Picture Changes Research Articles

Functional and Structural Changes in Patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Treated in Poland during 12-Month Follow-Up: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: In recent years, rapid advances in diagnosis and treatment have been observed in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) patients. The introduction of modern therapies and screening tests has significantly changed the clinical picture of the disease. The previous classification has, therefore, been replaced by new phenotypes: non-sitters, sitters, and walkers, defined by the patient's functional level. However, despite the change in the clinical picture of the disease, patients still suffer from accompanying structural disorders such as scoliosis or joint contractures. Their presence also significantly affects the acquisition of subsequent motor skills. Due to this, monitoring structural changes and ensuring therapists are aware of improvements or declines in patient functionality are essential components of clinical practice. This study aims to compare the assessment of structural and functional changes after a 12-month follow-up in SMA patients who have already experienced the effects of the disease and are now receiving modern therapy. Methods: We present a study of 34 SMA patients being treated with modern therapies and tested twice 12 months apart. The participants were tested using structural measurements and validated scales such as The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Infant Test of Neuromuscular Disorders (CHOP-INTEND) and Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale-Expanded (HFMSE). Results: During the 12-month follow-up, patients showed deteriorating, non-statistically significant structural changes. We also proved that patients showed a trend toward functional improvement. Analyzing the individual scale items, we distinguished which participants obtained the maximum score for a given parameter and no longer had an opportunity to improve during the second examination. Conclusions: Our study proved that most patients improved overall motor function. The examination of structural measurements should become a standard in the evaluation of SMA patients.

ВЛИЯНИЕ МОЛОЧНОСТИ И ДОЕНИЯ МАТОК НА РОСТ И ПРОДУКТИВНОСТЬ ЯГНЯТ

A shortening of the milking period has a negative effect on lambs, and this effect is more pronounced the earlier the beating is carried out and milking begins, but the growth of young animals is highly dependent on the level of non-dairy nutrition and rearing technology. In this regard, the study of the influence of milking on the quality and productivity of the offspring was carried out taking into account the characteristics of feeding and keeping lambs. The experiment was carried out in 2023 in the foothill zone of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania on sheep of the Tushino breed. All experimental lambs were divided into two groups: a control group, raised in the usual manner, and an experimental group, whose queens were not milked. All lambs had coarse wool, were kept in the same conditions and were allowed access to the uterus 2 times a day - in the morning and in the evening, but the rest of the time they were kept separately. Milking of sheep on the farm began in early June, that is, when the lambs reached 2.5 months of age. Lambs of both groups were completely weaned at 5 months of age. It was found that the lambs of the experimental group, whose uterus were not milked, grew better and had a greater body weight at the time of lambing than the control group. The difference in body weight was 1.92 kg for rams and 2.42 kg for lambs, in favor of the experimental group. After the start of milking of the queens of the control group, the picture changes. During the third month of life, the absolute increase in the experimental group was 6.07-5.34 kg (little lambs), and in the control group - 4.56-3.69 kg. The lambs spent the fourth month of life on alpine pastures, where the growth of the control group (6.47-5.62 kg) was lower than that of the experimental group (5.87-5.39 kg). The last month of the suckling period is characterized by a significant drop in the growth of lambs in the control group (3.16-2.88). The growth of lambs in the experimental group also decreased (4.83-4.67).

Experimental studies of the impact of fluid sloshing in the tank on the dynamic characteristics of the “wing model – fuel tank” system

