Dynamic Cardiovagal Response to Motion Sickness: A Point-Process Heart Rate Variability Study

A visual display of stripes was used to examine cardio-vagal response to motion sickness. Heart rate variability (HRV) was investigated using dynamic methods to discern instantaneous fluctuations in reaction to stimulus and perception-based events. A novel point process adaptive recursive algorithm was applied to the R-R series to compute instantaneous heart rate, HRV, and high frequency (HF) power as a marker of vagal activity. Results show interesting dynamic trends in each of the considered subjects. HF power averaged across ten subjects indicates a significant decrease 20s to 60s following the transition from "no nausea" to "mild." Conversely, right before "strong" nausea, the group average shows a transient trending increase in HF power. Findings confirm gradual sympathetic activation with increasing nausea, and further evidence transitory increases in vagal tone before flushes of strong nausea.

Toxicity of artificial runoff fostered with dry deposition particulates from industrial, commercial, and highway area in Gwangju, Korea

The adverse effects of rainwater and artificial urban runoff (an imitation of urban runoff during rainfall event) were investigated using a battery of bioassays employing three test species. Urban dusts were collected at three representative sites; commercial, industrial and highway areas. The water quality parameters of rainwater and artificial runoff revealed low hardness (23.4 approximately 34.2 mg*L(-1) as CaCO(3)) and alkalinity (7.0 approximately 34.2 mg*L(-1) as CaCO(3)). High toxicities were observed in the bioassays for the artificial runoffs. The average toxic units for D. magna, S. capricornutum, and O. latipes were 1.26(+/-0.84), 1.34(+/-1.10) and 2.05(+/-1.08), respectively. Of these species, O. latipes revealed significantly higher toxicity compared to D. magna and S. capricornutum (p < 0.05). Embryo lesions were observed with 6.25% treatments, and these significantly increased at 12.5% treatments (p < 0.05). The EC(50) values for each artificial runoff were 22.5, 22.6 and 25.4% for commercial, industrial and highway areas, respectively. With 12.5% treatment, significant delays in hatching times were observed (p < 0.05); all embryos tested did not hatched at 100% treatment. Similarly, a significant decrease in hatching success was observed at every sampling point from 25% treatment (p < 0.05). The adverse effects of artificial runoff on the three test species suggests that urban surface runoff can cause significant impairment in aquatic ecosystems.

Luminescence properties of Ca(Y(0.915-x)Gd(x)Al0.025Eu0.06)BO4 phosphors under VUV irradiation

The major phase of post-treated Ca(Y(0.915-x)Gd(x)A10.025Eu0.06)BO4 (0 < or = x < or = 0.3) phosphors was solid solutions of the constituent oxides, which had an orthorhombic warwickite-like structure. The calculated crystallite size of the Ca(Y(0.915-x)Gd(x)Al0.025Eu0.06)BO4 phosphors was approximately 36 nm. The Gd additive significantly enhanced both the charge transfer (CT) transition of O2(-) -Eu3+ and the absorption of the host materials, thereby resulting in an increase in emission intensity. The Ca(Y(0.715)Gd0.2Al0.025Eu0.06)BO4 phosphor showed the highest emission intensity at 593 nm, which was over five times as strong as that of a Gd-free Ca(Y0.915Al0.025Eu0.06)BO4 phosphor. The addition of Gd was desirable for improving the photoluminescent properties of red-emitting Ca(Y0.915Al0.025Eu0.06)BO4 phosphors.

Photoluminescent properties of (la(1-x)Y(x))(0.94)Tb(0.06)PO4 phosphor powders prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

The calculated crystallite sizes of (La(1-x)Y(x))(0.94)Tb(0.06)PO4 (0 < or = x < or = 1.0) phosphors ranged from 37-39 nm. Annealed (La(1-x)Y(x))(0.94)Tb(0.06)PO4 (0 < or = x < or = 1.0) phosphors showed a smooth, regular, and spherical morphology. Strong excitation peaks were appeared at 226 and 270 nm for all the phosphors. These were caused by the crystal splitting of 7D and 9D of 4f75d1 configuration in Tb3+, respectively. The characteristic emission peaks were observed at 489, 543, 585, and 621 nm, which were caused by the 5D4-7F(j) (j = 6-3) transitions of Tb3+, respectively. The emission intensity at 543 nm increased with an increase in Y content up to 0.5 and then decreased for a higher Y content.

