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It is unlikely to have been growing on the acidic bark of I P. uncinata i but instead on understory species, which in these forests would typically be I Juniperus alpina i Gray, I Salix caprea i L. or I Sorbus i L. spp. (F. Lara pers. comm.), I leg. & det. i P. Martin & S. V. O'Leary I s.n., conf. i T.L I . i Blockeel. Interesting and new species for the bryophyte flora of Serbia. I Codonoblepharon microtheca i joins a large group of species in the Réunion bryophyte flora that are disjunctive from tropical east Africa (Ah-Peng et al. [4]); many of these are likely to be discovered on the intervening islands, most of which remain very poorly documented. These taxa, along with I R. crystallina i , have diagnostic value for the class of freshwater shoreline vegetation I Isoëto-Nanojuncetea i Br.-Bl. et Tx. in Br.-Bl. et al. 1952 (Mucina et al. [149]), which is poorly studied in the country in terms of dynamics, distribution and species composition (especially the bryophytes). This first observation of I G. alpinum i adds a new alpine species to the bryophyte flora of Corsica, which are all very rare on the island (Geissler [67]; Ellis, Alikhadzhiev, et al. [48]). [Extracted from the article]

A preliminary list of 22 bryophytes growing in the Batumi Botanical garden is provided. From chorological point of view, temperate and boreo-temperate taxa prevail while with regard to ecological behaviour, mesophilous taxa are the most numerous and with respect to light requirements equivalently sciaphilous and eliophilous taxa are represented The mosses Fissidens dubius and Cyrtomnium hymenophylloides are recorded for the first time in Georgia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

& Wilson) Mitt., 19 January 2015, I leg. i H. Bednarek-Ochyra & R. Ochyra I 845/15 & 848/15 i , with V. Plásek (KRAM B-245670 & B-245673); (3) on banks of Río Ñirehuao east of El Gato between Ñirehuao and Villa Mañihuales at Ruta X-423, 512 m a.s.l., 45°13'07"S, 71°45'33"W, on wet muddy soil in stream bed, associated with I Philonotis vagans i , 19 January 2015, I leg. i H. Bednarek-Ochyra & R. Ochyra I 851/15 i , with V. Plásek (KRAM B-245675). It exhibits an amphiatlantic distribution pattern, typical of austral cool-adapted bryophytes (e.g. Ochyra and Lewis Smith [146]; Bednarek-Ochyra and Ochyra [22], [23], [24], [25]; Ochyra et al. [142], [143]; Li S-P et al. [118]; Blockeel, Bednarek-Ochyra et al. [33]; Ellis, Bednarek-Ochyra et al. [68]; Ellis, Bakalin et al. [67]; Ochyra and van Rooy [147]; Ochyra and Bednarek-Ochyra [141]; Ellis, Asthana et al. [65]; Ochyra et al. [145]; Saluga et al. [173]). It was subsequently discovered in the Central and East African mountains (Ochyra [139]), but interestingly, this species had not been described earlier in Africa under different names (Bednarek-Ochyra and Ochyra, [26]). The bryophyte flora of Ethiopia is still understudied and in recent decades a number of liverwort (e.g. Ellis, Aleffi, Asthana, et al. [62]) and moss (e.g. Blockeel, Matcham, et al. [37]; Ochyra and Bednarek-Ochyra [140]; Blockeel, Bednarek-Ochyra, et al. [32]; Ellis, Asthana, et al. [66]) species have been newly found in this country, especially in the Bale Mountains. Herein, the species is recorded from the fourth mountain range in these vast mountains, namely from the Polica Range where the Racomitrioideae are represented by three species of I Niphotrichum i Bedn.-Ochyra & Ochyra and three species of I Bucklandiella i Roiv. [Extracted from the article]

The article offers information on several types of bryophytes including Acroschisma wilsonii (Hook.f.) A.Jaeger, Bartramia pomiformis Hedw, and Brachythecium subpilosum (Hook.f. & Wilson) A.Jaeger. Topics mentioned include the development of plant species, the bryophytes diversity, and the clay soil where Fissidens curvatus Hornsch bryophyte grow. Also mentioned was the Buxbaumia viridis (DC.) Moug. & Nestl. bryophyte considered as endangered species.

