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The impact of islet mass, number of transplants and time between transplants on graft function in a national islet transplant program
No full textThe UK islet allotransplant program is nationally funded to deliver 1 or 2 transplants over 12 months to individuals with type 1 diabetes and recurrent severe hypoglycemia. An analysis was undertaken 10 years after program inception to evaluate associations between transplanted mass; single versus 2 transplants; time between 2 transplants and graft function. 84 islet transplant recipients were studied. Uninterrupted graft function over 12 months was attained in 23(68%) single transplant and 47(94%)(p=0.002) two transplant recipients (separated by (median(IQR)) 6(3-8) months). Total transplanted mass was associated with Mixed Meal Tolerance Test stimulated C-peptide at 12 months (p<0.01). Despite 1.9-fold greater transplanted mass in recipients of 2 versus 1 islet infusion (12,218(9,291-15,417) vs 6,442(5,156-7,639) IEQ/kg (p<0.0001), stimulated C-peptide was not significantly higher. Shorter time between transplants was associated with greater insulin dose reduction at 12 months (p=0.02). 64% recipients of 1 or 2 transplants with uninterrupted function at 12 months sustained graft function at 6-years.Graft survival over the first 12 months was greater in recipients of 2 versus 1 islet transplant in the UK program, although function at 1 and 5 years was comparable. Minimizing the interval between 2 islet infusions may maximize cumulative impact on graft function
Screen Printed, Skin-compliant Sensors for Mouse Electrocardiography
No full textAdvances in flexible electronic materials have seen the emergence of ultra-thin epidermal sensors for monitoring human electrocardiography (ECG), with some designs only micrometers in thickness. Application of this technology to mice could refine current pre-clinical protocols by enabling more humane, non-invasive monitoring systems. This work characterises the electrical properties and skin-conformity of three screen printed Ag/AgCl ECG electrode designs for mice. Specifically, we examine substrates of temporary tattoo paper and 25 μm thick polyester, which attach to the skin using conductive paste or a polyurethane-film (PU). This work demonstrates how skinconforming sensors can collect acceptable quality mouse ECG signals. Whilst electrical characterisation suggests that probes without conductive paste are reliant on capacitive coupling, where interface adhesives and the mouse’s thin stratium corneum act as a dielectric. Finally we examine skin conformity with histological imaging, revealing tattoo substrate and PU to be considerably more compliant than polyester. This opens up discussion into which materials would be most suitable in developing an ECG interface for free-moving mice
The HI/OH/Recombination line survey of the inner Milky Way (THOR): data release 2 and Hi overview
No full textDelay- and Interference-Aware Routing for Wireless Mesh Network
No full textEffective routing design can significantly improve the whole network performance. In order to achieve the global best network performance, the problem of routing can be formulated as a constrained optimization problem. A delay- and interferenceaware routing (DIAR) method using optimization is proposed in this paper to find effective routes in a wireless mesh network. With the rapid development of wireless communication, next-generation networks urge shorter delay. DIAR aims at selecting routes with minimum end-to-end delay for several concurrent data flows. Delay is derived according to interference, bandwidth and the probability of transmission failure. Then the relationship between delay and the number of interfering nodes is built for the first time, which makes the estimation of delay more simple. When solving the optimization problem, an improved genetic algorithm is proposed to balance load. Besides, DIAR considers dynamic network condition caused by selecting different paths to transmit packets and evaluates the network condition while finding the solution of routing. The paths with least end-to-end delay, will be finally chosen as the solution. Simulation results show that DIAR can obtain better network performance
A design of a fixed bed plasma DRIFTS cell for studying the NTP-assisted heterogeneously catalysed reactions
No full textA newly developed diffuse reflectance infra-red Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) cell for the in-situ study of non-thermal plasma (NTP)-assisted heterogeneously catalysed reactions is presented and evaluated using methane oxidation over a Pd/Al2O3 catalyst. By using the new fixed bed plasma DRIFTS cell coupled with mass spectrometry, the NTP discharge is generated inside the catalyst bed and allows simultaneous, in-situ DRIFTS analysis to be undertaken. The spectroscopy has revealed that the formation of surface species, e.g. formate and carbonate, is significantly influenced by NTP generation under methane oxidation conditions at different voltages when comparing with the conventionally thermal activation. During the NTP-DRIFTS-MS measurements, it is also found that there is no signal interference between IR beam and plasma plume, making this a viable DRIFTS system for studying the plasma catalysis
