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Background Coccidioidal meningitis (CM) is the most severe form of disseminated coccidioidomycosis. Despite years of clinical experience, it remains a difficult condition to treat, often requiring surgical procedures, such as placement of a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt in addition to lifelong anti-fungal therapy. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of CM patients seen in a large referral center in Central Valley, California, from 2010–2020. Data pertinent to CM were collected and analyzed. Results Among 133 patients with CM identified in the 10-year period, non-adherence to antifungal therapy was noted in 43% of patients. Out of the eighty patients who underwent VP shunt placement for management of intracranial pressure, shunt failure requiring revision surgery occurred in forty-two (52.5%). Rehospitalizations due to CM related reasons occurred in 78/133 patients (59%). Twenty-three percent of patients (n=29) died due to complications from CM, on an average 22 months after the diagnosis of CM. Encephalopathy at presentation was associated with a significantly higher risk of death. Conclusions CM patients in Central California are predominantly rural agricultural workers with elevated levels of poverty and low health literacy with many barriers to care leading to high rates of medication non-adherence and are lost to follow-up outpatient care. Management challenges are frequent such as failure of antifungal therapy, high rates of rehospitalization, and the need for repeated shunt revision surgeries. In addition to the development of curative new anti-fungal agents, understanding the barriers to patient adherence to care and anti-fungal therapy and identifying means to overcome such barriers is of paramount importance.

We theoretically predict the full quantum geometric tensor, comprising the quantum metric and the Berry curvature, for a square lattice of plasmonic nanoparticles. The gold nanoparticles act as dipole or multipole antenna radiatively coupled over long distances. The photonic-plasmonic eigenfunctions and energies of the system depend on momentum and polarization (pseudospin), and their topological properties are encoded in the quantum geometric tensor. By T-matrix numerical simulations, we identify a TE-TM band splitting at the diagonals of the first Brillouin zone, that is not predicted by the empty lattice band structure nor by the highly symmetric nature of the system. Further, we find quantum metric around these regions of the reciprocal space, and even a non-zero Berry curvature despite the trivial lattice geometry and absence of magnetic field. We show that this non-zero Berry curvature arises exclusively from non-Hermitian effects which break the time-reversal symmetry. The quantum metric, in contrast, originates from a pseudospin-orbit coupling given by the polarization and directional dependence of the radiation.

Widespread use of corticosteroids for COVID-19 treatment has led to Strongyloides reactivation and severe disease in patients from endemic areas. We describe a US patient with COVID-19 and Strongyloides hyperinfection syndrome and review other reported cases. Our findings highlight the need for Strongyloides screening and treatment in high-risk populations.

Coccidioides sp. and Treponema pallidum can both cause infections of the central nervous system if untreated. We describe a case of an immunocompetent patient living in an endemic region for Coccidioides who presented with headaches and diplopia and was found to have co-infection of coccidioidal meningitis and neurosyphilis. We highlight the importance of evaluation for CNS co-infections as they may be underdiagnosed, especially in endemic areas for coccidioidomycosis.

Infection caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a global health concern. Occasionally, gonococcal infections may disseminate and cause clinical syndromes, such as arthritis, tenosynovitis, and skin lesions. Here, we report a very rare presentation of a liver abscess due to N. gonorrhoeae in a 29-year-old woman with sickle cell disease without prior genitourinary complaints. The patient was successfully treated using drainage and antimicrobial therapy. Evaluation did not reveal any inherited defects in complement deficiency. It is possible that the underlying immune defects from sickle cell disease and unknown bacterial virulence factors could have contributed to this dissemination. Further research is needed to understand the immunopathogenesis of disseminated gonococcal infections, and efforts to screen and prevent primary infections are ongoing.

