383 research outputs found
Prospective evaluation of a parenteral nutrition formula in critically-ill neonatal foals”
No full textCritically-ill foals often require parenteral nutrition (PN) when they are too weak and recumbent or during gastrointestinal conditions such as ileus or enteritis.
This prospective observational study evaluated the administration of a standardized formula of PN in critically-ill foals, comparing serum concentrations of glucose and triglyceride (TG) between foals treated or not with PN, describing the associated complications (hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia and phlebitis), the amount of energy administered per day and the association with outcome. The study examined also if the administration of PN was significantly associated with the presence of Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) or with a sepsis score ≥11 and if these conditions increased the risk of hypertriglyceridemia or hyperglycemia.
Age-specific normal values of serum TG concentration were measured to define our reference range
Noninvasive electrocardiographic parameters to assess interventricular dyssynchrony in dogs with bundle branch blocks
No full textObjectives: To define electrocardiographic features of complete left bundle branch block (LBBB) and right bundle branch block (RBBB), and the use of R-peak time (RPT) to identify interventricular dyssynchrony in dogs with BBB.
Animals, materials and methods: Twelve-lead ECG tracings of 20 dogs with RBBB, 20 with LBBB, and 60 healthy dogs were retrospectively analyzed and RPT was measured in precordial leads. Interventricular dyssynchrony index (IDI) was than calculated.
Results: In RBBB, mean electrical axis (MEA) was 111 [120/100], V1RPTwas significantly longer (61 ms [55e72 ms]) than left precordial leads RPT (V2:25 ms [22e30 ms]; V3:25 ms [22e29 ms]; V4:24 ms [21e29 ms]; V5:25 ms [22e29 ms]; V6:25 ms [22e29 ms]) and when compared to normal dogs (P < 0.001). In LBBB, MEA was 76 [70/81], RPT in left precordial leads was significantly longer (V2:49 ms [34e58 ms]; V3:49 ms [43e57 ms]; V4:52 ms [45e62 ms]; V5:53 ms [45e63 ms]; V6:55 ms [45e63 ms]) than V1RPT (17 ms [15e20 ms]) and when compared to normaldogs (P<0.001). V1RPT>28 ms and V5RPT>36 ms were found to predict the presence of RBBB and LBBB with a sensitivity of 100% and 96.7%, and a specificity of 96.7% and 99.5%, respectively. The IDI was 23% [16e29%] in normal dogs and significantly greater in dogs with RBBB (33% [30e38%]; P < 0.001) and LBBB (32% [23e41%]; P 1⁄4 0.006).
Conclusions: This study defines ECG features and RPT in dogs with BBB. Electrical interventricular dyssynchrony can be defined using IDI in dogs with BBB
Cannabinoids in glaucoma patients: The never-ending story
No full textGlaucoma is one of the principal causes of irreversible blindness worldwide. Yet, intraocular pressure (IOP) is the main modifiable risk factor for disease progression. In the never-ending challenge to develop new and effective drugs, several molecules have been tested as anti-glaucoma agents thanks to their pressure-lowering capabilities. Among these molecules, the cannabinoids have been investigated as possible anti-glaucoma drugs since the early 1970s. Cannabinoids are a large class of chemical compounds that exploit their effects by interaction with cannabinoid receptors 1 and 2. These receptors are widely expressed in the human retina where they may influence important functions such as photo-transduction, amacrine cell network maintenance, and IOP regulation. Therefore, in past years several studies have been conducted in order to assess the IOP lowering effects of cannabinoids. PRISMA guidelines have been used to perform a literature search on Pubmed and Scopus aiming to investigate the mechanism of IOP lowering effects and the potential benefits of orally administered, inhaled, topical, and intravenous cannabinoids in the treatment of glaucoma patients
Rewiring the evolution of the human hand: How the embodiment of a virtual bionic tool improves behavior
No full textHumans are the most versatile tool users among animals. Accordingly, our manual skills evolved alongside the shape of the hand. In the future, further evolution may take place: humans may merge with their tools, and technology may integrate into our biology in a way that blurs the line between the two. So, the question is whether humans can embody a bionic tool (i.e., experience it as part of their body) and thus if this would affect behavior. We investigated in virtual reality how the substitution of the hand with a virtual grafting of an end-effector, either non-naturalistic (a bionic tool) or naturalistic (a hand), impacts embodiment and behavior. Across four experiments, we show that the virtual grafting of a bionic tool elicits a sense of embodiment similar to or even stronger than its natural counterpart. In conclusion, the natural usage of bionic tools can rewire the evolution of human behavior
Distribution and Temporal Trends From 1993 to 2015 of Ischemic Stroke Subtypes A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
No full textPreventive strategies, together with demographic and socioeconomic changes, might have modified the worldwide distribution of ischemic stroke (IS) subtypes. We investigated those changes by means of a systematic review and meta-analysis
Lettura di "Altri libertini" di Tondelli
No full textAnalisi dei tempi verbali nella raccolta "Altri libertini" di Tondelli, con particolare riferimento alla narrazione simultanea e agli effetti di finzione ad essa legati. L'analisi mette in luce gli elementi di continuità tra Tondelli e il postmoderno
Investigating the Impact of Signal-to-Noise Ratio on EEGResting-State source reconstruction
No full textIntroduction:
Identifying sources of electroencephalography (EEG) activity is a complex problem that requires models of thehead and tissues [1,2]. The effect of Signal-To-Noise Ratio (SNR) on source localization accuracy is oftenevaluated considering the task-evoked cortical activity [3]. However, elucidating spontaneous activation of thebrain, i.e., in the absence of a stimulus or task, is not immediate as the signal is of low amplitude and theunderlying neural sources are challenging to examine [4]. In the EEG resting-state signal, the effect of SNR iscritical to be determined as prior information. Moreover, many studies have used spherical heads to investigatethe localization errors of dipoles [5]. Here, we present a simulation study to investigate the effect of differentSNR values on the performance of source estimation (SNR LOC) using the Minimum Norm Estimation (MNE)[6] and a realistic head model.