Flexible response of the airframe structural elements under operational loads are one of the main sources of fatigue damage accumulation. It is known that fuel sloshing in tanks can change the dynamic (frequencies and shapes of natural oscillations) and dissipative properties (oscillation damping decrements) of an elastic system, including partially or completely fuelfilled tanks. It is specified that fuel sloshing in tanks due to the additional oscillation energy dissipation of the elastic system can have a significant impact on both the fatigue and aeroelastic characteristics of aircraft structural elements. Theoretical and experimental studies, applicably to the majority of currently operating transport aircraft, have shown that when modeling dynamic phenomena and solving aeroelasticity problems, fuel can be considered conditionally solidified, which actually does not affect the resultant effect. The advent of modern heavy transport aircraft with a high aspect ratio wing and four engines on pylons under the wing has led to a considerable change in the dynamic picture of the aircraft interaction with the environment. The main feature is that, under this arrangement, the first horizontal bending mode of the wing is embedded in the main flexible modes that determine the dynamic response to external effects. In this case, the model of solidified fuel can have a significant impact on the accuracy of predicting dynamic loads and, as a consequence, on the quantitative characteristics of durability and aeroelasticity. The article presents the results of experimental studies of the impact of fluid sloshing in the tank on the dynamic characteristics (frequencies of natural oscillations and amplitudes of forced oscillations) of the “wing model – fuel tank” system. The design of the experimental installation and the methodology of conducting experiments are described. During the experiment, the tank was partially filled with liquid or full, and horizontal bending modes of the wing model, for which considering liquid sloshing in the tank is the most relevant, were studied. The tank refueling levels are determined at which the maximum effect of the system oscillation damping is achieved due to energy dissipation under liquid sloshing. The effect of various factors (presence of a top cover, internal structural frame, perforation in the structural frame) on the amplitudes and frequencies of forced oscillations is analyzed.

On democratic string field theories

We reexamine democratic open string field theories, namely, theories in which string fields are not constrained to a single picture number and picture changing is obtained as a gauge transformation. We describe several possibilities for regular free theories and attempt to construct the lowest order interaction term and identify the lowest order gauge transformation for some of these theories. We also discuss projections over string field spaces that might be needed for a consistent off-shell implementation of picture changing.

Sen's mechanism for self-dual super Maxwell theory

In several elementary particle scenarios, self-dual fields emerge as fundamental degrees of freedom. Some examples are the D=2 chiral boson, D=10 Type IIB supergravity, and D=6 chiral tensor multiplet theory. For those models, a novel variational principle has been proposed in the work of Ashoke Sen. The coupling to supergravity of self-dual models in that new framework is rather peculiar to guarantee the decoupling of unphysical degrees of freedom. We generalize this technique to the self-dual super Maxwell gauge theory in D=4 Euclidean spacetime both in the component formalism and the superspace. We use the geometric tools of rheonomy and integral forms since they are very powerful geometrical techniques for the extension to supergravity. We show the equivalence between the two formulations by choosing a different integral form defined using a Picture Changing Operator. That leads to a meaningful action functional for the variational equations. In addition, we couple the model to a non-dynamical gravitino to extend the analysis slightly beyond the free case. A full-fledged self-dual supergravity analysis will be presented elsewhere.

Lower bounds on β ( α ) and other properties of α-register machines

This paper extends our paper (In Revolutions and Revelations in Computability. CiE 2022 (2022)) for the conference “Computability in Europe” 2022. After Infinite Time Turing Machines (ITTM) were introduced in Hamkins and Lewis (Journal of Symbolic Logic 65 (2000)), a number of machine models of computability have been generalized to the transfinite. While for some of these models the computational strength has been successfully determined, there are still several white spots on the map of transfinite computability. In this paper, we contribute to the understanding of the computational strength of transfinite machine models by (i) proving lower bounds on the computational strength of α-Infinite Time Register Machines (α-ITRMs) for certain values of α, refuting a conjecture about their strength made in (Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 173 (2022)), (ii) showing that the computational strength of cardinal-recognizing ITRMs is equal to that of ITRMs and (iii) showing that non-solvability of the bounded halting problem, existence of a universal machine and an increase of computational power by allowing machines to recognize cardinals are equivalent for α-ITRMs for all relevant values of α. Finally, we give some results indicating how the picture changes when the use of parameters is dropped or restricted.

Lupus nephritis outcomes - is the picture changing?

Lupus nephritis outcomes - is the picture changing?

