Bayesian approach to model pedestrian crashes at signalized intersections with measurement errors in exposure

This study intended to identify the potential factors contributing to the occurrence of pedestrian crashes at signalized intersections in a densely populated city, based on a comprehensive dataset of 898 pedestrian crashes at 262 signalized intersections during 2010-2012 in Hong Kong. The detailed geometric design, traffic characteristics, signal control, built environment, along with the vehicle and pedestrian volumes were elaborately collected. A Bayesian measurement errors model was introduced as an alternative method to explicitly account for the uncertainties in volume data. To highlight the role played by exposure, models with and without pedestrian volume were estimated and compared. The results indicated that the omission of pedestrian volume in pedestrian crash frequency models would lead to reduced goodness-of-fit, biased parameter estimates, and incorrect inferences. Our empirical analysis demonstrated the existence of moderate uncertainties in pedestrian and vehicle volumes. Six variables were found to have a significant association with the number of pedestrian crashes at signalized intersections. The number of crossing pedestrians, the number of passing vehicles, the presence of curb parking, and the presence of ground-floor shops were positively related with pedestrian crash frequency, whereas the presence of playgrounds near intersections had a negative effect on pedestrian crash occurrences. Specifically, the presence of exclusive pedestrian signals for all crosswalks was found to significantly reduce the risk of pedestrian crashes by 43%. The present study is expected to shed more light on a deeper understanding of the environmental determinants of pedestrian crashes.

A comparative study of the retention or removal of jejunal mucosa during pancreatic duct to jejunal anastomosis

AIM

The aim of this study was to compare the two anastomosis methods, that is, the retention or the removal of the jejunal mucosa during pancreatic duct to jejunal anastomosis after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD).

METHODS

For this purpose, 46 PD patients were randomly and equally divided into groups A and B. In group A, the remnant pancreas was inserted 3 cm into the jejunum and the connecting part was sutured. In group B, the jejunal mucous membrane was cauterized 3 cm at the end, the remnant pancreas was sutured with the jejunal muscle layer, and the jejunum and pancreas were sutured together.

RESULTS

We found that in group A, the reoperation rate due to delayed bleeding was 13% (3/23) and the ulcer bleeding around anastomosis was 4.3% (1/23). In group B, the reoperation rate due to bleeding was 4.3% (1/23) and the incidence of postoperative pancreatic fistula was 17.4% (4/23). The duration of pancreaticojejunostomy operation in group A (46 ± 0.34 min) was shorter than in group B (P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

We, therefore, concluded that the pancreatic duct to jejunal anastomosis with retained jejunal mucosa was a simple and easy to perform method while it also excluded the risk of postoperative pancreatic fistula formation.

Online Estimation Algorithm for a Biaxial Ankle Kinematic Model With Configuration Dependent Joint Axes

The kinematics of the human ankle is commonly modeled as a biaxial hinge joint model. However, significant variations in axis orientations have been found between different individuals and also between different foot configurations. For ankle rehabilitation robots, information regarding the ankle kinematic parameters can be used to estimate the ankle and subtalar joint displacements. This can in turn be used as auxiliary variables in adaptive control schemes to allow modification of the robot stiffness and damping parameters to reduce the forces applied at stiffer foot configurations. Due to the large variations observed in the ankle kinematic parameters, an online identification algorithm is required to provide estimates of the model parameters. An online parameter estimation routine based on the recursive least-squares (RLS) algorithm was therefore developed in this research. An extension of the conventional biaxial ankle kinematic model, which allows variation in axis orientations with different foot configurations had also been developed and utilized in the estimation algorithm. Simulation results showed that use of the extended model in the online algorithm is effective in capturing the foot orientation of a biaxial ankle model with variable joint axis orientations. Experimental results had also shown that a modified RLS algorithm that penalizes a deviation of model parameters from their nominal values can be used to obtain more realistic parameter estimates while maintaining a level of estimation accuracy comparable to that of the conventional RLS routine.