The article different species of bryophyte species. Topics include Andreaea flexuosa moss flora found in Alberto de Agostini National Park, Monte Buckland, Chile; Atrichum tenellum found in Black Sea coast on wet sandy soil humus in steppe; and Bazzania flaccida herbarium found in alpine grassland with Polytrichum–Sphagnum hummock.

Some interesting moss records in Pollino National Park, noteworthy protected area of the south- ern Apennines, are reported. Among them, Mnium spinosum and Brachythecium tommasinii are new to southern Italian peninsula, Grimmia laevigata, G. montana, G. tergestina, G. trichophyl- la and Orthotrichum pumilum are new to Basilicata region, and, finally, Campylidium sommer- feltii is rare in southern Italy and little known in Mediterranean area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a list of new regional and national bryophytes including the Andreaea flabellata, Bryochenea vestitissima, and Bryum incacorralis, as well as, Diplasiolejeunea involuta, Fissidens crispulus and Ephemerum minutissimum. Information about the contributors and the place where the plants were discovered are provided.

The use of EEG biometrics, for the purpose of automatic people recognition, has received increasing attention in the recent years. Most of the current analyses rely on the extraction of features characterizing the activity of single brain regions, like power spectrum estimation, thus neglecting possible temporal dependencies between the generated EEG signals. However, important physiological information can be extracted from the way different brain regions are functionally coupled. In this study, we propose a novel approach that fuses spectral coherence-based connectivity between different brain regions as a possibly viable biometric feature. The proposed approach is tested on a large dataset of subjects (N = 108) during eyes-closed (EC) and eyes-open (EO) resting state conditions. The obtained recognition performance shows that using brain connectivity leads to higher distinctiveness with respect to power-spectrum measurements, in both the experimental conditions. Notably, a 100% recognition accuracy is obtained in EC and EO when integrating functional connectivity between regions in the frontal lobe, while a lower 97.5% is obtained in EC (96.26% in EO) when fusing power spectrum information from parieto-occipital (centro-parietal in EO) regions. Taken together, these results suggest that the functional connectivity patterns represent effective features for improving EEG-based biometric systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

