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At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources

PubMed2006

Hand supports to assist toilet use among the elderly.

Improving the toilet environment holds promises for increasing the quality of life for elderly and disabled persons. This is one of the goals of the Friendly Rest Room (FRR) project. The study described in this article explored the preference and use of supports in the toilet environment during the entire toilet ritual. An adjustable test frame was built with a toilet and three types of supports. Fourteen subjects were asked which positions they favoured for each support. After using all three supports, they were asked which support they found most comfortable. In general, the preferred positions depended on personal preferences more than on dimensions of the body. It was concluded that there is a preference for vertical supports for sitting down and standing up. During toilet use the side supports were equally appreciated.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

The second law of thermodynamics is the first law of psychology: evolutionary developmental psychology and the theory of tandem, coordinated inheritances: comment on Lickliter and Honeycutt (2003).

Organisms inherit a set of environmental regularities as well as genes, and these two inheritances repeatedly encounter each other across generations. This repetition drives natural selection to coordinate the interplay of stably replicated genes with stably persisting environmental regularities, so that this web of interactions produces the reliable development of a functionally organized design. Selection is the only known counterweight to the tendency of physical systems to lose rather than grow functional organization. This means that the individually unique and unpredictable factors in the web of developmental interactions are a disordering threat to normal development. Selection built anti-entropic mechanisms into organisms to orchestrate transactions with environments so that they have some chance of being organization-building and reproduction-enhancing rather than disordering.

Biological Evolution↗

PubMed1992

From the mountains to the labs. A brief summary of the people and their studies on which rests most of what we know today.

The science of mountain medicine is less than 150 years old, partly because mountaineering became popular only in the middle of the 19th century. In the last 30 years there has been an explosion of activity on very high mountains, in laboratories, and in simulated high altitude environments. Our knowledge and understanding of high altitude hypoxia has been built slowly and painfully over many centuries. First came recognition that pure air was essential to health. Then the physical properties of the atmosphere were demonstrated 300 years ago. Slowly the vital ingredient in air was identified, and even more recently the relationship between barometric pressure, oxygen, and the sicknesses that affect men at altitude was appreciated. In this paper, will be described how some of the most important advances were made, and where the explorers sometimes went astray. I will mention some of the people whose major contributions have been forgotten, to remind us that fame or fortune does not necessarily go to those who deserve it most. Remember that not until the middle of the 18th century did men climb high mountains. The intrepid prehistoric hunter (Otzi) who was lost on a high mountain 5000 years ago and found last year was certainly an exception. Only recently have mountaineer-scientists begun to study in the laboratory what they observed on the summits. By knowing how we came to know what we believe to be true today, perhaps we may understand better how knowledge grows, not only in a steady flow but now and then by brilliant leaps.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Europe↗

PubMed2025

scnanoseq: an nf-core pipeline for Oxford Nanopore single-cell RNA-sequencing.

MOTIVATION: Recent advancements in long-read single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) have facilitated the quantification of full-length transcripts and isoforms at the single-cell level. Historically, long-read data would need to be complemented with short-read single-cell data in order to overcome the higher sequencing errors to correctly identify cellular barcodes and unique molecular identifiers. Improvements in Oxford Nanopore sequencing, and development of novel computational methods have removed this requirement. Though these methods now exist, the limited availability of modular and portable workflows remains a challenge. RESULTS: Here, we present, nf-core/scnanoseq, a secondary analysis pipeline for long-read single-cell and single-nuclei RNA that delivers gene and transcript-level quantification. The scnanoseq pipeline is implemented using Nextflow and is built upon the nf-core framework, enabling portability across computational environments, scalability and reproducibility of results across pipeline runs. The nf-core/scnanoseq workflow follows best practices for analyzing single-cell and single-nuclei data, performing barcode detection and correction, genome and transcriptome read alignment, unique molecular identifier deduplication, gene and transcript quantification, and extensive quality control reporting. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The source code, and detailed documentation are freely available at https://github.com/nf-core/scnanoseq and https://nf-co.re/scnanoseq under the MIT License. Documentation for the version of nf-core/scnanoseq used for this paper, including default parameters and descriptions of output files are available at https://nf-co.re/scnanoseq/1.1.0.

Single-Cell Analysis↗

PubMed2026

PULPO: pipeline of understanding large-scale patterns of oncogenomic signatures.