We report first-order spatial and temporal correlations in strongly coupled plasmonic Bose-Einstein condensates. The condensate is large, more than twenty times the spatial coherence length of the polaritons in the uncondensed system and hundred times the healing length, making plasmonic lattices an attractive platform for studying long-range spatial correlations in two dimensions (2D). We find that both spatial and temporal coherence display non-exponential decay; the results suggest power-law or stretched exponential behaviour with different exponents for spatial and temporal correlation decays., Comment: 13 pages, 16 figures

Polarization textures of light may reflect fundamental phenomena such as topological defects, and can be utilized in engineering light beams. Three main routes are applied during their creation: spontaneous appearance in phase transitions, steering by an excitation beam, or structural engineering of the medium. We present an approach that uses all three in a platform offering advantages that are not simultaneously provided in any previous system: advanced structural engineering, strong-coupling condensate with effective photonic interactions, as well as room temperature and sub-picosecond operation. We demonstrate domain wall polarization textures in a plasmonic lattice Bose-Einstein condensate, by combining the dipole structure of the lattice with a non-trivial condensate phase revealed by phase retrieval. These results open new prospects for fundamental studies of non-equilibrium condensation and sources of polarization-structured beams., Comment: 29 pages, 7 figures

Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are associated with cell death and apoptosis by binding at countless undesired locations. This cytotoxicity is associated with the binding ability of engineered zinc finger domains to bind dissimilar DNA sequences with high affinity. In general, binding preferences of transcription factors are associated with significant degenerated diversity and complexity which convolutes the design and engineering of precise DNA binding domains. Evolutionary success of natural zinc finger proteins, however, evinces that nature created specific evolutionary traits and strategies, such as modularity and rank-specific recognition to cope with binding complexity that are critical for creating clinical viable tools to precisely modify the human genome. Our findings indicate preservation of general modularity and significant alteration of the rank-specific binding preferences of the three-finger binding domain of transcription factor SP1 when exchanging amino acids in the 2nd finger.

For clinical applications, the biological functions of DNA-binding proteins require that they interact with their target binding site with high affinity and specificity. Advances in randomized production and target-oriented selection of engineered artificial DNA-binding domains incited a rapidly expanding field of designer transcription factors (TFs). Engineered transcription factors are used in zinc-finger nuclease (ZFN) technology that allows targeted genome editing. Zinc-finger-binding domains fabricated by modular assembly display an unexpectedly high failure rate having either a lack of activity as ZFNs in human cells or activity at "off-target” binding sites on the human genome causing cell death. To address these shortcomings, we created new binding domains using a targeted modification strategy. We produced two SP1 mutants by exchanging amino acid residues in the alpha-helical region of the transcription factor SP1. We identified their best target binding sites and searched the NCBI HuRef genome for matches of the nine-base-pair consensus binding site of SP1 and the best binding sites of its mutants. Our research concludes that we can alter the binding preference of existing zinc-finger domains without altering its biological functionalities.

Sialoliths are calcified masses that develop in salivary glands in their ducts affecting mainly the submandibular gland. The objective of this article is to contribute to the study of sialolithiasis through a case report treated by surgery preserving the submandibular gland.

Phenolic acids, flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, and ellagitannins are polyphenols that may have beneficial effects on human health and provide protection against chronic diseases. To date, limited data exist on quantitative intake of polyphenols. The aims of this study were to estimate the quantitative intakes of polyphenols by using analyzed concentrations together with individual food consumption records and to determine major dietary sources. Analyzed concentrations of phenolic acids, anthocyanidins, and other flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, and ellagitannins (44 total polyphenol compounds) were entered into the national food composition database, Fineli. The absolute intakes of the polyphenols and the corresponding food sources were calculated on the basis of 48-h dietary recalls of 2007 Finnish adults. The mean total intake of polyphenols was 863 +/- 415 mg/d. Phenolic acids comprised the dominant group of polyphenols (75% of total intake) followed by proanthocyanidins (14%) and anthocyanidins and other flavonoids (10%). Due to their high consumption and high concentrations of phenolic acids, coffee and cereals were the main contributors to total polyphenol intake. Berries and berry products were the main source for anthocyanidins, ellagitannins, and proanthocyanidins, and fruits were the main source for flavonols, flavones, and flavanones. The results give additional support to the recommendations for a varied diet with fruits, berries, cereals, and vegetables.

