Was bringt die Masern-Passivimpfung nach Exposition? [What is the value of measles passive vaccination after exposure?].

In der Schweiz, wie in vielen anderen Ländern, ist die Durchimpfungsrate zu tief, um die Verbreitung von Masern zu stoppen. Es kommt immer wieder zu Masern-Ausbrüchen. Die Gabe von Immunglobulinen (Passivimpfung) ist für nicht-immune Personen gedacht, die Kontakt zu Masernvirus-Ausscheidern hatten. Sie wird in der Schweiz für Hochrisiko-Personen wie z.B. schwangere Frauen, immunsupprimierte Personen und Säuglinge <6 Monate ohne nachgewiesene Immunität empfohlen. Schätzungen über die Wirksamkeit der Passivimpfung variieren; es wurde keine minimalwirksame Dosierung festgelegt. Ziel dieses Reviews war, die Wirksamkeit und Sicherheit einer intramuskulären oder intravenösen Gabe von Immunglobulinen zur Masern-Prophylaxe nach Exposition jedoch vor Symptombeginn bei für Masern empfänglichen Personen zu untersuchen.

Atypical language organization in temporal lobe epilepsy revealed by a passive semantic paradigm

Background Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is the most common type of focal epilepsy in adults and can be successfully cured by surgery. One of the main complications of this surgery however is a decline in language abilities. The magnitude of this decline is related to the degree of language lateralization to the left hemisphere. Most fMRI paradigms used to determine language dominance in epileptic populations have used active language tasks. Sometimes, these paradigms are too complex and may result in patient underperformance. Only a few studies have used purely passive tasks, such as listening to standard speech. Methods In the present study we characterized language lateralization in patients with MTLE using a rapid and passive semantic language task. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study 23 patients [12 with Left (LMTLE), 11 with Right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (RMTLE)] and 19 healthy right-handed controls using a 6 minute long semantic task in which subjects passively listened to groups of sentences (SEN) and pseudo sentences (PSEN). A lateralization index (LI) was computed using a priori regions of interest of the temporal lobe. Results The LI for the significant contrasts produced activations for all participants in both temporal lobes. 81.8% of RMTLE patients and 79% of healthy individuals had a bilateral language representation for this particular task. However, 50% of LMTLE patients presented an atypical right hemispheric dominance in the LI. More importantly, the degree of right lateralization in LMTLE patients was correlated with the age of epilepsy onset. Conclusions The simple, rapid, non-collaboration dependent, passive task described in this study, produces a robust activation in the temporal lobe in both patients and controls and is capable of illustrating a pattern of atypical language organization for LMTLE patients. Furthermore, we observed that the atypical right-lateralization patterns in LMTLE patients was associated to earlier age at epilepsy onset. These results are in line with the idea that early onset of epileptic activity is associated to larger neuroplastic changes.

An inertial sensor-based system for spatio-temporal analysis in classic cross-country skiing diagonal technique.

The present study proposes a method based on ski fixed inertial sensors to automatically compute spatio-temporal parameters (phase durations, cycle speed and cycle length) for the diagonal stride in classical cross-country skiing. The proposed system was validated against a marker-based motion capture system during indoor treadmill skiing. Skiing movement of 10 junior to world-cup athletes was measured for four different conditions. The accuracy (i.e. median error) and precision (i.e. interquartile range of error) of the system was below 6ms for cycle duration and ski thrust duration and below 35ms for pole push duration. Cycle speed precision (accuracy) was below 0.1m/s (0.005m/s) and cycle length precision (accuracy) was below 0.15m (0.005m). The system was sensitive to changes of conditions and was accurate enough to detect significant differences reported in previous studies. Since capture volume is not limited and setup is simple, the system would be well suited for outdoor measurements on snow.

Quels sont les bénéfices d'une immunisation passive postexpositionnelle contre la rougeole ? : Revue Cochrane pour le praticien

Question clinique : Une patiente de 43 ans connue pour un lupus érythémateux disséminé et une néphropathie lupique stable et traitée par hydroxychloroquine et mycophénolate mofétil vous rapporte avoir eu contact il y a quatre jours avec un enfant atteint de la rougeole. Elle ne présente aucun symptôme et son dernier bilan vaccinal montre un taux d'anticorps contre la rougeole non protecteur. La patiente devrait-elle recevoir une immunisation active ou passive contre la rougeole? Contexte En Suisse : la couverture vaccinale contre la rougeole n'est pas assez importante pour empêcher sa diffusion. L'immunisation passive avec des immunoglobulines est destinée aux personnes non immunes exposées à la rougeole, recommandée en Suisse aux personnes à haut risque. Cette revue visait à évaluer l'efficacité et l'innocuité de l'injection intramusculaire ou de la perfusion intraveineuse d'immunoglobulines pour prévenir la rougeole chez les personnes susceptibles avant l'apparition des symptômes.