SUMMARY: PULPO v1.0 is a novel; fully automated pipeline designed for the preprocess and extraction of mutational signatures from raw Optical Genome Mapping (OGM) data. Built using Snakemake and executed within an isolated, Conda-managed environment, PULPO transforms complex cytogenetic alterations, captured at ultra-high resolution, into Catalogue of somatic mutations in cancer mutational signatures (COSMIC). This innovative approach not only enables researchers to work directly from raw OGM inputs but also streamlines the traditionally complex process of signature extraction, making advanced oncogenomic analyses accessible to users with varying levels of bioinformatics expertise. By facilitating the integration of comprehensive structural variants (SVs) and copy number variants (CNVs) data with established signature catalogues, PULPO paves the way for improved diagnostic accuracy and personalized therapeutic strategies. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The pipeline is open source and freely available under the MIT License at https://github.com/OncologyHNJ/PULPO-v.1.0 and DOI in Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/records/17749097.

Software↗

PubMed2005

Alignment of continuous video onto 3D point clouds.

We propose a general framework for aligning continuous (oblique) video onto 3D sensor data. We align a point cloud computed from the video onto the point cloud directly obtained from a 3D sensor. This is in contrast to existing techniques where the 2D images are aligned to a 3D model derived from the 3D sensor data. Using point clouds enables the alignment for scenes full of objects that are difficult to model; for example, trees. To compute 3D point clouds from video, motion stereo is used along with a state-of-the-art algorithm for camera pose estimation. Our experiments with real data demonstrate the advantages of the proposed registration algorithm for texturing models in large-scale semiurban environments. The capability to align video before a 3D model is built from the 3D sensor data offers new practical opportunities for 3D modeling. We introduce a novel modeling-through-registration approach that fuses 3D information from both the 3D sensor and the video. Initial experiments with real data illustrate the potential of the proposed approach.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2004

A new model for olfactory placode development.

The peripheral nervous system of vertebrate animals arises primarily from the interaction of cranial neural crest and sensory placodes. Placodes are described as thickenings of ectoderm that arise through cell division during neural tube formation. The olfactory sensory system is one component of the peripheral nervous system that arises from paired sensory placodes during development. The olfactory placodes give rise to the primary sensory neurons, support cells and basal cells of the olfactory epithelium. Recent evidence from work in zebrafish and chick suggests that the olfactory and auditory placodes arise from large fields of cells that converge to form the sensory placode. The olfactory placodes arise from within the neural plate, and cell division is apparent only after the sensory placodes are morphologically distinct. As the olfactory placode is forming, its precursors must segregate from their neighboring fields which will give rise to the adenohypophyseal placode, cranial neural crest, and telencephalon. Analysis has shown that the endocrine cells thought to arise from the olfactory placode originate in the neighboring adenohypophyseal and cranial neural crest domains. The borders separating the domains are plastic, where cells sort as they move, and cell fate is dependent on the identity of neighbors once the cells have converged to form the sensory placode. Thus there is degeneracy built into the system such that cells accommodate changes in the environment until cell migrations controlling the formation of the sensory placodes are complete.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Design and applications of a multimodality image data warehouse framework.

A comprehensive data warehouse framework is needed, which encompasses imaging and non-imaging information in supporting disease management and research. The authors propose such a framework, describe general design principles and system architecture, and illustrate a multimodality neuroimaging data warehouse system implemented for clinical epilepsy research. The data warehouse system is built on top of a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) environment and applies an iterative object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD) approach and recognized data interface and design standards. The implementation is based on a Java CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) and Web-based architecture that separates the graphical user interface presentation, data warehouse business services, data staging area, and backend source systems into distinct software layers. To illustrate the practicality of the data warehouse system, the authors describe two distinct biomedical applications--namely, clinical diagnostic workup of multimodality neuroimaging cases and research data analysis and decision threshold on seizure foci lateralization. The image data warehouse framework can be modified and generalized for new application domains.

Decision Making, Computer-Assisted↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Design and development of an automated and non-contact sensing system for continuous monitoring of plant health and growth.

