Digitized Seedbed Soil Quality Assessment from Worn and Edge Hardened Cultivator Sweeps.

Tillage tools for seedbed soil management are often subjected to low stress abrasion wear, which could negatively affect seedbed quality and crop productivity. Limited studies exist that quantify the effects of worn tillage tools on seedbed quality and crop yield. This research investigated the influence of tillage tool wear on seedbed preparation by evaluating the effect of cultivator sweep wear on soil tilth utilizing a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor.

Probabilistic Method to Fuse Artificial Intelligence-Generated Underground Utility Mapping.

Utility as-built plans, which typically provide information about underground utilities' position and spatial locations, are known to comprise inaccuracies. Over the years, the reliance on utility investigations using an array of sensing equipment has increased in an attempt to resolve utility as-built inaccuracies and mitigate the high rate of accidental underground utility strikes during excavation activities. Adapting data fusion into utility engineering and investigation practices has been shown to be effective in generating information with improved accuracy.

Review of Artificial Intelligence Applications for Virtual Sensing of Underground Utilities.

Accurately identifying the location and depth of buried utility assets became a considerable challenge in the construction industry, for which accidental strikes can cause important economic losses and safety concerns. While the collection of as-built utility locations is becoming more accurate, there still exists an important need to be capable of accurately detecting buried utilities in order to eliminate risks associated with digging. Current practices typically involve the use of trained agents to survey and detect underground utilities at locations of interest, which is a costly and time-consuming process.

New Roles for the Heterochronic Transcription Factor LIN-29 in Cuticle Maintenance and Lipid Metabolism at the Larval-to-Adult Transition in .

Temporal regulation of gene expression is a crucial aspect of metazoan development. In the roundworm , the heterochronic pathway controls multiple developmental events in a time-specific manner. The most downstream effector of this pathway, the zinc-finger transcription factor LIN-29, acts in the last larval stage (L4) to regulate elements of the larval-to-adult switch.

The Use of Junfeng BFS Water (JBW) in Dry Eye Syndrome.

Background And Purpose: Junfeng BFS Water (JBW) is normal drinking water treated by an extremely low frequency electromagnetic field with certain electromagnetic oscillations. This leads to a change in physical water properties, such as an increase in permittivity and an increase in dissolved oxygen. Animal studies show that JBW has certain biological effects, such as improvement in microcirculation, cell hydration, and blood rheology.

Regulation of C. elegans L4 cuticle collagen genes by the heterochronic protein LIN-29.

The cuticle, the outer covering of the nematode C. elegans, is synthesized five times during the worm's life by the underlying hypodermis. Cuticle collagens, the major cuticle component, are encoded by a large family of col genes and, interestingly, many of these genes express predominantly at a single developmental stage.

Interprofessional Emergency Training Leads to Changes in the Workplace.

Introduction: Preventable mistakes occur frequently and can lead to patient harm and death. The emergency department (ED) is notoriously prone to such errors, and evidence suggests that improving teamwork is a key aspect to reduce the rate of error in acute care settings. Only a few strategies are in place to train team skills and communication in interprofessional situations.

Improving patient safety through better teamwork: how effective are different methods of simulation debriefing? Protocol for a pragmatic, prospective and randomised study.

Introduction: Medical errors have an incidence of 9% and may lead to worse patient outcome. Teamwork training has the capacity to significantly reduce medical errors and therefore improve patient outcome. One common framework for teamwork training is crisis resource management, adapted from aviation and usually trained in simulation settings.

The Paired-box protein PAX-3 regulates the choice between lateral and ventral epidermal cell fates in C. elegans.

The development of the single cell layer skin or hypodermis of Caenorhabditis elegans is an excellent model for understanding cell fate specification and differentiation. Early in C. elegans embryogenesis, six rows of hypodermal cells adopt dorsal, lateral or ventral fates that go on to display distinct behaviors during larval life.

The C. elegans embryonic fate specification factor EGL-18 (GATA) is reutilized downstream of Wnt signaling to maintain a population of larval progenitor cells.

In metazoans, stem cells in developing and adult tissues can divide asymmetrically to give rise to a daughter that differentiates and a daughter that retains the progenitor fate. Although the short-lived nematode C. elegans does not possess adult somatic stem cells, the lateral hypodermal seam cells behave in a similar manner: they divide once per larval stage to generate an anterior daughter that adopts a non-dividing differentiated fate and a posterior daughter that retains the seam fate and the ability to divide further.

Identification of Wnt Pathway Target Genes Regulating the Division and Differentiation of Larval Seam Cells and Vulval Precursor Cells in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The evolutionarily conserved Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays a fundamental role during metazoan development, regulating numerous processes including cell fate specification, cell migration, and stem cell renewal. Wnt ligand binding leads to stabilization of the transcriptional effector β-catenin and upregulation of target gene expression to mediate a cellular response. During larval development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, Wnt/β-catenin pathways act in fate specification of two hypodermal cell types, the ventral vulval precursor cells (VPCs) and the lateral seam cells.

Development and alignment of undergraduate medical curricula in a web-based, dynamic Learning Opportunities, Objectives and Outcome Platform (LOOOP).