Correcció postural esportiva utilitzant un sensor Kinect

Aquest projecte s’emmarca dins de l’àmbit de la visió per computador, concretament en la utilització de dades de profunditat obtingudes a través d’un emissor i sensor de llum infraroja.El propòsit principal d’aquest projecte és mostrar com adaptar aquestes tecnologies, a l’abast de qualsevol particular, de forma que un usuari durant la pràctica d’una activitat esportiva concreta, rebi informació visual continua dels moviments i gestos incorrectes que està realitzant, en base a uns paràmetres prèviament establerts.L’objectiu d’aquest projecte consisteix en fer una lectura constant en temps real d’una persona practicant una selecció de diverses activitats esportives estàtiques utilitzant un sensor Kinect. A través de les dades obtingudes pel sensor Kinect i utilitzant les llibreries de “skeleton traking” proporcionades per Microsoft s’haurà d’interpretar les dades posturals obtingudes per cada tipus d’esport i indicar visualment i d’una manera intuïtiva els errors que està cometent en temps real, de manera que es vegi clarament a quina part del seu cos realitza un moviment incorrecte per tal de poder corregir-lo ràpidament. El entorn de desenvolupament que s’utilitza per desenvolupar aquesta aplicació es Microsoft Viusal Studio 2010.El llenguatge amb el qual es treballarà sobre Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 és C#

jxSensor: a sensor network integration layer for JXTA

Nowadays, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) arealready a very important data source to obtain data about the environment. Thus, they are key to the creation of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). Given the popularity of P2P middlewares as ameans to efficiently process information and distribute services, being able to integrate them to WSN¿s is an interesting proposal. JXTA is a widely used P2P middleware that allows peers to easily exchange information, heavily relying on its main architectural highlight, the capability to organize peers with common interests into peer groups. However, right now, approaches to integrate WSNs to a JXTA network seldom take advantage of peer groups. For this reason, in this paper we present jxSensor, an integrationlayer for sensor motes which facilitates the deployment of CPS¿s under this architecture. This integration has been done taking into account JXTA¿s idiosyncrasies and proposing novel ideas,such as the Virtual Peer, a group of sensors that acts as a single entity within the peer group context.

Potencialidades do dióxido de chumbo eletrodepositado como sensor potenciométrico

This paper proposes an experiment to be performed in both instrumental analysis and experimental physical-chemistry curricular disciplines in order to open options to develop challenging basic research activities. Thus the experimental procedures and the results obtained in the preparation of electrodeposited lead dioxide onto graphite and its evaluation as potentiometric sensor for H3O+ and Pb2+ ions, are presented. The data obtained in acid-base titrations were compared with those of the traditional combination glass electrode at the same conditions. Although a linear sub-Nernstian response to free hydrogen ions was observed for the electrodeposited PbO2 electrode, a good agreement was obtained between them. Working as lead(II) sensing electrode, the PbO2 showed a linear sub-Nernstian behavior at total Pb2+ concentrations ranging from 3,5 x 10-4 to 3,0 x 10-2 mol/L in nitrate media. For the redox couple PbO2/Pb(II) the operational slope converges to the theoretical one, as the acidity of the working solution increases.

Functional EF-hands in neuronal calcium sensor GCAP2 determine its phosphorylation state and subcellular distribution in vivo, and are essential for photoreceptor cell integrity

