Use of spectral analysis in the detection of frequency differencesin the electrogastrograms of normal and diabetic subjects

The authors investigated the basal electrical rhythm (BER) of the stomach to determine if abnormalities of the BER occur in association with those gastric complaints in patients with long-term insulin-dependent diabetes. They recorded the basal electrical signal of the stomach in nine patients with diabetic gastroparesis and in 11 normal volunteers. They developed a microcomputer-based running spectral analysis technique (overlapping fast Fourier transforms) to analyze the recordings. They found no significant differences between the two subject groups in the prefed state but found a significantly higher proportion of episodes of high frequency, or tachygastria in the diabetic group in the postfed state (15.4-6.2%). The difference was also reflected in the higher postfed mean `peak' frequency of the diabetics. Both diabetics and normals show an increase in the mean of the peak frequency from pre- to postfed states, but the normals do not show an increase in episodes of tachygastria     

On the low-rate Shannon limit for binary intersymbol interference channels

For a discrete-time, binary-input, Gaussian channel with finite intersymbol interference, we prove that reliable communication can be achieved if, and only if, E/sub b//N/sub 0/>log2/G/sub opt/, for some constant G/sub opt/ that depends on the channel. To determine this constant, we consider the finite-state machine which represents the output sequences of the channel filter when driven by binary inputs. We then define G/sub opt/ as the maximum output power achieved by a simple cycle in this graph, and show that no other cycle or asymptotically long sequence can achieve an output power greater than this. We provide examples where the binary input constraint leads to a suboptimality, and other cases where binary signaling is just as effective as real signaling at very low signal-to-noise ratios.     

EWA splatting

We present a framework for high quality splatting based on elliptical Gaussian kernels. To avoid aliasing artifacts, we introduce the concept of a resampling filter, combining a reconstruction kernel with a low-pass filter. Because of the similarity to Heckbert's (1989) EWA (elliptical weighted average) filter for texture mapping, we call our technique EWA splatting. Our framework allows us to derive EWA splat primitives for volume data and for point-sampled surface data. It provides high image quality without aliasing artifacts or excessive blurring for volume data and, additionally, features anisotropic texture filtering for point-sampled surfaces. It also handles nonspherical volume kernels efficiently; hence, it is suitable for regular, rectilinear, and irregular volume datasets. Moreover, our framework introduces a novel approach to compute the footprint function, facilitating efficient perspective projection of arbitrary elliptical kernels at very little additional cost. Finally, we show that EWA volume reconstruction kernels can be reduced to surface reconstruction kernels. This makes our splat primitive universal in rendering surface and volume data.     

Parathyroid hormone leads to the lysosomal degradation of the renal type II Na/Pi cotransporter

We have studied the involvement of proteolytic pathways in the regulation of the Na/Pi cotransporter type II by parathyroid hormone (PTH) in opossum kidney cells. Inhibition of lysosomal degradation (by leupeptin, ammonium chloride, methylamine, chloroquine, L-methionine methyl ester) prevented the PTH-mediated degradation of the transporter, whereas inhibition of the proteasomal pathway (by lactacystin) did not. Moreover it was found (i) that whereas lysosomal inhibitors prevented the PTH-mediated degradation of the transporter they did not prevent the PTH-mediated inhibition of the Na/Pi cotransport and (ii) that treating opossum kidney cells with lysosomal inhibitors led to an increased expression of the transporter without any concomitant increase in the Na/Pi cotransport. Further analysis by subcellular fractionation and morphological techniques showed (i) that the Na/Pi cotransporter is constitutively transported to and degraded within late endosomes/lysosomes and (ii) that PTH leads to the increased degradation of the transporter in late endosomes/lysosomes.     

