Using inertial sensors for assessing movement symmetries in trotting dogs : a feasibility study

Lameness or other disturbances in the musculoskeletal system are common reasons why dog owners seek veterinary care. The lameness is most often associated with pain, degenerative changes in joints or muscles, or injury. Evaluation of lameness have traditionally been performed subjectively by means of visual assessment and scoring. Such methods are well established in field of equine medicine where the examiner typically observes the ventro-dorsal movements of the head, the withers and the pelvis during locomotion. A major problem with subjective assessment, however, is that different examiners will arrive at different results. This has been confirmed in studies carried out both within the fields of equine medicine and small animal medicine. Unfortunately, the situation becomes even more challenging when it comes to companion pets such as dogs, as their movements are both faster and smaller in magnitude compared to those of large animals. Computer assisted lameness analysis with motion capture systems or inertial measurement units,IMUs,is becoming more and more common in horse clinics today as a more objective tool to evaluate and assess lameness. Data is collected during exercise and analyzed in a computer program after which movement asymmetries can be assessed. These methods can be helpful both in everyday activities and in more complicated cases, as the asymmetries can be monitored over time. To our knowledge there is no similar commercial tool available for companion pets such as dogs yet. However, in a recent study at SLU which evaluated the use of IMUs on dogs trotting on a treadmill using a Commercial system for horses with a modified software, good results were seen in moderate induced lameness scenarios. More studies are desirable to determine whether or not the method can be used in less controlled forms, e.g., in a hallway or in a corridor at a veterinary clinic. The purpose of the this work has therefore been to investigate whether it is feasible to use standard IMUs, signal processing and software algorithms to reliably assess lameness of grade 2-3 in dogs under conditions prevailing at a regular veterinary clinic. Thirteen clinically sound dogs were included in the study. None of the them had a history of orthopedic conditions or joint surgery. Reversible distal limb disturbances were induced, mimicking supporting limb lameness, in all dogs by placement of cotton wool wads under the paw. Reversible proximal limb disturbances, mimicking swinging limb lameness, were induced by placement of a custom-made weight above the carpusortarsal joint, respectively. Inorderto obtain measurements we utilized a commercial measurement system developed by Delsys Inc. We used four IMUs in parallel located at the head, wither, pelvis and at one of the forelimbs. The data was analyzed offline using different algorithms for lameness assessment. The results indicate that it possible to use standard IMUs to evaluate lameness in dogs, but that more work is needed to robustify th ealgorithms. Compared to horses the physical behavior of dogs and their smaller sizes leads to new challenges that need to be addressed in future research

“Opening-Up” the WTO: What Does It Mean for China?

Text of speech delivered at China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL), Beijing, October 9; Tsinghua Law School, Beijing, October 10; Wuhan University, WTO Center, October 12; Fudan University, Shanghai, October 13, 200

The Impact of Insurance on the Law of Torts

An experimental study of "Model-on-Demand" (MoD) identification is made on a pilot-scale brine-water mixing tank. MoD estimation is compared against semi-physical modeling techniques using identification data generated from a systematically designed m-level Pseudo Random Sequence (PRS) input. The estimated models are the basis for evaluating the usefulness of MoD-based Model Predictive Control (MPC). For this application, MoD-MPC is shown to provide better performance at high bandwidths compared to a linear MPC controller

Earnings management to meet or beat analyst estimates : Evidence from firms listed on Nasdaq Helsinki

The purpose of financial reporting should be to equip external parties (mainly investors) with information that is useful for deciding whether to provide resources to the entity issuing the report. Useful information is ideally both reliable and relevant but in most cases an increase in one of these characteristics entails a decrease in the other. Accrual accounting is generally viewed as generating information that is more relevant compared to the underlying cash flows. This comes at the cost of reliability since managers inevitably will have to exercise judgement over accruals deployed by the reporting entity. Managerial discretion coupled with information asymmetry and conflicting interests between firm managers and external parties give rise to situations where managers might be incentivized to mislead external parties about firm performance for the purpose of achieving some short-term gain. Market expectations are a rather nebulous concept and analyst estimates are often used as a representative measure. The literature appears to coalesce around the idea that meeting analyst expectations in terms of earnings is important for maintaining favorable share prices. This implies an incentive for managers to, by way of their accruals choices, boost earnings in the short term to meet or beat analyst estimates. Existing research generally supports the idea that this takes place. The evidence obtained through applying a variant of the Modified Jones Model on a sample of 543 firm-year observations from firms listed on Nasdaq Helsinki (years 2012 through 2017) appears consistent with prior findings. Income-increasing discretionary accruals were present in entities where consensus analyst estimates were met or beaten. Discretionary accruals were income-decreasing in cases where estimates were undercut, which might be due to firms ‘taking a bath’ or some other earnings threshold being viewed as more important. On the other hand, it might be indicative of earnings smoothing or an effort on part of managers to communicate with analysts and the market for the purpose of helping them form more realistic expectations. This raises some interesting questions regarding earnings management as a concept and whether it is fair to associate management of accruals with purposeful deception, which it traditionally has been