Gender and Age Estimation By Image Processing

Today, with the increasing interest in technology, very useful studies are carried out in the field of image processing. Image technologies are also used in many fields such as security, defense, medicine, and industry. In this study, age, gender, and ethnicity were found in the image by using different deep learning techniques and by building our own model in CNN. The 23705 images taken from the csv file named Face Data taken from Kaggle were categorized as different gender, race, and age within the application and the accuracy and losses of the results were transferred with graphs. In addition, by creating an interface with the help of the Python flask library, the results of the snapshot taken from the camera (age, gender, and race) can also be found. Out of the 23705 images, approximately 12000 male and 11000 female profiles were obtained. These profiles were classified according to 5 different genetics specified in the dataset. The genetics in the application (0 represented White, 1 represented Black, 2 represented Asian, 3 represented Indian, 4 represented Others.) The most difficult part of this study is that the picture changes depending on many factors such as posture, pose angle, brightness, and resolution at the time of shooting..

Evaluation of picture change effects on fractional occupation number states in noble gas atoms

In the two-component relativistic density functional theory, the picture change error (PCE), which originates from insufficient transformation of operators, should be corrected. In this study, we examine the PCE in the fractional occupation number (FON) state based on the spin-free infinite-order two-component Hamiltonian. The PCE for the total and orbital energy changes is estimated with respect to the FON electrons of the highest occupied molecular orbital and 1s core orbital in noble gas atoms. PCE is significant in core orbitals in heavy elements but relatively small in light elements and valence orbitals. The delocalization error, which can be represented by the total energy deviation from the behavior of the exact energy, is overestimated by the lack of picture change correction of the two-electron operator and underestimated by that of the density operator. Corresponding to these results, the PCE influences the value of orbital energies and slope of orbital energy change to FON.

An effect of a snow cover on solar heating and melting of lake or sea ice

Solar radiative heating and melting of lake and sea ice is a geophysical problem that has attracted the attention of researchers for many years. This problem is important in connection with the current global change of the climate. Physical and computational models of the process are suggested in the paper. Analytical solutions for the transfer of solar radiation in light-scattering snow cover and ice are combined with numerical calculations of heat transfer in a multilayer system. The thermal boundary conditions take into account convective heat losses to the ambient air and radiative cooling in the mid-infrared window of transparency of the cloudless atmosphere. The study begins with an anomalous spring melting of ice on the large high-mountain lakes of Tibet. It was found that a thick ice layer not covered with snow starts to melt at the ice-water interface due to volumetric solar heating of ice. The results of the calculations are in good agreement with the field observations. The computational analysis showed a dramatic change in the process when the ice is covered with snow. A qualitative change in the physical picture of the process occurs when the snow cover thickness increases to 20–30 cm. In this case, the snow melting precedes ice melting and water ponds are formed on the ice surface. This is typical for the Arctic Sea in polar summer. Known experimental data are used to estimate the melting of sea ice under the melt pond. Positive or negative feedback related to the specific optical and thermal properties of snow, ice, and water are discussed.

The geometry of picture changing operators

The geometry of picture changing operators

Influence of 60-day administration of tartrazine and infliction of a defect in the tibia on the histological structure and morphometric parameters of the rat’s thyroid gland