The neuronal calcium sensor proteins GCAPs (guanylate cyclase activating proteins) switch between Ca2+-free and Ca2+-bound conformational states and confer calcium sensitivity to guanylate cyclase at retinal photoreceptor cells. They play a fundamental role in light adaptation by coupling the rate of cGMP synthesis to the intracellular concentration of calcium. Mutations in GCAPs lead to blindness. The importance of functional EF-hands in GCAP1 for photoreceptor cell integrity has been well established. Mutations in GCAP1 that diminish its Ca2+ binding affinity lead to cell damage by causing unabated cGMP synthesis and accumulation of toxic levels of free cGMP and Ca2+. We here investigate the relevance of GCAP2 functional EF-hands for photoreceptor cell integrity. By characterizing transgenic mice expressing a mutant form of GCAP2 with all EF-hands inactivated (EF(-)GCAP2), we show that GCAP2 locked in its Ca2+-free conformation leads to a rapid retinal degeneration that is not due to unabated cGMP synthesis. We unveil that when locked in its Ca2+-free conformation in vivo, GCAP2 is phosphorylated at Ser201 and results in phospho-dependent binding to the chaperone 14-3-3 and retention at the inner segment and proximal cell compartments. Accumulation of phosphorylated EF(-)GCAP2 at the inner segment results in severe toxicity. We show that in wildtype mice under physiological conditions, 50% of GCAP2 is phosphorylated correlating with the 50% of the protein being retained at the inner segment. Raising mice under constant light exposure, however, drastically increases the retention of GCAP2 in its Ca2+-free form at the inner segment. This study identifies a new mechanism governing GCAP2 subcellular distribution in vivo, closely related to disease. It also identifies a pathway by which a sustained reduction in intracellular free Ca2+ could result in photoreceptor damage, relevant for light damage and for those genetic disorders resulting in 'equivalent-light'' scenarios.

Multi-sensor Simultaneous Localization and Mapping

Simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM) is a very important problem in mobile robotics. Many solutions have been proposed by different scientists during the last two decades, nevertheless few studies have considered the use of multiple sensors simultane¬ously. The solution is on combining several data sources with the aid of an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Two approaches are proposed. The first one is to use the ordinary EKF SLAM algorithm for each data source separately in parallel and then at the end of each step, fuse the results into one solution. Another proposed approach is the use of multiple data sources simultaneously in a single filter. The comparison of the computational com¬plexity of the two methods is also presented. The first method is almost four times faster than the second one.

Electrical characteristics of eddy current position sensor

In the thesis the principle of work of eddy current position sensors and the main cautions that must be taken into account while sensor design process are explained. A way of automated eddy current position sensor electrical characteristics measurement is suggested. A prototype of the eddy current position sensor and its electrical characteristics are investigated. The results obtained by means of the automated measuring system are explained.

Alternative technique for biodiesel quality control using an optical fiber long-period grating sensor

We report the use of an optical fiber sensor to measure the soybean oil concentration in samples obtained from the mixture of pure biodiesel and commercial soybean oil. The operation of the device is based on the long-period grating sensitivity to the surrounding medium refractive index, which leads to measurable modifications in the grating transmission spectrum. The proposed analysis method results in errors in the oil concentration of 0.4% and 2.6% for pure biodiesel and commercial soybean oil, respectively. Techniques of total glycerol, dynamic viscosity, density, and hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were also employed to validate the proposed method.

Reconeixement de gestos de la mà amb el sensor Kinect

El reconeixement dels gestos de la mà (HGR, Hand Gesture Recognition) és actualment un camp important de recerca degut a la varietat de situacions en les quals és necessari comunicar-se mitjançant signes, com pot ser la comunicació entre persones que utilitzen la llengua de signes i les que no. En aquest projecte es presenta un mètode de reconeixement de gestos de la mà a temps real utilitzant el sensor Kinect per Microsoft Xbox, implementat en un entorn Linux (Ubuntu) amb llenguatge de programació Python i utilitzant la llibreria de visió artifical OpenCV per a processar les dades sobre un ordinador portàtil convencional. Gràcies a la capacitat del sensor Kinect de capturar dades de profunditat d’una escena es poden determinar les posicions i trajectòries dels objectes en 3 dimensions, el que implica poder realitzar una anàlisi complerta a temps real d’una imatge o d’una seqüencia d’imatges. El procediment de reconeixement que es planteja es basa en la segmentació de la imatge per poder treballar únicament amb la mà, en la detecció dels contorns, per després obtenir l’envolupant convexa i els defectes convexos, que finalment han de servir per determinar el nombre de dits i concloure en la interpretació del gest; el resultat final és la transcripció del seu significat en una finestra que serveix d’interfície amb l’interlocutor. L’aplicació permet reconèixer els números del 0 al 5, ja que s’analitza únicament una mà, alguns gestos populars i algunes de les lletres de l’alfabet dactilològic de la llengua de signes catalana. El projecte és doncs, la porta d’entrada al camp del reconeixement de gestos i la base d’un futur sistema de reconeixement de la llengua de signes capaç de transcriure tant els signes dinàmics com l’alfabet dactilològic.