In vivo assessment of the efficacy of an innovative face care system in subjects with mild acne vulgaris

The purpose of our studies was to verify efficacy and skin compatibility of a medical face care system containing 2% lactic acid (LA) as active ingredient in a specially designed vehicle (Follicle Targeting System) in adult subjects with mild acne vulgaris. The first study (46 patients) demonstrated superiority of 2% LA in comparison to 2% salicylic acid with respect to number of comedones and inflammatory lesions. The second study evaluated 90 patients receiving distinct combinations of face care products (Eucerin) Impure Skin, Hamburg, Germany), i.e. cleansing gel, facial tonic (2% LA) and cream gel (2% LA). All treatments were performed twice daily over a 12 weeks period. Lesion counts, cyanoacrylate biopsies and determination of quality of life by questionnaires were performed at different timepoints. A reduction of comedones by 56% corresponding to an 46% increase of quality of life index was demonstrated in patients applying cleansing gel, facial tonic and cream gel. For the first time we were able to show a significant improvement concerning the quality of life after using a new face care line. Especially adults with mild forms of acne may benefit from this effective skin care regimen.     

Statistical region merging

This paper explores a statistical basis for a process often described in computer vision: image segmentation by region merging following a particular order in the choice of regions. We exhibit a particular blend of algorithmics and statistics whose segmentation error is, as we show, limited from both the qualitative and quantitative standpoints. This approach can be efficiently approximated in linear time/space, leading to a fast segmentation algorithm tailored to processing images described using most common numerical pixel attribute spaces. The conceptual simplicity of the approach makes it simple to modify and cope with hard noise corruption, handle occlusion, authorize the control of the segmentation scale, and process unconventional data such as spherical images. Experiments on gray-level and color images, obtained with a short readily available C-code, display the quality of the segmentations obtained.     

Rheologische eigenschaften für isotrope linear-viskoelastische kompositmaterialien

The article describes a method of determining the rheological properties which are associated with an uniaxial state of stress on an isotropic two phase material. It is assumed that the composite is composed of particles in a continuous matrix. Both phases are linear viscoelastic and the contact between them is supposed to be perfect. The method is demonstrated in examples concerning cement and asphalt concrete. Among other things, the influence of aggregate on the creep function and the complex Young's modulus is examined.

Zusammenfassung

Eine Methode zur Bestimmung der rheologischen Eigenschaften eines isotropen Materials unter einachsigem Spannungszustand, das sich aus zwei Phasen zusammensetzt, wird beschrieben. Es wird angenommen, daβ das System aus diskreten Teilchen in einer zusammenhängenden Matrix besteht. Beide Phasen seien linear viskoelastisc und seien vollkommen mit einander verbunden. Die Brauchbarkeit der Methode wird beispielhaft an Zement- und Asphaltbeton aufgezeigt. Unter anderem wird der Einfluβ des Zuschlages auf das Kriechen und auf den komplexen Elastizitätsmodul untersucht.     

Selecting informative data for developing peptide-MHC binding predictors using a query by committee approach

Strategies for selecting informative data points for training prediction algorithms are important, particularly when data points are difficult and costly to obtain. A Query by Committee (QBC) training strategy for selecting new data points uses the disagreement between a committee of different algorithms to suggest new data points, which most rationally complement existing data, that is, they are the most informative data points. In order to evaluate this QBC approach on a real-world problem, we compared strategies for selecting new data points. We trained neural network algorithms to obtain methods to predict the binding affinity of peptides binding to the MHC class I molecule, HLA-A2. We show that the QBC strategy leads to a higher performance than a baseline strategy where new data points are selected at random from a pool of available data. Most peptides bind HLA-A2 with a low affinity, and as expected using a strategy of selecting peptides that are predicted to have high binding affinities also lead to more accurate predictors than the base line strategy. The QBC value is shown to correlate with the measured binding affinity. This demonstrates that the different predictors can easily learn if a peptide will fail to bind, but often conflict in predicting if a peptide binds. Using a carefully constructed computational setup, we demonstrate that selecting peptides with a high QBC performs better than low QBC peptides independently from binding affinity. When predictors are trained on a very limited set of data they cannot be expected to disagree in a meaningful way and we find a data limit below which the QBC strategy fails. Finally, it should be noted that data selection strategies similar to those used here might be of use in other settings in which generation of more data is a costly process.     