The contents of calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, aluminium, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, nickel, selenium, zinc, cadmium and lead in cereal products, fruits and vegetables were analysed and the results were compared with those obtained 30 years previously in food samples from Finland. There were significant changes in the trace elements. In most cases trace elements contents are now lower than before. Only the selenium content of foods had clearly increased in Finland, through the use of selenium-supplemented fertilizers. There was a change in average mineral element content only for potassium, whose content was significantly lower than in the middle of the 1970s. We found that trace element density in vegetable foods has decreased over the past three decades. Per capita daily intakes of mineral elements in the 2000s were lower than in the 1970s, although the consumption of fruits and vegetables has increased since 1970s.

Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have suggested that dietary anthocyanins and ellagitannins or ellagic acid might have beneficial health effects. Epidemiological evidence on the disease-preventing potential of these polyphenols is lacking, due to the absence of reliable data on their contents in foods. In this study was analyzed the content of anthocyanins and ellagitannins (as ellagic acid equivalents after acid hydrolysis) in foods consumed in Finland, including berries, fruits, vegetables, and processed products, using high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods. Anthocyanins were detected in 41 of 54 selected food items. The total anthocyanin content varied in berries from 1 to 611 mg/100 g, in fruits from 2 to 66 mg/100 g, and in vegetables from 3 to 75 mg/100 g of fresh weight as the weight of the aglycone. Ellagitannins were screened in 33 food items, but were detected only in 5 species of berries, that is, in cloudberry, raspberry, rose hip, strawberry, and sea buckthorn, the content ranging from 1 to 330 mg/100 g. The results underscore the superiority of berries, especially dark blue or red berries, as excellent sources of anthocyanins and certain berries of the Rosaceae family as the major source of ellagitannins in the Finnish diet.

The aerodynamics of a tennis ball are presented and discussed here with the aid of recent wind tunnel measurements. A flow visualization study was conducted on a 28-cm diameter tennis ball model to establish the boundary layer separation locations and Reynolds number effects for both nonspinning and spinning cases. The flow visualization results showed that the separation location on a nonspinning tennis ball occurred relatively early, near the apex, and appeared very similar to a laminar separation in the subcritical Reynolds number regime. Qualitatively, the flow regime (boundary layer separation location) appeared to be independent of Reynolds number in the range, 167 000

Item does not contain fulltext 15th Annual Conference of the International Speech Communication Association, 14 september 2014

Phenolic acids, flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, and ellagitannins are polyphenols that may have beneficial effects on human health and provide protection against chronic diseases. To date, limited data exist on quantitative intake of polyphenols. The aims of this study were to estimate the quantitative intakes of polyphenols by using analyzed concentrations together with individual food consumption records and to determine major dietary sources. Analyzed concentrations of phenolic acids, anthocyanidins, and other flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, and ellagitannins (44 total polyphenol compounds) were entered into the national food composition database, Fineli. The absolute intakes of the polyphenols and the corresponding food sources were calculated on the basis of 48-h dietary recalls of 2007 Finnish adults. The mean total intake of polyphenols was 863 +/- 415 mg/d. Phenolic acids comprised the dominant group of polyphenols (75% of total intake) followed by proanthocyanidins (14%) and anthocyanidins and other flavonoids (10%). Due to their high consumption and high concentrations of phenolic acids, coffee and cereals were the main contributors to total polyphenol intake. Berries and berry products were the main source for anthocyanidins, ellagitannins, and proanthocyanidins, and fruits were the main source for flavonols, flavones, and flavanones. The results give additional support to the recommendations for a varied diet with fruits, berries, cereals, and vegetables.