New data on the distribution, biology, intra- and inter-population variability and conservation state of Sicilian populations ofAnacolia webbiiare provided. Two new localities are reported, so that total five fragmented populations occur in the island, all of them in a rather small area in the western part of the province of Palermo. They live on wet limestone or sandstone cliffs with base at 900–1200 m a.s.l. and N, N-NE aspect, within communities ofAceri campestris-Querco-ilicis sigmetum. The plants are particularly vigorous, but some data suggest a condition of vulnerability of the populations. In fact, in addition to specificity to a rare habitat on the island, a morphometric and allozyme analysis showed a very low genetic and morphological diversity. One population (Costa Lunga), showing small morphological differences with respect to the other populations, diverges from this pattern, showing the highest mean number of alleles per locus (1.5), the highest polymorphism (50%) and intra-population diversity (H = 0.249). In one of the larger populations (Mount Kumeta), moreover, a remarkable presence of sterile plants, a paucity of male plants as well as a low production of sporophytes and a high rate of aborted archegonia have been recorded. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives: To explore whether hypoxic ventilation could allow a practical animal model of laryngotracheal injury secondary to endotracheal intubation. Study Design: Randomized controlled animal study. Setting: Animal laboratory in a tertiary pediatric hospital. Subjects and Methods: Eight Sus scrofa piglets (15-18 kg) were anesthetized and intubated for 4 hours, with a 6-mm cuffed endotracheal tube. They were randomly assigned to either constant hypoxic ventilation (oxygen saturation under 70%) or nonhypoxic ventilation. Endotracheal tube cuff pressure was manually controlled and maintained at a constant level. After 4 hours, fluorescein dye was administered intravenously to highlight areas of hypoperfusion within the larynx. The animals were euthanized at the end of the procedure, and the larynx and trachea were harvested for gross and histological examination. The pathologist was blinded to the ventilation group. The severity of laryngeal injury was graded between 0 and 4 by a senior pathologist. Results: The experiment protocol was successfully completed in all animal subjects. The animals undergoing hypoxic ventilation showed a significantly higher median injury grade than the nonhypoxic animals (2 vs 1, respectively; P = .003). Damage was significantly worse in the hypoxic group at all anatomical sublevels. Conclusions: Endotracheal tube-related laryngeal injury was demonstrated after only 4 hours of intubation using this animal model, and hypoxic ventilation increased the severity of injury. This study therefore provides an animal model that may be suitable for future investigation and prevention of intubation injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the critical time period between the onset of sensorineural hearing loss and cochlear implantation with respect to normal voice production in children with post-meningitic hearing loss. Acoustic measures of voice production were obtained from ten paediatric cochlear implant recipients with post-meningitic hearing loss. Acoustic measures were obtained utilising the Multi-Dimensional Voice Program and Computerized Speech Laboratory (Kay Elemetrics Corp.). Measures were based on sustained phonation of the vowel /a/. Acoustic parameters included fundamental frequency, short- and long-term frequency perturbation, and short- and long-term amplitude perturbation. Measures of fundamental frequency and short-term frequency and amplitude perturbation were comparable to values of children with normal hearing. Long-term control of frequency was within normal limits for subjects with a period of auditory deprivation of less than four months. Measures of long-term amplitude perturbation were normal for all patients except those with cochlear ossification. Early restoration of auditory feedback with cochlear implantation, the absence of cochlear ossification, residual aided hearing following meningitis, and auditory-verbal therapy were identified as factors in preserving the long-term control of frequency and amplitude in the setting of post-meningitic hearing loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the critical time period between the onset of sensorineural hearing loss and cochlear implantation with respect to normal voice production in children with post-meningitic hearing loss. Acoustic measures of voice production were obtained from ten paediatric cochlear implant recipients with post-meningitic hearing loss. Acoustic measures were obtained utilising the Multi-Dimensional Voice Program and Computerized Speech Laboratory (Kay Elemetrics Corp.). Measures were based on sustained phonation of the vowel /a/. Acoustic parameters included fundamental frequency, short- and long-term frequency perturbation, and short- and long-term amplitude perturbation. Measures of fundamental frequency and short-term frequency and amplitude perturbation were comparable to values of children with normal hearing. Long-term control of frequency was within normal limits for subjects with a period of auditory deprivation of less than four months. Measures of long-term amplitude perturbation were normal for all patients except those with cochlear ossification. Early restoration of auditory feedback with cochlear implantation, the absence of cochlear ossification, residual aided hearing following meningitis, and auditory-verbal therapy were identified as factors in preserving the long-term control of frequency and amplitude in the setting of post-meningitic hearing loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sicilian epiphytic bryophyte diversity, based on literature and unpublished data, is assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The total number of taxa found on trees or shrubs is 133 (116 mosses and 17 liverworts). Among them, 38 are customary epiphytic, 21 cortico-saxicolous, 13 are indifferent and 61 occasionally epiphytic taxa. The most represented families are Orthotrichaceae (19.1%), which consists above all of several typically corticicolous species, Pottiaceae (19.1%) and Brachytheciaceae (12.6%) which both include many taxa that mainly colonize rock or ground substrates. From the chorological point of view, temperate taxa (33.8%) prevail, followed by oceanic-Mediterranean taxa (22.6%). An analysis of variations in species diversity along an altitudinal gradient (0-2000 m