Ms Range Research Articles

Time evolution of internal energy distribution of Anthracene studied in an electrostatic storage ring, the Mini-Ring

Fast radiative cooling of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) was studied by probing the time evolution of the internal energy distribution of hot molecular ensembles in the ms range. Anthracene cations (C14H10)+ prepared in an electron cyclotron resonance ion source were stored in an electrostatic storage ring, the Mini-Ring [1]. The experiment showed that in the first milliseconds, the time evolution of the stored ion population distribution was dominated by the unimolecular dissociation of the molecular ions with higher internal energy. Then, in the next milliseconds, the unimolecular dissociation was quenched by radiative cooling. In a larger time range, from 4 to 8 ms, the time evolution of the internal energy distribution was probed by reheating a part of the molecular ensemble by laser photon absorption at different storage times. We report here the measurement of a fast radiative cooling rate (100s−1) that can't be explained by vibrational IR emission but rather by electronic fluorescence from thermally excited electronic states [2].

The Fluorescence Intermittency for Quantum Dots Is Not Power-Law Distributed: A Luminescence Intensity Resolved Approach

The photoluminescence (PL) of single emitters like semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) shows PL intermittency, often called blinking. We explore the PL intensities of single CdSe/ZnS QDs in polystyrene (PS), on polyvenylalcohol (PVA), and on silicon oxide (SiOx) by the change-point analysis (CPA). By this, we relate results from the macrotime (sub-ms to 1000 s) and the microtime (0.1-100 ns) range to discrete PL intensities. We conclude that the intensity selected "on"-times in the ms range correspond to only a few (discrete) switching times, while the PL decays in the ns range are multiexponential even with respect to the same selected PL intensity. Both types of relaxation processes depend systematically on the PL intensity in course of a blinking time trace. The overall distribution of on-times does not follow a power law contrary to what has often been reported but can be compiled into 3-4 characteristic on-times. The results can be explained by the recently suggested multiple recombination centers model. Additionally, we can identify a well-defined QD state with a very low PL intensity above the noise level, which we assign to the strongly quenched exciton state. We describe our findings by a model of a hierarchical sequence of hole and electron trapping. Blinking events are the consequence of slow switching processes among these states and depend on the physicochemical properties of the heterogeneous nanointerface of the QDs.

Studies on Fast Nach Receptor Kinetics Utilizing a New Approach to Ultra-Fast Compound Applications in Automated Patch Clamp

Ligand gated ion channels like nACh Receptors show fast inactivation kinetics in the ms range. Therefore, state of the art investigation of receptor kinetics and drug action requires the combination of patch clamp recording with advanced ultra-fast compound application systems like the piezo-driven “I-Tube”. So far, automated patch clamp systems have not been able to offer this combination. Here, we demonstrate automated ,,Θ-Tube recordings on nACh receptors using the Patchserver, a new device based on automated pipette micro positioning, gigaseal and whole cell formation. Unlike concurrent approaches utilizing “planar” chip designs, the method retains important features of the classical patch clamp methodology, including the possibility to optically select individual cells to be patched. This also enables the use of transiently transfected cells qualified by fluorescent markers. The system offered compound applications to the cell membrane with millisecond exchange- and exposure times, which is crucial to investigate the kinetics of fast inactivating ligand gated ion channels. Thus, the new method offers a cost efficient approach to significantly enhanced throughput and data quality for research on fast inactivating ligand gated ion channels.

Millisecond lifetime imaging with a europium complex using a commercial confocal microscope under one or two-photon excitation

We demonstrate that a commercial confocal microscope can perform time-gated and long lifetime imaging in the μs to ms range under classical one photon or nonlinear two photon excitation.

Further exploration of MRI techniques for liver T1rho quantification.