Applying an adaptive watershed to the tissue cell quantification during T-cell migration and embryonic development

Cell and particle quantification is one of the frequently used techniques in biology and clinical study. Variations of cell/particle population and/or protein expression level can provide information on many biological processes. In this chapter, we propose an image-based automatic quantification approach that can be applied to images from both fluorescence and electron microscopy. The algorithm uses local maxima to identify labelling targets and uses watershed segmentation to define their boundaries. The method is able to provide information on size, intensity centroids and average intensity within the labelling partitions. Further developed from this method, we demonstrated its applications in four different research projects, including recruitment enumeration of circulating T cell in non-lymphoid tissues, cell clustering in the early development of the chick embryo, gold particle localization and clustering in electron microscopy, and registration/co-localization of transcription factors in neural tube development of early chick embryo. The advantages and limitations of the method are also discussed.

Lower environmental temperature delays and prolongs myogenic regulatory factor expression and muscle differentiation in rainbow trout (Onchrhynchus mykiss) embryos

The effect of different temperatures (4 degrees C and 12 degrees C) on myogenic regulatory factors (MyoD and myogenin) and myosin heavy chain (MyHC) expression was investigated in rainbow trout (Onchrhynchus mykiss) during early development. MyoD is first switched on at stage 14 [about 5 somites are formed (1/2 epiboly)] while myogenin mRNA is expressed at stage 15 [around 15 somites are visible (2/3 epiboly)] at both temperatures. Subsequently (up to at least stage 20), the most caudal somites exhibit less myogenin mRNA at 4 degrees C compared to 12 degrees C. At the eyed stage (stage 23-24), both myogenin mRNA and protein are present in greater amounts throughout all myotomes at the lower temperature, with mRNA levels in warmer (12 degrees C) embryos at 83% for MyoD and 72% for myogenin of the levels seen in 4 degrees C embryos. Conversely, however, at this same stage, fast-MyHC mRNA and protein are more abundant in 12 degrees C than in 4 degrees C embryos. This indicates relatively advanced muscle differentiation at the warmer temperature. At hatching, myogenin-positive cells are concentrated within the myosepta at both temperatures and they are also sparsely distributed in the myotome at 4 degrees C, but not at 12 degrees C. MyoD, myogenin, and MyHC levels provide an indication of differentiation of muscle cells. These findings suggest that myogenic regulatory factor expression is delayed but prolonged by the lowering of temperature.

TEMPERATURE AND MYOGENIC FACTOR TRANSCRIPT LEVELS DURING EARLY DEVELOPMENT DETERMINES MUSCLE GROWTH POTENTIAL IN RAINBOW TROUT(ONCORHYNCHUS MYKISS) AND SEA BASS (DICENTRARCHUS LABRAX)

The influence of changes in environmental temperature on the mRNA levels of myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs), i.e. MyoD and myogenin, as well as myosin heavy chain (MyHC) were studied during early larval development in rainbow trout and sea bass. Phosphoimager analysis of northern blots indicated that there is an optimum temperature for the RNA transcript levels of MRF and MyHC RNA in trout and in sea bass larvae. In the trout strain studied, the highest concentration for MRF and MyHC transcripts was found at 8°C rather than 4°C or 20°C. In European sea bass, the highest concentrations of MRF and MyHC mRNA were observed at 15-20°C rather than 13°C. Raising sea bass larvae at 15°C was associated with higher MyHC gene expression as well as a trend towards an increase in total muscle fibre number and higher growth rates after transfer at ambient temperature. Results suggest that mRNA levels of MRF and MyHC can be used to optimise early development. An experiment in which the temperature was changed illustrates the consequence of precise temporal expression of MRF genes in specifying muscle fibre number at critical stages during early development.

Changes in tissue cellularity are associated with growth enhancement in genetically modified arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus L.) carrying recombinant growth hormone gene

Biochemical and histological analyses were used to study the number and size of cells (cellularity) in tissues of fast-growing, genetically modified Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus L.), overexpressing sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) growth hormone gene (OnGH1). DNA contents of muscle, heart, and liver were compared in transformed, sibling (age control) and 1 year older (size control) char. Total white muscle cross-sectional area, white muscle fiber number, and total nuclei number within the muscle tissue were determined from one complete half-section of each fish. The analyzed tissues responded differently to growth hormone overproduction. In muscle tissue of OnGH1-transformed char, the enhanced growth was clearly associated with proliferation of muscle cells (hyperplasia), whereas in heart tissue both cell proliferation and increase in cell size (hypertrophy) were enhanced. The relative DNA concentration in the liver of transformed char was significantly greater than that of control fish, suggesting reduction in size of hepatic cells.