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Abstract Oesophagogastric adenocarcinomas (OAC) are poor prognosis, obesity-associated cancers which may benefit from natural killer (NK) cell-based immunotherapies. Cellular immunotherapies encounter two key challenges to their success in OAC, namely recruitment to extratumoural tissues such as the omentum at the expense of the tumour and an immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment (TME) which can hamper NK cell function. Herein, we examined approaches to overcome the detrimental impact of obesity on NK cells and NK cell-based immunotherapies. We have demonstrated that NK cells migrate preferentially to the chemotactic signals of OAC patient-derived omentum over tumour in an ex vivo model of immune cell migration. We have identified CX3CR1 modulation and/or tumour chemokine profile remodelling as approaches to skew NK cell migration towards tumour. We also report targetable immunosuppressive facets of the obese OAC TME which dampen NK cell function, in particular cytotoxic capabilities. These data provide insights into approaches to therapeutically overcome key challenges presented by obesity and will inform superior design of NK cell-based immunotherapies for OAC.

Neuromorphic vision sensors, commonly referred to as Event Cameras (ECs), have gained prominence as a field of research in Computer Vision. This popularity stems from the numerous unique characteristics including High Dynamic Range, High Temporal Resolution, and Low Latency. Of particular interest is their temporal resolution, which proves ideal for human monitoring applications. Capturing rapid facial movements and eye gaze can be effectively achieved with ECs. Recent studies involving the use of ECs for object detection and tracking have demonstrated success in tasks involving Eye Motion Analysis such as Eye tracking, Blink detection, Gaze estimation and Pupil tracking. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive review of the current research in the aforementioned tasks, focusing on the potential utilization of ECs for future tasks involving rapid eye motion detection, such as detection and classification of saccades. We highlight studies that may serve as a foundation for undertaking such a task, such as pupil tracking and gaze estimation. We also highlight in our review some common challenges encountered such as the availability of datasets and review some of the methods used in solving this problem. Finally, we discuss some limitations of this field of research and conclude with future directions including real-world applications and potential research directions.

The presence of an immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment in oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) is a major contributor to poor responses. Novel treatment strategies are required to supplement current regimens and improve patient survival. This study examined the immunomodulatory effects that radiation therapy and chemokine receptor antagonism impose on T cell phenotypes in OAC with a primary goal of identifying potential therapeutic targets to combine with radiation to improve anti-tumour responses. Compared with healthy controls, anti-tumour T cell function was impaired in OAC patients, demonstrated by lower IFN-γ production by CD4+ T helper cells and lower CD8+ T cell cytotoxic potential. Such diminished T cell effector functions were enhanced following treatment with clinically relevant doses of irradiation. Interestingly, CCR5+ T cells were significantly more abundant in OAC patient blood compared with healthy controls, and CCR5 surface expression by T cells was further enhanced by clinically relevant doses of irradiation. Moreover, irradiation enhanced T cell migration towards OAC patient-derived tumour-conditioned media (TCM). In vitro treatment with the CCR5 antagonist Maraviroc enhanced IFN-γ production by CD4+ T cells and increased the migration of irradiated CD8+ T cells towards irradiated TCM, suggesting its synergistic therapeutic potential in combination with irradiation. Overall, this study highlights the immunostimulatory properties of radiation in promoting anti-tumour T cell responses in OAC and increasing T cell migration towards chemotactic cues in the tumour. Importantly, the CCR5 antagonist Maraviroc holds promise to be repurposed in combination with radiotherapy to promote anti-tumour T cell responses in OAC.