With biliary duct ligation and CCl4 induced rat liver fibrosis models, recent studies showed that MR T1rho imaging is able to detect liver fibrosis, and the degree of fibrosis is correlated with the degree of elevation of the T1rho measurements, suggesting liver T1rho quantification may play an important role for liver fibrosis early detection and grading. It has also been reported it is feasible to obtain consistent liver T1rho measurement for human subjects at 3 Tesla (3 T), and preliminary clinical data suggest liver T1rho is increased in patients with cirrhosis. In these previous studies, T1rho imaging was used with the rotary-echo spin-lock pulse for T1rho preparation, and number of signal averaging (NSA) was 2. Due to the presence of inhomogeneous B0 field, artifacts may occur in the acquired T1rho-weighted images. The method described by Dixon et al. (Magn Reson Med 1996;36:90-4), which is a hard RF pulse with 135° flip angle and same RF phase as the spin-locking RF pulse is inserted right before and after the spin-locking RF pulse, has been proposed to reduce sensitivity to B0 field inhomogeneity in T1rho imaging. In this study, we compared the images scanned by rotary-echo spin-lock pulse method (sequence 1) and the pulse modified according to Dixon method (sequence 2). When the artifacts occurred in T1rho images, we repeated the same scan until satisfactory. We accepted images if artifact in liver was less than 10% of liver area by visual estimation. When NSA =2, the breath-holding duration for data acquisition of one slice scanning was 8 sec due to a delay time of 6,000 ms for magnetization restoration. If NSA =1, the duration was shortened to be 2 sec. In previous studies, manual region of interest (ROI) analysis of T1rho map was used. In this current study, histogram analysis was also applied to evaluate liver T1rho value on T1rho maps. MRI data acquisition was performed on a 3 T clinical scanner. There were 29 subjects with 61 examinations obtained. Liver T1rho values obtained by sequence 1 (NSA =2) and sequence 2 (NSA =2) showed similar values, i.e., 43.1±2.1 ms (range: 38.6-48.0 ms, n=40 scans) vs. 43.5±2.5 ms (range: 39.0-47.7 ms, n=12 scans, P=0.74) respectively. For the six volunteers scanned with both sequences in one session, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.939. Overall, the success rate of obtaining satisfactory images per acquisition was slightly over 50% for both sequence 1 and sequence 2. Satisfactory images can usually be obtained by asking the volunteer subjects to better hold their breath. However, sequence 2 did not increase the scan success rate. For the nine subjects scanned by sequence 2 with both NSA =2 and NSA =1 during one session, the ICC was 0.274, demonstrated poor agreement. T1rho measurement by ROI method and histogram had an ICC of 0.901 (P>0.05), demonstrated very good agreement. We conclude that by including 135° flip angle before and after the spin-locking RF pulse, the rate of artifacts occurring did not decrease. On the other hand, sequence 1 and sequence 2 measured similar T1rho value in healthy liver. While reducing the breath-holding duration significantly, NSA =1 did not offer satisfactory signal-to-noise ratio. Histogram measurement can be adopted for future studies.

Radiofrequency catheter ablation of atypical atrial flutter in dogs

Five dogs were presented to our institution for fatigue caused by an incessant supraventricular tachycardia. In all dogs, an ECG on admission showed a narrow QRS complex tachycardia with a median ventricular cycle length of 220 ms (range 180–360 ms), and a positive atrial depolarization identifiable in the ST segment following the previous QRS complex. There was a 1:1 atrioventricular conduction ratio in all but one dog, which presented with 2:1 atrioventricular block. Electrophysiologic studies identified the underlying arrhythmogenic mechanism as a right atrial macro-reentrant tachycardia with two distinct isthmic areas: right septal (RS) in three dogs and right atrial free wall (RAFW) in two dogs. Linear radiofrequency catheter ablation was performed during tachycardia in all dogs at the identified isthmic area, which acutely blocked the macroreentrant circuit. At 18-month follow-up, 3 dogs (1 with RAFW isthmus and 2 with RS isthmus) showed no recurrence of the arrhythmia on Holter monitoring. One dog with RS isthmus showed recurrence of the supraventricular tachycardia 15 days post-ablation, and 1 dog with RAFW isthmus presented with persistent atrial fibrillation 2 months post-ablation.

Vitamin D and multiple sclerosis: where do we go from here?

This article briefly introduces the basics of multiple sclerosis’ (MS) clinical hallmarks and pathophysiology. Vitamin D is presented, including its metabolism and effects on the immune system. The epidemiological observations linking vitamin D to MS range from a half century old findings of latitude gradients and migrational risk patterns to modern, nested, case–control biobank studies. These observations show an association without doubt although causation has yet to be proven. Vitamin D as a treatment for MS is an emerging concept and both current and anticipated data will be covered. Lastly, we discuss future challenges, ideas on how to move from association to causation, and the prospect of primary prevention of this disabling disease.