Consumer Evaluation of Genetic Information Online: The Role of Quality on Attitude and Behavioral Intentions

Health consumers have become increasingly interested in genetic information. This increasing consumer interest in genetic information is coupled with a growing trend in consumer uses of the Internet for health‐related purposes. Also, the number of websites providing health‐related information has grown dramatically. In the realm of genetics, the National Libraries of Medicine launched the Genetic Home Reference (GHR) web site with the goal of serving as an information resource on genetics for consumers. In this project, we examine the role of quality perceptions on attitude and behavioral intentions toward GHR. The study reveals that quality plays a key role in determining attitude and behavioral intentions toward GHR. The results provide the basis for making recommendations for health‐related information portals.     

Increased concentrations of transferrin in the urine and serum of cattle with cardiomyopathy

That some therapists engage in sexual misconduct with patients has been unequivocally established. In recent years, however, some patients' allegations of sexual misconduct have been determined to be false. This paper describes four cases in which hospitalized psychiatric patients made false allegations. Such allegations may result from patients' seeking to gain monetarily or in other ways or from a desire for retaliation or revenge against a clinician who they believe has scorned, abandoned, or otherwise mistreated them. In other cases, especially among patients with a history of severe trauma, a patient's psychopathology may be inadvertently stimulated by diagnostic, treatment, or milieu activities. The authors recommend specific institutional responses to allegations of sexual misconduct, such as forming a clinical investigative team, conducting a physical examination, and reporting the charge to outside agencies or investigators when appropriate. Because false claims can have disastrous effects on all involved, clinicians should understand the presentations of such claims and the motivations behind them, and institutions should carefully develop a set of procedures for responding to them.     

RS-17053 (N-[2-(2-cyclopropylmethoxyphenoxy)ethyl]-5-chloro-alpha, alpha-dimethyl-1H-indole-3-ethanamine hydrochloride), a selective alpha 1A-adrenoceptor antagonist, displays low affinity for functional alpha 1-adrenoceptors in human prostate: implications for adrenoceptor classification

Hereditary developmental abnormalities of the upper or lower limbs in humans are easily recognizable phenotypes that can be used in the mapping and cloning of genes involved in normal human development. We studied a large Indian pedigree (UR002) with an autosomal dominant triphalangeal thumb (TPT) and polysyndactyly (PSD). The abnormalities were present only in the upper limbs, and the phenotype was fully penetrant. The expression of the phenotype was variable and ranged from unilateral TPT to bilateral TPT, preaxial du-, tri-, or quadruplication of the thumb, or syndactyly of multiple thumbs. There were 112 affected individuals in the pedigree. Previous linkage analyses on apparently similar phenotypes have identified a locus at 7q36 [Heutink et al., 1994, Nature Genet 6:287-291; Tsukurov et al., 1994]. To map the gene responsible for the TPT-PSD in family UR002, we performed linkage analysis in DNA from 47 affected and 7 normal individuals. Marker D7S550, located at 7q36, yielded a maximum LOD score of 11.31 at theta = 0.00. Additional markers in the region also showed no recombination. These data indicate that the gene responsible for the hand abnormality in pedigree UR002 maps to the same region as that in previous pedigrees with similar phenotype. Further analyses of recombinants among all the linked families by using new polymorphic markers will narrow the critical genomic region and facilitate positional cloning of the elusive gene.     

Capacity-achieving ensembles for the binary erasure channel with bounded complexity

We present two sequences of ensembles of nonsystematic irregular repeat-accumulate (IRA) codes which asymptotically (as their block length tends to infinity) achieve capacity on the binary erasure channel (BEC) with bounded complexity per information bit. This is in contrast to all previous constructions of capacity-achieving sequences of ensembles whose complexity grows at least like the log of the inverse of the gap (in rate) to capacity. The new bounded complexity result is achieved by puncturing bits, and allowing in this way a sufficient number of state nodes in the Tanner graph representing the codes. We derive an information-theoretic lower bound on the decoding complexity of randomly punctured codes on graphs. The bound holds for every memoryless binary-input output-symmetric (MBIOS) channel and is refined for the binary erasure channel.