Aim: to study the histological structure and histomorphometric parameters of the thyroid gland in rats in the period after the completion of the 60-day administration of tartrazine and the creation of a through defect in the tibiae.Material and methods. One hundred and fifty white male rats were divided into five groups: groups T1 and T2 - 60 days of exposure to tartrazine at a dosage of 750 and 1500 mg/kg; group K+D – 60-day administration of saline solution and infliction of a defect in the tibiae; groups T1+D and T2+D – 60-day exposure to tartrazine at a dosage of 750 and 1500 mg/kg and causing a defect in the tibia. The histological structure and histomorphometric parameters of the thyroid gland were studied on days 3, 10, 15, 24 and 45.Results. In the T1+D and T2+D groups, mainly small follicles, lined with cuboidal shaped cells, and in some of them - a flat or columnar shaped cells were detected in the center of the gland from days 3 to 15. Many thyrocytes had a vacuolated cytoplasm and an intensely stained nucleus. The heterogeneous colloid partially filled or was practically absent in the follicles cavity, anemia of the capillaries between them was determined. Singly areas of the organ parenchyma with a significant accumulation of lymphocytes were detected. Histomorphometric study showed a decrease in the internal diameter of the follicles, lumen-epithelial index and nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio and the raise in the height of the follicular epithelium and the area of the cytoplasm of follicular cells.Conclusion. Sixty-day administration of tartrazine to rats and artificial traumatic bone injury leads, in comparison with the data of control groups, to a more pronounced change in the histological picture and morphometric data of the thyroid gland. The intensity and duration of changes are dosedependent: in the T1+D group, most of the qualitative and quantitative changes are smoothed out by 45 days, and in the T2+D group, many of them remain, and the body does not adapt to them.

Two loop mass renormalisation in heterotic string theory: NS states

In this work computation of the renormalised mass at two loop order for the NS sector of heterotic string theory is attempted. We first implement the vertical integration prescription for choosing a section avoiding the spurious poles due to the presence of a required number of picture changing operators. As a result the relevant amplitude on genus 2 Riemann surface can be written as a boundary term. We then identify the 1PI region of the moduli space having chosen a gluing compatible local coordinates around the external punctures. We also identify the relevant integrands and the relevant region of integration for the modular parameters at the boundary.

Detection of Brain Cancer through Enhanced Particle Swarm Optimization in Artificial Intelligence Approach

Brain cancer is deadly and requires prompt detection and treatment. We propose a complete brain cancer detection method using binary encoding, adaptive thresholding, edge-based segmentation, particle swarm optimization (PSO), wavelet transform, and neural networks. First, binary encoding converts categorical patient data and medical history information into binary vectors for fast analysis. Adaptive thresholding then handles image lighting and contrast to optimize brain image segmentation. Brain tumor boundaries are identified via edge-based segmentation. This method isolates tumor areas for investigation by recognizing significant pixel intensities. Particle swarm optimization optimizes segmentation algorithm settings, enhancing efficiency and accuracy. Wavelet transform captures local and global brain picture changes, extracting tumor-related information. This method gives a complete visual representation, improving categorization. Finally, utilizing the collected attributes, a neural network model classifies brain pictures as malignant or non-cancerous. The neural network learns the complicated correlations between retrieved variables and brain cancer to classify accurately and automatically. A dataset of brain pictures, comprising malignant and non-cancerous instances, evaluates the proposed approach. The proposed approach accurately detects brain tumors in experiments. Binary encoding, adaptive thresholding, edge-based segmentation, particle swarm optimization, wavelet transform, and neural networks can help medical professionals diagnose and treat brain cancer early.

Inadvertent Discovery of Gerstmann's Syndrome During a Skull MRI and Its Anatomical Basis: A Case Report

A rare neurological disorder in which an individual is unable to perform tasks related to language, spatial recognition,mathematics, and cognition is known as Gerstmann's syndrome(GS). Gerstmann hypothesised that the four symptoms thatmakeup Gerstmann's syndrome are caused by a shared cognitive problem (Grundstörung). Gerstmann asserted that it is a bodyschema disorder that only affects the hand and fingers. Since then, the existence of a Grundstörung has been disputed. The studyproposed a shared psychoneurological element, but it should be connected to changes in mental pictures rather than the bodilyschema. The significant facts appear to be the common simultaneous impairment of writing, computation, and bodily awarenessafter left parietal lesion, beyond the diagnostic label of "pure" and "non-pure" Gerstamann's syndrome instances. Some functionaldomains can be linked to patients' symptoms despite being heterogeneous. A 65-year-old male was brought to the hospital witha history of injury to the head and complaints of confusion, speech difficulty, inability to perform simple calculations, severeheadache, and drowsiness. The patient was sent to the radiology department of Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital,Chennai, for a Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Skull (MRI). The MRI study revealed chronic ischemic changes in periventricularand subcortical white matter in the parietal lobes. Certain ischemic changes were also observed in the frontal lobe, suggestingage-related changes and Gerstmann's syndrome. By cutting off various portions of the inferior parietal cortex, a lesion affectingsubcortical and subangular bundles of fibers affects many circuits with distinct roles. Therefore, the deficits seen in the patientare best explained by this anatomical explanation.