Comparison of methods for determination of microbial biomass in wastewater

Microbial biomass in wastewater was determined by methods used in environmental microbiology and by a method used in wastewater engineering based on a conceptual model simulating fundamental microbial processes in wastewater from measured oxygen uptake rates. The methods originating from environmental microbiology are based on staining and counting of cells for the determination of total cell biomass (acridine orange and DAPI), physiological state of cells (LIVE/DEAD BacLight) and activity of cells (reduction of the redox dye CTC and microautoradiography). Depending on the staining method applied, cell biomasses yielded 15-86% of the biomass defined by the model, and good correlations between cell biomass and model biomass were found. Cell biomass, oxygen uptake and acetate uptake were measured in wastewater, where acetate was added. Substrate uptake rates were found not to be proportional to the increases in cell biomass, suggesting that only a small fraction of the cell biomass was responsible for the main part of the substrate uptake. Despite the differences found between cell biomass and model biomass, it was recommended to use the conceptual model as an engineering tool for simulation of microbial processes and wastewater quality changes. However, there should be a clear distinction between the terms 'model biomass', 'cell biomass' and different activity measurements of cells.     

The dimensional nature of disturbed dreaming: Reply to Weiss (2007).

The authors' proposed model of nightmare formation (see record 2007-06095-006) withstands several criticisms raised in an accompanying commentary article (D. S. Weiss, 2007; see record 2007-06095-007). A principal criticism, that the model lacks convergent and divergent validity, appears to stem from the commenter's application of a strong categorical, as opposed to the authors' use of a dimensional, approach to the model/construct of nightmares. Furthermore, ongoing research continues to support the authors' assumptions about the basic relationship between nightmares and affect distress. Other criticisms of the model, including a failure to account for robust epidemiological differences in nightmares and an ambiguity in the concept of affect distress, are also countered by reference to relevant research findings. A robust gender difference in nightmares (women = men) is particularly compatible with studies demonstrating gender differences in emotion among the physiological and cognitive systems that the authors propose are centrally implicated in nightmare formation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of Iron on Chemical Sulfide Oxidation in Wastewater from Sewer Networks

Effects of iron on the kinetics and stoichiometry of aerobic chemical sulfide oxidation in wastewater from two different sites were studied at pH 8 and 20°C. Iron(III) chloride was added to the wastewater in concentrations of up to 20?g?Fe?m?3. The rate of aerobic chemical sulfide oxidation increased linearly with the iron(III) additions resulting in equal effects with wastewater from the two sites. Despite the significant effect of the iron(III) additions, the background concentrations of iron cannot explain the significant temporal and spatial variability of aerobic chemical sulfide oxidation kinetics reported in this study and in the literature. In this respect, other metals are probably also important. In addition to the impacts on the oxidation kinetics, the iron(III) additions resulted in a change of the oxidation stoichiometry. With increasing amounts of iron(III) added to the wastewater, less dissolved oxygen was required for the sulfide oxidation.     

Determining the finite elasticity reference state from a loaded configuration

There are a number of situations where the deformed configuration of a body is known and it is necessary to determine the reference state. Previous methods developed to calculate the reference state involve the formulation of the finite elasticity equations in terms of the deformed configuration. This paper demonstrates that the undeformed reference state can be accurately determined from a deformed configuration and the associated loading conditions, by using conventional finite elasticity balance equations together with a solution procedure that treats the reference configuration as the unknowns. The mathematical theory behind the solution method is described, validated with an analytical solution, and verified using experimental studies on gel phantoms. The practical utility of this method is then demonstrated in the field of breast biomechanics. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A unifying framework for automatic and semi-automatic segmentation of vertebrae from radiographs using sample-driven active shape models

Segmentation of vertebral contours is an essential task in the design of imaging biomarkers for osteoporosis based on vertebra shape or texture. In this paper, we propose a novel automatic segmentation technique which can optionally be constrained by the user. The proposed technique solves the segmentation problem in a hierarchical manner. In the first phase, a coarse estimate of the overall spine alignment and the vertebra locations is computed using a sampling scheme. These samples are used to initialize a second phase of active shape model search, under a nonlinear model of vertebra appearance. The search is constrained by a conditional shape model, based on the variability of the coarse spine location estimates. In supplement, we describe an approach for manual initialization of the segmentation procedure as a simple set of constraints on the fully automatic technique. The technique is evaluated on a data base of 157 manually annotated lumbar radiographs, resulting in a final mean point-to-contour error of $0.81~\pm ~0.98$  mm for automatic segmentation. The results outperform the previous work in automatic vertebra segmentation in terms of both segmentation accuracy and failure rate, offering a both automatic and semi-automatic approach in one unifying framework.