An automated system was designed and built to continuously monitor plant health and growth in a controlled environment using a distributed system approach for operational control and data collection. The computer-controlled system consisted of a motorized turntable to present the plants to the stationary sensors and reduce microclimate variability among the plants. Major sensing capabilities of the system included machine vision, infrared thermometry, time domain reflectometry, and micro-lysimeters. The system also maintained precise growth-medium moisture levels through a computer-controlled drip irrigation system. The system was capable of collecting required data continuously to monitor and to evaluate the plant health and growth.

Automation↗

PubMed2001

[The coral reefs and coral communities of Bahía Culebra , Pacific coast of Costa Rica: biological aspects, economic-recreational and diving activities].

The coral reefs (AC) and coral communities on basalts (CCB) or sand (CCA) of Bahía Culebra (Golfo de Papagayo, northern Pacific coast of Costa Rica), were compared with descriptors such as cover percentage, diversity, substrate topographical heterogeneity (I(H)), associated organisms and frequency of recreational-commercial diving activities on them. Sea urchin abundance and I(H) were similar among the three reefal environments. The AC had higher coral cover (ca. 40%) and total live cover (>50%). The CCB had higher macro and calcareous algae (>5%) and sponges (>2%). Associated organisms (>2%) and general diversity (0.6) were higher in the CCA. Branching coral species (Pocillopora spp.) accounted for >40% of total coral cover in the reefs, followed by massive species (ca. 30%). In the CCB, branching species contributed ca. 80% and massive ca. 19%, whilst in the CCA ca. 68% and ca. 29% respectively. This differences could be related with the substrate consolidation and ample depth range of coral communities. Most of the recreational dives were conducted at the CCB; only occasionally the CCA and AC are visited. Interviewed divers had a principal interest on fish and it is precisely at the CCB where highest fish diversity and biomass are observed. Commercial divers tend to prefer the CCB because of their abundance and distribution in the bay. At the outer littoral of Bahía Culebra, diversity of all taxa and live coral cover zonal distribution are generally higher. In addition to these descriptors, indexes that indicate the regional value of a particular reef or coral community is recommended. Coastal infrastructure is mainly concentrated at three areas of the bay; one of them harbors a rare Leptoseris papyracea reef (the only reported so far in the eastern Pacific) and the solely Costa Rican living population of the free living coral Fungia (Cycloseris) curvata. A resort marina will be built over this reef. A protection plan for this and other reefal environments of Bahía Culebra is urgent and must include the monitoring of environmental variables and coral health.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Spatial cognition and neuro-mimetic navigation: a model of hippocampal place cell activity.

A computational model of hippocampal activity during spatial cognition and navigation tasks is presented. The spatial representation in our model of the rat hippocampus is built on-line during exploration via two processing streams. An allothetic vision-based representation is built by unsupervised Hebbian learning extracting spatio-temporal properties of the environment from visual input. An idiothetic representation is learned based on internal movement-related information provided by path integration. On the level of the hippocampus, allothetic and idiothetic representations are integrated to yield a stable representation of the environment by a population of localized overlapping CA3-CA1 place fields. The hippocampal spatial representation is used as a basis for goal-oriented spatial behavior. We focus on the neural pathway connecting the hippocampus to the nucleus accumbens. Place cells drive a population of locomotor action neurons in the nucleus accumbens. Reward-based learning is applied to map place cell activity into action cell activity. The ensemble action cell activity provides navigational maps to support spatial behavior. We present experimental results obtained with a mobile Khepera robot.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Planning for the end of life: the views of older people about advance care statements.

Advance statements about medical care have been heralded by some as a solution to the problem of end of life decision making for people not able to participate in discussions about their care. Since death is now most likely to occur at the end of a long life, it is important to understand the views and values which older people express in relation to these. This paper reports on a study which used focus groups to explore older people's views about advance statements and the role these might play in end of life care decisions. Participants were 32 older people or their representatives who belonged to six diverse community groups in Sheffield, UK. Advance statements were understood primarily in terms of their potential to aid personal integrity and to help the families of older people by reducing the perceived 'burden' of their decision making. However, concerns were expressed about the perceived link between advance care statements and euthanasia, their future applicability, and the possibility that preferences for care may change. Participants also reported worries and difficulties related to thinking about and discussing death and dying. Trust between doctor and patient, built up over time, was perceived to be important in creating an environment in which the communication necessary to underpin advance care planning could take place. Lastly, participants did not perceive that during dying they would be ready necessarily to adhere to an advance statement and 'disengage' from their lives. We conclude that, rather than emphasising the completion of advance statements, it may be preferable to conceptualise advance care planning as a process of discussion and review between clinicians, patients and families.

