An Inverse Geometry Problem for the Localization of Skin Tumours by Thermal Analysis

In this paper, the Dual Reciprocity Method (DRM) is coupled to a Genetic Algorithm (GA) in an inverse procedure through which the size and location of a skin tumour may be obtained from temperature measurements at the skin surface. The GA is an evolutionary process which does not require the calculation of sensitivities, search directions or the definition of initial guesses. The DRM in this case requires no internal nodes. It is also shown that the DRM approximation function used is not an important factor for the problem considered here. Results are presented for tumours of different sizes and positions in relation to the skin surface

A coupled dual reciprocity BEM/Genetic algorithm for identification of blood perfusion parameters

The paper presents an inverse analysis procedure based on a coupled numerical formulation through which the coefficients describing non-linear thermal properties of blood perfusion may be identified. The numerical technique involves a combination of the Dual Reciprocity Boundary Element Method and a Genetic Algorithm for the solution of the Pennes bioheat equation. Both linear and quadratic temperature-dependent variations are considered for the blood perfusion

Hot Routes: Developing a New Technique for the Spatial Analysis of Crime

The use of hotspot mapping techniques such as KDE to represent the geographical spread of linear events can be problematic. Network-constrained data (for example transport-related crime) require a different approach to visualize concentration. We propose a methodology called Hot Routes, which measures the risk distribution of crime along a linear network by calculating the rate of crimes per section of road. This method has been designed for everyday crime analysts, and requires only a Geographical Information System (GIS), and suitable data to calculate. A demonstration is provided using crime data collected from London bus routes

Effect of a standardised dietary restriction protocol on multiple laboratory strains of Drosophila melanogaster

Background: Outcomes of lifespan studies in model organisms are particularly susceptible to variations in technical procedures. This is especially true of dietary restriction, which is implemented in many different ways among laboratories. Principal Findings: In this study, we have examined the effect of laboratory stock maintenance, genotype differences and microbial infection on the ability of dietary restriction (DR) to extend life in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. None of these factors block the DR effect. Conclusions: These data lend support to the idea that nutrient restriction genuinely extends lifespan in flies, and that any mechanistic discoveries made with this model are of potential relevance to the determinants of lifespan in other organisms

Novel Rbfox2 isoforms associated with alternative exon usage in rat cortex and suprachiasmatic nucleus

Abstract Transcriptome diversity in adult neurons is partly mediated by RNA binding proteins (RBPs), including the RBFOX factors. RBFOX3/NeuN, a neuronal maturity marker, is strangely depleted in suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) neurons, and may be compensated by a change in Rbfox2 expression. In this study, we found no superficial changes in Rbfox2 expression in the SCN, but mRNA population analysis revealed a distinct SCN transcript profile that includes multiple novel Rbfox2 isoforms. Of eleven isoforms in SCN and cerebral cortex that exhibit exon variation across two protein domains, we found a 3-fold higher abundance of a novel (‘−12–40’) C-terminal domain (CTD)-variant in the SCN. This isoform embraces an alternative reading frame that imparts a 50% change in CTD protein sequence, and functional impairment of exon 7 exclusion activity in a RBFOX2-target, the L-type calcium channel gene, Cacna1c. We have also demonstrated functional correlates in SCN gene transcripts; inclusion of Cacna1c exon 7, and also exclusion of both NMDA receptor gene Grin1 exon 4, and Enah exon 12, all consistent with a change in SCN RBFOX activity. The demonstrated regional diversity of Rbfox2 in adult brain highlights the functional adaptability of this RBP, enabling neuronal specialization, and potentially responding to disease-related neuronal dysfunction

Perturbations in growth trajectory due to early diet affect age-related deterioration in performance

Fluctuations in early developmental conditions can cause changes in growth trajectories that subsequently affect the adult phenotype. Here, we investigated whether compensatory growth has long-term consequences for patterns of senescence. Using three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), we show that a brief period of dietary manipulation in early life affected skeletal growth rate not only during the manipulation itself, but also during a subsequent compensatory phase when fish caught up in size with controls. However, this growth acceleration influenced swimming endurance and its decline over the course of the breeding season, with a faster decline in fish that had undergone faster growth compensation. Similarly, accelerated growth led to a more pronounced reduction in the breeding period (as indicated by the duration of sexual ornamentation) over the following two breeding seasons, suggesting faster reproductive senescence. Parallel experiments showed a heightened effect of accelerated growth on these age-related declines in performance if the fish were under greater time stress to complete their compensation prior to the breeding season. Compensatory growth led to a reduction in median life span of 12% compared to steadily growing controls. While life span was independent of the eventual adult size attained, it was negatively correlated with the age-related decline in swimming endurance and sexual ornamentation. These results, complementary to those found when growth trajectories were altered by temperature rather than dietary manipulations, show that the costs of accelerated growth can last well beyond the time over which growth rates differ and are affected by the time available until an approaching life-history event such as reproduction

