Local Head Research Articles

Somatotopic organization among parallel sensory pathways that promote a grooming sequence in Drosophila.

Mechanosensory neurons located across the body surface respond to tactile stimuli and elicit diverse behavioral responses, from relatively simple stimulus location-aimed movements to complex movement sequences. How mechanosensory neurons and their postsynaptic circuits influence such diverse behaviors remains unclear. We previously discovered that Drosophila perform a body location-prioritized grooming sequence when mechanosensory neurons at different locations on the head and body are simultaneously stimulated by dust (Hampel et al., 2017; Seeds et al., 2014). Here, we identify nearly all mechanosensory neurons on the Drosophila head that individually elicit aimed grooming of specific head locations, while collectively eliciting a whole head grooming sequence. Different tracing methods were used to reconstruct the projections of these neurons from different locations on the head to their distinct arborizations in the brain. This provides the first synaptic resolution somatotopic map of a head, and defines the parallel-projecting mechanosensory pathways that elicit head grooming.

Somatotopic organization among parallel sensory pathways that promote a grooming sequence in Drosophila

Mechanosensory neurons located across the body surface respond to tactile stimuli and elicit diverse behavioral responses, from relatively simple stimulus location-aimed movements to complex movement sequences. How mechanosensory neurons and their postsynaptic circuits influence such diverse behaviors remains unclear. We previously discovered that Drosophila perform a body location-prioritized grooming sequence when mechanosensory neurons at different locations on the head and body are simultaneously stimulated by dust (Hampel et al., 2017; Seeds et al., 2014). Here, we identify nearly all mechanosensory neurons on the Drosophila head that individually elicit aimed grooming of specific head locations, while collectively eliciting a whole head grooming sequence. Different tracing methods were used to reconstruct the projections of these neurons from different locations on the head to their distinct arborizations in the brain. This provides the first synaptic resolution somatotopic map of a head, and defines the parallel-projecting mechanosensory pathways that elicit head grooming.

Active thermal balance control for improving orientation error of vertical machine tool spindle

In this study, a thermal balance control method by local heating on the spindle head structure of a vertical milling machine was proposed to improve the squareness error of the Y-Z plane. Thermal deformation and temperature distribution of the spindle head structure was analyzed to determine the key positions on the structure for prediction and control of the spindle pose. A long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network with time series characteristics was used to build the in-situ spindle tilt error prediction model. The particle swarm optimization algorithm was integrated with a neural network model to dynamically determine and find temperature control targets in local positions on the spindle head. Finally, the temperatures at selected local locations of spindle head was adjusted by elective heating to suppress thermal bending and improve the spindle tilt on the Y-Z plane. The proposed method was verified using a five-axis vertical milling machine. The experimental results showed that the proposed method could effectively maintain the spindle tilt in the Y direction at [10, −10] μrad after long-time operation of the spindle at both 7200 and 12,000 rpm.

A novel model for efficient cluster head selection in mobile WSNs using residual energy and neural networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are essential for monitoring operational environments. Efficient selection of cluster heads is crucial in minimizing energy consumption. This study introduces an innovative model for determining the positions of cluster heads in a WSN, using the residual energy of each sensor node as a selection metric. The sensor incorporates a neural network model that has been trained using different significant models to determine the best location for the cluster head. Our model is compared with the Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) algorithm to showcase its effectiveness, particularly in mobile node scenarios. We employ a feed-forward multilayer network, specifically Multilayer Perceptrons (MLPs), as the neural network technique. The proposed method comprises two stages: the training stage, where the neural network is trained with appropriate models, and the execution stage, where the trained network suggests the cluster head's location based on the sensor's conditions. The results demonstrate that the proposed method can accurately identify suitable locations for cluster heads in a sensor network and is capable of adapting to new models despite environmental changes and variations in input configurations.

Sustainability Evaluation of the 'Batu Into Green' Village Based on the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Nowadays, environmental issues deserve everyone's attention. People can actually improve their surrounding environment to be healthier and more comfortable, started with their own houses. This idea realizes an ecology village named 'Batu Into Green', located in Pattimura V, Temas, in the City of Batu, Indonesia. Originally, this village was a slum, but with the initiation of the local village head and with the increase of local public awareness for a healthier environment, the locals improved the ecology of their village. 'Batu Into Green' applies to the concept of environmental friendly village. Thus, an analysis was carried out to examine the level of sustainability of this ecology village. This research applied a qualitative approach to descriptively evaluate the current condition of the village based on the principles of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The focus of the SDGs in this discussion is Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDGs No.11). From the analyses, the 'Batu Into Green' initiative has a great potential for economic, social, and cultural sustainability

