Accuracy and Reliability of Commercial Wrist-Worn Pulse Oximeter During Normobaric Hypoxia Exposure Under Resting Conditions.

: The present study analyzed peripheral blood oxygen saturation (SO) and heart rate (HR) measurements taken on the Garmin fēnix® 5X Plus watch, comparing them to measurements taken on a standard medical-grade pulse oximeter during normobaric hypoxia exposure under resting conditions. : Thirteen women (mean ± SD: Age 20 ± 1 years, height 165 ± 5 cm, mass, 67 ± 9 kg) and ten men (mean ± SD: Age 21 ± 3 years, height 177 ± 6 cm, mass 78 ± 11 kg) sat inside a customized environmental chamber while the fraction of inspired oxygen (FO) was adjusted to simulate altitudes of 12,000; 10,000; 8,000; 6,000; and 900 ft. The novel commercial device (Garmin fēnix®) and a medical-grade pulse oximeter (Nonin® 7500) were used to measure SO and HR in triplicate at each simulated altitude.

Secular Trend in the Use and Implementation of Impella in High-Risk Percutaneous Coronary Intervention and Cardiogenic Shock: A Real-World Experience.

Objectives: Cardiogenic shock carries high mortality despite advancements in therapeutic interventions. Impella (Abiomed) is a mechanical circulatory support device that is being increasingly used in cardiogenic shock patients. Impella is also utilized in high-risk patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Heat acclimation increases inflammatory and apoptotic responses to subsequent LPS challenge in C2C12 myotubes.

This work investigated the ability of a 6-day heat acclimation protocol to impart heat acclimation-mediated cross-tolerance (HACT) in C2C12 myotubes, as indicated by changes in inflammatory and apoptotic responses to subsequent lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge. Myotubes were incubated at 40 °C for 2 h/day over 6 days (HA) or maintained for 6 days at 37 °C (C). Following 24 h recovery, myotubes from each group received either no stimulation or 500 ng/ml LPS for 2 h (HA + LPS and C + LPS, respectively).

Heat acclimation increases mitochondrial respiration capacity of C2C12 myotubes and protects against LPS-mediated energy deficit.

This work investigated the effect of a 6-day heat acclimation (HA) protocol on myotube metabolic responses at baseline and in response to a subsequent lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge. C2C12 myotubes were incubated for 2 h/day at 40 °C for 6 days (HA) or maintained at 37 °C (C). Following 24-h recovery, myotubes were challenged with 500 ng/ml LPS for 2 h, then collected for analysis of protein markers of mitochondrial biogenesis and macronutrient storage.

Estimating a person's age from walking over a sensor floor.

Ageing has an effect on many parameters of the physical condition, and one of them is the way a person walks. This property, the gait pattern, can unintrusively be observed by letting people walk over a sensor floor. The electric capacitance sensors built into the floor deliver information about when and where feet get into close proximity and contact with the floor during the phases of human locomotion.

Guided Multiview Ray Tracing for Fast Auralization.

We present a novel method for tuning geometric acoustic simulations based on ray tracing. Our formulation computes sound propagation paths from source to receiver and exploits the independence of visibility tests and validation tests to dynamically guide the simulation to high accuracy and performance. Our method makes no assumptions of scene layout and can account for moving sources, receivers, and geometry.

Memory-Scalable GPU Spatial Hierarchy Construction.

Recent GPU algorithms for constructing spatial hierarchies have achieved promising performance for moderately complex models by using the breadth-first search (BFS) construction order. While being able to exploit the massive parallelism on the GPU, the BFS order also consumes excessive GPU memory, which becomes a serious issue for interactive applications involving very complex models with more than a few million triangles. In this paper, we propose to use the partial breadth-first search (PBFS) construction order to control memory consumption while maximizing performance.

AD-Frustum: adaptive frustum tracing for interactive sound propagation.

We present an interactive algorithm to compute sound propagation paths for transmission, specular reflection and edge diffraction in complex scenes. Our formulation uses an adaptive frustum representation that is automatically sub-divided to accurately compute intersections with the scene primitives. We describe a simple and fast algorithm to approximate the visible surface for each frustum and generate new frusta based on specular reflection and edge diffraction.

Interactive sound rendering in complex and dynamic scenes using frustum tracing.

We present a new approach for simulating real-time sound propagation in complex, virtual scenes with dynamic sources and objects. Our approach combines the efficiency of interactive ray tracing with the accuracy of tracing a volumetric representation. We use a four-sided convex frustum and perform clipping and intersection tests using ray packet tracing.