Evaluation of STARNET lightning detection performance in the Amazon region

The lightning detection performance of the very low frequency (VLF) long-range Sferics Tracking and Ranging Network (STARNET) was evaluated by comparison with a simultaneous data collection made by the Sistema de Proteção da Amazônia Lightning Detection Network (SIPAM-LDN). The study period was 110 days between August 2008 and March 2009, corresponding to a stable period of the STARNET network when it was operating with five sensors to cover the eastern Amazon region. The selected area of study corresponded to a circle of 130 km diameter within a homogeneous zone of detection efficiency (DE) of the SIPAM network. A method of coinciding flash identification (time window of 1 ms and spatial range of 50 km) was used for these two networks. The coinciding cloud-to-ground (CG) flashes were discriminated by polarity and peak current values from the SIPAM-LDN measurements. The total number of coincident CG flashes represented about 9.7% of the CG SIPAM data set. Moreover, 94 % of the coinciding CG flashes had a time error <300 µs. The spatial error of the coincident CG flashes yielded a mean of around 16 km. The final result shows that the relative detection efficiency (RDE) of the coincident CG flashes decreased with the value of their peak currents. RDE values were below 10% for peak currents lower than 20 kA, between 10% and 30% for peak currents between 20 and 40 kA, and above 30% for peak currents greater than 40 kA.

MMN and Novelty P3 in Coma and Other Altered States of Consciousness: A Review

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in the assessment of patients in altered states of consciousness. There is a need for accurate and early prediction of awakening and recovery from coma. Neurophysiological assessment of coma was once restricted to brainstem auditory and primary cortex somatosensory evoked potentials elicited in the 30 ms range, which have both shown good predictive value for poor coma outcome only. In this paper, we review how passive auditory oddball paradigms including deviant and novel sounds have proved their efficiency in assessing brain function at a higher level, without requiring the patient's active involvement, thus providing an enhanced tool for the prediction of coma outcome. The presence of an MMN in response to deviant stimuli highlights preserved automatic sensory memory processes. Recorded during coma, MMN has shown high specificity as a predictor of recovery of consciousness. The presence of a novelty P3 in response to the subject's own first name presented as a novel (rare) stimulus has shown a good correlation with coma awakening. There is now a growing interest in the search for markers of consciousness, if there are any, in unresponsive patients (chronic vegetative or minimally conscious states). We discuss the different ERP patterns observed in these patients. The presence of novelty P3, including parietal components and possibly followed by a late parietal positivity, raises the possibility that some awareness processes are at work in these unresponsive patients.

Evaluation Of Electrocardiogram Parameters In Patients With Breast and Lung Cancer Treated With Chemotherapy and Lipegfilgrastim Or Pegfilgrastim

