An improved trap design for decoupling multinuclear RF coils.

PURPOSE: Multinuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging require a radiofrequency probe capable of transmitting and receiving at the proton and non-proton frequencies. To minimize coupling between probe elements tuned to different frequencies, LC (inductor-capacitor) traps blocking current at the (1) H frequency can be inserted in non-proton elements. This work compares LC traps with LCC traps, a modified design incorporating an additional capacitor, enabling control of the trap reactance at the low frequency while maintaining (1) H blocking. METHODS: Losses introduced by both types of trap were analysed using circuit models. Radiofrequency coils incorporating a series of LC and LCC traps were then built and evaluated at the bench. LCC trap performance was then confirmed using (1) H and (13) C measurements in a 7T human scanner. RESULTS: LC and LCC traps both effectively block interaction between non-proton and proton coils at the proton frequency. LCC traps were found to introduce a sensitivity reduction of 5±2%, which was less than half of that caused by LC traps. CONCLUSION: Sensitivity of non-proton coils is critical. The improved trap design, incorporating one extra capacitor, significantly reduces losses introduced by the trap in the non-proton coil. Magn Reson Med 72:584-590, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Electroencephalography (EEG) for neurological prognostication after cardiac arrest and targeted temperature management; rationale and study design.

BACKGROUND: Electroencephalography (EEG) is widely used to assess neurological prognosis in patients who are comatose after cardiac arrest, but its value is limited by varying definitions of pathological patterns and by inter-rater variability. The American Clinical Neurophysiology Society (ACNS) has recently proposed a standardized EEG-terminology for critical care to address these limitations. METHODS/DESIGN: In the TTM-trial, 399 post cardiac arrest patients who remained comatose after rewarming underwent a routine EEG. The presence of clinical seizures, use of sedatives and antiepileptic drugs during the EEG-registration were prospectively documented. DISCUSSION: A well-defined terminology for interpreting post cardiac arrest EEGs is critical for the use of EEG as a prognostic tool. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The TTM-trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01020916).

The Coordinated Radio and Infrared Survey for High-Mass Star Formation (The CORNISH Survey). I. Survey Design

We describe the motivation, design, and implementation of the CORNISH survey, an arcsecondresolution radio continuum survey of the inner galactic plane at 5 GHz using the Very Large Array (VLA). It is a blind survey coordinated with the northern SpitzerGLIMPSE I region covering 10°

New combined serum creatinine and cystatin C quadratic formula for GFR assessment in children.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The estimated GFR (eGFR) is important in clinical practice. To find the best formula for eGFR, this study assessed the best model of correlation between sinistrin clearance (iGFR) and the solely or combined cystatin C (CysC)- and serum creatinine (SCreat)-derived models. It also evaluated the accuracy of the combined Schwartz formula across all GFR levels. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: Two hundred thirty-eight iGFRs performed between January 2012 and April 2013 for 238 children were analyzed. Regression techniques were used to fit the different equations used for eGFR (i.e., logarithmic, inverse, linear, and quadratic). The performance of each model was evaluated using the Cohen κ correlation coefficient and the percentage reaching 30% accuracy was calculated. RESULTS: The best model of correlation between iGFRs and CysC is linear; however, it presents a low κ coefficient (0.24) and is far below the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative targets to be validated, with only 84% of eGFRs reaching accuracy of 30%. SCreat and iGFRs showed the best correlation in a fitted quadratic model with a κ coefficient of 0.53 and 93% accuracy. Adding CysC significantly (P<0.001) increased the κ coefficient to 0.56 and the quadratic model accuracy to 97%. Therefore, a combined SCreat and CysC quadratic formula was derived and internally validated using the cross-validation technique. This quadratic formula significantly outperformed the combined Schwartz formula, which was biased for an iGFR≥91 ml/min per 1.73 m(2). CONCLUSIONS: This study allowed deriving a new combined SCreat and CysC quadratic formula that could replace the combined Schwartz formula, which is accurate only for children with moderate chronic kidney disease.

Use of the FACTS solvation model for protein-ligand docking calculations. Application to EADock.

Protein-ligand docking has made important progress during the last decade and has become a powerful tool for drug development, opening the way to virtual high throughput screening and in silico structure-based ligand design. Despite the flattering picture that has been drawn, recent publications have shown that the docking problem is far from being solved, and that more developments are still needed to achieve high successful prediction rates and accuracy. Introducing an accurate description of the solvation effect upon binding is thought to be essential to achieve this goal. In particular, EADock uses the Generalized Born Molecular Volume 2 (GBMV2) solvent model, which has been shown to reproduce accurately the desolvation energies calculated by solving the Poisson equation. Here, the implementation of the Fast Analytical Continuum Treatment of Solvation (FACTS) as an implicit solvation model in small molecules docking calculations has been assessed using the EADock docking program. Our results strongly support the use of FACTS for docking. The success rates of EADock/FACTS and EADock/GBMV2 are similar, i.e. around 75% for local docking and 65% for blind docking. However, these results come at a much lower computational cost: FACTS is 10 times faster than GBMV2 in calculating the total electrostatic energy, and allows a speed up of EADock by a factor of 4. This study also supports the EADock development strategy relying on the CHARMM package for energy calculations, which enables straightforward implementation and testing of the latest developments in the field of Molecular Modeling.

Accurate memory for object location by individuals with intellectual disability: Absolute spatial tagging instead of configural processing?