Negotiating identities: Inuit tuberculosis evacuees in the 1940s-1950s

Au milieu des années 1940, le gouvernement canadien réalisa un examen de dépistage auprès des Inuit et autres populations autochtones qui habitaient au nord du Canada et évacua ceux qui présentaient des symptômes de la tuberculose vers les hôpitaux du sud. Les séjours à l’hôpital durèrent souvent des années et alors que certains patients furent retournés plus tard à leurs communautés respectives, plusieurs ne regagnèrent jamais celles-ci parce qu’ils décidèrent de rester dans le sud et d’autres, parce qu’ils ne survécurent pas à leur maladie. La présente étude analyse comment l’hospitalisation dans le sud affecta l’identité des patients inuit et examine notamment la négociation de l’identité comme forme de résilience. Cette recherche a été menée par le biais d’entrevues auprès d’anciens évacués inuit sur leur expérience de vie et aborde les événements entourant les départs, les déplacements, les séjours dans un nouvel environnement et la vie après un séjour à l’hôpital.In the mid 1940s the Canadian government implemented a medical mass-survey of Inuit and other Indigenous peoples living in northern Canada, and evacuated those suspected of having tuberculosis to hospitals in the south. Hospital stays often lasted for years at a time and while some patients were eventually returned to their home communities, many never returned, some because they chose to stay in the south and others because they did not survive their illness. The current study is interested in how hospitalisation in the south affected the identity of Inuit patients, and in particular examines the negotiation of identity as a form of resilience. This investigation is conducted through life history interviews with Inuit former evacuees in which we explore their experiences of departure, travel, and sojourn in an unfamiliar environment, as well as their lives after the hospital stay

Planck Observations of M33

We have performed a comprehensive investigation of the global integrated flux density of M33 from radio to ultraviolet wavelengths, finding that the data between $\sim$100 GHz and 3 THz are accurately described by a single modified blackbody curve with a dust temperature of $T_\mathrm{dust}$ = 21.67$\pm$0.30 K and an effective dust emissivity index of $\beta_\mathrm{eff}$ = 1.35$\pm$0.10, with no indication of an excess of emission at millimeter/sub-millimeter wavelengths. However, sub-dividing M33 into three radial annuli, we found that the global emission curve is highly degenerate with the constituent curves representing the sub-regions of M33. We also found gradients in $T_\mathrm{dust}$ and $\beta_\mathrm{eff}$ across the disk of M33, with both quantities decreasing with increasing radius. Comparing the M33 dust emissivity with that of other Local Group members, we find that M33 resembles the Magellanic Clouds rather than the larger galaxies, i.e., the Milky Way and M31. In the Local Group sample, we find a clear correlation between global dust emissivity and metallicity, with dust emissivity increasing with metallicity. A major aspect of this analysis is the investigation into the impact of fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) on the integrated flux density spectrum of M33. We found that failing to account for these CMB fluctuations would result in a significant over-estimate of $T_\mathrm{dust}$ by $\sim$5 K and an under-estimate of $\beta_\mathrm{eff}$ by $\sim$0.4.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

The margin of safety of a left double-lumen tracheobronchial tube depends on the length of the bronchial cuff and tip

Publisher's copy made available with the permission of the publisher © Australian Society of AnaesthetistsThe left tracheobronchial double-lumen tube is the commonest device to separate the left and right lungs for differential ventilation. With the appropriate tube, the left bronchial cuff is positioned in the bronchus so that the cuff is beyond the carina but the tip of the tube does not occlude the aperture of the left upper lobe bronchus. The difference between the length of the left main bronchus and the length of the cuff and tip of the bronchial segment of the tube has been termed 'the margin of safety' by Benumof. If the length of the cuff plus the tip exceeds that of the left main bronchus, there will be occlusion of the left upper lobe bronchus. The bronchial cuff and bronchial tip lengths were measured on two hundred and twenty left tracheobronchial (double-lumen) tubes from four manufacturers. The largest cuff–tip length was 40 mm with a Portex 41Fr tube but some 41Fr tubes from all manufacturers had cuff–tip lengths of 33 mm or greater which exceed the length of the shortest left main bronchus measured by Benumof. There was also a marked variation in cuff–tip lengths of the same size tube from the same manufacturer. The largest variation was 18 mm for the Portex 41 but substantial variation of 8 mm or more was found in at least one French size of all manufacturers. Users must be aware that significant cuff–tip length variation occurs and match the selected tube to the patient to ensure an adequate margin of safety.L. Partridge, W. J. Russellhttp://www.aaic.net.au/Article.asp?D=200600