Hepatit E hos svenskt vilt

Hepatit E orsakas av ett virus, HEV, som vid utbrott främst sprids via den fekala-orala vägen och vars sjukdomsförlopp liknar den klassiska gulsoten, Hepatit A. Sjukdomen är endemisk i många utvecklingsländer, men sporadiska fall förekommer regelbundet även i industrialiserade länder. I Sverige är seroprevalensen för HEV hos befolkningen ca 6-9 %. Sjukdomen är i regel godartad, läker ut av sig själv efter några veckor, och går sällan över i ett kroniskt stadium. Dödligheten tycks generellt vara låg men är signifikant högre om det är en individ med nedsatt immunförsvar eller en gravid kvinna som drabbas. Man har ofta identifierat HEV hos bland annat gris och vildsvin varför man tror att dessa djurslag skulle kunna utgöra reservoarer för viruset i industrialiserade länder. Teorin är att vissa varianter av viruset är zoonotiska och därmed kan spridas från djur till människa via bristande hygienrutiner eller otillräckligt upphettade livsmedel. I en nyligen publicerad doktorsavhandling vid SLU har förekomsten av HEV hos svenskt vilt studerats. Man fann att vildsvin och människor infekteras av HEV-genotyper som är mycket närbesläktade eller rent av identiska. Dessutom cirkulerar dessa genotyper mellan tamgris- och vildsvinspopulationerna varvid ett rekombinant utbyte av arvsmassa kan ske. Man fann vidare att vissa genotyper av HEV även kunde spåras i hjortdjur såsom rådjur och älg. I fallet med älg upptäckte man en förmodad ny genotyp av viruset som uppvisar släktskap med några av de bevisat zoonotiska genotyperna. Då det är populärt och vanligt med jakt på vilt i Sverige och en ansenlig mängd viltkött konsumeras varje år, väcks förstås frågan om det finns några hälsorisker förknippat med detta? De flesta indicier pekar på att det är viktigt med en god hygien vid kontakt med vilt samt vid hantering av viltkött. Detta gäller speciellt för vildsvin. I fallet med älg krävs det mer forskning innan man kan dra några slutsatser om den zoonotiska potentialen.Hepatitis E is caused by a virus, HEV, as with outbreaks primarily spread via the fecal-oral route and whose disease course is similar to the classic jaundice, Hepatitis A. The disease is endemic in many developing countries, but sporadic cases occur regularly also in industrialized countries. In Sweden, the seroprevalence of HEV in the human population is approximately 6-9%. The disease is in most cases self-limiting, lasts a few weeks, and rarely goes into a chronic stage. Mortality appears to be generally low but is significantly higher for immunocompromised individuals and pregnant women. HEV is commonly isolated in domestic swine and wild boar populations, and it is believed that these animal groups serve as reservoirs for the virus in industrialized countries. The hypothesis is that some variants of the virus are zoonotic and thus can spread from animals to humans through inadequate hygiene or insufficiently heated food. In a recent published dissertation at SLU, the prevalence of HEV in Swedish wild animals was studied. It was found that wild boars and humans are infected by HEV genotypes that are very closely related, if not identical. In addition, these genotypes seem to circulate between the domestic swine and wild boar populations in which a recombinant exchange of genetic material might occur. It was further found that certain genotypes of HEV could also be traced in deer species such as roe deer and moose. In the case of the moose a putative new genotype of the virus was identified which seems to have similarity with some of the proven zoonotic genotypes. Since hunting is popular and common in Sweden and a considerable amount of game meat is consumed each year, the question arises whether there are any health risks associated with this? Most evidence points to the importance of good hygiene in contact with game and while handling game meat. This seems especially important for wild boar. The zoonotic potential of the genotype isolated in moose appears to require more research

1H HRMAS NMR Derived Bio-markers Related to Tumor Grade, Tumor Cell Fraction, and Cell Proliferation in Prostate Tissue Samples