Using head-mounted eye tracker material, we assessed spatial recognition abilities (e.g., reaction to object permutation, removal or replacement with a new object) in participants with intellectual disabilities. The "Intellectual Disabilities (ID)" group (n=40) obtained a score totalling a 93.7% success rate, whereas the "Normal Control" group (n=40) scored 55.6% and took longer to fix their attention on the displaced object. The participants with an intellectual disability thus had a more accurate perception of spatial changes than controls. Interestingly, the ID participants were more reactive to object displacement than to removal of the object. In the specific test of novelty detection, however, the scores were similar, the two groups approaching 100% detection. Analysis of the strategies expressed by the ID group revealed that they engaged in more systematic object checking and were more sensitive than the control group to changes in the structure of the environment. Indeed, during the familiarisation phase, the "ID" group explored the collection of objects more slowly, and fixed their gaze for a longer time upon a significantly lower number of fixation points during visual sweeping.

The effects of dominance, regular inbreeding and sampling design on Q(ST), an estimator of population differentiation for quantitative traits.

To test whether quantitative traits are under directional or homogenizing selection, it is common practice to compare population differentiation estimates at molecular markers (F(ST)) and quantitative traits (Q(ST)). If the trait is neutral and its determinism is additive, then theory predicts that Q(ST) = F(ST), while Q(ST) > F(ST) is predicted under directional selection for different local optima, and Q(ST) < F(ST) is predicted under homogenizing selection. However, nonadditive effects can alter these predictions. Here, we investigate the influence of dominance on the relation between Q(ST) and F(ST) for neutral traits. Using analytical results and computer simulations, we show that dominance generally deflates Q(ST) relative to F(ST). Under inbreeding, the effect of dominance vanishes, and we show that for selfing species, a better estimate of Q(ST) is obtained from selfed families than from half-sib families. We also compare several sampling designs and find that it is always best to sample many populations (>20) with few families (five) rather than few populations with many families. Provided that estimates of Q(ST) are derived from individuals originating from many populations, we conclude that the pattern Q(ST) > F(ST), and hence the inference of directional selection for different local optima, is robust to the effect of nonadditive gene actions.

Rational design of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase inhibitors.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is an important therapeutic target for the treatment of diseases such as cancer that involve pathological immune escape. We have used the evolutionary docking algorithm EADock to design new inhibitors of this enzyme. First, we investigated the modes of binding of all known IDO inhibitors. On the basis of the observed docked conformations, we developed a pharmacophore model, which was then used to devise new compounds to be tested for IDO inhibition. We also used a fragment-based approach to design and to optimize small organic molecule inhibitors. Both approaches yielded several new low-molecular weight inhibitor scaffolds, the most active being of nanomolar potency in an enzymatic assay. Cellular assays confirmed the potential biological relevance of four different scaffolds.

New multiple matched filter: design and experimental realization

A method of making a multiple matched filter which allows the recognition of different characters in successive planes in simple conditions is proposed. The generation of the filter is based on recording on the same plate the Fourier transforms of the different patterns to be recognized, each of which is affected by different spherical phase factors because the patterns have been placed at different distances from the lens. This is proved by means of experiments with a triple filter which allows satisfactory recognition of three characters.

Accurate calculations of intermolecular interaction energies using explicitly correlated coupled cluster wave functions and a dispersion-weighted MP2 method.

Explicitly correlated coupled-cluster calculations of intermolecular interaction energies for the S22 benchmark set of Jurecka, Sponer, Cerny, and Hobza (Chem. Phys. Phys. Chem. 2006, 8, 1985) are presented. Results obtained with the recently proposed CCSD(T)-F12a method and augmented double-zeta basis sets are found to be in very close agreement with basis set extrapolated conventional CCSD(T) results. Furthermore, we propose a dispersion-weighted MP2 (DW-MP2) approximation that combines the good accuracy of MP2 for complexes with predominately electrostatic bonding and SCS-MP2 for dispersion-dominated ones. The MP2-F12 and SCS-MP2-F12 correlation energies are weighted by a switching function that depends on the relative HF and correlation contributions to the interaction energy. For the S22 set, this yields a mean absolute deviation of 0.2 kcal/mol from the CCSD(T)-F12a results. The method, which allows obtaining accurate results at low cost, is also tested for a number of dimers that are not in the training set.

Design of homogeneous territorial units : a methodological proposal

One of the main questions to solve when analysing geographically added information consists of the design of territorial units adjusted to the objectives of the study. This is related with the reduction of the effects of the Modificable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP). In this paper an optimisation model to solve regionalisation problems is proposed. This model seeks to reduce disadvantages found in previous works about automated regionalisation tools

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Design and construction of precision heat fluxmeters

InAlAs/InGaAs/InP based high electron mobility transistor devices have been structurally and electrically characterized, using transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy and measuring Hall mobilities. The InGaAs lattice matched channels, with an In molar fraction of 53%, grown at temperatures lower than 530¿°C exhibit alloy decomposition driving an anisotropic InGaAs surface roughness oriented along [1math0]. Conversely, lattice mismatched channels with an In molar fraction of 75% do not present this lateral decomposition but a strain induced roughness, with higher strength as the channel growth temperature increases beyond 490¿°C. In both cases the presence of the roughness implies low and anisotropic Hall mobilities of the two dimensional electron gas.