Resistance to neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy, is a major challenge in the management of rectal cancer. Increasing evidence supports a role for altered energy metabolism in the resistance of tumours to anti-cancer therapy, suggesting that targeting tumour metabolism may have potential as a novel therapeutic strategy to boost treatment response. In this study, the impact of metformin on the radiosensitivity of colorectal cancer cells, and the potential mechanisms of action of metformin-mediated radiosensitisation were investigated. Metformin treatment was demonstrated to significantly radiosensitise both radiosensitive and radioresistant colorectal cancer cells in vitro. Transcriptomic and functional analysis demonstrated metformin-mediated alterations to energy metabolism, mitochondrial function, cell cycle distribution and progression, cell death and antioxidant levels in colorectal cancer cells. Using ex vivo models, metformin treatment significantly inhibited oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis in treatment naïve rectal cancer biopsies, without affecting the real-time metabolic profile of non-cancer rectal tissue. Importantly, metformin treatment differentially altered the protein secretome of rectal cancer tissue when compared to non-cancer rectal tissue. Together these data highlight the potential utility of metformin as an anti-metabolic radiosensitiser in rectal cancer.

IntroductionThis timely study assesses the immunosuppressive effects of surgery on cytotoxic Th1-like immunity and investigates if immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) can boost Th1-like immunity in the perioperative window in upper gastrointestinal cancer (UGI) patients.MethodsPBMCs were isolated from 11 UGI patients undergoing tumour resection on post-operative days (POD) 0, 1, 7 and 42 and expanded ex vivo using anti-CD3/28 and IL-2 for 5 days in the absence/presence of nivolumab or ipilimumab. T cells were subsequently immunophenotyped via flow cytometry to determine the frequency of T helper (Th)1-like, Th1/17-like, Th17-like and regulatory T cell (Tregs) subsets and their immune checkpoint expression profile. Lymphocyte secretions were also assessed via multiplex ELISA (IFN-γ, granzyme B, IL-17 and IL-10). The 48h cytotoxic ability of vehicle-, nivolumab- and ipilimumab-expanded PBMCs isolated on POD 0, 1, 7 and 42 against radiosensitive and radioresistant oesophageal adenocarcinoma tumour cells (OE33 P and OE33 R) was also examined using a cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay to determine if surgery affected the killing ability of lymphocytes and whether the use of ICB could enhance cytotoxicity.ResultsTh1-like immunity was suppressed in expanded PBMCs in the immediate post-operative setting. The frequency of expanded circulating Th1-like cells was significantly decreased post-operatively accompanied by a decrease in IFN-γ production and a concomitant increase in the frequency of expanded regulatory T cells with an increase in circulating levels of IL-10. Interestingly, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 immune checkpoint proteins were also upregulated on expanded Th1-like cells post-operatively. Additionally, the cytotoxic ability of expanded lymphocytes against oesophageal adenocarcinoma tumour cells was abrogated post-surgery. Of note, the addition of nivolumab or ipilimumab attenuated the surgery-mediated suppression of lymphocyte cytotoxicity, demonstrated by a significant increase in tumour cell killing and an increase in the frequency of Th1-like cells and Th1 cytokine production.ConclusionThese findings support the hypothesis of a surgery-mediated suppression in Th1-like cytotoxic immunity and highlights a rationale for the use of ICB within the perioperative setting to abrogate tumour-promoting effects of surgery and ameliorate the risk of recurrence.

Abstract Chemotherapy upregulates immune checkpoint (IC) expression on the surface of tumour cells and IC-intrinsic signalling confers a survival advantage against chemotherapy in several cancer-types including oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). However, the signalling pathways mediating chemotherapy-induced IC upregulation and the mechanisms employed by ICs to protect OAC cells against chemotherapy remain unknown. Longitudinal profiling revealed that FLOT-induced IC upregulation on OE33 OAC cells was sustained for up to 3 weeks post-treatment, returning to baseline upon complete tumour cell recovery. Pro-survival MEK signalling mediated FLOT-induced upregulation of PD-L1, TIM-3, LAG-3 and A2aR on OAC cells promoting a more immune-resistant phenotype. Single agent PD-1, PD-L1 and A2aR blockade decreased OAC cell viability, proliferation and mediated apoptosis. Mechanistic insights demonstrated that blockade of the PD-1 axis decreased stem-like marker ALDH and expression of DNA repair genes. Importantly, combining single agent PD-1, PD-L1 and A2aR blockade with FLOT enhanced cytotoxicity in OAC cells. These findings reveal novel mechanistic insights into the immune-independent functions of IC-intrinsic signalling in OAC cells with important clinical implications for boosting the efficacy of the first-line FLOT chemotherapy regimen in OAC in combination with ICB, to not only boost anti-tumour immunity but also to suppress IC-mediated promotion of key hallmarks of cancer that drive tumour progression.

