Is the chest radiograph a reliable tool in the assessment of tumor response after radiotherapy in nonsmall cell lung carcinoma?

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the chest radiograph is a reliable tool to assess response to radiotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pre- and post-treatment chest radiographs and computed tomographs (CT) of 63 patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated by radiotherapy were reviewed by four observers with regard to suitability for tumor measurement, and response. Suitability for tumor measurement was expressed as the number of measurable diameters. In addition, the consequences to clinical outcome were studied by survival analysis. RESULTS: The CT turned out to be more suited for tumor measurement before as well as after radiotherapy, resulting in an increase of the number of measurable cases. The number of measurable cases with CT was 52 (83%) as compared to 28 (44%) with chest radiography. Especially in case of centrally localized tumors, the presence of an atelectasis, or squamous cell carcinoma, CT contributed to a higher rate of measurable cases. The interobserver agreement with regard to response using chest radiograph was good (mean kappa = 0.74). In 25 of 28 cases (89%) measurable with CT as well as with chest radiograph, response was equally classified. When CT was used, the median survival of the responders was 14.2 months as compared to 6.8 months of the nonresponders. When chest radiograph was used, the median survival of these groups was 12.0 and 6.6 months respectively, which was not significantly different when response was assessed by CT. CONCLUSION: We conclude that CT is more suited for tumor measurement because more measurable lesions can be found and more evaluable lesions on chest radiograph become measurable on CT. The chest radiograph does have a valuable role to play in those lesions that are measurable because of the good interobserver agreement with regard to the response classification, the high overall agreement between CT and chest radiograph in case of measurable cases, and the lack of important differences with regard to survival.     

Comparing drop impact test method using strain gauge measurements

In this paper, strain gauges are used to measure the dynamic response during drop impact. A set of high-speed data acquisition system is used to capture the real-time strain response of critical locations. Finite Element Modelling is used to determine where to place the strain gauges. Two board level drop impact test methods, A and B, are compared by the strain gauge measurements. Results show significant differences in strain amplitude, strain rate, frequency, rebound, and damping. Method B produces higher strain amplitude, stronger rebound, and less damping, while method A produces higher frequency and strain rate. Damping and rebound are important factors for both test methods. The differences of two test methods are due to the contributions from test condition and test board. Combination test were conducted to investigate the contribution of test condition and test board. Results show that test board dominates strain amplitude, frequency, mode and damping, while test condition shows influence on strain amplitude and rebound. Test condition A produces higher strain amplitude, while test condition B produces stronger rebound. Test board A produces higher frequency, while test board B produces higher strain amplitude and less damping. Test board contributes more to the strain amplitude than test condition. Strain rate is dependent on both the test condition and test board.     

Increased attention for computer-tailored health communications: An event-related potential study.

The authors tested whether individually tailored health communications receive more attention from the reader than nontailored health communications in a randomized, controlled trial among student volunteers (N = 24). They used objective measures of attention allocation during the message exposure. In a between-subjects design, participants had to read tailored or nontailored nutrition education messages and at the same time had to pay attention to specific odd auditory stimuli in a sequence of frequent auditory stimuli (odd ball paradigm). The amount of attention allocation was measured by recording event-related potentials (ERPs; i.e., N100 and P300 ERPs) and reaction times. For the tailored as opposed to the nontailored group, results revealed larger amplitudes for the N100 effect, smaller amplitudes for the P300 effect, and slower reaction times. Resource allocation theory and these results suggest that those in the tailored group allocated more attention resources to the nutrition message than those in the nontailored group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Arbitration without common modifiable variables

Summary The binary arbitration problem (or, the problem of mutual exclusion between two competitors) is the problem of preventing two competitors from simultaneously possessing the same token. A solution to this problem is presented together with a formal correctness proof. The solution is specific in that it combines the absence of common modifiable variables with the absence of auxiliary activities. Hence, its implementation does not require an arbiter on a lower level or a degree of concurrency of more than two. The solution is generalized for any arbitrary number of competitors by applying the binary solution in a binary arbitration tree.     

