Pattern recognition of sleep in rodents using piezoelectric signals generated by gross body movements

Current research on sleep using experimental animals is limited by the expense and time-consuming nature of traditional EEG/EMG recordings. We present here an alternative, noninvasive approach utilizing piezoelectric films configured as highly sensitive motion detectors. These film strips attached to the floor of the rodent cage produce an electrical output in direct proportion to the distortion of the material. During sleep, movement associated with breathing is the predominant gross body movement and, thus, output from the piezoelectric transducer provided an accurate respiratory trace during sleep. During wake, respiratory movements are masked by other motor activities. An automatic pattern recognition system was developed to identify periods of sleep and wake using the piezoelectric generated signal. Due to the complex and highly variable waveforms that result from subtle postural adjustments in the animals, traditional signal analysis techniques were not sufficient for accurate classification of sleep versus wake. Therefore, a novel pattern recognition algorithm was developed that successfully distinguished sleep from wake in approximately 95% of all epochs. This algorithm may have general utility for a variety of signals in biomedical and engineering applications. This automated system for monitoring sleep is noninvasive, inexpensive, and may be useful for large-scale sleep studies including genetic approaches towards understanding sleep and sleep disorders, and the rapid screening of the efficacy of sleep or wake promoting drugs.     

Human Adenovirus Type 5 Infection Leads to Nuclear Envelope Destabilization and Membrane Permeability Independently of Adenovirus Death Protein

The human adenovirus type 5 (HAdV5) infects epithelial cells of the upper and lower respiratory tract. The virus causes lysis of infected cells and thus enables spread of progeny virions to neighboring cells for the next round of infection. The mechanism of adenovirus virion egress across the nuclear barrier is not known. The human adenovirus death protein (ADP) facilitates the release of virions from infected cells and has been hypothesized to cause membrane damage. Here, we set out to answer whether ADP does indeed increase nuclear membrane damage. We analyzed the nuclear envelope morphology using a combination of fluorescence and state-of-the-art electron microscopy techniques, including serial block-face scanning electron microscopy and electron cryo-tomography of focused ion beam-milled cells. We report multiple destabilization phenotypes of the nuclear envelope in HAdV5 infection. These include reduction of lamin A/C at the nuclear envelope, large-scale membrane invaginations, alterations in double membrane separation distance and small-scale membrane protrusions. Additionally, we measured increased nuclear membrane permeability and detected nuclear envelope lesions under cryoconditions. Unexpectedly, and in contrast to previous hypotheses, ADP did not have an effect on lamin A/C reduction or nuclear permeability.     

Untersuchungen an enzymatisch modifizierten verzweigten Polysacchariden I. Sternpolymere aus Glykogen und Amylopektin mit phosphorolytisch verlängerten Zweigen

Studies on Enzymatically Modified Branched Polysaccharides. I. Star-shaped Polymers with Glycogen and Amylopectin Containing Branches Elongated by Phorsphorylase. Star-shaped glycogen and amylopectin molecules containing branches elongated with potato phosphorylase are characterized by light scattering and viscosity measurements, iodine binding properties and retrogradation rate in aqueous solution. Suitable methods for the evaluation of number and lengths of newly synthesized branches are discussed. It was found that potato phosphorylase utilizes only 15–20 of the glycogen end groups whereas all of the amylopectin end groups are available for synthesis. An increase in retrogradation rate and dichroic absorption of the iodine complex with decreasing branch lengths was observed as for free amylose.     

MUMPS as a host language for AIDA

In this contribution, the main characteristics of MUMPS, the host language of AIDA, are briefly discussed. This is basically an introductory text for readers who had had no previous experience with MUMPS, on the programming side. After a short introduction, its history is summarized. Then the language itself is introduced and illustrated with examples; for the sake of brevity not all commands, functions and other features are discussed. In the next section, an introduction to MUMPS' stronghold is given: the database structure. Finally, we give the main reasons why we have chosen MUMPS as AIDA's host language. In the appendices, attention is given to the language standardization process, the visibility of MUMPS and its availability, sources of further information and the most important text books on MUMPS (in English).     

Improvement of the efficiency of triple junction n-i-p solar cells with hot-wire CVD proto- and microcrystalline silicon absorber layers

Hot-wire chemical vapour deposition (HWCVD) was applied for the deposition of intrinsic protocrystalline (proto-Si:H) and microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) absorber layers in thin film solar cells. For a single junction μc-Si:H n-i-p cell on a Ag/ZnO textured back reflector (TBR) with a 2.0 μm i-layer, an 8.5% efficiency was obtained, which showed to be stable after 750 h of light-soaking. The short-circuit current density (J_sc) of this cell was 23.4 mA/cm², with a high open-circuit voltage (V_oc) and fill factor (FF) of 0.545 V and 0.67.Triple junction n-i-p cells were deposited using proto-Si:H, plasma-deposited proto-SiGe:H and μc-Si:H as top, middle and bottom cell absorber layers. With Ag/ZnO TBR's from our lab and United Solar Ovonic LLC, respective initial efficiencies of 10.45% (2.030 V, 7.8 mA/cm², 0.66) and 10.50% (2.113 V, 7.4 mA/cm², 0.67) were achieved.     

