Cognitive-behavioral therapy of panic disorder with secondary major depression: A preliminary investigation.

Controlled studies indicate that cognitive-behavioral therapy eliminates panic attacks in greater than 80% of patients who suffer from panic disorder. However, because most of the screening procedures used in those studies called for excluding patients who were depressed, a question arises as to the extent to which these results apply to patients who are clinically depressed in addition to having panic attacks. An attempt was made in the present study to determine whether or not panic patients who are clinically depressed could be treated as successfully as those who are not clinically depressed. Two multiple baseline A-A–1-A-B across-Ss designs were used, 1 to test 8 panic Ss with major depression and the 2nd to test 7 panic Ss without major depression. In baseline (A), Ss monitored their panic attacks daily. During the A–1 phase, a program of information on panic attacks presented as psychotherapy was instituted to assess the effects of nonspecific factors, followed by a 2nd baseline phase (A). Cognitive-behavioral therapy (B) was then introduced. Results showed that cognitive-behavioral therapy was significantly superior to information-based therapy in the reduction of panic attacks. No significant differences were found between depressed and nondepressed patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Optimization of accelerated solvent extraction for polyhalogenated dibenzo-p-dioxins and benzo-p-furans in mineral and environmental matrixes using experimental designs

This paper deals with the optimization of accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) for the analysis of the polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, benzo-p-furans (PCDD/Fs), mixed bromine/chlorine-dibenzo-p-dioxins, and benzo-p-furans (so-called MXDD/Fs) in solid samples. Previous theoretical studies have shown that these compounds exhibit similar electronic properties. It is reasonable to assume that there is little difference in the behavior, formation, and toxicity of PCDD/Fs and MXDD/Fs. Indeed, for most of the cases, the affinity is defined by these weak interactions. Only eight native standards are available for the MXDD/Fs; hence, the use of similar compounds (native and (13)C(12)-labeled), such as PCDD/Fs, is required to optimize and to validate experimental methods. This would allow conclusions to be applied for the MXDD/Fs without extended studies involving complex synthesis methods. Experimental design methodology was used to evaluate the influence of five parameters (temperature, pressure, static time, number of cycles, and solvent nature) on the polyhalogenated dibenzodioxin and -furan (PXDD/Fs) extractions in different materials. The extraction profiles and the optimal operating conditions were determined for each matrix from the modeling of extraction performance. The two following effects, the relative peak area and the co-extracted matrix (CEM), were screened in this study. The temperature of extraction was found to be the most important parameter. ASE offers automation and appears to be as efficient as Soxhlet or Soxtet; however, a major benefit was that a 4-fold decrease in extraction time was obtained. Results suggest that extraction efficiency was quantitative with extraction times as low as 15 min for all congeners at 130 degrees C with a mixed solvent (n-hexane/acetone (1/1)). Under these operating conditions, the CEM and the degradation of the highly brominated compounds were minimized. The analysis of some real life samples from municipal solid waste incinerators showed significant amounts of PXDD/Fs.     

Identification of continuous-time errors-in-variables models

A novel direct approach for identifying continuous-time linear dynamic errors-in-variables models is presented in this paper. The effects of the noise on the state-variable filter outputs are analyzed. Subsequently, a few algorithms to obtain consistent continuous-time parameter estimates in the errors-in-variables framework are derived. It is also possible to design search-free algorithms within our framework. The algorithms can be used for non-uniformly sampled data. The asymptotic distributions of the estimates are derived. The performances of the proposed algorithms are illustrated with some numerical simulation examples.     

A biomimetic robot for tracking specific odors in turbulent plumes

Two basic tasks must be performed by an olfactory robot tracking a specific odor source: navigate in a turbulent odor plume and recognize an odor regardless of its concentration. For these two tasks, we propose simple biologically inspired strategies, well suited for building dedicated circuits and for on-board implementation on real robots. The odor recognition system is based on a spiking neural network using a synchronization coding scheme. The robot navigation system is based on the use of bilateral comparison between two spatially separated gas sensors arrays at either side of the robot. We propose binary or analog navigation laws depending on the nature of the available sensory information extracted from the plume structure (isolated odor patches or smoother concentration field). Dominique Martinez received his PhD degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France, in 1992. He was a post-doctoral fellow at MIT, Dept. Brain and Cog. Sciences, and Harvard, VLSI group, in Cambridge, MA, USA, in 1992 and 1994, respectively. From 1993 to 1999 he worked at LAAS-CNRS in Toulouse where his research interests were concerned with machine learning (artificial neural networks, support vector machines). In 2000 he joined LORIA in Nancy and his research interests currently focus on biologically-plausible spiking neural networks for sensory processing, with particular application to artificial olfaction (neuromorphic electronic noses). Olivier Rochel obtained his PhD from the LORIA/Université H. Poincaré, in Nancy, France, where he was working on modelling large and complex networks of biological neurons, and bio-inspired robotics. Now working in the Biosystems Group at the university of Leeds, his research interests lie in multi-disciplinary studies in computational neuroscience, modelling and simulation techniques in general, and biological data analysis. Etienne Hugues has received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Paris XI University (Orsay). He has been a postdoctoral researcher at INRIA where he worked on olfactory perception in animals and robots. He is now a postdoctoral researcher in the Physics Department of SUNY at Buffalo. His main research interest is in computational neuroscience.     