Previous studies have shown that anthocyanin-rich berry extracts inhibit the growth of cancer cells in vitro. The objective of this study was to compare the effects of berry extracts containing different phenolic profiles on cell viability and expression of markers of cell proliferation and apoptosis in human colon cancer HT-29 cells. Berry extracts were prepared with methanol extraction, and contents of the main phenolic compounds were analyzed using HPLC. Anthocyanins were the predominant phenolic compounds in bilberry, black currant, and lingonberry extracts and ellagitannins in cloudberry extract, whereas both were present in raspberry and strawberry extracts. Cells were exposed to 0-60 mg/mL of extracts, and the cell growth inhibition was determined after 24 h. The degree of cell growth inhibition was as follows: bilberry > black currant > cloudberry > lingonberry > raspberry > strawberry. A 14-fold increase in the expression of p21WAF1, an inhibitor of cell proliferation and a member of the cyclin kinase inhibitors, was seen in cells exposed to cloudberry extract compared to other berry treatments (2.7-7-fold increase). The pro-apoptosis marker, Bax, was increased 1.3-fold only in cloudberry- and bilberry-treated cells, whereas the pro-survival marker, Bcl-2, was detected only in control cells. The results demonstrate that berry extracts inhibit cancer cell proliferation mainly via the p21WAF1 pathway. Cloudberry, despite its very low anthocyanin content, was a potent inhibitor of cell proliferation. Therefore, it is concluded that, in addition to anthocyanins, also other phenolic or nonphenolic phytochemicals are responsible for the antiproliferative activity of berries.

Newly hatched larvae of northern pike were exposed in the laboratory to four fluence rates of ultraviolet radiation (UVR; 290-400 nm) over three different time periods, resulting in total doses ranging from 3.0 +/- 0.2 to 63.0 +/- 4.4 kJ.m(-2). Mortality and behavior of the larvae were followed for 8-12 days, and growth measured at the end of the experiment. Also, the principle of reciprocity-that the UVR-induced mortality depends on the cumulative dose, independent of fluence rate-was tested. Fluence rates higher than 1480 +/- 150 mW.m(-2) caused mortality and growth retardation. The highest fluence rate (3040 +/- 210 mW.m(-2)) caused 100% mortality in 5 days. All fluence rates caused behavioral disorders, which led to death at fluence rates higher than 1480 mW.m(-2). Reciprocity failure occurred with the lowest and highest dose (550 +/- 45 and 3040 +/- 210 mW.m(-2), respectively). The results show that fluence rate is of primary importance when assessing the UVR-related risk.

Water sports continue to provide an arena of innovation for the sports engineer. The mixed fluid medium of air and water and the often harsh operating environment provide challenges in the design, instrumentation, technology implementation and material science for these sports.

The detailed aerodynamics and dynamics of a tennis ball have only recently been uncovered with the help of a series of experimental studies (Mehta and Pallis, 2001, Cislunar Aerospace, Inc., 1998). Intuitively, one would expect the (rough) fabric covering on the ball to have an effect on the aerodynamics, but the extent of the effect turned out to be much more significant than had been anticipated. Most of the recent research work on tennis ball aerodynamics was inspired by a decision made by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to start field testing of a slightly larger “oversized” tennis ball (roughly 6.5% larger diameter). This decision was instigated by a concern that the serving speed in (men’s) tennis had increased to the point where the serve started to dominate the game. The fastest recorded serve was produced by Greg Ruzedski in March 1998 and it was measured at 66.6 m/s or 149 mph (Guinness 2000). The main evidence for the domination of the serve in men’s tennis has been the increase in the number of sets decided by tie breaks at the major tournaments, in particular on the faster grass courts such as those used at Wimbledon (Haake et al., 2000).

I. Golf.- 1. Aerodynamics ofthe Golf Ball.- 2. Engineering Methodology in Golf Studies.- 3. Physics and Mechanics of the Golf Swing.- 4. Eye and Head Movements During the Golf Putting Stroke.- II. Tennis.- 5. Tennis Ball Aerodynamics and Dynamics.- 6. Shoe-Surface Interaction in Tennis.- 7. Biomechanics of Tennis Strokes.- 8. Optimizing Ball and Racket Interaction.- III. Baseball.- 9. Biomechanics of Pitching.- 10. The Rising Fastball and Other Perceptual Illusions of Batters.- IV. Football and Soccer.- 11. Aerodynamics of the Forward Pass.- 12. Biomechanics of Tackling.- 13. Biomechanics and Aerodynamics in Soccer.- V. Basketball.- 14. Aerodynamics and Biomechanics of the Free Throw.- 15. Make Every Free Throw.- VI. Performance and Rehabilitation.- 16. Vision Training and Sports.- 17. Application ofBiomedical Principles to the Maturation of Skills in Children.- 18. Medical Advances in the Treatment of Sports Injuries.