Immunolocalization of the PmSUC1 sucrose transporter in Plantago major flowers and reporter-gene analyses of the PmSUC1 promoter suggest a role in sucrose release from the inner integument.

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the PmSUC1 gene from plantago major, of its promoter activity in Arabidopsis, and of the tissue specific localization of the encoded protein in Plantago. PmSUC1 promoter activity was detected in the innermost layer of the inner integument (the endothel) of Arabidopsis plants expressing the gene of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the PmSUC1 promoter. This promoter activity was confirmed with a PmSUC1-specific antiserum that identified the PmSUC1 protein in the endothel of Plantago and of Arabidopsis plants expressing the PmSUC1 gene under the control of its own promoter.

Integrated microelectronics for smart textiles.

The combination of textile fabrics with microelectronics will lead to completely new applications, thus achieving elements of ambient intelligence. The integration of sensor or actuator networks, using fabrics with conductive fibres as a textile motherboard enable the fabrication of large active areas. In this paper we describe an integration technology for the fabrication of a "smart textile" based on a wired peer-to-peer network of microcontrollers with integrated sensors or actuators.

Cell-to-cell movement of green fluorescent protein reveals post-phloem transport in the outer integument and identifies symplastic domains in Arabidopsis seeds and embryos.

Developing Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seeds and embryos represent a complex set of cell layers and tissues that mediate the transport and partitioning of carbohydrates, amino acids, hormones, and signaling molecules from the terminal end of the funicular phloem to and between these seed tissues and eventually to the growing embryo. This article provides a detailed analysis of the symplastic domains and the cell-to-cell connectivity from the end of the funiculus to the embryo, and within the embryo during its maturation. The cell-to-cell movement of the green fluorescent protein or of mobile and nonmobile green fluorescent protein fusions was monitored in seeds and embryos of plants expressing the corresponding cDNAs under the control of various promoters (SUC2, SUC3, TT12, and GL2) shown to be active in defined seed or embryo cell layers (SUC3, TT12, and GL2) or only outside the developing Arabidopsis seed (AtSUC2).

Nematode infection triggers the de novo formation of unloading phloem that allows macromolecular trafficking of green fluorescent protein into syncytia.

Syncytial feeding complexes induced by the cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii represent strong metabolic sinks for photoassimilates. These newly formed structures were described to be symplastically isolated from the surrounding root tissue and their mechanism of carbohydrate import has repeatedly been under investigation. Here, we present analyses of the symplastic connectivity between the root phloem and these syncytia in nematode-infected Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants expressing the gene of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) or of different GFP fusions under the control of the companion cell (CC)-specific AtSUC2 promoter.

Expression of GFP-fusions in Arabidopsis companion cells reveals non-specific protein trafficking into sieve elements and identifies a novel post-phloem domain in roots.

Transgenic Arabidopsis plants were constructed to express a range of GFP-fusion proteins (36-67 kDa) under the companion cell (CC)-specific AtSUC2 promoter. These plants were used to monitor the trafficking of these GFP-fusion proteins from the CCs into the sieve elements (SEs) and their subsequent translocation within and out of the phloem. The results revealed a large size exclusion limit (SEL) (>67 kDa) for the plasmodesmata connecting SEs and CCs in the loading phloem.

Wounding enhances expression of AtSUC3, a sucrose transporter from Arabidopsis sieve elements and sink tissues.

The Arabidopsis AtSUC3 gene encodes a sucrose (Suc) transporter that differs in size and intron number from all other Arabidopsis Suc transport proteins. Each plant species analyzed so far possesses one transporter of this special type, and several functions have been discussed for these proteins, including the catalysis of transmembrane Suc transport, and also Suc sensing and regulation of other Suc transporters. Here, we show that the AtSUC3 protein is localized in the sieve elements of the Arabidopsis phloem and is not colocalized with the companion cell-specific AtSUC2 phloem loader.

Comparative study of relativistic density functional methods applied to actinide species AcO(2)(2+) and AcF(6) for Ac = U, Np.

A two-component relativistic density functional method based on the Douglas-Kroll-Hess transformation has been applied to the actinyls and hexafluorides of U and Np. All-electron scalar relativistic calculations as well as calculations including spin-orbit interaction have been compared to results obtained with a pseudopotential approach. In addition, several exchange-correlation potentials have been applied to examine their performance for the bond lengths and vibrational frequencies of the title compounds.