In vivo disassembly and reassembly of protein aggregates in Escherichia coli.

Protein misfolding and aggregation are inevitable but detrimental cellular processes. Cells therefore possess protein quality control mechanisms based on chaperones and proteases that (re)fold or hydrolyze unfolded, misfolded, and aggregated proteins. Besides these conserved quality control mechanisms, the spatial organization of protein aggregates (PAs) inside the cell has been proposed as an important additional strategy to deal with their cytotoxicity.

Randomized clinical trial on the influence of anaesthesia protocol on intestinal motility during laparoscopic surgery requiring small bowel anastomosis.

Background: Hyperperistalsis of the small bowel during laparoscopic surgery may cause mucosal prolapse and reduce exposure, making laparoscopic suturing or stapling more demanding for the surgeon. Although it is commonly accepted that both opioids and volatile anaesthetics induce intestinal paralysis, intestinal hyperactivity during anaesthesia is not uncommon. This randomized trial investigated the effect of different volatile anaesthetics on intestinal motility and the impact on surgeon satisfaction.

Overall gloss evaluation in the presence of multiple cues to surface glossiness.

Human observers use the information offered by various visual cues when evaluating the glossiness of a surface. Several studies have demonstrated the effect of each single cue to glossiness, but little has been reported on how multiple cues are integrated for the perception of surface gloss. This paper reports on a psychophysical study with real stimuli that are different regarding multiple visual gloss criteria.

Luminance-based specular gloss characterization.

Gloss is a feature of visual appearance that arises from the directionally selective reflection of light incident on a surface. Especially when a distinct reflected image is perceptible, the luminance distribution of the illumination scene above the sample can strongly influence the gloss perception. For this reason, industrial glossmeters do not provide a satisfactory gloss estimation of high-gloss surfaces.

Improving Gabor noise.

We have recently proposed a new procedural noise function, Gabor noise, which offers a combination of properties not found in the existing noise functions. In this paper, we present three significant improvements to Gabor noise: 1) an isotropic kernel for Gabor noise, which speeds up isotropic Gabor noise with a factor of roughly two, 2) an error analysis of Gabor noise, which relates the kernel truncation radius to the relative error of the noise, and 3) spatially varying Gabor noise, which enables spatial variation of all noise parameters. These improvements make Gabor noise an even more attractive alternative for the existing noise functions.

Geometry of illumination, luminance contrast, and gloss perception.

The influence of both the geometry of illumination and luminance contrast on gloss perception has been examined using the method of paired comparison. Six achromatic glass samples having different lightness were illuminated by two light sources. Only one of these light sources was visible in reflection by the observer.

Design of an instrument for measuring the spectral bidirectional scatter distribution function.

The spectral bidirectional scatter distribution function (BSDF) offers a complete description of the spectral and spatial optical characteristics of a material. Any gloss and color measurement can be related to a particular value of the BSDF, while accurate luminaire design with ray tracing software requires the BSDF of reflectors and filters. Many measuring instruments, each having particular advantages and limitations, have been reported in the literature, and an overview of these instruments is included.

A Compact Laboratory Spectro-Goniometer (CLabSpeG) to Assess the BRDF of Materials. Presentation, Calibration and Implementation on Fagus sylvatica L. Leaves.

The design and calibration of a new hyperspectral Compact Laboratory Spectro-Goniometer (CLabSpeG) is presented. CLabSpeG effectively measures the bidirectionalreflectance Factor (BRF) of a sample, using a halogen light source and an AnalyticalSpectral Devices (ASD) spectroradiometer. The apparatus collects 4356 reflectance datareadings covering the spectrum from 350 nm to 2500 nm by independent positioning of thesensor, sample holder, and light source.

First trimester anesthesia exposure and fetal outcome. A review.

Approximately 0.5-2% of all pregnant women undergo nonobstetric surgery during their pregnancy. This percentage does not include patients who are in the early phase of gestation and are not aware of it at the time of surgery.

Meshless Animation of Fracturing Solids.

We present a new meshless animation framework for elastic and plastic materials that fracture. Central to our method is a highly dynamic surface and volume sampling method that supports arbitrary crack initiation, propagation, and termination, while avoiding many of the stability problems of traditional mesh-based techniques. We explicitly model advancing crack fronts and associated fracture surfaces embedded in the simulation volume.

Effect of intravenous hypnotics on the actions of pipecuronium.

Seventy-five ASA Grades I-III patients (18-85 years, 45-90 kg) were randomized into five groups. All patients received N2O/O2 (2/1) and alfentanil: loading dose (LD) 0.015 mg kg-1 and maintenance dose (MD) 0.