Moving object path prediction in traffic scenes from the perspective of a moving vehicle can improve safety on the road, which is the aim of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). However, this task still remains a challenge. Work has been carried out on the use of x,y positional information of the moving objects only. However, besides positional information there is more information that surrounds a vehicle that can be leveraged in the prediction along with the x,y features. This is known as contextual information. In this work, a deep exploration of these features is carried out by evaluating different types of data, using different fusion strategies. The core architectures of this model are CNN and LSTM architectures. It is concluded that in the prediction task, not only are the features important, but the way they are fused in the developed architecture is also of importance.

Response rates to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) remain low in oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). Combining ICB with immunostimulatory chemotherapies to boost response rates is an attractive approach for converting ‘cold’ tumours into ‘hot’ tumours. This study profiled immune checkpoint (IC) expression on circulating and tumour-infiltrating T cells in OAC patients and correlated these findings with clinical characteristics. The effect of first-line chemotherapy regimens (FLOT and CROSS) on anti-tumour T cell immunity was assessed to help guide design of ICB and chemotherapy combinations in the first-line setting. The ability of ICB to enhance lymphocyte-mediated cytolysis of OAC cells in the absence and presence of post-FLOT and post-CROSS chemotherapy tumour cell secretome was assessed by a CCK-8 assay. Expression of ICs on T cells positively correlated with higher grade tumours and a subsequent poor response to neoadjuvant treatment. First-line chemotherapy regimens substantially altered IC expression profiles of T cells increasing PD-1, A2aR, KLRG-1, PD-L1, PD-L2 and CD160 and decreasing TIM-3 and LAG-3. In addition, pro-inflammatory T cell cytokine profiles were enhanced by first-line chemotherapy regimens. T cell activation status was significantly altered; both chemotherapy regimens upregulated co-stimulatory markers ICOS and CD69 yet downregulated co-stimulatory marker CD27. However, ICB attenuated chemotherapy-induced downregulation of CD27 on T cells and promoted differentiation of effector memory T cells into a terminally differentiated state. Importantly, dual nivolumab-ipilimumab treatment increased lymphocyte-mediated cytolysis of OAC cells, an effect further enhanced in the presence of post-FLOT tumour cell secretome. These findings justify a rationale to administer ICBs concurrently with first-line chemotherapies.

Recent studies have demontrated that immune checkpoint receptors are expressed on the surface of oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) cells and might confer a survival advantage. This study explores the role of PD-1 and TIGIT signalling in OAC cells in either promoting or inhibiting the survival of OAC cells under characteristic features of the tumour microenvironment including nutrient-deprivation and hypoxia. PD-1 and TIGIT are expressed in normal and pre-malignant oesophageal epithelial cells and this expression significantly decreases along the normal- Barrett's Oesophagus- OAC disease sequence. However, glucose-deprivation and hypoxia significantly upregulated PD-1 and TIGIT on the surface of OAC cells in vitro. PD-1 blockade decreased OAC cell proliferation under normoxia but enhanced proliferation and decreased cell death in OAC cells under hypoxia and glucose-deprivation. TIGIT blockade decreased proliferation and induced OAC cell death, an effect that was maintained under nutrient-deprivation and hypoxia. Basal respiration and glycolytic reserve were enhanced and GLUT1 was upregulated on the surface of a subpopulation of OAC cells following PD-1 blockade. In contrast, TIGIT blockade enhanced a glycolytic phenotype in OAC cells, yet decreased other metabolic parameters including oxidative phosphorylation and basal respiration. Interestingly, inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation significantly upregulated TIGIT expression and inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis significantly decreased PD-1 on the surface of a subpopulation of OAC cells in vitro. These findings suggest an immune-independent mechanism for PD-1 inhibitor resistance in hypoxic tumours and suggest that TIGIT might be a more effective therapeutic target in OAC compared with PD-1 for treating hypoxic tumours.