Systemic sclerosis-related calcinosis can affect the breast - but malignancy should always be excluded
No full textA parameter sensitivity study for simulating DNA damage after proton irradiation using TOPAS-nBio
No full textMonte Carlo (MC) track structure simulation tools are commonly used for predicting radiation induced DNA damage by modeling the physical and chemical reactions at the nanometer scale. However, the outcome of these MC simulations is particularly sensitive to the adopted parameters which vary significantly across studies. In this study, a previously developed full model of nuclear DNA was used to describe the DNA geometry. The TOPAS-nBio MC toolkit was used to investigate the impact of physics and chemistry models as well as three key parameters (the energy threshold for direct damage, the chemical stage time length, and the probability of damage between hydroxyl radical reactions with DNA) on the induction of DNA damage. Our results show that the difference in physics and chemistry models alone can cause differences up to 34% and 16% in the DNA double strand break (DSB) yield, respectively. Additionally, changing the direct damage threshold, chemical stage length, and hydroxyl damage probability can cause differences of up to 26%, 51%, and 71% in predicted DSB yields, respectively, for the configurations in this study
Bearing-Only Formation Control with Pre-Specified Convergence Time
No full textThis paper considers the bearing-only formation control problem, where the control of each agent only relies on relative bearings of their neighbors. A new control law is proposed to achieve target formations in finite time. Different from the existing results, the control law is based on a timevarying scaling gain. Hence the convergence time can be arbitrarily chosen by users, and the derivative of the control inputis continuous. Furthermore, sufficient conditions are given to guarantee almost global convergence and interagent collision avoidance. Then a leader-follower control structure is proposed to achieve global convergence. By exploring the properties of the bearing Laplacian matrix, the collision avoidance and smooth control input are preserved. A multi-robot hardware platform is designed to validate the theoretical results. Both simulation and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our design
Deferred prosecution agreements in England and Wales::castles made of sand?
No full textNegotiated settlements are increasingly regarded as an alternative tool against corporate criminality, with numerous countries now embracing such settlements. In England and Wales, amidst concerns relating to corporate criminal liability, the government introduced deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) in 2014. A DPA has been described as ‘a bargain under which the prosecutor undertakes not to proceed with the prosecution of a corporation for a fixed time in return for the defendant mending its ways and paying a financial penalty for the privilege.’ Similar powers are well established in some jurisdictions, particularly the US, and they have recently been introduced elsewhere too. For example, France introduced equivalent powers in 2016, namely the Judicial Convention of Public Interest. In 2019, French authorities issued Guidelines on this power, which are influenced by, inter alia, experiences from England and Wales. In 2018, both Singapore and Canada introduced DPAs directly influenced by experiences in England and Wales. Other countries are considering introducing DPAs, including Ireland. The Irish Law Reform Commission has proposed the introduction of DPAs based on the regime in England and Wales, rather than that in the US. Thus, five years on from their introduction in England and Wales, it is timely to re-examine the DPA regime, not least given its influence on developments in other jurisdictions
From Defence to Offence:The Ethics of Private Cybersecurity
No full textThe cyber realm is increasingly vital to national security, but much of cybersecurity is provided privately. Private firms provide a range of roles, from purely defensive operations to more controversial ones, such as active-cyber defense (ACD) and ‘hacking back’. As with the outsourcing of traditional military and security services to private military and security companies (PMSCs), the reliance on private firms raises the ethical question of to what extent the private sector should be involved in providing security services. In this article, I consider this question. I argue that a moderately restrictive approach should be adopted, which holds that private firms can justifiably launch some cybersecurity services – defensive measures – but are not permitted to perform others – offensive measures