Advance Directives↗

PubMed2001

Genetic manipulation of key determinants of ion flow in glutamate receptor channels in the mouse.

Glutamate receptor channels are built around an ancient pore loop structure which defines the inner channel environment and which is connected to structures for channel gating. This pore loop, which corresponds to the M2 region of the receptor subunits, enters the lipid bilayer from the intracellular side in an alpha-helical configuration, then kinks to form a random coil and exits the lipid bilayer at the intracellular side. The narrow constriction of the channel is formed by amino acid residues that occupy a position shortly after the end of the alpha-helical part of M2. These residues determine ion selectivity and conductance properties of the glutamate-gated channel. The critical residues are asparagines for NMDA receptor subunits and glutamine or arginine for AMPA and kainate receptor subunits. Presence of arginine in the critical channel position of AMPA and kainate receptors is controlled by site-selective RNA editing. To study the importance of these critical channel residues in the mouse, we introduced codon changes in the endogenous genes for NMDA and AMPA receptor subunits. Our results show that changes in the critical channel position are not tolerated, but lead to early death. Therefore, the impact on adult synaptic function and plasticity by glutamate receptor channels with changed ion selectivity and conductance needs to be addressed by conditional expression of the mutant receptors.

Adenosine↗

PubMed2000

The effects of branches on prepartum nest building in gilts with access to straw.

Sows farrowing in a semi-natural environment terminate nest building 1-7 h prior to parturition after having built a nest for which a variety of materials are used. No nest-building behaviour occurs during parturition and the sows remain lying in the nest throughout most of the farrowing. In contrast, many intensively housed sows are restless during farrowing. To investigate whether gilts housed indoors would use branches for nest building and whether access to branches would affect the termination of nest building and parturient behaviour, we studied gilts housed individually in pens designed to stimulate natural nest building. The control group (n=21) had unlimited access to straw and the experimental group (n=21) had unlimited access to straw and branches. During nest building all the gilts used straw and all the experimental gilts also used branches. In the experimental group the interval from termination of nest building to birth of the first piglet (BFP) was significantly longer than in the control group (132 versus 58 min, P=0.04). In the experimental group, nest-building behaviour was also performed by fewer individuals during the interval from BFP until 2 h after than in the control group (38% versus 71% of the gilts, P=0.03). Gilts that performed nest building during this interval carried out more postural changes (P<0.001) and spent less time in lateral recumbency (P=0.001) than gilts which did not perform nest building. On average, gilts that performed nest building behaviour after BFP (n=26) spent 54% of the first 2 h of parturition in lateral recumbency and carried out 16 postural changes. Gilts that did not perform nest building behaviour during this interval (n=16) spent 85% of the time in lateral recumbency and carried out five postural changes. In 10 gilts that were selected randomly from the experimental group nest building was studied in more detail. In these gilts nest building peaked between 17 and 6 h prepartum. There was no difference in amount of behaviour directed towards straw and amount of behaviour directed towards branches.The results indicate that the termination of nest building in sows is under environmental feedback control. When only straw was provided the nests did not have much of a lasting structure. However, when gilts had access to straw and branches more structured and functional nests could be built. These nests may have been more effective in reducing the motivation for nest building prior to the onset of parturition.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1999

Seven years on: distance learning courses for first level registered nurses and midwives.

There is a recognized need to increase the accessibility and flexibility of post-registration course provision for first level registered nurses and midwives. Distance learning courses were developed and implemented at the University of Dundee in response to this need. The courses provide a range of learning opportunities from single module certificate courses to Bachelor, Honours and Masters level studies. The courses are well received by nurses and midwives and experience, over the last 7 years, has highlighted important aspects for distance learning education for both professional groups. Different educational strategies such as Work-based Learning and Problem-based Learning are incorporated into distance learning course design to facilitate the integration of theory and practice and develop cognitive and meta-cognitive skills. The relationship between course assessment and clinical environment is also a key feature of course design, with assessment methods built around work-based learning opportunities in clinical practice. Experience has shown that students require support throughout the learning process. This is achieved through text-based study guides and a range of other support strategies. It is concluded that distance learning can be individualized to meet the professional and personal needs of students and provide quality, flexible learning opportunities for nurses and midwives, facilitating practice development and benefiting patient care.