BackgroundChemotherapy (CTx) may cause adverse events such as neutropenia, febrile neutropenia (FN), and cardiotoxicity. Lipegfilgrastim is a once-per-cycle, fixed-dose, glycoPEGylated granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) being developed to reduce the duration of neutropenia and the incidence of FN in cancer patients receiving CTx. Pegfilgrastim is a long-acting covalent conjugate of recombinant methionyl human G-CSF and monomethoxypolyethylene glycol currently available to decrease infection, as manifested by FN, in cancer patients receiving myelosuppressive anti-cancer drugs. Cardiovascular events have seldom been reported in patients receiving colony-stimulating factors. ObjectiveTo evaluate any possible contributions to the electrocardiogram (ECG) effects of CTx after administration of lipegfilgrastim in lung cancer (vs placebo) and breast cancer (vs pegfilgrastim) patients. MethodsThis analysis is based on 2 phase III studies. Lung cancer patients were given lipegfilgrastim 6 mg (n=248) or placebo (n=125) subcutaneously (SC) once per cycle ∼24 h after CTx (cisplatin, 80 mg/m2/etoposide, 120 mg/m2) for a maximum of 4 cycles. Breast cancer patients were given lipegfilgrastim 6 mg (n=101) or pegfilgrastim 6 mg (n=101) SC once per cycle ∼24 h after CTx (doxorubicin, 60 mg/m2/docetaxel, 75 mg/m2) for a maximum of 4 cycles. ECG analysis was performed on all enrolled patients with ≥1 baseline and 1 on-treatment ECG. Monitoring was performed at baseline (∼24 h before CTx, cycle 1), 24 h after study drug administration in cycles 1 and 4, and at the end-of-study visit. ECG measurements included RR, PR, QRS, and QT intervals; derived variables included QTcF (Fridericia's formula), QTcB (Bazett's formula), and heart rate (HR). Central tendency analysis compared baseline ECG values with those during cycle 1, 4, and at end of study. Outlier analysis determined if there were any patients with exaggerated effects on ECG intervals not revealed by central tendency analysis. Morphologic analyses were performed with regard to ECG waveform. ResultsChanges from baseline placebo-corrected values (lung cancer patients) or baseline (breast cancer patients) for HR, PR and QRS interval duration were not clinically relevant, with no difference between lipegfilgrastim and pegfilgrastim in breast cancer patients. Mean changes from baseline placebo-corrected QTcF interval duration showed no signal effect for lipegfilgrastim on cardiac repolarization in lung cancer patients. Changes in QTcF interval duration between lipegfilgrastim and pegfilgrastim in breast cancer patients were comparable. There were no bradycardic outliers in lung cancer patients treated with lipegfilgrastim and 1 at the end of study in breast cancer patients. In the lung cancer study, there were 4%, 2%, and 4% tachycardic outliers in cycle 1, 4, and end of study, respectively, for patients treated with lipegfilgrastim versus 4%, 0%, and 2% in patients receiving placebo. In the breast cancer study, there were 0%, 4%, and 2% tachycardic outliers in cycle 1, 4, and end of study, respectively, for patients treated with lipegfilgrastim versus 1%, 2%, and 1% in patients treated with pegfilgrastim. There were no outliers for PR interval duration in either study. In the lung cancer study, there were 2%, 1%, and 2% QRS outliers in cycle 1, 4, and end of study, respectively, for lipegfilgrastim-treated patients versus 1%, 0%, and 0% in patients receiving placebo. There was only 1 QRS outlier in the breast cancer study (lipegfilgrastim-treated patient, cycle 1). New morphologic changes from baseline were in ST segment and negative T wave inversions and considered nonspecific. ConclusionsThere was no clear effect of lipegfilgrastim on HR, AV nodal conduction measured by PR interval duration, cardiac depolarization measured by QRS duration, or morphology, and no clear signal of effect on cardiac repolarization in the lung cancer study. In the breast cancer study, treatment with lipegfilgrastim and pegfilgrastim had no effect on ECG parameters except for nonspecific ST-T changes and a comparable increase in QTcF (cardiac repolarization) in the 10-15 ms range. The lack of ECG effect versus placebo in the lung cancer study along with the presence of potential QTcF changes in the breast cancer study suggest that the changes observed in the breast cancer study may be due to causes other than the G-CSF treatment. Disclosures:Lammerich:Merckle/ratiopharm/Teva Pharm Industries: Employment. Müller:Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Employment.

Mirtazapine overdose is unlikely to cause major toxicity

Objective. There is limited information on mirtazapine overdose, but cases of severe effects (seizures, serotonin toxicity and coma) have been reported. We aimed to investigate the clinical effects and complications of mirtazapine overdose. Methods. This was an observational case series of mirtazapine overdoses (> 120 mg) identified from admissions to a toxicology unit between January 1987 and August 2013. Demographic information, details of ingestion, clinical effects, ECG parameters (HR, QT and QRS), and length of stay were extracted from a clinical database. Results. From 267 mirtazapine overdoses, there were 89 single-agent mirtazapine ingestions and 178 cases where mirtazapine was taken with at least one other drug. The median age of the 89 single-agent mirtazapine ingestions was 36 years [interquartile range (IQR): 26–49 years; Range: 15–81 years]; 45 were female (51%). The median ingested dose was 420 mg (IQR: 270–750 mg; Range: 150–1350 mg) and 41 patients (46%) had a Glasgow coma score (GCS) < 15, but the minimum GCS was 10. There were no seizures, serotonin toxicity or delirium. Tachycardia occurred in 29 patients (33%) and hypertension in 32 patients (36%). The median QRS was 80 ms (Range: 80–120 ms) and there were no cases with QT prolongation. There were no arrhythmias and no deaths. The median length of stay was 14 h (IQR: 8.8–18.2 h; Range:2.2–75 h). No single-agent mirtazapine patient was admitted to intensive care. The 178 patients taking co-ingestants had more severe toxicity depending on the co-ingested drug. Conclusion. Mirtazapine appears to be relatively benign in overdose, associated with tachycardia, mild hypertension and mild CNS depression not requiring intervention.