Abstract Background Chronic diseases are the leading contributor to the excess morbidity and mortality burden experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter, respectfully, Indigenous) people, compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. The Home-based Outreach case Management of chronic disease Exploratory (HOME) Study provided person-centred, multidisciplinary care for Indigenous people with chronic disease. This model of care, aligned to Indigenous peoples’ conceptions of health and wellbeing, was integrated within an urban Indigenous primary health care service. We aimed to determine the impact of this model of care on participants’ health and wellbeing at 12 months. Methods HOME Study participants were Indigenous, regular patients of the primary health care service, with a diagnosis of at least one chronic disease, and complex health and social care needs. Data were collected directly from participants and from their medical records at baseline, and 3, 6 and 12 months thereafter. Variables included self-rated health status, depression, utilisation of health services, and key clinical outcomes. Participants’ baseline characteristics were described using frequencies and percentages. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) models were employed to evaluate participant attrition and changes in outcome measures over time. Results 60 participants were enrolled into the study and 37 (62%) completed the 12-month assessment. After receiving outreach case management for 12 months, 73% of participants had good, very good or excellent self-rated health status compared with 33% at baseline (p

A new species, Dilochia deleoniae Tandang & Galindon (Orchidaceae), from Mindanao Island, Philippines is described and illustrated herein. This species is distinct from other known Philippine Dilochia species by its terrestrial habit and is distinguished from all known Dilochia species by its monopodial inflorescence, rarely branching in two, and a pale yellow to dull orange or brownish-yellow labellum devoid of purple spots.

BackgroundImmune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are being investigated for their role as an adjunct in the multimodal treatment of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). The most effective time to incorporate ICIs remains unknown. Our study profiles systemic anti-tumor immunity perioperatively to help inform the optimal timing of ICIs into current standards of care for EAC patients.MethodsSystemic immunity in 11 EAC patients was phenotyped immediately prior to esophagectomy (POD-0) and post-operatively (POD)-1, 3, 7 and week 6. Longitudinal serological profiling was conducted by ELISA. The frequency of circulating lymphocytes, activation status, immune checkpoint expression and damage-associated molecular patterns was assessed by flow cytometry.ResultsThe frequency of naïve T-cells significantly increased in circulation post-esophagectomy from POD-0 to POD-7 (p

En este trabajo se presenta un prototipo de software para resolver el Problema de Asignación de Horarios Académicos (PAHA) en Instituciones de Educación Superior (IES) de manera automática. El software implementa Algoritmos Genéticos (AG) con un operador de mutación adaptativa para la generación de los horarios académicos. Las pruebas se realizaron utilizando información académica de la Unidad de Estudios Superiores Villa Victoria, Estado de México, México. Los horarios académicos generados cumplieron con las restricciones establecidas y se generaron en un lapso de tiempo corto. La configuración de AG utilizado resolvió el PAHA de manera eficiente, además, el software puede ser fácilmente adaptado en otras IES.

Tropical cyclone (TC) Oswald made landfall over north-east Australia as a minimal or Category 1 TC on the Australian scale on 21 January 2013. As it moved southward, it intensified over land and produced extreme rainfall for nearly 7 days. Tornadoes were reported and confirmed. Tragically, seven people died and insurance estimates were ~$1 billion. It is demonstrated that the event was associated with an interaction between the ex-Oswald circulation and an amplifying Rossby wave, which propagated north-eastward from high latitudes. Diagnoses showed that as the wave amplified and broke, a potential vorticity (PV) anomaly (PVA) extended to mid-levels, moved equatorward, merged with or axisymmetrised the ex-Oswald circulation through mid-levels. Backward trajectories from locations regularly scattered within the mid-level circulation illustrated that the storm transitioned from an isolated vortex into a circulation which was strongly influenced by its environment for at least 5 days. During this interaction, PV was advected from the environment towards the storm through mid-levels. The heavy rain coincided with the commencement and maintenance of this PV injection. The PV injection is quantified and shown to be consistent with PV advection by the mean radial flow. In addition, eddy angular momentum convergence in the mid- to upper levels coincided with an intensification of the circulation through this region. This was first related to outward transport of anticyclonic momentum by the asymmetric outflow at upper levels, followed by inward transport of cyclonic momentum by the asymmetric inflow. It is shown that the environmental interaction had an impact on vortex structure changes, rainfall and tornado development. We propose that the environmental processes influenced the ascent within the storm (1) via differential vorticity advection and baroclinic forcing, as the mid- to upper level PVA approached the circulation and (2) by low- to mid-level warm air advection.