Sustainability Evaluation of the 'Batu Into Green' Village Based on the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Nowadays, environmental issues deserve everyone's attention. People can actually improve their surrounding environment to be healthier and more comfortable, started with their own houses. This idea realizes an ecology village named 'Batu Into Green', located in Pattimura V, Temas, in the City of Batu, Indonesia. Originally, this village was a slum, but with the initiation of the local village head and with the increase of local public awareness for a healthier environment, the locals improved the ecology of their village. 'Batu Into Green' applies to the concept of environmental friendly village. Thus, an analysis was carried out to examine the level of sustainability of this ecology village. This research applied a qualitative approach to descriptively evaluate the current condition of the village based on the principles of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The focus of the SDGs in this discussion is Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDGs No.11). From the analyses, the 'Batu Into Green' initiative has a great potential for economic, social, and cultural sustainability

DePRL: Achieving Linear Convergence Speedup in Personalized Decentralized Learning with Shared Representations

Decentralized learning has emerged as an alternative method to the popular parameter-server framework which suffers from high communication burden, single-point failure and scalability issues due to the need of a central server. However, most existing works focus on a single shared model for all workers regardless of the data heterogeneity problem, rendering the resulting model performing poorly on individual workers. In this work, we propose a novel personalized decentralized learning algorithm named DePRL via shared representations. Our algorithm relies on ideas from representation learning theory to learn a low-dimensional global representation collaboratively among all workers in a fully decentralized manner, as well as a user-specific low-dimensional local head leading to a personalized solution for each worker. We show that DePRL achieves, for the first time, a provable \textit{linear speedup for convergence} with general non-linear representations (i.e., the convergence rate is improved linearly with respect to the number of workers). Experimental results support our theoretical findings showing the superiority of our method in data heterogeneous environments.

Preventing Subsidence Reoccurrence in Tianjin: New Preconsolidation Head and Safe Pumping Buffer.

Tianjin, a coastal metropolis in north China, has grappled with land subsidence for nearly a century. Yet, emerging evidence suggests a notable decrease in subsidence rates across Tianjin since 2019. This trend is primarily attributed to the importation of surface water from the Yangtze River system via the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, initiated in December 2014. Utilizing Sentinel-1A Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) data (2014-2023), this study reveals that one-third of the Tianjin plain has either halted subsidence or experienced land rebound. As a result, the deep aquifer system (~-200 to -450 m) beneath one third of the Tianjin plain has completed a consolidation cycle, leading to the establishment of new, locally specific preconsolidation heads. The identification of the newly established preconsolidation head seeks to answer a crucial question: How can we prevent the reoccurrence of subsidence in areas where it has already ceased? In essence, subsidence will stop when the local hydraulic head elevates to the new preconsolidation head (NPCH), and permanent subsidence will not be reinitiated as long as hydraulic head remains above the NPCH. The difference of the depth between current hydraulic head and the NPCH defines the safe pumping buffer (SPB). This study outlines detailed methods for identifying the NPCHs in the deep aquifer system from long-term InSAR and groundwater-level datasets. Determining NPCHs and ascertaining SPBs are crucial for estimating how much groundwater can be safely extracted without inducing permanent subsidence, and for developing sustainable strategies for long-term groundwater management and conservation.

A New Method to Predict Postoperative Stem Anteversion in Total Hip Arthroplasty for Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip.

Preoperative evaluation of femoral anteversion to predict postoperative stem anteversion aids the selection of an appropriate prosthesis and optimizes the combined anteversion in total hip arthroplasty (THA) for developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). The conventional prediction methods are based on the femoral anteversion measurement at the location of the femoral head and/or neck. However, varied differences between femoral anteversion and postoperative stem anteversion were demonstrated. This study investigated the predictive role of a new method based on the principle of sagittal three-point fixation. From January 2017 to December 2018, a total of 133 DDH hips that underwent THA were retrospectively analyzed. There were 76 Crowe type I, 27 type II, and 30 type III hips. The single-wedge stem was used in 49 hips, and the double-wedge stem was used in 84 hips. Preoperative native femoral anteversion at the femoral head-neck junction, anterior cortex anteversion at 2 levels of the lesser trochanter, posterior cortex anteversion at 5 levels of the femoral neck, and postoperative stem anteversion were measured using two-dimensional computed tomography. Predictive anteversion by the new method was calculated as the average anteversion formed by the anterior cortex at the lesser trochanter and the posterior cortex at the femoral neck. For hips with different neck heights, different Crowe types, different stem types, or different femoral anteversions, native femoral anteversion showed widely varied differences and correlations with stem anteversion, with differences ranging from -1.27 ± 8.33° to -13.67 ± 9.47° and correlations ranging from 0.122 (p = 0.705, no correlation) to 0.813. Predictive anteversion formed by the anterior cortex at the lesser trochanter proximal base and posterior cortex 10 mm above the lesser trochanter proximal base showed no significant difference with stem anteversion, with less varied differences (0.92 ± 7.52°) and good to excellent correlations (r = 0.826). Adopting our new method, predictive anteversion, measured as the average anteversion of the anterior cortex at the lesser trochanter proximal base and posterior cortex 10 mm above the lesser trochanter proximal base, predicted postoperative stem anteversion more reliably than native femoral anteversion.