Phase I study of proteasome inhibitor bortezomib plus CHOP in patients with advanced, aggressive T-cell or NK/T-cell lymphoma

The aim of the study was to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and safety of the combination of bortezomib and cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone (CHOP) as first-line therapy in advanced, aggressive T-cell lymphoma. Patients received increasing doses of bortezomib on days 1 and 8 (weekly schedule, 1.0, 1.3, and 1.6 mg/m(2)/dose) in addition to 750 mg/m(2) cyclophosphamide, 50 mg/m(2) doxorubicin, 1.4 mg/m(2) vincristine on day 1 and 100 mg/day prednisolone on days 1 to 5, every 3 weeks. Six cycles of therapy administered every 21 days were planned. Thirteen patients, who had stage III/IV chemonaive aggressive T-cell lymphoma, received a total of 55 cycles of treatment. One patient experienced hematologic dose-limiting toxicity (grade 4 neutropenia associated with febrile episode) at the 1.0 mg/m(2)/dose of bortezomib. There was no dose-limiting non-hematologic toxicity. The MTD was not reached at 1.6 mg/m(2) dose level of bortezomib. The overall complete remission rate in all patients was 61.5% (95% confidence interval = 31.6-86.1). Bortezomib can be safely combined with CHOP chemotherapy and constitutes an active regimen in advanced-stage, aggressive T-cell lymphoma patients. The recommended dose for subsequent phase II studies of bortezomib plus CHOP is 1.6 mg/m(2)/dose of bortezomib on days 1 and 8 every 3 weeks as first-line treatment.

Significant associations of metabolic syndrome and its components with silent lacunar infarction in middle aged subjects

BACKGROUND

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with an increased risk of ischaemic stroke, including silent brain infarction. No study has examined its association with the lacunar subtype. The present cross sectional study examined the relationship between MetS, its components and silent lacunar infarction (SLI) in middle aged subjects.

METHODS

We studied 2076 subjects aged 40-59 years with no history of stroke or clinical symptoms, who visited a health care facility for a routine health checkup and underwent brain MRI. MetS was defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Programme Adult Treatment Panel III report. A multiple logistic regression model was used to examine the associations between MetS and SLI while adjusting for age, gender, a past history of ischaemic heart disease and current smoking.

RESULTS

MetS was strongly associated with the presence of SLI (adjusted OR 6.52; 95% CI 4.30 to 9.90). Regarding MetS components, elevated blood pressure, impaired fasting glucose, hypertriglyceridaemia and large waist circumference were significantly associated with SLI, independent of an interrelationship between the components, while low high density lipoprotein cholesterol was not significantly associated.

CONCLUSIONS

MetS was significantly associated with the prevalence of SLI in middle aged persons. Independent risk factors for SLI not only included elevated blood pressure and impaired fasting glucose, which are well known risk factors, but also hypertriglyceridaemia and large waist circumference.

Measurement of deeply virtual compton scattering beam-spin asymmetries

The beam-spin asymmetries in the hard exclusive electroproduction of photons on the proton (e p-->epgamma) were measured over a wide kinematic range and with high statistical accuracy. These asymmetries result from the interference of the Bethe-Heitler process and of deeply virtual Compton scattering. Over the whole kinematic range (x(B) from 0.11 to 0.58, Q2 from 1 to 4.8 GeV2, -t from 0.09 to 1.8 GeV2), the azimuthal dependence of the asymmetries is compatible with expectations from leading-twist dominance, A approximately a sinphi/(1+c cosphi). This extensive set of data can thus be used to constrain significantly the generalized parton distributions of the nucleon in the valence quark sector.

The role of radiology in paediatric soft tissue sarcomas

Paediatric soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a group of malignant tumours that originate from primitive mesenchymal tissue and account for 7% of all childhood tumours. Rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) and undifferentiated sarcomas account for approximately 50% of soft tissue sarcomas in children and non-rhabdomyomatous soft tissue sarcomas (NRSTS) the remainder. The prognosis and biology of STS tumours vary greatly depending on the age of the patient, the primary site, tumour size, tumour invasiveness, histologic grade, depth of invasion, and extent of disease at diagnosis. Over recent years, there has been a marked improvement in survival rates in children and adolescents with soft tissue sarcoma and ongoing international studies continue to aim to improve these survival rates whilst attempting to reduce the morbidity associated with treatment. Radiology plays a crucial role in the initial diagnosis and staging of STS, in the long term follow-up and in the assessment of many treatment related complications. We review the epidemiology, histology, clinical presentation, staging and prognosis of soft tissue sarcomas and discuss the role of radiology in their management.