Experimental Assessment of Absolute Stability in Bilateral Teleoperation.

Absolute stability analysis of bilateral teleoperation systems are typically model-based. Under borderline conditions of absolute stability, depending on the degree of uncertainty in the dynamic model of the teleoperator and existing noise, the system may behave as potentially unstable when the model-based analysis predicts otherwise. In this article, we propose a methodology to experimentally verify the absolute stability of master-slave teleoperation systems.

Development of a Guaranteed Stable Network of Telerobots with Kinesthetic Consensus.

We present the research advances on the development of 50-200 mJ energy range diode-pumped Yb:CaF2- based multipass amplifiers operating at relatively high repetition rates. These laser amplifiers are based on diverse innovative geometries. All these innovations aim to design compact, stable and reliable amplifiers adapted to our application that consists in pumping ultrashort-pulse OPCPA (optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier) systems in the frame of the Apollon 10 PW laser project.

Ziprasidone-induced cognitive enhancement in schizophrenia: specificity or pseudospecificity?

Objective: Ziprasidone may improve cognition in schizophrenia; however, this could be related to clinical symptom improvement, reflecting "pseudospecificity". We tested the hypothesis that ziprasidone improves cognition in the absence of clinical improvement.

Methods: We conducted a 12-week, open-label study of ziprasidone in 10 schizophrenia patients who met non-response criteria (<20% reduction in BPRS scores over 12 weeks).

Hand preference and hand skill in families with schizophrenia.

Direction and degree of handedness in humans are variable between individuals and thought to be in part inherited. Several studies have shown an increase in non-right handedness among patients with schizophrenia, and some have included unaffected relatives. The present study was designed to determine whether reduced right handedness is more frequent among individuals with schizophrenia as compared with their well relatives and whether it clusters within families having multiple ill members.

Sex-dependent effects of schizophrenia: an MRI study of gyral folding, and cortical and white matter volume.

Alterations, sometimes sex-dependent, in volumes and gyral structure of areas of cerebral cortex have been reported in schizophrenia. Such changes imply an anomaly of connectivity. The gyrification, percentage of tissue volume attributed to white matter, cortical volume and white matter volume were measured from magnetic resonance images in males and females with (n = 61) and without (n = 42) schizophrenia.

Genome-wide scan for linkage to schizophrenia in a Spanish-origin cohort from Costa Rica.

Genetic isolates have been useful cohorts in which to search for genes underlying disorders of unknown pathology. One such cohort is thought to exist in the Central Valley of Costa Rica surrounding the city of San Jose. Previous investigators identified a rare dominant gene for hereditary deafness in this population, and a suggestive linkage of severe bipolar psychosis has been reported in another study.

A genome-wide scan for linkage to chromosomal regions in 382 sibling pairs with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Objective: Some genome-wide scans and association studies for schizophrenia susceptibility genes have yielded significant positive findings, but there is disagreement between studies on their locations, and no mutation has yet been found in any gene. Since schizophrenia is a complex disorder, a study with sufficient power to detect a locus with a small or moderate gene effect is necessary.

Method: In a genome-wide scan of 382 sibling pairs with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, 396 highly polymorphic markers spaced approximately 10 centimorgans apart throughout the genome were genotyped in all individuals.