In this paper, we investigate different scenarios of anomaly detection on decentralised Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Specifically, an anomaly detector is devised to detect different types of anomalies for an IoT data management system, based on the decentralised alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), which was proposed in our previous work. The anomaly detector only requires limited information from the IoT system, and can be operated using both a mathematical-rule-based approach and the deep learning approach proposed in the paper. Our experimental results show that detection based on mathematical approach is simple to implement, but it also comes with lower detection accuracy (78.88%). In contrast, the deep-learning-enabled approach can easily achieve a higher detection accuracy (96.28%) in the real world working environment.

Use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) with chemotherapy to enhance responses in oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) is an attractive approach. We identified subpopulations of OAC cells expressing inhibitory immune checkpoint (IC) ligands (PD-L1, PD-L2 and CD160) and receptors (PD-1, TIGIT, TIM-3, LAG-3 and A2aR) in vitro and in ex vivo biopsies. Combination chemotherapy regimens FLOT and CROSS promote a more immune-resistant phenotype through upregulation of IC ligands and receptors on OAC cells in vitro. Importantly, this study investigated if OAC cells, enriched for ICs exhibited a more stem-like and senescent-like phentoype. FLOT preferentially upregulates PD-L1 on a stem-like OAC cell phenotype, defined by ALDH activity. Expression of senescence-associated β-galactosidase is induced in a subpopulation of OAC cells following FLOT and CROSS chemotherapy treatment, along with enhanced expression of TIM-3 and A2aR ICs. Blockade of PD-1 signalling in OAC cells induced apoptosis and enhanced FLOT and CROSS chemotherapy toxicity in vitro. Upregulation of ICs on OAC cells following chemotherapy may represent potential mechanisms of chemo-immune resistance. Combination ICIs may be required to enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy and immunotherapy in OAC patients.

Locally advanced rectal cancer is treated with neoadjuvant-chemoradiotherapy, however only 22% of patients achieve a complete response. Resistance mechanisms are poorly understood. Radiation-induced Bystander Effect (RIBE) describes the effect of radiation on neighbouring unirradiated cells. We investigated the effects of ex vivo RIBE-induction from normal and rectal cancer tissue on bystander cell metabolism, mitochondrial function and metabolomic profiling. We correlated bystander events to patient clinical characteristics.Ex vivo RIBE-induction caused metabolic alterations in bystander cells, specifically reductions in OXPHOS following RIBE-induction in normal (p = 0.01) and cancer tissue (p = 0.03) and reduced glycolysis following RIBE-induction in cancer tissue (p = 0.01). Visceral fat area correlated with glycolysis (p = 0.02) and ATP production (p = 0.03) following exposure of cells to TCM from irradiated cancer biopsies. Leucine levels were reduced in the irradiated cancer compared to the irradiated normal secretome (p = 0.04). ROS levels were higher in cells exposed to the cancer compared to the normal secretome (p = 0.04).RIBE-induction ex vivo causes alterations in the metabolome in normal and malignant rectal tissue along with metabolic alterations in bystander cellular metabolism. This may offer greater understanding of the effects of RIBE on metabolism, mitochondrial function and the secreted metabolome.

