196,057 research outputs found
A Case Study of Versatile Low-Cost Automatic Test Equipment Based on FPGA for Digital ASIC Verification
No full textFPGA-based Low-cost Automatic Test Equipment for Digital Integrated Circuits
No full textDigital circuits complexity and density are increasing while, at the same time, more quality and reliability are required. These trends, together with high test costs, make the validation of VLSI circuits more and more difficult. Beside high-end ATE machines, strictly necessary in ASIC production phase, low-cost ATE test systems take place into market to implement a valid support in ASIC development phase. In this paper a case study of low-cost, reconfigurable, versatile and easy-to-use FPGA-based test environment is presented. It allows patterns to be extracted from HDL-simulation and stimuli to be generated to ASIC prototypes, especially when a high-end test machine setup isn't foreseen or isn't available yet. This is the ideal solution for engineers to develop test programs and perform device tests and yield analysis on their desktop and then transfer the test program directly to production. The result is low-cost automatic test equipment, able to execute a preliminary digital test, using just a Laptop and an FPGA-equipped board
Studio e sviluppo di una piattaforma di test automatico a basso costo basata su FPGA per la validazione di chip digitali
No full textBromocriptine and speech therapy in non-fluent chronic aphasia after stroke
No full textThe objectives of this study were to investigate the efficacy of bromocriptine (BR) combined with speech therapy (ST) to improve a late recovery in non-fluent aphasic stroke patients. We performed a double-blind study with high dosage of BR, prescribed according to a dose-escalating protocol, comprehensive of clinical data, relatives' impression, and language evaluations. The study was divided into the following phases: t-0, inclusion; t-30, language re-test to evaluate the stability of aphasia; t-90, placebo (PL) and ST; t-150, BR and ST; t-210, BR; t-270, wash-out. With respect to the baseline assessment, a significant improvement was observed in the following tests: dictation (F, 4.8; p <.004), reading-comprehension (F, 8.1;p <.0003), repetition (F, 3.8; p <.01) and verbal latency (F, 4.9; p <.01). High dosage of BR promoted a late recovery in stable chronic non-fluent aphasia and this improvement was enhanced by combination with ST
Epilepsy, speech delay, and mental retardation in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy
No full textFacioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is one of the most common muscular dystrophies which is related to the deletion of tandem repeats on chromosome 4q35. Extramuscular features such as hearing loss, retinopathy, mental retardation, and epilepsy, may be observed in patients carrying large 4q35 deletions resulting in fragment sizes less than 12 kilobases (kb) (normal >35 kb). We report on a family affected by FSHD carrying a small 4q35 deletion and residual fragments length of 17 kb, presenting with epilepsy (three patients), speech delay (two), and mental retardation (one). In all patients semeiology of seizures and interictal EEG anomalies were congruent with a localization-related epilepsy possibly involving the temporal lobe. In conclusion, we provide further evidences that extramuscular findings such as epilepsy, speech delay, and mental retardation may occur in those patients carrying smaller 4q35 deletions, suggesting that a close correlation between 4q35 fragment size and clinical severity in FSHD is therefore not constant. Moreover, a review of the literature and our observations seem to suggest that focal epilepsies, likely related to the temporal lobe in the present family, represent the main type of epilepsy occurring in children with FSHD.