A high-resolution magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopic approach is presented for evaluating the occurrence, amount and aggressiveness of cancer in human prostate tissue samples. Using this technique, key metabolites in malignant and non-malignant samples (n = 149) were identified, and patterns of their relative abundance were analyzed by multivariate statistical methods. Ratios of various metabolites – including (glycerophophorylcholine + phosphorylcholine)/creatine, myo-inositol/scyllo-inositol, scyllo-inositol/creatine, choline/creatine, and citrate/creatine – correlated with: i) for non-malignant tissue samples, the distance to the nearest tumor and its Gleason score and; ii) the fraction of tumor cells present in the sample; and iii) tumor cell proliferation (Ki67 labelling index). This NMR-based approach allows the extraction of information that could be useful for developing novel diagnostic methods for prostate cancer

Prostate specific antigen for early detection of prostate cancer: longitudinal study

Objective To evaluate if prostate specific antigen test attains validity standards required for screening in view of recent prostate cancer screening trial results

The multifunctional FUS, EWS and TAF15 proto-oncoproteins show cell type-specific expression patterns and involvement in cell spreading and stress response

Background: FUS, EWS and TAF15 are structurally similar multifunctional proteins that were first discovered upon characterization of fusion oncogenes in human sarcomas and leukemias. The proteins belong to the FET ( previously TET) family of RNA-binding proteins and are implicated in central cellular processes such as regulation of gene expression, maintenance of genomic integrity and mRNA/microRNA processing. In the present study, we investigated the expression and cellular localization of FET proteins in multiple human tissues and cell types. Results: FUS, EWS and TAF15 were expressed in both distinct and overlapping patterns in human tissues. The three proteins showed almost ubiquitous nuclear expression and FUS and TAF15 were in addition present in the cytoplasm of most cell types. Cytoplasmic EWS was more rarely detected and seen mainly in secretory cell types. Furthermore, FET expression was downregulated in differentiating human embryonic stem cells, during induced differentiation of neuroblastoma cells and absent in terminally differentiated melanocytes and cardiac muscle cells. The FET proteins were targeted to stress granules induced by heat shock and oxidative stress and FUS required its RNA-binding domain for this translocation. Furthermore, FUS and TAF15 were detected in spreading initiation centers of adhering cells. Conclusion: Our results point to cell-specific expression patterns and functions of the FET proteins rather than the housekeeping roles inferred from earlier studies. The localization of FET proteins to stress granules suggests activities in translational regulation during stress conditions. Roles in central processes such as stress response, translational control and adhesion may explain the FET proteins frequent involvement in human cancer

Effects of radiation therapy on tissue and serum concentrations of tumour associated trypsin inhibitor and their prognostic significance in rectal cancer patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We have previously demonstrated that elevated concentrations of tumour-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) in both tumour tissue (t-TATI) and in serum (s-TATI) are associated with a poor prognosis in colorectal cancer patients. It was also found that s-TATI concentrations were lower in patients with rectal cancer compared to patients with colon cancer. In this study, we investigated the effects of neoadjuvant radiotherapy (RT) on concentrations of t-TATI and s-TATI in patients with rectal cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>TATI was analysed in serum, normal mucosa and tumour tissue collected at various time points in 53 rectal cancer patients enrolled in a case-control study where 12 patients received surgery alone, 20 patients 5 × 5 Gy (short-term) preoperative RT and 21 patients 25 × 2 Gy (long-term) preoperative RT. T-TATI was analysed by immunohistochemistry and s-TATI was determined by an immunofluorometric assay. Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon Z (Z) test were used to assess t-TATI and s-TATI concentrations in relation to RT. Spearman's correlation (R) test was used to explore the associations between t-TATI, s-TATI and clinicopathological parameters. Overall survival (OS) according to high and low t-TATI and s-TATI concentrations was estimated by classification and regression tree analysis, Kaplan-Meier analysis and the log rank test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>RT did not affect concentrations of t-TATI or s-TATI. In patients receiving short-term but not long-term RT, s-TATI concentrations were significantly higher 4 weeks post surgery than in serum drawn prior to surgery (Z = -3.366, P < 0.001). T-TATI expression correlated with male gender (R = 0.406, P = 0.008). High t-TATI expression in surgical specimens was associated with a significantly shorter OS (P = 0.045). S-TATI concentrations in serum drawn at all time points were associated with an impaired OS (P = 0.035 before RT, P = 0.001 prior to surgery, P = 0.043 post surgery). At all time points, s-TATI correlated with higher age (P < 0.001-0.021) and with increased s-creatinine concentrations assessed prior to surgery (P = 0.041).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results presented here further validate the utility of t-TATI and s-TATI as prognostic biomarkers in patients with rectal cancer, independent of neoadjuvant RT.</p

Increased serum levels of tumour-associated trypsin inhibitor independently predict a poor prognosis in colorectal cancer patients

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