Reinigung der Phosphorylase aus Kartoffeln

Purification of Phosphorylase from Potatoes. Phosphorylase (α-1.4-glucane: orthophosphate glucosyl transferase E.C.2.4.1.1.) was isolated from potatoes by means of five purification steps with 40 % yield in a concentration of 87 times as strong as the original one with a specific activity of 7.0 E/mg protein. By adding Na₂S₂O₄ and by inactivation of the phenoloxidases by means of NaCN the melanine formation during the purification process was made impossible. α-Amylase, which is especially irritating with examinations of phosphorolytic degradation was separated by a heat step (50 min, 56 °C, pH 7.0). The phenoloxidases were separated by means of ion-exchanger chromatography with DEAE-cellulose (0.1 M KCl). The colourless enzyme, which remains stable for months at 0–5 °C is constant in its molecular weight according to tests with gel- permeation-chromatography (Sephadex G-200) and in the ultra centrifuge. In the gel-electrophosphoresis the enzyme moves as a uniform peak.     

Wall thickening at rest and contractile reserve early after myocardial infarction: correlation with myocardial perfusion and metabolism

BACKGROUND: Abnormalities in wall thickening and their reaction to stimulation can be studied by magnetic resonance imaging. OBJECTIVE: To analyse the relationship between these abnormalities and changes in myocardial perfusion and fatty acid metabolism. METHODS: Fifteen patients with a myocardial infarction underwent low-dose dobutamine magnetic resonance imaging to assess their wall thickening and contractile reserve, and technetium-99m sestamibi (MIBI) and beta-methyl-iodophenyl-pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) single-photon emission tomography to assess their myocardial perfusion and fatty acid uptake. For nine segments per patient, the wall thickening was scored as normal, hypokinetic or akinetic, and the myocardial perfusion as normal (> 65%), mildly to moderately reduced (35-65%) or severely reduced (< 35%). Abnormalities in fatty acid uptake were compared with the myocardial perfusion and defined as matched (difference < or = 10%) or mismatched (difference > 10%) reduction. RESULTS: Thirty-four segments had abnormal wall thickening (13 hypokinetic and 21 akinetic). The wall thickening at rest was significantly related to the uptake of MIBI (P < 0.001), but not to abnormalities in the uptake of BMIPP. All of the akinetic segments had an abnormal uptake of MIBI (15 severely and six mildly to moderately reduced), whereas 7 of 13 hypokinetic segments had a normal and five a midly to moderately reduced uptake. A significant relationship between abnormalities of fatty acid metabolism and the contractile reserve was also found (P < 0.002): 14 of 16 segments with and only six of 18 without contractile reserve had a mismatched reduction in uptakes of MIBI and BMIPP. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the relationship between the wall thickening at rest and the residual perfusion after infarction. On the other hand, the contractile reserve, which is an accepted indicator of the viability of the infarct region, is associated strongly with abnormalities of fatty acid metabolism.     

A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship between attentional bias and subjective craving in substance abuse.

Theoretical models of addiction suggest that attentional bias for substance-related cues should be associated with self-reported craving. The authors evaluated the strength of the association by performing a meta-analysis on 68 independent data sets from which correlation coefficients between subjective craving and attentional bias indices were derived. Additional stratified analyses were conducted to identify any variables that might moderate the association between craving and attentional bias. The primary meta-analysis indicated a significant, albeit weak (r = .19), association between attentional bias and craving. Stratified analyses revealed that the association was larger for illicit drug and caffeine craving than for alcohol and tobacco craving, larger for direct measures of attention (eye movement measures and event-related potential measures) than for indirect behavioral measures of attentional bias, and larger when craving strength was high than when it was low (all ps     

Generation of wave digital structures for networks containing multiport elements

Most standard wave digital filters are derived from passive reference circuits, where only parallel and serial connections between one-port elements occur. In this paper, a framework for the automated generation of the wave digital structures is presented, where the reference circuit is assumed to comprise arbitrary connection types. It is shown how the representation of the underlying graph by its so-called SPQR-tree is related to a suitable adaptor structure and how this concept can be generalized to also cope with networks containing certain multiport elements. We propose two different novel approaches to finding a valid tree representation from a given reference circuit. The first approach relies on the usage of apt replacement graphs for the multiport elements. The second one is based on searches for circles on suitably constructed graph representations and generates wave digital structures with minimum implementation effort even in presence of nonreciprocal elements. In both approaches, standard separation algorithms with known efficient implementations can be applied.     

A test of the set disruption interpretation of perceptual defense.

Trained 16 male undergraduates to the affective signal value of 2 symbols. 1 symbol served as a signal for taboo words, and the other as a signal for neutral words. Results show that when words in the test phase were preceded by the taboo signal, a higher recognition threshold was obtained than when words were preceded by a neutral signal. This effect was found to be independent of the affect of the word that followed the signal. Results are interpreted as casting doubt on the possibility that data supporting perceptual defense can be interpreted on the basis of some form of set disruption. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)