Quantifying dimensions of physical behavior in chronic pain conditions.

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain, defined as persistent or recurrent pain lasting longer than 3 months, is a frequent condition affecting an important percent of population worldwide. Pain chronicity can be caused by many different factors and is a frequent component of many neurological disorders. An important aspect for clinical assessment and design of effective treatment and/or rehabilitation strategies is to better understand the impact of pain on domains of functioning in everyday life. The aim of this study was to identify the objectively quantifiable features of physical functioning in daily life and to evaluate their effectiveness to differentiate behavior among subjects with different pain conditions. METHOD: Body worn sensors were used to record movement data during five consecutive days in 92 subjects. Sensor data were processed to characterize the physical behavior in terms of type, intensity, duration and temporal pattern of activities, postures and movements performed by subjects in daily life. Metrics quantifying these features were subsequently used to devise composite scores using a factor analysis approach. The severity of clinical condition was assessed using a rating of usual pain intensity on a 10-cm visual analog scale. The relationship between pain intensity and the estimated metrics/composite scores was assessed using multiple regression and discriminant analysis. RESULTS: According to the factor analysis solution, two composite scores were identified, one integrating the metrics quantifying the amount and duration of activity periods, and the other the metrics quantifying complexity of temporal patterns, i.e., the diversity of body movements and activities, and the manner in which they are organized throughout time. All estimated metrics and composite scores were significantly different between groups of subjects with clinically different pain levels. Moreover, analysis revealed that pain intensity seemed to have a more significant impact on the overall physical behavior, as it was quantified by a global composite score, whereas the type of chronic pain appeared to influence mostly the complexity of the temporal pattern. CONCLUSION: The methodology described could be informative for the design of objective outcome measures in chronic pain management/rehabilitation programs

739 observed NEAs and new 2-4m survey statistics within the EURONEAR network

We report follow-up observations of 477 program Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) using nine telescopes of the EURONEAR network having apertures between 0.3 and 4.2 m. Adding these NEAs to our previous results we now count 739 program NEAs followed-up by the EURONEAR network since 2006. The targets were selected using EURONEAR planning tools focusing on high priority objects. Analyzing the resulting orbital improvements suggests astrometric follow-up is most important days to weeks after discovery, with recovery at a new opposition also valuable. Additionally we observed 40 survey fields spanning three nights covering 11 sq. degrees near opposition, using the Wide Field Camera on the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT), resulting in 104 discovered main belt asteroids (MBAs) and another 626 unknown one-night objects. These fields, plus program NEA fields from the INT and from the wide field MOSAIC II camera on the Blanco 4m telescope, generated around 12,000 observations of 2,000 minor planets (mostly MBAs) observed in 34 square degrees. We identify Near Earth Object (NEO) candidates among the unknown (single night) objects using three selection criteria. Testing these criteria on the (known) program NEAs shows the best selection methods are our epsilon-miu model which checks solar elongation and sky motion and the MPC's NEO rating tool. Our new data show that on average 0.5 NEO candidates per square degree should be observable in a 2m-class survey (in agreement with past results), while an average of 2.7 NEO candidates per square degree should be observable in a 4m-class survey (although our Blanco statistics were affected by clouds). At opposition just over 100 MBAs (1.6 unknown to every 1 known) per square degree are detectable to R=22 in a 2m survey based on the INT data, while our two best ecliptic Blanco fields away from opposition lead to 135 MBAs (2 unknown to every 1 known) to R=23.Comment: Published in Planetary and Space Sciences (Sep 2013

PRODUCTION STATUS OF BIOMASS PELLETS – REVIEW

The use of biomass has become extremely important for the production of clean energy from renewable sources. This is due to the continuously increased need for energy, to the possible depletion of conventional fossil fuels in the near future, and also to the regulations of European Union on the need to reduce significantly the emissions of greenhouse gases. This paper presents a synthesis on the raw materials used for pellets production, some of the important characteristics of pellets (density, ash content and heating power), and also data on the status of pellets production and consumption in different countries. Latest reported data show that the European Union is the biggest wood pellets producer globally, with a production of 13.5 million tonnes in 2014. Romania’s pellets production in 2014 was of 740000 tonnes, and estimations are that in 2020 it will exceed 1.2 million tonnes

THE INFLUENCE OF ADDITIONAL SOWING AND FERTILIZATION ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE GRASSY COVER OF PERMANENT MEADOWS FROM THE SLĂNIC-BUZĂU AREA