Fetal heart rate patterns at 20 to 24 weeks gestation as recorded by fetal electrocardiography

Introduction: With advancing technology it has become possible to accurately record and assess fetal heart rate (FHR) patterns from gestations as early as 20 weeks. The aim of our study was to describe early patterns of FHR, as recorded by transabdominal fetal electrocardiogram according to the Dawes–Redman criteria. Accordingly, short-term variability, basal heart rate, accelerations and decelerations were quantified at 20–24 weeks gestation among women with uncomplicated pregnancies.Methods: This study was conducted in a subset of participants enrolled in a large prospective pregnancy cohort study. Our final data set consisted of 281 recordings of women with good perinatal outcomes who had undergone fetal electrocardiographic assessment as part of the Safe Passage Study.Results: The success rate of the recordings was 95.4%. The mean frequency of small and large accelerations was 0.5 and 0.1 per 10 min, respectively and that of small and large decelerations 0.3 and 0.008 per 10 min, respectively. The mean and basal heart rates were both equal to 148.0 bpm at a median gestation of 161 days. The mean short term variation was 6.2 (SD 1.4) ms and mean minute range 35.1 (SD 7.1) ms.Conclusion: The 20–24-week fetus demonstrates FHR patterns with more accelerations and decelerations, as well as higher baseline variability than was anticipated. Information from this study provides an important foundation for further, more detailed, studies of early FHR patterns.

Serum concentration of eperisone hydrochloride correlates with QT interval

BackgroundEperisone hydrochloride is a centrally acting muscle relaxant prescribed for muscle stiffness that acts by depressing the activities of α and γ efferent neurons in the spinal cord and supraspinal structures. Although a case of eperisone-induced severe QT prolongation had been reported, the relationship between serum eperisone concentration and QT interval remains obscure. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between serum eperisone concentration and QT interval. MethodsFour patients who overdosed on eperisone were admitted to our hospital between January 2010 and December 2011. We took simultaneous serial measurements of serum eperisone concentration and QT interval in the intensive care unit. In total, 22 measurement points were plotted for these patients. We analyzed the correlation between the serum eperisone concentration and corrected QT (QTc) interval. ResultsThree men and one woman (mean age, 50 years) overdosed on eperisone with an average dose of 3087.5 mg (therapeutic dose, 150 mg/day). The mean QTc interval at arrival was 592 ms (range, 444–825 ms), and the mean serum eperisone concentration at arrival was 1257.5 ng/mL (range, 14.5–4120.0 ng/mL). The correlation coefficient was 0.833 between serum eperisone concentration and QTc interval (P < .001). ConclusionSerum eperisone concentration correlates with QTc interval in patients who overdose on eperisone.

Slow scintillation time constants in NaI(Tl) for different interacting particles

Very large thallium doped sodium iodide crystals operated underground and in very low background environment in the context of a dark matter search experiment have been used to determine scintillation components in the tens of ms range in the light pulse induced by different interacting particles: γ/μ and α.

Discrete Prepotential as an Indicator of Successful Ablation in Patients With Coronary Cusp Ventricular Arrhythmia

Background— Although coronary cusp (CC) ventricular arrhythmia (VA) can be treated by catheter ablation, reliable indicators of successful ablation sites have not been fully identified. Methods and Results— This study comprised 392 patients undergoing radiofrequency catheter ablation for outflow tract-VA at 3 institutions from January 2007 to August 2012. The successful ablation site was on the left CC or right CC in 35 (8.9%) of the 392 patients. In 9 (26%) of these 35 patients, a discrete prepotential was recognized, 5 of whom had left CC-VAs and 4 of whom had right CC-VAs. Radiofrequency catheter ablation was successful at the site of the prepotential in all 9 of these patients. The duration of the isoelectric line between the end of the discrete prepotential and the onset of the ventricular electrogram was 27±13 ms. The time from onset of the discrete prepotential at the successful ablation site on the CC to the QRS onset (activation time) was 69±20 ms (range, 50–98 ms). Pace mapping was graded as excellent at the successful ablation site in only 1 patient. No discrete prepotential was recorded in any successful right outflow tract-VA ablation case in this study. Conclusions— A discrete prepotential was seen in 9 (26%) of 35 patients with CC-VA. In left and right CC-VA, the site of a discrete prepotential with ≥50 ms activation time may indicate a successful ablation site.