How engaged families are in their children’s lives, whether at home or in school, predicts their success in school and in life. The purpose of this study was to explore parent, educator, and community member perspectives of family engagement, preschool through grade 12, to inform state-level policy from an ecological framework. Ten semi-structured focus groups were conducted throughout one midwestern state, including five urban groups, four rural groups, and one suburban group. All focus groups were held in high-poverty areas serving high-need communities. All school communities received Title I funds and the average free and reduced lunch rate across participating districts was 75%. Several themes emerged through focus groups, including the importance of relationships, inclusive opportunities, communication, parent education, and family activities. Potential outcomes are included for policy and program development, as well as implications to further expand on issues relative to special education, fatherhood, and English language learners.

Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) is a progressive and devastating disease characterized by vascular smooth muscle and endothelial cell proliferation leading to a narrowing of the vessels in the lung. The increased resistance in the lung and the higher pressures generated result in right heart failure. Nitric Oxide (NO) deficiency is considered a hallmark of IPAH and altered function of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), decreases NO production. We recently demonstrated that glucose dysregulation results in augmented protein serine/threonine hydroxyl-linked N-Acetyl-glucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification in IPAH. In diabetes, dysregulated glucose metabolism has been shown to regulate eNOS function through inhibition of Ser-1177 phosphorylation. However, the link between O-GlcNAc and eNOS function remains unknown. Here we show that increased protein O-GlcNAc occurs on eNOS in PAH and Ser-615 appears to be a novel site of O-GlcNAc modification resulting in reduced eNOS dimerization. Functional characterization of Ser-615 demonstrated the importance of this residue on the regulation of eNOS activity through control of Ser-1177 phosphorylation. Here we demonstrate a previously unidentified regulatory mechanism of eNOS whereby the O-GlcNAc modification of Ser-615 results in reduced eNOS activity and endothelial dysfunction under conditions of glucose dysregulation.

Abstract Results from object‐based verification of rainfall forecasts for landfalling tropical cyclones (TCs) over China during the period 2012–2015 are presented. The sample consists of 25 landfall events and 133 operational numerical forecasts from the TC version of the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator. Mean equitable threat scores, probabilities of detection and false alarm ratios for the 30 mm isohyet for the unadjusted forecasts at 0–6 hr (essentially the initialization) are (0.23, 0.55, 0.65), while the performance measures of 24 hr forecast accumulations are the best for the 0–24 hr forecast (0.37, 0.67, 0.40) and then worsen to (0.16, 0.38, 0.66) for the 48–72 hr forecast. Forecast ability also decreases with the increase in rainfall amount. The contiguous rain area (CRA) verification method is used to diagnose the source of systematic errors from the displacement, rotation, volume and pattern of the forecasted rain fields. Results show that the errors are mostly from rainfall patterns, followed by displacement errors, particularly for very heavy rain. After application of the displacement and rotation adjustments of the CRA method, averaged errors improve by about 15%. Results suggest that rainfall prediction will continue to improve with improved track prediction, but more work is needed on model initialization and the prediction of TC structure. The study has uncertainty related to the limited sample size, which could cause large variability, particularly for heavy rainfall at 6 and 72 hr. However, the results still represent a useful benchmark for future verification of landfalling TCs.

Gait analysis is a technique that is used to understand movement patterns and, in some cases, to inform the development of rehabilitation protocols. Traditional rehabilitation approaches have relied on expert guided feedback in clinical settings. Such efforts require the presence of an expert to inform the re-training (to evaluate any improvement) and the patient to travel to the clinic. Nowadays, potential opportunities exist to employ the use of digitized "feedback" modalities to help a user to "understand" improved gait technique. This is important as clear and concise feedback can enhance the quality of rehabilitation and recovery. A critical requirement emerges to consider the quality of feedback from the user perspective i.e. how they process, understand and react to the feedback. In this context, this paper reports the results of a Quality of Experience (QoE) evaluation of two feedback modalities: Augmented Reality (AR) and Haptic, employed as part of an overall gait analysis system. The aim of the feedback is to reduce varus/valgus misalignments, which can cause serious orthopedics problems. The QoE analysis considers objective (improvement in knee alignment) and subjective (questionnaire responses) user metrics in 26 participants, as part of a within subject design. Participants answered 12 questions on QoE aspects such as utility, usability, interaction and immersion of the feedback modalities via post-test reporting. In addition, objective metrics of participant performance (angles and alignment) were also considered as indicators of the utility of each feedback modality. The findings show statistically significant higher QoE ratings for AR feedback. Also, the number of knee misalignments was reduced after users experienced AR feedback (35% improvement with AR feedback relative to baseline when compared to haptic). Gender analysis showed significant differences in performance for number of misalignments and time to correct valgus misalignment (for males when they experienced AR feedback). The female group self-reported higher utility and QoE ratings for AR when compared to male group.

