Trans isomeric octadecenoic acids are related inversely to arachidonic acid and DHA and positively related to mead acid in umbilical vessel wall lipids

Long-chain PUFA play an important role in early human neurodevelopment. Significant inverse correlations were reported between values of trans isomeric and long-chain PUFA in plasma lipids of preterm infants and children aged 1–15 yr as well as in venous cord blood lipids of full-term infants. Here we report FA compositional data of cord blood vessel wall lipids in 308 healthy, full-term infants (gestational age: 39.7±1.2 wk, birth weight: 3528±429 g, mean±SD). The median (interquartile range) of the sum of 18-carbon trans FA was 0.22 (0.13)% w/w in umbilical artery and 0.16 (0.10)% w/w in umbilical vein lipids. Nonparametric correlation analysis showed significant inverse correlations between the sum of 18-carbon trans FA and both arachidonic acid and DHA in artery (r=−0.38, P<0.01, and r=−0.20, P<0.01) and vein (r=−0.36, P<0.01, and −0.17, P<0.01) wall lipids. In addition, the sum of 18-carbon trans FA was significantly positively correlated to Mead acid, a general indicator of EFA deficiency, in both artery (r=+0.35, P<0.01) and vein (r=+0.31, P<0.01) wall lipids. The present results obtained in a large group of full-term infants suggest that maternal trans FA intake is inversely associated with long-chain PUFA status of the infant at birth.     

Significance of a behavioral economic index of reward value in predicting drinking problem resolution.

This study investigated whether a behavioral economic index of the value of rewards available over different time horizons improved prediction of drinking outcomes beyond established biopsychosocial predictors. Preferences for immediate drinking versus more delayed rewards made possible by saving money were determined from expenditures prior to resolution attempts by problem drinkers with different help-seeking experiences (N = 144). As hypothesized, stable resolutions over a 2-year follow-up were associated with proportionally more preresolution discretionary expenditures on savings and less on alcohol compared with unstable resolutions. The relationship held regardless of help-seeking history, and preresolution drinking practices, problems, and income were similar across outcomes. The findings extend experimental work on behavioral economics and indicate that measuring monetary allocation improves prediction of outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improving backpropagation learning with feature selection

There exist redundant, irrelevant and noisy data. Using proper data to train a network can speed up training, simplify the learned structure, and improve its performance. A two-phase training algorithm is proposed. In the first phase, the number of input units of the network is determined by using an information base method. Only those attributes that meet certain criteria for inclusion will be considered as the input to the network. In the second phase, the number of hidden units of the network is selected automatically based on the performance of the network on the training data. One hidden unit is added at a time only if it is necessary. The experimental results show that this new algorithm can achieve a faster learning time, a simpler network and an improved performance.     

Early inpatient rehabilitation after elective hip and knee arthroplasty

CONTEXT: Inpatient rehabilitation after elective hip and knee arthroplasty is often necessary for patients who cannot function at home soon after surgery, but how soon after surgery inpatient rehabilitation can be initiated has not been studied. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that high-risk patients undergoing elective hip and knee arthroplasty would incur less total cost and experience more rapid functional improvement if inpatient rehabilitation began on postoperative day 3 rather than day 7, without adverse consequences to the patients. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial conducted from 1994 to 1996. SETTING: Tertiary care center. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 86 patients undergoing elective hip or knee arthroplasty and who met the following criteria for being high risk: 70 years of age or older and living alone, 70 years of age or older with 2 or more comorbid conditions, or any age with 3 or more comorbid conditions. Of the 86 patients, 71 completed the study. INTERVENTIONS: Random assignment to begin inpatient rehabilitation on postoperative day 3 vs postoperative day 7. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Total length of stay and cost from orthopedic and rehabilitation hospital admissions, functional performance in hospitals using a subset of the functional independence measure, and 4-month follow-up assessment using the RAND 36-item health survey I and the functional status index. RESULTS: Patients who completed the study and began inpatient rehabilitation on postoperative day 3 exhibited shorter mean (+/-SD) total length of stay (11.7+/-2.3 days vs 14.5+/-1.9, P<.001), lower mean (+/-SD) total cost ($25891+/-$3648 vs $27762+/-$3626, P<.03), more rapid attainment of short-term functional milestones between days 6 and 10 (36.2+/-14.4 m ambulated vs 21.4+/-13.3 m, P<.001; 4.8+/-0.8 mean transfer functional independence measure score vs 4.3+/-0.7, P<.01), and equivalent functional outcome at 4-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: These data showed that high-risk individuals were able to tolerate early intensive rehabilitation, and this intervention yielded faster attainment of short-term functional milestones in fewer days using less total cost.     