Methods:
We simulated synthetic resting-state EEG signals with different known SNRs [7]. The signal was 1 min longand sampled at 256 Hz. It was generated from synthetic source time courses, using two non-linear dipolarcoupled sources located in the primary motor cortex and fifty uncorrelated noise sources randomly distributedover the whole cortex. The two non-linearly coupled sources, with quadratic nonlinearity, presented a timedelay of 15 ms [8]. Using a BEM volume conductor model based on the New York Head model [9] andimposing the EEG electrode locations, the leadfield matrix for the simulated sources was computed accordingto [10]. The source space consisted of a cortical layer of 10016 distributed points registered to a commontemplate. The SNR of the simulated EEG signal was set equal to [1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100].The simulated EEG data were analyzed using Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to remove artifacts andretain ICs of brain origin. The inverse solution was obtained using MNE on brain ICs, with differentregularization parameters (defined as λ proportional to 1/SNR2) that were used to balance the accuracy andsmoothness of the solution. The variation of the SNR LOC values [0.1, 1:10, 50, 100] influences the numericalsolution of the inverse problem in terms of the spread and position of the source reconstruction. Theperformance was evaluated using three different metrics: the localization error, the measure of the sourceextension, and the source fragmentation. The localization error was defined as the distance between theinverse solution peak and the true location of the generating source. The source extension was measured asthe Euclidean distance between the point of the source with the highest intensity and all the points of a Regionof Interest, i.e., where the inverse problem solution is higher than 80% of the solution range. To evaluate thesource fragmentation, we apply the K-means clustering with the Calinski-Harabasz criterion, to the outliers ofthe distances from the peak of the highest intensity.
Results:
Fig.1A shows the localization error: this decreases as the SNR LOC increases, with a 1/SNR trend. Fig.2Bshows the distribution of median distances between the peak of the inverse solution and the true location of thegenerated source. As the SNR LOC increases, the sources become narrower. The repeated-measure ANOVA,with a four-level within-subject factor, indicates statistically significant differences (p<0.05) between thedistributions, and a post-hoc test was carried out with Bonferroni correction. Regarding the sourcefragmentation (Figure 2), the number of clusters for SNR LOC equal to 100 was significantly higher than forSNR LOC equal to 0.1, 3, and 10, which present no statistically significant differences.
Conclusions:
Evaluating the effect of SNR LOC strongly influences the spatial resolution of the source-level analysis: anSNR loc value of 10 appears to be a good trade-off between the three metrics, as it provides a focused sourcereconstruction and ensures a low localization error
Rewiring the evolution of the human hand: how the embodiment of a virtual bionic tool improves behavior
No full textSummary: Humans are the most versatile tool users among animals. Accordingly, our manual skills evolved alongside the shape of the hand. In the future, further evolution may take place: humans may merge with their tools, and technology may integrate into our biology in a way that blurs the line between the two. So, the question is whether humans can embody a bionic tool (i.e., experience it as part of their body) and thus if this would affect behavior. We investigated in virtual reality how the substitution of the hand with a virtual grafting of an end-effector, either non-naturalistic (a bionic tool) or naturalistic (a hand), impacts embodiment and behavior. Across four experiments, we show that the virtual grafting of a bionic tool elicits a sense of embodiment similar to or even stronger than its natural counterpart. In conclusion, the natural usage of bionic tools can rewire the evolution of human behavior
Analytical Perspectives of Thematic Unity: Applications of Reductive Analysis to Selected Fugues by J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel
No full textThematic unity in music occurs when elements from a musical idea appear frequently, in significant places and their presence is recognized or experienced on or beneath the surface. In fugal compositions, thematic unity is evident in the opening statement of the subject and it permeates each layer of its texture. Three analytical perspectives are used to investigate the degree to which local thematic material anticipates later structural features in Johan Sebastian Bach\u27s Fugue in G minor WTC II, and Georg Frederic Handel\u27s Fuga II in G Major. The analytical perspectives identify: (1) cohesive relationships between motivic fragments, (2) underlying motives and their relationships to keys and harmonic progressions, and (3) voice leading reductions relative to linear and tonal prolongation. Arnold Schoenberg, Hans Keller, and Rudolph Reti provide valuable insights concerning the organic nature of thematic material. The voice leading reductions of Heinrich Schenker and William Renwick offer procedures that reveal underlying thematic relationships. The cohesive elements of the selected fugues will be explained with reference to immediate and long-range relationships
Penetration of a woven CFRP laminate by a high velocity steel sphere impacting at velocities of up to 1875 m/s
No full textThe impact of a woven 6 mm thick CFRP laminate has been subjected to impact by an annealed steel sphere up to velocities of 1875 m/s. It was observed that above a threshold impact energy, the percentage of kinetic energy dissipated by the laminate was constant. Further, the level of damage, as measured by C-Scan and through-thickness microscopy remained roughly constant as the impact energy was increased. However, the size of the hole formed increased. This suggested that the energy transferred to the target in the velocity range of interest became independent of the delamination. Consequently, the main energy transfer mechanism at the high velocities of impact is thought to be due to the cavity expansion and more importantly, the kinetic energy of the particulates
- …
