1, whilst accumulating 44.5 ± 22.6, 43.1 ± 21.7, and 24.7 ± 19.3 min day -1 of moderate physical activity by the Tritrac, MTI and HRM, respectively. Significant differences between quartiles of pedometer-determined activity were predominantly seen in the accelerometry data, especially during moderate and moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity (effect sizes >1.5 between upper and lower quartiles), but not seen in the HRM data. Using both criterion accelerometer datasets, a threshold of 8,000 steps day -1 accurately categorized ∼90% of those achieving, and ∼80% of those not achieving, 30 min day -1 of appropriate activity. They also produced a screening sensitivity of ∼95% and a specificity of ∼70%, which were considerably higher than those from the HRM data. Overall, the agreement between the three criterion measures suggests 8,000 steps day -1 might be a valid screening tool as a proxy for classifying those meeting public health physical activity recommendations of 30 min day -1 of moderate activity. © Springer-Verlag 2008.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Convergent validity of six methods to assess physical activity in daily life

The purpose was to examine the agreement (convergent validity) between six common measures of habitual physical activity to estimate durations of light, moderate, vigorous, and total activity in a range of free-living individuals. Over 7 consecutive days, 49 ethnic Chinese (30 men, 19 women), aged 15-55 yr, wore a Polar heart rate monitor, a uniaxial MTI, and triaxial Tritrac accelerometer, plus a Yamax pedometer for ≥600 min/day. They also completed a daily physical activity log and on day 8 a Chinese version of the 7-day International Physical Activity Questionnaire. At each level of activity, there was good agreement between the two questionnaire-derived instruments and the two accelerometry-derived instruments, but wide variation across different instruments, with two- to fourfold differences in mean durations often seen. The heart rate monitor overestimated light activity and underestimated moderate activity compared with all other measures. Spearman correlation coefficients were low to moderate (0.2-0.5) across most measures of activity, with the pedometer showing correlations with total activity that were often superior to the other movement sensors. We conclude that, with the use of commonly accepted cut points for defining light, moderate, vigorous, and total activity, little convergent validity across the instruments was evident, suggesting these measures are sampling different levels of habitual physical activity and care is needed when comparing their results. To provide a more stable comparison of activity among different people, across studies, or against accepted physical activity promotion guidelines, further work is needed to fine tune the different cut points across a range of common activity monitors to provide more consistent results during free-living conditions. Copyright © 2006 the American Physiological Society.link_to_subscribed_fulltex