用于图像传感器制造的光刻技术

引言任何一种数字成像的核心都是图像传感器。它的基本结构包括一个能把光转换为图像的有源像素矩阵。数码相机和带相机的移动电话带动了图像传感器需求市场的快速增长,它们已成为主要IC制造商大量生产的产品之一。制造成像阵列通常采用两种主要的工艺技术——电荷耦合器件(CCD)和CMOS图像传感器(CIS)。在形成工艺层次组合和电学设计方面,这两种技术有很大差别。但是,两者都需要优化,以俘获到达的光线,并将其更有效地转化为电信号。CCD器件在象素区把光子转换为电荷。CIS器件则可以看作为改进的存储器单元,每一单元包含一个可以产生…     

The role of dorsal hippocampus and basolateral amygdala NMDA receptors in the acquisition and retrieval of context and contextual fear memories.

The authors used 3-phase context preexposure facilitation methodology to study the contribution of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in dorsal hippocampus (DH) and the basal lateral region of the amygdala (BLA) to (a) acquisition of the context memory, (b) retrieval of the context memory, (c) acquisition of context-shock association, and (d) retrieval of the context-shock association. The NMDA receptor antagonist D-2-amino-5 phosphonopentanoic acid (D-AP5) was injected into either the DH or BLA prior to (a) the context preexposure phase, (b) the immediate shock phase, or (c) the test for contextual fear. Antagonizing NMDA receptors in the DH impaired the acquisition of the context memory but did not affect its retrieval or retrieval of the fear memory. Antagonizing NMDA receptors with D-AP5 in the BLA impaired acquisition of the context-shock association but had no effect on the expression of fear. However, both DL-AP5 and L-AP5 reduced the expression of fear when they were injected into the amygdala prior to testing for contextual fear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SIFER: Scale-Invariant Feature Detector with Error Resilience

We present a new method to extract scale-invariant features from an image by using a Cosine Modulated Gaussian (CM-Gaussian) filter. Its balanced scale-space atom with minimal spread in scale and space leads to an outstanding scale-invariant feature detection quality, albeit at reduced planar rotational invariance. Both sharp and distributed features like corners and blobs are reliably detected, irrespective of various image artifacts and camera parameter variations, except for planar rotation. The CM-Gaussian filters are approximated with the sum of exponentials as a single, fixed-length filter and equal approximation error over all scales, providing constant-time, low-cost image filtering implementations. The approximation error of the corresponding digital signal processing is below the noise threshold. It is scalable with the filter order, providing many quality-complexity trade-off working points. We validate the efficiency of the proposed feature detection algorithm on image registration applications over a wide range of testbench conditions.     

Consensus analysis with large and multiple communication delays using spectral delay space concept

In this study, we consider the consensus problem for a group of second-order agents interacting under a fixed, undirected communication topology. Communication lines are affected by two rationally independent delays. The first delay is assumed to be in the position information channels, whereas the second delay is in the velocity information exchange. The delays are assumed to be large and uniform throughout the entire network. The stability analysis of such systems becomes quickly intractable as the number of agents increases and the delays enlarge. To resolve this dilemma, we first reduce the complexity of the problem dramatically, by decomposing the characteristic equation of the system into a set of second-order factors. Then, we assess the stability of the resulting subsystems exactly and exhaustively in the domain of the time delays using the cluster treatment of characteristic roots (CTCR) paradigm. CTCR requires the determination of all the potential stability switching loci in the domain of the delays. For this, a surrogate domain, called the ‘spectral delay space (SDS)’, is used. The result is a computationally efficient stability analysis of the given dynamics within the domain of the delays. Illustrative cases are provided to verify the analytical conclusions. On these examples, we also study the consensus speeds through eigenvalue analysis.     

Daily dietary lithium intake in Belgium using duplicate portion sampling

 For the first time, daily dietary lithium intake for adults in Belgium has been evaluated by duplicate portion sampling, the heating of the samples in a microwave oven and atomic absorption spectrometric determination of the element. The mean intake value for adults (8.6±4.6 μg/day) is very low compared to the scarce literature data. Since the lithium requirement of humans and animals is still unknown, no comparison could be made with RDA values.