Designing asynchronous standby circuits for a low-power pager

We have designed asynchronous standby circuits for a pager decoder which dissipate four times less power and are 40% larger in size than synchronous designs. For the total pager unit this means a 37% reduction in power dissipation for nearly no additional area. The decoded chip, which apart from the standby circuits is completely synchronous, has been fabricated and was first-time-right. Two problems had to be solved to incorporate asynchronous subcircuits in a synchronous environment: synchronization and testing. A synchronization scheme is described that allows a free intermixing of asynchronous and synchronous modules and a test strategy is proposed in which the scan test facilities in the synchronous environment are used to test the asynchronous modules. One function is prevalent in the standby circuits, namely counting. In an appendix we present the asynchronous design of a so-called loadable counter whose power consumption does not depend on its size     

Nanopatterning by direct-write atomic layer deposition

A novel direct-write approach is presented, which relies on area-selective atomic layer deposition on seed layer patterns deposited by electron beam induced deposition. The method enables the nanopatterning of high-quality material with a lateral resolution of only ～10 nm. Direct-write ALD is a viable alternative to lithography-based patterning with a better compatibility with sensitive nanomaterials.     

Industrial high‐rate (∼5 nm/s) deposited silicon nitride yielding high‐quality bulk and surface passivation under optimum anti‐reflection coating conditions

High‐quality surface and bulk passivation of crystalline silicon solar cells has been obtained under optimum anti‐reflection coating properties by silicon nitride (a‐SiN_x:H) deposited at very high deposition rates of ∼5 nm/s. These a‐SiN_x:H films were deposited using the expanding thermal plasma (ETP) technology under regular processing conditions in an inline industrial‐type reactor with a nominal throughput of 960 solar cells/hour. The low surface recombination velocities (50–70 cm/s) were obtained on p‐type silicon substrates (8·4 Ω cm resistivity) for as‐deposited and annealed films within the broad refractive index range of 1·9–2·4, which covers the optimum bulk passivation and anti‐reflection coating performance reached at a refractive index of ∼2·1. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

p27kip1 Modulates the Morphology and Phagocytic Activity of Microglia

p27^kip1 is a multifunctional protein that promotes cell cycle exit by blocking the activity of cyclin/cyclin-dependent kinase complexes as well as migration and motility via signaling pathways that converge on the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton. Despite the broad characterization of p27^kip1 function in neural cells, little is known about its relevance in microglia. Here, we studied the role of p27^kip1 in microglia using a combination of in vitro and in situ approaches. While the loss of p27^kip1 did not affect microglial density in the cerebral cortex, it altered their morphological complexity in situ. However, despite the presence of p27^kip1 in microglial processes, as shown by immunofluorescence in cultured cells, loss of p27^kip1 did not change microglial process motility and extension after applying laser-induced brain damage in cortical brain slices. Primary microglia lacking p27^kip1 showed increased phagocytic uptake of synaptosomes, while a cell cycle dead variant negatively affected phagocytosis. These findings indicate that p27^kip1 plays specific roles in microglia.     

Directed Emission from Self‐Assembled Microhelices

Bottom‐up assembly can organize simple building blocks into complex architectures for light manipulation. The optical properties of self‐assembled polycrystalline barium carbonate/silica double helices are studied using fluorescent Fourier and Mueller matrix microscopy. Helices doped with fluorescein direct light emission along the long axis of the structure. Furthermore, light transmission measured normal and parallel to the long axis exhibits twist sense‐specific circular retardance and waveguiding, respectively, although the measurements suffer from depolarization. The helices thus integrate highly directional emission with enantiomorph‐specific polarization. This optical response emerges from the arrangement of nanoscopic mineral crystallites in the microscopic helix, and demonstrates how bottom‐up assembly can achieve ordering across multiple length scales to form complex functional materials.