Electron trapping optical data storage system and applications

A new technology developed at Optex Corporation out-performs all other existing data storage technologies. The Electron Trapping Optical Memory (ETOM) media stores 14 gigabytes of uncompressed data on a single, double-sided 130 mm disk with a data transfer rate of up to 120 megabits per second. The disk is removable, compact, lightweight, environmentally stable, and robust. Since the Write/Read/Erase (W/R/E) processes are carried out photonically, no heating of the recording media is required. Therefore, the storage media suffers no deleterious effects from repeated W/R/E cycling. This rewritable data storage technology has been developed for use as a basis for numerous data storage products. Industries that can benefit from the ETOM data storage technologies include: satellite data and information systems, broadcasting, video distribution, image processing and enhancement, and telecommunications. Products developed for these industries are well suited for the demanding store-and-forward buffer systems, data storage, and digital video systems needed for these applications

Lysophoshatidic acid regulation of cell surface-associated proteases

Abstract only availableLysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a potential biomarker of ovarian cancer and is thought to promote early stages of cancer progression through the stimulation of two cell surface associated proteases. The affects of LPA on the expression and cell surface association of two proteolytic enzymes associated with ovarian cancer progression, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), were analyzed. Both MMP-9 and uPA have been linked with cancer cell invasion due to their proteolytic activity. The cell surface association and activation of MMP-9 is a chief mechanism by which cells invade collagen rich barriers, whereas the increased binding of uPA to its cell surface receptor promotes the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin which also promotes cell invasion. LPA was shown to increase the expression of the MMP-9 protease in a concentration dependent manner in both OVCA 429 and OVCA 433 ovarian cancer cell cultures at concentrations well below those normally found in ascites fluids ( 1 M). LPA treatment (80 M) showed as much as a 3.5 fold increase in MMP-9 expression. Further, LPA treatment increased the expression of MMP-9 over MMP-2 in conditioned media of both OVCA 429 and OVCA 433 cells. Stimulation of uPA activity was also shown in culture medium but required the elevated concentrations ( 20 M) often found in the ascites of ovarian cancer patients. Inhibitor studies showed that inhibition of PI-3K signaling (most evidently in OVCA 433 cells) and p38 MAPK (namely in OVCA 429 cells) repressed LPA stimulation of MMP-9 expression in a dose-dependent fashion. Future studies involving matrigel invasion assays will evaluate the functional consequence of LPA-stimulated MMP-9 expression and enhanced cell surface proteolysis on ovarian cancer cell invasive activity.NIH grant to M.S Stac

Muscle Fatigue Analysis Using OpenSim

In this research, attempts are made to conduct concrete muscle fatigue analysis of arbitrary motions on OpenSim, a digital human modeling platform. A plug-in is written on the base of a muscle fatigue model, which makes it possible to calculate the decline of force-output capability of each muscle along time. The plug-in is tested on a three-dimensional, 29 degree-of-freedom human model. Motion data is obtained by motion capturing during an arbitrary running at a speed of 3.96 m/s. Ten muscles are selected for concrete analysis. As a result, the force-output capability of these muscles reduced to 60%-70% after 10 minutes' running, on a general basis. Erector spinae, which loses 39.2% of its maximal capability, is found to be more fatigue-exposed than the others. The influence of subject attributes (fatigability) is evaluated and discussed

Fatigue evaluation in maintenance and assembly operations by digital human simulation

Virtual human techniques have been used a lot in industrial design in order to consider human factors and ergonomics as early as possible. The physical status (the physical capacity of virtual human) has been mostly treated as invariable in the current available human simulation tools, while indeed the physical capacity varies along time in an operation and the change of the physical capacity depends on the history of the work as well. Virtual Human Status is proposed in this paper in order to assess the difficulty of manual handling operations, especially from the physical perspective. The decrease of the physical capacity before and after an operation is used as an index to indicate the work difficulty. The reduction of physical strength is simulated in a theoretical approach on the basis of a fatigue model in which fatigue resistances of different muscle groups were regressed from 24 existing maximum endurance time (MET) models. A framework based on digital human modeling technique is established to realize the comparison of physical status. An assembly case in airplane assembly is simulated and analyzed under the framework. The endurance time and the decrease of the joint moment strengths are simulated. The experimental result in simulated operations under laboratory conditions confirms the feasibility of the theoretical approach

Deep-coverage whole genome sequences and blood lipids among 16,324 individuals.

Large-scale deep-coverage whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is now feasible and offers potential advantages for locus discovery. We perform WGS in 16,324 participants from four ancestries at mean depth >29X and analyze genotypes with four quantitative traits-plasma total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides. Common variant association yields known loci except for few variants previously poorly imputed. Rare coding variant association yields known Mendelian dyslipidemia genes but rare non-coding variant association detects no signals. A high 2M-SNP LDL-C polygenic score (top 5th percentile) confers similar effect size to a monogenic mutation (~30 mg/dl higher for each); however, among those with severe hypercholesterolemia, 23% have a high polygenic score and only 2% carry a monogenic mutation. At these sample sizes and for these phenotypes, the incremental value of WGS for discovery is limited but WGS permits simultaneous assessment of monogenic and polygenic models to severe hypercholesterolemia

Deep coverage whole genome sequences and plasma lipoprotein(a) in individuals of European and African ancestries.

Lipoprotein(a), Lp(a), is a modified low-density lipoprotein particle that contains apolipoprotein(a), encoded by LPA, and is a highly heritable, causal risk factor for cardiovascular diseases that varies in concentrations across ancestries. Here, we use deep-coverage whole genome sequencing in 8392 individuals of European and African ancestry to discover and interpret both single-nucleotide variants and copy number (CN) variation associated with Lp(a). We observe that genetic determinants between Europeans and Africans have several unique determinants. The common variant rs12740374 associated with Lp(a) cholesterol is an eQTL for SORT1 and independent of LDL cholesterol. Observed associations of aggregates of rare non-coding variants are largely explained by LPA structural variation, namely the LPA kringle IV 2 (KIV2)-CN. Finally, we find that LPA risk genotypes confer greater relative risk for incident atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases compared to directly measured Lp(a), and are significantly associated with measures of subclinical atherosclerosis in African Americans

Municipal Water Works Operating Data for Tennessee

In August 1957 Mr. W. G. Thomas, General Manager, Athens Utility Board, requested MTAS to obtain certain statistical information on the operation of municipally-owned water utilities in the State. In replying to our survey questionnaire, so many officials requested a copy of the results that it was decided to print them in this form and to give the report a wide distribution

Publisher Correction: Deep coverage whole genome sequences and plasma lipoprotein(a) in individuals of European and African ancestries.

The original version of this article contained an error in the name of the author Ramachandran S. Vasan, which was incorrectly given as Vasan S. Ramachandran. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the article

Municipal Water Works Operating Data for Tennessee

This is a tabulation and interpretation of the results of a survey made by MTAS in the fall of 1959 designed to obtain statistical information on the operation of municipally-owned water utilities in the State