Education, Distance↗

PubMed2001

Constrained modeling of spin-labeled major coat protein mutants from M13 bacteriophage in a phospholipid bilayer.

The family of three-dimensional molecular structures of the major coat protein from the M13 bacteriophage, which was determined in detergent micelles by NMR methods, has been analyzed by constrained geometry optimization in a phospholipid environment. A single-layer solvation shell of dioleoyl phosphatidylcholine lipids was built around the protein, after replacing single residues by cysteines with a covalently attached maleimide spin label. Both the residues substituted and the phospholipid were chosen for comparison with site-directed spin labeling EPR measurements of distance and local mobility made previously on membranous assemblies of the M13 coat protein purified from viable mutants. The main criteria for identifying promising candidate structures, out of the 300 single-residue mutant models generated for the membranous state, were 1) lack of steric conflicts with the phospholipid bilayer, 2) good match of the positions of spin-labeled residues along the membrane normal with EPR measurements, and 3) a good match between the sequence profiles of local rotational freedom and a structural restriction parameter for the spin-labeled residues obtained from the model. A single subclass of structure has been identified that best satisfies these criteria simultaneously. The model presented here is useful for the interpretation of future experimental data on membranous M13 coat protein systems. It is also a good starting point for full-scale molecular dynamics simulations and for the design of further site-specific spectroscopic experiments.

Amino Acid Substitution↗

PubMed1992

The education of health care professionals in the year 2000 and beyond: Part 1: The consumer's view.

In summary, consumers desire health care professionals with interpersonal communication skills; with ability to interpret nonverbal communication or body language beyond gross facial gestures; and with effective questioning techniques for taking family histories quickly and accurately yet uncovering some client feelings and life-style difficulties in the process. Consumers want health care professionals who know how to mobilize clients' personal healing resources through greater understanding of how the immune system functions and who know how to deliver difficult diagnoses to clients in a positive, challenging manner and involve the clients in the course of their own body's healing. They desire significantly more information and guidelines about nutrition, weight management, and the complex biochemical interactions associated with food, medication, and the combination of the two. Consumers want health care professionals with greater understanding of sleep and its effect on health and of biofeedback, hypnosis, exercise, meditation, relaxation, and support groups as disease-fighting tools. The genetic components of illness and wellness and how clients cope with some of the built-in genetic weaknesses must receive greater attention. The influence of the environment and pollutants on human health must be addressed. How to maintain health among an aging population, and utilizing norm data that is age specific, gender specific, and developmentally and socioculturally specific is essential to address. An emphasis shift is necessary towards healing and wellness. When we do all this, we still have to make it cost effective. What a challenge! How then can health care professionals be where the consumer wants them to be? How can professionals be responsive to their own human needs as well as those of the consumer? How can the faculty preparing health care professionals incorporate the dimensions outlined by futurists and by consumers by the year 2000? The answer lies in the curriculum solution to be developed in Part II of this presentation. The curriculum solution will explicate a human need theory/process-oriented approach to professional education and practice, assuring the consumer of a person-/family-/community-centered approach to health care and engendering for the carer a healthy, valued self and improved services. Trust your heart ... Never deny it a hearing. It is the kind of house oracle that often foretells the most important.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed2003

Responding to a fire emergency in a virtual environment: different patterns of action for different situations.

This paper presents an experimental study of participants' response to the sudden appearance of a fire emergency in a virtual environment (VE) and of the adaptivity of their response pattern. A VE has been built in which participants meet two situations: first an explorative navigation and afterwards a hurried escape from the unexpected outbreak of fire. Fire intensity and participants' distance from the exit at the outbreak of fire have been varied as well, to create different degrees of danger and different degrees of difficulty in the task of leaving the premises. Participants' action has been collected automatically for quantitative analysis by registering each individual activation of the interaction devices (a triple button joystick). In addition, the movements in both virtual and real environment of additional groups of participants have been videorecorded for qualitative analysis. Results show that the appearance of the fire emergency triggers important changes in the way people move in the VE, and that such changes are all adaptive responses to an emergency situation. In conclusion, people show recognition of a dangerous situation in a VE and readily produce adaptive responses, making the VE suitable for emergency simulations and for use as an effective training tool.

Adaptation, Psychological↗