Cerebral microbleeds and cognitive decline in a hemodialysis patient: Case report and review of literature

Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are small hemosiderin deposits indicative of prior cerebral microscopic hemorrhage and previously thought to be clinically silent. Recent population‐based cross‐sectional studies and prospective longitudinal cohort studies have revealed association between CMB and cognitive dysfunction. In the general population, CMBs are associated with age, hypertension, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. In the chronic kidney disease (CKD) population, diminished estimated glomerular filtration rate has been found to be an independent risk factor for CMB, raising the possibility that a uremic milieu may predispose to microbleeds. In the end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) population on hemodialysis, the incidence of microbleeds is significantly higher compared with a control group without history of CKD or stroke. We present an ESRD patient on chronic hemodialysis with a history of gradual cognitive decline and progressive CMBs. Through this case and literature review, we illustrate the need to develop detection and prediction models to treat this frequent development in ESRD patients.     

An architecture to support scalable distributed virtual environment systems on grid

A Distributed Virtual Environment (DVE) system offers a computer-generated virtual world in which individuals located at different places in the physical world can interact with one another. In order to achieve real-time response for a large user base, DVE systems need to have a scalable architecture. In this paper, we present the design of a grid-enabled service oriented framework for facilitating the construction of scalable DVE systems on computing grids. A service component called “gamelet” is proposed, whose distinctive mark is its high mobility for supporting dynamic load sharing. We propose a gamelet migration protocol which can ensure the transparency and efficiency of gamelet migration, and an adaptive gamelet load-balancing (AGLB) algorithm for making gamelet redistribution decisions at runtime. The algorithm considers both the synchronization costs of the DVE system and network latencies inherent in the grid nodes. The activities of the users and the heterogeneity of grid resources are also considered in order to carry out load sharing more effectively. We evaluate the performance of the proposed mechanisms through a multiplayer online game prototype implemented using the Globus toolkit. The results show that our approach can achieve faster response times and higher throughputs than some existing approaches. This research is supported in part by the China National Grid project (863 program) and the HKU Foundation Seed Grant 28506002.     

On-demand learning for a wireless campus

The current Internet and wireless networks are harsh environments for transporting high-bandwidth multimedia data. We examine the technical issues involved, and describe an end-to-end solution to support a Web-based learn-on-demand system that operates in a wireless campus environment.     

Glial development in the Drosophila CNS requires concomitant activation of glial and repression of neuronal differentiation genes

Two classes of glial cells are found in the embryonic Drosophila CNS, midline glial cells and lateral glial cells. Midline glial development is triggered by EGF-receptor signalling, whereas lateral glial development is controlled by the gcm gene. Subsequent glial cell differentiation depends partly on the pointed gene. Here we describe a novel component required for all CNS glia development. The tramtrack gene encodes two zinc-finger proteins, one of which, ttkp69, is expressed in all non-neuronal CNS cells. We show that ttkp69 is downstream of gcm and can repress neuronal differentiation. Double mutant analysis and coexpression experiments indicate that glial cell differentiation may depend on a dual process, requiring the activation of glial differentiation by pointed and the concomitant repression of neuronal development by tramtrack.     

Effects ofSolanum glycoalkaloids on chemosensilla in the Colorado potato beetle

Steroidal glycoalkaloids, found in species of the Solanaceae, elicit bursting activity in galeal and tarsal chemosensilla of adult Colorado potato beetles. The effect has an average latency of 6–12 sec, depending on the sensillum/alkaloid combination. A 20-sec alkaloid treatment is often suffficient to render galeal sensilla unresponsive to gamma-aminobutyric acid, normally an effective stimulant. The alkaloids have similar effects on galeal sensilla of larval Colorado potato beetles and on labellar chemosensilla of the blowfly. It is concluded that these compounds act independently of any specialized chemoreceptor in the Colorado potato beetle, and that association of the Colorado potato beetle with solanaceous plants has not led to evolution of a specific receptor forSolanum glycoalkaloids.     

Analytic models for multistage interconnection networks

Central to all parallel architectures is a switching network which facilitates the communication between a machine's components necessary to support their cooperation. Multistage interconnection networks (MINs) are classified and analytic models are described for both packet-switched and circuit-switched MINs with asynchronous transmission mode. Under strong enough assumptions, packet switching can be modeled by standard queuing methods, hence providing a standard against which to assess approximate models. We describe one such approximate model with much weaker assumptions which is more widely applicable and can be implemented more efficiently. To model circuit switching requires a different approach because of the presence of passive resources, namely multiple links through the MIN which must be held before a message can be transmitted and throughout its transmission. An approximate analysis based upon the recursive structure of a particular MIN topology which yields accurate predictions when compared with simulation is described.