Expect the worse or hope for the best? Prenatal diagnosis of geleophysic dysplasia

Geleophysic dysplasia is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder which causes disproportionate short stature associated with severe physical handicaps, but is compatible with survival into adulthood. We present a case, a first-born child, where genetic counselling difficulties arose following ultrasound recognition of short-limbed dwarfism in association with polyhydramnios and an initial incorrect prenatal diagnosis of lethal chondrodysplasia. After birth of the surviving affected infant, the parents had great difficulty accepting that there had been a prenatal misdiagnosis and they were greatly disappointed by our inability to predict the postnatal survival of an infant to whom no hope of life had previously been given. The correct diagnosis was not made until the proband was nearly 1 year old, and the true prognosis then became clearer. This experience underlines the relative ease of prenatal recognition of skeletal growth abnormalities compared with the considerable difficulties experienced in reaching a precise diagnosis. Thus, following prenatal diagnosis of unspecified chondrodysplasia when parents seek definite information about the prognosis, the temptation to be either overpessimistic or overoptimistic should be avoided.     

Does stress lead to a loss of team perspective?

One of the more well-established findings in the research literature is that stress leads to a restriction or narrowing of attentional focus. In the present study, we extend this research to the group context. We propose that, in a team environment, the narrowing of attention induced by stress may result in a shift in perspective from a broad team perspective to a more narrow or individualistic self-focus, and this loss of team perspective may result in degraded team performance. The results of an empirical study found that stress resulted in a narrowing of team perspective and that team perspective was a significant predictor of team performance. Moreover, when the effects of team perspective were controlled, the effects of stress on team performance were substantially weakened. These results suggest that one way in which stress impacts team performance is by narrowing or weakening the team-level perspective required for effective team behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vaccination for experimental gliomas using GM-CSF-transduced glioma cells

Within the pituitary, folliculostellate (FS) cells are considered to regulate the intercellular communication between endocrine cells by paracrine mechanisms. One of the possible paracrine factors involved, could be interleukin-6 (IL-6) which is produced by these cells. Since IL-6 has been shown to be a growth factor of pituitary cells, we have determined whether IL-6 can also influence FS cell proliferation. To test this, a FS cell-like mouse pituitary cell line (TtT/GF cells) was used that exhibits most characteristics of normal FS cells. Under serum-free conditions the proliferation of TtT/GF cells is critically dependent on the initial seeding density: cells seeded at low density do not grow at all whereas cells seeded at high density proliferate with maximal doubling times of 34 hrs. Mouse IL-6 (mIL-6) stimulated only low density cell cultures in a dose and time dependent manner. For cells seeded at high density, exogenously added IL-6 may have failed to stimulate growth because of endogenously produced mIL-6. Conditioned medium from TtT/GF cells, in which mIL-6 concentrations up to 1017 pg/ml were measured, stimulated the proliferation of TtT/GF cells, indicating an autocrine growth stimulatory mechanism. A neutralizing mIL-6 antibody partially suppressed the growth of TtT/GF cells seeded at high density and partially reduced the growth stimulatory activity of TtT/GF conditioned medium. Thus, IL-6 is one but not the only factor that is involved in the autocrine growth stimulatory loop. The relevance of this mechanism for normal FS cells and its physiological consequence needs to be elucidated.     

Fine-Particle Ethylcellulose as a Tablet Binder in Direct Compression, Immediate-Release Tablets

Ethylcellulose has traditionally been used in tablets as a binder in an alcohol solution form. In the present study, fine-particle ethylcellulose (FPEC) was used as a binder to manufacture immediate-release tablets by the direct compression technique. The binding potential of FPEC is compared to that of commercially available coarse-particle ethylcellulose at the same viscosity grade and to that of hydrophilic binders. The compression force setting was kept constant for all batches. The concentration of the binder was varied from 5% to 25%. Acetaminophen was used as a model drug because capping is a problem frequently observed during high-speed compaction and further processing of acetaminophen tablets. In this study, there would be an increase in the contact area with FPEC and hence greater bond formation. This greater bond formation should be able to reduce the problem of capping in tablets containing highly elastic materials such as acetaminophen. Tablets were evaluated based on the following tests: weight variation, extent of capping, hardness, friability, disintegration, and dissolution. Based on the results of these tests, FPEC proved to be an effective binder for directly compressed acetaminophen tablets. The 10% and 15% formulations of FPEC passed all the tests and also produced the hardest tablets.     