The Protected Area of the Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary (MHRWS) was proposed for expansion in 2016 to protect the remaining biodiversity of the buffer zones and to fortify the core zone. This study provides data on avifaunal assemblage and assessment on the added value of the ca. 2.99 km2 MHRWS expansion sites to the already protected zone. A combination of transect line survey and mist netting technique were used to sample bird species in four sampling sites in the MHRWS expansion sites. Our inventory of the MHRWS expansion sites revealed 41 species of birds distributed to 10 orders, 24 families and 34 genera. This adds 24 avifauna species to the previously reported birds in Mt. Hamiguitan Range making it a home to 83 species. The low species diversity in the MHRWS expansion sites could be attributed to the poor soil, low forest productivity and habitat loss. The presence of threatened and endemic species of birds in the Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary expansion sites appeals for conservation initiatives by the stakeholders.

Introducción: Debido a su disponibilidad, el electrocardiograma –y en éste la duración del intervalo QRS– constituye una herramienta útil para predecir futuros eventos adversos. Objetivo: Evaluar el papel de la duración del complejo QRS como factor pronóstico para la mortalidad cardiovascular en pacientes tratados mediante cirugía de revascularización miocárdica. Método: Se realizó una investigación de cohorte prospectiva en el Servicio de Cirugía Cardiovascular del Cardiocentro del Hospital Clínico-Quirúrgico Hermanos Ameijeiras, desde marzo de 2012 a junio de 2016. La muestra fue de 340 pacientes. En el análisis estadístico se utilizaron medidas de resumen para variables cuanti y cualitativas, y el análisis multivariado se realizó con la regresión logística dicotómica. Resultados: La duración del intervalo QRS no se asoció de forma significativa con la mortalidad (p=0,177). El índice de probabilidad (odds ratio) para la diabetes mellitus fue de 3,228; para las complicaciones, 4,943; y para el infarto de miocardio perioperatorio, 7,016. Conclusiones: La duración del intervalo QRS presentó una asociación significativa con la mortalidad cardiovascular en el análisis univariado, pero no se pudo demostrar su efecto independiente sobre la muerte cardíaca en pacientes tratados mediante cirugía de revascularización miocárdica al controlar el resto de las variables. El infarto de miocardio perioperatorio, las complicaciones y la diabetes mellitus, resultaron ser los factores de riesgo independientes para la muerte cardiovascular posterior a la cirugía de revascularización miocárdica.

Oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) is an exemplar model of obesity-associated cancer. Previous work in our group has demonstrated that overweight/obese OAC patients have better responses to neoadjuvant therapy, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Unravelling the immune–metabolic signatures of adipose tissue may provide insight for this observation. We hypothesised that different metabolic pathways predominate in visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and inflammatory secretions will differ between the fat depots. Real-time ex vivo metabolic profiles of VAT and SAT from 12 OAC patients were analysed. These samples were screened for the secretion of 54 inflammatory mediators, and data were correlated with patient body composition. Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) was significantly higher in VAT when compared to SAT. OXPHOS was significantly higher in the SAT of patients receiving neoadjuvant treatment. VEGF-A, VEGF-C, P1GF, Flt-1, bFGF, IL-15, IL-16, IL-17A, CRP, SAA, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, IL-2, IL-13, IFN-γ, and MIP-1β secretions were significantly higher from VAT than SAT. Higher levels of bFGF, Eotaxin-3, and TNF-α were secreted from the VAT of obese patients, while higher levels of IL-23 and TARC were secreted from the SAT of obese patients. The angiogenic factors, bFGF and VEGF-C, correlated with visceral fat area. Levels of OXPHOS are higher in VAT than SAT. Angiogenic, vascular injury and inflammatory cytokines are elevated in VAT versus SAT, indicating that VAT may promote inflammation, linked to regulating treatment response.

