369 research outputs found
Aiding first incident responders using a decision support system based on live drone feeds
In case of a dangerous incident, such as a fire, a collision or an earthquake, a lot of contextual data is available for the first incident responders when handling this incident. Based on this data, a commander on scene or dispatchers need to make split-second decisions to get a good overview on the situation and to avoid further injuries or risks. Therefore, we propose a decision support system that can aid incident responders on scene in prioritizing the rescue efforts that need to be addressed. The system collects relevant data from a custom designed drone by detecting objects such as firefighters, fires, victims, fuel tanks, etc. The drone autonomously observes the incident area, and based on the detected information it proposes a prioritized based action list on e.g. urgency or danger to incident responders
The Fischer 344 Rat Reflects Human Susceptibility to Francisella Pulmonary Challenge and Provides a New Platform for Virulence and Protection Studies
Background: The pathogenesis of Francisella tularensis, the causative agent of tularemia, has been primarily characterized in mice. However, the high degree of sensitivity of mice to bacterial challenge, especially with the human virulent strains of F. tularensis, limits this animal model for screening of defined attenuated vaccine candidates for protection studies. Methods and Findings: We analyzed the susceptibility of the Fischer 344 rat to pulmonary (intratracheal) challenge with three different subspecies (subsp) of F. tularensis that reflect different levels of virulence in humans, and characterized the bacterial replication profile in rat bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM). In contrast to the mouse, Fischer 344 rats exhibit a broader range of sensitivity to pulmonary challenge with the human virulent subsp. tularensis and holarctica. Unlike mice, Fischer rats exhibited a high degree of resistance to pulmonary challenge with LVS (an attenuated derivative o
The odd log-logistic logarithmic generated family of distributions with applications in different areas
Structural Disorder Provides Increased Adaptability for Vesicle Trafficking Pathways
Vesicle trafficking systems play essential roles in the communication between the organelles of eukaryotic cells and also
between cells and their environment. Endocytosis and the late secretory route are mediated by clathrin-coated vesicles,
while the COat Protein I and II (COPI and COPII) routes stand for the bidirectional traffic between the ER and the Golgi
apparatus. Despite similar fundamental organizations, the molecular machinery, functions, and evolutionary characteristics
of the three systems are very different. In this work, we compiled the basic functional protein groups of the three main
routes for human and yeast and analyzed them from the structural disorder perspective. We found similar overall disorder
content in yeast and human proteins, confirming the well-conserved nature of these systems. Most functional groups
contain highly disordered proteins, supporting the general importance of structural disorder in these routes, although some
of them seem to heavily rely on disorder, while others do not. Interestingly, the clathrin system is significantly more
disordered (,23%) than the other two, COPI (,9%) and COPII (,8%). We show that this structural phenomenon enhances
the inherent plasticity and increased evolutionary adaptability of the clathrin system, which distinguishes it from the other
two routes. Since multi-functionality (moonlighting) is indicative of both plasticity and adaptability, we studied its
prevalence in vesicle trafficking proteins and correlated it with structural disorder. Clathrin adaptors have the highest
capability for moonlighting while also comprising the most highly disordered members. The ability to acquire tissue specific
functions was also used to approach adaptability: clathrin route genes have the most tissue specific exons encoding for
protein segments enriched in structural disorder and interaction sites. Overall, our results confirm the general importance of
structural disorder in vesicle trafficking and suggest major roles for this structural property in shaping the differences of
evolutionary adaptability in the three routes
Adsorption of 137Cs on titanium ferrocyanide and transformation of the sorbent to lithium titanate: a new method for long term immobilization of 137Cs
Adverse childhood experiences and substance misuse in young people in India: results from the multisite cVEDA cohort
Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increases vulnerability to externalising disorders such as substance misuse. The study aims to determine the prevalence of ACEs and its association with substance misuse. Methods: Data from the Consortium on Vulnerability to Externalising Disorders and Addictions (cVEDA) in India was used (n = 9010). ACEs were evaluated using the World Health Organisation (WHO) Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire whilst substance misuse was assessed using the WHO Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test. A random-effects, two-stage individual patient data meta-analysis explained the associations between ACEs and substance misuse with adjustments for confounders such as sex and family structure. Results: 1 in 2 participants reported child maltreatment ACEs and family level ACEs. Except for sexual abuse, males report more of every individual childhood adversity and are more likely to report misusing substances compared with females (87.3% vs. 12.7%). In adolescents, family level ACEs (adj OR 4.2, 95% CI 1.5–11.7) and collective level ACEs (adj OR 6.6, 95% CI 1.4–31.1) show associations with substance misuse whilst in young adults, child level ACEs such as maltreatment show similar strong associations (adj OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1–3.5). Conclusion: ACEs such as abuse and domestic violence are strongly associated with substance misuse, most commonly tobacco, in adolescent and young adult males in India. The results suggest enhancing current ACE resilience programmes and ‘trauma-informed’ approaches to tackling longer-term impact of ACEs in India. Funding: Newton Bhabha Grant jointly funded by the Medical Research Council, UK (MR/N000390/1) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR/MRC-UK/3/M/2015-NCD-I)