In the present paper the authors present the effect of additional sowing and fertilization on the grassy cover structure of a permanent meadow form the hilly and mountain area of Slănic-Buzău basin. Additional sowing was done with a mixture formed by 70% grasses and 305 legumes. Fertilization was made with chemical fertilizers based on N, P, K in different doses and combinations, manure (20 and 30 t/ha) and vinassa (4, 5, 6 and 7 t/ha) on a phosphorous agri-fund. At the end of our researches we observed that by additional sowing increased the percentage of legumes in the grassy cover, decreased the participation of the plants from other groups, and the quality of fodder was also improved. Fertilization influenced in a small manner the structure of grassy cover. On the mountain meadows the changes in the grassy cover structure were much more stronger in comparison with the ones on the hilly meadows

Origins of the Ambient Solar Wind: Implications for Space Weather

The Sun's outer atmosphere is heated to temperatures of millions of degrees, and solar plasma flows out into interplanetary space at supersonic speeds. This paper reviews our current understanding of these interrelated problems: coronal heating and the acceleration of the ambient solar wind. We also discuss where the community stands in its ability to forecast how variations in the solar wind (i.e., fast and slow wind streams) impact the Earth. Although the last few decades have seen significant progress in observations and modeling, we still do not have a complete understanding of the relevant physical processes, nor do we have a quantitatively precise census of which coronal structures contribute to specific types of solar wind. Fast streams are known to be connected to the central regions of large coronal holes. Slow streams, however, appear to come from a wide range of sources, including streamers, pseudostreamers, coronal loops, active regions, and coronal hole boundaries. Complicating our understanding even more is the fact that processes such as turbulence, stream-stream interactions, and Coulomb collisions can make it difficult to unambiguously map a parcel measured at 1 AU back down to its coronal source. We also review recent progress -- in theoretical modeling, observational data analysis, and forecasting techniques that sit at the interface between data and theory -- that gives us hope that the above problems are indeed solvable.Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. Special issue connected with a 2016 ISSI workshop on "The Scientific Foundations of Space Weather." 44 pages, 9 figure

Immune-escape mutations and stop-codons in HBsAg develop in a large proportion of patients with chronic HBV infection exposed to anti-HBV drugs in Europe

Background: HBsAg immune-escape mutations can favor HBV-transmission also in vaccinated individuals, promote immunosuppression-driven HBV-reactivation, and increase fitness of drug-resistant strains. Stop-codons can enhance HBV oncogenic-properties. Furthermore, as a consequence of the overlapping structure of HBV genome, some immune-escape mutations or stop-codons in HBsAg can derive from drug-resistance mutations in RT. This study is aimed at gaining insight in prevalence and characteristics of immune-associated escape mutations, and stop-codons in HBsAg in chronically HBV-infected patients experiencing nucleos(t)ide analogues (NA) in Europe. Methods: This study analyzed 828 chronically HBV-infected European patients exposed to ≥ 1 NA, with detectable HBV-DNA and with an available HBsAg-sequence. The immune-associated escape mutations and the NA-induced immune-escape mutations sI195M, sI196S, and sE164D (resulting from drug-resistance mutation rtM204 V, rtM204I, and rtV173L) were retrieved from literature and examined. Mutations were defined as an aminoacid substitution with respect to a genotype A or D reference sequence. Results: At least one immune-associated escape mutation was detected in 22.1% of patients with rising temporal-trend. By multivariable-analysis, genotype-D correlated with higher selection of ≥ 1 immune-associated escape mutation (OR[95%CI]:2.20[1.32-3.67], P = 0.002). In genotype-D, the presence of ≥ 1 immune-associated escape mutations was significantly higher in drug-exposed patients with drug-resistant strains than with wild-type virus (29.5% vs 20.3% P = 0.012). Result confirmed by ana

LIGNOCELLULOSIC BIOMASS PRETREATMENT FOR BIOFUEL PRODUCTION

The energetic crisis of recent years, as well as the increasing greenhouse gas emissions, have created premisesfor identification and exploitation of new, non-polluting and economic energy sources. Thus, have appearedconcerns in the field of biofuel production from renewable materials.Worldwide, biomass is considered the most valuable source of alternative energy to fossil fuels. Lignocellulosic biomass, consisting of agricultural and forest residues, animal manure and energy crops,is considered the main substrate for the production of second-generation biofuels (biogas, bioethanol etc).The main components of lignocellulosic materials are cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin which is the most recalcitrant component of the plant cell wall (the higher the proportion of lignin, the higher the resistance to chemical and enzymatic degradation).In this paper there are presented the main pretreatment methods of lignocellulosic biomass, including mechanical, biological, chemical and thermal pretreatment, with the focus on the principles, advantages and disadvantagesof each method for biofuelsproduction.