Handwritten word recognition with character and inter-characterneural networks

An off-line handwritten word recognition system is described. Images of handwritten words are matched to lexicons of candidate strings. A word image is segmented into primitives. The best match between sequences of unions of primitives and a lexicon string is found using dynamic programming. Neural networks assign match scores between characters and segments. Two particularly unique features are that neural networks assign confidence that pairs of segments are compatible with character confidence assignments and that this confidence is integrated into the dynamic programming. Experimental results are provided on data from the U.S. Postal Service.     

A study on sexual dysfunction in female patients with alcoholics

Few investigations have been made concerning hormonal changes and dyspareunia in fertile aged women with alcoholics experiencing sexual dysfunction. Twenty-seven Japanese woman with alcoholics under 40 years of age excluded with liver cirrhosis were studied to describe alcohol drinking related to sexual dysfunction. Among 21 sexually active women, 20(95.2%) had both symptoms of dyspareunia and vaginal dryness, and only one had neither symptom. Most of patients have lower estradiol levels and 92.0% of patients have the moderately elevated prolactin levels. Eleven of them were having the second grade amenorrhea associated with hyperprolactinemia and hypergonadotropic hypogonadism and 14 were having the first grade amenorrhea. In this study alcoholic abuse women may have deeply related to the hyperprolactinemia, dyspareunia, amenorrhoea, vaginal dryness, ovarian dysfunction and fetal alcohol syndrome.     

Indocyanine green: intracellular uptake and phototherapeutic effects in vitro

Indocyanine green (ICG; absorption peak in human plasma 805 nm) was investigated for ICG-mediated phototherapy in vitro. The cellular uptake of ICG (1 microM-50 microM) into HaCaT keratinocytes after an incubation period of 24 h increased up to an intracellular ICG concentration of 12.1 +/- 1.3 nmol per 10(6) cells. To examine dose dependent phototoxic effects in vitro, keratinocytes were incubated with 0 microM-50 microM ICG for 24 h and irradiated by a diode laser (805 nm) with different energy densities (0, 12, 24, 48 J cm-2). All applied ICG concentrations except for 5 microM yielded a cell killing effect in combination with irradiation depending significantly on ICG concentration and light dose. Cell viability for dark control and cells incubated with 50 microM ICG and irradiated with 48 J cm-2 was 0.82 +/- 0.15 and 0.07 +/- 0.02, respectively. Sodium azide (100 mM), a quencher of reactive oxygen species, inhibited significantly the cell killing using 50 microM ICG and 24 J cm-2. Taken together, photoactivation of ICG by irradiation with a diode laser was shown to induce effectively cell killing of HaCaT keratinocytes. Moreover, this effect was inhibited by sodium azide, thus irradiation of ICG might induce a photodynamic reaction.     

Amyloid beta-protein deposition in the leptomeninges and cerebral cortex

To further investigate the process of amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) deposition, we determined, using sensitive enzyme immunoassays, the levels of Abeta40 and Abeta42 (Abetas) in the soluble and insoluble fractions of the leptomeninges (containing arachnoid mater and leptomeningeal vessels) and cerebral cortices from elderly control subjects showing various stages of Abeta deposition and from patients affected by Alzheimer's disease (AD). In both locations, insoluble Abeta levels were higher by orders of magnitude than soluble Abeta levels. Soluble Abeta levels in cortices were much lower than those in leptomeninges. In insoluble Abeta in the cortex, Abeta42 was by far the predominant species, and Abeta42 in AD cortices was characterized by the highest degree of modifications in the amino terminus. In contrast, this Abeta42 predominance was not observed in insoluble Abeta in the leptomeninges, which were found to be able to accumulate Abetas to an extent similar to that in the cortex, on a weight basis. The levels of insoluble Abeta in the leptomeninges or cortex generally correlated with the degree of cerebral amyloid angiopathy or the abundance of senile plaque, respectively. However, the presence of plaque-free cortical samples showing significant levels of insoluble Abeta42 suggests that biochemically detectable Abeta accumulation precedes immunocytochemically detectable Abeta deposition in the cortex.     

Incidence of Lightspeed separation and the potential for bypassing

It is important for endodontic instruments to have a low fracture rate. If a fracture does occur, it would be desirable to have the ability to bypass the broken segment and complete the root canal treatment. One hundred sixty-two root canals in 52 maxillary and mandibular first molars were cleaned and shaped with Lightspeed instruments by three endodontists in their private practices. The canals were instrumented using the technique recommended by the manufacturer. All canals were instrumented to at least a size 45 at the working length. Six instruments separated during treatment. All six had been used more times than recommended by the manufacturer. Five of the six were easily bypassed and treatment completed.     

The information-theoretic capacity of discrete-time queues

The information-theoretic capacity of continuous-time queues was analyzed recently by Anantharam and Verdu (see ibid. vol.42, p.4-18, 1996). Along similar lines, we analyze the information-theoretic capacity of two models of discrete-time queues. The first model has single packet arrivals and departures in a time slot and independent packet service times, and is the discrete-time analog of the continuous-time model analyzed by Anantharam and Verdu. We show that in this model, the geometric service time distribution plays a role analogous to that of the exponential distribution in continuous-time queues, in that, among all queues in this model with a given mean service time, the queue with geometric service time distribution has the least capacity. The second model allows multiple arrivals in each slot, and the queue is modeled as serving an independent random number of packets in each slot. We obtain upper and lower bounds on the capacity of queues with an arbitrary service distribution within this model, and show that the bounds coincide in the case of the queue that serves a geometrically distributed number of packets in each slot. We also discuss the extremal nature of the geometric service distribution within this model     

Adiabatic couplers: design rules and optimization

Explicit analytic design rules are derived for both 3 dB and full adiabatic couplers. The design rules are in excellent agreement with numerical calculations using the beam propagation method (BPM). It is shown that the length scaling for 3 dB couplers compared to full couplers makes the former more difficult to design. The design for each case is optimized to obtain the upper limit of performance and a comparison is carried out between two different design geometries for both 3 dB and full adiabatic couplers