Early diagnosis and predicting of acute kidney injury in children with viral gastroenteritis of various agents (Literature review)

The most common viral infections causing gastroenteritis in children include rotavirus, norovirus, and the SARS-CoV-2. A typical clinical picture includes fever, vomiting, diarrhea, toxicosis and exicosis of varying severity. However, in 30—35% of cases, acute intestinal infections of viral etiology complicate of acute kidney injury (AKI), which significantly aggravates the course of the disease and affects the outcome of the disease. Currently used markers for the diagnosis of AKI are poor informative due to late detection of typical laboratory changes during the clinical picture's change. Currently, there are non-invasive biomarkers of AKI detected before changes in routine biochemical tests and can be used for early diagnosis of kidney damage. Using of these biomarkers in practice will develop of clinical and laboratory differential diagnostic criteria for early diagnosis, risk factors for the development of AKI in children with viral diarrhea of various agents, in order to start timely effective pathogenetic treatment and prevent serious complications.

Change in the Clinical Picture of Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19 between the Early and Late Period of Dominance of the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 Variant.

This study aimed to compare the clinical picture of COVID-19 in the initial and later period of Omicron dominance and to identify populations still at risk. A retrospective comparison of the clinical data of 965 patients hospitalized during the early period of Omicron's dominance (EO, January-June 2022) with 897 patients from a later period (LO, July 2022-April 2023) from the SARSTer database was performed. Patients hospitalized during LO, compared to EO, were older, had a better clinical condition on admission, had a lower need for oxygen and mechanical ventilation, had less frequent lung involvement in imaging, and showed much faster clinical improvement. Moreover, the overall mortality during EO was 14%, higher than that in LO-9%. Despite the milder course of the disease, mortality exceeding 15% was similar in both groups among patients with lung involvement. The accumulation of risk factors such as an age of 60+, comorbidities, lung involvement, and oxygen saturation <90% resulted in a constant need for oxygen in 98% of patients, an 8% risk of mechanical ventilation, and a 30% mortality rate in the LO period. Multiple logistic regression revealed lower odds of death during the LO phase. Despite the milder course of infections caused by the currently dominant subvariants, COVID-19 prophylaxis is necessary in people over 60 years of age, especially those with comorbidities, and in the case of pneumonia and respiratory failure.

Epistemic Disjunctive Datalog for Querying Knowledge Bases

The Datalog query language can express several powerful recursive properties, often crucial in real-world scenarios. While answering such queries is feasible over relational databases, the picture changes dramatically when data is enriched with intensional knowledge. It is indeed well-known that answering Datalog queries is undecidable already over lightweight knowledge bases (KBs) of the DL-Lite family. To overcome this issue, we propose a new query language based on Disjunctive Datalog rules combined with a modal epistemic operator. Rules in this language interact with the queried KB exclusively via the epistemic operator, thus extracting only the information true in every model of the KB. This form of interaction is crucial for not falling into undecidability. The contribution provided by this paper is threefold. First, we illustrate the syntax and the semantics of the novel query language. Second, we study the expressive power of different fragments of our new language and compare it with Disjunctive Datalog and its variants. Third, we outline the precise data complexity of answering queries in our new language over KBs expressed in various well-known formalisms.