Sex Dimorphism of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in Pparg-Null Mice

Men with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are more exposed to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and liver fibrosis than women. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of NALFD sex dimorphism are unclear. We combined gene expression, histological and lipidomic analyses to systematically compare male and female liver steatosis. We characterized hepatosteatosis in three independent mouse models of NAFLD, ob/ob and lipodystrophic fat-specific (PpargF^Δ/Δ) and whole-body PPARγ-null (Pparg^Δ/Δ) mice. We identified a clear sex dimorphism occurring only in Pparg^Δ/Δ mice, with females showing macro- and microvesicular hepatosteatosis throughout their entire life, while males had fewer lipid droplets starting from 20 weeks. This sex dimorphism in hepatosteatosis was lost in gonadectomized Pparg^Δ/Δ mice. Lipidomics revealed hepatic accumulation of short and highly saturated TGs in females, while TGs were enriched in long and unsaturated hydrocarbon chains in males. Strikingly, sex-biased genes were particularly perturbed in both sexes, affecting lipid metabolism, drug metabolism, inflammatory and cellular stress response pathways. Most importantly, we found that the expression of key sex-biased genes was severely affected in all the NAFLD models we tested. Thus, hepatosteatosis strongly affects hepatic sex-biased gene expression. With NAFLD increasing in prevalence, this emphasizes the urgent need to specifically address the consequences of this deregulation in humans.     

ILES of flow over low-rise buildings: Influence of inflow conditions on the quality of the mean pressure distribution prediction

The paper presents an analysis of the deformation of the horizontal velocity profile in the flow approaching low-rise buildings for large eddy simulation on coarse grids. Build-up of velocity near the ground is observed as a consequence of momentum transfer from the outer flow to the ground level due to the fluctuating flow field. As a remedy, reduction of the turbulence intensity at the inflow boundary of the computational domain with respect to the experimental values is studied. The observation is that accurate prediction of the mean pressure distribution on the building surface is obtained when the inlet turbulence is reduced such that the deformation of the velocity profile in the flow approaching the building becomes small. For reliable mean pressure prediction, it is best not to reduce the inlet turbulence more than the minimum necessary to obtain a good velocity profile in the approaching flow.     

Dielectric properties of epoxy/montmorillonite nanocomposites and nanostructured epoxy/SiO2/Montmorillonite Microcomposites

Composites reinforced with microparticles using a polymer matrix reinforced by nanoparticles represent a new emerging class of materials. Epoxy composites have been prepared using quartz as microfillers and organically modified Montmorillonite as nanofillers in order to study the dielectric properties of such new materials. The structure of the composites as determined by transmission electron microscopy, is neither exfoliated nor intercalated, although the thickness of C30B stacks is in the nanometric range. The influence of nano‐ and microparticles on epoxy matrix amorphous structure has been highlighted through Differential Scanning Calorimetry experiments. C30B has not effect on glass transition temperature but a drastic from 357 K to 325 K decrease is observed with the addition of microparticles. Heat capacity step remains unchanged, except for the microcomposite. And finally, Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy has been used to characterize the dielectric properties at different temperatures. The spectra have been fitted with Havriliak–Negami equation to extract the relaxation times and the dielectric strengths associated with local β and γ relaxations and the main α relaxation. POLYM. COMPOS., 115–124, 2016. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Low-voltage, high-speed CMOS analog latched voltage comparator using the “flipped voltage follower” as input stage

The design and characterization of a low-voltage, high-speed CMOS analog latched voltage comparator based on the flipped voltage follower (FVF) cell and input signal regeneration is presented. The proposed circuit consists of a differential input stage with a common-mode signal detector, followed by a regenerative latch and a Set-Reset (S-R) latch. It is suitable for successive-approximation type’s analog-to-digital converters (ADC), but can also be adapted for use in flash-type ADCs. The circuit was fabricated using 0.18 μm CMOS technology, and its measured performance shows 12-bit resolution at 20 MHz comparison rate and 1 V single supply voltage, with a total power consumption of 63.5 μW.