Copyright © 201
A comparative study of hydrocortisone versus deflazacort in drug-resistant epilepsy of childhood
No full textSteroids are commonly used for the treatment of intractable epilepsy. Deflazacort has shown similar effects to prednisone, but with a less worrying adverse-effect profile. In this study, we first compared the efficacy, safety, and seizure relapse rate of deflazacort versus hydrocortisone in children affected by drug-resistant epilepsies. This was an open, non-blinded, randomized clinical study of 35 children affected by drug-resistant epilepsies. The study lasted 12 months. Group 1 (16 patients) received hydrocortisone for 6 months; group 2 (19 patients) was treated with deflazacort for the entire study period. Drug efficacy and tolerability were evaluated after 6 months of therapy. Seizure relapse rates were evaluated 12 months after the start of the study. After 6 months of therapy, hydrocortisone was effective in 44% of patients (responders, with a decrease in seizure frequency of >50%). Deflazacort was effective in 47% of patients (P=0.9). Adverse events occurred in 37% of patients using hydrocortisone and in none of those using deflazacort (P=0.002). At the end of the study, seizure relapse rate resulted significantly higher in group 1 than in group 2 (P=0.04). Hydrocortisone may be useful in the treatment of severely drug-resistant childhood epilepsies. However, its effects may be transient. Deflazacort should be considered in the therapeutic armamentarium for epileptic encephalopathies. The drug is as effective as hydrocortisone and may be used in therapy for a long period, with a less worrying adverse-effect profile
NEUROPROTECTION AND STROKE
No full textThe current goal of acute stroke therapy is to restore cerebral perfusion and to protect cerebral tissue before the development of an irreversible damage. This latter is due to the duration and the severity of cerebral ischemia [1]. Recanalization operated by thrombolysis represents the most intuitive and effective treatment of acute cerebral ischemia. Unfortunately, because of the strictly clinical criteria that make thrombolysis feasible, this approach is limited only to few patients, and it is estimated that only about 5% of all acute cerebrovascular patients are suitable for rtPA treatment [2]. The need for new therapeutic strategies appropriate for the majority of acute stroke patients is therefore evident, in order to save as much ischemic brain tissue as possible
Digital Signal Inspector for internal signals of pin-limited systems on package
No full textThe paper presents a Digital Signal Inspector (DSI) able to monitor the internal digital signals of a System on Package (SoP) with a limited number of pins. The DSI is made of a commercial FPGA-board, connected to the module for data sampling and controlled by PC via USB; a suited graphical interface allows for configuration, multi trace real time data display and post processing. The proposed DSI has been successfully applied for the characterization of an automotive SoP based on a MEM gyro sensor interfaced to an ASIC for proper signal conditioning
Dr. Duane M. Jackson, Morehouse College, July 2011
No full textThis video is a conversation with Dr. Duane M. Jackson. Dr. Jackson talks about his paper, "Recall and the Serial Position Effect: The Role of Primacy and Recency on Accounting Students' Performance." Jackie Daniel, AUC Woodruff Library, is the interviewer
Inter-ictal and post-ictal circulating levels of allopregnanolone, an anticonvulsant metabolite of progesterone, in epileptic children
No full textAllopregnanolone belongs to a group of neuroactive steroid hormones, or neurosteroids, synthesized and acting within the
brain and is as a potent endogenous positive modulator ofGABAA receptor complex. Administration of allopregnanolone protects
rats against pentylentetrazol, bicuculline, kainic acid, and picrotoxin-induced seizures.
We investigated serum allopregnanolone levels in children with active epilepsy at pubertal Tanner’s stage I (n = 52). Blood
specimens were collected at least 12 h after a seizure (inter-ictal). In a subgroup of patients (n = 11), specimens were also
collected within 30 min from a seizure attack (post-ictal). Healthy age-matched children (n = 18) served as controls. Serum
allopregnanolone was measured by radioimmunoassay using a polyclonal antiserum.
The inter-ictal serum allopregnanolone levels in the epileptic children were not statistically different from those detected in
the control group, whereas post-ictal levels were significantly higher than the inter-ictal ones (P = 0.0001). In this subgroup of
patients allopregnanolone levels decreased to the basal values during the following 12 h.
Serum allopregnanolone levels may therefore reflect changes in neuronal excitability, and allopregnanolone appears to be a
reliable circulating marker of epileptic seizures. It is possible that increased post-ictal serum levels of allopregnanolone may
play a role in modulating neuronal excitability and may represent an endogenous mechanism of seizure control
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