Anatomophysiology of the Pharyngo-Upper Esophageal Area in Light of High-Resolution Manometry

IntroductionThe motility of the pharynx, upper esophageal sphincter (UES), and proximal esophagus is still poorly understood. These structures have anatomical and functional peculiarities that hinder the accurate study of their motility with the technology traditionally available. High-resolution manometry (HRM) has characteristics that make it more suitable for the study of the upper digestive tract. This study aims to evaluate in healthy volunteers, using HRM and transnasal pharyngoscopy, (1) the correlation between anatomical landmarks and HRM plots and (2) the normal values for manometric parameters of the pharynx, UES, and proximal esophagus. MethodsWe studied 40 asymptomatic volunteers with HRM (50 % male; median age, 27 years). Fourteen of those also underwent transnasal pharyngoscopy. Results and discussionPharyngeal peak pressure, rise time, recovery time, and duration of contraction were 128 mmHg (range, 100–164 mmHg), 197 ms (range, 169–268 ms), 385 ms (range, 285–465 ms), and 604 ms (range, 544–626 ms) at the velum and 116 mmHg (range, 97–139 mmHg), 128 ms (range, 100–156 ms), 194 ms (range, 148–219 ms), and 336 ms (range, 267–386 ms) at the epiglottis, respectively. UES extension, basal pressure, residual pressure, and duration of relaxation were 3 cm (range, 2.6–3.6 cm), 76 mmHg (range, 58–109 mmHg), 4.4 mmHg (range, 1.2–6.9 mmHg), and 678 ms (range, 636–757 ms), respectively. In the proximal esophagus, wave amplitudes at 2, 4, and 6 cm below the UES were 72 mmHg (range, 53–97 mmHg), 56 mmHg (range, 42–76 mmHg), and 48 mmHg (range, 35–59 mmHg), respectively. ConclusionsIn conclusion, normal values were established. These values may prove clinically useful and could contribute to future studies with dysphagic patients.

Morpho-spectral imaging in the biosciences

Three-dimensional (3D) imaging is a current challenge in biology and medicine for investigation of the smallest details of living systems, from cells to organisms, and with the expectation of micro to nanoscale resolution in real time. This is not a new objective, but rather a long quest toward excellence; to achieve such analytical performance, however, imaging technology must integrate the latest innovations in light sources, optics, detectors, supercomputers, and automation, among others. Spectroscopic imaging has already been proved to achieve 3D rendering, either directly with a confocal microscope (e.g., Raman microscopy) or with post-acquisition reconstruction (e.g., infrared (IR), mass spectrometry (MS), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) microscopy), which work in transmission mode or on the sample surface. The main advantage of the development of 3D spectroscopic imaging is to provide multiple chemical information extracted from raw spectra. The real challenge seems to be the ability to normalize the signalto-noise (SNR) ratio between 3D images stacked for 3D rendering. The duration of acquisition, the stability of light sources, and signal quantification are the three main components of SNR instability or fluctuations. It seems that the development of new sources is crucial to the development of 3D imaging technology for the achievement of micro and nanoscale resolution. At the very least, this source development is mandatory for introduction of 3D spectral imaging techniques into the routine environment of biological laboratories or hospitals for diagnostic purposes. Saving time in data acquisition and treatment to obtain a 3D image of a sample is the current major limitation for merging these 3D imaging techniques with commercially available industrial products. This is frustrating the expectations of the spectroscopist community wishing to exploit these new methods of spectral analysis. Nevertheless, Raman microscopy has recently benefited from low-power lasers and ultra-fast detectors, thus limiting the destructive effect of lasers on organic samples and leading to in vivo analysis of small biological specimens. IR imaging is now being proposed for this application with tunable lasers for stable SNRs with ultra-fast acquisition (ms range). The first attempts at 3D rendering with these techniques have led to a glimpse of the tremendous analytical potential these approaches will bring to biosciences, notably by achieving microscopic rendering of large samples. Each technique benefits from its own physical properties, leading to different developments for specific uses in the biosciences. Raman microscopy is currently more successful for cell imaging, because of its confocal geometry and nanoscopic resolution. IR imaging has greater potential for analyzing larger samples (typically tissues) because of focal plane array detectors and rapid acquisitionwith high SNRs. XRF is sensitive enough to achieve trace analysis of multiple inorganic elements in cells and tissues. Laser ablation-based inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP–MS) has also been used to achieve nanoscopic resolution for detection of trace concentrations of metals; it is, thus, also compatible with cell imaging dimensions. All of these spectroscopic imaging techniques will soon be available for fully quantitative 3D analysis, leading to tomographic reconstruction when they are coupled to morphological imaging, notably throughX-raymicroscopy, which is able to reveal the microscopic structure of hard materials (e.g., Published in the topical collection Morpho-Spectral Imaging with guest editors Cyril Petibois and Yeukuang Hwu.