The goal of the paper is to study the properties of a teleoperated mobile machine and produce a simulation model of the machine for later use. In this paper there are introduced a prototype of the teleoperated mobile machine and a simulation model of that machine. The challenge in teleoperation is to have a smooth and accurate control of the machine, because the operator can not feel any force. The machine is valve controlled and because of that the influence of different type of valves can be significant for the control of the machine. By means of the simulation model it is possible to test new components and hydraulic solutions for power transmission of mobile machine. The new computer controlled prototype of the teleoperated mobile machine is electrically controlled with proportional valves has been developed. The simulation model of the machine is verified with the measurements. The goal is that the main properties of computer controlled and teleoperated mobile machine are at least at the same level than in normal mechanically controlled machine, but controllability must be better because of the teleoperation. In this paper there is also introduced the principle of the automatic virtual gearbox. The prototype is equipped with two constant displacement pumps, electrically controlled pressure relief valve and supply pressure and LS pressure sensor. Therefore the information of load pressure is available and supply pressure can be controlled with the rotational speed of diesel engine and pressure relief valve. In teleoperated mobile machine the rotational speed of diesel engine is controlled with electric gas. With these components and a computer control it is possible to set supply pressure level according to the needed load pressure level.Copyright © 2004 by ASME

Background and methods: Gene therapy may offer a new tool for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We have tested a combination of cytotoxic and antiangiogenic gene therapy for wild-type orthotopic human RCC xenografts in nude mice using intratumoral adenovirus-mediated herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) and endostatin (ES) gene therapy. In vivo magnetic resonance imaging, morphometry, immunocytochemistry, and survival were used to evaluate the treatment effect. Adenovirus-mediated marker gene transfers (GFP) were used as controls. Results: In vivo transduction efficiency, measured using GFP gene transfer, was 27±7%. The combination gene therapy with HSV-tk and ES adenoviruses resulted in a significant antitumor effect (P

Continuing improvement in processing speed has made it feasible to solve the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations for simple three-dimensional flows on advanced workstations. Combining multiple workstations into a network-based heterogeneous parallel computer allows the application of programming principles learned on MIMD (Multiple Instruction Multiple Data) distributed memory parallel computers to the solution of larger problems. An overset-grid flow solution code has been developed which uses a cluster of workstations as a network-based parallel computer. Inter-process communication is provided by the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) software. Solution speed equivalent to one-third of a Cray-YMP processor has been achieved from a cluster of nine commonly used engineering workstation processors. Load imbalance and communication overhead are the principal impediments to parallel efficiency in this application.

The 6th Remote Engineering and Virtual instrumentation Conference (REV 2009) was held at the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA during the period of June 22 â?? 25, 2009. The conference brought together engineering researchers, educators, and professionals to explore the fundamentals, future, and application of remote engineering in both industry and academia. Participants delivered papers, presented demonstrations, research posters, and shared experiences in virtual engineering. REVâ??09 drew more than 100 engineers, scientists and educators from around the world. Most of the participants were from Europe, but many came from Asia, North and South America, the Middle East and as far as Australia. More than 60 papers were presented on topics ranging from Telerobotics to Virtual and Remote Labs. Workshops and Tutorials drew widespread interest and exhibitors displayed their products for integrating remote engineering into academia. Poster sessions discussed topics such as Robotic Surgery and Development of Remote Labs in Physics. The general objective of REV 2009 was to discuss fundamentals, applications and experiences within the field of online engineering, both in industry and academia. The conference presentations and papers addressed several emerging trends in online engineering, remote laboratories, virtual instrumentation and educational applications of remote engineering.