a.s.l.) shows that the number of taxa is more elevated between 800 and 1100 m. This range is especially rich in customary epiphytes. The geographical distribution of taxa highlights that the majority of taxa is found on main mountainous systems, bryoflora of which also has a high degree of diversification. The northern ranges of the Madonie and Nebrodi are particularly rich territories; however, some isolated mounts also present a considerable species diversity. These areas, therefore, are of notable interest for the conservation of epiphytic bryophytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new approach for keystroke-based authentication when using a cellular phone keypad as input device is presented. In the proposed method, users are authenticated using keystroke dynamics acquired when typing fixed alphabetic strings on a mobile phone keypad. The employed statistical classifier is able to perform user verification with an average equal error rate of about 13%. The obtained experimental results suggest that, when using mobile devices, a strong secure authentication scheme cannot rely on the sole keystroke dynamics, which however can be a module of a more complex system including, as basic security, a password-based protocol eventually hardened by keystroke analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 3-year-old patient presented for elective adenotonsillectomy to treat symptomatic obstructive sleep apnoea. The patient had not been assessed at a pre-operative anaesthesia clinic but had undergone uneventful general anaesthesia twice in the previous two years. An uneventful operative course was complicated by the development of clinical instability over the first 6 h postoperatively culminating in cardiorespiratory arrest. Subsequent investigation demonstrated the acute development of tumour lysis syndrome in the setting of a new onset, undiagnosed acute leukaemia. The patient died on the third postoperative day. The use of dexamethasone for prophylaxis against postoperative nausea and vomiting was the likely aetiology of the acute tumour lysis syndrome in this case. This is the first documented peri-operative death due to tumour lysis syndrome after adminstration of dexamethasone. We discuss the various problems encountered with this case and review the recent literature and case reports on tumour lysis syndrome in the operating theatre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypernasality is a commonly perceived characteristic of speech in deaf adults and children, but the mechanism of this abnormal nasal resonance is poorly understood. The impact of cochlear implantation on nasalance measures in children with severe auditory deprivation has not been previously reported. We conducted a study of nasality in 6 deaf children who had undergone cochlear implantation. Voice recordings were obtained before surgery and 6 months after activation of the implants. The MacKay-Kummer SNAP Test--which consists of a syllable-repetition subtest and a picture-cued subtest--was used to obtain nasalance scores for oral (bilabial, alveolar, velar, and sibilant) and nasal phonemes. Before cochlear implantation, mean nasalance scores were significantly higher than normal during the production of oral phonemes for both subtests (p <= 0.05). Six months after activation, the nasalance measures for all components of the syllable-repetition subtest had been restored to within 1 standard deviation of normal. For all oral phonemes of the picture-cued subtest, the elevated nasalance scores were consistently lower after cochlear implant activation, although the difference was statistically significant only for velar tasks. Nasalance scores for nasal phonemes were within 1 standard deviation of normal both before and after implant activation. Our study showed that cochlear implantation partially corrects elevated nasalance measures. Disturbances in nasal resonance may be caused in part by the inability of deaf speakers to monitor velopharyngeal valving with auditory feedback. The trend toward improved nasalance scores after implantation highlights the role of auditory feedback in monitoring velopharyngeal function. Visual biofeedback may be required to further normalize hypernasal speech in profoundly deaf children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors propose a new approach for the synthesis of natural video textures using a fractal-based approach. Specifically, a video texture is modelled according to the three-dimensional (3D) extended self-similar (ESS) model introduced, which generalises the fractional Brownian motion process. The analysis of original video textures is based on the estimation of the autocorrelation functions (ACFs) of the textures' increments. The 3D-ESS model is then used to synthesise a process whose increments have the same ACFs of the given prototype. The synthesis is accomplished by generalising to the 3D case the incremental Fourier synthesis algorithm. Experimental results for the analysis and synthesis of natural video textures are eventually provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Congenital tracheal stenosis (CTS) is an uncommon condition that has challenged pediatric surgeons for decades. Patients with CTS can present with a wide spectrum of symptoms and varying degrees of severity. In addition, a variety of techniques have been devised to repair this malformation. A review of these procedures and our suggestions for clinical standards and practice guidelines will be presented in this paper. A retrospective review of the literature on CTS from 1964 to 31 March, 2006. There is not one standard technique for the repair of CTS, as individualized approach to each patient and airway lesion is necessary to optimize patient management; nevertheless there is a consensus about segmental resection and anastomosis being best for short segment stenosis while slide tracheoplasty is most effective for the long-segment ones. Conservative management is also an option for select group of patients with careful and close follow up. Survival following surgery over the years has improved, but mortality remained high, particularly in a specific subset of patients presenting at the age less than 1 month with associated cardiac malformations. In conclusion, CTS remains a significant challenge for pediatric surgeons. Additional research is required to improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of CTS, and to develop evidence-based treatment protocols for the entire spectrum of presentation including conservative management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]