Comparative Dosimetric Analysis of IMRT and VMAT in Head and Neck Cancers

Purpose: The aim of study was to dosimetrically evaluate and compare IMRT and VMAT plans for irradiation of local head and neck cancers focusing on target coverage, conformity index, homogeneity index and dose perceived by the organs at risk (OAR). Methods: Prospective study conducted on 50 patients selected randomly and divided in two groups in which one group receive IMRT plan and another received VMAT plan. Results: PTV coverage was similar for both the techniques. The conformity index was higher for VMAT in comparison to IMRT which is statistically significant. The homogeneity index was also better in VMAT plans as compared to IMRT except for higher PTV volume where IMRT had better plans. The mean dose to parotid were significantly lesser in parotid glands in VMAT plans. Also, the point max dose to spinal cord, brainstem, vestibulocochlear nerve was lesser. There was no significant difference in dose received by spinal cord in both arms. Conclusion: VMAT provides better dose conformity, more homogenous target coverage and OAR sparing in comparison to IMRT.

Pelatihan Pengendalian Nyamuk Vektor Demam Berdarah dengan <i>Lethal MosquiTrap Modification</i> (LMM) di Kecamatan Ampenan, Kota Mataram

The community service was carried out in Ampenan District, Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara. Larval Monitoring Cadres (Jumantik) as targets or partners for this service activity. The problem faced by partners is the large number of cases of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DBD) in several areas of Ampenan. The solution to conducting outreach and training on the manufacture and use of Lethal MosquiTrap Modification (LMM). Through this activity, it hoped that provide information and skills to target cadres so that they are able to independently make ovitraps as an effort to control the dengue virus vector. The final result of this service is that it is hoped that the community can avoid the dangers of dengue fever. Training activities are carried out in 2 stages, the evaluation is carried out in a separate phase. First, carry out socialization on mosquito traps which was attended by the local RT Head, posyandu cadres and community leaders. Second, training in making mosquito traps called Lethal MosquiTrap Modification (LMM). In this activity, training was provided on making simple mosquito traps and how to apply these traps by the community. The final phase carried out an evaluation process to see the seriousness of residents in using these traps to control the dengue virus vector, namely the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

고분을 통해 본 대가야의 정치체제와 본관리 고분군의 축조집단

This study examined Daegaya’s political system and social structure, and the characteristics of the building group of the ancient tombs of Bongwan-ri, focusing on the golden age of Daegaya, from the late 5th century to the early 6th century. The political system of Daegaya was examined with emphasis on the regional confederation theory and the ancient state theory. From an archaeological point of view, the ancient state theory can fit Daegaya as the size of the tombs and prestigious items of local heads under Daegaya’s control show an organic relevance with the Goryeong group. However, with regard to the content of literatures, the Daegaya confederation theory cannot be ignored. In other words, it seems necessary to divide it into a number of indirectly controlled areas that had strong autonomy and retained the country’s name externally, and the strength of the alliance would have varied depending on the distance from Goryeong Gara. Unlike Silla and Baekje, Daegaya’s indirect control over its affiliated countries would not have been strong. Daegaya was on the path to becoming an ancient state at a later stage of social development than Baekje and Silla, and it would be appropriate to see it as an early state. The structural characteristics and prestigious goods of the ancient tombs of Bongwan-ri, Goryeong, belonging to the Daegaya’s royal capital are similar to or even superior to those of local heads in the Daegaya region. The ancient tombs of Bongwan-ri is located in the northern part of Daegaya’s capital, and judging from the location and excavated artifacts, it is identified as an influential group that played an important role in the defense of Daegaya’s capital.