Long-Term Relationships between Synaptic Tenacity, Synaptic Remodeling, and Network Activity
Long term time-lapse imaging reveals that individual synapses undergo significant structural remodeling not only when driven by activity, but also when network activity is absent, raising questions about how reliably individual synapses maintain connections
The global burden of cancer 2013 global burden of disease cancer collaboration
Importance Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. Current estimates of cancer burden in individual countries and regions are necessary to inform local cancer control strategies. Objective To estimate mortality, incidence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 28 cancers in 188 countries by sex from 1990 to 2013. Evidence Review The general methodology of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2013 study was used. Cancer registries were the source for cancer incidence data as well as mortality incidence (MI) ratios. Sources for cause of death data include vital registration system data, verbal autopsy studies, and other sources. The MI ratios were used to transform incidence data to mortality estimates and cause of death estimates to incidence estimates. Cancer prevalence was estimated using MI ratios as surrogates for survival data; YLDs were calculated by multiplying prevalence estimates with disability weights, which were derived from population-based surveys; YLLs were computed by multiplying the number of estimated cancer deaths at each age with a reference life expectancy; and DALYs were calculated as the sum of YLDs and YLLs. Findings In 2013 there were 14.9 million incident cancer cases, 8.2 million deaths, and 196.3 million DALYs. Prostate cancer was the leading cause for cancer incidence (1.4 million) for men and breast cancer for women (1.8 million). Tracheal, bronchus, and lung (TBL) cancer was the leading cause for cancer death in men and women, with 1.6 million deaths. For men, TBL cancer was the leading cause of DALYs (24.9 million). For women, breast cancer was the leading cause of DALYs (13.1 million). Age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) per 100 000 and age-standardized death rates (ASDRs) per 100 000 for both sexes in 2013 were higher in developing vs developed countries for stomach cancer (ASIR, 17 vs 14; ASDR, 15 vs 11), liver cancer (ASIR, 15 vs 7; ASDR, 16 vs 7), esophageal cancer (ASIR, 9 vs 4; ASDR, 9 vs 4), cervical cancer (ASIR, 8 vs 5; ASDR, 4 vs 2), lip and oral cavity cancer (ASIR, 7 vs 6; ASDR, 2 vs 2), and nasopharyngeal cancer (ASIR, 1.5 vs 0.4; ASDR, 1.2 vs 0.3). Between 1990 and 2013, ASIRs for all cancers combined (except nonmelanoma skin cancer and Kaposi sarcoma) increased by more than 10% in 113 countries and decreased by more than 10% in 12 of 188 countries. Conclusions and Relevance Cancer poses a major threat to public health worldwide, and incidence rates have increased in most countries since 1990. The trend is a particular threat to developing nations with health systems that are ill-equipped to deal with complex and expensive cancer treatments. The annual update on the Global Burden of Cancer will provide all stakeholders with timely estimates to guide policy efforts in cancer prevention, screening, treatment, and palliation
Safety, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of BMS-986142, a novel reversible BTK inhibitor, in healthy participants
Family-led rehabilitation after stroke in India (ATTEND): a randomised controlled trial
Background
Most people with stroke in India have no access to organised rehabilitation services. The effectiveness of training family members to provide stroke rehabilitation is uncertain. Our primary objective was to determine whether family-led stroke rehabilitation, initiated in hospital and continued at home, would be superior to usual care in a low-resource setting.
Methods
The Family-led Rehabilitation after Stroke in India (ATTEND) trial was a prospectively randomised open trial with blinded endpoint done across 14 hospitals in India. Patients aged 18 years or older who had had a stroke within the past month, had residual disability and reasonable expectation of survival, and who had an informal family-nominated caregiver were randomly assigned to intervention or usual care by site coordinators using a secure web-based system with minimisation by site and stroke severity. The family members of participants in the intervention group received additional structured rehabilitation training—including information provision, joint goal setting, carer training, and task-specific training—that was started in hospital and continued at home for up to 2 months. The primary outcome was death or dependency at 6 months, defined by scores 3–6 on the modified Rankin scale (range, 0 [no symptoms] to 6 [death]) as assessed by masked observers. Analyses were by intention to treat. This trial is registered with Clinical Trials Registry-India (CTRI/2013/04/003557), Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12613000078752), and Universal Trial Number (U1111-1138-6707).
Findings
Between Jan 13, 2014, and Feb 12, 2016, 1250 patients were randomly assigned to intervention (n=623) or control (n=627) groups. 33 patients were lost to follow-up (14 intervention, 19 control) and five patients withdrew (two intervention, three control). At 6 months, 285 (47%) of 607 patients in the intervention group and 287 (47%) of 605 controls were dead or dependent (odds ratio 0·98, 95% CI 0·78–1·23, p=0·87). 72 (12%) patients in the intervention group and 86 (14%) in the control group died (p=0·27), and we observed no difference in rehospitalisation (89 [14%]patients in the intervention group vs 82 [13%] in the control group; p=0·56). We also found no difference in total non-fatal events (112 events in 82 [13%] intervention patients vs 110 events in 79 [13%] control patients; p=0·80).
Interpretation
Although task shifting is an attractive solution for health-care sustainability, our results do not support investment in new stroke rehabilitation services that shift tasks to family caregivers, unless new evidence emerges. A future avenue of research should be to investigate the effects of task shifting to health-care assistants or team-based community care
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