Probabilistic vs linear blending approaches to shared control for wheelchair driving.

Some people with severe mobility impairments are unable to operate powered wheelchairs reliably and effectively, using commercially available interfaces. This has sparked a body of research into "smart wheelchairs", which assist users to drive safely and create opportunities for them to use alternative interfaces. Various "shared control" techniques have been proposed to provide an appropriate level of assistance that is satisfactory and acceptable to the user.

Ultrasmooth metal nanolayers for plasmonic applications: surface roughness and specific resistivity.

The future of plasmonic devices depends on effective reduction of losses of surface plasmon-polariton waves propagating along metal-dielectric interfaces. Energy dissipation is caused by resistive heating at the skin-deep-thick outer layer of metal and scattering of surface waves on rough metal-dielectric interfaces. Fabrication of noble metal nanolayers with a smooth surface still remains a challenge.

Cerebellar damage diminishes long-latency responses to multijoint perturbations.

Damage to the cerebellum can cause significant problems in the coordination of voluntary arm movements. One prominent idea is that incoordination stems from an inability to predictively account for the complex mechanical interactions between the arm's several joints. Motivated by growing evidence that corrective feedback control shares important capabilities and neural substrates with feedforward control, we asked whether cerebellar damage impacts feedback stabilization of the multijoint arm appropriate for the arm's intersegmental dynamics.

Resonance peak in Sr(2)RuO(4): signature of spin triplet pairing.

We study the dynamical spin susceptibility, chi(q,omega), in the normal and superconducting states of Sr(2)RuO(4). In the normal state, we find a peak in the vicinity of Q(i) approximately (0.72 pi,0.

Mothers' reactions to prenatal diagnostic procedures and dexamethasone treatment of congenital adrenal hyperplasia.

A retrospective survey of mothers' attitudes toward and experiences of chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis and dexamethasone (DEX) treatment was conducted in 38 women who underwent a prenatal diagnostic procedure for congenital adrenal hyperplasia because of a previously affected child (n = 37) or because the mother herself was affected (n = 1). Both diagnostic procedures were well tolerated and almost every woman said that the anxiety or discomfort associated with the procedure was far outweighed by the value of knowing whether or not her fetus was affected. The earlier diagnostic information provided by chorionic villus sampling was highly valued.

Effects of early prenatal dexamethasone on the cognitive and behavioral development of young children: results of a pilot study.

The effect of early prenatal dexamethasone (DEX) exposure on cognitive and behavioral development, behavior problems, and temperament were examined in 26 consecutively identified children aged 6 mo to 5 1/2 years, whose mothers had been DEX-treated during pregnancy because their offspring was at risk for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), and compared with 14 children from untreated CAH-risk pregnancies. Three children in each group were CAH-affected. Assessments were performed by way of mother-completed standard questionnaires.

Divergent in vivo and in vitro antileukemic activity of recombinant interferon beta in patients with chronic-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia.

It was the aim of this study to investigate the antileukemic activities of recombinant interferon beta (rIFN beta) in chronic-phase CML in vitro and in vivo. Nine patients in the early chronic-phase of CML were treated in a phase-II trial with escalating doses of rIFN beta. In parallel, antiproliferative and immunomodulatory activities of rIFN beta and rIFN alpha 2b were studied in vitro.

Inhibition of alpha-crystallin aggregation by gamma-crystallin.

The transparency of the mammalian lens is primarily maintained by short range order among the major proteins of the lens fiber cells, the crystallins. Although these proteins are highly conserved at the amino acid sequence level, it has proven difficult to establish that they possess other than structural functions. We find that when non-lens proteins are added to concentrated solutions of alpha-crystallin, aggregation is induced, presumably through excluded volume effects.

A differential scanning calorimetric study of the bovine lens crystallins.

Differential scanning calorimetry was performed on the five major lens crystallin fractions [HM-alpha, alpha, beta H, beta L, and (beta s + gamma)] of the bovine lens as well as on more purified forms of alpha- and gamma-crystallins. All were found to be relatively thermally stable although the alpha-crystallin were found to at least partially unfold at an approximately 10 degrees C lower temperature than the beta and gamma fractions. Increasing protein concentration had little effect on gamma-crystallin thermograms but had marked effects on those of the alpha- and beta-crystallins.

Prediction of intellectual deficits in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Possible predictors of reported lower cognitive functioning in irradiated children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were investigated. Thirty-four subjects, 5-14 years old, with ALL in continuous complete remission and without evidence of current or past central nervous system disease, were examined 9-110 months after diagnosis, using standard measures of intelligence and academic achievement. Subjects with a history of post-irradiation somnolence syndrome were significantly older at diagnosis than nonsomnolent subjects.

Electrostatic properties of cryoimmunoglobulins.

Inhibition of the cryoprecipitation of cryoimmunoglobulins by neutral salts suggests that intermolecular electrostatic (charge-charge) interactions are responsible for their abnormal solution properties. To test this hypothesis, H+ titration curves and isoelectric points were measured for two monoclonal IgG cryoglobulins (Ger and Muk) and compared with four normal (cold soluble) monoclonal IgG. The cryoglobulin Ger manifested values outside the range encountered for the other proteins.

Kinetics of the precipitation of cryoimmunoglobulins.

The kinetics of the cryoprecipitation of two monoclonal IgG and two monoclonal IgM cryoimmunoglobulins, two IgM/IgG mixed cryoglobulins and a series of cold soluble monoclonal IgG and IgM immunoglobulins in the presence of polyethylene glycol have been compared by time dependent turbidity measurements. The effects of temp and ionic strength on kinetic processes are described in detail. The monoclonal cryoimmunoglobulins display lag times which are not seen with the other proteins, suggesting a critical nucleation event.

Thermodynamics of monoclonal and mixed cryoimmunoglobin solubilization.

The direct calorimetric determination of heats of solution for four monoclonal and three mixed (IgM/IgG) cryoglobulins is described. Values obtained by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) are compared to values of the apparent delta Hsol obtained by a polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation method. The four monoclonal cryoglobulins manifest heats of solution determined by DSC to be of the same order of magnitude as heats obtained by PEG precipitation, although DSC values were 25 to 125% lower than the corresponding van't Hoff enthalpies.