Acantholytic squamous cell carcinoma of larynx: An unusual cause of asphyxial death diagnosed on autopsy

Acantholytic squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) is an uncommon histopathological variant of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This tumor commonly occurs in the sun exposed areas of skin at the head and neck location. The possible occurrence at mucosal sites has seldom been reported. Although, this malignant tumor has an excellent prognosis in the skin, in sharp contrast, mucosal involvement carries a worse prognosis. Here, we explore an intriguing case of an asphyxial death of a 35-year-old man due to a polypoidal mass occluding the airway in the glottic region. Subsequently, based on the histopathological and immunohistochemical findings, the cause of death was diagnosed as ASCC based on histopathological and immunohistochemical findings. Furthermore, this report also highlights the rarity of this variant of SCC at an uncommon location, thus making it the third case ever reported in literature. The other interesting fact about this case is that most of the published reports in the literature have described and diagnosed this rare variant on antemortem examination; contrarily, a postmortem diagnosis of ASCC is exceptional, making it the first report ever in history.

Geriatric assessment and quality of life for 2 years in older patients with head and neck cancer.

NCT02025062.

Cylindroma of the Breast: A Rare Differential for Breast Cancer on Core Biopsies, Case Report and Review of Literature.

Breast cancers of either ductal or lobular pathology make up the vast majority of breast malignancies. Other cancers occur rarely in the breast. Benign pathology can at times mimic breast cancers on imaging and initial needle biopsies. We report a rare breast pathology of cylindroma. Cylindromas are usually benign, rare dermatologic lesions most commonly associated with head or neck locations. They more commonly occur as sporadic and solitary masses. Less commonly is an autosomal-dominant multi-centric form of this disease. Malignant cylindromas are very rare. We present a patient with findings of a cylindroma of the breast after excision. This was initially felt to be concerning for breast cancer on imaging and core biopsy. Treatment of cylindromas of the breast is excision. Sentinel lymph node dissection is not indicated, nor are adjuvant therapies when identified in the breast. This lesion needs to be included in the differential diagnosis for breast cancer. If cylindromas can be accurately diagnosed preoperatively, this would negate the need for consideration of axillary nodal surgery and adjuvant therapies.

Obesity Is Associated with Distal Migration of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma to Body and Tail: A Multi-Center Study.

(1) Background: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) is one of the most lethal types of cancer. Most cases of PAC occur in the head of the pancreas. Given the proximity of the pancreatic head to the bile duct, most patients present clinically during early stages of the disease, while distally located PAC could have delayed clinical presentation. (2) Aims: To assess predictors of non-head PAC. (3) Methods: A retrospective multicenter study was conducted, including all patients who had endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) for pancreatic masses and who had histologic confirmation of PAC. (4) Results: Of the 151 patients included, 92 (60.9%) had pancreatic head cancer, and 59 (39.1%) had distal pancreatic cancer. PAC at body was the most common location in the distal PAC group (31 patients (52.5%)). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated a significant association of obesity with distal migration of PAC (OR 4.44, 95% CI 1.15-17.19, p = 0.03), while none of the other assessed parameters showed a significant association. Notably, abdominal pain was more significantly associated with distal PAC vs. head location (OR 2.85, 95% CI 1.32-6.16, p = 0.008). (5) Conclusions: Obesity shows a significant association as a clinical predictor of distal PAC. Further studies are needed to better explore this association.

Tumor-Infiltrating Mast Cells in Angiosarcoma Correlate With Immuno-Oncology Pathways and Adverse Clinical Outcomes

Recent studies have described several molecular subtypes and deregulation of immuno-oncologic signaling pathways in angiosarcoma. Interestingly, mast cells were enriched in subsets of angiosarcoma, although their significance remains unknown. In this study, we aim to verify this observation using immunohistochemistry (H scores) and NanoString transcriptomic profiling and explore the association between mast cells with clinical and biological features. In the study cohort (N = 60), H scores showed a significant moderate correlation with NanoString mast cell scores (r = 0.525; P < .001). Both H score and NanoString mast cell scores showed a significant positive correlation (P < .05) with head and neck location, nonepithelioid morphology, and lower tumor grade. Mast cell enrichment significantly correlated with higher NanoString regulatory T-cell scores (H score, r = 0.32; P = .01; NanoString mast cell score, r = 0.27; P = .04). NanoString mast cell scores positively correlated with signaling pathways relating to antigen presentation (r = 0.264; P = .0414) and negatively correlated with apoptosis (r = −0.366; P = .0040), DNA damage repair (r = −0.348; P = .0064), and cell proliferation (r = −0.542; P < .001). Interestingly, in the metastatic setting, patients with mast cell–enriched angiosarcoma showed poorer progression-free survival (median, 0.2 vs 0.4 years; hazard ratio = 3.05; P = .0489) along with a trend toward worse overall survival (median, 0.2 vs 0.6 years; hazard ratio, 2.86; P = .0574) compared with patients with mast cell–poor angiosarcoma. In conclusion, we demonstrated the presence of mast cells in human angiosarcoma and provided initial evidence of their potential clinical and biological significance. Future research will be required to elucidate their specific roles and mechanisms, which may uncover novel avenues for therapeutic intervention.