An improvement to the interacting multiple model (IMM) algorithm

Computing the optimal conditional mean state estimate for a jump Markov linear system requires exponential complexity, and hence, practical filtering algorithms are necessarily suboptimal. In the target tracking literature, suboptimal multiple-model filtering algorithms, such as the interacting multiple model (IMM) method and generalized pseudo-Bayesian (GPB) schemes, are widely used for state estimation of such systems. We derive a reweighted interacting multiple model algorithm. Although the IMM algorithm is an approximation of the conditional mean state estimator, our algorithm is a recursive implementation of a maximum a posteriori (MAP) state sequence estimator. This MAP estimator is an instance of a previous version of the EM algorithm known as the alternating expectation conditional maximization (AECM) algorithm. Computer simulations indicate that the proposed reweighted IMM algorithm is a competitive alternative to the popular IMM algorithm and GPB methods     

Application of Linear Scheduling

Many projects, such as the construction of roadways, pipelines, and high‐rise buildings, involve repetitive activities. A method for scheduling such work, the Linear Scheduling Method (LSM) is presented. In an LSM schedule, the repetitive activities are plotted as lines of constant or varying slopes on two axes, distance versus time. Discrete activities may be shown at their appropriate times and locations and then referenced to a network schedule for additional detail. The Linear Scheduling Method is illustrated by applying it to an actual roadway construction project. The simplicity of the system and advantages for certain types of projects are revealed. A sample schedule is used to derive information that is comparable to what may be obtained from an equivalent CPM network.     

Exploring the connections among job accessibility, employment, income, and auto ownership using structural equation modeling

Using structural equation modeling, this study empirically examines the connections between job accessibility, workers per capita, income per capita, and autos per capita at the aggregate level with year 2000 census tract data in Sacramento County, CA. Under the specification of the conceptual model, the model implied covariance matrix exhibits a reasonably good fit to the observed covariance matrix. The direct and total effects are largely consistent with theory and/or with empirical observations across a variety of geographic contexts. It is demonstrated that structural equation modeling is a powerful tool for capturing the endogeneity among job accessibility, employment, income, and auto ownership.     

Marketing quality differentiated power

A panel discussion sponsored by the Marketing Task Force of the Demand Side Subcommittee is summarized. The panel discussed customers' growing needs for electrical services with different levels of quality and utilities' response to this change in the market. Panel members included a consumer, technical experts, and marketing experts. The discussion is particularly important to utility personnel and marketing professionals interested in marketing solutions to power quality problems     

On‐line multivariate optimization of injection molding

An auxiliary process controller was designed, implemented, and validated for on‐line process and quality optimization. The objective function included terms related to the process variation, model uncertainty, and control energy. The controller architecture relied on characterized models including both process transfer functions and principal components analysis to perform on‐line optimization in parallel with the physical molding process. New process and quality observations were input to the controller to update the models and provided new settings for the machine controller. Experimentation included characterization with a D‐optimal design of experiments followed by a validation to measure the controller's performance with respect to controller stability, extrinsic material variation, cycle time reduction, and other common manufacturing goals. In every case, the controller was able to reduce the value of the objective function while also improving the part dimensions relative to tight tolerance specifications. While characterization experiments could be costly, the use of the resulting process models greatly speeds convergence and facilitates the consideration of various cost and quality terms in the objective function. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:2743–2750, 2015. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Accelerated development of CuSbS2 thin film photovoltaic device prototypes

Development of alternative thin film photovoltaic technologies is an important research topic because of the potential of low‐cost, high‐efficiency solar cells to produce terawatt levels of clean power. However, this development of unexplored yet promising absorbers can be hindered by complications that arise during solar cell fabrication. Here, a high‐throughput combinatorial method is applied to accelerate development of photovoltaic devices, in this case, using the novel CuSbS₂ absorber via a newly developed three‐stage self‐regulated growth process to control absorber purity and orientation. Photovoltaic performance of the absorber, using the typical substrate CuIn_xGa_{1 − x}Se₂ (CIGS) device architecture, is explored as a function of absorber quality and thickness using a variety of back contacts. This study yields CuSbS₂ device prototypes with ~1% conversion efficiency, suggesting that the optimal CuSbS₂ device fabrication parameters and contact selection criteria are quite different than for CIGS, despite the similarity of these two absorbers. The CuSbS₂ device efficiency is at present limited by low short‐circuit current because of bulk recombination related to defects, and a small open‐circuit voltage because of a theoretically predicted cliff‐type conduction band offset between CuSbS₂ and CdS. Overall, these results illustrate both the potential and limits of combinatorial methods to accelerate the development of thin film photovoltaic devices using novel absorbers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.