A variational formula for large deviations in first-passage percolation under tail estimates

Consider the first passage percolation on the d-dimensional lattice Zd with identical and independent weight distributions and the first passage time T. In this paper, we study the upper tail large deviations P(T(0,nx)>n(μ+ξ)), for ξ>0 and x≠0 with a time constant μ, for weights that satisfy a tail assumption P(τe>t)≍βexp(−αtr). When r≤1 (this includes the well-known Eden growth model), we show that the upper tail large deviation decays as exp(−(2dαξr+o(1))n). When 1<r≤d, we find that the rate function can be naturally described by a variational formula, called the discrete p-Capacity, and we study its asymptotics. The case r=d is critical and logarithmic corrections appear. For r∈(1,d), we show that the large deviation event {T(0,nx)>n(μ+ξ)} is described by a localization of high weights around the endpoints. The picture changes for r≥d where the configuration is not anymore localized.

Spin evolution of Venus-like planets subjected to gravitational and thermal tides

Context. The arrival of powerful instruments will provide valuable data for the characterization of rocky exoplanets. Rocky planets are mostly found in close-in orbits. They are therefore usually close to the circular-coplanar orbital state and are thus considered to be in a tidally locked synchronous spin state. For planets with larger orbits, however, exoplanets should still have nonzero eccentricities and/or obliquities, and realistic models of tides for rocky planets can allow for higher spin states than the synchronization state in the presence of eccentricities or obliquities. Aims. This work explores the secular evolution of a star–planet system under tidal interactions, both gravitational and thermal, induced by the quadrupolar component of the gravitational potential and the irradiation of the planetary surface, respectively. We show the possible spin–orbit evolution and resonances for eccentric orbits and explore the possibility of spin-orbit resonances raised by the obliquity of the planet. Then, we focus on the additional effect of a thick atmosphere on the possible resulting spin equilibrium states and explore the effect of the evolution of the stellar luminosity. Methods. We implemented the general secular evolution equations of tidal interactions in the secular code called ESPEM. In particular, we focus here on the tides raised by a star on a rocky planet and consider the effect of the presence of an atmosphere, neglecting the contribution of the stellar tide. The solid part of the tides was modeled with an anelastic rheology (Andrade model), while the atmospheric tides were modeled with an analytical formulation that was fit using a global climate model simulation. We focused on a Sun-Venus-like system in terms of stellar parameters, orbital configuration and planet size and mass. The Sun-Venus system is a good laboratory for studying and comparing the possible effect of atmospheric tides, and thus to explore the possible spin state of potential Venus-like exoplanets. Results. The formalism of Kaula associated with an Andrade rheology allows spin orbit resonances on pure rocky worlds. Similarly to the high-order spin–orbit resonances induced by eccentricity, the spin obliquity allows the excitation of high-frequency Fourier modes that allow some spin-orbit resonances to be stable. If the planet has a dense atmosphere, like that of Venus, another mechanism, the thermal tides, can counterbalance the effect of the gravitational tides. We found that thermal tides change the evolution of the spin of the planet, including the capture in spin–orbit resonances. If the spin inclination is high enough, thermal tides can drive the spin toward an anti-synchronization state, that is, a the 1:1 spin–orbit resonance with an obliquity of 180 degrees. Conclusions. Through our improvement of the gravitational and thermal tidal models, we can determine the dynamical state of exo-planets better, especially if they hold a thick atmosphere. In particular, the contribution of the atmospheric tides allows us to reproduce the spin state of Venus at a constant stellar luminosity. Our simulations have shown that the secular evolution of the spin and obliquity can lead to a retrograde spin of the Venus-like planet if the system starts from a high spin obliquity, in agreement with previous studies. The perturbing effect of a third body is still needed to determine the current state of Venus starting from a low initial obliquity. When the luminosity evolution of the Sun is taken into account, the picture changes. We find that the planet never reaches equilibrium: the timescale of the rotation evolution is longer than the luminosity variation timescale, which suggests that Venus may never reach a spin equilibrium state, but may still evolve.