Supervised-unsupervised combined transformer for spectral compressive imaging reconstruction

To solve the low spatial and/or temporal resolution problem which the conventional hyperspectral cameras often suffer from, spectral compressive imaging systems (SCI) have attracted more attention recently. Recovering a hyperspectral image (HSI) from its corresponding 2D coded image is an ill-posed inverse problem, and learning accurate prior from HSI and 2D coded image is essential to solve this inverse problem. Existing methods only use supervised networks that focus on learning generalized prior from training datasets, or only use unsupervised networks that focus on learning specific prior from 2D coded image, resulting in the inability to learn both generalized and specific priors. Also, when learning the priors, existing methods cannot simultaneously give consideration to both global and local scales, as well as both spatial and spectral dimensions. To cope with this problem, in this paper, we propose a Supervised-Unsupervised Combined Transformer Network (SUCTNet) composed by a supervised Spatio-spectral Transformer network (SSTNet) and an Unsupervised Multi-level Feature Refinement network (UMFRNet). Specifically, we first develop the SSTNet to learn generalized prior and obtain a preliminary HSI. In SSTNet, the proposed spatial encoding and spectral decoding network architecture enables it to simultaneously consider both spatial and spectral dimensions, and a proposed Global and Local Multi head Self Attention block (GL-MSA) enables it simultaneously to consider both global and local scales. Then, the preliminary HSI is fed into the proposed UMFRNet to learn specific prior and obtain the target HSI. In UMFRNet, a proposed multi-level feature refinement mechanism and the physical imaging model of SCI are used to improve reconstruction accuracy and generalization performance. Extensive experiments show that our method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods on simulated and real datasets. Codes will be available at https://github.com/Vzhouhan/SUCTNet.

STRENGTHENING GOVERNANCE: THE ROLE OF CONTINUOUS LEARNING IN ENHANCING PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

This article is based on the results of the research conducted in 2023, implemented under the agreement between the Hanns Seidel Foundation and the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This study is a logical continuation of the research conducted in 2021 on satisfaction of local heads (akims) with the first conducted elections of akims of cities of district significance, rural districts, settlements and villages. The researchers assume that newly elected local heads may have problems with decision-making on some issues. This may be provoked by the lack of certain competences needed in rural areas. The article presents the results of the research of training needs of representatives of local government. During the research a mixed type of methods (quantitative and qualitative) was used. At the first stage, a sociological survey was conducted among local heads (akims) of cities of district significance, rural districts, settlements and villages (n=250). At the second stage of the research an in-depth interview was conducted with participation of akims, representatives of non-governmental organisations and business structures (n=29). The study showed that there is a need for training in communication skills, financial and legal literacy, as well as socio-cultural and psychologi-cal competences among representatives of local government.

Evaluation of the knowledges skin cancers amongst patients attending the dental unit of a tertiary hospital in Cameroon

Head and neck locations are the site of predilection for skin cancers. This is mainly due to the photoexposition of these areas and is made more important in our equatorial setting with high sunlight exposure, rising trend of skin bleaching and higher percentages of albinism. Hence, we sought to evaluate the knowledges of patients visiting at the dental service of a tertiary hospital on these skin cancers.We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional at the dental unit of the Garoua Regional Hospital over a period of one month. We included in our study all patients attending the dental unit willing to voluntarily take part in this survey and those not willing to voluntarily take part in this survey were excluded from our study. We carried out a consecutive sampling.We retained 69 participants with a mean age of 30 [24.0–38.0] years and a sex ratio of 0.71.52.3 % of our participants had heard about skin cancer before, with 4.6 % having seen a patient with skin cancer, all of whom were family members.Regarding sunlight exposure, 56.9 % of our participants thought UV exposure can increase the risk of skin cancer, 29.2 % thought body areas exposed to sunlight were more at risk of having skin cancer.Even though 90.8 % thought these cancers were dangerous,50.8 % thought it could be treated only 1.5 % knew any means of treatment.Our findings show that compared to other population-based studies the knowledge level on skin cancers is lower.