Introduction: Ischemic heart disease is an important cause of death in Cuba and the world. Objective: To identify factors that influence sudden cardiac death (SCD) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Method: A retrospective study was performed at the “Hospital Hermanos Ameijeiras” Cardiocentro, from January/2007 to January/2016. The sample consisted of 455 patients with a diagnosis of AMI, divided into two groups, 79 deceased and 386 alive. Summary measures were used for quantitative and qualitative variables. Chi-square test was used to compare proportions. Results: All of these factors were related to SCD in patients with AMI: hypertension (0.047), smoking (p

Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation requires patients to perform a set of certain prescribed exercises a specific number of times. Local muscular endurance exercises are an important part of the rehabilitation program. Automatic exercise recognition and repetition counting, from wearable sensor data, is an important technology to enable patients to perform exercises independently in remote settings, e.g., their own home. In this paper, we first report on a comparison of traditional approaches to exercise recognition and repetition counting (supervised ML and peak detection) with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). We investigated CNN models based on the AlexNet architecture and found that the performance was better than the traditional approaches, for exercise recognition (overall F1-score of 97.18%) and repetition counting (±1 error among 90% observed sets). To the best of our knowledge, our approach of using a single CNN method for both recognition and repetition counting is novel. Also, we make the INSIGHT-LME dataset publicly available to encourage further research.

ABSTRACT: Increased understanding of the importance of TC structure in dynamical, climatological and prediction studies makes determination of TC size important. A new algorithm for the objective estimation of the radius of outermost closed isobar (roci) has been developed. The new method uses storm position and global analyses of mean sea level pressure to compute a mean (axisymmetric) roci. This radius can be used, together with the central pressure, for the construction of a synthetic vortex that is initialized in a numerical prediction model. The method also has important applications in dynamical and climatological studies of TC intensity, size and structure. The algorithm is robust and capable of estimating roci, even in the case of a weak system that may not have a closed isobar in the global analysis. The values produced by the new method are shown to be more consistent than the corresponding operational estimates which are subjective and produced under strong time constraints. Statistical comparison between subjective and objective estimates gives a mean absolute difference of 110 km, which given the difficulty in making a subjective estimate, is satisfactory. In addition, even though limitations exist with the estimates of vortex parameters like the radius to gales (r34), comparison with estimates from an extended best track data set provides independent evaluation of the scheme. Mean absolute difference for r34 for around 3200 cases is near 80 km, even though the best track estimates are subjective and the objective r34 is estimated only from storm central pressure and the objective roci. This validation suggests that the algorithm can be used to obtain useful size estimates of TCs. Keywords: tropical cyclone, size, estimation

Understanding hydrological processes in large, open areas, such as catchments, and further modelling these processes are still open research questions. The system proposed in this work provides an automatic end-to-end pipeline from data collection to information extraction that can potentially assist hydrologists to better understand the hydrological processes using a data-driven approach. In this work, the performance of a low-cost off-the-shelf self contained sensor unit, which was originally designed and used to monitor liquid levels, such as AdBlue, fuel, lubricants etc., in a sealed tank environment, is first examined. This process validates that the sensor does provide accurate water level information for open water level monitoring tasks. Utilising the dataset collected from eight sensor units, an end-to-end pipeline of automating the data collection, data processing and information extraction processes is proposed. Within the pipeline, a data-driven anomaly detection method that automatically extracts rapid changes in measurement trends at a catchment scale. The lag-time of the test site (Dodder catchment Dublin, Ireland) is also analyzed. Subsequently, the water level response in the catchment due to storm events during the 27 month deployment period is illustrated. To support reproducible and collaborative research, the collected dataset and the source code of this work will be publicly available for research purposes.