A small general-purpose teleoperated hydraulic mobile machine is studied at the Institute of Hydraulics and Automation at the Tampere University of Technology. Thanks to teleoperation, the operator of the machine is able to be in safe place during the driving when necessary. However, the actions of the machine can be dangerous for the people or the objects in the environment if problems appear for instance in the control system. On that account, safety issues must be considered carefully. Special attention has to be paid to stop the machine and start the engine again once the machine has recovered from an error situation. The goal of this paper is to describe the design and implementation of different kind of solutions to start and stop the machine wirelessly. The emergency stop can be activated through the wireless connection by the operator or by the automatic diagnostic system of the hydraulic mobile machine. The control system monitors the state of several hydraulic components such as hydraulic valves and motors by means of sensors during the operations of machine. The machine is teleoperated by using WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) connection. The developed wireless starting system and emergency stop is totally independent of the WLAN link. In the first prototype of the wireless starting system and emergency stop, the wireless connection is carried out by using commercial, cost effective RF (Radio Frequency) modules. The data transfer protocol which is used by the modules is designed for this application. Protocol implementation is carried out with microcontrollers. Another version of the wireless starting system and emergency stop is carried out by using radio modems. The modems have better properties than the cost effective RF modules used in the first prototype due to their higher RF output power. Programmatically carried out automatic emergency stop, which stops the machine, if the WLAN connection between the control station and the machine breaks, is discussed. In that case, the independent wireless emergency stop connection is not needed. Implementations of the system are introduced in this paper. Also, some testing results and user experiences are described. Properties of these different implementations are compared: cost of the system, range, reliability and complexity of the implementation. By means of the studied results the most suitable solution to start the engine and stop the actions of the machine is chosen.Copyright © 2004 by ASME

The mobile machine subject to study is a skid steered loader equipped with boom and bucket. In order to teleoperate the mobile machine, two operator-machine interfaces, which take into account the special requirements of hydraulic machines, have been designed and tested. The operator-machine interfaces are implemented in a laptop computer equipped with a steering wheel, pedals and joystick and in a handheld computer. The performance of each interface is evaluated by carrying out tasks involving motion control and load handling. Task completion times and number of task errors are considered and compared between the different operator control interfaces and a manually operated machine. The results indicate that good performance is obtained with the laptop computer with steering wheel, although the choice of the operator-machine interface is very task dependent and the handheld computer control yields good results in some particular cases.

Attachments and their controls can be connected to hydraulic mobile machines in different ways. The traditional approach is to install hydraulic valves of the attachment close to the operator. Thereby levers of the valves can be reached from the operator seat. This, however, restricts the size and number of the valves and can be inconvenient for the operator. A more advanced and ergonomic way is to use electronic control which allows installing the valves more freely on the attachment. The operator can then control the attachment with a joystick, for example. Usually there is a microcontroller unit in an electronically controlled mobile machine. One solution is to use this unit to read the joysticks and output control signals to the valves of the attachment. However, if there is a microcontroller in the attachment as well, the wiring can be minimized and the attachment can perform intelligent functions, for example positioning, as the machine sends simple commands. The data transfer between the microcontrollers can be realized flexibly and reliably using a serial bus such as CAN. A hydraulically operated excavator for a hydraulic mobile machine is discussed as an example. The excavator has four PWM controlled spools in a sandwich type proportional mobile valve. A suitable microcontroller is chosen to interface the valves of the excavator to the CAN bus of the mobile machine. Different command sets and levels of intelligence are deliberated. Adding different types of sensors to the excavator is concerned. The sensors are used to achieve more accurate, independent and safe operation. The microcontroller unit is designed to have extra interfaces for future research with different sensors. The unit is designed, built and installed to the excavator. The design of electronics and software is presented in this paper. The excavator is attached to the hydraulically operated mobile machine and the performance of the system is tested. The test arrangement is described. The results are presented and discussed.