Prediction Beyond the Borders: ERP Indices of Boundary Extension-Related Error

Boundary extension (BE) is a rapidly occurring memory error in which participants incorrectly remember having seen beyond the boundaries of a view. However, behavioral data has provided no insight into how quickly after the onset of a test picture the effect is detected. To determine the time course of BE from neural responses we conducted a BE experiment while recording EEG. We exploited a diagnostic response asymmetry to mismatched views (a closer and wider view of the same scene) in which the same pair of views is rated as more similar when the closer item is shown first than vice versa. On each trial, a closer or wider view was presented for 250 ms followed by a 250-ms mask and either the identical view or a mismatched view. Boundary ratings replicated the typical asymmetry. We found a similar asymmetry in ERP responses in the 265-285 ms interval where the second member of the close-then-wide pairs evoked less negative responses at left parieto-temporal sites compared to the wide-then-close condition. We also found diagnostic ERP effects in the 500-560 ms range, where ERPs to wide-then-close pairs were more positive at centro-parietal sites than in the other three conditions, which is thought to be related to participants’ confidence in their perceptual decision. The ERP effect in the 265-285 ms range suggests the falsely remembered region beyond the view-boundaries of S1 is rapidly available and impacts assessment of the test picture within the first 265 ms of viewing, suggesting that extrapolated scene structure may be computed rapidly enough to play a role in the integration of successive views during visual scanning.

Factors influencing direct costs dynamics of building projects - team members perception in Delta state, Nigeria

Inaccurate costs forecast of building projects is traceable to variation in direct and indirect costs caused by several factors. This study evaluates the severity of the impact of eighty factors responsible for direct costs dynamics of building projects in Delta State, Nigeria. The objective is to compare consultants and contractors perception of the severity of the factors on direct costs differential. A field survey of 85 contractors and 67 consultants was conducted with the aid of structured questionnaires. Data were analysed using mean score, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests. The study concludes that consultants and contractors have similar perception of the effect of the direct cost variation factors (p-values between 0.365 and 0.930). Construction, resources, and performance factors are the most significant of the groups (MS range = 3.66 to 4.33), though no significant variation among groups’ importance in the evaluation (p-values = 0.42 and 0.19). The study recommends that clients should count on consultants and contractors for direct cost advice, provided they accommodate all the direct cost variation groups during cost advice, with priority on the leading factors of each group. Key words: Building projects, Consultants, Contractors, Cost dynamics, Direct costs.

Haloperidol for severe anorexia nervosa restricting type with delusional body image disturbance: a nine-case chart review

Here we report on a case series chart review conducted on nine severe and treatment-resistant patients with anorexia nervosa, body mass index < 13 kg/m(2), and a delusional body image disturbance. Patients received low doses of haloperidol during hospitalization. Haloperidol was well tolerated. The delusional body image disturbance and the drive for thinness were subjectively perceived as less intense. BMI increased from the initial 12.2 ± 0.5 to 16.0 ± 1.5 kg/m(2). Mean pulse rate and blood pressure did not change significantly from admission to discharge (66 ± 11.6 bpm; 91/56 mmHg vs 77 ± 12.0 bpm; 102/66 mmHg). Mean of QTc, available from electrocardiograms performed during hospitalization, was 413 ± 38.5 ms (range 342-469 ms). Further investigations are warranted to elucidate clinical usefulness and safety of low doses of haloperidol for patients with treatment-resistant anorexia and delusional body image disturbance.