Introduction: This study presents a web-based method and its interface ensuring alignment of all parts of a curriculum map including competencies, objectives, teaching and assessment methods, workload and patient availability. Needs, acceptance and effectiveness are shown through a nine-year study.

Methods: After a comprehensive needs assessment, the curriculum map and a web-based interface "Learning Opportunities, Objectives and Outcome Platform" (LOOOP) were developed according to Harden's conceptual framework of 10-steps for curriculum mapping.

Multiple transcription factors directly regulate Hox gene lin-39 expression in ventral hypodermal cells of the C. elegans embryo and larva, including the hypodermal fate regulators LIN-26 and ELT-6.

Background: Hox genes encode master regulators of regional fate specification during early metazoan development. Much is known about the initiation and regulation of Hox gene expression in Drosophila and vertebrates, but less is known in the non-arthropod invertebrate model system, C. elegans.

Use of an activated beta-catenin to identify Wnt pathway target genes in caenorhabditis elegans, including a subset of collagen genes expressed in late larval development.

The Wnt signaling pathway plays a fundamental role during metazoan development, where it regulates diverse processes, including cell fate specification, cell migration, and stem cell renewal. Activation of the beta-catenin-dependent/canonical Wnt pathway up-regulates expression of Wnt target genes to mediate a cellular response. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a canonical Wnt signaling pathway regulates several processes during larval development; however, few target genes of this pathway have been identified.

C. elegans GATA factors EGL-18 and ELT-6 function downstream of Wnt signaling to maintain the progenitor fate during larval asymmetric divisions of the seam cells.

The C. elegans seam cells are lateral epithelial cells arrayed in a single line from anterior to posterior that divide in an asymmetric, stem cell-like manner during larval development. These asymmetric divisions are regulated by Wnt signaling; in most divisions, the posterior daughter in which the Wnt pathway is activated maintains the progenitor seam fate, while the anterior daughter in which the Wnt pathway is not activated adopts a differentiated hypodermal fate.

Biomechanical testing of locking and nonlocking plates in the canine scapula.

Locking plates have been shown to offer improved fixation in fractures involving either osteoporotic bone or bone with lesser screw pullout strength, such as thin and flat bones. Fractures of the scapular body are one type of fracture where the screw pullout strength using conventional plate fixation may not be sufficient to overcome physiologic forces. The purpose of this study was to compare the pullout strengths of locking plates to conventional nonlocking plates in the canine scapula.

β-catenin-dependent Wnt signaling in C. elegans: teaching an old dog a new trick.

Wnt signaling is an evolutionarily ancient pathway used to regulate many events during metazoan development. Genetic results from Caenorhabditis elegans more than a dozen years ago suggested that Wnt signaling in this nematode worm might be different than in vertebrates and Drosophila: the worm had a small number of Wnts, too many β-catenins, and some Wnt pathway components functioned in an opposite manner than in other species. Work over the ensuing years has clarified that C.

Perpendicular pull-out force of locking versus non-locking plates in thin cortical bone using a canine mandibular ramus model.

Objective: To compare the holding strength of a conventional plate-screw construct with a locking plate-screw construct in the thin cortical bone of the canine mandibular ramus.

Study Design: Mechanical study.

Animals: Paired cadaveric canine mandibles (n = 10 pairs).

Wnt signaling controls the stem cell-like asymmetric division of the epithelial seam cells during C. elegans larval development.

Metazoan stem cells repopulate tissues during adult life by dividing asymmetrically to generate another stem cell and a cell that terminally differentiates. Wnt signaling regulates the division pattern of stem cells in flies and vertebrates. While the short-lived nematode C.

Unobserved heterogeneity in trauma patients' desire for autonomy in medical decision making in an emergency department.

Background: To evaluate unobserved heterogeneity in trauma patients' desire for autonomy in medical decision making (DAD).

Material/methods: This cross-sectional study at an inner-city emergency department screened 1009 patients for DAD (using the Decision Making Preference Scale of the Autonomy Preference Index), education level, and substance use. To investigate unobserved heterogeneity, a covariate adjusted finite mixture model was established.

Wnt signaling.

The use of Wnt ligands for signaling between cells is a conserved feature of metazoan development. Activation of Wnt signal transduction pathways upon ligand binding can regulate diverse processes including cell proliferation, migration, polarity, differentiation and axon outgrowth. A 'canonical' Wnt signaling pathway has been elucidated in vertebrate and invertebrate model systems.

ReSTOR diffractive versus Array 2 zonal-progressive multifocal intraocular lens: a contralateral comparison.

Purpose: To evaluate near and distance visual performance after implantation of a diffractive multifocal intraocular lens (MIOL) (AcrySof ReSTOR) or a refractive MIOL (Array 2) in bilateral cataract surgery.

Methods: In this prospective, comparative trial, 18 patients with bilateral cataract were selected to have lens surgery with asymmetric MIOL implantation. Eighteen eyes received ReSTOR MIOL and the 18 fellow eyes were implanted with Array 2.

[Experience in establishing ophthalmology at the Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) in Deschapelles, Haiti].

Background: Haiti is regarded as the poorest country of the Western hemisphere. The Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS), founded in 1956 by Larimer Melon, is providing medical care to the Artibonite valley, an area in the centre of Haiti with over 400 000 inhabitants. Until 2001, a three-fold population was without eye care in central Haiti.